FOREST AND STREAM. 



165 



An old bruise on its back was believed to have been received 

 by sulking the bottom of a vessel. 



Landing a Fish under Difficulties.— Tn the bay, just 

 below town, Judge Emerson and his wife, of Ironton, Mo., 

 ■were out in a vtry s^all boat trolling. With two hundred 

 to three hundred feet of line out and wound around his 

 hand, and while on his feet adjusting a seat, a terrible surge 

 on his line threw him off his balance and into the St. Law- 

 rence. He held fast wiih only one foot inside the little 

 boat, with head and arms stretched out at full length in the 

 water toward the fish. 



The boat being very light, the struggles of the fish made 

 the situation perilous, and several boats instantly pushed 

 out to assisi ; but by the aid of his wife, who is something 

 of a sailor, and the Judge's aquatic qualities, he regained 

 the boat. Meantime the fish, which proved to be a thirty 

 six'pound muscaknge, was jumping several feet into tne 

 air, anu anon plugging to the bottom of the river, throwing 

 the spray high and wide in his wild contortions. It took 

 more than an hour to subdue this monster, during which 

 tne contest was watched by dozens of excited persons on 

 shore and in boats. However, by going on shore, judicial 

 firmness finally triumphed over hsh force, and this monster 

 ot the deep was safely lauded, amid the hearty plaudits of 

 a cro w (J of anxious spectators. — Cape Vincent Correspond 

 ence of St. Louis Republican. 



Doings of the Fishing Fleet, — The past week has 

 been a quiet one in nulling -movements, outsid-- the in bore 

 herring caich, and the number of arrivals reported has 

 been uuu&uaik small Ouly two arrivals have been rt- 

 portew from the Banks, eight from Georges, and two from 

 the Bay St Lawrence, giving a total of twelve for the 

 week. Tne receipts have been about '^tJO.OOU pounds Bank 

 cod, 120, UUO pounds Georges cod, 135, Out) pouuds halibut, 

 and b«0 barrels of m tckerel. Tne light receipts and small 

 stock nave given a firm tone to the market, and prices 

 have been will niaintainec'. 



. Tut hake aud pollock off-shore fishing is now being 

 prosecuted vigorously and wnn good success. Many of 

 the Georges fleet have gone into ihis branch of fishery. 

 Heiriug have struck in at Magnolia, and there has been a 

 good catch during tne week, affording employment to 

 seme 85 men. it has been a bus}' week in that village, and 

 auout i. tnou>aud bairels have been thus tar secured. 

 Messrs Procter, l ra.sk & Co. furnished the seines and salt, 

 anu have engaged iheenine catch. There have also been 

 good catches oi herring at the eastward. — Cape Ann Ad- 

 vertiser, Oct. I'dth. 



THE SEA^OiN A ■ THE NEPIGON. 



A 



R.d Kook, Lake Superior, I 

 Ontario, Cauaua, Sept. 29th. f 

 jEditob Forest and Stream :— 



Herewitu 1 oeg to Uuutt you a list of parties who have visited the Nep- 

 igoudurmy th« season j etciooed. We nave not had an many vititon* 

 as Udual mis season, owing 1 fancy, to the PuiiadelptiiaE*hiui.ion, and 

 aiso to tlie exceeding ine&ul aity of the steamers, most of the parties 

 haviu^ to uire sail boats or chance Dugs to get away. Tue fiohing, not- 

 withstanding the hi^u state of the water, has been excellent, and all vis- 

 its s seein to hav« been well pleased with their vuic. I also inclose mi 

 average some made by tue Hon. Edmund JKioe of St. Paul's, and party 

 of tutee gentlemen; from it, I think, jou will aamit that the tiout aie 

 as nuineious as ever: 



Toial score, thiee tods, ten days, 233 brook trout averaging 2 lbs. 



Average catc.i pei day, 18 



Laigest nsh— one 6 IDs., one 5 lbs., one H and twenty ranging from 3i 

 to 4 lbs. 



Fourteen lake trout weighing 8S lbs. 



Besi day, 42 pounds of speckled trout, 1 wh.itefl.sh on fly weighing 2i- 

 lbs. ; 1 lake rout on iiy weigning 11 los. 



The following gentlemen have visited the Nepigon river during the 

 season oi 187H, viz: — 



July 15th. — Myron W. Reed, Milwaukee, Wis.; C. D. Roys, M. B. 

 Ricu, (Jincago. Id.; C. B Utley, Milwaukee, Wis. 



July is h 11. C Culveitsou, J. S. Baser. Wm.M. Cameron; Cincin- 



na l, Oiiio, Lewis Mcluiosn, Pitisourgh, fa.; Fayette Brovvn, Mc 



Bnue. Cleveland, Omo; N»rmau Spang, J. H Bi-sell, Pnts.burgn, Pa. 



July 21st.— 1'he Hon. John S.mp-ou, eJapt. Wm. burke, J. L. Strow- 

 ger, VV. B. Simpson, John Simpson, Jr., Bowmanvilie, Out. ; .&. H. 

 \\ alnndue, New (Jaslle. 



Auifu-i 3i.— Tue Hon. Edmund Rice, St. Pa'd, Minn.; Frank H. 

 Clark Philadelphia. Pa.; Col. H. Graves, Duluth Minn. 



August 9th —Dr. S. M. tiaigent, H. W. Payne, E. P. Williams, H. M. 

 Hauna, leveland, Onio. 



August lotto — Aiuo Wright, Thunder Bay, Ont. 



Sepiember5th.— H. J. t-uruer, Oliver Linoy, C. A. Adams, TJ. S. N., 

 C. i>\ Ehuff, C. A. Beds, and party of 6 ladies, steam yacht Wabun 

 frouibreeii Bay, Mich. 



We have tbe promise next year of a great many visitors, and if the 

 steamers could only ne induced to a ivercise tne days aud dates of their 

 trips to the Nepigon, double thd number would come every year. 



Alfred P. Vennor. 



GAME NOW IN SEASON. 



Deep line fishing by amateurs is now being practiced at 

 very many places around our coast when the weather will 

 permit. The sport off Cornwall appears during the last 

 week full of interest, mackerel, gurnet, skate, dabs, con- 

 ger, pollock, aud chad, aud even young shark, being taken 

 while afloat by one boat during the day, the bait being fresh 

 pilchards. A conger of 16^ pound was taken on a single 

 silkworm gut snood, after a severe fight, a circumstance 

 "without parallel. Ofi Teignmouth the hook and line fish- 

 ing has betn excellent, 150 to 25u mackerel being taken per 

 boat, and one boat brought in 500. During the pa^t week 

 the seines shot lor sprats and pilchards have been well 

 charged with whiting, and mackerel purposely netted have 

 run from 3,000 to 5,000 a boat. The drift nets off Torbay 

 are gt Lung herrings. Bass are off here, but shun ihe hook, 

 exempt in reun mouth narbor, where they feed greedily. 

 A Toiqimy boat brought in 1.100 hooked mackerel, and 

 there aie 90 boats thus engaged between this and Babbi 

 combe. Toi.s of sprats aie coming in aud await a sale; tne 

 mackerel veiy tine and above the average. The correspon- 

 dent of the Fied sa>s: — "It is believed so many mackerel 

 and sprats hnve not visited that part of the coast for some 

 years." IS or, it may be added, has this most agreeable and 

 heal hful sport been more practiced by amateurs, including 

 the fair sex, than during the present season. — London Illus- 

 trated Sporting News. 



<«-.«» 



—Samuel Foid, of 46 Carleton avenue, Brooklyn, is 

 authoriiy for saving ihat, if mushroom eaters would 

 sprinkle a little salt' on the mushrooms they could easily 

 pick out the poisonous plants. Good ones will turn black 

 aud bad ones red. 



Moose, Alces medchis. Pinnated gronse or prairie chicken, 



Caribou, Tarandus rangifer. Gupidonia cupido. 



Klk or wapiti, Cervus canadensis. Kuffed gronse or pheasant, Bonasa 



Red or Virginia deer, 6. lirginianus. umbellus. 



Squirrels, red, black and gray. Quail or partridge, Ortyx virglma- 



Hares, brown and gray. nus. 



Wild turkey, MeUagris gattopa- Woodcock, PMlohela minor. 



to 



"Bay-birds" generally, including various species of plover, sand-pipers, 

 snipe, curlews, oyster-catchers,surf-birds, phalaropes, avocets, etc., com- 

 ing under the group Limicolce or Shore Birds. 



♦ 



Shooting Prospects .--The gale which prevailed along 

 the coast on Sunday last was preceded and followed by a 

 most unusual flight of bay birds, English snipe and wild 

 fowl. Along theL^ng Island shore, on the Great South Bay, 

 many excellent bags of English snipe were made, and yel- 

 low legs and bay birds generally were more abundant than 

 at any time during the season. Ducks also appeared in 

 great numbers, and even geese were started on the south- 

 ern journey by the unusual cold. Of the latter we have 

 heard of a number being killed on Jamaica Bay. The 

 duck shooting will now*be excellent, and as the bay men 

 will be for some time yet engaged with their oysters, it 

 will be possible to find a vacant point or space to sink a 

 battery. 



We took a run last week along the line of the Erie Rail- 

 way for 80 or 40 miles. Found quail abundant and much 

 more advanced in growth than on Long Island. Ruffed 

 grouse are also plentiful, and when the law is up in New 

 Jersey — November 1st — the shooting will be excellent. Up 

 to the present writing there h*s been no fall flight of 

 woodcock, although they may be expected any day. En- 

 glish snipe have not been so abundant for years. In the 

 neighborhood of Turner's Station quail and grouse are 

 both plentiful. Mr. Mallison of Fulton street, and friends 

 made a tine bag there on Friday. 



Duck and Geese in New York Bay. — We are much 

 obliged to oor correspondent for his communication, for 

 the statements which he makes can easily be verified, and 

 the occurences are as he says, quite unusual. Our atten- 

 tion was called to the five Canada geese on the day and 

 hour which he mentions, and we had already made a note 



of the same tor publication: — 



Nkw York, Oct. 16th. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



1 thoug'l 1 would write a few liues telling you of the number of water 

 fowl hat 1 have eeeu passing tlirough the naroor (Ea^t River) this fall. 

 About ten uays ago I noticed tlin.e i.e.il parsing ov^r the end of Pier No. 

 2, E ist River, ami on Friday evening, wliile crossing South Ferry, at 

 u:sO p. in. there were Ave Cauada geese in mid stream. The pilot of tlie 

 boat tried 10 run inio them, but the> managed to get to one bide and 

 were K-ss than 1U0 feet from the boat, and would not have got up if he 

 had not kept the whistle going They then got up and flew over oover- 

 uor's L-laud. At the same time there was a flock of over 30 duck pass- 

 ing over Hamilton Ferry house, and this morning a bunch of seven 

 uroau-bills passed ju tin front of the ferryboat. Do you think ihis 

 means we are going to have plenty of ducks to snoot this fair i have 

 never seen but one b'"ncu of ducks pa?s up the river until this year, and 

 our office is so located I can look oil' on the river all day. 



F. M. Bennett. 



[These signs indicate severe weather to the northward, 

 which the telegraph has already reported ; but not neces- 

 sarily a protracted severe winter. We are likely to have 

 several weeks of mild weather before Christmas. — Ed.] 



— There are plenty of ducks now at the Thimble islands, 

 off Guilford, Ct. 



— Quail are quite abundant on South Side of Long Island, 

 but are not yet fully grown. When the leaves are all off 

 the trees, it will be the time to shoot them. 



—On Tuesday, Oct. 10th, Ira Hallibrant, John O'Neil, 

 and John M. Pierson, of Johnstown, Fulton countv, N. 

 Y., started a bear near that town and ran him all day with 

 dogs, and two hours on the following day, when they treed 

 and finally killed him. He was very black and weighed 

 160 pounds. 



Rabbit Shooting. — The general game laws of the State 

 make no provision tor the protection of rabbits. The 

 Board of Supervisors of Richmond county (Staten Island), 

 however, have resolved that "no person shall kill, or have 

 in his or her possession, after the same has been killed, 

 any rabbit between the 1st of January and the 1st of No- 

 vember in each year, under a penalty of $50 for each and 

 every rabbit so killed or had in possession. All persons 

 trapping or snaring rabbits are liable to the same penalty." 

 And the Staten Is'and Sportsmen's Club are determined to 

 prosecute all persons violatiug this law, which was passed 

 August 9th, 1873 As this conflicts with no State law it is 

 perfectly constitutional and valid. When we stated in our 

 last issue that rabbit shooting was permitted on Staten 

 Island we were not aware that the above law existed. 



— Long Point, LaKe Erie, is owned by an influential 

 club, and has been known for years as one of the finest 

 preserves and shooting grounds in the country. Citizens 

 of Canada and the United States are joint members. A 

 great deal of fur, as well as some game and fish is taken 

 there annually, but the duck shooting affords the sport par 

 excellence, we believe. Here is a score for the 3d day of 

 October which is thought to be the best one day's shooting 

 ever made at Long Point:— 



Mr. Lucas, 176; Mr. S. Woodruff, 138; Colonel Walker, 

 126; Colonel Tisdale, 119, and Mr. J. A. Woodruff, 88. 



» 



THE DUCKS OF LONG ISLAND. 



Game now in Season in Nevada.— Quail, monte, 

 grizzlies, chuck a luck, cottontail rabbits, poker, wild 

 doves, tiger, squjrj^ m & 'ffcop-an4-bottQms, ,? " 



Last week we copied from the Sun some valuable infor- 

 mation concerning the numerous varieties of beach birds 

 found on Long Island. From the same source we derive 

 t&e following information relative to the ducks ? of which 



there are some 13 varieties. The shooting season begins 

 about October 10th and continues until the middle of 

 April: — 



"First are the old squaws — worthless, fishy things, not 

 worth marketing. Next are the coots— fairly good birds, 

 very numerous and easily killed. They are a dumb sort of 

 duck, and can be shot within twenty yards. The sheldrake 

 duck is a little larger than the coot, but is fishy, hardly 

 eatable, and not valued. The broadbill is a good duck, 

 medium sized, and very numerous. You can tole ducks 

 right to shore. Have a red blanket or scarf, or shirt, 

 or anything else that is red, or nearly red, and shake it iu 

 the sedge near the water, and if there are any ducks near 

 they will swim right toward it, so close up that their 

 breasts will touch the shore. It seems to fascinate them, 

 and when once you have them close up you can rise and 

 talk and cock your gun, and you will not scare them away, 

 only keep the object moving all the time. Tliey will swim 

 atound iu a circfe, and if you watch your chance and let 

 drive when you have a lot of them in range you can rake 

 the biggest part of the flock. We call that playing Lhem 

 in. 



" Those not shot will fly away a short distance, but in 

 half an hour can be played in in the same way, and so on 

 until ihe flock is pretty much exterminated. A reddish 

 colored dog, trained to run backward and forward along 

 the beach, is excellent to attract them. Sometimes a 

 brown buffalo robe shaken before" them is as good as any- 

 thing else, and I have known a flock played in with noth- 

 ing but a bunch of dried brown sea weed waved to and 

 fro in the sedge. I suppose ihe idea was got from the 

 foxes. I've been told by old hunters who have seen it, 

 that a fox, seeing a flock of ducks near shore, will run to 

 fro to attract them, and so play them in close enougn to 

 snatch one by the neck. Next to the broad-bills come the 

 black ducks, which feed in shoal w ter, and do not dive 

 like the others. They hauut around the meadows and on 

 shallow fJati, are very wild, and one must hide very care- 

 fully to get near enough tc them for a shot. The red- 

 neads, or red headed broad-bills, follow the black ducks in 

 size, but are the superiors of all others found in these 

 waters in delicacy of flavor. Indeed, they are considered 

 almost equal to the canvas backs. Thev are not wilder 

 than ihe broadbills, but are much more scarce. 



"Of teal, an excellent duck, we uavu a, ^,eat many, both 

 the blue-winged in summer and the red-winged in winter. 

 We have some canvas-backs, but they are rather infre- 

 quent. Much more numerous with us aie the gray and 

 mallard ducks. We also have a good many wood ducks 

 aud widgeon, antl, iu wiuter time, lots of whistlers— all 

 good and salaole ducks. Brant nave been numerous here 

 until the siupidity ot our South Hampton neighbors caused 

 the clo-iug up oi the inlet ev< iv year for four years past. 

 Then the waters of the bay bt ctuie too fresh for the brant, 

 and they left us, only a few < o mug every season. Wild 

 geese we still get a good many of, but not so many of them 

 since the intct closed as tormtrly. 



"The favorite and most successful way of shooting 

 ducks aud geese is from a battery, or rig, as we indiscrimi- 

 nately term the contrivance. To prepare a battery, you 

 first take about 30 yards of light jean or muslin, or canvas 

 stuff, and with oil colors paint it to look like water. Then 

 stretch that on a light Irame aud fix it fiimly on the wind- 

 ward side ot a board platform, twelve feet long by eight 

 wide. In the centre ot that platform you have, sunk be- 

 low its surface and just about kvel with it at the lop, a 

 water-tight box, only big enough for the shooter to lie 

 down in on his back, with his gun in his hands. Along 

 the siues of the plat torm you have a row of short pins, 

 from which you depend a series of heavy weights, sinking 

 tne piaiiorin until n does not show more than an inch or 

 an inch and a. half above the surface of the water. But 

 for the painted canvas 10 windward, the water would soon 

 swash over, soak the shooter, and sink the concern; that, 

 however, keeps it off. Then, around the platform you 

 put, for thirty yards all about, say 125 wooden decoy 

 ducks. Now your battery is ready. The keenest eyes of 

 either man or biid would fail to descry its existence at a 

 very little distance. The shooier lies down in the little 

 coffin like box, his feet leeward, with another man, his 

 'tender,' in a small boat hidden in the sedge four or five 

 hundred yards away. 'Ihe shooter is absolutely helpless 

 should an> thing happen to him ; he is in a cramped posi- 

 tion, cold aud damp. It is anything but pleasant work, I 

 assure you. All his communication with the tender, far 

 away, must be by noiseless signal.", and there he must lie 

 and wait until a flock of ducks, attracted by his decoys, 

 comes within range. Then he sits up, blazes away at them 

 with boih barrels, reloads, aud sinks btfck to wait for 

 more. The dead ducks float off to the tender, who has 

 chosen his position with reference to the running of the 

 tide, and he picks them up. Sometimes things become as 

 uupkasant for the tender as they normally are for the 

 snooter. Those occasions are when ducks swoop down 

 between the two, and the eager shooter blazes away at 

 them without noticing that his associaie is in range. To 

 restrain such excessive ardor, the tender sometimes finds 

 it advisable to carry a gun in his boat, and have it clearly 

 understood that if a shot is fired at him he will fire back; 

 but generally the boys doh't mind a few shot." 



Massachusetts— Salem, Oct. lQth. — There has been con- 

 siderable excitement a>out here the past week by the sport 

 in this vicinity. Among the assortment has been the coot- 

 iug at and about Cape Ann. It is safe to say that the sea 

 ducks have been more numerous this fall than for several 

 seasons. Paities get messes figuring well towards the hun- 

 dreds. An iucideut 1 never heard before: A man gunning 

 coots at Tinker's island, when he saw a bunch of fowl 

 coming would stand up aud wave his hat, as he said, to 

 make the coots think it was more birds in the air. This is 

 a fact. There has been some splendid shooting on winters 

 and grass birds and buffle heads in this neighborhood. 

 This may be d .ubted by some of your readers', but it is 

 just as 1 tell you, and I can name the parties that did it. 

 Boston market has not been so filled with birds for a long 

 time. Wilson's snipe bring 10c, winters 15c, grass birds 

 2-Je. to 5c. each. To-day is the great day, being the open- 

 ing day lor quail, and with good prospects. Ye-terdav the 

 glass in the morning rtood 32°, and fell to 29° at 12 m. 

 Ground covered with snow, and a cold northwester blow- 

 ing. And so it goes— just as you think the birds have de- 

 serted your country one finds them quite plenty. And 

 still we are not happy. Teal. 



Cohasset, Oct Itith. — Coot, or sea-duck shooting has been 

 in its prime the past week. Brant "have been flying some, 

 also a few flocks of geese. Black-duck shooting in |k© 



