THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN^S JOURNAL. 



CEntered Aocordtng to Act of Congress, in the year ISSl, Dy the Forest and Stream Puhllshlng Company, In the Office or the Lltirarlan ot Congress, at "Washington.] 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1881. 



CONTENTS. 



EDlTOBIAli ! — 



Gen. Hancock and Rifle Practice ; The .Maine System ; Notes 503 

 I'HE Spoutsman Tocrist : — 



The Log of the Favorite ; From Nortli Carolina 404 



Natural Histouv ; — 

 DomeHtication of the Oetricli ; A Pet Armadillo ; Domestica- 

 tion of Quail ; Habits of Snakes ; Pine Grosbeak in Mas- 

 sachugetts 505 



FiBH CCLTDRE : — 



The Central Pish Cultural Society 507 



Sea and Bmsn Fishing : — 

 The Trout Law ; Pickorel Fishing TUrougli the Ice ; Range 



of the Catfish ; A New Fiali Market 508 



Game Bao and Gun :— 

 Michiguii Spo}-t!;iaen'B Associatinn ; The Game of Maine ; 

 " Tlie Refrigerator .\meudment"; Our Rochester Letter; 

 Atfa-actiouH of Prince Edward's Island ; Duck Shooting at 

 Hhinnecock ; Our Philadelphia Letter ; Buffalo Extermi- 

 nation ; Duck Shootiug at Cobb's Island ; California Game; 

 An Adu-ondack Trip ; Central Wisconsin ; Notes ; Shoot- 

 ing Matches 408 



The Kesnel :— 

 The Pittsburg Bench Show ; National American Field Trials, 

 1181; News Notes; Kennel Notes ; Kennel Management. . 512 

 The Bifle : — 

 Range and Gallery 515 



Yacbtino and Canoeikq : — 

 Yachting News ; List of Wlumug Yachts lor 1880 ; Canvas 



or Cedar 516 



Answers to Cobrespondests 516 



New Publications 516 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



NEW YORK, THUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1881. 



The Tide of Tkatel is setting in to the equator. Many 

 scores of tourists are on their way to Florida in pursuit of 

 warmth, health and sport. 



A Lrttbr Ppblished in nur game columns shows how the 

 proposed " refrigerator amendment " is regarded in the inte- 

 rior of the State. 



The Sportsmes's Association or Western Pennstltania 

 reports a roll of nearly 200 members, that number being the 

 limit allowed, a sound financial condition and increasing pop- 

 ularity. 



The officers elected to serve during the present year are : 

 President, Robert Dalzell ; Vice-Presidents, D. 0. Phillips, 

 F. H. Kennedy, S. B. Swcitzer ; Treasurer, W. C. Macrnm; 

 Secretary, J. C. Brown; Naturalist, H. S. A. Stewart; Board 

 of Directors, Ormsby Phillips, R. 0. Gray, Howard Hartley, 

 W. T. Dunn; W. C. Taylor; Election Committee, John 

 Calwell, Jr., C. A. Carpenter, Chas. Hays, Edward Gregg, 

 W. A. Mcintosh, Henry Holdship, Benj. Bake well 



The MixTtiBB of sand or pulverized glass with gunpowder, 

 in order to separalc the grains of the latter and thereby 

 make its transportniion safer, is noihiug new. It was tried 

 as far back as lcS3.5 liy Piohert, in 1.S41 by Fadeiff, and again 

 in 1855 by Capt. Riley and by Gale of England. The man who 

 is alleged to have been exhibiting this device to " scientific 

 and practical men in Jersey City," must have talked very 

 loud to have made them believe that it was a "recent English 

 invention," or else the company was not so " scientific and 

 practical " after all. 



The Cocker Ci.trB. —We have received the names of seven- 

 ly-flve persons who have expressed their desire to join the 

 proposed Cocker Club, and in accordance with the plan al- 

 ready stated, we send chculars this week to the members 

 calling for the selection of a committee to perfect the organ- 

 ization of the Club. It gives us much satisfaction to congra- 

 tulate the owners and breeders of cockers upon the promising 

 condition of affairs and the assured success of the Cocker 

 Club. 



GEN. HANCOCK AND RIFLE PRAC- 

 TICE. 



THE acceptance of the Presidency of the National Rifle 

 Association by Gen. Winfleld Scott H mcock puts a man 

 with rare executive ability in a place where he can have a 

 full exercise of it. The election was unanimous, and the 

 General can rest assured that that feeling is shared by every 

 member of the National Rifle Association. He is not an un- 

 tried man, and for one holding a position of so many and 

 such important responsibilities, he has found time to give 

 considerable attention to the matter of rifle practice. He it 

 was, first of all army officers holding commanding posts. 

 who appreciated the fact that the volunteers were far ahead 

 of the regulars in the matter of skill with the rifle. When 

 the fact became apparent there was a frank acknowledgment 

 of it, and Gen. Hancock instituted prizes and in various 

 other ways set about supplying the deficiency which he saw 

 existing among the men under him. The other departments 

 fell Into line, and with the establishment of the Hilton tro- 

 phy, which might without impr.ipriety, and with an entire 

 regard for fact, be styled the Hancock trophy, the new pres- 

 ident completed an effective plan of getting rifle practice on 

 a firm basis In the army. 



Gen. Hancock, too, will command the entire confidence of 

 every class of the shooting men. Though an army man aU 

 through his life, he is thoroughly aware of the fact that rifle- 

 shooting is far more than a mere branch of the soldier's du- 

 ties. He is a man of society and the world, and wiU appre- 

 ciate fully what is being done to build up rifle practice 

 throughout the country as a gentlemanly sport, free from all 

 tendency toward gambling and questionable practices. It is 

 entirely proper that the head of the National Rifle Associa- 

 tion should be an army officer of high rank. The British 

 National Rifle Association is presided over by the Command- 

 er-in-Chief of the British armies, and under the Duke of Cam- 

 bridge the small bore men have had no real cause of complaint 

 that their wants were not looked after. Ample provision 

 is made in the Wimbledon programme for the shooting of 

 any-rifle, all-comers matches, and Gen. Hancock ivill see to 

 it that the division of the work of the N. R. A. is well look- 

 ed after. Under Gen. Hancock the association may become 

 truly national in extent, in influence and in power to unify 

 and systematize rifle shooting, a? well a^ in name. He has 

 assumed the position with a very clear idea of the work to be 

 undertaken, and he has declared his conviction that the asso- 

 ciation can be built up to a position of general respect, and 

 be made a valuable adjunct to the array and its methods. 

 Under such a presiding officer there should be no difficulty 

 experienced in securing a liberal prize list, and with this the 

 entry lists soon fill up; and while we are not over sanguine of 

 ever seeing anything more than sudden rushes to Creedmoor 

 so long as it remains isolated as at present, we do expect tosee 

 the year 1881 make a showing in target practice as fine as any 

 of the preceding ten years of the association's existence. The 

 desire to enjoy the rivalry of competition before the bulls is 

 as strong as it ever was, but in very few cases is it strong 

 enough to induce men to make a toil of a pleasure, and sacri- 

 fice, a day for an hour, to give up to riding and waiting about 

 in railroad depots above five hours to secure an hour's prac- 

 tice on the range. There has been too much of the laissez 

 fatre policy in the past, and with attention and zeal in place 

 of neglect and apathy great results may confidently be 

 looked tor. 



In Boston the Walnut Hill range shooters have shown an 

 appreciation of things by the selection of L. L. Hubbard for 

 the Presidency and A. C. Gould for the Treasuryship of the 

 Mass. Rifle Associntion. They are men well versed in the 

 technicalities of rifle shootiug, and it is certain that under 

 them the wants of the actual shooters will be looked after ; 

 and Boston, if such a thing were within the probabilities, 

 may be expected to surpass her own champion record. 



Tkanspohting Yousg Fish Eggs. — The letter from Mr. 

 von dem Borne in our last issue on the subject of his experi- 

 ments in transporting fish eggs which had never been in 

 water, in the bladder of an animal, is worthy the attention of 

 our flahculturists. If this can be done with eggs which are 

 as delicate as those of the cod and shad or other floating 

 eggs it will prove of great practical value. ' 



THE MAINE SYSTEM. 



ONE year ago the plan of making the Maine Commission- 

 ers of Fisheries Commissioner of Game also was an 

 untried experiment. It is such no longer. The wisdom of 

 the system and its efficiency are amply attested in the de- 

 tailed report just published by Messrs. Stillwell and Smith. 

 Portions of the report are published elsewhere. As the re- 

 cord of the fii'st year's working of the new system it is 

 worth a careful study. 



There were serious obstacles in the way of the Commis- 

 sioners. In the first place there was no adequate provision 

 of funds to enable them to do the work as it ought to have 

 been done. As soon as it became known that there were two 

 officials whose duty it was to prosecute violators of the game 

 law, a flood of complaints pom-ed in upon the Commissioners 

 from every part of the State. To attend to all of these sep- 

 arate complaints the writers of the report tell us was beyond 

 their power, and the result was an imputation of blame 

 where it did not properly belong. 



But hampered as the work was, the accomplishment s 

 most gratifying and creditable and full of promise for the 

 future. The Commissiontrs have really done something. 

 Men who have killed game out of season have been prose- 

 cuted and made t> pay their fines. Others, who saw that the 

 proscutors meant serious work, came forward and paid their 

 flues of their own accord ; other cases are now on the docket 

 awaiting their turn. 



These prosecutions mean much more than the pmiishment 

 of these individual violators. They are showing the people 

 throughout the State that the game laws mean something 

 and are not to be ignored. It is for this i eason that we say 

 that this first report of Game Commissioners of Maine is full 

 of promise for the future. 



If a system of game protection, whereby the laws are en- 

 forced by game wardens and a game commission, works well 

 in Maine, why will not the same system work equally well 

 in other States ? 



Michigan Spoetsmejj's Association. — The special dis- 

 patch to the Forest and Strea.m, published in another col- 

 umn, reports a Inrge convention at Lansing, and a meeting, 

 which like previous assemblies of Ihe Michigan sportsmen is 

 characterized by a spirit of earnest work. The report of the 

 papers read and the transactions of the society are necessarily 

 too brief to wa'rant extended comment upon 1 hem now. 

 We shall publish the proceedings at length hereafte-, and 

 meanwhile congratulate the people of Michigan that there are 

 among them a number of sportsmen so intelligently and 

 faithfully endeavoring to conserve the fish and game inter- 

 ests of the State. 



The Present Db.mand upon the columns of the Forest 

 and Stream is altogether uupaialleled in the history of the 

 paper. To do justice to the paper and to i s friends it has 

 become absolutely imperative to make some provision where, 

 by the capacity of the pages shall be increased. Next week, 

 therefore, the first number of Volume Si.xteen will appear 

 with a change of type in several de^iartments. This change 

 will be equivalent to an addition of two pages to the paper, 

 and with the increased facilities thus afforded it is hoped that 

 the value of the Fokkst and Stream may be proportionately 

 enhanced. 



Our Alaska Letters. — ^The map which we republish 

 with the "Log of the Favorite," is the first chart of that part 

 of the Aliska coast ever made. It is due to the writer of 

 of these articles, Capt. L. A. Beardslee, of the United States 

 Navy, to note here the wide interest awakened by his letters 

 to Forest and Stream. C apt. Beardslee is to-day the best 

 informed man on Alaska affairs in the country, and his de- 

 scriptions of the land, its products, fauna and inhabitants, 

 are the most vivid and truthful pictures of that country to be 

 found in print. The series, of which the present paper is 

 the fourth, was begun in our issue of Nov. 25, with the account 

 of the Chilcats and Chilcoots. It will extend through one or 

 iwo more numbers, the concluding chapters being fully equal 

 in interest and information to those already pulilishtd. 



AwoNa THOSE who called at the office of the Forest and 

 Stream last week vras Hon. Jno. S. Wise, ot Virginia, 



