Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Tebms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copt, i 

 Six Months, $2. ( 



NEW YORK, DECEMBER 8, 1887. 



( VOL. XXIX.-NO. 20. 



I Noa. 39 & 40 Park Row, New York. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



Congress and the Park. 



Notes and Comments. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Sam Lovel's Camps.— II. 

 Natural History. 



Jacob. 



Evening Grosbeak in Elmira. 



Sex Markings of Grouse. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Pattern and Penetration. 



Hunting in Florida in 1874,— rv 



New England Game Notes. 



The National Park. 

 Camp-Fire Flickerings. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



In the Land of t he Micmacs. 



Colorado Trout Streams. 



Camp Adams.— II. 



FlSHCULTURE. 



The Chemical Changes in 

 Oysters by Floating.— n. 



Sebago Lake Landlocked Sal- 

 mon. 



The Kenned. 



The Eastern Field Trials. 



Mastiff Prizes. 



Imperial Chancellor. 



Cocker Spaniels. 



Dog Licenses. 



The A. K. C. Meeting. 



Kennel Notes. 



Kennel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Trap. 

 Canoeing. 



Clubs and the A. C. A. 



A Growl from a Cruiser. 



Definition of an Amateur. 



Ottawa C. C. 

 Yachting. 



The Militia of the Sea. 



A Landsman's Cruise on a 

 Cutter. 



The Naphtha Launch. 



A Possible Cup Challenger. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



CONGRESS AND THE PARK. 



AS was foretold in these columns last week, the Eeport 

 of the Secretary of the Interior to the Congress 

 now in session, while recognizing the efficiency of Capt. 

 Harris in his charge of the Yellowstone Park, strongly 

 urges that provision be made for a civil superintendent 

 and a force of fifteen assistants. Should Congress deem 

 it best to direct that the present arrangement shall con- 

 tinue, then, the Secretary recommends, "five experienced 

 mountaineers should be employed as Park police. They 

 should be invested with the powers of deputy marshals, 

 including the power of arrest, and should be selected by 

 the military commander, and be under his control. They 

 would be of invaluable service to him in the performance 

 of his duty of preserving the Park from spoliation, and 

 the game from destruction, not only in enforcing obedi- 

 ence to law, but also as scouts, as they would be selected 

 on account of their familiarity with the geography of the 

 Park. The soldiers should not have to prosecute offenses 

 against the rules and regulations, but that duty should 

 be performed by civilians." 



Directly in line with this is the bill prepared by Senator 

 Vest, the full text of which is given elsewhere. The pro- 

 visions of this bill differ in many respects from the one 

 introduced at the last session of Congress and urged by 

 friends of the Park. It omits the important modification 

 of the Park boundaries, and it continues the military con- 

 trol, supplementing this, however, with a force of three 

 civil assistants chosen for their special fitness and ex- 

 perience as scouts and mountaineers. 



While these things, which are greatly to be desired, 

 have been omitted, the bill makes full provision to meet 

 the most pressing need of the reservation, which is the 

 punishment of offenders within the borders of the Park. 

 The laws of Wyoming are made to govern the Park with 

 respect to offenses not otherwise provided for; and a 

 commissioner, who shall reside in the Park, is given juris- 

 diction over its territory, with power to issue warrants 

 for arrest, to summarily hear evidence, and to commit 

 for trial. 



By simplifying the bill in this way and removing from 

 it all matters on which there might be room for a differ- 

 ence of opinion, Senator Vest has acted discreetly and 

 Congress can give no excuse for refusing to enact the re- 



quired law. About the enlargement of the Park bound- 

 aries members might conceive it to be their duty to de- 

 bate, but on this bare proposal to make safe the life and 

 property of the Park visitor and the Park itself, no man 

 who is not a shallow demagogue can refuse the sanction 

 of his vote. Congress should give the new bill immedi- 

 ate and unanimous passage; the sooner it becomes a law 

 the sooner will the outlaws and game butchers who defy 

 the Park guardians be brought to a punishment fitting 

 their crimes. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 

 HPHE case of Bowler vs. Davis, which has just been 

 *- decided at Hornellsville, N. Y., is instructive. A. 

 E. Bowler, a resident of Boston, was the owner of some 

 beagles, which he sent to Hornellsville for training. The 

 dogs were one day running a fox, on the lands of one 

 Davis, who, when he discovered them, promptly shot and 

 killed one and wounded another. Bowler sued to recover 

 the value of the beagles. When the case came into court 

 Davis contended that the dogs had been shot while in 

 pursuit of his sheep, but witnesses proved that they were 

 chasing a fox. The files of the Forest and Stream were 

 submitted with reports of similar cases where it had been 

 decided by the courts that dogs were to be treated as 

 property; and judgment was given against Davis for the 

 full amount of the value claimed. Much credit is due to 

 Mr. J. Otis Fellows for the active interest taken in the 

 case; to him was mainly due the successful termination 

 of the suit. 



At a meeting of the American Society for Psychical 

 Eesearch, held at Boston, last week, Prof. C. S. Minot 

 presented the report of the Committee on Experimental 

 Psychology, which had given attention to the prevalence 

 of superstition in the community. The committee had 

 sent out these questions: "Should you be influenced by 

 any feeling (whether implying belief or not is immaterial) 

 in regard to (1) sitting down thirteen at a table; (2) begin- 

 ning a voyage on Friday ; (3) on seeing the new moon 

 over the left shoulder; (4) choosing, on your own account, 

 between two otherwise equally desirable houses, one of 

 which was reputed to be haunted?" The replies showed, 

 as the report states, "that so far as our statistics go, of 

 the educated portion of our community about one man in 

 ten and two women in ten have a tendency to supersti- 

 tion, and that about four men in ten and six women in ten 

 are inclined to pay some attention to a superstition, act- 

 ually encountered." The work of the gentlemen inter- 

 ested in this field will not be complete until they have 

 studied the lingering superstitions among fishermen. 

 They would secure some valuable data by sending out a 

 series of questions to get at the prevalence of the belief in 

 the efficacy of spitting on the worm, the phases of the 

 moon, and other notions. 



Now that the New Jersey Game and Fish Protective 

 Society has secured a definite decision on the Paterson 

 dog law, why would it not be a wise thing for it to test 

 the New Jersey non-resident shooting law as well? There 

 is a wide diversity of opinion respecting the soundness of 

 that law, and many people think it unconstitutional. If 

 the Society would lay the question before some eminent 

 jurist they would have the thanks of the non-residents 

 who have been mulcted for permission to shoot at 

 game in the State. To settle the fine and so avoid fur- 

 ther trouble is the easiest way out, when a non-resident 

 is arrested in New Jersey, and so long as it remains for 

 an individual at his own expense to cany a case of this 

 character up to the higher courts, we may not reasonably 

 expect to look for a decision there. 



Some one has complained of the flood of Christmas 

 literature which overwhelms the magazine reader for a 

 month or six weeks before Christmas, and of the result- 

 ing satiety which naturally enough forbids enjoyment of 

 Christmas reading when Christmas does come. The For- 

 est and Stream has a store of capital material in readi- 

 ness for its issue of Dec. 22, which will reach all its near- 

 by readers in time to be read on Christmas day. 



was salutary and highly beneficial in its physiologic in- 

 fluences, stimulating the deer to breed and toning up 

 their systems. Commissioner Blackford is reported to 

 have held aloof from the discussion on the ground that 

 he had no practical knowledge of the subject, but if he 

 had talked on it all day he could not have said anything 

 quite so fatuous as the breeding argument of the others. 

 It is not of great moment whether or no Gen. Sherman's 

 report shall condemn the hounding law. The men who 

 make and unmake the game statutes of Albany are the 

 last beings in the world to be swayed by intelligent ad- 

 vice on such a topic. They go on the you tickle me and 

 I'll tickle you plan; and dicker and barter their votes 

 without any reference whatever to the merits of the 

 case. 



The Secretary of the Interior has done well to call the 

 attention of Congress to the necessity of providing a con- 

 tingent fund for incidental expenses in the Park. Under 

 the last appropriation the only expenditure allowed was 

 for roads, but for the protection and care of the Govern- 

 ment's property no fund was available, nor could any- 

 thing be used to conserve the objects of interest in which 

 the Park abounds. In addition to the $20,000 for the 

 Superintendent and assistants, should they be appointed 

 in compliance with his recommendation, he names 

 $7,500 for incidental expenses and $5,000 for extinguish- 

 ment of claims prior to the dedication of the Park, or as 

 much thereof as may be awarded by a duly constituted 

 commission appointed by the Secretary of the Interior; a 

 total of $32,500. The principal claim to be settled is that 

 of "Jack" Barronette, whose toll-bridge over the Yellow- 

 stone is an anomaly in the Park that ought to be quickly 

 abolished, 



Deer hounding in the Adirondacks was one of the points 

 of their forthcoming report discussed by the Fish Com- 

 missioners last Monday. Gen. Sherman, who is well 

 posted on the subject, had incorporated in the report un- 

 favorable criticism of the present law which permits 

 hounding. Commissioners Bowman and Roosevelt held 

 to the opinion that a course of mid-summer hounding 



The Government of New South Wales is advertising 

 extensively for a method or process for the extermina- 

 tion of rabbits. The conditions require that "such method 

 or process shall, in the opinion of the said Board, not be 

 injurious and shall not involve the use of any matter, 

 animal, or thing which may be noxious to horses, cattle, 

 sheep, camels, goats, swine or dogs." The prize awaiting 

 the Yankee who invents this rabbit destroyer is £25,000. 

 As hundreds of thousands of pounds have already been 

 expended in fruitless schemes to cope with the vermin, 

 the Government's proffered reward cannot be regarded 

 as extravagant. 



In a guide book recently issued by the Megantic Fish 

 and Game Club it is said that on Lake Megantic "wild- 

 fowl can be seen at every trip, affording ample opportun- 

 ity for testing firearms from the deck of the steamer." 

 They used to do the game to death in that indecent way 

 in the Dark Ages of Florida steamboat travel, but it 

 is somewhat startling to find the practice sanctioned in 

 these times by a club of sportsmen. The man who shoots 

 from a steamboat deck, killing and maiming birds just 

 for the sake of killing, is a type of gunpowder crank that 

 ought to be suppressed. 



Beaufort, North Carolina, is to have a novel exhibition 

 in the Carteret County Oyster, Fish and Game Fair, an- 

 nounced for Dec. 14 to 16. The enterprise is under the 

 patronage of the Immigration Bureau. Commissioner 

 John T. Patrick believes in the economic value of fish 

 and game as attractions for residents of other States, and 

 the display of land and water birds prepared for the edi- 

 fication of visiting sportsmen will be extensive, beautiful 

 and enticing. 



Another subject upon which there appears to be some 

 doubt in certain quarters is the constitutionality of the laws 

 which forbid the exportation of game killed in the open 

 season. This has been up before the courts, however, and 

 the law has been so fully sustained in repeated instances 

 that it may be accepted as a definitely settled principle. 



The Toy Dog Club organized in this city the other day 

 will have its hands full if it sets about the breaking up of 

 the strongholds of dog thieves and go-betweens. It might 

 also profitably devote its energies to reforming those 

 depraved dog-catchers, who are sometimes nothing more 

 nor less than licensed dog-thieves. 



The lawless elements are rampant at Otsego Lake, in 

 this State, where trout are jigged on the spawning beds, 

 and both trout and bass unlawfully taken are shipped by 

 the wholesale to market. The fishermen defy constables 

 and game protectors, and all in all it is a disgraceful 

 state of things. 



