816 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
article for a leas price than anyone else, not excepting 
Mr. Aldred." 
lu conclusion, I will not be uncharitable, but hope that 
both the split bamboo and rawhide-backed bows may be 
all their raakex-9 wish—if the purchasers thereof are satis¬ 
fied, well and good, it has nothing to do with me—and 
that the world is large enough for both American and 
English bowyers to live iu, without publishing hard 
sayings the one of the other, Thomas Ai.dred. 
’12(i Oxford, street, London, England, Oct, 1th. 
HOW SHALL WE HANDICAP. 
Boston, Nov, let, * 
Editor Forest and Stream 
The laws of Archery, or at least the few rules that are 
generally accepted, seem to contemplate separate action 
and competition on the part of the ladies and gentlemen 
who take an interest in it. 
This arrangement does not seem to meet the ideas of 
the archers in this vicinity as being the proper or most 
acceptable mode of procedure, and the originators of the 
Eastern Archery Association, recognizing the desirability 
of having the ladies interested in its management, pro¬ 
vided that each club should be represented at the annual 
meeting by one gentleman and onelady member. In dub 
contests it' is insisted upon that each club should be re¬ 
presented by equal numbers of ladies and gentlemen; one 
club having twice to my knowledge, declined to shoot 
with neighboring clubs represented by a team of only one 
sex when the club which they represented was composed 
of both sexes. There is also a generous rivalry between 
the ladies and gentlemen members of the same club, and 
in our club it was insisted upon that but one medal should 
be competed for at our weekly meetings by all the mem¬ 
bers. When the gentlemen were shooting a single round 
at forty yards, the ladies shot the same at thirty yards. 
When the gentlemen commenced to shoot the American 
Round, the ladies shot the same number of arrows at 
thirty, forty and fifty yards. 
1 judge from the scores which I have seen in the Forest 
and Stream, that quite all the clubs where the ladies and 
gentlemen shoot together have accepted Mr. Thompson’s 
formula and have handicapped the gentlemen by an al¬ 
lowance of twenty-five per cent, in distance to the ladies : 
but I think very few are aware what a per cent, of in¬ 
crease of score that reduction gives over what; would be 
the probable score at the distance at which the gentle¬ 
men shoot, 
To test the equity of such an allowance, has led me to 
make a comparison of many scores at the different dis¬ 
tances, and their relative proportion to each other. 
The reduction in distance from sixty to fifty yards is 
10 j per cent, ; fifty to forty yards, twenty per cent,, and 
forty to thirty yards, twenty-five per cent, 
Taldng the American Round score by the teams at 
Chicago, I find the scores at fifty yards have an average 
increase of fortv-four per cent, over the score at sixty 
yards, the six highest teams being thirty-nine per cent., 
and the lowest seven teams fifty-three per cent, At forty 
yards the average of the whole number was 371 per cent, 
greater than that at fifty yards. First six, 311 per cent. ; 
last seven, forty-four per cent. The averages at the Double 
Columbia Round were fifty-nine per cent, of increase at 
forty over the fifty yards score, and eighty-five per cent, at 
thirty over that at foi'ty yards. At Boston, the ladies’ 
scores averaged twenty-four per cent, more at forty yards 
than at fifty, and seventy per cent, higher at thirty than 
at forty yards. The gentlemen scores in the team match 
were increased sixty-three per cent, at fifty over sixty 
yards, and forty per cent, at forty over fifty yards. 
In the scores at the Double American Round the increase 
at fifty yards was sixty per cent., and at forty yards, 
forty-eight per cent, over the scores at the longer dis¬ 
tances. 
Taking the York Round, the number of arrows being 
arranged so as to give the fair archer the same average 
score at all the distances, makes an increase of score at 
eighty yards of fifty per cent, over the score at 100 yards 
with the same number of arrows, and at sixty yards the 
score with the same number ol’ arrows woidd he increased 
100 per cent, over that at eighty yards. 
From these figures I make the following deduction:— 
That a reduction of distance is equal to an increase in 
score of from two to three times the per cent, of the re¬ 
duction in distance; this excess of per cent, of increase 
in Bcore being the larger with the beginner and decreas¬ 
ing as the archer inproves in his scores. 
Now, with this understanding, what is a fair allowance 
for the ladies who shoot in competition with the gentle¬ 
men, and on what shall it be based '! Shall the allowance 
be in distance or on the scores made at equal distances ? 
I am in favor of the latter proposition, at last for ranges 
up to sixty yards. 
At short range I think the ladies should nearly if not 
quite equal the gentlemeu in shooting the question of 
strength not having the bearing as in the long ranges: 
and I would make a suitable allowance by addition to the 
lady's deduction from the gentleman's score of a certain 
per Cent. I hope that some of the ladies will give their 
side of this question. A, N. Drew. 
New York Archery Club. — The first actual match 
of the New York Archery Club was shot Saturday after¬ 
noon, Nov. 1st, at the range in Eighty-eighth street and 
Eighth avenue. Two club badges in blue and gold — one 
for ladies and one for gentlemen — were the prizes. The 
ladies’ badge was won by Miss Norton by a score of 146 — 
48 arrows at 20 and 30 yards. Mr. Auten won the gentle¬ 
man’s badge by a Bcore of 170—20 atrowB at 40 yards. On 
Tuesday last the ladies shot a match for a prize raw-hide 
backed bow. The conditions were 24 arrows at 20, and 
24 at 30 yards, the prize to be awarded to the lady making 
the highest score. The scores were as follows :—Miss 
Norton, 144; Mrs. De Lunor, 118 ; Miss Bailey, 103 ; MisB 
Burger, 32 ; Miss Wren, 2S. A large number of gentle¬ 
men were present, and the prize was presented to the 
winner by the president of the club. 
Waltham Archers’ Championship Match.— Waltham, 
Mass,, Nov. l«f,—Ladies' silver medal; won by Mrs. J. 
Fred. Moore. Ladies’ leather medal; won by Miss A. 
May Keith. Gentlemen’s silver medal: won by John 
Worcester. Gentlemen’s leather medal; Won by Rev. 
Raul Stirling. 
Saturday, Nov. 8th, the New York Archery Club had a 
very successful meeting, a large number of members and 
friends being present. Mr. Geo. D. Pond won the Gen¬ 
tlemen’s Badge; Mrs. Dr. De Luna won the Ladies’. Fol¬ 
lowing are the scores : Ladies' Match, at 20, 30 and 40 
yards ; 24 arrows each ; first shooting at 40 yards 
Mrs. De Luna ... . . 1S6 | Miss Howell. 75 
Miss Morton. JOT ! Miss Wren.. at 
Gentlemen’s Match, at 60, 50 and 40 yards ; 30 arrows 
each :— 
Mr. Pond.1941 Mr. Sheldon. . 50 
Mr. Auten . . 184 I Mr. Burtfe.. . 30 
Mr. Sutton. ., 150 ] 
Timing Athletic Sports.—A n English civil engineer 
has devised a mechanical contrivance for timing the 
racing competitors in athletic meetings. By means of a 
ili um involving at the rate of one turn in fifteen seconds, 
and in electrical commxinication with each end of the 
course, the time may he determined down to the thou¬ 
sandths of a second. Round this drum woxild be wound 
a sheet of paper, marked horizontally for the number of 
seconds and vertically for the number of men running, 
and contact would be broken by the rupture of a fine 
thread stretched across the course immediately in front 
of the starting place and of the corresponding thread at 
the finish, the time of starting and finishing being thus 
instantaneously recorded. This will, if successful, at least 
do away with much of the disputing now so characteris¬ 
tic of athletic contests. We shall also probably see the 
time of certain feats reduced. 
“He! He !”—Archery kor the Parlor,— We have 
heard of “carrying the war into Africa," and Mr. E. I. 
Horsman, the celebrated maker of fine archery, has done 
this by carrying arehei-y into the parlor. “ Ilorsmau’s 
parlor archery ” (a cut of which will be seen in our ad¬ 
vertisement) is destined to become as popular indoors as 
archery in the field. The great beauty of this invention 
is that it is a. perfect substitute foi- field archery, the 
same degree of skill being requisite to hit the target as is 
required in the field. A match, therefore,will be as much in 
order in the dining or drawing-room, after dir.ner, as it has 
been on the lawn, before luncheon, during the summer. 
The bows and arrows are so constructed and guarded that 
injury to the walls, windows, mirrors, furniture and car¬ 
pets is entirely avoided. The target is composed of a 
framework of walnut, iu which is hung a heavy sheet of 
canvas, in the centre of which the target appeals on a 
xiece of black enamelled leather with gold rings. The 
lows are made of lemonwood, nicely strung, while the 
arrows are protected on the end with a soft rubber cap ; 
by chalking which the shot is shown upon the target. 
The box it nicely made, and contains how and arrows, to¬ 
gether with the frame and target, and can he earned 
easily under the arm. It is made in three grades, $5,00, 
$7.50 or $10 per set, It is just the thing for a holiday pres¬ 
ent, 
Battle Creek Arctiery Club.— The Battle Creek Ar¬ 
chery Club numbers fifty members, and has a hall for 
winter practice. The club has not been organized very 
leng, but already is making creditable scores. 
jfiw and $$ittcr L fishing. 
FISH IN SEASON IN NOVEMBER. 
FRESH WATER. - 
Black Buss, Mif.roplenis salvlo- I Pike or Pickerel, Exnx ’Mcivs. 
ides; M. nigricans. I Yellow Perch, Ferca Jlavti,eeus 
Muskolonge, Esox noIHUor. 
Sea Bass, Scimnaps occllatm. I Coro, Cybinm regale. 
Striped Bass, Jtoocus Uneatus. Bonito, Sarda pelamys. 
Woukfish, Cj/nomtiow repnife. I King fish, Mcntlclrnisnebidosus, 
Btueflsli, Pamatinnwi saltatrLc. 
THE ENGLISH GRAYLING. 
ITS HABITS AND CHARACTERISTICS. 
W E are proud to credit the following article to the Lon¬ 
don Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. It is 
evidently written by a most careful observer. It is such 
essays as these that impai-t solid information to the stu¬ 
dent of ichthyology. We wish that more of them were 
written. Even the most competent writers (and they are 
by no means numerous,) fxxrnish only partial data which 
serve to mystify rather than inform, and upon which no 
substantial conclusions can be built, or comparative spec¬ 
ifications fie established. It is tills defective presentation 
of the subject which renders so many hooks on angling 
absolutely worthless. 
A comparison of the habitat and natural history of the 
English and American species discovers a remarkable 
homogeneity, We find that their range is not only limi¬ 
ted, but it is coxxfined to a narrow zone of latitude in both 
hemispheres. This zone is identical in each. Moreover, 
only a few streams within this zone contain grayling, and 
persistent efforts to introduce and establish them in neigh¬ 
boring waters are never more than partially suecessf ^not¬ 
withstanding the conditions in all may seem to be such as 
would satisfy every requirement. Such is notably the 
case with our Michigan rivers. There are streams flow¬ 
ing through the same tract of coxmtry, some of which 
contain grayling, some both grayling and trout, and some 
of them without either fish. Scrutinizing the habits of the 
gi-ayling in England and America, we find them as nearly 
alike as possible; so is their food, the character of the 
river beds which they inhabit, the food they live upon, 
their seasons of spawning, quality of flesh, size, weight, 
etc. Here, also, as in England, are a variety of Bpecies. 
Besides the grayling of Michigan ( thymaUus tricolor,) we 
certainly have Back’s grayling {t. signifer,) which is abun¬ 
dant in Alas British Araerioa, and the mountain 
grayling ft. montanus) of the upper Missouri River, and 
we may possibl}- add t. ontariensis, which exists in cer¬ 
tain streams in Vermont and the Province of Quebec. 
All of these are found within the same belt of latitude. 
We are gradually becoming familiar with this delectabl 
game fish, which was scarcely known to our anglers six 
years ago, and hundreds annually engage in their capture. 
It is deplorable that such wanton havoc is indxxlged by 
persons who ought to know that the supply is by no means 
inexhaustible; in consequence of which there is every 
reason to fear that the few streams we have will be speed¬ 
ily depleted, and grayling fishing come to a summary end. 
Those who have enjoyed the sport of catching them will 
be intensely interested in the information given by our 
contemporary across'the Atlantic. We quote :— 
It is commonly believed that the grayling— salmo thy- 
mdliUs, thyimllus vulgaris, or umbra, is a naturalised 
but not indigenous English fish, the earliest colonies of 
which were imported from the Continent by the monks 
of old, for the benefit of those monasteries which, in 
ruined grandeur, or in renovated beauty, may still be ad¬ 
mired oxx the banks of the principal rivers wlferegrayling 
are to be found, This belief, no doubt, is founded on 
fact : but we know that the wise monks reared their 
pleasant homes on the banks of many a fair stream over 
all parts of the United Kingdom : wticreas the grayling 
is confined to only a few of the smaller streams, and to 
particular localities, in England alone. The fish is un¬ 
known to the North of the Tweed, or in all the rivers and 
lakes of Ireland, where monastic institutions used to he 
numerous and powerful. If, as is most probable, oui' 
original supply Was drawn from abroad, the parent stock 
may still be found flourishing most abundantly in their 
native home ; for a oticle drawn on the map of Europe 
rom a centre at Berne to a distance at Genoa would eii- 
lose within its circumference nearly all the Gontinental- 
fa.mily of grayling, which most closely resemble our Eng 
iish fish. They are said to be found also in Lapland, Nor¬ 
way, and Sweden, as well as on the borders of the Caspian 
and Baltic; but tliese, as Sir Humphrey Davie has pointed 
out with good reasons, would appear to be. a variety of a 
different, species. Similarly also in England, if the prov- 
exhial eagle, towering over the heights of the Hereford¬ 
shire Beacon, were to wing his coxn-se to the far slopes of 
the Derbyshire hills, he would look down upon the prin¬ 
cipal settlements of our grayling colonies, spread out in 
panorama beneath his flight. There are, of coxn-se, some 
few grayling rivers outside this area; and Hampshire es¬ 
pecially has not only perpetuated its own breed, but also 
f ui'nished stock for otlier localities ; while Yorkshire also 
holds some strong outlying detachments in the north. 
The worthy monks, no doubt, fxxlly appreciated the gray¬ 
ling, as a savory change iu then- diet of fish during the 
hard months of the winter, and probably tried to intro¬ 
duce them into various rivers with more or less success : 
but the delicate fish has tastes and idiosyncraeies of his 
own, and must have refused to populate many a desira¬ 
ble stream, and died out of others where its few hut im- 
pei-ative requirements were not satisfied. For even within 
the present centiuy they have been observed to change 
the position of their favorite haunts in old-established 
rivers, always migrating downwards from cold springs t o 
warmer pools, and they have refused to establish then- 
progeny in many new localities selected for them, and 
notably in the great Thames itself. Their tastes and 
habits' however, are very well known now, and whex'ever 
the stock has been once established, and their liver homo 
made suitable for them, they have been found to breed 
freely and to grow rapidly, reqxxiring little further care 
beyond protection from the ubiquitous and iniquitous 
poacher. They love a swift flowing, but not turbulent, 
river, where tixe water is generally clear and moderately 
cool, and where gentle exm-ents alternate with deep and 
extensive pools, They do not followthe fashion of young 
troutlets, and make their common playground in the noisy 
stickles, which go babbling over gravelly shallows, or 
twist fretfully into little pools and falls among the rocks, 
though occasionally they may be seen, sporting playfully 
and rising continuously, on some of the faster currents 
and rippling shallows, where the small flies are being 
wafted rapidly down the stream. Their more congenial 
home lies in stiller waters, and in dark depths, where the 
river channel is lined with mixed gravel, sand, andloam, 
from which they may gather particles of mud and smaller 
shells, to help their digestion of the insect food, which 
constitutes their favorite sustainance. They lie. there¬ 
fore. habitually at a lower depth in the water than trout 
usually do : and darting upwards at their prey, instead of 
waiting fox- it to float almost into their mouths, they 
rarely appear to view at all in the river, except at the 
nioment when they make their sudden rise, and disappear 
again almost as instantaneously. The fish itself is so deli¬ 
cate in the nature and the flavor of its flesh, needing to he 
cooked within a few hours after it has been caught, that, 
although taken in its prime dui-ing the cold months of 
winter, it is rarely sent away to distant friends as a pres¬ 
ent, and still more rarely exposed for sale in the fish shops 
of large towns ; and consequently it is as rare a sight as 
a black swan to the general public. The grayling rivers, 
too, are so limited in number and small in extent that 
they are apt to be regarded, even by members of the craft, 
as Coi-inthian streams, restricted to a few club members, 
and sacred as the Leintwardine itself ; and so many a 
half-satisfied angler puts away his worAand tangled gear, 
when September filings an end to the trout fishing, and 
never thinks of having a cast at the grayling, just at the 
very time when the deheious fish is coming into season. 
* * * * The passed graduate in trout fishing xnay, very 
probably, find himself diappointed at first for some time, 
while he meets with no response to his most tempting 
lines of invitation, sent with careful precision to likely- 
looking uooks and swirling eddies, where he fondly hoped 
the hungry grayling might be floating near the surface, 
ready to snatch the flies that should float over them, or to 
dart out at them from some sheltered spot, until suddenly 
from the clear depths of mid-stream he may see a silvery 
fish shoot upwards like a flash of light, and descend again 
With equal rapidity. Then he realises the different hab¬ 
its of the grayling, how that fish lies deep down in the 
water, watching for his food on the sin-face, and prepared 
to take it with a sudden upward spring ; for though he 
cannot stem a torrent, Bunuount a weir, or Bpring out of 
