EPT. , 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



147 



Hard Lines of a Sea GullCrbw.— The Victoria, Tex., 

 Advocate reports: "The schooner Flower of Fra,nce, 35 

 tons, containing five men and a woman, capsized near 

 Grass Island, not far from Sahnia. The crew drifted on 

 the hull until Thiu-sday morning, when they were picked 

 tip by a boat from the 'Uf e-saving station. The vessel be- 

 longed on the Mermenteau River, La., and was engaged 

 in hunting sea gidls for ilicir phmiage, used ha millinery. 

 Those on board were: Capt. A. Eaggio, W. J, Manning, 

 Kea Arnio, Hite Burch and J. S, Spencer, the latter of 

 vrhom had his Avif e with him. The Flower of Fi'ance was 

 valued at $1,200 and liad but recently arriA^ed in Mata- 

 gorda. Bay from Brash ear. About 600 gulls iiad been se- 

 eureil, wiiicli were lo.st, together with |300 worth of guns 

 and animimition." 



The Reed Bird Law.— New York, Sept. 11. Editor 

 Forest and Stream: I desu-e to call the attention of 

 mai*ket-men and others interested in the subject to the 

 fact that by a. law passed by our last Tjegislature (Chap. 

 437, Laws 1886), the possession or sale of bobolinks (other- 

 wise known as reed bh-ds), robins and meadow larks after 

 the same have been killed, is lu'ohiljited. As this is an en- 

 tii-ely new statute, wliich I shall deem it my duty as one 

 of the State Game and Fish Protectors to enforce, and 

 •the season is at hand during vi^hicli tliose birds lio ve here-' 

 tofore been sold without interference, I tbink it iiroper 

 that I should call the attention of the public to tltis sub- 

 ject. — J. H. Godwin, Jr., State Game and Fish Protector 

 tor the -Second District. 



The President's Hunting.— New York, Sept. 6. — 

 Editor Forest and Stream: I have no doubt you have 

 seen (lie article in the daily papers about the buck Presi- 

 dent Clevelajid shot through the neck at Round Pond a 

 few days ago. Can you give the readers of your paper 

 this week a full account of the chase and the name of the 

 guide who must have secured a good "tail holt?" — S. A. 

 [The Jenkiases of the daily press have given all that was 

 to be given about it. We are not informed of the circiun- 

 8ta.nces, though we have heard a minute descri]>tion of a 

 previous hunt on Clear Pond, wlien the other boats con- 

 siderately gave the Presidential era ft the lead and then 

 headed the buck toward it, so that when tlic shot was 

 finally fired, it was at short range and successful.] 



Quebec— Montreal, Sept. 4.— So far but a very few 

 good bags of feathered game have been captm:ed by our 

 sportsmen smce the opening of the season on the 1st tnst. 

 There was the usual number of buds bred here, but the 

 pot-hunter got his work m early, and the result is with 

 one or two exceptions, general discontent among our law- 

 abiding sportsmen. Within a few days we may expect 

 a cold storm that will bring in the northern birds, which 

 will improve matters materially and then there wUl be 

 smiles where there are murmurs and repining now. — 

 Stanstead. 



Vermont.— Highgate, Vt., Sept. 3.— The writer's son 

 reports a good bag of woodcock, rufEed grouse and wood- 

 chuck made on the 1st. Tiie nadications are that there 

 will be good grouse shooting this season in this vicinity. 

 Woodcock are also fairly plenty, though they are now 

 moulting, and it requires a good dog to find them. Large 

 numbers of ducks breed in the marshes near here, but 

 our shooting will soon drive them away, and the same 

 eva will ]^re^•eut goud sport when the flight birds begin 

 to arrive. — Stanstead. 



Connecticut.— New Preston.— The law is off for shoot- 

 ing woodcock, quad and partridge in this State on the 

 first of October. 1 have hunted here for the past twelve 

 years and have never yet found a place where I could kill 

 as many of these birds as I can right here. I have killed 

 on an average from eight to fifteen of these buds from 

 the first of October to the middle of November. Quail, 

 woodcock and partridges, I feel safe in saying, will be 

 found as plenty here as anyAvhere in the New England 

 States. — Franb: Grant, 



Dakota Prairie Chickens.— Bismarck, Dak., Sept. 4. 

 —The very short grain crop in this vicinity seems to 

 have caused the prau-ie chickens to seek the timber. 

 They are not as plentiful as usual in their customary 

 haunts, and their absence from their old grounds can 

 only be accounted for on this hypothesis, for there is cer- 

 tainly no otber reason for the disappearance of the very 

 many coveys noted this sprmg and summer. — J. G. R. 



Delaware, Sept. 13. — Rail and reed birds very scarce, 

 also very few woodcock; hope to find more in November 

 as we very seldom shoot them in summer, and hope the 

 time will soon come when smnmer woodcock shooting 

 will everywhere be a thing of the past. Woodducks 

 fairly jjlenty; shall tr_y them in a few days and will re- 

 port. Bristle, or pintails, have also begun to put in their 

 appearance; they also give fine — Sport. 



Ohio Game and Fish.— Dayton, O,, Sept. Q— Editor 

 Forest and Stream-: There is a movement, yet small, to 

 get all in this State interested in the preservation of fish 

 and game to meet in a general convention at Columbus, 

 near the close of the year, for the pm-pose of forming an 

 organization to carry out present legislation by backing 

 up the officers, and to do such work as such a meeting 

 only can accomplish. — C. V. Osborn. 



The United States Cartridge Company pubHsh an 

 illuminated catalogue, in which by means of bronze and 

 silver inks the brass of the shell and the lead of the bullet 

 are reproduced with great fideUty; the paper patch, where 

 used, is also shown in white. The work is an interesting 

 exhibition of how attractive a catalogue may be made 

 with a little ingenuity. 



The French Exiles, the Comte de Paris and the Due 

 de Chai-tres, whose own hunting seats have been lost to 

 them, have gone to Glenspean Lodge, Invemesshire, 

 Scotland, where they have rented the Glenspean shooting 

 from the Mackintosh of Mackmtosh, at the rent of £750 

 for the season. 



Ggorgia's Want of a Law.— Rome, (xa., Sept. 4.— 

 Game prospects were never better; birds hatched well 

 and are m>^v well grown. The great curse of this coimtry 

 is the pot-hunter, who nets and traps with impmiity, as 

 we have no game law. — ^F. C. H, 



All neivsdeulers sell Forest a/ad Stream Fables. 



m mtd ^mr ^whing. 



Address all c<ymrmmications to the. Forest and St/ream Pub. Co, 



A TRIP TO MAD RIVER.-II. 



BREAKFAST restored my spirits, and then Will's enthu- 

 siasm kindled the flame m me. ' ' Let us go up stream , 

 Stillaboy, for a mile or so and fish down. This will give 

 us all we want, I guess, for dinner and tea. Then we 

 will have a laze, and to-morrow morning get some to take 

 home.'' And now we are at it. Will has caught one and 

 I have had a rise. He has another one and I have no 

 more rises. Directly we are in the water wading, he with 

 liis bait floating in front of him and I trying to let my flies 

 float down. Another one rewards Will, and now I liave 

 my flies quite near his bait. I get a rise. That is all, 

 while Will secures the fish. "Try a worm, Still," says he, 

 "you cannot cast in these alders, the trout are not 

 educated up to taking a fly here." "No, but here is a 

 hole," I reply, as we come to ((uite a little pond where a 

 AvindfaU and lirnsh liavi' dammmed up the stream. I 

 make a good cast and again have a rise, wJiile Will throws 

 out and hooks tlio fish at once. Tins is enough, 1 take to 

 bait-fishing too. 



Now I liave a fish, but lie is too small to kce]3 and Will 

 has a. little one too. We catcli yilenty of ihcm but they 

 are all small. Ahnost all were small just in that locahty. 

 Thejnsaiids were caught the next year and for several fol- 

 lowing years to stock tlie trout ponds in Lewis, Jefferson 

 and Os'.vego counties and streams along the I?ome and 

 Watertown R. R. So completely skinned was Mad River 

 that a State law was passed protecting it for five years. 

 And last summer we were told tliat the fishing was' quite 

 good again in these wild waters. But we go on and the 

 fbigerlings are abundant for nearly a quarter of a mile. 

 And now the water runs slower and the stream is more 

 contracted. Here I take three quite nice ones and will 

 gets two. We do not catch so many liti;lc ones nor do 

 we find so many fish. I am just as well satisfied, I wotdd 

 sooner catch one good fish than a dozen little ones. I 

 want a, jjan fish not a sardine. 



Here comes a kingfi.sher, and lie springs his rattle as he 

 shies off when about to pass over our heads, and a blue- 

 jay lias just flown across the stream below, tm-ning his 

 head to have a look at us. I can see now most distinctly 

 his blue plumage, tlie brighter in the sunshine, as the 

 dark woods along the bank form, a good background to 

 bring out his colors. Tlum a squu-rel chatters either in 

 answer to the kingfisher or because he sees something 

 strange. A rapid current again and we are standing 

 where we can look up and down the sti-eam for a little way. 

 The valley is widening below. But there is a wuidfall 

 lying across the river, forming a nice pool. Now for a 

 good one. Will has him. He is only Sin. though, and I 

 have one 7in. I must try a fly here. Red-hackle, coach- 

 man and black-gnat. No. And Will hos another hardly 

 up to the required length. No use; no more bites. We 

 have a hard time getting around the end of the tree. The 

 brush and the alders ai-e fearful and the deer flies give 

 me considerable trouble. I can .stand them, though. 

 They are not so bad as black flies and mosquitoes in Jrme. 

 The kingfisher goes down again and waits until he has 

 passed us before he begins to scold. The water is falHng, 

 I see, and there is a mink track in the sof tmud by an old 

 root. But here comes another fish — three of them, while 

 Will gets his share. A cessation of luck, and there is 

 another good hole, where the stream is undermining the 

 bank. I have another dark-backed fellow with bright 

 spots and another of lighter color. They are plump fish 

 and not long and thin. More little ones for some distance, 

 though none that we have caught are large. The banks 

 of the stream are contracting and I see we are coming to 

 a good hole. It is shaded by a yellow birch. But where 

 can a fellow stand, for the stream here is overhung by 

 alders, I have one. No, I have missed Irim and my leader 

 is caught. Good-bye leader. There is no getting you 

 down and I cannot wait. Will is in much the same fix, 

 though he gets his loose and before I am ready he seciu-es 

 three fish. My line is in again, I make it a point always 

 to carry some hooks, leaders any flies in a piece of damp 

 laper, so that I can straighten the gut the moment I put 

 i;hem on. I have a fish and a pretty good one, as they 

 run here. He is 9in. Below this weight two or three 

 more. 



We now see the tops of the dead trees that stand by the 

 camp. Tills reminds me that there is such a place as 

 home, for I seem to have forgotten everything, and all at 

 once I recognize the fact that I have been oblivious to the 

 ordinary concerns of life for hours. Half a day has 

 dropped out in plea.siu-e. When surrounded by nature 

 and absorbed in its wilds I have almost forgotten that 

 there were other scenes in this world. I seemed to liave 

 no idea of the hour of day nor the day of the week nor of 

 the month of the year. It might have been to-morrow or 

 yesterday with me, so utterly had the mind been 

 abstracted. But those dead trees and what stood so near 

 them brought me back. I drew my watch from my 

 pocket and found the hour to be half past twelve. 



The moment I stepped upon the dry land I seemed to be 

 th-ed and felt almost sleepy enough to fall doAvn in my 

 tracks. But the dinner must be prepared and 1 must cook 

 tlie trout this time. After dinner Will took a smoke, 

 while I threw myself on the boughs. It was nearly five 

 o'clock when I woke up, and Will was sleeping by me, I 

 was refreshed now ancl felt ready for another wade, so I 

 aroused WUl and we donned our fishing clothes again. 

 The sun had now declined pretty far in the wes-t, and by 

 the time we reached the fishing point we found it deep in 

 the shadow of the hills. 



We wanted to take some trout home and of course de- 

 sired to have them fresh. Now, thought I, there are ti-out 

 in that pool and they are disposed to bite this evening 

 and they may not do so to-morrow. If I should make a 

 little pond here, where the water runs, by digging a small 

 excavation in the gravel near the bank and allowing a 

 httle stream to trickle through it, I could j)ut my fish in 

 here and have them fresh on the afternoon when we 

 start for home. So I at once set to work, nor was it 

 many minutes before the pond was completed, I allowed 

 a httle rill to ran mto it through some stones and also 

 made a way for the water to escape. Indeed I regarded 

 my work as quite ingenious and felt perfectly satisfied 

 that I had carried out a good idea. And now I am pre- 

 pared to stock my preserve. Here comes the first one, a 

 good seven-incher plump and round. And here comes 



another and another and another until there are some 

 thirteen in all. Returning to the i)lace the next morning 

 I expected to find my trout all right, but imagine my 

 surprise when I came to my pond and formd just one fish 

 remaining in it, and that the smallest one' in the lot. 

 There right by the stones that surrounded the pond, on 

 the inside near the bank and in the soft mud was a large 

 mink track, I stooped down and looked very carefully. 

 There had been no going in and out of the pond, and the 

 track went on just as though a mink had simply run 

 along tliere. The fact of the matter was the water rose 

 in the night just an inch or so, my barricade settled down 

 and the fish escaped. 



We began again. By 10 o'clock we had gone perhaps 

 a mile and a half. To be sure all that we wanted had not 

 been seciu-ed, but there were enough for Will's family 

 and a few to send (of the very finest) to an invalid lady. 

 And now we must return, get our dinner and start for 

 home. 



The rods were taken apart by the edge of the stream. 

 The top joint of my rod stuck. Most all fishermen know 

 what that is, and how easy it is then to break the tip or 

 twist off the ferrule. But I did neither. I simply got a 

 piece of birch bark and lit it, and while it was burning 

 held the ferrule over the flame for a few moments, turning 

 it around in my fingers, tha,t all parts might be heated 

 alike. When I fomid that it would not come the first time 

 I Ilea ted it a little more and at once it came apart with a 

 pop. I wiped the black from the brass, rubbed off the 

 13oints with my handkerchief, put them in the case and 

 they were ready for another year. 



It was a little after twelve before we left the camp and 

 then we were bothered for some little time in finding our 

 ti-ail. Indeed I own up to the fact that we had not gone 

 half a mile before I was completely bewildered. It did 

 not seem possible to me that we were following our own 

 marks. I was continually looking to the left of them and 

 this with all the compass said. Many a time have I 

 thought since that had it not been for Will and his quick- 

 ness to see the line, instead of getting out of the woods 

 at a quarter of tloree we w^ould have spent the night there. 

 They waited tea. Will's wife said she wanted trout for 

 supper. She had them, too, and fresh they were. As 

 for ourselves we wanted ham and eggs. Stillaboy. 



Since "A Trip to Mad River" w-as written, an article in 

 Forest and Stream of July 30 called "The Six-Inch 

 Trout Law," leads the winter to think he has been misin- 

 formed respecting the present fishing in that stream. 

 Redfield is but a few miles below where he fished and if 

 the ti-out are so small there they must be still smaller in 

 Worth Township.— S. 



BLUEFISH AND MENHADEN. 



DURING the past week the menhaden steamers along 

 the coast of New Jersey have struck oil, for the 

 long-absent fish have appeared in numbers sufficient to 

 cause rejoicing among the fishermen. The bluefish have 

 also come in with them, and large catches are reported 

 along New Jersey, Long Island and the Massachusetts coast. 

 The market has been well supplied with fish of this 

 species, and although the price has kept up fairly, several 

 cargoes have been bought for the freezers. 



Anglers are likewise rejoicing with the marketmen and 

 the oil men, for their interests are really identical, and 

 the lively catboat has been seen scudding over the waters 

 of Barnegat Bay and off Absecom, Sandy Hook and Fu-e 

 Island in great numbers during the past week, and fish of 

 6 and Slbs. have been comparatively frequent, wliile 

 schools of 3 pounders have been plenty. It is tme that 

 they put in an appearance late in the season, and at the 

 risk of having the chestnut bell rung up on us we wUl 

 venture the remark " 'tis better late than never." 



The news that the fish had struck in spread very rap- 

 idly, and the squidders along the New Jersey coast, who 

 had been watching daily for any sign of success among 

 the cat boats, got out tlieir lead" and bone imitations as 

 soon as the trollers and the gulls gave them notice that 

 bluefish were coming in, and, standing upon the beach, 

 they threw theu artificial squids into the surf with very 

 fair success. At first those who pursued the more artistic 

 method of capture, known as chumming, lacked bait, but 

 before the week closed the wielders of the rod and reel 

 repoi-ted some fair catches about Fire Island Inlet, for the 

 menhaden boats which had bait to seU had the baskets at 

 the masthead and this sign was hailed with joy by the 

 rod fishermen, and soon the oily slick from their chum 

 was drifting seaward tlu-ough the inlet of Great South 

 Bay and the hungry bluefish were foUowing up the traU. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Win you insert in the Forest and Stream the inclosed 

 opinion of a Block Island skipper in regard to bluefish and 

 menhaden: 



"In a recent conversation with a Stm reporter, a Block 

 Island skipper, after scoffing at the inland editorial opin- 

 ion that the menhaden steamers had killed off the blue- 

 fish's food and driven the bluefish to other coasts, said: 

 'It is all nonsense to say that menhaden are scarce. The 

 sea is fuU of them, and they are to the ocean what mos- 

 quitoes and other insects are to the land. The more you 

 kill the thicker they are; and the bluefish are thick 

 enough, too, but blast 'em, they won't bite. It is impos- 

 sible to kill off the menhaden. They have been plenty aU 

 the season, and the other day I sailed through acres of 

 them, but when you put out a squid, whether it had a 

 nice new eel skin on it, or only the foot of an old red 

 stocking, why, bless you, they wouldn't even look at It. 

 I tried 'em well, but it was no go. Instead of menhaden 

 being scarce I should say that they were aknighty thick, 

 and that the reason why the bluefish won't bite is because 

 they can get all the fish they need, and prefer a menha- 

 den naturally to an iron hook, as you and I would.' " 



Oiu- fishermen report plenty of large bluefish on the 

 New Jersey coast this week. T. J. CiruROH. 



TivEBTOi^-, E. I., Sept. 9. 



That Frog Recipe.— Indianopolis, Ind.— The writer 



has observed that when one rushes into print to answer a 

 question addressed to another, he seldom knows anything 

 about the subject, but desires to ajipear "smart." I had 

 it in mind to reply in this strain to "Snakeroot," but fore- 

 bore, knowing frdl well that in time "Kingfisher" would 

 trim' him up in a style peculiar to himself. I now have 

 Uay revenge, and while thanking "Kingfisher" for his 

 interesting frog story, begin to regret having entei-tained 

 any feeling against "Snakeroot" for offering me a stone 

 when I asked for bread, — Hoosier. 



