Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Ots. a Copy, i 

 Six Months, $3. ) 



NEW YORK, OCTOBER 7, 1886. 



J VOL. xxvn.-No. u. 



I N06. 39 & 40 PARK Row, New YORK. 



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Forest and Stream Publishing: Co. 

 Nos. 39 AND 40 Park Row. New York Citt. 



Editohiai.. 



Fires in tlie National Park. 



A Muddle. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Bike. 



Travels in Boon Gah Arrrali- 

 biggee. 

 Natural History. 

 Indian Arrow Making. 

 The Shaman. 



Wild Turkey Domestication. 

 Camp-Firb Flickbkings. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Hunting in the Himalayas. 



Marsh Shooting in Cape Cod. 



My First Bear Hunt. 



Hunting in the Lone Star State. 



An October Outing. 



Notes from Pennsylvania. 



Minnesota Notes. 



The Virginia Convention. 



Game Notes. 

 Sea and Kxver Fishing. 



Notes of Canadian Angling. 



Mud and Pine Lakes. 



Lake Gogebic. 



Angling Notes. 



CONTENTS. 



FiSHCULTUBE. 



Prices of Fish in New York and 

 Berlin. 



The U. S. Fish Com. Schooner 

 Grampus. 



New Hampshire Commission. 



Oyster Laws of New York. 

 The Kennel. 



The Irish Red Setter Club's 

 Field Trials. 



The Manitoba Field Trials. 



Mastiff Measurement. 



Kennel Notes. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Army Team, 



The Trap. 

 Yachting. 



Just What Galatea Really Did 



Sachem and Miranda. 



The Thetis— Stranger Matches 



Larchmont Pennant Regatta. 



Marine Glue for Yacht Work 

 Canoeing. 



Eastern Division, A. C. A. 



A Cruise on Lake Vermilion. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



FIRES IN THE NATIONAL PARK. 

 n^HE latest advices we have from the Yellowstone 

 National Park show no improvement in the disas- 

 trous condition of affairs there. Our staff correspondent 

 writes from the Mammoth Hot Springs, under date of 

 Sept. 22, as follows of the most lamentable destruction of 

 the Park forests by raging conflagrations : 



"I have before this given you a hint of the curious outburst 

 of conflagration which took place at the close of Col. 

 Wear's administration here, and I have now to report that 

 all of these fires are still raging and that others, which 

 promise to be equally destructive, have broken out in 

 other localities. 



"About the 15th of August a fu*e got out on the head of 

 Blacktail Deer Creek and the north slopes of Tower Creek 

 Mountains. This has since spread in both directions, and 

 is now raging among the mountains on the head of Black- 

 tail, as well as in the valley of the Yellowstone Eiver. In 

 this latter place it has burned over an enormous amount 

 of green timber, has crossed Tower Creek, and is now 

 working southward along the river toward the Grand 

 Cafion, the Falls and the Lake. If it should reach the tim- 

 ber about the Lake, the beauty of one of the most charm- 

 ing spots in the whole Park will be destroyed. 



"On the 20th of this month two fires broke out on the 

 head of the Madison River, on the west side of the Holmes 

 range. The weather is intensely dry and has been so for 

 a long time, and the high wind of the past two days has 

 caused the flames to spread with startling rapidity. Mr. 

 Cannon, who was one of the old civil force in charge of 

 the Park, reports that when he passed the fire to-day, it 

 being then only one day old, an area of more than eight 

 square miles had been burned over, 



"A party of soldiers was to-day sent to the scene of the 

 fire by Captain Harris, but they were unable to do any- 

 thing to check its spread. 



"The prediction was made to-day by an old resident of 

 the Park, that unless Congress shall take action in the 

 matter of Park protection there will not be in five years 

 five acres of green timber standing in the Park." 



What is especially needed is a force of ti-ained men who 

 shall patrol the forests and ride the trails constantly d\ir- 

 ing the three or four nopaths when there ie much travel 



in the Park. Such men, if they knew their duties, would 

 be sure to discover the fires almost as soon as they had 

 started and could then attack them at a time when they 

 cotild be easily handled and either extinguished or iso 

 lated so that they could not spread. Unless some such 

 method of protecting them is set on foot the forests of the 

 National Park are almost sure to be destroyed, and their 

 destruction will be a calamity whose magnitude will not 

 be realized tmtil after it has taken place. 



A MUDDLE. 



\ GAME and fish law ought to be compact and intelli 

 gible. It should be so plain that all whom it ii 

 intended to govern should be able to readily comprehend 

 its meaning. There are such laws. That of Ohio, for 

 example, is brief, plain, to the point; one is not obliged 

 to engage the services of a lawyer to determine what it 

 means or does not mean. On the contrary, the game and 

 fish laws of New York are in a hopelessly muddled con 

 dition. Lawyers, men trained to the interpretation of 

 the statutes, declare that they do not know what the 

 Legislatm-e intended to be the law with regard to certain 

 subjects. Blind and contradictory provisions have been 

 piled atop of earlier blunders and enigmas, and the result 

 is a mass, or mess, of disgracefully unintelligible and 

 petty general and local legislation. In a recent commu- 

 nication to the New York Evening Post, Mr. Geo. C. Holt 

 a member of the bar of this city, calls attention to the 

 growing evils of special legislation at Albany. He points 

 out that of the 681 New York Session Laws of 1886, more 

 than five-sixths are private or local acts, most of the game 

 laws coming within that category; and he points out that 

 the effect of all this is to make it exceedingly difficult for 

 citizens, who desire to conform to the statutes, to know 

 what the law actually is. We quote: 



The game laws contained in this volume are a striking example 

 of the effect of such a system of legislation. There is no reason 

 why the game laws of the State should not be uniform and gen- 

 eral. The time for fishing and shooting in different parts of the 

 State may undoubtedly differ somewhat according to differences 

 of climate, but substantially the whole subject ought to bo regu- 

 lated by a general law, and if such a law, judiciously drawn, were 

 once passed, it ought not to require amendment for many years. 

 The last legislature passed twenty game laws. Chapter 11 amends 

 the General Game Act so as to fix a special time in which black 

 bass can be caught in Lake Mahopac and in Columbia county, in 

 Schroon Lake and Paradox Lake in Essex county and Warren 

 county, and in Lake George and Brant Lake. It also fixes a special 

 time in which muscalonge can be caught in the St. Lawrence 

 and other rivers named. It also prohibits catching bullheads in 

 Lake Geoi-ge during a certain period, and prescribes a general law 

 for Lake George different from the other waters of the State. 

 Chapter 124 changes the law relating to the time of catching trout 

 in Spring Creek, Livingston county. Chapter 141 prescribes the 

 law in relation to fishing in Henderson Bay, Chapter 193 provides 

 for the construction of lishways in the dams across the Oswego and 

 Seneca rivers. Chapter 202 pi-ovides for the construction of fish- 

 ways in the dams across tlie Little Salmon River. Chapter 226 

 regulates fishing in the town of Saugerties. Chapter 247 protects 

 wild geese and ducks in ChautaucLua county. Chapter 267 amends 

 the General Game Act so as to permit fishing through the ice in 

 Keuka and Canandaigua lakes. Chapter 334 authorizes the build- 

 ing of eel weirs in the Oneida River. Chapter 395 pro- 

 hibits the killing of quail and partridges in Niagara 

 county. Chapter 429 amends cliapter 11 of the Laws of 

 1886, the first game law above referred to, in some trifling particu- 

 lars. Chapter 430 makes special provisions for the protection of 

 game in the counties of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus. Chapter 

 437 amends Chapter 124 of the Laws of 1886, above referred to in 

 some trifling particulars. Chapter 523 prohibits the use of certain 

 nets in the Hudson,- River during a certain period. Chapter 590 

 regulates fishing in Cattaraugus Creek. Chapter 603 regulates 

 fishing at the south end of Lake Champlain. The result of such a 

 mass of special acts is that no sportsman in New York can tell 

 whether he is violating the law or not. A correspondent of Tiie 

 Evening Post recently inquired whether the President was not 

 catching trout out of season. The editor in his answer decided 

 that he was not; but if he had examined carefully all the game 

 laws of the State, it is doubtful whether he could have rendered 

 an unhesitating decision on the question. 



The manifest course to remedy the present muddle 

 would be to simplify the statute. If this were done the 

 law would be better observed because more generally un- 

 derstood. Here is an opportunity for some competent 

 and public-spirited citizen to advance the public good by 

 reducing the game law by itself to a concise form and 

 the fish law by itself to a concise form. This could be 

 done without changing any general provision of the law 

 as it stands, and the simple alteration of form would 

 be fi-ee from the opposition wliich would natm-ally be 

 made to any radical changes of seasons. Then, as Mr. 

 Holt suggests, by a constitutional amendment prohibit 

 all such special legislation. 



Striped Bass.— This fish is unusually scai-ce along the 

 shores of Buzzard's Bay and Martha's Vineyard, where 

 the fishing clubs have theu- houses and stands. So far 

 none have been taken by the Cuttyhunk Club, and only 

 two fish, one of six and one of fifteen pounds, at the 

 Basque Island Club. The West Island and Squibnocket 

 clubs have had about the same experience. The mem- 

 bers of these clubs have fished faithfully all through the 

 season, and have had to resort to "bottom fishing" for sea 

 bass, etc., to supply their tables. The striped bass was 

 often taken from the wharves of New York city informer 

 years, and Emigration Commissioner Starr has fished for 

 them from Castle Garden for the past ten years with 

 more or less success. This season he has fished patiently 

 without reward until Monday last, when he took a six- 

 pounder and rejoiced that one had come at last. Mr. 

 James Vallotton, Treasui-er of the National Rod and Eeel 

 Association, has spent the season at Pasque Island with- 

 out success. The fish have gradually decreased year by 

 year, and it is possible that they may follow the buffalo 

 and wild pigeon and leave us forever unless means are 

 taken to preserve or propagate them. 



Among the Disappointments op Shooting must be 

 reckoned the disgust with which a law-abiding sports- 

 man is overwhelmed when he finds that the cover he 

 thought known only to himself is knee deep with 

 empty shells, and the splendid brood of grouse he 

 hoped to have such royal sport with utterly destroyed; 

 not only this, but the knowledge that even the breed- 

 ing stock for future years has been wiped out adds 

 to his sorrow and disgust. Had the brood been 

 left until full fledged and more mature in wisdom, 

 the chances are that one or two of them, at least, would 

 have lived to afford us sport another year; but, alas! the 

 ruthless poacher has, without regard to law or decency, 

 potted the last one, and the desolate haunts of the royal 

 birds are not more desolate than the heai-t of him who 

 threads the dim aisles of the grand old woods that once 

 resounded with the soul-inspmng beats of the quick, 

 whirring pinion, but now are as silent as the desert 

 waste. 



Algonkin Park.— The Crown Lands Department has 

 under consideration a proposed Canadian reservation of 

 public lands on the watershed which contains the sources 

 of the Muskoka, Madawaska, Petewawa and Bonnechere 

 rivers. The fii-st named stream flows into the Georgian 

 Bay; the others flow easterly to the Ottawa River, the 

 waters of all of them forming ultimately the gi-eat St. 

 Lawrence. The land is not adapted to settlement, but it 

 has very decided attractions for tourists and campers; 

 and as a people's pleasure gi-ound would have high value. 

 The chief consideration, however, is economic, the de- 

 sign being to preserve the forests and maintain the water 

 supply. This is wise. 



The Virginia Convention,— The convention of sports- 

 men at Richmond, appointed for Oct. 31, promises to be 

 the beginning of a most commendable movement. Vir- 

 ginia is peculiarly favored as a game coimtry, and only 

 the exercise of intelligent care is necessary to maintain a 

 ;upply which shall be permanent and abundant. In 

 another column we publish the call for those interested in 

 the formation of a "Vh-ginia Field Sports Association." 



"Nessmuk's Poems."— The announcement in another 

 column of the publication of "Nessmuk's" poems will be 

 received with satisfaction and we hope may receive a fit- 

 ting welcome. Subscribers to the volume will greatly 

 oblige the publishers by promply returning the subscrip- 

 tion blanks, for as explained the size of the edition wiU 

 depend upon the number of copies spoken for. 



A New Range.— The officers of the National Rifle 

 Association are at last bestirring themselves to find some- 

 where a range less inaccessible than Creedmoor. At a 

 meeting Tuesday Gen. C, F, Robbins reported adversely 

 on Staten Island and Van Cortland Park, while Lieut. 

 Zalinski thought it possible to find a suitable site on 

 Staten Island, 



Sam Lovel's Camps wiU be contiaued next week. 



A Statue of Izaak Walton.— It is proposed to reserve 

 in the great screen of Winchester Cathedral a niche for a 

 statue of the Father of Anglers. Walton lies buried in 

 the Cathedral, and the Dean of Winchester has expressed 

 liis approval of in this way ftu-ther commemorating the 

 author of the "Compleat Angler." Who better desei-ves 

 such a place? 



