Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Yeak. 10 Cts. a Copy. I 

 Six Months, $3. j 



NEW YORK, MAY 22, 1884. 



j VOL. XXlI.-No. 17. 



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



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



The Worth of Dog Flesh. 



Proposed National Association, 



The St. Clair Flats in Congress. 



The Fishcultural Association. 



Large Trout. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Camps of the Kingfishers.— n. 

 Natural Historv. 



The Couesian Period. 



The Brown Thrush. 



The Grizz.y Bear in Labrador. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



My First "Honker." 



The St. Clair Flats. 



The Adirondack Bill. 



Massachusetts Game Interests. 



Sea Otter Shooting. 



Fish and Game in British 

 Columbia. 



Dorchester Bay Ducking. 



Down an Idaho Snow Slide. 



The Performance of Shotguns. 



The Choice of Hunting Rifles. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



Salt- Water Fishing. 



Lake Ontario Fishing. 



Landlocked Salmon in Sebago. 



FISHCULTURE. 



Maine Salmon Hatching. 



FISHCULTURE. 



The American Fishcultural As- 

 sociation. 

 The Kennel. 



The Philadelphia Dog Show. 



A Private Field Trial. 



Pointers at the New York Show. 



Beagles at New York. 



English and American Fox- 

 hound. 



English Kennel Notes. 



The English Field Trials. 



Kennel Notes.' 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Air Resistance. 



The Winchester Repeating Arm. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Trap. 



The Chicago Tournament. 

 Canoeing. 



Toledo C. C. 



My First Canoe Cruise. 



Canoe Pilots. 



Canoe Tricks. 



Canoeing in h lorida. 



Leaks in Birch Bark Canoes. 

 Yachting. 



A River Cruise in the Hornet. 



New Folding Boat. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



PROPOSED NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 

 /^VIL and water will not mix. It is just as well to remem- 

 ^-^ ber this, and much cheaper to accept the teaching of 

 experience than to waste good oil and water in useless and 

 silly experiments to demonstrate an old truth. 



We observe in certain quarters a foolish and ill advised 

 suggestion that the national association, which it is proposed 

 to organize at Chicago next week, be made up of two ele- 

 ments, those who are interested in trap-shooting and those 

 who are interested in game protection. It is suggested that 

 the proposed association serve in a dual capacity, to encour- 

 age trap-shooting and to promote game protection. 



If any of the gentlemen who are going to Chicago seri- 

 ously entertain the notion that they can get up such a society 

 with any good to themselves or the country, we beg to warn 

 them that the project is visionary and utterly impracticable. 

 Oil arid water will not mix. 



This thing has been tried once. It was undertaken after 

 much deliberation and planning. There were influential 

 men back of it. The initial meeting was attended with a 

 good deal of what we nowadays call a "boom." After that 

 it fizzled out by degrees, and was finally lost altogether in 

 the vicinity of Wilkesbarre, Pa. The experiment cost those 

 who made it $25,000. Such experiments are too costly to be 

 often repeated. 



A prominent official of the former association once told us 

 that he thought the pigeon shooters were to blame for the 

 failure of the society. Now, pigeon shooters may be (and 

 often are) enthusiastic game protectors. But it has been 

 proven time and again that when the attempt is made to 

 combine these two interests, game protection goes to the 

 wall and the trap absorbs all the attention. This was the 

 case at the meetings of the National Association, it has been 

 the rule at all recent State conventions. To repeat it on a 

 national scale is simply foolishness. 



Moreover, there is no call for a national association to 

 dabble in game protection. We can conceive of no practi- 

 cal work lor it. Game protection is just as well off without 

 it. If any ardent game protectors are so enthusiastic on the 

 subject that they want a national association, let them work 



off their enthusiasm by doing something for the game and 

 fish at home. The country is full of men who are always 

 ready to make a glowing speech at a sportsmen's conven- 

 tion, but who at home remain as mum as a dead clam shell 

 while the waters are netted and the birds trapped all around 

 them. 



If the men who are concerned in inaugurating the new 

 association really desire to see their project made a success, 

 they must confine their efforts to one purpose. ' To establish 

 a trap-shoot ; ')g society of national scope is a much more 

 fpasible undertaking than the attempt to form a comprehen- 

 sive trap and protection society. Even this can he done 

 only by the expenditure of a generous amount of downright 

 hard labor. 



For the consideration of those who are going to Chicago, 

 we repeat our suggestion of last week, that the success of a 

 national trap-shooting society will be dependent wholly upon 

 the financial strength it can show. The only way to collect 

 club delegations from different States will be to provide 

 generous prizes for competition. Without such inducements 

 shooters will not be willing to spend time and money to 

 attend the tournaments. The important question to be 

 considered by the gentlemen at Chicago next week is the 

 money question. 



THE WORTH OF DOG FLESH. 



TT is customary for the exhibitors at our bench shows to 

 -*- place opposite the dog's name in the catalogue a figure, 

 which is presumed to indicate the price of the animal. 

 Sometimes this is $25; sometimes it is $10,000. The former 

 is what the owner would sell the dog for, if he could; the 

 latter is only another way (and a poor way at that) of saying 

 that the dog is not for sale. When bench shows in this 

 country were, by eight years, more of a novelty than they 

 are to-day, it was not unusual to see a crowd of open- 

 mouthed visitors gathered about the stall of a $10,000 dog, 

 mutely wondering at such a gold mine incased in dog fur. 

 At the present day, however, the average visitor is up to 

 snuff, and pays little attention to the fancy figures in the 

 catalogue. It is very probable that the time will soon come 

 when exhibitors will cease to make themselves ridiculous by 

 affixing such prices to their exhibits. 



In the catalogue of the last New York bench show, less 

 than one-half of the dogs were priced by their owners. The 

 values given ran from $25 to $10,000. The total sum of all 

 the values so printed was in round numbers $318,500. It is 

 perfectly safe to assume that the owners of the other dogs in 

 the show thought as highly of their animals as did the ex- 

 hibitors who named prices. By doubling the sum given 

 above as the alleged value of one-half of the dogs, we find 

 $637,000 to be the total value of all the animals exhibited. 

 Including the puppies, there were 1,185 exhibits. The aver- 

 age value then would be more than $500. This is too high. 



We have gone through the catalogue, and with some care 

 have estimated the market value of each animal named in it. 

 The owner's prices have been disregarded. One dog marked 

 in the catalogue at $10,000 we have put at $200, another 

 priced at $100 we have put up to $150. Here are the prices 

 which, as dogs go, we judge to be approximately correct: 



7 dogs, worth $1,000.00 each $7,000.00 



34 dogs, worth 500.00 each 17,000.00 



2 dogs, worth 400.00 each 800.00 



34 dogs, worth 300.00 each 10,200.00 



47 dogs, worth 250.00 each 11,750.00 



46 dogs, worth 200.00 each 9,200.00 



72 dogs, worth 150.00 each 10,800.00 



228 dogs, worth 100.00 each 22,800.00 



29 dogs, worth 75.00 each 2,175.00 



266 dogs, worth 50.00 each 18,300.00 



375 dogs, worth 25.00 each 9,375.00 



9 dogs, worth 15.00 each 135.00 



30 dogs, worth 10.03 each 300.00 



5 dogs, worth 5.00 each 25.00 



1 dog, worth .25 .25 



Total value $114,860.25 



This is something less than one-fifth of the sum quoted 

 above. Nevertheless, $114,860.25 is not a total to be scoffed 

 at. The Madison Square Garden dog exhibit, turned in as 

 collateral at our valuation, might float a Wall street bank. 

 The average value is only $96, a sum simply ridiculous be- 

 side the rounded $500 average claimed by the exhibitors. 

 Still, $96 is a fair average price as dogs are bought and sold. 



Figures are dry. Here is a little story to relieve the arid- 

 ity of these statistics. It is, moreover, true : 



One winning dog in a New York show was priced in the 

 catalogue at $100. His owner was so elated by the unex- 

 pected decision of the judges that he at once jumped the 

 price from $100 to $500. A customer turned up, very anx- 



ious to buy the dog; but he could not stand the inflated price, 

 and the two began to haggle over it. 



"The dog is worth it," said the owner, "every cent of it, 

 and more too. Why, see here. He has beaten all the crack 

 dogs in his class. They came here from all over the country 

 to compete with him, and he just walked away from the best 

 of them and took the prize from the whole lot. A dog that 

 wins first is worth $500, sir, if he's worth a cent." 



"Oh, well," rejoined the customer, "you ask entirely too 

 much for him. I can buy the winner of second or third a 

 good deal cheaper, and I guess I'll take one of them." 



"Now, see here," put in the owner, "don't do it. I would 

 advise you, as a friend, to have nothing to do with them. 

 The dog that took second is nothing but a cross-bred duffer, 

 anyhow; the third is worse yet. In fact there isn't a half- 

 way decent dog in the whole class, except my own here." 



The man did not buy the dog that had beaten "duffers" 

 only. 



THE FISHCULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 

 HP HE recent meeting in Washington was not only the 

 -*- largest, but the best in every respect, that the Associa- 

 tion has ever held. There were fishculturists from every 

 State between Maine and Nebraska, and Michigan and North 

 Carolina. It was gratifying to the friends of the Associa- 

 tion to note the return of the Commissioners from the New 

 England States, who left it some years ago on account of 

 difficulties with one who was then prominent in its councils. 

 The meeting at Washington was also supplemented by a ses- 

 sion of the different State Commissioners, at the request of 

 Prof. Baird, and brought many new members. The character 

 or* the papers and discussions was of a broader nature, and 

 we do not hesitate to call it the most important meeting yet 

 held in the interest of fishculture. 



Another great benefit derived from the place and time of 

 meeting was the opportunity it gave the members to see the 

 shad-hatching work in the central hatching station, where 

 improved machinery is used, and the large operations are 

 carried on in the most systematic manner. The Association 

 has. for years been gradually widening its sphere of useful- 

 ness, and taking in all subjects which may be in any way 

 considered as connected with fishculture. One of these, 

 which at present bids fair to become a vital question on the 

 sea coast, is the culture of oysters, and this occupied a great 

 deal of attention at the Washington meeting, and some valu- 

 able suggestions were made, which we will give in full. 



THE ST. CLAIR FLATS IN CONGRESS. 

 r pHE people of Michigan are urging that the United 

 -*- States shall set aside the public lands of the St. Clair 

 Flats as a permanent national park for the free use of the 

 people. They have been aroused to do this by the endeavor 

 of certain clubs to acquire exclusive shooting rights on the 

 Flats. The result will be watched with great interest, for 

 the territory in question is well known as one of the best 

 wildfowl shooting districts in the country. 



If a bill passes Congress giving the people this grand 

 domain for a pleasure ground, where they may sail, fish and 

 shoot, it is highly desirable that adequate provision be made 

 for properly restricting the exercise of these privileges. The 

 preservation and well-appointed public control of the St. 

 Clair Flats will insure a long-enduring benefit to the people 

 of Michigan and of the United States. We hope Congress 

 will make a law to that effect. 



The Antidote.— Public attention is weekly called by 

 some startling example to the pernicious effects of the dia- 

 bolical police gazette and five-cent flash story-paper literature 

 that is corrupting the young folks of the land. State Legis- 

 latures are enacting laws to suppress this monstrous evil by 

 making the sale of such papers to minors a misdemeanor. 

 This is as it should be. Another wise course is to supply 

 wholesome literature to the boys. Give them healthy read- 

 ing — the Forest and Stream for instance. Let them in- 

 hale the odor of the balsams, then they will not have a taste 

 for the reeking atmosphere of the five-cent novel scenes. 

 Equip them with fishing rods and shotguns, then they will 

 not transform themselves into arsenals of bowie knives and 

 bulldog pistols to exterminate Indians, parents and school- 

 masters. 



The Curse of Politics.— Elsewhere is given the full text 

 of the Adirondack bill as passed at Albany. The measure 

 is calculated to insure good results if honestly carried out. 

 But there is a chance for political corruption to counteract 

 the possible good. Let us hope that the Adirondacks may 

 not he blighted by the curse of politics, 



