THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN^S JOURNAL. 



[Eatered According to Act of Congress, la the year ISTS, hy tlie Forest awl Scream Publishing Company, to the Ofllce of the Librarian of Congress, at W'ashlnglon.] 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1880. U..39a"„'iW.^r'tili„,Ne 



CONTENTS. 



Ii. : : : . lui the SouUi : A Troposition to Gen- 



Jrii . rkc Death Trap ou Shinuecoclc Bay : 



'I - _ ]>j-d Xofes : Defiance of Law in New 



i .; ii „^ 1 r Free Distribution 323 



KTSMAN TOUKIST : — 



J li Xotes fi-om the Woods ; Game aud Fish About Den- 

 I ] : The St. Kegis River Region i Chilcat and Chileoot.. . . 325 



jTi,u. Histoet:— 



i Waterfowl ; Tbo National Aoadfemyof Science; fersis- 

 l House Wreus ; Instinct of Eels 327 



r I Rtvek Pishiso ; — 



1 riine Fislifng In Tennessee; Fishing for Count : Tho 

 .;uge.-t T?utog ; Those Kangeley Trout Spawn ; Fishing 

 S-'ur Xiv Orleans 328 



< ULXBBE :— 

 T,obatei-8 Are Scarce ; Maine Sardine* 329 



nth Carolina Quail Shooting ; South' 

 r'liib Ijoug Island Trapped Birds 



Stiai Jvutch trom Philadel 



H « It Ih Elsfwheie Ex- 



IflM^ m Mune Game m 



Vil iiiHi^ Dftioit \ New 



«uu„ nlthe, 329 



■a! Hancock's " Turk ;'' Mr. Fuller's '• Bex ;" The Na- 

 ;:;1 Field THals : Eastern Field Trials : TheSetter ; Field 

 nUInlesi: Kennel Notes ; 332 



TM for Hiuitiug ; liangc aud Gallery 335 



SG AND Canoeikb :— 



Anthracite Fiasco ; Miniature Yachting ; Arrow to 

 iidward : American Canoe Asspojation: Yachting News.. 336 



.- 337 



■ftTBLIBITEBS' JUETABTSrE' 



<T 



: 338 



froREST 



AND 



STREAM. 



fcNEW TOIiK, THURSDAY, 



NOVEMBER 35, 1880. 



tftlu ,,, 



"ii ivill till- nttenf ion of your friends 

 -Ii STi;EAAf, Welhrni UlmpTty 

 :!-i- paptr ti> anil luJclffK.ir-H fjiirji 



be sent u-sfnr iliKil;j>ijrpo 



Wngo to press this week on Tuesday, instead of Wednesday 

 I uwal, and many comimmications which would otherwise 

 feve appeared in tliis number arc necessarily defended a week. 



I PmiiifG Fi.^H. — "\Yhile on a Asking excursion recently we 

 rouffht m a string of black bass Avhich looked so nice and 



6Sh Miat all at the conntrr hotel \vlierL' we stopped thought 

 musi, all have iiecn rauglit on tiie last day, for they 

 bew we h;id been in camp three days. Wlien told the fish 

 cpre "pitJied" as soon as caught they seemed no [wiser than 

 Ifore, and so it occmTcd to us that many other readers of 

 fonEPT Axn SxKAir may not know the word. Take down 

 W "iiiinbiidiici! ' and you will find that pithing is the act 

 f severinL^ tiie s]Vnnil marrow, usually next the head, and it 

 )ably is so called liecause it euts the pith, or marrow, 

 operation renders a fisli, or any other animal, senseless 

 mediately, bleeds tliem somewhat and keeps them from 

 ising themselves while dying in the ordinnry manner by 

 Iphyxifl, or drowning in the air, whereby I lie cills become 

 f and the Wood clots. All fish should be either bled in the 

 8 or pithed as soon as caiiglit ; tliey look better, keep bet- 

 it and do not suffer. 



jSioK FEOM THE SotiiH. — Mx. S. T. Haumiond, whose dc- 

 a for the South we announced in our issue of October 

 \ has returned with all hisdogs except Thistle. She whelped 

 nt ten days since and was left for the present in Virginia. 

 fe. Hammond lias been in Virginia and Maryland and re- 

 3 birds fairly plenty. He is well pleased with the way in 

 ilch all the dogs acquitted themselves, although the time 

 lat he has had them is hut short to fit them for the trials. 

 "We shall expect to see them at Robins' Island neirt week. 



A PROPOSITION TO GENTLEMEN 

 SPORTSMEN. 



East Koc.KAW'Ay, Queens Comity, L. I. 

 Editor Foresl and. Slream : 



I noticed iu last week's edition of your paper a communication 

 with editorial comments ou the trapping of game on Long Island. 

 The idea of your con-espondent and your coninieiitB are but in con- 

 sonance with tlie eueroachnieuts which are constantly being made 

 niion the liberties of the ]jeople by the wealthier classes. The law 

 forbidding the trapping of game on Long Inland is, or ought to be, 

 unconstitutional. The farmer, upon whose land the game is found, 

 and upon whose crops it has lired, is virtually the owner of it, and 

 if his children want to ti'ap it there is no equit.able objection to 

 their doing so. By what right does that unmitigated nuisanco— 

 the "real sportsman " (?) — trespass upon om' land, tlrrow down 

 om- fences, wound our cattle and kill game whicli we have grown, 

 which has fattened upon our crops? The law and the complaints 

 of yoiu- correspondent have induced the farmers in this vicinity to 

 club together and put up the required legal notice forbidding all 

 tres])aBBing, and it yom' correspondent or any otlier "real sports- 

 man" (?) is caught shooting in this vicinity, he will have a bill of 

 damages and costs to pay. We have determined that, if our boys 

 cannot trap our own game, aristocratic ('.'i tresposserB shall not 

 shoot it, aud woe unto any man who disregards om- notice. 



I. H. GRWriTU. 



THE letter Which we have placed at the head of this col- 

 rmm is certainly frank and outspoken. The writer 

 does not mince matlci;s. He (iairas to he a farmer and to 

 represent tlic feelings of Ids fellow farmers of East Rock- 

 away. We know that the views expressed are those held by 

 other land owners on Long Island, in other parts of the 

 State, and in other States of the Union. 



It is most impcirlant in tiiis discussion nf tho game laws 

 which refer to tlie game on landed estates, that wo should 

 have a clear apjireciation of how .such laws ;.rc rcfrnrded by 

 a class who are so directly interested — namely, the fanners. 

 We believe that Mr. Griflith's letter fairly expresses lUe ai li- 

 tude of thousands of farmers toward tlie gmmers who shoot 

 over their lands. It therefore desei ves fair and candid con- 

 sideration. This we are pre]3ared to give to it. 



We do not jwoiiosc to waste our time 1)\^ attempting to prove 

 to Mr. Griffltli, and to those who share his opinions, tiiatthe 

 game which he claims to ijc his belongs to the Stale, tliat the 

 State has then the right to prescrilse the cundiliyns of its cap- 

 ture, and that the law against trapping tliiTeforc ougiil to lie, 

 and is, constitutional ,- nor shall we attempt to explain to iiim 

 the exterminating effects of the practice of snaring game birds. 

 All this Iieing pi'oveu even to their own satisfaction would 

 not, we opine, change the attitude toward spoilsmen now 

 maintained by many farmers, nor would the end sought, which 

 is the due protection of game, for all our logic, be any nearer 

 of attainment. Indeed, for the time being, we arc willing to 

 grant to the farmer all that he claims in tliis matter : accede 

 to his proposition that the bb-ds on his land belong to him ; 

 and even acK)i'i\sliMi.< ihai he may do with them as he 

 pleases. For v\c sliall tij to shi,w to him a wiser disposition 

 than that of sniimgliiig th"m with broken noclw to the bag- 

 gage-unistci and ranrketmau. 



it happened that this letter came to Us only after that part 

 of the present a nil li , -^slii' !i follows this paragraph, was writ- 

 ten for to-day's i^snc of F"i:kst and Stbeam. It is an ad- 

 mirable indorsement oj what we had written. A fiuther 

 consideration of it must be deferred to- a futm-e number, 

 when, in accordance with our ' previously determined plan, 

 we shall ailiii. - 'i i i i diiectly upon this subject. Our 

 proposition ii i a-n sportsmen. 



Tlipprovi-i 11 1 1 uingand liapping game birds is 



eminently wise aud proper, but outside of certain restricted 

 territories which arc leased and protected by game societies 

 the law is practically a dead letter ; so much so that the traf- 

 fic in trapped liirds is conducted without conceahnent. and 

 game dealer.s in New York openly advertise for trapped birds 

 and openly sell them. 



The law is not respected by tlie farmere, who have it entire- 

 ly within their power, if they will, to pi'cvent the Betting of 

 snares and traps on their lands. 



They do not regard tnc law because it is not to their in- 

 terest to do so. Public opinion in farming communities does 

 not sanction the law. Its enforcement is regai-ded by land 

 owners as an infringement of tlieir rights and of the rights of 

 tlieir children. 



The only way by which this law can be made anjlhing 



more than a dead letter is by enlisting the interest of the 

 farmer iu seeming protection for the birds. The policy to 

 be piusued is that which has been repeatedly indicated in this 

 jom-nal. We cannot better outline it than bj- reproducing 

 here \\hat we have said before, and we accordingly repeat 

 from the Fouest ksd Stkeam of :viarch 11, 1880 :— 



Omitting at present the di.scussiou and even the mention 

 of ail other means, there is one precaution and protection, 

 which of itself alone would suffice abundantly to enforce 

 thoroughly all the game laws, and in fact go far beyond the 

 scope of tho laws— namely, such a uniform system and 

 policj- on the part of all sportsmen as will give all the land- 

 owners a warm and steady interest in raising aud .sheltering 

 and defending all the broods of young birds on their farms. 

 If all the farmers on the Island were one and warmly one in 

 this matter the work would be done up thoroughly, for they 

 are lords of the land. 



' ' In very mauj' instances, as matters now stand, farmers 

 and gimners are not friends in these matters, aud have uo 

 intej-est to befriend each other. Without going closely into 

 ptu-ticulars — which in fact is not necessary — the fact is that 

 there are gunners who arc brutes aud -v,'\\d beasts when their 

 gunnijig fever is at the height, and who, like so many Malays 

 running a-muck, will recklessly trample down crops in a 

 ten-mile walk, damage and exasperate tho farmers all the 

 way ; perhaps if accosted, and that in a proper way, insult- 

 ing or datnning the farmer : or, to the disquiet or alarm of his 

 wife and daughters, shooting into his doves, possibly while 

 the doves arc near the house or on tke home lot or on the 

 barn roof. Such gunners come out from the cities every 

 year and are a disgrace, and worse yet, a, great injmy to all ' 

 the real gentlemen who like now aud then to handle a gun in 

 the right way and time. One is an offender and the next 

 ten arc lilamod and hated on account of this onc.^ 



"Lot all the fanners and their sons and hired men find that 

 it pays them to protect !)irds and they will do it and satisfy all 

 parties. Thegumiers are willing to pay for their sport more 

 than the pittance of ten cents a quail, which a sly and slino-y 

 baggage-master hands out secretly to the trapper. The dime 

 is a bigger coin to the hard-handed farmers boy, scanted of 

 spending money, than a quaater is to many a sport.sman. Let 

 all parties understand each other and tho birds will be left 

 undisturbed and will be carefully protected till the honoi'- 

 able guimers come for the sport at the appointed time and 

 pay for the sport that is then and thus guaranteed them on 

 goodgroimds, soiuething as in the old cormtry, but in the 

 right way for American citi/c-us. The pi'aetical details ought 

 not to be at all difficult to arrange in most i)arts of the Island, 

 nor in otlior sections of the country. But if .<!ome farmers 

 are dogs in the manger — do not sliool nor let others shoot on 

 their farms— all the better, for there will be safe harbors, 

 secure game presewes, where the birds will come up to full 

 .strength, and from which they will lake wing, to be shot else- 

 where or to proci'i-ili: another generation. 



"If the gunner would always pay for the birds he sliools, 

 and if he shoots only what can be properiy used, the farmers 

 of the Island and the State and the L'nion in a vast majority 

 of cases woidd welcome such gentlemanly gmmers and per- 

 haps be proud to rank among them as warm friends of fair 

 and laAvful sport. 



"These two points, upon which we cannot too strongly 

 insist, arc of vital interest to many thousands of men whose 

 interests in the matter are really identical in tho long ma, 

 if only regarded in the proper light. But if the farmers are 

 expected to protect and support and favor quail aud meadow 

 larks in order to let mischievous or butchering gmmers kill 

 ninety-flve out of every hundred, witiiout thanks or pay, 

 and perhaps with serious damage to crops, temper and coiji- 

 fort, the sport is rather too one-sided. Rather let mutual ar- 

 rangements be made to equalize it and to harmonize ii, al! 

 round.'' 



Only by adopting such a policy as we have outlined can 

 gentlemen sportsmen hope to preserve from extermination 

 the game of Long Island and of other sections of the coimtry. 

 We commend to game societies and to individuals a considera- 

 tion of this view of the ca.se. 



The FoKEST AST) SxEBAii does not stop with a reiteration 

 of the general recommendations here given. It is prepared 

 to go further, and for the benefit of its readers attempt to 

 put this into actual practice by arranging the details and 



