386 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



■ Field mm Aqu \ '•<•■ Sp.irts, Pkacti. i 



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IN OOP-Door fin km . ..-• .1 m s.cuv: 



PDBUSHED BY 



forest ntul §tmw( $ubKs1ung {jgotnfitttyt. 



— AT— 



No. 111 (01(1 Xo. in:;) FTJLTON STREET, NEW YOHK. 



(Post Office Bos 2332.] 



TERMS. FOLTc DOLLABS A YEAR, STRICTLY IN ADVAJJCfE. 



off for Clubs of Three or wore. 



Advertising Rates. 



mid be sent in by Saturday of eacli week, if pos- 

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V Any 1 '' 



brief editorial notice e 

 to us. will receive the 



KEW YORK, THURSDAY, JULY 13, 1877. 



To Correspondent!?!. 



mnlcations whatever, intended for publication, must be ae- 



With real mime of Hie writer as a guaranty of good faith, 



anil be addressed to MlC FOllESI 1KB Stream Pr/nusniNG Company. 

 d« rfllaotl p ..!■' i :i objection be made. No anonymous con- 

 tributions will be res 



turn rejected manuscripts. 



:- , i i Clubs .. • , in iarious are urged to favor us with brief 



ieir movements and transactions. 

 Nothing will be admitted to any department of the paper that may 



, read with propriety in Ihe home circle. 

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retained to us is lost. No person whatever is authorized to collect 

 money for us unless he can show authentic credentials from one of the 

 nil. We have no Philadelphia agent. 

 E»~ Trade supplied by American News Company. 



CHARLES ITAI.J.OCK, Kdilor. 

 T. C. BANKS, S. II. TUERILL, Chicago, 



Business Manager. Western Manager, 



CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR THE COMING 

 WEEK. 



ruty 13.— Trotting! Bay City. Midi.; Springfield, Mass.; 

 Columbus. Mass.; Monmouth, 111. Running meeting at Long Branch. 



,. , Boe i'.i . ft.Lonis, s . sj Hartford is. Chicago, ai 



■gheny, at Pittsburg, l'.o; Buckeye vs. 



Btanfti tlalComi i theater, at I tester,- Star ol 



Syracuse vs. Cincinnati, at Cmcttmati. 



... UjlyU.— Trotting at Monmouth. III. Running meeting at 



On. Ease ball : Boston vs. St. Louis, at St. Louis J Hartford 



it Chicago; Chelsea vs. Rochester, at Rochester; Star of 



miii Ml nati; i m age fa, Ui i ;a, at Orange, 



N..I.; Indtauapolis vs. Louisville, at Louisville; (,'iocks'ep vs. Harlem, 

 st. Uelraac ; Manchester vs. Stani lard, ' W hi eling, W. \"u. Regattas i 

 Nahasset Club, ol Cobasset, Mass.: QuttlCJ Club, off Meat's Hotel, 

 Qiiiucy Point, Mass.; Dorchester Clab, off City Point, Mass.; scull race 



'i.i a Rfley, at Greenwood Lafce.N. *. 



, tug at Long Branch, Baseball- 



; i ,, . , I Bufl'jlo. N. r.; Quickstep vs. U'ltoka, at Melrose; 

 Buckeye VS. Manchester, e < I Kflnmbns : star of Syracuse vs. Indianapo- 

 lis, ai Indianapolis; Bed Caps m. Racine, at St. Paul, Minn. Regatta 

 Boston Yacht Club. 



July IT— Trotting: Newark, N. Y.; Dexter Park, Chicago; 

 . hi, ... b m " Park Boston. Bomnngmee U 

 " tmrs ■-.-■.: tat '■ 



Star of Syracuse va. Indianapi -. i i re;.Orangi »s. OryBtal : 



Orange; Chelsea vs. Eric, at Erie, i'a.; Alaska vs. Yulunteer, at Pougti- 



i lugs as above. Base ball : Bos- 



, l: : jo at . cago; I : ':■ M vs. Si. Louis, at St. Louis; Red 

 ■■ - ,:], at in ange C b I let 



Pa.;. i ■ 



ay, JvlyVb.— RunniUit 



. .Manchester, atlndi 



I. 0.'; Star of S.vracns 



Paul. 



: 1 1 id r 



— The Principal of Leesburg Academy, Virginia, writes i 

 "My advertisement in your paper is the only one ever re- 

 spgnded to in my expericin .ii .■". i od many papers. I 

 i again before September next.." T. W. 



—We have received a copy of the Maine Fanner, conducted 

 by S. L. Boardtnan. It is one of (be best Agricultural papers it, 

 baa been our lot to peruse, and a credit to New England 



GAME BIRDS AND SOME OF THE 

 | [AGENTS OF THEIR DESTRUCTION. 



AT.HITE topic, and one that has been thoroughly and ably 

 canvassed, but which is still of absorbing interest to the 

 naturalist and gentleman sportsman. We shall discuss the 

 subject only as exemplified in the eastern bird-game, the pur- 

 suit of the large game of the far West being governed by 

 widely different laws. There are many who assert that game 

 is being "al) shot off," and that its extermination, through 

 i lie agency of the sportsman, is only a question of time. That 

 some of our finest game birds become suddenly much less 

 abundant in localities previously well stocked, we do not pre- 

 tend to deny ; hut the encroachments of civilization do far 

 more than the shot gun to clear the covers of their denizens. 

 Good sportsmen are not very numerous, and banging a gun 

 at partridges, quail or woodcock does not accomplish their 

 destruction. He is a sportsman of no little skill who can 

 secure one quail of every two flushed, he it in bush or open. 



Croakers love to talk of the halcyon days of former game- 

 plenty, and mourn the lack of it at present ; but the so- 

 called paradise of game exists in the imagination only, and 

 good bags are never made without work. Were it not so 

 half the pleasure of the day's sport would be taken away. The 

 sections where game formerly abounded are, many of them, 

 now populous districts, the birds have removed to places as 

 secluded as their former haunts before these had been colo- 

 nized by man. Thus frequently birds disappear, but are not 

 killed. The most important agents of destruction against 

 which our game birds have to contend are snares (most con- 

 temptible engines of mischief), vermin and Revere winters. 

 We all know how terribly the quail (Ortyx virginiunus) suffer 

 in hard winters. During the extremely rigorous weather 

 which we so often experience, when the surface of the coun- 

 try is covered with a thick mantle of snow and ice, and all 

 but the most hardy of our birds have migrated to more con- 

 genial climes, subsistence for the quail is with difficulty ob- 

 tained ; many perish at such times on account of the severity 

 of the weather and lack of food. Often, too, when caught 

 during the night under a heavy snow, they are unable to free 

 themselves, and so perish by wholesale. The few survivors 

 are finally forced to resort to the friendly shelter of the farm- 

 yard and stable, there t o eke out a scanty living by picking up 

 what kernels of grain they may find. At such times the cat 

 forsakes its lawful and normal food, the rat, and varies its 

 diet with the palatable quail j and the dumpy, half-frozen lit- 

 tle creatures are carried off one by one, till at spring time the 

 piping of little Bob White is all that is needed to make the 

 hey-day of the year what it should be, perfection perfect. It 

 may be mentioned in this connection that we have not for 

 years found quail so abundant as during the past season, and, 

 taking into consideration the mildness of the previous winter, 

 it is a significant fact, and the inference is obvious. 



The ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) is, of all our game 

 birds, the most difficult to kill, least domestic in its habits and 

 most particular as to the haunts it frequents. But the " par- 

 tridge" is easily taken by snares, and of this fact the ubiquitous 

 pot-hunter takes every advantage. We may now walk for 

 hours through the most attractive covers, where partridges or 

 pheasants were once numerous, and see nothing, hear nothing 

 of the noble bird— the familiar drumming, the sudden whirr 

 and the flash of wings as he passes swiftly before us and is 

 lost in the leafy mazes of the glade, all gone ; nothing remains 

 to tell that this splendid game was once a denizen of the for- 

 est, save the broken brush fence with its deceptive openings. 

 One to whom forest nature is dear cannot but be indescribably 

 affected by such scenes. It should be made a felony to cap- 

 ture with snares any of our birds. Grouse suffer during hard 

 winters, but not to such an extent as the quail; for, besides 

 being more hardy, by reason of the places they inhabit, food 

 is more easily obtained, and from then- habits they ordinarily 

 escape the perils from snow, to which the quail are exposed. 



The woodcock (PMtoMa minor), unlike the quail and par- 

 tridge, is migratory, and the chief fault that we have to find 

 with the pursuit of this bird is that it is shot at all seasons. 

 To kill one bird in March or April is to lessen the number of 

 fall birds by four or five. This should be remembered. We 

 also sincerely deprecate the summer shooting. Birds shot in 

 July are just from the West ; they fly easily and the sport does 

 not" compare with the fall shooting. We have, in many in- 

 stances, seen coek shot in July With the down still clinging to 

 the few feathers they possessed. Were the summer shooting 

 entire!) abolished, more sport would be furnished in October, 

 and that of a better quality. 



The case of the Wilson's snipe (Gallinago wilscmi) is excep- 

 tional, as the only time at which they are With us is during 

 their migrations northward in early spring and south in fall. 

 This is true also of the countless myriads of ducks that in 

 winter throng our bays from Cod to Hatteras. 



Of other of our game birds we need not speak in particular. 

 We believe, however, that fears of the extinction of species 

 are without foundation, though birds may become scarce or 

 plenty in alternate, years. We are an earnest advocate of 

 most stringent game laws; I hey should be properly framed 

 , ; enforced through-out the length and breadth of the 

 land. Game protective associations should be formed in all 

 sections where they do not now exist, and each member 

 should strive to do his part in checking all unseasonable and 

 indiscriminate destruction of game, and all violations of the 

 laws regarding it, 



The Guide Question Aciain.— This seems to be a question 

 of personal veracity. Wo cannot give space to a review of 

 this matter, to which we have made reference already. A\ r e 

 can but think the matter is becoming too personal. Know- 

 ing all of these men either directly or indirectly they have 

 all borne good reputations hitherto. 



The guide Hall— whom Plumly has accused of using a net 

 upon the spawning beds of the trout— semis a sworn affidavit, 

 which declares that he i 'Plumly) " never told any person thai, 

 he saw Lysander Hall fishing with a gill net in Bacquet Lake 

 or any other lake.'' The guttle Bon: - "Join PlUKlIy 



did not tee Hall tishing with a net. but he pulled it up off the 

 spawning bed. No other man in the town owns Such and 

 Hall admitted it to be his, though he declared the net, was set. 

 for frost fish. John says he will swear the net was on a 

 spawning bed." 



Hall, it will be remembered, charged John Plumly, the two 

 Sabbattes, Alba Cole, Justin Lamos and others, with killing 

 deer out of season, and running them down in Ihe deep 

 snows. In his letter he states that these men do not deny the 

 fact, and moreover he cites the names of witnesses who are 

 cognizant of the fact; and also of several residents and, offi- 

 cials of the town of Long Lake who will vouch for his per- 

 sonal veracity. He, moreover, declares that he published the 

 names of these men in the hopes o[ deterring them from simi- 

 lar acts rather than cause their arrest and its penalties, which, 

 being poor men, they would be unable to meet. 



With the present condition of our game laws, and the con- 

 stant refusal of district attorneys to prosecute, nothing can be 

 done. If the charges are true, it seems strange that guides 

 should wantonly do that which will eventually take (so to 

 speak) the bread and butter from their mouths. The decrease 

 of game only hastens the day when the North Wootis will no 

 longer be sought by those who now open their pocketbooks 

 freely in order to enjoy a few days' or weeks' , 

 We cannot but believe there is an error somewhere— a mis- 

 understanding—which may be settled by the parties them- 

 selves without further breeding of bad blood. This 

 is now assuming a personal quarrel ; and, while our columns 

 are ever open to all that pertains to game protection, we can- 

 not allow them to be made a medium for strife. 



Col. Skthnke vs. W. H. Dcrro-c— W. H. Dutton, of 

 Phila., writes, July 9, 1877 : 



I have just returned from an eight weeks' fishing trip to 

 Big Moose Lake, Brown's Tract, and notice a letter n 

 Forest and Stream, of June 21, from Col. Skinner, who 



writes that some other persons have requested him i ; 



your attention to what is (to him) a shocking fact — " thai one 

 W S. Dutton, in one week, slaughtered eight dec: .. '.:,., 

 Lake during the month of May last." I suppose ! 

 individual referred to, and, in "reply. I have to say that J have 

 never shot eight deer on Moose- Lake or neighborhood, either 

 in one week in the month of May or in any month, or alto- 

 gether during the wnole twenty years of all seasons in which 

 I have camped there; and that the statement is the malicious 

 falsehood of an interested guide, as is well known in the 

 woods, whose ill-will I have probably incurred from my suc- 

 cessful effort to effect a reduction of" wages during this year 

 of general economy. Doubtless Col. Skinner means well, but 

 the storj- is untrue, and he and Ms friends have been imposed 

 upon. 



[We take pleasure in exculpating Mr. Dutton ; and with 

 this we must again call attention to the fact that these reports 

 of violation of the game laws seem unreliable, or arc being 

 used for personal ends.— Ed.] 



The Spimt of OUE Yachtsmen.— Capt. Collin, the re- 

 doubtable yachting editor of the World, is deploring the de- 

 cline of yachting in editorial comment ; but we do not accept 

 the apparent apathy of the current season as any criterion for 

 so deciding. The season throughout has been "cloudy with 

 rain areas," as the Weather Indications have daily informed 

 usj the wind has been capricious and fitful; sonic of the 

 leading yachtsmen arc abroad, some are surfeit cd with a long 

 series of annual regattas or competitions, and arc possibly 

 temporarily tired of the. brine and salt sea air. Let them Bee 

 like a bird to the mountains, and air their sky scrapers in the 

 upper empyrean, and when they have enjoyed the change 

 they will enter upon the following season with increased in- 

 terest and multiplied gusto. We do not believe tha 

 of yachting has died out in this country any more than the 

 "spirit of '7(i." It is only a lull, which prestiges a change of 

 weather. 



*■ ' * > 



—The Williams College Scientific Expedition started yester- 

 day, July 11th, on their Rocky Mountains tour. They go to 

 Sherman, the Laramie Plains, Lake Conjo, the Or, - 

 Salt Lake, the Jordan River, the canyons and mining 

 of the Wascoth range, if iddle Park and Pike's Peak. 



— The Danville Advertiser tells a singular story of tv\ o horses 

 which were struck by lightning, when one was found '• stand- 

 ing erect with one foot lifted a little way from the earth, and 

 the other was kneeling with his nose in the earth, and both 

 were stone dead, and retained their erect positions until tliey 

 were pushed ovea . " 



NOTICE to Sportsmen.— Having received so many communications 

 asking us for information in regard to our six-nee DD 

 black bass, grilse and salmon coda, pre Imve prepared a circular oa the 

 subject, wlileli we shall take pleasure in forwarding to inj i Idri 

 We keep on hand all grades, the prices of which range from 

 We put our stamp only on the best, in order ro protect our customers 

 and onr reputation, for we are unwilling to sell a poor rod 

 enamel (made by binning and staining, to imitate the genu 

 without letting our customers know just wtat they are getting 



P.O. BOX, 1,294.-(,1 dv, AnatiY 



