Jan. 31, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



509 



Taunton, Mass., Jan. Q.— Editor F&mt and Stream: This 

 year J. C. C. and myself spent two -weelcs among the shore 

 birds on Mouomo^? bland, two weeks among the quail, 

 snipe and teal at Harwich, Chatham, Brewster and other 

 towns on Cape Cod, and now and then a dsiy with the quail, 

 partridges and rabbits here at home. We have very good 

 duck and goose shooting among the large ponds here. Our 

 city has probably as many gunners and fishermen as any 

 city of its size in the country. The Sportsman's Club is 

 composed of sporting men and not sportsmen, but the Amer- 

 ican Fur Company is a body of our best citizens who make 

 a practice of .spcnciing their vacations at the Cape. As most 

 of them hunt only fur, however, there is a lack of interest 

 in game protection here. have four gun clubs in the out- 

 skirts, but none in the center of the city. — Cohannet. ■ 



A Massachusetts Battery Shooter in the Toit,s. — 

 The complaint of the Massachusetts Fish and Game Pro- 

 tective Association against Orville D. Lovell, of New York, 

 and Nathan E.West, of Osterville, for illeg,ally shooting wild 

 fowl by the use of a battery in Waquoit Bay, was heard last 

 Thursday before Tri;d Justice Hopkins at Barnstable. Jud^e 

 Harriman, of Barnstable, appeared for the defense and J. K. 

 Reed, counsel of the association, for the prosecution. The 

 defendants were both held aad bound over to await the ac- 

 tion of the grand jury.— Hub. 



Dido of a Spent Boluet. — Cleveland, Jan. 15. — A 

 relative being requested to kill some chickens one morning, 

 he brought into play a small rifle of the "Hunters' Pet" 

 model. He shot at a young pidlet which was perched upon 

 a cock of bay in the upper floor of the barn, and the ball, 

 after killing the chicken, passed through the side of the barn, 

 which was of one-inch piue, and, flying 150 yards, it wound 

 up by crashing through a neighbor's window and falline 

 spent upon the floor. Pretty good performance for a ,22 

 short.' — Watt. 



The Adi RON DACES IN Winter.— From a letter from Mr. 

 F. A. Walters, Superintendent of the N. Y. State hatchery 

 at Lake Brandon, Essex county, we learn something of the 

 temperatures which prevailed there last week. He writes 

 under date of Jan. 11 and gives tlie following, all the figures 

 being below zero, Fahrenheit: Jan. 6tn, 3°; 7th, 10"; 8th, 

 14°; 9th, 4°; 10th, 5°; 11th, 8% and 13th 40° at 9 A. M. He 

 adds: "Although it was four degrees below zero on the 9th, 

 we had a fall of Snow which piled up thirteen inches in four 

 hoars." 



New Jersey G^m Laws. — At the annual meeting of the 

 West Jersey Game Protective Society at Gloucester City, on 

 Thursday morning, it was resolved to petition the Legislature 

 for the following changes in the game laws: Opening of 

 reedbird season, Sept. 1; squirrel season, from Sept. 1 to 

 Nov. 1; to close the deer season for three years; and to pass 

 a law making it finable for any person to have game in their 

 possession killed or caught contrary to law. 



Pennsylvania Game.— Watsontown.— The past shooting 

 season ha.s been a very good one for deer and pheasants. 

 Many bears have been killed in the mountains close to Wat- 

 sontown. We look for a great increase in the number of 

 pheasants for next scason,"ttie mountains are full of them. 

 During the past season it was not unusual to put up thirty 

 or forty in a morning's hunt.— J. R. H. 



A Massachusetts Wildcat. — A large wildcat was 

 killed in Taylor's Notch on Mt. Holyoke last Saturday 

 morning. The beast measured 3 feet 10 inches in length, 

 and, from looks, was apparently in a starving condition. A 

 foxhound was so torn by the animal that it had to be killed. 



Long Island, ^Atlanticville, Jan. 13.— I killed two frost 

 snipe to-day, which is about four months too early for snipe. 

 The bay is all frozen up now, and there are very few ducks 

 here, though there have been a good many. Think there 

 will be good battery shooting this spring.— H. E. L. 



Pana, 111., Dec. 28.— Game is very scarce here this year, 

 especially quail and rabbits; they seem to have been frozen 

 out last winter. Cliickens are collecting now in great gangs, 

 and if nothing happens to them during winter "and spring 

 we will have good shooting next fall. — F. A. N. 



New York. — The game committee of the Senate are: 

 Messrs. Vedder, McMillan and Wemple. In the Assembly : 

 Mes,srs. Hadley, Titus, Berry, White, Demers, Kraus, Hag- 

 gerty of New York, Doyle and Giese. 



New Jersey. — A few of the residents of Seabright and 

 Rumson, Monmouth county, who are interested in shooting, 

 have procured a lot of quail which they will release in 

 spiing. 



The Cloverdale (Cal.) Sentinel reports another danger to 

 which hunters are subjected in that region. It states that 

 about two weeks ago, when the fire, which was plainly seen 

 from Cloverdale, was raging m the mountain back of Mv 

 AUen's place, John Hixson had a narrow escape from death. 

 On the day the fire started, John was out hunting, and, hav- 

 ing just killed a deer, lay down in the brush to rest. He 

 presently discovered that the air was quite smoky, and 

 thinking there was fii-e near by, he picked up his game and 

 started to make his way out of the brusU, when, to his horror 

 and sui'pi'ise, he found he was completely surrounded by tne 

 fire, which was making rapid headway with a high wind. 

 Escape seemed impossible; he considered himself a "gone 

 coon," when he came to a deep canyon with water in it. He 

 lost no time in getting to the bottom of it, and by throwing 

 his deer in the water and lying in it himself so as to cover his 

 body as nearly as possible, he managed to save both himself 

 and venison. He was there over two hours, and once dming 

 that time he became msensible from heat and smoke. The 

 upper side of tUe deer carcass, which was out of tue water 

 was burned almost black. Jotm says it was the hottest place 

 he ever was, or expects to be in. After the fire passed over, 

 Mr. Hixson made his way home as best he could, and was 

 confined to his bed for four days by sickness, caused by the 

 heat and smoke. It was indeed, a narrow escape. 



Another fatal accident has occurred through a hunter being 

 mistak en for a deer and receiving a bullet in the body. In 

 order to avoid these fearful mishaps it would perhaps be 

 better for oiu- hunters to take to dark-colored clothing instead 

 of using the tawny shades now so much in use, and that so 

 re-sern ble the deer skin in color. 



Npw Kis-LE Sj0pj.w-Tbe kind you have been lf3ofe!ng for. §e& 



md ^iver fishing. 



Address all communicaUonB to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ng Co, 



IS IT A MATTER OF TASTE? 



Editor Faresi (md Stream: 



The Jews were clean feeders. Why they abhorred a slice 

 of nice ham I don't know, unless their hogs were fattened on 

 beech nuts. In this case I agree with them. 



The ducks we get here in the spring are poor, dark in flesh 

 and fishy. On tlieir return in the fall fleshy, fat and juicy. 



A grouse in the winter is dry and bitter.- 



A speckled trout out of a muddy pond is not fit for the 

 table. 



Mascalonge, pike, bass or pickerel, if killed in our marshes 

 and bays, are the same, providing they have been there some 

 time and it takes not long to effect the change. 



Eggs, no matter how fresh, depend on their mother's gas- 

 tronomies. I speak from experience. How is this? Simply 

 the food they live on. On a ducking expedition 1 stayed at 

 a log cabin ou an island. They had no meat but lots of 

 fresh eggs. The very thing I craved for, more particularly 

 as the surroundings were anything but clean, and I felt sure 

 they could not foul the inside of a boiled egg. The eggs 

 came on in due course, fresh and done to a turn. My ap- 

 petite was ravenous. Oh, the vanity of human wishes. I 

 hastily knocked off the top of one. "Pish! The smell — rats!" 

 1 exclaimed. And so it was. The old man was a "mush- 

 rat" hunter and fed his hens on the carcases. I went supper- 

 less to bed a wiser if not a happier man. 



Once on a time I bought in the market a dozen of the 

 finest speckled trout I ever saw : noue of less than a pound 

 weight. What a treat I had for my friends. The party sat 

 down with juicy mouths, yet, alas, no wine I could pour 

 down their throats could wash out the mud. I found out 

 later that the fish had been caught in a pond. I never knew 

 of a fish taken in a rapid stream that was not to be relied on 

 as food. 1 have taken the mascalonge ia Pigeon Creek, that 

 runs ten miles through a marsh, and were not worth the 

 trouble of landing, and yet in the lake below, where the 

 bottom was rocky, it was the king of fresh-water fish. No 

 fish that swims in the clear and rapid waters of the St, Law- 

 rence but is worthy of a place in the frying pan. 



Just as I was closing this letter I remembered an instance 

 that i think wor.thy of record as a warning to brother pisca- 

 torials. A friend and I discovered a trout pond near the 

 head of the stream (no muddy bottom). We arrived late in 

 the evening and caught enough for supper. The trout were 

 prime. Next morning wc fished and fished on till evening, 

 making the largest catch known in that quarter, and the 

 best average. We filled a champagne basket containing 

 nearly 400. We packed them in new pine sawdust, and by 

 the way, a boy showed us a new way of cleaning them. 

 Thus: cutting out the gills and pulling out therewith the 

 entn-e intestines, thereby not disfiguring the fish by cutting 

 it open. When we arrived in town next day, no such show 

 as the one we exhibited in a restaurant window had been 

 seen before. Our many admiring friends rivalled with each 

 other for their share. After the exhibition we divided up. 

 The next day our friends "soured" on us. They told us the 

 fish were not fit to eat. They all cried turpentine. 



Take a lesson my dear friends. Don't use pine sawdust. 



R. P. I. 



PioTOJ), Ontario. 



AN INGENUOUS RELATION. 



Ifeur Mr. Editor: 



Having often read with pleasure the very many interest- 

 ing accounts of fishing and hunting expeditions contained in 

 your Forest and Stream journal, but never having found 

 one written by a lady, I wonder if a few lines from one would 

 be acceptable? 



Although of the "weaker" sex, I have enjoyed many a 

 fishing expedition. The very first one I participated in I 

 shall never forget. Being city bred, my ideas about fishing 

 were very vague and consequently, when this one was pro- 

 posed, I enjoyed that keen delight with which the young 

 always anticipate a new pleasure. On a bright July morn- 

 ing, a party of sixteen, with two married couples as chaper- 

 ones, started to camp out on a little island, in the midst of a 

 very lovely lake called Brome, in the eastern townships of 

 Canada. After enjoying a most beautiful drive over hills 

 and on a road as well kept as any city street, we at last 

 reached our destination. It was proposed that we have 

 breakfast and then literally "fish ' for our dinner. Never 

 will I forget the pride with which I surveyed my rod and 

 line, for of coui'se, being a verdant one at the sport, the 

 others were all anxious that I should take part in it. After 

 receiving a few instructions, I cast the line into the water, 

 feeling sure of success. Shortly afterward I gave consid- 

 erable amusement to my companions, by innocently asking 

 "how I should know when a fish was on my hook?" Well, 

 for all my verdancy, I was the first one to catch a fish, and 

 when I drew it in, fully expecting to see it dead, as I 

 thought the hook killed it, I will never forget the terror that 

 seized me, when I saw the nasty, snaky thing wriggling in 

 the air, and as I was too excited to lay the rod down, but 

 held it straight up in the air, the struggles of the fish sent it 

 whirling round my head. I became perfectly agonized with 

 terror and very nearly jumped out of the boat. The screams 

 of laughter from my companions, however, reassured me, 

 but nothing in the world could induce me to touch that 

 fish. After it was taken off the hook and lay quiet in the 

 bottom of the boat and I saw that it was quite a large pike, 

 pride conquered terror and I cast my line into the water 

 again. Success attended my every effort and when the pangs 

 of hunger had made an aching void that only dinner could 

 fill, my string was the largest in the camp. Shall 1 ever for- 

 get our dinner cooked in the woods? It seemed to me, then 

 and always will, a feast for the gods. 



The gentlemen of our party then put up our tent and ar- 

 ranged everything for the night. The remainder of the day 

 was spent in boating and fishing as suited our fancy. After 

 supper, while we were enjoying the balmy air and talking 

 of our day's sport, a most terrible storm suddenly arose. 

 The thunder and lightning were truly awful and soon our 

 tent became soaked and we were all in a pretty drenched 

 condition. It was thought advisable by the elders of the 

 party to seek the main shore. Well, we set out, but the 

 night was so intensely dark, we could only guide our boats 

 by the flashes of lightning, and reached land after what 

 seemed to me to he an interminable time. Just as we 

 reached shore a lightning bolt seemed to strike the earth at 

 our very feet, caasing two of our party to spring backward 

 pat^ the w^ter , Immsdjately a tongue of shot up- 



ward a short distance from us. The gentlemen of our 

 party having seen us safely landed at a hospitable 

 farmer's near by, went to the fire and found a large house 

 completely in flames. They were just in time to get a poor 

 sick woman and her children out of danger, when the whole 

 building collapsed, leaving the owners completely juine d. 

 As the bad weather continued next day and seemed likely to 

 do so, we thought it wisest to return home, which we did 

 next evening, and so ended my first expedition of the kind. 



Diana. 



Canada, Jan. 6, 1880. 



THE CHUB AS A GAME FISH. 



IN England many of the cyprinoids grow to large size and 

 are counted among the game fishes. In Arnerica this 

 family of fishes is a very large one, but as a rule the species 

 are small in size. One, however, the "fall fish," SemoUliMS 

 htillarin, is really worthy the attention of the angler. It 

 grows to a good size, takes the fly readily and is eatable. Its 

 range is given by Jordan and Gilbert as "abundant from Mass- 

 achusetts to Virginia, east of ihe Alleghanies." It bears the 

 name of "chub," which is applied to half a dozen different 

 fishes. The only one it might be confounded with is the 

 "horned dace," S. corporalis, which, by the way, confines 

 its "horns" to the male in the breeding season, but the latter 

 fi.sh has a larger head, is not as shapely as the fall fish, and 

 has a dark spot on the dorsal fin where the first few rays 

 join the body. 



The name "fall fish" comes from its habit of lying below 

 rapids when practicable. We have taken them with the red 

 ibis in Virginia waters and found them to be good fighters. 

 Of course they cannot be expected to equal the black hasa 

 or the trout in vigor and staying equalities, but they afford 

 sport. 



That they grow to great size in some waters the following 

 extract from "Adirondack Fishes" will show. It is a letter 

 from Capt. L. A. Beardslee, U. S. N., to the author. He 

 says: "Piseco Lake is, or was five years ago, infested by 

 'Mohawk chubs,' which lie in just the waters that big trout 

 like, and used to rise and strike at anything that a trout 

 will. They have utl;erly ruined the trolling in the narrows 

 and across some bays, for a chub of from one to three 

 pounds is sure to strike every spoon at about the same time. 

 These fish are the descendants of a pailful of minnows that 

 some twelve years ago were carried to the lake by men who 

 fished through the ice and threw in their surplus "bait, hence 

 these chubs, which average much larger than in their native 

 river." 



We understand that Capt. Beardslee was trolling for lake 



trout and these chubs were in deep water. Had they been 

 in shallow water he might have tried them with the fly, in 

 which case he would have found that a chub "of from one 

 to three pounds" was considerable of a fish on light tackle. 

 A trolling spoon, leaded for lake trout, reduces the fighting 

 capacity of any fish, and the good Captain's disgust at the 

 impertinence of a plebeian chub's presumption in coming 

 between tiim and a trout prevented him from noting any 

 possible game qualities in the despised fish. 



Mr. W. T. Loomis bears testimony as to their'size in the 

 following extract from a letter: "The last time i was at 

 Piseco, ten or fifteen years since, I took three 'Mohawk 

 River chubs,' S. hullaris, I suppose, with a fly while fishing 

 for trout. One of them weighed a pound and a half, I should 

 think." 



PROTECTION IN CANADA. 



AT the annual meeting of the Fish and Game Protection 

 Club of the Province of Quebec, on the 9th inst., the 

 secretary read the twenty-seventh annual report as follows: 



'•Your executive committee in reporting the work done by 

 the club during the past year, have much pleasure in here 

 stating that only fifteen actions were taken during the year 

 and ail of the accused found guilty and accordingly. fined. 

 Out of the fifteen actions, only two were particulaTy im- 

 portant, one for killing fish with dynamite, in which two 

 persons were engaged ; they were fined $20 and $10 respec- 

 tively and costs, amounting altogether to $56.80. The other 

 case was for killing one deer out of season; two persons were 

 also engaged in this case; one was fined $30 and the other 

 being poor and having no money to pay a fine, however 

 small, was jailed a few days, when, on inquirening as to 

 particulars "concerning him, your_ committee judged fit to 

 concur in his release. The remaining thirteen cases were for 

 petty offenses. If we have no more cases to report it is 

 through no lack of care on our part, or that of the guardians, 

 but that the fish and game laws now appear to be well known, 

 not only to traders, but the public in general. Some of our 

 game keepers seem despondent over it. Altogether the year 

 just past has been an unusually fruitful one. Partridge,' our 

 national bird, has been added to the list of birds 'not to be 

 exported.' This has been done through the exertions of 

 your committee, who waited on the Mtnister of Customs at 

 Ottawa last winter, and with the aid and recommendations 

 of our city representatives in the House, the matter was soon 

 settled. The Deputy Minister of Fisheries and his able as- 

 sistaht, IVlr. Beauset, we have also to thank for backing all 

 our efforts. Your secretary during last spring visited and 

 reported on the following rivers, viz., Pamaska, Chateau- 

 guay, Richelieu, Beaudet and De Lisle, after w^hich Mr. 

 Beauset made the same round; the consequence is that fish 

 ways have been made in the Chateauguay River at the Nun's 

 Mill, also at St. Martine, so that the breeding fish will now 

 have a fine run, and your committee have the promise of the 

 Deputy Minister of Fisheries that if this proves as successful 

 as expected passes will soon be made in the dams of Howick 

 and Dunham. As regards the other rivers above referred to, 

 they are to be attended to the coming season. A club such 

 as ours should boast of a membership of 1.000, which is 

 considerably above double of our pi'esent number. The din- 

 der last year was as usual well attended — ee va sans dire. 

 To the incoming committee will be left the management of 

 this year's dinner. We Uave to deplore the death of several 

 members during the year just ended. Among others, Mr. 

 W. S. Macfarlane, president of our rooms, and who pre- 

 sided at our annual dinner last year, a genial friend and a 

 keen sportsman, also Captain de Montenach, widely known 

 and much respected. Both will long remain in our memory. 

 Before closing we would ask the incoming committee to do 

 all they can to induce the local government to pass a law 

 prohibiting the snaring of partridge. An annual report 

 would not be complete without this. All of which is respect- 

 fully submitted. John Nh!1jS0N, Jr., Hon. Sec," 



The election of oflicers then took place, resulting as fol- 

 lowers: President, GJebrge H, Marthew'sj Vice-Ireaident, 

 Selkirk Cross; Secretary-Treasurer, John Nelson, ,|r. ; Oonii 

 Hiittee, W. H. Rinto'4], Bobt. Mol^af , ' ' 



