946 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
place. I had often seen cats play with swallows, swooping' at 
them, hut the idea of fish (Joins the same, was something new 
to me. Presently i saw a dean breach and a line large pickerel 
showed his whole size and got his swallow too, ns he disappeared 
beneath toe water. This I saw repeated several times, and I called 
the attention of my companion to this novel sight. While we 
wore watching we saw two largo halt break at the same swallow. 
The fish coming from opposite directions and each head on to 
each. Both missed the swallow, but singular to relate, only ono 
fish was seen to fall into the water and neither was observed to 
pass the other. My companion nndmj-self looked with wonder. 
There was a great commotion in the water, with a continuous 
spattering, and a boat being handy, we Jumped in and rowed to 
tlie spot and picked up the largest pond pickerel I ever saw. 
When we had him in the boat, the iftystcry was solved; the smaller 
of the tlsh had in his eagerness for tho swallow jumped clear 
down the larger one's throat, luiA-only the tail, to the extent of 
about an inch, showed. The largo fish was completely rent 
asunder and .killed by the catastropby. Both together weighed 
twenty-two pounds. S. 
New York, Dec. 23d. 
Editor Firmest and Stream 
While trolling in Maumee Bay l caught, a twelve-pound pickerel 
which presented a very rotuiul appearance. Curiosity prompt¬ 
ed me to cut it open, and to my surprise I found within a small 
pig weighing;about six pounds. It had probably been eating 
snails or fresh-water clams, on the shore, and had ventvved into 
the water after n clam when Eao.c rcticulatus nabbed him most 
likely to his utter discontent. Piggy was breathing hard and strug¬ 
gling for an aperture for escape, and upon obtaining his liberty 
ran off with a squeal. That Office Boy. 
“ So young and so untender! ’’ 
Boston, Dec. 15th. 
‘ Editor Forest and Stream 
I have had some strange experiences in some of my fishing trips 
and I submit the following. Perch have very tough mouths, 
to save trouble in extraotiong the hooks I file off the barbs which 
makes a great difference in the labor. One day last summer, 
while staying at Manchester, I anchored off Little Misery and put¬ 
ting a hook and sinker on each end of my line, and baiting with 
a clam, 1 took a turn round the row-lock with the middle of tho 
line and so wed enabled to run two lines at once. The fish didn’t 
bite and I was pretty nearly asleep, when all at once I 6aw the 
liue moving and before I could catch it, it went where so many 
California mining stocks have gone before, f. e. down. 
One week later found me at Nantucket, where one afternoon I 
was invited to go sharking. We reached the grounds and as s 
as I threw my line over 1 got a bite and soon found I had two fish 
on my line. I got them on board as soon as possible and at first 
supposed I hadapair of Siamise twins,but on examination,found 
tbat they wero connected by apiece of perch line in which my 
shark hook had caught. "We cut them open to investigate and 
found Inside of each a large cod, alive and well. Still we didn't 
see tho epd of tho line; we then cut the cod open and inside of 
each cod was a polluek. Still no end to the lino. We oponed the 
polluekand found in each a lively perch; we oponed the perch 
and found in each a claiu with the shell on, inside of which were 
tny barbless hooks; and now the only strange thing is how tho 
clams could have built now shells in a week's time out of the 
scanty materials in a fish's stomach, as 1 am positive I shelled 
them when I baited the hook. The eight fish weighed 451 lbs. 84 
oz., and we got two pounds of oil from tho shark's livers. 
T. Ruth. 
Taking an iron rod, (as thick ns Ids finger) with a curved end, he 
introduced it into the mouth, and from there into the stomach of 
tie-fish.; and after a few manipulations commenced a long pull, 
while I made trnetion at tho tail portion of the outside fish. To 
my surprise there gradually came into the light of day a second 
fish, it was placed on the scales and found to weigh seven 
pounds. I tried my hand and removed from the Btomaeh of No. 
2 a lake herring weighing three-quarters of a pound which had 
been used as a bait. 
My friend, General S., whose name appeared on so many green¬ 
backs, and who hus been accused of using his signature as a bait 
to catch fish, went flailing on McGerts Creek near this city. But 
T wish it distinctly understood that he did not use his signature 
as a bait, but on tho oontrnry one of Mann'sspoon. His fifteenth 
amendment was rowing rather rust, and the General got a bite 
that nearly yanked him overboard. After a long and desperate 
fight, he lauded a Southern catfish weighing'seventeen pounds. I 
uppealto you, Mr. Editor, to account for the conduct of the afore¬ 
said cattish. As for myself, I believe it to be " a case of mistaken 
identity." 
As an evidence of the popularity of Mann's Spoon Baits, on one 
occasion I was trolling for channel baas on the Homnsussa River 
and got a Strike. ;Tomy educated fingers the antics of tho fish 
were strange, and I enquired of myself “ why is this thus." To 
my surprise, when X brought the fish to the side of the boat, I had 
hooked a three-pound sheepshead. Instead of usingagatr I at¬ 
tempted to lift him into the boat by the hooks, and one of them 
parted. “Hump," you will probably say this is "a ease of mis¬ 
taken identity." At Fresco. 
„ , . „ Saint Joseph, Mich., Dee. 15th. 
Editor Forest and Stream 
I am in want of u big flab-hook, and file my caveat. In 1876 I 
went to one of our lakes fishing through the ice. I hove a small 
tent painted black, with a small hole in the top to turn out my 
spear handle, as 1 only fish in winter with a spear and a decoy fish 
made of wood. One day I caught a pickerel (X judged to weigh 
ten pounds. I sent it to St. Joseph at once to T. T. Ransom, who 
keeps a grocery store. Parties saw the fish, guessed at. the weight. 
On weighing the fish it weighed 13 lbs. 8 oz. The . groeeryi 
went to cut it up and spoiled a very nice pocket knife. Ho 
then took a hatchet and made an unsuccessful effort to out the 
fish in two, until a large farmers' iron drag tooth fell aut, which 
weighed about three and a half pounds, and was ten inches long. 
What 1 here state can be proved by T. T. Ransom and a half-dozen 
other persons in this place, as well a mischievous bachelor land¬ 
lord who keeps the hotel near the lake. Ldtson. 
. Putnam, Conn., Dec. loth. 
Editor Forest and Stream 
As my parents lived near the shore of Plymouth Bay I spent 
most of my boyhood days shooting and fishing on the water. Al¬ 
most every one that ever fished in that hay has seen some of the 
great sharks that abound there. Many years ago there w 
monster shark often Been about Gurnet Point, and wlieu a fishiug 
boat came in without any fish they averred that they had been 
chased by the big shark having throwu overboard all their fish, 
had barely escaped with their lives. There was a noted boattnan, 
one Joe Salter, who was called the greatest sculler on the coast, 
and it was said that he lonce sculled a boat from Rocky Nook to 
to Goose Point, four miles, in thirty minutes. He had often been 
chased by tho big shark. Oile time he was out fishing when tb 
monster came for him. Ho sprang to his oar, but the shark over 
took and swallowed him. With great presence of mind he ran his 
oar out of the shark and sculled himself ashore. G. F. W. 
New Sharon, Conn,, 12f7i month, 23 d. 
Respected Friend I have just perused a copy of thy inter¬ 
esting paper and am greatly impressed with the narratives of fish¬ 
ermen, for I, too, am n disclpie of that good man, philosopher, 
and friend, Isaac, whose surnameis Walton. Some of those stories 
were verily marvelous, almost surpassing belief, only that I am 
assured that thy paper is a reliable one, and I am moved to 
chronicle something of my own experience, i was angling for 
trout last Sixth Month, in the waters of the wilderness. And it 
came to rass, that one day as I was making casts, a passing jay¬ 
bird appropriated unto himself the fly known as the stretcher, 
while In the air; and as he was forced upon the water he was 
seized of a leg by a trout of uncommon size. Yea, his foot was 
entangled even to the stomach;ot the fish, where Its talons em¬ 
bedded themselves so that the flsh was secured. Availing myself 
of this novel lure I thus captured a goodly string by singles and 
by pairs; one on cither foot, until the hook broke under the 
strain of a pair unusually largo, which left to their own devices, 
the fish engorged the bird, and then each other. I would have 
thee, Mr. Editor, advise thy friends to teat this method, using a 
largo hook. Yea, a very large hook. Tbine in truth, 
Aminidah Owen. 
K. Cohoes, N. Y„ Dsc.lBtJi. 
Editor Forest and Stream':— 
Some years ago while angling in the Mohawk, using a small 
minnow for bait, the flsh were not biting freely and I fell nsleop 
m the boat, leaving my line set. When 1 nwokel thought 1 would 
draw it in and rebait. I took hold of it and eould not pull it in 
readily, hut after hard tugging brought it to the boat, when 1 
found, as I supposed, a ten-pound pike, fast. After I had landed 
him in tho boat I could not see my book, bo I opened him, when I 
discovered that an eel about six inches long had taken the min¬ 
now a chub hnd taken the eel; a bas3 had taken the chub; the 
pike had taken tho bass: io the pike were eight small eels, ten 
dace, twenty Beven fresti-water lobsters, and four good Bizefl 
frogs. You must shake this dose freely before taking. 
Henrt Mills. 
^ „ ACKSONVILLE, Fla., DfC. 15th. 
Editor Forest and Stream :— 
I am disposed to lend a hand at the bellows. But I rise to a 
point of order, and enter my protest against the introduction of 
" gaitors." I maintain that any referenoo to these peBky critters 
is unparliamentary, and if my position is not sustained, I will 
favor your readers with not my piscatorial, but ailigatorial ex¬ 
perience on the CaUosoohtttchie River, where I caught with a 
smal I line and hook a “ gaitor " thirteen feet long. But to pisca¬ 
torial facts; and I may remark, that your correspondent’s state¬ 
ments in your last were not aufficiently fishy, but on the contrary 
too snakey and 'gaitery. 
fn 1866,1 indulged in a cruise to the head of Lake Superior. Stop¬ 
ping at Marquette, I at times engaged in thecapture of the speck¬ 
led beauties at the Light-House reef. When the;flshermen would 
come in with their catch of lake trout I would visit the fisb- 
house. On one occasion I noticed that a fish whs characterized by 
corpulency, and directed the attention of the fish-dealer to the 
fact He placed the oorpulent fish to one sido, and when all were 
housed he started on an exploring expedition. Ho weighed 
the aldermanio fish and it turned the scales atthirty-five pounds. 
Near Peake’s Cross Road, Va., Dec. 16th. 
Editor Forest and Stream :— 
1 forward you a fish story taken from an old work in my posses¬ 
sion, and as told on the good people of Galena, Ill. For this' re¬ 
production, I demand the "big hook." Failing to receive it, I vow 
to send you the other method alluded to by the author. Remem¬ 
ber my threat and send on the hook, for like old Annanias, you 
seo I have kept hack part: “ While writing, I may as well tell you 
of nnothor mode the inhabitants of that comparatively (!) cold 
region have of taking fish. In warm sunshining days the fish 
rise up to the surface, probably to catch a look, or to feel the 
verifying influences of the splendid luminary through their bril¬ 
liant covering. Their back fins, particularly those of the sunfish, 
freeze to the ice and the fishermen out out a pieoe of it, say five 
feet wide by ten long, and with a rope slipped over one end they 
upset tho ice, to which vast numbers of fish are found adhering 
by their hack fins. Sleigh loads of them are taken after this 
fashion, and though inanimate, if put into tepid water they soon 
revive. This is a cheap and easy way of getting fish, but wants 
the life and exhilaration of the other.” Bibo Shot. 
We fail to see what this has to do with “ Fish Swallow¬ 
ing Fish,” unleBS the captors of theBe fish were land 
sharks. But we are in suspense for “ the other.” Send 
it on. 
textural Sister^ 
Partridge Flies, —Several of our correspondents have 
sent us recently specimens of the partridge fly, which 
was ttrst brought to the notice of sportsmen and identi¬ 
fied in the columns of Forest and Stream last year. 
The specimens are all alike, and belongj^to the species 
Olfersia americana. 
Pileated Woodpecker in Canada.— Our friend, Mr 
Ernest D. Wintle, sends us a notice of the capture of a 
specimen of Hylotomus pileatus in Canada, saying 
I obtained a female pileated woodpecker ( Hylotomus 
pileatus) the other day, which was shot near Montreal. 
Also was informed that the mate bird was sold to some 
other person. I am told these birds aTe very rare in 
Canada. 
Hair Worms Again.— Corpus Christi, Tex., Dee. 8th — 
In your issue of 13th ult., you published a very interest¬ 
ing article on " Hair Worms,” which will go far towards 
destroying the false impression existing in the minds of 
many of your readers. I, too, in boyhood's days, believed 
that horsehairs placed in water became worms, for I bad 
been told so by scores of eye-witnesses who had noted the 
changes from day to day. I do not doubt but I can find 
some of those same eye-witnesses now, who would be 
willing to 6wear to the statement, for they have told it 
60 many times that they believe it, 
This did not satisfy me, however, for every time I 
soaked a lot of horsehairs in wa ter, they came cnit as they 
went in—genuine hate ; so I adopted another theory, 
viz. :'That hairs, accidentally dropped into ponds, became 
bo rotten as to become the habitation of myriads of ani- 
maloulm, which gave a motion to the inert hair, making 
it appear as possessed of life. This theory vanished years 
ago, upon reading an article in some paper (yours, per¬ 
haps) giving a true history of the reptile or insect, which 
ever it may be. But now I must ask for a little more 
light, as I do not see my way clear to accept the theory 
of reproduction by eggs as you lay it down on page 806. I 
can only say, that my observation is quite limited ; hut 
so far as I do know, “ I know it like a preacher.” 
In the fall of last year I caught one of these “hair 
worms ” or “ snakes,” in one of the irrigating ditches in 
San Antonio, in clear, swift running water, trying (o 
make his way up stream, but the current was too".strong, 
and he kept losing ground, being forced tail-foremost down 
stream. 1 rescued the fellow, and placed him in a glass 
tumbler of the same water to see the result. He went 
ound and round that glass a thousand or less times ; and 
I noticed, coming from the after end, a white thread, 
which soon developed into a full-fledged hair worm about 
one-third the diameter and length of the parent worm. 
This I thought queer ; but you can imagine my surprise, 
upon seeing another under way in a few moments, then 
another, and so on, until I had six worms. The parent, 
a big black, or dark-twown, worm, and five small white 
chaps, all alive and hearty. In the course of the day the 
parent worm died, and, during the night, all of the white 
little fellows, except one, shared the same fate. I then 
put this survivor into fresh water to save him, but he 
lived but an hour. I will state here, that I don't under¬ 
stand where these little chaps could have been stowed, 
for their combined bulk appeared greater than the 
parent’s. The parent worm after death, appeared as large 
as before ; but upon pinching it, it became perfectly' flat, 
showing that it was hollow. Can you reconcile this with 
Dr. Leidy's egg system of reproduction ? Bexar. 
Dr. Leidy’s observations have been confirmed by M, 
Villot’s, and it is altogether improbable that two such ac¬ 
curate and carefully trained observers should have made 
such grave mistakes as are implied by Bexar’s letter. We 
do not understand that our correspondent subjected his 
supposed young hah- worms to a microscopic examination, 
and tiiink it possible tbat what he took for young may 
have been strings of eggs. 
Sea Snake Caught in Teleorafh Submarine Wire. 
—Mr. Moginie has called upon me with a lovely specimen 
of a sea snake which he wanted properly mounted in a 
bottle for the Board room of the Eastern Extension Tele¬ 
graph Company. One of the cables belonging to this 
company was being raised from the bottom of the sea, I 
believe in the Indian Ocean, and when the cable came to 
the surface, the snake in question was found coiled 
tightly round the telegraph cable. Luckily it was killed 
before it could do any- mischief, as these sea snakes are 
excessively poisonous. In the College of Surgeons there 
is a sea snake which crawled up the anchor chain of a 
man of war when she was moored in the mouth of tho 
Ganges. The midshipman of the watch saw something 
moving along the chain, and without thinking, went to 
pick it up. The venomous brute immediately- turned 
upon him and bit him. The poor young midshipman did 
not live many hours after the accident. ~ Mr. Moginie’s 
snake is about a yard long, and the general color of it is 
white, and it is most beautifully marked on the back with 
black, or rather dark chocolate patterns. The tail is, as 
in all sea snakes, quite flattened, like the end of an oar. 
This, of course, gives the animal great power of swim¬ 
ming. My friend, Dr. Day, luckily came in just as I was 
consulting Sir Joseph Fayrer's magnificent illustrated 
work on the “ Venomous Snakes of the Indian Penin¬ 
sula,” and I am now enabled to give the following ac¬ 
count of it by Dr. Day : 
‘•The example of sea snake ( Felamis bicolor) which 
you showed me as having been killed by a deep sea tele¬ 
graph wire in the Indian Ocean, is a species having a very 
wide geographical range. I have taken an example in 
Scinde, another in Orissa, while it is reported to extend 
tlvroughout the sub-tropical and tropical poitions of the 
Indian Ocean. I have only met with a few examples, 
and do not look upon it as nearly so common as the blue- 
banded Eiihydrimi. All these sea snakes, I need scarcely 
observe, are exceedingly venomous.— Land and Water. 
If little sea serpents, why not big ones ? 
The Sources of the Niger.— A great geographical 
discovery is reported to have been made by two French¬ 
men. A telegram from Sierra Leone states that MM. 
Zweifel and Moustier, representatives of the firm of M. 
Venninck, of Marseilles, succeeded during September in 
discovering the sources of the Niger. This great river, 
which waters the "Western Soudan, has hitherto hidden 
its cradle in the northern spurs of the Kong Mountains, 
a chain parallel with the Gulf of Guinea and one of the 
bulwarks of Central Africa. Many explorers had tried 
to penetrate into these unknown parte, but failed. The 
French traveler, Caillie, following the Kong Mountains 
north ward, was obliged to content himself with indicating 
the course of the Upper Niger and its tributaries. Messrs. 
Laing and Winwood JReade tried in vain to explore the- 
region of the sources of the Diolibah ; the mistrust and 
hostility of the natives forced them to abandon the solu¬ 
tion of the problem. A French merchant possessing sev¬ 
eral stores on the western coast of A fri ca resolved to at¬ 
tempt the difficult task. M. Verminck chose two of his 
employees hardened to tho climate and accustomed to 
treating with, the natives. He sent them mathematical 
instruments, books, maps and money , and told them to 
explore the Niger both from a scientific and commercial 
point of view. MM. Zweifel and Moustier forthwith left 
Hierro Leone, followed the course of the Rohelie, and at¬ 
tained the foot of the Kong Mountains. It was here that 
the greatest difficulty had to he encountered ; but they 
fortunately succeeded in overcoming it. The warlike 
tribes who had hitherto refused to allow the whiteman to 
go farther this time let the two Frenchmen pass the 
chain and explore the three sources, which, u nitin g at a 
short distance, form the great river of the Western 
Soudan,— London Standard, 
