THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL. 



[.Entered According to Act ot Congress, . 



si, oy uia i'orest and stream PuonsMng Company, In the Offlce of the Librarian of [Congress, at WasMngtoi 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MAY 5, 1881. 



CONTENTS. 



Eihtobial : — 



The Bench Show ; English Zoological Nomenclature ; Inspec- 

 tion of the Delaware Shad Fisheries; The Ichthyophagous 

 Will Dine ; The Last Act iu ihe Aquarium ; Our Pipes ; 

 Pishing About New York 263 



The Spoetsman Tocbibt :— 



Bouthern California and its Field Sports ; Duok Hunting in a 

 Steam Lannch 264 



Natubal Histoei : — 



Domesticated Quail ; A New Horse ; Aatrophyton from the 

 Northwestern Coast ; Beginning of a Fi»h ; Tame Squir- 

 rels ; Notes 266 



Sea ast> Biveb Fishing : — 



An Angler's Life ; Fishing on the Carp Biver ; The Vicissi- 

 tudes of Angling; Notes 269 



Fish Oct-tote :— 



The New York Fish Commission j The Minnesota Commis- 

 sion; The Carp and its Culture 271 



Notes and Incidents : — 269 



Game Bag and Gtrs : — 



Hounding vs. Still-Hunting; Game in Western Florida ; The 

 Evolution of a Wing-Shot ; Our Detroit Letter ; Spring 

 Game Notes : , 267 



The Kennel :— 



The New York Dog Show ; Eennel Notes ; Kennel Management 272 



Bifle and Trap Shooting : — 



Eange and Gallery ; The Trap . 277 



Yachting and Canoeing : — 



Steam Yachts ; Why? Yachting Notes 275 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



The Fokest and Stream Is the recognized medium ol 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, Kos. 3D and 40 Park Kow, 

 New York. . __ 



. FOREST AND STREAM. 



Thursday, May 5. 



THE BENCH SHOW. 



rnHE show held last week was certainly, from the point of 

 J- view of an outsider, a decidrd success. At no show 

 previously held in New York has the quality of the animals 

 exhibited been so good, and never has there been so little 

 trash exhibited as this year. The English setters, the point- 

 ers, both large and small, the collies and tbe fox terriers were 

 exceptionally good. Among the black and tan setters and 

 the red setters there were some poor specimens that should 

 not have been sent to the show, but on the whole the classes 

 were good throughout. 



The very largo number of entries in the beagle class show, 

 perhaps, better than anything else could, the rapid strides 

 which this merry little hound is making in public favor, and 

 we have no doubt that before very long hare-Jiunting with 

 beagles will in many localities take the place of bird-shoot- 

 ing. It is a noteworthy fact in this connection that the en- 

 tries for the special prizes for the best beagles, straight and 

 bench-legged, in the show were more in number than those 

 for any other special prize offered. 



It i3 not often the case that an exhibition of this kind 

 passes off without some protests on the part of exhibitors 

 who, while fully alive to the excellence of their own animals, 

 are somewhat, blind to that of the competing dogs. Such 

 protests are always annoying and almost invariably useless, 

 for the importance of supporting the decision of the judges 

 is appreciated by the managers of all shows. The present 

 year has been unusually free from such evidences of dissatis- 

 faction, and we have scarcely heard of a serious complaint in 

 relation to judging. The advantages of the single-handed 

 system were clearly shown, and we presume that in future 

 the Westminster Kennel Club will always adopt this method. 

 It is said that the exhibition was pecuniarily successful, and 

 if this be the case there is no cause for anything but con- 

 gratulation in regard to the show. 



ENGLISH ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLA- 

 TURE. 



THE lamentable confusion which exists in different parts of 

 the country in regard to the common names employed to 

 designate our various wile animals is extremely perplexing to 

 every one who is not to some extent familiar with the local 

 names employed in different sections. Thesame bird, mammal 

 or reptile, as the case may be, has a name for each section of the 

 country where it is found. The most familiar example of this 

 confusion is of course found in the two birds, Bonamumbellus 

 and Ortyx vitghrmnus, which occur almost everywhere through 

 the Eastern and Middle United States, and are variously called 

 ruffed or ruffled grouse, partridge or pheasant for the first, 

 and quail, partridge, Virginia partridge and colin for the sec- 

 ond. Among mammals we have the two deer, Gnriaeua ma- 

 crotis and O. Columbianus, each of which is called in its own 

 range " black tail," though the name belongs properly to the 

 latler alone. Similarly there are two distinct species of 

 hares, Lepus callotis and L. campestrts, which are called in- 

 discriminately jackass, or jack, rabbits. 



The utter and hopeless absurdity of some of the names 

 that are applied to certain of our animals need not be dwelt 

 on at any length. What can be more improper and out of 

 place than to call a grouse a pheasant ? One would say that 

 in this case the extreme had been reached, and yet at some 

 points along the Atlantic coast the pintail duck, Bafila acuta, 

 is called pheasant. 



It is true that in applying these local names those who 

 acted as sponsors at the christening have in many cases 

 seized upon the salient characteristic of the animal to be 

 named, and that in many case3 the appellation is an ex- 

 tremely flitting one ; but this does not help us at all in at- 

 tempting to Btraighten out the tangle which now exists in 

 this matter. If any one, who had never before heard of the 

 name, were asked what a "nigger goose" is, we thiuk that he 

 wouli! guess a lODg lime before hitting on the correct auswer 

 to the conundrum. Yet we have seen old sportsmen who 

 have shot hundreds of geese, but had never seen a cormorant, 

 take a flock of the latter for Canada geese, judging by their 

 mode of flight, and express profound astonishment at the 

 fact that '• those geese were all black." 



This confusion of names has been brought to our mind 

 again by a series of questions addressed us by an esteemed 

 Canadian correspondent, who says: "Is it correct to call 

 Tetrao wnbellus, ruffled grouse, and Ctrvus virginianiu), Yir- 

 giandeer? 



"Is elk the correct name for what is known in this Province 

 as moose ? 



" Is the hare which is common in this and other parts of 

 the Province of Quebec the 'Arc ic ' hare? 



' 'The above names are applied to the birds and animals men- 

 tioned by our local authority on natural history matters, The 

 Canadian Spwisman and Jfatwalut." 



It is almost impossible to give a categorical reply to ques- 

 tions like these. In such matters it is usage tliat governs, 

 and what is custom in one part of the country is, or may be, 

 not at all customary in another. The nomenclature of science 

 is regulated by certain fixed rules with which every one must 

 comply who wishes to have the name which he has applied 

 to any animal adopted by naturalists. This of course is not, 

 nor can it ever be, the case with popular names, for the 

 masses will continue to employ those eras which they have 

 been educated to make use of. It is, owever, very import- 

 ant that we should all endeavor to impress upon those with 

 whom we shoot and fish the desirability of calling things by 

 their proper names, for it seems a pity that the sportsmen of 

 different States should have to speak different languages. 

 Surely there ought to be a common tongue for the craft. 



The importance of the subject would certainly warrant us 

 in preaching a very pretty little sermon on it were the space 

 at our command. As it is, however, we must turn to our 

 correspondent's questions and reply to them. A reference 

 to " Webster's Dictionary " shows that ruffed grouse is the 

 proper English name of Sonasa umbellus, but under the head 

 "grouse" we see enumeraed several European species, and 

 also the ruffled grouse, B. umbellus. Still, ruffed grouse is 

 no doubt the best as it is the shortest term to employ in des- 

 ignating this species The common red deer of the East is 

 spoken of by some older authors as the Virginia deer, but we 



do not remember to have seen the adjective Virginian applied 

 to it. 



What we call Moose is the elk of Europe, the latter being 

 a word of Anglo-Saxon derivation, while moose is a corrupi ion 

 of an Indian name. In this country, however, Alee aineri- 

 cana is universally known as moose, while the name elk is 

 always applied to Cervus ca7iadensis. What is an elk in Europe, 

 therefore, is an entirely different animal from the Elk of 

 America — just as the partridge of New England is different 

 from the partridge of Virginia. 



The here common near Montreal and Quebec is not the 

 Arctic hare, Lepun limidus glari'ilis, but the varying hare, 

 L. americanus. The range of theArctic hare does not extend 

 much, if any, south of Labrador. 



We are sorry that we cannot give more definite and precis* 

 replies to the inquiries of our correspondent, but hope tbatwe 

 have at least made clear some of the d flicult:es of the case. 

 It is really important that there should be one settled and dis- 

 tinctive name for each bird and mammal of the country. 

 But, unfortunately, each local name has a number of warm 

 adherents who will not give it up, but would fight for it to 

 the death. Still we are glad to see that some attention is now 

 being given to this subject, and that some associations — no- 

 tably that of Michigan— are striving to work a reform in the 

 matter of local nomenclature. If any such reform is to be 

 attempted it will require the influence of the best sportsmen 

 of the land to be successfully carried out. 



INSPECTION OF THE DELAWARE 

 RIVER SHAD FISHERIES. 



THE annual tour of inspection of the shad fisheries of the 

 Delaware River, by i he New Jersey Fish Commission, 

 took place on Thursday, April 28. Mr. Hamilton Disston 

 very kindly loaned his handsome steam yacht Mischief for 

 the trip, and Commissioners Dr. B. P. Howell, E. J. Ander- 

 son and Theodore Morford, wiih about twenty guests, mostly 

 newspaper men, started from Camden at, 10 a. m. A stop at 

 Gloucester was made, and they learned that tilling was good, 

 that it had been backward, as upon all other Nolhern rivers, 

 but that the shad were now coming in good numbers, which 

 were increasing ; ihat iheir size was good and quality as fine 

 as ever. The river was filled with drifting gill nets, and on 

 the return at night it was a pretty sight to see it dotted with 

 the lanterns of ihe fishermen, one in the boat and another on 

 a float at the farther end of the net. These gill nets are 

 sunk deeply, the floats being connected by lines ten to twenty 

 feet long, experience showing that the shnd swim in the 

 channel, near the bottom. Hence it not only economizes 

 time and labor in making the net, but is much easier to 

 handle. 



The principal places of interest were Howell's Cove, 

 Eagle'.-', Thompon's, Old Man's, Finn's and Elscnborough's 

 Points. The estimates made show that over $100,000 are 

 invested in the shad fisheries here on the New Jersey side 

 alone. Thirty-five bundled men are engaged in drift-net 

 fishing, and their nets, if placed end to end, would reach 

 three hundred miles. The shore fisheries are controlled by 

 eleven men, who employ from twenty-five to thirty men 

 each, as well as numbers of horses. 



As point after point was passed, Dr. Howcil, whose mem- 

 ory runs back more than half a century, gave the history of 

 the river and pointed out the places of interest. The Doc- 

 tor says that in the olden time a ten pound shad was not a 

 rarity, and that in his youth there was believed to have been 

 one of sixteen pounds taken. For the ten years previous to 

 the practice of fishculture in the river the shad had been get- 

 ting small, and the meshes of the nets had to be made smaller 

 in order to take them. A shad of four to five pounds was a 

 large one. This was no doubt caused by continually taking 

 the larger fish and allowing only small ones to ascend to the 

 breeding grounds— a course which would be apt to influence 

 the size to a very great exten'. Now, however, the eggs of 

 fish which are destined for market are saved, and they are of 

 course the best shad. For the past two or three years the 

 fishermen claim that the size is increasing, and shad of six 

 and seven pounds are often taken. 



The trip was a very pleasant and instructive one, and from 

 the conversa'ions with the river men the gu< sis were con- 

 vinced that the Fish. Commission of New Jersey have done 



