164 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 7, 1881 



million salmoa! While he was in Congress he had advocated 

 the propagation of fish, and James A. Garfield had voted to 

 carry on the work. Now Garfield is President of the United 

 States and the speaker is president of the Fishcullural As- 

 sociation. If part of the work of the association is to find 

 presidents we can supply them for ages to come. Before the 

 advent of the Smithsonian in fishciilture we all knew a little 

 ichthyology, but now they make new names so fast that wc 

 can't keep up, and he. would call on Prof. Goode to give us 

 the latest atrocity in nomenclature. 



Prof. Goode said that perhaps the President would be best 

 pleased with the restoration of the Russian name for the 

 California salmon, which was now One rliynchus t-s-ch-a-t- 

 a-t-c-h-a (wc hope we do not mistake the spelling), and jlp 

 would leave the gentleman to pronounce it as he chose. 



Mr. Fenardent caught the word "restoration," and im- 

 mediately bethought him of the Cesnola statues, but his 

 mistake was kindly corrected when the President remarked 

 that while on the subject of words he would say that a gen- 

 tleman had proposed a new Greek word for a class of fhhes 

 to-day, at the fisheultural meeting, which the author got 

 stuck in pronouncing, and he now called on Mr. Mather to 

 tell what it was and what it really meant. The gentleman 

 referred to stated that it was late in tlte day to remember 

 Greek words said in the morning, but that if the word was 

 Greek to the worthy President, he would assure the members 

 that it was also Greek to him. Mr. Hill was called on to 

 know what relation the Long Island Railroad bore to fish- 

 culture, and replied that it was built entirely to afford facili- 

 ties for this association to go a-fishing, and to bring skates to 

 the President of the Ichthyophagous club, and referred to Mr. 

 Lallan for confirmation. Mr. Lallan stated that his principal 

 duties on that road had been to refuse passes to the President 

 of the Fishcultural and his friends ; that he had more than 

 earned his salary during the past year and had been promised 

 an assistant. 



Judge Gedney rose to inquire if the skate which had been 

 eaten to-night was of the roller or parlor variety; and from 

 this time until 11:30 the wit flashed with such brilliancy that 

 Seighornor turned down the gas in order that the fire depart- 

 ment might not be called out, and our eyes were dazzled so 

 that it was no longer possible to take notes. We remember, 

 however, that Mr. Evans spoke of the excellence .of Ver- 

 mont trout ; and that Mayor Fly was called to account, for 

 the great numbers of little eels, after which the " good 

 nights" were said and all retired to drejui of tkates eating 

 chicken halibut on the half shell, or blue points pointing at 

 the young eels which were running down the President's 

 chair-back. 



All of Ovr Readeks will purusc with interest the very 

 full mid exhaustive account of brant shooting on the Massa- 

 chusetts coast which we publish this week. The autho: is 

 an old brant shooter, and is thoroughly familiar with the par- 

 ticular phase of this sport which he describes, and no one 

 could speak more authorati vely on Die subject than he. 



The Monomoy Brautiug Club is certainly to be congratu- 

 lated on its prosperouscondition, and on the excellent sport 

 which its members enjoy. 



Tiik FisncuLTUiiM. Association.— We give this week 

 merely a synopsis of the proceedings of the late meeting, but 

 Will give a full report of the transactions, papers and debates 

 in future issues, It was one of the most agreeable meetings 

 which the association has ever held, and the character of the 

 papers read was fully equal to that of any previous meeting. 

 The papers by Profs. Goode and At water were exceedingly 

 valuable. 



PROTECTION OF INTRODUCED GAME. 



We print below the full text of a bill passed at the last 

 session of the .\eiv Jersey Legislature and approved by the 

 Governor, March 7, 188L Such a law has been greatly 

 needed by those interested in game protection, who have 

 heretofore, when they turned out these birds, had no security 

 that even the breeders let loose by them would not be shot 

 or trapped by selfish or pot-hunting individuals. 



Tne step taken by the New Jersey Legislature is in the 

 right direction, and all friends of game protec ion will feel 

 encouraged at the action taken by this body. It is earnestly 

 to be hoped that other flutes will follow in the footsteps of 

 New Jersey, and that at no distant day we may feel confident 

 that birds not indigenous to the East may, at least, have a 

 fair chance to establish themselves here before they become. 

 objects of pursuit to the sportsman. 



The text of the bill referred to is as follows ; 

 Chapter lxxvtu. 



Ail Act to Protect and Propagate uVoksc or Prairie Pons}, 



1. Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly af the State 

 or New Jersey, That where any pardon or game elub shall, at their 

 own expense, procure any grouse or prairie lowl, and turn out the 

 same upon his or their lands or game preserve, and the same or 

 their offspring shall stray W S" npari the lands of others, it shall 

 not be lawful for any person other than the owner of said lauds or 

 member of said game club to shoot any grouse or prairie fowl, and 

 no person shall trap or catch the same. 



2. And be it enacted, That any person other than those author- 

 ized by section one, shooting grouso or prairie fowl, or found 

 catching with trap or any other device, any grouse or prairie fowl 

 shall, upon proof and conviction thereof, before any justice of the 

 peace of the county wherciu the olf .use wa» committed, or any 

 other court of competent jurisdiction, pay to the treasurer, for 

 the use of said game club, or to the person turning out the same, 

 as the case may be, for every sucli grouse or prairie fowl the sum 

 of ten dollars, with cost of suit, or an imprisonment in the county 

 jnil not exceeding throe months, or both, at tbe discretion of tha 

 court. 



8. And be it enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any person 

 to kill, by gun or in any other manner, any grouse or prairie fowl, 

 between the first day of December aiid the fifteenth day of Octo- 

 ber, yearly and eve±y year ; every person so offending shall be sub- 

 ject to the penalties named in section tsvo of this act. 



4. And be it enacted, That every member of any association or 

 organized game club in this State, luraiug out any grouse or 

 prairie fowl upon their lauds or game preserve, shall bo and are 

 hereby empowered to prosecute, either in hi* own individual name 

 or the name of the gain? club of which ho is a member, for the 

 penalties above prescribed for the violations of tbe provisions of 

 this act. 



5. And be it enacted, That this a:-t shall ci ntinne in force for a 

 period of five years. 



6. And he it enacted, That this shall bo deemed a public act and 

 take effect immediately. 



Qui-s'crcih.e, *<iccu.se. 



yottzmzii WonmU 



Winkle fallen 



asleep on Cape 



uklon waking 



have 1. .iiiid the 



jtamorphosed a 



s thoroughly as 



cetbebarorisl; 



ml of which we 



1 between it ai 



d another sin. i- 



i tbe comtnen 



!C of the town 



a shifiiug cu 



rrent tilled the 



BRANT-SHOOTLNG AT CAPE COD. 



WITH A liKlEF SKETCH OP THE MOSOMOT BEASTIXO CLUB. 



BRANT-SHOOTING is a peculiar kind of sport that but 

 few have indulged iu. There are many obstacles in 

 the way. The haunts of the birds are few and isolated, their 

 feeding grounds limited, their sojourn brief; nor can any de- 

 gree ot success lie achieved without the proper appliances, 

 such as a house to live in, boats, boxes, bars, live decoys and 

 a skillful hand to manipulate them. Whcu, however, all 

 these are attained no spring shooting on the coast of New 

 Kngbind gives greater satisfaction or better rewards tbe 

 energy and skill of the sportsman. The birds are large, nu- 

 merous and, gastronomieuily, have no superiois. This little 

 goose must not, however, be confounded with the brant of 

 the AY est. Iu some of the Slates almost anything in the shape 

 of a goose is called "brant " Our bird— Ansir /><rnkU and 

 Bemiobt Ircnti!, Slepli — weio-hs about three and a half pounds. 

 But they are not dislribuled"universnlly along the Allaulic 

 shores as are Canada geese, black ducks, coot and oilier 

 aquatic birds. At the easterly end of Massachusetts is the 

 nice, old-fashioned town of Chatham, and some three miles 

 away to tbe soulb ward of this is the island of Monomoy, a 

 mere belt of sand running still further southward about six 

 miles. Almost the whole of Cape Cod is composed o£ a 

 granulated silicious sand which has great mobility in wind or 

 water. Monomy shares the common heritage of the cape and 

 her sister isles. Had Rip V 

 Cod in place of Kaalskillhc 

 harbor, channels and islands 

 the people. Not many years I 

 are speaking bad a ship elun 

 lar bar, Nauset, through which 

 was carried on. Subsequently 

 Channel with this moveable sand, connected the bars and 

 closed the entrance to the inner harbor. Still later, during n 

 severe easterly storm, a crevasse near the town was made in 

 the outer bar wbich has since so widened a< to allow the tide 

 to ebb and How through it. This change of current has not 

 only chafed and fretted away I ho hill upon which sto d Ihe 

 government lighthouse, compelling its removal, but also 

 washed away the wharves, filled the channel and ruined the 

 remnant of commerce that was left to the unfortunate town. 

 What strikes one as most singular at this place is that .at a 

 depth oi some fifty feel below the foundation of said light- 

 house, where the hill has been cut away by the action of 

 water, the slumps of large trees, quite unlike any fore t 

 growth of Ihe present day id the vicinity, are exposed to view. 

 Overlying these slumps is a stratum of clay which has the 

 appearance of being hardened into rock by the pressure of the 

 sup rincumbeut mass of sund or some Other cause. Similar 

 instances of large stumps still remaining iu salt marshes occur 

 at llingham and other places along the coast. Of course 

 these large trees did not grow in saltwater. Whether the 

 erosive waves have destroyed the barriers that warded these 

 denizens of the forest or the whole coast is more depressed 

 than formerly, we leave to the researches of the arch: eulogists 

 to determine. 



Facing eastward from Monomoy one sees the broad Allan- 

 tic where '-they on the trading Hood ply, stemming nightly 

 toward the pole." It is no uncommon occurrence tor a fleet 

 of a hundred sail to be seen at anchor or struggling against 

 wind or tide to reach a port, and many a gallant ship has 

 been wrested from her course by tbe Storm king and tossed 

 upon the beach as a mere toy. After an easterly' gale one of 

 the objects of intense interest to tourists is the matchless 

 grandeur of the spectacle of "hills of seas Olympus high " 

 that dash themselves in thuuder upon this sand bar, again and 

 again to be absorbed in the bosom of the rellucnt wave. On 

 the westerly side of the island, stretching up and down some 

 miles, is what is called " Chatham Great Flats," over which 

 the water Hows, varying from two feet to almost nolhing 

 according as it is full or neap tide. Adjoining these Hats on 

 the southerly or westerly side is deep, blue water where grows 

 an immense quantity of common eel grass (2rvstmf mariwr) 

 upon which the brant feed : and this is the great feeding 

 ground for these birds on Capo Cod. So attractive is this 

 locality that thou amis of these little Anuria* assemble here 

 every spring to "feed and batten" preparatory to the long jour- 

 ney via Prince Edward's Island to their breeding grounds at 

 or near the North Pole. It will be understood "the murine 

 vegetable that proves so savory a morsel to the brant grows 

 in'water five or six feet deep at high tide, and as these bird:, 

 are not divers they can only feed at low or nearly low tide, 

 Then as the flood tide driyes them from their feeding grounds, 

 particularly when it is breezy, the birds become uneasy and 

 scatter about in little "pods" or Hocks, evidently seeking 

 other feeding grounds or more comfortable quarters where 

 they can rest till the tide ebbs so they can return to the feast, 

 it is during this peiiod»-iroi») about half flood to half ebb 

 tide— that the brant arc flitting about over the flats and are 

 liable to catch sight of and helmed to the decoys; and it is 

 during these four or five hours each day that the shooting is 

 done. The time for the brant to arrive from the .South in 

 spring varies considerably ; in fact, none of the swimming 

 birds— Nat-atom— are as punctual on time as are the 



waders or GruUuforex. A warm, forward spring brings 

 along the brant in considerable numbers by the 1st of 

 March ; whereas, a backward season wilL hardly 

 make good shooting before the end of that month, and by the 

 25th of April so few remain as to offer the sportsman no in- 

 ducement to pursue lliem further, though it is quite probable 

 a few straggl ng flocks may be seen as late as the 1st or even 

 the lOlhof May. During this period they are cons antly com- 

 ingand going, especially when the wind is to the southward and 

 westward. It will bo readilv observed that the shooting sea- 

 son at best only extends over a period of four or live weeks. 

 They rarely stop at this place in autumn on I heir way South, 

 and if they do are not fat or fit lor table use. The birds on 

 arriving in the spring enter the bay from the West in flocks 

 or gaggles -varying from a few individuals up to several hun- 

 dred—at no great distance from the mainland, sometimes 

 passing directly over not deigning to stop even though their 

 food is abundantly spread out before them, and thousands of 

 their less suspicious brethren are feeding there, while other 

 flocks will gradually lower themselves down, swing round 

 once or twice, then plunge into the liquid element. "All the 

 migratory birds that follow the coast line must of necessity 

 pass this point both spring and ball. Sometimes they lift 

 and go over Nauset, Bar or Monomoy Island, and sometimes 

 they pass around the southerly end of the island, Cape Mala- 

 bar, but the great mass rise to a safe altitude, strike a 

 " bee Hue," east by north, and pass directly over Ibis strip of 

 laud. We have often remarked that the leader of each flock 

 must have a pocket compass placed in ihe top of his head so 

 unerringly do they steer. The flocks of brant on arrivi ng, de- 

 parting or passing over are quite irregular in shape — 

 now m column, now in line, now one end or the 

 other folding upon the centre, now are in a bunch, 

 then again in line, and as the little dark specks dis- 

 appear away down the dim, distant eastern horizon 

 they are more likely to hold the latter position than 

 any other. Of all the multitudinous millions we have seen 

 during the last quarter century not a single flock was ever for 

 any length of lime in cuneiform or V shape as are Canada 

 geese. We do not pretend to say how they Hy in other lati- 

 tudes or under other circumstances. Dr. Kane and other 

 good authorities have spoken of their flight as being cunei- 

 form in shape in high northern latitudes. This may hold 

 true at Wellington Channel or Renssalaer Bay, but does not 

 accord with our observations at Cape Cod. One would nat- 

 urally suppose on seeing these birds constantly feeding at any 

 locality along shore it would be easy enough to kill ihem. 

 There are many such places up and down our coast, but for 

 reasons very few birds can be killed. At the mouth of Bass 

 Kiver many brant linger and feed through the entire season, 

 but there arc no "flats," no points where boxes can be plaut- 

 'd and successfully worked ; the water is too deep, the shore 



too bluff and tbe "brant feed only at low tide. A box might 

 be placed on the feeding ground, and operated for a short 

 time during each low tide, but the depth of water in the im- 

 mediate viniuity would prevent the recovery of cripples, 

 an important item in brant shooting, and moreover, all our 

 experience teaches us that, shooting at these birds on their 

 feeding ground soou drives them toother quarters from which 

 they would never return. The same conclusion was arrived 

 at on examining the ha bor of Nantucket. It will be found 

 even at Chatham that bef ire any shooting can be done a vast 

 amount of hard work is to be performed. The feeding 

 grounds and Hats are so far from the town that living there is 

 hot practicable, and a shanty or house must, be built on Ihe 

 ade, pens constructed for holding 

 ug for fresh water. This "well" 

 the unitialed. The island where 



,ud. Bo: 



rds 



nit of un- 



id valleys 



lug in one of these 

 it will on the flood 

 nd will continue to 

 is that rain 



.slau 



Ihe live decoys and a 

 arrangement is a cnrii 

 the shanty is located is Dol over 201 

 dill a ting surrace, ;". c, composed of li 

 oi basins, if a hole thro "eel d » \ 

 basins and a common flour barrel ins 

 tile partially fill with pure, sofl wal 

 rise and fall with each tide. The n 



falls upon this porous sand and percolates till it reaches .-all 

 water, which, being Of greater Specific gravity, holds or buoys 

 up the fresh wafer. If, however, cne dig"s a little further 

 down he will pass through the fresh water stratum, and ar- 

 rive at bos mud, showing conclusive) v that this sand has been 

 driven from the I .each" by the wind, and deposited on this 

 ancient marsh. Other liquids may be indulged in at, the 

 shanty, but an abundant supply of fresh potable water will 

 he found indisp usable to health and comfort. 



Various contrivances have from time to time been intro- 

 duced for slaughtering these wary winged wanderers, but 

 none have succeeded so well as shooting from boxes bin j, d 

 in the sand. It would really seem to one not acquainted with 

 their peculiarities that those immense flocks could be ap- 

 proached by a sail boat within range, but again and again has 

 this been tried and as often failed. A well trimmed " float " 

 in the hands of a skillful manager was tried with no belter 

 success. For several years one club used that, olioini nation 

 of all true sportsmen, a '"floating battery." This was an- 

 chored on or near the feeding gr mnd, and for a short time 

 met with moderate success, but the birds with their keen 

 black eyes soon discovered the cheat and kept aloof. 



The bay is miles wide, and a stiff breeze or squall lashes 

 the flood into such turbulent waves as to endanger the life 

 of the occupant of said nuisance, and it was a wise move 

 when they concluded to abandon the battery and return to 

 the old method of shooting from boxes. About, the same 

 time the battery was in use. some twelve years ago wood de- 

 coys were introduced, but to our mind these are" of doubtful 

 utility. A large lot of wood decoys will undoubt- 

 edly " attract the attention of a passing flock, but 

 they rarely 1 ght w.th them, ami if perchance they 

 were deceived into such impropriety, Ihe deception 

 would soon be discovered, and so hasty a retreat made as 

 barely to give the gunuer a snap shot at a single bird. Nor 

 are they very likely to swim up aud mingle freely with dead 

 bits of wood, however ingeniously c irved or skillfully painted. 

 It is true that sometimes a l|ock of brant that otherwise woph 

 not tbjuk of comipg npai the bar, will fly tip and scale rotiiif 

 a lot of wood decoys, but sqch flocks, scattered by doubt auf 

 fear, offer very little satisfaction to the sportsman, por vii 

 any great shot ever be made in this way. Once fired at on 

 the wing they will not return, but if allowed to alight in the. 

 water and swim up to the decoys a much larger number will 

 be killed, and then Ihe same flock will afterward visit, the bar 

 and repeat this several limes on ihe same day. They do not 

 seem to be frightened out of their wits when fired at on the 

 bar, or near the live decoys, as they do on Ihe wing or near 

 wood decoys. Still, if two or three clubs are operating at, 

 the same time near each other, the one having most 

 coys, other things being equal, will get the most wing shots. 

 But onr boxes arc not yet planted, and this is a job no one 

 man can perform. A water-tight box: large enough to ac- 

 commodate three persons, must be about six foet long, three 



