244 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



| Oct. 26, 1882. 



loading rifle of .38 calit re the Ucal tool aa it. comas; lime and 

 again into requisiton where seals are abundant. There is 

 during summer but little feathered game on toe guff and 

 double-barreled shotguns are therefore an almost needless en- 

 cumbrance, I have therefore always used a single barrel 

 breech-loader, as many of lliem are excellent shooting guns 

 and carry shot, as far as can be reasonably expected, if Is ad- 

 visable to take along a couple of pounds of good powder and 

 a corresponding quantity of fine shot, as both are unobtainable 

 below Quebec, If it be desirable to make collections it is 

 also necessary to add some tools and preservatives for akin- 

 niug and preparing of the specimens. Rubber goods of all 

 LptioH including blankets, boots, bags, are Inidispensabte, 

 as the weather is not always line, and rainy days are uotun 

 common. The outfit, for fishing itself ean haidly be too 

 Comprehensive* It is easily carried and will last moreover 

 for several years. For large-sized trout, salmon Hies are pre- 

 ferable, notably the Jock Scot, silver doctor and golden 

 pheasant. 



Provisions of all kinds are best secured nt Montreal or St. 

 JphjO*. where they are of good quality and variety. The 

 tourist ran best reach the lower St. Lawrence by going by 

 way or St. John*. N B.. and thence by the I litercolonia'l 

 poaati ' . 'ampbcllUm. Here a steamer runs to Gaspe twice 

 each month, and connocts with a mail schooner which runs 

 to several points along the north shore. K the Quebec route 



ebo i. (here are two lines of communication open. The 

 first is by Hie Intercolonial Railroad as far as Campbellton, 

 and beyond by the same transportation as above mentioned; 



I is by the coasting steamer Olter, which makes 



semi-monthly trips from Quebec to many good points along 

 the shores of the Gull, wherever tin re is. freight and passen- 



fers to land or take on hoard. Miugau is the terminus of 

 er journey. 



All help, canoes and rough camping outfit can be got at 

 Gaspe, and should be secured at that point, as there is a 

 ■wilderness beyond it. All streams of the north shore, where 

 there is any good salmon fishing, are now leased, anil Special 

 permits from the lessees are needed if any oue desires to 

 indulge in this kind of sport. Trout, however, may be 

 ts£en without any permit as far as the tide runs. "The 

 smaller trout streams art! free to all comers, and some of 

 them, like those in Anticosti, yield better sport than the 

 majority of the large rivers, The highest benefits of a jour- 

 ney to the lower St, Lawrence accrues, however, from its 

 pure and invigorating air, the effects of which, in case of 

 all digestive derangements, are unsurpassed. No other stretch 

 line- in summertime equals it in this respect, and 

 the day is not far distant when the great surging crowd of 

 the languid, spoilt devotees of fashion will invade these still 

 primitive and romantic solitudes, and reduce them to the 

 level of the many faded, insipid seaside resorts which form 

 an almost unbroken net from Virginia to Maine. L. 



SPORT IN NEW MEXICO. 



SKCOND TAPElt. 



IN a former letter I gave you in short my view's on the rela- 

 tive efficiency Of large VS. small flies for trout fishing 

 in streams. 1 ean now offer you additional evidence in cor- 

 roboration of those statements. A gentleman who has 

 fished the trout streams of the West for upwards of twenty 

 yars, and so is no novice tit the sport, only repeated the 

 warnings 1 had had from so many other fishermen in this 

 country, viz., your flies are too small. However. I induced 

 him to try some of them, which he did, and pronounced his 

 Sport to 'be improved at least fifty per cent., not only in 

 numbers, bQt also in the true sport (if lauding heavy fish on 

 delicate tackle. I tied him a dozen or so of flies, with which 

 tie has caught about tiOO trout, saying that he has never 

 et (iialed the take in any previous season. Formy tail flics I use 

 number 11 Limerick hooks on the finest trout, gut obtainable, 

 and Ha' dioii Hies on number 13, or even smaller. Mv theory 

 of fishing is that by suiting the strength of your tackle to the 

 size of trout you expect to catch, as good spori may be had 

 with half-pounders as with I wo or three pounders. How 

 of ten has my heart been brought nearly into my mouth by 

 the first rush of a lusty pounder en a. number IS hook: and 

 ' ad caution used to bring him to net has worked 

 me up to a pitch of excitement uuequaled in any sport. 

 How differently we regard the same fish on a large hook, 

 coarse, strong salmon gut, and it two-handed rod. "Instead 

 of admiring his proportions and pluck after a long tussle, 

 he is yanked out by mere strength, and ignonilniously 

 counted among the small outs. Sport in its true meaning is 

 the more enjoyable the more difficult it is to be successful, 

 and the more the skill and knowledge of its seeker are called 

 into requisition.. 



The Santa River, so called from courtesy, is really noth- 

 ing but a small creek, that loses itself entirely in the sand 

 jut below the city, t had heard, though, that' a few small 

 fish were to be had in the upper waters, so 1 determined to 

 test tie: accuracy of the assertion. So. one fine afternoon, I 

 set out, with a companion, to try my luck; but I found Hie 

 Stream almost unfishahle on account of the scarcity of water 

 and extreme brightness thereof. By selecting the smallest 

 fliesand finest gut I managed to land about one dozen, two 

 or three scaling one-half pound, much to my astonishment, 

 Thi ' m Fe Waterworks Company have erected a dam on 

 this creek, which, with a little judicious stocking, would 

 prove a, glorious place for supplying the whole river with 

 trout, and would afford excellent spor! in time to eome. By 

 getting power to preserve the stream for a few years and 

 Htriotly enforcing the existing laws as to illegal fishing, many 

 a pleasant evening might be spent near Santa Fe. without 

 having to go BO tar for a bit of fishing. 



I now come to my last expedition, thus far, this season— 

 destination again the Pecos River; purpose, capture of trout 

 and hunting the wily deer, or eventually lighting off a bear. 

 For as we had lost no bears, we concluded not to hunt 

 them. Traveling tM6 time over the. same road in a huek- 

 lt.nl, myself and co-angler left Santa Fe about 1 P. 31., 

 and reached the old town of Pecos at nightfall, where, hav- 

 It cured good quarters, we put up lor the night, but hur- 

 ried on, the first, thing in the morning, to reach our first point 

 of attack on the trout, Five miles of even rough hilly road 

 are soon traversed with strong mules and a buckboard", so at 

 about nine We had made camp and were busily engaged in 

 preparations for wading the stream. The first thing to be 

 done was to soften up the wading boots— so, filling them 

 with stones, they were placed in the river to soak; next, the 

 rod wren :r and easts of flies attached, and those 

 also placed o good soaking J>". e., the line, and 

 not Hie rod); then pants discarded for knickerbockers and 

 Blockings. By r this time the boots are soft enough to get 

 into, so they are put on, and then away we start, ready for 

 any fjsjt that may turn up. 



It seems strange that the wind should have such an influ- 

 ence upon the success of fishermen, but that it is so cannot, 

 be denied ; and that this fact was observed years ago is shown 

 by the following verses, long known among the people of 

 England, They ruusoincthing like this: 



"When the wind is in the north 



No fisherman will rally forth, 



When the wind is in the east 



It blows no good to man or beast. 



When the wind is in the west 



FisliuiK then is at its hest. 



But when the wind is in the south 



It blows the bait into the fish's month." 

 Simply denoting that a warm wind is good and a cold one 

 bad for fishing. On the particular morning in question the. 

 wind was cold for the time of year, and no llieson the water, 

 a bad omen. And after fishing carefully and steadily for 

 some time without so much as getting a rise, 1 was Begin- 

 ning to think of the advisability of devoting that day to 

 hunting, when walking along the bank near a long still pool 

 I heard a splash, and on looking round saw the tell-tale rings 

 on the otherwise placid surface of the water, denoting '.hat 

 something had disturbed it. but whether it was a fish or no 

 1 could not tell; so 1 sat on the bank, a watcher, and soon 

 saw two or three little fellows, rising without any apparent 

 object close to the water's edge in the neighborhood of where 

 I first heard the splash. Fully making up mv mind that 

 these were not the ones that had attracted my attention. 1 

 began carelessly castiug over them for amusement, but keep- 

 ing my eye firmly lived on an old log lying across the 

 stream a short way below, where I expected my old friend 

 to hang out, and sure enough, after about ten minutes wait- 

 ins: I saw the unm.stakable signs of a good fish feeding, and 

 right against I be loss as I suspected, for Hie best fish invariably 

 look out the most inaccessible places to live in. My first 

 cast right bang up against I he tree "fetched" him, for up Tie 

 came and lazily sucked in my tail fly, when 1 struck sharply, 

 led him up stream gently, and slipped the net under him 

 before he knew whether be had a hornet or hook in his 

 mouth. He weighed three-quarters of a pound honest. He 

 did not make much of a fight, but I kept well out of sight 

 and handled him so as not to scare him. I then caught 

 about half a dozen, foul looking some, they came so short. 

 By one o'clock ! had only caught twelve, and only one good 

 fish. During the afternoon and evening I supplemented 

 this with another dozen, besides a few small ones I returned. 

 My companion had caught one dozen as his day's work, 

 which, considering it was his first attempt, I call a remark- 

 able good take, throwing the state of the weather and water 

 into account. 



The next morning broke with a more promising aspect in 

 spite of a light frost, as the sun was shining brightly, and 

 the river had fallen considerably during the night. So after 

 a good breakfast of trout we, buckled on our armor once 

 more, with the intent to fish up stream toward the ranch 1 

 Stopped at on my last visit, some six miles above our present 

 camp, and let tlie buckboard pick us up on the road and take 

 us the remaining portion of the journey. Sport was indif- 

 ferent until two P. M., when I happened to spy some light- 

 colored flies thai the trout seemed to be taking. On hunt- 

 ing through my book I found some green gnats that 1 had 

 tried just a few flays before starting, and soon caught a nice- 

 lot of fish, but very small, so I returned nearly all of them, 

 feeling confident, of tilling my basket with good ones yet. 

 But I was doomed to disappointment. For some reason or 

 other the large fish remained anchored at the bottom, and in 

 leaving off I found myself with the insignificant total of 

 three dozen, very few touching the half pound mark ou my 

 spring balance. Thus only began my troubles, for through 

 some misunderstanding the buckboard failed to put in an 

 appearance, so there was nothing left but to set off to tramp 

 live miles to the rauch. If any of your readers have 

 tramped five good square miles in the dark over a very 

 rough road, in places even dangerous, in the dark, with wet 

 shoes and legs, after standing in the water for upwards of 

 nine hours, they will remember it; so there is no need to 

 say how pleased I was to see a hospitable light in the ranch 

 window, being assured of a hearty welcome. I was not 

 long in getting rid of my wet things and a good substantial 

 supper, and showed eqtial expedition in climbing between 

 the sheets. 



I will give you the dressing of mv pattern' of g ret , n M Uut , 

 as I found it a goodoue to kill and not difficult to tie. Hook 

 number 13, body green silk, finished with a few turns of white 

 hackle tinged with black near the hook. A couple of hairs 

 from a mallard's wing feather would be an improvement on 

 the above as a tail. 



While seated at breakfast on the following morning the 

 missing buckboard with companion arrived. It seemed it 

 got dark before a start could be made, and the road is not a 

 good one to travel over at night, so he concluded to stay 

 where he was for the night. 



We were soon busy discussing the .programme for the 

 day. and at length decided to start off ou a hunt and ex- 

 plore the upper waters of Hie Pecos. Having no pack ani- 

 mals we determined to make the best of a camp out without 

 blankets, only carrying some provisions with us in our tish- 

 ng creels. After "about tin hour's walk we came to a spot 

 where the river forks, 60 taking the left-hand blanch and 

 striking out onto the mountain side, we soon fell iu with a 

 well-worn trail, generally supposed to be the old Apache 

 route to Taos. We continued on the trail for about five 

 miles through the most beautiful timber pasture and pictur- 

 esque scenery without, however, seeing anything to shoot 

 at. About uoon we discovered a small log hut that we 

 found to be occupied by two young fellows who had 

 located a ranch. Thev evidently showed good judgment in 

 their selection of the quality and quantitj or the grass, if 

 abundance of timber and ^at&rco^wts for anything. We were 

 most kindly received, as is invariably the case out West, and 

 were given all the information as to the best locality for 

 game, etc. We therefore concluded to stay then it ' • night 

 and bunt round the ranch in the evening. We visited 

 •ral licks and Walked carefully over a good many mouu 



sides, but saw only one deer, that got out of the way 



before a shot could lie got in, There were plenty of fresh 

 tracks round, but we. were not fortunate enough in coming 

 upon the deer. 



In the evening, in the course of our chat after supper, our 

 host mentioned a singular circumstance that I think deserves 

 noticing. Being one day in search of some cattle that had 

 strayed away he came upon the remains of a "mountain 

 lion" and bear lying side by side. There was no mistaking 

 the identity, as portions of the skin was still sticking ro the 

 skeletons. He brought away the (daws with him aa a proof. 



His theory is that they must have killed each other. If this 

 is so it is remarkable and interesting as showing the extra- 

 Ordinary power and strength a mountain lion must possess 

 to be able to cope with a full-grown bear on even terms. 

 Bears and lions are by no means uncommon in this section. 



In the morning we concluded to hunt back to our old 

 quarters and resume fishing, as in order to successfully 

 hunt deer a better knowledge of the country is essential than 

 we were possessed of. Ou the road we again came across 

 a deer, but in this instance also we were unable to get a 

 shot, for although he was but a few feet from us at .starting, 

 the underbrush was so thick that we could not afterward 

 catch a glimpse of him. 



On arriving at the ranch we found a letter necessitating 

 our presence in Santa Fe the next evening, so we determined 

 to set to work and catch a good basket til Ssh to take into 



town with us. I used my same east of flies, viz, , red hackle, 

 green gnat and black gnat; time, 1 P. M., In tie first swim 

 below the house, 1 caught four fish in about as many min- 

 utes, only keeping two, however. They rose fast anil well, 

 so in the first hour I had taken eight and returned about 

 twelve small ones. I was then standing above my knees in 

 water at the head of a shallow dam, when my "pard" came 

 up. ,1 immediately invited him to enter the' water by my 

 side and fish down together. By the time we reached the 

 end of the dam, we had taken upward of two dozen fish out 

 of it by four o'clock. The next two hours were occupied 

 in fishing the next mile of river, and when we reeled up, 

 our united take amounted to upward of six dozen, not count- 

 ing the numerous small ones returned. The next evening 

 saw US back in Santa Fe, nothing having occurred to mar 

 the pleasure of the trip. 



I am -quite startled at the length of my letter, but the 

 pleasure of re-killing game or fish is so great, that one runs 

 ou without the slightest thought of the pain caused thereby 

 toother people. In conclusion, .1 may say that if anyone 

 wishes good trout fishing he can have 'it her;. — such as I 

 have described— but if shooting, he should seek some more 

 favored spot. Westward Ho: 



atnval ^i§totQ f 



CHARACTER OF OUR NATIVE SNAKES. 

 npHBRE has been so much interesting discussion in re- 

 JL cent numbers of Forest and Sthkam. upon our na- 

 tive snakes, that a statement of what is fact aud what is 

 fiction in regard to them nitty not be amiss, and may be of 

 use in estimating the credibility of the snake stories which 

 will doubtless appear in the future as they have in the past. 

 Perhaps none of the common animals of our woods and 

 fields is more imperfectly known, and at the same time 

 more persecuted and misrepresented than the snake. There 

 arc many interesting features in the natural history of ser- 

 pents, but the general dislike felt toward them is' a great 

 obstacle in the way of arriving at a knowledge ol tin ir hab- 

 its. People either come down on them with a heavy heel, 

 or shun them altogether, supposing all snakes to be more or 

 less dangerous. There is little excuse for this, as all the 

 serpents of northeastern United States, with but two ex- 

 ceptions, are perfectly harmless. The two venomous spe- 

 cies — the rattlesnake" and the copperhead — have movable 

 poison fangs in the upper jaw, instead of the ordinary solid 

 teeth of the harmless snakes, which have both jaws fully 

 toothed. 



It is surprising with what credulity the most absurd 

 snake stories are received. This is due to ignorance of their 

 habits Viewed with the practical eye of the interested 

 observer, they are very ordinary animals after ail. Many 

 persons are familiar with si ories of milk snakes (that milk 

 cows), and of hoo*. snakes (that with tail in mouth, pro- 

 gress hoop fashion) and other " old wives' fables," equally 

 ilbsurd. Such yarns, when weighed, are always found 

 wanting. They arc fabricated by persons whose love of 

 the marvellous preponderates over their regard for that 

 quality which, the poet says, when crushed to earth, 'will 

 rise again. 



The power of fascination which has been ascribed to Ser- 

 pents is a fallacy which has given way before the inquiry of 

 the naturalist. "Many accounts of this power as accorded to 

 these animals have been recorded, but are always traceable 

 to other causes; for instance, the frantic actions of die dis- 

 tressed mother bird, when the insidious reptile is too near 

 the nestlings, have doubtless often been the grounds of 

 charging the serpent with mesmerism. There are actual 

 account's of fluttering birds finally being seized by snakes. 

 but they had been previously bitten, and tin- poison was 

 nerely doing its work. Toads are sometimes seen to crawl 

 n a half stupefied manner before snakes. Their eoufusion- 

 s due to natural terror rather than the mesmerism in the 

 yes of the snake. There is, indeed, a paralyzation from* 

 fear, which is of itself sufficient to explain instances of this 

 kind. 



The popular belief that snakes swallow their young is 

 now believed lobe supported by the facts. This is not a 

 literal swallowing on the part of the parent, however. The 

 young when surprised merely seek a temporary refuge in 

 the gullet of the mother, from which they emerge when the 

 danger is past. This singular habit is recorded of several 

 species of our snakes, and is probably common to all. 



Serpents live solely upon animal food, which is swallowed 

 intact. They frequently succeed in swallowing animals of 

 greater diameter than "their owu necks. This process is 

 accomplished by the aid of recurved teeth and expansive 

 jaws, the bones oi the mouth being united by elastic liga- 

 its. The teeth of snakes arc not formed for crushing or 

 'ing, but are rather a series of small hooks, which pre- 

 I I he escape of prev which lias once been seized. The 

 tile advances the teeth of one portion of its loosely con- 

 structed jaws, and having Secured a firm hold hitches the 

 others forward and thus gradually works himself over his 

 victim. The process really resembles this as much as swal- 

 lowing. As the Westerner says in regaul to his dram, "He 

 gets himself outside of it." The writer once teased a water 

 snake to make it disgorge its dinner, the presence of which 

 was very apparent from its distended stomach. The lump 

 was finally thrown out in the shape of a frog, which gave 

 signs of life, It soon recovered itself and hopped off to the 

 water, apparently not much the worse for being swallowed 

 alive. Frogs and toads, owing to their pass! eness are not 

 much injured by .the swallowing process, and sometimes 

 pass into the snake before the breath is out of their bodies. 



The rattlesnake and copperhead are now almost banished 

 from the cultivated portions of the country. The former 

 is neither an active nor aggressive animal, and if not mo- 



