THE AMERICAN 



SPORTSMAN^S 



JOURNAL. 



[Entei-Rtl Aocorain? to Act. ot Congriss, in tlie year ISTS, l).r the Forest and Stream Puftlisalng Company, In tue omce of t!ie Lltirarlan o[ Congi'ess, at WasMngton.] 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, I880. 



CONTENTS. 



Editokial :— 

 Adirondack Fkos ; A Gigantic Fish Trap ; The Coniploto 

 Angler : Preaei-ved Game Grounds ; Our Fieid Trial Re- 

 ports ; How He Is Mistaken 313 



The Spoetsma:* Toumst :— 



A West Virginia Fox Chase ; In the Canadian Wilds ; In a 



Country House Librarj' 341 



NatobaI/ History : — 



Our Waterfowl ; Something About Squirrels ; A Siek Orang. 315 

 Sea and Eiveb Fishing : — 

 Fishing on the St. Lawi-ouce : Spawn Fishing at Bangeley 

 On :e More ; Fisho,' Names Get Mixed ; The Catfish ; The 



Muscalonge ; A Fish I'arasite , 310 



Fish Cdt.tuke :— 

 The Central Fishctiltuiiil Socjety ; Another Attack on a 

 Game Protector : Fish Pirates ; Chinese Poachers ; Cn- 



ilBual Bass , 317 



Game Bag and OtN :— 



Our Philadolphis Lettei Eflicicnt Methods of Game Pro 

 teetion : Roughing it imr ng the Ducks Girae and Fibh 

 Chat ; A Proposed CI ih Gionhi Quail and Deer The 

 Waste of Waterfowl ; IT a\', 1 uds ^ot< i fiom the Game 

 Grounds ; Shooting Matohoh 317 



Old Tune Practical .Jokes 355 



The Kesnel :— 

 The Eastern Field Tiials , Thp National Field Trials, 

 "Couiiles" on Field TiialEulos Tb F i 1 h " t^m In- 

 stmct or Reason ; What is i ( i I i w dj 



for Mange ; Kennel Notes Iv nm 1 1 irent 



Dog Stories 350 



Thk RirLE : — 



Range and Gallery ; Hiuiting RiHos 355 



Yachting asd Canoeing : — 

 Right as Far as He Goes ; Measurement ; Tachb'ng News ; 



Canoeing : Unsinkahlc Canoes 356 



Answeks to Correspondents 357 



POBLISHEHS' DliPARTMENT 368 



A GIGANTIC FISH TRAP. 



WE have seen a circular headed " The Long Island Fish 

 Company," which is now being circulated. It states 

 lliat the company has been organized tmder the laws of tlia 

 [-rate of lScw Yorlv '-for the purpose of leasing and owming 

 siiil;il)lc locntioiia for the erection of weirs, and erecting weirs 

 or pounds (sometimes called traps) at such locations, and 

 catching and selling all kiiid-s of fish, and rendering fish for 

 the oil and for fertilizers." 



We also learn tliat the conipaiiy lins become the (5wner of a 

 tract of land at Napeacue beach, Dear tlie eastern end of Long 

 Island and a few miles west of :;\Ioiitauk Point. Here Ihey 

 propose to put out a monster trap ; and as one built iu the or- 

 dinary manner with poles would not stand a week on this 

 stiiight line of the Vtlintic beich^ hich issofrecpK ntly storm- 

 sweptthe^ propusi to put down iron piles ifti i tin manner of 

 the ocean puis at Lorn, Bi mcli ind f onr^ Islmd They have 

 chosen i plifc wheic the i«hnd is onlj hdt i mile wide; 

 Napeague Bi\, an indent ition m G iidmri sBa} , lieingon the 

 othei side wheif thtu vessels can load foi Sag Harbor and 

 wheie th(u fictoiif md ice houses can be huilt There is 

 no qucstioii about toe million'^ of tisli to 1 e captuied there, as 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1880. 



*,* The FOKEST Asn Srr.EAM goes to press WcdiMidaps, 

 OorfetpoivdenU are rcf/iu'nted to vwU tliar coinmHw'catio-m so 

 that tlwy niay rmch -us before that day. 



It is our conviction that any man who will shoot on Sun- 

 day in New Jersey will break any and every other provision 

 of the game laws. 



«— .♦< — ■ 



Things have come to a pretty pass wlien the 35c. and 50c. 

 pools on the dogs at field trials are telegraphed over thelaud. 

 This boys'-play gambling is ridiculous, but if we are to tm-u 

 the field into a race track, with all the accessories, we might 

 better stop now. 



1 1 -mil J-'t 

 I his lout 



vcisf the beach (oi mg fiom the East 



JiimiKOfkri} md rni Isl md, as well 



l]i e istw ud to loiiud ilnnt ink and enter 



uicbiys or to entci Lon.^ Island Sound, 



and the fisheimen often make enormous 



TriBBB is at least one game protective society in this coun- 

 try which has succeeded in doing what it started out to do. 

 Some of its methods are explained elsewhere. We commend 

 !l study of them and of their results. 



Adikondaok FiKEB.— Many destructive forest conflagra- 

 tions have resulted from the carelessness of Adirondack vis- 

 iters who, upon abandoning camp, have left their fires bnrn- 

 iiv There is at pi-esent no provision of the statute which 

 touches this point, and we hope that those who are now 

 amending the game laws wnll see to it that a clause is intro- 

 duced, which shall oblige all parties to carefully extinguish 

 their fires before leaviuL; camp. It should also bo forbidden 

 under severe poiKiUies to letivo any offal near a spring or 

 brook, this practice iiu-virably driving away the game. 



As the parties wdio commit these aliuses are generally 

 known, it would not be a difficult raaftcr (r, ap|iicliend them 

 were there something in the law to cover the CHse. 



'J'uE Complete Angi-eu.— We have received a cojiy of a 

 new a.ldilion of "The Complete Angler; or, The Contempla- 

 tive Man's Kecrealion," by Izaak Walton, and "' Insfruclious 

 Mow to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream," by 

 t'harles Cotlon— with copious notes, for the most part origi- 

 nal, a bibliographical preface and a notice of Cotton and his 

 writings by the American editor Geo. W. Bethime, D. I). 

 New edition, with some additions and conections from the 

 editor's own copy. Two volumes in one, published by John 

 Wiley & Sons, Kew York. A large octaVo of G02 pages 

 printed on good paper in eleai- type and beautifully ilhislrat- 

 ed. We will review this important addition lo American 

 angling literature in a future article. 



dl tb 



sed 1 1 



as ♦h 



Gndmc 



tiaveist 



hauls there wh< n Iho wcathti peimits Here too, they come 



nearei the shore th m tt anj othei point toi there are no 



sand bars outside the beach to force them out for deeper 



water. 



This monstrous affair will fish night and day the year 

 roimd, and take fish which should be allowed to fill their mis- 

 sion of spawning. They say " a weir is fishing night and 

 day and not only catches the schools of fish accidentaDy seen 

 from the shore or from the deck of a fishing smack, but catches 

 everything that comes along, and schools of fish not apparent 

 from the surface." 



The weir is lo run 000 to 700 feet into the ocean, into 

 thirty feet of water, and with this they suggest that persons 

 taking stock may receive a great return, say .iii1,000 per annum 

 for every .f 100 invested, and assert that " witli the iron weir 

 more menhaden can be cauglit thtin the v/liole fleet of boats 

 can catch. We h.ave no opinion to oiler as to these statements, 

 being content, for the present, to present the facts as they ap- 

 pear. We do not hesitate to say, in this connection, that all 

 fish seeking our shores to spawn should be allowed to do so, 

 and that the Menhaden Association arc killing their goose by 

 allowing the fish to be taken for manure when they come to 

 spawn and are worthless for oil. 



An article in the New York World describes the trap as 

 follows : "The weir will be an iron pier ten feet wide, with 

 bents or sections twenty feet long. It will run out 700 feet, 

 with thirty feet of water. At the outer end will be the heart- 

 shaped pound, the large end of the heart in-shore. This 

 heart is about seventy feci across and outside of it is a box 

 of iron piles and netting idiom seventy-five feet sciuare. The 

 flsb striking the pier netting will run out seaward to theheart 

 and, ptissing out at the lower end, will find themselves in the 

 outer receptacle. In the sections ot the iron weir storage for 

 thousands of tons of fish can be provided, where they will 

 keep alive in their native element for a month or longer, and 

 need not 1)c lirought to market when the price is low." 



The (ifilcpil this comptiny is 71 Broadway, New York. 

 Mr. licvliert M. Itogers appearsas president and Mr. Herbert 

 C. Plass as secretary and treasurer. 



PRESERVED GAME GROUNDS. 



OUR proposal last week, that those of onr readers who 

 would bo willing to make a fair remuneration to far- 

 mers for the privilege of shooting over their lauds should 

 send their names to us, has met with the response it deserved, 

 and we are encouraged to again bring the matter before the 

 gentlemen sportsmen who read the Forest and StuEjUI. As 

 the general plan of the work which we have undertaken vfas 

 fully set forth in our last issue we may hero repeat : 



The Forest asd Stbeam does not stop with a reiteration 

 of the general recommendations here given. 



We propose the fair trial of a carefully raatiu-ed scheme, 

 o"f which the general purposes are : 



1. The protection of game birds by farmer and landowmer 

 for the benefit of the gentleman sportsman. 



2. A fair remuneration of the farmer by the sportsman loi 

 privileges granted. 



3. Putting the two interested parties into direct eonmnihi- 

 cation with each other. 



4. A discrimination between gentlemen and rowdies, and 

 the protection of the fai-mer and the gentleman Hpnrtsmiui 

 alike from the direct and indirect injtrry of lawless giumera. 



5. The uncompromising enforeomeut of the law agtiuisl 

 netting and suarhig— not in the interest of tlie litiortsman as 

 against that of the farmer; but for tlie mutual lioneflt of 

 both. 



8. The united efforts of farmers and sportsmen to duly pro- 

 tect and replenish the supply of game. 



To put into tangi'ole shape such a scheme as this, wa must 

 at the outset receive the endorsement and co-operation of tha 

 sportsmen who are interested. If we have not mistaken, we 

 shall receive this ; and without finther preliminaries, we nov\r 

 call upon such of om- readers as approve of the plan, and are 

 willing to join us in it, to send their names and addresses to 

 this office. We invite correspondence on the subject. 



We publish elsewhere some correspondence on the subject, 

 and have received other letters, which will appear next weak. 



HOW HE IS MISTAKEN. 



AN old time friend and correspondent of the Poeest asd 

 Sthkam sends us some articles with this remark : 



If you thinl: a.-i I do von will nee the necessity of having fine arti- 

 clea on the closing of the year so as to induce old subseribera to 

 reuew and now ones to subscribe. 



We know that our friend means well, but he is mistaken. 

 We do want fine articles at the closing of the year ; but we 

 want equally fine letters and sketches at all other seasons. 

 The cnn-ent numbers of the Forest and Stream are audi as 

 ought to induce old subscribers to renew and ncv.- ones to 

 subscribe, but casual readers may rest assured thai these num- 

 bers are not exceptionable in merit. We mean to make a 

 good paper for twelve months, and fifty-two weeks in the 

 year. We hold out no iuducouients to sabsoribors at this 

 iiaie that we do not also strive to hold out all the year 

 around. We are trying to conduct the Forest and Stream 

 in such a way that il may be depended upon every week for 

 a supply of tiio best sportsman's literature published in tlie 

 world. This effort is not sporadic nor confined to occa-sions. 



Eastern Field Tp.iax Gossip. — We shall now have a 

 chance to see the Eastern and Western dogs work together. 

 Mr. S. T. Hammond, ofSprmgfield, Mass., has a lot of good 

 ones in hand, and Jlr. C. B. Whitford is at the Eastern Field 

 Trials Meeting with Gladstone and Peep o' Day. 



Mr. A. H. Moore's kennel is at New SuUolk iu charge of 

 Mr. E. S. Wannamaker as handler, Mr. S. T. Hammond is 

 there with Afton, Sensation, Battler and Bob ; Mr. John C. 

 Higgins, of Delaware City, Del., is on hand with some of 

 his fine dfjgs. Dr. S. Fleet Speir's kennel is in charge of 

 Jefferson Cooper. Mr. Godeffroy's entries for the trials, 

 among them Croxteth, are in charge of J. E. I. Granger. 

 Baasf ord, of Weschester County, is also there with good dogs. 



OUR FIELD TRIAL REPORTS. 



OUR reports of the National American Field Trials Meet- 

 ing, which gave fidl telegraphic accounts of the running 

 up to the day of going to press, were a step in advance of 

 any similar work done by any weekly paper in this country. 

 It is certainly a new thing for the readersri -■ •• ,: ning" 

 paper to have the news of current events r^i-iiiic i! i liom 

 so freeh as was the case in tnis instance, and tt^ i; ^. ;;ui.o to- 

 day in our reports of the Eastern Field Trials iMeeting. 



Great credit is due to our representative in the field for 

 the carefid and accurate account which Ijf '. luu- 



ning, and we have no doubt that our n ;- uns 



of the country will appreciate the efforts (■!:: King 



to give them the very fullest and latest news on all current 

 events. 



The full news of the nmniugs of the National Trials was 

 published at least eight days in advance of any other paper 

 in the United States, and came to the readers of Fokest 

 AND Bteeam 80 much aliead of the general public. 



