

-^s^ 



THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL. 



CEntered According to Act of Congress, In the year 1SS1, by the Forest and Stream Publishing Company, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.] 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 1881. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial : — 



Western Birds for Eastern Shooting ; Opening of the Trout 

 Season : Amateur Handlers ; Our Foreign Match 88 



The Sportsman Tourist :— 



Indian Folk-Lore; Jack Frost in a Florida Garden; "A 

 Trip Through the Provinces" 84 



Natural Histobi f— 



Michigan Game Nomenclature ; Masticating Power of Snakes ; 

 Fox Feeding with Bavent : Bobins : Grosbeaks 86 



Game Bags and Gun : — 



Hounding Deer ; Michigan Sportsmen's Association ; Game 

 and Sport in Newfoundland ; The Last Shooting Season in 

 Virginia ; Jack Hunting and BuckFever ; Nebraska Game : 

 How to Aim the Hunting Rifle ; Deer Killed with No. 9 

 Shot ; Notes 93 



Sea and Biter Fishing :— 



Fishing Bods ; How I Found a New Lake ; The Great Fish Ex- 

 terminator ; Strong Bait for Catfish : Grayling in Trout 

 Streams ; Brook Trout in Oceana County ; The Colorado 

 Commission ; Notes ". 90 



Fish Culture :— 



Eeport of the Maine Commission ; A Terrapin Farm ; Packing 

 Eggs; Notes .' ' 92 



The Kennel :— 



New York Bench Show ; Newport Bench Show ; Points for 

 Judging the Pointer ; More Comments ; Notes ; Kennel 

 Management ; Kennel Notes 93 



Yachting and Canoeing : — 



The Two-Ton Cruiser ; The Sharpie and Her Points ; Meas- 

 urement in a Nutshell ; Yachting NtWfl 95 



Kifle and Trap Shooting :— 



Bange and Gallery ; The Trap 97 



Answers to Correspondents 92 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



The Forest and Stream Is the recognized medium of entertainment, 

 Instruction and information between American sportsmen. 



Communications upon the subjects to which Its pages are devoted 

 are Invited from every part of the country- 

 Anonymous 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- 

 ents. 



All communications of whatever nature should be addressed to the 

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

 New York. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Thursday, March 3. 



WESTERN BIRDS FOR EASTERN 

 SHOOTING. 



« BKIEF note in last week's issue of Forest and 

 /\_ Stream called attention to a proposed movement of 

 very high importance. A number of gentlemen, of Spring- 

 field, Massachusetts, have signified their intention of procur- 

 ing from the West game birds of different species, which are 

 to be liberated here in the hope that they may firmly estab- 

 lish themselves and serve to replenish our now depleted cov- 

 ers. Such a project deserves every encouragement, and we 

 thoroughly believe that if this matter is taken hold of in the 

 right way, and the importations are made on a scale suffi- 

 ciently large, there is no reason in the world why it should 

 not eucceed. 



Among the birds which first suggest themselves to us as 

 desirable, and at the same time sufficiently hardy to bear our 

 climate, are three species of grouse. The prairie hen, as is 

 well known, is indigenous to Massachusetts, and was exter- 

 minated there, on Long Island and in New Jersey simply by 

 overshooting. The sharp-tailed grouse is still more hardy than 

 the pinnated, is more a frequenter of the timber and, so far 

 as can be judged from the facts at our command, a bird likely 

 to do better here in the East than the prairie hen. It is fond 

 of cover, though found also far from the timber, and we have 

 frequently in the Rocky Mountains killed it far up the moun- 

 tain side among the quaking aspen sprouts and in high wil- 

 low undergrowth. Along the Missouri we have often found 

 it among tall timber, but it especially delights in the under- 

 growth that always fringes the streams in the country west 

 of the Missouri. This species is indigenous to Wisconsin, 

 Minnesota and to the high dry plains of the West, and its 

 range extends into British America far to the Northward. It 

 is thus able to endure a temperature much more severe than 

 anything to which it would be exposed here. Whether the 

 low elevation and more humid atmosphere of the Eastern States 



would operate unfavorably against the species is a question 

 that can only be decided by experiment. We hope to see it 

 decided. 



From the time when we first became familiar with the 

 dusky grouse in the grand old mountains of the Territories 

 we have felt that the introduction of this superb species to 

 the Eastern covers was something greatly to be desired. It 

 is an inhabitant of the higher mountains of the West and 

 seems to prefer just such localities as are frequented by our 

 own ruffed grouse. Like the latter it is a swift flyer, and the 

 man who starts a bird in the thick cover has no very great 

 amount of time in which to decide whether he will or will 

 not shoot. As a table bird it is quite the equal of its-New 

 England cousin and, like it, is white meated, well flavored 

 and game. It is, however, more than twice the size of the 

 ruffed grouse, weighing up to four pounds. On the whole, 

 it is one of the very finest of North America's game birds 

 and, if it could be naturalized in the East, would soon he as 

 highly prized by sportsmen as any bird we have. - 



Besides these three grouse there are two of the Pacific 

 Coast quails, the Mountain and the Valley that we feel confi- 

 dent would do well in sections of the East suited to them. 

 But about these two species we have already expressed our 

 views. 



The first question that arises with regard to tliis proposed 

 importation of game birds relates to the possibility of obtain- 

 ing them in any quantity, but we think that iu regard to the 

 pinnated and sharp-tailed grouse and the two species of quail 

 there should be no difficulty whatsoever in securing all that 

 might be needed. It would bo well, if possible, to obtain 

 this spring eggs of the grouse, as well as to secure, at once if 

 possible, a number of the old birds. No better time than the 

 present could be chosen for the latter purpose, for in many 

 parts of the country where they are most abundant the snow 

 lies deep on the ground, food is scarce and the birds might 

 be trapped without difficulty. We have no doubt that many 

 of those who read these lines are in a position to furnish our 

 Springfield friends with birds at a moderate cost. A few 

 years ago live pinnated grouse could be bought in large num- 

 bers in this city, and we have no doubt that by a little exer- 

 tion they might now be obtained. As to procuring the dusky 

 grouse or their eggs, we confess that we arc unable to give 

 any suggestions. We know many localities where the birds 

 breed, but they are not within easy reach of the sportsman 

 now, or during the breeding season. If there are any of our 

 readers who could obain either the birds or the eggs we should 

 be glad to hear from them on the subject. The California 

 quail could be obtained without difficulty and if properly 

 treated would very likely breed in confinement. 



Tf the eggs of the grouse could be obtained they might be 

 hatched under small hens and attempt made to rear the young 

 in confinment. We have ho doubt that the pinnated grouse 

 might be reared in this way, and in that case they would be- 

 come as tame as ordinary fowls and would probably breed 

 regularly. Some wild prairie chickens which we kept through 

 part of a winter, a few years since, became so tame that in 

 spring they came close to a man who was spading the garden 

 and scratched in the fresh earth at his feet. We presume 

 that the sharp-tailed grouse would be less easily tamed, but 

 it seems reasonable to hope that they might eventually breed 

 in confinement. 



We know too little of the facilities which the gentlemen 

 who propose to undertake this excellent work have, for keep- 

 ing the birds in confinement, or for carefully protecting them, 

 if they are to be turned out to shift for themselves, to be able 

 to predict the success of this experiment. Surely, however, 

 it is worth a trial. To undertake it with any hope of carry- 

 ing it to a happy termination, however, it is essential that 

 the work should be undertaken on a large scale. To turn 

 out ten or twenty pairs of birds will simply be to waste so 

 much money. We would not think of commencing opera- 

 tions with less than fifty pairs of each species, and one hun- 

 dred pairs would be better. We are convinced that there are 

 very many sportsmen in Massachusetts and indeed through- 

 put the New England States who would be glad to contribute 

 liberally in support of such a movement as the one contem- 

 plated, and we sincerely hope to see it carried through. 

 Should it take definite shape and the managers proceed to 

 secure their birds we shall be pleased to do anything in our 

 power to aid them. 



OPENING OF THE TROUT SEASON. 



HOW many an old angler's heart will leap as he sees this 

 heading I How visions of former seasons flit down 

 the trail of memory of those who recall a half a century of 

 trouting ! Scarce a moccasin track is to be observed close at 

 hand say for ten years or so, but with a raised eye the veteran 

 glances past these and observes the trail broadening into a 

 path which is well defined at a distance of three to five dec- 

 ades, and then slowly fades into the prairie grass of oblivion. 

 The last figure is of a barefooted country boy who has thrown 

 away his alder sapling and triumphantly brings home a string 

 of trout on a piece of his fish-line. The boy looks as whole- 

 some as the trout and his flush of health is not dimmed by 

 the contrast as he lifts his prize to the height of his shoulder 

 to show it to his mother, who has brought her knitting to the 

 door in answer to his triumphant whoop. Blessings on his 

 happy heart; that innocent face under the ragged straw hat 

 does not look like the face which the old banker sees in the 

 glass; is it possible that oue has grown into the other ? The 

 boy is gone; he died when he first went to the city to dabble 

 in other pools than those where the trout live. He did not 

 feel the change, but as he now sits in his easy chair with a 

 copy of Forest akd Stiskam in his hand announcing the 

 trout opening, he feels that he was the boy who died and his 

 heart beats as it has not beaten in months, and f jrgetting his 

 gout, he opens a drawer and lookB over his tackle. 



The opening brings other views to the naturalist and the 

 epicure who think of the display to be held in Fulion Market 

 and how it has grown in size and interest from a few speci- 

 mens from Long Island to its present state wheu the amber 

 specimens from Lonj, Island lie side by side with the dark 

 Canadians and the .rainbow-sided gems from California with 

 perhaps a few specimens from abroad Here our fisheultur- 

 ists love to congregate j and this reminds us that this year it 

 is the intention of Mr. Blackford to make a display of fishcul- 

 tural apparatus as well as fish, and he invites loans or contri- 

 butions. Other species of fish which are cultivated will also 

 be shown, if sent, but we caution our friends not to have 

 their trout arrive in New York before the 1st of April or 

 they will not be received, no matter where they are caught. 



AMATEUR HANDLERS. 



IN this country, and more especially in our large cities, 

 where time is money — and there is no denying that much 

 of that valuable commodity is egregiously cut into ribbons by 

 "going a- shooting "—the task of training one's own dogs is 

 no easy matter. Dog-training, therefore, has to contend against 

 mercantile business habits and has become a business of it- 

 self. Moat of our city men have not the time to train their 

 own dogs nor are there within the eisy access of our cities 

 favorable localities which afford them opportunity for work- 

 ing their dogs. Therefore a very large class of men, lovers 

 of the dog, turn over their puppies to be handled and brought 

 up in the way they should go by professional dog-breakers, 

 and indeed without this useful class of men many good 

 sportsmen would either forego the pleasure, of breeding their 

 own stock, and relinquish the field altogether, or they would 

 be entirely dependent upon the market which offers "full- 

 grown and well-trained dogs " for sale. 



In vast sections.of our country, however, and in the rural 

 districts, where there is time to breathe and where every- 

 thing is not on the bounce and everybody on the bound, 

 there is a large class of amateur sportsmen who can take a 

 few hours almost at any time from their business and who do 

 take a pleasure in breaking their own dogs. To those who 

 can devote their leisure moments to the high art of dog- 

 breaking we will say that if they choose they can learn much 

 while giving instruction, for if the task of training a dog in- 

 culcates anything it preaches and practices patience, it en- 

 forces self-control, it eliminates irascibility, it displays the 

 excellence of discipline and it is the "open sesame" to the 

 field where the highest quality of sport iB to be found. 



To determine whether the amateur is content to give his 

 dog an inferior education, or whether he will acquire great 

 proficiency in the art of dog-handling, we cannot think of 

 any better plan the one suggested by us a few weeks ago— 

 the offering of prizes for amateur handlers. We believe that 

 this should call out a number of proficients who up to thi.« 



