Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 1, 18 8 3. 



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CONTEXTS 



EnrroRiAL. 





Game Bag and Bun, 



Arctic Explorations 



Proposed Maine Summer Shoot- 



The Yellowstone Park. 



Camp Fire Flickerings. 



Tile Tariff on Fin 





Sr.A AND KlVER FtSBTNO. 



-arms. 



Trout Hogs. 



Hunting Without 





Fish Poisons. 



The Sportsman Tea 





FrsiIOIILTUBE. 



Nunrod in the No 



•Ih.-m. 



Merrimack Salmon and Shad. 



Long Lake Lmfei 





Eishways for Maryland. 



Around the Coast 



of Florida.— ii 



I'm- .Kennel. 



Up and Down in Colorado. 



Washington Bench Show. 







:\,o, i uv-as.s Gc:i a'lui, 



Natural History. 





i'.'i.cli-l. 1- -i JLOt ': 1 ■, 



t; e Birds of Jl.m 





Spaniel Classification. 



Keptik-. Ltj-.l 1 1 -i , ■ , j 



1-1 a tuts 



Lost Hogs. 



'lAiTCBAf! ANDf-ir*. 





Kennel Notes. 



In the Issaquena 





Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



ARockvMou.uai 



, Deer Hunt. 



Range and Gallery. 



ThatEemarkabl. 





Tests of Gallery Shooting. 



Indiana Gam- tin 





The Trap. 



Jottings from Jer 





JVIatohes and Bieetings. 



YACHTrNG AND CANOEEN'O. 







ATiirtev Hum b 



- Moonlight, 



Gleam. 



The Cuvier Club 





Displacement and Resistance.. 



Notes from Chieu 





Neva. 



The Air-Space. 





Ballasting Small Boats on the 



Duck Traps in Hi. 



James River. 



Delaware. 



Pennsylvania Va 





The Rig Among Rigs. 

 Single Hand Yachts. 







Spring lYiktrowl 

 Notes on Back Ni 



Eboottag. 



The Kind of Yacht Wanted. 



mhers. 



Reeistry of Yachts. 



Spesutia Island Night Hunters. 



Traps. 



A Growl About G 



mners. 



Answers to Correspondents. 



PROPOSED MAEffi SUMMER SHOOTING. 

 f~pHE present open season for deer, caribou and moose in 

 J- the. State of Maine is from October first to January 

 first. There has been presented to the Maine Legislature a 

 petition to so amend the law as to make the open season for 

 killing this game begin July first, thus extending the time 

 by the addition of three months. 



It is needless to say that this change is not wanted by the 

 sportsmen of the Slate, but by the hotel and steamboat, men 

 and the guides. It is alleged in the petition that the time is 

 now so short as to seriously "discourage" and ''inconveni- 

 ence" visiting sportsmen, who, provided the discourage- 

 ments and inconveniences are not removed, will be obliged 

 to seek other fields of slaughter and renown, It is further 

 alleged that with this change no special harm can come 

 to the deer. This is beautiful logic ; a summer shooting 

 season is wanted so that visiting sportsmen may shoot 

 more deer, and yet the deer are not to suffer therefrom. It 

 is the reasoning of greedy men, who have regard for nothing 

 save stuffing their own pockets with the proceeds of un- 

 timely game slaughter. They know very well — no one else 

 better— that deer shooting in June and July means death to 

 the. mother doe and death by lingering starvation for the 

 fawns. This is not the kind of shooting that respectable 

 sportsmen ask for; it is not. the kind they would tolerate; 

 it is sought and defended only by the class of greenhorns 

 and butchers who like to fire into a deer in the water while 

 their "guide" holds the victim for them — and by these same 

 guides, who have an eye for the almighty dollar and nothing 

 else, 



Maine has a rich store of wealth in her native game sup- 

 ply. Her recent wise and provident action in securing bet- 

 ter care of this resource by the appointment of game war- 

 dens, and the way in which these ollicers have set about 

 their task, have been among the encouraging signs of the 

 limes. The State lias made a good beginning. It only re- 

 mains for her to pursue the same course, without regard to 

 the selfish and improvident demands of summer shooting 

 petitioners. 



Such a law as that proposed would be pernicious in the 

 extreme. We cannot believe that it will be enacted by the 

 Legislature. It would be a step backward, a sacrifice of 

 the public good to the grasping greed of a few selfish men. 



The proposition of these Maine petitioners is a very fair 

 illustration of the unscrupulous, every-mau-for-himself 

 spirit that to a lamentable degree inspires the game legisla- 

 tion of this country. There is hardly a game law on the 

 statute books to-day that has not been put there after a des- 

 perate conflict with such selfish and improvident clamorers 

 for present gain ; or else contains on its face some special 

 clause or exception in favor of this class, and in total dis- 

 regard of the rights and interests of the community at large. 



This condition of affairs will continue just so long as the 

 sportsmen of a State are content to leave game legislation 

 in the hands of any and every man who cares to tinker tit it 

 for his own private ends. There ought to be in every State 

 in this Union a live society of sportsmen, representing the 

 whole State, and working together to secure a law framed 

 for the common good. 



ARCTIC EXPLORATION. 

 TN his very entertaining paper to-day Lieut. Sehwatka il- 

 -*- lustrates the point, made by a correspondent of this jour- 

 nal last June, that the Arctic exploration of the future 

 must be conducted on different principles from that which 

 has proved so disastrous in the past. The successful Arc- 

 tic explorer must be, first, a successful sportsman, able to 

 avail himself of the game resources of- the country. Lieut. 

 Schwatka's experience demonstrated very clearly and con- 

 clusively the practicability of living on the country. He 

 and the members of his party used their rifles, and with 

 them secured a constant supply of food. They have estab- 

 lished a precedent, some modification of which must be 

 adopted by T future . Arctic explorers, if they are to do any 

 more than add new names to the long and melancholy list 

 of those who have perished in the futile Arctic search. 



The situation of a trained hunter in such a country, 

 adapting himself to the habits of life of the native dwellers 

 there, self-reliant and capable of winning a subsistence by his 

 skill with the rifle, is in decided contrast to that of the 

 shipwrecked seaman wholly ignorant of the ways of game 

 and inexpert and incapable in its capture. We commend 

 the account of Lieut. Schwatka's hunting in the North to 

 the consideration of future Arctic explorers. 



THE TARIFE ON EIRE ARMS. 



THE present import duty on shotguns is thirty-rive per 

 cent, ad valorem. The Tariff Commission recom- 

 mended an ad valorem duty of iwenty-five per cent... and 

 the Senate last Monday agreed to retain the present rate of 

 thirty-five per cent, ad valorem, with ten per cent, on bar- 

 rels in the rough. But the Tariff Bill now before the House 

 of Representatives provides that the tax on fire-arms shall 

 be as follows : "All sporting breech-loading shotguns, with 

 plain or twist barrels, of iron or steel, five dollars each ; with 

 laminated iron and steel or stub twist barrels, fifteen dollars 

 each; with Damascus or other fancy barrels, twenty-five 

 dollars each; all other shotguns, and all other fire-arms not 

 provided for in this act, thirty-live per centum ad valorem." 



The increase of duty here called for on the cheapest grade 

 of imported guns would be 900 per cent, With this we 

 have no fault to find: if Congress could put an absolutely 

 prohibitory tax on such guns it would admirably serve the 

 interests of society. It is also patent that were the tariff 

 amended according to the provisions of this bill, the price 

 of expensive guns would he lessened just in proportion as 

 the uniform duty of twenty-five dollars is less than the thirty- 

 five per cent, on their cost in the foreign market. It is with 

 neither of these extremes, however, that we are especially 

 concerned, but rather with the arms of moderate price, the 

 guns most in demand by the class of men who constitute 

 the majority of sportsmen. 



The proposed duty would materially increase the cost of 

 such guns, iind the burden of the tax would fall upon those 

 who are least fitted to bear it. In fact, if this bill is put- 

 through, 80 great will be the discrimination against tin's 

 grade of arms, that the imported goods specified will be 

 driven out of flic market, and the manufacture will be vir- 

 tually in control of American makers. No such protection 

 as that contemplated by this bill is necessary. There is 

 ample profit in the manufacture of shotguns in this country 

 with the foreign competition as it is at present. We can 

 conceive of no good to result from the cutting off of that 

 healthful competition. 



Relief for the Fow r L.— The seizure and destruction of 

 two of the big swivel guns, which have long been known 

 to be in use at Spesutia Island, will be a severe blow to the 

 poachers. The capture and fine of two of the ringleaders 

 of the gang will not be without effect in intimidating the 

 outlaws, but that is a small matter compared with the tak- 

 ing of the guns. These murderous weapons are not easily 

 obtained, and it will require time and money to replace 

 them. Unfortunately, only a portion of the armament 

 appears to have been secured, but so far as it went, the 

 raid on the outlaws is a, most encouraging sign of the 

 interest taken in their rights by the owners of ducking 

 shores in Maryland. A constant system of espionage 

 and harassing of these and other lawless individuals in the 

 winter feeding grounds of our fowl could not fail to work 

 great good to the shootitig all along the coast. Nothing is 

 more destructive of fowl shooting than the use of lights and 

 these big guns, and we hope that the day is not far distant 

 when an advanced public sentiment will prevent Die use of 

 such engines in any waters in the land. The authorities, 

 or, better still, the sportsmen of some of the Southern States. 

 should look also after the duck traps which are being used 

 in some Southern waters. These traps should be destroyed, 

 and the owuers, --whether white or black, should be promptly 

 clapped in jail. 



Bia Game. — The. average American understands the 

 value of advertising; he scruples at nothing that will bring 

 his scheme and his goods before the public. In a recent 

 police parade in this city the ranks of blue-coated officers 

 marched bravely through the streets to the music of the 

 band, and close upon the rear of the last column followed a 

 wagon setting forth the (harms of a eat show in a dime 

 museum. This shrewd genius successfully used the police 

 force of a great city to advertise his cats. When Dr. Carver 

 went abroad, his manager's first step was to have the marks- 

 man exhibit his skill in the presence of the Prince of Wales, 

 using that dignitary in exactly the same manner that the cat 

 showman used the police. And now the Associated Press 

 dispatches from abroad state: "The London Army ami 

 Nan/ (luifile says : 'We understand that the Prince of Wales. 

 at the urgent request of the Princess of Wales, is bestirring; 

 himself to put down the cruel sport of pigeon shooting. 

 The ladies have formed a ring, and intend boycotting 

 Hurlingham until the Gun Club discards the pretty dove and 

 adopts the terra-cotta pigeon, a new invention which is 

 being brought out under the patronage of the Prinoe of 

 Wales, and can be seen at, work at the Kauelagh Club 

 grounds." There is uo cat in that meal-bag, only a clay 

 pigeon. 



On Tuesday Last a hearing was given by the Committee 

 on Agriculture of the Massachusetts State Legislature to 

 those who advocate the offering of a bounty for the de- 

 struction of English sparrows. No friends of the sparrow 

 appeared, to raise a voice, iu his defense, while, on the other 

 hand, a considerable mass of testimony was given against 

 the bird. It. was stated that the species is causing great and 

 increasing damage to the crops, and that it is particularly 

 destructive to apples, nearly one-half of last year's 

 promised yield having been destroyed by it. It does 

 not destroy insects injurious to vegetation, while 

 it drives away our native insectivorous birds, which would, 

 if left to themselves, do good service in this way. If the bird 

 should ever become numerous in the West, it would do a 

 vast amount of damage to the crops of grain. From all 

 points of view, therefore, it is to be condemned. These 

 arguments, with all of which the readers of Forest ANS 

 Stream are familiar, are advanced to induce the Legislature 

 to lake steps to abate what has become both in our large 

 cities and our lesser towns a real nuisance. 



The Yellowstone Park. — We print iu another col- 

 umn a very few of the numerous remarks, editorial and 

 personal, which have been called out by the recent light 

 on the Yellowstone Park grab. The only hope of the engi- 

 neers of this project was to have railroaded it through with 

 such silence and celerity that the grant would have been 

 confirmed to them before the matter could have been 

 subjected to any scrutiny by the people or their repre- 

 sentatives, and this they did not quite succeed in doing, 

 As soon as the true import, of the job was understood by 

 the people, there was but one sentiment expressed in re- 

 gard l,o the matter, and the general condemnation widen it 

 received quite frightened the. projectors of the scheme from 

 their original position. The whole matter may safely be 

 left in such good hands as those of Senator Vest and See 

 retary Teller 



