Sept, 6, 1888.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



129 



rather more easily digested than those which are more fat, 

 and that, in like manner, the leaner kinds of fish, stick as 

 cod, haddock, perch, pike, blnefish, sole, flounder, etc., are 

 more easily and completely digested than the fatter kiuds, 

 fis salmon, shad and fat mackerel, and that for like reason 

 fish) whieTi is, in general, less fat than meat, is on the aver- 

 age more digestible^ 



'7. People differ in respect to the action of foods in the 

 digestive apparatus, and fish, like other food materials, are 

 subject to these influences of personal peculiarity.. 



One point more is worthy of remark before closing. The 

 nutritive value of food is of course decided by other factors 

 as well as by the proportion of digestible ingredients. In 

 one respect fish is peculiarly adapted to the diet of that 

 verv large class of people whose occupation involves but 

 little muscular exercise. As already explained, we con- 

 sume excessive quantities of fat. This comes with our habit 

 of eating highly fattened meats, as well as butter and lard. 

 Even when we attempt to reject the fat of the meat which 

 comes upon our tables and is served on our plates, we con- 

 sume a great deal of fat in the visible and invisible particles 

 diffused throughout the lean, Statistics of dietaries in this 

 country show the fat consumption to be enormous. Fat 

 serves as fuel, and is useful for those who do hard muscular 

 work or are exposed to severe cold. For others it is not 

 needed, and excess is a burden imposed on the system. The 

 excessive eating of fat is contrary to good economy, and 

 bygienists assure us it is a very serious damage to health, 



Fish supplies the protein which meat furnishes and which 

 is needed to build the tissues of the body without the large 

 Amounts of fat which are not needed by people of sedentary 

 habits. For brain- workers it seems to be on this account a 

 Very useful food. 



Wksleyax University, Middletown, Conn. 



SOME OBSERVATIONS UPON THE GRAYLING. 



BY DE. J. C. PAEK.EE. 

 [Read before the American Fisheries Society.] 



THE question as to whether the grayling (TTuyrmlhlS tri- 

 color), could be successfully propagated artificially be- 

 ing practically Undecided by this Commission, it was decided 

 to prepare waters as nearly in accordance with natural con- 

 ditions as possible and make as careful and systematic an 

 attempt as we could to solve it. Accordingly ponds were 

 made on the Buck Horn creek, of just sufficient depth to 

 admit of screening and through which the whole creek 

 flowed) with the hope that if placed here, they would in the 

 spring— the spawn! ug season— give us an opportunity to 

 Observe and handle them, under less difficult circumstances 

 than in their native streams. We hoped that as the Buck 

 Horn had originally been a good grayling stream, it would 

 place at oxtr disposal the most advantageous conditions. 

 The ponds being in readiness, the several members of the 

 Michigan Fish Commission proceeded on the 20th of August 

 to the west branch of the Manistee, fifteen miles from the 

 railroad station at Kalkaska, with boats, cans and camp 

 equipage, prepared to make a week of it. The fish were to 

 be captured with rod and line, it having been demonstrated 

 that this was more certain, and the results more satisfactory, 

 than any attempt to use nets of any description. The result 

 was that at the end of the week we had caught and bad in 

 excellent condition about one hundred fine specimens. 

 From live to six of these were put into a can, the temperature 

 of the water— which was comparatively low — kept down by 

 the addition of ice, and nine of these cans loaded into a 

 lumber-wagon and the journey to the station over a bouncing 

 corduroy road commenced. Only one opportunity to change 

 the water en route was affordea, but, notwithstanding all 

 this rough handling, they reached their destination with 

 only the Joss of some four or five specimens. 



During the winter they were watched and cared for, but 

 the loss was about twenty-five percent. When the spawn- 

 ing season arrived a close watch was kept to see when any 

 sians of spawn-lavintr should commence, but we watched in 

 vain. So far as could be ascertained there was nothing to 

 indicate that they bad, would, or could, ever spawn, and to- 

 day we are no nearer a. practical solution of the vexed ques- 

 tion than when we commenced During this, and a subse- 

 quent visit to the same locality, I was enabled to make some 

 observations upon their food and their habits iu feeding, 

 which may be of interest. Near the camp was a pool iu 

 which two small fish had their haunts, one about six inches 

 in length, and the other naif the size. The larger one when 

 at rest was on a bit of clean sand in plain view; the other 

 lay nnder some sunken drift wood, dark in color, and under 

 which he concealed himself, only the tip of his nose being 

 visible, and the contrast iu color corresponded exactly with 

 their resting places; the larger one was so nearly the color 

 of the sand on which he lay as hardly to be distinguished 

 from it; only when in motion as he arose to the surface for 

 his food; the other was as dark as the sticks under which he 

 lay, showing that the question of color is one of bottom 

 locality and undoubtedly a circumstance of more or less 

 light. I was somewhat surprised at the tenacity with which 

 they adhered to a locality when once domiciled in it. Three 

 or four times I drove them out of their haunts; one after- 

 noon chasing the larger one several rods up the stream only 

 to find him in the same spot the next day, and when I re- 

 turned to the same locality, after an absence of four weeks, 

 I found the same fish apparently in the same places. In 

 rising for food I never saw either of them more than a yard 

 from their haunts, and only rarely but a few inches. They 

 would detect their prey at a considerable distance and slowly 

 rise to meet it as it floated to them, and then a sudden flash, 

 and they were back to their respective resting places. The 

 deviation from the point where they lay was, from side to 

 side across the stream, hardly ever but a few inches up or 

 down. One day, when they were rising with more than 

 usual frequency, I carefully crept out on a projecting log 

 until I was nearly over them, and could watch their every 

 movement, and, with watch in hand, counted the "rises" of 

 the larger one for fifteen minutes. In this time he came to 

 the surface and secured his prey fifty times. Sometimes he 

 would rise nearly to the surface and then slowly settle down 

 again, but whenever he actually seized anything he was 

 back to his haunt again with a motion so quick the eye 

 could scarcely follow him. After considerable observation 

 I could detect the particular insect I was sure he would rise 

 for, sometimes before he would show any motion iu that 

 direction. Watching his quick, unerring sight, and his 

 ahility to detect what was food, and what was not, led me 

 into some generalizations on what their food really was, 

 that were new to me. 



In eviscerating fish for any purpose, I have always been in 

 the habit of examining the contents of the stomach, and the 

 stomach of the grayling had always puzzled me by the 

 ^'.antity of vegetable matter so often found in it; but 

 the a priori conclusion was that he was necessarily a carni- 

 vorous, or insectivorous fish; the thought that he was a 

 vegetarian as well, never occurred to me. I had observed 

 that the fronds of the white cedar— arbor vitce— were quite 

 usually among the contents of t he stomach, but I had always 

 considered it as something adventitious, an accident, occur- 

 ring in the procuring of his food, and not deliberately taken. 

 But a somewhat singular circumstance that occurred upon 

 this last expedition staggered me somewhat. On the after- 

 noon of the day of my arrival, after the tent was pitched, 

 and camp life organized, I proceeded to a pool below a flood- 

 ing dam near camp, thinking I could secure enough grayling 

 for the supper of myself and little daughter, who accom- 

 panied me. I succeeded in securing two nice ones, weighing 

 probably about six or eight ounces each, and upon dressing 



them and examining the stomachs as usual, judge of my 

 surprise upon finding one of them full of oats'; there were 

 eight kernels stored away in first-class style, and my first 

 question was, where in the name of the Prophet could they 

 have come from, for I knew that there wasn't a spear of grain 

 growing within a dozen miles of this pool and the condition 

 the grain was in showed that they could have been in the 

 stomach but a short time. I finally solved the mystery by 

 remembering that the man who brought us out— we arrived 

 about uoou~-fed his hor«es some oats at a point just above 

 the pool, and the grain was either blown into the water or 

 carelessly thrown in by some one. I frequently found in 

 their stomachs portions* of the leaves and Heeds of the water 

 plants growing in the streams. Among the latter was in 

 several instances a round seed about as large as a No. 4 shot, 

 which 1 at first thought was a nlollil.sk, a species of spherium, 

 but on examining it with a glass what appeared to the naked 

 eye to be the striatums of the shell proved to be the venation 

 of the seed. It may be urged against the vegetarian theory 

 that many fish take that which in no way resembles their 

 ordinary food, as the artificial fly and the different varieties 

 of spoon and spinning baits, and that this particular fish 

 could in no way have had any previous knowledge of oats as 

 food, and consequently the taking of it must be in the nature 

 of a freak rather than a habit, but I do not remember to have 

 ever found in the stomachs of other fish any substance other 

 than their food but which could be accounted for as acci- 

 dental, while in the grayling the presence of vegetable 

 matter in some forms is of so frequent an occurrence as to 

 point strongly to the fact, that a part of their food at least 

 is vegetable. 



Another point in favor of this theory is the peculiar flavor 

 of the fish and that which has given it its specific name. It 

 is a well-known fact that the flesh of all animals is to a 

 greater or less degree flavored by its food. Now, if this fish 

 Jed upon exactly the same materials as the brook trout, 

 could there be a reasonable doubt but what its flesh would 

 taste like that of the trout, while the fact is. that it is dis- 

 tinctly different. 



You are probably aware of the difference between a liver- 

 fed trout and one caught in its native wilds; a difference so 

 patent, that a person relying upon the taste alone would pro- 

 nounce t hem an entirely different fish. One thing is certain, 

 whatever its food is, it must have existed in unlimited 

 quantities to have supported such a large multitude of this 

 fish as absolutely swarmed in the northern streams of this 

 State at an early day. D. A. Blodget, now living at Grand 

 Rapids (and one of the pioneers of the Muskegon at the 

 I -fersy branch) told me that when he first built a dam at the 

 mouth of this stream, that in the spring, during the spawn, 

 ing season, when the grayding were trying to find their way 

 to the spawning grounds, that he has seen the inhabitants 

 fill the box of a common lumber wagon full of this fish in a 

 few hours and carry them out into the country, not only one 

 such load, but half a dozen, each spring for several sue 

 cessive y T ears, while as many moi*e must have been taken 

 away iu "smaller quantities, aud he estimated the quantity 

 taken by tons each year; that during the first wiuter he spent 

 there, he. supplied his table with this fish by taking a com- 

 mon nail-rod and sharpening it with bis axe, and cutting a 

 barb on it with the same tool, and going to any of the bends 

 in the stream, and cutting a hole in the ice, he could in a 

 little while get all he wanted by thrusting this primitive 

 spear at random into the waters beneath; and as the number 

 of fish that any stream can furnish is to a great extent 

 limited ouly by'the food supply, it seems that so great a 

 number as 'was then found, not ouly in this particular 

 stream, but in most all the streams in which they were 

 found, must have had some food in much greater abundance 

 than what is usually found in our ordinary trout streams. 

 Git and Eapids, Mich. 



the same condition as on the 13th. About 100 dead fish 

 were found on the 14th. The crate was lifted on the 18th; 

 no change could be seen. On the 24th the crate was again 

 lifted, and some of the young had turned to a light green, 

 the color of a herring a year old. On March 24 another 

 crate was sunk, containing 5,000 fry. This was lifted on 

 the 28th, and two dead fish were found in the crate. At 

 this date the first crate sunk contained fish forty-fi ve days 

 old that had been under the ice twenty-eight days About 

 the last of March the ice moved out of the bay, thus pre- 

 venting any further systematic observations. Later on the 

 submerged" crates were recovered, but the wire screens had 

 become filled with sediment, caused by the rolling of the 

 water consequent upon the breaking up of the ice, and no 

 live fish were found in them. This closed the experiments 

 for that year-; and circumstances prevented their continu- 

 ance this spring. 

 Grand Rapids, Mich. 



THE NEW HAMPSHIRE HATCHERY.— The new 

 hatchery at Plymouth, which replaces the one burned last 

 full, is how completed. It is 26* by 55ft. and has a capacity 

 of two million eggs. The work of hatching salmon and 

 trout, which was "interrupted by the fire last year, will 

 now go on in the new building, which is a decided improve- 

 ment on the old affair. 



hnmh 



Dogs: TJicir Management and Treatment in Disease. By 

 Ash-mont. Price #2. Kennel Record and Account Book. 

 Price $3. Training vs. Breaking. By 8. T. Hammond. 

 Price $1. First Lessons in Dog Training, with Points of 

 all Breeds. Price 25 cents. 



REPORT OF THE NEW YORK FISHERY COM- 

 MISSION. 



WE have the sixteenth report of the Commissioners of 

 Fisheries of New York for 1837, including the man- 

 agement of the hatcheries, the superintendence of the game 

 and fish protectors, and the oyster franchises. At the hatch- 

 eries at Caledonia, Cold Spring Harbor, Adirondack and 

 Fulton Chain the number of fish produced was larger 

 than usual, and there were distributed 3.227.000 lake trout, 

 1,620,945 brook trout. 392,985 brown trout, 951,000 rainbow 

 trout, 4^7,150 sea salmon, 61,950 landlocked salmon, 6,526,000 

 shad, 1,977,000 whitefish, 200,000 frostfish, 3,400,000 tomcods, 

 31,500 Loch Leven trout, 5,000 saiblingand 6,000 white perch, 

 a total of 20,879,531 tish of the several kinds, the streams aud 

 lakes stocked and all details being given in the reports of 

 the superintendents of the different hatcheries. 



The shad catch in the Hudson was larger than that of any 

 season during the past three years, being 1.568,634; but the 

 law requiring shad nets to be taken up one day in each week 

 so as to permit a free run to the spawning grounds, is of no 

 utility, because a clause confines its application to that part 

 of the river above Westchester county where it is not needed, 

 the blockade being below. 



The report is very full, covering 223 pages, and contains 

 much that is interesting on the subject of fishculture, especi- 

 ally in the reports of the superintendents, where various 

 questions are discussed. It has been delayed so long by the 

 State printer that it has not the freshness that it should 

 have, and the next report ought to be ready by the coming 

 of the new year in order to be of use. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH THE FRY OF WHITEFISH 



BZ DE. J. C. PAEKEB. 

 [Read before the American Fihheries Society.] 



THE question as to whether the young of the whitefish 

 would find food and live when planted out of season 

 much earlier than at the time they usually mature had been 

 one of much discussion among those interested in fishculture 

 in Michigan, it being generally thought that while the 

 lakes were filled with ice the temperature of the water 

 would be so low that there would be no organisms upon 

 which the young fish could feed, and, consequently, starva- 

 tion would ensue. To test this question Superintendent 

 Marks directed the overseer, Mr. A. W. Marks, of Petoskey 

 Station, of the Michigan Fish Commission, to institute cer- 

 tain experiments and to report the same to the Board. The 

 report is as follows: 



On March 1, 1887, a small screen or crate made of wood 

 and wire netting, three feet long and four and a half in di- 

 n meter, in the form of a cylinder, was placed through the 

 ice in Little Traverse Bay, iu 100 feet of water, and 10,000 

 whitefish placed in the crate and lowered to the bottom 

 with a strong rope. On March 5 the crate was raised and 

 the young fry were nearly all alive, only six dead ones 

 found. On March 10 the crate was raised again and twelve 

 dead fish were found. The fry had turned to a light brown, 

 the yolk sac was nearly absorbed and the fish seemed in 

 good health. On March 12 the crate was again raised and 

 some of the fry taken out and brought home; also a jug of 

 water from the bottom and another from the top was taken. 

 One drop of this was placed under a strong glass and life 

 could be seen very plentiful. The stomach of one of the 

 small fish and a dron of the water was placed under the 

 glass and it was found to be full of diatoms and vegetable 

 matter. The diatoms seemed to be working around the 

 small pieces of vegetable matter; the sac of the fry had 

 been absorbed and they were feeding upon the vegetable 

 matter and the animalcule. On March 14 the crates were 

 again lifted, and the fish seemed to be doing well in a.bout 



FIXTURES. 



DOG SHOWS. 



Sept. 11 to 14.— First Dog Show of the Buffalo Internationa] Fair 

 Association, at Buffalo, N. Y. Entries clise Sept. 1. C. W. Rob- 

 iuson. Secretary. . , „ . . , 



SfDt. 18 to 21-DogSliow of the Westmoreland County Agricul- 

 tural Society, at Greansburg, Pa. John S. Sell, Secretary. En- 

 tries close Sept. 15. , 



Sept. 18 to 21.— Third Annual Dog Show of the Westmoreland 

 County Agricultural Society at Greensburg, Pa. H. 8. Branot, 



Sept. 18 'to 21.— First Annual Dog Show of the Svraeuse Kennel 

 Club, at Sviacuse. N. Y. Howard B. Ratbbouc, Secretary. 



Sept. 24 to 27 —Filth Dog Show at London, Ont. C. A. Stone 

 Superintendent. „ . . . „. , 



gfept. 25 to 28.— Second Annual Dog Show of the Bristol Park 

 Agricultural Society. Bristol, Conn. Entries close Sept. 22. C. 

 F. Barnes, Secretary. _ M 



Oof. 2 to 5.— National Exposition Dog Sl>ow, Kansas City. Mo. 

 0, R. Evans, Manager, Room 16, New England Building. Kansas 

 City. Mo. 



Oct. 9 to 12.-First Dog Show of the Virginia Field Sports Asso- 

 ciation, at Richmond, Va. B. H. Grundy, Secretary, Room 26, 

 Shafer Building. Entries close 0<-t. 1. 



Oct. 23 to 20.— Second Annual Show of fl e St. Paul and Minne- 

 sota Kennel Club, at St. Paul, Minn. J. E. Stryker, Secretary, 

 Room 93 Globe Building. 



Nov. to 1C— Dog Show of the Richmond County Poultry aud 

 Pet Stock Association, in connection with Augusta National Ex- 

 position at Augusta, Ga. H. Madden. Super mendent. 



Jan. 15 to 19, 1889.— Seventh Annual Dog Show of the Southern 

 Massachusetts Poultry Association, at New Bedford, Mass. F. 

 W. Dean, Secretary. 



Feb 12 to IS, 1R89.-Fifth Dog .Show of the New Jersev Kennel 

 Club, at Jersey City, N. J. Geo. L. Wilms, Secretary, 112 Monti- 

 cello avenue. Jer- ey C'tv, N. J. ~ . . 



Feb. 19 to 22, 1)389.— Thirteenth Annual Show of the Westminster 

 Kennel Club. New Yoik. James Mortimer, Superintendent. 



Fe"h. 26 to March 1, 1889.— Second Annual Show of the Rerssalaer 

 Kennel Club, Troy, K. Y. Alba M. Ide. Secretary. 



March 5 to 8, 1889,-Secoud Annual Fog Show of the Albany 

 Kennel Club, at Albany, N. Y. Geo. B. Gallup, Secretary. 



March 12 to 15, 18,89.— Second Annual Show of the Fort Schuyler 

 Kennel Club, Utica, N. Y. James \V. Dun lop. President. 



March 19 to 22, 1889.— Firot Annual Dog Show of Cue Maryland 

 Kennel Club, at Baltimore, Mti. W. S. Diffendei Her, Secretary. 



March 23 to 29, 1889.— First Annual Dog Show of the Massachu- 

 setts K ivnel Club, at Lvun. Mass. D. A. Williams. Secretary. 



April 2 to 5, 1889.— First Annual Show of the Rochester Kennel 

 Club, at Ro" tleSter, N. Y. Harry Yatej, Secretary. 



April 9 to 12, 1889— First Annual Doar Show of the Masf outah 

 Kennel Club, at Chicago, III. John L. Lincoln, Jr., Secretary. 



Feb. 1 to 7, 1889.— First Annual Dog Show of the Columbus 

 Fanciers' Club at Columbus, O. TI103. R. Sparrow, Secretary. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



Sept. 11.— Third Annual Field Trials ot the Manitoba Field 

 Trials Club. Derby entries close July 1. All- Aged entries Aug. 1. 

 Thop. Johnson, Secretary, Winnipeg, Manitoba. 



^ov. 1.— Second Annual Field Trials of tne Indiana Kennel 

 Club, at Bicknell, ind. P. T. Madison, Secretary, Indianapolis, 



Nov. 19.— Tenth Annual Field Trials of the Eastern Field Trials 

 Club, at High Point, N. C. (Members' Stane, Nov. 15.) W. A. 

 Coster, Secretary, Saratoga Springs, N. Y. 



Dec. 3.— First Annual Field Trials of the Sou' hern Field Trial 

 Clun, at .djnory, Miss. T. M. Brumby, Secretary, Chattanooga, 



Dee. 10.— Second Annual Field Trials of the American Field 

 Trials Clun, at West Point, Miss. C. W. Paris, Secretary, Cincin- 

 nati, i-i, 1889.— Sixth Annual Field Trials of the Pacific Coast 

 Field Trial Club, at Bakersfiel.i, Cal. N. P. Sheldon, Secretary, 

 320 Sansome street Sar Francisco, Cal. 



COURSING. 



Oct. 15.— Third Annual Meeting of the American Ooursing Club 

 at Great Bend, Kan. F. K. Doan, Secretary, 1210 Olive street, St 

 Louis, Mo. 



A. K. R.-SPECIAL NOTICE. 



THE AMERICAN KENNEL REGISTER, for the registration 

 of pedigrees, etc. (with prize lists of all shows and trials;, is 

 published every month. Entries close on the 1st. Should he in 

 early. Entry blanks sent on receipt of stamped and addressed 

 envelope. Registration fee (50 cents) must accompany each entry. 

 No entries inserted unless paid in advance. Yearly subscription 

 $1.50. Address "American Kennel Register," P. O. Box 2832, New 

 York. Number of entries afi-eady printed 6512. 



THE COON'S WHICKER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I was somewhat amused at the doubt expressed by some 

 of your correspondents in regard to coon cries; and even 

 one denied that they ever made any. Why, any country 

 boy whose father had a corn field near his woods or sugar 

 bush would tell you different. How well I remember the 

 discomfort a young scamp gave us, who could imitate the 

 particular cry or "whicker" to perfection. In fact a rac- 

 coon has two different cries, one short, the other prolonged 

 or rather repeated. The juvenile I spoke of could entice, us 

 into the deep woods, deceiving even old coon hunters, but 

 not the dogs; and after cracking our shins and scratching 

 our faces trying to locate the animal or to persuade the dogs 

 to hunt where there wasn't any coon and they knew it, we 

 found out from the chuckling that the varmint was a two- 

 legged one. 



Yes, coons do holler at night. J ACOBSTAFJT. 



