Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $i a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. ) 



Six Months, $2. j 



NEW YORK, AUGUST 19, 1886. 



1 VOL. XXVII.— No. 4. 



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



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CONTENTS. 



: Editorial. 



The President's Vacation. 



Beach-Bird Sliooting. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Sam Level's Camps— n. 

 Natural History. 



Cerros Island. 



The Audubon Society. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



An Incident at Cro's Nest. 



Reindeer in Alaska Snows. 



Habits of Ruifed Grouse. 



Woodcock Notes. 



Between Midniglit and Dawn. 

 Camp-Fire Flickbrings. 

 Sea and Rivter Fishing. 



More Deep-Sea Fishing. 



Blueflsh and Menliaden. 



St. Lawrence Anglers. 

 Fishculture. 



American Fisheries Society. 

 The Kennel. 



Chieftain and Wanda. 



Co-operative Breeding. 



The Cache Creek Hunt. 



English Kennel Notes. 



The Kennel. 



Mastiff Character. 



The Mastiff Type. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



A Small-Bore Tournament. 



The Trap. 



Reform in Tournaments. 



Cleveland Cartridge Tourna- 

 ment. 

 Yachting. 



Pair Play at the Trial Races. 



The End of the Cruise. 



Lake Y. R. A. Cruise. 



Hull Y. C. Open Regatta. 



American Y. 0. Regatta. 

 Canoeing. 



The AVinter Meet of the Canoe- 

 nien. 



The A. C. A. and the Cruisers. 

 Oakland C. C. Ladies' Cruise. 

 The A. C. A. Meet. 

 A Bit of Every Day History. 

 A Tandem Trip on the Dela- 

 ware. 



Answers to Correspondents. 



BEACH-BIRD SHOOTING. 

 npHE Augxist days are bringing with them to the sandy 

 beaches and wide salt marshes of the Atlantic coast 

 flocks of beach birds on their southern migration. They 

 do not come now in such unnumbered thousands as in the 

 old days, but it is still possible for the man who has un- 

 limited time on his hands and a fair stock of patience to 

 make now and then a good bag. 



To many people shore-bird shooting seems very simple 

 and easy. To sit in a blind all day and shoot into the 

 flocks called up to the stools by the whistle does not seem 

 difiicult; but there is more than this to a successful pur- 

 suit of this sport. If the shooter is accompanied by a 

 skilled bay man to whom he leaves all the details of 

 the work, the part which he has to perform requires but 

 little intelligence or exertion, but to depend upon another 

 is to lose almost all the enjoyment of a delightful sport, 

 since the satisfaction derived from success depends very 

 largely on the amount of skill called into play to bring 

 about the fortunate result. 



Success in beach-bird shooting depends upon a num- 

 ber of constantly varying conditions, and this renders 

 the sport uncertain and so exciting. The direction and 

 velocity of the wind will determine the course of the 

 birds' flight, and so the locality where the blind must be 

 built and the way in which the stools must be set to prove 

 most attractive to the advancing flocks. There is a vast 

 deal of art, too, in successfully calling up the birds. Al- 

 though some species are so simple that they wfll come to 

 stool at the call of almost any other, still you will not de- 

 coy the wary "jack" by the note of the blackbreast, nor 

 the sickle-bill by the whistle of the yelper. The prac- 

 ticed eye must recognize the ajDproaching birds afar oif , 

 and the gunner must coax them to him by talking to them 

 in their own language. 



Beach-bird shooting requires not only a close knowledge 

 of the habits of the birds, but also a quick eye and a ready 

 gun. It is capital practice, for it is usually possible 

 to see where the shot strikes with relation to the bird, and 

 so to correct errors of judgment and to learn just how to 

 hold most effectively on the many cross shots that will 

 occur during a day spent in a blind on the shore, 



Sj)ring shooting has sadly lessened the numbers of our 

 shore birds, and if these species are to be preserved from 



extinction that pernicious practice must be abolished. 

 The good effect which such abolition would have is shown 

 by the reports received this summer from Long Island where 

 last spring the killing of these birds was illegal, and where 

 the law is said to have been generally observed. It is 

 reported that the flight during the first weeks in August 

 has been much larger than it usually is, and that the 

 birds are much less shy and stool far better than is 

 usually the case, A number of English snipe made their 

 appearance on the meadows early in August, and were, 

 no doubt, bred somewhere not very far away. 



The results, as reported, of this good law should not be 

 without theu' lesson to our neighboring States on the At- 

 lantic seaboard. The crying necessity of protection makes 

 itself more evident each season, and before very long we 

 look to see a change in public sentiment which shall de- 

 mand universal protection of all our game birds, not only 

 during the season of reproduction, but for several months 

 prior to the commencement of that season. 



Sport and Politics. — The recently proscribed Due 

 d'Aumale had a magnificent hunting seat at Chantilly, 

 where for many years past the himting parties have been 

 attended by royal and imperial visitors to France. These 

 meets were made political capital for the Orleans family 

 against the Republic, and it is said were in some measure 

 the cause of the proscription. The forest belonging to 

 the estate comprises some 7,000 acres, and is one of the 

 best stocked in France, having 200 stags and 500 deer. 

 The glory of Chantilly was its pack of hounds, which the 

 whipper-in, with tears com-sing down his cheeks, saw 

 knocked down at the auction at prices far below their 

 worth. Among the animals sold was Pelagie, the little 

 mare on which the Due d'Aumale used to ride when he 

 went afield to shoot, for, being very gouty, he could not 

 stand the fatigue of trudging through turnip fields and 

 stubble, or walking along damp glades, and it is related 

 that Pelagie was trained to stand the noise of the gun; 

 when her rider was firing over her she remained motion- 

 less, neighed if the game he aimed at fell, and was cred- 

 ited with taking as much pleasure in his sport as he did 

 himself. She picked up from the dogs their way of set- 

 ting and pointing, and the Due d'Aumale grew as fond of 

 the little animal as though it were a pet grandchild. The 

 bidding at the sale was dull, and the apathetic manner in 

 which the friends of the banished nobleman let his horses 

 and hounds go for a song was thought to bode ill for his 

 political fortunes. 



Reform in Trap-Shooting.— The feeling is widespread 

 that trap-shooting tournaments, as many of them are at 

 present conducted, are not on a right basis. They do 

 not give satisfaction to amateurs who are compelled to 

 compete against contestants who make a business of it. 

 We publish to-day two communications, one from Maine 

 and the other from Ohio, in which the writers propose 

 a change to remedy the present system. The National 

 Gun Association is very properly the body to take charge 

 of such a scheme of classifying trap-shooters. If the 

 Association were to take the matter in hand its action 

 would be supported by at least a suflEicient number of 

 clubs to sanction it and give impetus to the desired re- 

 form. We invite an expression of opinion on this ques- 

 tion from interested parties, for there is reason to believe 

 that sentiment is strong enough and general enough to 

 accomplish something in the right direction if it only be 

 given voice. The sooner such a change of programme is 

 made the better for all concerned, and it cannot be 

 brought about more expeditiously than by the National 

 Gun Association, which possesses the advantage of being 

 an organized body whose proper duty it is to give atten- 

 tion to just suc h affairs. 



Overdone. — A love of birds is a most commendable 

 trait in the character of young or old, but it is possible to 

 overdo even so good a thing as this. Boys often love the 

 tender little nestlings, which they lug away in their hats. 

 The large parks in cities are favorite stamping grounds of 

 unfledged small boy poachers. A boy with three young 

 robins in his hat was nabbed by a Prospect Park (Brooklyn) 

 policeman last week, and in the police court fined $10, to 

 the effectual extinguishment of his ornithological bent. 

 Bird love was likewise overdone by the Rochester, N. Y., 

 young woman, who so loved her canary that when the 

 cat devoured it she deemed nothing less than death by 

 starvation a fitting punishment, and accordingly immured 

 the offending feline in an inverted barrel. After five 

 days it was released by an officer of the Humane Society. 



THE PRESIDENTS VACATION. 

 r AST Monday President Cleveland left Washington 

 for a vacation trip to the Adirondacks. His head- 

 quarters will be at the Prospect House on the Upper Sar- 

 anac Lake. One of his companions is the same Albany 

 doctor who was with him last year. It will be remem- 

 bered that reports were current of the lawlessness of the 

 Presidential party while in the North Woods in the sea- 

 son of 1885. It was said and believed through that region 

 that Mr. Cleveland and his companion hounded deer, the 

 practice being at that time forbidden by the statute. All 

 through the Adirondacks guides and visitors excused their 

 own lawlessness by the argument that if the President of 

 the United States could break the law with impunity they 

 were justified in following the example set before them. 

 Their belief in the guilt of the Presidential party was 

 not materially affected by Dr. Ward's explanation in the 

 Forest and Stream that the hounds "had not been put 

 otit after the deer by the direction of either the President 

 or himseK." It was suggested that this reply was evasive, 

 although the Forest and Stream did not, at the time, 

 consider it so. Whether or not deer were driven by 

 hounds into the lake for the President and his companion, 

 it was most unfortunate that there should have been the 

 least ground for the reports. A high official of the 

 government should not only conduct himself as a law- 

 abiding citizen in the woods as well as out of them, but 

 he and his companions shotild be so jealous of their good 

 names as to give not the slightest shadow of a suspicion of 

 evil-doing. 



In view of the unfortunate condition of affairs last year 

 — the President then having been placed in the position of 

 one whose alleged guilt was used as an excuse for the ram- 

 pant lawlessness of scores of others in the Adirondacks — 

 would it not be a judicious plan for the State game protector 

 of the district in which the Presidential party will disport 

 themselves this year to keep a sharp watch upon them, and 

 observe narrowly their conduct with respect to the game and 

 the statutes made for its protection, to the end that if ugly 

 rumors are again bruited abroad their truth or falsity 

 may be authoritatively determined? It is to be hoped 

 that the game butchers who go to the Adirondacks and 

 buy deer doggers to serve their ends may not be able to 

 urge in self-defense this year the plea that in unlawful 

 deer killing they are only following the example of the 

 President of the United States. 



Ways of the Ruffed Grouse. — A correspondent 

 notes the breeding of the ruffed gi-ouse in an unusual 

 place. The whims of this bml are not all dreamed of in 

 the philosophy of the average observer of her habits. We 

 have known grouse to nest in spots apparently most ill- 

 suited to such use, sometimes being exposed to constant 

 intrusion by human trespassers. In one instance a mother 

 bird succeeded in raising a brood which attained matm-- 

 ity and a normal degree of astuteness only after re- 

 peated fusilades by the stone-throwing small boys 

 of the neighborhood. Sometimes a cover, where 

 no grouse have been known for years, will be used 

 by them for a single season only. The gunner who has 

 beaten the ground in vain autumn after autumn some 

 day has his continuance in well doing rewarded by a 

 bird brought to bag, and thereafter the cover will be 

 barren as of old. An explanation of these freaks of nest- 

 ing grouse may perhaps be found in the theory that the 

 bird having failed to discover just the spot acceptable to 

 her finical taste, and compelled by urgent necessity, per- 

 force puts up with any place at hand; or, to use a homely 

 expression, having gone all through the woods takes the 

 crooked stick at last. 



Mr W, E. Bryant's description of Cerros Island, to be 

 found in another column, will be read with great interest. 

 As a delightfully entertaining account of hia exploration 

 of this far away island of the Pacific it is full of attraction 

 for the general reader, while to the natiu-alist and above 

 all to the ornithologist, the paper is rej)lete with valuable 

 facts and pregnant suggestions. 



The Silly Season is in full blast, and the romancers 

 of the bear-and-baby stripe are hard at it. A thousand 

 polar bears were not long ago marshalled to the front and 

 started on a foraging expedition southward to prey on 

 the starving inhabitants of Labrador. They were qu.ickly 

 followed by the hoop snake, which is now rolling his un- 

 canny form with startling rapidity through the columns 

 of many of our esteemed exchanges. 



