Forest and 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Yeae. 10 Cts. a Copy. ( 

 Six Months, $2. ) 



NEW YORK, MAY 7, 1886. 



j VOL. XXIV.-No. IB. 



I Nos. 39 & 40 Pakk Row, New York. 



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Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 



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



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



The New Trout Law. 



American Arms and Foreign 

 War. 



Needs of the Park. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



The Bucktail in Florida.— v. 



Reminiscences. 

 Natural History. 



The Birds of Michigan. 



Birds in Queer Places. 



Habits of the Prairie Dog. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



The Duck Netters. 



With the Quail ia Florida. 



The St. Clair Flats. 



Jerry's Sunday Dinner. 



Central Pennsylvania. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



Fly Nomenclature. 



Fly-Fishing. 



Trouting in Pennsylvania. 



Tbe Most Killing Fly. 



Maine Trout. 



Fishculture. 



North Carolina Oyster Industry. 

 The Kennel. 



The Pittsburgh Piece of Paper. 



The American Kennel Club. 



The New York Dog Show. 



The Kennel Hospital. 



Kennel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Trap. 

 Canoeing. 



Canoeiug on the Pacific Coast. 



The Extension of the A. C. A. 



New English Canoes. 

 Yachting. 



A Cruise in Florida Waters. 



Cruising Sloop Alice. 



Tbe Future of Lake Yachting. 



The Steel Steam Yacht Wanda. 



Notes from the Delaware. 



American Publications on Nau- 

 tical Subjects. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



AMERICAN ARMS AND FOREIGN WAR. 



WILL the war in Europe, which, is now so imminent, 

 bring any grist to America's small-arm shops? This 

 is a question which has often been asked during the past few 

 weeks, and answered by seeming experts by directly opposing 

 replies. It is undoubtedly true that the private armories are 

 now working along under double pressure, turning out 

 weapons and ammunition. Where all the product is to go 

 is, of course, kept a deep mystery, and it is not at all un- 

 likely that there is a bit of speculation going on by the manu- 

 facturers who are making up stock in anticipation of expected 

 orders. 



It should be borne in mind that both England and Russia 

 have rifle making plants of the most extensive sort. In Russia 

 the army is provided with the Berdan & Mauser rifles, made 

 up after German models, though much of the machinery came 

 from this country. These rifles are somewhat antiquated, 

 being complicated in construction, carrying cartridges which 

 give a very high trajectory and consequent limited killing 

 space, while the low initial velocity and large bore make 

 them very unsatisfactory as an arm of precision. 



England has been making certain changes in her small- 

 arm supply. The Snider has been discarded, and even the 

 Martini-Henry, fine weapon that it was, has been crowded 

 from a portion of the regular army to make way for later 

 models supposed to be of superior design. The result is that 

 the resources of the Woolwich Arsenal would prove far too 

 limited to meet the great demand which would come upon 

 this great firearm factory if war should be declared. It has 

 been discovered that the practice of putting inferior arms 

 into the hands of the native troops, such as those of the 

 Indian regiments, is not a wise one. These allies of England 

 have found out that to do the best work they need the best 

 tools, and are no longer to be put off with such rifles as have 

 been condemned for use by English troops. 



Another point of more than ordinary importance in all 

 this discussion is the trouble which constantly threatens 

 from the confusion of ammunition. Each rifle carries its 

 special cartridge, which will not serve any other weapon. 

 The result is that in the hurry and scurry of train dispatch- 

 ing, it very often happens that the wrong cartridge cases are 

 sent to the fighting men in the front, and they are left with 

 magnificent rifles, yet. of no more use than so many hay- 

 sticks. This condition of affairs was met again and again 



during our late civil war, and it would require the most 

 careful sort of management of the supply trains to prevent 

 its happening along the enormous fighting line which will 

 open with the Anglo-Russian war. 



America's opportunity will come in supplementing the 

 arm-producing capacity of the European arsenals, or in fur- 

 nishing the machinery to be put in charge of English or 

 Russian workmen. The supply of fixed ammunition for 

 both sides in tbe war could all come from the American Car- 

 tridge Company pool, with prompt delivery guaranteed. 



The war would be doubly interesting to those who have 

 made small arms a study if it will tend to settle many of the 

 open questions in this branch of ordnance practice. The 

 new rifle for the English regulars has had no end of adverse 

 criticism directed against it, some dubbing it the M. M. (mis- 

 erable malformation) rifle, and it is described by one of the 

 war correspondents who saw its use at the Soudan, as cer- 

 tain to jam after firing a few rounds. It is to be hoped that 

 the new models magazine rifles may be given a fair trial in 

 the hands of picked troops. These rifles certainly represent 

 the best result of the inventive efforts of late years, and it 

 only remains to give them that last and final test which only 

 actual warfare and firing at living targets can give. Then it 

 will be seen whether they are as really destructive as theory 

 points out they should be. This class of weapon has received 

 the special attention of American inventors, and none of the 

 foreign models can compare with those offered in this coun- 

 try. Should they be found to fulfill expectations, it will 

 only prove that this country is still in the front rank and un- 

 rivaled in this branch of manufacture. 



THE NEW TROUT LAW. 



FROM all sides we hear echoes of the opinions expressed 

 in our editorial of April 23, condemning the way in 

 which an act was passed suddenly, and without a day's 

 grace, closing the trout season after it had been legally 

 opened, as well as in exempting Queens and Suffolk coun- 

 ties from its action. We have fully pointed out the injus- 

 tice of the sudden closing while a man might have been 

 legally fishing in the morning and subject to arrest in the 

 afternoon, but the more we consider the exemption of the 

 two counties the more idiotic it seems. The fish are pro- 

 tected in April in the counties'of New York and Kings, where 

 there are none, but where the great markets are, and allowed 

 to be caught in the same month in Queens and Suffolk, the 

 two greatest trout-produciug counties in the State, but where 

 there are no markets. 



Why it is that to every law pertaining to fish and game 

 Long Island should be excepted we fail to see. It was ex- 

 cepted from the provisions of the bill forbidding the hound- 

 ing of deer, when the fact is that the few deer left on the 

 Island might be forbidden to be killed in any manner, at any 

 time, and no injustice be done. They are worth more to 

 look at than to kill. But the trout that a Brooklyn gentle- 

 man may legally kill he dare not take home, a distance of 

 twenty miles or so. Let us have a law passed that there 

 shall be no legislation concerning fishing without the 

 approval of the Commissioners of Fisheries to the proposed 

 act. In this case the majority of the Board of Commis- 

 sioners knew nothing of it until it was passed. Messrs. 

 Roosevelt and Blackford never heard of it until it had 

 received the Governor's signature, and Gen. Sherman saw a 

 draft of the bill in which there was no extension of the close 

 season until May t, that being added afterward. Whether 

 Mr. Bowman knew of the matter or not we cannot say. 



We have not objected to make the opening of the trout 

 season May 1, but we did object to the manner in which it 

 was done and to the exception of the counties named. If 

 New York city and Brooklyn had also been exempted, then 

 it would not deprive our club men of bringing home their 

 catch, nor the markets from selling trout from the great 

 source of supply. That there will be changes in the law 

 before next April is certain, for the anglers of New York city 

 and vicinity are indignant. 



The Deer Hounding Bill.— Up to the time of our 

 going to press, Wednesday, the deer hounding bill had not 

 been signed by the Governor. The time for its signature 

 expires to-day. We profoundly hope that it may become a 

 law. The Otis bill relating to duck netting passed the 

 Assembly yesterday. 



Col. Sttjart Taylor, well known lo our readers as the 

 wielder of a most facile pen in yacht and dog discussions, 

 has been appointed Naval Officer of the port of San Fran- 

 cisco. 



NEEDS OF THE PARE. 



AN attentive reading of the recently printed letters sent 

 us by a staff correspondent from the region of the 

 Yellowstone Park will convince one of the urgent need of 

 Congressional legislation for this reservation. Matters in the 

 National Park are at present in an unsatisfactory condi- 

 tion. Senator Vest's bill, if it had become a law, would 

 have brought about a better state of things, but even then 

 there would still have been room for improvement. We have 

 been at no little pains to thoroughly inform ourselves on all 

 points connected with it, and after a careful study of the 

 subject offer certain recommendations for the government of 

 the Park. 



Three most important objects are to be attained by having 

 a proper form of government there. These are the protec- 

 tion — 



First, of the forests ; 



Second, of the natural curiosities, and 



Third, of the game. 



Besides these are the minor considerations of providing 

 easy access to points of interest by means of good roads. 



Forest and Stream has so often insisted on the three 

 points above enumerated, that their importance is acknowl- 

 edged by all who have given the matter any thought. 



1. From an economic standpoint, the most important and 

 pressing requirement of the National Park is the protection 

 of its forests. Tn the mountains which lie within the reser- 

 vation, are the sources of two great rivers. The forests, 

 which clothe the slopes of these mountains, protect the 

 springs which give rise to these streams, regulate the melt- 

 ing of the snows in spring, and store up in their spongy floor 

 moisture, which is given forth during summer and autumn, 

 and renders the flow of these rivers equable. These two 

 streams, the Snake and the Yellowstone, water a vast terri- 

 tory to the west and east of the Rocky Mountains, and all 

 through this territory crops can be grown only by irrigating 

 the soil. If these forests were to be destroyed, the result 

 would be that the volume of these two great rivers would be 

 decreased, or if not at once lessened, would be rendered 

 irregular. If this takes place, the settlers along their banks, 

 down on the. plains on either side of the divide, will suffer 

 incalculable injury. 



2. To those who are interested in the preservation of .this 

 wonderland, the protection of the natural curiosities from 

 destruction by the vandals who desire to carry them away 

 with them seems scarcely less important than the conservance 

 of the forests. For nearly fourteen years the work of tearing 

 down these marvelous specimens of nature's handiwork has 

 been going on, and the supply is well nigh exhausted. 

 Unless steps are promptly taken to stop the destructive work, 

 a few years more will see the last geyser crater leveled with 

 the ground. 



3. All enlightened people, and above all, all scientific men 

 and all sportsmen, are anxious that the game of the region 

 should be preserved. It is within the recollection of all of 

 us that the buffalo were so numerous on the plains of the 

 West that one could travel for days and never be out of sight 

 of them during the hours of daylight. They have passed 

 away, but the destruction of other species of our wild 

 game goes on; and although their extinction cannot be com- 

 passed so speedily as was that of the buffalo, it will come 

 just as surely, unless some place be set apart where these 

 animals can be free from molestation. Such a region is the 

 Yellowstone Park, if enlarged and properly protected, and 

 there is still game enough within its boundaries to amply 

 stock it, if the work of destruction is stopped at once. There 

 are even a few buffalo still left there, a very few to be 

 sure, but perhaps enough, if rigidly protected, to keep 

 alive this noble race for a few years longer. But protective 

 measures, if they are to be of any use, must be adopted at 

 once, and must be sternly enforced. In a few years it will 

 be too late to save the game, and how desolate this reser- 

 vation will be if it is without life. 



The necessity for such protection being acknowledged, it 

 is evident that the only means of effecting it for so large 

 a region is by providing an efficient force of officers whose 

 duty it shall be to patrol the Park, and by arresting and 

 bringing to justice those who violate the law, make it 

 evident to such offenders that punishment will follow the 

 commission of illegal acts. The existing law provides for 

 the appointment of such officers, but unfortunately does not 

 clothe them with the powers of sheriff or constable, nor 

 authorize them to make arrests. At present, therefore, if 

 an assistant superintendent surprises an individual in the 

 act of destroying any natural curiosity, or slaughtering 



