372 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



0nf\ gnUni[e. 



This Journal is (.he Official Organ of the Pish Caltnr- 

 ists' Association. 



THE FISHERIES OF MICHIGAN. 



WE have received from Geo. II. Jerome, Esq., the 

 able Superintendent ot the State Fisheries, the 

 first annual report of the Fish Commissioners of Michigan, 

 <-* which, covering entirely new ground, as it does, is exceed- 

 ingly interesting. This opens with a review of fish cul- 

 ture, its progress, development, and its economical and 

 commercial value. The action of fishermen who wantonly 

 destroy the denizens of our waters is criticised in proper 

 terms, and the best means of checking their depredations 

 i ml preserving an important article of food are duly ex- 

 plained. 



In reviewing the indigenous fishes of the streams and 

 lakes of Michigan, they place the white fish (Coregonus 

 albus) at the head of the fresh water species. While this 

 is found in several interior basins, yet the Great Lakes af- 

 ford the only supply extensive enough to meet the wants of 

 commerce; but owing tc the rapacity of some men, even 

 this fish is now diminishing in these great depots. A. 

 strong effort has been made to propagate this species, and 

 with fair results so far. 



The next in importance to the preceding are the lake 

 trout, including what is known as the Mackinaw trout, sal- 

 mon trout, SSrininyciish, and tiifaio aiakotcile. These several 

 varieties, differing in size, color, and general appearance, 

 are undoubtedly congeneric, all being of lacustrine habits 

 and non-migratory. 



The black bass (QryaUs nigriwm) is found in almost 

 every part of the State — in the lakes and rivers, and in 

 waters varying greatly in depth, size, and temperature. It 

 does not seem to be as highly appreciated as other species 

 of fish, although' it is of good flavor, and a favorite with 

 many anglers owing to its pluck, endurance, and resolu- 

 tion. It is hardly capable of standing much variety of 

 water and temperature; an abundant propagator, and a 

 careful protector of its young, aud it is, besides, less 

 ♦rouble than most fishes to prepare its ova for the stocking 

 ponds. 



Of 1 he grayling (ThymMus tricolor), it is said that it is 

 extremely gamey, beautiful, and in grace of motion equal 

 to any of its tribe. Its true value is not yet fully decided, 

 as its qualities as an article of food have been criticised. 

 Its habitat, is the Au Sable, the Muskegon, Hersey, Pine, 

 and Boardman — indeed, very many of the streams aud 

 rivers of Central and Nortbern£Miehigan, possibly a ma- 

 jority of them, are believed to abound in the grayling. It 

 is said that they have been caught weighing four and a half 

 pounds. Their average catch, as reported, is from one 

 half to two pounds. Sixteen grayling, from nine to four- 

 teen inches long, have been at the Slate Fishery for the 

 last nine months. They have occupied one of the small 

 spring ponds in company with several hundred speckled 

 trout of about the same age and size, where at all limes 

 there have existed, as far as observation and appearance 

 can decide, the greatest friendship and concord. They rise 

 to the surface to lake their food a trifle less sharply than 

 the irout, and show about an equal percentage of growth. 

 They cat all kinds of food that are prepared for the trout- 

 liver, lights, heart, kidney, etc. 



Of the brook trout (Sulmo fontitudis), the report says; — 



•'Until attention was called to the general subject of llsh 

 propagation, it was currently reported that the genuine 

 Sihii'jj'vntinalu had no domkilium in the Slate. But later 

 investigations verify the fact that lie not only exists here, 

 and that, too, in many portions of the State, but that he is 

 here in all the inimitable investiture of his prime aud glory. 

 Specimens have been shown the commission, obtained 

 from the streams of Northern Central and .Northern Michi- 

 gan, equaling in every respect their New England, New 

 York, Pennsylvania, and Kooky Mountain congeners. 

 '.),' .'!... fonlincUb, as its name implies, is a fish of the streams, 

 lists foimtuins. Mautaiuous aud hill-side springs, and 'bab- 

 bling brooks' — pure aud swift rivulets, having gravelly aud 

 rocky beds, where the water, in its dashing, splashing 

 flow, of very necessity becomes in large measure oxygen- 

 ized, for probably no species is a larger consumer of oxy- 

 gen; these are the natural hauuts of the 'speckled beau- 

 ties.' And Uiejr culture in any other class of waters will 

 ever most likely be attended with but indifferent success. 

 The brook trout being thus particular, always preferring 

 to 'take bis clear auu cold' — a Blow grower, an unprofltic 

 breeder, and little regarding the convenience of fish eullu- 

 rista as to spawning periods (the latu Fall and Winter 

 months), and withal being in a pre-eminent sense an ama- 

 ii in tloh, none of the commissions of the several States, 

 Michigan included, have deemed it advisable lo enter this 

 species in their vocabulary of food producing lishes. And 

 though left thus lo private or individually associated enter- 

 prise, no apprehension whatever is felt but that his great 

 beauty, rarity, gamyness, and par excellent platter reputa- 

 tion, will long keep him from being numbered with the ex- 

 tinct fauna." 



Other species of fish, such as the pike and pickerel, the 

 \jvbite rock, green bass, perch, sun fish, catfish, bull head, 

 sturgeon, suckers, and several more varieties, are also 

 .found jal the waters of the State; but as they are not deemed 

 valuable /or the table, the commissioners hope to replace 

 Ahem by food fishes. 



The work, of transplanting edible fishes to the waters of 

 Michigan has been prosecuted assiduously. The first spe- 

 cies to receive attention was the Salmo salar, 40,000 ova of 

 this fish being hatched out in 1873 near Clarkaville, and 

 jdaced in several streams and lakes. The next lot was 

 180,000 eggs, received from Bucksport, Maine, and these 

 were also distributed in the best manner. About 15,000 



young fry of this number were lost during their transpor- 

 tation to Lake Superior. 



A small beginning has been made in introducing the 

 land locked salmon {Salnw sebago). About 3,000 ova were 

 received from Prof. Baird, and of that number the greater 

 portion were hatched and are now in the streams. 



In 1873 the State received 80,000 eggs of the California 

 salmon (8. quinnat), aud a large, percentage of these were 

 hatched. The greatest loss was from the malformation of 

 the alevins. The young fry grew rapily, and after absorb- 

 ing the sac were placed in convenient streams and ponds. 

 Those at the State hatching house are quite domesticated, 

 and feed from the hand. They are fed principally on the 

 kidneys, livers, and lights of beeves. Some 750,000 more 

 eggs were received in 1874, and only a few of these, com- 

 paratively speaking, proved unproductive. 



The shad {Ah.vi priiedabi.llH) has been largely experi- 

 mented with; but the time is yet too early to note the re- 

 sults. Of this fish, the commissioners say: — 



"It spends more time in salt water than salmon; it does 

 not go so high up to the sources of streams ,and rivers for 

 spawning, very frequently spawning in estuary or brackish 

 tidal water; the fry are not injured by salt water; indeed, 

 their early fin efforts are seaward. None are found, as is 

 the case with the salmon, in the inland lakes. Besides, ad- 

 mitting the possibility of successful colonization for States 

 already supplied with whitefish, salmon, trout, black bass, 

 and other choice varieties, the need of such importation is 

 not very manifest." 



Those enumerated are all the foreign species that have 

 been introduced. It is suggested that eels be experimented 

 with, as the probability is that they would thrive well. 



Of the indigenous varieties, the whitefish has received 

 the most attention, over a million and a half of eggs hav- 

 ing been hatched in the Winter of 1873-4, and deposited 

 in over two hundred lakes. Arrangements have been made 

 to distribute between two and three million eggs the cur- 

 rent year. 



The total expenditures, from May 12th, 1873, to Decem- 

 ber 1st, 1874, have been only $9,313, including hatching 

 house, overseer's house, ova, and salaries. 



The report closes with suggestions as to the preservation 

 of fish, and these are so practicable that the Legislature 

 will no doubt act upon them. We must congratulate the 

 people of Michigan upon having commissioners who are 

 so attentive to the public welfare, and so zealous in the 

 prosecution of their duties. 



The report very properly includes an appendix, with the 

 game and fish laws of the State, which feature we urge the 

 commissioners of other States to adopt in their reports. 



Fish Culture in Massachusetts.— The annual report 

 of the commissioners on inland fisheries has been submit- 

 ted. We give a brief abstract: — 



"The commissioners say that the law in regard to smelts, 

 passed last Spring, has proved very beneficial; thai a fish- 

 way to permit the easy passage of salmon is building at 

 Turner's Falls. They also say that they never expected 

 any fish to go over any fish way if bred below and not 

 above it, as migratory fish always return to the place where 

 they are batched. Fishways are to be built in Carver aud 

 on the Weslticld aud Agawam rivers, and on the Shaw- 

 shine in the towns of Bedford and Billcrica. A fisbway is 

 also proposed upon the Nashua River. The number of 

 shad spawn taken at North Audover last year was 0,249,- 

 000; hatched and lurried in above Lowell, 1,950,000; above 

 Lawrence dam, 800,000; sent to Nc-ponset, R. I., 550,000. 

 At South Iladley, 3,010 shad were taken, aud 44,550,000 

 spawn. The average from each shad taken at South Uad- 

 lcy was 22,691 spawn. Of those taken at South Iladley, 

 2.300,000 were put in the Connecticut at Bellow's Falls 

 and Smith's Ferry, and places between. The articial batch- 

 ing of trout has been very successfully carried on. Of sal- 

 mon spawn, 280,000 have been received, and hatched with 

 a loss of four per cent. Of laud locked salmon. 5,500 

 spawn were hatched and distributed; and of 200.000 Sac- 

 ramento salmon spawn, presented to the Slate by Prof. 

 Baird, only 7,000 were hatched. Reports were received 

 from the various parties to whom spawn were sent, report- 

 ing their successful hatching and rearing." 



* Fish Culture is Pennsylvania.— Gov. Ilartranft, of 

 Pennsylvania, is a reader of Forest and Stream, and 

 hence this passage in his recent message to the Legisla- 

 ture:— 



"A growing interest in the cultivation of fish by artifi- 

 cial means is manifested throughout the country, and it is 

 a pleasure to note that yiir people are devoting' themselves 

 to the iuvestigaticu of this pCT3) and important subject In 

 a manner that will establish the success or failure of the 

 experiment in the various waters of tlie State.. The labors 

 of the Commissioners of Fisheries continue to afford sub- 

 stantial reasons for encouragement. JJurjng the past year 

 thuy have placed in various streams that empty into the 

 sea 370,000 California and 137,000 Kennebec salmon. These 

 streams were selected because it is the habit of the salmpn 

 to migrate to and from the sea. If it is found that: these 

 valuable fish return to these rivers the State will be amply 

 repaid for the entire expense incurred in aid of fish cul- 

 ture. Under tin? superintendence of the commissioners, 

 85,000 salmon trout were distributed in different bodies of 

 water where the chances for procuring food aud the indul- 

 gence of their peculiar habits were most promising. These 

 fish are rapid in their growth, increase very fast, attain a 

 large size, aud are a delicate article of food, A general 

 distribution was also made of a large number of black 

 bass, a very prolific, choice, and beautiful fish, that grows 

 and multiplies with marvelous rapidity in our streams. 

 The hatching of shad was resumed last Spring, and 8,- 

 000,000 of young fish were turned into the Susquehanna. 

 This Commonwealth appropriated a fund to be expended 

 jointly with the fish commissioners of New Jersey in hatch- 

 ing shad to be placed in the Delaware. The Legislature of 

 New Jersey, I regret to sav, failed to make a similar ap- 

 propriation, and in consequence no shad were hatched for 

 that river. There.were no obstacles whatever to the ascent 



of shad in the Delaware as they come in from the sea, the 

 river is said lo be particularly adapted to their wants, and 

 with proper co-operation the supplv of shad may be im- 

 measurable increased; and I trust, therefore, that our sister 

 State will combine with our commissioners in replenishing 

 the river. 



"The success of the fish way at the Columbia dam 

 does not correspond with the public expectation, aud 

 some fears are entertained that the dam may prove an in- 

 superable barrier to the ascent of the shad. Alterations 

 in the fish way have been made with very little additional 

 cost, that will' prove an effectual test of the process cow 

 on trial, and if it is discovered that the shad will not or can- 

 not make the transit some Other channel will have to be 

 opened to enable the fish to ascend, for now that it is de- 

 monstrated that these fish can be propagated artificially to 

 an extent that will make them a constatnt and unfailing 

 source of cheap and excellent food, every form of experi- 

 ment should be exhausted before the enterprise is aban- 

 doned." 



■».*- 



Massachusetts Angler's Association. —The most in- 

 teresting and instructive meeting ever held by this associa- 

 tion, was thai of Wednesday evening, 13th inst., in their 

 rooms, corner of Washington and Essex streets, Boston. 

 After the regular routine business and election of 20 new 

 members, (lie members present, of which there was a 

 goodly number, were addrescd by Hon. E. A. Braekett, 

 one of the Massachusetts Fish Commissioners, who was 

 followed by Benj. P. Ware, Esq., of Marblchead, in one of 

 the most forcible and lucid addresses ever delivered before 

 the association, on the preservation of the deep seafisheries, 

 a subject vital to the interests of Massachusetts. M r. Ware 

 took decided stand against trawling, as simply lending to 

 the ultimate extermination of the cod, haddock and pollock 

 fisheries on our coasts, and as being destructive to their 

 habits. He also pointed out some of the evils of mackerel 

 seining, supporting Ids arguments by undeniable facts and 

 figures. 



+*+■ 



Lamer Appropriations.— The House of Representa- 

 tives shows its interest in the culture of fishes by appro- 

 priating $67,500 for the propagation of food fishes. This 

 sum is larger by $50,000 than the one given last year, and 

 proves that our legislators have some idea of advancing 

 the prosperity of the nation. They also allow a Govern- 

 ment vessel to be used in the Summer for investigating the 

 marine inhabitants of our coast, and they second the able 

 efforts of Prof. Baird in bringing to light the economic and 

 commercial resources of our waters. They could not ex- 

 pend money for any more practical purpose, for the devel- 

 oping of our food fishes is one of the most important pub- 

 lic enterprises inaugurated in a long time. 



**• ■ 



TRANSPORTING AND HATCHING. 

 X Rochester, January 12, IST5. 



ElllTOIt FOREBT AND STREAM I— 



Mr. M. A. Green, assisted by myself, has succeeded in inventing a new 

 method for transporting and hatching nearly ali kinds of listi eggs. We 

 have been experimenting for the last three years, and find that we em 

 hatch one niuUou lisli evil's by using one pail of water daily. We have 

 experimented on the following four kiuda of fish spawn, namely- 

 fish and salmon, and find it a perfect 



lift;,- I 



of yoi 



c hum 1 



ii fron 



regulated that ygi 

 red and fifty days. Wo have 

 he New York siate Hatching 

 Uonse at two different times, 

 he other only two. Ry using 

 it, spawn can be carried a 



curried li'U.OOO salmon tn 

 House to the Pennsylvania State Ualchi 

 On one Iriir we had seventeen die and o 

 litis invention with the proper managei 

 days' jonrney withontany more loss than if they remained in the hatch- 

 ing house, and by litis same invention they can be hatched iu any spare 

 room of yourhonse from the cellar to the garret. Yonrs, 



Seth Green. 



ISyFish Commissioners of States will oblige us by send- 

 ug iu their Annual Reports as soon as published. 



fintmul Mistam 



THE PERlDlCIDyE. 



EV ,1. B. UARNES. 



OF the Peridkidtr, cr Partridge family, there are seven 

 genera, two of which are European, viz: \hu I'eridix 

 and Culnrna. Of the other five genera, the Oiij/.r, (lion.) 

 Oieorli/j; (Baird,) Lophortyx, (lion.) Callipepea tWagler,) 

 and Ciirlonyx, (Gould,) there are upwards of forty varieties 

 distributed throughout the entire United States ami pontons 

 of South America. 



The Qrly.i: Yirqirdanim, (Wil.,) has probably been the 

 cause uT more controversy by various writers as lo what 

 name it should bear than any other game bird of the entire 

 United States. The cause lor such wide and various differ- 

 ences of opinions is doubtjess owing to the fact l]iat this 

 species is subject to numerous changes in size and color in 

 the localities where it exists. Yet when one lakes into 

 consideration over what a vast expanse of territory this 

 specjes is distributed, a majority ot these ppjmonB might 

 be overlooked. Extending as it does from the Eastern 

 United States to the Western plains and Texas, it has npf 

 only perplexed early writers, but judging from the numer- 

 ous boofrs on game which have been recently published, 

 those of a later date are equally bewildered. Iu portions 

 of New York, and iu nearly all of Mpw England, as flfeJJ as 

 it. manv of the Western Slates, it it eallled quail, while ill 

 Pennsylvania and in the South it is called a partridge. 

 Where the ruffed grouse is called partridge this bird |s 

 called quail, and where the qnajl is called a partridge the 

 ruffed grouse is invariably termed pheasant. .Neither of 

 these names can be correctly applied to any of on 

 can species. The name email was undoubtedly given to 

 this species by early writers, on account of its close resem- 

 blance to the 7',-trau eolurnix (Linn,) of Africa, of which 

 there are several species, only one of which, however, js 

 found in Europe. Foreign writers tell us that at certain 

 seasons of the year these birds are so numerous along the 

 shores of the Bospborus and in some of the islands of the 

 Grecian Archipelago, during the migrating seasons, the 

 sky may be said to be raining quails, They comments 



■i- 



