FOREST AND STREAM. 



293 



TURNER'S "ELCHO" AND "LOO II." 



St. Louis, Mo., December, 18?5. 

 Hditob Forest and Stream: — 



Charles H. Turner, of St. Louis, a young gentleman of wealth and 

 refinement, and an enthusiastic admirer of fine stock, is doing more, 

 perhaps, at present, for improving American dogs than any one person 

 in the country. A few miles west of St. Louis he has built a kennel, 

 perfect in its arrangements and attractive in appearance, and has seven 

 pure bred red Irish setters, imported: two Irish water spaniels, import 

 ed and an imported beagle bitch with a litter of seven pups. He has 

 also imported several pointers and hounds for friends. His last impor- 

 tation, through Mr. Cooper, of Limerick, was a pair of beautifully 

 foroied and feathered red Irish setters— Elcho and Loo II— deep blood 

 red in color, and rangy in style. The following letter came with them, 

 written by Mr. Eobert S. Greenhill te Mr. Cooper, which, with Mr. Tur- 

 ner's permission, is given to the pub !ic. 



November 6th, 1875. 



Dear Sir— I give you particulars of my red Irish setter, Elcho. 

 He is by Charlie out of Nell, both of which were specially purchased 

 for their good pedigree, and sent out to Russia for breeding purposes. 

 They are the property of Mr. Oppenheimer, of St. Petersburg. Charlie 

 was by Mr. Purcell Llewellin's Pat, out of Juno by Grouse, out of Ina, 

 ny Derby, out of Rhue. Nell was by Heather, out of Nance, by Dane, 

 out of Loo; Loo by Bone, out of Quail. The dog and bitch come di- 

 rectly from the strain of both Lord Waterford's and_Marquis of Or- 

 mond's breed, and were originally owned by Captain Irwin. You can 



fet no better blood in Ireland. Elcho was pupped May 1, '74. I trained 

 im myself, and is the best first season dog I ever had. He will drop to 

 raising the hand, and at the word "Tono!" will be steady, and also on shot. 

 I have no fault to find with him, and had I kept him over, I expect as a 

 prize dog he would be heard of to advantage. On looking over the list he . 

 has beaten at thiH last show, you will see that some have taken prizes 

 elsewhere. I can only say that it is the opinion of many that he should 

 have had first prize here. I regret having sold him, and it is only be- 

 cause I have so many dogs coming on that I part with him . His puppies 

 will be very like him in another year. In case you should send him to 

 America, it will probably interest whoever may get him across the At- 

 lantic to learn that he is called after the Elcho Challenge Shield, which 

 cnne this year to Ireland by the last shot which was fired by me at 

 Wimbledon this year. By this victory the American Rifle Team are 

 supposed to have thrashed creation, having beaten Ireland in the rifle 

 match, Ireland then beating England and Scotland. I showed the dog, 

 Elcho, to some of the Americans when they were here; but he was not 

 then for sale, or possibly he would now be in America. I shall be glad 

 to hear how your friend likes him . The bitch you purchased I think is 

 particularly good looking. Puppies out of her by Elcho should be val- 

 uable. I am, yours truly, (Signed) Robt. S. Greenhill. , 



fe # mid Miver 



FISH IN SEASON IN DECEMBER. 



SOUTHERN "WATERS. 



Pompano, Jb'achynotus carohnus. Grouper, Epinephelpus nigritus, 

 Drum (two species.) Family Scice- Trout (black bass,) Centropristls 



rtidCE. air arms. 



Kingfish, Menticirrus nebulosus. Striped Bass or Rockfish, JRoccus 

 Sea Bass, Scicmops ocella tus . lineatus . 



Sheepshead, Archosargus probato- Tailorfish, Pomatcmus saltatrix. 



cephalus. Black bass, Micropterus salmoides; 



Snapper, Lutjanus eaxus. M. nigricans. 



{Under the Mad of "Game and Fish in Season" we can only specify in 

 general terms the several varieties, because the laws of States vary so much 

 that were we to attemvl to particularize we could do no less than publish 

 those entire sections that relate to the kinds of game in question. This 

 would require a great amount of our space. In designating game we are 

 guided by the laws of nature, upon which all legislation is founded, and 

 •our readers would do well to provide themselves with the laws of their re- 

 spsctive States for constant reference. Otherwise, our attempts to assist 

 ithem will only create confusion.] 



Fish in Market. — The slabs this week have presented 

 quite a number of novelties, chief among which may be 

 mentioned an invoice of about 100 Savannah shad, in good 

 order for the season; they sold for $1 each. By the same 

 steamer a few very handsome red snappers came to hand 

 and were sold for 18 cents per pound. The last steamer 

 from Key West brought a number of Sprnish mackerel in 

 capital condition, the largest weighing nine pounds. A 

 marked peculiarity in the largest of these fish was the pres- 

 ence of a lateral stripe of the same color as the spots usu- 

 ally found; they sell for 50 cents per pound. Striped bass, 

 from Mirimichi, are worth 25 cents per pound; smelts, 

 from Maine and Nova Scotia, of unusually fine quality 

 bring 15 cents per pound; bluefish, from Cape Hatteras, 

 12£ cents; salmon, frozen, 50 cents, mackerel, 18 cents 

 each; white perch, 15 cents per pound; frost fish, 8 cents; 

 halibut, 25 cents; haddock, 8 cents; codfish, 10 cents; 

 blackfish, 12 to 15 cents; flounders, 8 cents; sea bass, 20 

 cents; eels, 15 cents; sheepshead, 30 cents; whitefish, 18 

 cents; salmon trout, 20 cents; black bass, 18 cents; pom- 

 pano, $1; green turtle, 20 cents; terrapin, $12 per dozen; 

 lobsters, 10 cents per pound; scollops, $1 per gallon; soft 

 clams, 40 to 60 cents per 100; hard shell crabs, $4 per 100; 

 soft shell crabs, the first of the season, $1 per dozen. 



More Shad.— The smack E. A. Baker, Capt. J. W. 

 Mosier, -which arrived with her catch a few days since, 

 brought in nine fine large shad, taken while bluefishing at 

 sea off Chickacomica wood, twenty miles north of Cape 

 Hatteras. It has been suggested that these shad, which 

 by the bye weighed four and a half pounds each and were 

 without roe, were Northern fish on their way South, but 

 we have before contended that shad do not migrate, but 

 after spawning go out to sea and return in due season to 

 their own river. We believe that the fish in question were 

 probable denizens of the Delaware or Chesapeake, although 

 caught in a very unusual manner. The Baker's catch of 

 bhiefish numbered 4,900. 



—Dr. T. Gaflick, of Cleveland, Ohio, who is well known 

 for the interest he has taken in fish culture, prints a letter 

 in Rod and Gun, in which he attests to having cultivated a 

 speckled trout until it attained a weight of six pounds and 

 three ounces. This.fish gained three-quarters of a pound 

 a year in weight. It was exhibited, with two others, at 

 two of the Ohio State fairs. Dr. Garlick says that many 

 years ago, speckled trout were frequently brought by 

 Indians to Fort Brady, at the Sault Ste. Marie, which 

 weighed orer nine pounds. So, this personal identity of 

 salmo fontinalis of great sizes is being continually sub- 

 stantiated and placed beyond question or doubt. There 

 are giants and pigmies in almost everv separate form of 



PERCEPTION OF FISH. 



— # 



IN a recent number of Chambers' Journal there is an 

 article illustrating intelligence in fishes of various 

 kinds; for instance the carp, which comes for its food at 

 call, and others that distinguish persons. An anecdote is 

 told of a trout which was in the habit of taking red worms 

 from the hand when offered, but which, having been once 

 deceived with a long slender radish very like a worm in 

 shape and color, never could be humbugged again. He 

 intuitively distinguished them apart, and although he 

 ceased to come out for the one, he was prompt enough in 

 coming for the other. 



Now here, we concede, is an argument in favor of those 

 critical anglers who affect a multiplicity of patterns in 

 flies. The most uncompromising of us old fogies, admit 

 that we study seasons, temperatures, conditions of clouds, 

 atmosphere, water, and the liek, in the selection of our flies 

 for the time being; but we have never been willing to al- 

 low that trout can distinguish the real from the unreal with 

 the nice perception that our ladies judge of laces and fur- 

 belows. However, we have to yield a point when we find 

 a trout able to instantly detect a spindling radish from an 

 earth worm at a distance of several feet. Indeed we are 

 so wide open to conviction that we are prepared to believe, 

 on evidence, that a trout can instantly, or at second thought 

 certainly, tell not only the difference between a green drake 

 and July dun, but the difference between a natural hackle 

 and a dyed one. It is obvious that if a trout rushes more 

 than once at the same deception he must be a stupid fel- 

 low, and without discernment. After the second or third 

 rise, we must either change our flies or our casting stand, 

 at least, so far as the particular trout in question is con- 

 cerned. Experience has proved this to every old angler. 

 Sometimes, when striking successfully we secure each 

 fish on its first rise, we find that we can take a 

 dozen from the same pool; if we bungle in our busi- 

 ness, and by missing to hook, give the trout a chance to 

 detect our deception, we may thrash the water in vain, or 

 with only two or three foolish fingerlings to answer our 

 endeavors. Trout No. 1 has undoubtedly communicated 

 his discoveries to his neighbors. 



Well, this is a curious world, and peopled with curious 

 creatures, all having intelligences that we little conceive 

 of; and perhaps the fish that swim have as much acumen 

 in their peculiar sphere as lawyers have in theirs, or as crea- 

 tures that belong to higher orders of creation. Quisn sabef 

 -***- 



— A Hamilton, Ontario, correspondent of the Montreal 

 Herald says that on the morning and evening of Dec. 4th, 

 a peculiar phenomenon occurred in that city, in the shape 

 of millions of young herrings about one and one-half inches 

 in length, coming through the water taps ; in one instance 

 about half a gallon in full came through. 



FISHES AND FISHING OF THE GREAT 

 LAKES. 



FIRST PAPER— THE WTHTEFISH. 



WE commence this week a series of articles relating to 

 this comparatively little known field of investigation, 

 prepared from personal observations of a leading citizen of 

 Michigan who must be considered eminent authority. 

 Little conception can be formed of the trouble of obtain- 

 ing information hereupon, as nothing reliable, positive or 

 negative, can be gathered from the fishermen, and it is 

 only by sifting and combining, that any satisfactory results 

 can be reached. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: — 



After a series of extended trips I find that the principal 

 fishing is done on Lakes Huron and Michigan, as the bold 

 shores of Superior preclude the employment of nets to any 

 great extent. 



The whitefish (Coregonus albu*) is among the best of lake 

 fish, being second only to the Siskowit, and by many pro- 

 nounced superior to the great trout. The spawning begins 

 in November, terminating in December, and is indicated 

 by the fish leaving deep water and appearing in immense 

 numbers on rocky shoals. Formerly they frequented the 

 streams for this purpose, but, at the present time, there are 

 but few streams emptying into the great lakes that are 

 free from saw mills and their attendant dust, which are 

 offensive to these fish. At the first day's netting on the 

 spawning beds the catch is wholly males, apparently well 

 stocked with milt; on the second, a few females appear, 

 plump with spawn. The proportion of females increases 

 day by day, until after a week or ten days, when there are 

 two or three and often four times as many females as 

 males, after which they gradually disappear, until the 

 latter preponderate, as they are the last as well as first upon 

 the beds. The best opinion seems to be that the males 

 precede the females only to prepare the ground ; especially 

 as they at that time assume an extraordinary roughness of 

 scales, and employ themselves constantly in scraping up 

 gravel, on which the spawn is subsequently deposited. 

 Some, however, believe that the mere inclination to milt 

 causes them to seek the proper position without reference 

 to the presence or absence of the females; others still are 

 of the opinion that they precede only to wait for the 

 females, and do not commence milting until spawning 

 begins. This latter opinion is undoubtedly the true one, 

 fo? Mr. Milner has established the fact, that the act of 

 spawning in the female and milting in the male, is carried 

 on at the same time, and with a slight, though decided 

 orgasm. The males have been accused of lingering for 

 the purpose of feasting on the spawn, but this is contrary 

 to nature and undoubtedly a slander; however, this is a 

 mooted question. Seth Green says "as soon as the eggs 

 are thus spread broadcast, all the fish in the neighborhood 

 start for them and eat up all they can find, while the 

 parents themselves are not backward about taking their 

 fair proportion." I think it more than likely that Mr. 

 Green is in error. Mr. Milner has had the best of opportu- 



would supply spawn enough to stock the ocean, but from 

 the fact that but a very small part escape the many enemies 

 that feed upon the spawn and the small fry, comparatively 

 few become even small sized fish. 



nities for observing, and spent no little time at the ponds 

 of Mr. Clark near Detroit. He gives a succinct, but 

 thorough description of the act of spawning, showing him 

 to have been an extremely careful observer. In no case 

 does he mention this habit; he says, however, that "a few 

 fish ova are frequently found in the stomach of the white- 

 fish," but he don't say whitefish ova. If such had been the 

 case, he would undoubtedly have mentioned it, and his ac- 

 count leads me to believe that he observed nothing of the 

 kind. The most careful of observers among old fishermen 

 assure me that the males who linger on the beds are em- 

 ployed in covering the spawn. 



Whitefish of Lake Erie ascend the Detroit River and 

 pass through the lake into the Ri\ r er St. Clair for the pur- 

 pose of spawning, but seldom, if ever, go higher than 

 Mooretown— eight miles from the outlet of Lake Huron. 

 Again, Lake Huron fish ascend the St. Marie River for the 

 same purpose; but it is a well established fact that none 

 descend these rivers from the w r aters above for a like pur- 

 pose. Lake Huron whitefish rarely enter the River St. 

 Clair, except after a heavy and continued northeast storm, 

 then they are driven into the river in large schools. 



The average whitefish is of two or three pounds weight; 

 a large one six or seven; rare specimens are caught, how- 

 ever, of much greater weight, sometimes turning the 

 scales at twenty pounds. Those of Lake Superior and the 

 Straits are larger, fatter and finer in flavor than those of 

 the lower lakes. In the rapids of the Sault Ste. Marie 

 they are taken in large quantities by theChippeway Indians 

 in dip nets and are of very superior flavor. The fish of 

 Lake Huron and Upper Lake Michigan are very fair, but 

 those of Lake Erie are decidedly inferior, which is proba- 

 bly due to the difference in temperature of these waters. 

 Few travelers ever taste whitefish in perfection except 

 they have visited the northern resorts. As eaten upon the 

 hotel tables of Buffalo, Chicago, and even Detroit, it is 

 comparatively a tasteless fish; as a meal for an epicure it 

 must be had fresh from the icy waters at the Straits or of 

 Superior, and cooked as soon as may be after it is caught. 

 Then, to our thinking, the whitefish is one of the most 

 toothsome fishes that swim, superior even to the salmon or 

 brook trout. 



Formerly the capture of whitefish was conducted by 

 means of seines, but the wholesale destruction on the 

 spawning beds has caused rill and pound net to supersede 

 them. They do not take the hook readily. The food of 

 this fish was long a matter of conjecture, but is now 

 believed to consist mainly of the minnte crustaceans and 

 mollusks that inhabit these lakes. This is rendered proba- 

 ble from the fact that the mouth is constructed for nib- 

 bling along the bottom, being directed nearly downward. 

 The frequent failure to find food in the stomach of the 

 whitefish, is doubtless due to their capture in pound nets, 

 where they would remain sufficiently long to digest the 

 contents, but those caught by gilling have generally food 

 partially digested. It is asserted that whitefish are migra- 

 tory; how true this is I do not know, except it be for 

 spawning purposes; they do, however, seek the deeper and 

 cooler waters as Summer advances. The presence of large 

 fishes in numbers at certain localities, of a size never taken 

 anywhere else, would suggest a local habit, with n@ dis- 

 position for long voyages. Archer. 



\)( —Our whilom correspondent, *G. M. Fairchild, sends 

 this note from his memoranda: — 



"Last Summer a friend and self were fishing in the 

 Jacque Cartier, when the following occurred: My friend, 

 who was grubbing it with a worm on the bottom, felt a 

 tug on his line; he struck, and a magnificent trout broke 

 the surface of the water a second afterwards, apparently 

 well hooked. My friend played it until he thought it safe 

 to bring his fish alongside the boat for me to land it. I 

 took the line, but the moment the full weight of the 'fish 

 came I felt something give way, and I landed, not the 

 trout, but a two-inch gudgeon as lively as a cricket. The 

 gudgeon had gorged the worm and hook, and a second 

 afterwarls the trout came along and bolted the gudgeon. 

 The hook being buried in the gudgeon there was nothing 

 to hold the trout." & 



• Doings op the Fishing Fleet.— There have been 17 

 arrivals of the fleet the past week, 13 from the Banks and 

 4 from Georges. The receipts are 300,000 pounds Bank 

 codfish, 40,000 pounds Georges codfish, 62,000 pounds 

 Bank halibut and 40,000 pounds Georges halibut. Bank 

 halibut are in good demand, and Georges very* scarce 

 sales yesterday at 16 and 11 cents per pound for white and 

 gray. The shore fleet have had a good week of weather 

 consequently the market has been a little glutted, which 

 has brought fresh cod and haddock down to $2 per hundred 

 weight, against $4 and $4.50 paid last week. The whaling 

 business of New Bedford has been successful this year 

 They ship two tons of smelts some days by railroad from 

 Waldoboro, Me.— Gape Ann Advertiser, Dec. 10th. 



—Mr. B. P. Ware, one of the Executive Committee of 

 the Massachusetts Angler's Association, reported at its 

 recent meeting that the fisheries on the east coast of 

 Massachusetts employ 138 vessels, 5 of which are steamers 

 The following table shows where they hail from the 

 number of men, and the number of hooks employed in 

 trawl fishing: — 



P° rt - Vessels. Men. Hooks 



Boston .- 40 400 400 000 



Gloucester 40 400 800,000 



Gloucester 5* 50 150 000 



Swampscott .....15 150 lfdmt 



Marblehead and Beverly......... 8 80 80 000 



SSi7aS n :.'v:::::--:::-:::::i Sjj ™;Z 

 .steJe"- ' 38 ^ **fa 



The Boston and Gloucester fleet are mostly for bay fish- 

 ing. It will be seen that the vessels average about ten men 

 each, and each man cares for from 1,000 to 3,000 hooks 

 the greatest number being handled by the steamers' 

 owing to their greater abilty and quickness of moving 

 about. The hooks are attached to lines five feet anart a« 



thp line malrirxr in tlm afmraMtn 1A AKA Ann .-- , " } . . Un 



that each vessel on an average takes 400 to 600 small un 

 merchantable codfish daily that are substantially of no" 

 value, the fleet destroying probably from 80.000 to 100 000 

 daily. Doubtless a comparatively small number of fish 



