308 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 8, 1888. 



here are exceptionally strong. Particulars later. Ducks 

 not so plentiful as they have been known, but some shoot- 

 ing up the river. The snow storm of a few days back 

 sent down a scurry of ducks, but no really severe weather 

 has yet been felt in this section. . t 



Chicago, 111., Nov. 3.— Mr. John Gillespie is absent at 

 Fox Lake, after the ducks, which are down in sufficient 

 numbers to tempt him. Some good bags have been made 

 when the shooter "caught 'em right." I shall soon in- 

 vestigate this duck question here, and find out what s the 

 matter with the ducks. They're not all right. 



I shipped a goose from Kansas to some Chicago friends. 

 Fearing that it might taint, I took the advice of a Kansas 

 man and stuffed the goose with "excelsior," or fine wood 

 shavings, saturating the latter pretty well with camphor. 

 I learn that the goose got here all right, and so did the 

 camphor. Mv friends didn't particularly like camphor- 

 etted goose, but not being very well up on such matters 

 they ate the bird as a matter of duty, thinking it was the 

 correct thing. As near as I can learn that goose com- 

 manded the entire respect of the insect world, and came 

 near casting a gloom on the household that received it. 

 I would say to fellow sportsmen that, while camphor may 

 be very good to preserve the feathers of a goose, I 

 couldn't recommend it for the rest of the anatomy; not 

 as a flavoring. It has too wild and weird a tang, even 

 for a Canada honker. E. Hotjgh. 



NEW YORK GAME PROTECTORS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your very valuable article relating to the office of 

 Chief Game and Fish Protector, published in Forest and 

 Stream three or four weeks since, you locate Chief Fish 

 and Game Protector Drew at Mechanicsville, and a letter 

 mailed to that address on the 12th of October only reached 

 this office yesterday, Mr. Drew's headquarters are in the 

 Capitol, Albany; his residence is at Washington Mills. 

 Oneida county. I inclose a list of the game and fish pro- 

 tectors, giving the address, number of district, etc., of 

 each. Chief Gime and Fish Protector Frederick P. 

 Drew, on the 20th October, assigned to the several fish 

 and game protectors their districts as follows: 



District No. 1. Robert Brown, Jr., Port Richmond, S. I.— Coun- 

 ties of Richmond, Kings. Queens and Suffolk. 



District No. 2. Willott Kidd, Newbuigh— Counties of Orange, 

 Rockland, Ulster, Westchester, New York and Putnam. 



District No. 3. Matthew Kennedy, Hudson— Counties of Colum- 

 bia, Rensselaer, Albany, Greene and Dutchess. 



District No. 4. Seymour C. Armstrong, Reparius— Counties of 

 Wamn, Sa>atoga and Washington. 



District No. 5. J. W r . Pond, Malone— Counties of Franklin, Clin- 

 ton and Essex. 



District No. 0. Peter R.Leonard, Ogdensburgh— Comity of St. 

 Lawrence. 



District No. 7. George Moyer. Lowville— Counties of Lewis, 

 Herkimer and that part of Hamilton lying north of continuation 

 of south line of Esses county. 



District No. 8. Thomas Bradley, Rockwood— Counties of Ful- 

 ton, Montgomery and that portion of Hamilton lying south of 

 continuation of south line of Essex county. 



District No. 9. Francisco Wood, Schoharie— Counties of Scho- 

 harie, Schenectady. Delaware, Sullivan, Chenango and Broome. 



District No. 10. Chief Protector F. P Drew— Counties of Oneida, 

 Madison and Otsego. 



District No. 11. Wm. N. Steele, Clayton— Counties of Jefferson, 

 Oswego, Onondaga and Cortland. 



District No. 13. Henry O.Carr, Union Springs— Counties of Cay- 

 uga, Tioga, Tompkins, W ayne and Seneca. 



District No. 13. John Sheridan, Penn Yan— Counties of Yates, 

 Schuyler, Cuemung, Steuben, Allegany and Cattaraugu3. 



District No. 14. George M. Schwartz, Rochester— Counties of 

 Monroe, Orleans, Wyoming. Ontario, Livingston and Genesee. 



District No. 15. Charles Ripon, Youngstown— Counties of Nia- 

 gara, Erie and Chatauqua. 



John Liberty, Clerk. 

 Chief Game and Fish Protector's Oefice, Albany, N.Y., Nov. 1. 



W. Fred Qulmby, who is known to sportsmen not only 

 as a crack shot at the trap, but also as the sole manu- 

 facturer of the Thomson sole leather hunting boots and 

 shoes and other necessaries of a sportsman's outfit, is con- 

 templating a change of quarters from his old stand at 

 801 Broadway, N. Y. By diligent attention to business 

 and an artistic cultivation of the trade, he has so in- 

 creased his business that this move is made imperative, 

 particularly as he has taken the agency for a number of 

 new specialties, of which our readers are duly ap- 

 prised through our advertising columns. Just where he 

 will locate is not yet determined, but it will be somewhere 

 near his present staud, and when comfortably settled, it 

 will be in order for the boys to give him a house warm- 

 img. 



Of an AuiTHME'iiCAL Turn of Mind. — Aurora, 111., 

 Oct. 29. — In his article headed "A Day's Shooting in 

 'My Maryland'," as published in your issue of the g0bh 

 inst , "Josephus" states that he and his companion B. "got 

 sixty-six partridges." Then he acids. "B. had three more 

 partridges than I." As a matter of curiosity 1 Would like 

 to know how many partridges each had at the end of that 

 day's shooting?— Hoodoo. 



WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



Wild Fowl Shooting. Containing scientific and practical 

 descriptions of wild fowl; their resorts, habits, flights and the 

 most successful method of hunting them. Treating of the 

 selection of guns for wild fowl shooting; how to load, aim and 

 to use them; decoys, and the proper manner of using them; 

 blinds, how and where to construct them; boats, how to use 

 and build them scientifically; retrievers, their characteristics, 

 how to select and train them. By William Bruce Leflingwell. 

 Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1888. Supplied by the Forest 

 and Stream Pttli. Co. Illustrated, 873 pages. Price, in cloth, 

 $2.50; in morocco, $3.50. 



HERE is a man who, instead of outgrowing his early enthusiasm 

 for duck shooting, or suffering his ardor to be diminished by 

 the crowning concerns of his vocation, has cherished the sports- 

 man's spirit, and now writes from a full heart a volume generous 

 in scope and brimful of that sentiment which makes all sports- 

 men akin. William Bruce Leflingwell has gained by life long de- 

 votion to the sport of wild fowl shooting a knowledge of the ways 

 of the game, the modes of securing it, and the thousand and one 

 details which go to make up the pursuit of fowling; and his book 

 has been written with the express purpose of supplying to others 

 the practical knowledge which he himself sought for in books in 

 vain. „ 

 "Wild Fowl Shooting" is first of all practical. It describes aU 

 the different fowl, so that from the text of this book a specimen 

 in hand can be identified. Practical and useful also are tbe exact 

 directions as to the mode of procedure in the art of circumvent- 

 ing, getting the better of, and as the legal phrase has, it "reducing 

 to possession" whatever ducks are living. Loading, choice of 

 ammunition, dress, boats, decoys, blinds, dogs, and the tricks, 

 devices and appurienances of this sport, are all hero set forth, 

 and the teaching is that of experience. 



If hi highest decree practical, " Wild Fowl Shooting" is none the 

 less full of sent imeiH— the sentiment shared by all who huut 

 du CBS from the, pure love of it, not because it is "the thing," nor 

 because they see some nno else enjoy it and vainly imagine that 

 they will delignt in it too. A duck hunter is born, not made. He 

 must have it 'born in him." To such a one the pages of this book i 



of LefHngwell's will appeal, all the way through it, from begin- 

 ning to end. He will follow the author's narration of experience 

 and adventure with rare delight; and many a winter's evening, 

 we predict, will be spent by the readers of this book in delightful 

 "fireside travels" with the author. 



It only remains to add that the work is handsomely bound, and 

 properly illustrated with careful drawings of the several species 

 of wildfowl and numerous representations of their pursuit. The 

 following excerpts from the chapter on the wood duck will give a 

 notion of Mr. LefHngwell's style: 



The wood duck, or summer duck, is the most beautiful in color 

 and plumage of any of the duck species. The glossy brilliancy of 

 the soft, dense feathers, the perfect blending of all the colors- 

 completing all imaginable shades— makes the summer duck one 

 of inrlescri bable beauty. We have all, time and again, seen sights 

 that were impressed so deeply upon our minds, that time could 

 not blot them out; still, the beautiful images carved in our 

 memories, standing in relief, like a cameo, emblazoned on our 

 minds, we could not impart to others; we knew they were there, 

 we constantly see t hem, and yet the words at our command are 

 inadequate to tell of the hidden splendor we see so clearly, yet 

 cannot describe. So one feels, Avheu he attempts to paint with 

 words, the brilliant plumage of the summer duck. There is not a 

 bird that visits the North iu field, forest or stream, that can com- 

 pare with this one in magnificent coloring. They are rightly 

 named summer duck, they are so different from all others. We 

 are apt to associate duck;;, and perhaps correctly too, with cold 

 and inclement weather, and when we have the one we anticipate 

 the other. But the summer ducks come in mild weather, stay 

 with us, breed and bring up their young along running creeks, 

 where alders and maples, willows and birch bend fraternally 

 toward each other across some babbling brook, their topmost 

 limbs intertwining affectionately, exchanging friendly griet- 

 ings with each other as the night and day winds of summer cause 

 them to gently rub together. 



Such are the places these pretty birds frequent and bring up 

 their young. They love to swim in the shallow water, male and 

 female together, surrounded by tiny forms of yellow, their young, 

 all busily engaged iu nipping tender buds, picking un seeds, or 

 chasing some fat bug as it twinkles on the water. How happy 

 they are in such places! Swimming at the side and under over- 

 hanging banks, that seem like huge bluffs in comparison with 

 their diminutive bodies, turning their little heads sidewise as 

 they watch a fly or grasshopper, as it clings to some waving blade 

 of grass, just on tbe brink of the shore, and watching it with still 

 greater interest as ii dies or jumps so q uickly down on some moss- 

 covered stone, their little stomachs craving the delicacy, while 

 their father and mother watch them with pride and solicitous 

 interest. Then to see them when a fly or bugdrops into the water; 

 the whole flock scramble for it in haste, pell-mell, the fortunate 

 one gulps it down, fearing no indigestion, while the others, 

 foiled, but not discouraged, swim on more determined than before. 

 When they reach some old sunken log, its black body anchored in 

 the shallow water, the little ones discover a perfect horde of 

 bugs floating at its edge. The mother clambers oa to the log, 

 and basking in the sunshine, preens herself, stands up to her 

 extreme height, then on her tip-toes, rapidly flits her wings to 

 sustain her body, while the sun shines warmly and brightly oh 

 her, bringing plainly to view the golden red and purple of her 

 Wings, her dusky hea-l shaded with green, the pure white of her 

 dainty throat, and the yellow and mottled brown of her body. 

 We admire her beauty, and yet. when we look at her mate, as he 

 swims about in the shadow of the trees, then emerging into the 

 open and unobstructed light, the beauty of the female is made 

 feeble by the comparison. He looks at his mate admiringly, as 

 she sits on the log, her bright eyes constantly watching with 

 maternal care the young brood at her feet. The male constantly 

 calls with plaintive cry, whee-'Whee, commencing iu a modulated 

 quivering tone, and ending about four notes higher, dwelling on 

 and prolonging the last note. Such a mellow call it is, so sweet 

 and full of solicitude. Its plaintiveness has often reminded me 

 of the mournful cry of the turtle dove, 



"Sweet bird that shunn'st the noise of folly, 

 Most musical, most melancholy." 



The drake, noticing the handsome coloring of the reflected 

 feathers of his quiet mate as she sits so quietly in the bright sun- 

 shine, while not jealous of his spouse, at the same time, thinks he 

 too is clothed in gaudy raiment. Suddeulyhe springs up aud 

 alights on the outstretched limb of an old dead tree, whose trunk 

 is whitened with age aud the action of the elements. How strange 

 he seems up so high, resting contentedly and at home on the limb. 

 He appears out of place, sitting so complacently m the tree, and 

 yet he is doing nothing uncommon, nothing unusual; for not only 

 does he aud his mate alight In trees, but they often build their 

 nests in its crotches, and raise their young until strong enough 

 to partially care for themselves. It looks odd to see them in trees; 

 about as strange and out of place as would a turkey or chicken 

 be swimming iu the water. As the drake alights on the tree, he 

 settles in the fuU light of the midday summer's sun; the warm 

 winds play through grass and t rees; pond-lilies, in snowy white- 

 ness or in yellow bonnets, nod gently in response to the 

 breeze, as it moves so quietly over the" rippling water, carry- 

 ing to the secreted hunter delicate and sensuous perfumes. 

 The drake gazes intently in the distance, as if his sharp 

 eyes could penetrate woods and fields, and furtively looks 

 around, as if anticipating the aoproaeh of an enemv. He sees 

 nothing to alarm him, hears nothing but tbe faint tiukle of a bell, 

 emitting its irregular and not unmusical sound as the bell-cow 

 walks slowly along, grazing on the bottom-grass. He bends his 

 head gracefully, and looks down on his mate and their progeny. 

 Each turn of his head, every movement of his body, discloses 

 some new brilliancy of plumage, and he app< ars like a tropical 

 bird, strayed from paltnettoes and fig trees, and lost amid the 

 woods of the North. It seems to us that such as he would feel 

 lost, in a climate like ours, even in midsummer, for never in 

 Northern woods has his equal in beauty been seen. Looking at 

 him as he sits there, we wonder if he really knows how exceed- 

 ingly handsome he is; his clean-cut head, making a perfect out- 

 line against the blue sky; his bright, sparkling eyes inclosed 

 with lids of deepest carmine; the long tufi descending from the 

 back of his head, and floating in a graceful plume down his 

 neck; the upper part of his head between the eye and bill a 

 deep green, so gorgeous in the sun's bright rays that it looks 

 highly polished and seems to cast off sparks of variegated 

 colors, as it merges into purple and runs down his neck, 

 exposing a lhroat of purest whiteness. Then we notice his 

 back of reddish brown; the rump of similar color tinged 

 vita green; then greenish black, and theu his plumage runs 

 torn dense black to purest white, combining all the coloring iua- 

 ginable, and adding to these tinges light and dark shades and 

 reflected shadows that are simply indescribable— I have often 

 looked at a rainbow, with, all the perfect and beautiful colors 

 know to Nature, and yet it seems to me that a summer duck has 

 them all. Has the reader ever seen the summer ducks at home 

 raising their broods? If you have, and studied them unseen, or 

 unheard, watching them in their wild freedom, showiug their 

 peculiar traits, tenderly guarding their young on a summer's af- 

 ternoon, while you lay full length in the grass, securely hidden, 

 watching with growing interest each movement, entranced by 

 the scene, completely carried away with the changing beauty, 

 and the brilliant plumage of tbe birds, you will know why I ad- 

 mire the summer duck. 



Their flight through the woods is very swift, and at dusk, they 

 move from place to place, darting rapidly among the trees. In 

 marshy places, they are found in little open spots, around brush 

 piles and muskrar, houses. They are good eating, but afford me 

 the more pleasure seeiag them in the woods, and I never shoot 

 them unless there are no other ducks to be found. 



A Dining Cab Link to the Pacific Coast.— The completion of the all rail 

 line between Portland, Ore., and San Francisco gives the Pacific coast trav- 

 eler an opportunity to patronize the famous Dining Car and Yellowstone 

 Park Line, the Northern Pacitle Katlroad. The sportsman traveling in the 

 West, whether a lover of the rod or gun, naturally seeks this road, pene- 

 trating as it does the lake park region of Minnesota, and running tlirough 

 the valleys of such trout streams as the Yellowstone, Gallatin, Hell Gate, 

 Clark's Fork, Spokane, Yakima and Green Rivers, for a distance of fully 

 1,500 miles, as well as lying immediately contiguous to the finest hunting 

 grounds in the United States, viz., The Big Horn, Snowy Belt, Bitter Root, 

 Coour D'Alene and Cascade Moutitains. Information in regard to this 

 region can be obtained by addressing Chables S. Fee, General PasaeDger 

 and Ticket Agent, N.R. R., P. Sc. Paul. Minn.— Adv. 



Castroville, Cal., Oct. 22, 1888 — Mr. J. H. Barlow, Manaijer 

 Ideal MTg Co.: Dear Sir: The measurer forwarded by you came 

 to hand yesterday, and is certainly very neat and handy. I have 

 used the tools considerably since i received them, and like them 

 more and more as 1 get accustomed to them. That combined ro- 

 und de-capper, loader and extractor, and I might add, in an 

 emergency, toothpick, nut cracker and handy billy, is a credit, 

 both to the inventor and manufacturer. Thanking you for hav- 

 ing attended so promptly to so trivia] a matter, I remain, yours 

 truly, E. B. Gregorv.— Adv. 



hn mtd Stiver 



Angling Talks. By George Dawson. Price 50 cents. Fly- 

 Rods mid Fly-Tackle. By H. P. Wells. Price $2.50. Fly- 

 Fishing and Fly-Making for Trout. By J. Hi Keene. 

 Price $1.50. American Angler's Book. By Thad, Norris. 

 Price $5.50. 



TROUT IN COLORADO. 



CHICAGO, 111., Oct. 81.— The last coherent recollection 

 I have of ray recent Colorado trip is that I was try- 

 ing to count the trout streams on the D. & R. G. R. R. 

 between Pueblo and Durango. It is not certain that I 

 got them all, but such as are mentioned are genuine 

 trout streams,. which afford good fishing, where he who 

 runs may catch trout. The following is a partial list. 



The headwaters of the Arkansas, from a point twelve 

 miles above CafLon Oity, are said to hold trout, though 

 this stream is fished much more than the others men- 

 tioned. The Rio Grande is a noble stream, full of noble 

 fish. It supplied carloads of trout for the market when 

 the State law permitted the sale of trout, and for years it 

 has been fished by dozens and hundreds whose individual 

 rapacity made the only limit to the catch. The Rio 

 Grande is also much used for irrigating purposes. There 

 is no State law requiring a farmer or ditch owner to pro- 

 tect the head of a ditch by a screen, and as a consequence 

 the trout run out into the ditches. When the water is 

 turned off, the dead trout are shoveled out of the ditches 

 by the wagonload. Tbe State pays no attention to this 

 outrage, and the grangers oppose any act toward putting 

 in the ditch screens. There is a limit to all things, and 

 there is a limit for even the prolific Rio Grande. This 

 year the trout supply is perceptibly less. In a few years 

 more the same old story will have to be told, and the Rio 

 Grande will be a troutles? stream. This stream has al- 

 ways furnished abundance of feed, and its fish have, in 

 consequence, been noted for their great size. A 4lbs. 

 trout is not unusual. One of 11 lbs. weight is on record. 

 A Mr. Pocahu once opened a beaver dam on a little tribu- 

 tary of the Rio Grande, and took out twelve trout whose 

 united weight was 1081bs. This last information was 

 given me by Mr. H. "W. Morse, of Pueblo. The mountain 

 trout of Colorado run large. Mr. L. E. Franck, of Canon 

 City, lately took four, each of which was over 32in. in 

 length. This was in the Eagle River, below Red Cliff. 

 A 5lbs. trout was once killed with a stick at Del Norte, on 

 the Rio Grande. Alamosa, Del Norte and Wagon Wheel 

 Gap are the points to strike for the Rio Grande fishing. 



The Conejos River is a beautiful little stream, and 

 affords good sport. So does the Las Pinas, said to be the 

 first stream in the State to clear up for fly-fishing. The 

 trout ascend this stream to the big gorge and fall back, 

 lying in great numbers in the water near below. 



The Chama is a broad and lovely river, such as will 

 drive the artist and the angler wild. It is reached via 

 the railway station of that name. The scenery along 

 this stream is bewitching. It lies also in a game country. 



The Brazos, about fourteen miles back from Chama, is 

 a nearly virgin stream. There is no end to the trout one 

 can take there. Here, as elsewhere in Colorado, the kind 

 of fly is not of great importance, since the iish are un- 

 educated. The coachman is very killing. 



The Navajo is another rattling mountain river. Its 

 best fishing is back from the railway. It is a panorama 

 of beauty. All this, and if possible more, may be said of 

 the San Juan, which pours a noble flood mile' after mile 

 along the railway, enough to drive a trout angler wild. 



The Blanco, the Piedra, the Florida, are all entrancing 

 mountain rios, at which a hundred trout a day for a task 

 would be a mere bagatelle. The Animas, a distance up 

 from Durango, holds good trout, and the Pine River, near 

 La Boca and above, is a pure river of joy and utter peace. 



How many other streams there are in this wonderful 

 region I do not know. I only know that it seemed to me 

 I had found a new country, and my chief emotion was 

 one of absolute wonder that people will fool away time 

 and money around the Adirondacks and Rangeleys, when, 

 this beautiful, beautiful, beautiful country isliere, full of 

 nature and nature's most exquisite work. 



It was very difficult, as I believe I mentioned in an 

 earlier column, for me to leave the big mountains, then 

 just beginning to whiten with the early snows. The 

 longer I talked with Jim Curry, the conductor of the 

 train on which I traveled over tbe mountains, the more 

 fully convinced did I become that it wa-t ray duty to go 

 fishing. I even picked out a natural quaking asp fly-rod 

 I saw growing down by the Yoitec Gorge, but the" con- 

 ductor would not stop the train for me to go cut it, nor 

 did be allow me to try any of the streams which ran tan- 

 talmngly near and troutful. At last, as we rolled into 

 sight of Blanco Peak, the big white mountain which rises 

 up over Alamosa. Jim Curry got to telling me about a 

 big trout that lives in a pool near his ranch house, six 

 miles above Del Norte. This trout, it appeared., had been 

 hooked by half a dozen different anglers, and by Mr. 

 Curry himself a number of times, but after a tug or two 

 he had always broken the tackle and gone away wdien he 

 got ready. He was bard to raise to tbe surface, but when 

 he did come up he fairly turned the river red, so bright 

 was his vermillion. His w eight was though t to be be- 

 tween 7 and lOlbs. He was not aveise to biting at any- 

 thing he liked, but decidedly averse to coming out of the 

 Rio Grande. 



The more Mr. Curry talked the worse I felt, and the 

 upshot was I stopped at Alamosa and went up to Del 

 Norte, a distance of thirty-one miles, and accompanied 

 Mr. Curry out to his ranch. Taking dinner here, we had 

 three hours and a half left free for fishing before we 

 must take the train back to Alamosa. There were in the 

 party Mr. Curry's friends Mr. S. C. Jones and wife, and 

 also his brakeman, Swan, and a lineman by the name of 

 Mr. Murphy. Not having any tackle with'me, Mr. Curry 

 very kindly supplied me with an excellent split-bamboo 

 rod and the appurtenances thereunto belonging, includ- 

 ing an automatic reel, a new tool for me. 



The pool at which we fished was just above Mr. Curry's 

 house, and was the one where the hoary-headed old trout 

 above mentioned had his domicile. The Rio Grande is 

 here a swift and noisy stream, perhaps fifty or sixty yards 

 wide, whose volume and rapidity is such that a nervous 

 man would be apt to lose his head and bis feet too while 

 wading, as he must, nearly w 7 aist deep in the middle of 

 the current. Just above the pool is a rift extending 



