Forest and Stream. 





A Weekly Journal of the Rod 



AND Gun. 





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NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 24, 



188B. 



J VOL, XXV.-No, 9. 



( Nos. 39 & 40 Park Eow, New York. 



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 Nos. 39 AND 40 Park Row. New Yore Ciot. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



The Puritan's Victory. 



"Kingfishers" are not "Jail 

 Birds." 



St. Louis. 



Our Rifle Trial. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Reflections. 



A Recent Episode. 



Upper Chateaugay Lake. 



Reed's Bay. 

 Natural History. 



How Many Ni^sts. 



A Florida Wliip-Scoi()ion. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



On the Platte.-ii. 



Sniping. 



The Trajectory Test. 



The Penalties of Carelessness. 



Diana on the Prairies. 



Reed Birds on Lafee Erie. 

 Camp-Fiee f lickerings. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



Salmon in the Columbia. 



The Pike Family. 



Fairlee Lake. 



A Second Courtship. 



FiSHCULTURE. 



Biennial Spawning of Salmon. 

 The Kennel. 

 Tlie Eastern Field Trials. 

 The American Kennel Club. 



The Kennel. 



The Philadelphia Dog Show. 



The Black and Tan Collie. 



Success in Training. 



Fanciers' Fallacies. 



The New Dog Show Rules. 



The Attleboro Dog Show. 



Kennel Management. 



Kennel Notes. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



The Trajectory Test. 



The Creedmoor Meeting. 



FaU of Round Ball. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Trap. 

 Canoeing. 



American Canoe Association. 



A Meet on the Pacific Coast. 



BrockviUe 0. C. 



New York C. C— 14th Annual 



Regatta. 

 Small CruisingYachts vs. Canoes 



YAOHTINa. 



The Bennett-Douglas Cups. 

 English Yachtsmen at Cowes. 

 Atlantic Y. C. Pennant Race. 

 The Representative American 



Sloop. 

 Beverly Y. C. 

 The Brenton's Reef Race. 

 America's Races in England. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



THE PURITAN'S VICTORY. 

 'l^HE ultra sloop men and advocates of the skimmina; dish 

 who may be inclined to exult over the victory of the 

 T^uritan, a victory in which they certainly have no share, 

 will find plenty of food for quiet reflection in the race of 

 Friday last. The Cup has been retained here, not through 

 any effort of New York, not by the aid of a skimming dish, 

 but solely through the venture of a few Boston yachtsmen 

 backed by the skill of a gentleman who has made the Eng- 

 lish cutter a subject of careful study for some years, and 

 who is known as a successful designer of a number of small 

 cutter yachts of moderate beam. The Puritan is the embodi- 

 ment of this gentleman's conception of a boat that should be 

 wide and should carry a ceuterboard, the two conditions 

 entailed on a yacht to defend the Cup. Apart from these 

 two conditions he has exercised his discretion in carefully 

 omitting all those salient features belonging to the old 

 American sloop, and in choosing with equal care and judg- 

 ment the better points of the English cutter. The experi- 

 ment has been a bold one and many predictions of failure 

 have been made, not a few from New York, but its justifica- 

 tion is found in the fact that the boat was successful, 



To the Puritan alone is due the retention of the Cup, and 

 before joining the general exultation over her the sloop men 

 can well pause and consider what their share in this result 

 has been. 



From the first the real American sloop, both in its old 

 form and modernized, has been conspicuously absent from 

 th§ entire races. Of the latter we have had the Priscilla in 

 the trial races, but her trials against the Puritan show plainly 

 that she, without radical changes, which could not be made 

 in time, would have been a very poor opponent for the 

 Qenesta. The older boats were represented by only one of 

 then- class. In spite of the invitation and urgent requests of 

 the committee that sloop owners would enter their yachts in 

 the trial races in order to afford a comparison of the speed of 

 the new boats, the vaunted fleet of American sloops could 

 not be found ; as a body, they were perfectly content to let 

 the entire battle go by default. One only, the Gracie, saw 

 fit to enter in the trial races or that of Friday for the Doug- 



lass Cup, and though defeated in both she comes out with 

 flying colors as the only representative of the American 

 sloop that remains in the field. 



When the history of the Cup races of 1885 is written, after 

 the Genesta has returned and the present excitement is over 

 and a calmer judgment can be had, it will be highly amus- 

 ing to see the small and insignificant part that our great 

 American skimming dish occupies in It, The Genesta came 

 here, a single yacht sdected from a fleet and a fitting rep- 

 resentative of the prevailing build of English yachts. Our 

 existing fleet proved entirelj'- unfit to meet her. A special 

 boat of the same family was no better, and the retention of 

 the Cup is due to an accident, the advent of a vessel of a 

 new type from an entirely unexpected quarter. Such are 

 the true circumstances of the case, divested of all hurrah 

 and patriotic vaporings, and thej' will afford amplo food for 

 mature reflection for the winter and a long time to come. 



The construction of the Puritan marks two great mile- 

 stones, or perhaps we may more properly say headstones, 

 one on each side of the Atlantic. Here it will put a final 

 quietus to the old theories of shoal draft, high ballast and 

 sloop rig, as well as to the boats built in accordance with 

 them. Abroad it will hasten into its deep and narrow grave 

 the already tottering Thames or Y. R. A. rule, leaving a 

 length and sail area rule to reign in its stead. "We've got 

 them on the list, we don't think they'll be missed." Their 

 obituaries will be short, the flatiron, skimming dish or trap, 

 has many murders to answer for, the less said about it the 

 better; the Y. R. A. rule has served a purpose, it has en 

 forced the construction of safe and seaworthy boats, it has 

 taught yachtsmen and naval architects much about depth 

 and ballast that without it never would have been known; 

 but its day is past, the lesson of depth has been learned, and 

 the school book is no longer necessary; the sooner we can 

 say "The king is dead," the better for English yachts and 

 yachtsmen. 



The victory of the Ptiritan involves too many important' 

 points to be passed over hurriedly or carelessly. Marking, 

 as it does, a new departure in American yacht design, it is 

 worthy of a thorough and careful study that must be de- 

 ferred imtil the conclusion of the present races. In the 

 meanwhile, it is an excellent occasion for those who have 

 persistently decried the cutter rig, double jib and low bal- 

 last, and who have advocated a mean length rule that would 

 have shorn the Puritan of her chief beauty that even they now 

 admire, to follow the sage example of the late "Brer Fox" 

 and "lay low an' keep on sayin' nuflin." 



OUR RIFLE TRIAL. 

 'T^I-IE trajectory tests preparations are fully completed, and 

 with fair weather the trials will open on Monday next 

 at the Creedmoor range, at 300 yards for the heavier-charged 

 rifles and at 100 yards for all in the trial. The plan is to 

 make everything as simple as possible and yet eliminate 

 every element of error or uncertainty. In the actual manip- 

 ulation of the trials we shall be assisted by Mr. Henry A. 

 Sinclair, who, as an expert connected with the United States 

 Ordnance-Proving Ground at Sandy Hook, has had abundant 

 experience in this line of work. His careful supervision of 

 every minute detail preliminarj' to and during the trials will 

 carry to all an assurance that the results announced arc 

 beyond question. 



Already the guns submitted make up a very formidable 

 battery. Among those already represented are the Reming- 

 ton, Whitney, Maynard, Winchesteri Bullard and the 

 Colt. The muzzleloading advocates have not been unmind- 

 ful of the opportunity afforded them for a direct comparison 

 with the breechloading weapons. The English rifle makers 

 will be represented by a sample from one of the best known 

 private armories. 



In the report of the tests the manner of making them will 

 be fully explained with such illustrations as may be neces- 

 sary to make the matter thoroughly understood, while with 

 the number of rifles in the test almost every possible make 

 or modification of arm will receive attention. It must be 

 understood that if the weather proves unfavorable the test 

 will of necessity be postponed. The test will be open to 

 inspection; the public is cordially invited to be present. The 

 range is reached by the Long Island Raili-oad (Queens 

 Station), 



Game Refokts. — As one mission of the Fouebt and 

 Stream is to furnish in its columns information for the 

 sportsman who is looking for desirable shooting grounds, the 

 other sportsman who has such knowledge is invited to put 

 his information where it will do the most good, namely, in 

 cue game columos. 



KINGFISHERS" ARE NOT "JAIL-BIRDS." 



SOMETHING more than a year ago, an estimable offleial 

 of the Michigan Sportsmen's Association, for whom we 

 had the greatest respect, told us that the "Kingfishers" 

 — meaning the party whose camp life in Michigan had been 

 so charmingly described in the Forest and Stream — had 

 been guilty of a gross violation of the law of the land by 

 killing deer out of season. We scouted the suggestion and 

 called for the proofs. Not long after that there came to this 

 office a letter', which read as follows: 



Fife Lake, Mich.. Sept. 3, X^M.— Editor Forest and Stream; Have 

 just returned from a trip to Cheboygan and am sorry to inform you 

 of the bad repute of the "Kingfisher" party. Knowing that yomf 

 paper is always willing to expose violators of the law when found out, 

 I send you the record of the party while at Black Lake last summer, 

 which can be vouched for by wtU known merchants of Cheboygan^ 

 as well as the officer who had warrants for the arrest of the party. 

 Charges are as follows: The party paid Merrill flive dollars apiece 

 for deer driven into the lake, where a shot could be had at them; and 

 Merrill acknowledges to have received for deer so driven the sum of 

 one hundred and forty dollars from the partj'. What do you think 

 of such violations of the law? Will you request the party to give an 

 explanation of their conducts If not, I can find a paper devoted to 

 sports that will. Respectfully— W. B. Miner. 



P. S.— I don't propose to go back of my record, as I am well known 

 as a vigorous prosecutor of parties who violate our game laws. You 

 can refer to Cyrus W. Higby, of Jackson, for any information you 

 may require as to my reliability. I merely wish to show the record 

 of the party and have no ill will toward them as private individuals. 

 You a,re at liberty to use my name, as I am not ashamed of it.— 

 W. E. Miner. 



Here was the old charge again, and we determined to in- 

 vestigate it. Not for a moment did we believe that there, 

 could be any foundation for such an accusation against the 

 "Kingfishers," whom we knew too well for that; but here 

 was the charge preferred by a man who claimed to have 

 abundant proof, and manifested a most commendable eager- 

 ness to produce it. So we first wrote to Mr. Higby, who 

 was known to us as the very efficient "game law missionary" 

 of the Michigan Sportsmen's Association. He replied; 



Jackson, Mich., Sept. 9, 1884.— Editor F'orest and Stream: Yours of 

 the 6th at hand. In reply, any statement made by W. E. Miner, Fife 

 Lake, I consider entirely i-eliable regarding violators of the game and 

 fish laws of Michigan —Higby & Dennis. 



We also wrote to Mr. Miner to send us the names of the 

 persons who killed the deer, the number of deer killed, the 

 address of the ofiicer who had the warrant, and the names, 

 of the Cheboygan merchants who would vouch for his 

 statements. 



■ In reply we received none of the things asked for, but 

 instead this letter : 



FiEB Lake, Mich., Sept. 15, 1881.— Editor Forest and Stream: Yours 

 in regard to the "Kingfisher" matter at hand. In reply will say: / 

 have, no reason to doubt the information I received at Cheboygan, as 

 it came from, a member of the gun club at that place, who is a mer 

 chant there. I was at Black Lake at the time of the party being 

 there, and found their totem to the mail carrier, consisting of two 

 pickerel hung on a stick by the side of the road. While referring the 

 matter to him when I met him a few weeks ago, he i-emarked: "The 

 'Kiugflsher' party are a set of snides." Tasked for an explanation, 

 and he then told me that the party paid Merrill §140 for driving deer 

 into the lake for them to shoot. Whether they killed all the deer so 

 driven or not he did not know, but told me that Merrill had given the 

 information after the party had gone. He told me of the otHcer go- 

 ing after them and finding their camp broken up, as parties had evi- 

 dently notified them. He volunteered the information that Merrill 

 was a notorious law breaker, but living sofarfi-om Cheboygan that 

 no one wanted to go to the expense of prosecuting him. Here the 

 matter ends. You can judge for yourself whether it is fact or not. 

 T have always taken an interest in the description of the "Camp of 

 the Kingfishers," and could hardly credit the story, but coming as 

 du-ect as it did, I cannot doubt it.— W. E. Miner. 



This was not what we wanted ; it was by no means sufEL- 

 cient. We wrote to Mr. Miner that we must have some 

 facts to go on. We reminded him again that a newspaper 

 could not publish grave charges against individuals without 

 some evidence in hand to warrant the charges and sustain 

 them. We asked him again for the name of the ofiicer who 

 had the warrant; and urged him to send us the name of bis 

 Cheboygan informant, assuring him of our desire to get the 

 bottom facts of the case. Here is what he wrote : 



Fife Lake. Mich., Sept. 2t.— Editor Forest and Stream: Yours of 

 Sept. 18 at hand. In reply will say your propositions put me in a 

 delicate position, for this reason. The gentleman from whom I 

 obtained my information has not the least idea that I have written 

 to you on the subject, consequently I do not wish to compromise him 

 in the least. I will do this for you and anything else that I con- 

 sistently can. I will write to hlra asking for particulars, name of 

 parties, ete., in fact, will write for all the information that I can get 

 relating to the matter, and at the same time ask him if ho is willing I 

 should give you his name. If he refuses the use of his name, or will 

 not take any steps in the matter, I am sure that I am not to blame. 

 I have not the time or means to hunt the thing up, as Cheboygan is 

 over 100 miles from here. Would be glad to do so if possible. As the 

 loatter now stands I shall await further developncients. If nothing 

 js beard from Cheboygan I will retract my charges and consider it; 



