turn 17, 1880. j 



POKE ST AND STREAM. 



389 



■ i perch floes in nam i m with t>lael< bass i an 



vasbackRwill often visit this loealifr\ in ji i I qui b 



an.fl as man ; i - | Fivehai I riknoi itn 



by a single gun in one day. Itishul natural that such eir- 

 oumstaticos give rise to perfection in all of the outfits 

 necessary to the duck hunters' craft* particularly in iv- 

 »P act to boats; While here we had the loan oi one de- 

 signed and built by Mr, Do'ty, an ardent and n 

 man, as evidenced by hu'a being one of the te\^ resident 

 subscribers to Eorest and Stukwi : as well as a most 

 accomplished shot. The excellence of hia boats, designed 

 and built by himself, seems to deserve here q ■ 

 comments. Their lower half consists of zinc, whtoh adl 

 Durably combines Lightness with absolute tightness, anfl 

 t" ii are joined ftrthlytke upper parts of pino wood, 

 Having sharp stems and sterns tapering off in long sym- 

 metrical lines, they put the water like , an arrow, While 

 their broad beam renders shooting as steady as on terra 



limit!. 



When there is no fear of capsizing, as so frequently 

 happens in cranky skirts, the sense of comfort and enjoy- 

 ment becomes complete, .since the labor of vowing them 

 is reduced to a minimum on account of the ligiitne-s 

 and structure. 



Tile great fast nights of majlarfs .and canvas backs 

 had already gone norchward When 1 arrived, and the 

 grincipal shooting was confined to the smaller species, 

 Which are considered here of little ot no consequence. 

 Tiie principal bulk of them consisted of tufted duck, 

 alias broadies, blue and green-winged teal, the redhead, 

 with a slight sprinkling Of Bhovelers, widgeons, blue 

 bills, wood ducks and whistlers. A few ujajWds ap- 

 peared to be lingering still:, and looks of twenty or more 

 were of ten flushed from near the margins ot the many 

 densely wooded find now overfloodod islands which dot 

 the surface of the river. They would, however, decoy 

 only exceptionally, probably by having gained from ex- 

 perience sufficient wisdom to avoid lurking danger. 



We carried, on this occasion, as well as on many other 

 previous excursions, a twelve'guage Fox gun, wiili 

 which, though light and insignificant looking alongside 

 of the ten bore guns used here universally, i succeeded 

 in making as long shots at the. heavily leathered ducks 

 n.s eon Id possibly be expected from guus of far heavier 

 caliber. I have now used this faithful and efficient in- 

 strument for more than three years, and although con- 

 vinced that many others of foreign manufacture shoot 

 graallywell, I never saw it, surpassed by any in close 

 pattern and penetration. With small load.-, never exceed- 

 ing lour drachms of Hazard's American Sporting Powder, 

 1 succeeded time, and again in tumbling flown passing 

 mallards far beyond reasonable distances, and all this 

 with uo heavier loads than an ounce of number six 

 chilled shot. Although 1 have Bred Several thousand 

 shots from it, and subjected it to the roughest of field 

 usage in expeditions extending from Labrador to Ken- 

 tucky, it shows now no more signs of wear and tear than 

 it did when newly purchased. The great defect of so 

 many p'thefvs ise excellent breech-loaders is that they be- 

 come shaky in the breech. This serious defect never af- 

 fects the Fox gun, since in virtue of its' peculiar sidewav 

 gliding movement, the strain which rests in the tip-up 

 guns, chiefly upon their breech, is entirely relieved. If, 

 however, by some odd chance or long wear, looseness 

 should happen, there is an ingenious contrivance attached 

 to the barrels in the shapo of a compensator, which, when 

 adjusted, will restore quickly the original tightness of 

 the barrels. The excellence of the workmanship of this 

 .gun is, however, so perfect Men in my own, up to the 

 present time, no need has existed for it, nor probably will 

 be by appearances for many years to come. Experience 

 and rough usage afford certainly the most reliable tests, 

 and all who ever used and will continue to use this un- 

 Burpassed gun. which reflects Che highest credit upon 

 American workmanship, will heartily indorse these as- 

 sertions, which are not made bore from interested mo- 

 tive and in favors, of far off manufacturers, but from ex- 

 perience based upon solid facts, which in themselves af- 

 ford i!c> best criterion of true merit. 



While dunks are plentiful, spring snipe aro apt to be 

 .Scarce, and although 1 had come here with high anticipa- 

 tions of making large bags, I must confess to severe dis- 

 appoint incuts in that respect. The best looking grounds 

 about Henry, where hundreds of these delights of the 

 Sportsman ought to have been found, were silent and de- 

 jsertod, and but rarely the scaip of any flushed bird 

 would break upon the stillness of the air. Paltry 

 lots of a dozen or so would bo tho highest reward 

 of a hard day's work through swamp and mire. In 

 •a couple of weeks I could have possibly bagged a 

 hundred or more with ease when once they aro in full 

 flight. It seems strange that the main body of them will 

 linger so long southward when the great bulk of other mi- 

 grating birds has already arrived, including such late 

 Jyisitors as tho blue herou, the barn swallow, and all of 

 Tihe species of raiis. Of the latter, the least rail (Porzana 

 •iioveboravens.is) is, in truth, well named, as it is the least 

 of its genus and also the least of all game birds, if enti- 

 tled to that honorable distinction, in virtue of allowing a 

 Jkeen-scented dog to come to a firm point before it. 

 An excellent setter dog I had along with me caught actu- 

 ally no less than four Of Mies,: singular birds aiive. over 

 Kid above retrieving several others which he pointed 

 and were shot. This would be sufficient evidence that 

 She least rail has by no means a limited geographical dis- 

 tribution, and is not confined alone to the Eastern States. 

 'The error which has obtained in ibis respect is probably 

 •flue to the fact that ic is rarely seen and that it never 

 Arises unless actually forcetl to by accident or by some 

 keen-nosed, snipe dog. The small size of the bird also 

 'causes many sportsmen, even if they come across it, 

 to overlook it or regard it with indilference, and they 

 ^re generally reluctant to expend any ammunition upon 

 it. It breeds, no doubt, as far West as the Mississippi, to 

 Hudge from specimens I succeeded in obtaining during 

 former journeys botli near Cairo and at Clinton, Iowa. 

 5The specific designation of fioveboracemtis might be 

 then lit ly altered and Minima substituted, in harmony 

 with its common English name, It, arrives early in 

 April, .mil I remember having shot one specimen I,! it 

 at i lintou upon solidly frozen ground on the second day 

 of that month. c,, .... i ji: , L ,i..\. " 



—Hon, Robt. B. Roosevelt has given IRlOQ to the Tiles- 

 ton M< .uonal Fund. A notice of this Fund will be 

 bund, on our editorial pa^e, 



— ♦ — 



- Arldftsxnll coMmuiticatimis to " Forest and, Stream 



Publishing Company, New York, ' 



4 



ERASER RIVER SALMON. 



BY MO WITCH— NO. II. 



TI 113 general opinion exists thai these salmon die 

 after spawning, prim to their i. turn to tlje bop-, My 



coiiviclionsnre that this opinion, although strongly de- 

 feuded, is entirely an erroneous one, nol supported by 

 Suffioienl data or proof to establish its correctness. [ am 

 five I i admit that a large number of salmon never return 

 to tl.es ...i. and indeed the ini'iiense number found dead 



.n.d in a dying c ition in so many streams is an 



abundant evidence of this fact, but I contend thai this 

 circumstance is simply and wholly the result, of natural 

 causes, and not owing in the slightest degree to any 

 inabilitv to return to salt water. The fads ol the case 

 maybe set forth as follows : From the time the fish 

 leaves the ocean till it returns to it, no food or sustenance 

 is taken ia fact proved beyond dispute), mid on its way 

 to the spawning beds its contact with rocks, gravel and 

 other hard substances hnie.es and maims it from head to 

 tail. In many instances you will see lish so lacerated 

 and torn as to cause wonder that a lish in such a 

 mutilated condition c raid make headway in still water, 

 much less in continuing its course through tho rough 

 and rapid current encountered in the 1-Vavr at almost 

 every place lifty miles above its mouth. Then the 

 Spawning process is a .ureal tax upon the physical pun™ 



of all lish, and indeed (he same may be said to I I good 



as regards the act of reproducing their kind upon all 

 animals, leaving them weak and helpless for the time 

 being. Those persons that may havo had the pleasures 

 of fly-fishing accorded to them can not have failed to 

 notice the difference between asatiuon fresh from the sea 

 and a kelt on a rod. Besides, this fresh water has, so to 

 speak, a softening influence upon the flesh of salmon, 

 destroying in some degree the muscular powers of the 

 ,'ish's holy, and this to an appreciable and noticeable 

 extent. Now tho whole may be summed up in a very 

 few words : The salmon who started from the sea full 

 of health and vigor, strong m the body and strong in 

 purpose, after many weary days, weeks, and in some 

 cases months, of ceaseless toil wending its way up 

 cataracts, rapids and falls, making leaps, and exercis- 

 ing- powers that no other fish is capable of, bent upon 

 the one sole purpose of depositing ils ova ill propel situa- 

 tions to enable the unerring laws of nature to be carried 

 out, during the whole period taking no food to supply 

 the wasting tissues strained to their utmost extent, 

 finds itself sometimes hundred of miles away from its 

 normal element, the wide ocean, emaciated, wasted, al- 

 mosl helpless, its fins and tail often so torn and lacerated 

 as to be almost useless as m.-ans of locomotion. Still its 

 energy seems to last, and having fulfilled the highest 

 purpose of its being, it now takes measures for its own 

 preservation— namely, that of returning to tho sea and 

 there recuperating its wasted strength and health. 

 However, each day it becomes more and more helpless : 

 each dav buffeted against cruel rocks that now, with ils 

 weak body, it is not able, as when in health and vigor, 

 to avoid. SO that at last exhausted nature surrenders and 



the noble salmon succumbs to the greater powers and 



dies, Its body is perhaps washed upon the shore of 

 some stream, and so frequent are these cases and so 

 large is the number of salmon who die in this way as to 

 lead to the opinion that all Eraser River salmon die after 

 spawning. Then comes a rich and bountiful harvest to 

 the bears, coons and other carnivorous animals, while 

 birds of prey, such as gulls, crows, ravens, buzzards, 

 eagles, etc.. become so surfeited as to be almost, unable 

 to fly. The settler's pig, if not securely penned, takes a 

 hand in the free lunch so generously spread, and it lie 

 does not save, certainly he spoils his bacon, as nothing 

 is more nauseous than lishy pork, which evolves, during 

 the processor cooking, an etiluviam, to use a homely 

 simile," ttiat would drive (lie dogs out of a tan yard.'' 

 In autumn the banks of almost all the .salmon streams 

 arc lined to such an extent with dead and dying salmon 

 and the air is polluted to such a degree as to almost 

 make one swear to abjure salmon diet as rigidly as a 

 Musselman docs pork. Unquestionably those salmon 

 that retain Sufficient vital powers to' enable them to 

 return to the sea invariably do so. and this circumstance 

 that came under my own observation goes a long way 

 to establish the correctness of mv views. 



One autumn — during the month of October, if my re- 

 collection serves mo right — the various creeks emptying 

 into Burrard Inlet, an arm of the sea on the (iuif of 

 Georgia, owing to the protracted drought were so low 

 that salmon could not ascend them at the customary 

 period of spawning. The inlet was fairly alive with sal- 

 mon, most of them with their ova in a very advanced 



as to freely exude from I he lish upon the slighest pressure. 

 This state of aiTairs lasted for many days, and was the 

 occasion otan Occurrence thai never took plaoe during 

 iih residence on Iturrard Inlet — a period of nine years- 

 except this one year. A small fresh water pond, fed by 

 the waste of a mill Hume, was used Cor I he purpose of 

 storing saw-logs fill wanted foruse at the saw-mill, ahalf 

 a milo or so below, when the logs, woe remoi ed from tho 

 pond. This pond was made by running a dam across 

 from two banks at about extreme high tide mark, and 

 had a sluice gate in the middle, the gate (or stop log) 

 being a matter of four or livo feet above the highest run 

 of tides at thai particular season of the year, The sal- 

 mon, driven t<> extremity, made use of the pond In leap- 

 ing the gate and depositing their ova, after which they 

 leaped tho gate back into salt water, and none remained 



in Hie p I. which was proved in this way : The water 



escaped, owing to a break, about ten days or a fortnight 

 afterward, leaving the pond dry. but no salmon were 

 there, while large quantities of ova were visible ... the 

 upper end or the pond, the bottom of which was gravel 

 to som.- cxt.-nt. Now, were th" former theoi) the true 



one, why .bd they not remain and die 1 1 saw an Indian 

 one morning in less than three hours catch over thirty 

 salmon, gaffing them with a codfish hook fastened to the 

 end of a twelve or fourteen foot pole, at the foot of this 

 dam j so it will be seen I am not drawing conclusions 



from an isolated or small number of eases. The neces- 

 sity for Using this pond occurred onl\ for one season, 

 and never have 1 known a salmon before Or since |o use 



the pond in question for spawning. 



I believe that salmon return to the river of their 

 nativity (porhapS not the particular tributary, but the 

 main river) to spawn. In support of this I think it 

 Worthy of mention that each rivoi has its own kind of 

 salmon. These are peculiar to itself alone, and these 

 scaly gentlemen never s.-em to make a mistake, and go 

 up flu: wrong one, as salmon that are peculiar to one 

 river are each season of spawning In be found in such 

 river, and in it alone. Salmo </!tiiu>at has never been 

 seen in the Fr.iser, nor a Buckeye in I he Columbia. Somo 

 varieties spawn each year, others every alternate one. No 

 disease has been observed in the salmon of this river 

 beyond the maimed and diseased condition as above men- 

 tioned, caused by bruises and laceration. No parasite 

 are attached to them after a few day.-,' sojourn in fresh 

 water. Salmon m the sea, and for a few .'lays after enter- 

 ing the rivers, are sometimes infested with a parasite 

 locally known as salmon lice, but those die and become 

 detached shortly after being brought into contact with 

 fresh water. 



Their only natural enemy in fresh water is the leopard 

 seal. These animals are few in number, and rarely 

 ascend above tidal waters, so it might be said thai the 

 salmon, when once started on its upward journey, is free 

 from enemies other than the genu* homo, ranging from 

 Mr. I.o— who with his primitive appliances seeks to se- 

 cure enough for present use, and to ensure food for him- 

 self and family during next winter— to the cannery pro- 

 prietor, who uses every endeavor to Outvie his neighbor, 

 and put up at least one thousand cases of torty-fiight cans 

 each during each day of the salmon season. Some idea 

 of their immense numbers may be derived from this. 

 One fisherman of my acquaintance caught with a drift 

 net, One hundred fathoms in length, eight hundred and 

 fifty-three salmon on a ten hours' shift. This, of course, 

 was an outside catch, but livo hundred to six hundred ia 

 not uncommon. I have seen salmon bellies— the choice 

 portion for salting — hawked about the streets of the 

 town of Yah in seasons of big runs, and sold for one dol- 

 lar per hundred, each belly of course representing one (ish, 

 the back portion being invariably thrown away, but some- 

 times dried by the Indians for winter use. 

 (lo be continued.) 



Oaeb May Warbler (D. Tiarinti).—A specimen of 

 this extremely rare Dendroeca was obtained hero yester- 

 day. I send it to you that savant ornithologists may, if 

 (hey desire, hold an inquest as to identity. I have not 

 hitherto met this beautiful and rare bird anywhere in this 

 Province. American naturalists seem lo know little of 

 its habits or migratory movements. Samuels says of it : 

 "This bird is so exceedingly rare in New England that it 

 can be regarded as a straggler. Of its habits 1 know noth- 

 ing, and I can give no description of its nests and eggs." 

 May t bis pretty stranger be regarded as new, and recorded 

 an addition to our Quebec fauna? 1 think so. J.N, 



Quebec Morning Chronicle. 



Maynard records having found this beautiful little 

 warbler inhabiting the large coniferous forests of Maine, 

 but we do not remember before hearing of its presence 

 so far north as Quebec. 



Do Snakes Htss '(—Richmond, Va., May 2 1st. —The. 

 belief is almost universal that snakes hiss. The "hissing 

 serpent'' is almost as common a phrase as the '-unerring- 

 rifle f and yet I am by no means sure that serpents ever 

 hiss, and am certain that rifles are never unerring, in 

 my younger days I kept several -varieties of snakes in my 

 room for months continuously, ami have been more than 

 usually intimate with the snakes indigenous to this lati- 

 tude, biit have never heard one his--, and do not think that 

 1 ever met a man who would affirm that he himself had 

 heard them hiss. It may be thought sacrilegious to cast 

 a doubt upon such a time-honored belief, but I should like 

 to know ihe truth. Enquirer. 



We certainly have always believed that some species 

 of snakes hiss— Heterodon platyrhinos, for example ; 

 but should bo glad to have the question here raised de- 

 cided by the observations of the many field naturalists 

 among our readers, 



» 



A Curiods Accident.— While out trout fishing In May, 



my friend M. and myself observed a very curious acci- 

 dent in nature. A song sparrow (Melospiza melodia), in 

 trying to fasten a horse hair for her nest, one end of 

 which was imbedded in the soft ground, got the other 

 around her neck in a way that it formed a running noose, 

 and when we saw her first she was making frantic efforts 

 to free herself, every one of which only served to tighten 

 the noose around the poor bird's neck. We caught her 

 and took off the hair, for which service she was appar- 

 ently very thankful. We made an examination of the 

 hair and found that the whole thing was an accident and 

 uot the trick of some country boy, as we at fh'et sup- 

 posed, e. B. Gleason, 



Elmira, N, Y, 



■»• 



).i.nn;:,\.n Sqohsty.— The LinneaU Society on May 

 I'Hh dissolved for the summer, to meet again probably 

 in October or November. Among papers read at the 

 later meetings were the billowing ; One by Mr. S. D. 

 Osborne on the Friugillidte which breed on Long Island. 

 Eighteen species Were given, though of a few the nest had 

 not actually been taken. In this category occurred the 

 names of the savanna sparrow (Pa&seraii/us Sand ricenste). 

 black throated bunting (Smxa avieiHama) and rose- 

 breasted grosbeak (Goniophea ftidovieiana.), Tue nios' 

 common breeding sparrc.w. at least along toe south side 

 of the island, was stated to be (/Viove/es gramimus,) the 

 vesper spartow, though both species of Ammodranws 

 were also characterized as abundant breeders. The 

 breeding season of the sharp-tailed finch, however, 

 commenced earher and continued much later than 

 that of the seaside. A neat of the purple finch was re- 

 corded as having been taken at Bayside by Mr. Bears&jft, 

 and several recent nosts of tho Cardinal grosbeak ( < '.<,•- 

 tliimtisriryhiianus), from Statcii lsland,were meationed» 

 August 18th was given as a lati- date lor fresh eggs of 

 the goldfinch (Astragalinux tristis.) Mr. It. IS. Haih-y 

 gave some interesting facts about our common snowbircj 



