THE AMERICAN 



[Entered According to Act ot Congress, In the year 1BS1, by tlie Forest and stream Publishing Company, In the Office ol the Librarian ol jCongress, at Washington.] 



L Year. 10 Cts. a 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1881. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial : — 



Opening of the Tront Season ; New Facts on Game Protection ; 

 Assembly Bill Number 242 1 43 



The Sportsman Tourist : — 



The Yoyageura of the Upper Lakes ; A Trip to Currituck M4 



Natural Hisionr: — 



About Deer ; Habits of the Fox ; Introduction of English 

 ilabbits ; Pine Grosbeak j Domestication of Quail 145 



Game Bao and Gun :— 



The Winter and the Birds— Pull Report of the Game Pros- 

 pects in New Jersey by Towns and Counties ; Death of The 

 Fox ; Law-Breakers Alarmed - 146 



Sea and River Fishing : — 



Recollections of Trouting in Switzerland ; Three Days' Sport 

 on the Rangeleys ; Ply-Casting Tournament 151 



Fish Cot/tube :— 



Angling; The Rhode Island Commission; Damage to the 

 Salmon-Breeding Ranch ; The McDonald FiBhway ; 

 Striped Bass in California ; Iehthyological Notes 152 



The Kennel : — 



Champion Rush ; Noma ; Wanted, a Woodchuck Dog ; Pure 

 Laverock Setters in England ; Notes 153 



Rifle and Trap Shooting ;— 



Range and Gallery ; The Trap ; Useful Trap-Shooting Ap- 

 pliance ; Matches 166 



Yachting and Canoeing ; — 



The America Cup ; The McManus Sea Anchor ; A Turn to 

 Windward With a Sharpie ; Canvas Boats 157 



Answebs to Correspondents 15S 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



The Forest and Stream Is the recognized medium ot entertainment, 

 Instruction and Information between American sportsmen. 



Communications upon the subjects to which Its pages are devoted 

 are Invited ti-om 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 he 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 Row, 

 New York. 



NEW FACTS ON GAME PROTECTION. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Thursday, March 24. 



THE COMING TROUT SHOW. 



WE have received an elegant chromo made expressly for 

 Mr. Blackford's invitation " to inspect all procur- 

 able varieties of trout " and other cultivated fish, at Fulton 

 Market, on the 1st and 2d of April. The card is really 

 a gem, and worthy of a frame. It represents a trout in the 

 foreground inspecting a gaudy insect, while in the back an 

 angler is wading a rapid stream, which tumbles over the 

 rocks in such a natural manner as to make us wish to be 

 there. On the next page is the invitation, flanked by rod 

 and lauding net, while a charming rural scene with tumbling 

 water stands above. 



We hope our fishculturists will send Mr. Blackford speci- 

 mens of their apparatus and implements, for which he asks 

 in our advertising columns, as this may be the means of in- 

 augurating a yearly exhibition of fish culture which may ex- 

 tend in future years to a great fishery exhibition. Mr. 

 Blackford's "trout openings" have grown from the ordinary 

 display of a dealer into what they now are, interesting studies 

 for the angler, the ichthyologist, and the epicure, and are 

 already as large as the limits of the dingy old market will 

 allow. Great credit is due Mr. Blackford for these displays, 

 for he is the only fishmonger who sinks all considerations of 

 profit and brings specimens from all parts of our own coun- 

 try, even from the far Pacific coast and from Europe, at a 

 cost of one hundred times their market value, to treat the 

 public to a comparative view of the different species and 

 varieties, filling his slabs with them to the detriment of his 

 other business. For all of which the trout, at least, owe him 

 much gratitude. 



A 1 



A Liege Number op Replies to our queries in regard to 

 the comparative effect on the game of still hunting and 

 hounding deer are now on our table awaiting publication. 

 Just at present the pressure upon our space is so great that 

 this matter must be laid over for a week or two. Corres- 

 pondents who have furnished us with their views on this im- 

 portant topic will understand that their articles will all ap- 

 pear at the same time, 



SATISFACTORY and sufficient plan for game protec- 

 tion is One of the most pressing necessities of the 

 times. Tear by year the sportsman sees the game in locali- 

 ties easily accessible to him becoming more scarce ; year by 



perience have been found to differ widely about the matter. 

 It has seemed to us, therefore, that the most certain and 

 satisfactory way of arriving at a definite conclusion would 

 be to make a thorough canvass of some one section, obtaining 

 if possible reports from at least two different individuals in 

 each town. Reports from the West seemed to indicate that 



year he has to travel further and work harder in order to the birds had suffered less than in the East, and it was, 



secure the objects of his pursuit, and year by year his re- 

 ward, in proportion to the energy expended, is 1> ss than it 

 waa in former times. That a satisfactory and efficient code 

 of game laws will ultimately be enacted and enforced we 

 cannot doubt, but before such a consummation can be 

 reached it is highly probable that, in many of the more 

 densely populated sections of the country, wild game will 

 have entirely disappeared. We can call to mind too many 

 localities, where twenty years ago quail and ruffed grouse 

 were quite abundant, which are now so destitute of these 

 birds that one of them in a state of nature would be regarded 

 by the iuha -itants with unqualified admiration and curiosity. 

 The longer such complete extermination for any locality can 

 be postponed the better, and the men who shoot and fish, 

 appreciating the position of affairs and foreseeing that unless 

 something is done the outlook is most discouraging, are now 

 displaying more energy in restocking our covers and waters 

 than ever before. Probably there have never been so many 

 quail in confinement as there are at present. The almost 

 unparalleled severity of the past winter has undoubtedly de- 

 stroyed a very large number of the birds in the north, and 

 lealizing this, many persons are importing quail from the 

 Southern States, where the suffering has been less, and are 

 putting them down on the laud where they do their own 

 shooting. If the birds do well and cau be preserved till the 

 beginning of the season, it is obviously cheaper to do this 

 than to travel some hundreds of miles for a few days' shoot- 

 ing when the season opens. 



There are still many places withiu easy reach of New York 

 where fair bags, say from eight to fifteen birds to a gun, can 

 be made ; but in too many localities where a few years ago 

 birds were fairly abundant they are now unknown. Such 

 localities are numerons in New York and Connecticut, and 

 no doubt in other States. Where this is the case the birds 

 have simply yielded to their enemies in the struggle for ex- 

 istence, and can by lestocking and proper protection be made 

 as abundant as ever. Reasonable game laws, strictly en- 

 forced, a short period for selling after the close of the season, 

 a bounty on hawks, owls and foxes, and proper attention to 

 restocking will in tbe future give us fair shooting. 



Perhaps the most serious difficulty with which we have to 

 contend in preserving the quail is the weather. It must be 

 remarked that as any part of the country becomes more and 

 more thickly settled, the swamps and underbrush are cut off, 

 the land cleared, the hedgerows carefully trimmed, and little 

 cover is left for the birds. Unless a general and organized 

 effort to find and shelter the birds is made by farmers and 

 sportsmen residing in the country, a single severe winter 

 may undo the work of years of careful protection. The past 

 season has been a hard one, and large numbers of quail have 

 undoubtedly perished from cold and hunger, yet it has not 

 been one of those in which the quail of a whole section are 

 swept out of existence in a single night. The birds that 

 have died this winter would seem, for the most part, to have 

 perished one by one of cold and hunger. The snows have 

 been so deep that all the food has been covered up, and lay 

 upon the ground so long that the birds, weakened by starva- 

 tion, readily yielded to the bitter cold. Moreover, the snow 

 line this year extended so much farther south than usual that 

 it has reached birds wholly unaccustomed to any great degree 

 of cold, and thus wholly unfitted to withstand the severities 

 of the season. We have, however, had none of the heavy 

 snow-storms, changing during the night to cold rain, and 

 thus forming a crust which effectually prevents the escape of 

 the poor little prisoners beneath. 



In order that we may have an adequate conception of what 

 is required for the more perfect preservation of our game, it 

 is essential that we should obtain all the facts possible with 

 regard to it, and keep ourselves constantly informed as to its 

 condition. With this in view, it has appeared to us particu- 

 larly desirable to learn as nearly as possible just how the 

 quail have fared this winter in our middle districts. Various 

 opinions have been expressed on the subject, and men of ex- 



therefore, after mature consideration, determined to limit the 

 proposed inquiry to the State of New Jersey. 



The geographical position of this State makes it particu- 

 larly favorable for such an inquiry, its northern extremity 

 is in about the same latitude with New Haven, Conn., while 

 its southern is on the same parallel with Washington. 

 Reaching as it does so far to the north and south, it may 

 fairly be supposed to represent the condition of things which 

 exists in Southern New York and Connecticut, in Pennsyl- 

 vania, and a portion of Maryland and Delaware. It thus 

 really covers more ground than any other single State that 

 could have been selected. 



We have been fortunate in securing from our hundreds of 

 correspondents scattered through New Jersey very full re- 

 ports of the present condition of the game there. Many of 

 these reports are models of conciseness, and in most instances 

 we have printed them almost without alteration, or, if it was 

 necessary to condense them, have preserved the style of the 

 writer and have given his facts as he stated them. 



We have preferred to print the reports in full rather than 

 to content ourselves with summarizing them, in order that 

 each of our readers may see for himself precisely what the 

 sportsmen of New Jersey think of game prospects in that 

 State for this fall. 



Never before has such an inquiry as the present one been 

 set on foot in this country, and we think it not too much to 

 say that the movement is a long step in the direction 

 of intelligeut game protection. One important result 

 of our investigations will be to furnish to the New Jersey 

 Legislature some definite information on which to base cer- 

 tain proposed changes in the game laws, information the like 

 of which no legislative body has ever before had access to. 



We think that sportsmen generally will appreciate the 

 value of the statistics which we print to-day, and it is un- 

 necessary to dilate on the subject. No one, however, can 

 appreciate the amount of labor and expense entailed in the 

 compilation of such a complete report, and one covering so 

 thoroughly such an extent of territory. These are expendi- 

 tures which we shall not grudge if the cause of game protec- 

 tion has been served by our efforts. 



We* have once or twice heard it suggested by en- 

 vious people that the Fobkst and Stbeam was " aristo- 

 cratic," that it favored measures which would make 

 the enjoyment of legitimate sport by the poor man 

 more difliculL. When the course of this journal is ex- 

 amined, so childish and untrue a statement scarcely needs de- 

 nial. We urge the passage and enforcement of stiingent 

 laws in order that the game at our doors may be preserved. 

 The rich man can travel to distant fields where game is 

 plenty, and can have his shooting whether the laws are en- 

 forced or not. With the poor man it is not so ; he has to 

 take his day or his half day in the field when he can get it, 

 and has neither the time nor the money to travel far in 

 search of game. It is, therefore, the man of modest means 

 who is or should be interested in game preservation even 

 more than he whose fortune is ample. But no question of 

 class or fortune should enter into a question of this kind. All 

 men, and especially all sportsmen, ought to be of one mind 

 on this matter, and all should unite with' the heartiest good 

 will in furthering to the utmost of their ability any plan that 

 will bring about the end we all so much desire. 



To Advektisebs. — We have recently made arrangements 

 by which during the next six months we shall circulate, in 

 addition to our regular large weekly edition, six thousand 

 copies of the Fobest and Stbeam in the United States and 

 Europe. This large extra edition will be mailed from the 

 office of publication in single wrappers and singly addressed 

 to the best names in the more important towns of the Union. 

 As our advertising space is limited and is now almost full, 

 those who desire to make especial efforts to secure the spring 

 trade, would do well to secure what space they need in good 

 time. 



