Fbbkiiai'.v 19, 1830.] 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



51 



characteristics of the particular species -which iatcrbear 

 their memory into the bogB, swamps and ocean depths of 

 posterity ; finely flavored food iisli or misshapen mon. 

 strous man eater— it's all one and the same to them. 

 Viewed from the aesthetic side of il. however, it may- 

 be urged that the name which is linked to that of 

 the food fish will he oftenest heard at the breakfast 

 table of the pedant, while the name which is tucked on 

 as one of the spines of the ugly denizen of the lakes and 

 rivers will be sounded with the impatient exclamations 

 of disgusted anglers. The " Grindle" is a case in point— 

 a greedy, ill-mannered and savage fish, tenacious of life 

 and comparatively as powerful with his tail as a Florida 

 alligator, and not the thing to meet when one is fishing 

 for other game. By the way, this peculiar fish would 

 have made a fair showing in our "Fish Swallowing 

 Fish" stories, for here is what Dr. D. C. Estes says about 

 one of their peculiar habits : — 



Wlille the parent still remains with the young, if the family be- 

 come suddenly alarmed, the capacious mouth of ihe old fish, will 

 open, mid in rushes the entire host Of little ones: the ugly maw 

 Is at once closed and off she rushes to a place of security, when 

 again the little captives are set at liberty. 



This is all we can tell our correspondent in reply to his 

 query. If he is not satisfied with our answer, possibly 

 some one else may bring to gaff a better reply to his in- 

 quiry ; and if so wo should he glad to publish the size 

 and weight of the catch. 



Wanted.— Daft 's American Eleven is to play the Eleven 

 of England, a three months' match — 17th, 18th and 19th 

 of May, for the benefit of the Cricketer's Fund Friendly 

 Society. The match is under the auspices of the ifary- 

 lebone Club. Another charity which this much-looked- 

 up-to organization could at the same time bestow, would 

 be a, set of rules, framed in a manner that people in a 

 strange land might dimly comprehend. Except the ac- 

 count of the adventures of Alice in Wonderland and the 

 Hunting of the Shark, the equal of the Marylebone laws 

 for descriptive clearness has never been published. We 

 have enjoyed studying out the mysteries of "shorts" 

 and "puts" and "calls;" the terms of the race track 

 havo had some charm, and "bluff," "straddle," "ante," 

 " call " and " go-you-one-better " have possessed their in- 

 terest, but the length and infinite mystery of the present 

 laws of cricket and their primitive nomenclature over- 

 come one with dismay. Of course it is great fun to the 

 initiated, but seriously it appears to us that if the 

 laws were simplified it would help to make the game 

 more popular in America. — " 'Ows that?." 



Notes?. — The slaughter of buffalo goes on, and one won- 

 ders at the vast number of these animals there must have 

 been and must be even yet to stand this wholesale de- 

 struction year after year. Outside of a regularly ap- 

 pointed abattoir and a winter deer-yard, there is nowhere 

 in the world such systematic, business-like and relentless 

 killing as on the buffalo plains. The Texas cow-boy, as 

 pictured by our correspondent, is one of your ghouls who 

 delights in bovine murder, and his craving for blood will 

 never be quenched until his sport is spoiled by the ex- 

 termination of his victims. 



The Arion Ball to be held at Madison Square Garden 

 this evening will be the most elaborate affair of the ball 

 season. Among those present will be Capt. Diehl, Capt. 

 D. D. Yuengling, Capt. Geo. Aery, and a host of other 

 gentlemen whose nfftnes aro well known in New York 

 rifle circles. 



Wisconsin has fallen into line by the formation of a 

 State Sportsmen's Association for the protection of fish, 

 game and birds. To the Kinnickinnic Club, of Milwau- 

 kee, belongs the credit of the inception of this movement. 

 Wo welcome the new association to the ranks of the 

 workers fur game protection, and with all the more plea- 



u , ,-: I ui '■ bhi members of the body arc men who mean 



business. All success to them. Wisconsin is a grand 

 State for game and fish ; to properly protect the present 

 supply and to insure against diminution will demand 

 systematic and untiring labor. 



There has been an unusual crop of small boys in the 

 police courts recently. Most of the little rascals were 

 brought up on the charge of havingrunoff from home or 

 school with the avowed determination of fighting Indians 

 or becoming pita tcs. There are many reasons why young 

 folks become restless and dissatisfied at home and think 

 that they can belter their condition by starting out on 

 the war path. Oue cause of the trouble is the vicious 

 literature upon which their brains and souls are fed. It 

 behooves every father and mother to see what kind of 

 books and papers their boys are reading. There are so 

 many good (not goody) books now that no lack of the 

 proper mental food can be urged as an excuse for cram- 

 ming young bends with pernicious nonsense. It is a 

 most excellent plan as well to make a child interested in 

 some hobby, or special pursuit; something which is not 

 exactly play. Let him keep an aquarium and study the 

 habits of the fishes in it ; give him a quarry of rabbits ; 

 set him at breeding fancy pigeons or poultry ; give him 

 some hints in botany ; whon he ia old. enough fit him out 



with rod and line, or with dog and gun ; and when you 

 have taught him to go out into the fields with his eyes 

 open for the thousand and one wonders in his path, you 

 need not fear that ho will elope with the gun and start 

 out after rfedskjns, In short, you who love rod and gun 

 and the fields and the landscape, see to it that your sons 

 aro learning of this wisdom of the natural world ; culti- 

 vate in them your own sportsman's tastes, and our word 

 for it they will repay the teaching ten fold. 



One of the New York daily papers makes a specialty of 

 the accidents which happen to sportsmen. By indus- 

 triously gathering reports of-these casualties from Maine 

 to Texas quite a grim record is collected ; formidable 

 enough, in fact, to pomt a very capacious moral. Yet it 

 would not be difficult to show that, even during the most 

 perilous period of one's early acquaintance with fire-arms 

 the handling of guns is a safe employment. Mr. Charles 

 Francis Adams asserts that the statistics of railroad 

 casualties show that the safest place in the world is on a 

 railroad express train at full speed : and reasoning in like 

 manner from the percentage of the sportsmen who are 

 injured among the total number of men who use fire-arms, 

 we might conclude that the safest position in the world is 

 at the rear of a loaded gun. The fallacy that leads to so 



ruck disaster is the evident conviction entertained by 

 thoughtless gunners that the safest position for them- 

 selves or their friends is at the muzzle of a gun which is 

 both loaded and cocked. Nothing but a casualty ever 

 teaches these men then- error, and when they learn the 

 h'sson it is usually too late to profit by it. Meanwhile 

 let no one be daunted by these industrious newspaper 

 collections of shot-gun casualties. Tens of thousands of 

 guns are handled with impunity, and more men have 

 been killed within the last twelve months by the imple- 

 ments of labor than by those of eport. 



Commenting upon a recent French novel, the Boston 

 Literary World observes that a " passionate love for nat- 

 ural scenery is manifesting itself more and more all 

 through modern French literature," which perhaps means 

 an advance of French literature in general, and a 

 purification of the French novel in particular, which 

 would certainly not be injured by a liberal supply of fresh 

 air and natural scenery. We do not naturally turn to 

 France for word landscape-painting. 



From the swamps of the euphoniously named Cow 

 Island, in Louisiana, comes the weird, strange story of a 

 hen which has hatched out seventeen alligator eggs, and 

 now perambulates about the premises with her interesting 

 brood. And Florida — emulous Florida, which is always 

 one ahead — has her hen too, Three of her eggs were 

 swallowed by a snake, which the irate hen pursued into 

 the woods and slew. Several clays afterward a farm 

 hand discovered three young chicks picking their way 

 out through the skin of their reptilian incubator. 



GAME PROTECTION. 



MICHIGAN SPORTSMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



THE fifth annual session of the Michigan Sportsmen's 

 Association convened at Bay City, Feb. 4th and 5th. 

 The former meetings of the association have been char- 

 acterized by earnest and practical discussions of live ques- 

 tions relating to game and fish and their protection, and 

 the Association has earned for itself the name of being in 

 reality what its name imports. The attitude of the mem- 

 bers and the spirit by which they are actuated were ad- 

 mirably expressed by Mr. W. C. Colburn, one of the 

 delegates from Detroit, who said : — 



"We are neither more nor less than citizens of the State, 

 who in point of character and intelligence, I claim, will 

 compare favorably with any other body of citizens who 

 assemble together in convention in behalf of any object 

 that affects the business, health and wealth of the whole 

 State. I hold lih&t the especial work of this association 

 is in the direct line of sustaining and producing wealth 

 for the State, as important, in its measure, as the cultiva- 

 tion of the soil aud the production of its grain or fruit 

 food for the people. We go to the Legislature with no 

 selfish ends to serve, but only in the interest of the pre- 

 servation and perpetuation of all valuable food game, 

 animals and fishes— a subject of far greater importance 

 to the people, especially to the residents of the more 

 recently settled portions of our State, than is generally 

 •appreciated. I think that the dignity of this body, and 

 the importance of the work we have in hand, should be 

 more plainly and emphatically asserted, and tho resolu- 

 tions under consideration, if adopted by this convention, 

 will be a move in thai direction." 



The officers of the association for the past vear were : 

 President. E. S. Holmes, Grand Rapids ; Secretary; H. B, 

 Rouey, East Saginaw; Treasurer, N. A, Osgood, Battle 

 Creek ; Director for four years, Cyrus W. Higby, 

 Jackson ; Director for three years, W. C. Colburn, De- 

 troit ; Director for two years, E. C. Nichols, Battle 

 Creek; Director for one year, D, H. Fitzhugh, Jr.. Bay 

 City. 



The following clubs were represented by their dele- 

 gates :- Central City Sportsmen's Club, Jackson: Cyrus 

 W. Higby, John N. Squires, Chas. Woolcott, Geo. Allen, 

 Moses It. Bortree. Bast Saginaw Game Protection Clu 

 J. R, Livington. T. B. Spencer, George L, Remington, C. 

 M. M. Norris, C. L. Judd. Bay City Shooting and Fish- 

 ing Club : George Greenwood, E. G*. Carrier, E. A. 

 Cobley, F, L. Wcstover, J, R, Hitchcock. Kent County 



Sportsmen's Club, Grand Rapids : Harry Widdicomb 

 J. C. Parker, W. C. Dennis. George A. Gould, E. H 

 Barnard. Hay County Sportsmen's .Association. Bay 

 City: S. T. Holmes, D. H. Fit/.lmgh. Jr., S. A. McLean, 

 S. Van Dusen, JohnWilkins. Lake St. Clair Fishingand 

 Shooting Club, Detroit : W. C. Colburn, L. W. Tinker, 

 John F. McMillan. Point Mouillie Shooting Club, De- 

 troit: E. H. Gillman. Howell Shooting Club: B. H. 

 Rupert, Charles G. Jewett, R. H. Rumsey, E. G, Angel, 

 Edwin Wilcox. Messrs. N, A. Osgood and E. 0. Nichols 

 were received as delegates from the Battle Creek Sports- 

 men's Club. 



In his opening speech to the Convention, President 

 Holmes suggested that the most effective way to secure 

 proper game legislation would be to secure the services 

 of some ardent and judicious game protectionist to go to 

 Lansing with well prepared bills, and stay there, working 

 in this interest till final action on the same. This is a 

 course which has been adopted to carry out the ends of 

 otherinterests, nor is there any reason why it should not 

 prove, equally effective in this branch of legislation. 



One feature of the society's work has been the presen- 

 tation of voluntary essays by its members and others, and 

 the report of committees appointed to prepare papers on 

 assigned topics. There were a number of these essays 

 react at the last meeting which merit attention, both from 

 the matter contained in them and also because they give 

 evidence of increasing interest in the ethics of sportsman- 

 ship and the science of natural history. Mr. Gillman, 

 who read a paper on sporting dogs, prefaced his thor- 

 oughly sound remarks by paying a high tribute to both 

 the practical breeder and breaker, and their necessary 

 qualities, not only as thinking men but as experimental- 

 ists. He most opportunely referred to the great revolu- 

 tionary stride which has taken place during the last six 

 years, showing that the starting point was in the initial 

 bench show first held in Michigan, which has led to-day 

 to tho firm footdiold of wonderfully improved stock 

 thioughout the length and breadth of the land. In touch* 

 ing upon the expediency of field trials, he strikes the key 

 note in these ringing words: "An animal may be well- 

 bred, and good looking and symmetrical enough to win 

 at a bench show, but if it does not possess, in addition to 

 blood and beauty, first-class field qualities it is not worth 

 breeding to." For the best season to run the trials, he 

 rightly advocated the early and usually favorable weather 

 of November ; and he also wisely advocates a central loca- 

 tion for the holding of same. The expenses attending 

 all field trial exhibitions Mr. Gillman considers to be the 

 stumbling block in their way, until a large number of 

 first-class dogs are owned in each community. In the 

 mean time a system of eodperative field trials is sug- 

 gested, based upon the support by all dog owners in each 

 individual State. The abolition of nursery stakes is most 

 properly advocated, as being injurious to* the animal and 

 leading to no conclusive results. The only proper stakes 

 being for puppies, braces aud the free for all. The pro- 

 per time "when a dog shall come of age " is also discussed, 

 and a preconcerted attack upon railway dog rates and 

 extortionate baggage men advised. The paper concludes 

 with a kindly plea for man's most faithful animal. 



The report of the committee on nomenclature was an 

 exhaustive discussion of the subject, designed to secure 

 the use of a correct and uniform system of names for our 

 game. This paper will receive further and fuller notice 

 from us, 



Air. Frank N. Clark, of Northville, a member of the 

 U. S. Fish Commission, read a paper on the " Red-bauded 

 Trout of California," urging its merits as a game and food 

 fish, and recommending that it be transplanted to Michi- 

 gan waters. This was followed by a full history of 

 " Michigan Fish Culture," prepared* and read by Mr. J. 

 G. Portman, of the State Fish Commission ; and a further 

 contribution to this branch of the Association's work was 

 an essay by Mr. Mather. 



The committee on laws recommended that the provision 

 against exporting deer out of the State be made a separate 

 bill, that the opposition thereto might not, as ithaddono 

 before, defeat the measure which they deemed best for 

 the protection of that animal. The bill recommended 

 provides "that no person shall pursue, hunt or killuuy 

 wild eUr, wild buck, doe or fawn, save only in the Upper 

 Peninsula, from the first day of August to the 13th day 

 of November, and in the Lower Peninsula from the 15 th 

 day of September to the 15th day of November, inclusive, 

 in each year, or kill at any time any deer when it is in its 

 red coat, or any fawn when it is in its spotted coat, or 

 have in his possession the slun of such deer or fawn in the 

 red or spotted coat, and the having iu possession the skin 

 of such deer or fawn shall beprivw facie evidence of such 

 illegal killing. No person shall at any time kill or cap- 

 ture any deer in the waters of any of the streams, ponds 

 or lakes within the jurisdiction of this State." It further 

 fixes the open season for wild turkeys from Oct. 1st to 

 Jan. 1st ; woodcock, Sept, 1st to Jan. 1st ; prairie chicken 

 or pinnated grouse, partridge, grouse of any species, 

 wood duck, teal duck, mallard duck and gray duck, from 

 Sept. 1st to Jan. 1st. 



The election of officers resulted as follows : President 

 Dr. E. S. Holmes ; Secretary, H. B. Roney ; Treasurer, 

 N. A. Osgood ; Director for four years, D. H. Fitzhugh, 

 Jr. The Convention then adjourned, to meet at Lansiu" 

 on the fourth Tuesday in January, lb81. 



There were so many topics of interest deserving of 

 fuller mention than we can here give them, that we shall 

 recur to some of them next week. 



Another State Association.— The Kinnickinnic Gun 

 Club, of Milwaukee, Wis., now three years old, is an 

 energetic and earnest body of men who are making 

 their mfiuence felt for the protection of game and the 

 advancement of the interests of sportsmen. The third 

 annual banquet of the club was held last week at the 

 Newhall House, Milwaukee, on Tuesday evening at 

 which gathered a large number of local sportsmen and 

 mvited friends from all over the State. There were the 

 usual festivities of such a happy occasion ; for Wiscon- 

 sin sportsmen always know how to enjoy themselves 

 when gathered together ; but the movement which de- 

 serves special mention was the organization of the Min- 

 nesota Sportsmen's Association for the Protection of Fish, 

 Game and Birds. The laws and rules are much the same 

 as the Michigan Association, with the following changes 

 rrom the Michigan Association laws :— " And any mem- 

 ber of tins association who shall be found guilty of any 

 violation of the game laws of this State shah bo expelled, 



