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THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL. 



Entered According to Act of Congress, In the year last, by the Forest ana Stream Publishing Company, In the OfHco of the Librarian of 'Congress, at Washington.; 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1881. 



CONTENTS. 



Eeitobial : — 

 Newfoundland Dogs for Life-Saving Stations ; That Salmon 

 Eating Law; Mr. Bosh's Auti-Pigeon Shooting Bill, ... 467 



Bve-Wavs of the Northwest 463 



WoodmontBod and Gun Ulub 46t 



t old 'PoaBum 469 



The Spotitshan TotntiST :— 



Three Weeks with the Bass and Pickerel 471 



Natubal History : — 

 Skunks and Hydrophobia ; The Stroke of the Rattlesnake ; 

 Two Taim ,1 Cuoix ; Great Carolina Wren : Tree-Climbing 

 Snixkes ; Chimney SwallowB 473 



Game Bag and Gun :— 

 The Qneor Customs of Dare ; How to Test Guns ; Leaven in 

 North Carolina ; California Goose Shooting ; Arkansas 



Game , 473 



Sea and Hiver Fishxnq :— 

 Mr. Prichard ou the Fly-Casting Tournament ; Tim Pond ; 

 'the Fishery Census ;" How to Take Land-locked Salmon ; 

 Salmon in Canada 475 



Fish Ccxtdke :— 

 Fishes which Can Live in Salt and Fresh Water; The Ber- 

 lin Fishery Exhibition; Number of Eggs in the Cod 



Family , i?6 



The Kennel :— 

 Breeding, Popping and Rearing ; Hydrophobia ; Rabbit 

 Hunting with Beagles 478 



Ruxe and Trap Shooting 479 



yachtrxg and canoeing :— 



Canoeing and Canoeists ; A Successful Cutter ; Larchmont 

 Y. c. ; Boston Uty Regatta; Salem Yachts ; What ia a 

 Corinthian V 



Answers to Correspondents 



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- 

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

 ents. 



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 Forest and Stream Publishing Company. 

 subscriptions. 



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Addtess : Forest and Stream Publisliing Co., 



Nos. 39 and 4ti Park ttow, New York City. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Thursday, July 14. 



Is Any Reader of the Forest and Stueam familiar with 

 the poem written by Bryant on the introduction of the Eng- 

 lish sparrow into New York ? 



Tub Initial Letter from "Yo," which we publish this 

 week, gives promise that the series written by him from the 

 Northwest will be a valuable one. Our correspondent's pro- 

 posed trip will take him into a country of wh : ch little is 

 known and Iho many objects of interest met with there will 

 afford abundant material for his letters. 



A Finb GnN is the handsomest present one can give a 

 friend who has shooting proclivities. It is a source of pleas- 

 ure and— if he knows how to use it— of pride. If your friend 

 inclines to Ihe gentler pursuit, a well-made rod will remind 

 him of your regard for him, and when pi) ing it he will be in 

 a frame of mind to appreciate your gift. 



Boon of the Black Bass —Dr. J. A. Henshell writes us 

 that his "Book of the Black Bass" is jn the printer's hands, 

 and will be issued, certainly and promptly, during this pres- 

 ent month. The delay has been caused by the author's hav- 

 ing recast and rewritten the first chapter of the ,! Scientific 

 History of the Black Bass," adding sixty additional pages, 

 and making the book contain altogether 460 pages. 



NEWFOUNDLAND DOGS FOR LIFE- 

 SAVING STATIONS. 



r' certainly is remarkable that, after having so many il- 

 lustrations of the great intelligence and usefulness of the 

 Newfoundland, he has not long before I his been systematic- 

 ally employed at all of the life-saving stations along our 

 coasts. It is true tha' from time to lime we hear of some wan- 

 dering waif or some poor shipwrecked animal taking up his 

 abode with the surfmen employed by the service; but al- 

 though the dogs have in every case at once earned for them- 

 selves Iheir allowance of funic and hard-tack, yet their stay 

 among the sand hills, with the lifeboats, mortars and other 

 life-saving apparatus as their companions, has been brought 

 about by the hand of fate, and not by any wise provision of 

 the Government. 



Many months have passed since we first suggested in the 

 Forest and Stbbam that the Newf undland could thus be 

 utilized, and rec 'tnmeuded ad .ing a flog "f this breed to the 

 crew at each stalion. We wrote at ihe liu>e.- 



Uuquestionably the Newfoundland is one of the greatest favor- 

 ites outside the tetter and the pointer. I'roui early youth bis ex- 

 cellent and tteady qualities are impressed upon our mind. No 

 child's book or early primer is without his picture, and the variety 

 of occupations in which be figures is incalculable. Ou one page 

 vre see him enforcing a strictly moral lesson by dragging the pil- 

 fering school-boy from off the apple tree, while over the leaf his 

 courage is displayed in rescuing a young miss from a ducli-pond 

 grave. We grow np to raeoguize in him all the amiable, generous 

 and domestic characl eristics of a fine disposition, combined with a 

 oourago and fearlessness that is sure to win man's heart. There- 

 fore, we take it. that a race of powerful dogs of this breed could 

 be very profitably eupioyed at our life-saving stations, and that 

 at t'mes their sagacity, watchfulness and fearlessness would prove 

 of great advautago. How often it is that a shipwrecked crew 

 almost gain the shore and are drowned in the very face of a 

 shelving beach. These dogs could be trained to patrol the beach 

 and give a warning, after the manner that the St. Bernards are 

 trained for the service of the Hospice ; whilo tho tutoring to save 

 a drowning person could be easily effected by means of lay-figures 

 similar to those used some time since at the water trials in Eng- 

 land. Thus in a short time the honest Newfoundland would have 

 gained for himself quite as romantic and weird a history as his 

 stately brother way up upon the Alps. 



Since the time at which the above was wril ten we have 

 been looking into the matter, and have had some correspond- 

 ence with those stationed on the coast. From the first the 

 idea has been received by the surfmen as a happy thought. 

 Thus encouraged, we called upon Capt. James II. Merry- 

 man, U.S. Inspector of Life-Saving Stations, and found that 

 his views coincided with our own on the subject. The Cap- 

 tain spoke in the most enthusiastic manner of the introduc- 

 tion into the service of a hardy race of dogs, and trusted that 

 the Government would at some near day devote an appro- 

 priation for an experiment in which all humanity is deeply 

 interested. Of course a most moderate outlay is all that is 

 n quired, as the initiative trial should be confined to one of 

 the districts of the service. Should it prove a success, then 

 it would be an easy matter to raise a breed of powerful New- 

 foundlands and locate them at every life-saving station in the 

 service. 



As the first step in the United States toward an organized 

 effort for assisting the shipwrecked was the establishment, 

 early in the present century, of the Humane Society of 

 Massachusetts, we would be pleased to hear from it and like 

 societies on this important subject, and will give what help 

 we can. 



THE NEWFOUNDLAND. 



Before giving in detail Ihe uses to which this noble animal 

 can be put we shall give a brief description of the dog, se- 

 lecting the delineatii n given him in the "The Sportsman's 

 Cabinet," as the most just and correct we have ever read. 

 Tho graceful wri^r, although dealing with the dog in the 

 early part of the century, can with safety be quoted, for what 

 he says of him is true of the pure dog at the present d<y: 



The Newfoundland dog in a state of purity, uncontaminated by 

 the blood of any inferior race, is one of the most majestic and awe- 

 fully attracting of all the canine variety, although at first sight he 

 appears terrific from the seeming immensity of his magnitude, the 

 placid serenity of his countenance as instantly dispels the agitating 

 vibrations of fear - by fondly affording early proof, that ferocity is 

 not the predominant or distinguishing trait of his disposition. With 

 those to whom he is barely known (but particularly where he is 

 attached or familiarized) every look ssems not more impressively 



intended to entreat attention than to solicit an early exchange of 

 mutual services. Naturally disposed to action he is always eager 

 to be employed, and is never more deb'ghted than when such littlo 

 offices are assignod to him as are not beyond his power or ability 

 to execute. Emulative by nature no one passion Ucb sluggishly 

 dormant, but all are equally alive to the emergency of the occa- 

 sion. He seems, by an inexplicable impulse, to be the friend of 

 every individual without displaying the least tendency to animosi- 

 ty with any pait of the creation. Offense heia scarcely ever 

 known to offor, but insult he never receives with impunity. Docile 

 beyond conception, and affectionate beyond description, the New- 

 foundland dog is easily taught almost eveiything within the power 

 of the hnmau mind to iuculca'e of which his own strength and 

 franio ore capable. Equally sagacious as energetic, he patit ntly 

 perseveres in whatever he undertakes, and never relinquishes the 

 attempt so long as there remains the most distant hope or possi- 

 bility of success. Adapted by his powers, and the pliability of hia 

 temper to the use of man, he never shrinks from w hatever task 

 may be enjoined, but undertakes it with an ardor proportioned to 

 the difficulty or the execution. Exultantly ostentations in tho 

 province of being employed, ho forcibly displays his pride in being 

 permitted to carry in his mouth (for miles) the basket, buudle or 

 stick of his employer ; to take from him either of which would be 

 found a service of no small danger. Tho sagacity of this animal 

 is so palpably blended with a peculiarly attentive attaohmeut to 

 tho human species, and such an instantaneous sense of impending 

 d mgor, that tho inactive mind, lulled to an apathy, becomes im- 

 mediately roused to action in the contemplation. Previous to a 

 con iirnmtion of which, it may be strictly consistent to observe, that 

 being habitually inclined to industrious employment, they are 

 equally serviceable to the settlers of tha coasts from whence they 

 are brought, as are to us the galloways and ponies of our own 

 country. 



INSTANCES OF TIIE INTELLIGENCE OF THE NEWFOUNDLAND. 



It would indeed be an endless task to recapitulate the many 

 wonderful stories of the intelligence of this dog, but we shall 

 give two well authenticated instances of his sagacity. The 

 first is selected from Mr. Berwick's History of Quadrupeds; 

 and the second came under our own observation : 



Mr. Berwick wri'es, "During a severe storm in tho winter 

 of 1789 a ship belonging to Newcastle was lost near Yar- 

 mouth, and a Newfoundland dog alone escaped to shore 

 bringing in his mouth the pocket-book of the captain. He 

 landed amid a number of people, several of whom in vain 

 endeavored to take it from him. The sagaciom animal as if 

 sensible of the importance of the charge (which, in all prob- 

 ability, was delivered to him by his perishing muster), at 

 length leaped fawningly against the breast of a man, who had 

 attracted his notice among the crowd, and delivered ihe book 

 to him. The dog immediately returned to the place where 

 he had landed, and continued to watch with great attention 

 for everything that cam« from the wreck seizing them, and 

 endeavoring to bring them to land." 



The second instatice is even more remarkable, for it dem- 

 onstrates that the dog has the faculty of calculating time with 

 the greatest accuracy. A friend of the writer, who lived on 

 the Passaic River, owned for many years a superb specimen 

 of the black .Newfoundland type. It was the habit of the 

 dog to bathe in the river, during almost all the months of 

 the year, but especially during the heated term. He would 

 then take his dip whenever oppressed by the heat, and when 

 the tide was nut would scramble into the covered boat house 

 which was directly in f eoiit of his owner's residence, and lie 

 on the wet planking of the floor where it was cool u'dil driven 

 out by the rising of the water. He would then lazily float 

 around to the steps near the dock, and, after shaking the 

 wa'er from his coat, would sedately march off to his kennel 

 which was situated in some thick shrubbery directly behind 

 his master's house, and from where all vie i of the river was 

 completely shut out. After many years, this noble old fel- 

 low became sj decrepit that it was with great difficulty ha 

 could raise himself on his feet and totter down to the river. 

 In fact, it would take him at least half au hour to traverse 

 ihe lawn he had once so joyously bounded across in a few 

 second'. But so well did the d >g calculate the falling of the 

 water, and make the time allowance each day for the end of 

 the ebb, that he would never attempt to leave his kennel un- 

 til he knew lhat the boat house flooring was bare. He pur- 

 sued these tactics into a ripe old ago, until he one day waa 

 found to have followed Mr. Barker's example, "and to have 

 gone out with the tide." 



Of the many reasons why the Newfoundland should ba 

 utilized at the life saving 6tationa the principal are these: 



