Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



H A Year. 10 Ots. a Copy. | 



Six Months, $2. J 



NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 9, 18 82. 



J VOL. XVH3.— No. 2. 



| Nos. 39 & 40 Park Row, New York. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 

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 respectfully invited, Anonymous communications will not be re- 

 garded. No name will be published except with writer's consent. 

 Tho .Editors are not responsible for the views of correspondents. 



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Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 

 Nos. 39 and 40 Park Row. New York City. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



Friends in Need. 



Signs of the Moon. 



A Lay Sermon. 



The America Cup. 



Down the Stream. 



Bye- Ways of the Northwest. 



" Woodman, Spare that Tree." 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Forest and Stream. 



Reminiscenses of Life in Camp. 

 Natural History. 



Water Witches. 



The Road Runner. 



Habits of Cormorants. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Destruction of Large Game. 



Migratory Quail. 



Loading for Game. 



On the Wing, or on a Log ? 



Echoes from Old Friends. 



Foxes Take to Water. 



The Montreal Society. 



Sunday Shooting in California. 



The Michigan Association. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



A Hat Full of Trout. 



Moonlight on the Lake. 



Which Would You Rather? 

 : !. 



The Wisconsin Commission. 

 Kennel. 



Quartering, Style and Speed. 



The Cocker Club. 



The Pittsburgh Show. 



Black and Tan Setters. 



National Derby Entries. 



Kennel Notes. 

 Yachting and Canoeing. 



New York Yacht Club. 



Just Criticism. 



Length, Beam and Depth. 



Small Rigs. 



Yacht Stoves. 



Experience Teaches. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Forest and Stream Tournament. 



Pistol Expert Work. 



Pistol Shooting by Women. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



FRIENDS IN NEED— FRIENDS INDEED. 

 QOME of the telegraphic dispatches of the great Park Row 

 ^ fire of last week, included the Forest and Stream in 

 the list of journals whose offices had been destroyed. As one 

 of the results of that report we have been overwhelmed with 

 letters of sympathy, encouragement, and offers of practical 

 aid. Among these letters was one from Mr. T. Sedgwick 

 Steele, of Hartford, who, supposing that our files had been 

 burned, proffered his own full set of the bound volumes. 



If anything could show the regard in which the Forest 

 and Stream is held by its friends, these spontaneous mani- 

 festations of such practical sympathy have done so; and it'is 

 needless to say how gratifying this manifestation has been to 

 the Editors. To each and all, who have thus proved friends 

 in need and friends indeed, we extend our sincerest thanks. 



There is need of an organized game-protective effort in 

 Texas. We are pleased to see the right stand taken by the 

 lexas Journal of Commerce, which in commenting on some 

 correspondence which it reprints from our columns, says: 

 "We heartily sympathize with the cause of 'game protection' 

 all over our broad land; but especially within the bounds of 

 our own State. Of late years Texas Legislatures have been 

 in the habit of doing something promotive of 'game protec- 

 tion.' But further legislation is required and will undoubt- 

 edly be enacted to prevent a wholesale slaughtering of game. 

 Texas was once the paradise of the hunter; but every year, 

 of late, evidences the fact that game is growing scarcer, and 

 unless we protect our game against wholesale destruction, and 

 during the breeding periods, we shall soon be as poverty- 

 stricken in this respect as are the old New England and 

 Middle States. Popular sentiment is in favor of 'game pro- 

 tection. ' " 



The Hon. T. J. Sooth, who died at Frankfort, Ky., 

 Jan. 13, was well-known to sportsmen throughout the South 

 and Southwest, and was a very highly respected gentleman 

 in his social and public life. We understand that at the 

 time of his death Mr. South was under engagement to travel 

 for Mr. H. C. Squires, of this city, in behalf of the Greener 

 gun. 



The Wihter of 1881-82 has so far been favorable for the 

 game birds, and in decided contrast to the fatal severity of 

 last season, 



THE SIGNS OF THE MOON. 

 "IT AN Y anglers take the moon into their calculations when 

 -^-*- forecasting the prospect of success in a proposed fishing 

 excursion, while otters ridicule the influence of its phases 

 upon the appetites of fishes. Those who believe that its 

 varying changes have an effect upon their chances cite in- 

 stances to support their theories, while the scoffers content 

 themselves with their skepticism, and having no proof to 

 offer, simply jeer and reject evidence adduced by the other 

 side. 



It is not our intention to take sides in this controversy, if 

 it can properly be called a controversy, 'when the argument 

 is all on one side and the opposition confines itself to skeptical 

 grins, but we will merely cite a few cases where the moon is 

 alleged to have an influence upon fishes and their capture, 

 and then leave the deductions to be drawn by our readers. 

 On the coast of Cornwall the fishermen always wet a new net 

 on the third day of the new moon with the incantation: 



O, moon, see my new net, 



Now the first time it is wet; 



O, moon, grant my wish. 



And bring me alway plentie fish. 

 Now if the moon has no influence upon the fishes, why 

 should these men have preserved this supplication for genera- 

 tions? The men of Cornwall also know that the clubmoss 

 is "good against all diseases of the eyes" if properly gathered 

 at the right time of the moon, but that it loses its virtues if 

 the secret is written. As public benefactors we waive all bene- 

 fit in our own case and give the secret as we heard it from an 

 old and consequently reliable man. On the third day of 

 the moon, when the thin crescent is seen for the first time, 

 show it the knife with which the moss is to be cut and say: 

 As Christ healed the issue of blood, 

 Do thou cut what thou cuttest for good. 



At sundown, after carefully washing your hands, the club- 

 moss is to be cut kneeling. It is to be carefully wrapped in 

 a fine linen cloth and afterward boiled in some water taken 

 from the nearest spring, and made into an ointment with the 

 milk of a new cow. If it be asked what this has to do with 

 fishing, we will merely call attention to the fact that this is a 

 fisherman's legend, and what can a fisherman do without his 

 eyes? 



That angle worms come out of the ground in " the dark of 

 the moon" is known to every boy who ever took a lantern on 

 a dark summer night to prick up the big ones to make an 

 eel-bob with. Mr. Darwin has neglected this fact in his book 

 on the earth worm, an oversight which escaped the vigilance 

 of our valued correspondent "8. C. O," who in our last issue 

 called attention to some other points which the great natural- 

 ist slighted. Undoubtedly the earth worm in his wisdom 

 knows that "the dark of the moon" is the proper time to bob 

 for eels, and that it is easier for the boy with the lantern to 

 pick him up than to dig for him, hence he comes to the top 

 of the ground that he may be useful to man at the proper 

 time. When the moon is full, it is of course heavier than 

 when only half full; and its pressure on our atmosphere, it is 

 alleged by the believers in its influence, causes the earth worm 

 to seek relief from the superincumbent pressure by going be- 

 low to seek the seclusion which the subsoil grants. And so 

 do his sisters, and his cousins and other relatives. Therefore, 

 as fishing is best when bait is plenty, it follows, so say the 

 moonists, that fishing is best at the dark of the moon. 



That the weather influences the fishing is allowed by many 

 who do not believe that the moon influences the weather, 

 .lust how it affects the weather is not agreed upon, even by 

 believers, and this we must confess to be a weak point in 

 their theory. Some say that when the moon's horns appear 

 to point upward it is like a boat, and there will be no rain, a 

 belief chronicled by George Eliot in "Adam Bede:" "It 'ud 

 ha' been better luck if they had ha' buried him i' the fore- 

 noon, when the rain was fallin'; there's no likelihood of a 

 drop now. An' the moon lies like a boat there. That's a 

 sure sign of fair weather. " According to sailors, when the 

 moon is in this position it denotes fair weather, for they say, 

 "You might hang your hat upon it." Hunters render it, 

 "You can hang your powder-horn on it," and differ as to 

 whether it will be wet or dry, according to their localities. 

 The Scotch proverb, expressing the same fancy, runs: 

 The honeymoon is on her back; 

 Mend your shoes and sort your thack. 



When a large star is near the moon the sailors say it will 

 be stormy; "A big star is dogging the moon." Thus the 

 moon gets credit for affecting the weather, and the weather 

 is again credited with influencing the fishing. 



If catfish lay on fat in the full of the moon and consume 

 it as the moon wanes, the anti-moonists must admit that the 

 moon does have an effect upon fish— unless they can prove 



that the moon only gets full when the catfish are fat, by the 

 process of endosmosis, or the absorption of fat by the moon's 

 rays. In the latter case this would fairly account for the 

 catfish being poor after a full moon. Since the decrease in 

 the number of whales, it may not be impossible that fair 

 Luna fills her horns from the oleaginous Ichthyocatus diehard- 

 abmforanigger'sbreakfadabus, whereby she getteth material 

 for light to enable the eel-bobber to distinguish the small eels 

 from the angle-worms. The subject may be considered fairly 

 debatable. 



A LAY SERMON. 

 "y^THATEVEB the sportsman's creed, it is profitable for 



' ' him to consider diligently the thirteenth chapter of Cor- 

 inthians, wherein the excellence of charity is so beautifully set 

 forth; for no man more than he who goeth afield should cher- 

 ish this virtue. He suffereth long and much, of travel, of 

 extortionate baggage men, uncivil conductors, and miserable 

 quarters, of unprofitable tramps, in storm and heat and 

 cold, of short hours of sleep and early hours of waking — 

 all this he should endure in kindness; and of whom more 

 than of him should it be said that he envieth not, vaunteth 

 not himself, is not puffed up? 



Let him also have charity for all his brethren, though some 

 of them exalt the muzzle-loader above the breech-loader, 

 or hold that it is as fair to shoot one wary bird sitting a3 

 another, no worse to lure a bird than a beast as big as a 

 horse with a feigning of its call, nor to shoot the cunningest 

 of animals before hounds, than it is the most timid and 

 silliest of them. 



Let not him who esteems no fish but the salmon and the 

 trout worthy the angler's skill, revile him who is content 

 with the bass, the pike-perch and the pickerel; nor him who, 

 when other fishing fails, can be happy with the perch and 

 the sunfish in his creel, or at a pinch, the ignoble bullhead. 

 The salmon is but for the few, and the trout swims not in 

 every stream. Because thou art fortunate, shall there be no 

 fishing for the less favored ones? 



He shall rejoice not in iniquity, but in the truth, and as 

 nearly as it is possible for a shooter or an angler to do so. 

 When he giveth his account of hits, let not his memory fail 

 concerning the misses — and in his fish stories, let him not 

 boast of pounds when in truth there were only ounces. As 

 he hopes to be believed, so he should believe all things. 

 Certainly he should ever behave himself seemly for the 

 honor of his craft, and be not easily provoked, for with loss 

 of temper comes loss of judgment and unsteadiness of hand, 

 and the firm control of these is the true secret of the suc- 

 cessful shooter and angler. Verily, if one hath not charity, 

 which is greater than faith and hope, he is not the man with 

 whom one would enjoy most a day in the forest, or beside 

 the stream, or beside the camp fire after the well-spent day. 



Cheeky. — A California paper says that a squirrel, which 

 was killed the. other day while carrying away wheat from a 

 warehouse on the San Joaquin River, "was found to have 

 1,S03 grains of wheat stowed away in its mouth." That 

 squirrel had a well developed cheek. So did the paper that 

 told the story. 



Save the Trees. — The plea which a correspondent makes 

 for the due preservation of forests is temperate and reasonable. 

 It will find a ready response from a very wide circle of readers. 

 The evil complained of is not limited to New England. The 

 remedy lies chiefly in individual example and effort. 



We conclude in this issue the report of the Michigan 

 Sportsman's Association meeting. When each State in the 

 Union can show such a society of gentlemen working for the 

 same ends the much vexed questions of game protection will 

 be much nearer a solution than they are to-day. 



Among the Newspaper Files destroyed in the fire last 

 week were two complete sets of the Spirit of the Times from 

 1830 to 1861. Mr. Isaac McLellan writes us that he fears 

 that the manuscript volume of his poems was also destroyed. 

 We trust that this fear may be unfounded. 



The Ligowsky Clay Pigeon is growing in favor. We 

 understand that the terms of the prize tournament have been 

 altered. The particulars will be published in this journal at 

 an early date. 



Snipe Shooting.— "Byrne" writes from Crockett's Bluff, 

 Ark,, that no country can surpass the prairie lands of that 

 State for snipe .shooting in the latter half of February and 

 March. 



