March 4, 1880, 1 



° FOREST AND STREAM. 



91 



rial friends, my opinion was confirmed. Then I read 

 carefully the letter (rf Capt. Bondiro. Your foot-note re- 

 ferred back to issilQ Of Qc>, 33d ; read in it Beudire's first 



letter and your comments, and am ready to a, sure you 

 that in gayiEg "from the description above given of the 

 ...iiii,, 1 1 , , ■ i . ■■ seems "very reason to believe them identi- 

 cal witll salmon, a variety of which are so common in 

 Alaska, as described Off our special correspondent there," 



you were 1 iey 1 1 £11681 ion correct. The sketch and the 



description of the red fish fit tlie dog salmon perfectly, 

 which salmon are in fall very plentiful in all fresh water 

 Streams in this deiuity. Capt. Boiiube is correct in 

 judging' that the hnmp could have been more strongly 

 portrayed, for I have seen many specimens where the 

 contour line I have drawn on the sketch which I return, 

 ■would more correctly represent the hump. But Lieut. 

 Backus has -done wonderfully well, considering the di- 

 lapidated condition of the specimen from which his 

 sketch was made. Ami ii is possible that he hesitated to 

 give the hump in all its grotesqueness, fearing that he 

 might exaggerate. But on the other hand, it is quite 

 possible that in his specimen the hump was not more 

 marked, I have seen at the same lime and place num- 

 bers of the fish with the bunip in all its stages of devel- 

 opment, from a slight elevation to a bold protuberance. 

 And at the same season, the fish vary in color from the 

 bright silver of Hie fresh salmon through varying shades 

 of tarnishing and change until the deep red. and at times 

 purple-red hue of the ;dogs, is attained, and coincident 

 with this change of color is the change of shape. It is 

 my belief that the entire change is produced by the effect 

 of the fresh water, and is a symptom of the disease by 

 which, after spawning, so many of the fish die. It is so 

 looked upon by those who, at the cannery, become very 

 familiar with the tish. At it all dogs are rigidly tabooed : 

 in fact, they are never brought in, for as the seines are 

 emptied, fish by fish, into the boats, poor Indians hover- 

 near, and for the aid they render with their canoes re- 

 ceive all ol lie.- dogs, and even some, which to my inex- 

 perienced ey es would have passed muster, were cast out 

 by my friend Tom McCauley, who manages the fishing 

 branch of the cannery. The Indians claim that when 

 smoked the dogs arc better than the clean salmon, but 

 I can give no opinion on the subject ; they depend on the 

 dogs, which they rake out in great numbers from Indian 

 River, for their winter supply of food. I have the re- 

 sources of the cannery, which I prefer, at my command. 

 I spoke of the dogs- being caught in the seines; this oc- 

 curs only at the closing of the season. In early summer 

 none are taken. Mr. McCauley has kindly supplied me 

 with some statistics about the fish, and although in in- 

 corporating them in this letter I shall be compelled to 

 repeat some portions of the information, as given in pre- 

 vious letters, I will be guilty of the tautology rather than 

 of omission. 



The fish make their first appearance in these waters 

 about the middle of May, and about the middle of June 

 arc plentiful enough to start operations at the cannery ; 

 the ." season" lasts from ten to twelve weeks. During 

 this season Mr. 3IcCauly has observed seven different 

 kinds of salmon, all of which are good for canning and 

 for the table ; hut two varieties which come latest are the 

 most valuable ; the lleshof these is very red and rich with 

 oil. Each of these varieties has a distinct Russian and 

 Indian name (which names 1 will spare your type-setters). 



About the 1st of August the fish begin to make for the 

 streams, and great numbers die in them. The fishing is 

 carried on by means of seine boats, generally in pairs, the 

 boats coming together catch sight of a school — not by 

 seeing numbers of them jumping as 1 had supposed — but 

 one or perhaps two are in the air at once, and that some- 

 times at considerable intervals. The Indians have a say. 

 leg that "for one salmon that jumps there are a hundred 

 in the water." 



Watching till the school is evidently approaching one 

 of the channels between the many islands, they pull rap- 

 idly for the most convenient point, on which one end of 

 the seine is landed, and when in their judgment the 

 school is within reach a. boat pulls rapidly around its sup- 

 posed locality, dropping the seme, which is perhaps a 

 hundred fathoms long and two deep. 



There are moments of anxiety as the two ends are 

 drawn upon, but at the first sight of a fish darting across 

 the narrowing space anxiety is at an end. The fish make 

 no attempt to leap «ut, Indian boat crews buy these 

 seines and outfits early in the season and clear theirvalue 

 (§300 or §400) before it is over. 



During the lastsi ason there were packed 8,000 cases of 



and cans, each 1-14.000 pounds. The largest catch 



of any one day was 36,000 pounds ; lhe greatest quantity 



oamied, 0,000 pounds ; the largest fish weighed fifty-one 



pounds, and the average weight was twelve pounds. 



On the letter of your correspondent " C, R," from Fort- 

 land, Oregon, in your issue of Oct. 80th, several species 

 of salmon common (o the coast are described SO well that 

 I recognize as Uaska rigjtorS in the order mentioned by 

 him the •■ ijiiiimui ," the "steel heads," tiie '-silver 

 fish," and the dog salmon ; but for reasons given I differ 

 with him in pronouncing this last a separate variety. 



All of his salmon, though, differ in one essential point 

 from those of Alaska, His will and ours won't, take a fly. 



I have given them a faithful trial, and! have a choice 

 assortment of the Best flies. 



Neither have we been able to induce any salmon, of 

 any variety, bo take any kind of bait or lure, and we 

 have fried faithfully trolling and bait fishing— only once 

 with success : In October a salmon ten inches long was 

 caught on a hook baited with venison, which had been 

 lowered for rock cod, over the ship's stem. And I have 

 caused quite a number of "dogs" and of salmon in good 

 condition, just taken from the sea, to bo opened, and 

 have never found a particle of food in their stomachs, 

 Upon one occasion only have I had any evidence that 

 they might take a hook, and that evidence was slight. 

 While fishing in a deep pool in Saw-Mill Creek, in which 

 a number of " dogs" were monotonously circling, Lieut. 

 MeOlellan. who was fishing near me, amused himself In- 

 casting his hook, baited with roe, in front of them, but 

 they paid no attention to it for some time. Ai last. 

 though, he hooked one and it broke his line, but he is not 

 at all sure that the fish bit. In one point only can I de- 

 tect any difference between the red fish of Idaho and the 

 dog salmon of Alaska, and that is in the season of their 

 running up the rivers. Bendiro gives this at Wellowa 

 Lake as beginning in July aud continuing through Au- 

 gust. In the Alaska rivers thSy begin to appear in Sep- 

 tember and continue till late in October. 



Study of the letter of " C. R. " helps me to another 

 nice little point in natural history. He describes very 

 correctly the salmon trout of which I have caught bush- 

 els this summer, but which in September grow very 

 scarce, and in October disappear altogether from our 

 streams. Coincident with our loss occurred "C. R.'s" 

 gain, for in the streams near Portland he says they begin 

 in September and continue through October, therefore that 

 salmon trout migrate in the fall to the South, seems to be 

 a fairly deducible result. But again I find a difference, 

 or rather the difference. " C. R.'s " salmon trout take 

 flies, ours will not, nor will ours take any kind of bait 

 but salmon roe, and they won't touch that until it gets 

 to the bottom, and the only way that we can tell when 

 they do take it is by constantly jigging at the line, and if 

 we find resistance, overcome it and put the resistor in 

 the basket. "C. R." assigns as a reason for the salmon 

 not taking the fly in early spring, the muddiness and 

 height of water in Columbia River and tributaries. That 

 reason won't work here. When the creeks are at their 

 normal height, and the water so clear that the fishes' eyes 

 are visible, they won't touch a fly. Perhaps it's because 

 they have sense enough to know that as there are no real 

 flies here, anything resembling one must bo a fraud. 



I have one more " note'' to use as a text, and then I 

 will give over my task of reviewer. I want to say a few 

 words in regard to the letter of Professor Gill, in your 

 issue of Nov. 6th, and to your comments thereon. The 

 letter of the Professor embodies the, at first sight, extra- 

 ordinary statement that there actually exist little fish 

 which are not only capable of swallowing- much bigger 

 ones than themsel ves, but which have been caught in 

 flagrante delicto. And you receive his story with so evi- 

 dent an incredulity that, so far as I can find out by read- 

 ing up to my latest number, the Professor has refrained 

 from furnishing you with the additional and promised 

 information. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I detect in the Professor's letter a 

 little evidence which convinces me that in spite of its or- 

 dinary wariness, the Forest and Strf.am has been 

 " sold." You didn't take notice of one qualifying phrase 

 hi the Professor's letter. I did ; and in it lies the sell, f 

 back the Professor's assertion, and I think 1 can in a few 

 words induce you to admit the probability of his story, 

 and you can then withdraw your offered prize of a fish- 

 hook. 



I will quote from the letter, lie says, in describing the 

 small or "outside" fish, that "with its stomach empty, 

 it would have measured less than one inch in height," 

 He omits to give the height when the stomach is not 

 empty. I won't say full, fori don't believe that even 

 the Professor knows the exact ntnit of elasticity of the 

 stomach of a Chrasntodus nirjer, whatever that may lie. 

 for I don't know that I know the particular fish of which 

 he speaks by the above title ; still I may have seen plenty 

 of them. Even the explanation, " one of the QadoidH,'' 

 don't enlighten me much ; for were he to write you a 

 chatty letter in which reference might be casually made 

 to the Bernhardits-ei'pageris.ov the Sirougylo-cantrotus- 

 drobachiensis, or the M;/a-avinitvi(i, comparatively few 

 would recognize in the creatures the hermit crab, sea 

 urchin and common clam ; but I believe I know it. If I 

 don't, I know one — yes, several — which I think will fill 

 the hill. I will throw out of the question certain of the 

 radiates which, when preparing for a good dinner on say 

 an oyster considerably larger than themselves, protrude 

 their stomachs, and with them outside of their bodies, 

 envelop and digest the oyster at leisure. 



There is found in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico a 

 fish termed by sailors the " drum fish," from a sound 

 which it emits, similar somewhat to that of a muffled 

 drum. 



This h'sh, by inflating its abdominal sac. becomes nearly 

 spheroidal in shape ; and. when in this condition, with 

 its stomach not empty, the height from top 6 



lower surface of belly is over two-third;-, of it- -,, 



The common toad fish, when taken from the water, is 

 of a normal shape, but scratch its belly and what a meta- 

 morphosis takes place. I might multiply inatan- 

 have. seen fish in China, Japan, Africa. South America, 

 and Alaska waters whose power of swelling the stomach 

 is so great that I could readily DelieVe them capable of 

 performing the. feat of the professor's "gadoid." And 

 any One who has examined the telescopic, joints both at 

 the inner angles and at the center or chin of the Lnjilirns 

 dmiericanus (goose fish), oan see that jaws so furnished 

 wotdd admit of a wonderful amount of expansion. 



This letter is hardly an Alaska, letter, hut I cannot but 

 think that in piecing together the various items which 

 have appeared in your columns, I have served yourpapGT 

 equally as well as though I had described to you in Un- 

 orthodox maimer, "struggles of speckled beaul ies." 



PISEGO': 



A DUCK STORY FOR "PISECO." 



Chelsea, Mass., Feb, 1-1///., 

 Editor Forest and Stream : — 



Reading the spicy letter of your correspondent, '■ Pl- 

 seco." last evening, recalled to iny mind my first duck in 

 South Carolina. In the spring of 1803, a boy of fifteen 

 years, I found myself in the service of Uncle Sam. 1 

 held (when not being punished for some boyish prank) 

 the responsible but not lucrative position of messenger 

 boy on board the iron-clad monitor Nantucket, just ar- 

 rived in Port Royal harbor. Going on deck the first 

 morning I was surprised and delighted to see the number 

 of wild fowl in the harbor. One large (lock in particu- 

 lar, about four hundred yards to windward of as, drew 

 my attention as I saw a small sail-boat maneuvering to 

 get within range of it. After a while the occupa 

 the boat concluding he was near enough 



. 'let 



ban-els, killing three birds instantly and badly v 

 another wdio flew straight at our ship, droppin, 

 water at about fifty yards to windward. I 



both 

 oundir 



i the 



[ was intensely 

 excited at this, for I had been an enthusiasiastic sports- 

 man at home, where I had left a fine double-barrel and a 

 knowing young spaniel. Grasping a few pieces of coal 

 lying on deck 1 immediately opened (ire, and at the third 

 or fourth shot hit the duck on the Iiead, turning him 

 over on his back ; when as he floated past the ship I se- 

 cured my prize. Wliat to do with it now that I had 

 secured it was a problem. I was no favorite with the 

 sable genius who presided over the ship's galley, and 

 without his permission how was I to cook it? While 

 pondering over my dilemma, the lieutenant passing said, 

 " S., what have you there?" "A wood-duck, sir, won't 



bene I if 



ept it?' 5 For I wanted 

 if my shot, 

 rard, '•' Stew 



"Tha 

 rd, ha 



ikyo 



•e Ihi 



aid he. 



.ked I. 

 eply, s 



: the 



;et the 

 Turning to 



. 



id the duck 

 navigating 



•cho 



vard-room mesi 



; insisted that the 



caterer had reserved 

 n the habit of lunch- 



.id-i 



I dete: 

 ; his 



pi 



StaiT, who al way 



sundry dainties upon which 1 



ing during the long hours of tl 



would have it. this night in pari 



to find the secret store of go< 



that night he cautiously run mi 



try and was rewarded by find 



by a platter. Taking it on 



ish the same, mumbling his 



fuls. So pleased was he with his jok 



the next morning he related the story to the whol 



Shortly after, at breakfast, the lieutenant, with a smik- 



ward-i 



lunch 



elate 



i the 



itlw 



tie 



i- thai. 



St- 

 and 

 u if i 

 pick 

 a trow 



jhild-like and bland, said to the steward : 

 1, bring on my duck." The platter was brought 

 vered by the steward, who turned almost white 

 nothing but a small lot of well- 

 it's face ; 

 satch the 

 midnight 

 id touch a 

 passed 



lOl Oil imumg, aunu.iQ vim «. o.u»u. j. 



ones. The smile faded from the lieuten 

 „ began to gather, when, happening to 

 eye of the ensign, he remembered the story of tin 

 forage. The whole mess saw the point at once. ; 

 shout of laughter followed. Long years lit 

 since then; the gallant lieutenant now signs himself : 

 " Piseco," and writes entertaining letters from " Sitka." 

 If this should catch his eye and he remembers what 

 "tremendous grins" distorted the visages of the fore- 

 mast hands, this will inform him that the said grins 

 were caused by the ward-room steward relating this 

 story to a select circle of "old shellbacks" around the 

 smoke-stack that evening. 



GAME PROTECTION. 



H. A. 8. 



Migratory Quail in Pjenhsyev-ahia,— -Northuwiber- 

 land, Pa., Feb. 24tfi-.— About the middle of this month a 

 covey of five migratory quad was seen three miles from, 

 this place. Although it is contrary to then- habits to re- 

 main here over winter, yet this season has been a very 

 open one, and they might not have migiated in (he fall. 

 Theywere seen in the early pari, of the easor, i>y the 

 gentleman who located them in the spring about tho 

 same place. Our informant is a sportsman, and reliable, 

 yet he never had an opportunity to examine the uii.-.-i;!- 

 toiy quail closely. He describes them as being much 

 smaller than our native quail, and very swift flyers. \Vo 

 located six pair here last spring, but not much wa hi 

 of them, as we did not look after or try to disturb them. 



J. If. E. 



Bo§TO 



-Several i 

 the Pro 

 against : 

 for havii 

 son proh 

 Statutes 

 served a 

 for, and 



rs Woodcock.— Boston. Feb. 36tfi, 

 ce, at the instance of the Soeii h o" 

 Game, was instituted a complaint 



V'hipple, proprietors of V 



Ti 



bited by section 1 ofohapter 81 



It appeared in evidence that 



voodcock to agues! and reoeivei 



it also appeared that 



'.- ii. b I 

 itbiu tbesoa- 

 fthoi al 



killed, taken or caught within tl 

 wealth of Massachusetts, hut was taken, caught or killed 

 in the State of Pennsylvania, at a season and time w hen 

 it was lawful by the law of that State to take, catch as 



