Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



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

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NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 10, 188B. 



j VOL. XXV.— No. 7. 



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



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G0NTENT8. 



Editorial. 



Port Tack Gives Way. 



The Menhaden Question. 



The Eifle Trials. 



Panthers an-i Deer. 

 The Sportsman Tourist, 



Himting in the Himalayas.— v. 

 Natural History. 



Autumn at Central Parle. 



Unexpected Mishaps. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



The Choice of Guns.— 



A Rifle Test on Squirrels. 



New England Game. 



Bow Valley Game. 



Business and Pleasure. 



Deer in the A.dirondack-a. 



Western ivew York. 



On Minnesota Prairies. 



Llinois Notes. 



"A Hunc on tbe Yazoo."' 

 (;amp-Firb Flickerings. 

 Sea and River Pishing. 



Lester River. 



Rangeley Lake and Beyond, 

 The Menhaden Question. 

 The Coming Tournament. 

 Gameness of the Black Basses. 

 The English Tournament. 



FlSHCULTCRE. 



Fertility in Hybiidination. 

 The Kennel. 



American Kennel Club. 



The Setter Standard. 



English Kennel Notes. — xxxiil 



An Unusual Disease. 



Kennel Management. 



Kennel Notes. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



The Trajectory Test. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Trap. 



Light Guns for Trap-Shoo ting. 

 Canoeing. 

 Brooklyn C. C. Regatta. 

 Brock ville C. C. Regatta. 

 Buffalo C. C. 



Lake St. Louis C. C. Annual Re- 

 gatta. 

 Yachting. 



The America Cup Races. 



The Eastern Y. 0. Cruise. 



Oshkosh Y. C. Regatta. 



A Substitute for a Canoe. 



Yacht Racing. 

 Answers to Oorrespondknts. 

 Publishers' Department. 



Pot Luck from Exchanges. 



PORT TACK GIVES WAY. 

 A LL yachtsmen and lovers of sport will regret that a line 

 ■^-^ race, as that of Tuesday promised to be, was spoiled, 

 and especially by such an occurrence as an open violation 

 of the plainest and most important rule of the road, that 

 port tack gives way. Of course in the spirited competition 

 of such races as the present each side will work for all it 

 can gain, and the matches will probably be decided largely 

 by close sailing and bold handling, but the occurrence on 

 Tuesday is much to be regretted in every way. Allowing 

 even for the excitement of the moment, increased by the 

 knowledge that they were pitted against a keen and shrewd 

 adversary, the course of the Puritan looks like an 

 attempt to bluft" their opponent and force him from a 

 position which belonged to him by every rule of yacht- 

 racing and maritime law. The spectators were unan- 

 imous in placing' the entire blame on the Boston boat, 

 as from most of the suiTounding craft it seemed impossible 

 that she could safely pass between the Lightship and Gen- 

 esta, and that if nothing worse happened, the latter must be 

 forced off her rightful course. The well-known character of 

 the gentlemen on the Puritan precludes the suspicion that they 

 would countenance willingly any semblance of jockeying, 

 and they have made all the amends in their power for the 

 unfortunate affair; so we can only conclude that some one 

 made a very serious error in judgment, an error that nearly 

 cost them their beautiful boat instead of a torn mainsail. 

 The affair may have one good result in enforcing a more 

 careful observance of the rules of the road on the part of 

 some yachtsmen, and in such a case it will not be thrown 

 away. 



The fair and manly conduct of the owner of the Genesta 

 will win many friends for him and his boat here, and 

 remove the unfavorable and erroneous impression that has 

 prevailed with some, who have been misled by the prejudiced 

 reports of the daily press. The worst that can be said of thu 

 gentlemen interested in the Genesta is that since they have 

 been in this country they have minded their own business. 

 In trying to obtain the most favorable terras for their boat, 

 as in the matter of time allowance and courses, they have 

 accepted the decisions of the Committee on all points with, 

 out protest or comment. In declining to sail in scrub 

 races they have done nothing un-sportsmanlike ; and in all 

 cases visitors have been treated courteously and politely. 

 But, nevertheless, with a certain portion of the press it has 

 been the correct thing to visit on them the sins of a former 

 challenger for the Cup, and to place every little incident in 

 the worst possible light. They come to us ostensibly as 



visitors and guests engaged in a friendly contest, and the 

 action of Sir Richard Sutton and his friends in the matter 

 of Tuesday's race shows that they are fully entitled to every 

 consideration due to gentlemen and thorough sportsmen. 



TEE RIFLE TRIALS. 

 n^IIE trajectory test which we have undertaken in the 

 interest of the rifle shooting fraternity still calls for 

 comment and suggestion from many of our readers, while 

 on our part tlie preparations are pressing forward to have it 

 take up a corner of the Creedmoor range when the coming 

 fall meeting shall have concluded. So far we have been 

 most ably seconded and earnestly supported by all whom 

 we have had occasion to enlist in the work or to invite to 

 co operate with us. Some of the makers have written an- 

 nouncing their hearty indorsement of the scheme and ex- 

 pressing the hope that there would be a thorough test, of 

 which they were perfectly willing to abide the result. "May 

 I be there to see it" has more than once been said by 

 those who have written or spoken of the trial. It 

 is not unlikely now that it may lead in the not 

 distant future to such changes in the charges of our 

 held rifles as will insure much flatter lines of fire than those 

 now in use. Without rushing to the English armories for 

 models, we think that there is room for improvement in this 

 respect in our own workshops and that our rifles, first in so 

 many respects, may lead the world in this point also. 



Some of our contemporaries are working in the same direc- 

 tion as we in this matter, and in the last number of TJie 

 Rifle, of Boston, is to be found a most interesting report of 

 very similar trials. They are not so extended as we should 

 have preferred ; but they are found in a reliable quarter, and 

 help on the problem in which all are so much concerned. 



THE MENHADEN QUESTION. 

 /~\IJR remarks on this subject last week have brought 

 us several comments on the relation of fish food and 

 food fish. There is little that is new, however, and the 

 letters are mainly mere opinions with no great amount of 

 experience or observation to back them. The question is : 

 Does the capture of the menhaden by the hundreds of mil- 

 lions for the purpose of making oil, interfere with the supply 

 of game and table fishes upon our coast? Anglers and coast 

 fishermen not engaged in the oil business say that it does, 

 and that the bluefish and other species do not come in near 

 shove because their natural food is captured or driven off. 

 On the other hand English scientists, speaking of the her- 

 ring, which there serves the purpose of fish food, say that 

 the efforts of man in killing herring are feeble compared to 

 the destruction of these fish by gulls, seals, sharks and other 

 animals that prey upon them. A similar view is held in 

 this country by such high authority as Prof. G. Brown 

 Goode and by Mr. E. G. Blackford, if wc are to credit a 

 newspaper interview with the latter. 



We believe it to be a fact that nothing that man can do 

 to the immense shoals of menhaden will eciual their natural 

 destruction from their aquatic enemies, which prey upon 

 them night and day and perhaps follow them summer and 

 winter. The menhaden have withstood these enemies for 

 centuries, a proof of which is their presence in such num- 

 bers to-day; but man has stepped in and disturbed the 

 balance of life, and his efforts, added to those of the enemies 

 referred to, have operated disastrously upon what were 

 supposed to be the inexhaustible schools of the ocean. Forty 

 years ago no one would have believed that the buffalo, 

 which roamed our prairies in herds of millions, would to- 

 day be reduced to a few hundred individuals, and in a few 

 years more arc to be numbered with the extinct animals of 

 America. The menhaden spawn in our bays and sounds— 

 we have good evidence of this — and are harassed from the 

 time of their coming until wi nter drives them hence. They 

 are a timid fish, and if not caught are scared oft". This is a 

 fact well kno .vn to all who know anything of their habits, 

 and since steam vessels have been employed in their cap- 

 txire the fish have frequently deserted parts of the coast for 

 a whole season. 



The enormous captures of menhaden for oil by steam ves- 

 sels with huge purse nets which surround whole schools and 

 frequently capture the last fish, has almost destroyed the 

 fishing for valuable food fish on our coast from Maine to 

 North Carolina. The coast fisheries of New Jersey formerly 

 gave occupation to hundreds of men who lived entirely from 

 them and supplied the markets with good and cheap fish. 

 Now the Northern markets get their main supply of bluefish, 

 weakflsh and otker kinds from the South. The angler also 

 came in for a large share of sport. The famous fishing 



grounds of which Norris, Scott and others wrote a dozen 

 years ago, are nearly barren. In our last issue, a corres- 

 pondent, "l^. B. R ," told how he saw the menhaden de- 

 stroyed along the south shore of Long Island, and this is an 

 every day occurrence. 



Mr. Clapham, in another column, makes a very sensible 

 suggestion, that menhaden should not be allowed to he 

 caught within a mile of the coast, by purse nets we presume, 

 but we would increase this to three or even five miles. Then 

 the timid fish would have a chance to breed and fill our bays 

 and harbors with their young, which would attract the larger 

 fish and benefit others besides the oil makers. In the end, it 

 seems to us that the oil men would benefit by this, as the 

 object of their pursuit would be more plentiful, fmd outside 

 the limit they would find as many as they get now. It 

 would only temporarily injure their business while bene- 

 fiting the whole community. 



PANTHERS AND DEER. 

 I T has been estimated that one hundred panthers were 

 Idlled in the Adirondack region between the years 1860 

 and 1883. In 1871 a law was enacted offering a bounty of 

 $20 on each panther killed, and the number of bounties paid 

 by the comptroller between that date and 1882 was forty -six. 

 There is, of course, no way of taking a census of the pan- 

 thers now in the North Woods, but it appears to be conceded 

 by those who are most familiar with the subject, that the 

 number is increasing. The bounty of $20 is not a sufficient 

 inducement to the hunters to captxxre this animal. Panther 

 hunting is laborious and attended with much hardship. It 

 is practiced in winter, and the hunter who follows the pan- 

 ther's trail must give up several days and often weeks to the 

 pursuit, carrying his provisions, camping wherever night 

 overtakes him. The reward is not sufiicient to induce many 

 Adirondack hunters to endure such fatigues, and hence, the 

 panthers not being hunted are annually becoming more 

 numerous, and the destruction of deer by them is much 

 gi'cater than formerly. 



The panther subsists chiefly upon venison. It is a still- 

 hunter, and keeps up the pursuit week in and week out 

 through the entire season. The people who have had the 

 best opportunities to study the panther's habits estimate 

 that each one of these animals kills a deer every week or 

 every ten days. (See Dr. C. H. Merriam's "Vertebrates of 

 the Adirondack Region. ") That is, from thirty -five to fifty 

 deer are destroyed annually by each panther. The death of 

 a panther means the saving of just so many deer. The 

 bounty of $20 for a panther is a reward for tiie preservation 

 of from thirty-five to fifty deer. The compensation is cer- 

 tainly small enough. If the bounty were increased to $50 

 that would still be a ridiculously small price to pay for the 

 deer. It would, however, be sufficient to stimulate Adiron- 

 dack hunters to the pursuit of the panthei-. At the next 

 session of the Legislature the law should be changed. To 

 stickle on the price paid for panther scalps is poor economy. 

 The State can better afford to pay $50 for a dead panther 

 than to furnish venison to feed the live panther. 



The Connecticut Grouse Snarers. — The Connecticut 

 game law forbids the snaring of ruffed grouse, and also pro- 

 hibits the exportation of game from the State. The law is 

 well understood, but it is systematically broken on a large 

 scale. In the neighborhood of Stafford, Conn., miles of 

 partridge "hedges" have been constructed, and the snarers 

 having made every provision for a big haul are now 

 patiently awaiting the opening of the season. When October 

 comes the grouse will be snared, taken to Stafford, there sold 

 or delivered to the express or railroad agents, shipped to the 

 New York steamboats and sold to the stewards, ostensibly to 

 be served aboard the boats while in Connecticut waters, but 

 really to be broiight to the New York markets. It is a nicely 

 framed scheme, and now that we have explained just how it 

 is to be worked we hope that some one will be found in 

 Connecticut public-spirited enough to see to it that it does not 

 work so nicely after all. 



Diamonds and Dogs.— It used to be the fashion for actors 

 and actresses, who wanted themselves advertised, to manage 

 to have their diamonds stolen, but now they buy and lose 

 expensive dogs. "Fritz" was one of the first to take up the 

 new advertising scheme. His first venture having succeeded 

 so well, he .subsequently bought the great St. Bernard dog Rec- 

 tor, and the newspapers had hardly finished talking about It 

 before they reported the dog's death. Rector was strangled 

 to death last Friday night. 



