368 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



rouNE 10. lapo, 



minded that the shot £un with mfl has superseded the 



rifle, my boy hood's weapon, But though nearly half a 



iias niiini over ray head, the eye ia still tin- 



i the love of Bport and nature, once raej I 



creation isth sol ri 101 now of a life during which 1 



mi 1 1 ontentment. St. OLAIB. 



Lawtoiwille, Ga. Feb. mh: 



liiinml ]§isforg. 



—Address all communications to " Forest and Stream 

 Publishing Company, New York." 



FEASER RIVER SALMON. 



\ BY MOWITCH — NO. I. 



THE salmon frequenting Traser River, the principal 

 riv-rof British Colli itihia, which e::ipti38 its waters 

 n i D f Georgia, a short distance above the 4?th 



parallel of North latitude, are of many varieties ; and al- 

 though they have been much written ahout, and have 

 : more or less attention in many parts of the 

 world, more particularly since I lit y have heen so exten- 

 sively canned and exported to Europe, they may fairly 

 i, ■ ; , re never been properly classified. The 



class! ication of so many varieties is a work that would 

 , ri!', involve no small amount of study, time and 

 observation, while the person undertaking the work 

 would have to he scientific in a high degree in this 

 particular branch of Natural History. Without disparag- 

 ing any writers who have given their time and attention 

 to this end, I do not think it would be at all unfair to 

 say thai, anything that has heen written, that I have 

 seen on this important topic, is meager, insufficient and 

 to some degree erroneous. To do justice to a aubject of 

 this magnitude is a task of no mean character.involving, 

 as it does, an amount Of time that is not at the disposal 

 of many, lie they ever so fond of the undertaking and 

 ever so' competent to deal with it. I do not claim to be 

 a scientist, even in the ordinary acceptation of the word, 

 ■ - lie necessary qualification to enable me to 

 give a proper description of these fish, but from a long 

 course of observation, coupled with the desire to awaken 

 in some'.' I rffi ii ml interest to pay that attention due 

 to our salmon, I propose giving you some description 

 , , I . cl ing them, which may be of some interest to those 

 who can for the subject. The fish not possessing 

 scientific names, perhaps it will serve the purpose by 

 attending to them by the names they are known by to 

 the Musquearn Indians, a large tribe or nation inhabiting 

 the Lower Eraser. 



The first salmon, known to the Indians as the Sawk- 

 wey (and to the whites as spring salmon), make their ar>- 

 pearance in February, and continue to run the greater 

 ■. at intervals. A large number of these are 

 white salmon. i. e., the flesh is white in color, and 

 perhaps sixteen to eighteen pounds in weight, 

 although an average is of course only approximate hi 

 this and all sorts of salmon, still, the difference in weight 

 of this variety varies to a greater extent than in any 

 othi r. 



The next run is the Buckeye run, which commences 

 in July and lasts four, five and six weeks, the greater 

 press, or bulk of them, being within three weeks 

 or thereabout. This is the "boss run" of the season, 

 and the one to which Fraser River is indebted for its 

 notoriety its a salmon stream. This is the harvest of the 

 canneries, no other run approaching it in any respect. 

 Every effort is made during this run to " make hay 

 while the sun shines," and the fisherman's success for 

 the year's work is mainly dependant on a good Suckeye 

 run . The stq iply of fish is always greater than the demand, 

 or, in other words, twice as many fish can generally be 

 caught as can be cared for, and the energy of the can- 

 nery proprietors is strained to the utmost to push the work 

 to its greaiesl extent, and put up or can salmon to 

 the fullest capacity of their appliances, leaving such 

 work as lacquering cans, labeling and boxing to such 

 time as the, run slackens and time is not so precious, 

 Most years no lack of fish exists, and no conjecture 

 could be made of the probable numbers coming into the 

 river, or how many tish could be taken were there 

 aouj ii i to put them up, A fair average for this 



variety would I"' seven pounds. They are very 

 much of a size, and do not vary much in weight. 



The second run of Saw kwey, or spring salmon, comes 

 about the 1st of August, and does not present any ma- 

 terial difference from the first run, except that there are 

 a larger proportion of white salmon in this than the ear- 

 lier run. W bile speaking of this sort, I may say that the 

 external appearance of the fish does not in any way indi- 

 cate whether it is white or red, the difference iii color 

 only becoming apparent by cutting it so as to expose 

 the flesh to view. The white salmon is not thought to be 

 as fine for the table as the other, but I think this is only 

 prejudice. 



The next run is the Cohoe run, which commences 

 about the 1st "i : •.• in' i-r. the fish being much 



the same m weight as the suckeye, about seven pounds, 

 The next run is the yualoch, or dog-toothed salmon 

 which 1 take to bo identical with the redfish of Idaho' 

 lately described by Capt, Bendire. These come about 

 the latter part of September, and average fay ten pounds 

 The last run of the season is a large trout, or salmon 

 trout, a very handsome and decidedly game fish, and, in 

 my humble opinion, a much more desirable fish for the 

 table, either "fresh or salted, than any others in our 

 waters. This run lasts during September, October and 

 November, and an average might be put at twenty 

 pounds, although they, like the Sawkwey, have a wide 

 ran] ' weight. Every second year we have a 



run of L ia or humpbacked salmon, 1 hi 



in large quantities, arc caught While fishing for the other 



varieties, are to some . s ; eaten by the Indians, but 



, I lie whites, are never salted* or canned, being 

 worthless lor cither purpose, and are detested bytfee fish- 

 ermen on account of the trouble of taking them out of 

 the nets and throwing them away. Their average weight 

 - ' li-di possess some charneteris- 

 ,,,, i v different from other varieties of salmon in 

 general, I reserve any remarks concerning them at pres- 1 



em. ho will probably treat of them in a subsequent ar- 

 ticle. Thegreatest Weight of any Fraser River salmon 

 Ihsvoanj i t>rd of is fifty-five pounds. Some taken 

 ma) possible have been larger, but' few evet attain Ibis 

 weight. I will not touch on the canning industry, it 

 having already been written up to some extent, aiid it 

 does not differ materially from the Columbia River or 

 other canning operations. 1 would remark, however, an 

 passant, that 1 think the refuse from the establishments 

 might be turned to account for fish guano, and likewise 

 jf oil be obtained from it ; but no efforts 



dii 



tht 



a large ai 



have been made 



thrown into the riv. 



spawning of these li 



of their entering the 



voted to reaching tin 



I may cite the fact that tl 



well BS by day. Enough 1 

 doinitable perseverance as r 



■. falls, cataracts, etc. 



ing Lut an insurmcuntable 



ward journey. No nu 

 daunts or disheartens th 

 they are sure to do so. 

 entitled to a coat of aru 

 appropriate legend that < 

 The first tributary of Fri 

 the Coquitlam (or Quequ 

 dians) River, ahout twen 

 thence each stream, and 

 foot of the Rocli . 

 of the streams are 

 mission, others mighty rivers. 



(2o be continued.) 



the 



r Mo 



fuse bein^ 

 1 of it. As regards the 

 lent that from the time 

 t whole energies are de- 

 beds, in proof of which 

 mi during the night as 

 sen said ahout their in- 

 s surmounting obstacles, 

 here, as elsewhere, noth- 

 ■v stops them on their up- 

 ' attempts and failures 

 ossible to go higher 

 hie family of fishes 

 would be the most 

 bly inscribed on it, 

 it takes its quota is 

 trounced by the In 

 from the sea, and 

 i are legion, to the 

 3 its portion. Some 

 .11 as to almost deny the fish ad- 



obe 



tlit 



3 thi 



WOODCOCK CARRYING THEIR YOUNG. 



Springfield, May lHth. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



Last year in a certain spot hereabout, which is not ap- 

 parently congenial to the covey later on in the season, 

 certain woodcock made their nests, and hatched their 

 brood. Flushed by accident, they were waited on from 

 time to time, and the knowing few, (dosing one eye, 

 thought of the good time coming when they should 

 " tumble to the racket" of a pair of English guns. 



Before the " law was oft," how ever, 'the birds were off, 

 and the places which at first knew them, knew them no 

 more. 



Last week, one of the disappointed shots, in driving 

 by the game locality, again started some birds, and one 

 of them was observed to be carrying in her flight a 

 young bird held by and between her hanging legs. 



The fact is new to me, that woodcock ever transported 

 their young in that way ; and I bog to know, if it is a 

 habit generally known, or if this is arrange freak which 

 from its novelty, may be as interesting to othersas to me 



How is it, my brothers? Did you ever note the like? 



B. 



Though what has been observed by our correspondent 

 may be new to man y sportsmen, the woodcock's habit 

 of sometimes removing her young from danger has long 

 been known to naturalists. The habit referred to is 

 common, both to the woodcock of Europe and to hi 

 smaller North American cousin. An interesting article 

 referring to this subject appeared in the London Zoologist 

 for November last, we believe, and a number of notes on 

 the subject in weekly journals, both on this and.the other 

 side of the water. The following from our contemp- 

 orary, the Scientific American, is interesting, but refers 

 to the European woodcock, Scolopax rusticola: — 



Among several curious habits of the woodcock, de- 

 scribedbythe editor of the Zoologist, ils practice of 

 carrying its young is perhaps the most interesting. The 

 testimony of many competent witnesses is cited to 

 corroborate the statement, The late L. Lloyd, hi his 

 " Scandinavian Adventures," wrote : " If, in shooting, 

 you meet with a brood of woodcocks, and the young ones 

 cannot fly, the old bird takes them separately between 

 her feet, and Hies from the dogs with a moaning cry." 



The same author makes a similar statement in another 

 work, this habit of the woodcock having been observed 

 by a friend. 



One of the brothers Stuart, gives, in " Lays of the Deer 

 Forest," a graphic account of the performance. He says : 

 •' As the ■ nests are laid on dry ground, and often at a 

 u from moisture, in the latter case, as soon as the 

 young are hatched, the old bird will sometimes carry 

 them in her claws to the nearest spring or green strip. 

 In the same manner, when in danger, she will rescue 

 those which she can lift ; of this we have frequent 

 opportunities for observation in Tarnaway. Various 

 times when the hounds, in beating the ground, have, 

 come upon a brood, we have seen the old bird rise with 

 the young one in her claws and carry it fifty or a hundred 

 yards away; and if followed to the place »li ■ .■■ 

 pitched, she has repeated the transportation until too 

 much harassed, in any sudden alarm she will act in the 

 same way." Another method of transportation has been 

 observed by Mr. Charles St. John, and described in his 

 •' Natural History and Sport in Moray." He says : " I 

 found out that the old woodcock carries her young even 

 when larger than a snipe, not in her claws, which seem 

 quite incapable of holding up anv weight, but by clasp- 

 ing the little bird tightly between her thighs, and 30 

 holding it tightly against her own body. " 



This narrator doubts the feasibility of anv other mode 

 of transportation. 



Another note from the pen of " J. D, B.," in the London 

 Field, is as follows :- 



I have seen the woodcock when suddenly flushed carry 

 As far as I could see. it; seemed to do so by 

 pressing the legs toj ethe as a man clings to a bare- 

 backed horse with his legs. A woodcocks Tegs are longer 

 than those of a. hawk, and had it carried the young one 

 m its claws I think some daylight would have been seen 

 between the young and old bird, or the outline of the 

 young bird; but when flying away the young one was 

 pressed up against the body, and, for all one could dis- 

 tinguish, might have been a rump of turf. If the old 

 woodcock has time to adjust its grip properly, it goes 



away with a Steady flight; but sometimes it seems to 

 rise iuagreat hurry.: snatching up the child as ii bi I n 

 The legs, and the young one are then far more pendulous, 

 and the bird sways to and fro like a child's balloon, and 

 droiis in a heather at a very short distance. I have nevei 

 seen a woodcock carrying 'its young (as reported) to and 

 from the feeding ground, but 'I have no doubt it would 

 be capable of doing so, if it; had time to adjust its burden 

 and get the right grip. I have seen a duck carrying 

 its young one in its bill, as it would carry a frog ; it; 'was 

 walking, not flying. I have seen a rat carrying its 

 young : it did not do it like a, dog or cat : it had hold 

 of a small pinch of skin in the middle of the belly. 



It will be observed that Mr. St. John and the cor- 

 respondent of the Field are both of the opinion that the 

 old bird carries the young grasped between her legs, and 

 not held in the claws, as might have been expected, 



The testimony in regard to this practice in the Amer- 

 ican woodcock is no less positive, though the habit doeH 

 not seem to have attracted such general attention as in 

 the European species. Messrs. "W. W. Coe and Jno. H. 

 Sage, of Portland, Conn. , both of whom are known to orni- 

 thologists as careful and accurate observers of the habits of 

 our birds, unite in testifying to having seen a woodcock 

 carry off one of her young ones in her claws. The occur- 

 rence is thus spoken of in Merriaai's Review of the Birds 

 of Connecticut, p. 104 : — 



Mr. John H. Sage tells me that, while collecting with 

 Mi. "W. W. Coe, near Portland, Conn., May. 80th, 1871, 

 they flushed a woodcock with young, one of which she 

 carried off in her claws ! and Mr. Coe writes me " in re- 

 gard to the woodcock carrying off its young : Mr. Sage 

 and I were not four feet apftrt, when the old bird got up 

 between us, rose about three feet, and then dove down 

 again and picked up a young bud with her feet, and 

 with her tail spread and held forward under the young, 

 carried it off about eight rods and came hack for the 

 others, but my boy frightened her away." 



Evidence such as this of course is enough to establish 

 the fact that the birds have this curious habit hero, as 

 well as in the old country, but additional observations, 

 as to just how the act is performed, are needed, 



We. should be very glad to hear from our readers who 

 may have witnessed similar occurrences, and should be 

 glad to have their accounts given with all the detail and 

 particularity possible. 



White Hares Again. — Laramie City. IV. T.. May 

 nth.— Editor Forest and Stream :— With all due defer- 

 ence to your statement, backed by Cones and Allen, 

 Lepus campestris do not, as a rule, turn white in winter. 

 During ten years' experience on ihe plains of Western 

 Kansas, Nebraska and Eastern Colorado, I have never 

 seen a white rabbit, yet both jacks and cotton-tails aro 

 very abundant. If white jack-rabbits have been identi- 

 fied' in those regions, they can only be regarded as al- 

 binos, and the color permanent. I have often suspected 

 that the white jacks were entitled to distinction as a sep- 

 arate variety-, a suspicion that was strengthened by know- 

 ing that the change in coloration was far from being uni- 

 versal, and, so far as I can determine, confined to high 

 altitudes. E. W. Guild. 



This is becoming interesting. We have on our side of 

 the question the authorities, and the word of many 

 mountain and plainsmen, and shall be glad to hear 

 from all our Western friends on this question. We have 

 ourselves seen jack rabbits in winter that were white, 

 and were certainly not albinos ; moreover, they were" 

 Lepus campestris. We know that our friend, Mr. Guild, 

 has had a long experience on the Southwestern plains, 

 but a friend, Charley Reynolds, since dead, assured us 

 that in Dakota the jacks almost always turned whim 

 Mr. W. H. Reed has told us the same for Wyoming, or 

 parts of it. Let us hear from all hands. 



NiUTicus' Snake,— Bryan County, Ga., May 19j7i.— 

 I saw in one issue of "our paper" a description of a 

 very short, thick snake that one of your correspondents 

 killed in Florida — name was not known. Was this not a 

 Triyonoeephalus pinciverus, or, as we call them, cotton- 

 mouth mocassin? One was killed on my place here yes- 

 terday not over two feet long and as large as ray arm, 

 or as big as a rattlesnake of live feet. They are very 

 deadly, as much so as the rattlesnake. The one killed 

 yesterday was so clumsy that he could hardly get out of 

 his own way. John Edwards liolbrook, M. D.', is my au- 

 thority for the above name for cotton mouth. I have his 

 works" on herpetology, and have always found his work 

 very accurate. Geo. L. Ann 



Way's Station, Ga. 



But Toxicophis piscivorus, &s it is now usually called, 

 does not quite correspond in color with the snake killed 

 by " Nauticus." 



Arrivals at the Zoological Uahobn, Cincinnati, up to | 

 Jt7NE 1st.— 2 Macaque monkeys (Slacacus cyntrtntilyu*), 1 black sea 

 lion (Zalophu* (rffflejpiet), H prairie dojrs (Oipiofnyt hutooii 

 buffalo (BUon amtricaitus), 2 Angora goats (Ccipra /lircus); all bora I 

 in garden. 2 passenger pigeons (Ectopistee mlgratoriul)), i w 

 geese (Bernicla canadensis), silver pheai ml (J uj toocim.ua nyctlie- 



\crvx), t. gold pheasants (Tlulurnalca ptetaM hybrids 

 T. nmhcrsliac and V'.pic/a), H audi! luted grass parnils i 

 sittacus undulatm) ; all batched in garden. 25 yellow birds <Chry- 

 SOmUrSt trtiMsj, 15 indigo birds {Cuanotptxn cynnm),2 cow birds 

 pecori*), 3 Virginia cardinals (C. virginiumiv ; ail pur 

 chased. 3 European magpies (Pica rmulata),'! orchard oriole (Ictf- 



i, l bittern (Bataurus mugUuns), i striped praii 

 rels (SjiermopilCus tridectm-tineatw), 1 Virginia deer IC. vhyini- 

 anus); all presented. 



Fbank J. Thompson, Supt. 



Wote.— -Iliad the good fortune to secure the l]jlart:nia) of the 

 sea lion, which has been forwarded to Prof. J. A. Allen, Mnscnui 

 Com. iCoOlogv, Cambridge, Mass., for seiontiflo examination. 



