.fuLT 2, 1805.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



4 51 



The Double-Bitted Hatchet — Cleveland , 0., June 22. 

 —Editor Forest and Stream: Will you permit me to reply 

 to "Single Bitl's" inquiry "Why the double-bitted hatchet? ' 

 Why not the double-bitted hatchet? The double bitted 

 hatchet is no more dangerous to carry than a single bitt, or 

 than a single or double edged knife, when protected by a 

 sheath, as all such articles should be when worn on the per- 

 son. As for use in driving tent pins, etc., the side of a 

 hatchet or axe is always more convenient than a small ham- 

 mer head. And who ever heard of a hunter carrying a pocket 

 t'ull of nails to the woods? And for the same reason that 

 the double : bitted axe is used, so is the double-bitted hunter's 

 hatchet. It is virtually two hatchets in one — two cutting 

 edges with the weight* and bulk of only one, having one 

 always iu reserve in the event of one becoming blunted or 

 broken, which is liable to occur even with the best material 

 and care. For blazing trees the double bitt cannot be equaled, 

 as an up and down cut can be made without turning the 

 hand or hatchet, a great advantage over the single bitt, in a 

 long tramp through the woods. — E. P. Lord. 



New Hampshire Moose.— Second Connecticut Lake, 

 June 22. — We have not found an untold number of echoes 

 for the diversion of strangers, but the old bull of the bog 

 came down to the lake this morning as he ofteu did last 

 year, lie is the property of the State, and let no man think 

 of molesting him while he is on exhibition here. His near 

 relatives of exclusive habits must look out for their own 

 affairs if they will drive caribou and deer from their feeding 

 haunts. The moose seen this morning is large enough to 

 weigh 1200 pounds when fat, and is in good condition for 

 this time, after a long, hard winter. The. old hair is nearly 

 all shed and the horns are nearly, if not quite, half grown. 

 I have seen tracks of several sizes of moose at one of the 

 ponds to-day. but rain put a stop to the tramp just in the 

 first "calf pen." We saw one large beaver and one dam 

 made since October 9 last, when I visited the same place. 

 We found some large trees newly cut by the four-footed 

 lumbermen. Deer tracks abundant in all directions. — Ned 

 Norton. 



Shooting Woodcock out of Season.— Complaint has 

 been made to the West Jersey Game Protective Society that 

 some Philadelphiaus have already been killing woodcock 

 near Hammonton, X. J. Although these Philadelphiaus 

 may be members of the Association and carry with them the 

 proper licenses to shoot in the State of New Jersey, this does 

 not protect them, and every effort should be made to have 

 them indicted for this breach of the law. The statute is bad 

 enough in itself to allow summer woodcock shooting at all. 

 Two wrongs do not make a right, The late dry weather has 

 concentrated all the birds, and they will suffer. Cannot the 

 sportsmen wait until fall?— Homo." 



The Adirondack Hounding Bill. — The Curtis bill, for- 

 bidding tfie use of hounds for huntine: deer in New York, 

 was the last bill signed by Governor Hill. It is now a law, 

 and a good one, as it will prevent the merciless slaughter of 

 deer by dude sportsmen, who have been in the habit of fol- 

 lowing the hounded animals out upon the lakes -and clubbing 

 them to death while the guides held the frightened animals 

 by the tails. To the Forest and Stream, of iNew York, 

 great credit is due for the pertinacity with which it has 

 fought for the passage of this law.— Mioark Sunday Call. 



The Deer and the "Forest and Stream. "—Editor 

 Forest and Stream: Your commendable efforts in behalf of 

 the bill for prevention of hounding deer in the Adirondack's 

 should receive recognition from every sportsman and person 

 intei'ested in prolonging the pleasures left to us in this part 

 of the country. Every time I see a deer (and I like to watch 

 them) in the Adirondacks I shall think of Forest and 

 Stream.— Spencer M. Nash. 



Chinese Pheasants in Oregon. — A report from Lebanon, 

 Liun county, Oregon, says that the Mongolian pheasants 

 which were turned loose in that region have wonderfully 

 multiplied. Scores of half-fledged pheasants of this breed 

 are seen almost every day scurrying about over (he prairie. 

 These are the birds which were brought from China by Mr. 

 Deuny, formerly United States Consul there. 



Game in the National Park.— A correspondent writ- 

 ing from Fire Hole Basin, reports elk and deer abundant in 

 the southern part of the Park, with antelope and wildfowl. 

 One party, on a recent trip from Fire Hole to Yellowstone 

 Lake, saw sixty -four buffalo. Bears are also frequently en- 

 countered, and are found fishing in the streams where the 

 trout spawn. 



Ohio. — Vanlue.— Woodcock shooting iu this part of Ohio 

 promises to be very fine. Quail were very plenty here last 

 fall, but the excessive hard freezing thinned thern out quite 

 perceptibly. A few snipe were killed here^this spring. — 

 E. L. E, M. 



Lockwood, Tioga County, N. Y. — The summer has been 

 thus far a favorable one for game, with no long continued 

 storms nor cold weather to kill the young grouse. A gun 

 club keeps the sportsman in practice at the trap instead of at 

 birds. The laws are better kept than before in years.— J. H. 

 Andre. 



lew £j£nbHcxtum$. 



HUNTING TRIPS OF A RANCHMAN.- 



LUXURIOUS books upon the better class of field sports are cer- 

 tainly more highly appreciated now than they used to be, and 

 no better evidence of this is needed than the rapidity with which 

 they follow one another. The fact is that people nowadays realize 

 in some small measure the importance of the sports of the field and 

 water, and have come to understand something of the benefits to be 

 derived from a reasonable and reasoning indulgence ia them. Now 

 they are applauded— not too enthusiastically, but still applauded— a 

 very few years ago they were barely tolerated, and a short time be- 

 fore that a man who went '■gunnin' or fishin'," lost caste among 

 respectable people just about in the same, way that one did who got 

 drunk. 



Of course publishers follow the popular taste in these matters, and 

 produce beautiful volumes -which now sell by hundreds, where a few- 

 years ago they would have sold by units. One of the most note- 

 worthy of the books of this type was the beautiful English volume on 



*Hunting Trips | of a | Ranchman | Sketches of Sport on the North- 

 ern Cattle Plains | By Theodore Roosevelt | Autnor of ''History of 

 the Naval War of 1812" | Medallion | Illustrated by A. B. Frost, R. 



Swain Gifford, J, C. Beard. Fannie E. Gilford | Henry Sandham | 



I New York and London | G, P, Putnam's Sons | The Knickerbocker 

 Press 1 188$ 



'•Sport in Morav," Not very lone after its appearance the Century 

 Company published their superb volume on "Sport With Gun and 

 Rod." 



Not inferior in beauty of execution, excellence of materials aud the 

 care which has been exercised in getting it up is a new book of this 

 class, "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman," just issued from the press of 

 Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, of this city. Its author is Mr. Theo- 

 dore Roosevelt, who is best known as an earnest and energetic poli- 

 tician of the best type, though he has also done more or less -writing. 

 The excellent work which he has accomplished at Albany shows him 

 to be— if nothing more— a person of exceptionally well-balanced 

 mind, aud calm, deliberate judgment, and these qualities cannot fail 

 to make their impressiou in any pursuit to which their possessor may 

 choose to turn his attention. 



Mr. Roosevelt is not well known, as a sportsman, and his experience 

 (it the Western country is quite limited, but this very fact in one way 

 lands an added charm to his book. He has not become accustomed 

 to all the various sights and sounds of the plains and the mountains, 

 and for him all the difference which exists between the East and the 

 West are still sharply defined. The old-timer who attempts to write 

 of life in the Far West, is almost sure to grow prosy. He takes too 

 much for granted, and regards as commonplace a great many 

 features of that life which are, in fact, extremely interesting to those 

 before whom they are brought for the first time'. Mr. Roosevelt's ac 

 counts of life on a ranch are delightful from their freshness. 



The book treats of sport with all the different kinds of game, from 

 grouse aud fowl up through the list of big game to bear. 



The style of the work is very attractive, and the matter which it 

 contains interesting. Where Mr, Roosevelt details his own adven- 

 tures he is accurate, and tells his story in a simple, pleasant fashion, 

 which at once brings US intosympath'y with him. We arc sorry to see 

 that a number of hunting myths are given as fact, but it was after 

 all scarcely to be expected that with the author's limited experience 

 he could sift the wheat from the chaff and distinguish the true from 

 the false. The illustrations, which appear in great profusion, are 

 most of them very admirable, as might be expected when the list of 

 the artists' Dames is read. Some of the etchings by Mr. Gifford are 

 extremely fine, and in most cases the wood engravings are excellent. 

 The illustrations of the chapter on the elk, however, are anything 

 but satisfactory. The large head drawn by Beard and engraved by 

 Clement is the best of tliem, but nothing could be less like the true 

 elk than the full page illustration entitled, "A Band of Elk." Of the 

 two figures, the male is short-faced aud stubby, and the female a 

 hydrocephalus dwarf. The full page illustration, "The Home of the 

 Elk," would be a beautiful picture it it were not for the figure of that 

 animal, which is so obtrusive and which is hopelessly unlike any elk 

 in life. 



The Medora edition, of which only 500 copies were struck off, is 

 remarkable for its beauty. It is printed on heavy vellum paper with 

 rubricated title aud initials, and no effort has been spared to make it 

 a most attractive volume. The heavy buckram binding, with its 

 tasteful gold lettering and medallions, give the volume an appearance 

 which is at once simple and elegant. 



\tn mtd Olivet 



Address ail communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



HIBERNATION OF THE BLACK BASS. 



IN the paper with the above caption, read before the Fish- 

 eries Society, the author, Dr. Henshall, inclines to the 

 opinion that the hibernation of the black bass is influenced 

 as much, if not more, by the supply of its principal food as 

 by the state of the temperature. 



This theory is contrary to what personal experience has 

 taught me, and I have a firmly rooted conviction that the 

 torpidity of the black bass is caused by the temperature 

 alone. 



This being the cause, the natural consequence is the effect, 

 viz. ; That in a state of semi-stupor, the bass have little in- 

 clination or power to seek for food, however abundant it may 

 be. Whatever falls directly under their noses they accept 

 with thanks. I ought, perhaps, in justice to say that my 

 observations regarding hibernation have been confined to 

 waters in Northern New York, because at the season when 

 this sluggishness overcomes the black bass, it is hardly worth 

 while to go far to seek them as they render little or no re- 

 turn for the augler's outlay of time and patience. 



The principal food of the biack bass in Northern New 

 York is the yellow perch, and if at any time during the open 

 season ten bass are opened and examined, nine of them will 

 be found to contain little, if anything, but perch in process 

 of digestion. The food supply— even the favorite food of 

 the bass — ought not once a year to seriously diminish in 

 forty -eight hours, but the black bass during that period of 

 time will change from a state of activity and become in- 

 active. 



In fact, the food supply does not apparently decrease at 

 the time the bass becomes torpid, for besides the perch, 

 which resort to the same depth of water and often to the 

 same kind of bottom with the bass, crayfish are plentiful, 

 and crickets and grasshoppers are abroad, and I am not pre- 

 pared to say that other Crustacea, and insects in some stages 

 of development between the larvre and winged states, do not 

 also abound. But certain it is that the black bass become 

 torpid while yet there is an abundance of food similar to that 

 upon which they feed during the summer months. A case 

 which illustrates my belief, although not an isolated one by 

 any means, is found in the last bass fishing 1 did during the 

 past year. 



Oct. 15 1 started with a friend whom I have mentioned iu 

 Forest and Stream, Mr. Cleveland, for Cape Vincent, ex- 

 pecting to get some black bass fishing in the St. Lawrence 

 River. During the day there was a change in the weather 

 and before night it was quite cold. The next day there was 

 a strong north wind and still lower temperature, and we 

 went over to Lake Ontario, hoping to get a. little fishing in 

 the lee of an island. This proving impracticable because of 

 the increasing wind, we gave up the bass and arranged to go 

 out on the following day with the sturgeon-netters to lift 

 their nets. The morning opened with a hailstorm aud a 

 furious north wind, but the netters decided in the middle of 

 the forenoon to venture out, and we prepared ourselves by 

 putting fur greatcoats outside of our ordinary overcoats, and 

 were then not uncomfortahly warm, as the wind continued 

 in the north all day. The next morning (the 18th) we awoke 

 to find it snowing, with dark, forbidding clouc's piled up in 

 the north, and we concluded to return home. Sunday, the 

 19th, was pleasantly warm, and we decided to fish Long 

 Pond the next day, which we did without getting a bass, 

 although just before our departure for Cape Vincent the 

 bass in this pond were in a biting mood. We did get some 

 fine pereh in the pond after we found we could not inveigle 

 the bass. 



Tuesday we went to Brant Lake— the weather continuing 

 like Indian summer —and arrived in time to fish during the 

 afternoon. The landlord of the "Bass Pavalion" told us that 

 two gentlemen had been fishing there with excellent success 

 until the "cold snap" came, when the bass ceased to bite. I 

 thought the water must have been warmed somewhat during 

 three days of genial sunshine, and had great hopes. We had 

 for bait minnows, crayfish, crickets, frogs, grasshoppers, 

 and dobsons (the last mentioned were sent by "Wawa- 

 yanda" to the two gentlemen referred to above, and arriving 

 after their departure we had the benefit of them); all but 

 the dobson were caught on the spot after our arrival, I 



was well aware that it would be useless to fish where we had 

 had the best success earlier in the season, and two hours 

 were spent in sounding for the proper bottom, i. e., boulders 

 or broken rocks in deep water. When found we also found 

 the bass, but oh. what a change had come over them since 

 our last visit. When a hook was baited with a minnow or 

 a crayfish and lowered to the rocks a faint nibble might be 

 felt, but it was very faint, as though the nibbling fish was 

 extremely weary. The few bass that we did catch were 

 taken on crickets, which seemed to be sucked in without the 

 fact being communicated to the angler through the medium 

 of the line, so the hooking was done by the exercise of faith. 

 When hooked the bass were reeled in without any resistance 

 and the fishing was tame beyond comparison, except where 

 a yellow perch would take a cricket with a snap that was 

 refreshing. 



The second day was but a repetition of the first, and then 

 we came home and shelved our bass rods. Our boatman as- 

 sured us that until the time that the cold wave came the bass 

 were as vigorous on the hook as when we were there in 

 August, but in October their vigor had departed and they 

 demonstrated that torpor had seized them at a time when 

 food was all about them in abundance. The air was much 

 warmer than the water, but I had no means of recording the 

 temperature of the latter. 1 have known black bass to be 

 taken from a lake after ice had formed upon its surface, but 

 the process was not very unlike fishing for a dead squirrel in 

 the hollow of a tree with the wormer on a ramrod. If the 

 worm-baited hook got into the right crevice in the rocks and 

 was held under the nose of a bass it would take the worm, if 

 the fisherman did not freeze before the fish opened its mouth 

 with a yawn and swallowed it, but when the operation was 

 over the angler did not feel that he had been a fishing, for it 

 was more like snaring suckers. I can cite other instances to 

 show that it is the cold and not lack of food that is the cause 

 of hibernation of the black bass in this section of the country, 

 but if one case is not convincing I doubt if others and similar 

 will be more so. A. N. Cheney. 



Glens Falls, N. Y. 



THE NEWFOUNDLAND SEAL FISHERY. 



THE seal fishery of Newfoundland, which has brought 

 and continues to bring such an amount of wealth to 

 the colony, is comparatively of recent origin. The codfish- 

 ery had been prosecuted for nearly four hundred years, but 

 the seal fishery was of little importance till the beginning of 

 the present century. It would appear that the attention of 

 the people was so absorbed iu capturing and curing cod 

 that they neglected this industry, which, though difficult 

 and dangeroxis, was capable of being made veiy profitable. 

 Thus, while plying nets and hook and line on the Banks and 

 along the shores for centuries in capturing the cod, they paid 

 no attention to the oleaginous treasures which the vast ice 

 fields every year brought within their reach, and the great 

 seal herds "were left to bring forth their young amid the icy 

 solitudes, undisturbed by the murderous gun, club and knife 

 of the seal hunter. But this paradisaical condition of the 

 seal was not to last forever. The day at length came when 

 thousands of savage hunters forced their way through the 

 crystal ramparts by which nature had so long guarded these 

 helpless innocents. With exultant shouts "the invaders 

 leaped on the ice fields, and soon the "shivering seals' low 

 moans" were heard ascending to heaven ia piteous appeal. 

 The happy nursery of countless mother seals became a 

 slaughter house, red with the blood of their murdered dar- 

 lings slain in their ice cradles, All around the bloody car- 

 cases were strewn, staining the virgin snow ; and the spot 

 where tender mothers were lately fondling their white- 

 coated babies became a scene of horror and death. Such is 

 the seal hunt of to-day, involving each year a vast destruc- 

 tion of young and old seal-life for the benefit of man, "the 

 lord of creation," and for the promotion of our modern civ- 

 ilization with its ever-increasing wants. 



The value of the seal for human uses and the right method 

 of capturing it in these regions was slowly learned. At first 

 seals were taken in nets which were placed between the shore 

 and some island or rock at no great distance. In their migra- 

 tory movements the seals go south along the shore during 

 the early part of winter, and by means of the nets placed in 

 these narrow passages a few were taken. L'Abbe Raynal 

 tells us that even previous to the year 1763 English fishermen 

 were in the habit of repairing to certain favorable places in 

 order to capture seals by uets placed in the way referred to. 

 The same method is still piusued on some parts of the 

 northern coast of the island and at Labrador, especially in 

 capturing the bay or shore seal which is non-migratory. This 

 net fishery is continued throughout the winter, but, of 

 course, the number thus taken is comparatively insignificant. 

 When thus captured the seals are generally left in a frozen 

 state till the latter end of April or beginning of May, when 

 the increasing warmth permits the extraction of the oil. In 

 some instances they are "sculped" when taken, that is the 

 skin and fat are separated, the former is salted and the latter 

 treated in such a way as to extract the oil. 



This net-fishing must have been supplemented by other 

 methods of taking seals on the ice in spring, either by shoot- 

 ing them casually or taking them along shore, when the ice 

 was pressed in on the coast by easterly winds. In proof of 

 this, we find from the annual returns made by the admirals 

 commanding on the Newfoundland station to the Board of 

 Trade, that from 1750 there was a gradual increase in the 

 quantities of seal oil exported. This item of export is men- 

 tioned for the first time iu the returns for 1749, when its 

 value for that year is stated to Lave been £1,006 sterling. 

 In 1767 the seal oil exported had risen in value to £8,832, 

 and in the following year to £12,664. In 1769 it fell to £5,375 

 and in 1772 rose to £13,406. The largest export mentioned 

 in these returns was that of 1773, when its value was £26,388. 

 During the following year it fluctuated greatly, just as it 

 does at the present day, sometimes sinking to £3,000 and 

 £4,000 and only once exceeding £11,000 in value. The last 

 of these returns was for 1792, when the seal oil was in value 

 £11,920. 



There is another rather curious item in these returns which 

 in these days is hardly intelligible. In the return for 1767, 

 mention is made, for the first time, of "seacow oil, skins and 

 teeth," which are valued for*that year at £1,238. Two years 

 later the value rose to £'2,226, but the entries under this head 

 suddenly ceased in 1774, when the value was £1,065. Pro- 

 bably this industry ceased to be prosecuted after that date. 

 The "seacow" of those days was the animal known now as 

 the walrus. It was also called "morse," and sometimes "sea- 

 horse." In the early days of the Newfoundland fisheries, 

 walruses and whales were plentiful on certain parts of the 

 coast, and the capture of them was prosecuted by the more 

 enterprising and daring fishermen. Hackluyt, the indefatigar 



