Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



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

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NEW YORK, DECEMBER 16, 1886. 



I VOL. XXVn— No. 21. 



I Nos. 39 & 40 Park Row, New Yobk. 



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Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 



Nos. 39 AND 40 Park Row. 



New York Citt, 



CONTENTS. 



Editoblal. 



New York Trout Laws. 



Tbe Schemers Balked. 



The Crow Indian Reservation. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



The Seal Islands. 



Rod and Gun near the Capital. 

 Natural History. 



Song Bird Legislation. 



The Sport of Hawking. 



Hybrid Grouse. 

 Camp-Fire Flickerings. 

 GA^iE Bag AND Gun. 

 „ Hospitality and Bob Wliite. 



A Visit to the Stikine Flats. 



Ne%vfound]and Caribou. 



The New Law of Cuba. 



Virginia Game Notes. 



The Care of Quail. 



Goosing in Assawoman Bay. 



Guns in the Old Countrv. 



IMore About Rifles. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



American Silk Worms. 



Numbering of Hooks. 



Alaskan Trout and the Fly. 



FiSHCULTURE. 



Results of Carp Culture. 

 The Kennel. 

 The Irish Setter Trials. 

 The National Field Trials. 

 Teaching Beagles. 

 i\Iastiff Character. 

 Inquiry About Mastiff Pedi- 

 grees. 



Gypsie's Knowing Ways. 



Kennel Notes. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



California Rifle Association. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Trap. 

 Yachting. 



The Lyman Yielding Mast. 



Keel vs. Centerboard. 



A Down East Dory. 

 Canoeing. 



A Cruise on Long Island Sound 



A Canadian Division of the 

 A. C. A. 



A New Canoe Sail. 



Wide vs. Narrow Canoes. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



THE SCHEMERS BALKED. 



(^.OOD new^s comes to us from AVashington. There is 

 a little gleam of comfort for the friends of the 

 National Park in the first congressional action taken with 

 regard to this reservation. A most pernicious bill has re- 

 ceived its quietus, and far more important than that, a 

 strong man, an accomphshed parliamentarian, a skiUful 

 and experienced legislator, and a man of the highest in- 

 tegrity and honor, has been found in the House of Repre- 

 sentatives to range himself on the side of right and justice 

 and to do battle for the Park. We may all take courage 

 again. 



On Tuesday last Judge Payson of Illinois brought up 

 the bill granting to the Cinnabar & Clark's Fork Rail- 

 road a right of way through the National Park. The bill 

 came up during the morning hour, and from Judge 

 Payson's influence and standing it was supi)osed by many 

 people that he would have little trouble in passing the 

 bill. He urged its i^assage, and was supported by Mr. 

 Toole, the delegate from Montana, who in tliis instance 

 at least does not seem to have proved a very efiicient im- 

 plement. In opposition to the bill, however, a wholly 

 unexpected champion of the Park presented himself in 

 the person of Cox. Notwithstanding his long absence 

 in Turkey, this gentleman has kept himself thoroughly 

 informed on all matters of interest in his native country, 

 and he vigorously opposed the bill. 



He asserted that to introduce a railroad into the Park 

 would be an act of desecration and spoliation, and showed 

 that the Secretary of the Interior, the General of the 

 Army, the engineer officer in charge of improvements in 

 the Park, and all other well-informed people were un- 

 alterably opposed to such action. He showed further 

 tliat the bill was wholly in the interest of a few selfish 

 speculators, and urged that the rights and privileges of 

 the people should not be sacrificed for them. Mr. Cox 

 was supported by Messrs. Holman and McAdoo, while 

 Judge Payson and Mr. Grosvenor favored the biU, 



The arguments against it were so convincing that the 

 Committee of the Whole, by a vote of 107 to 65, struck 

 out all after the enacting clause. Before the House had 

 time to act upon this report the morning hour had ex- 

 pired, and the final killing of the bill is thus postponed 

 until the next morning hour, when the matter will come 

 up as unfinished business. 



This action in the House will be a great encom-agement 

 to Senator Vest in liis efforts to help the National Park. 



It is extremely disappointing to find a man with the 

 ability of Judge Payson lending his name and influence 

 to a bill so vicious as this one. Judge . Payson has trav- 



eled in the Park, and should therefore have been able to 

 comprehend the damage which a railroad built there 

 would Avork to the reservation. We had looked for bet- 

 ter things from him. 



The killing of this project in the House is a most im- 

 portant victory for the friends of the Park. This bill has 

 been lobbied for in the most shameful manner for a long 

 tune. The House Committee on Pacific Raikoads and 

 the Senate Committee on Railroads have both made fav- 

 orable reports on it, reports which the Forest and Stream 

 has ah-eady shown to be wholly made up of misstate- 

 ments f mTiished to the Committees by persons interested 

 in the building of the roads. With the backing of the 

 lobby and the moral support of these two reports it was 

 feared that possibly this raihoad bill might pass in the 

 House, though there was good hope that the able work of 

 Senators Vest and Manderson might kill it in the Senate. 



To find in the House of Representatives so strong and 

 able a friend of the Park is, after aU, the most satisfac- 

 tory point about the matter, and we hope that Mr. Cox 

 ma,y take hold of the bill for the enlargement and better 

 government of the Park, and do for that in the House 

 what we hope Senators Vest and Manderson may do for 

 it in the Senate. 



The railroad schemers have been defeated. From their 

 desecration the Yellowstone wonders have been pre- 

 served. Much still remains to be done to secure complete 

 protection, and for the attainment of this end the Forest 

 AND Stream will exert the same energy with wliich it has 

 fought the Park grabbers. 



NEW YORK TROUT LAWS. 

 "VfO doubt -with the meeting of the State Legislatiu-e 

 -"-^ the annual tinkering of the trout laws will begin. 

 That we will ever obtain a law which will suit all sections 

 and all counties, and will remain unchanged for a period 

 of years, is extremely doubtful. The so-called six -inch 

 law should be restored and the slaughter of the innocents 

 made a crime, even if, as some persons claim, it does not 

 stop the evil. Few anglers know to what an extent trout 

 under six inches in length are deliberately caught and 

 cooked in the Adirondacks and at the hotels on its borders, 

 especially along the West Canada Creek. It is time that 

 something should be done to stop this, and the accidental 

 omission of the six-iuch clause from the law for the past 

 year is regretted by all who believe that the infants should 

 have a chance to groAv up to be trout in fact as well as in 

 name. We believe that few of these small fish are sent 

 far out of the woods. There would be no sale for them in 

 New York city, we think, and we have never seen them 

 in the markets here or in other cities, although some may 

 have been sent as far. 



Owing to the differences in latitude and altitude of the 

 waters in the great State of New York, a uniform open 

 season for trout all over the State seems hardly practi- 

 cable. In the Adirondacks the ice remains on the lakes 

 from the first to the middle of May, at times, and there 

 should be no trout fishing there until about the latter 

 date. Through the middle of the State there is seldom 

 good fishing before the middle of April, while on Long- 

 Island trout sometimes rise early in March, although the 

 raAv winds thi-eaten rheumatic pains to the angler w-ho 

 braves them. Even on the first of April there are often 

 cold storms, yet the trout are in good condition and ready 

 to be caught at that time. A correspondent recommends 

 the loth of April as a right time to open the season for the 

 whole State, but that date is too early, by a month, for 

 the Adirondacks, and we doubt if a miiform date for the 

 entire State would be satisfactory to all. The great pre- 

 serves on Long Island, which are owned by clubs wMch 

 raise their own fish and keep their waters stocked, have 

 been fished on April 1 for years, and as the members are 

 mainly from the city they nattu'ally wish to take then* 

 fish home without being taken into custody at the ferry 

 by a game protector for having ti'out in possession in an- 

 other county, as could have happened under a late law. 



We once suggested dividing the State by the Mohawk 

 River and the Erie Canal, and making separate open sea- 

 sons north and south of them, and a correspondent fol- 

 lowed with the suggestion that the New York Central 

 Railroad be made the line. This is a subject on which we 

 would like to hear from our correspondents, and so get at 

 the views of those who fish for trout in the dift'erent 

 waters Avhich, as we have shown, differ m the time in 

 which the ice leaves them, and in the time in which the 

 trout are in good condition and the weather is suitable 

 for fishing. 



THB CROW INDIAN RESERVATION. 

 O OMETHING seems to have sti-uck the Crow Agent. 

 ^ He is reported to have developed all on a sudden a 

 great amount of energy. A press dispatch from the West 

 states that: "On Saturday last Agent Williamson issued 

 an order to drive off the Crow Reservation all cattle now 

 pasturing there, also to bum some buildings and corrals 

 recently erected near Bull Mountain Station. If he meets 

 with any resistance he wiU call for troops. He says no 

 cattlemen have received permits to gi'aze on the reserva- 

 tion. It is anticipated that trouble wUl ensue in enforc- 

 ing the order." 



Just six months ago, the Forest and Stream exposed 

 the condition of affairs on the Crow Reservation, making 

 known to the public, for the fii'st time, the fact that cattle 

 and sheep men had thi'own a large amount of stock on the 

 Indians' lands, and asserting that the latter received no 

 proper compensation for tliis use of their reservation. We 

 showed that the few head of stock owned by the Indians 

 would be hkely to be absoi'bed in tlie large herds of the 

 Avhite men, that permanent improvements in the shape of 

 buildings and corrals would be erected on the desirable 

 locations of the reserA-ation, and that when — if ever — the 

 reservation should be throAATi open to occupancy and settle- 

 ment by the public, all the good farming lands would be 

 found ill the hands of the cattlemen, whose possessoi-y 

 right would be a claim that the homesteader could not 

 break doAvn. 



We requested a searching investigation of these matters 

 by the Department, and asked that if our statements were 

 found accurate the abuses might be corrected. It was a 

 matter of general knowledge that thousands of cattle and 

 sheep were grazing on the reservation, and it was gener- 

 ally beheved that a iDortion of this stock was there under 

 authority of peiTuits granted by the agent. 



In reply to the article in Forest and Stream, the Inte- 

 rior Department made a general denial that permits had 

 been granted by the Crow Agent or that the reserA-ation 

 was used by stockmen for grazing jjurpeses. Tliis was 

 rather a rash statement to make, and no doubt the inves- 

 tigations of the past six months have shoAvn the Depart- 

 ment that our allegations were true. Forest and 

 Stream is not in the habit of making assertions Avithout 

 having accurate information on the subject of which it 

 speaks. 



Agent Wilhamson's action in di'iving the cattle 

 off the reserA'ation is praiseworthy. It is, to be siu'e, 

 rather a pity that it has taken him so long to reach a 

 decision in the matter, but better late than never. The 

 cattle should be driven off unless there is warrant of law 

 for their being held there, and, until the Indians arcAvill- 

 ing to have them remain, there can be no such warrant 

 nor legal occupation of the reservation by the cowmen. 



We are not now considering the question as to whether 

 the reservation should be leased to the cattlemen or not. 

 We merely insist that the law as it stands should be 

 enforced, and that the Crows — miserable people as they 

 are— should have fair treatment at the hands of the Gov- 

 ernment. 



The Importation of Foreign Game. — A correspond- 

 ent Avrites that he proposes to introduce Belgian hares 

 into Maine, to put out on the coast Avhen the native hare 

 has disappeared. This is an enteiin-ise Avhich shoiild be 

 imdertaken only after careful deliberation and a consider- 

 ation of the consequences. There is always the danger 

 that a species ti-ansported and placed among ncAv and 

 favorable surrotmdings may develop an unexpected capac- 

 ity to increase. Witness the Australian and New Zealand 

 rabbit plague, and our OAvn English sparrow nuisance. 

 The hare experiment has already been tried in this 

 country. The Fisher's Island Club put out a stock on 

 their island preserves in Long Island Sound, and the 

 creatures proceeded at once to increase and multiply and 

 cover the face of the earth. They threatened to lay Avaste 

 the island, and the club had no other com-se than to ex- 

 terminate them as vermiu then and there. If like results 

 Avould follow the introduction of hares into Maine, it is 

 well to pause before going any fm-ther with the project. 

 There are laws forbidding the introduction of pickerel 

 and certain other fishes into Avaters now stocked with 

 choicer varieties; it might not be a bad plan to restrict 

 the introduction of foreign animals into this coimtry. 

 Two or tliree pubUc-spirited individuals brought in the 

 English sparrow. Now there is not ingenuity enough in 

 America to cope with the multiplying hordes, and reme- 

 dial legislation in impotent to check their increase. 



