THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL. 



[Entered According to Act of Congre33, to the year issi, by the Forest and Stream Publishing Company, to the Office ot the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.] 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1881. 



.v, IVcto YoiK. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial : — 



Importing Foreign Birds ; WUy It Should Not Be Passed ; 

 Now Jersey and its Game Laws; The Fly Casting Tourna- 

 ment ; The Angler's lietroapeetlon ; A Now Birlo Organ ... 13 



The SroB-rsMAN Tourist :— 



After the Last Kick ; A Hunt for Fish in Nevada 44 



Natural Historst:— 



Two King* of the Feathered Baees: California Quail; Habits of 

 Huffed Grouse ; Pine Grosbeak in Sew England ; Philadel- 

 phia Notts : Wintering in Maine ; Devoured by Wolves ; 

 Birds at the Window ; What Do They Mean by It ? 46 



G.UIE Bag and Gdn :— 



Hints on Deer Shooting : Michigan Spoilsmen's Association : 

 New York Association; Match Ilimis ; Urappm;; N'.I-t ;. 

 Forks of the Kennebec ; Sport about Greeley ; " Bagging " 

 Boliius ; Blue Grass Club ; Hounding Deer ; Massachusetts 

 Law ; Notes 74 



Sea and Biveb Fishing :— 



Eel Spearing by Torchlight ; The Saiblins! or Bavarian Char ; 

 Spearing Buffalo ; Oil Your Eeels ; Eange of Catfish ; 

 Poachers ; The English Fisheries Exhibition , 50 



Fish Cultube : — 



Central Fishcultural Society ; Fish Culture in Tennessee ; Re- 

 port of, the Deutsche Fisehorei Voreiu ; Fish Culture in 

 England ; Cave and Trout Pond ; Sending Young Eggs 

 Dry ; Damage to the Carp Ponds 52 



The Kennel :— 



Alexandra Palace Dog Show ; Philadelphia Kennel Chat; Fa- 

 vorite Dogs : Hint to Spurgeon ; The Cocker Club ; East- 

 ern Field Trials Club : English Setters ; Dinmont Suckling 

 Kittens ; New York Dog Show ; Prizes for Beagles ; Kennel 

 Notes ; Kennel Management 53 



YAonTiNo and Canoeing :— 



Boats for Shallow Waters ; Single-Handera ; Yachting News. . 60 



Bifle and Tiur- Shooting : — 



Baugo and Gallery ; The Trap 57 



Answers to Cokrespondexts 58 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



The Forkst Axn Stream Is the recognized medium ot entertainment. 

 Instruction and Information between American sportsmen. 

 Communications upon the subjects to which Its pages are devoted 



Auonyns ms communications will not be regarded. No correspond- 

 ent's name will be published except with his consent. 

 The Editors cannot be held responsible, for the views of correspond- 

 All communications of whatever nature should be addressed to the 

 Forest and Stream Publishing Company, Nos. 39 and 40 Park Bow, 

 New York. 



FOREST AND STREA] 



Thursday, February 17. 



INTRODUCING FOREIGN BIRDS. 



THE suggestion of a correspondent elsewhere will njeet 

 with a ready response in the hearts of many of our 

 readers. Unfortunately, however, it is not altogether easy 

 to carry out sueh a plan as the one which he advocates. 

 At various times a number of the most admired European 

 birds have been turned out in the vicinity of New York, but 

 without any very satisfactory result. 



In transporting a species of bird to a new country and 

 firmly establishing it in its new home there are many diffi- 

 culties to he overcome. Most important among these are the 

 changed climatic conditions to which the introduced species 

 is exposed, and which in most cases it knows not how to es- 

 cape. Then, too, it is exposed to the attacks of new ene- 

 mies, which, perhaps, it has not yet learned to fear and, on 

 the whole, under the altered conditions of its life it has not 

 the benefit of that experience which is so necessary to suc- 

 cess in the great and unintermilting struggle for existence 

 which is going on in the organic world. 



The attempt to introduce a new animal, whether it he 

 mammal, bird or fish, must, under ordinary conditions, take 

 place on a large scale, if it is to be successful. The introduc- 

 tion of the migratory quail to our fauna is not yet an estab- 

 lished fact, even thongh thousands of the birds were turned 

 out under very favorable conditions, at different times and in 

 different localities, and though all classes of our population 

 united to protect them so far as it was possible to do so. 



The idea of introducing the skylark is not a new one, but 

 the attempts which have been made in this direction do not 

 seem to have been crowned with any marked degree of suc- 

 cess. In 1874 Mn Henry Reiche turned out fifty pairs of 

 these birds, which established themselves on Long Island, 

 near Newton ; but beyond the occasional killing of a speci- 

 men or two each summer for a few years subsequent to that, 

 date, but little has been heard of the birds. The Cincinnati 

 Acclimatization Society freed a number of skylarks previous 

 to 1874, and it was at one time said that the birds did well in 

 this locality and were becoming numerous near that city. 

 We should be glad to hear from any of our Cincinnati read- 

 ers, and indeed from ail those interested in the subject of ac- 

 climatization, any facts which they may be able to furnish us 

 wdiich bear upon this topic. 



Skylarks arc not the only European birds that have been 

 turned out here. The starling, the English blackbird, chaf- 

 finch and pheasant, the Java sparrow and the Japanese finch 

 are all reported to have been introduced at various times 

 in the Central Park, but we know of no rec- 

 ord of the results of the experiments. That some 

 of them survived and bred seems, however, probable 

 from captures that have recently taken place. One of the 

 most noteworthy of these was the killing of an English 

 blackbird in New Jersey near the Hudson River last May. 

 The collector was killiDg warblers for a taxidermist when lie 

 discovered the bird sitting onastonewall, whistling, as he said, 

 "exactly like a robin/' He killed it, supposing it so be a 

 melanistic robin. It showed no evidences of ever having 

 been caged, and it seems fair to suppose that it may have 

 been a descendant of those turned out in the Park long ago. 

 Last December a starling was killed ou Blackwell's Island 

 and brought to Wallace's to be stuffed. It was clean and 

 smooth in its plumage, and did not look like a caged bird. 



If any steps are to be taken toward the introduction of 

 foreign birds to this country they should be taken at once. 

 It does not follow that because the. English sparrow has 

 proved a nuisance other birds would do so. Our readers will 

 remember that Col. Rhoades, of Quebec, urged some lime 

 ago the introduction of the English blackbird, and left with 

 us a substantial contribution toward a fund to bo used for 

 this purpose. The Forest and Stream would be glad to 

 contribute to so laudable a project, and if any of our readers 

 are similarly inclined they can communicate with us, and if 

 enough money can be raised to make success seem fairly 

 probable we will set the ball in motion. 



r~ •♦ — . 



WHY IT SHOULD NOT BE PASSED. 



THE new game law, proposed for this State and drawn 

 up by a committee of one wholesale game-and-fish 

 dealer and two sportsmen, will permit woodcock shootiug 

 from July 1st to August 1st. This is one good and sufficient 

 reason why the hill should not be passed. 



Section 11 provides that snarers aud trappers of birds, 

 railroad employees who peddle snared or trapped birds and 

 market-men who deal in snared or trapped birds cannot be 

 punished for such offense until it shall have been proved 

 that the trapping, peddling and sale was "willful." This is a 

 second good and sufficient reason why the bill should not be 



Section 34 provides that woodcock, quail and ruffed 

 grouse may be sold in the markets for five weeks after the 

 expiration of the legal time for killing that game. This is a 

 third good and sufficient reason why the bill should not be 

 passed. 



The same section provides for the sale of venison for two 

 months after the expiration of the legal time for killing that 

 game. This is the re r rigerator amendment " compromised," 

 and affords a fourth good and sufficient reason why the bill 

 should not he passed. 



Section 88 provides for the appointment of so-called 

 "county game protectors," to whom — in case the " willful " 

 provision fails— offenders may, upon detection, make volun- 

 tarly surrender of snared or trapped birds, and thereby se- 

 cure for themselves immunity from prosecution. By a like 

 voluntary surrender dealers who are detected in illegal traffic 

 in game may secure similar immunity. This is a fifth good 

 and sufficient reason why the bill should not be passed. 



In short, as we pointed out last week, successive clauses 

 are so worded as to render wholly inoperative any attempt 



to punish the illegal killing of game and the illegal traffic in 

 game. The bill, if made a law, would encourage and pro- 

 tect the destruction of game out of season. Although going 

 to Albany ostensibly from the Long Island Sportsmen's As- 

 sociation, it is in reality the work of certain New York mar- 

 ketnien; but it does not represent the views of the most sen- 

 sible and far-seeing deakrs, nor can it be indorsed by all the 

 members of the Long Island Association. 



It was announced when this movement wis first talked of 

 that the bill would be presented at Albany by the regular 

 Standing Committee of the New York State Association. 

 That plan has not been adhered to, probably for the very 

 good reason that the committee would not father such a bill. 

 It will instead be presented by the unequally-yoked committee 

 of refrigerator mnrketman aud sportsmen. 



The hill ought to defeat itself ; if it. does not, it should be 

 defeated by the earnest efforts of the sportsmen of the State 

 of New York. 



NEW JERSEY AND ITS GAME LAWS. 



BOTH the old and recent i ecords of the State of New 

 Jersey, now in the possession of its Historical Society, 

 show that from its earliest settlement, in about 1618, downto 

 the present time, it has been a natural section wherein almost 

 varie'y of game has abounded. The geological features of 

 the State are so diversified that it has offered a home and a 

 breeding'irjluce for both upland and aquatic birds. Its direct 

 coast line of 120 miles, exclusive of the shores on the Dela- 

 ware, Raritan and Newark bays, aud its tide meadows tra- 

 versed by numerous tidal watercourses; its grand iulaud 

 lakes hidden away in the fastness of the northern mountains, 

 and its low drowned lauds, watered by broad rivers and 

 spriDgy streams, have all in turn teemed with wild fowl ami 

 other aquatic birds. The surface of the northern portion of 

 the State is mountainous, the central portion hilly, and the 

 southern low and gently undulating. At the north the drum- 

 ming of the ruffed grouse has kept awake the echoes of the 

 mountains, while far below in the wide and beautiful valleys 

 nestling at their feet the quail has made merry with its kind. 

 Along the mountain swales and in the lowland swamps the 

 woodcock has brcdin greatnumbers, audio the boggy bottoms 

 the English snipe has paid its visits twice a year. The same 

 variety of game has also been scattered over the central and 

 southern portions of the State, where the ruffed grouse, and 

 more particularly the quail, were found in far greater num- 

 bers than was the woodcock. 



It was along the seaboard in the lower section of the State 

 that, more than one hundred years ago, the pinnated grouse 

 (prairie chicken) was found to be plentiful. In those days 

 they were simply called "the grouse," thus distinguishing 

 them from the ruffed grouse, which were termed then as now 

 " the pheasant." An exceedingly interesting letter is now in 

 our possession, the graceful writer of which was Mrs. Rich- 

 ard Bachc, the only daughter of Benjamin Franklin. It was 

 written to her daughter then residing in Philadelphia, aud 

 describes the return of her husband from a shooting trip of 

 ten days "beyond the pines," with a large wagon-load of 

 grouse. It appears that Mr. Cache was a great lover of 

 shooting, aud that every autumn he and a party of gentle- 

 men, one of whom was Mr. Iugraham of Philadelphia, used 

 to drive from Mr. Bache's (stale on the Delaware River, in 

 a large covered wagon, which contained stores, cooking uten- 

 sils and a famous negro cook, to enjoy magnificent sport, 

 over several superb pointers which had been sent to Mr. 

 Bacho from Settle in Yorkshire, England. Game laws then 

 did not disturb the sportsman's mind, and the materialized 

 bug-a-boo called the " pot-hunter" had not yet been hatched 

 out. But although no legal reslraint was placed upon those 

 who handled the "fowling piece," yet there were moral les- 

 sons instilled by old Mother England that did far more than 

 all the game laws that have ever been cooked up in this coun- 

 try to save and protect, at the proper seasons, the denizens of 

 the mead and woodland. 



Grand and good old times must these have been, when the 

 gun was safe from being knocked out of the sportsman's 

 hands hy every passing train ! Refrigerators were not eveu 

 dreamed of, and market men and legislators were not then 

 hand-in-glovc. It saddens us to see some of the game law 

 tinkers of to-day, mere reflections cast upon a soiled sheet 

 from the sooty lanterns of the professional game dealers, and 



