FOREST AOT> STREAM. 



VEEKLY JOURNAL, 



kd aquatic Sports, Pp.AOTTOAT.NATirr-.u. Bistort, 



CTIONOF G-tME.PEEaKBVATIOSOrFOKESTS, 



Mux and Woken or A healthy intebj59t 



■ >t-t r,.ioe fjFnr.s»T7nN and Study : 



PUBLISHED BY 



&ortsi and $heaaf gubHshing ^ttmpatfg. 



HO. Ill (old No. 103) FOLIOS STRKET. SEW YORK. 

 U"o*t Oynos Box 2S32.1 



■ -r™, Coor Ocllnri a Year, *hrlr-tly In Ad*»ni 



T eMy-five (»-r cent, off for Clubs of Three o 



Inside pages, nonpareil type. 2", rente per lino: outside page, 40 cents. 

 Hpi-dai "res for three, ail. and twelve months. Notice? in editorial 

 columns. SO oenrs per line 



%* A uv publisher inserting our prospectus as above one time, with 

 brief elit.inal ito'ico ct'ling attention there ■' scneling marked copy 



to 1.-. -ill receltt :li- FofuwT am. Stream for one year. 



1BW VtJ'.lK, rHURSOAY, MAY 17, 1877. 



To Correspondents. 



all communications whatever, whether relating to noBlne.ss or Uterar> 

 S"rr»»pondence, mnst be addressed to Thb Forest and Stream Ptrt- 

 ushino CoMrANT. Personal or private letters of course excepted. 



All communications intended for publication must be accompanied with 

 real name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published If 

 injection be made. No anonymous contribtitiona will be regaraed. 



Article? relating to any topic within the scope of this paper are solicited , 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brief 

 no os of their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of this paper 

 to become a medium of useful and reliable information between gentle- 

 m m sportsmen fro-» one end of the country to the other ; and they will 

 4ud our columns a ..ceirable medium for advertising announcement*. 



The Publisher, of Forest and Stream aim to merit and seenre the 

 puronageand countenance of that portion of the community whose re- 

 8ned intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 

 lg oeantifnl in Nature. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 

 trie legitimate sports of land and water to those base useo whicn always 

 tend to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise- 

 ment or hnsiness notice of an immoral character will bo received on any 

 terms ; and nothing will be admitted to any department of the paper that 

 m*y not be rend with propriety in the home circlo 



We cannot be responsible for the dereliction of the mall service, If 

 money remitted to us is lost. 



Advertisements sbonldbe sent in by Saturday of each week, If possible. 



I?" Trade supplied by American News Company. 

 CHARLES HAL.I.091K. Editor. 

 T. C. BANKS. Bn'iucss Marfagor, 8. H. TTJR "ILL, Western Managsr. 



OUR NAME AND STYLE. 



AS confusion soems to ltuve arisen among our patrons as 

 to the title of our consolidated journal, and some mis- 

 apprehension in directing the letters and mail matter, we 

 will endeavor herewith to define our position : — 



Our united paper is known ns the "Forest & Stream and 

 Eon & Gun."' Intending that it shall continue to .be the 

 representative organ of Field Sports, Natural History, and 

 Fish Culture in America (out most prominent scientists and 

 literatenrs having pledged themselves individually to ita sup- 

 port), we have chosen to apply to it the qualifying sub-title 

 Of " The American. Fportstrwfs Jl i ltd." These designations 

 appear on the cover. But inasmuch as we are working 

 under the charter of " The Forest and Stream Publishing 

 Company," which publishes books and pamphlets as well as 

 this journal, it is especially important that all letters, not 

 private, should be addressed to the " Fwesl nvd Stream Puli- 

 lishuxg tompamt" and we enjoin upon onr friends to so ad- 

 dress them. The "Bod and Gun" paper has been incor- 

 porated into the above eompany; but while it is a component 

 part thereof,' its own individuality will not be lost, and its 

 old friends, who may be jealous of its prestige, will always 

 see its name prominent on the cover, joining hands and 

 bjhors with its quondam compeer, both working together for 

 their inutiiaJ good and t lie benefit of all. The correspondence 

 find letters from sportamon of the "Hod and Gun" will be 

 distributed under their appropriate heads. 



Fred Beverlt in the Tropics.— Last November, when our 

 old Florida Commissioner, Mr. Ober, sailed for the French 

 West Indies, we announced that he would remain two years 

 in the tropics in pursuit of natural history subjects for the 

 Smithsonian Institution. We were glad to embrace the un- 

 usual opportunity thus afforded to secure letters from a 

 r'gion of which so little of scientific value is known, and at 



01 1 his services as our correspondent. Two letters 



from him have already been published, one from Bermuda, 

 and one from Martinique, both of which were merely casual 

 ■v. To-day we present, however, the first 

 of his legitimate series; and as these will be continued at 

 intervals for a long period, they should be regarded with 

 that estimation which their real value entitles them to. Our 

 scientific academies will certainly scrutinize them with that 

 ■inch a new field always awakens, while those who 



look for more general topics will not fail .to find entertain- 

 ment in every line, which his pen produces. Mr. Obey is one 

 of the rising naturalists of the day who is destined to occupy 

 a prominent place hereafter. 



«• 



OTSEGO BASS AND OSWEGO BASS. 



GAME PROTECTION. 



\ A S the result of the recent i ntroduction of white fish 

 -CA_ into Otsego Lake, an interesting controversy has 

 arisen between the champions of the renowned Otsego buss 

 and the more enlightened of our fish cultnrists, the former 

 objecting to their being put into the lake, chiefly on 

 economic grounds. 



Mr Fred. Mather, of the New York Aquarium, has writ- 

 ten for the Aquarium Journal a very intelligent article on the 

 subject, which we are glad to endorse at his suggestion, and 

 in doing so, we may be pardoned for publishing a paragraph 

 from Halloek's forthcoming book relating to the subject in 

 question. Messrs. Roosevelt and Green, of our State Fish- 

 ing Commission, both maintain that the Otsego bass is a 

 true white fish {aoregomts), and Mr. Mather, in giving his 

 endorsement, very truly says that any variety of fish bred 

 in an isolated lake will, in time, divest the local peculiarities. 

 In so saying he. strips oil the mystery that has for so long a 

 time seemed to becloud and embarrass classification or iden- 

 tification, and the tendency of modern scientific investiga- 

 tion is entirely in the direction which this theory, or rather 

 postulate, suggests. While generic diversity in fishes is 

 more extended than in the hum an race, the fact remains 

 that it is much less than students have supposed, the fea- 

 tures and physical characteristics (not structure) varying 

 greatly in both families, and to so great extent in man 

 that scarcely two persons look alike, or have limbs, heads, 

 hands and feet of the same size or proportion. Imperfect or 

 superficial study is really the secret of our ignorance or mis- 

 apprehension, and lack of careful or sufficient, study is assur- 

 edly chargeable to very many scientists whom the public has 

 been taught to accept as a'nthority. 



Returning to our original subject, we copy from advanced 

 sheets what Mr. Hallock says on the bass question: 



Otsego Bass: Otsego shad-salmon. — Cortgomis otsego. — 

 Although called a bass, this is a true whitefish. It belongs 

 to the family Bslnionidie, and not to the family peroid*. 

 We append the description following from Be Witt Clinton: 



Body elongate, sub-cylindrical, compressed; back arched; scales 

 very small; lateral line distinct, straight. Month small with a protu- 

 bersnt bifid upper lip. No teelh in the mamillaries, intermaiil'ariee, 

 vomer, palatines or pharyngeal*. Dorsal fin with nine (?) rays, three 

 of which are imperfect; adipose filamentors a. the tip; candal forked. 



Color, dneky above the lateral line; silvery beneath it. Dusky lateral 

 stripes, as iu the Labrax Hn*atut, or striped bass; these are about six or 

 eight in number. Pupils black; irides silvery. Opercles silvery, 

 spotted witli yellow. It spawns in autumn. 



The small-mouthed black bass {Micropleiw.? salfiumidce-GiU) 

 does not fill this bill at all, although there is great liability 

 to confound it with the Otsego bass, from the fact that it 

 is itself locally known as the Oswego bass, betAveen which 

 two proper names there is quite a similarity. While the 

 Oswego bass or black bass is a voracious feeder and ravenous 

 biter at the hook, the Otsego bass scarcely ever takes the 

 hook. It appears to be peculiar to the Otsego Lake, just as 

 the trout of Wiunipissiogee Lake are peculiar to its waters. 

 It htis been taken in seines by several thousand at a time, 

 but. was rapidly decreasing in numbers until the year 1871, 

 when the Fish Commissioners began their artificial propa- 

 gation and the restocking of the lake. 



In Mr. Mather's letter he shows what fish, having the 

 second dorsal fin adipose, belong to the family of v 

 and he also shows that true bass must have spinous rays in 

 the dorsal fin which the Otsego bass has not. 



One other statement Mr. Mather makes, incidentally, 

 which some people are quite incredulous about, namely: 

 that whitefish are found in salt water. To substantiate his 

 statement we will mention a fact which must be well known, 

 but which has never been published, namely, that the fol- 

 lowing familiar fishes, comprising fifteen different varieties, 

 and included in nine different families, are found at certain 

 seasons every year in brackish water, and that as far as ex- 

 perience has tested and investigation discovered, all of 

 them will live equally well in salt or fresh water, according 

 as they are debarred from one or the other : 



Peradce.— Striped bass, white perch, .black bass. 



Strfuridfl?.— Catfish. 



Esor.irftv. — Pike, gar- fish. 

 t $almo>uda: — Salmon, land-locked salmon, trout, smelt, 

 whitefish. 



1 ,,);</».— Herring, shad. 



Gaditkr. — Tom cod. 



Oypritweke. —Carp chub. 



fjfti ritm idee . — Sturgeon. 



Besides mullets and eels, there are many others that 

 might be mentioned. Striped bass (the simon pure porcus 

 lineailis) are found in MuroV ■"..- | ■ ■ St. Louis. Shad 



have been taken 1,400 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi, 

 Land-locked salmon, carp, sturgeon, garfish and smelts are 

 found in fresh water that has no access to salt. The pike, 

 white fish and black bass are found in salt water, in which 

 the tide ebbs and flows twice daily. This interesting subject 

 will bear extended examination. 



— A sportsman here informs ns that the quail fold stock) of 

 Connecticut are one-third larger than any of those reported to 



this State. We were not aware of this. 



New York, May 6, 18:7. 

 In regard to my patent rough glass balls, I understand that there are 

 instance* where they have been ordered and smooth balls seat iu their 

 place. All parlies ordering will find none genuine unle*s they bear 

 lettered on each ball the name of "Bngardue' gloss hall. Patented April 

 in, 18,7," and further, that George E.ilart * Co. of Newark, N. J., are 

 the sole agents for tho wholesale trade for the glass halls and traps. I 

 also take orders wherever I shoot. I have shot two matches or 1.000 

 balls each, and in the first I had to shoot at 1,130 smooth balla to break 

 1,000, and at I h.i second I used my patent rough balls, breaking 1.00H 

 out of 1,03$ I know, bv experience, that the shot will glance off from 

 the smooth balls, as 1 have hit them with three or four No. S shot with- 

 out breaking them. Kespectfnlly yours, A. H, Bocaedds.— .tilt). 



State Sportsmen's Convention. — The coming Convention 

 of New York sportsmen at Syracuse is in an advanced state 

 of preparation. Tho use of the State ^armory has been 

 granted for the combined fish and dog show, which is to be 

 held^imnltaneously with the Convention. Mr. Chas. Lin- 

 coln, who has been superintending the great show at the 

 Hippodrome in this city, will have charge of the dogs, and 

 Mr. Henry H. Porter, Superintendent of the Island Pond 

 Hatcheries at Half Way, will superintend the exhibition of 

 fish. The committee on birds report that they have con - 

 tracted for 20,000 birds, the largest number ever procured 

 for a State shoot. It seems probable that they will all be 

 needed. 



Pbotectton in Greene County,— The citizens of Catskill 

 and neighborhood have organized the "Greene County Asso- 

 ciation for the Protection of Birds and Fish," for the better 

 enforcement of the game laws. Their circular states that 

 they intend asking of the Board of Supervisors a small ap- 

 propriation for the purpose of a trout-raising establishment, 

 by which means every stream in the county can be fully 

 stocked at a very trifling expense to each town. With 

 streams well stocked with trout and the law enforced for 

 their protection, they think that thousands of people who 

 now 6eek the wilder parts of the country as a summer resort 

 will be attracted to Greene County. An important sug- 

 gestion is that owners of lands bordering on trout streams 

 should preserve the trees and bushes along their banks, thus 

 preserving the, land from washing out by freshets, and afford- 

 ing a cool retreat for the fish. It would be desirable to throw 

 into deep holes old stumps and bushes to make a refuge for 

 the trout against illegal fishing. They also propose to pro- 

 cure a quantity of quail and prairie-chicken for stocking 

 suitable localities, and snggest that a bounty be offered for 

 every shade tree set out. This, in the long run, would 

 probably be a profitable investment, as tending to prevent 

 the drying up of the springs and the droughts which occur 

 where "a country is stripped of its trees. AVe wish the society 

 success. The officers are: President, Andrew Breasted ; 

 Vice-President, P. H. Vanderhoof ; Secretary, Frederick 

 Hopkins ; Treasurer, P. V. Van Orden. 



Dansvili.e, N. Y., May 8, :S77. 

 Em-ron, Forest and Stream. 



Ata regular meetingof the Dansville Sportsmen's Association, held 

 Friday, May -1, the annnal election of officers was held, resulting as follows: 

 Prcsldent.il. ,T. Fanlkner; Vice-President, John Hyland: Secretary, 

 H. W. DeLong; Treasurer, L. Knbn; Finance Committee, Jan. Faulk- 

 ner, Jr., B. T. Sqnires, and A. B. :Van Nuys. The club is In a very 

 protperons condition, and during the two years of its existence has 

 done much good work in protecting and propagating the flsh and game 

 of onr beautiful villey and surrounding hills. 



A notable feature of onr last meeting was the presentation to the as- 

 sociation by one of the member* of a large case of mounted specimens 

 of Blorfda beasts and birds. The gentleman, by the way, is a skillful 

 taxidermist, and the epecimens were all collected and prepared by him 

 during a recent sojourn in Florida. Thoy show great painstaking and 

 study: and we are justly proud of our case, which is Boch a great addi- 

 tion to our rooms. 



Vishing the -Great Consolidated" every success. I am yours, 



H. W. Db Lono, Sec. Dansville S. A. 



Michigan. — The Legislature of Michigan has killed the 

 Game bill prepared by the State Association, and it will 

 now be two years before any eluTnges can be made. 



— "Ricardus" notifies us that a club has been formed in 

 Fall River, Mass., under the name of "Woods'and Waters 

 Sportsmen's Club," for protection of birds and fishes. "We 

 have nine mile of lakes abounding in pickerel, perch and 

 black bass. The bass were put in Watuppa Lake eight, 

 years ago, and we have had very fine fishing, but the laws of 

 our Commonwealth have not been respected; the fish havo 

 been gill netted and seined during spawning season: the 

 club has taken the matter in hand, and are now offering re- 

 wards for conviction of persons fishing unlawfully. The 

 club starts with sixty members. Rifle shooting is proposed, 

 and we hope to show good scores for amateurs." 



Michigan State Sportsmen's Convention. — The annual 

 meeting of the Michigan sportsmen was held at Grand 

 Rapids, May 8th, five clubs only being represented. Presi- 

 dent Holmes' address was an able one. lie said that, the 

 efforts to procure the enactment of a more efficient game and 

 fish law had so far failed ; still prospects were good for the 

 passage of more stringent laws. The necessity of making 

 the whole people interested in the preserving of game and 

 fish was urged upon all sportsmen. He hoped efforts would 

 be made to organize local clubs in every section of the State. 

 E. C. Nichols, delegate to the National Sportsmen's Conven- 

 tion, made his report, which was full of interest. W. C. 

 Colburn, of Detroit, was quite caustic in his denunciation of 

 the National Association, declaring it inefficient and worth- 

 less, and that he was in favor of withdrawing the State As- 

 sociation from its support. This created considerable dis- 

 cussion. It was resolved to continue the membership of tho 

 State in the National Association. The Treasurer reported 

 the society financially sound. The next meeting will be 

 held at Battle Creek the first Tuesday in February next. 



Rover. 



Ilunoib.— A correspondent writes from this State aB fol- 

 lows: "Our wise Solons in legislature assembled failed to 

 see the necessity of passing astringent law for the protection 

 of fish in our waters, and the bill has been defeated, causing 

 much disappointment to the friends of this much-needed 

 measnre. Most of the fish at present exposed for Halein our 

 markets are unfit for food, being filled with eggs— their 

 destruction being the destruction of thousands of fish. 

 Many of our streams are fast becoming depopulated, and 

 something must be done to stop this wholesale destruction 

 of the finny tribe. Roves." 



A brilliant farmer has petitioned tho Legislature for a bill 

 to protect song birds, and such a bill has passed the Senate, 

 but the joke is he has named the quail as a song bird. The 

 whistle of bob-white is music to a sportsman's ear, but we 

 don'twant them protected quite bo closely. 



— A Texan writes in sorrow that they have no game law 

 there, and that his fellow citizens shoot most of t 

 ground and in any season. " 



