THE CANADIAN .SPORTSMAN AND NAT I I: A I. 





SHOOTING RESERVES. 



The Montreal Star of the 8tb instant, would 



make us believe that there are shooting reserves 



in Canada. That the Government should offer 



facilities for letting out certain rights to sports- 



The Star thru telle at tliat natan 

 force, which is now supplied by artificial mi 

 Nonsense : the disparity i- too glaring, and bae 

 no facts to sustain it. 



He says: " Take for instance, white! 



men. What rights ? Where are these shooting What whitefish? Why not name the sp 



rights or reseives? We have never heard of 



Miein and do not believe they have an existence. 



We know that the Government claim all the 



rivers, and oiler to lease them every season ? 



In regard to inducing Europeans to come to 



Canada for sport, we have one instance this 



year of how gentlemen from England are 



treated when they lease a Canadian river. 



If the Government lias shooting reserves, 

 we would be pleased to know where they are? 

 It is a new thing for us to learn that the lovers 

 of the rifle and the fowling piece are not to 

 enjoy the sjjort in season without asking per- 

 mission from Government. When that plea- 

 sure is taken from the Canadian Sportsman, 

 farewell to his rural liberty. It is quite suffi 

 cient that the Fishery Department lease the 

 Salmon rivers without taking from the subject 

 his rights in the marsh or forest. — C. 



THE MONTREAL "STAR" ON FISH AND 

 GAME. 



The above paper in its issue of the 27th ult., 

 speaks editorially on our Fish and Game. He 

 says " out of five thousand eggs hatched by 

 fish in a natural way, only about one egg will 

 hatch out; out of five thousand eggs hatched 

 in an ai'tificial way, four thousand on an aver- 

 age are hatched out." 



We ask the Star where he obtained this in- 

 formation? and furthermore what species of 

 fishes are referred to ? 



The artificial breeding of fish, especially 

 Salmonidw, — is certainly good, and doubtless 

 may be productive when carried on in rivers 

 connected with salt water; but to cast young 

 fishes of the above order into an inland lake, 

 is the most unscientific and expensive mode of 

 fish propagation we have ever heard of. 



Whilefish of various form- occur in almost 

 every Province of the Dominion, and it maj I*- 

 possible that their isolation i- the cans 

 enmity between them. Be this as it may. we 

 have no proof that the parent whitefish devours 

 its own eggs. It is, however a fact, that the 

 sea trout will follow Solum salar t" it- -| awn- 

 ing grounds, where it devours the eggs "I the 

 salmon. 



The most absurd statement made by the 

 above paper is that ducks known a- " \\i;_ 

 redheads, canvas-back and bluebill devour ti-h 

 spawn in immense quantities." This informa- 

 tion is altogether new in an ornithological view, 

 and the writer should certainly be awarded a 

 leather medal for the discovery. Again, shak- 

 ing of shad, it is useless to experiment on that 

 fish; if the} 7 are allowed to propagate in their 

 old natural way, the markets of the United 

 States and Canada will always he well stocked 

 with this fish in season. We contend that the 

 artificial breeding in inland waters of fishes that 

 frequent the sea, is both a waste of money and 

 time, and the sooner it is abandoned the better. 

 Protection during the close season for each 

 species, is what we wish to see carried out, and 

 if that is properly performed, the fish will do 

 what the Creator commanded they should. It 

 is nonsense to say that " our fish would go just 

 as the buffalo and the moose are going." No 

 living man can make a comparison between the 

 forces acting on terrestrial ami aquatic animals, 

 more especially in regard to their abundance or 

 scarcity ; and if the writer in the Star hail 

 lately passed through the forests frequented by 

 moose and caribou, he must have done so with 

 closed eyes, as these animals have never been 

 known to be so abundant as at present. We 

 could inform the writer what has produced 

 this, but that is not necessary at present. Wf. 



