RECREATION. 



WHAT THEY SAY OF IT. 



Recreation is a grand, good book. The 

 picture on the front cover of the December num- 

 ber seems to place me back in the woods, looking 

 at the trophy — the reward of a hard day's chase 

 after one of the greatest of American big game, 

 the lordly moose. So perfect is the picture that 

 it makes the sharp, whip-like crack of the rifle, 

 whose leaden messenger of death laid the old 

 monarch low, ring in my ears. I hope you will 

 have many more such pictures. 



Frank T. Huntley, Oneida, N. Y. 



Although I am but a young sportsman I want 

 to see you succeed with Recreation. Of all 

 the sportsmen's publications I think Recrea- 

 tion the ideal. I had not had the sample copy 

 an hour until I went to the post-office and sent 

 in my subscription. It was love at first sight. 

 I have read your book, " Hunting in the Great 

 West," and like it very much. 



Arthur M. Packer, Mulberry, Ind. 



I cannot say too much for Recreation. I had 

 been reading other sportsmen's journals until I 

 found Recreaton and then I stopped all others, 

 for I think Recreation is far ahead of any- 

 thing I have ever read, on my kind of sport. 

 M. II. Wright, Urichsville, O. 



The current number of Recreation came to 

 hand and to say I am pleased with it puts the 

 case mildly. It is an ideal publication for all 

 sportsmen and deserves the success with which 

 it is meeting. I think every sportsman will agree 

 with me after reading one copy of it. 



N. J. Cary, Utica, 111. 



Since the receipt of the first copy of Recrea- 

 tion I have desired to express my appreciation 

 of its great merit. It has enabled me to while 

 away many hours delightfully. I hope you will 

 consider me always a friend to both Recreation 

 and its editor. 



Wm. H. Hundley, Greenbriar, Ala. 



Recreation is by far the best and most in- 

 teresting magazine of its kind that I have seen. 

 Enclosed find $1.00 for year's subscription. 



Will Fuller, Blenheim, Ont. 



Recreation is a model of beauty, elegance 

 and taste. It is properly named. 



O. D. Lyon, Camp Clarke, Neb. 



I am delighted with Recreation. I have 

 read your books and sketches, and know they 

 are drawn from life. It is no trouble for an old 

 campaigner to distinguish between an imaginary 

 and a real picture. 



Dr. John W. Trader, " Occident." 



I think Recreation is the best periodical we 

 have devoted to sports and pastimes. 



R. B. Eaton, Notch Hill, B. C. 



I think Recreation the best sportsmen's 

 journal published and take great pleasure in rec- 

 ommending it to my friends. 



E. A. Jackson. 



THE FISHES OF THE COLORADO OF 

 THE WEST. 



The U. S. Fish Commission has recently pub- 

 lished a paper on the ' ' Fishes of the Colorado 

 Basin," by Barton W. Evermann and Cloud. 

 Rutter, which gives a summary of our present 

 knowledge of the fishes of that basin. 



Although the Colorado is an immense river, 

 draining more than 225,000 square miles of terri- 

 tory, the total number of different species of 

 fishes known to inhabit it and its tributaries is 

 but thirty-two. These represent five families as 

 follows : Catostomida, or Suckers, 8; Cyprinidce, 

 or Minnow family, 19 ; Salmonidce, 2 ; Pcecili- 

 idce or Top-minnows, 2 ; and Cottida, or Blobs, 1. 



The species of most interest to the angler are 

 the Colorado Trout {Salmo my kiss pleuritic us), 

 Williamson's Whitefish {Coregonus williamsoni,) , 

 and one of the Minnows (Ptychocheilus lucius). 



The Colorado Trout possesses game qualities 

 of a very high order, as Mr. F. D. Sanford or 

 any one else who has ever gone " trouting on the 

 Gunnison " can testify. The writers also know 

 through personal experience in 1889, that in 

 Eagle river, near Gypsum and the Rio Florida, 

 near Durango, the trout are as game as in the 

 Gunnison. Williamson's Whitefish is a wary, 

 dainty biter, slow to take the hook, but when 

 once he has made up his mind to strike, he will 

 give the angler some real sport. 



But the game fish of the Colorado is the min- 

 now — the " White Salmon" of the local angler. 

 None of the species of the minnow family east of 

 the Rockies reaches a weight of more than a 

 couple of pounds, the largest one being the fall- 

 fish or chub {Semotilus bullaris), which reaches 

 a length of eighteen inches, and, according to 

 Thoreau, " tastes like brown paper salted." But 

 its relative, the "White Salmon "or " Colorado 

 Pike," which is, of course, no salmon nor pike 

 at all, but only a minnow, attains a length of 5 

 or 6 feet and a weight of 80 pounds or even 

 more. And he thereby proves that a "minnow 7 " 

 is not necessarily a little fish. 



Will he bite a hook ? And has he any game 

 qualities? Well, — you who have experienced the 

 savage " snap" and the reckless " rush " of the 

 fall-fish, the chub or the jerker, will have some 

 conception of what a Colorado Pike is like, if you 

 imagine what a fall-fish, chub or jerker of 80 

 pounds weight could do ! 



The extreme paucity of the fish-fauna of the 

 Colorado is remarkable. Only 32 species in a 

 fairly well- watered territory of 225,000 square 

 miles. A single haul with a 30-foot seine in 

 Bean Blossom, a small creek near Bloomington, 

 Indiana, brought to shore exactly as many dif- 

 ferent kinds of fishes. 



And the Wabash basin, which contains but 

 33,7 2 5 square miles, is known to have at least 

 130 ; and not a single species is common to 

 these two river basins, — the faunas are entirely 

 distinct. The spiny-rayed fishes, the basses, 

 sunfishes and darters, and the catfishes, have not 

 a single representative in the Colorado basin, but 

 in the Wabash thev constitute a large and im- 

 portant part of the fish-fauna of that region. 



I prefer Recreation to any of the higher 

 priced publications. O. F. Bike. 



