104 



FOREST AND STREAM 



turned again that night. Leaving the remains of the fisher 

 as additional bait, he set a number Four trap in the opening 

 and attached the chain to a heavy clog. An inch or two of 

 snow fell during the afternoon, and upon visiting the trap 

 next morning he found it gone, clog and all, but without 

 leaving any visible trail. While cogitating on this rather re- 

 markable circumstance he happened to observe a place where 

 the clog had struck the snow, fully sixteen feet from the 

 spot where the trap had been set. Upon following up the 

 line of sight, there sat Master Lynx about sixty yards distant, 

 ■with a very unamiable expression of countenance and evi- 

 dently meditating a rush. Before he could cany out bis in- 

 tention, however, a bullet, properly planted, put it out of his 

 power to do mischief. 



On Saturday morning Johnson brought in a fisher i, 

 he had found in one of his traps. 1 think that there must be 

 something wrong in the application of this name. Accord- 

 ing to Audubon and Bachman a full-grown fisher (Aft/stela 

 canadensis) will weigh about tight and a half pounds, while 

 an animal of the same name iii Maine weighs about forty 

 pounds. Now the one which Johnson caught, and which he 

 assured us was a full-sized specimen, weighed about twenty 

 pounds. The difference in locality certainly cannot account 

 for so great a difference in size, so that there must be at least 

 three different animals to which this name is applied. Au- 

 dubon's description seems to answer pretty well in all other 

 points. Why this animal is called a fisher at all is something 

 i never could ascertain. To be sure, it will eat fish when it 

 can get it, in common with alt the weasel tribe, but the do- 

 mestic cat will do the same, and the latter is almost as much 

 a water animal as the fisher. We saw none, except a few 

 that Johnson caught. 



On Monday Eaton found an otter-slide some distance up 

 the river, and Johnson set a couple of traps there. Much to 

 our astonishment and his disgust, two otters were caught, 

 which we claimed according to contract This was a very 

 unexpected streak of luck, which we appreciated according- 

 ly. It did not happen again, however. 



For several days nothing occurred of a very startling na- 

 ture ; but on Friday morning Eaton met with a little adven- 

 ture. A couple of ducks flew past the camp and settled 

 some distance up the river, and, after charging the gun with 

 number fours, lie started after them. For some time his 

 search was unsuccessful, but, upon rounding a bend in the 

 stream about a quarter of a mile from camp, he chanted to 

 near a slight, splashing in the Water, and slipping up to the 

 bank he looked over, expecting to see the ducks for which 

 he was searching. Somewhat to his surprise, he found him- 

 self face to face with an enormous old he bear, which was 

 evidently not half so badly frightened as he was by their un- 

 expected meeting, tie was so startled by Hie sight that he 

 forgot that his gun was loaded with buckshot, and fired right 

 in Bruin's face, the entire charge striking him upon the 

 snout, whereat his bearship became greatly enraged and 

 "went for" the hunter with considerable" interest. He, 

 thinking discretion the better part of valor, promptly took 

 to his heels, and for a few moments covered ground as rapid- 

 ly as a Homeric bero; but, seeing that the bear was right 

 at his heels and evidently meant business, he dropped his 

 gun and quickly placed himself among the branches of a 

 tall sapling, which fortunately stood near. The sapling was 

 too small for the bear to climb, so after several ineffectual 

 attempts he was obliged to content himself with growling 

 and rubbing his sore uose, while Eaton made the woods re- 

 sound with his yells. Yv e all happened to be in camp at the 

 time aud turned out en mam to his assistance, letting loose 

 the dogs. They got there first, and by the time we arrived a 

 lively fight was in progress, in which the dogs were boing 

 decidedly worsted. Bruin was too much occupied to notice 

 us, and we lound no difficulty in approaching within fifty 

 yards, but it was something of a problem how to shoot the 

 bear without also shooting a dog ; so one of us suggested 

 that this was a good opportunity for Johnson to show his 

 prowess, and we all urged him to wade right in and show us 

 how to kill a bear with a knife. (Johnson had bragged a good 

 deal about his hand-to-hand encounters with only a knife). 

 Strange to say, he didn't seem inclined to wade,' but, on the 

 contrary, began to back off, muttering something about, not 

 feeling very well that morning, and having left his knife at 

 camp ; but we entreated him not, to let such a trifle as that 

 disturb him, as we would lend him one. Just then the bear 

 happened to see us and put an end to all further discussion 

 by charging straight in out- direction. As he seemed to be 

 in earnest, and withal a little excited, we did not await his 

 coming, but scattered immediately. He did not get far, 

 however, before the dogs pinched him again, aud Fowler, 

 - a fai r chance, shot him through the head and put an 

 eud to the tight. The meat proving to be rather tough, we 

 took nothing but the hide. 



As yet none of us had been lost, but Ogdeu and I had a 

 little, experience of that kind on the afternoon of that same 

 day. We started out. in the hope of finding a deer, leaving 

 the rest of the party at camp. Ogden took the eastern side 

 of the river and I the western, the deer hound accompany- 

 ing me ; but, not caring to follow the course of the stream, 

 I struck off into the forest. I wandered rather aimlessly, 

 too much engaged to notice the direction ; and having 

 tramped four or five miles without finding anything worth 

 shooting, was about to give up and return to camp, when 

 Smoker announced that there was game somewhere in the 

 neighborhood. I stopped to investigate, but the moment I 

 halted a buck, apparently as large as a buffalo, started up 

 from a clump of underbrush some fifty yards to my left aud 

 went, nearly straight away. I fired, but did not succeed in 

 stopping him, although he was evidently hard hit and bled 

 freely. Laying on the hound f started after him; but the 

 was soon ended, the hound running into the deer and 

 pulling him down within half a mile of the point whence he 

 started. He proved to be a fair sized buck, although not so 

 large as I had supposed, and was much too heavy for me to 

 carry all the way to camp ; bo having skinned him, I wrapped 

 the two hind-quarters and saddle in the hide, and, shoulder- 

 ing my lofi'l , started off. Just tbeu the thought, happened 

 to itrilie me that I had no definite idea of the direction in 

 which camp lay. I had a heavy load of meat to cany, night 

 was not far distant, and, to cap the climax, a storm was evi- 

 dently coming on. There seems to be a species of occult 

 connection between a storm and losing one's self. I knew, 

 however, that the river lay somewhere to the eastward, and 

 f walking in tins direction 1 would eventually reach it; 

 so, taking my course from the trees, 1 started. After walk- 

 .. is of an hour 1 came to a branch of the 

 main stream, and proceeded down it; but by this time it was 

 pitch dark under the trees and raining heavily, aud, in 

 order to avoid losing my way altogether, I was obliged 

 to walk in the bed of the rivulet. It was weaiy 

 work j the channel was intersected by such a net- 



work of pine roots that I was obliged to use the 

 greatest caution to avoid falling, aud by tins time Ihe weight 

 of my load of meat had increased to something hi. a ton 

 In spits of all my camion I got several heavy falls and was 

 becoming pretty well used up, when, to my great joy, 1 

 found myself in the channel of the river and only a few hun- 

 dred yards from camp. My appearance was hailed with a 

 chorus of questions. "Where have yon been ?" "What 

 kept you so long ?" "Where's Ogden 'y "What did you 

 kill?" I responded, that I didn't know where I had been; 

 that I had lost myself and been unable to find my 

 any sooner; that I knew nothing of Ogden'fl whereabouts, 

 and that I had killed a deer. I also intimated that, to my 

 mind, supper was a matter of the greatest importance just 

 then. The. others, however, wore' getting a, little anxious 

 about Ogden, who had not been seen since he started out 

 with mc, and a search was proposed ; but while we were dis- 

 cussing the matter Ogdeu himself came in. He said that he 

 had wounded a deer and had followed it several miles with- 

 out being able to come up with it. Upon giving over the 

 chase he found himself in a predicament similar to mine, 

 and had escaped from it by pursuing a similar con 



During the next ihrec days it rained dismally, and we 

 spent most of our time lying around cam]). Up to this time 

 we had been peculiarly favored as regards the weather, and, 

 indeed, this was the only bad spell of any inportance which 

 occurred during our trip. The temperature, too, remained 

 exceptionally high for this season and climate. The weather 

 cleared again Monday night, and the remainder of the week 

 was pleasant. During the week we tried Several runs in a 

 swamp about five miles distant, and succeeded iu killing two 

 more deer. This swamp was filled with dense underbrush 

 and traversed by a number of beaten paths, ami by stationing 

 ourselves upon these paths and sending in the dogs, one of 

 us generally managed to get a shot. This was the only place 

 we found, however, where a run was at all like! v to' prove 

 successful. This was about the in failed. ' 



though the weather still continued pleasant, the season was 

 getting late and snow might be expected at any time. As 

 we had no desire, to be snow ed up, we shouldered our bug- 

 gage and set out for civilization on the following Monday. 

 As Johnson had been tolerably successful iu his trapping, 

 his furs, combined with our hides, proved a pretty heavy 

 load ; but, greatly to our satisfaction, we were fortunate 

 to find a teamster at Greenwood who was on his way down 

 the river, and agreed to carry our baggage as far as Hatfield, 

 where we arrived late Tuesday evening. The next day we 

 went on to Black River Falls, where we took the train for 

 home. The trip on the whole was quite a success, but I 

 think we might have done better in another part of the Slate. 



4p#t §nitm 



WHITEBAIT. 



[Read before the American MbU Cultural Association, Feb. 26.] 

 u By Ecohxb Blaokfokd. 



ME. J. H. CANNON, a gentleman who was examined be- 

 fore the English Fishery Commission in June, 1878, 

 stated that the toothsome little fish was not discovered until 

 about 1780, and that it was his grandfather who 

 honor of introducing it to the British public. It would ap- 

 pear that its pre-eminent merits were not, at first, appreciated 

 even by its discoverer. Old M c. Cannon was a fisherman, and 

 the first use to which he applied the tiny Creature was the 

 baiting of eel-pols. It was in this way that it came to receive 

 its name by which it has been since known. In the " Natural 

 History of British Fishes," by E. Donovan, published in 18'; 0, 

 is a plate giving a beautiful picture of the English whitebait, 

 and in the text Mr. Donovan expresses the opinion that they 

 are the young of shad. In 1838 Professor Tarrel iu a pape'i 

 published in the Zoological Journal, entitled "On the Supposed 

 Identity of Whitebait aud Shad," discusses the 

 great length, and gives it as bis unqualified opinion that it is 

 a distant species of the herring family ; names it GlUpia alba, 

 and claims to have examined specimens iu which he found 

 roe, and that he believed they deposited their spawn during 

 the winter. Tarrel states the fishing commences at the end 

 of March and continues until September, and that no other fry 

 of any valueswim with the whitebait. Guntherin his catalogue 

 of British fishes states : "As regards the whitebait, this is a 

 purely nominal species, introduced into science by Yarrel and 

 Valenciennes in deference to the opinion of fishermen and 

 gourmands." All the examples of whitebait he examined 

 were young herrings from one and a half to three inches in 

 length. 



At the present time it is accepted as a well settled fact by 

 all English icthyologists aud naturalists that the whitebait i9 

 neither more nor less than the young fry of the herring 

 family, which is fully assured from recent 

 aquarium in Brighton, England, where some live whitebait, 

 about one aud a half inches long, were placed in one of the 

 tanks and in a few mouths developed into herring of about 

 Dine inches in length. Much of the discussion in England 

 over this fish arose from investigations having confounded 

 different species of the Olujiea genus. 



Keeping the results of the investigations of our English 

 cousins in mind, let us now take up the history of whitebait 

 jn American waters. In the early part of the year 1876 Mr 

 Charles Waite, of this city, suggested to me that I should get 

 some of our fishermen to bring m some very small fish about 

 one inch long, as they would, in his opinion, equal the famed 

 whitebait of England, This led me to make inquiry in vari- 

 ous quarters as to the character, appearance 

 fish, and in April, 1876, 1 received from Liverpoi 

 (tie kindness and courtesy of Professor T. J. Moore, of the 

 Derby Museum, some specimens of English whitebait, After 

 examining them I was convinced the same fish could be found 

 in our waters. Shortly after 1 met M r .1. Carson Brevoort, 

 and knowing that he had fished the watere of New York Bay 

 veiy extensively while engaged in his researches into the 

 habits of fish found on our coast, I asked him if he ever found 

 any fish in his nets resembling whitebait ? He assured me 

 that, he had, and that they would be. found in the vicinity of 

 Bay Kidge, In the spring of 1878 1 requested a 81 

 erman to bring me all the small fish he might find in his net 

 when fishing for shrimp, and on April It) he brought mc three 

 small fish that were identical in appearance with the English 

 whitebait. The next day he brought about fifty specimens. 

 iese I sent to Protestor P. Baird, who, after exainj. 

 nation, wrote me that they were the young of two distinct 

 species— one, the Pmnrdolms pseado luirengus, the common ale- 

 wife or gaspereau j the othei, the Pfrmololwt TWdlqca 



or Taylor shad. Having determined that they were not the 

 fry of any of our valuable food fish. I took measures to pro- 

 cure a supply for table use, obtaining which, I sent them to 

 the Union Club, where they were served, and the Superin- 

 tendent, M. Chisholm, informed rae they tasted so much like 

 the English whitebait that some of the members supposed 

 that they had been imported from the other side. 



Al'tci receiving this verdict, on their superiority as a table 

 fish it only remained to introduce them to the public I Aid 

 so in May, 1878. Tnederaai 



as at no lime during the season were over sixty pounds taken 

 in one day. They were sold at fifty to seventy-five cents per 

 pound. The great call for these dainty little fish led the fish- 

 ermen and some of the dealers to supply the demand with a 

 small fish that is fouud iu our harbor in large numbers, 

 called by the fishermen "spearing," a Tory inJ 

 for table use, which tact epicures soon discovered, and 

 the price soon declined BO low as to make the catching of 

 them unprofitable. These spearing are a species ol 

 Engraulix vttUftUti and differ but slightly from the famous an- 

 chovy of the Mediterranean, Wngrautu ., which is 

 so prized by good livers. They' may be easily distinguished 

 from the whitebaits, as they are totally unlike in an] 

 the anchovy being marked by a bright silver band, running 

 from the opercle to the caudal fin. The entire body of the 

 fish, with the exception of this band, is semi-transparent anil 

 of a milky color, which turns to a red soon after they are 

 taken from the water. The true whitebait, or young of the 

 Pomolobm family, present a uniformly silver appeal 

 the entire body, are covered with minute deciduou 

 the color on the back is greenish ash aud the abd i 

 serrated from the pectorals to thccaudal Ad. They are caught 

 in our harbor at Bay Ridge and along the shore of Coney 

 Island; but the most plentiful supply is found . 

 Bay. They are usually seen swimming about a ft 

 the surface, are most numerous about the lstof Jim, 

 appeared entirely last year about the 1st of July. 



A fisherman at Gravesend informs me that when he lifts 

 his ground nets in which he takes weakfish, he can see thou- 

 ■ whitebait going out through the meshes of the 

 net, and that the stomachs of the weakfish . 

 them. In his opinion they are theprincipal food of the weak- 

 fish during May and June. If he lifts his nets at any other 

 time thau'at slack wafer no whitebait are i 



Some apprehension has been felt by fish culturists, that in 

 taking the whitebait the young fry of the shad might, he de- 

 stroyed, thus neutralizing the efforts of our New 5 ' 

 Fish Commission in stocking the Hudson, but 

 whitebait are most abundant the shad has only just com- 

 menced to spawn, so I think we may sit down to a 'whitebait 

 dinner without feeling that we are inconsistent, with our pro- 

 fessions as fish culturists. 



REPORT OF THE FISH COMMISSIONER 

 OF MISSOURI. 



X 



To the Son, John S. Phalpu, Governor Of Mil 



The Pish Commissioner of Missouri, appointed in accord 

 ance with the law of 1877, respectfully reports the following 



suli of his work to the present date: 



During the fall of 1878, I received from the United Slates 

 Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, 200. (Hit) eggs of the Cal- 

 ifornia salmon, for the use of the State of Missouri, There is 

 no establishment for hatching embryo in our Btate, 

 qiientiy this Jot, was sent to the State hatchery of Iowa to be 

 developed. The spawn arrived in excellent condition, and it 

 is gratifying to announce about ninety live per cent, were 

 hatched. Alter they were sufficiently grown, I made ar 

 raugements to have the young fry brought to' fit. touts for 

 distribution, giving general notice through the pi 

 would arrive there in two installments — the first about the 

 '20th of December, 1873, the second about, the 5th of Janu- 

 ary. 1870. 1 solicited applications from all y.i 



at interest in the enterprise to 

 ient.ion to planting them properly A very genua I • 

 pondeuee ensued, vet as il,e cans con;-, 

 no instance had less than lO.OUO. 

 furnish a less number. In some insta 

 requisitions were not filled. The very remarkable cold pre- 

 vailing at the time fixed for distribution, prevented others 

 who had solicited portions, from appearing m receive what 

 had been alloted to them. Still, the work of pianthii 

 190,000 young California samlets iu Missouri waters has 

 accomplished in a very satisfactory manner : In the Missouri 

 and tributaries, 00,000 ; in the series of lakes and i 

 waters of St. Louis county, 35,000 ; in Sprit- 

 tributaries, 30,000 ; in the Lamine and other streams oi 

 Cooper county, 15,000; at Pierce City, for the system of 

 waters from the southwest, heading in thai r, 



In the execution of this work for the 

 ance rendered, and without which it would not h 

 cornprisned, my thanks are due to the Hun. Basil Duke 

 Louis; to the' Hon. Henry T. Mudd, of Kirk wood ; V. Dr 

 J. It. Hereford, H. A. Stephens, Oscar Bejd, Mr, Gi. 

 F. Jefferson Clark, Esq., and others, of St. Loni 

 the Hon. H. J. Alaynard, of Pierce Oil , ,,',/, p 



Betts, of Carthage, and Col. J. L. Stephens, i 

 aud, in this conjunction, I especially dej 

 the courtesy of Capt. Rodgers, supern : .,' § t 



Louis and San Francisco Railroad. He [ 

 agent and stock of fish, without charge for , , ; 0u " 



I respectfully suggest to your Excellency, t.i„ 



■ - I i 3WU territory a 



whence all the considerable streams at OUld he 



rapidly stocked at a comparatively smi idivid- 



uals, for their private lakes, might h cities 



(without, cost), under the direction of 

 supplied with such varieties as they desired. 



That out waters can be restocked aud i 

 to yield food fishes as abundantly a ; Veen 



demonstrated by the success attending 1 (,. m 



twenty States preceding ours iu the undertaking. The ap- 

 propriation made for the purpose by the Legislature oi 

 is inadequate. In my judgment, instead of one, the commis- 

 sion should consist of three or five persons. The correspond- 

 ence entails more work, the expenditures aud distributions 

 more responsibility than one individual ahi 

 perform gratuitously. 



Very respectfully, Joun Kb™. 

 Fish Commissioner o) II 

 1 — • — -^.^ 



Peso us onJSalmon*.— This disease has , , "aJeot 



the past year among the salmon of England. The 

 has been ascertained to bo the Saprolegnia fen 



