FOREST AND STREAM. 



geen. Many crustaceans, resembling young lobsters have, 

 duwng the present season been caught in the Bay of San 

 Francisco, but it is not determined as yet whether any of 

 them are the young of the Eastern lobsters. 



During the past Winter the commissioners have received 

 through Prof. Baird, 20,000 white fish eggs from Lake 

 Michigan, which were deposited in Tulare Lake, the 

 waters of that lake being of the proper temperature and 

 containing suitable food, the eggs having been hatched at 

 Berkeley on the grounds of the University of California. 

 The cans containing the young fish were carried in a boat 

 some two hundred yards from shore and the fry turned out 

 among the tulles where they could not only find an abun- 

 dance of their natural food, but protection from their 

 enemies. 



Sixty thousand eggs of the Eastern brook trout, which 

 had been purchased at Charlestown, N. H., were also 

 hatched at the same place with a loss of four per cent., and 

 were distributed, 20,000 in the lakes and streams of Mendo- 

 cino, Sonoma, Napa and Yolo counties; 10,000 in the 

 North Fork of the American River, iu Placer county; 10,- 

 000 in Prosser Creek, Nevada county, and 20,000 in Cala- 

 veras Creek, in Alameda and Santa Clara counties, and in 

 other streams emptying in the Bay of San Francisco. 



No shad have been hatched during the past two years, as 

 the U. S. Government had none to spare. A supply is 

 promised for next season, however, and the attempt to 

 introduce this fish into the Pacific will be persevered with. 



"With regard to salmon, the commissioners have thought 

 it to be of so much public importance to increase this valua- 

 ble variety of fish in its native waters, that during the past 

 year they considered it advisable to expend one thousand 

 dollars in the hatching of a million more fish, to be placed 

 in the Sacramento River. They therefore applied one 

 thousand dollars of the small appropriation to this purpose, 

 and the fish have been successfully turned loose. 



The appropriation being about exhausted, it will this 

 year pay for the hatching of but half a million more fish. 

 Ex-G-overnor Stanford has requested the commissioners, 

 however, to cause to be hatched at his expense, during the 

 coming season, one million salmon, to be turned into the 

 Sacramento River, and at his desire some hundred thous- 

 and have been placed in Kern River and Lake Tahoe. 

 There were to have been placed in the waters of the State 

 during the present season two million of salmon, and 

 should the State receive her usual share from the Govern- 

 ment, probably half a million more. Salmon were more 

 plentiful in the Sacramento River; during the season of 

 1875 than ever before since Americans had knowledge of 

 the country. This is attributed to the close season which 

 prohibits the taking of salmon between the 1st August and 

 November 1st, as also to the quantities of young salmon 

 turned Ioosa from the hatching establishments. It is an- 

 ticipated that after three years there will be found more 

 profitable fishing than has hitherto been known. An ap- 

 propriation of from six to ten thousand dollars yearly is 

 asked for instead of the pittance of twenty-five hundred 

 dollars granted. 



Much attention is given to the Sacramento salmon (Sahno 

 quinnat) by scientists and by fish culturists in other coun- 

 tries, for the reason that it comes into rivers to spawn in 

 latitudes much lower and in waters much warmer than 

 any other variety yet known. Large numbers pass up the 

 Ban Joaquia River for the purpose of spawning in July 

 and August, swimming for one hundred and fifty miles 

 through the hottest valley in the State, where the tempera- 

 ture of the air at noon is rarely less than 80° Fahrenheit, 

 and where the average temperature of the river, at the bot- 

 tom, is 79°, and at the surface, 80°. The salmon of the 

 San Joaquin River appear to be of the same variety as 

 those in the Sacramento, but average smaller in size. Their 

 passage to their spawning grounds at this season of the 

 year, at so high a temperature of both air and water, would 

 indicate that they will thrive in all the rivers of the South- 

 ern States, whose waters take their rise in the mountain- 

 ous regions, and, in a few years, without doubt, the San 

 Joaquin salmon will be transplanted to all of those States. 



The weight of salmon caught during the past season in 

 tlie waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers is es- 

 timated at 5,098,780 pounds, in addition to 92,000 pounds 

 of fresh salmon shipped in ice to the New York market. 



One of the most important paragraphs in the Report is 

 that which contains the suggestion that the law protecting 

 the sea lions and seals in and near the Bay of San Fran- 

 cisco, should be repealed. It is claimed that these ceta- 

 ceans have increased a hundred fold during the past two 

 years, and as they weigh from two to five hundred pounds 

 each, their daily consumption of fish can not be less than 

 ten to twenty pounds. As they exist in thousands the 

 quantity of fish they eat is more than the total catch of 

 the fishermen, and materially affects the supply. It is re- 

 commended that the law be repealed and again re-enacted 

 after nine-tenths of them have been destroyed. 



More stringent regulations are suggested with regard to 

 the different modes of catching fish by traps, nets, etc. 

 The Chinese, it is claimed, use in their shrimp catching a 

 n et of a mesh so small that hardly any of the young of the 

 valuable varieties of fish escape. There must be several 

 hundred Chinese fishermen engaged in fishing for shrimp 

 J u the Bay of San Franeisco, for that market. When it is 

 remembered that many of the most valuable varieties of 

 sea fish come into the bay seeking for shrimp as their nat- 

 ural food, it is a question whether unrestrained and unregu- 

 lated fishing for this crustacean will not, in time seriously 

 effect the fisheries of the bay and harbor. 



Under the existing haw relating to trout, Indians are un- 



restrained in their mode of catching them. Taking advan- 

 tage of this, white men, for purpose of gain, employ In- 

 dians to catch trout from the various mountain streams 

 with grab-hooks, baskets, and all the other methods which 

 ingenuity has devised for the trapping and catching of fish, 

 without regard to the season. Legislation should be had 

 to prevent the Indians from taking fish, except in the man- 

 ner to which they were accustomed before the advent of 

 white men. 



Sawdust, and mining deposits have so affected certain 

 streams, such as the American and Feather sivers that no 

 salmon frequent them now, certainly above certain points, 

 where the spawning beds have been destroyed. 



In Canada and other of the British Provinces where 

 there are extensive lumber interests, by provision of law 

 each sawmill is required to have a furnace attached, in 

 which the sawdust as fast as made is consumed. The 

 expense of such a furnace is but trifling, and in those 

 countries the fish is preserved and the law obeyed without 

 objection. A similar law is suggested for this State, and, 

 while great objection is made to it on the part of mill 

 owners, yet, probably, the millmen on the Truckee River 

 and its tributaries have already expended more money in 

 the publication of pamphlets, and in other means to defeat 

 legislation on this subject, than would be sufficient to build 

 furnaces for all the mills on that river. 



The reports of Mr. Livingston Stone, with which the 



commissioners close their pamphlet, have already appeared 



in these columns. 



■ ■♦♦<*■ ■ 



—The grayling experiment, which created such a sensa- 

 tion among the pisciculturists and anglers a year ago, does 

 not, the N. Y. Commissioners think, promise such results 

 as to warrant its continuance. 



t tf ■*♦♦ 



Grayling m Europe. — We have received the following 

 letter through the courtesy of our correspondent in Mu- 

 nich : — 

 To the Eon. Secretary of the Fisherman's Club:— 



Sir— The artificial breeding of grayling {Thymallus viceillifer, Agase.) 

 was successfully carried out in Bavaria by Mr. Kufiter, Royal fishermau, 

 in the year 1854 to 1856, in the garden of the Royal Veterinary School. 

 Mr. Jhis, fisherman in Dachan, has also bred grayling in the year 1860, 

 and continues to do so in the river Amper on his own grounds, which I 

 certify as requested. Db. mkd. Max Gemhinger, 



Custodian of the 7oological Museum, Munich. 



FISH AND SEALS IN CALIFORNIA AND 

 NOTES ON SALMON. 



X 



San Francisco, November 26th, 1875. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



I am happy to be able to inform you from good authority here, that 

 the fish commissioners have petitioned the members of our Legislature 

 to repeal the act or law protecting the very large number of seals which 

 inhabit the Seal Rocks and the vicinity of the Cliff House, on the shores 

 of the Pacific, about seven miles from the heart of the city. The Legis- 

 lature owe this repeal of the law to their constituents and the people, in 

 order to protect our fisheries, especially of our bay, as well as outside of 

 it, in order that fish may be cheaper than they now are in our markets— 

 particularly in the interests^of the poorer classes. E. J. Hooper. 

 +*+. 



TROUT AS VEGETARIANS. 



X Grafton, Vfc., November, 1875. 



Editor Forest and Stream:— 



In your issue of August 26th I noticed a letter from Dr. M. Goldsmitb, 

 one of the Fish Commissioners of Vermont, entitled "Trout as Vegeta- 

 rians." Shortly after that, while on a visit to Rutland, Dr. Goldsmith 

 invited us to visit the ponds. They are now owned by Mr. Franks 

 Hale. There are about a dozen of them, all of small size. They con 

 tained at the time of our visit about 14,000 trout of good size, and al 

 healthy. Mr. Hale informed us that he commenced feeding them with 

 bread in December, 1874, uud since that time he has seldom fed any meat 

 or liver. The bread which he uses is composed principally of Indian 

 meal, to which is added a small proportion of wheat and coarse sugar or 

 molasses. We saw the trout fed on this bread in all of the ponds, and 

 must say that we have never seen fish feed more greedily, scarcely a 

 crumb reaching the bottom. Mr. Hall breeds some trout, but depends 

 mostly for keeping up his stock upon purchases made from men and 

 boys, who catch and bring them to him. When wild trout are received 

 at the ponds they are placed into a receiving pond and remain there un- 

 til they become accustomed to the bread diet, which they at first refuse, 

 but in a few days are ready to adopt it, and thrive upon It. Theyaro 

 then transferred to the other ponds. Dr. Goldsmith, we believe, claims 

 for the bread diet that trout are more healthy than with the meat. A 

 wound on a bread-fed fish will heal soon, when on a fish fed exclusively 

 on animal matter it usually results in death. We have with us a small 

 trout pond where the trout have recently been fed on buckwheat cakes 

 and thrive thereon. 



The food question in trout raising appears to us to be the principal ob- 

 stacle to raising them in any quantity. We have in Vermont many hill 

 farms which have a good supply of water for this purpose; but the own- 

 ers cannot go into the business, owing to the impossibility of procuring 

 suitable food. If trout can be educated to eat a vegetable diet and thrive, 

 this obstacle will be removed. The law protecting trout which was 

 passed in 1868, has been pretty generally observed in this vicinity, and 

 the result is a marked improvement in size a nd quantity of trout taken 

 each year. S. W. G. 



—Frank Cod was recently married to a Miss. Minnie 

 Fish, somewhere in Connecticut. It is said the affair 

 passed off swimmingly. 



Middle Florida.— We beg leave to call the attention of 

 our readers to the leading article in this paper entitled 

 "Middle Florida," prepared from eminent authority. This 

 journal has always made it one of its especial labors to de- 

 velop the resources of Florida and settle up the State, 

 whose products alone might be made to liquidate the pub- 

 lic debt. 



Vanity Fair. — We have received from Messrs. Kimball 

 & Co., of Rochester, some choice specimens of their cele- 

 brated "Vanity Fair" tobacco in neat metal cases holding 

 a pound each; and after most thorough trial do not hesitate 

 to concede to it all the good qualities which its manufac- 

 turers claim for it. It is a most superior article and a great 

 comfort to discriminating smokers. 



[lki8 Demriment is notv under the charge of a competent Naturalist, 

 Indorsed by the Smithsonian Institution, and will henceforth be made a 

 special feature oj. this paper. All communications, notes, queries, re-- 

 marks, and seasonal observations will receive careful attention?} 



i « ^ 



For Forest and Stream. 

 THE LIFE OF WINTER BIRDS. 



BY B. B. TOBEK. 



WHAT the birds do for food and loodging in the 

 Winter, is a question that as often enters the 

 child's mind as that of any of his elders. But the child is 

 easily satisfied, as the old nursery rhyme bears witness. 

 "What will the robin do then, poor thing?" is answered by 

 imputing to red-breast a doze in the lawn to keep himself 

 warm, with his head under his wing; and the child pathe- 

 tically adds, "poor thing. " And with this memory of child- 

 hood are often associated pictures of Robin— for he is not 

 a shy bird when necessity gives him courage — knocking 

 at windows for relief, disarming hostility and getting food 

 by his confidence. 



One would think that the birds that conclude, in their 

 annual migrations southward, to stop in our latitude, 

 would find it somewhat hard work to keep body and soul 

 together. The swarms of butterflies and bugs that flut- 

 tered and buzzed through the summer days have disap- 

 peared. The caterpillars and grubs are safely ensconced 

 in their cocoons, or have finished their crawling lives. 

 With the leaves, the berries which men and summer birds 

 may have overlooked, have nearly all dropped and decayed, 

 and there seems to be a slim chance for the cold-weather 

 birds. But these flutterers on the edge of Winter appear 

 merry enough, nevertheless. The possibility of an empty 

 larder never seems to strike them, nor does 'the cold weather 

 seem to have any terrors for them. Their delicate bodies 

 seem hardly fitted to come in contact with ice and snow 

 and chilling blasts. Sometimes, however, in unusually se- 

 vere weather, when the mercury loses itself away down 

 below zero, the little ones appear to get disheartened. The 

 sparrows that make their homes in large cities often suffer 

 in this way. Many have been seen in New York, flutter- 

 ing almost helplessly in the gutters, so benumbed as to 

 find themselves hardly able to escape from predatory cats 

 or mischievous urchins. Many have been picked up, after 

 cold "spells," frozen to death. 



Nature however looks after these smaller birds kindly— 

 the larger ones are not in question here. With all the buf- 

 feting and froliching of Summer, their coats have become 

 tattered and torn, and in many cases they doff their worn- 

 out summer suits and put on more sober-colored but 

 warmer garments. Indeed many a one of them would not 

 be recognized, in his dark overcoat, as the brightly color- 

 ed bird of Summer. Perhaps one of" the most surprising 

 changes of raiment, is that of the goldfinch. When the 

 apples are harvested and they are reduced to a diet of 

 seeds, then they exchange "their gay uniform for undress 

 suits of Quaker drab,' so that their disappearance in Autumn 

 and reappearance in June is only a change of plumage " 

 The wild birds do not seem to suffer from the cold as much 

 as the half domesticated sparrows. Possibly this is only in 

 accordance with the rule that all animals, as they accept 

 protection, need it. However, that may be, some of the 

 Winter birds seem to revel in snow and ice The snow 

 bunting, aptly called "snow-flake," seems to choose the 

 bleakest, coldest spots for its Winter haunts. 



Next to the matter of feathers— probably before it in the 

 bird's eye— is that of food. Probably at first sight the city 

 sparrows would seem to live luxuriously, feeding every- 

 day, if they choose, upon a bounteous manna of crumbs 

 from charitable hands. Indeed we may readily believe 

 that the birds would not stay here if they did not find 

 plenty to eat. And they can be as dainty in their di<H as 

 the Summer birds. There is not the same evidence of 

 plenty, for Nature, wise provider, has hidden much of it 

 that, her guests may take needed exercise in searching for 

 it. The dreary picture of possible famine fades away be- 

 fore the reality. J 



There are succulent grubs gnawing a path through trees 

 and logs, and many of the birds know how to tap so that 

 a door shall be opened to them, though they are unwel 

 come guests. The two little wood-peckers that stav with 

 us all Winter, though perhaps they do not do as effective 

 work as their larger brethren can, still keep up the cease 

 less warfare against the insect hosts. If they cannot die 

 deep into the trees, and pick big stumps to pieces thevcan 

 peck into the crevices in the bark, or with their strong 

 bills pry off the loose pieces, and find many a dainty mor 

 sel. So with many of the smaller birds— and larger ones 

 too, for that matter. They need not even go to thai trouble' 

 The moss is easily pulled from the rocks and the dry leaves 

 can be turned over and reveal much more than Mother 

 Hubbard's bare larder ever contained. 



Indeed, in the matter of insects alone there is a plentiful 

 store tpr the experienced bird, and they can be found in 

 all their stages of life. Eggs are abundant, soldered in 

 dozens on the naked twigs or on the backs of the dead 

 leaves or under the bark, and the birds probably enioy as 

 much as we do, deftly cracking the shell and mixin/and 

 eatmg the white and the yolk, even without salt or pepper 

 Then if they want a larger morsel, or have not the pat^n^ 

 to open so many eggs, they can look' under the stones or 

 under the bark, and they will find many a drowsy cater 



ee- 



pillar, snugly awaiting the approach of Spring and fr 

 dom. Even more successful would be the search for crvs 

 alids They could hardly tear open the tough cocoons 

 which many insects emerge from, but there are many W 

 toilsome workers of that tribe that lie among the W«t 

 under moss or bark, or only a short distance in the OT rS' 

 that only have thin shells to separate their juicy «S™ 

 from hungry birds. Then many of the perfWt i«t % 

 hybernate. . There is the mourni/g cloak/cL" "ofth 1? ft 

 butterflies in the open woods in the -Sprino- «tuJ « 5w 

 others which hide around in crannies of wa Un Jtl £ f 6W 

 that offers concealment and moderate ^SS^ 



rf^ e -* r?£ e ? T ngS may be da ^ged and colors £ded 

 but their little bodies are soft and tasty. Then las not 



