FOREST AND STREAM 



361 



Buzzard's Bays; in the Archipelago around Newport; at 

 Thimble Islands, on the Sound; on the sheltered waters 

 of the Great South Bay of Long Island; from the Cape of 

 Delaware to Key West, through all the intricacies of the 

 sounds, islands, and inside passages; on the St. John River 

 in Florida; among the islands of Lake Erie; on the back 

 lakes of Canada; and among the Thousand Islands of the 

 St. Lawrence, in fact, wherever calms, baffling winds, and 

 sudden squalls are frequent, these craft are found in greater 

 or less number, and for such waters are they eminently 

 adapted. They h&ve every possible advantage over sailing 

 craft that have to depend upon capricious weather. Very 

 charming indeed is a voyage in one of these open steam 

 launches with their gay streamers and awnings, and jolly 

 crowds of passengers. There is no doubt that they will 

 become more and more popular year by year, and more 

 and more used as times improve and new resorts become 



more frequented. 



.*«.»_ 



The Indians at St. Augustine, Florida.— The wild 

 Indians now imprisoned at the old Spanish fort at St. 

 Augustine constitute a first-class card of attraction to visit- 

 ors, and almost daily furnish some new sensation for the 

 sight-seers and pleasure seekers. War dances and scalp 

 dances are given con amove for the delectation of spec- 

 tators; many of the Indians go hunting with the sports- 

 men; and all employ themselves in the manufacture of 

 trinkets which they sell for a little money. More than 

 this, they sometimes build bonfires and illuminate the old 

 fort; sometimes they are called to take a bath in the briny 

 ocean which they never saw until recently, or to witness a 

 yacht race, or balloon ascension, or to go shark-fishing. 

 Taken all together, the Indians and their visitors harmon- 

 ize quite comfortably, and contribute to each others' en- 

 joyment. Last week they had a genuine buffalo hunt — 

 not a sham affair like that a year ago at Barnum's Hip- 

 podrome, but a real blood and bones prairie slaughter. 

 The following article from the St. Augustine Press will 

 show how these amusements are conducted; and, by the 

 bye, those who have friends spending the winter in Florida, 

 can keep constantly posted with respect to what is going 

 on down there by subscribing to the Press and having it 

 sent to them : — 



"The fort was thrown open, when a general stampede 

 commenced, apparently to see who could gain the best 

 seat from which to view the mounted Indians pursuing the 

 bull, (which, by the way, was not quite as ferocious and 

 wild as was represented to be by the suppliers of the 

 animal.) 



"A little before three the bull was chased to the Indians, 

 who skirted the common, north of the fort, and the hunt 

 commenced. Owing to the docility of the beast, the hunt 

 was of short duration, when 'White Horse,' a Kiowa chief, 

 let depart from his bended bow an arrow that pierced far 

 into the side of the bull, causing its death in a few mo- 

 ments. The shot had been well aimed, and a vital spot 

 was hit. The arrow, with the exception of the feathers, 

 was buried into the bull, and also withdrawn by 'White 

 Horse,' before the 'buffalo' succumbed. It was the only 

 arrow shot, therefore the Kiowa chief claimed all honors. 

 Four Indian butchers were on hand, the beef skinned, 

 quartered, and carried within the fort, where fires were 

 being lighted for the cooking of the meat, for a feast for 

 the Indians, who, decked with plumes and adorned with 

 paint, began to assemble in the court yard of the fort. 

 The scene was a novel one, the Indians in full costume 

 dancing, whilst waiting for the beef to cook. The crowd 

 of spectators within the fort now increased, and when the 

 Indians sat down to their frugal meal, the assemblage was 

 estimated at between twelve and fifteen hundred. The 

 dinner ceremonies were for a time interesting, when the 

 crowd began to depart, and sundown found them entirely 

 gone, and the Indians still struggling with 'stewed buffalo.' 



"Again, as early as seven o'clock in the evening, the in- 

 flux to the fort was resumed, and at eight the gathering to 

 witness the war dance was equal to that of the afternoon. 

 Three large bright fires were burning, around which were 

 Indians wildly dancing. The doings of the evening con- 

 sisted of a series of war dances, and were kept up with 

 good spirit until after ten, at which time the happy Indians 

 retired. 



"The day passed off pleasantly, and alike did the en- 

 tertainments, which were under the supervision of an ap- 

 pointed committee, who did all in their power to afford 

 amusement, and considering the disadvantages under 

 which they labored, the days' sport was a success." 



GAME PROTECTION. 



Fish and Fishing at the Centennial. — In the able 

 hands of the well-known house of Bradford & Anthony, 

 of Boston, the exhibition of fishing tackle of American 

 manufacture at the Centennial appears likely to be one of 

 great interest and excellence. It having been understood 

 in some quarters that Forest and Stream were to exercise 

 jurisdiction over this department, we would say that our 

 efforts will be confined to the collection of sportsmen's out- 

 fits more particularly, including clothing, guns, pistols, 

 and all the appliances of shooting, boats, etc. We shall 

 be happy, however, to receive and forward to Messrs. Brad- 

 ford & Anthony anything in the shape of fishing tackle 

 that may be sent to us. 



— . •**♦» — — — — 



An Elegant Prize. — The enp presented by this paper 

 to the National Poultry Association of Chicago, as the 

 leading prize at their great Bench Show of Dogs, to be held 

 this month, is now on exhibition in the window of the Meri- 

 denBrittaniaCo., the manufacturers, No. 550 Broadway. 

 We would advise all those who love the dog, or admire the 

 beautiful in art, to see it. A cut and description will ap- 

 pear next week. 



. . . . ^>^ .... 



^-Although this is said to be the warmest weather at 

 this season ever before known, the record nevertheless 

 shows that last January, 1875, was just as warm at this 

 date, and even warmer, 



—The January meeting of the New York Association 

 for the Protection of Game was held last Monday night at 

 the residence of Clinton Gilbert, Esq., No. 20 West Tenth 

 street, Royal Phelps, President, in the chair. Among the 

 communications read were one from A. W. Lawrence, 

 game constable at Moose River, New York, recording the 

 successful prosecution of offenders, four-fifths of those ar- 

 rested having been convicted and fined . Mr. John Page, 

 of St. Paul, Minn., complained of the difliculties of en- 

 forcing the game laws in Minnesota, popular opinion there 

 being opposed to it. To this communication Mr. Phelps 

 replied that the New York association had experienced 

 similar opposition some ten or fifteen years ago, but by its 

 persistent labors had convinced the masses that the protec- 

 tion of game was a much greater benefit to them than to the 

 sportsman, and were continually convincing restaurant and 

 hotel keepers of the advantages arising from properly en- 

 forced game laws, thereby greatly diminishing the labors 

 of the thirty protective associations in the State. He 

 added, that in order to protect the game of the West the 

 citizens should form associations and name constables, as 

 the New York associations did. "It is not an uncom- 

 mon thing," he said, "to see on our wharves during the 

 closed season at one time a hundred barrels of prairie 

 chickens and grouse en route for England, shipped at some 

 Western city, and fully addressed to their destination.*' 



On motion of Col. Wagstaff, the Committee on Amend- 

 ing the Game Laws was authorized to substitute the word 

 "daylight" for "sunrise" in section 2 of the amended game 

 laws, relating to the shooting of ducks between sunset and 

 sunrise. 



The Secretary announced that he had sent copies of the 

 proposed amendments to the State association, and thirty- 

 six other associations for the protection of game and fish, 

 in order that their members might use their influence in 

 having them passed by the Legislature. He also announced 

 that the association had obtained judgment for $125 from 

 a restaurant keeper named John A. Currier for violating 

 the game laws. The Treasurer's report for the year 1874 

 showed a cash balance of $74.34, carried over to the pre- 

 sent year, after meeting all expenses, and a fund to their 

 credit of $4,000, invested in United States securities. 



An election of officers for the ensuing year was then 

 hied, and the following gentlemen were unanimously re- 

 elected: President, Royal Phelps; Vice-President, Robert 

 B. Roosevelt; Secretary and Treasurer, Thomas N. Cuth- 

 bert; Counsel, Charles E. Whitehead; Executive Com- 

 mittee, B. L. Swan, Jr., Clinton Gilbert, and Francis H. 

 Palmer. The meeting then adjourned, and the members 

 were entertained by Mr. Gilbert. 



—A correspondent of the Richmond Whig writes to that 

 paper, saying that for twenty years he has protected and 

 multiplied the game birds on his farm by regularly catch- 

 ing all the hawks that visited it. His manner of doing 

 this he describes as follows: "I set steel traps of the 

 mink and otter size, baited with red birds, blue birds, larks, 

 or any bird of bright and conspicuous plumage, at points 

 frequented by the hawks. If there be no stock in the 

 field, I prefer to set the traps on the ground, fastened by a 

 chain or line to a small stake. If stock run at large in the 

 field, adjust the trap on the top of a stake out of their 

 reach. The best points for the location of the traps are 

 along and at the intervention of ditches, and near trees 

 upon which the hawks are in the habit of nesting. The 

 first year I commenced using these traps I caught thirty- 

 three hawks, many being of the largest size. I began with 

 three traps, and now have eight. I have never caught less 

 than twelve or fifteen hawks a winter, when I keep the 

 traps baited. Last winter I caught twenty-six. Besides 

 hawks, I also catch owls, minks, weasels, 'coons, 'possums, 

 and cats." Although he is an ardent sportsman, and shoots 

 constantly, birds are more numerous on hi» farm than any- 

 where else in the vicinity. Unquestionably hawks are terribly 

 destructive to birds and their young, and so. also are foxes, 

 probably destroying dozens where the sportsman shoots 

 one, and, if they could be kept down, a rapid increase in 

 the quantity of game would be the result. Why do not 

 some of the sportsmen's associations turn their attention to 

 this matter? A small reward offered for each hawk would 

 be an incentive to the boys to trap them, and the results 

 would undoubtedly soon be apparent. 



— Although we have repeatedly called attention to the 

 wholesale slaughler of game in various localities, and its 

 shipment thence to available markets, few persons can 

 realize the extent of the business; and nothing will show 

 it so readily as a few solid facts which we herewith print. 

 They were obtained from the Superintendent of the East- 

 ern Express Company, operating in New England and the 

 Canadian provinces. A transcript of the way bills over 

 two routes only show that over fourteen tons of venison 

 and ruffed grouse have been shipped out of the State of 

 Maine during the past season. Of this weight 17,000 

 pounds were grouse. These figures do not cover the 

 amount shipped by this Company from other routes; game 

 sent by other express companies, or as freight; nor, indeed, 

 all that was sent over these two routes; but only what was 

 known to be grouse. Many boxes containing grouse did 

 not have their contents stated. The data, however, would 

 indicate that forty tons would be a low figure of the amount 

 shipped out of the State by market shooters this fall . 



— By some strange ignorance or oversight, such as too 

 frequently attends legislative tinkering with the game laws, 

 the recent Canadian Order-in-Council left the month of 



January open for catching speckled trout in Ontario . A 

 more unfortunate privilege could not be granted for the 

 destruction of trout, as one can cut a hole through the ice 

 of any mill-dam or deep water and clear that pond or 

 stream in a few days of all the trout in it. It is a well- 

 known fact that trout in the winter inhabit the deep water, 

 consequently, where holes are cut they gather there in 

 shoals and are easily fished out. 



We hope the Government will at once cancel that order 

 for the Province of Ontario, making the close season from 

 15th September till 1st of April. 



f —A meeting of the subscribers of the fund for stocking 

 the Bu9hkill with trout, and enforcing the laws of the 

 State of Pennsylvania against illegal fishing, was held at 

 the office of Messrs. Reeder & Reeder, Easton, on Wednes- 

 day evening, December 30th inst., when it was resolved 

 "that an association be formed to be designated as the 

 Bushkili Angling Association, the membership to be com- 

 posed of those subscribers to the fund that may sign the 

 Constitution, property owners along the Bushkili, and 

 such other persons as may be admitted under the provi- 

 sions of the constitution. Mr. Howard J. Reeder was 

 elected President; John P. Hess, Secretary; Samuel Ar- 

 nold, Treasurer, and Nelson P. Cornel, Robert Arnold, 

 Harlem P. Hess, Charles Bercaw, and Benjamin Fleming 

 as the Executive Committee. Mr. Reeder is well known 

 as one of the Fish Commissioners of Pennsylvania. 



The Turf Field and Farm of recent date contains a sug- 

 gestion which is worth considering by those who are oper- 

 ating for an approved and improved law regulating close 

 seasons for game and fish. It says: — 



"The French system for the protection of game, as we 

 understand it; is as follows: France, containing 204,091 

 square miles, is divided into 87 Departments, just as the 

 State of New York, wrih its area of 47,000 square miles, is 

 divided into 60 counties. As the laws are administered in 

 the American States by elective governers, so in the French 

 Departments the executive power is confided to the Pre- 

 fects, with this difference, however: the latter are appoint- 

 ed by the central power at Paris. These Prefects have each 

 an advisory council, called the 'consed general,' composed 

 of a certain number of the more prominent citizens of their 

 respective Departments. These councils decide upon the 

 opening and closing of the shooting season each year, and 

 this decision is promulgated by a proclamation from the 

 Prefect. The wisdom of this system is apparent, and con- 

 sists in the fact that the exigencies of climate, the interests 

 of the farmers, and the protection of game, are all made to 

 harmonize. Thus, if the harvests are backward, or the 

 birds immature, as is so often the case in this country, the 

 opening of the shooting may be postponed until all inter- 

 ests are conciliated, or, if it be necessary for the protection 

 of game in any particular district, the close season may be 

 maintained for a year or more, as the Council may deem 

 expedient. In this way the vicissitudes of climate and oth- 

 er contingencies may be provided for as they arise, and 

 the game more thorouhly protected than it possibly can 

 be under any system yet devised for this country. 



— The question of the rights of ownership in fish and 

 game found on one's premises is likely to engage discussion 

 to the end of time. The following arguments in favor of 

 the land owner are advanced by the Vermont Watchman 

 and Journal: — 



"If it was the common law that hens, chickens, turkeys, 

 and geese belonged to nobody; that anybody might kill 

 and eat them at pleasure, it would not be long before the 

 race of domestic fowls would become extinct. Nobody 

 would dare to leave an egg in a nest, lest some one else 

 should get it ; or leave a half-ripe chicken on the roost, 

 lest some one else should pick it. Every man would slay 

 all he could lay his hands on. Or if it was the common 

 law that sheep and lambs belonged to nobody, it would be 

 impossible to preserve them from utter destruction. Each 

 man, when he saw a sheep or lamb, would take and se- 

 quester it for his own use, lest his neighbor should get the 

 start of him. 



"There is no common or statute law protecting fish and 

 game, therefore our fish and game are rapidly disappearing; 

 in fact, have almost entirely been exterminated. What 

 belongs to everybody belongs to nobody, hence our streams 

 and forests, which might produce enough fish and game to 

 pay all our taxes, and leave us a handsome sum besides, 

 are as barren and unproductive as a stagnant pool, or the 

 Desert of Siberia, 



"What we need is a law, not simply protecting game and 

 fish— for such a law is as useless as any sumptuary statute 

 — but one making game and fish the property of the own- 

 ers of the land on which they are found, and the streams 

 through whose territory they run. Then, every man who 

 owned a forest or stream, would protect his property in 

 game and fish as much as he would protect his property in 

 poultry and sheep. A law protecting fish and game "can 

 provide no adequate means to secure the protection. A 

 law making the fish and game of the State the property of 

 those upon whose estates they are found, would make each 

 land holder in the State an interested keeper and guardian 

 of his property. 



"The result of such laws would be, first, the enrichment 

 of the people of the State. Every farm would become a 

 breeding ground for the most delicate and luxurious ar- 

 ticles of food for the table. In every stream and forest 

 would be raised, without cost to the proprietor, food 

 enough to equal all the product of the poultry-yard and 

 sheepfold. The annual increase of fish and game, under 

 favorable circumstances is greater than the annual in- 

 crease of domestie animals. The woods and streams 

 furnish abundant supplies of costless food to their deni- 

 zens. The proprietor, if he did not wish to secure his 

 own game, could lease the privilege of shooting or fishing 

 as is done in other countries, for a sum that would exceed 

 his interest and taxes, and would furnish in many cases a 

 handsome revenue. It would turn what is now of no 

 profit, especially if he should cultivate his forest and 

 streams, into a source of large and increasing profit. 



"And the second result of such laws would be to the 

 advantage of the sportsman. Now, sport is a rapidly van- 

 ishing thing. A gun is of no use any more, except to 

 shoot at a target. Our fishing-rods are bemsv 

 the chimney-piece as memorials of an anck ' ' 



