3 2 6 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mat 24, 1883. 



(i limb some fifteen feet from the ground, t tried to dis- 

 lodge liira by jarring the tree, but it was loo large for ro« to 

 effect anything in that way. so I picked op a el'uh to throw 

 at him. when i was surprised to see him spring out from his 

 WSting place and land some thirty or forty feet down the 

 Side of I lie hill among the leaves and rocks that were thickly 

 scattered over the ground. That he was not dashed In 

 pieces against some one of these was a groal wonder; but 

 flftM rolling over a tew limes, he regained his feet anil 

 seampeied away to his hole, which, being too tired to give 

 chase. 1 left him free to do. — G. L. li. [it is very common 

 for woodchueks to climb trees] 



Aisthat.ia.n GOOSE Siiootino.— Adelaide. South Aus- 

 truVui.— Editor Forest mid Stream: In Silencer's Gulf ami 

 about. 190 miles from Adelaide there arc one or two groups 

 Of small islands, on which at a certain season of the year 

 the "coreopsis geese," commonly called "Cape Barren 

 geese," from the fact of their being first found at that place, 

 congregate to breed. This breed U Bomewhal smaller than 



the common goose, and is of B bluish slate orgrav plumage, 



with black bars on the wings. The legs are strong, dark in 

 color and tinged with red, the feet are webbed, neck slender, 

 hill green with black tip. It. is easily domesticated, and 

 proves a decided acquisition to the poultry yard. The flesh 

 is of a dark color and very delicate. Its food principally 

 consists of young grass. The old birds come to the island 

 about the mouth of .Tune to lay their eggs. When the 

 young are about half grown they can easily be caught, and 

 the Old birds at that, time afford good sport for the gnu. 

 When the young birds are fuil grown imd able lo By suf- 

 ficiently well, they nil leave the islands and find their way 

 to the inland streams of the mainland, and do not appear on 

 the islands again until the following season. -F. V. S. 



|tt and §iver tg'hhimj. 



To insure prompt attention, communications should bead- 

 dressed to the Forest mid Stream Publishing Co., mid not to 

 individuals, in irhose absence from the office matters of im- 

 portance are liable to delay. 



ANGLING RESORTS.— We shaU be ylad to have ft nuM 

 itesof good fishing localities. Will not our corre- 

 spondents farur ns icitli notes of desirable points fur tniijliiiij 

 ■. ursumst 



A fine a'eekled trail thai long Safety had lain 



la the Cleft? of the rock, out c.f reach of ilie seine, 



Being hungry, looked up. and was pleased to espy, 



Floating ovi r iii- irnter, a grew bottle fly, 



'Just my luck.' said the trout. -I shall soon he the winner 



Of a fat. juicy fly Tori lie linn of my dinner." 



Wiih a wink, and a nod. and a tremendous bound, 



He sprang fdr the ily hut he lit on the .around. 



Just then a man looking tor something to eat 



Put I bat same speckled trout iu his basket for meat. 



AN EVENING'S REFLECTIONS. 



THE springing grass, and the bursting buds, and the 

 chirp of the robin speak to the heart of the Sportsman, 

 telling him the season has come iu which to overhaul bis 



fishing gear and see if he is ready for bis annual sport. Bad, 

 w hat is generally more doubtful, whether he is going to find 

 time tO take an outing before long. 



I have just laid down a volume of sketches which many 

 of your 'readers have read (and tho8C who have not have 

 missed a real pleasure), which at the same time pleased and 

 saddened me. It is "Pleasures of Angling," by that vete- 

 ran sportsman and your late correspondent, George Daw- 

 sou, who has so lately gone over the river with the great 



rny," and will no more delight .us with the proline 



tions of his facile and graceful pen, nor ever again by 

 wooded lake or streamlet engage in the sport which was SO 

 dear to him, anl which he so rightfully aud in such a true 

 spirit of a sportsman appreciated.. 



While 1 never had the pleasure of meeting him in the 

 flesh, yet there breathed through all his writings such a 

 gentle spirit— so like that of dear old Izaak himself that I 

 Blink every true lover of the craft could but hail him as a 

 brother aud feel almost a sense of bereavement at bis death. 



Now, when Nature with her kindly hand is mantling with 

 the verdure of spring his newly-made grave, with what 

 pathos do these words of his come back to us: 



"1 sometimes wonder whether, on some pleasant day iu 

 May. not long hence, I shall stand on this sunny spot, where 

 I have stood during some portion of every season these 

 twenty years, and find iu attempting to make my usual 

 cast, that my right band has forgot its cunning. As old age 

 cools the blood and dims the vision, and checks the elasti- 

 city of brain and limb, such thoughts sometime! comi to 

 the most buoyant and often cast a shadow across the sun- 

 niest landscape, But it is onlya shadow. With the thought 

 comes up the vision of another river, brighter, and clearer, 

 and purer than that which flow's with such gentle graceful- 

 ness at my feet — 'a pure river of water of life, clear as crys- 

 tal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.' 

 It is a vision which reconciles all thoughtful anglers to the 

 quick coming time when these pleasant places, which now 

 know them, shall know them no more forever."— ["Pleas- 

 ure-, of Angling," p. 231.] 



Surely here is the very spirit of a gentle sportsman; one 

 who did not think that to catch fish was all for which 8 

 sportsman sought the forest streams. 



He sought and found what so many of us have found 

 there; an inspiration from Nature — "a pleasure in the path- 

 less WOi»ds"— 8 something which will remain with us wdicli 

 age creeps over us with his palsying touch, golden memories, 

 untainted with any of the alloy which mingles with so many 

 of the pleasures which are found elsew 1 ti I 



I am familiar with many of the places of] which he so 

 graphically writes, and after many years' experience with rod 

 and reel, hope for many more, but the falling by the way of 

 one after another of the old school is a frequent" reminder lo 

 118 all. 



With perceptibly failing eyesight, and a touch of rheuma- 

 tism, 1 was the other day looking ruefully at. my gun and roils, 

 a&d remarked lo Mrs. Bamboo that it was pretty hard to get 

 so blind that I could not see lo shoot, and so rheumatic that 

 I could not cast a fly. 



That excellent woman murmured something about a lame 

 knee not preventing a man from fishing, and in sooth, I 

 think myself that I could, without my eye-glasses, a 

 rulfed grouse fifty yards away, distinctly, aud that is about 



as far as anybody lias a chance to see one, generally before 

 be dives over and behind a tree— whither as one of vour cor- 

 respondents says ("Mark West"?) vou follow- him with vour 

 second barrel and he falls dead iu the next, county' But lest 

 1 might seem to be dipping into that ■'ruffed grouse" discus- 

 sion, which so warmed up your pages last, fall, I hasten to 

 drop the subject. 



I wish to indorse "Piseco's" views upon the subject of 

 guides as given in his late letter, and lo extend mv regrets 

 that the •'exigencies of the service" will prevent bis making 

 his anticipated trip to the woods, ns your readers may pos- 

 sibly therein* lose a good letter from hiin with an account of 

 his experience there. 



Speaking of Adirondack guides, I wonder if Jack Shep- 

 pard has yet found the kev to the camp of which he had 

 charge in June. 1*70, and which, as Jim Iliaboe (model 



guide) was pulling Mrs. Bamboo aud myself up through 



Third Lake, he, meeting us on his way down, toss.. d tons, 

 at the same time offering us the hospitality of bis camp. 

 The key fell about two inches short of Higbee's outstretched 

 palm and disappeared in the placid waters of the lake. We 

 did not slop to look for it just then, but we got into the 

 camp though, thanks to an unfastened window, and by the 

 same token, James soon bad Us a delicious dinner cooking, 

 composed of venison Bteaks and a three pound and a half 

 trout which Mrs. I!, had caught, and milk aud other things 

 from our basket, the memory of which meal, and the vora- 

 cious appetites with which we devoured it, and the enjoy- 

 ment with which we subsequently watched Master Bamboo, 

 aged four years, catch bis first trout, and prove himself 

 1 i i chip of the old Bamboo. All these are part of the 



As is also the trout' which I struck in Panther Lake, weigh- 

 ing less than a pound, which towed our boat a hundred 

 yards before I killed him, and which the guide was sure was 

 a three-pounder. And in the afternoon J took from one 

 spot, without moving twenty feet, fifty-three trout, and 

 slopped then only because 1 had enough. "And floating down 

 the Moose River in company with a gentleman now well 

 known as a trout breeder and an officer of your Stale asso- 

 ciation, what royal sport we had that afternoonl These 

 are now only memories of the past, but 



"Let Kale d., her worst— there axe no 

 Bright, dreams of the past which she c 

 Which eoaie io die night time of soir. 



-\ud bnng back therVaon-.-s which jv 



. rojij May 13. 18B3. 



Split Bamboo, 



.. 



THREE GREENHORNS. 



HAVE you got a pack of cards, O'Ncil?" 

 "No"." 



"Ohj hang ill let's go back and get them." 



"Xol much. 1 wouldn't go back for a dozen packs.'* 



Thus the twain wrangled, while the third of the party 



placidly listened to the dispute as he urged the horse onward 



with emphasis. 



We wire bound for Success Meadows. 

 Owing to business alia 



5 P. M.Tona warm July i 

 twenty miles, from Bethel lo 

 most pleasant that ever fell li 

 place, the Bear Pave 



the lot o 

 Valley. 



irtal mi 

 eithci 



I before 

 drive of 

 io of the 

 . It is a 

 ide, the 



lows sloping up to the base of long, undulating hills 

 ami mountains, were dotted with hay cocks, covered with 

 snnwv caps, while the road wound in and out among them, 

 and twisted around the base of .Mount Saddleback like the 

 track of a weaver's shuttle; and at, limes we could bear the 

 low rumbling mutler of the restless stream, echoing down 

 tlu' impassable gorges of the hills. We had none of us had 

 much experience in roughing it, but we knew enough to 

 travel as light as possible, and had made up our packs before 

 the start, 



It was full 9 P. M. ere we reached Grafton. O'Ncil was 

 acquainted there, and rousing up a farmer, put up the horse 

 in an empty stall, while we ourselves proposed to try the 

 haymow r and get some rest from our drive: but "mau"pro- 



" etc. 1 f t 



here was one there were thirty grasshoppe 

 all over that loft, of all ages and assortei 

 i little brown hardshell to the big- green 



fat a 

 Tit 



old , 



ght was one continual squirm. Toward 

 or, 1 dropped off into a nap, the last sound 

 rowsy ears being the steady munch of the 

 heelbarrow that we had turned into a crib, 

 aud for which he had developed a decided taste, aud the, 

 uneasy wriggle of Harry as he scratched a 'hopperdown his 

 back and kicked frantically in the hay. 



The morning dawned cold and rainy. With frowzy heads 

 we crawled out from our too attentive hosts, and" with a 

 hurried breakfast shouldered our packs and started for a 

 five-mile tramp along a blazed path through the woods. 



Well, it. wasn't pleasant, anil the- general vagueness ot our 

 directions did not add to its enjoyment, either. But all 

 things must have an end, and about noon, after twice losing 

 the path, we suddenly emerged on the bank of Silver Stream, 



and then 



We forgot our weariness. Never till then had such a 

 beauty of a stream been darkened by the shadow of our rods. 

 Tumbling down from its home iu the mountains, it lead 

 straightaway down through a long ravine, with pool after 

 pool of calm, foam-flecked water fairly alive with trout. 



Every fall had seven or eight lying there awaiting their 

 chances, and so clear was the water that their magnificent 

 " we could almost count the pink- 

 either. We counted seven great 

 huge fallen tree, and of these 

 bin ten minutes, the two largest. 



size be 



distinct] 



V seen, and 



spots u 

 Thej 



fellows 



pon tbei 



• sides. 

 jl at all Bhj 



ole under ti 



Ha 



ed 6 



, -.In i 



Pr 





:ood 



ed \ 



ere hcavj 



r. Our ii 



,!,:Is"ue '!- 



arted foi 



weighing a pound and three-i 

 that, for brook trout in Oxtr 

 was — not in my time — when c 

 just such fellows. 



At last we. stopped. Our en 

 ached, our legs were .stiff and i 

 iiig hard besides. Putting up 



meadows, which we had been assured were but a little way 

 on. Like, the Dutch Governor's fool, that "little way" 

 meant a good deal, but the prospect, of having a good barn 

 lo sleep in, ami the general dampness of things, Urged us on 

 to a final effort. Just at dark our efforts were rewarded, 

 aud leaving the si ream we came out into a broad alder- 

 dotted plain among the woods. But where was tin.- barn? 

 Charcoal! Not one slick on another. 



"Say, Harry, don't you want a pack of cards?" That was 



the only remark offered by the candidates for a modern 

 Babes in the Wood. 



We got a tire somehow and extemporized a shelter by its 

 light, and after we had secured a scanty protection from I he 

 rain we felt better. Not much, though. Eerie thoughts 

 are apt. to arise; and who has ever forgotten his first night 

 iu Ilie woods? Add to this that our only arms was an axe, 

 and that wild cats, and even panthers, had been seen in that 

 region, it can be imagined how our thoughts would turn as 

 we sometimes gazed at our slender stock of fuel. It was a 

 real test of courage for us to go to the stream for ttei 

 twenty rods away, and although I did it twice, and was 



much looked up to for my daring, yet 1 must conb - 



was in fear and trembling. Once during the night we had 

 a terrible fright. "Then shook the earth with the sound of 

 a four-footer! trampling," and it wasn't a light one either. 

 I jumped for the axe. Harry got hold of one of my boots, 

 and O'Neil stood frantically brandishing the coffee -pot iu 

 one hand and a middle-sized jack-knife 'in the other. The 

 alarming sounds died away iii the distance, but they took all 

 desire for .sleep away with them, Bitter were the curses 

 heaped upon ourselves, mentally, as we squatted around our 

 sputtering fire, and vowed audibly we "wouldn't go there 

 anymore." If the fish that, we had killed bad anv gliosis 

 wandering in that rain thin must have been delighted at our 

 misery. 



Wet. drabbled, rheumatic, we hailed the early light with 

 heartfelt thanks. 



Making a small pyramid of our extra "grub" at the foot 

 ol a tree, we headed for home with all possible dispatch. 

 We stopped not for fishing. We had all v. o could carry 

 already, and with an eleven-mile tramp up the bed of the 

 stream and through the dripping woods before us— a-g-hh-h! 



We followed a well-marked path down the meadow, and 

 as it grew brighter were startled bv several large animals 

 lushing out from behind an alder "clump, and coming in- 

 ward us at a tremendous rate, looming up in the thick mist 

 to antediluvian proportions. They turned out to be a dozen 

 or -i i horses, who welcomed us as the first human beings they 

 had long seen. 



This explained our midnight fright, and with a hearty 

 laugh we felt, cheered already, aud were ready to make fhn 

 of every mishap. Once I heard a splash, and turning saw 

 the dinnerpail calmly floating down the rapids, and as I 

 looked O'Ncil deliberately wheeled around and softly sat 

 down iu the white water of a fall, and it was only his quick 

 look and involuntary grimace when hs saw be was caught 

 that nroved that he had not. meant it; of course we roared 

 till we nearly dropped as he rose like a spirit of the waters, 

 in solemn and dripping majesty, and stalked shoreward for 

 a private wring. 



Again I saw Harry loiter and fall with a loud spank on a 

 Stone. There was a sharp crack. For a moment my heart 

 stood still, but it was only the lancewood bull of his rod 

 split from reel to ferule. I feared it was his leg. My turn 

 should have come next, but before it came we had left the 

 stream, and the rest of the way seemed wonderfully short. 



A cup of hot tea at a farmhouse and a warm tire, 'ami we 

 were soon rolling homeward, explaining mutually that there 

 must always be a first time, and vowing that the very next 

 season we would try it again. The last words that I heard 

 before falling asleep in the straw on the bottom of the wagon 

 being, "Say, O'Neil, are your feet wet?" To whiutt be sagely 

 responded." "Harry, my' boy, don't you want a pack of 

 Card-d-ds?" 



And, verily, "it is something pleasant, to remember here- 

 after." VlOKCS. 



ANGLERS' ASSOCIATION OF EASTERN 

 PENNSYLVANIA. 



Editor Forest mid Stream: 



As your paper has manifested a kindly interest iu the wel- 

 fare and prosperity of our anglers' association, a word or 

 two in regard to it's present status may probably prove ac- 

 ceptable to some of you* readers. 



Although comparatively in its infancy, the Anglers' Asso- 

 ciation of Eastern Pennsylvania has already given tokens of 

 vigorous vitality which promise to result in an organization 

 that Will prove both permanent and beneficial. The uew 

 headquarters at No. 1,020 Arch street, although not pal.diai. 

 are snug and comfortable, the only fault to be found with 

 them being their inadequacy for the accommodation of the 

 members who sometimes are in attendance. At each meet- 

 ing this becomes more and more apparent, foi the member- 

 ship roll is rapidly enlarging, and consequently more spacious 

 quarters are demanded. That these will be secured there 

 can no longer be a doubt entertained, and I look hopefully 

 forward to the time when we shall have a building all to our- 

 selves, with library, museum, reading and smoking looms, 

 etc. 



It is a noteworthy fact that our membership is composed 

 of real go-ahead material, so that whatever has been or is 

 likely to be attempted, will be. carried to satisfactory conclu- 

 sions. Among thameasures already adopted has been the 

 publication iu placard form of extracts from the fishery laws 

 of the Stale, which relate to illegal fishing— or the lulling of 

 fish, rather— bv anv other than the legitimately prescribed 

 methods. These placards have been framed, and by per- 

 mission of the railroad companies, are being placed in all the 

 railway stations along our principal rivers, as well as at 

 other points where fish abound and where the laws are dis- 

 regardeel. 



Wo have stringent fishing statutes, but the lack of enforce- 

 ment, renders them practical nullifies. They are not 

 of the slightest avail, and hence might, as -veil never been 

 enacted. It is hardly necessary to state that under such 

 circumstances illegal lishing iu all its forms is largely prac- 

 ticed, and whatever has been done iu this way of restock 

 iug streams, has amounted to little or nothing. With the 

 hope of remedying this to some extent, Hie placards referred 

 to have been printed and will be widely distributed. 



The State has spent some money which, bow i \ ' coi 

 scieutiously disbursed by the commissioners, has thus far 

 been productive of the poorest, results. If some of the 

 money foolishly expended in hatching establishments bad 



been applied to the payment of fish wardens, whose duty it 

 should be to guard the restocked streams, tl | sopli »uli 

 by this time be enjoying something iu the shape of a return 

 for their Outlays. 



Our association has adopted a plan for gaining informa- 

 tion in regard to sporting matters which promises to work 

 well. A reliable correspondent is secured at, every promin- 

 ent fishing point, who during the angling season sends us 

 weekly reports of liie condition of the fishing, what kind of 

 fish are biting, whether they arc plentiful or scarce, whether 

 large or small catches are made. etc. These correspondents 



