Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Crs. a Copy. ) 



Six Months, $2. \ 



NEW YORK, DECEMBER 2, 1886. 



j VOL. XXVn.-No. 19. 



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



C0RRE8P0NDEN0E. 

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Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 

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



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



What Congress Should Do. 



"Nessmuk's" Poems. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Lalce St. Francis. 



J. C. Hughes. 

 N ATTJRAt, History. 



Buffalo Hybrids. 

 Game Bag and Gtm. 



An Odd Shot at Grouse. 



Hunting in the Transvaal. 



Hints to Trappers. 



Deer in the North Woods. 



The Situation in Maine. 



The Canadian Back Lalces. 



Field and Target Rifles. 



Game Notes. 

 Camp-Fibe Fuckerings. 

 Sea and Rivbr Fishing. 



Alaskan Trout and the Ply. 



The Blue Catfish as Game. 



Fishing in Japan. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



"The American Salmon 

 Fisherman." 

 Fishcdlture. 



The Connecticut Commission. 

 The Kennel. 



Eastern Field Trials. 



Robins Island Field Trials. 



Fox-Terrier Club Stakes. 



Kennel Management. 

 Riple and Trap Shooting. 



Ranere and Gallery. 



The^rap. 

 Yachting. 



Measurement Rules Abroad. 



A Length and Sail Area Cutter 



Ourselves as Others See Us. 

 Canoeing. 



The Oukland C. C. 



The Location of the Next Meet. 



Wide vs. Narrow Canoes. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



WHAT CONGRESS SHOULD DO. 



A NOTHER session of Congress opens, and we await the 

 action of that body with regard to the National 

 Park. For years this beautiful and wonderful spot has 

 been neglected by our lawmakers. Beggarly appropri- 

 ations have been made for its care and preservation, but 

 even these have been cut down to a point where they are 

 insufiBlcient to provide any adequate protection for the 

 forests, the game and the natural wonders. 



The summer of 1885 saw a Terrritorial statute of Wyo- 

 ming in force in the reservation, and although many things 

 were done illegally under color of this law, the fact that 

 for the time being it was believed to be the law, had, no 

 doubt, a most excellent effect on those who were disposed 

 to violate the regulations of the Secretary of the Interior. 



These regulations are now far more respected than 

 they were two years ago. This is due in large measure 

 to the earnest and faithful labors of the late Superintend- 

 ent, Col. D. W. Wear. He organized his force of assist- 

 ants, infused into them something of his own energy, 

 instructed visitors to the Park as to what was and what 

 was not permitted, and inspired in many of them an 

 interest which would never have been aroused except by 

 his ovra enthusiasm. His year of office did more for the 

 Park than the term of any other man has accomplished. 



Congress cut off the appropriation and Col. Wear and 

 his efficient force of assistants were turned out of office. 

 Troops took their place, but cannot do their work. Capt. 

 Harris and the officers of his command are able, intelli- 

 gent and anxious to do all that they can for the reserva- 

 tion, but their men cannot perform the work set for 

 them. However good their intentions, they have not the 

 knowledge of the region or of the mountains -which would 

 enable them to meet the lawbreakers on their own groimd 

 and capture them, nor have they an adequate compre- 

 hension of their duties. 



It remains to be seen whether Congress will at this 

 session enact a suitable law providing for the govern- 

 ment of the Park. Such a bill was introduced by Sena- 

 tor Vest dming the last session of Congress, was referred 

 to the Committee on TeiTitories of the Senate, was favor- 

 ably reported, and now awaits action. It is a good bill 

 and one which ought certaiuly to pass. There is no in- 

 telligent opposition to it. The worst danger that it has 



to encounter is the apathy of a body which declines to 

 interest itself in anything that is not of personal or 

 political advantage to its members. 



The interest in the Yellowstone Park has never 

 been so gTeat as it is to-day. Last season tourists 

 visited it in numbers never equaled. We are informed 

 that the hotel registers recorded the anival of over 

 eight thousand guests, and besides these there were 

 the campers who did not go to hotels and of whose 

 number there is no record. A very large i^roportion 

 of those members of the Grand Army of the Repubhc 

 who attended the meeting of that association at San 

 Fi'ancisco, returned by way of the Northern Pacific Rail- 

 road and visited the National Park. Every one who went 

 there came away filled with enthusiasm for the beautiful 

 region. 



The destruction of forests, of game and of natural curi- 

 osities which took place during the last month or two 

 while the Park was open to travel emphasizes the crying 

 needs of the reservation. A large force of competent, 

 practical mountain men is required to constantly patrol 

 the reservation during the toiu'ist season. Besides this 

 the Park should be enlarged and the roads should be con- 

 stantly improved. 



The Yellowstone Park has in Congress two staunch 

 friends who have made strenuous efforts to bring about 

 legislation looking toward its proper guardianship and 

 government. Senators Geo. G. Vest, of Missoiu'i, and 

 Chas. F. Manderson, of Nebraska, have shown an intelli- 

 gent interest in this reservation which entitles them to 

 the warmest gratitude of all intelligent people. The 

 earnestness and energy which they have shown in this 

 matter belongs to the highest order of statesmanship. It 

 is cheering in these days of political narrowmindedness 

 to observe now and then some breadth of view, some dis- 

 position to look ahead and provide for the future. Long 

 after the names of a hundred Senators ©f to-day are for- 

 gotten, Messrs. Vest and Manderson will be remembered 

 for the good fight which they have made to save the 

 people's Park for the people's use. 



We believe that Senators Vest and Manderson wiU keep 

 up the good work that they have so ably begun and that 

 they will try to carry through the Senate the bill which 

 is now before it. We are convinced that before long 

 Congress will awake to a comprehension of the earnest 

 feeling which the public has on this subject, and that it 

 will see the importance of providing some form of govern- 

 ment to replace the chaotic condition of things now exist- 

 ing in the Park^ 



"NESSMUKS" POEMS. 



THE subscriptions for "Nessmtik's" forthcoming volume 

 of poems now number 500. 

 To give full opportunity to distant readers to secure the 

 book at advance subscription rates we have extended the 

 time for closing the $1 subscriptions from Nov. 15 to this 

 date, Dec. 2. The blank is repeated elsewhere, and orders 

 sent on that blank will be accepted at $1 per copy. This 

 is the last time the blank will be printed. With our next 

 issue the price will be advanced to $1.50. 



The portrait, cabinet size, which is to form the frontis- 

 piece, will be an artotype. Proofs have been submitted 

 to us. They are more faithful than a photograph , and 

 are eminently satisfactory and pleasing. 



Death of John Coneoy.— To many a reader of Forest 

 AND Stream will come a pang of regTet with this amiounce- 

 ment of the death of Mr. John Com-oy, who was years ago 

 well known by his connection with the fishing tackle 

 trade, and who through his life was esteemed by them as 

 an angling friend. Mr. Conroy died at his residence, 

 New Brighton, Staten Island, Nov. 25, in the eighty-third 

 year of his age. He was the founder of the fishing tackle 

 house which has been known for more than half a century 

 under the successive titles of John Conroy (1830), J. & J. 

 C. Conroy (1840), J. C. Conroy & Co. (1864), Conroy, Bis- 

 sett & Malleson (1875), Conroy & Bissett (1881), and the 

 present house, Thomas J. Com-oy (1883). Himself a de- 

 voted angler, he spent much time in following the pursuit, 

 and to him anglers owe the invention of the balance 

 handle reel now in such universal use. He had taken no 

 active part in business since 1863, though long after that 

 it was his custom to meet and chat with his friends at the 

 store in Fulton street. He w^as one of the old-fashioned 

 men whom George Dawson so well distinguishes in his 

 < 'Angling Talks" a,s "the simple wise men." 



The Audubon Society now numbers more than 16,000 

 members, and the present rate of increase is rapid. The 

 movement is receiving due approval from the press of 

 the country, and many indications give proof of its grow- 

 ing influence. Some of the New York milMners have 

 adopted as a rule of business to furnish no feather trim- 

 mmgs the use of which is disapproved by the Society. 

 Some idiot has been writing to one of the daily papers 

 taking the AuDUBON Society to task for its alleged 

 attempt to discourage the use of ostrich feathers, an 

 attempt, it need not be said, which has existence only in 

 the fancy of the scribbler. The Society has distinctly 

 stated, and the same is set forth in its certificate of in- 

 corporation, that its protective efforts are confined to 

 American wild birds not used for food. This field is cer- 

 tainly broad enough, and it is one concerning which there 

 is little opportunity for disagreement of opinion, save 

 with respect to certain species of birds popularly believed 

 to be noxious vermin. It would have been impracticable 

 to frame a suitable provision restricting the use of game 

 plumage. This is all the more a pity, since dealers who 

 now support the Society's work nevertheless encourage 

 the employment of game birds' feathers, and the natural 

 result has been the stimulation of market-hunting shore 

 birds. A great London feather dealer has cunningly taken 

 advantage of the growing sentiment in favor of wild bird 

 protection in England to push his stock of plumage, in- 

 cluding "all the game birds of the world." It may not 

 be out of place to repeat our warning, that this is a subject 

 legitimately belonging to sportsmen, who will find it to 

 their interest to discourage the wholesale potting of snipe 

 and other game birds for millinery purposes. 



The Proposed International Trap Match.— The 

 proposition of the National Gun Association to arrange 

 an international competition in trap-shooting is one which 

 should be received with favor in this counti-y and abroad. 

 The great interest which has attached to such matches in 

 the past might well enough be renewed on the occasion 

 of a test of the skill of America and Great Britain. The 

 interest in international rifle shooting is, for the present 

 at least, languishing; and there are no indications of its 

 speedy renewal. In the interim trap-shooters should have 

 their inning. The Association did a wise thing, at its 

 Boston meeting, in enlarging the committee of arrange- 

 ments and making its membership more truly national 

 in character. Experts at the trap are so numerous that 

 a selection for the required team would be made with 

 difficulty, not because of a lack of proper material, but 

 because of the abundant supply. The team should be 

 made up of members from different States and the men 

 should be in the strictest sense of the term amateurs. 

 Such a team can more easily be gathered together here 

 than in Great Britain, where the conditions are more com- 

 plicated, trap-shooters being divided among many grades 

 of society, where social distinctions are more clearly 

 drawn and more stringent than they are in this country. 

 But as the riflemen have again and again surmounted this 

 difficulty and have sent over strong teams, there is no 

 reason to suppose that the trap-shots could not arrange 

 matters with equal felicity. 



Leroy Lyman, a famous hunter of Coudersport, Pa. 

 died last week from the effects of an encounter with a 

 savage bull in a barnyard. Lyman had had many excit- 

 ing adventures in the woods and was reputed to have 

 come safely through repeated scenes of great peril in his 

 hunting expeditions; and that he must succumb at last 

 to the attack of so ignoble a foe was said to have embit- 

 tered his last hours. Among other peculiarities of his 

 character was a strict adherence to the doctrines of the 

 Seventh Day Baptists, holding which he did much of his 

 hunting on Sunday. 



A Poor Sea Serpent.— A few days ago the daily news- 

 papers of New York had long accounts of a wonderful 

 fish taken at Flushing, on the north shore of Long Island. 

 It had long claws and large eyes and was thought to be 

 the sea serpent, etc. It now tm-ns out to be an "angler," 

 Lophius piseatorius, sometimes called the fishing frog, 

 but it served the purpose "of making a sensation. As the 

 fish is not much of a swimmer and lies in the mud, it 

 would make a very poor sea serpent, even for a pic-nic 

 ground on the Sound. 



Everybody Ought to Know it.— Write on one side 

 of the paper only. 



