Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Ykab, 10 Cts. a Copt. I 

 Six Months, $2. j 



NEW YORK, JULfY 1, 1886. 



j VOL. XXVI.-No. 23. 



I Nos. 39 & 40 Park Row, Nm York. 



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Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 

 Nos. 3P and 40 Park Row. New York City. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



Converting a Dynamiter. 



Abolish Spring Shooting. 



The National Park Railroad Job. 



The Woodcock Season. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Days With the Barmecide Club. 

 Natural History. 



The Audubon Society. 



Swifts, Humming Birds and 

 Goatsuckers. 



The Hiss of the Grouse. 



The Park Railroad Bill. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



How LoDg Can Foxes Run? 



New Jersey Woodcock. 



Muzzle vs. Breech. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



An Outing on Niekatous. 



La ke Melissa. 



Massachusetts Association. 

 Camps of the Kingfishers. 

 Destruction of Weakfish. 

 Murdering Baby Trout. 

 Fishckltfre. 

 The American Fisheries Society. 



The Kennel. 



Parasitic Diseases of Dogs. 



A Big Raft of Dogs. 



Mastiff Judging. 



History of the Mastiff. 



Warwick Dog Show. 



Kennel Notes. 



Kennel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Trap. 



New York Association. 

 Yachting. 

 East River Y C. Regatta. 

 Columbia Y. C. Regatta. 

 Boston Y. C. Regatta. 

 Eastern Y. C. 



The Berthon Folding Boat. 

 Canoeing. 



A Dockrat Outing. 



The Trial Races. 



Sail for Forest and Stream 

 Cruiser. 



Brooklyn C. C. 



Essex C. C. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



ABOLISH SPUING SHOOTING. 

 fT^HE sentiment against the spring killing of migratory 

 game birds on their way north to their breeding grounds 

 is just now on the increase. The depletion of game has had 

 the natural effect of turning the eyes of reflective gunners 

 to the several causes of scarcity, and the custom of spring 

 shooting cannot but be recognized as among the most im- 

 portant of preventible agencies. The folly of shooting birds 

 in the spring has perhaps been clearly enough recognized, 

 but the practice has been defended and perpetuated by those 

 who reason that the supply will last long enough for their 

 own pleasure, and as for the condition of affairs after them, 

 that is the lookout of the next generation. It has been the 

 spirit of going in for fun while it lasts. 



At the meeting of the New York Association at Rochester 

 last week the society passed resolutions directing one of its 

 committees to seek the legal prohibition of spring shooting 

 in this State. An attempt to secure such a law has several 

 times been made at Albany, but unwise counsels have so far 

 prevailed. If the State Association should take the work up 

 in earnest it ought to put such a law on the books at the 

 next session of the Legislature. 



THE NATIONAL PARK RAILROAD JOB. 



fT^HE debate in the Senate on the bill granting a right of 

 way to the Cinnabar &. Clark's Fork Railroad Com- 

 pany is given on another page. It is instructive reading. 

 The considerations advanced by Senator Vest in opposition 

 to the bill are unanswerable. He denounces the enterprise 

 as a covert first step toward gaining admittance to the Park 

 and gridironing it with passenger railroads; points out that 

 this will result in the destruction of the Park as a national 

 possession of the people, and warns the Senate of the 

 national calamities certain to follow the destruction of the 

 forests on the headwaters of the Missouri. 



These arguments cannot be refuted. But they can be ig- 

 nored ; and the lobby, so strenuously engaged in laboring for 

 the railroad people, may succeed in putting the bill through 

 the Senate. Members who share Mr. Butler's extremely 

 myopic view of the Park may feel themselves the less re- 

 sponsible to public sentiment on such a question as this, 

 because, unfortunately, the public is ignorant of the inter- 



ests at stake, and does not comprehend the national injury 

 contemplated by the bill. 



The proposition of Mr. Butler, that his constituents are 

 not concerned in the protection of tiie Park against the 

 schemers who would ruin it, is entirely mistaken. The 

 citizens of every State in the Union are concerned in this. The 

 Park is national, not less in fact than in name. The whole 

 nation is benefited by the possession and maintenance of 

 such a region of natural wonders and beauties set apart for 

 a public pleasure ground. It is a possession of permanent 

 value, from which future generations, -as well as the present 

 one, will receive benefit; and it is the height of presumption 

 for any man to rise up in the Senate of the United States 

 and say that because his constituents — meaning his indi- 

 vidual political cronies — are not contemplating a pleasure 

 trip this summer to the Park, the Senate will do well to 

 hand it over to the greedy grasp of scheming railroad spec- 

 ulators. 



THE WOODCOCK SEASON 

 T AST year, it will be remembered, owing to the cold 

 weather and late spring, the woodcock did not go as 

 far north as usual in their migration, but sought breeding 

 grounds in lower latitudes. The result was an unusual 

 supply of home-bred birds in covers where formerly the 

 shooting was confined for the most part to flight birds. 



It is the belief of many close students of the woodcocks 

 ways that on their return north in the spring, the birds re- 

 pair to the particular localities where they were bred, and 

 nest there. In confirmation of this theory it has been noticed 

 this season that many of these grounds where the birds bred 

 in unusual numbers last year have again been frequented by 

 them, and so for a second time the supply of home-bred birds 

 is larger than customary. This fact should go far toward 

 demonstrating the economic folly of summer shooting. 



July woodcock are delicious as table delicacies. That is 

 all that can be said in their favor as legitimate game. For 

 other reasons they should be protected at that time. The 

 season's birds are not fully grown and have not attained 

 maturity of strength. They are found in the vicinity of the 

 nesting grounds, and the broods are usually together. It is 

 then no difficult feat to destroy the whole brood. In New 

 Jersey and other States where July shooting is permitted, 

 most of the birds bagged are young. Only a few of the birds 

 escape to return to these grounds again to breed. Were the birds 

 unmolested at this time they would in August and September 

 separate, moult, and in the beginning of October, being then 

 full grown, new feathered and strong of wing, return to the 

 vicinity of their breeding and afford the best of all woodcock 

 shooting, that of October. There is not the July certainty 

 of destruction about the pursuit then. The number of birds 

 that escape is much larger. And when they come back in 

 the following spring they repair to the same grounds again, 

 and there nest. In a country where woodcock breed, if the 

 shooting be confined to autumn, the supply will be main- 

 tained, and good shooting may be had year after year, an 

 occasional very dry season of course proving the exception. 



This is not theory. It is actual demonstrated fact, coming 

 within the experience of more than one of the readers of 

 these lines. 



Common sense demands the abolition of summer wood- 

 cock shooting just as clearly as the abolition of all spring 

 shooting. 



Polluting New York Harbor. — It is very gratifying to 

 learn that at last some measures have been taken to stop the 

 evil of dumping all sorts of refuse in the harbor and there is 

 a prospect that action will be taken against the great o\\ 

 works which drain "sludge acid" into the water and ruin 

 the oyster beds and the fishing grounds. Formerly the shores 

 of Staten Island and of Long Island Sound abounded in fish 

 which came in to feed on the crabs and other food. The 

 sludge acid has banished the food and the fish come no more. 

 Mr. J. W. Mersereau, who was recently appointed by Com- 

 missioner Blackford to watch and protect the oyster beds, 

 has arrested several employees of the street cleaning depart- 

 ment for dumping garbage in Long Island Sound, contrary 

 to law. The captain of the damping scows was held in $1 ,000 

 and four scowmen in $250 each to answer before the next 

 Grand Jury of "Westchester county. We hope to record 

 some early action taken against the Standard Oil Company, 

 which has been a great offender. 



CONVERTING A DYNAMITER. 

 A LETTER was received at the New York post office the 

 J ^*- other day, addressed "To Some Dealer in Fishing 

 Tackle, New York." Most of the post office employees are 

 fishermen or gunners ; they all read the Forest and Stream 

 and know where to go for their fishing kits. The letter was 

 duly delivered to one of the large firms, and being opened, 

 read as follows : 



TJtica May 23d 1886. 



Dear Sirs— As I would like the address of some firm that handled 

 all kinds of Fishing Tackles 1 take this way to Introduce myself. 



Now as to the things I would like I would say that they are Torpe- 

 does for to use in Deep watter for catching Fish now if this letter 

 falls in to the hands of a firm that Handles those Torpedoes I would 

 ask that you Please and send me your Prices of the same and I will 

 try and faver you in some way hopeing to here from 1his letter soon 

 Remain yours F. M. Housbrooker. 



TJtica Venango Co Pa. 



Notwithstanding that their stock would fit out a thousand 

 ordinary anglers with every conceivable and inconceivable 

 style of lure and device, the firm had none of the violent 

 "tackle" longed for by Mr. Housbrooker. They sent him 

 instead a catalogue of their goods, hoping that he might be 

 induced to try legitimate methods of taking fish with ap- 

 proved tackle, and thus having proved the merits of artistic 

 angling, put away his yearning for piscatory earthquakes. 

 The result of this missionary enterprise will be awaited with 

 interest. If these New York tackle dealers demonstrate 

 the feasibility of converting a thundering Jupiter of a dyna- 

 miter into a gentle devotee of the quiet pursuit of fly-fishing, 

 it will be a genuine triumph of sentiment over brute instinct. 



But the heart of a dynamiter is stony ground. 



The Cincinnati Doctor, who has been striving to climb 

 into a perch of newspaper notoriety by a labored defense of 

 the milliner bird butchers, has been effectually answered by 

 the committee of the Natural History Society of that city. 



The Lake George Islands. — A pretty piece of preten- 

 tious audacity has been brought to public notice by the 

 New York Forest Commissioners. Of the numerous islands 

 on Lake George, said to be one for every day in the year, four- 

 teen are private property, having been sold by the State. 

 The rest all belong to the State, and individuals have no 

 claim upon them. But many of these public islands have 

 been seized upon by squatters, who have in some instances 

 erected handsome cottages upon them; and year after year 

 with a high hand and amazing assurance they warn off in- 

 truders under threats of prosecution for trespass. When 

 the bill creating the Forest Commission was under discussion, 

 the Lake George island squatters attempted a surreptitious 

 amendment exempting their little prizes from the commis- 

 sion's control. 



Massachusetts Ruffed Grouse.— The ruffed grouse is 

 the chief game bird of Massachusetts. The proper protec- 

 tion of this game is of more importance there than that of 

 any other single species. The new law is a great improve- 

 ment on the old statute in securing for the grouse total 

 immunity from lawful snaring. The old law provided that 

 snarers might practice their art on their own lands; and the 

 effect was that snaring was carried on without restriction, 

 and whole covers were completely cleaned out. The close 

 season was extended a month, to Oct. 1, but this excellent 

 provision is in part nullified by the open woodcock season, 

 which includes August and September. The August wood- 

 cock market-shooters will shoot chicken grouse ; no excuse 

 should be given these gunners to be out with their guns 

 before October. 



The Ohio Fish and Game Commissioners announce 

 that they propose the rigid enforcement of the laws and 

 prosecution of offenders. The Legislature, at its last session, 

 very wisely set apart an appropriation for the purpose, and 

 the officials are therefore in a position to do something. One 

 by one the several States are learning that the natural wealth 

 possessed in the creatures of the woods and waters is worth 

 caring for and maintaining. The recognition of this prin- 

 ciple comes none too soon. At the last session of the Massa- 

 chusetts Legislature, the fish commissioners of that State 

 were made game commissioners also. 



The Crow Reserve. — If the Interior Department does not 

 propose to content itself with the combined admission and 

 denial of the charges recently contained in these columns, it 

 is to be hoped that it will make a more searching investiga- 

 tion than is to be had by simply communicating with its 

 agent, Williamson. An honest special detective, going 

 to the Crows themselves, would gather the truth, 

 especially if, instead of confining himself to the coffee- 

 coolers loafing about the agency, he should interview such 

 representative and leading chiefs as Plenticous, Bobtail 

 Crow, Bear Wolf, Spotted Horse and Deaf Bull, and such 

 talkers as Crow Davis. 



