Jas. 81, 18841 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



11 



these woods without animal life. Of course there are cer- 

 tain kinds of this life which are recognized as-game, and the 



lawful killing of which, in seasou, cannot be objected to, 

 but to kill a nesting bird should be a heinous offense." 



"Well," replied .Tuck, "what you say ma.y be true, but it 

 is a s«rc temptation when a quail rises before you while 

 shooting woodcock in summer, and I think that if I don't 

 kill it some one else will," 



"Now, Jack, that is no excuse at all. What would you 

 think of a man who saw another asleep on the road and 

 that if he did not rob him of his watch and pocket- 

 book some one else would. Never mind what others might 

 or might not do. Do what you know or believe to be right 

 and you will have no cause to regret having passed by the 

 quail in the forbidden season, even though you know 

 that some pot-hunter will bag it inside, of an hour." 



"This," said Jack, "is a new way to look at it. Father- 

 always told me not to kill certain things at certain seasons, 

 bet he never took the trouble to explain why, I will never 

 aaain shoot a crow, nor a bird during the breeding season. 

 Here is the edge of the swamp, but there, is no inlet to be 

 seen. What shall we do, go back?" 



"No, Ave have wading boots, let's change our shoes for 

 them and go in. Leave everything here except a creel and 

 the landing-net, and we will see what the swamp looks 

 like." 



In half an hour we had penetrated the swamp by wading, 

 going around deep places, climbing over fallen "trees, and 

 dodging under vines and limbs, and then we struck a fine 

 stream, which yielded small shiners and chubs to our 

 landing-net, and we saw evidences of trout that we knew 

 would gladden the Doctor's heart, for he was a wading fish- 

 erman, who only fished the Bigosh from a boat because 

 there was no other way to do it. With a good collection of 

 Cypriuoids, for which jack said I could lie awake all night 

 inventing jaw-twisting names, of which neither I nor any 

 other man knew the meaning, we returned to camp to hear 

 how the Doctor bad succeeded in getting a lesson in fishing 

 for lake trout and how the Colonel had found the ranges. 



Fjked Mather. 



Eels Devoured the Trout. — The Hartford, Conn., 

 Times says: "In the middle reservoir, at West Hartford — 

 one of the reservoirs which supply the city with water — 

 were placed several years ago 13,000 young trout and 1,000 

 land-locked salmon. Mr. J. G. Lane contributed 5,000 trout, 

 and Mr. J. Hoi comb as many more, The salmon, we believe, 

 were put in by the fish commissioners. Occasionally some 

 lucky fisherman has landed a niee trout from this reservoir, 

 but the catch was not commensurate with the expectations, 

 and it was surmised that the trout and salmon families were 

 becoming depopulated by some agency besides the hook and 

 line. When the reservoir was drawn off a discouraging 

 state of things was revealed to those who had advocated the 

 feasibility of stocking the reservoir with trout and salmon. 

 Not a salmon was found and only about one hundred trout 

 could be discovered. But there were twenty bushels of 

 shiners, the size of one's fingers, and a few T carp weighing 

 half a pound, and also thirty eels of large size, but no smail 

 ones to speak of. The eels as they were killed and stretched 

 out upon the bank, side by side, were a sight to look at. 

 None of them were less than three feet in length and three 

 inches in diameter, while the largest was 45 inches in length 

 and plump 8+ inches in diameter. The man who attempted 

 to strangle the large one with bis naked hands was subjected 

 to a very lively shaking up, and he was willing to let out the 

 job long before the lively eel showed any signs of yielding. 

 Now the supposition is that the eels had trout and salmon 

 diet until these fish were nearly exterminated, and the few 

 that escaped had grown out of their reach and were able to 

 take care of themselves. After the trout and salmon had 

 tickled the epicurean palates of their enemies, till no more 

 could be gathered in for the sacrifice, we are at liberty to 

 guess that shiner diet was not ignored by the greedy eel, 

 though their number would'indicate that they had not been 

 seriously thinned out. President Clark, of the water board, 

 put into the big Farmington reservoir, last fall, about one 

 hundred German carp, and as nothing has been seen of any 

 of them since, he is of the opinion that they may also have 

 become rations to some rapacious bigger fish. But be may 

 be wrong, as this reservoir is so large that one hundred lit- 

 tle fish could easily keep out of the way for a few months. 

 Mr. Clark proposes to get some more of these carp and keep 

 them by themselves in some running stream until they be- 

 come large enough to take care of themselves and then put 

 them into the reservoir and watch results. The German 

 carp grow to be of large size — some weighing as high as 

 seventy pounds. They take on weight at the rate of three 

 pounds a year. Another thing. Of the trout caught in the 

 reservoir after it had been drawn off, the largest ones were 

 not tit to eat, while the. half-pounders were equal in flavor 

 and taste to the nicest brook trout," 



Exhibition of Fish.— At the second annual display of 

 the New York Fanciers' Club, held at Madison Square Gar- 

 den during the past week there was a fine exhibit of fish and 

 fishculture. Mr. E. G. Blackford had an array of tanks 

 and hatching jars which contained black bass, carp, tench 

 and gudgeons from France, goldfish, catfish, axolotls, cray- 

 fish, terrapins, gars, sea anemones, eggs of whitefish from 

 Michigan, and fry and eggs of brook trout. The South Side 

 Sportsmen's Club of Long Island, exhibited rainbow trout 

 of from half a pound up to three pounds weight, brook 

 trout, salmon and land-locked salmon of fair size. This dis- 

 play offish, in charge of Prof. H. J. Rice, was one of the 

 principal features of the exhibition and held the crowd 

 longer than any other feature. 



Uniform Numberb for Hooks. — We notice from Forest 

 and Stream that American anglers are agitating to get their 

 rod makers to adopt one uniform size for winch plates. It 

 would be very desirable for our English rod makers to adopt 

 some uniform size. The present system of making the fast- 

 enings of different sizes causes the angler an endless amount, 

 of entirely unnecessary worry, while it does not add one 

 farthing to the profit of the maker, in fact, the reverse, for 

 an angler frequently declines to purchase a winch he has 

 taken a fancy to when he finds it will not fit his rods. In 

 the same way the present bewildering system of numbering 

 hooks is of no advantage to the makers; indeed, it only gives 

 them and their customers an endless amount of unnecessary 

 trouble. Why sbould there not be as much certainty of 

 getting what you want when ordering hooks as when order- 

 ing a gun or cartridges? We are certain that the sporting 

 papers and anglers generally will warmly support any I 



combined action of the trade for the purpose of establishing 

 a uniform size for winch fastenings, and a uniform number- 

 ing of hooks We would gladly aid our manufacturers by 

 giving Illustrations, drawn to scale, of any standards that 

 might be decided upon. We recommend these suggestions 

 to the attention of the hook makers of Redditch and Kendal, 

 and »f manufacturers of rods and lines generally. They 

 could not show their known willingness to please those for 

 whose use they make their goods better than by remedying 

 a long-felt grievance — one winch has been complained of by 

 every angler and angling writer. — London FMring Gazette. 



Pickerel Fishing Through the Ice. — Saco, Me.— 

 Editor Forest, and Stream: A party of four of us spent five 

 days on the Parsonfield Pond and had fair success with the 

 pickerel. We cut holes in the ice, but the first two days 

 were too cold to fish. The third day was better and we took 

 several fine fish. One of our pickerel weighed five and a half 

 pounds, and measured twenty-seven inches in length, and 

 an eel was taken that was twenty -eight inches long. In all 

 we took twenty-eight pickerel.— W. F. C. 



Canadian Salmon Rivers are advertised for lease, in 

 our advertising pages. 



jffislfcnlture. 



FOOD OF TROUT. 



I AM in receipt of the proceedings of the American Fishcul- 

 tural Association, at their meeting last June. I notice 

 that the discussions partook largely on food for fish. This is 

 an important subject in artificial fishculture, and has been 

 heretofore somewhat overlooked. We might as well expect 

 John Bull to go without his roast beef, as a fish to five and be 

 in good condition, without an abundance of good food, and 

 such food as is suited to its wants. Some fish feed largely on 

 crustaceans, some on small fish, and others on insects. The 

 wants of all can be easily ascertained. The trout of the 

 Castalia spring, near Sandusky, mentioned in a former paper 

 of mine, feed largely on a small crustacean, that abounds in 

 the extensive banks of aquatic moss, found in that famous 

 spring. 



This moss also abounds in two species of the little fish, 

 known as the stickleback. The trout feed largely on this fish, 

 which is of the genus Gasterostrus (Linn.). 



The brook trout of Lake Superior, in many places, feed 

 largely on this fish. At one time I was fishing for trout at 

 Partridge Island, near Marquette. I took a large trout with 

 a fly ; after landing it, she threw out of her stomach a live 

 stickleback, which swam off lively enough. I have at this 

 time over a half-dozen of the five-spined stickleback fishes in 

 my aquarium, in my dining-room. They are a very interest- 

 ing fish, and a favorite pet with me. They are a nest-building 

 fish; the male builds the nests, and takes care of the eggs and 

 the young. The nest is built among the aquatic plants, some 

 distance above the ground, and is shaped precisely like a 

 lady's muff , and the material is little bits of plants "that he 

 picks up. cemented together by mucus tbat he secretes. The 

 male builds the nest in one night (or did with me, once upon 

 a time). 



I have never seen a stickleback over two and a half inches 

 long; we have at least two species in Ohio; the threc-spined, 

 and the five spined. While lying at anchor at Fort Mackinaw 

 one day, I saw myriads of them near the surface of the water, 

 and captured a lot and brought them to Cleveland, alive. 1 

 would say more about this interesting little fish, but I am too 

 sick. T. Garlick. 



Bedford, O., Jan. 19. 



REPORT OF THE CONNECTICUT COMMISSION. 



rpHE eighteenth report of the Fish Commissioners of this 

 _L State opens with the question of the pollution of waters, 

 and says that this is a matter which was not deemed worthy 

 of an investigation by the last Legislature. After referring 

 to a bill which was introduced in 1882, and which provided for 

 a Commission to examine and report on this subject, they say 

 that the question is a serious one ; and one that-will.be sure to 

 command attention again at no distant day. 



There is no doubt that the pollution of rivers, streams and 

 harbors by individuals and corporations in their greed of gain 

 is a great and growing evil. Why the people of Connecticut, 

 New York and other States have allowed their fisheries to be 

 injured by manufacturers, whose only excuse for making 

 sewers of our streams is that it would cost them more to dis- 

 pose of it in any other manner, is beyond our knowledge. 

 The report quotes from a Hartford paper concerning the 

 growing scarcity of shad in the Connecticut River as follows : 

 ''The reason f©r the falling off is laid to the failure to pass 

 stringent laws to prevent the taking of young shad, and the 

 unwillingness of the fish to enter a stream so polluted by sew- 

 age and manufacturers' chemicals as the Connecticut is be- 

 coming." 



A comparison of the fishing twenty years ago and now is 

 thus made: "There are always people fishing off the docks at 

 the river, but the catch is pitifully different from what it 

 used to be, even twenty years ago, and the change is probably 

 due more to the pollution of the water by lnamifactories on 

 the main stream and its branches tnan to any other cause. 

 At that time there were great numbers of perch, and in the 

 course of a season a good raany striped bass were caught, 

 running usually from half a pound to five or six pounds. In 

 the shad season, boys fishing for the perch with shad roe for 

 bait used to get long strings, and, occasionally at such times, 

 the water was fairly alive with small perch that could be 

 caught litterally as fast as the line could be tin-own in. All 

 through the season there was a possibility of getting a reason- 

 able quantity of good fish. Those who had occasion to drive 

 across the river frequently will remember the bass fisherman 

 who could usually be seen in a boat, anchored just above the 

 bridge, and who kept at it day after day. Ten-pound bass 

 were not so rare but that several were usually taken in a sea- 

 son. At present, very few of these fish are caught, and the 

 idea of going out to fish all day for striped bass hardly occurs 

 to any one. It is very probable that the putting in of black 

 bass has done something to reduce the numbers of other fish, 

 but those familiar with the river and with the ways of fish, 

 attach more importance to the change in the water, and in- 

 stance, among other things, the decrease in shad, which is 

 sufficiently indicated by the fact that, with all the stocking of 

 the stream from year to year, the supply does not reach the 

 point that would be expected. Something is to be inferred 

 ale o from the decrease in dace, a fish of no particular food 

 value, but handsome, active fellows thattfcj-ivein Clearwater, 

 and were large and abundant a few years ago, but are now 

 much reduced in numbers, wdiile comparatively few large ones 

 seem to be left. The failure of the attempts to stock the river 

 with salmon points in the same direction. Of all the young 

 fry put in, very few reached maturity and returned; not 

 nearly as many as might naturally be expected to escape the 

 perils that attend small fish. The actual condition of the water 

 may be seen by any who will examine it. In appearance, taste, 

 and smell it is very different from what it was. The same pro- 

 cess is going on that has been pretty well carried out in such 

 streams as the Hockanuin,where the mills have almost killed off 

 all the fish that used to abound in the stream. One curious thing 



in both cases is, that though the fish are not nearly as plenty 

 as before, there are still considerable numbers of young ones, 

 apparently one year or sometimes two years old, while larger 

 ones have disappeared. Allowing all that can be allowed for 

 the use of fine meshed nets in the spring, it still seems as if 

 the fish did not find food enough to thrive, on in the contami- 

 nated water, or become diseased and died off. The fish that 

 are now most abundant are the poorer sorts, that do as well 

 in foul water as in clean. Artificial propagation partly meets 

 the difficulty, as in the case of shad, but it cannot take the 

 place of suitable natural conditions for the fish: and good 

 judges maintain that the flavor of a Connecticut River shad 

 is not what it used to be, even of those caught far up the 

 stream so as to allow for the slight difference that used to 

 exist, or was said to exist, between fish caught as they en- 

 tered the river and those that had spent some days in fresh 

 water. As long as the river receives so much poison from fac- 

 tories, and so much savage from cities, it is probable that the 

 supply of Jlsh will remain small in quantity and poor in 

 quality. 1 ' 1 



The catch of shad in the Connecticut for the past three years 

 was: In 1881, 351,678; m 1883, 872,908: in 1883, 177,308. l n the 

 Farmington river it was: In 1881, 11,505; in 1882. 3,800; in 1883, 

 1,156. 



These facts are serious ones to reflect upon. Are the present 

 modes of fishing so destructive to the shad as to lead to then- 

 extermination? The Commissioners have always believed this 

 to be true, unless the natural inorease be aided bv artificial 

 propagation. In fact thev predicted exactly what has oc- 

 curred. B|r referring to "page 15 of the report of 1879, these 

 words will be found: ''For various reasons, but chiefly for 

 want of a sufficient appropriation, the artificial hatching of 

 shad at Holyoke has been discontinued for the last three years. 

 A decrease in the catch of these fish may consequently be 

 looked for during the next three, or perhaps four years." This 

 prediction was based upon the fact that three or four years 

 are required for a young shad to attain maturity. The above- 

 mentioned figures show how just was the prediction. In 1881 

 artificial propagation was again commenced on the Farming- 

 ton River, and each year since it has been continued as far 

 as possible, though the location is far inferior to that in Massa- 

 chusetts below the Holyoke Dam. 



The report of the Superintendent, Mr. II. J. Fenton, gives a 

 total of 3,215,550 shad fry planted. We will refer to the report 

 again. 



MARYLAND.— Elkton, Md.— Editor Forest, and Stream: 

 Col. Thomas Hughlett having been appointed clerk to the 

 Court for Talbot county, has resigned the office of Fish Com- 

 missioner for the eastern shore of Maryland. During the time 

 he held the office just vacated, he distributed twenty millions 

 of fish to the waters of the eastern shore, against eighteen 

 hundred thousand distributed by his predecessor. It is a 

 matter of regret that the services of so efficient an officer 

 should be lost to the lovers of fish and fishing. His successor 

 has not yet been appointed. — T. 



%te Mmml 



FIXTURES. 



BENCH SHOWS. 



March 4, 5, 6 and 7.— Cincinnati Bench Show, Melodian Hall. En- 

 trios close Feb. 25. Charles Lincoln, Superintendent, care of B, Kit- 

 tredgo & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. 



March 18, 13 and 14. -Mew Haven Kennel Club's First Annual Bench 

 Show, Second Regiment Armory. Edward S. Porter. Secretary Bos 

 657 New Haven, Conn. 



March 26, 27 aDd 28.— The Dominion Kennel Club's Second Annual 

 Bench Show, Horticultural Gardens. C. Greville Harstoa, Secretary, 

 Toronto, Canada. 



April — , 1884.— The Cleveland Bench Show Association's Second 

 Bench Show. Charles Lincoln, Superintendent. C. M. Munhall, Sec- 

 retary, Cleveland, Ohio, 



May 6, 7. 8 and 9.— The Westminster Kennel Club's Eighth Annual 

 Bench Show, Madison Square Garden. Entries close April 21. Chas. 

 Lincoln, Superintendent. R. C. Cornell, Secretary, 54 William street, 

 New York. 



A. K. R. 



rpHE AMERICAN KENNEL REGISTER, for the registration of 

 -*- pedigrees, etc. (with prize lists of all shows and trials), is pub 

 hshed every month. Entries close on the 1st. Should be in early. 

 Entry blanks sent on receipt of stamped and addressed envelope. 

 Registration fee (25 cents) must accompany each entry. No entries 

 inserted unless paid in advance. Yearly subscription $1. Address 

 "American Kennel Register," P. O. Box 2832, New York. Number 

 of entries already printed '744. 



DOGS AND GAME IN TEXAS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Texas sportsmen do not take as much interest in '"feathered 

 game" as the sportsmen of the more Eastern and Southern 

 States, owing to the fact that we have always had an abund- 

 ance of larger game, such as deer, antelope, bear, panther, 

 cat, fox, etc., etc., and until quite recently plenty of buffalo 

 inhabited the unsettled part of the frontier. Hence, we have 

 but few good wing-shots as compared with the older settled 

 States; and we are even further behind on dogs and dog-train- 

 ing than we are on good shooting. However, we have some 

 fine shots and here and there a good dog. As a general rule, 

 however, they are quite imperfectly trained, owing to the fact 

 that ea»h sportsman trains his own dog, professional trainers 

 not being accessible. This has resulted in an entire absence of 

 system throughout the State. 



' Dogs thus trained are entirely worthless except to the one 

 who trains them, as they have by such a system only learned 

 their master and not the science of hunting. For instance: I 

 have a dog (a pointer) that I trained myself, or rather he and 

 I have learned each other by constant association from his 

 puppy hood, for I know nothing about training. To me he is 

 a good dog, and with him I venture to say that I can bag as 

 many birds in a day as Mr. Crawford with his matchless Clath, 

 because he knows me even to a frown and I know him as 

 well ; but he cannot be handled by any one else at all. Neither 

 can 1 handle him effectively in the field with other dogs with- 

 out interfering with them. Nor can I instruct others now to 

 handle him, because I have no system about it. 



A good working dog is the very life of a hunt, and as one of 

 your correspondents has remarked, "of infinitely greater sat- 

 isfaction than a well-filled bag." 



And here I would call the attention of Texas sportsmen to 

 the importance of organizing a State kennel club, to the end 

 that we may bring order out of the present chaotic state of 

 affairs and drive the mongrel from, the field. Besides, such 

 an organization might materially aid in the preservation of 

 game, which is now so abundant, but which under our present 

 system is subject to devastation from every conceivable 

 quarter. 



Texas at present is indeed a fine field for the sportsman. 

 Game of all kinds is abundant. Of the feathered class, we 

 have the wild turkey, prairie chicken, geese, ducks innumer- 

 able, both as to quantity and kind, plover, various species of 

 snipe, and two species of quail— the Bob White and blue quail, 

 as he is called here. The Bob White is the most abundant and 

 bv far the best game bird, indeed, witn me he is the ace of all 

 birds. The blue quail is about one-third larger than the Bob 

 White, bluish color, with speckled breast and crested head, 

 presenting a handsome appearance. They are usually found 

 m coveys ranging from '2o to 60; are fleet of foot, and will not 



