FOREST* AND STREAM: 



151 



cheese. Fishiug has never linen so poor at Fish Oreek as this 

 season. At Tapper South Bay, Louis' Point, and all along the 

 south shore of the lake seines and trap net are used daily, and 

 legitimate fishing is about played out in consequence. A 

 party of Uticans fishing off Louis' Point the past summer, 

 took only four bass in one entire day. Nets are spread along 

 the shore in plain sight to-day, and no secret is made of this 

 violation of law by those who have made their living by it for 

 years. If a boat was to be sent out from Syracuse, as last 

 year, quite a large number of nets could be destroyed. Game, 

 constables make no effort to enforce the law. At North Bay 

 affairs are little better. No seines are drawn openly, but per- 

 sons in the village boast that they take hundreds of fisb while 

 Hie inhabitants sleep. Oue rattle-headed young fellow, and 

 his name will be given to the public as soon as ascertained, 

 boasted last week of having taken 400 lawyers and one ginie 

 fish in a net. The one fish was kept, but the 400 others were 

 left on the shores to die. "Zine " Fuller is the game consta- 

 ble at this place, and is cognizant of these violations of the 

 law. but winks at them. He has doubtless failed to qualify, 

 as he says that no service can be expected from an officer who 

 has not. given bonds. Oneida Lake is one of the finest, bodies 

 of water in the State, and at one time abounded in black bass, 

 pickerel, pike, perch, catfish, eels and other good fish. As 

 " Old Sport" says, "It can be made the finest fishing ground 

 in the State if the nets are kept out for three years. There 

 are quite a number of hotels on its shores, and then- landlords 

 should take an interest in seeing the laws enforced, as good 

 fishing is just as requisite to theprosperity of a summer resort 

 as good hotel accommodations. Sportsmen's clubs enn do 

 much toward enforcing the law, and it ia to be hoped that 

 the sportsmen's clubs will act in the matter. 



Oneida Lake is within two hours' ride of Utica by rail, and 

 is a favorite resort, for sportsmen from Camden, Rome, Utica 

 and other places. Every sportsman and every organization of 

 sportsmen in the county should do their share toward en- 

 forcing the law. By co-operating with the sportsmen of other 

 counties bordering on the lake, the evil of seine and trap-net 

 fishing can be eradicated. 



— The West Jersey Game Protective Society held their an- 

 nual meeting at Camden, Sept. 19. The Treasurer reported a 

 balance on hand of $630.27. 



The Chairman of the Committee appointed to attend to the 

 duties of policeing the five counties, Atlantic, Camden, Cape 

 May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem, over which the So- 

 ciety has jurisdiction, reported that they had thoroughly 

 officered every point where a violation of the laws governing 

 tie Society was likely to be made. They had established 

 police arrangements from Petty's Island to Salem, and employ- 

 ed steam tug boats, with officers on board to attend to assigned 

 duties. Over three hundred gunning boats had been stopped 

 and the gunners examined, but each were acting in perfect 

 accordance with the game laws as well as the rules of the So- 

 ciety. Three arrests have been made in the districts and the 

 parties punished. The entire cost of police duties during the 

 year, including printing and advertising, was $584.65. 



The following were elected director} for the ensuing year •. 

 Henry Vanuxem, Robert K. Neff, Jr., J. H. Witlitts, John 

 R, Beebe, William B. Brown, Thomas B. Starr, Frank Fur- 

 ness. J. Howard Willits was elected President ; Geo. E. Tay- 

 lor, Treasurer, and Richard T. Miller, Secretary. 



A motion was carried, referring to the Committee on Law 

 the necessity of changing the time for shooting reed birds from 

 the 15th of August to the 1st of September, the same as it for- 

 merly existed. 



On motion, a bounty of twenty-five cents per head was or- 

 dered to be paid by the Society for th killing of foxes and 

 hawks in the sevtral counties, as they had been found to have 

 destroyed many fowls during the past year. 



The Society last year placed 2,300 black bass and 50,000 

 salmon in the different streams and ponds, and about 1,400 

 quails were let loose in the woods. All are doing well. 



An appropiation of $1,000 was made, to be expended in the 

 purchase of quails for replenishing the forests, after which the 

 Society adjourned. 



Virginia's Lawless Officials. — A Culpeper correspond- 

 ent writes to the Richmond WM-g the particulars of a viola- 

 lation of the fisb law by parties whose official position makes 

 their misdemeanor all the more reprehensible : 



It appears that a party of gentlemen, consisting of the coun- 

 ty judge, deputy sheriff, agent of the fish commission and 

 others had the seine hauled for a fish-fry in Nalle's Pond, in 

 Mountain Run. Mountain run is a considerable stream, pass- 

 es through two or more counties, and empties into the Rappa- 

 hannock twenty miles below Culpeper Courthouse. It is 

 pretty well supplied with pike, carp, whitefish and catfish, 

 and affords good angling, when not disturbed by seining. The 

 river was very low at the time. 



If the facts are as stated, no time should be lost in bringing 

 these offenders to justice. Their prompt conviction and pun- 

 ishment will prove an excellent warning for humbler marau- 

 ders. 



K No More Nets in Barnegat Bay.— The citizens of Barne- 

 gat and the adjoining towns are awaking to the threatened 

 destruction of their fishing industries, and according to the 

 subjoined letter of our correspondent, wholesome measures 

 will be urged at the next Legislature. The sheep sheading at 

 Barnegat has been unsurpassed. Wholesale netting, howev- 

 er, must destroy any like fishing, and stringent regulations 

 should be enacted and rigidly enforced at once. The exercise 

 of a little timely prevention is the part of wisdom. 



The occasional comparison of the Forkst and Stream to 

 the fish laws as now in force in our bay, has at last awakened 

 our citizens to (what should have been done when our present 

 law was passed) still further protect their fishing interest. 

 Their cry is now, no more nets of any description in our 

 waters, and your correspondent predicts such a bill passes by 

 our Legislature next winter. In previous legislation on the 

 subject, the opposition cry was that such regulation would 

 take the poor man's privilege away. I find but two men in 

 the village of. Barnegat. rich or poo?-, wfeg ftre opposed to it, 



Some fifty or sixty laboring men in that town who can afford 

 to buy T a hook or line, making fair wages catching sheepshead 

 during the months of June, July and August, this summer, 

 have had their fishing .greatly interfered with by parties who 

 can raise sufficient funds to buy large haul seines and outfits, 

 who sweep their grounds, destroy their hand fishing, and glut 

 the market, From Mr. J, W. Kinsey, who is taking an active 

 interest in the passage of such a law, I am furnished with the 

 following actual comparison in revenue derived from one sea- 

 son's fishing, within a scope of six miles from Barnegat, in- 

 cluding three hotels on the beach : 



Money Invested ia yachts , $30,700 



Revenue derived bom yachts 1(U)'25 



Revenue derived from hotels 16,000 



Revenue derived from hand line fishing 5,000 



Total $30,025 



Now, nearly $25,000 are annually cleared from visitors who 

 frequent this vicinity to enjoy the fishing. Break up this 

 attraction (and it is the only attraction), and this revenue is 

 lost. Against this, the revenue from nets, taking the whole 

 of Barnegat Bay, will not foot up $ 3,000. Understand this 

 calculation is only based on the revenues of one village. There 

 are some five or six other prominent places equally in' erested 

 and eager for such a law, and not yet ready to sacrifice the 

 goose that lays the golden egg. K. 



—Fisher and Van Zandt, of Philadelphia, publish in pam- 

 phlet form the. constitution and by-laws of the West Jersey 

 Game Protective Society, and the game laws of New Jersey, 

 New York, Penn., Delaware and Maryland. 



Arithmetic] fob Game Clubs.— The Louisville Commercial 

 has been figuring with this result : Each pair of quails pro- 

 duce anaverage of ten chicks per year — mauy, in favorable sea- 

 sons, hatch outsixteen in a brood and then hatch a second brood. 

 If we estimate only the small number of 500,000 quails to 

 start with, and take ten per year as the produce of each pair, 

 the totals will simply be stupendous, and we present them for 

 consideration: first year, 3,000,000; second year, 18,000,000; 

 third year, 108,000,000: fourth year, 648,000,000; fifth year, 

 3,888,000.-000 



OUR WASHINGTON LETTER. 



Ortolan Shooting on the Patuxent— The Sportsman's 

 Paradise — Maryland Hospitality— Preservation of 

 Dead Birds— Something About Cooking Them— A 

 Bench Show for Washington, Etc. 



[from our own correspondent.] 



Washington, D. C, Sept. 21, 1877. 



F several of my letters I have referred to the great variety 

 of game found in the States of Maryland and Virginia at 

 all seasons of the year, and the pleasure which sportsmen 

 have in these States not only from the magnificent shooting, 

 but the proverbial hospitality of the people. They are all 

 down on pot-hunters, but when a gentleman comes among 

 them properly introduced he is courteously received, and free 

 to shoot over their land and water. The many readers of 

 Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun have no doubt fre- 

 quently heard of the extensive marshes of the Patuxent, and 

 the great abundance of ortolan, reed bird and other varieties 

 of marsh birds found thereon. In a recent letter I dwelt at 

 length upr n the habits of these birds, and hope that an account 

 of a few days' shooting on the marshes of that river may now 

 be interesting. In company with Dr. P. of Washington, who 

 is a true sportsman, as well as something of a naturalist, I 

 left Washington on Thursday last for Nottingham, a 

 small village of about 300 inhabitants located on the Patux- 

 ent, sixty miles from its mouth. As all sportsmen appreciate 

 and enjoy the natural ecenery of their excursions, and have 

 their hearts made glad by the sight of thriving crops and fer- 

 tile lands, it will not be out of place to say something of the 

 country through which we passed on our drive of twenty-five 

 miles to the village aboved named. For a distance of three or f our 

 miles beyond Washington there are many small farms, well 

 cultivated, and neat houses, surrounded in many instances by 

 attractive gardens. As we reach Forestville, about eight miles 

 from the city, the land becomes poor, and much of it is uncul- 

 tivated. The road for eight or ten miles is through a country 

 of this description but sparsely settled, and it will be many 

 years before it is 



"Heavy laden with the spoil of harvests rich." 

 Nearing the village of Croon, we cross the Pope's creek line 

 of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, and enter a fertile 

 country with immense fields of tobacco and corn now being 

 gathered in. The farms here are very large and well-stocked ; 

 we passed many barns already filled with tobacco to be cured 

 for market, and soon after sundown we reached Nottingham. 

 The place w T as settled in the early history of the State of Mary- 

 land, and being located directly on the Patuxent, it was for- 

 merly a place of some importance. The State tobacco ware- 

 houses were located there, and until 1851 all the tobacco raised 

 in that part of the State was inspected at the village and ship- 

 ped, not only to our large cities, but oftentimes directly to 

 Europe. The village was then filled with purchasers during 

 the season for shipping tobacco, and a business aspect sur- 

 rounded the place. A prominent citizen thereof in conversa- 

 tion wiih your correspondent in regard to those good old days, 

 growing warm over his subject, somewhat vehemently ex- 

 claimed, "Why sir, before the City of Baltimore absorb- 

 ed the whole State of Maryland we had some business. 

 Now it is all gone." The Patuxent is navigable some fifteen 

 or twenty miles above Nottingham, and Steamers from Balti- 

 more touch there twice a week. The Channel in front of the 

 village varies in depth from fifteen to thirty feet. Salt water 

 commences about nine miles below, though it is sometimes 

 brackish there after a long drought ; crabs and other salt 

 waterjfish OT« frequently caught there. But I have said n 



about the agricultural and commercial interests of Nottingham. 

 It^is beyond question 



THE SPORTSMAN'S PARADISE, 



as excellent shooting may be found there nearly all the year. 

 About the. 20th of March, " Jack Snipe " (Oallinago wibonii) 

 make their appearance, and are abundant for several weeks. 

 The marshes and meadow lands along the river afford excel- 

 lent feeding grounds for them, and it is a common occurrence 

 for a fair shot, to bag twenty or twenty-five in a day's shoot- 

 ing. Two years ago they were so plentiful that a couple of 

 gentlemen from Philadelphia made an average bag of ninety 

 birds a day each during several days. Then come the wood- 

 cock (PMhliela minor) about July, and they are quite plenti- 

 ful for a month or more; with September the ortolan (Porzana 

 Carolina), reed bird (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) arrive and fill the 

 marshes. Partridges (Ortyx virginianus) can be shot after the 

 15th of October, and they are plentiful on the stubble field 

 near the village. The ducking season also begins in October, 

 and the immense flocks often cover the river and creeks for a 

 great distance. Among them may be found gray mallard 

 (Anas boschas), black mallard (Anas obscura), blue winged 

 teal (Querquedula discord), green winged teal (Nation caroli- 

 nensis), sprig tails (Dafila acuta), bald pates (Mareca amcri- 

 ca.na), black heads (Fulixmamlla), and other varieties. Can- 

 vas backs ( Fuligula vallisneria) are sometimes killed, but do 

 not frequent the waters of the Patuxent so far from the mouth 

 of the river. 



The sportsman visiting Nottingham may be sure of comfort- 

 able quarters and excellent fare at very moderate prices. The 

 hotel there is kept by Mr. John Maccubbin, himself a sports- 

 man and as good a shot as can be found in the county. His 

 house is not more than a hundred yards from the river, and 

 his table is bountifully supplied with the products of the sur- 

 rounding conntry and neighboring waters, fish, oysters, game, 

 poultry, fine old Maryland hams, etc., are the welcome dishes 

 to the sportsman who has his appetite sharpened by the health- 

 giving bracing atmosphere of the country. Mac is an old 

 bachelor, with no other cares than to make his house accepta- 

 ble to the sportsmen who patronize him, and well does he 

 succeed. There is no conventionality there, requiring a man 

 to leave off his hunting suit and don his broadcloth before ap- 

 pearing in the dining-room. His table is surrounded with 

 sportsmen attired just as they come from the field, who com- 

 pare notes and discuss the incidents of the hunt without re- 

 straint. Among his patrons are many well-known gentlemen 

 of New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore— such men as Col. 

 Munn, of the Scientific American; A. Rich, Col. Wm. B. 

 Smith, Robert Robinson, Peter Donohue, Ben West and 

 others of New York. Harry Madison, Jeremiah E. Sharp and 

 Thoaaas Sevenk of Philadelphia ; George J. Popplein and W. 

 Morris Orem of Baltimore, and many other well known gen- 

 tlemen also annually spend a short time at Nottingham to en- 

 joy the shooting there. It was our good fortune to meet, 

 Messrs. Popplein and Orem there last week, they having ar- 

 rived from Baltimore just previous to our arrival from Wash- 

 ington. We found them to be very desirable acquaintances 

 and experienced sportsmen, as they have been shooting in 

 that locality for several years. 



Upon reaching Nottingham after our tiresome drive from 

 Washington we were cordially welcomed by Maccubbin, who 

 had guns, ammunition and baggage carefully placed in our 

 rooms, and barely giving us time to perform our necessary 

 ablutions, he appeared with the announcement, "I have sup- 

 per ready for you, gentlemen." We descended to the dining- 

 room, and soon learned that we were perfectly at home. Af- 

 ter supper we had a pleasant game of cribbage, and an inter- 

 esting chat with our new acquaintances upon the sports of 

 the morrow, and then retired to veiy comfortable beds, being 

 first notified by Mac that he would call us in the morning at 

 quarter before six ; that breakfast would be ready at quarter 

 past six, so that we could be on the marsh by seven o'clock, 

 the tide being high enough at that hour to push a boat over 

 the reeds. The next morning we were all out promptly, had 

 a magnificent breakfast, and as soon as we had finished, our 

 host escorted us to the water where he had a skiff and pusher 

 for each, and saw us comfortably fixed for the day's sport. 

 For half an hour the pushers paddled the skiffs up the river 

 to reach one of the favorite marshes, and au interesting pic- 

 ture did we make as we ascended the stream four abreast. 

 The bracing atmosphere of a September morning, the pleasant 

 anticipations of the sport before us, the sight of myriads of 

 reed and other marsh birds around us— all combined to make 

 us forget the cares of business and noise of city life. Soon 

 the marsh opposite Selby's Landing, a few miles above Not- 

 tingham, was reached, and the tide being sufficiently high to 

 push the boats over the reeds we entered the marsh ; but the 

 bows of our skiffs had barely struck the reeds before the orto- 

 lan began to rise before us, and the sport commenced. The 

 birds were so plentiful that it was a very common thing for us 

 to have from four to six down at one time, but our pushers 

 being good markers few birds were lost. We began shooting 

 by half past seven o'clock, and from that time until ten, when 

 the receding tide warned us that we must leave the marsh or 

 be left in the mud, there was a constant fusilade kept up. 

 About ten o'clock we started down the river toward Not ting 

 ham, still penetrating the edges of marshes on our way down 

 and dropping many birds. Upon reaching the wharf we found 

 our host with an immense basket to receive the birds, which 

 we nearly filled, all of us having had splendid shooting. A 

 count of the birds killed showed 220. Mr. Popplein 

 being the champion, he having ninety birds. Maccubbin, 

 hing of 3ft expert 



