866 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
Movements of the Fishing Fleet.— Only three Bank 
arrivals have been reported at this port the' past ■week— 
two with 39,000 pounds fresh halibut and one wit h 20,000 
pounds codfish. The number of Georges arrivals has been 
live, bringing 46,000 pounds codfish and 4,000 pounds hal¬ 
ibut. Whole number of arrivals eight. Total receipts, 
05,000 pounds codfish and 24,000 pounds halibut. The 
Stock of Georges fish on the market has been reduced to 
less than 1,000 quintals, and the stock of Bauk is small. 
The fleet report rough weather and a small catch .—Cape 
Ann Advertiser, Nov. 26th. 
Seine of the Gloucester skippers contemplate a winter 
mackereling trip off Hatteras and the southward, 
* Fishing tn Florida— Marietta, Ga., Nov, 24 th. — As 
the season for Florida fishing is at hand, a few extracts 
from ray fishing journals, giving the species, numbers 
ami weight offish taken at Halifax Inlet by one rod for 
the last four years, maybe worth the attention of anglers 
who arc bound to those shores for the first time. 1 know 
1 should have been glad to have got a few items of the 
sort ten years ago. Looking back to my journals for 
1870-7) I'lind that the fish are as plenty now as then. 
The seasons vary however, and some years one kind of 
fish is plenty and another scarce :— 
Numher and weight of fish taken at Halifax Inlet, East 
Florida, in the winters of 1876.1877,1878,1279, by one rod 
1878. 
Fiji. 1st, to April 16th. Number. 
Kedttshor bass.. 80 
Sheepshead. 110 
Groupers. 9 
Snappers. 7 
PivBsb. -- . 44 
Whiting-.. 98 
Salt-water trout. 15 
Black fish . 125 
Sailor's choice, or soup ... .— 187 
Cavalli. •* 
Totals— .... Bon 
Sharks, rays, congers, catfish, etc., 16 
weighing.. . 
Total. . 
Largest bass fifteen pounds. 
1877. 
Feb. 1st in May 25Wi» Number. 
Bass. 09 
Sheepsheatl. 202 
Trout, groupers and snappers . 20 
Whiting, biackiish and soup.. 200 
Sharks, rays, congers, catfish. .. 48 
Totals.539 
Largest bass thirty pounds. 
1878. 
Jim. 251b hi April loth. Number. I 
Bass . 26 
Sheepsheod. Ill 
Jlrum.— 3 
Groupers. 3 
Snapper. 4 
Trout . .9 
Pigfish, whiting and blacklist]. 108 
Cavalli. 3 
. 293 
. 38 
Total..... 1 
Largest b.iss t hirty-six ins.; largest sbeepsliuad six lbs. 
1879. 
March ilh tnjLfeHfKt.il. A timber^ Ti 
Boss.-. 31 
Shoepahead. 75 
Groupers. - a 
Snappers. . . 4 
Drum.—. . 3 
Trout. 4 
Blaekhsh and whiting. 80 
Pigflsh and scup. 73 
Cavalli. 14 
Ladyfish.- . 1 
Weight, 
09 
902 lbs 
300 
..1,202 lbs 
irsfphf- 
Total.... 
Largest bass twenty-six lbs.; largest sheepshead eight- 
Bait used forsheepshead, clams and fiddlers. Bait used 
fish, ou t mullet. The same tackle as is used for striped 
weakflsh in western waters. 
FISH SWALLOWING FISH. 
350 
. 1,034 lbs 
lbs. 
for other 
bass and 
!. C. C. 
Pembina, Dak., Nov. 10 th, 1879. 
I HAVE of late read some large stories in Forest and 
Stream offish swallowing fish, one of which stumped 
me, and, in Hoosier parlance, it would take the persim¬ 
mons. It was told by one of the Professors of the Smith¬ 
sonian Institution, and was a whopper. If Prof. Baird 
will back him in that yam I may believe Mm. But, 
come to think of it, I will believe him anyhow, as it is 
only a small fish story iu comparison to the old fellow 
that swallowed the whale, all of which our good mothers 
taught us to believe. 
In Forest and Stream of Nov. 18th I see the list is open 
for stories of fish swallowing fish, and as a prize for the 
best one the biggest fish-hook that can be found in the 
city of New York will be given. I have no desire or ex¬ 
pectation to win the hook, as the postage or expressage 
on it to this place would be more than it is worth; besides 
we have neither whales, sharks or hippopotami in our 
waters, while we manage to take ortr catfish (we have 
some monster ones, too) and sturgeon on common-sized 
neons. 
Prize or no prize, I will give you a couple of mcidents 
of rnv sporting in years and years gone by, but never for¬ 
gotten. Angling was my passion from boyhood. I could 
patiently wait for a nibble for hours, fish in a puddle for 
tadpoles, or tear down a craw-fish's mud pile in a wet 
prairie, and amuse myself by angling for the crab, I 
was a true disciple of Sir J. W., and of the fishes of our 
Western waters I don't think he could have taught me 
anything. I know all their habits, haunts and feeding- 
tirhe, and would catch them when others alongside of me 
would not get a nibble. 
Well, now I am on the old man’s brag, and had better 
hold up for the two promised incidents, 
My first incident relates to a black bass swallowing a 
black bass. I was then in the “ Sucker ” State, on the old 
Wabash, about two miles below the Grands. Myself and 
partner (poor fellow, he hung up his fisMng-tacJde long 
since) were fishing ou the Hoosier side of the river, oppo¬ 
site the Wing Dam on the Little Rapids, near the mouth 
of White River, 
We were f ishi ng for bass, and near noon we had a string 
of near thirty—none less than two pounds and some over 
three pounds. The fish had gone to their noon’s rest, and 
from lack of amusement, we began to feel hungry. Hav¬ 
ing no grub for lunch, my partner proposed that we 
should take our rifles and kill a few squirrels, and then 
go to a cornfield about a half-mile distant and lift a mess 
of roasting ears, to all of which I willingly agreed. Just 
as we were ready to start I hooked a six-inch bass, and 
left it a prisoner on the hook until my return. We killed 
four or five squirrels, then raided the cornfield, and re¬ 
turned to camp with the plunder. 
We were gone about an hour, and on arriving we struck 
a fire, and then took a look at the lines. The first pole I 
raised was the one with the bass on it, and to our aston¬ 
ishment I had a four-pound black bass hooked, dead and 
Btiff, It had completely swallowed the bass and hook, 
and had swam and worried until it died—a thing that 
bass will do, as I have had it happen to me on several 
Similar occasions—minus the corn-stealing. So, you see, 
bass are cannibals and will eat one another. We rebaited 
tile books, and then went for our feast. We roasted the 
squirrels on sticks before the fire, and cooked the corn in 
the hot ashes, with the husks on. Then two wolfish boys 
made a square meal, not on hog and hominy, but on 
squirrel and Hoosier corn, without the fear of a Sunday- 
school teacher before our eyes. We finished the after¬ 
noon in fishing, and when we loaded our “dug-out ” the 
bottom of it showed as pretty a lot of black, striped and 
white bass, with goggle-eyed perch and a few catfish, as 
old anglers would want to look on. 
The other affair was on our old trail from here to Crow 
Wing. 
You may remember several small lakes in the Leaf 
Mountain this side of Detroit Lake. We had stopped with 
our “brigade ” of carts near one of them for dinner, and 
to “spell” the animals. While the boys were cooking 
dinner I took my gun to see if I could not get a mess of 
ducks or a goose for supper. 
In skirting along the lake I noticed something near the 
shore making some funny evolutions, as if trying the 
groimd-and-lofty-tumbling business in the water. It ex¬ 
cited my curiosity, and going close to the water—“ oh ye 
gods and little fishes!” I saw a doubled-tailed fish, tail up 
and tail down, no heads about it. I didn’t think of Bar¬ 
man, but I thought how Prof. Baird would be pleased to 
get Ms “grappling irons” on that specimen. I drew a 
bead on that two-tailed fellow with my splatter gun and 
blazed away, and then went for it like a little darkey for 
a dollar in a mud-hole; soon had it captured and on shore. 
There it was — a tail at one end and a tail at the other; 
but, like Barnum’s mermaid, it was a fraud, as on exam¬ 
ination it proved to be a fourteen-inch pickerel that had 
attempted to swallow a twelve-inch sucker. The suoker 
was more than half swallowed, and must have been 
caught some days before, as the tail end was soft, stink¬ 
ing and bloated, while the head end in the pickerel was 
digested to the bone. The lightness of the external part 
of tho sucker kept the pickerel from sinking, and all it 
could do was to digest its extraordinary meat on the sur¬ 
face, and think of the folly of a fourteen-inch pickerel 
attempting to swallow a twelve-inch sucker muoh big¬ 
ger than itself. 
I did not send that double-tailed fish to my old friend 
Prof. Baird, nor did I ever think to tell him of the mat¬ 
ter ; but I am ready to believe any yam that may he told 
of what a pickerel will undertake to do when it makes up 
its mind to do it, just as a glutton of a boy would try to 
stow away a pile that would feed the inmates of a county 
poorhouse. _ 
New Jersey— Caldwell .—Was fishing last week in the 
Upper Passaio, and hooked a large pike. He had com¬ 
pletely swallowed the hook, and finding it impossible to 
disgorge it, I cut Mm open, and what was my surprise to 
find inside a smaller pike, wMch had also swallowed the 
hook. I cut him open and found inside a small black 
Lass—hook still swallowed ; cut Mm open and recovered 
my hook. I had baited my hook with a common earth 
worm, but was astomshed to find it neatly baited with a 
common minnow. Now how did this happen? Do you 
suppose the minnow took the bait first, and was then 
swallowed by the bass, and so on successively, or did the 
large pike take the bait and pass it down to those inside? 
Oh, by the way, you may send that hook. L. Speer. 
Fish Swallowing Fish. — Elmira, N. 37, Nov. 20th.— 
Editor Forest and Stream i—I have had some fifty-five 
years’ experience with the rod. Some years since 1 was 
trout-fislung in Little Beaver Brook some six miles north 
of tliis city, and I took a brook trout with bait, some ten 
inches in length. A plump looking trout he was, and 
when I dressed him I took from Ms stomach a fish known 
here as a horned dace, which measured just 5| inches in 
length, well proportioned and in good condition. Only 
a few scales about the middle were displaced, the trout 
weighing about eight ounceB after being dresBed. 
Wisconsin— Sunny Sank, Oeanomowoc.Nav. 3d.—Noticing your 
offer in Forest and Stream of Nov. 13tli, 1879, of the biggest fish 
hook for tin- biggest llsh story, etc., I cannot resist the tempta¬ 
tion to eater tho lists, having had numerous adventures “ by field 
and flood" myself. The season of 1861 proved one of my good 
years in that line. 
On the 4th of July hr that year for the Jack of better amuse¬ 
ment, I put in the most of that very hot day with my wife fishing 
In Lac La Belle, and had a very fine day's sport with the bass and 
pickerel. On reaching the landing on my return, I discovered 
that I had lost one of my sleeve-buttons (they were the old- 
fasliloned kind, two buttons joined with a link). I knew, of 
oou rse, I had lost them in the lake as I had them on when 1 start¬ 
ed out. One week from that day I went with imy wife for an 
early morning fish of a few hours, to as near as I oould judge the 
same fishing groundjofi the week before, about two miles down 
the lake. We had a very fine morning's sport and I captured, 
among other fish, an eight-pound pickerel; took him home and 
had him dressed for dinner, and in him found the lost buttons of 
tho week previous. Luokily I found them as I did, or he would 
have lost them. This may sound fishy, but it is true neverthe¬ 
less, as can bo testified to by my wife and numerous friends. 
Speaking of fish swallowing fish, an acquaintance of mine was 
flBbingin Silver Lake about three miles south of here a few years 
ago, with a live minnow tor a bait, when a perch took the min¬ 
now, a baas took tho perch, and before he could land the bass a 
big pickerel gobbled the whole three—four fish on a single hook 
and only one in sight. j. Q. Hitchcock. 
Bedford, 0., Nov. 23d. 
Editor Forest and Stream :— 
I am going to make a cast for that big Ash hook mentioned In a 
late number of Forest and Stream. When I was breeding trout, 
twenty odd years since, I spawned a two-year-old trout which 
was very full of eggs, and after extracting the eggs she turned on 
her side and appeared muoh worse for the operation. I thought 
she might die, and in order to know if she survived the operation, 
I placed her in a little pool, where I kept some yearlings. The 
next day I examtnod her and found she had swallowed, or partly 
swallowed a yoarllng trout. The yearling protruded out of her 
mouth about an Inch— she was all right. 
Some twenty years since Judge B. D. Potter of Toledo, O., and 
I were fishing for trout at the Sault Ste Marie. One morning we 
each caught one trout that would weigh about two and a half 
p# unds eaoh . The Judge dressed the trout for our breakfast, and 
the one that I eaught had a bar of lead in its stomach that weighed 
three-quarters of a pound. The Judge sticks to It, to this day, 
that that trout never swallowed that bar of lead. I ean’t say 
that he did, but I do say that I won a bottle of very old Otard on 
the weight of my trout, and tho Judgoipaidlt like a man- 
And, uow, for the big hook, and if this (don’t win, I will never 
try again : 
Some thirty Odd years sinoe, two acquaintances Of mine, whoso 
word I am willing to vouch for (Messrs. Murray and Crawford), 
wore ongaged in fishing for lake trout and white fish at Presque 
Isle, Lake Huron, with gill nets and set lines, baited with herring. 
It was customary with men in their employ, when they went out 
in the lake to raise their gill nets and set lines, to take a trolling 
line with them baited with a herring, by wbieh means they often 
took several lake trout. On one ocoasion, while trolling, an im¬ 
mense trout made a bolt at the herring with mouth and gill covers 
wide open. Tho herring not only slipped into his mouth, hut 
through or under one of the gill covers, and slid along up the 
line, and broke water near the boat, and the same instant a small 
lake trout seized the herring and was booked fast; and immedi¬ 
ately afterwards a large lake trout seized the small trout and swal¬ 
lowed him far enough to get hooked himself, and all three were 
hauled in together. As the first one oould not slip over the 
other two trout, I am aware that this looks very fishy, but noth¬ 
ing is more common, when trolling for Jake trout, and when one 
is fast, than for several trout to follow the hooked trout, as I 
have often seen myself, not only with trout but black bass, and 
even brook trout. T. Garrick. 
The fish hook is still unawarded. We are confident 
that there is a greater story yet to come. Who will tell 
it? _ 
FACTS ABOUT BATS. 
N O order of Mammalia is so well defined and so readily 
recognizable as the CMroptera, or bats. As their or¬ 
dinal name implies, all of them are provided with true 
wrngs, and they are otherwise modified so as to he fitted 
for aerial looomotion. In almost all other mammals— 
whether they walk upon the lafld, swim m the sea, or 
dwell among the branches of the trees—the propelling 
power is mainly in the hind limbs, or hinder part of the 
body, but, in the bats, the reverse of tMsis true. In this or¬ 
der it is the fore limbs which furnish the power by which 
the animal progresses, while the hind legs and feet are 
small, weak and almost useless for locomotion. So much is 
tMs the case that Mr. Dobson tells us that the combined 
length of the emur, tiba and foot rarely equals that of 
the fore arm alone. 
Bats are found in all regions where flying insects 
abound, and though most abundant in the tropics, extend 
their wanderings even to the confines of the Arctio Circle. 
No speeieB of this order are known from St. Helena, Ice¬ 
land, the Galapagoes or Kerguelen Island ; but in most 
of the islands of the Pacific Ocean they abound. 
The family Vespertilionidai, to which belongs our com¬ 
mon brown bat, has the widest geograpMcal range of any 
group of the Chiroptera, and not only this, but its habits 
carry it to Mgher latitudes, both north and south of the 
equator. We are told that the northern limit of the species 
appears to be the isotherm of 32?, and Nilsson states that 
Vesperugo borealis extends to the northern part of the 
Scandinavian Peninsula, and probably reaches the Arctic 
Circle. Blasius lias reported the same species from 
Northern Russia and the borders of the WMte Sea. Our 
own Versperugo noctivagans has been taken on the shores 
of Hudson’s Bay, another common species near Lake 
Winnepeg, and a third in the Aleutian Islands, while 
Darwin records the appearance of a hat on the island of 
Tierra del Fuego. Several other families are abundant in 
temperate climates, but none of them have so extensive 
a range as the Vespertilionidai. Other families, as the 
Pteropodidce, NyetHdce, and Phyllostomidce, are con¬ 
fined almost entirely to the tropics. 
It is not generally known that many bats are to a cer¬ 
tain extent migratory in their habits, performing jour- 
neys'more or less extended at the approach of winter, or 
when, for any reason, their food supply fails them. We 
are told, however, by Dr. Trouessart, of Villeveque, that 
tMs is true of several European species, and Mr. Dobson 
in his recent great work on this order, of quotes Hutton 
as stating that one of the frugivorous bats, Pteropodidce, 
(Cynoptems marginatus ) will travel thirty to forty miles 
in a night and back again in search of food. These great 
powerB of flight would account in part for the very wide 
distribution of tMs group throughout the islands of the 
Pacific Ocean, in many of wMch bats are the only indi¬ 
genous mammals. But the fact that Atalaplia Grayi, 
the only species reported from the Sandwich Islands, be¬ 
longs to an American type, is not to he explained^jqjfij- 
