Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. I 

 Six Months, $2. j 



NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 6, 1895. 



J VOL. XLV.-No. 17 



I No. 818 Broadway Nkw York. 



For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page iii. 



The Forest and Stream is put to press 

 on Tuesdays. Correspondence intended for 

 publication should reach us by Mondays and 

 as much earlier as may be practicable. 



QUAIL AND TRAPS. 

 Among civilized people at the present age, it would 

 seem that the practice of field sports should have reached 

 such a stage of refinement and advancement, and be so 

 firmly established, that there would be no analogy near 

 or remote between their methods and those of savagery. 

 It would furthermore seem that in his field sports the 

 higher intelligence, more delicate sensibilities and more 

 fastidious tastes of the civilized man would impel him to 

 entirely eliminate all barbaric methods, or that such 

 methods would have drifted into the past naturally with 

 the wreckage, rubbish and unsuitable material which 

 mark the progress of life and civilization throughout the 

 ages. 



Great progress in this respect has been made. In a 

 great measure the methods of the savage in the pursuit 

 of game have been abandoned for the refined and intel- 

 lectual methods of civilization, yet there are parts here 

 and there in the lower forms of game pursuit which are 

 very similar to the methods of the savage, although con- 

 cerning the latter it should be mentioned as excusing him 

 that his daily necessities for food require that it be ob- 

 tained in the most direct manner with the least expendi- 

 ture of time and effort, while the civilized man who cap- 

 tures his birds by irregular means cannot plead necessity 

 in justification of such methods. 



Of all the improper means employed for the capture of 

 upland game birds or waterfowl, none more justly meets 

 the condemnation of all sportsmen, and even the con- 

 demnation of those who are not sportsmen in the strict 

 sense of the term, than the netting of birds. This man- 

 ner of capture is so coldly calculating in it workings, so 

 devoid of any element of sportsmanship— it taking the 

 birds at such a treacherous and fatal disadvantage, bag- 

 ging whole bevies at a time without even alarming them — 

 that it is universally denounced by all sportsmen and also 

 by those whose claims to sportsmanship are but modest. 

 However much States may differ in their ideas of game 

 protection and in their game laws, on the matter of pro- 

 hibiting netting they are a unit. It is a practice odious to 

 the people. It is a direct connecting link with barbaric 

 methods, for it is a perfect pattern of the Indian's use of 

 the valleys, whose ranges of hills on either side formed 

 the wings of the net — the valleys, fitted by nature for a 

 trap, terminating abruptly, forming a pocket in which 

 the fleeing herd was brought to a stand and slaughtered 

 by the pitiless pursuers; or the more artificial method of 

 the Indian, where strong fences were built out, forming 

 wings whose center was a precipice. To this the herd 

 was driven, the wings on each side deflected the fleeing 

 animate to the common center, the precipice, over which 

 the animals plunged to their destruction. 



Netting is quite quick and sweeping in its destruction 

 and its consequent extermination. The trapping of the 

 prairie chicken and the snaring of the ruffed grouse are 

 rapid exterminators, although such methods differ from 

 netting in that they are passive; for their success they 

 depend on the voluntary coming of the birds, and as the 

 birds may wander about a long time without finding the 

 snares, the latter are very uncertain in their action. So 

 fatal are they, however, that if permitted to remain in a 

 section the extermination of the game there is a cer- 

 tainty. Nearly all States strictly and wisely declare them 

 illegal. 



The passiveness of the snares, however, are in striking 

 contrast to the active working of the nets, and the de- 

 struction of the latter is correspondingly rapid. With 

 the net the conditions are widely different. There is no 

 passive state. Man's intelligence and action leave but 

 little to chance. He manipulates the birds by driving them ; 

 the net is simply a receptacle. The haunts of each bevy 

 are learned betimes during the summer, and favorable 

 places for driving them and setting the nets are noted. 

 On some cloudy, damp day, or in the times between 

 showers of a rainy day, the netter sallies forth, sets his net 

 across a favorite runway of the birds, locates them either 

 by riding about or with a dog, then they being loth to 

 take wing in such weather he drives them toward the net 



Should they endeavor to run in a direction other than 

 that desired, the netter quietly and gently turns their 

 course as he desires, never pressing them so close as to 

 alarm them. They flee unsuspectingly toward the real 

 danger, the treacherous net, whose broad wings at length 

 turn them toward the center, where an opening seem- 

 ingly offers escape. They all enter and all are caught. A 

 whole bevy of game and beautiful birds, cunning in their 

 devices to avoid man's pursuit, strong of wing and re- 

 sourceful in swift flight, a delight to the heart of the true 

 sportsman who pits his skill against the swiftness and 

 natural environment of the bird, meets thus an ignomini- 

 ous death at the hands of the netter, in like manner to 

 the frightened herd driven over a precipice and destroyed 

 at the hands of the Indian and without the just excuse of 

 the latter. 



There is probably one lower depth of degradation than 

 that of netting, and that is the slaughter of game birds 

 at the trap — a practice, it is a pleasure to say, which never 

 was common, but existed as a diversion of a few individ- 

 uals. To net the birds was a crime against sportsmanship 

 and against the statutes in many States; to shoot them 

 from the trap after they were caught was pandering to a 

 cruel taste for slaughter. 



And yet, it is not many decades ago when netting was 

 not considered improper. "The Sportsman's Dictionary, 

 or the Gentleman's Companion," which aspired to be an 

 encyclopedia on "riding, hunting, fowling, netting, fish- 

 ing, racing, farriery, cocking, hawking," etc. , and which 

 bears the date 1792, in its quaint style gives quite full 

 directions for the making of nets and the netting of 

 birds. The manner of coloring and the value of colors 

 blending harmoniously with the colors of nature are 

 dwelt upon, and all being ready the netter is cautioned to 

 observe the haunts of the birds and their morning and 

 evening feeding places, where he should station himself 

 about two hours before their feeding time and prepare 

 his nets. After describing the manner of working the 

 net, the "fowler" is advised to "continue your sport till 

 the sun be near an hour high, and no longer, for then 

 their feeding is over for that time; but you may go again 

 in the evening, from about sunset till twilight." Minute 

 directions were given for the netting of wildfowl on 

 rivers, and for smaller birds, as plover, etc., some of the 

 devices ' commended being like the trammel nets now in 

 use by fishermen. 



I Before firearms were brought to a useful state of perfec- 

 tion for wing shooting the art of netting apparently was 

 in a state of perfection. The netter for water fowl set 

 his t net or a series of nets in parts [ol the river where 

 ducks frequented, then drove the ducks from adjacent 

 outlying points, and again set other nets in those haunts, 

 so that whether in search of food or rest they were in con- 

 stant danger of being caught. 



But there is nothing to condone the use of the net at 

 the present day, except to capture birds where they are 

 plentiful for removal to stock other places where there is 

 a dearth. It belongs to a past age, when firearms wtre 

 imperfect and owned by but few, when game was more 

 abundant and the population much less than now, when 

 the necessities of existence were more pressing, and when 

 the people at large were little interested in the problem 

 of game preservation, or rather, when such problem did 

 not exist. 



ALASKAN REINDEER, 

 This is the time of year when we are accustomed to read 

 in the* press dispatches the annually recurring account of 

 starvation among the natives of Labrador, The resources 

 of that barren land are at the best so meager that it needs 

 only a falling off in the fisheries or in the fur trapping to 

 bring distress upon the people. The British Government 

 would do well to follow the example of the United States, 

 which in Alaska has undertaken to solve the problem of 

 native subsistence by the introduction of reindeer. 



What the final result of the Alaskan reindeer enterprise 

 will prove cannot now be known, although good reason 

 exists for believing in its complete success, if the animals 

 can be protected from the savage dogs of the Eskimo. 

 The natives of Alaska have been called upon to face the 

 problem, so often discussed nearer home, of mamtaining 

 in the same country and at the same time a deer 

 supply and a dog supply. The question is one much 



more serious with the Eskimo than with us; for 

 while they are concerned to support life, we are 

 making provision only for sport. The reports from 

 Alaska are that the imported reindeer have failed to in. 

 crease because of relentless pursuit and decimating raids 

 by the sledge do*s. Only at Fort Clarence, where the 

 deer are protected from the dogs, is a herd keeping up its 

 numbers. The Mohonk Indian Conference adopted a 

 resolution the other day recommending that Congress 

 should increase the annual appropriation for introducing 

 reindeer into Alaska from $7,500 to $20,000 for the coming 

 year. If such a sum shall be appropriated, a sufficient 

 share of it should be devoted to the protection of the deer 

 after they have been brought into the country. Spending 

 Government funds to import reindeer for Eskimo dogs to 

 devour is altogether too much like the familiar spending 

 of other Government money for planting fish to be 

 cleaned out by greedy and lawless fishermen. 



THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



The place left vacant by the death of United States Fish 

 Commissioner McDonald remains to be filled, and the 

 choice of a successor is awaited with some concern by 

 those who appreciate the magnitude of the interests in- 

 volved and the qualities demanded of an incumbent fitted 

 to administer the affairs of the Commission. We are con- 

 fident that in his selection of a new head for the Commis- 

 sion, President Cleveland will not depart from the wise 

 rule which has prevailed in the past of the exclusion 

 of politics from its affairs, and of securing for it the high- 

 est ability at command, without ref erence to other consid- 

 erations than the real interests of the Commision itself. 



The one man who is pre-eminently adapted beyond all 

 others to the place is Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, who was for 

 years identified with the practical work of the Commis- 

 sion, and was long Commissioner McDonald's assistant in 

 charge of the Division of Fishculture. Dr. Bean is well 

 equipped for the position both by native endowment and 

 by special training. He possesses high attainments in 

 knowledge of fish, fishing and fishculture in all their 

 scientific and commercial relations, and has shown an 

 ability to make use of this knowledge for the securing of 

 practical results. 



He has been identified with the Commission from 1874, 

 when he was invited to join in the work on the coast of 

 Connecticut, until the present year, when after having 

 passed a competitive examination, he was chosen by the 

 New York Board of Parks to take charge of the city 

 aquarium. 



Dr. Bean years ago gave up the special scientific work 

 to which he had been assigned by his chief, in order to 

 take charge of the Division of Fishculture, a position 

 long held by Col. McDonald before he was promoted to 

 the head of the Commission. The appointment of Dr. 

 Bean by Commissioner McDonald as his successor in the 

 Division was regarded as a reward of merit; and that the 

 Commissioner was entirely satisfied with the selection is 

 evidenced by the strong letter of recommendation which 

 he sent to Dr, Bean when accepting his resignation from 

 the Government service. 



Dr. Bean has studied fishcultural apparatus and 

 methods in Europe as well as in the United States, and 

 he has probably as large a circle of friends among State 

 Fish Commissioners and other fishculturists at home and 

 abroad as any other man. His acquaintance with fisher- 

 men and anglers is also very extensive, his correspondents 

 being scattered over nearly all civilized_countries. 



The practical results of his field studies are found in his 

 reports on the Salmon Industry of Alaska, the Cod Fishery 

 and Shore Fisheries of the same territory, the Alewife in 

 Lake Ontario, the Burbot, the Fishes^ of the Caribbean 

 Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, the Fishes of Great Egg Har- 

 bor Bay, the Fishes of Great South Bay, the Fishes of 

 Pennsylvania (an illustrated book) and the Mackerel 

 Fishery in Southern Waters. 



He has always looked upon the fishcultural work of the 

 Commission as of the very first importance to the people, 

 and has aimed to bring the resources of his early training 

 to bear in securing results which would appeal to the 

 public. His efforts won the commendation of his superior 

 and of the friends of fishculture everywhere. Those who 

 are most familiar with the character of his services as a 

 fishculturist are convinced that the public interest would 

 be served by putting him at the head of the Commission. 

 In his hands its affairs would be administered intelli- 

 i gently, honestly and efficiently. 



