Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. 1 

 Six Months, $2. ) 



NEW YORK, JULY 25, 1889. 



1 VOL. XXXIII.-No. 1. 

 I No 318 Broadway, New ork. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



Can the Nuisance be Abated ? 

 Putting 0'it the Fires. 

 American Clubs in Canada. 

 Snap Shots. 



THE SPORT8MAN TOUKIST. 



Goose Shooting in Manitoba. 

 With Sitting Bull's Warriors. 

 Adirondack Jottings. 

 The National Park. 

 Natural Ristort. 



Tbe KareA Se«l« — i 

 (SAME BAG AND (irTTN. 



Chicago and the West. 

 The Ozark Mountains. 

 Pattern and Penetration Tests 

 Shooting Seasons in Maryland 

 The Arkansas Game Law. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 

 A Story of Trout Luck. 

 Maine Trout. 



Camps of the Kingfishers.— n. 

 The Kennel. 

 Black and Tan Setter Stake. 

 Dog License Laws. 



The Kennel. 



Huskies at. Lake St. John. 



Olympia Dog Show. 



London Dog Show. 



Dog Talk. 



Kennel Notes. 



Kennel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



Our Team Abroad. 



The Trap. 

 Yachting. 



The Xacnt Kace (Poetrv). 



Rhode Island Y. C. 



Racing at Marblehead. 



AtlaDtic Y. C. Cruise. 



Minerva. 



Eastern Y. C Cruise. 



New York Y. C. 



Cape Cats and Cutters. 



Racing Notes. 

 Canoeing. 



The Atlantic Division Meet. 



Pequot Canoe Association. 

 Answers to Correspondents, 



CAN THE NUISANCE BE ABATED? 



IN a report on the English sparrow recently issued by 

 the Agricultural Department, are a number of 

 recommendations looking toward the destruction of these 

 birds and the checking their increase and spread. These 

 recommendations naturally come under two heads; first, 

 recommendations for legislation, and second, recommen- 

 dations to the people. Under the head of legislation is 

 advised the repeal of all laws protecting this species, the 

 enactment of a law legalizing the killing of the bird and 

 the destruction of its nest, eggs and young at all seasons 

 of the year, the enactment of a law making it a misde- 

 meanor to feed or shelter the sparrow or to interfere with 

 those engaged in destroying it, the passage of a law pro- 

 tecting certain small predaceous birds which feed largely 

 upon it, and of other laws providing for the appointment 

 of duly authorized sparrow killers. The recommendation 

 that to feed or shelter the sparrow be made a misdemeanor 

 is one which will not appeal to public sympathy and can- 

 not be enforced, and, therefore, is not to be commended; 

 but the other suggestions are valuable. It is well said 

 that in towns and cities, where the use of firearms and 

 poison must be restricted to the hands of a few persons, 

 the destruction of the sparrows should be intrusted to 

 some public officer. In many towns this work would 

 naturally fall within the field of work of those officers 

 who have the charge of the public parks. 



At the same time with the destruction of the sparrows, 

 every effort should be made to foster and encourage our 

 native birds, of which many species would return to live 

 in our cities, could the birds which have usurped their 

 rightful place be driven out. The subject of bounties is 

 intelligently discussed, and it is very satisfactorily shown 

 that this method of getting rid of the sparrows is exceed- 

 ingly expensive and quite inefficient. The recommenda- 

 tions to the people are more important than those which 

 concern legislation, though the two naturally go together. 

 If the plague of sparrows is to be abated it must be by 

 concerted action by the people. The suggestions cover 

 the use of firearms, traps and poisons, and the destruc- 

 tion of nests and disturbance at roosting places. The 



sparrow is a very sagacious bird and speedily learns to 

 avoid danger. Thus, while it may be impracticable to 

 kill all the birds in a given locality, it is possible, by con- 

 stantly harrassing them, to drive away those which have 

 not been destroyed. Their wariness makes them a hard 

 bird to trap, and experiments in poisoning them do not 

 appear to have met with much success. The plan of dis- 

 turbing them at night, while roosting, and the destruc- 

 tion of their nests and eggs, promise to do much to drive 

 them away and to reduce their numbers. It is very evi- 

 dent that war can be mo3t efficiently waged against the 

 birds during the breeding season. 



While many people appreciate that the presence of the 

 house sparrow in such numbers in North America is a 

 serious evil, but few, we fancy, understand that this 

 bird has become an actual curse, and that it destroys 

 millions of dollars' worth of property each year. The 

 chief sufferer by this destruction is the farmer, the 

 grain grower, the cultivator of small fruits and the 

 truck gardener. It is to the agriculturist that this re- 

 port especially appeals. He will be benefitted by a care- 

 ful study of its contents, and if he looks into the sub- 

 ject, will appreciate the necessity of taking active steps 

 to protect himself against the ravages of this bird. 



The sparrow has obtained so firm a foothold in this 

 country that it is a very grave question if it can be exter- 

 minated, but concerted action all over the United States 

 and Canada would undoubtedly result in a considerable 

 reduction in its numbers. The farmers can no more af- 

 ford to suffer the sparrows to increase unmolested 

 than a grain dealer could to permit his bins to be over- 

 run with rats. They must protect themselves, if not 

 now, then later when the numbers of the birds which 

 plunder them shall have increased an hundred fold, and 

 when the prospects for success in the eradication of tlie 

 pest will have correspondingly diminished. 



AMERICAN CLUBS IN CANADA. 



THE rapidity with which desirable hunting and fish- 

 ing territory in Canada is being taken up by clubs 

 of sportsmen composed chiefly of Americans is not un- 

 noted by the Canadians themselves; and there is grow- 

 ing up a strong feeling against the system of leasing 

 these preserves to the associations from over the line. 

 This feeling crops out in many ways; one encounters it 

 everywhere in Canada, and expressions of it are current 

 among Canadian visitors to the United States. 



The ground of the complaint is tbK There are vast 

 tracts of good fishing and hunting territory which are 

 the property of the Crown, and over which the Canadian 

 sportsman has been in the past free to roam at will, 

 without let or hindrance. If one now ventures upon 

 these lakes and rivers and woodlands, he is confronted at 

 every turn by a club warden or guardian, who warns him 

 that he is trespassing on forbidden ground; and if he does 

 not withdraw with becoming alacrity this guardian pro- 

 ceeds to put him under arrest. Thus the Canadians find 

 that the waters where they once fished free are now held 

 by clubs; the Government has given to these clubs exclu- 

 sive privileges, and will defend the holders in maintain- 

 ing these privileges. To be thus barred out is regarded 

 as a hardship, and complaint is naturally indulged in 

 against the whole system in general and the Americans 

 in particular. 



It is impossible not to feel some sympathy with those 

 who make such complaints; and yet the more intelligent 

 of those who feel themselves aggrieved do not hesitate 

 to say that in spite of their personal hardship they ap- 

 prove the leasing system. It is beyond question that the 

 game and fish are more efficiently protected in the pre- 

 serves controlled by clubs than in the public domain. In 

 many cases the individuals loudest in berating the 

 American lease holders are persons who have in the past 

 paid no regard to the game laws, and in effect their 

 cause of dissatisfaction is that they cannot now pursue 

 their lawless practice in safety as in former times. 



It is all nonsense to talk of the clubs as encroaching 

 upon the natural rights of poor people. As a matter of 

 fact no such rights are molested. The clubs actually 

 bring much money into the country; this finds its way 

 into purses which otherwise would be empty. Equally 

 unreasonable is it to entertain jealousy of the club mem- 

 bers because they are Americans and not Canadians, for 

 it is to be remembered that the Americans are invited by 

 the Canadians themselves to put their money into leases, 

 and the Canadian Government would lease its Jands quite 



as readily to the Queen's own subjects as to foreigners, 

 on the same terms. To carp at Americans for doing 

 what Canadians have the privilege of doing themselves 

 but refuse to do, is only to act the part of the dog in the 

 manger. 



PUTTING OUT THE FIRES. 



FOREST fires constitute the most serious danger to 

 which the National Park is exposed. As far back 

 as we can remember such fires have raged in the Park 

 each season, and have usually devastated great tracts of 

 timber. Occasionally, during a wet season, such fires 

 would spread but little, and would cause no serious in- 

 jury to the forests, but at other times they might burn 

 for months and leave great sections of the Park mere 

 blackened wastes, which would disfigure the landscape 

 for many years. 



It is interesting to watch the methods of Captain Bou- 

 telle, the new superintendent of the Park, and to find 

 displayed an amount of energy and decision which prom- 

 ises great things for the future of the Park. 



As will be noticed in the letter from our special cor- 

 respondent, printed elsewhere, when the announcement 

 of the fire came, the whole command promptly started 

 out and put the fire out. Captain Boutelle was dining 

 when the fire was reported. He did not stop to finish his 

 meal, but gave orders to have "boots and saddles" 

 sounded at once, and in a few moments the troop was off. 

 There was no sending out of scouts who should look at 

 the fire, see whether it was much of a blaze or not, and 

 then report. Captain Boutelle just went out and put the 

 fire out. A delay of twelve or twenty-four hours would 

 have permitted the conflagration to assume such propor- 

 tions that it would have been beyond the control of any 

 body of men. 



Intelligence and promptness are certainly above all 

 others the qualities needed in a superintendent of the 

 National Park. 



SNAP SHOTS. 



THE Niagara Falls cranks are at it again. Last Sun- 

 day, the papers report, Carlin D. Graham and 

 Walter Odell, a New York Central Railroad conductor, 

 set afloat a barrel, in which was strapped a Newfound- 

 land dog, and sent it over the Horseshoe Fall. If there 

 is no statute by which the men who do these things can 

 be jailed, the decent part of the community should see 

 to it that the penal code is amended. 



We give to-day another of the Forest and Stream 

 pattern and penetration tests made at our range at Clare- 

 mont, New Jersey. It may be explained that in this 

 series the tests will be made from time to time as guns 

 are offered for the purpose; and it is not our intention to 

 hold a tournament where many different arms shall be 

 tested in competition. The testing apparatus has been 

 improved, so that it is now practicable to put a gun 

 through all stages of the trial at short order. The re- 

 sults obtained in these tests will supply a mass of valuable 

 data. 



We do not often record side-matches in which compe- 

 titive anglers fish for a score; but there was a match of 

 that kind at Budd's Lake, New Jersey, last week, which 

 deserves to be noted because of its queer result. Two 

 men, Jacob Allen and Cap't. Johnson, fished for three 

 and one-half hours for the championship; and the con- 

 test ended in a draw. Each had the same score in num- 

 bers, weight and varieties, namely, five pickerel, fifteen 

 bass and four yellow perch. 



The frequent rains in the Eastern States have materi- 

 ally affected the fishing, for the streams have been too 

 high to give good sport, and the scores have been 

 meagre. The muggy weather, too, has added unusual 

 hardships to the pursuit of the July woodcock spectre; 

 and the birds bagged in Jersey swamps have been se- 

 cured only by heroic endurance. 



The Kentucky Fish and Game Club, with headquarters 

 at Louisville, has a membership of 340, in different parts 

 of the State; and it will take in hand at the next Legis- 

 lature a suitable game bill. Kentucky has no genera 

 law respecting fish, except one which forbids killing wiui 

 explosives, There is certainly need of a revision in thi 

 respect, 



