Terms, Five Dollars a Year. I 

 Ten Cents a Copy. j 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DEC. 4, 1873. 



( Volume I, Number 16. 

 "{ 103 Fulton Street. 



For Forest and Stream. 

 AURORA BOREALIS. 



AS 3EKX BT A SALMON FISHING PARTY AT LABRADOR, JULY 1873. 



MIDNIGHT over stream and shore ! 

 Midnight over Labrador! 

 Midnight o'er our log hat home, 

 O'er the breaker's curling foam. 

 Midnight on the drifting cloud, 

 And the mountain's mighty shroud; 

 Midnight in the solitude 

 Of the unknown savage wood. 

 Midnight deep, profound and still, 

 Over swamp and shore and hill. 



'Tis a midnight fair to see; 

 Wondrous in sublimity; 

 Lingering at our cabin door, 

 Fast beside the river shore. 

 Dazzled is the gazer's eye, 

 With the pomp that fires the sky. 



Clouds are flying in mad chase, 



O'er the moon's celestial face; 



In the blue concave of air, 



St.ars, like diamonds, flash and glare;] 



While with evanescent glow, 



Springs aloft the Lunar bow. 



See, like arch triumphal high, 

 How it soareth up the sky, 

 See, like heavenly rainbow bent, 

 How its gorgeous columns climb, 

 With majesty sublime. 



Now a grander pomp is there, 

 Flaming thro' the midnight air, • 

 Blazing, flashing, shooting far, 

 Lovlier than moon or star. 

 See, the Auroral Boreal show 

 Fills the universe with glow, 

 From the horizon to the pole, 

 See the conflagration roll. 



Shooting flames and sparks ascend; 

 All the hues of rainbows blend. 

 Amber, amethyst and gold, 

 Twistedgn one gorgeous fold, 

 finding with supernal glow, 

 Sailing cloud and lunar bow. 

 Gazing on the skies' parade, 

 How all earthly splendors fadel 



I. McLellan. 



**/ J@<wt <$hv 



FROM NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



* . 



I HAD always supposed that the fishes of the northern 

 coasts were of better quality than those of southern 

 waters, but an experience of three winters on the east coast 

 of Florida has convinced me of my error. In a day's fish- 

 ing at Mosquito Inlet, on the Indian Eiver, we often took 

 six or eight species of edible fish, all of which were quite 

 equal to those of the North. They are also very abund- 

 ant, and not being much pursued are easily caught. This 

 is particularly the case in the Indian River, where the ang- 

 ler might say — 



"They are so unacquainted with man. 

 Their tameness is shocking to me." 

 The Indian River country is mostly wilderness, and can 

 only be fished and hunted by camping out, which, how- 

 ever, in a Florida winter, is delightful, the weather being 

 much like the finest October days in the northern States' 

 At New Smyrna, near the Mosquito Inlet, there is also good 

 fishing, and there is an excellent hotel, kept by E. K. 

 Dowd, (the Ocean House) mostly frequented by anglers and 

 hunters from the North. Here you are near the fishi no- 

 grounds, and behind the house stretches away to the south 

 an immense forest and swamp, containing bears, panthers, 

 deer, wild cattle, turkeys, quails, squirrels, and all kinds 

 of ducks and water fowl. The house is clean, the table 

 very good, the host and hostess obliging and friendly, and 

 the charges moderate— about $14 per week. The route is 

 as follows:— From Savannah, by rail, to Jacksonville, ten 

 or twelve hours ; fare, .$3. From Jacksonville to Enter- 

 prise, on the St. John, per steamer in two days; two hun- 



dred miles; fare, $9. At Enterprise you hire a wagon to 

 take you through the pine woods thirty or forty miles to 

 New Smyrna; time, twelve hours; perhaps more if the 

 swamps are full of water; fare, $7. You can employ a 

 day or two at Enterprise (Brock House) in fishing for black 

 bass (here called trout) in Lake Munroe, or in hunting deer 

 or wild turkeys in the woods. The expenses of a trip to 

 Florida will be from $100 to $150 per month, according to 

 the habits of the traveller. 



During parts of three winters spent in this region I made 

 some notes of the food and game fishes, from which I have 

 prepared the following sketches :— 



Sheepshead, [pargus ovis). — Dekay. 



This is one of the most abundant species, as well as one 

 of the most valuable, as food. Though much more numer- 

 ous than on the coasts of the middle States, they are of 

 smaller-size, averaging at Mosquito Inlet and in the Indian 

 River about three pounds. A six pound fish is large, and 

 a seven pound one is rare. The baits generally used are 

 clams (better boiled, being tougher), crabs, 5ddlers, and 

 conchs. The latter bait is very tough, well resists the 

 strong teeth of the sheepshead, but is, I think, less attrac- 

 tive than the others. We find the best fishing usually in 

 the channels which run along the banks, upon which is a 

 thick grove of mangrove bushes; the roots of these are in 

 the water, and are covered with barnacles, which attract 

 the sheepshead. From half flood to high water they usually 

 bite most eagerly, though here, as elsewhere, there some- 

 times comes a day on which fish do not feed — affected 

 probably by the wind or weather. 



I am disposed to believe, with Norris, that the sheeps- 

 head found on the northern coast are the surplus produc- 

 tion of more southern waters. In April, the sheepshead 

 on the coast of Florida become heavy with spawn, and lose 

 their fine flavor. I think they spawn in May. We often 

 take them quite small, only a few ounces in weight. Most 

 fishermen use a hand line, with two hooks resting on the 

 bottom, but anglers find more sport in the use of rod and 

 reel. A four pound sheepshead will make a strong fight, 

 and a pair of them will try the angler's skill to save both. 

 Owing to the hard pavement of enamelled teeth in the 

 mouth, it is difficult to hook this fish, and when hooked 

 his jaws are so strong that few hooks can resist their 

 power. After trying many kinds I have found but two 

 that I could depend upon. One is the hook used at New- 

 port for tautog, and the other is figured in Norris' book 

 under the name of the Virginia hook. It is the best of the 

 two, having a sharp cutting edge to the barb, which gives 

 a better penetration. Sinkers of different weights are re- 

 quired to suit the force of the tide at different times, the 

 sheepshead being a bottom fish. Two, four, and six ounces 

 will be found sufficient. We usually averaged a dozen fish 

 to a line in one tide, even wdien half a dozen persons were 

 fishing from the boat, most of whom were unskilled. I 

 have taken twenty-five sheepshead in a tide to my own 

 rod, and I have known two anglers to kill a hunched in a 

 day. We used generally to fill a two bushel bag, hanging 

 over the boat's side in the water, so as to bring the fish 

 home alive, and then put them in a car anchored in the 

 creek in front of the hotel. 



bedfish, or chankelbass, (Corvina ocellata).— Cuvier. 



This is a very common and numerous species on the Flor- 

 ida coasts, and is a fish much resembling in habits its con- 

 gener, the striped bass of more northern waters. It is 

 taken with similar baits, such as shrimp, crab, or a piece of 

 mullet; it fights long and hard on the hook, and in the 

 proper season is an excellent table fish, boiled, cut in steaks, 

 and broiled, or even fried. I consider it after the month 

 of March to be equal to the striped bass. In the fall and 

 winter the redfish is lean and without flavor, but improves 

 in March, and in January it is the best of the coast fishes, 

 as well as the most, abundant. At that season it swarms in 

 the river mouths and sounds, and can be taken with almost 

 any bait. It is also found of large size in the surf on the 

 sea-beaches, and can be readily taken by casting a baited 

 hook with a hand line from the shore. 



Norris represents the redfish as "stringy, and lacking fla- 



vor," while Herbert calls it excellent. Both are right, 

 since its quality varies with the season. Mr. Norris, quot- 

 ing Holbrook, describes the redfish as of a beautiful sil- 

 very color, and iridiscent when taken from the water, add- 

 ing that in the Gulf it is invariably red. I have found 

 that specimens under seven or eight pounds weight have 

 the back of a steel blue, sides golden, and belly white — 

 the larger fish are of a brilliant golden red on oack and 

 sides. All have the black spot near the tail, from which 

 the specific name is derived. Sometimes there are two or 

 more spots. The cut in Norris' book gives a correct figure 

 of the redfish, or channel bass. It comes into the rivers 

 with the tide, and is best taken in the chtmnels near the 

 shore at half flood. As in sheepshead fishing, most per- 

 sons use the hand line, with the bait on the bottom, but I 

 have found better sport with a bass rod and reel to hold 

 sixty or seventy yards of line, using a float to keep my bait 

 within three feet of the bottom. The same hook as for 

 striped bass; this fish has a tough, but not very bony 

 mouth, and is easily hooked and held. In March and April 

 we get them in the rivers and inlets of five to ten pounds 

 weight; later in the season of larger size, say from fifteen 

 to thirty pounds. My largest was taken by trolling with a 

 hand line from a boat in the Indian River, and weighed 

 twenty -five pounds. I have known a dozen to be taken by 

 one rjd in the spring, averaging eight pounds, but in sum- 

 mer a wagon load could be hauled out of the surf with a 

 hand line almost anywhere along the coast from Mosquito 

 Inlet to the Indian River. 



Salt Water Trout, (Otolitiis CaroUnejim). — Citvieji 

 This belongs to the same genus as the weakfish, or sque- 

 teague of the Middle States (0. regalis), differing chiefly in 

 this, that the southern species has rows of black spots on 

 the back, like the lake trout of the Adirondacks, which it 

 much resembles in figure. It is, however, not a salmor., 

 but rather allied to the perches of the order Ctenoid, of 

 Agassiz. Our southern species is not much esteemed as 

 food, becoming soft and flavorless soon after capture. It 

 is a game fish, and affords good sport to the rod fisher; a 

 very handsome and lively fish, from two to ten pounds in 

 weight, and is taken usually with mullet bait. It is of 

 very rapacious habits, and on a still night in spring and 

 summer the snapping of their jaws may be distinctly heard 

 as they chase the mullets and small fry in the creeks. Hol- 

 brook gives a good figure of this species. 

 The Drum, (Pogonias c?w?w's).— Clyier. (P. fasciatus), 

 Holbrook. 

 There seem to be two species on the southern coast. 

 Pogonim cromis is the black drum, the larger and coarser 

 sometimes weighing fifty or sixty pounds. P. fasciatus, the 

 striped drum, of ten or twelve pounds, is the better fish. 

 They appear at Mosquito Inlet about April, and spawn I 

 think at that season. The roe of the drum, salted, is a fa- 

 vorite dish on the coast, and was formerly exported in 

 large quantities to Cuba. In Charleston. Savannah, and 

 St. Augustine the drum is the common dinner fish when in 

 season, though I think it much inferior to the sheepshead 

 or the redfish. It is taken in the same way as its cousin 

 the sheepshead, and with the same bait, and behaves in the 

 same way when hooked, though from its greater size and 

 strength its capture is more difficult. This fish derives its 

 name from its habit of emitting a hollow, drumming noise 

 principally, I think, in the spawning season. This sound' 

 like the drumming of the partridge, is difficult to trace as 

 it appears to diffuse itself in space. 



The Whiter, Barb, or Kingeish, (Umbrina nelmlom).— 

 Storer. 

 The whiting is considered one of the best of the south- 

 ern fishes, and is prized higher by the natives than even the 

 sheepshead; perhaps because it is a scarcer fish. We sel- 

 dom get more than six or eight of them in a tide. The 

 flesh is both rich and delicate, and the average weight 

 about a pound; but its resistance is greater than would be 

 expected from the size of *he fish. They are taken in 

 rather deep water on the bottom, with either clam crab or 

 mullet bait. The figure in Norris' book is accurate. 



