Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Tkrms, frl a Yeas. 10 Ots. > 

 Six Months, $2. 



NEW YORK, MARCH IS, 1883. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 

 The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 

 ment, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 

 Communications upon the subjects to which its pages are devoted are 

 respectfully invited. Anonymous communications will not be re- 

 garded. No name will be published except with writer's consent. 

 The Editors aro not responsible for the views of correspondents. 



SUBSCRIPTIONS 

 Slay begin at any time. Subscription price, $4 per year ; $2 for six 

 months; to a club of three annual subscribers, three copies for $10; 

 live copies for $16. Remit by registered letter, money-order, or draft, 

 payable lo the Forest and Stream Publishing Company. The paper 

 may he obtained of newsdealers throughout the United States and 

 Canadas. On sale by the American Exchange, 44!! Strand, W. 0., 

 London, England. Subscription agents for Great Britain— Messrs. 

 Samson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 188 Fleet street, London. 



AD rERTTSEMENTS. 



i inly advertisements of an approved character inserted. Inside 

 pages, nonpareil type, 35 cents per line. Special rates for three, 

 and twelve months. Beading notices $1.00 per line. Eight words 

 to the line, twelve lines to one inch. Advertisements should be sent 

 in by the Saturday previous to iEsue in which they are to be inserted. 



Transient advertisements must invariably be accompanied by the 

 money or they will not be inserted. 



Address all communications, 



Forest and Stream Publishing Co, 

 Nos. 89 and 40 Pabk Row. New York Citt. 



CONTENTS. 



Experience of Three at Reho 



both. 

 Musical Frogs. 



The Yellow-Bellied Woodpecke 

 Natural History. 



''I ■ I'.liir i " ;\.]i. 



White] 



eBai 



dGd 



My First PanchL. . 



The Negroes and the (lame. 



Philadelphia Notes. 



A New Shell. 



The Large Game of Maine. 



Notes from Florida, 



Another Screed. 



Iowa Notes. 



Large (lame and Small Shot. 



The Big-Guns. 

 Camp Fire Flickerinos. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 

 i With Hackles and Gentles.— VTJI 



Something about tbe Pike-Perch 



Angling at Lake Copake. 



Bits of Florida Experience.— I~ 



Sea and River Fishing. 

 A Chinaman Takes a Troin 

 ••Skip the Hard Words." 



FlSHCULTt'RE. 



Impregnating Salmon Eggs. 



The Wisconsin Commission. 



The Connecticut Commission. 

 The Kennel. 



Laverack Pedigrees. 



N. A. K. 0. Derby. 



Pittsburgh Bench Show. 



Eostc.ru Field Trials Club. 



Kennel Notes. 

 Rifle and 1 rap Shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



Progress in Match Preparation. 



Gallerr Targets. 



The. Trap. 



Newark March Tournament. 



Matches anil Meetings. 

 Yachting and Canoeing. 



Close of a Winter's Cruise. 



General Observations on Canoe- 

 ing. 



Poughkeepsie Ice Yacht Club. 



Small Yachts. 



The Canoe Meet at Stoney Lake, 



Streams of Northern Michigan. I An; 



' ■ -!_ .'Mil Nmv 

 Iowa Canoe Club. 

 Enrollment of Yachts. 



o Correspondents. 



Back Copies of the Forest and Stream can be supplied, 



TEE PABK TEASES. 

 •"pHE Secretary of the Interior has leased to the Yellow- 

 J- stone Park Improvement Company a portion of the 

 National Park. The lease executed covers seven different 

 plots in various portions of the region, which aggregate ten 

 acres. The law as passed during the last session of Con- 

 gress protects this national pleasure resort from being seized 

 by a vast monopoly, and the orders of the Secretary of the 

 Interior should be sufficient to save the geysers and the 

 game fram destruction. 



By this law the responsibility for the care of the Park is 

 placed where it belongs, that is with the Interior Depart- 

 ment and its servants. The public will look with interest 

 on the action of Superintendent Conger, who has now been 

 furnished with money and means to patrol the Park. If he 

 does his full duty, the work of destruction which for ten 

 years past nas been going on iu this beautiful region will be 

 checked, trespassers and butchers will be promptly dealt 

 with and punished, and the game, soon recognizing that it 

 has here a safe abiding place, will increase and multiply 

 If the superintendent is careless and slothful, if he appoints 

 as his assistants a lot of Eastern men who know nothing of 

 the mountains and the habits of game, the old style slaugh- 

 ter will be kept up. We have every reason to think that the 

 superintendent will do his duty by the Park. He has already 

 shown a deep interest in it, and this interest will no doubt 

 increase rather than flag. We warn him, however, 

 against falling into the mistake of appointing for 

 his game keepers and police incompetent men. Let him 

 make his selection of these officers from among the moun- 

 tain nun of Montana, whom he can easily find. Prom 

 among them he can select good men, who will be honest) 

 reliable, faithful and fearless in the performance of their 

 duty. If the care of the forests, the game and the natural 

 wonders of the Park be placed in such hands, we have no 

 fears for their future. 



Any failure to act up to the provisions of the law will 



readily be learned of in a region such as this will soon be, 

 and the assistants who fail to do their duly must speedily be 

 removed and make way for better men. The responsibility 

 of the Park thus resting on one pair of shoulders, it is cer- 

 tain that it will be well cared for, and the country looks to 

 Mr. Conger to see how its Park is to be looked after. The 

 people's temper has beeu somewhat aroused by the mon- 

 strous attempt to lake from them their rights, and they will 

 look sharply after this reservation for the future. 



II is stated that other parties beside Ihose above men- 

 tioned have filed applications for leases, and these the Sec- 

 retary is now considering. .V healthy competition in the 

 hotel business in the Park is very desirable. If, however, 

 the Improvement Company had secured their 4.500 acres 

 of land as at flrftt attempted, there would not have been much 

 opportunity for other hotels to have been started. 



A Disgusted Dog.— It is Hamerton, we think, who 

 says, in one of his charming essays, that a. poor shot should 

 never go into the Held with a good dog unless he is willing 

 to be despised by the dog. Iu another column our ever- 

 entertaining correspondent "Wells" relates a story illustra- 

 tive of this; and "that reminds us" of a similar case that 

 once came under our own notice. We have owned several 

 dogs who seemed to take great delight in the killing of the 

 birds, and it was plain to be seen that unless the birds were 

 brought to bag their interest flagged. Many years ago we 

 had a dog who possessed this (rait, which grew upon him 

 as he became older until it was impossible to get a good 

 day's work out of him unless we did our share. He was 

 one of the best animals we ever owned, and one of the most 

 intelligent. In those days we selected our shooting com- 

 panions as we did our dogs — for their good qualities in the 

 field — and we nearly always succeeded in bringing to bag 

 birds enough to keep the old dog, if not at his best, pretty well 

 up lo the mark. After a long career of usefulness he be- 

 came too infirm for anything more than an hour or two in the 

 field, and was seldom taken out. One afternoon we loaned 

 him to a friend, who was a capital shot, except that at times 

 he would have a "poor streak." Both man and dog started 

 off in high spirits, but when they returned it was plain to be. 

 seen from the dejected appearance of the dog and the sheep- 

 ish face of the Doctor that their fond anticipation of sport 

 bad not. been realized. The Doctor explained the matter by 

 saying that he had had a "poor streak." Said he: "I never 

 was so disconcerted as when I caught the reproachful glance 

 of the old dog's eye after missing as fair a shot as I ever had; 

 and as I soon repeated the performance, I could plainly see 

 in his expressive countenance disgust as well as reproach. 

 Although I have stood behind the trap and, amid the jeers 

 and hoots of the crowd, missed my ten birds straight, I 

 never was so utterly demoralized in my life, and of course 

 T missed the next one, when the old dog, with a look that 

 will haunt me to my dying day, hung his head and, curling 

 his tail between his legs, dejectedly marched back to the 

 wagon, and actually showed his teeth when I tried to coax 

 him out again." 



Judges fob the New York Show.— The judges for the 

 bench show of the Westminster Kennel Club are as follows: 

 Mr. J. C. Higgius, of Delaware City, Del., will judge the 

 English setters; Dr. J. W. Downey, of New Market, Md., 

 the collies and beagles; Mr. J. F. Kirk, of Toronto, Can- 

 ada, some of the non-sporting classes. The remaining classes 

 are, asyet, not assigned, although it is probable that Mr. E. 

 0. Sterling, of St. Louis, Mo., will judge the pointers, Irish, 

 and black and tan setters. This list is unexceptionable, and 

 one that is sure to receive the unqualified approval of the 

 exhibitors. 



Proposed Kentucky Association.— Doctor W. Van 

 Antwerp and other prominent sportsmen of Kentucky are 

 about to form an association for the protection of fish and 

 game in the State. Such an organization is needed, and if 

 the new one takes hold vigorously and helps to enforce the 

 laws, it will take higher rank than those clubs which exist 

 merely in order to hold shooting matches. As the proposed 

 society intends to assist in stocking the waters, let up hope 

 that it will protect them from the depredations of thieves 

 who would take the last fish in them by any means in their 

 power. 



How Much He Missed!— It is related of the eccentric 

 Dearb«rn Giles, of Boscawen, N, H., who recently died at 

 the age of seventy-seven years, that although the best trout- 

 brook in the town ran through his land, he made his boast 

 that he never owned a fish-pole, a dog or a gun. 



ANTIQUATED MILITARY ARMS. 



r pHERE is a growing feeling in the ranks of the National 

 -*- Guard that when the State makes a demand upon the 

 soldier for a certain amount of range practice, the State 

 thereby incurs the duty 1 of seeing to it that the veiy best 

 arms obtainable are placed in the hands of the men. In 

 many of the States this is not the fact at present, and the 

 guardsmen of this Empire State feel the annoyance of an an- 

 tiquated arm probably more than do the soldiers of any 

 other State. It was the guard of this State which estab- 

 lished Creedmoor, and gave to modern rifle practice in 

 this country its first impulse. Knowing next to nothing of 

 the art of rifle shooting it is not surprising that for a time 

 there was no open objection urged against the State model 

 arm. It was the regulation weapon, and shooting honie 

 matches there was little hardship, as all were equally- handi- 

 capped by it, but when the marks-men from other States 

 came up to Creedmoor and engaged in the matches they came 

 with the best arms obtainable, and it goes without saying 

 that they were not the New York State arm. The New York 

 boys found themselves pushed to the wall by men in no wise 

 their superiors in knowledge of all the many details which 

 go to make up the successful bullseyo hitter., but there was 

 the difference of a superior weapon, and this decided the 

 match. 



Under such circumstances it is not at all surprising that 

 there should be a disposition on the part of the New York 

 teams to stay out of matches where by the conditions they 

 are doomed to almost certain defeat. This indisposition to 

 enter into competition is significant, for once crush out the 

 desire to measure effort in friendly rivalry with fellow- 

 workers, and soon the whole subject of butt practice will die 

 out despite all the general orders that may be issued to 

 bolster it up. Competition is life and rivalry is vital in this 

 matter, and if the men of one section are weighted down by 

 an antiquated arni, they must soon cease to use it as anything 

 more than a dummy with which to go through the manual 

 of arms, and one of the most valuable lines of endeavor on 

 the part of the soldier is cut off. 



It may be urged that the cost of rearming such a large 

 force a.s the entire National Guard of a State is too great to 

 lie lightly incurred, and then there is the risk that the work 

 may be, after all, but temporary. There is no knowing 

 when the time may come that shall see an invention which 

 shall sweep away our entire small arm system, and there is 

 a continuous line of improvement which makes the winning 

 weapon of to-day the discarded arm of to-morrow, Still 

 this is no excuse for absolute inaction, and a start, at least, 

 could be made toward the better arming of the men by the 

 issue of a limited number of rifles which are beyond question. 

 and by general consent, superior to those now in use. They 

 might be placed in the hands of the men best qualified to ap- 

 preciate and use them, and their possession would come to 

 be looked upon as in some degree a badge of pioficiency in 

 one of the soldiers' duties. It would not require such a great 

 outlay to issue enough of these improved rifles to enable all 

 the official scoring under the State orders to be made with 

 them, and so show the men at their very best. 



Of course, for a great majority of the work which the 

 National Guard may ever be unfortunately called upon to 

 perform, the present arms are amply accurate and deadly. 

 It is quite enough for a mob of riotous citizens to know that 

 the blue-coated young men marching against the disorderly 

 ones are armed, even though it be with .oO-caliber rifles, 

 which may not shoot above an average of inners at the long 

 ranges. xVcross the street, or at the distance of a block away, 

 they are quite accurate enough to render a deadly fire, and 

 they will bo the more deadly, and, therefore, the less likely 

 to be called into use in proportion as the men can handle 

 them with certainty. Yet an essential point is to keep the 

 interest of the men up to the highest point, and this can 

 only be accomplished by letting them feel that their personal 

 endeavors are not set at naught by the inherent defects of 

 the instrument in their hands. 



That there is a feeling in the matter among the National 

 Guard is shown by the expression of opinion on the part of 

 Company C, Seventh Regiment, N. G., S. N. Y„ where-, at 

 a recent meeting, resolutions were passed, as shown in the 

 following synopsis : 



The ride with which the National (luard is at present armed will 

 not carry accurately more than 500 yards. In all matches a,t Creed- 

 i' aDd elsewhere whenever our Notional Guard are called in com- 

 petition with those of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other States, 

 they find themselves heavily handicapped, their opponents being 

 furnished with a much better arm. The late Intel-national Match 

 id other matches have created a spirit of emul ition in our National 

 Guard that In our opinion should be fostered by the State: thin can 

 only he done by arming ns with the. best rifle procurable. The ex- 



