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FOREST AND STREAM. 





A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



I) AqtTATIP S 



:, rnACTieALNATTtnAI.niSTOJlT, 

 lUlE.I'ItKSEKVATlON OF FonESTS, 

 .._ VOSUSNOFA HBAl.THT tMTEBEST 

 [. IS OCTDOOn ltECEF.ATlCN AXD STUDY : 



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£anst and Mtrwil publishing f&omyann, . 



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NEW YORK, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1874. 



To Correspondents. 



All commnnications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 

 correspondence, ransl be addressed to The Fohest asp Stream Tuo- 

 LiSHisa Company:. .Personal or private letters of course excepted. 



All commnnications Intended for publication must be accompanied with 

 real name, as a gnarauty of good faith. Names will not be published if 

 objection be mutlc. No anonymous contributions will be regarded. 



Articles relating to any topic within the scope of this paper arc solicited. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brief 

 notes cf their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of this paper 

 to become a medinm of userul and reliable Information between gentle- 

 men sportsmen from one end of the country to the other ; and they will 

 find our columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements. 



The Publishers of Forest and Stream aim to merit and secure the 

 patronage and conntenance of that portion of the community whose re- 

 fined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 

 is beautiful in Nature. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 

 the legitimate nporta of land and water to those base uses which always 

 tend to make them unpopular with the virtuons and good. No advertise- 

 ment or business notice of an immoral character will be received on any 

 terms ; and nothing wdl be admitted to any department of the paper that 

 may not be read with propriety in the home circle. 



We cannot be responsible for the dereliction of the mall service, if 

 money remitted to us is lost. 



Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, if possible. 

 I1HARLES IIALLOCK, Managing Editor. 



WILLIAM P. HARRIS, Business Manager. 



INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES. 



AN English exchange devotes a column of its space to 

 prove that international contests for supremacy in 

 physical exercises do not produce kindly feelings, and that 

 they accomplish milling more than to suppress jealousy 

 for a brief period. It cites for proof of this premiss the 

 matches between Americans and Englishmen, and those 

 between 1hc Au-lva!ians and a cricket "team" from the 

 Motherland. Making a general deduction from a particu- 

 lar assertion] is not very logical; nor -will the comparisons 

 made prove the reverse of the opinion so prevalent, that 

 pleasant meetings between representatives of different 

 nations are productive of much good, and cause the people 

 to bo attracted toward each other by their sympathy with 

 the contestants. 



So far as England alone is concerned, this argument 

 might hold good, for it is, we believe, an axiom that 

 Americans were never received there with anything warmer 

 than a frosty courtesy whenever they went there to lest the 

 prowess of her sons. The last visitors, the base ball 

 players, did not receive even a decent welcome, so as a 

 matter of course they are not ecstatic about the hospitality 

 of their Suxon cousins. 



Now the case is entirely different in the United States, 

 for here we never permit those who cross the Atlantic to 

 meet our men iu honorable competition to return home 

 with the opinion that we are either cold, churlish or inhos- 

 pitable; so the consequence is that visitors leave us with 

 feelings of regret, and ever after speak of our nation in the 

 warmest terms of praise. 



The distinguished Irish gentlemen who have relumed to 

 their own shores will certainly deny (he assertion that these 

 contests produce quarrels instead of courtesies, and bitter 

 animosities instead of kindly feelings. When gallant men 

 cross the sea to meet ours in a friendly struggle for honor- 

 able distinction, our code of ethics specifies that they 

 should be treated with the distinction due to worthy and 

 welcome guests, so we escape causes for' being deemed in- 

 hospitable, by this action. 



Neither are we constantly debating whether our visitors 

 are of the pure ami mn/jre or not, and whether our dignity 

 ought to bo so flexible as to bend enough to recognize them 

 so far as to extend them a kindly greeting. Not being 

 handicapped by such ponderous importance as our English 



kindred assume, we can afford to send our guests home in 

 pleasant moods, and cause them to remember our country 

 with pleasure; for their social status is lost to us in their 

 skill or gallantry. If the English people would be more 

 natural, and not assume so much rigid dignity thai every bow 

 and word is measured, they would find that those who visit. 

 their shores to engage in tournaments of strength or skill, 

 would always remember them with pleasure; and the as- 

 sumption that international contests are more a source of 

 strife and bickering than aught else, could never be made 

 with any shadow of truth, whereas, now, it can, so far as 

 England alone is concerned, be proved to a certain extent. 



/ THE DEER OF LONG ISLAND. 



THE brief period, two weeks, in which deer may be 

 lawfully hunted on Long Island, expired by limita- 

 tion on the 15U) instant. During all the open season, the 

 pine and scrub oak barrens where the deer range, literally 

 swarmed with hunters and dogs, so that from dawn till 

 even tide each day the persecuted animals had no rest. The 

 result of the battue, from the best data we have, shows 

 about two dozen killed. The country where the deer run 

 embraces a tract nearly central, about twenty-five miles 

 long by six wide, extending from Wtest of Babylon to a 

 point East of Patchogue. In no part of the United Si ales, 

 except in the "knobs" of Pennsylvania and \\ est Virginia, 

 do the deer attain such great weight, 200 lbs. being the 

 average for a full grown buck; and certainly no section is 

 belter adapted to their natural propagation or to the com- 

 fort of the hunter, it being undulating, well covered, and 

 interspersed throughout with ponds and running brooks of 

 purest water. There is no limit to the feed; for, when it is 

 scanty in the oak forests, tlte surrounding farms, fields, and 

 hayricks afford abundant sustenance. The Winter's are 

 mild, the soil sandy, and (he thickets along some of the 

 creeks so dense as to be absolutely impenetrable. In these 

 the fawns may lie secure. It is on account of these natural 

 advantages, no doubt, that deer still exist here, surrounded 

 as they are by a cordon of civilization, with three lines of 

 railways traversing their range at intervals only three miles 

 apart! The partial protection of the law of course ma- 

 terially assists. No doubt if Ihe hunting were wholly pro- 

 hibited for a -period of three to five years, and a slock of 

 twenty-five to fifty does were turned loose on the preserve, 

 Long Island would remain for an indefinite period the 

 favorite and most prolific bunting ground easily accessible. 

 In five years fifty does, by natural increase, would multiply 

 to eight hundred head, allowing for casualties; for does ' 

 oftener drop two fawns than one. We would fain en- 

 courage the passage of a law at once by our legislature, in- 

 volving total prohibition for a specified time, and we know 

 of Ihe" requisite nnmber of gentlemen who would gladly 

 contribute two or three animals apiece toward stocking the 

 Island. Nevertheless, we arc convinced, after carefully 

 sounding tlic opinion of sportsmen, that while nearly all 

 would accede, there are si ill a few influential gentlemen 

 who arc unwilling to forego for a brief period their annual 

 romp among the scrub oaks, and the possibility of winning 

 a trophy from this delectable hunting ground; and that 

 these gentlemen would combine to prevent the passage of 

 such a law, or to revoke it the next year after its passage. 



We confess to a fascination attending a deer hunt on 

 Long Island that is irresistable, and we would rather boast 

 one trophy here than a score elsewhere. That wo fell short 

 of our effort and ambition this year, reflects no discredit 

 upon our woodcraft. Wo spent three days on the hunting 

 ground in company with the Rev. Dr. Duryea, whose gun 

 often cracks among the Adirondack*, and with Col. Wag- 

 staff, of Babylon, who is familiar with every inch of the 

 territory. We listened intently to the bay of Ihe hounds, 

 and stood patiently at the favorite runways of the deer, but 

 none came near, and those persons who bagged the game 

 had reason to bless only their remarkable luck. So pre- 

 carious are the chances here of taking a deer, when so 

 many dogs are out and the cover is so thoroughly beaten, 

 that it has become the law of the chase that whoever kills 

 an animal must divide wilh other claimants. Sometimes 

 the carcass is cut up and distributed, but it is more gen- 

 erally sold at auction to highest bidder. 



Kight glorious and exciting sport is it, on a bright Nov- 

 ember day like those just past, when the game is afoot, to 

 watch or participate in the scurry through tbe "open," or 

 into the thicket, with hunters on horseback and wagons at 

 full tilt after the quarry; the bay of the hounds in all direc- 

 tions—far in the distance or close at hand '. Such a promis- 

 cous babel of bell-mouthed tongues is seldom heard at a 

 deer hunt elsewhere; but we fear that tbe last echo will 

 soon die away and be heard no more on the precincts of 

 Long Island. AVho will demand a prohibitory law? 



A KNOT FOR THE LAWYERS. 



W 1 



E print in another column a letter from G. Shepard 

 . Page, Esq., an officer of the American Pish Cullu- 

 rists' Association, descriptive of a variety of trout little 

 known outside of the precincts of Rangely Lake, in Maine. 

 It is called the "blue-backed trout," and makes its appear- 

 ance only for a short period in October and November, and 

 at a time when the killing of trout is prohibited by the 

 State laws; but because of its peculiarities, which were ex- 

 plained to the law makers of Maine when they drafted and 

 passed the existing law, this variety of fish is specially ex- 

 empted from those provisions which impose a penalty for 

 capturing trout out of season. 



Being made aware of these facts, it seems, Mr. Eugene 

 Blackford, of Pulton Market, received a consignment of 

 these Irout and offered them for sale openly on his slabs. 

 Now, it happens that the laws of New York forbid the sale 

 hero of TitouT out of season, uo matter whore they come 

 from, and suits are now pending to test their validity; and 

 inasmuch as trout are trortt, the naturalists and the Maine 

 law in this case to the contrary notwithstanding, it becomes 

 an interesting qucslion as to how far the action of our 

 courts here is to be affected by the exemption in Maine. Of 

 course, the exhibition of these sparkliug trout upon the 

 market slabs could not escape the vigilant eye of the 

 officers employed by the New York Society for the Protec- 

 tion of Game, who at once proceeded to interdict their 

 sale, and notified Mr. Blackford of his offence. The dealer 

 protested, and pleaded the peculiar conditions referred to 

 above, as calculated to relieve him from any liability to ar- 

 rest or prosecution for selling trout out of season. The 

 officer, who is eminent in legal matters, at once took some 

 specimens of the fish to the best authorities in the city, and 

 after fullest investigation and subsequent acquaintance wilh 

 the facts as set forth regarding the peculiarities of Ibis 

 variety of trout, admitted bis doubt as to whether an action 

 in this case could be sustained. 



As we have intimated, the case is an intricato one, and 

 involves most delicate legal points, or, perhaps, we should 

 say opinions; for certainly it is covered by no precedent. 

 The object of laws for protecting fish is to ensure and in- 

 crease the supply of food; and laws for different States are 

 made co-opcralive in order to prevent evasion of their in- 

 tent and purpose. Hence Ihe law of one Slale prohibits 

 the sale of tisb coming from another State. If it did not, 

 fish might be caught in one State, and then be clandestinely 

 carried into and sold with impunity in another; and thus 

 the object of Ihe law— which is the preservation of fish- 

 would be defeated. But, it so happens, iu the case in 

 qucslion, that this particular kind of fish is available for 

 fond only when Ihe law of New York prohibits tTOUt from 

 being sold in the markets of the State; so that the law 

 really goes back upon itself and defeats its own ostensible 

 object, by preventing the use, as food, of fish which it as- 

 sumes to preserve as food. If this variety of trout could 

 be caught at any other lime than in October and Novem- 

 ber, the case would assume a different phase. 



One of the strongest points that underlie the case is the 

 fact that Ihe Maine law does not recognize these fish as 

 speckled brook trout, but specially designates and excepts 

 thorn as a different variety. If, being such, they are not in- 

 cluded in the New York State enumeration of prohibited 

 fish, then the law of this State cannot touch them or their 

 vendors. 



We are not disposed to argue the question bow, nor are 

 we anxious to make out a case for an imaginary defend- 

 ant. Our instincts are opposed to any relaxation in the 

 law as it stands. We consider that there are economic in- 

 terests involved of paramount importsnee, and we appre- 

 hend only trouble and detriment to arise from the occur- 

 rence of Ibis anomalous case. Admit tbe exemption of 

 these Maine trout in our markets, and the slabs will at onco 

 swarm with the common brook trout which none but an 

 expert can distinguish from "blue backs;" and thus tho 

 object of our law will be defeated by leaving the door wide 

 open for evasion. 



THE COLLEGE ROWING CONVENTION. 



Till-: Convention of Ihe Rowing Association of Ameri- 

 can Colleges which met at Hartford last January, ad- 

 journed until January, 1875. There is a desire on the part 

 of some of the colleges to hold the Convention at an earlier 

 day, in order to determine upon the locality and pro- 

 gramme, so that crews rauv be chosen and go into training 

 as soon as possible; but the time appointed is already so 

 near, that no change for an earlier date is likely to be 

 made. New colleges are talking of joining the Associa- 

 tion, and these especially will require every advantage and 

 opportunity for instruction and practice to enable thorn to 

 compete with the older crews. 



Meanwhile the proposed secession or segregation of the 

 New England Collegos continues to be urged in some 

 quarters, and particularly by those colleges that were last 

 year disaffected as respects the selection of Saratoga for 

 ihe regal ta course, and such a secession seems by no means 

 improbable. Aside from any personal feeling that may re- 

 main from differences that obtained on grounds of morality, 

 jealousy or expediency, it seems to us that mucb more 

 serious considerations arc involved. There is danger that 

 Ihc'Rowing Association, already unwieldy from numbers, 

 may become unmanagable. There is scarcely a straight- 

 away course in Ihe country of tbe regulation length, that 

 will comfortably accommodate the present number of com- 

 peting boats and give reasonable guarantee against fouling 

 when under way. Fouling always produces hard feelings 

 and recrimination, and fouls accidental are more than apt 

 to be charged as designed. Besides, fouls mar a race, and 

 render the result unsatisfactory to both the winners and 

 tho defeated. If the Intercollegiate Navy, already so 

 large, is to be increased, not only can no regatta be hold 

 where all the crews can compete simultaneously, but the 

 lack of requisite sea room in most waters, will confine the 

 annual competitions to two or three localities; and this 

 holding of the regatlaa always in the same places, would 

 detract much from the interest that would otherwise be 

 felt in them if a different locality were to be selected each 

 year. Moreover, the multiplying of crews and the juxta- 



