THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



191 



Mirth's careless, joyous, wild refrain ; 

 The joke, the sonjj, the hunting story, 

 Return in all their vivid glory — 

 Green spots of hliss, alas ! how few, 

 My beautiful old bark canoe 1 



I look on thee and think upon 



The happy days forever gone , 



I miss, how sadly, from my side 



My spirit's twin, my manhood's pride, 



The ready hand, the loving heart, 



The soul of my own sold a part, 



The gentle voice, the smile which gave 



Me courage to be true and brave — 



All these were mine when thou wert new, 



My beautiful old bark canoe ! 



William Pittmann Lktt. 



Ottawa, Nov. 19th, 1882. 



AN EXPLANATION BY MR. WHITCHER. 



Rideau Bank, Ottawa. 

 Dear Mr. Couper, 



Attention is drawn to certain passages in an 

 article in The Canadian Sportsman and 

 Naturalist, viz : — 



" When Mr. Wilmot exhibited his fishes at 

 "Ottawa, the Editor of this Journal competed with a 

 "collection of stuffed^food-fishes from the Province of 

 " Quebec ; many of the latter species were different from 

 " those exhibited by the former gentleman. The Quebec 

 " fish collection was offered to the Fisheries Department,, 

 "at a reasonable price; the offer being made through 

 "Mr. Whitcher, who knew the lot was a bargain, and 

 " by his request, they were packed and left in Ottawa, to 

 " await a reply from the Chief of the Department. 

 " Some days afterwards an answer was received that the 

 " Department had no money to purchase stuffed fishes, 

 " aud the collection was brought back to Montreal, 

 " where it was immediately purchased by Dr. Sterry 

 " Hunt and presented to McGill College Museum. Mr. 

 " Wilmot endeavoured to induce Mr. Whitcher to pur- 

 " chase the collection, and probably they now regret not 

 " having secured it. 



The latter reference to myself is entirely in- 

 correct. Your own recollection of that occa- 

 sion should have suggested the improbability 

 of this assertion. Please recall the (acts : You 

 were a professional exhibitor of stuffed fishes 

 of your own handiwork at the Dominion 

 Exhibition. Mr. Wilmot was President of the 

 Association and exhibited stuffed fishes belong- 

 ing to the Government, entered in his own 

 name. I objected, through Dr. Sterry Hunt, 

 to these being put in competition for personal 

 prizes or medais, much to Mr. Wilmot's dis- 

 pleasure ; and having failed to protect your 

 industry in this way, I promised to do what- 

 ever could be done towards securing your 

 valuable exhibit for this Department, and 

 asked you to delay shipment. There are, as 

 correctly stated in this article, no funds pro- 

 vided for such purpose; but as Mr. Wilmot's 

 specimens had been procured out of fish-breed- 

 ing funds, and were thus placed on exhibition 

 for prizes or medals to himself, my idea was 



to acquire your's in the same way till 

 him, and a corresp rod 

 ingly. He did not consider your's worth 

 acquiring and -•■ reported. It was then 

 inconvenient for the minister to authorize 

 purchase* and my proposal dropped. I under* 

 stood that the injustice towards you an a 

 fessional wa- somewhat softened by awarding 

 von a second prize; but the chief prizes and 

 gold or silver medals went the way they i 

 probably intended from their origin. 



By referring to a recent Dumber of the 

 Toronto Globe you will find it stated, in course 

 of an interview with Mr. Wii ot, that he 

 " no Taxidermist can be found in Canada 

 " whose work would appear in a favorable 

 "light," "or whose specimens (presumably 

 " offish) are artistic enough" to be attractive. 

 This accords with his opinion of y. air's. Un- 

 qualified depreciation will doubtless I"- a sur- 

 prise if not an amusement to many other 

 Taxidermal artists besides yourself, who are 

 obliged to labor in the business without such 

 public encouragement or private patronage, as 

 in older countries serve to enhance the art and 

 improve the productions of Taxidermy. 



I quite agree with the Sportsman and 

 Naturalist that facilities should be afforded to 

 form a museum of aquatic animals; and I 

 have striven during several years past to im- 

 press its importance on official minds. Time 

 passes rapidly and with it many of the oppor- 

 tunities to make a choice and finished collect- 

 ion are also passing away. The great repre- 

 sentative specimens (particularly of our 

 ichthyic fauna) are fast disappearing. We 

 find the want o\' such a storehouse, a- should 

 long since have been formed, in connection 

 with the fisheries service whenever the country 

 requires to participate in public displays. 

 Notably at the present juncture. 



The "article in question adds, referring to 

 the International Fisheries Exhibition :— " W\- 

 " know that Mr. Wilmot, of Newcastle. Out., 

 " has done his share to make a successful snow, 

 " but some one in the Department is to blame 

 "for procrastination and want or' energy." It' the 

 reflection is meant tor my benefit — as most of 

 the editorial reflects on me personally —your 

 information on this point also is incorrect, as 

 I have hail nothing whatever to do with the 

 matter, beyond making a timely statement ot 

 what was required to be done in order to do 

 justice to Canada on so important and trying 

 an occasion, ottering also some practical 



