FOREST AND STREAM. 



[August 2, 1883, 



of whfch have had but an ephemeral "run," while others 

 have proved permanent additions to the shooter's kit. Am- 

 munition has been improved, shell?, wads, and shot, (id infi- 

 nitum, The period named has seen the introduction of the 

 Diltmar powder, the long and baffling experiences with it, 

 and the final explanation fay this journal of its true charac- 

 ter, and its consequent abandonment. We are using black 

 powder still, as our forefathers did before us. 



It has been an unequal strife. The augmented ranks of 

 the shooters, the improved engines of destruction and in- 

 creased skill in their use, the encroachments of settlements, 

 the reclamation and tillage of wild lands, the multiplied 

 railroads penetrating in the very heart of the wilderness the 

 sanctuaries of the antelope and elk, the hotels and cottages 

 on the. coast, the greedy and unconscionable market stalls, 

 refrigerator ears and insatiable hotel kitchens, the skin- 

 hunters, the braggart baggers for blow and bluster, the 

 senseless and indecent disregard of the inexorable laws of 

 nature by the hordes who shoot day and night, in season 

 and out of season— with all this there could be but one re- 

 sult: as our veteran contributor "Nessmuk" has put it, "the 

 game must go." And the' melancholy fact is that to a large 

 extent it has gone. Witness each one his own experience; 

 witness the long and profitless discussions in our columns on 

 the decrease of game birds, wherein it was well established 

 that there has been such a decrease, but the remedy where- 

 for has not yet appeared. 



Much has been clone to check unseasonable shooting. The 

 game protective movement as recorded in the successive 

 numbers of our twenty volumes is one of the encouraging 

 features of the times. The American sportmen perceived 

 none too early the necessity of protecting game in its breed- 

 ing season, and here and there, everywhere over the length 

 and breadth of the country, village, county and State game 

 protective societies, of greater or less pretentions, have 

 sprung up, and ea.ck has exerted some good influence, if 

 only a transient one. Legislatures have been induced to 

 enact protective laws, and the clubs and associations have 

 secured their enforcement; in some instances State game 

 commissioners have been appointed. Numbers of these once 

 energetic clubs, wearying of the up-hill work, have relapsed 

 into apathy; many of Mi- State associations} have given their 

 attention almost wholly to trap-shooting, and in one or two 

 instances have played into the bands of designing game 

 dealers, but withal, much good has been wrought, and in 

 numerous localities the protective laws are enforced to the 

 letter. 



An instructive chapter might; be devoted to detailing the 

 battles waged during these years against that hydra-headed 

 consumer of game, the city market. The evil of game 

 dealing out of season has been checked but it has not yet 

 been suppressed, if it will ever be. On many important points 

 of law we know just where we stand, better than wc did in 

 1873. Since that date the constitutionality of certain game 

 laws has been W«D established: dealers no longer pretend to 

 question the State's authority to restrict their traffic in 

 game; resistance to the law is uo longer made by defiant 

 and disastrous appeals to the courts. 



The game protective movement at one time took the form 

 of a National Sportsmen's Association, a body which, after 

 brief existence, unhappily succumbed, chiefly, we conceive, 

 because there was no definite practical w-ork for it to do. 

 The influence of the Association, while it lived, was highly 

 stimulative: it helped the local clubs, as in a greater degree 

 the several State Associations have sustained the clubs com- 

 posing them. 



One result of the general depletion of game has been the 

 acquisition and reservation of desirable lands by proprietary 

 clubs. Many thousands of acres of marsh and coast have in 

 this manner been taken away from the general public; and 

 (here is every reason to believe that the number of such 

 clubs will increase very materially in the future. 



The advance in ethics has kept pace with the mechanical 

 improvements. Wing-shooting numbers more adherents; 

 the "bag" is not the sole aim of a day afield; and there is 

 more regard for times and seasons, 



ANGLING. 



Anglers who have passed the meridian of life cannot fai] 

 to note the great changes that have occurred in all things con- 

 nected with their pastime since they first wet a line, half a 

 century ago: but most especially has such a transition been 

 wrought within the past ten years. They saw their clumsy 

 hooks and coarse lines slowly evolve iuto neater, smoother, 

 and better tackle, and they purchased it as needed to replace 

 their stock, even though the expense was often a matter of 

 grave consideration; for fifteen .years ago an angler's outfit 

 which cost twenty dollars, was thought to be very costly by 

 the majority of the craft. Within the last decade, however, 

 the accessions to angling ranks from among those who can 

 afford to pay for good work, has so stimulated inventive 

 genius, that reels which run on jewels as smoothly as a fine 

 watch runs, and rods and lines on which great care and 

 much skilled labor have been bestowed, are now put on 

 the market, and great numbers find ready sale. Large 

 factories for the making of fine rods employ many 

 men. and such establishments are owned by each of the 

 large dealers in fishing tackle. Split-bamboo rods, which 

 were formerly made by hand by men like Norris and others 

 wdio had the skill to select and match the material, were 

 turned out in small numbers ten years ago, and were sold at 



high prices as compared with those now tapered by ma- 

 chinery in the large establishments; indeed, the machine- 

 made rods of to-day are sold at half the price that the older 

 makers charged for their hand-made rods. The prejudice 

 against the factory rods has nearly died out since it has been 

 shown that the strips of bamboo can be tapered by a ma- 

 chine with greater accuracy than by hand. Wooden rods 

 Have Hot been behind in the march of improvement, nor 

 have they been driven from the field by the rent cane: and 

 many anglers, as good and true as ever lived, stick to rods 

 of their favorite wood, or combination of woods, and prefer 

 their action to that of the bamboo. The makers of wooden 

 rods have searched all lands for material that best combines 

 the qualities of toughness, responsive action, lightness, and 

 ability to keep its form. As no wood exists which has each 

 of these qualities iu the highest degree, there still remain 

 differences of opinion concerning the best woods for angling 

 purposes. 



The number of new reels, each one an improvement in 

 some point, that have been placed before the angling public 

 within the last five years, is sufficient to astonish one who 

 has not kept watch upon our advertising pages. Reels are 

 now made that combine all advantages that the whims of the 

 most fastidious anglers could desire. All the combinations 

 of clicks, drags, and changes from simple to compound 

 actions are now made and so balanced that they run with as 

 little friction as it is possible for any machine to revolve 

 with. Lines of both silk and linen have superseded horse- 

 hair and seem to be as perfect as it is possible to make them, 

 while hooks are now made of the best material possible and 

 contrast strongly with those of former yea rs. Perha ps a rtifi- 

 Cial (lies show" as little improvement as any portion of the 

 angler's outfit, for although they arc more numerous in design 

 there has been no marked advance in their construction. Fly- 

 tying is no longer an essential part of an angler's education, 

 for tbey can be bought of better quality than any that the 

 average amateur fly-tyer can manufacture. The minor 

 articles of the fisher's outfit, in the way of landing-nets. 

 creels, clothing, wading boots, artificial baits, spinning 

 tackle, etc., are numerous and much improved, and .every- 

 thing in this line that an angler needs, and much that is not 

 needed, is found ready to tempt him to purchase, and lie is 

 not compelled to make crude implements of any kind. 



Angling ctUbs have increased and a change has come over 

 public sentiment in regard to fishing as a tit recreation for 

 those whose occupations confine them indoors, and a 

 business or professional gentleman, is no longer looked 

 upon with distrust if seen with his rods on the way to 

 a railway station. The increase in the popularity of ang- 

 ling as a healthful pastime has been especially marked, and 

 outfit is now looked upon as a proper part of a 

 ploments. 



■ars ago fly-fishing was attempted by hut few, in 

 on with the numbers who arc expert in it to-day, 

 and thirty years before it was almost an unkuown art in 

 America. Within a few years angling tournaments have 

 come into fashion and have been the means of bringing the 

 beauties of the art to public attention and of educating 

 many into its mysteries. These trials of skill hove not only 

 shown what it is possible for an expert to do in the way of 

 casting long distances, but have led to a critical examination 

 of styles and methods of handling the rod in a graceful 

 manner and of delivering the flies with the best effect. 



The great increase of angling literature, both in books, and 

 magazine urticles, and in the conespondence of anglers who 

 write of their experiences in our columns, as well as an oc- 

 casional contribution to the daily press, shows the expand- 

 ing interest in the subject, and the intelligent angler of to- 

 day has acquired much information concerning the structure 

 and habits of fishes that ten years ago was only known to 

 ichthyologists. He is able to decide between many species 

 which are so closely related as to present few external points 

 of difference to the untrained observer. But a short time ago, 

 when shape and color, points which count for little in ichthy- 

 ology, were his only guides; the distinguishing marise of the 

 mascalonge and the lake pike, or pickerel, confused him, and 

 the two black basses were not separated with any degree of 

 certainty. Now but few observers are in doubt as to the 

 identity of a specimen of either of these fishes; and many 

 are able to identify other species. Ten years ago the aver- 

 age angler of America rather disdained ichthyological lore, 

 and was disposed to question the utility of the .scientific 

 names of his fishes, being wholly content with the nomencla- 

 ture that happened to pass current in his village or iu the 

 locality of his fishing grounds. Now moil intelligent 

 anglers have a fishing library in which are found all thelater 

 works on the classification of fishes, as well as other angling 

 books: and they talk learnedly of pectoral fins, palatine and 

 vomerine teeth' and scaled or naked opereles. They are be- 

 coming critical in the matter of systematic nomenclature, 

 and mildly object to having the professors change the names 

 which they have newly learned. These things all point to 

 the constantly crowing popularity of angling, and to an in- 

 terest awakened in it by the increase of the literature of the 



subject and the consequent inter.. I oi aotes from all 



parts of our widely spread country. This has given the 

 angler broader views, and he has thrown off much of his 

 provincialism and looks at himself more in the light of a 

 member of a brotherhood which is world-wide, instead of n 

 person who is unique in his love of the gentle art. 

 The great increase in the number of anglers, which is far 



: lishiug 



Ten yt 

 omparit 



in advance of the increase of population, is not alone the 

 cause of the diminution of game fish in our fresh waters. 

 Other causes have been at work, and among them may lie 

 named the clearing of timber lands, the erection of dams, 

 and the pollution of waters, as well as the devastation of 

 poachers. These have made fish scarce where they were 

 plenty a few years ago; and are causes that will continue to 

 work to the angler's disadvantage, in spite of laws EM fch< 

 protection of tish during their breeding seasons. In the 

 State of New York there is a law imposing punishment on 

 certain forms of polluting the waters, but it is so framed 

 that no one could be convicted under it, and in fact, no one 

 hasever been punished for it iu the State, although tons of 

 dye-stuffs, chemicals, tan-bark, and sawdust, are emptied 

 into the waters every day. 



FISSOULTUBM. 



Fishculture is the only aid that the angler has Itad in the 

 effort to preserve the fish in the streams and lakes against 

 the destructive advance of civilization. This art of fishcul- 

 ture, although more than fifty years old, has made its great 

 advance within ten years. During this time the United 

 Mates Fish Commission, although created in 1871, has fairly 

 begun work, and its record, under the direction of Prof. 

 Spencer F. Baiid, is such as to place it at the head 

 of fishculture in the world, when brought in competition 

 at the great Fisheries Exhibitions at Berlin and London. 



Within these ten years, under this commission, the besi 

 apparatus for cultivating fish lias been devised aud the 

 work much simplified. The work before that time was 

 conducted on a small scale and with apparatus which 

 did its work very well in a limited way. with a, greater 

 expenditure of labor; but within the last few years has 

 been brought out the Bell and Mather conical vessels for 

 hatching shad eggs in mass; the Ferguson plunging buckets, 

 for the same purpose, independent of tides; the Chase, Clark 

 and McDonald jars for hatching whitetish eggs, and the cars 

 for transporting masses of fishes from one coast to the other 

 with little labor. A few marine fishes have been hatched, 

 and within three years the steamers Fish Hawk and Alba- 

 tross have been built, one for hatching ftsh on the rivers, 

 aud the other for marine investigations, and these vessels 

 have iu their equipment many small improvements in their 

 internal economy, which aid in their work materially 



The past five years has developed the McDonald fishway. 

 Which is an entirely new principle in fish-ladders, and is 

 acknowledged to be the best of all ye.i devised tor economy of 

 building, and for the ascent of tish to their breeding grounds. 

 These things show plainly the great interest which ha.s been 

 taken in angling and tishculim-e. and Which is rapidly in- 

 creasing. 



The formation of the American Fishcultura] Association 

 and the valuable paperawhich have been read before it, have 

 tended to popularize lishculture and to spread imm 

 methods far beyond its members. The introduction of new 

 Ashes and tin: increase of native ones has been of great 

 benefit, It has been demonstrated that salmon can be re- 

 stored to the Connecticut River where they would now be 

 found bad not the rapacity of fishermen destroyed all chance 

 of their reaching their spawning grounds. Salmon have 

 been restored to the Merrimack, and shad have been accli- 

 matized it California, The California trout have been 

 brought Fast, and our pages have continually recorded the 

 successes of tishculfure in many other respects, 



STo doubt the next ten years will show results in fishculture 

 of which even those engaged in it have but a faint idea. 



XATUjkM: imrouY. 



The ten years have beeu eventful ones in the history of 

 biology in America. In paleontology, through the labors of 

 Leidy, Marsh, Cope, Whitfield, White, and many others 

 whose names are less well known, a vast number of wonder- 

 ful forms of life, which iu the mysterious ages of the past 

 inhabited this country in boundless numbers and TO > 

 have been brought te light; and in many instances have 

 proved to be additional links of that now broken chain which 

 once united all forms of life. In entomology, Packard and 

 Riley standamong the first, while in the various departments 

 of general zoology, Baird, Coues, Gill. Allen, Kidgway, 

 Goode, Bean, Jordan, Verrill, Packard, Smith and some 



hundreds of other names might be menti I I Ethj 



tiie investigations of Powell and hi- CO KB ■ ''one a 



vast deal toward elucidating tin hi orj pas Hurt present, of 

 man upon this continent, aud have help, i to pail tnl record 

 the fads in relation to many tribes ol ii ■ ■' D inpWfflSt 

 disappearing from their native soil. 



To attempt to speak, however briefly, of the pl'ogrei •» 

 science during the past fen years, would be beyond the 

 limits of our space. In all departments there are earnest, 

 faithful workers, each of whom has contributed his 

 to the general result. Among them all.howi 

 ncnt for his restless energy, hi- indefatigable industry and 

 his brilliant talents, -tands Dr. Elliott Cones, wdio, within 

 that time, has firmly impressed his seal upon American 

 Otnitbolog; »vhere it must ever remain. To a majority of 

 the readers of Fokest ,vnd Stream, his '•Key,' aud the 

 last edition of his " Check List." are the most important of 

 all his works. He has not contented himsell with Q> 

 his attention to birds, and completing with remarkable rap- 

 idity volume after volume of material upon this delightful 

 subject ii has tlsodonea great amount of work on the 



