104 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



^rS 



£S 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Dj^oted to Field and Aquatic Sports, Ppaotioal Natural Bistort, 

 jushgulttjrk, the protection op g ame, preservation of forests, 

 a*jd the Inculcation in Men and Women op a healthy interest 

 in Out-boor Recreation and Study : 



PUBLISHED BY 



4i*r$%t mi ^trmn{ jgnhlishittQ $>om$m{% t 



17 CHATHAM STREET, (CITY HALL SQUARE) NEW YORK, 



[Post Oppioe Box 3832.] 



♦ 



Terms, Four Dollars a. Year, Strictly In Advance. 



♦ 



Twenty-five per cent, off for Clubs of Three or more. 



Advertising Races. 



Inside pages, nonpariel type, 20 cents per line: outside page, 30 cents. 

 Special rates fo three, six, and twelve months. Notices in editorial 

 columns, 50 cent per line. 



NEW YOKL, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1876. 



To Correspondents. 



All communications whatever, whether relating to easiness or literary 

 Correspondence, must be addressed to The Forest and Stream Pub- 

 lishing Company. Personal or private letters of course excepted. 



All communications intended for publication must be accompanied with 

 real name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published if 

 objection be made. No anonymous contributions will be regarded. 



Articles relating to any topic within the scope of this paper are solicited. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brie+ 

 notes of their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of this papei 

 to become a medium of useful and reliable 'information between gentle- 

 men sportsmen from one end of the country to the other ; and they will 

 find our columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements. 



The Publishers of Forest and Stream aim to merit and secure the 

 patronage and countenance of that portion of the community whose re- 

 fined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 

 is beautiful in Nature, It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 

 the legitimate sports of land and water to those base uses which always 

 tend to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise- 

 ment or business notice of an immoral character will be received on any 

 terms ; and nothing will be admitted to any department of the paper that 

 may not be read with propriety in the home circle. 



We cannot be responsible for the dereliction of the mail service, if 

 money remitted to us is lost. 



Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, If possible. 

 CHARLES HALLOCK, 



Editor and Business Manager. 



CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR THE COM- 

 ING WEEK. 



Thursday, September 21st.— Racing: Louisville, Ky. Trotting: Am- 

 bler Park, Pa.; Kan«a« City, Mo.; Burlington, Iowa. Return Match 

 with Irish Team a Crfedmcor. Fall Regatta Brooklyn Yacht Club; 

 Regatta Queens County Yacht Club. Base Ball: Louisville vs. Allegha- 

 nv -t Pittsburgh, Pa.. Cincinnati vs. Erie, at Eri«. Pa. ; Our Boys vs. 

 Enterprise, at Brooklyn; Theatre Comique vs. Eagle Theatre, at Jersey 

 City; Greenville vs. Oichard, at Greenville, N. J. 



Friday, September 22d.— Racing and Trotting, as above. Base Ball: 

 Greenville vs. Our Boys, at Greenville; Resolute vs. Mutual (prof.), at 

 Elizabeth; Louisville vs. Standard, at Wheeling, Va. 



Saturday, September 23d.— Racing: Louisville, Ky. Trotting: Kan- 

 Bas City, Mo.; Ambler Park, Pa. Rifle: Turf, Field and Farm Badge, 

 Creeduioor. Base Ball: Louisville vs. Standard, at Wheeling, Va ; 

 Our Boys vs. Witoka, at Brooklyn; Alaska vs. Resolute of Elizabeth, at, 

 Jersey City; Cincinnati vs. Springfield, at Springfield, Ohio; Chelsea 

 vs. Staten Island, at Brooklyn; Nameless vs. Osceola, at Brooklyn. 



Monday, September 25th.— Racing. Louisville, Ky. Base Ball: Stam- 

 ford -vs. ; Confidence of New Rochelle, at Stamford, Conn. 



Tuesday, September 26th.— Trotting: Rockland, Me. ; Breeders' Cen 

 tennial Stakes. Suffolk Park, PhiladelDbia; Dayton, Ohio. 



Wednesday, September 27th.— Trotting as above. 



jjgf The subscription price of Forest aki> Sseeak Las 

 been reduced to $4. Twenty-five per cent, off for Clubs 

 of Three or more. 



^.»» . . 



— The railroad route between New York and Philadel- 

 phia, composed of sections of the Jersey Central, Bound 

 Brook, and Delaware and Northern Pennsylvania Railroads, 

 and called the "Bound Brook route," has been found of 

 great convenience to visitors to the Centennial Exhibition. 

 The road has been efficiently managed, and is both speedy 

 and pleasant. The trains run into the depot at the Exhi- 



tion. 



, — -+*«. — . 



— A correspondent of the Country Gentleman asserts that 



if the law protecting robins and other insectivorous birds 



is not repealed, or the robin excepted from its provision, 



the culture of imall plants in Central New York will have 



to be abandoned. He urges that a bounty be offered on 



robins. 



: -***. 



— Parties haWrg shooting privileges to lease with board 



for a gentleman, will do well to confer with "Advertiser," 



who presents h 3 wants in the proper column. 

 ^ . »» ■- - -» 



Rowing in Germany. — Ems, the celebrated German 

 watering-place, was recently the scene of the second re- 

 gatta .ever held in the empire. Seven crews, representing 

 Frankfort, Rotterdam and other large cities contested for 

 valuable prizes, the Emperor William being present. 

 Bowing is looking up in Germany. 



THE PROTECTION OF WILD PIGEONS. 



WE fear that the members of sportsman's clubs, or- 

 ganized ostensibly for the protection of birds 

 generally, are not sufficiently alive to the fact that at the 

 present rate of mortality before the trap the wild pigeon, 

 the bird of the match and the tournament, stands in 

 danger of speedy extermination. A correspondent of 

 a contemporary makes a strong appeal for the wild 

 pigeon, and contrasts their appearance in the coops with 

 the tops of their heads raw and bleeding, their gasping for 

 breath, plumage soiled and filthy, with their wild beauty 

 when at liberty, and asks the magnanimous sportsman 

 when next he steps to the score to pause before he cries 

 "pull" and think of the dirty, shrinking little innocent in 

 the trap before him, torn by the net of the fowler from its 

 nest of squabs, cooped up in a narrow space, and after 

 suffering all the horrors of the Black Hole of Calcutta to 

 die an ignominious death. Putting on one side a senti- 

 mental view of the case, but which after all is a strong 

 one, the interests of trap shooting itself demands that 

 more protection should be awarded to the wild pigeon 

 during its nesting period. 



The number of these birds netted for this purpose and 

 for the market during the past season is almost incalculable 

 and could only be reckoned by millions. We are not 

 aware that any State organization has taken any steps 

 towards preventing this wholesale slaughter with the ex- 

 ception of. the State Sportsman's Association of Michigan, 

 of which Dr. Holmes, of Grand Rapids, is President. A 

 very large proportion of the birds netted during the past 

 season were taken in Northern Michigan, where it seems 

 as though they had made a last stand befor^ fleeing to 

 those far northern wilds across the lakes, where it will be 

 impossible to follow them. The action of the body just 

 mentioned is most commendable, and we will take the op- 

 portunity to here mention another move on the part of 

 the Michigan association which is equally worthy of imita- 

 tion. We allude to the sending of a printed circular to 

 each sportsman in the State with blank spaces to be filled 

 in with his views as to the close seasons, etc., for game of 

 every description. In this way a general verdict can be 

 arrived at and laws framed accordingly. 



The wild pigeon is a bird of the wilderness; it shuns 

 civilization, and the progress of settlement will slowly 

 deplete its numbers without the help of the netters. It is 

 a migratory bird, winging its way spring and fall between 

 the Northern States and the Southern, and its habit is to 

 breed in vast colonies in the woods, many nests being 

 placed upon the same tree, and containing only one, or at 

 most two, eggs. It used to breed everywhere through the 

 forests north of central Ohio from the Mississippi to New 

 Hampshire, but long ago was driven west of the Hudson 

 river, and northward into Wisconsin, Michigan and Canada, 

 and now finds a chance to rear its young only among the 

 mountainous districts of those distant regions. When, as 

 sometimes happens (less frequently now than formerly), a 

 "roost" is found nearer at hand, the netters go in from all 

 sides and capture the birds on their nests, taking thousands 

 away, destroying the , eggs and collecting the squabs for 

 food. When one colony is thus exhausted, and broken up 

 forever, the telegraph is called into requisition to apprise 

 the netters of other localities where the pigeons are to be 

 found, and, as the writer in the Field says (with an astonish- 

 ingly mixed figure) "on the wings of steam the sharks are 

 at the roost ready for wholesale destruction." 



It is replied: "Oh, there are millions of them — they 

 blacken the sky for days together as they fly over, and the 

 sound of their wings in the woods at evening as they settle 

 is like the roaring of a great wind ; the taking of a few 

 thousands doesn't matter." Unfortunately it does matter. 

 If their numbers are great now in the restricted area of 

 the country which they visit, how much greater were they, 

 and extended over how much greater a space a century or 

 a half century ago? Who does not remember the de- 

 scription in Cooper's "Pioneers," laid in our own State, 

 of the immense flight of pigeons and the outurning of 

 the colonists with every conceivable weapon for their de- 

 struction. A wild pigeon is a very uncommon sight now 

 in Massachusetts, yet in 1750 we are told that their nests 

 touched on the limbs, and connected the trees in the woods 

 along the Vermont border for many miles together. There 

 were unaccountable multitudes, and at the hatching season 

 the settlers would "cut down trees and gather a horse load in 

 a few minutes. Even then they were much diminished by 

 the use of the net, and the result has been almost their ex- 

 tirpation within a century. Vast hordes used to breed in 

 Ohio, where now they are never seen except upon migra- 

 tions, and the few roosting places lately occupied in the 

 the mountains of Eastern New York are mostly broken 

 up. The pigeon is a shy and timid bird. Break up its 

 home and it does not return. The time has come when it 

 should receive the care of the law, and be protected in the 

 same manner as are other birds much sought after. In 

 Europe the wood pigeon, which is entirely different, and 

 is not migratory, does much harm to the farmers' crops 

 and garden; but our wild pigeon is guilty of no such trespass 

 unless it be occasionally on the early rice fields of the Gulf 

 Slates. He passes through most of the country long before 

 the grain or vegetables have begun to grow, spends his 

 life in the remote woods, and feeds altogether on the wild 

 mast. 



If we wish much longer to hear over our heads on bright 

 March mornings the rush of his breezy wings speeding in 

 swift flight above the waking woods, battalion after bat- 

 talion sweeping on from horizon to horizon almost in a 1 



breath; if we wish our October lunch of his broiled tender 

 flesh, or care for "squabs on toast;" even if we wish to 

 pack them in a box, and liberate him only to cut short his 

 sudden joy with our shot "at 21 yards rise," the pigeon 

 which is not only useful and beautiful, but a delight, must 

 soon be protected by law from wanton capture in what 

 should be for him as well as other birds, a "close season." 

 The taking of squabs from their nests should be as strictly 

 prohibited as the killing of infant quail or chicken part, 

 ridges, and in time we may have him once more in regioris 

 where the presence of his countless legions has long been 

 but a tradition of the past. 



«•.»♦. — 



A Grand Blast. — To-morrow at 11 o'clock the great Mast 

 of dynamite, giant powder and nitroglycerine which is to 

 clear Hell Gate of its obstructions is advertised to be ex- 

 ploded—provided no unforseen accident occurs. Twelve 

 thousand cartridges containing the explosives have been 

 placed in the holes drilled for the purpose and but a little 

 spark of electricity is all that is wanting to fire off the mass. 

 Opinions differ as to what the results of the explosion will 

 be. Some contend that the windows in New York and 

 Brooklyn will suffer, while others think that there will be 

 but a muffled sound, a rising of the waters and then a 

 rapid subsidence. Our prediction is that there will be 

 more striped bass caught immediately after the event than 

 any one man has taken for a long time. The blast has 



been postponed until Sunday. 



-».♦*- 



GAME PROTECTION. 



— We have made frequent' reference to the Sportsman's 

 Club of California, which appears to be as important in its 

 organization, objects, and interests as any protective club in 

 the Union. The lakes which it controls are among the best 

 stocked in California. One of them, Lake Pilarcitos, is de- 

 scribed by our correspondent herein, as well as other 

 general matters pertaining to the organization in ques- 

 tion:— 



(K San Francisco, Cal., August 28th. 



Editor Forest and Stream:— 



This is one of the lakes or reservoirs belonging to the Spring Valley 

 Water Company, which has the entire monopoly of supplying oar city 

 with water. It isjnore beautifully situated than either Lake Merced or 

 San Andreas, chiefly owing to the surrounding hills and mountains being 

 wtll clothed in plentiful and handsome vegetation. And the ride to it 

 from Milbrae, near the bay of San Francisco, or a walk of about three 

 miles from a point towards the head of San Andreas reservoir are very 

 enjoyable, owing to the delightful woodland and characteristically bold 

 ocean mountain scenery which is presented to the delighted vision of the 

 way farer. The best fly-fishing is at the head of the reservoir and where 

 the San Mateo creek empties itself with a lively flow in the main water. 

 Here, either early in the morning or rather late in the evening, the brook 

 trout, sometimes of quite large size, may be seen rising in a lively style 

 on the surface, and it is then, by using a darkish winged fly with bright 

 red body, that the fishermen is very apt to show in his creel a goodly 

 record. There are a few clumps of weeds near some of the lakes shores, 

 but there are many openings, and it ia there that the angler will of course 

 make some of his casts, which are likely to be rewarded by a splas-h, a 

 whirl, a snatch and a successful hold. Half-pounders are here quite 

 common to be basketed, unless the tackle becomes fouled in the weeds, 

 which the operator must try most heroically to prevent by a strong use 

 of the but of his rod, although it will be likely to prove any weak spot 

 (if he should happen to have one), in his gu^ leader. On this lake the 

 trout wiil either take the fly, the spoon, by trolling, or the angle worm. 

 At times persons may be seen using severally all these modes at the 

 same time. The new Sportsman's Club has leased this fine fresh-water 

 reservoir, and San Andreas, as well as Lake Merced or Laguna de la 

 Merced. There are many boats provided at each of the»e, and, at two 

 of them, sleeping berths and cooking apparatus; while at Lake Hlarcitoa 

 the buyenntendent of the Water Company and his wife provide ex- 

 cellent accomodations of every kind for ladies as well as gentlemen. Ail 

 the superintendents of these lakes are fishermen themselves, are the 

 friends of fishermen, and sympathise with the good or ill succebs of their 

 visitors. 



Our Sportsman's Club is now an incorporated body and it is probable 

 that next winter we shall have pleasant and neat club rooms in the city 

 where in social converse we may spend a few hours of an evening, re- 

 counting, as some of us can, many a dangerous and exciting contest 

 with a fierce and full-grown grizzly, or a milder interview and advemure 

 with the black, or brown, or small cinnamon bears, which feed on nust, 

 honey, or wild fruits; or telling with that relish which is so natural to 

 a sportsman, how tne deer and quail had succumbed to the crack of 

 hiB rifle or discharge of his breech loader; or how the lordly salmon or 

 agile trout that bad rejected many of his flies, and at length been tempt- 

 ed by one suited to hie fancy, and had at last been conquered by the skill 

 and perseverance of the narrator. 



The number of members of the club is, up to the present time, about 

 1G8. and includes many of our most prominent and respected citizens, 

 and new members are being added to it at every meeting. Its condi- 

 tion is quite s-atisfactory for so short a time that it has been established, 

 there being at the end of last month nearly $2,00j in the treasury, and 

 no moie debts at present to pay. Its chief oDject is the enforcement of 

 the game laws, and of course the proper preservation of fish and other 

 game auimals; but it has greatly, also, in view, for the benefit of its 

 members, the advantages and pleasures arising from its valuable fishing 

 preserves iu several lakes and rivers, to all loverB of the royal shorts of 

 the field, river, wood and prairie, so well and amply illustrated and re- 

 lated in your unsurpassed if equaled paper, the Fouest and Stkeam. 



JE. J. Hoopeb. 



Fish Wardens in New Hampshire.— The New Hamp- 

 shire Fish Commissioners; the Manchester Mirror says, 

 "have taken initiatory steps towards appointing fish wardens 

 in all the towns and cities of the State which failed to do 

 so at the March election. This, the law, makes it their 

 duty to do, and they are determined that, with the assist- 

 ance of the Attorney General and the Solicitors of the 

 counties, the fish laws shall be executed to the letter." We 

 are pleased with the energy which Col. Samuel Webber 

 and his coadjutors, Messrs. Powers and Hayes, are display- 

 ing in this matter, as we believe that the most diiect step 

 toward the preservation of our game and fish is. to secure 

 officers to enforce the law therefor. 



—In San Francisco, August 24th, A. Kitori, and Joseph 

 Cartania, who were detected in the act of smuggling 1,000 

 pounds of fresh salmon into the city against the law gov- 

 erning the close season, were fined $20 each. The fish 

 seized were divided among the charitable institutions of 

 the city. The F&h Commissioners are determined to prose- 



