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FOREST AND STREAM. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 

 Devoted to Field aot> Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural History, 

 'Fish Culture, the Protection of Game, Presrvation of Forests, 

 and the Inculcation in Men and Women of a healthy interest 

 in 0u7-i ")OR Recreation and Study : 



PUBLISHED BY 



forest mid ^tremtj fflttbUshing $otnpmig, 



AT 



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 Hallock's "Fishing Tourist,'" postage free. 



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 extra. Where advertisements are inserted over 1 month, a discount of 

 10 per cent, will be made; over three months, 20 per cent ; over six 

 months, 30 per cent. 



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NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DEC. 11, 1873. 



To Correspondents. 



4 



All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 

 correspondence, must be addressed to The Forest and Stream Pub- 

 lishing Company. Personal letters only, to the Manager. 



All communications intended for publication must, be accompanied with 

 real name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published if 

 objection be made. No anonymous contributions will be regarded. 

 | Articles relating to any topic within the scope of this paper are solicited. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Ladies are especially invited to use our columns, which will be pre- 

 pared witt- < aref ul reference to their perusal and instruction. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brief 

 notes of their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of this paper 

 become ft medium of useful and reliable information between gentle- 

 men sportsmen from one end of the country to the other ; and they will 

 find our columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements. 



The Publishers of Forest and Stream aim to merit and secure the 

 patronage and countenance, of that portion of the community whose re- 

 fined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 

 is beautiful in Nature. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 

 the legitimate sports of land and water to those base uses which always 

 »end to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise- 

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We cannot be responsible for the dereliction of the mail service, if 

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Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, if possible. 



CHARLES HALLOCK, 



Managing Editor. 



THE IRISH RIFLE CHALLENGE. 

 ♦ 



THE annual meeting of the Amateur Rifle Club was 

 held on Friday last, December 5th, at the 7th Regi- 

 ment Armory. The following officers were elected tor the 

 coming year -—President, Captain G. W. Wingate; Vice- 

 President, Colonel H. A. Gildersleeve ; and Secretary and 

 Treasurer, F. P. Fairbanks, Esq. The Executive Commit- 

 tee are as 'follows :— Messrs. H. Fulton, J. T. B. Collins, A. 

 Alford, L. C. Bruce, and G. S. Schermerhorn. An im- 

 portant subject taken up by the A. R. C, was that of the 



IRISH CHALLENGE. 



On motion of Mr. J. P. M. Richards, the following reso- 

 lution was offered: — 



" That the Executive Committee of this Club be hereby 

 requested to correspond with Mr. Leech, and if satisfactory 

 terms can be arranged to accept the challenge in the name 

 of the Amateur Rifle Club of the city of New York, and 

 of the Riflemen of America. And it is hereby arranged 

 that an opportunity be offered to the Riflemen of the United 

 States at the earliest possible date to compete with our own 

 practice squad for places in the team, but without expense 

 to the Club," which resolution was passed unanimously. 

 The meeting was attended by the most prominent shots of 

 the Amateur Rifle Club and National Rifle Association, 

 who were strongly in favor of accepting the challenge of 

 the Irish team. It will be seen that the Club do not propose 

 to accept the challenge so much for themselves as on behalf 

 of the American Riflemen. It is hoped that those who con- 

 sider themselves qualified to compete in such a contest, 

 will, in case a definite arrangement is made, place them- 

 selves in communication with the officers of the Club. 

 Those intending to do so; however, must bear in mind that 

 thev will be restricted to the use of a rifle weighing less than 

 10 Ids. with a trigger pull of 3 lbs. at least, and without tele- 



S °Tlie Amateur Club is an Association of gentlemen. 



The total scores and averages made by the A. R. C, this 

 season, will be found in anot h e r column. 



—At a recent meeting of the Belgian Academy of Sciences 

 rather a curious discussion took place. M E. Van Beneden, 

 the well known Zoological Professor of Lourain read a 

 paper on Brazil and the La Plata. Speaking of the diffi- 

 culty of obtaining a dolphin, on account of the superstition 

 of the Brazilian fishermen, the Professor referring to the 

 ancient European belief that dolphins were m the habit of 

 brino-ino- dead bodies on shore, said "the fable of Jonah is 

 an embodiment of this belief." As all questions referring 

 to religious subjects are not allowed to enter into these 

 scientufc dfscussions, M. Van Beneden was quickly galled 

 to order and his expression particularly in regard to Jonah s 

 dolphin, was very properly withdrawn. 



tf 



THE MICHIGAN GRAYLING. 



AST winter, about twelve months ago, the editor of 

 this paper interested himself greatly in aiding to iden 

 tify this valuable game-fish, and in procuring specimens for 

 scientific examination by Professors Agassiz, Baird, and 

 Cope, at their respective museums at Cambridge, Washing- 

 ton, and Philadelphia. By the persistent efforts of Mr. 

 Fitzhugh, of Bay City, Michigan, male and female speci- 

 mens were procured by Indians who traveled 150 miles in 

 dead of winter to spear them through the ice, and were 

 forwarded to us at our expense, and by us distributed. 

 Some mention was made of the fact at the time, and an 

 opinion and classification was printed in the New York 

 Times, over Prof. Agassiz's signature. However, experts 

 had examined the subject but little, and to this day nothing 

 more definite has been printed. Our readers will therefore 

 be able to estimate our satisfaction in being able to lay be- 

 fore them the exhaustive paper herewith appended from 

 Prof. James W. Milner, assistant United States Fish Com- 

 missioner, and dated — 



Smithsonian Institution, December 4, 1873. 



In the centre of the lower peninsula of Michigan, is a 

 wide, elevated plateau, a sand region, with a soil contain- 

 ing a very small per cent, of organic matter, and covered 

 with a forest of pines, generally the Norway pine, pinus 

 resinosa, Linn, growing in grand dimensions, the long, limb- 

 less shafts making wide boards, free from knots, yet but 

 little utilized, while immense forests of the favorite lum- 

 ber material, the white pine (Pinus strobus) are yet uncut. 

 From this plateau arise several large streams and rivers, 

 flowing each way, into Lakes Huron and Michigan. Among 

 these, are three rivers of note, the Muskegon, the Manistee, 

 emptying into Lake Michigan, and the Ausable, emptying 

 into Lake Huron. Among the minor streams are the Che- 

 boygan, Thunder Bay, and Rifle, tributary to Lake Huron, 

 and the Jordan, emptying through Pine Lake into the 

 Traverse Bays of Lake Michigan. A few branches and 

 streams, spring fed, are formed, in which the water has a 

 uniform degree of coldness throughout the summer, seldom 

 rising above 52**. The rivers Rifle, Ausable, Jordan, Her- 

 sey, branch of the Muskegon, and the headwaters of the 

 Manistee, all have this character, and in all of these, and 

 only in this limited locality, short of the Yellowstone re- 

 gion, is found the already famous Michigan Grayling, Thy- 

 mallii s tricolo r , Cope. 



In September last, provided with boats and fishing 

 tackle, an excursion was made by a party of four, includ- 

 ing guides, to the headwaters of the Ausable for the gray- 

 ling. D. H. Fitzhugh, of Bay City, Michigan, who has 

 already made known more facts in reference to the habits 

 of this species than any one else, was of the party. 



Leaving Bay City we traveled northward by the new ex- 

 tension of the Jackson, Lansing, and Saginaw Railroad to 

 the last but one stopping places short of "the end of the 

 iron." 



In these days of extensive pioneering and wholesale ex- 

 ploration, the man is favored who finds himself in the 

 midst of a really untrodden wild. The character of the 

 land and the timber in this locality have little attractions 

 for the seeker after productive soil or investment, and the 

 sportsman and the naturalist find here a patch of nature 

 left in almost primeval purity. As we embarked in our 

 light boats, in the early morning, and our bows broke the 

 trailing mist that covered the river, it was as if brushing 

 the fresh bloom from newly plucked fruit, so untouched 

 by the hand of man did everything seem. 



Quietly the guides poled the boats down the rapid cur- 

 rent, while we adjusted rods, lines, and leaders, using, in 

 accordance with Mr. Fitzhugh's former experiences, a lead 

 colored, a brown and a black hackle. 



Several favorable spots were tried before a fish was 

 struck; he was small and played weakly, but on landing 

 him, he proved to be a genuine specimen of the desired 

 fish, having, as afterwards proved to be the case, slightly 

 less brilliancy of color, and more of the black salmon spots, 

 than the mature specimens. Before we reached the site 

 chosen for our camp, seven of the graceful creatures were 

 swimming in the well of one boat, and four in the other. 

 They had given evidence of their game qualities to some 

 extent, but fought with less vigor in the cold water of the 

 early morning than they did later in the day. 



The camp stores were put on shore, and we began the 

 work of the day in earnest. Dropping the flies at just the 

 spots where trout would be sought for, finds the grayling 

 similarly located. As Sir Humphrey Davy says of the 

 English species, (Salmonia, 4th ed., 1851, p. 180,) "He rises 

 rapidly from the bottom or middle of the water, darting 

 upwards, and having seized his fly, returns to his station." 

 Hooking a large one, we had good evidences of his plucky 

 qualities; the pliant rod bent as he straggled against the 

 line, curling his body around columns of water that failed 

 to sustain his grasp, and setting iiis great dorsal fin like an 

 oar backing water, while we cautiously worked him in, 

 his tender mouth requiring rather more careful handling 

 than would be necessary for a trout ; making a spurt up 

 stream, he requires a yielding line, but after a time he sub- 

 mits to be brought in, rallying for a dart under the boat, 

 or beneath a log, as an attempt is made to place the landing 

 net under him. Finally brought on board, exhausted, he is 

 easily removed from the hook and slipped through the hole 

 in the cover of the well. 



Nine were taken from a deep hole under projecting wil- 

 low bushes; several times two were taken at once, and Mr. 

 Fitzhugh, by skillful management landed three from one 

 fortunate cast. They are free, strong biters, and cannot be 

 considered very shy, as they will rise repeatedly to a fly if 



a failure is made in hooking them. Still an experience on 

 the Jordan in 1871 proved that it sometimes required all 

 the ingenuity of an experienced fly fisherman to induce an 

 occasional rise, when grayling were seen to be plentiful in 

 the river, and there is a tradition in the city of Bay City 

 that three unfortunate fishers came into town on one occa- 

 sion, asseverating that the claim that grayling existed in 

 the Ausable had been proven a fraud. 



The first day's efforts resulted in seventy-two of the 

 fishes, and grayling was served up at night for supper by 

 the camp-fire, and proved a fair rival for their congener, 

 even upon the table. 



The second day it was agreed that Mr. Fitzhugh should 

 explore the stream for five miles down the river, while our 

 boat worked up and down each way from camp, over about 

 three or four miles. The day's fishing added to the score, 

 until all told there were one hundred and forty-three speci- 

 mens, from five inches in length to those weighing one and 

 one half pounds. The lower part of Mr. Fitzhugh's explo- 

 ration of the river proving barren, there was a smaller num- 

 ber to carry away than might have been obtained, as be 

 was the most suscessful, being much more experienced as a 

 fly fisherman. 



There is no species sought for by anglers that surpasses the 

 grayling in beauty. They are more elegantly formed and 

 more graceful than the trout, and their great dorsal fin is a su 

 perb mark of beauty. When the well-lids were lifted, and the 

 sun's rays admitted, lighting up the delicate olive-brown 

 tints of the back and sides, the bluish-white of the abdo- 

 men, and the mingling of tints of rose, pale blue, and pur- 

 plish-pink on the fins, it displayed a combination of living- 

 colors that is equalled by no fish outside of the tropics. 



The history of the discovery of the species is as follows: 

 It has been known for years to the people in adjacent coun- 

 ties, and among the lumbermen, and generally called trout, 

 distinguishing it from the ordinary species by applying the 

 local name of the stream, as the "Hersey trout," or the 

 "Jordan," or "Ausable" trout. 



In the winter of 1864 and 1865, Prof. Edward D. Cope, of 

 the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, worked up a large col- 

 lection of fishes, sent by Mr. M. Miles, of Lansing, belonging 

 to educational institutions of the State of Michigan. Among 

 these he found this species, readily detecting its rel#ion 

 to the genus Thymallus, and giving it the name of tricolor. 

 In the winter of 1872, Mr. D. Fitzhugh procured specimens 

 and forwarded them to Professor Baird of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, and to Professor Agassiz, as well as to promi- 

 nent authorities of the hook and line profession. These 

 were the first specimens obtained by the museums, and were 

 regarded with a great deal of interest. Two obtained for 

 the U. S. Commission of Fisheries in 1871, from the Jor- 

 dan river were lost in the great fire at Chicago. Mr. Fitz- 

 hugh subsequently went before the legislature of his State 

 and induced the passage of a law protecting the grayling 

 from a too rapid destruction. He was also the first to com- 

 municate with reference to their habits and qualities as a 

 game fish. 



This grayling, Professor Cope has decided to be distinct 

 from Sir John Richardson's species, Thymallus signifer, of 

 the far north, the specific name of which, (signifer, "the 

 standard bearer"), refers to its large, brightly colored 

 dorsal fin. It is the only other species known on this con- 

 tinent. Richardson gives its range, as north of latitude 62 a , 

 between the 'Welcome River and the Mackenzie, flowing 

 into the Arctic Sea. In reference to its habits, he says it is 

 ' ' found only in clear waters, in the most rapid parts of the 

 mountain streams." Describing its capture with the fly, he 

 says: — "The sport was excellent, for this grayling gener- 

 ally springs entirely out of the water when first struck with 

 the hook, and tugs strongly at the line, requiring as much 

 dexterity to land it safely as would secure a trout of six 

 times the size." The species has been found in the Yukon 

 River, of Alaska, so that it will be seen to be one of our 

 possessions. 



A specimen of the grayling, forwarded to Cuvier about 

 1847 or 1848, purported to have come from Lake Ontario, 

 and was named by him Thymallus ontarieanis, but the lo- 

 cality must have been a mistake. 



The foreign species of the genus are also limited. The 

 Thymallus vulgaris, Nilsson, is the one found in England 

 and northern Europe, and according to Dr. Giinther, an 

 authority on the foreign salmonidse, the same species in- 

 habits central Europe. Professor Agassiz, supported by 

 one or two prominent French and German icthyologists, 

 does not believe the two species to be identical, and has 

 named the one last referred to, Thymallus nexilUfer. We 

 learn from Walton * in his very interesting reference to the 

 grayling, of the local habits of the English species, ard 

 this is corroborated in more detail by Ephemera, f (E. Fitz- 

 gibbon), and Sir Humphrey Davy. \ 



Our species, T. tricolor, Cope, evidently has the same 

 habit, as this region of Michigan is its only locality, east of 

 the Mississippi. 



In Professor F. V. Hayden's expedition to Montana in 

 1871, specimens of the same species were found in Yellow 

 Creek, and the Gallatin Fork of the Missouri. 



The other foreign species are the Thymallus gymnogaster, 

 Cuv. & Val., of the Xewa, at St. Petersburg, Russia; the 

 T. Aeliani, Cuv. & Val. , from Lago Maggiore of Italy and 

 Switzerland; and the T. Pallasii, Cuv. & Val., found by the 

 old naturalist, Pallas, in the Kolyma and Sob Rivers, 

 emptying into the Arctic Ocean in western Siberia. 



The protection and increase of the Michigan species is a 

 matter of interest to every one. It will probably be found 



* + The Complete Angler. Ephemera's ed., plOl, pl04. 

 X Salmonia, pl89. 



