THE AMERICAN S^PORTSMAN 



[KuifiK-a Accoi-dlng to Act of Congress, In iiU^ ypar mss, by the Ifomal, unci SlroBJu T-uWlsUlng company, in tue Office ol the LHn-artan ot: Cougress, at Wasmnglou.] 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER I I, I880. 



CONTENTS. 



]5ditoiiIjU. : — 



The National Trials ; BliieQsh Gone South ; A Death Trap 

 1h Shinnecock Bay ; Trapped BirdBOuLong Island ; Hatch- 

 ing Floating Eggs; Vai-ns; Centi'al Park; Alleged Gtui 

 Frands 283 



Thb Spobtbmah Toumbt:— 



A Praiiie Fire on the Sevier ; A Story from Monroe ; Cosur 

 d' Alene Lake '. 281 



Natotsal Histom :— 



Oiu' Waterfowl : GuUa in Ceutral I>ark ; Death of the Wood- 

 cook Dicli ; Slmnk Eito ; Bats still Flviug ; Habits of the 

 Bciver ; Moi-e Praise for tho Sparrows ; Will it Live ? 

 Snakoi) in Kontuekv ; A Hcavv Jlallard ; Weights of 

 Bufled Grouse " ! ,. 285 



Pish CoLTtrBE t— 



Aoclimatizatiou of Black Bass in England; Agparatus fm 

 Hatching Floating Egga ; Egga of the SpaniKli Mackerel, 

 Etc.; Fisheries and Fish Calture of Holland ; Arkansas 

 Commission; A Terrapin Law; Fse of Maggots as Fish 



Food ; Illegal Fishing Stripped ; The Catfish- T _ 287 



Sea and RrvEB FiSHnfO :— 



Fishing ou the Matapedia ; Mi- boovel Goes A-FJshing ; 



Big Black Bass ; Au Encysted Hook ;i88 



Game Ba<.4 akd Gun :— 



Noreralier Sliooting Grounds— QuaU in Maryland, Virginia 



:i-iJ|l -.i:!!) 1 . ilma; Pass Sliooting in Minnesota; Un- 

 '1- ' : ' ' lA. Wild-Fowl : Field Notes ; Philadetohia 



I.'- I ' :- ' i,iiif.il ; Liu-ge Game m New York ; Pat- 



t'-r-! ! -i- Alio Cl:iiii,j T,awB in Maine; A Cmiosity ; 

 II;uniULrlc^s Guns; Oliio Quail Shooting; New Jersey 



Notes; Game Kutes ; Shooting ilatohes '. 289 



A Deer Hunt in Southwest Vu-gmia ,. iX, 



Tee ItENNEL :— 



Hare Shootmg With Beagles : The Cure of Dogs ; Current 

 Dog Stories ; A Bad Bird ; Guests at Viuceuues ; Some 

 Massachusetts Dogs ; Whatiii a Cocker ? The Dog Dealing 

 Enghsh Cleric : Kennel Notes 292 



The Bifle : — 



Bidlets for Himtiug ; Eange and Gallery 2»1 



YAOHTtSa AND OaNOBIHO f— 



The Hon-efihoff System ; The Cutter Beats the Cat ; A Cont- 



posite Yacht ; Points in Canoeing 296 



Abcheby 292 



to coiuiesbokdents 297 



A DEATH TRAP IN SHINNECOCK BAY. 



THEEB are now untold millions of flsh, mostly young 

 ones, which are shut in by the closing of Shinnecock 

 Inlet, and wliich will die soon if not let out. The bay is situ- 

 ated upon the south side and near the eastern end of Long 

 Island, opening southward into the Atlantic Ocean, and is 

 the feeding and s|iHwniug gi-onnd of millions of flsh. Its 

 fishery interests Are very large ; probably two himdred men 

 .support their families from the bay fisheries, taking the dif- 

 ferent flsh in their seasons, as bluefish, weakflsh, sea bass, 

 etc., in spring and summer, and crabs, eels and flat fish in 

 winter. The bay is doeiier than the Great South Bay, averag- 

 ing about twelve feer, l.mt its inlet is often filled up and 

 stopped by the autumn storms, one of whieb closed it up 

 about two months ago. Intelligent fishermen place the 

 amount of .young bluefish (snapping mackerel), weakfish, 

 menhaden, porgies and sea bass of this season's hatch, now 

 confined in the bay at, many millions, while of the older flsh 

 there is also a great immber, one of our informants saying 

 that he recently saw ten acres nl sDlid fish in one mass in 

 the bay. 



Learning these facts we recently viSlled the bay aad found 

 them confirmed by the professional flShermen of Quogue, 

 AtlailtJcviUe, G-ood Groimd and Southampton. In eonversa- 

 tion with Mr. Wm. N. Lane, the well known liost of the 

 sportsman's resort tit tiood Ground, so famous for its duck 

 and ))ny-bird shcioliug, lie s;iid that he would open the inlet 



fine of 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



NEW YOKE, THDBSDAY, NOVEMBEB 11, 1880. 



*,■• The PoKKST AKD Stbkam ffoes to pi-eu WediimUi'j/s. 

 Oor-re^pondents are requ&itsd to mail Oieir eommnnifMhn* w 

 fkM tlisy may reaefi vs before (hat dny. 



TnB' Natiosal Amkeioan Field Teials.— The liials to 

 l;e run near Vincennes, Indiana, nexl week promise to be in 

 all respects very successful. From what we leam of the 

 ai-rangements it appears that everything which cai-oful fore- 

 sight cotdd accomplish has been done to render the meeting 

 attraciive to sportsmen, and to make it what it should be, a 

 field where the best doga of America can contend without fear 

 or favor. 



Great credit la due fo Dr. E. Kellum aad Mr. Sloo for the 

 vigorous work that they have done to promote the success of 

 the meeting. We look forward with great interest to the 

 result of the trials, and feel sure that this meeting will exceed 

 in interest any hitherto held in this country. 



BL0BFI8H GoKS SomTH. — The bluefish, Ponmtontm mil- 

 tatrix, have left the Northern and Eastern coast as far as 

 New Jersey, and are now on their winter t«ur. They have 

 settled the bUls (of the young bill-fish) and vf ilh a yoimg one 

 imder each fin (inside) they have departed from the shores of 

 Long Island, like the last summer boarder, not to be seen 

 again until next spring when the skipper of a menhaden 

 steamer, standing in the prow of liis piscivorous craft, erect 

 as a sore thumb and with a north-east smile of satisfaction 

 which expands until both ends of it can be seen behind, calls 

 to the cook of his oleagenous ship: "Get out j'oiu- squid, 

 Sam, we'll have bluefish for dinner." 



—We have received from tho-author an "Introduction to 

 tJie Study of Mortuary Customs among the North American 

 Indians," by Dr. H. C. Yarrow, an extended notice of wliich 

 Will be giren next week. 



at his own expense it allowed, but that there 

 $25andimpris,niineiil foi so doimr. Astonished at leavnine 

 that a man might be subjected to a eri;jiinal prnseeutioii for 

 dolus: so good iiTid putilic spirited an act a? Mr. Lane jirfijiosed 

 to do, wp made further inquiry and learned riiat al tlif last 

 session of the Legislature of New York the Supervisoi-s of 

 the town were empoweied to appoint two commissioners, who 

 had power to locale an inlet to be dug at the expense of the 

 town, and that it was luilawful for any one to make an inlet 

 at any other place. 



Two men have been appointed ; one of them is a man who 

 has no interest in the bay and who does not care if it is never 

 opened, and the other has a hotel siimewhero in the eastern 

 part of the bay, where au inlet is not practicable, and he does 

 not care to locate it elsewhere, and. in the mGantimc the flsh 

 win die. 



The death of the fish is not the worst evil. Many of tliem 

 do not decay until warm weather, acc<jrding to the fishermen, 

 and then the waters axe foul, a ' ' slick " is formed on top 

 from the oil, and this, flowing out sA eveiy tide, repels the 

 spawning fish from entering next season to deposit theii- ova. 

 This is a case whicli culls for immediate action, imd if Shin- 

 necock Bay is cit opened dmiug; this niLinth we hope that 

 some way may be found to punish ijerelici r.ii,imissioners to 

 a.s great an extent af^ tlip In'-v wfuld inflict. vi[jon ?lr. Lane or 

 others who shoul.l otlev to ,i,:, iiiis iietessaiy work. The Leg- 

 islature should be <-Hlled upon to leppal .such portion of the 

 act as inflicts a penalty upon men who oSer to remedy the 

 effect of storms in closing this inlet. It seems to us not only 

 unjust but outrageous. The strip of sandy beach which sep- 

 ai-ates the Atlantic from the bay is from sixieen to seventy- 

 five rods in width, narrowest near Good Ground, iu the west- 

 em part, v.-here iMi. Lajiejsays he can open an inlet in twenty- 

 four houi-E, and the fisjiermen at AtlanticviUc and Quogue, 

 still west of that, saj- that one made there is more likely to 

 stand than if made in the Eastern and wider part 



We call the attention of our public spirited Pish Commis- 

 sioners to this grievance. They are stocking the waters with 

 young fts)] and here axe miUion.s of fry. one-quarter growm, 

 suffering to be let out to fimd their migrating fellows or to go 

 to deeper waters and more congeuia! temperature, which wiU 

 surely die in another month. We ai'e aware that the Fish 

 Commission axe powerless in this matier, but call their atten- 

 tion that they piay see that they should be empowered to act, 

 and act promptly, in a case of this kind. To dig such an in- 

 let is a trifling matter, if legal restxictions are removed, for if 

 a small ditch is made the tides will attend to finishing it, and 

 we call on somebody to do something to save, not only the 

 fish now Uving, but the spawning groimd of a most valuable 

 fishery from a pollution which will render it obnoxious to the 

 fish nest season. 



TRAPPED BIRDS ON LONG ISLAND. 



WE commend to the consideration of the sportsmen of 

 this city and Brooklyn the communication published 

 elsewhere respecting the illegal traffic in trapped birds, exten- 

 sively carried on by the employees of the Long Island Rail- 

 road, 



The writer of that letter tells us that on the occasion of his 

 return from a recent shooting trip to Greenport, L. I., there 

 being seven other gimners on the .=ame train, the baggage mas- 

 te)' had in his possession more birds, which he had bought of 

 the trappers at the stations along the line, than the eight 

 sportsmen could show as the result of their day's shooting. 

 He fm-ther avers that this was nothing unusual, but that the 

 same thing has been going on day after day, and will proba- 

 bly coutuiue so long as the supply of birds holds out. 



The law on this point is explicit. Section XL of the game 

 statute reads ; 



No person shaU, at any time or place within this State, take or 

 kill any ruffed grouse, commr nly called partridge, or any pinnated 

 grouse, commonly called prahie chicken, or any spruce grouse, com- 

 monly called Canada partridge, or any quail, mth any net, trap, or 

 snare', or set any such net, trap or snare for the purpose of taking 

 or killing any of such birds ; uor shall any person wiUfnlly sell, ex- 

 pose for sale, or have in possession any of the said birds after the 

 same have been so /.aken or killed. Any person violating any of 

 the pro^iKioiiB of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misde- 

 meanor, and in addition thereto shall be liable to a penalty of $10 

 for each bhd so killed or had m possession. And it shall be lawful 

 for any person to take or destroy any such nets, traps, or snai-es 

 wherever found. 



When sportsmen are accorded the privilege of shooting over 

 cei'tain premises on the one condition that they do "not dis- 

 turb the boys' snares down in the field," iind when these 

 sportsmen— eight of them—after a day's tramp with gun and 

 dog over the snare covered fields, come home bringing in a 

 lieggarly liag of l.iirds, while the baggage master on their 

 traiu, who has confined his "sporting" to his baggage car 

 sends his boy through the train to peddle to these sportsmen a 

 couple of dozen brace of trapped biirls the inference is plain 

 that there is something exceedingly putrid in Denmark. 



There ought not to be any hesitation or misapprehension 

 about their duty by the organizations whose business it is to 

 att«nd to this matter. If the trade in snared birds is car- 

 ried on •(vith the boldness alleged by our informant certainly 

 no extraordinary detective skill is required to put the guilt 

 just where it belongs, and the simplest way to go about the 

 suppi'ession of the traffic would be the arrest and prosecution 

 of every baggage master, brakesman, news agent and stoker 

 on the Long Island Railroad in whose possession flie birds 

 might be found. 



This appears to us to be the simplest and most promising 

 mode of procedure. When once the trade of the railroad 

 employees is stopped, the trapper will find a poor market for 

 his bii'ds and little encouragement to pursue his practices. 

 The efforts ui the game associations ought to receive the cor- 

 dial support of the Long Island Railroad managers, who owe 

 it to their sportsmen patrons to stop the contemptible work 

 of their employees. The ordinary rules of business ought to 

 teach them that the patronage of the passengers who go over 

 their road to and from the shooting districts is much more to 

 them than the revenue accruing to their brakesmen and bag- 

 gage masters from their services as go-lietweens for trappers 

 and dealers. A general order from headquarters respecting 

 this su'oject would be appreciated by the public. We are 

 confident that if a committee of the Long Island Sportsmen's 

 Association should confer with the railroad managers they 

 would find the latter ready to further their endeavors to pre- 

 vent the extei-mination of the game birds of Long Island. 



Hatohisg Floating Eggs. - We publish in another place 

 a figure and description of a new hatching appai-atus invented 

 by Col. M. McDonald, Assistant to the L". S. Fish Commis- 

 sion and Fish Commissioner of Virginia. It is not patented, 

 and is generously given to the fish culturists to use, if it so 

 pleases them. An examination of it will show that it is on 

 the principle of the conical hatchers, but reversed, the eggs of 

 the cod having as strong a tendency to rise as those of the shad 

 have to sink ; and though there are several forms of apparatus 

 which hatch cod eggs tolerably well, there was need of a 

 better one, and certainly this new device of Col. McDonald's 

 looked fair and worked well with beeswax imitations of eggs, 

 which are about the specific gravity of codfish eggs. It may 

 be that this is destined to work the same revolution in hatch- 



