486 



FOKEST AND STREAM. 



[Jaitoabt 20, 1881, 



a family of ymrog squirrels in the proper season, and that 

 family was popularly believed to consist of from three to 

 five gray ones and one black one. I do not knovr that this 

 ■was the universal rule, although so recognized, hut I do know 

 that such was a very common fact, my knowledge being 

 gained by watching the daily gambols of families of young 

 squirrels whose houses were in sight of my father's door. 

 Such were frequently caught for pets, several gray and one 

 blaclt lioing taken from the same nest. P^xcept tn color they 

 were apparenlly the same in si/.e, weight and action. Adult 

 squirrels in tlie woods were in the proportion of one black to 

 four or five gray. B. 



A Palb Dotb.— a correspondent, I. H. J., of Macon, 

 Ga., sends «s a specimen for identification. He says: "I 

 send you by mail the alun of a dove kUled fifteen miles from 

 our city, a rara avii, for oiu- section. I had made an effort to 

 mount it, but secured it too late to preserve it. There was 

 another Ijitd killed near here almost entirely white, except a 

 little portion of the wings, whica were of the natural dove 

 color. "Will you please inform me as to their identity? " 



The skin is that of a turtle dove {Zenmlnra caroUnensi^\ 

 It is, however, very pale in color, being of a delicate light 

 toown, paler toward the extremity of tail aitd wings — ^in a 

 bleached epecimen, which might be called a partial albino. 



WtNTEE Birds— iWajrarrt, Jan. 7, 1881. — ^Day before 

 yestei'diiy T saw the first robin of the season. The poor little 

 felli.)W is very L-arly or very late. I saw him in the church- 

 y.ard (unong the pine trees. About a mile from here on a 

 friend's farm there has been a meadow lark for the last two 

 weeks. Just before Christmas a young friend told nie he 

 saw three cow birds. The coldest weather we have here was 

 eight below zero. JNiagaka. 



Weisht of Blaok-Tailbd (Mulb) Dbbe. — Toward the 

 close of a favorable season, in August to October, when deer 

 are at their best and the fat on a buck's rump is from an inch 

 to au inch and a half thick, it is not rare to find them weigh- 

 ing, gross, from 250 to 300 pounds. An occasional one imiy 

 pull down 11 few more pounds than the highest figure named, 

 hut, I think, never more than 325. They are not so large in 

 New Mexico as further North. (By the way, I do not like 

 the iiatuo ''mule deer.") B. 



Early (?) Kingfisher— JffoTOc^tea&j N. Y., Jan. 10.— I 

 saw yesterday p. m., January 9, a kingfisher (Oeryle alcyon). 

 This is the latest or the earliest I have observed them in this 

 counly. There is no open water on the river except where 

 the current is very swift, i should think fishing with the 

 " temperatiu'e ten and twenty degrees below zero would be 

 railier discouraging. J. Otis Pbllowb. 



SPfgultare, 



THE CENTRAL FISHCULTURAL SOCIETY. 



rOONTlKUKD.! 



"|\ yirR SETAW: "This writer whOjjudgingfromhisargument, 

 -LV-L is a mill owner, states the whole case for the opponent^ 

 of fishways and gives in lull what he thinks to be the gi-iev- 

 ances to which dam owners are subjected by the fishway 

 law, and being a good argument from his point of view, it 

 deserves a careful and a candid consideration from the 

 public. 



He says first: "lam a citizen of the United States and 

 desirous of showing willing obedience to the laws thereof. I 

 derived my tide from the United Stales Government, clear 

 of any and all encumbrance, without any reservation of 

 erecting or upholding fishways for the benefit of other par- 

 ties," and claims protection from any law that will hamper, 

 endanger or depreciate the value of his property, witbout 

 payment in full for all damages sustained. 



To his argument 1 made the following reply : 



The writer overlooks the fact that he is but one of several 

 hundred ihat have obtained ti.'les exactly alike from the Gen- 

 eral Government to the banks of the Wapsipinicon River, 

 and tliat )j_\' making the river impassable fir fish he has been 

 depreciating tlie value of their property, thereby doing indi- 

 vidually to all those parties just what he now complains the 

 State should not do to him. 



We hold these principles to be well settled by usages and 

 decisions so many that" we find it impossible in a short arti- 

 cle to quote but avery f e w of Ihem : 



1. In any grant from the public to individuals, any privi- 

 lege which is not expressly granted is withheld. 



3. A river is a public way. 



3. The right to the water and fish in a strpam is a joint 

 one to ail the owners, and must be so used by each as not to 

 unreasonably interfere with the rights of others. 



4. The passage of fish in a river is a public right. 



5. The Legislature has the right to make such laws as will 

 protect the public from injury by an improper use of any of 

 these public rights. 



To partially prove the correctness of these positions we 

 will submit a few decisions. 



" Every owner of a dam holds it on condition or limita- 

 tion that a sulBcient and reasonable passage way shall be al- 

 lowed for fish. This limitation, being for the benefit of the 

 public, is not extinguished by any inattention or neglect in 

 compelling the owner to comply with it." (Stoughton v. 

 Baker, 4 \ ass., 538.) 



In that case there was neglect to build a fishway from 1634 

 to 1789 ; but it was held that the duty continued. 



" The preservation of fisheries is for the benefit of the 

 public. The right to have the fish pas.s up the river is a pub- 

 lic right. The right to catch the fish is in the owners of the 

 soil ; but the rigid to have the fish there, so that they can be 

 caiis^ht. i.s a put)lic light." (Commonwealth v. Essex Co., 13 

 Gray, 2-17.) 



"The giant of privileges and e.vemptions to a corporation 

 is strictly construed against the corporation, and in favor of 

 the public. Nothing passes but what is granted in clear and 

 explicit terms." (Ohio Life Ins, Co. v. Debolt, 16 Howard, 

 485.) 



"Ownership of the banks and bed of a stream gives to the 

 proprietor the exclusive right of fishery opposi e his land, as 

 well as the right to use the water to create power to operate 

 mills ; but neither the one nor the other, nor both combined, 

 confer any right to erect obstructions in a stream to prevent 

 the free passage of fish up and down the river at their accus- 



tomed seasons, as such obstructions would impair and ulti- 

 mately destroy all such rights owned by other proprietors 

 both above aod below the obstruction nu such stream. 



"Such water-power is everywhere regarded as public 

 right, andflshciies, even in waters not navigable, are so far 

 public rights that the Legislature may ordain and establish 

 regulations to prevent obstructions to the passage of fish, and 

 to promote the usual and uninterrupted enjocment of the 

 right by riparian owners." (^Commissioners v. Holyoke 

 Watcr-Power Co., Supreme Court of United States, Decem- 

 ber Term, 1872.) 



This Holyoke case is the most noted that has ever been de- 

 termined in this country, and was especially favorable to ihe 

 dam owners, as a moment's glance at what was claimed by 

 the defendants will show. 



ll was claimed for them, as has been claimed by our corre- 

 spondent, that they had a good title from the Government, 

 and so were entitled to use their property as they saw fit. 



It was claim d that they had used the water-power, as they 

 were using it, for a long period of time, and so had obtained 

 the right to n.sc it liy statute of limitation. 



It was claimed that they had expended $2,000,000 in im- 

 proving theii- power, and so it was against public policy to 

 compel them to put in a fishway. Also, that they had paid 

 owners of fishing or riparian rights above their dam .f 20,000 

 for those rights and that that fact should relieve them. 



But more especially it was claimed that they had a special 

 charter permitting them to build just such a dam as they had 

 built from the State Legislature. 



We have not time or spaci' to go over this case, but will 

 simply say that all that was claimed for the defense was 

 proved or admitted : that it was argued l:>y eminent coimsci, 

 both before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts and the Su- 

 preme Court t f the United Stntes ; lliat on August 81, 1872, 

 the Supreme Court of Massachusetts entered a decree against 

 the defendants, conipellinL;; I lieni to put in a fishway; that 

 upon appeal to the S:i|iiniiir Court of the United Bta'tes the 

 decree was aflirmed ii( the Deci;inbor term, 1872, and that the 

 owners were conip. lied to put in a fishway. We could cite 

 dozens of decisions bearing ui> n the question and in all our 

 reading know of no one decision that h.is not b irne in the 

 same direction. So we consider ihe question virtually settled, 

 so far as the com-ts ai'e coiicerned. 



The Judiciary Committee of the House and Senate of the 

 Seventeenth General Assembly of Iowa, composed of the best 

 of legal talent, so determined and reported, after a full inves- 

 tigation, when this law was before them for their action. 



Outside of this question of law, there is one of right or 

 "justice." Originally all the pm-chasers of property along a 

 stream pay th same price for their lauds. Pish were abun- 

 dant along the streams and are the property of the joint o^vn- 

 ers. One man builds a dam that cflecl ually stops the pa-ssage 

 of fish ; but as they are plenty, no one objects. The mill 

 power brings weahh to the owner, unlillie boasts of its value. 

 The dam briuss barrenness of fish to the stream, until the 

 mill-owner, scrning the little that is left, says: "I would 

 give considerable money if there were not a fish in our river." 

 Now those who have suffered these losses ask those who 

 have assumed to own all there was of value along iJje river, 

 and in so doing nearly deslmyed their neighbors' rights, to so 

 use the privileges they are enjoying as to permit the fish to 

 pass up the streams through the waste water that flows over 

 their dam , in order not to entirely annihilate the fish- know- 

 ing full well that what they ask will only partially restore to 

 llicm their rights, but being willing to suffer this much rather 

 than to injure in the least the water-powers that furnish the 

 motive power for au industry which isfuUyand justly appre- 

 ciated. 



The fair discussion of this question would occupy more 

 space than we have at ou' command, but we think that what 

 we have said covers the case fully, where the builders own 

 Ihe land wholly upon which their dams are built. But, it 

 might be added, in meandered streams, like the Wapsipini- 

 con, a portion of the land upon which the dams are built — 

 that is, the bed of the stream — has never been bought or sold 

 and belongs as justly to the poorest person in these United 

 States as to the parties who assume to own the dams that are 

 upon them ; and there is no question, as a matter of fact, but 

 that an action for their entire removal could be sustained in 

 the proper courts if sufficient cause were shown for so doing. 

 What we have witteu is in the kiiidliest of f,_>tlinff towaixl 

 mill-owners, but is what we believe to be the facts and the 

 law in the case and what is being demanded by the masses of 

 our people at the hands of owners of dams. 



The Fish Commissioner claims to have made plans of fish- 

 ways, as far as he was able, so that they shall not interfere 

 with the water-powers (as they only use ihe waste water), 

 and thai, in his .. opinion, lliey will add strength to the dam, 

 whde they are as cheap as dm-abihtv and efiTciency will per- 

 Biit. B. P, Shaw. 



long, and it is thought that they liave already spawned, as 

 the ])0nd8 and pools where they were placed are now full of 

 young fry, unknown before the carp were placed in them." 

 He also mentions that "the United Slates Conunission, 

 through Prof. Baird, and without any expense to the State 

 whatever, deposited in Texas streams, up to July 4, 1875, 

 425,000 yoimg shad and 194,000 young California s'almon." 



A calculation is made of the water surface of the lakes 

 and rivers, which gives a total of 1G6 square miles, or 106,- 

 561 acres, which it is claimed would swell to 300,000 if the 

 smaller ponds and lakes were added in. The list of Pish 

 Commission! rs of the diJTerent States is published and credit- 

 ed toPoKEST AND Stukam, where Ihe list is revised annua'ly. 

 .After writing his report the Commissioner received 7,650 

 more carp from Prof. Baird through Mr. Ellis, which will 

 be distributed, but there are no funds to accomplish more 

 this season. 



REPORT OF THE TEXAS COMMISSION. 



rpHE first report of the Commissioner on Fisheries for the 

 _l_ State of Texas is before us This State is the 3'oungest 

 of all ill tlic work of fish culture, its Commissioner, Mr. J. II. 

 Dinkiiis, having been appointed in September, 1879, and 

 being without a cent of either salary or appropriation to 

 work with, he naturally has not been able to accomplish 

 much, and llicrefore confines liiniself mainly to recommenda- 

 tions for the future, liis case is the same as that of many 

 other commissions : he has to educate the legislators up to 

 the point of seeing that whatever brings in a ton of food to 

 he people from sources hitherto tmproductive enriches tlie 

 State to that amount. 



One would suppose that the successes of fish culture in 

 other Stales would leach the ears of the Texas lawmakers, 

 and that they would not require to have a Fish Commission 

 rehearse ihe alphatiet of this branch of poliliral economy any 

 more than they would need to be told of the benefits of agri- 

 cultm'e, railruails or itlegraplis. 



The Commissioner calls their attention to the_ fact that 

 Texas has a large population, and it is fair to presume that 

 they eat, and that other States have invested largely in re- 

 stocking their waters, and found it profitable. He' cites ex- 

 tracts from Mr. George H. Jerome, formerlv of the Michi- 

 gan Fish Commission ; Jir, 8. G. Wm-th, of North Carolina; 

 from the reports of the West Virifinia, iiarvland, Wiscon.sin, 

 Ohio, South Carolina, .^lassachusetts and ^Minnesota Fish 

 Commissions; quotes an article on the carp from the 

 American AgrkaUitrid, and publishes his correspondence 

 with Professor Baird, from Mfhom he received 150 German 

 carp, which were distributed to persons in Texas in lots of 

 ten each. Concerning the growth of these lie says : ".These 

 fish have done well in our waters and grow rapidly. When 

 they were received they were only three or four inches long, 

 and now they are by actual measurement twenty inches 



SENDING YOUNG EGGS PERFECTLY DRY. 



IT is known that fish eggs die quickly in water which is 

 not in circulation, but that they will live several days 

 out of it, and here is the advantage of the so-called dry im- 

 pregnation. It is also known that^^freshly impregnated eggs 

 do not bear transportation well, especially nn long journeys. 

 It occurred to me that dry impregnated eggs which liad 

 never been in water, and in consequence had their develop- 

 ment retarded by remaining dry, might be better adapted to 

 long journeys than when placed "in water before their 

 voyage. 



To prove this I had Me.=srs. Fr. Glaser & Son, of Basil, 

 Switzerland, send me some salmon eggs and milt, tied up in 

 Ihe bladder of a hog, without a drop'of wal(;r. 



Twice this was "done, and each time they were accom- 

 panied by a lot of eggs packed in the usuarraanner. The 

 journey lasted three days and the temperature was high: 

 but on both occasions the dry packed eggs cjime through in 

 good condition, looking beaiitiful and red, while Ihe otliers, 

 packed in the usual manner, were all dead. I will extieri- 

 inent to find out if eggs with the embryo far advanced arc 

 also better if sent in the bladder of an animal than if packed 

 in the usual manner. Max von dem Bobne. 



Bemeiichen, Oernuiny. 



The Contoai, System of Hatohmg.— The Fist^Jierei Zei- 

 tung, of Stettin, Germany, thus notices our Fishery Editor : 

 " Mr. Fred. Mather, who has since the Berlin Exposition 

 dnuvn much nearer the German fishcuUurists, is again in 

 New York. He is now in charge of the fishery departmeait 

 of FoKBST AXU Sthe.v?.!, the great American journal of field 

 sports and fishciilluiv. W.- take this opporlnnity to mention 

 a matter in which Mr. TMalher deserves honorable mention. 

 The conical system of hatching is of his invention, but has 

 been called the ' Wilinot hatcher ' in Germany. Mr. Wilmot 

 patented it in .(America, July IS, 1876, and it is No. 180,085, 

 while from a report of Prof. Baird for the year 1876 we learn 

 that Jlr. iNIatlier made and used the cones in experiments in 

 1875. It is not necessary to enter iato details of this matter, 

 but if necessary it can be done." 



Wbkkb AJfD When Do Bi.ukfish Spawn ?— Concerning 

 the spawning of the " bluefish," or "tailor" (Prrmat&mus s/il- 

 tatrix), there seems to be some confusion of dates, and in 

 this connection we are allowed to publish the follosving: 



UsiTED States Commission, Fisu i.vo Fisiieijiks, WoaIi- 

 ington, IK C, Ihr. SIL-Dear Mr. Bi.ackfoi:d , iMr. Earll, 

 in his interviews with the fishermen alonu; the .fr-rsry coast, 



.__ formed that when bluefish firsi come in many of them 

 are full of ripe spawn, and that this spawn constitutes an ar- 

 ticle of sale in the market. Is tliis in accordance with your 

 own experience, and do yom- men ever remeinher to have 

 found ripe ovaries when cleaning bluefish at any season of 

 tlie year, especially in spring? If your recollections are not 

 clear ou this subject, will you not make a note in some of 

 your books, or paste a memorandum in your office to look 

 into the matter when the time comes ? It will be a very in- 

 teresting problem. Yours truly, Si'KKOKr F. Baird, 



Gmmnimoner. 



ToE. G. Blackford, Esq., 80 Pultou Market, New York. 



Mr. Blackford informs us that the spawn is not sold in 

 market, but that young bluefi-sh are often found among 

 whitebait, in Maj^ and June. We have found the young, of 

 an inch or two inches, from May to August, and large ovaries 

 (unripe) in July. Correspondence on this subject is in 

 order. 



A Prize por PisHOTrLTrraiSTB. — We find the following in a 

 late number of the FMierel Zeitung of Stettin, Germany, 

 which we translate as follows: Berlin, December 5.— The 

 committee of the German Fish Soeieiv has determined to 

 otfcr a premium of ,500 marks a M. = 33 2 3 cents) for the 

 best work r n the following suliject : Of those fish eggs which 

 lue used in hatching, e-specially the eggs of the aalinon, the 

 fungus well luiown lo the fishculturists as "Byssus," oi for- 

 mations of 1110 d, which partly be'ong to the Saproleguiacea;, 

 partly to ihe Schizomycclo, destroy a S'gnificant pereeiitage. 

 An exact botanical description of the species and kinds of 

 the.se fungi, their biology and propagations, the maimer of 

 their introduction into the fish-breedfiig apparatus, ihe con- 

 ditions which faV'T or impede Iheir develipmeul, as also a 

 description of how they iujure the eggs, is desired. To this 

 stifiuld be added a discussion on the question whether and by 

 what means it might be [lossible to prevent then appearancR 

 among the egs', and if onre introduced into the breed, what 

 is best to be done to prevent the further spr- ading of the 

 evil. The competition for the premium is to be internation- 

 al ; the said work to be sent sealed and provided with motto, 

 or heading, to the Bureau of the Geimiu Fish Society, Leip- 

 zig Pla e, No. 9, until October 1, 1882. 



Lime fob Vosva—Beriieuc/ian, Germany.— 'Pot severs 

 years I have used a large spring reservoir of about 3-16 ha 

 (hectare) to raise a brood of trout in one summer. The pond 

 contained ni:uiy little slickle-backs, and in consequence 

 thereof the losses on trout were very noticeable in the course 

 of the summer, reachitig as high iis eighty per cent., and 

 therefore, in the fall of 1870, 1 put in all^the spring channels 

 which supply the pond, afiei having let the water flow off, 

 so much thinly slackened lime that all the stiekle-backs were 

 killed. The success was surprising. In the spring of the 



