FOREST AND STREAM. 



297 



Salmon of from 30 to 40 pounds were numerous. The 

 salmon fisheries m England and Wales have been more 

 than ordinarily remunerative. The Severn River claims 

 the heaviest fish, one of 78 pounds, but this is not quite 

 authenticated, though several of 60, and many of 50 pounds 

 were captured. In the Usk, called the Premier angling 

 water of England, one angler in a single day caught 26 fish 

 weighing 280 lbs. In the Hampshire Avon, fish of 37 pounds 

 have been taken. In the Eden and Derwent, the runs of 

 fish have been quite large, some weighing over 40 pounds. 



In Ireland the take of salmon in the estuaries and lower 

 waters have been unusually productive, and Billingsgate 

 Fish Market has been bountifully supplied from this source. 

 The largest Irish salmon weighing 58 pounds was caught 

 in the Shannon, a fish in the Suir was second, being only a 

 pound less in weight. The Ballyshannon fisheries yielded 

 many more tons of fish than on any preceeding year. 



These fine results as we have before stated, are due to the 

 exertions of the anglers. In proof of this, as early as 1860, 

 the Royal Commissioners fairly and fully acknowledged 

 angler's rights, and stated the obligations they were under 

 to the private salmon fishermen, for advice as to how the sal- 

 mon should be best protected, and their number increased. 



Such results as recorded are most pleasant for us to pub- 

 lish. The Forest and Stream endeavors to inculcate this 

 idea, ' ' that a practical knowledge of natural history must of 

 necessity underlie all talents which combine to make the perfect 

 sportsman." 



Whether a man has a rod or a gun in his hand, if he is a 



true sportsman, he looks to the protection of the birds, 



beasts or fish, which afford him amusement. It is no longer 



pardoxical to state that the'destroyer of the game is its true 



preserver. 



-+++- 



CUBA, ORNITHOLIG1CALLY. 



WITH war and war's alarums the Forest and 

 Stream has little to do. Our province is a more 

 peaceful one. - Now that the chances are many that a set- 

 tlement with Spain in regard to Cuba will be managed by 

 protocols, memoranda and notes, more or less windy, in- 

 stead of by shot shell, and bayonets, we rejoice in the fact. 

 Nevertheless, should we have come to blows, what a gal- 

 lant regiment could have been furnished from our own 

 sun-browned and weather-stained subscribers, whose ex- 

 perience in arms and in the field would make a formidable 

 reinforcement for those who strike for human rights and 

 liberty. 



Some time ago, when writing about the English conflict 

 with the Ashantees, we remarked that now-a-days the natu- 

 ralist and the soldier walked togetl) er with martial stride, 

 and that often the man of war and the devotee of science 

 were found in one and the same individual. Some of our 

 own people might have perhaps gloated over the possible 

 possession of fields studded thick with the golden sugar- 

 cane, or revel in the idea of owning the Vuelta Abajo dis- 

 trict, with its plantations of fragrant tobacco. We took, 

 however, a more placid, less ambitious view, and only 

 thought of the birds, fishes and beasts, of all those rich 

 treasures to be acquired by the sportsman and the natural- 

 ist. Quien sabel Perhaps it was the more philosophical 

 way of looking at the question. Strange it is, how men ex- 

 amine things from diverse and various standpoints. 



During the midst of the excitement a distinguished natu- 

 ralst said to us, "It is very terrible to think of war and its 

 consequences, but honestly I shall be delighted if we get 

 Cuba. There are at least some half dozen birds in that 

 beautiful island I have been wanting to study for years. 

 Now Ramon de la Sagra is good authority, and his book in 

 its way is quite exhaustive in regard to the birds, fishes 

 and animals of tiie Pearl of the Antilles, but as Cuba seems 

 likely some day or other to be ours, it is only a question of 

 time. I trust to spend a winter there 1 and to indulge in my 

 ornithological tastes, and I hope even to add another page 

 to the book of American birds. " 



Cuba possesses innumerable birds of varied plumage and 

 character. Situated in the tropics, the island contains 

 many birds common to both North and South America. 

 Gosse's admirable book on the Birds of Jamaica will about 

 cover the whole ornithological ground, though there are 

 several special birds native to Cuba not found in Gosse's 

 work. Of reptiles Cuba has many, but no poisonous 

 snakes. Alligators abound. Iguanas are found, and on 

 her coast are numerous fish and all varieties of turtles. 



Of animals, save those introduced by foreigners, there 

 are hardly any. What says the old chronicler of Colum- 

 bus: "The Admiral disembarked and approached two 

 houses ; in one he found a dog who never barked, (qae nun- 

 ca ladro.' n ) Oveida says Columbus found no four-footed 

 animal, save dogs, and they gave out no sound. The same 

 authority tells however of the peculiar rabbits which 

 abounded at the period of its discovery, and mentions that 

 the natives called them Quemi-Mohuy-Cori-Ayre, and 

 Quabonquinares. These ruminants were varieties of the 

 Agouti, which species has been almost exterminated in the 

 West Indies. If the mammifers are wanting, the birds 

 are found in wonderful variety. Ramon de la Sagra gives 

 over 128 varieties. 



Of course do not wish to anticipate matters, but we be- 

 lieve the time is not far 'distant when some adventurous 

 sportsman with naturalistic tendencies will give to a nu- 

 merous public through the medium of Forest and Stream 

 a glowing description of what is the game in our new ac- 

 quisition, Cuba, and where such are to found, with inter- 

 esting data as to their habits. There is no doubt but that 

 many a gap in the ornithological museum will some day be 

 filled. 



FLOGGING HUNTING DOGS. 



THERE are many sportsmen who own hunting dogs 

 (we don't refer to hounds) who ought by all means to 

 break them themselves. The system of halloing, speak- 

 ing coarsely, and whipping for the slightest offence is 

 mutdi to be regretted. Sportsmen must recollect that when 

 teaching a thoroughbred pointer or setter, they are dealing 

 with an animal gentleman. No sportsman should attempt 

 to break a yearling dog unless he is possessed of a fair 

 even temperament, and has absolute control over himself. 

 To castigate a puppy two minutes after he has committed 

 a gross error in the field would be absurd, as his latent nat- 

 ural instinct is almost instantly lost for the time being; but 

 if he is whipped at the time the fault is committed, the 

 puppy will at once know for what he has been chastised 

 On no account whip him more than once a day, and then 

 severely, as if you continue to lash him for every mistake 

 he commits his dumb instinct gets mixed, and the puppy 

 remains the same as when you started his schooling, only 

 that you have cowed him and injured his temper. What 

 is the first principle of dog-breaking ? It can be answered 

 in a few words — simply to bring out the dormant instinct 

 of the animal. How is it to be accomplished? By teach- 

 ing him his A B C first. Accustom the puppy to the 

 sound of your voice; throw him a glove, etc., and tell him 

 quietly, always in a low tone, to fetch it; make him your 

 companion, but never be familiar — the familiarity should 

 always be on the puppy's side; treat him with decision and 

 promptness, not harshness, as his delicate organization will 

 not admit of it. A clever writer on this subject, Mr. St. 

 John, says: "Every dog with an average share of good 

 sense and temper is so eager for his master's approbation 

 that he will exert himself to the utmost to obtain it; and if 

 this fact were constantly kept in mind,, the breaker-in of 

 dogs need seldom have recourse to flogging. Indeed, I 

 have no hesitancy in saying that five dogs out of six 

 may be completely broken in without a blow, and that, 

 generally speaking, quiet, patient reasoning with a dog is 

 all that is requisite to secure his obedience and attention. 

 I know that this is quite contrary to the opinion of most 

 dog-breakers, who think that nothing can be done without 

 a heavy whip and loud rating. But one thing at least is 

 certain, that when you do punish a dog you should do it 

 soundly, and only when you catch him 'red hand' — in fla- 

 grante delicto. He cannot then mistake why you flog him." 

 Dogs have also a great deal of jealousy in their disposi- 

 tions, and even this may be made to assist in their educa- 

 tion, as it makes them strive to outdo each other. Every 

 clever dog is especially unwilling that any of his compan- 

 ions should possess a greater share of his master's favor 

 than himself. One of my dogs could not be induced to 

 hunt in company with another, of whose advances in my 

 good graces he was peculiarly jealous. There was no 

 other quarrel between them. When Rover saw that a cer- 

 tain young dog was to accompany me, he invariably re- 

 fused to go out; and although at other times one of the 

 most eager dogs for sport that I ever possessed, nothing 

 would induce him to go out with his young rival. He also 

 showed his jealousy by flying at him and biting him on 

 every possible occasion, where he could do so unobserved. 

 At last, however, when the young dog had grown older 

 and discovered that his own strength was superior to that 

 of his tyrant, he flew upon poor Rover and amply re- 

 venged all the ill treatment which he had received at his 

 hands. Although dogs form such strong attachments to 

 man, they seldom appear to feel any great degree of friend- 

 ship for each other. Occasionally, however, a couple of 

 dogs will enter into a kind of compact to assist each other 

 in hunting. For instance, I have known an old terrier 

 who formed an alliance of this sort with a greyhound, and 

 they used constantly to go out poaching together. The 

 terrier would hunt the bushes, whilst the greyhound sta- 

 tioned himself quietly outside, ready to spring on any rab- 

 bit or hare that was started, and she always took the side 

 of the bush opposite to that by which the terrier had en- 

 tered it. On losing his companion, the terrier, who was 

 becoming old in years and cunning, entered into a conspir- 

 acy with a younger terrier. In all their hunting excursions 

 the old dog laid himself down at some likely looking run, 

 and sending his younger companion to hunt the bushes, he 

 waited patiently and silently for any rabbit that might 

 come in his way. Their proceedings showed a degree of 

 instinct almost amounting to reason. 



-***- 



—It has been calculated that in England, the loss of cat- 

 tle from diseases propagated by the introducing foreign 

 animals, has been fully £5, 000,000 for each of the last thirty 

 years. It seems to be the opinion there that the quantity of 

 beef derived from imported cattle taking the losses in the 

 home stocks into account, has not been actually increased. 

 What they seem then to want in England is a stock of dead 

 meat, as no practical means could be found to exercise a 

 proper scrutiny in the importation of live stock. There 

 is no reason why slaughtered meat from Texas or the West- 

 ern Pacific plans should not be sent 10,000 miles. - As has 

 before stated in the Forest and Stream, the method of 

 preserving meat must not depend on ice alone. There are 

 many mechanical ways with chemical adjuncts, by which 

 the temperature of a ship's hold, or tanks full of meat placed 

 in ships, could be refrigerated. It would be worth while 

 if some of our ingenious experimentalists would give this 

 subject their fullest attention. We believe this method of 

 preserving meat by reducing the temperature, by making 

 ice and keeping the meat at some point in the neighborhood 

 of 32 s1 Farenheit, is quite feasible, and really presents no 

 more trouble, than to bring up the temperature to summer 



heat. This problem is one which must sooner or later be 

 solved. When this method is made perfectly practical, it 

 would add immensely to the wealth of the United States. 



Matins M ewB f\ rom SH aH( ^ 

 — ♦ — 



THE curious question commented on by us in our last 

 review in regard to the tiger hunting in India, and the 

 remarkable complaint made that the Civil Service in her 

 British Majesty's Eastern dominions, monopolized all the 

 tiger killing, has been further continued, and the corres- 

 pondence in the Meld is quite singular in regard to it. One 

 authority intimates that the killing of the tigers would by 

 no means be desirable, and writes: "where there are large 

 extents of jungle full of game of ail kinds, hurtful to crops, 

 I think that the tigers are certainly useful in killing these 

 animals, and I am not sure that they do not in such a 

 country do nearly as much good as harm." This same 

 writer is quite indignant too that all tigers should have a 

 bad name, and he intimates that although some individual 

 tigers ought possibly to be exterminated, there may be 

 other tigers who are quite nice animals, and ought to have 

 protection. Altogether it is a strange topic, and treated in 

 an eccentric way. We are inclined to think the charges 

 made against the Civil Service are absurd. 



— What we wrote in regard to Her Majesty's Stag Hounds 

 seems to find an echo in Land and Water. We stated that 

 the idea of cooping up a stag in a cart, and then letting him 

 loose to dogs and men, was both absurd and cruel, and not 

 sport. A correspondent in our excellent English contem- 

 porary mentions that at the last hunt two stags were unken- 

 nelled, that they ran twenty minutes, were blown and died, 

 and that both animals were out of condition. He proposes, 

 and quite rationally, that the stags ought to be exercised 

 first, say with harriers before putting the regular hounds on 

 them, and he suggests that the Society for Preservation of 

 Cruelty to animals should interfere, and concludes thus 

 pithily "these scandals and cruelties must end." Of course 

 we would be the first to regret the extinction of this hunt, 

 and of course the disappearance of these noble hounds, but 

 times, manners and ways of amusements have changed. 

 Look at it as we may, with due respect for old established 

 customs, and the gallant gentlemen and ladies who follow 

 her Majesty's chase, between the bull fight of benighted 

 Spain with the torreadors, and the stag hunt with the best 

 bred men in enlightened England, the line of distinction to 

 our eyes is quite imperceptible. 



—There died lately in Nottingham, the Mecca of cricket- 

 ers, a brave cricketer, not unknown to us in this country, 

 James Grundy by name. Many of us who pore over Eng- 

 lish cricketing annals, have seen his name associated with 

 the distinguished ones of Lillywhite, Alfred Shaw and 

 Hillyer. As a batter, though good, the younger pchool of the 

 Grace character far surpassed him ; but as a steady bowler 

 of the old-fashioned kind, few were equal to him. In a 

 match at Lord.'sin 1865, it is on record that Grundy bowled 

 twenty-one successive overs without allowing a single run 

 to be scored. " What he did," says one who writes a few 

 kind lines in regard to him, "was to do his work honorably 

 and efficiently, and he leaves an example to a rising gener- 

 ation of professional cricketers which they will do well to 

 study and initiate. 



—Those poor pheasants ! Think how thick they must be 

 at Marham House, Norfolk, thicker than mosquitoes on the 

 Lake Superior Region. On Tuesday, Nov. 18, his Royal 

 Highness the Prince of Wales, with numerous Earls, Lords, 

 Viscounts, and Equerries, some ten guns in all, killed only 

 1,018 pheasants, 53 hares and 14 rabbits. That makes over 

 100 birds per gun, or man or Prince, we don't know which; 

 not counting the additional hares and "Superfluous rabbits.' 

 The days are short in November in England; presupposing 

 aristocratic habits, a late dejeuner, and ample time to 

 get back to dinner, in order to dress and to appear en grand 

 tenue. Say these noble sportsmen shot four or five hours, 

 the pheasants must have risen en masse, and have been so 

 plentiful that whether to shoot or to knock the birds down 

 with the but of their guns, must have been pretty much the 

 same thing to this distinguished party. While on the 

 pheasant question, this poor bird really has but few chances 

 for life. The French garrison, near the good town of St. 

 Germain, it seems have found out that an occasional bird 

 when added to their daily rations, was quite acceptable.' 

 If an English Prince bagged pheasants by the .thousands, 

 why should not the French private cabbage a few? Your 

 French soldier with an intuitive instinct for subsisting on 

 the enemy, studying the character of the pheasant, found 

 out that he was fond of worms, and though a bird would 

 take a well baited hook like a fish. Even a worm was not 

 absolutely necessaiy, .a fragment of cloth from his own 

 pantalon garance would do the business. So he dressed his 

 hook with a scarlet rag. Officers going into the men's 

 quarters had their olfactory nerves delighted with the 

 fumet of roasted pheasants. Of course such food, though 

 succulent and wholesome, was not according to the dietetic 

 instructions issued by the French Minister of War. French 

 officers are, however, kind to their men, and though no 

 court martials a la Bazaine ensued, gentlemen preserving 

 pheasants in the neighborhood of St. Germain were at once 

 put on their guard. 



— Champion English Pointer, "Belle." — The portrait 

 of this remarkable dog, the champion of England, the win- 

 ner of the great Rhiwlas Balla Field trials, elegantly en- 

 graved by the Photo-lithographic Co. , with pedigree ai d 

 points, will be for sale at the Forest and Stream office 

 on and after Wednesday next, December 24th. Price, $1 Oo' 

 sent by mail. 



