May 27, 1S80.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



329 



When I was a lad in Virginia thousands of bats used to 

 make, the roof and upper room, or "debtor's prison," 

 their roosting places, and the prisoners were fairly cov- 

 ered with chinches. I have observed in Texas that the 

 leather-wing bat frequently hung in shady forests upon 

 ong festoons, and also upon fences which were 

 Sten id, When this is the case, the belong will ever 

 iund under the bark, and in the interstices of both 

 i! i rails in l^lii the writer built him a residence, 

 gad the leather-wings took possession before lie did. 

 1 In oneortwp of the rooms, and When the 

 house was occupied by the writer aud bis family, there 

 , LCfi sing warfare upon the rest-breakers for nearly 

 .... ears I afore wo were the victors. " W. P. M." may 

 vi isured that the "barn," " basswood forests," "a 

 Bouse," etc., of which he writes, were first infested by 

 being the resort of the leather-wing bats. I reason this 

 way: It is well known that bats are ever covered 

 ■with these pests, and, so far as I know, swallows aro not; 

 therefore, it is reasonable to infer, the places where the 

 swallows made their homo had been the dwelling place 

 of the bat. It seems to me just possible that the bats got 

 me chinches from dwellings, to which they are at once 

 artrarted by lights, and then they breed upon them, and 

 .feed to their heart's content, so far as 1 know, unmolested 

 upon the countless numbers which flock together. 



R. M, CONWAY. 



When Bears Bbino Forth. — Nashville, May 13/7i,.— 

 LFor soma time passed I have noticed a number of articles 

 in the FOKBST. and StKBAM upon the subject as to what 

 season of the year bears give hirth to their young. Per- 

 haps one or two facts On the subject may throw the de- 

 sired light. Five or six years ago Viscount Parker re- 

 turned to Now York from Florida during the month of 

 May: he brought with him a cub which could not have 

 ,heeu more than two months old. This would fix March 

 as the month he was born in, but in Mississippi the fall 

 of the year is when cubs are commonly offered for sale ; 

 and the first bear I ever killed was one I should judge was 

 about six months old, that had been captured by my 

 father's huntsman, but was found too old to tame. He 

 broke the chaiu by which he had beeu attached, and 

 finding ir impossible to induce him to descend from a 

 Kgh live in our yard, which he had climbed, it was de- 

 cided that I should have the honor of shooting him. My 

 ion is that there is no regular month for their 

 bringing forth in our Southern country. It was in No- 

 vember when the above occurred. J. D. H. 



.ivals at the Philadelphia Zoologicai, Gakden foh 

 eek esdiso May gftra.— i chain snake ophlholivs dollatvs 

 IfltU), 2 king snakes (Upliiljohit gttuhls), t brown thrush (Tur- 

 fus\,'2 horned lizards (P. iwiitttum), 1 alligator {Alligator 

 ipenstj), 1 snapper terrapin (Chelycdra serpentina). All 

 ltod. 3 Gillespie's hall' seals {Zaloplnts Gilhsph), 1 Hecky 

 ..!. sheep i wis Montana), t howling monksys (MJ/eefes pal- 

 i, 1 blaek-hsnded spider-monkey {Atdes melanorhtr). All 

 .isod. 1 Virginia deer (Cervus ftiflim'airas) and 1 Llama 

 t peruana). Boru in the garden. 



#4 @nlfnr4. 



Address all communications to 

 I'ublisliLiig Company, New York." 



'Forest and Stream 



[From a Stall Correspondent.! 



E INTERNATIONAL EISHERY EXHIBITION AT 

 BERLIN. 



No. III.— Fishing Tackle. 

 U1E show of fine tackle used in angling is confined 

 entirely to three countries— Germany, England 

 the United States— the others neither making nor 

 tg it to any great extent, In the collection of German 

 a, the angler can detect many of English and Amer- 

 make, usually of the lower priced kinds, cheap rods, 

 :hine made, and well adapted to the wants of tho ju- 

 ile angler, or of those of more mature years, who would 

 1 like to own a jointed rod which is not too expensive, and 

 I are not at all critical as to taper, weight, direction of 

 aiu, distribution of strain, and the other qualities 

 liieh the finished angler requires to bo contained in a 

 y-rod. Within the past ten years angling, as an art, 

 sis been most assiduously cultivated by a few cnthusi- 

 asts in Germany, until upon the dark ground of a map of 

 the Empire a few white spots could be made, each show- 

 ; a center from which the light of angling science is 

 . for a short distance, and then is absorbed in the 

 rirness of that piscatory night which envelopes many 

 •al districts in America where tho popular idea of ang- 

 is to obtain the greatest number of lish in the least 

 i i [i. The German has never, until within the 

 iu named, looked at angling save as a means of getting 

 thanks to the enthusiastic fishers which have 

 sprung up within a few years, there are quite a number 

 M good anglers now in the country, and their numbers 

 must increase. From this it will be seen that the best 

 tackle is not in general use here, the demand for it being 

 BO limited that it is entirely supplied from foreign 

 , sources. Homo light rods of native manufacture are 

 shown which have a spike in the butt, which can 

 fife inserted iu a. bank or log, so that the flies may fish 

 away while the angler seeks other recreation, and a 

 novelty is a bell attached to a light bait-rod, which 

 ^Kes an alarm when the bait was disturbed, aud so 

 prouses the attention, should it chance to be fixed upon 

 Some other object— a capital thing for boys who lish off 

 "~ew York wharves and sleep in the sun between bites. 



THF. A31ERICAN EXHIBIT. 



The American Exhibit is the most complete in all arti- 

 cles pertaining to fishing with a hook and .line, the fine 



collection of the National Museum serving to illustrate 

 the gradual development of tins mode of fishing, and 

 a series of articles ranging from the wooden 

 hooks of tho savage to the rent aud glued bamboo rod tif 

 the dainty angler of to-day, In the room devoted to the 

 display of these articles, it is interesting to observe how 

 tho implements of the savage man have, by contact with 

 his civilized brother, gradually approached the forms ap- 

 proved by the kilter as far as the materials of which they 

 are made will allow. Tims, from the northeast coast of 



there are hooks of wood, of bone, and of both 



materials Combined in one ; but the wooden ones are of 

 the largest and most clumsy, although when 

 bent from one piece they are lighter than seems consistent 

 with the strength required to capture the large fishes 

 which the Esquimau usually seeks, and the same may 

 be said of the implements from Alaska and the northwest 

 coast i\own to California. Often the wooden hooks are 

 of two pieces, joined at the bottom in a V-shaped ar- 

 rangement, bound with some vegetable fiber, but the 

 combination of bone and wood affords the best chance 

 for tho addition of a barb or beard, which is utilized iu a 

 manner which is quite effective ; but wherever the iron 

 or steel of the white man has been obtainable, its value 

 over all other material has been quickly appreciated, and 

 the most primitive use of iron for fish hooks is shown in 

 those obtained from the Wallapai Indians, which is a 

 pipe-shaped wooden hook with a nail for a barb, while 

 other tribes have drilled a hole in a flat bone, and inserted 

 a nail or a bit of steel in a sort of barbless hook. Combi- 

 nations of bone and steel also enter into tho heads of har- 

 poons and harpoon-arrows, while some of the Indians of 

 the northwest coast were fortunate enough to own iron 

 enough to make the entire hook, which closely followed 

 the patterns in use by the white fishermen. Even an eel 

 spear is shown made entirely of iron by the natives. The 

 lines which accompany these hooks are of grass, sea- 

 weed or kelp, whalebone, and skin of seal or walrus, the 

 latter for the heavy linos used in the capture of large 

 fish and for harpoon lines. A very interesting trawl line 

 of sea-weed and whalebone is shown, and also a service- 

 able looking grass rope, which i3 attached to a sealskin 

 buoy, and is evidently a harpoon line. 



Not only the angler and the fisherman are interested 

 in comparing the rude machinery ot the savage with 

 those of civilized man which are close beside them, and 

 which give a complete history of the improvements in 

 the mode of catching fish by man in his natural state to 

 supply his daily food — man as a trading animal who 

 catches to exchange for money or produce, and man, who 

 having no pressing needs to Jill, fishes for his amusement — 

 but it also furnishes a. field of study for the ethnologist 

 as well. Following the line of development here shad- 

 owed, the next ease contains hooks of various sizes and 

 patterns, made by the "American Hook and ISeedleCom- 

 pany," from that used for fly-tying and minnow catching 

 up to those required for the great halibut, and an enor- 

 mous hook, with a chain attachment, which might serve 

 as a killock for a light yacht, intended for the largest 

 shark, together with steel wire, illustrating the. ten pro- 

 cesses through which the material goes before being 

 turned out a. perfect fish-hook; bluefish squids of bone 

 and metal, others covered with eel skin or cloth ; blue- 

 fish drails ; pearl minnows for angling, etc., in great 

 variety. Next comes the spoons and other spinning baits 

 of Buel, Chapman, James, Mann, and Trowbridge, as well 

 as those abominable inventions known as spring hooks 

 or " socdolagers," which, like fish poisons, it should be 

 made a felony to use or have in possession. 



Among the fishing lines can be seen heavy quarter- 

 inch tarred cotton shroud-laid lines for fishing in twenty- 

 five or more fathoms of water, as well as raw cotton 

 lines, both shroud and hawser-laid ; trawl lines ; lines of 

 linen for angling ; horse-lrair lines ; braided silk, both raw 

 and waterproof ; silk lines with a horse-hair worked in to 

 prevent kinking. In fact, everything adapted to the 

 taking of a fish, from a shark to a trout of four ounces, or 

 even a minnow; "pickerel traps "for showing when a 

 bait is struck while fishing through the ice, and silkworm 

 gut of all Bizes. In the collection of the National Museum 

 may be found many artificial flies from the stores of 

 Abbey &Imbrie, Conroy, Bissett & Malieson, Bradford & 

 Anthony, as well as a case of those made by the skillful 

 Miss McBride, while the patterns of reels seem to puzzle 

 the uninitiated as to their object and mode of use. The 

 light rubber reel, the perforated nickel reel of Orvis ; and 

 celluloid, brass and wooden reels. 



Diseased Fish in Kentucky. — Veraatites, Ky., May 



107//, 1880.— Professor Spencer P. Baird, U. S. Com- 

 missioner Fish and Fis)ierie8.—D&lX sir:— Because of t he 

 .,,, :: at interest you have shown m the propagation 

 of lish, I take the liberty to ask of you information that 

 is earnestly desired by this community. 



Two yea'rs ago a company of gentlemen built a lake 

 one mile from town, which covers thirteen acres Of 

 "round; it was well stocked with bass and newlight. 

 7 bey increased rapidly, and last season we had splendid 

 snort. For two week's they have been dying, and as yet 

 we are unable to find the cause of the fatality. I have 

 examined a large number of them, and will tell you as 

 briefly and plainly as I can how they die, and what I 

 have found upon examination. They will swim around 

 with their heads to the surface of the water, thne after 



jumping up once or twice, they die very quickly. I 

 nave found the whole lining membrane of the stomach 

 inflamed, but that of the intestine only in patches sim- 

 ilar to inflammation of the intestinal glands of man in ty- 

 phoid fever. From time to time we have caught bream 

 from the lake, but as none were intentionally put there, 

 we have supposed that, there were fill v newl'ights to one 

 bream, Vet, out of about two thousand dead'fish, all aie 

 bream except about one hundred newlights and twentv 

 bass. Tiiis inclines us to believe that the bream are 

 peculiarly susceptible to the disease. The post mortem 

 condition differs so in the two varieties ( the newlight 

 and bream) that I will give them separately. In the 

 bream the inflammation is more destructive — iu some in- 

 stances there were perforations of the bowel — its stomach 

 and bowels were always empty. In the newlight the in- 

 flammation was not so extensive, the stomach nearly al- 

 ways contained food, and some fecal matter in the bowel. 

 The lake is fed by a large, never-failing spring of pure 

 water. 



Any information will place an entire community under 

 obligations to you; therefore I hope to hear from you soon. 

 J. Wahken Stitt, M. D. 



P. S. — I failed to state that some suspected poisoning 

 from the fish-berry, but I could find no evidence of this; 

 not even with the microscope. 



Professor Baird sends us the above, that its publica- 

 tion in our columns may elicit suggestions as to the cause 

 and remedy of the disease. 



♦ 



Oregon. — The Axtorian, of Astoria, Oregon, gives the 

 following interesting account of the work of the United 

 States Fish Commissioners in that State: — 



Messrs. Jordan and Gilbert, of the United States Fish 

 Commission, left Astoria Monday morning, by way of Ks.'- 

 lama for tire Sound. Their movements in Astoria weia 

 so quiet that many people were not aware of their present e 

 here.. Their business here was to collect statistics and 

 information in regard to fisheries for use of the census 

 bureau ; to collect specimens of every species of fish in- 

 habiting or entering Columbia River, especially of the 

 salmonidai ; to ascertain the number of species, and tho 

 habits and ranges o£ each. Of course a work of this 

 magnitude cannot be completed in a few days, or even 

 months, and it is thought that we may see them here oc- 

 casionally for several years. Their next visit will bo 

 sometime iu July. They have prepared and sent away 

 several specimens of spring salmon, Gncorhyhchus quiliq 

 nat, of blue-back 0. hypsifario; of steel-head Salmo titUp- 

 piteli(fy. and three species of sturgeon. In. regard to tho 

 SUltno isuppilch a very curious question is raised. It 

 was first described as a trout by Sir John Richardson, in 

 LSoti; and from that time until a few years ago, no speci- 

 men had ever been sent to Washington, though hundreds 

 or every other trout had been received, and but for the 

 reputation of the eminent naturalist who described it. its 

 existence would have been doubted. In 1878 Mr. Living- 

 ston Bant a tine specimen, afoot long, from the Clackamas 

 Stone. Now that Prof. Jordan has examined the steel-bend 

 ha thinks it probable that it is the Salmo tsuppitch of 

 Richardson ; and the question is whether it is a sea going 

 fish, or only an immense river trout. From the class of 

 fishes to which by its structure it belongs, the latter 

 should be the case. The fish known as pike, chub, 

 sucker, etc., is a true chub; allied to the European lit h 

 of that name. The commissioners have not succeeded lu 

 getting many trout from our streams, as yet ; only five 

 from Jim Grow creek were shown them, "One was the 

 Salmo irideu, or Pacific brook trout ; the other four 

 were, Salmo clarlci or Clark's trout, named in honor of 

 the explorer. Au alcohol tank was left at the Kinney 

 cannery and arrangements made to have several hundred 

 trout preserved for inspection on their return. Readers 

 of the Astorian may remember the description of a 

 particular spotted trout, caught at Oak Point last fall by 

 Ivtr. Fred Kendall. This was preserved, and proves to be 

 the Pacific red-spotted trout, common on the headwaters 

 of the Columbia, but never seen so low down as Oak 

 Point before. The fish found buried in the sand on the 

 beach are new to science, and specimens are very much 

 wanted. Prof. Baird was mistaken in calling it Aeterax- 

 taahus rostratus, which is an altogether different fish. 

 The lish reported as shad a year ago, proves to be shad 

 without a doubt. 



|*v* mid JjfiVii <0i 



F1SII IN SEASON IN MAY. 



Trout, SaHclinm fontlnalls. Salmon Trout, Salmo confinia. 

 Salmon, Salmu salar. Shad, Aluea. 



Laud-locked Saluion, iSalino nlovcri. 



.GAME AND FISH DIRECTORY. 



In sending- reports for the FOREST Arm Stiieam Directory of 

 Game aud Pish Resorts, our correspondents are requested to give 

 the following particulate, with such other information as t u o 

 may deem of value: State, Town, County ; Means Of access; Hotel 

 and other accommodations; (Jamc and its Season ; Fish and Its 

 Season: Bouts, Guides, etc.; Name of person to address. 



Address all communications to " Forest and Stream 

 Publishing Company, Men- York." 



Bisey Club. — Mr. H. II. Thompson, of this city. Vice 

 President of the Bisby Club, left this city hist week for 

 the club's headquarters, Bisby Park, Moose River Tract, 

 Herkimer County. He was to have been joined at Utica 

 by Messrs. F. \V. Snow, of Ramapo, Robert B. a al Frank 

 Calilo, of Eimira; A. Rockwell, artist, of Buffalo, and 

 Chas. A. Walbradt, of Theresa. Wo need not wish the 

 party "good luck," for they know how to catch their 

 own fish and how to onjoy their davs in the woods. 

 <X • " 



Trotting rs the Gatskills. — New York, May 20th. — 

 We have just returned from a two weeks' trip among the 

 Catskills. Mr, A. Whitney and wife, of Brooklyn, and 

 myself and wile, left (irand Central Depot morning of 



