.Tur.v 29, 1880.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



511 



Ashes aa green bass, speckled perch, true perch (red fin), 

 jack, and raw mouth perch ; names that mean anything 

 or nothing outside of his own immediate neighborhood. 



WhjJe I have none but the kindliest feelings toward 

 "St. Clair"— or any other brother angler, for that mat- 

 ter — I do not desire to again allude to these matters. Life 

 is too short and art too long ta indulge in profitless dis- 

 cussions. When "St. Glair" has forwarded his specimens 

 of "black bass" and "green bass" to competent icthy- 

 ologistsof his own choosing, ior dissection ami identifi- 

 cation. I. will be much pleased to learn the result, In 

 the meantime, lie can ventilate his "green bass" ideas 

 without any interference on my part, intho future as in 

 the past, so long' as he does not misrepresent me. 



J. A. RisjssuAiiL, 



CyntMana, Ky., July 22d. 



MR. DIPSY CATCHES TROUT. 



MR. DIPSY found himself in the pleasant Island of 

 Prince Edward, which, as all readers of FOREST 

 and Stream know, is a hundred-and-forty-mfle-long 

 bauk of red sandy loom in the Gulf of SI, Lawrence, in 

 shape like the crescent moon with the bight facing the 

 north. No hills break its surface, and consequently there 

 are no brawling streams tumbling from rock to rock with 

 a pleasant murmur ; with the exception of three or four, 



3 through 



. the 

 lout 



feet, two iu his 

 pport his "fair 

 ver as he wore 

 itli a salruon- 



frcquenl.ly us- 

 itimes left off 



all the "rivers." so called, run but a short 

 badly culitvated fields and patches of second-g 

 woods, until they debouch in narrow creeks or est 

 sometimes of two or three miles in length, up whii 

 sea-tides come and which have been eroded and eat 

 by the ever-encroaching action of the ebb and fli 

 the level and friable soil. These small rivers are fed by 

 numerous springs, and are filled with a cold, translucent 

 water, so pure that it is really spoiled by the admixture 

 of whiskey. Once Prince Edward Island was an angler's 

 Eden, but alas ! its streams have been fished out. — uot 

 legitimately, but by systematic poaching. Hon. J, C. 

 Pope, the present Canadian Minister of Marine and Fish- 

 eries, himself ft native of the island and a skillful angler, 

 lias, during his one year's tenure of office, done a good 

 deal with the aid of a zealous stair of subordinates to 

 protect the small vestige of fishing that remains ; but it 

 takes a long time to restore a plundered stream. There 

 are still a few cozy nooks where fair catches of trout may 

 be had if you know where to look for them. Which re- 

 minds, that the writer is authorized to mention that Col. 

 Dover. Dominion Inspector of Fisheries, whose post office 

 address is Alberton, will do all in his power to direct any 

 legitimate angler to the best places wherein to try fisher- 

 man's luck. 



Nobody knew to what nationality Mr. Dipsy belonged. 

 When questioned on the subject he would wiuk with 

 one of iiis funny little eyes, pat bis paunch— for he had a 

 paunch — and remark that he was a citizen of the world. 

 This was doubtless true, for he must have been bi 

 somewhere. And as he stood about five 

 fishing boots, had very spindle legs to 

 round belly "(see Shakespeare), and mot 

 reddish side whiskers on a round face 

 colored nose in the center of it, and as 1 

 pirated an h in the wrong place and soi 

 aspirating it altogether, there were reas 

 was a native of England, 



It was on the pleasant 1st of May the writer was woke 

 up front a not very comfortable bed", consisting of a pine 

 board and a Scotch plaid on the floor of a cottage, by a 

 voice singing out " : illo !" " hillo yoursell 1" was the're- 

 ply. "Wake hup I rouse hout I h every thing is lovely for 

 fishing." 



The dewdrops hung on the grass in the gray morning 

 like little prisms. Also on Mr. Dipsy's whiskers; We 

 trudged on to what is called Lot Ten River, Prince 

 County, and set up our rod just as the sun rose and was 

 seen through the trees like a great ball of fire. Mr, Dipsy 

 in a high state of excitement made a cast and caught 



Next time he was more successful ; hardly had his two 

 Hies touched the water when two trout appended them- 

 selves and were whisked out far into an adjoining field. 

 Mr. Dipsy ran after them with his short legs and bas- 

 ketted them with every appearance of satisfaction, then 

 back to the river and commenced thrashing again ; more 

 trout. The finny beauties seemed determined to be taken 

 that morning— two, one, one, two, one and at length a 

 one-pounder. Dipsy hauled him out by main strength, 

 sat down on the bank, applied his mouth to a green bot- 

 tle and then broke forth in a stentorian voice in the ang- 

 ler's song :— 



"A birr! a whirr 1 a salmon's on, 

 A goodly fish ! a thuaipor ! -that's SO." 



Not wishing to have his eyes lashed out by Dipsy's fly- 

 ing flies the writer proceeded up stream to a sheltered 

 bend he wot of, and where he speedily extracted two 

 dozen of fair sized lish in what he flatters himself was 

 rather a neat manner. His companion was concealed 

 from view by a little headland, clothed with low spruce 

 trees, now green and golden in the rising sun. Suddenly 

 from behind the clump arose a, tremendous veil, as of a 

 man in mortal agony, accouipnied by what seemed a roll 

 of thunder. Casting down his rod and making bis way 

 through the copse, the writer found that this time Mr. 

 Dipsy had caught a bull. 



A bull of the obnoxious kind, with wide-spreading 

 horns and a shaggy, buffalo mane. The animal was fairly 

 hooked in the eye, and was wildly shaking his head and 

 tearing over the plain, Dipsy following him with loud 

 shrieks of dismay, but keeping his butt well forward, as 

 recommended by the best scientific anglers. The writer 

 followed in much alarm of rnind until Taurus leaped a 

 mirey ditch, and with a final bellow disappeared, When 

 your correspondent got to the spot, Mr. Dipsy's water- 

 proof boots, sticking up, were almost the only part of him 

 to be seen. A good scraping down and another applica- 

 tion to the little green bottle partially restored him, and 

 we resumed our fishing. By this time the sun was too 

 high for the fly, so Dipsy tried bait. 



It would take too long to enter into details of the sport. 

 Suffice it to say that when your correspondent had made 

 out, as nearly as he could guess, his thirty pound 

 weight, he sought his companion. Wl: 

 ishnient to see four domestic ducks, 

 wrung, neatly arranged on the grass a 

 in the" act of hauling in a drake that q 



Ht was his aatda- 

 rith their necks 

 id Dipsy himself 

 icked and dashed 



Expostulation and remonstrance were alike thrown away 

 on the " citizen of the world." Having landed his drake 

 and killed him, Dipsy took another suck of his pocket 

 companion, and producing a small game-ledger he then 

 and there entered his day's work, thus : — 



•Mr. Dipsv. Lot Ten "River, Prince Edward Island, 

 Canada. Trout, 14 ; bulls, 1 ; ducks, 5." 



This is the last time I mean to go fishing with Mr. 

 Dipsy. HuRO. 



A Black Black Bass.— Clinton, Ark,, Julyist,— Some 

 time ago — a year, perhaps — I wrote a short account of a 

 very black bass I h id observed in some of the waters of this 

 region. The other day. while angling in Archey's Fork 

 with a trolling spoon, 1 caught, among others, one of the 

 identical fellows. He was a true M. salmoides in all save 

 color, and more than true in that. The inky blackness 

 extended to every fin, covered the belly as well as the 

 back, and even went so far as the inside of his mouth. 

 I saw several other specimens following my spoon, but 

 failed to hook them. 1 had no means of preserving this 

 one. The appearance was certainly unique. The fish 

 seemed in perfect health, and was "game" to the last. 

 Salmon Roe. 

 ♦ 



TriE RCSHTOH Boat Prize.— Rochester, N. Y. July 2lst. 

 Editor Forest and Stream.— Yow paper of the 15th inst, 

 contained a letter from Mr. J. H. Rushton, which I think 

 calls for an answer, as it seems to convey an implied cen- 

 sure on the managers of the Sportsmen's State Conven- 

 tion in 1879. 



It is true that Mr. Rushton ofTered his boat as a prize 

 for. fly-casting, but when the Prize Committee requested 

 him to let them put it up as a prize in a shooting match, 

 he gave unhesitating consent, and his boat (which was a 

 fine one) was made second prize in the second shooting 

 contest— the first being a $335 Baker gun. For the pur- 

 pose of attracting attention and as an advertisement, it 

 was in far the best place by the change, for scores of peo- 

 ple took interest in the shooting where individuals did in 

 the fly-casting, and if I remember right there was a sharp 

 contest in "shooting oft'" for the boat. It was won by a 

 sportsman in Dansville, and has probably brought its 

 maker's name, to the attention of more men who shoot 

 on water and require boats tliau if won by some trout 

 angler who does most of his fishing from shore. 



Edmond Redmond (Ex Secretary). 



The Elk Horn Vallev\— West Point, Gumming 

 County, Nebraska, July 30#l,— Aa I have never seen any- 

 thing in the Forest AND Stream in regard to the Elk- 

 horn Valley and its numerous ponds and rivers, I take it 

 upon myself to give a short description of its attractions 

 for sportsmen. It is not exactly a wild country, nor is it 

 so thickly populated but that there is plenty of game 

 and fish to be had in their seeson. The Elkhorn River 

 rises in the Northwestern part of the State and flows in 

 a general southeast direction and empties in the famous 

 Piatt River. It abounds in catfish, suckers, whitefish, 

 pickerel and salmon trout, and a few eels, but the great 

 est sport we have is in the ponds along the side of the 

 river, which are well stocked with both black and rock 

 bass ; they weigh from one to five pounds ; also pickerel, 

 which run from one to eighteen pounds. They are 

 mostly taken with spoon hooks. Last year I tried to 

 take the bass with a lly. but met with very little success, 

 owing, probably, to my inexperience in fly-fishing. 



Sportsmen come from Omaha to fish in these ponds, and 

 claim they are the best in the State. 

 ♦ 



Who Can Beat This?— JEmm* Green, Ind„ July 20th,— 

 On the morning of the 18th inst. I went out on one or 

 the small lakes near this place — a lake about four miles 

 in circumference— and in running once around I landed 

 in the boat forty-five black bass, and probably lost half 

 as many more in trying to get them in. I used Mann's 

 No. 20 spoon, on line with rod, which proved too small 

 to hold well on large bass. T. A. S. 



— Address all communications to " Forest and Stream 

 Publishing Company, New York," 



;cock;ers for cover shooting. 



IT is now quite time for those sportsmen who have not 

 already done so, to see to their kennels for the coming 

 season. The first consideration for each individual, be- 

 fore providing himself with dogs, should be, What sort 

 of ground am I going to hunt over? For open ground, 

 a pointer or setter is undoubtedly the proper dog, and 

 the only point then to be determined is as to the individ- 

 ual animal best adapted to that ground. Where heat 

 is considerable and water scarce, the pointer is likely to 

 be the most serviceable, and where wet and cold is ex- 

 pected the setter will be found to do the best work. 

 Where the hui ding grounds are partly open and partly 

 cover, the pointer or setter is still the best sort of 

 dog; but when it is all, or nearly all, cover and 

 swamp, the well-trained spaniel will be found to be 

 by far the most satisfactory animal you can find, espe- 

 cially if ducks may be expected in addition to wood- 

 cock, ruffed grouse and snipe. To those whose shooting 

 grounds are to be of the latter nature, I would suggest 

 that care should be taken to select spaniels of the most 

 suitable strain, as there are a good many to choose out 

 of, some adapted to one kind of country and some to an- 

 other. In the North a field spaniel, such as the one that 

 was awarded the first prize at the last .New York Bench 

 Show, would be, judging by his appearance, a fair speci- 

 men of what is most useful there, his water spaniel blood 

 being suggestive of superior pluck, hardiness and re- 

 trieving qualities. 



In other parts of Araericf 

 unnecessary, I should recoi 

 according to the fancy 

 there is ground in the Ei 



where ; 



.end a Susst 



very hardy dog i 



I the sportsi 



I O] 



- thai 



and fluttered and made a gallant defense for his life ! 



id Southern States 

 well as in the Northern, where a brace of good spanieb 

 would secure to the sportsman as lively and delightful 

 Sport as he Could possibly wish for ; but the whole pleas- 

 ure will be spofled if the dogs do not know their work. 

 They should hunt close, keep within range, drop to shot, 

 wing, or hand, and retrieve handsomely. , Plenty of ad- 



vice has now been given in the columns of Forest akd 

 Stub AM as to how all these things can be taught, and 

 there are very few places in the country where it cannot 

 be done, 



Setters can, of course, be made to do the work of 

 spaniels, but in thick cover their size is against them: 

 and also, it can only be done at the. expense of spoiling 

 their style and ranging qualities. If setters are not al- 

 lowed to range out of sight they cannot be better than, 

 spaniels, and if thej' do range out of sight one must be 

 forever bothered by having to look for them when they 

 are on a point. I know that some setters will flush gamo 

 in cover and be quite steady in the Open, but these, are 

 exceptional spaniels, and not the rule. 



Another thing in favor of spaniels is that, being small 

 and handsome, they make nice house dogs, and a brace of 

 them do not cost more to keep than one setter or pointer. 



Ibex. 



For woodcock shooting in the tall com there is no dog 

 like the well-broken cocker spaniel. When either pointers 

 or setters are used the birds, nine times out of ten, will 

 not "top," but flit off diagonally across the rows and 

 consequently present no shot. But behind a well-broken 

 brace of cockers there is music in the air, and a drifting 

 lot of feathers besides. 



IRISH WOLFHOUNDS AS DEER AND BEAR DOGS. 



East Saginaw, Mich., July dth. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : — 



1 take pleasure in complying with your request to give 

 a description of my pair of imported Irish wolfhounds. 

 I had for a long time desired a breed of dogs for deer 

 hunting, which were larger, faster and more savage and 

 courageous than those in use, which are largely of fox- 

 hound blood in all degrees of purity, or rather impurity. 

 The same breed 1 also designed to use in bear hunting, 

 for which purpose the above-mentioned qualities would 

 bo very essential. 



Having read descriptions of the supposed to be extinct 

 breed of Irish wolfhounds, I became convinced they 

 would fill the bill, with the exception of running by scent, 

 and upon this subject I could obtain no reliable informa- 

 tion. Noticing in the advertisements in Forest AND 

 Stream that Mr. Frank Adcock, of Shevington Hall, W, 

 Wigan, England, made a specialty of breeding large and 

 powerful dogs for attacking and pulling down large 

 game, I wrote a letter of inquiry, and learned that be had 

 some fine specimens, which he was breeding, and the re- 

 sult of this little advertisement in Forest AND Stream 

 was that I purchased a pair of puppies (dog and bitch) by 

 his celebrated "Ranger," out of his " Atalauta," both 

 prize winners, Ranger having taken first prize at the 

 Dublin show in April, 1879. They were admitted duty 

 free by the custom house authorities at New York, being 

 imported for breeding purposes, but I doubt if the privi- 

 lege is worth the bother and red tape --necessary to se- 

 cure it 



They arrived last December, and are now about nine 

 months of age, and tough and hearty as one could de- 

 sire. Iu general appearance the male, though but about 

 half grown, is tall (twenty-six inches at the shoulder) and 

 majestic looking, head of good size and well shaped, 

 jaw strong, with dangerous looking fangs, ears erect. 

 with pendant tips, neck long but strong, body of g*eat 

 length and tail nearly touching the ground : legs large, 

 long and muscular, with feet which make a track as 

 large as a full grown wolf . No dew-claws. Coat rough, 

 long and wiry, especially under jaws and on the breast, 

 with tufts of long hair over the eyes and hanging from 

 the under flews. Color gray, blotched with black and 

 fawn-colored spots. 



The bitch is somewhat smaller and more slender, quite 

 like a greyhound in build, and very active and wiry, 

 Color and markings exactly like the dog, but the coat 

 is short and soft, a characteristic of the bitches of this 

 breed, I am told. 



In disposition they are gentle, obedient and affection- 

 ate to a remarkable degree ; in fact they surpass, in this 

 respect, any spaniel or foxhound 1 ever saw. 



Their crowning glory is their speed, which is something 

 marvelous, their jumps averaging tenor twelve feet While 

 running at play. What they woidd stretch it. to in an 

 exciting chase after a deer nobody knows. Though I 

 have not tested their speed with greyhounds in this city, 

 I should say they were fully as fast, with four times their 

 endurance. I could not give a better description of mv 

 pup," Dragon," than to reter you to the description of 

 the typical Irish wolfhound contained in a letter to the 

 [rish Sportsman, and reprinted in the Forest and 

 STREAM of March 13th, 1879, page 1 15, to which descrip 

 tion he seems to constantly grow nearer. 



The importation of the breed for deer hunting purpo- 

 ses was largely an experiment, as it is a matter of doubt 

 whether they will by nature or training run by scent. If 

 not, I shall cross " Dragon " with my tan-colored, im- 

 ported bloodhound. "Juno." '•Juno" is out of a fine 

 imported bitch, by " Hugo." a great prize winnerin Eng- 

 land, he by Champion " Draco "-" Hilda," " Draco" by 

 Corven'3 lamed "Old Druid "-" Daisy," "Juno" is 'a 

 beauty ; tall and of good size, deep voice, extraordinary 

 scent, gentle and affectionate disposition, and one of the 

 fastest hounds iu the State. Of the results of the or* isn [ 

 have great expectations, and hope to produce anew race 

 of dogs for deer and bear hunting which will combine 

 the keen scent, tongue, sagacity and tenacity of the 

 bloodhound with the immense speed, size, intelligence, 

 muscular power and courage of the Irish wolfhound, I 

 am in hopes, however, to be able to use them in their 

 pure state for tracking deer, without the necessity of 

 crossing with the bloodhound to get the necessary qual- 

 ity of running by scent. 



My expectations in this direction are based on their 

 unmistakable intelligence and quickness to learn, and 

 their naturally good scent, which is evinced in a dozen 

 ways. I will keep you duly informed of the success of 

 the experiment, which will be tested in the coining faff, 

 is far as my information extends, this is the .only pair 

 of Irish wolfhounds iu this country. Should there bo 

 any others I shall Vie glad to know it. 



Snowing the natural reluctance which American gen- 

 tlemen have in sending cash remittances to breei 

 England who are entire Bti*ngers, and to whose honor 

 must necessarily be left the selection of dogs. I do them 

 a favor and myself a pleasure in testifying io Mj 



