J FOREST />'0 STREAM. 



403 



hied to the field after game. I was not the pos- 

 sessor of a dog in those days. Indeed, in this in- 

 stance the use of a dog was quite unnecessary, as the sea- 

 son was too far advanced to permit of the approach of either 

 pointer or setter, upon quail, even had the character of the 

 ground been more favorable. The fields were bereft of 

 even the most minute cover, and the adjacent coppice 

 whence proceeded the whistle of the quail, was but a very 

 narrow one, bordering the high rail fence. Beyond the 

 shrubs, for woodland, it could scarce be called, extended 

 hack some distance, consisting of small oak saplings and 

 undergrowth; though the latter did not interfere in any 

 wise with a clear view of the suirounding country for some 

 distance. 



Here and there large heaps of dried brush, dotted the 

 ground, and upon one of these I soon perceived a full bevy 

 of quail, now silent and watchful, doubtless observing my 

 approach. I bad taken but a few steps farther, when the 

 quail rose, wild, and at least eighty yards distant. I with- 

 held my fire, and marked the bird's down as closely as the 

 circumstances would permit, in the verge of the field, some 

 distance away. Warily and watchfully I threaded my 

 way toward the bevy, knowing well the line of night, but 

 somewhat uncertain as to the distance. Upon reaching the 

 fence I glanced carefully around, but in the broad open 

 space beyond observed no trace of the bevy. Lightly I 

 mounted the fence, when to my surprise, and equal confu- 

 sion, the entire bevy of twelve or fourteen rose in a cluster, 

 almost under my feet; from beneath a huge log, which 

 covered as it was, with snow, had scarcely attracted my 

 attention. Hastily scrambling to the ground, I essayed to 

 shoot, but a single glance convinced me of the futility, as 

 the fleet biids had traversed at the least computation a dis- 

 tance out of range. Again I watched their flight as they 

 sped away, and at last, with much satisfaction, beheld them 

 alight in a level stretch of tall brakes and weeds a few 

 hundred yards to the left. This time I was successful in 

 approaching the bevy, and, had I not fully determined that 

 I would, under no consideration, fire at the birds upon the 

 ground, I could, perhaps, have killed one half the brood, 

 at a single discharge. The bevy was, at this time, feeding 

 in close proximity to me, and upon flushing them the 

 greater portion crossed to the left, one cock-quail, however, 

 flying low and swiftly in a direct line ahead. It was but 

 the work of an instant to raise the gun to my shoulder, 

 take range with his flight, and at the report the bird fell 

 lifeless. A stream of feathers drifting slowly down, mark- 

 ed the spot. Quickly wheeling to the lcft^the second barrel 

 was discharged at two quails in the act of crossing, and 

 one came down at a tangent, falling, possibly, a hundred 

 yards away. Him, I never secured, but his fellow, which 

 1 had cut down with my first barrel, I soon found, one wing 

 alone visible above the downy snow, in which he fell. 

 Tenderly I raised him, smoothed the ruffled feathers, and 

 with a feeling almost of regret at depriving the beauteous 

 cheery bird of its life, placed him with something of pity 

 in the game bag at my side. Thus did I kill my first quail, 

 and thus mayst thou, young reader, kill thine, if perchance 

 that exploit has not yet been performed; and, I warrant 

 thee, a clear conscience, and untroubled spirit in killing it 

 honorably and scientifically, as becomes a sportsman. 



Will Wildwood. 



For Forest and Stream. 

 "MUDDYING." 



X • • 



Savannah, Tenn., Jan. 2d. 



The readers of Forest and Stream, shut in as many of 

 them are by snow and ice, and prevented from enjoying 

 their usual sport by brawling rivulet, or on the bosom of 

 the broad crystal lake, may not be averse to devoting a 

 few moments to the perusal of an account of a method of 

 taking fish, which will, in all probability, be new to most 

 of them, for, so far as I am informed, it is practiced only 

 during the summer months, ana in the Gulf States. 



In the spring the creeks and rivulets, swollen by the 

 heavy rains of spring overflow their banks, and when they 

 recede leave behind them in the low lying woodlands that 

 border their courses, many ponds or lakes as they are 

 styled. These lakes are often plentifully stocked with 

 fish, which leave the channels of the streams as their waters 

 tpread through the woods, and are left behind by the re- 

 ceding stream. As soon as the heat of summer has 

 thoroughly warmed the waters of these lakes, and has 

 somewhat reduced their volume, the season for ''muddy- 

 ing" begins. The appliances for this sport are very few 

 and simple. They consist of several cotton hoes, gigs, a 

 dip net or two, or, in default of that article, a basket 

 attached to a light staff, and some splunges. The last 

 named articles are made by inserting a hoe-handle into a 

 bole bored in the center of a piece of pine plank, eight or 

 ten inches long, and five or six inches broad. 



After reaching the lake, the negroes, who do the muddv- 

 ing, enter it with their hoes and splunges and wade along 

 stirring up the muddy bottom as they advance. In a very 

 few moments the perch commence to jump out of the 

 water, and a large and game fish, styled in this section a 

 a trout, makes its appearance at the surface. Now is the 

 time for the gigs to come into play. Many use the three- 

 pronged gig, resembling the representations of the trident 

 as seen m the pictures of Neptune in the Mythologies; but 

 those who pride themselves on their skill, will use nothing 

 except the small, single- pronged gig, attached to a bamboo 

 cane, eight or ten feet in length. It is by no means an easy 

 thing to gig a trout, for they move with great rapidity, 

 ana even when struck, often break away. As the water 

 becomes muddier the perch cease jumping, and appear at 

 the top of the water gasping for breath. The trout and 

 nream soon follow them, and are easily captured with the 

 net or basket, and even with the hand. The sucker is the 

 next to appear, and his curiously shaped mouth is the only 

 Pf"J °J nim to be seen, which at a little distance can, with 

 aimculty, be distinguished from an air bubble, A well 

 aimed blow with the gig, directed a few inches below the 

 seeming bubble, will almost certainly result in its capture, ' 



for the sucker is not distinguished for its gameness, nor 

 indeed for anything except the number and sharpness of its 

 bones. After a while, as the water begins to assume the 

 appearance of a hog-wallow, an old yellow catfish comes to 

 the surface, and after showing his ugly head and beady 

 ejes disappears. A few more turns of the hoes ana the 

 the catfish succumbs, and joins the unhappy finny throng 

 on the shore. I do not know whether a pond can be made 

 too muddy for the gar pike. I haye heard that they have 

 been taken in this way, but no case has ever fallen under 

 my own observation. There is no great amount of sport 

 to be had in this method of taking fish, and the fish thus 

 taken have rather a muddy taste. Still it is followed at a 

 season when there is no other sport to be had, and the fish 

 thus caught would, in the end, become the prey of the hog 

 and buzzard, for the ponds almost without exception, 

 dry up entirely during the tierce heats of August. For this 

 reason the sport is not so reprehensible as is the practice of 

 poisoning the deep pools in creeks by using young walnuts 

 and buckeyes; and, besides, in many cases, the young fry 

 are kept alive and restored to the creeks. 



The gigging of the trout and large perch as they dart 

 around when the water iirst becomes discolored, is a matter 

 of some little skill, and an occasional encounter with a 

 water moccasin affords an element of danger that some 

 might enjoy. The snakes, however, are among the first 

 to leave the water, which most men regard as a matter of 

 congratulation, as an old, musky cotton mouth, is by no 

 means a pleasant neighbor. I will remark, en passant, that 

 I do not kuow how to class the fish I have here, after the 

 manner of the country, styled the trout. I believe it to 

 be a species of bass, or, perhaps, it may be what Herbert 

 styles the "weakflsh," Otohthus Begalis. It has been a 

 long time since I saw one of these fish, and, as at the time 

 of my acquaintance with them, I paid no attention to 

 such things as would enable one to locate them. I cannot 

 pretend to describe one. These fish sometimes grow to a 

 very large size. I knew of one caught by the muddying 

 process that weighed fifteen pounds. But this was an unusu- 

 ally large one, as they generally vary from fourteen ounces 

 to three pounds, sometimes reaching five pounds, but rarely 

 exceeding six. The particularly heavy fellow I have 

 just mentioned was, at first, from the noise he made in his 

 frantic efforts to get fresh air, mistaken for an alligator, 

 and cleared the lake of his enemies in a twinkling. At 

 length, however, his true character was ascertained; and, 

 after many unavailing attempts to gig him, he was stunned 

 by a blow from a hoe in the hands of a negro, and then 

 scooped out in a basket. 



My first experience in this sport happened when I was 

 seveial years younger than I am now. I was once fishing 

 together with three of my boyhood's companions, in one 

 of the tributaries of the Alabama. The month was July, 

 and an unusually hot and dry one. We had fished pati- 

 ently for some time without getting a nibble, and alter re 

 freshing ourselves by a bath in the clear stream, had 

 settled quietly down to an old-fashioned game of euchre. 

 I was just prepariug to order up on a lone hand, when an 

 old negio, whom we had seen a few moments before cross 

 the log a short distance above us with his fishing poles on 

 his shoulder, and who was accompanied by a young negro, 

 with other poles and the inevitable bait-gourde (for no 

 maiter what may be soid to the contrary, negroes are not 

 in the habit of carrying their bait worms in their 

 mouths), came running excitedly back to" tell us that 

 he had found a lake, which, he said, "was plum — 

 fairly live with fish." He proposed that we should help 

 him to muddy it, and, as we were ready for anything, 

 we consented, and, following him, soon reached the lake. 

 It was deeper, and being surrounded by bay trees, was 

 somewhat colder than we liked; but the sight of several 

 large trout soon overcame our hesitation, and in we 

 plunged. Our appliances were one hoe, and two pieces 

 of umbrella wire inserted in a pawpaw pole. This 

 last implement the old negro styled his gig. Notwith- 

 standing the paucity oi our preparations in we went, 

 splashing and kicking, Stirling up the muddy bottom 

 where we could reach it, and swimming where we could 

 not, until we, at length, began to get the water muddy, 

 and the perch and trout began to rush around in their 

 usual frantic style. After many unavailing attempts, sev- 

 eral fine trout were captured with the imperfect gig; and 

 before we were utterly exhausted, the water was muddy 

 enough for us to catch quite a number of perch, bream 

 and suckers. Only one willow cat raised his whiskers 

 above the surface, and the large gar pipe, the sight of 

 which, basking upon the only sunny spot on the lake's 

 surface, had done so much to excite our sable friend, did 

 not deign to favor us with a view of even the tip of his 

 nose. "I tell you what, young massas," said the old 

 darkey, "dis am 'nuff better dan de card play— you hear 

 me?" and, as we looked at our long strings of fish, we 

 agreed with him. Will. 



A California Woman Eats '60 Quails in 30 Days. — 

 It has been many times vigorously alleged that no person 

 could perform the seemingly simple gastronomic feat of 

 eating thirty quails in thirty successive days. Wbat there 

 is about a quail that makes the average human stomach 

 decline its too frequent visitations, no one but an analyti- 

 cal chemist with a leaning toward anatomy can decide. 

 The quail has been esteemed a great delicacy since the 

 children of Israel passed through the desert and had their 

 daily feast of the fowl — not singly but in showers — and 

 the sacred chronicler fails to record that they were receiv- 

 ed with repugnance, and they were in the wilderness a 

 month and ten days. A banquet without quails some- 

 where in the list of dishes has been almost esteemed a fail- 

 ure. Then why its indigestibility? Wherefore its bil- 

 liousness? This feat, hitherto deemed impossible, has 

 been recently performed by a lady resident of Oakland, 

 who, in a spirit of banter and on a wager of $500 offered 

 by a humorous son-in-law, and $100 guaranteed by a fa- 

 cetious son, undertook the task, not thinking it at all dif- 

 ficult. She decided to take the birds broiled, and for 

 breakfast. All went on well for some days, and it was 

 not until the end of two weeks that the matutinal quail 

 began to be repugnant, breakfast revolting, and life a bur- 

 den. A plucky, unyielding will came to the lady's aid, 

 and she persevered, and through a season of daily recur- 

 ring qualms, with frequent fits of dizziness, a little ten- 

 dency to obscurity of vision, she finished the last bird 

 amid the approval of a slightly alarmed household. But 

 she says she does not care to renew the attempt — oh, no!— 

 even for the sake of emulating the Israelites, who lived on 

 them forty days and made no sign. She is now in perfect 

 health, and her bank account is increased by the money so 

 hardly earned,— flan Francisco Qhronick, 



S m t H£ u tttii[*< 



American Salmon in New Zealand. — Although New 

 Zealand is at the Antipodes, anything relating to fish cul- 

 ture even there is interesting, and particularly so when the 

 fish in question are the progeny of the inhabitants of our 

 own rivers. The letters which we print herewith give an 

 account of what the New Zealand authorities have been 

 and are doing with the salmon spawn shipped them by the 

 U. S. Fish Commission : — 



i, Colonial Museum, Wellington, ) 



New Zealand, December 13, 1876. j" 



My Dear Sir. — I have to thank you for your note of 

 3d Oct., ami for the trouble you have taken in procuring 

 the salmon ova for us. You will be pleased to learn that 

 the venture has been, as you predicted, a perfect success. 

 About 90 per cent, of the ova have been hatched. They 

 have been divided among four different localities from one 

 end of New Zealand to the other and we must now have 

 nearly 300,000 healthy fish. The 84,000 you sent to me 

 were sent on to Southland, where the best ponds are sit- 

 uated. They will be turned out in some splendid rivers 

 along with young Scotch salmon. I still require a supply 

 to stock the rivers on the west coast and particularly the 

 large rivers that flow into the Fjords where they should 

 thrive well. Government have authorized me to prepare 

 to raise white fish. The sum of £800 has been voted this 

 year for pisciculture. I believe we have to thank your 

 strong expressions of interest for procuring this vote. 

 Hoping to hear soon from you, believe me, dear sir, I re- 

 main yours, Thomas Hector. 



The following letter will be found of especial interest as 

 containing a detailed account of the treatment of and re- 

 sults from the ova forwarded by Professor Baird : — 



Auckland, New Zealand, Dec. 16, 18T6. 

 The Hon. Spencer F. Baird, Esq., Chief of the United 



States Fisheries Commission, Washington. 



Sir. — In accordance with your wish (conveyed t© me by 

 my friend Mr. Creighton), I avail myself of this opportu- 

 nity to give you a short account of the results so far, of 

 the saimon ova which you, as Chief of the U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission, so generously presented to this colony. 



As I have already informed you, I forwarded with fresh 

 supplies of ice, the various boxes of ova to Napier, 

 Canterbury and Wellington. Yoa will be pleased to learn 

 that all these parcels arrived in excellent condition at their 

 respect ive destinations, and have all hatched out with great 

 success. 



1 now come to the treatment and results of the salmon 

 ova you kindly forwarded to the Auckland Acclimatization 

 Society. The rivers of this colony are remarkably destitute 

 of fish. Except five or six kinds, all, either small or of 

 little value either for sport or food, our rivers have no in- 

 habitants, except eels, and of these, some of our northern 

 rivers are full. These eels with the wild ducks and sea- 

 shags are very terrible enemies to all the finny tribe. I 

 think it not unlikely that these creatures have produced 

 that remarkable absence of fish in our rivers to which 1 

 have already alluded. There is one other difficulty with 

 which we in the North have to contend in introducing such 

 a fish as the salmon, viz., a high temperature of our rivers. 

 North of 37 deg. S., (ou which Auckland city is placed.) 

 1 do not ihink we shall succeed with this fish. 



With this digression, permit me now to describe the three 

 locations in which I placed the ova, and the appliances I 

 had prepared for their treatment, together with the results 

 of these operations : — 



1. The nrst location was in a wooded dell in the "Do- 

 main" near the city of Auckland, a very charming and ro- 

 mantic spot, rich in indigenous plants and trees. Through 

 this little shady dell a cool streamlet runs, with a tempera- 

 ture of 02 deg. at this season, our early summer. Here I 

 erected a fish house fitted with sixty boxes, each four feet 

 long, twelve inches deep, and ten inches wide. The bot- 

 tom of each box was covered with small shingles. On a 

 notched frame two inches from the top, we placed a row of 

 hollow glass tubes three-sixteenths 'of an inch apart. In 

 these we deposited the ova. The boxes were placed in tiers 

 of five, one above the other, like steps. The water ran from 

 the upper box to the next of the tier on a little fall of four 

 inches, imparting a gemtle and constant motion to the water 

 in each box. The day after they were deposited the ova 

 began to hatch, and in five days all were hatched except 

 about one per cent, of ova which had not been perfectly 

 fecundated. J 



Shortly afterward we noticed a [rather heavy mortality 

 arising, probably, from the circumstance that one of the 

 original packages of ova had had a fall, or had in some way 

 been crushed a little. The weather becoming more sultry 

 the mortality continued, though at a less ratio. The young 

 fish having absorbed the "sac" (about thirty days after 



pretty shingled river named the "Oratia." A similar 

 arrangement was adopted to the one already described. In 

 this case also the ova hatched splendidly, and were doing 

 well until the fourteenth dav, when the temperature of the 

 atmosphere suddenly rose to l>9 deg., and that of the water 

 from 65 deg. to 70 deg. In that day we lost one half the fish 

 On being apprised of the calamity, I immediately rode out" 

 and finding the water at 67 deg., and the remaining fish 

 looking sickly, I at once turned them out into the main 

 river where tne water was at a lower temperature The 

 absorption of the "sac" was not complete, but I hope that a 

 fair amount of success may be realized. 



3 . The third location was made on a charming river full of 

 shingle, little rapids, and deep pools. This river, called the 

 "Rapurapa," has very clear cold water, and is one of the 

 numerous head waters of the river Thames, which is itself 

 the beau ideal of a salmon river in ,.every respect having 

 abundance of shingle, rapids, deep holes, with bright cold 

 water, and after a course of about one hundred and fifty 

 miles debouching into the sea at a fine fehallow but exten- 

 sive gulf called "Hawraki." The point I selected on the 

 "Kapurapa," was where a small low island afforded a branch 

 about sixty feet long by fifteen feet broad, and two feet • 

 deep running with a pleasant music and sparkling motion 

 over a shingle bed. At the upper point ot the little island 

 I made a breakwater of shingle rising two feet above water 

 level, and running across to the river bank. I constructed 

 a similar breakwater at the lowest point of the island to 

 the bank, in this manner inclosing a space sixty feet long 

 by fifteen feet wide, Shading this little spot from the su.u'g 



