FOREST AND STREAM. 



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AN ANTELOPE 



For Forest and Stream. 

 HUNT. 



^XJRXNG the Fall of 1872 I took my usual trip west, 

 _ "_ from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Fort D. A. Rus- 

 sell, Wyoming Territory, for the purpose of enjoying the 

 hunting of larger game than is found through Eastern 

 Kansas. A description of one of the antelope hunts in 

 -which I took part 1 hope may prove interesting to the" 

 sportsmen who read the Forest and Stream. 



My companion upon this hunt was Major George North, 

 Letter known through that section of country as the 

 "White Chief of the Pawnees," and at that time employed 

 by the United States Government as Captain of the Scouts 

 at Russell. He is one of the most thorough sportsmen I 

 ever met, and a splendid fellow in other respects. We left 

 the Fort one morning just affer daybreak, equipped for 



slung over his shoulder by a leather strap. We were 

 mounted on two of the swiftest horses the fort could 

 boast, as we were aware we would be compelled to "run" 

 the antelope. Riding due west toward the Black Hill 

 range, we arrived, after awhile, upen a section of prairie 

 more rolling than the rest, and here we began to look 

 sharp for our game. 



Oar plan of operations was to dismount in one of the 

 small hollows, and while one of us held the horses the 

 other would" crawl ciretully up the opposite slope, one mo- 

 ment looking nervously around for "rattlers" and the next 

 dodging cactus plants, until he could bring his head on a 

 level with the top, then take a survey with the glass of 

 the crests of all the surrounding hills in sight. Here I 

 must state that there is never much danger coming upon 

 any antelope in the hollows of the prairie, as they rarely 

 graze where they cannot see for a long distance on all sides 

 of them. After continuing our alternate riding and crawl- 

 ing for some time, the Major at last returned from one ob- 

 servation, and said he could make out three feeding on a 

 rise about rive miles to windward of where we were, and 

 proposed we should set about getting as near to them as 

 possible without showing ourselves. 



To accomplish this we started, leading our horses down 

 one of the valleys which ran parallel to the hill upon which 

 our game were feeding. We continued down this gully un- 

 til we came to another, branching off more toward our 

 goal; this we took and contiuued our serpentine course un- 

 til at last w T e reached a point from where we could pro- 

 ceed no further without crossing high ground and so ex- 

 posing ourselves. We now again reconnoitered, and to 

 our satisfaction discovered the animals still feeding, and 

 only about eight hundred yards from us. The Major now 

 insisted he would hold the horses, while I was to crawl to 

 the top of the hill and take the first shot. Obeying orders, 

 I made my way on hands and knees to the top, poked my 

 rifle through a small tuft of grass, and with a "raelon- 

 catcus" f or a rest I sighted the nearest fellow just behind 

 the fore shoulder and pulled trigger. Before the smoke 

 cleared and enabled me to see whether my shot had taken 

 effect, I heard a terrific noise behind me," and turned just 

 in time to see the Major pass me on horseback on a "dead 

 run." Of course I lost no time in mounting and following. 

 1 now discovered he was in full chase after one of the an- 

 telope, which had fallen behind the others, and which ran 

 in a manner that plainly showed my bullet had taken ef- 

 fect. Although wounded, that antelope led us a good long 

 four-mile chase before we got him. He kept steadily 

 along the top of a range of hills for the greater distance; 

 but towards the last he suddenly turned and went out of 

 view up a small rocky ravine. Now we were sure of him; 

 for, being weakened from loss of blood, he had sought 

 refuge among the tall grass. We carefully made our way 

 up the ravine, and when midway, discovered him crouch- 

 ing in the weeds, his head and neck only being visible. 

 Being now about three hundred yards off, we halted, and 

 the Major leveling his carbine, fired, his ball hitting the 

 buck in the middle of the neck^ and stretching him out 

 lifeless upon the grass. Upon riding up we found him 

 young and in perfect condition, and we immediately made 

 preparations to carry him to the fort, which consisted in 

 first cleaning him, then stuffing the body full of grass, 

 wrapping him in a piece of oil skin, and tying him on be- 

 hind the saddle of the Major's horse. We now turned our 

 faces toward Russell, and by taking it leisurely, and stop- 

 ping thirty minutes for lunch, we arrived home a little be- 

 fore sundown, rather tired, but highly pleased at the suc- 

 cess of our hunt.' P. C. Yak Vleit. 



NEWFOUNDLAND 



For Forest and- Stream. 

 NOTES. 



Y last letter left us at Twillingate. This is the capi- 

 tal of the North, thirty -three miles or more distant 

 from Tilt Cove^ the great copper mine of the country, the 

 resources of which were energized by Mr. C. F. Ben- 

 nett, who is now an old man of near eighty-five years. 

 The Bay of JSotre Dame is a rich bay, and bids fair 

 to be a great stronghold for the welfare of the people. The 

 man of science entering the harbor of Twillingate will not 

 fail to notice the prevalence of iron bearing rocks. But 

 then we have no coal mines near so as to smelt the ore. I 

 believe the peat fuel was tried in Sweden with success; 

 Why we cannot do the same I cannot tell. Perhaps if we 

 had some American energy and skill, they would help. 

 There are two entrances to Twillingate — the main or har- 

 hor entrance, and the Burnt Island Tickle. Your readers 

 will understand that we call a narrow passage between an 

 island or islands and the main-land a tickle; and, indeed, it 

 is a tickle which will tickle one with some grave thoughts 

 of kingdom, come when there's a strong sea on* We never 

 think of going through there witkout a good pilot, and it 

 is remarkable how intelligent our fishermen are in the 

 knowledge of rocks. Old S., our pilot, how true to duty 

 was he. 



| We usually bring to anchor off- Path End. Right oppo ; 

 site the handsome' English church a beautiful grassy plot* 

 lays above the Path End landing place ; a pretty road, which 

 leads to Back Harbor, wends its way to the eastward of the 

 church, and a fine grove of trees covers the hill. But the 

 ground is very rocky from the landing place up toward the 

 old Court House; still there are many fine fields and gar- 

 dens, and the grass has a brilliancy which rivals that of 

 more favored climes. There is a great deal of bisulphuret 

 oi iron in the soil. The oxide of iron is prominently visi- 

 ble everywhere. The Court House is an ancient building, 

 aqvq Mr. Cormaek, the pioneer, traveler, made a fine speech i 



about the Boethicks in presence of the late Judge De 

 Barres, Mr. Iyte, and many others, some fifty years ago. 

 Twillingate town is built upon two islands, with the harbor 

 between. The two islands are connected by a draw-bridge. 

 The population of the islands is upward of 3,000 people, 

 big and little. A large number of schooners go from here 

 to Labrador codfish catching. The fish is brought home, 

 salted in September, and made. There are several mer- 

 cantile houses on these islands, and the trade is consider- 

 ble, but, Mr. Editor, it is subject to the uncertain sea. The 

 anchorage in Twillingate Harbor cannot be called good, 

 and a gale of wind from east or east-northeast or northeast 

 is a critical event here in the Fall. A walk to DurrelPs 

 Arm, etc., is quite interesting, and from the high hills a 

 beautiful view is obtained of Twillingate. In Durrell's 

 Arm there is a great deal of fine land, and there are many 

 good farms. Back Harbor, on Twillingate Island proper, is 

 a livelv little place of about a quarter of an hour's walk 

 from Twillingate. Picture to yourself grassy meadows, 

 thick groves, neat housed, cows and sheep, and beautiful 

 flocks of geese, and you have at once the pastoral idea of 

 Back Harbor, which is defended by Patrick's Island. This 

 little haven forms a refuge for shipping to somo extent, but 

 as it is only small, the accommodation's limited. We are 

 thankful that as often as we laid in a ship or vessel or 

 steamer at Path End we never had reason to regret not 

 going to Back Harbor. Twillingate is the grand assize 

 town of the North, but the people are so good the lawyers 

 don't get much to do. Old John Doe and old Richard Roe 

 are long since legally deceased, and so is the good old 

 Northern Circuit Court, out of the remains of which 

 has sprung up the beautiful flower of the Supreme Court 

 on Circuit. All honor to our worthy Judges. May the 

 Lord protect them forever. Our pleadings are now so sim- 

 ple that we could write a most abstruse declaration or 

 pleading on half a sheet of note paper. We believe in 

 simplifying law, geology, and every other "ology," and 

 thereby the people are enlightened. And so we'll bowse 

 up the anchor and sail for Exploits, Burnt Island, the 

 northern terminus of our journey, and thence to Fogo, 

 and so south to Harbor Grace, and then "Newfoundland 

 Notes" will be finished, and thanks to Forest and Stream. 

 If such a valued paper as yours, Mr. Editor, had been in 

 existence in the earlier days of our study I could have 

 made these notes more interesting. q 



Harbor Grace, Aug. 30, 1875. 



&i*ff' JE>nltm[$. 



FISH CULTURE FOR RUSSIA. 



CAVIARE, a favoiite Russian relish, is made from the 

 roe of the sturgeon . Whether there is a prospect of 

 the supply failing, or whether the attention of the Musco- 

 vite authorities has been called to the falling off of their 

 fish supply generally, is uncertain, but it is known that it 

 is now being directed to practical fish culture as a means 

 of increasing the supply. There has just 'arrived in Eng- 

 land, says Land and Water, Mr. Michael Girdwoyn, engi- 

 neer-lieutenant, who has been for some time past studying 

 scientific fish culture in all its branches, in various parts of 

 Europe, with a view to the cultivation of the hitherto 

 neglected waters of the vast empire of Russia. For pro- 

 curing a supply of eggs for the propagation of salmon 

 Russia possesses advantages which exceed even those af- 

 forded this country by the Columbia and other rivers of 

 the Pacific coast, although without the same facilities for 

 transportation. During the Summer months the upper 

 waters of the Amoor fairly teem with salmon, scarcely 

 disturbed in their swim of two thousand miles to the 

 spawning beds by the few aboriginal tribes of Gilyacks, 

 Tongoos, and others, or the more recent Cossack settle- 

 ments on its banks. The Russians claim four different 

 varieties of salmon for this river, but we have never met 

 with an intelligent classification or comparison. But little 

 also has been written regarding the fish of European Rus- 

 sia beyond the fact that sturgeon abound, though we be- 

 lieve that a large portion of the caviare is imported. The 

 following list shows the places at which Mr, Girdwoyn has 

 been prosecuting his studies, and the officials from whom 

 he has obtained certificates: — 



France— From the College de France {k Paris) Labora- 

 toire d'Embryologie comparee et de Pisciculture. Ger- 

 many—From Hera- Haack, director of the Imperial pisci- 

 cultural establishment at Hiiningen (Huningue), in Alsace. 

 From Herr C. Schuster, chief magistrate of Freiburg 

 (Germany), establishment at Seltzenhof. Switzerland— 

 From Herr M. Huge, director of the Piscicultural Society 

 at Fribourg (Switzerland); from Messrs. Frederich Glaser 

 and Son, at Basel. From Herr T. B. Kuffer, Germ-any 

 (Bavaria) court pisciculturist at Munich; from Herr C. von 

 Siebold, Professor of zoology at Munich. Austria— From 

 Herr Gottein, director of the piscicultural establishment 

 at Saltzburg; from Herr C. Horak, steward of the domain 

 of Prince Schwarzenburg, in Wittingau (Bohemia); from 

 Dr. H.Fric, director of fish culture in Bohemia; and Baron 

 Berlepsch, of Horskych Centralkanzlei, at Horskysfeld 

 (Bohemia). Germany (Poland)— From Herr Kuzia, direc- 

 tor of the piscicultural establishment at Mokrotona (Ger- 

 many, Silesia), Germany (Bavaria)— From Herr F. C. 

 Helmstaetter. 



Mr. Girdwoyn informs Mr. Frank Buckland that in the 

 College^le France they breed river trout for scientific pur- 

 poses only. At Huningue Herr Hack breeds all the princi- 

 pal kinds of Salmonidm, and sells the eggs, Herr Schuster, 

 at Fribourg, breeds river and lake trout and salmon for the 

 Rhine. The eggs are sold. Herr Huge, of the Fribourg 

 Piscicultural Society, breeds river trout to stock Swiss 

 waters. Messrs. Friedrich Glaser and Son, at Basel, lay 

 down principally Rhine salmon eggs for sale. They are 

 not eyed, but simply impregnated; these are the best eggs 

 in Switzerland. Herr Kuffee,- of Munich, Bavaria, sells 

 the eggs of Salmo Hucho, the Danube salmon. Herr Got- 

 tein has at Saltzburg the best establishment for Salmo Sal- 

 veliiius, Ombre Glievaliev, that is, charr. Herr Horak has a 

 very large establishment, there are nearly 300 lakes on the 

 prince's property. Here they cultivate pike, perch, carp, 

 JPerco .lum perco, or pike perch; no silurw. The young 1 



stock-fish are sold, and the fish markets of Hamburg and 

 Vienna are supplied. The fish are carried alive in well- 

 boats down the Elbe, and through canals as far as Ham- 

 burg, a distance, as the crow flies, of nearly 400 miles. 

 The Speigel carp, or Cyprinus rex ciprinorum, will not 

 carry. Dr. H.Fric is inspector of fisheries in Bohemia, 

 and has a laboratory for experiments. Baron Berlepsch 

 breeds trout only for his own property. Herr Kuza breeds 

 Rhine salmon and river trout to be turned out into the 

 Oder. He has also a large establishment for carp. Eferr 

 Helmstaetter sells trout eggs. 



The following is a list of the establishments which Mi- 

 chael Girdwoyn had visited before obtaining the above 

 certificates • Paris— That of Mr. Carbonier's, and the Zo- 

 ological Garden of Acclimatation; Brieg, (Germany, Po- 

 land)— Special fish culture of salmon; Boron, France- 

 Arrangement of ponds for fishes; Ostend, Belgium— The 

 oysters' and fishes' establishments; and different aquaria in 

 Paris, Boulogne, Berlin, and Hanover; as well as the fish 

 markets in Paris, Boulogne, and Basel (Switzerland) in 

 Wurzbufg. 



Carbonier sells fish for aquaria only, he also deals largely 

 in fry of eels, calls in French rnontee, to stock ponds. Brieg 

 breeds salmon for the river Oder. At Boron, near Mulhau- 

 sen, Mr. Bourgiun breeds carp, pike, and sells fry for 

 stock. 



We believe that ours is the only government that has 

 offered impregnated eggs for gratuitous distribution. The 

 immense quantity of salmon ova collected on the McCloud 

 River by Mr. Livingstone Stone and his assistants, as shown 

 by the list printed below, enables it to furnish not only 

 the various State commissions with the means of stocking 

 public waters, but to private individuals who maybe de- 

 sirous of attempting experiments on their own account. 

 On his return to Russia, Mr. Girdwoyn, who is a scientific 

 engineer -and accomplished draughtsman, will bring out a 

 great book on fish culture. It is to be published simulta- 

 neously in Russia, Germany, and France, and an English 

 edition will be anxiously looked for, as it promises to be a 

 practical work, likely to prove of great value to the fish 

 culturists af the world. 



Shipment of California Salmon Eggs. — We are in- 

 debted to Mr. Livingston Stone, of the United States Fish 

 Commission, for the following table showing the results of 

 this season's campaign at the United States salmon breed- 

 ing establishment on the McCloud River, California: — 



Sent to Connecticut 480. 000! Sent to Iowa 300,000 



" Massachusetts..,. £0,000 ,k Colorado 240,000 



Eliode Island.... 200,000| " Utah 16?,000 



" New York 80,000 ~ 



" New Jersey. ... 320. 00U 



" Pennsylvania.... 480.000 



" Maryland SfiO.OOO 



" Virginia 320,000 



«' Michigan 800,000 



" Illinois 80,000' Now hatching at tnis es- ) 



" Wisconsin 40,000| tablshment for Sacia- V2,000,000 



" Minnesota 400,0001 mehio river and tribs. .. J 



Total impregnated eggs taken, 8,170,000. 



There were in bulk over eighty bushels of salmon eggs. 

 It took 150 bushels of moss from Mount Shasta to pack 

 them. When packed they weighed 20,000 pounds or ten 

 tons, and filled 156 boxes two feet square by six inches 

 deep. 



Several millions of salmon eggs are now being hatched 

 out in the waters of the McCloud River for the increase of 

 the supply in the Sacramento. Part of the expense of this 

 latter work is borne by Gov. Stanford and other public 

 spirited citizens of California. Operations in connection 

 with the taking of the eggs of the sea salmon and of the 

 land-locked salmon of Maine have also been commenced, 

 and are progressing successfully under the direction of 

 Charles G. Atkins. 



To Kern and Truckee riv- \ , 



ers for California \ &0U,mu 



New Zealand.... 60,000 



" Canada 80,000 



To N. W. Clarke for the { , nnn r^r. 

 U. S. Fish Commission j >1 > uuu ' uuu 



— At Kugata, Japan, the latest rage is for breeding a kind 

 of goldfish called koi, whereof the body is white and the 

 head only a light, red. A fish a foot long is reported to 

 fetch thirty -five "yen" (about £7 10s.) The reason for this 

 extraordinary fancy is that the rumor has been started that 

 gold can be extracted from the scales, and some people 

 have in consequence turned their fields into fish ponds. 

 _____ -*-♦♦. — -— 



Fish Hatching.— K W. Clark, of Northville, Michigan, 

 publishes a letter in the Detroit Tribune touching priority 

 in methods of fish hatching, in which he says:— 



"In the month of November, 1871, in connection with 

 Mr. George Clark, of Ecorse, I placed a few thousand # of 

 the whitefish ova between two layers of moss, well washed 

 and cleansed from all impurities, and so arranged the keg 

 in which they were placed as to receive a constant dripping 

 of ice water until the following March, when these eggs' 

 were taken from the cold bath in which they had been for 

 about four months, and were placed in the ordinary hatch- 

 ing box, where, after a lapse of about ten days, they neariy 

 all hatched out in good condition. There was then no 

 perceptible difference between these and others that were 

 hatched by lying in running ice water during the same 

 time. 



"Again, in the Fall of 1872 I arranged two lots similarly; 

 with one I used sponge, and distributed the eggs in it in 

 such a way as to furnish moisure, as the water was con- 

 stantly dripping on them, while the other was packed 

 properly in moss. I then covered the whole with fine sifted 

 and washed gravel, which lay in one corner of the hatch- 

 ery, This gravel remained moist all Winter, but with no 

 water dripping on it, and consequently it crusted over with 

 frost, though so much above the eggs, and also so much 

 below them as not to freeze. These eggs lay in this condi- 

 tion until about March 20th, 1873, at which time I removed 

 them to the hatching boxes, and a large proportion of them 

 were also hatched in good condition. Those in the sponge 

 becafme perfectly worthless, in consequence, as I think, of 

 the constantly wet sponge lying too heavily upon them and 

 excluding the air too much. This last experiment of lay- 

 ing the eggs down in gravel which kept them slightly above 

 the freezing pojnt satisfied me that the egsjs ' could be so 

 packed in ice as to retard the process of incubation until 

 such time as they could be transported long distances while 

 in process of hatching. 



