154 



hmm i 1 Ml) blMAM. 



the ties alons; the gaff hid been out by lightning, and her wet sail 

 bagged out like a balloon. She maintained the load to the end of 

 the raoe. The above were all the racea of any importance iu 

 whioh she participated during that year. In 1878 ahe waa chal- 

 lenged by the Dish—% new boat, built sxpresBly by myBelf to beat 

 the champion — for $50 and the champion flag. The boats started, 

 and after a spirited and well-contested race, during which they 

 passed each other several times, the superior qualities of tin 

 Cohill in breezy weather carried her through, winning by 2m. ovsr 

 a course of ten miles. She waB next challenged by the Holland— a. 

 new boat, wbOBe speed had been proven in a race with the Kramer 

 and other boats of her class— for $50Jand the champion flag. This 

 raoe waa sailed on August 8. The wind was heavy at etartiug, 

 hut both boats carried whole sail. When they reached Gloucester 

 Point it was blowing a gale (dead ahead). The Cohill was about 

 two miles on the lead, and the-fibtorirtjjjitcking like a oork in the 

 heavy seaway, required two men constantly bailing to keep her 

 from swamping. At the Horseshoe buoy the Holland gave up the 

 contest, and ran back to Gloucoater. The Cohill was then over three 

 miles on the lead, and the Holland being out of sight, her captain 

 (Harry Olay Funk) wisely settled away, and tied in a double reef, 

 and went over the remainder of the courao comfortably. The 

 Cohill was the only boat, large or small, that reaohed Chester 

 Buoy, although several large boats accompanied the race. This 

 contest seemed to settle the championship question for that Bea- 

 Bon, as no boat accepted her challenge. On August 21 Captain 

 Weaver had a regatta of the Kaighn's Point fleet, and invited the 

 Cooper's Point boats to participate. The Cohill, although not in 

 first-olaas order, entered this regatta and won tho Brat prize, the 

 champion flag. She is now the possessor of three champion flags, 

 winning one of them— the club flag— four times. She will come 

 out thiayear with a new sail, new spars, and otherwise rejuven- 

 ated and prepared to sail any boat of her class carrying one sail. 

 I oonBider the Cohill a moat remarkable proof of tho pervereeness 

 of "wood-life." I have devoted a lifetime to the construction of 

 boatB for opeed ; have handled them from obildhood ; have driven 

 them, coaxed them, humored their little eccentricities, and 

 made them go despite themselves ; but this Cohill boat 

 is the most self-willed piece of wood I evor undertook 

 to manage. When she means business it is no more trouble for 

 her to go than it is for her namesake to write a sporting sketch or 

 knock over a rail bird ; but neglect the least little thing in her 

 hull or rig, and she is as stubborn aa a mule. With a crew that 

 will stay with her, she delights in going to windward through a 

 heavy head sea, and there ia where she baa had the bast of all 

 her competitors. B. G-. Wilkins. 



THE SAN FRANdlSCO YAWLS. 



~~ New Xobk, March 23, 1879, 

 Editor Fobest andStkeam -. 



I read with iuueli interest the letter from California which 

 appeared in your paper, and never before did I feel auch an in- 

 clination to " Go West" aa when I learned through this communi- 

 cation of what a yachtsman's paradise these Western waters supply. 

 Here we all know what it is to get our plans disconcerted, and our 

 enthusiasm lessened bycalma and varying winds; but happy, land — 

 or rather, happy water ! The yachtsman of those parts always 

 has a breeze that be can bet on, and the ateam yacht gets no ad- 

 vantage over him. When I think of these things, there appears 

 to be something better to live and hope for, and nothing but 

 rhyme and metre is adequate to meet the needs of expression. 

 "While " Saucelilo" has interested me much, and commended him- 

 self by the account which he gives of the new yawl rig, and by the 

 general temporateness of hia statements, what about those 35- 

 mile breezes ? Before I start for California, let me know if this is 

 oorrect. He says: " Our average afternoon breezes blow about 21 

 miles, and from that up to 30 miles per hour. " And again, in refer- 

 ence to Fawn, 37ft. long on water-line: ahe "stood up to her canvas 

 beautifully, and went to windward against a 35 mile breeze in 

 flrat-claaa style, carrying all sail." JNow, a breoze of half this 

 weight would be sufficient to make any yaoht here of the size 

 named take in some sail, and a 35-mile breeze would invite moat 

 of them to stay at their anchorage, give a little inoro scope, and 

 get an extra anchor out ahead. There ia a knot in this yarn 

 somewhere ; won't you take it out, please ? Bob Stay. 



In noting the -wind force, our correspondent, " Saucelito," 

 was guided no doubt by tin observations of the Weath er 

 Bureau made at an altitude. A considerable allowance should 

 be made for the force nearer water level, especially where 

 shielded or broken by surrounding bluffs. Generally speak- 

 ing, a 16-mile wind is a fresh one, an 18-mile breeze requires 

 reefing, a 20-mile is a close reef breeze, and 24 miles a gale, 

 while 30 miles is a fresh gale. The San Francisco yachts are 

 stiifer than our Eastern craft, and carry much lees canvas ; 

 but it fieems improbable that they can carry whole sail in even 

 a net 20-mile breeze. On this point, however, "Saucelito' 

 will be able to give accurate information. 



gea and givey $nhin& 



FISH IN SEASON IN APRIL. 



Speckled Trout— SalmefontinalU, Land-locked Salmon— 

 White Perch. 



TROUT FLIES FOR APRIL. 



S The tollowlng are imitations of natural insects which first appear on 

 head springs, and later in the Beason ore round on ponds aitdnvois: 



BLACK Gnat ob Midob.— Body and leer, black ; wines, sob-hyallui 



Dabk claret Gnat.— Body, dart claret; feel, black; wings, sub- 

 tiyaline. 



Bbiodt Claret GNAT.-Body, bright claret, mixed with yellowish 

 gray ; leer, ginger ; wings of one sex, hyaline, of tho other, octieroua. 



(jlivs Gnat.— Body, dark olive; feet, ginger ; wlogs, hyaline. 



Glay Gnat.— Body, dart fox iur, mixed with dark claret; iset, 

 gray; wings, hyaline. 



Dabk Fox.— Body and feet, dark fox far, mixed with lemon-colored 

 mohair wings, Bub-hyaline ; tail, three Jib: es or cart gray hackle. 

 Slo» Blow.— Sane as dirs fox » blue shade . 



Pdob MAS 'a Fly.— Body and feet, hare's ear and yellow mixed; 

 wings, slightly mottled gray. 



Enn Fox.— Body, fur from a fox faoe, mixed with yellow ; feet, red 

 buckle; wlDga, pale gray or sob-hyaline; tall, mottled wood-dnok 

 feather. 



BxiuuT Fox.— Body and feet, brightest part of fox fur, mixed with 

 yellow ; wings, brightest hyaline ; tab, pale yeUow. 



Fish in Mabket -Retail Prioks.— Bass, 20 oentB ; Bmelta, 10 ; 

 aaluior, fresh, $1.25; shad, per pound, 18 cents; white perot, 15 ; 

 frost fish, S ; halibut, 18 ; haddock, 6 ; codfish, 6 ; herring, 5 ; 

 floundera, 8 ; tela, 18 ; lobsters, 12>£ ; sheepshead, 15 ; scal- 

 lops, per quart, 37 f whitefiah, 15 ; red snapper, 12K I bard orabe, 

 por 100, S3. 



For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gum. 

 Not In the whirl of the ball-room— 



Not In the city's mart, 

 Enters the strength of my brain-work, 



Enters the warmth of my heart ; 



But where the wild mountain torrent 



DaBhea from rock to rock, 

 And noble woods of giant pines 



Clt.se In their strong arms look 



The deep, still pool, where hides the front, 



My thirat for blood flnda rest. 

 And as I " yank " the beauties out, 



Then— then I I am at my beat. 

 Athens, Oa., March 21, 1S79. Doctor. 



"®" The salt and fresh water fishing season properly begins 

 uow. On the first of April, the season is open by law, though 

 the selection of " April Fools' Day " does not verify old Sam 

 Johnson's adage of a "Stick and a string, with a fish at one 

 end and a fool at the other." The trout is of course the chief 

 fresh-water fish in request during April. In salt-water we 

 now have fiat-fish and flounders (two different fish) ; soon will 

 come blackflsb sea bass and weakfish, and still later, about 

 the middle or end of June, the bluefish and sheepshead. 



— Next Tuesday, when our readers visit Fulton Market, let 

 them look sharp for fish, especially trout. It will be the first 

 of April and the opening of the angling season, when trout 

 may be caught and sold without let or hindrance from con- 

 stable or public prosecutor. Mr. Eugene Blackford promises 

 us a display which will even eclipse all his past efforts ; and 

 we have no doubt that the exhibition of dead and living fish 

 from the variou3 ponds and streams of Canada, New Eng- 

 land, and the middle States, with all their peculiar character- 

 istics of shape, size, and color, will afford as interesting a 

 study as can well be conceived. The advent of the trouting 

 season brings a sense of exhilaration, because it opens the 

 door to the genial season of spring, when the buds begin to 

 swell, and the ephemerida? break their shells at the head- 

 waters ot the streams; and the air becomes milder and 

 pleasant to the senses. The farmer puts bis piough into the 

 soil, and the farmers' boys look wistfully toward the meadows, 

 aud hint in vain to their obdurate paternal that " trout bite 

 pretty well now.'' The old man lays the string onto the cattle 

 with greater vim than before, but the boys get no fish on their 

 string just then— not until spring ploughing is done. Last 

 week Mr. Blackford received from Jupiter Inlet, Florida, a 

 strange fish, the body of which, back of the opercles or gill 

 covers resembled the haddock, but its head was like that of a 

 muscalunge. He sent it to Prof. Baird, of the Smithsonian, 

 who identified it as OerUropomut undecimaUs, a West In- 

 dian fish, for the first time recorded on our coast. Mr. B. also 

 had a Cryptacanthodes maculatus, or white eel. Mr. Black- 

 ford is doing a good work : He supplies the belly with food, 

 aud the braius with eubjects for fresh thought. 



—Charles Gaul bier, of Sandwich, Ont., has shipped from 

 that place over $20,000 worth of fish since October last. 



Massachusetts — New Bedford, March 17.— "Herrings 

 have come!" is the cry that salutes your ear from the fish 

 markets. Probably no one species of fi3h enters more gene- 

 rally into the daily food of rich aud poor in southern Massa- 

 chusetts than the herring or alewife, and their coming is anx- 

 iously looked for. To-day a few have been taken at the 

 Vineyard and at nearly all the traps on the main land. Eels, 

 cod and halibut are plenty. Concha. 



Vibgisia— Leesburg, March 17.— The spring is nearly on 

 us here, and the coarser fish are being brought into market 

 every day. Report says the fish are caught in nets and then 

 marked in the mouth to look as if caught with the hook. 



Interesting Facts From "Washington Tebeitoby. — The 

 following facts are contained in a private letter to the editor 

 from Sj prominent officer of the U. S. Army. They are too 

 Valuable to bo pocketed ; so we print them at a risk of violat- 

 ing etiquette : 



Fort Walla Walla, W. T., Feb. 27, 1879. 



Dbas Sib— Your kind favor of the 29th ult. came duly to 

 hand, also the "Sportsman's Gazetteer," which isas complete 

 a compendium of everything Interesting the sportsman as could 

 be gotten up, and far surpassing anything of the kind ever 

 published before for general information. Yesterday the fly 

 material arrived from MesHrs. Abbey & Imbrie, giviDg com- 

 plete satisfaction, and a belter selection than I would probably 

 have been able to make myself. 



1 think we will have excellent fishing this season, and I 

 hope that the very high wa'er we are having now will piay 

 smash with the many fish traps obstructing the streams here- 

 abouts. I think we will have a good season for game, as it 

 has not suffered much during the winter. A few Wilson 

 SDipe wintered on the reservation. I shot a single specimen 

 of the Virginia rail here on the 16th of January, when the 

 ground was covered with about eight inches of snow. The 

 bird was in good condition, and is now in the hands of Dr. T. 

 H. Brower, of Boston, Mass., for examination. I think it dif- 

 fers a little in its general plumage from the Eastern bird. If 

 the noble red man leaves us alone I hope to be able to make a 



trip to the "Wallowa Lakes this summer to obtain some of the 

 redfish found there and have theirproper status finally settled. 

 It is about time that it was done by some one. Prof. Baird 

 wrote me last fall that it is possible that the fish ia the one 

 known under the name of Salmo Kennerbyi. 



Last August, while after the Bannock Indians in North- 

 eastern Idaho, I passed within a few miles of the Salmon 

 Lakes, the headwaters of Salmon ltiver, where the same fish, 

 or at any rale one closely allied, is found, and they were run- 

 ning in large numbers then. I saw some taken and pickled a 

 few days before only, and their flesh was while, while that 

 of the fish in Wallowa, and also the Fayette Lakes, is red or 

 pink. The upper Salmon Biver country must be a sports- 

 man's paradise, both as regards fish aud game, and a person has 

 to see for himself to believe the stories that can be told of that 

 section. The river takes its rise in the Sawtooth range, and 

 the name is a very appropriate one for this mountain— it would 

 be a hard matter to find a rougher one. It is the home par 

 excellence of the ibex, and I believe these animals are found 

 there in larger numbers than anywhere else in the U. S. As 

 far as trout are concerned, 1 never saw finer or larger ones, 

 and more of them, in any other section I have visited, and 

 they are not at all particular. It will not be ling before that 

 part of Idaho will be easy of access most of the way by 

 rail, then you may look out for trout stories that will beat 

 those from the Rangeley Lakes by considerable. 



Chs. Bkndib, 



Qamif gag and %nxu 



GAME IN SEASON IN APRIL. 



Wild ducks, geese, brant, etc. 



What is a Safe Distance ?— Not only the probabilities 

 but the possibilities must be taken into account in the use of 

 fire-arms. An incident illustrating this and showing how 

 far some guus will carry, recently occurred in Brooklyn, where 

 a member of the Excelsior Gun Club received a painful cut 

 in the eye from a shot-gun fired at a distance of 126 yards. 



Massachusetts— Plymouth Co., March 19. — I have seen sev- 

 eral flocks of geese this week moving along slowly north. They 

 do not hurry at this early season. Coots, seaduclts and brant 

 are coming in daily from south of the cape, where they have 

 been for two weeks past. No snipe yet. S. K., Jit. 



New Yoek— Good Ground, L. I. — The goose shooting sea- 

 son at Shinuecock Bay was opened with great eclat on Tues- 

 day, the 18th, by that prince of baymen, Bill Lane. Capt. 

 R. C. Johnson, of the Jersey City Heights Gun Club, and 

 party, secured eighteen, and the Captain came home on 

 Thursday well loaded with geeae and ducks. There is a good 

 many broad-bills and red-heads in the bay, but everything ia 

 dropped for geese. As the Captain came away, large numbers 

 of geese could be seen on the wing, and the parties were hav- 

 ing, from the reports of the guns, more than good shooting. 

 Lane's shooting-box will be well filled the coming fortnight. 



Jaoobstapf. 



Bahaboo Valley Sportsmen's Clttb.— The Baraboo Val- 

 ley Sportsmen's Club, of Baraboo, Wis., has the following 

 officers: M. H. Mould, Pres.; J. F. Kartack, Sec'y, J. W. 

 Davis, Treas. 



Michigan— Detroit, March 22. — A. C. Hobbs, Esq., of 

 Union Metallic Cartridge Co., passed through this city on the 

 2lBt on his way to St. Clair Flats for a week's sport 

 among the ducks. He has brought a patent refrigerator with 

 him this time to ship his ducks home in, having lost all he 

 shipped last fall. They spoiled on the way. Druid. 



Our correspondent makes no mention of thatSluggs' patent, 

 the working of which we believe Mr. Hobbs proposes testing. 



— Wild ducks are reported to be exceedingly abundant iu 

 the vicinity of Hall's marsh and the mouth of Detroit River. 



California — San Gabriel, March 10. — Last week three 

 gentlemen went from here to Alamedas, on the coast, some 

 twenty miles distant. They returned after two days' shoot- 

 ing with one huudred and fifteen birds. Of these about fifty 

 were snipe ; the remainder ducks and geese. C. B. 



Another Odd Fbeak.— Toronto, Ont., March 1.— Editor 

 Forest and. Stream : About forty years ago I was out shoot- 

 ing with Mr. John Crooks (now, like mysey, at present a 

 resident of Canada West), along the banks of a very crooked 

 and tortuous stream in Wiltshire, England. Was about fifty 

 yards from my companion when I rose a duck and drake, at 

 which I let fly with both barrels, and thought that 1 had 

 surely the honor of killing them as they both fell. It seems, 

 however, that Mr. Crooks had sighted them at the same time 

 and fired simultaneously with myself, so close together that I 

 never heard his shots nor he mine. He immediately shouted, 

 " Why did you not Are?" I replied, " So I have, and killed 

 them both." ne could not believe me, but said, "Why I 

 fired and killed the ducks," and could not, be convinced no 

 more than myself, until we examined each other's guns and 

 found them both smoking and empty. Toronto. 



A Great Shot.— Berlin Eeig/Us, March \b^Editor Forest 

 anil Stream : I can truthfully give you the details of a shot 

 made by myself this morning. Was visitiug, professionally, 

 II. H. Vrelland'8 house, when H. H. came to the door, 

 saving, " Doc, hurry, here's a shot for you." Of course 

 I hurried, and when I got out of the house I saw a 

 flock of geese flying by. To get out my 33 Smith & Wesson, 

 and make a shot, was but the business of an instant, and 

 down came a goose— a very fine one, too. The goose had 

 both wings broken, and tho ball lodged a little above the frac- 

 ture in the opposite wing. The distance from where I shot 

 to where the bird fell was 174 paces. I held what looked to 

 be ten feet ahead and four feet over. There were many who 

 witnessed the shooting, and, if it is doubted, I can bring the 

 best of proof, and abundance of it. 



M. M. B. 



Plust Preventive.— A correspondent writes from West 

 Boyiston, Mass., as follows : " In your issue of February 13, 

 "Major "inquires regarding a rust preventive called " cos- 

 moline." I have never seen the name applied to what I have 

 used for the past six months, and am still using, but from his 

 description of this "coamoline,' - 1 think it the same as what I 

 am usJDg. This rust preventive is petroleum jelly, which 

 we sportsmen here have found to be the best thing as yet. I 

 have given it a number of severe tests, and has not failed me. 

 It exceeds all my expectations. I would not be without it as 

 long as I keep my shooting irons. A friend of mi ue has used 



