Dec. 26, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



486 



ACTION OF LIGHT ON FISH. 



WE have been requested by Mr. Starbuck to answer, 

 in Forest and Stream, this letter: "Petoskey, 

 Mich., Dec. 9.— Alex Starlmclc, Esq.: We have a problem 

 that has provoked much discussion among fishermen and 

 other 'philosophers,' which we would refer to you for 

 an opinion. It is this: When spearing fish does the light 

 used simply blind the fish and they remain stationary, or 

 does the light attract them and the fish move toward it? 

 Also, if an electric light were put in thirty fathoms of 

 water and remained there all night, what would be the 

 effect on lake whitefish and trout? And, thirdly, if such 

 a light were inclosed in the center of an immense glass 

 jar filled with minnows and dropped in the water among 

 lake trout (mackinaw trout) would it prove a successful 

 decoy?— R. Connable & Sons." 



The experience of persons who have frequently speared 

 fish by the aid of a bow light is that the fish scarcely 

 move at all one way or the other, but generally remain 

 stationary, so that the spear can be advanced to within a 

 few inches of their bodies before striking. When any 

 motion has been observed it was directed away from the 

 light. Electric lights have been freely used of late years 

 at sea, both at the surface and at varying depths, with 

 the invariable result of attracting many kinds of fish, 

 wliich have repeatedly been captured by a sudden sweep 

 of a scoop-net. If an electric light were submerged in 

 one of the great lakes it would doubtless attract the 

 Mackinaw trout, either with or without the minnow de- 

 coy, but we cannot recommend such a method of cap- 

 ture. 



Pennsylvania Wall-eyed Pike.— Pennsylvania Fish 

 Commissioners H. C. Demuth and W. L. Powell tell us 

 that fishing for wall-eyed pike in the Susquehanna con- 

 tinued good even up to the middle of December. During 

 the week ended Dec. 14 Charles Franciscus caught forty- 

 three at Mud Island, near Columbia, the largest of which 

 weighed I0*lbs. John Keech, at the same place, took 

 five ranging from 51bs. to Tibs. The Harrisburg anglers, 

 according to Mr. Powell, have suffered greatly on ac- 

 count of muddy water, but they had one good day in the 

 week above mentioned, and caught thirteen running 

 from 21bs. to 91bs. These were taken at Cove Fort, four- 

 teen miles above the city. The killing bait in both locali- 

 ties was lamprey on si spoon. lu the lower Susquehanna 

 the bait is kept near the bottom in deep eddies, near the 

 heavy swirls caused by the current parting around rocks; 

 such places are common at Fite's Eddy. Near Harris- 

 burg, however, the river is shallow and "otherwise differ- 

 ent in character, and the method of still-fishing gives 

 place to trolling. Mr. Powell finds it necessary to locate 

 the wall-eyed pike before proceeding to actual fishin g. 



YOUNG SALMON I D/E FED ON LARVAE OF FLIES 



AT the Craig's Brook station of the U. S. Fish Commis- 

 sion excellent results have been obtained by the use of 

 the larva? of certain flies as food for young salmon and 

 trout. 



Mr. Chas. G. Atkins, superintendent of the Maine stations 

 of the XT. S. Fish Commission, under date of Dec. 4, 1889, 

 writes Col. M. McDonald, U. S. Commissioner of Fish and 

 Fisheries, as follows: 



"We have been feeding young Salmoniclm at this station 

 for three seasons— 1886, 1888 and 18S9— and have each season 

 made considerable ttse of larvae of several species of flesh 

 flies. We expose the flesh of any animal, if possible while 

 still untainted, to access of tbe flies, and as soon as it is well 

 charged with their spawn, put it away in boxes and let it 

 remain until the eggs have hatched and the larva? grown to 

 a sufficient size to feed to the fish, which is commonly within 

 three or four days after the deposition of the eggs. 



"In outline the process is very simple, but in our practice 

 it has become somewhat complicated in consequence of 

 many impediments and limitations that we have encoun- 

 tered. The offensive character of the odors exhaled from 

 the flesh as soon as the larva? had attacked it, compelled us, 

 in the first place, to remove the scene of this work to a dis- 

 tance of 500ft. from the hatchery and quarters; and in the 

 second place, to cover the flesh and larva? with loam or pul- 

 verized clay. Under such conditions the odors seldom 

 reach us. 



"The presence of so much loam as we have used has com- 

 pelled us to choose between throwing it in quantities with 

 the larva? into the fish troughs or separating it by some 

 means from the maggots before throwing the latter to the 

 fish. We have arranged a series of screens and sieves, so 

 that both the coarser and finer rubbish can be removed. 



"From 90 to 100 degrees F. appears to be a suitable temper- 

 ature to these larva?, and in it they grow apace, but it is 

 quite common to find a temperature of 110 degrees F. in a 

 box of them, while the air outside is below 80 degrees. The 

 heat at times becomes unsupportable, and then a general 

 stampede ensues, the larva? surmount the sides of the box 

 and ecape. To prevent their escape we sprinkle the sides of 

 tbe boxes with dry dust or rub them with chalk, which pre- 

 vents the larva? from climbing. Covered boxes will not 

 answer. Our favorite form is an open box 3ft. wide, 2ft. 

 long and Sin. deep. Moisture in the loam helps to keep 

 them cool, and to retard them very much we sometimes wet 

 them down with cool water. In some cases we have found 

 a very deep covering of loam to retard them for a long time. 

 In cool weather when we wish to hasten their growth we 

 cover the larva? with paper or cloth, or apply a board cover 

 to the box. 



"It is sometimes desirable to use partly grown larvae as 

 food for very small fish, and this we accomplish by covering 

 the box up until the heat drives them from the meat. The 

 best arrangement for this purpose is to use two boxes, an 

 outer wooden one with a tight bottom, and an inner one 

 with a wire cloth bottom standing on short legs. The wire 

 cloth is covered with straw or other similar rubbish, and 

 the meat and feeding larva? placed upon the straw, with 

 perhaps a little paper under them; a high degree of heat 

 will drive the larva? down into the outer box, irom which 

 they can be taken free from dirt and rubbish. 



"To protect the larva? from carrion beetles, which svyarni 

 to the feast by the thousands, we built a small house with 

 screen doors. This was intended to be bug proof, but it did 

 uot prove to be so. The beetles effected an entrance, and 

 in spite of much work on our part to rid the house of beetles 

 they increased upon us so rapidly that at one time they 

 threatened to put a stop to this method of feeding fish. One 

 day we killed over 2,000 of them, including 1,857 by actual 

 count of a single species. It was only after a systematic 

 and persistent warfare of several weeks that we conquered 

 them. Other enemies of the larva? are mice and birds, 

 which are fond of the young flies in both the larval and 

 pupal stages. 



It will readily be understood that if all the fly larvaa ob- 



tained are fed to the fish there will soon be a dearth of 

 adults, and in any extended operations it would doubtless 

 be necessary to rear the adult flies in a systematic way. 



It is desirable and almost essential to have untainted raw 

 flesh to attract flies and receive their spawn. Fresh fish is 

 excellent, and we use it whenever we cau get it at the proper 

 season. Our principal dependence is butcher's refuse, such 

 as the head and haslets or calves and lambs. A discovery 

 of great promise made this season is that fresh fish my be 

 pitted in the ground for many weeks and when taken out 

 forms good food for the fly larva?. We buried three boxes 

 of fresh herring in July and the contents of one of them, 

 exhumed after fifty-nine days, were greedily devoured by 

 the larva? and were not very offensive. 



"The necessity of uutaihted food for fly-spawning is not 

 absolute, for last winter we dried several barrels of flounders 

 by impaling them on sticks and hanging them up under a 

 roof where the frosty air had free access to them, and when 

 summer came we were able, by soaking them in water until 

 they were softened up, to use them to great advantage, both 

 with the flies and with the larva?, although their odor was 

 villainous. 



"By the method thus indicated we have been able to pro- 

 vide living food for many thousand young fish, graduating 

 the size of the food to the size of the fish, feeding out froni 

 five to twenty quarts of the larva? a day. I think that for 

 several weeks in succession late in the summer we were 

 feeding out nearly 200,000 daily of the little wrigglers, and 

 beyond a doubt the fish so fed have made a better growth 

 than those fed upon chopped meat. This food is also less 

 likely to contaminate the water than chopped meat, and 

 makes the cleaning of the ponds and troughs less impera- 

 tive." 



PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION.-The annual 

 meeting of the Fish Commission of Pennsylvania was 

 opened in Washington, D. C, on Dec. 17. Philadelphia 

 has been the usual place of meeting, but as the Commis- 

 sioners wished to confer with the U. S. Commissioners and 

 examine into the tishcultural methods at the central station 

 of the Government they decided to meet at the capital. 

 There is a strong probability that the annual meetings will 

 be regularly held in Washington hereafter. It is hoped by 

 so doing to win the co-operation of the Maryland Commis- 

 sion in measures looking toward the protection of fishes in 

 the lower Susquehanna. At present the protective legisla- 

 tion of one State is neutralized by the lack of similar legis- 

 lation in the other, and particularly in the matter of fish 

 traps. All of the Pennsylvania Commission were present 

 at the meeting except one member. The Commissioners 

 were delightfully entertained by Col. McDonald on Tuesday 

 evening. 



Mmncl 



FIXTURES. 



DOG SHOWS. 



Jan. G to 11, 1890.— Annual Dog Show of the Michigan State 

 Poultry and Pet Stock Association, at Bay City, Micb. W. F. 

 Brace, Secretary. 



Jan. 13 to 18, 1890.— First Annual Dog Show of the Georgia Pet 

 Stock and Bench Show Association, at Augusta, Ga. A. H. Yon- 

 der 1 ei t h . S c c rotary- 



Jan. 27 to Feb. 1, 1890.— Dog Show of the Colorado Poultry and 

 Pet Stock Association, at Denver, Col. 



Feb. 11 to 14, 1890.— Fourteenth Annual Show of the Westminster 

 Kennel Club, American Institute Building, New York. James 

 Mortimer Superintendent,. 



Feb. 19 to 22, 1890.— Second Annual Dog Show of the Mascoutak 

 Kennel Club, Chicago, 111. 



March 11 to 14., 1890.— Second Annual Dos Show of the Rochester 

 Kennel Club, at Rochester, N. Y. Harrv Yates, Secretary. 



March 25 to 23, 1890.— Second Annual Dog Show of the Mass. 

 Kennel Club, Lynn, Mass. D. A. Williams, Secretary. 



April 1 to 4, 1890.— Sixth Annual Dog Show of the New England 

 Kennel Club, at Boston, Mass. J. W. Newman, Secretary. 



April 15 to 18, 1890.— Show of the Buffalo Kennel Club, Buffalo, 

 N. Y. A. W. Smith, Secretary. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



Jan. 20, 1890.— Seventh Annual Field Trials of the Pacific Coast 

 Field Trial Club at Bakersfield, Cal. H. H. Briggs, Secretary, 313 

 Bush street. San Francisco. Cal. 



Jan. 27, 1890.— All-Day Fi«lrl Trials, at West Point, Miss. F. R. 

 Hitchcock, 44 Broadway, New York. Secretary. 



Feb. 11, 1890.— Fourth Annual Field Trials of the Texas Field 

 Trial Club, at Marshall. Tex. W. L. Thomas, Secretary. 



Feb. — , 1890.— Meet of the Brunswick Fur Club, New Meadows, 

 Me. 



CENTRAL FIELD TRIALS. 



THE ALL-AGED POINTER STAKE. 



THE All-Aged Pointer Stake of the Central Field Trial 

 Club began on Tuesday, Dec. 10. Of the 32 nomina- 

 tions there were 14 starters that were drawn to run as fol- 

 lows: Arthur and Duke of Hessen, Bannerman and Roger 

 Williams, Rod's Gal and Tammany Boy, Sally Brass If. and 

 Rip Rap, Ajax and Pontiac, Meally and Lebanon, Duke of 

 Vernon and Lalla Rookh. The first brace was put down at 

 11:40. Arthur did not show up iu very good form. Duke of 

 Hessen ran well, but not nearly with so much dash as when 

 at High Point. He found the only bevy that was found 

 during the heat. Bannerman and Roger Williams were put 

 down after the finish of the Setter Stake at 3 o'clock. Both 

 ran very well and some very pretty work was done, Ban- 

 nerman showing up a capital dog among the singles, being 

 snappy to point and with a good nose. Roger 1 did much 

 better than he did at High Point.and the heat was a very good 

 one. Rod's Gal and Tammany Boy did nothing brillfant. 

 Gal went better than she did at High Point, while Boy did not 

 do nearly so well as he did there. This ended the work for 

 the day. 



On Wednesday it was clear and quite warm, birds were 

 not moving and were hard to find. Sally Brass II. and 

 Rip Rap were put down a half-mile west of town at 8:15 and 

 worked over considerable ground where birds were known 

 to be plentiful, but none were found until nearly the end of 

 the heat, when a bevy flushed down wind just beyond Rap, 

 and soon after another bevy flushed near him. "Sally did 

 not do anything worthy notice except to make a pretty point 

 where the bevy had been flushed. She did not range nor 

 stay out at work at al 1 well, aud showed but little bird "sense. 

 Rap ran somewhat stale, but worked out his ground in good 

 style. Ajax and Pontiac were next put down and the heat 

 was watched with interest, as Ajax Avas said to be a very 

 killing dog, but he was heavily handicapped, as Aldrich,hls 

 handler, was unable to work him, and he was not acquainted 

 with John Lewis, who could not show him to advantage. He 

 was also apparently off his nose and his work was not very 

 meritorious. Pontiac ran fairly well, and some of his work 

 on birds was well done. 



Meally and Lebanon, both well known, were the next 

 brace. Meally was too fat for work, but she kept going 

 through the heat at a moderate rate and searched for birds, 

 but did not range very wide. Lebanon ran fairly well, but 

 was not up to her best form. 



Duke of Vernon, well known on the show bench, and Lit- 

 tle Lalla Rookh, also well known both as a winner in the 

 field and on the show bench, were put down at 11:37. Duke 

 moved fairly well, but much too slow, and he did uot work 

 out his ground in very good form. Rookh went in her usual 

 merry style and beat out her ground well, searching for 

 birds and finding them, too. She carries her years well, 

 and was going even better the last half of the heat than 



when first put down. They were taken up for lunch in the 

 middle of the heat, and again put down at 1 o'clock, this 

 heat ending the preliminary series. 



Second Seizes, 

 The judges spotted out six, leaviug in eight to run in the 

 second series. They were drawn to run in the following 

 order; 



Duke of Hessen against Lalla Rookh. 

 Bannerman against Sally Brass II. 

 Lebanon against Rip Rap. 

 Pontiac against Roger Williams. 



After waiting 20 minutes the first brace in the second 

 series were nut clown at 1:48. Rookh had run in tbe last 

 heat of the preliminary series, and no fault would have 

 been frmnd had the second brace in order been run first, but 

 Col. Odell, her owner, stated that she was ready to go on 

 and they were started. Duke went at about the same pace 

 as he did in his previous heat, and hunted out his ground in 

 a workmanlike manner, and showing better nose than we 

 have ever seen him do, pointing a bevy and pinning his sin- 

 gles very nicely. Rookh ran as well as in her previous 

 heat, and did some very pretty work, once or twice she was 

 somewhat uncertain and did hot properly locate her birds. 

 When time was up the heat was awarded to Duke. He had 

 much the best of it in pace and range, as well as some ad- 

 vantage in the work on birds. 



Bannerman and Sally Brass II. were put down at 3:03. 

 Bannerman had an easy win and did some very pretty work. 

 One point that he made in the woods, was as good as any- 

 thing we have seen for a long time. He was going at speed 

 and as he caught scent of a single, he partly wheeled round 

 and jumped into a very gamy point. Nesbit went in front 

 of him and beat about for some little time, but failing to 

 flush he ordered the dog on, aud he drew a few steps to a 

 large log, and with his chin resting upon it, he again be- 

 came, rigid and the bird was flushed from under his nose on 

 the opposite side of the log. Sally did not get out to hunt 

 at all well and was clearly no match for her competitor. 



Lebanon and Rip Rap were put down at 4:14, and after 

 running fifty-five minutes they were taken up to go down 

 again iu the morning. Lebanon went fairly well, while 

 Rap was a bit stale and did not go at his usual rate of 

 speed, although he went a good pace and worked out bis 

 ground in good style. A bevy found by Lebanon was all 

 the work doue. 



On Thursday the weather was delightful, it was clear and 

 cool in the morning, but during the middle of the day it 

 was too warm for comfort. The dogs were put down at 9:03 

 in an open country with large stubble and sedge fields, 

 where they could be seen to advantage. Lebanon was 

 somewhat inclined to loaf and did not range nor stay out 

 at work for a short time, but soon went better and ran* for a 

 time fairly well. Rap started off in something like his 

 usual good form, and went at a good rate of speed and 

 worked out in good style, showing good judgment in going 

 to the likely-looking places. After beating out considerable 

 ground without a find Lebanon challenged a foot scent and 

 roaded a short distance, but the bevy flushed before he 

 located it, and the dogs were ordered "in the direction in 

 which they went. They were not found, but Lebanon 

 struck the trail of another bevy in tbe thicket and roading 

 too close he flushed them. We then crossed the railroad 

 and Lebanon made a couple of points to which nothing was 

 found. Rap made a cast into a thicket, was called back by 

 his handler, and ran into a bevy which flushed. The dogs 

 were then ordered back on a short turn, when Lebanon 

 challenged and drew on and pointed an outlying bird of a 

 bevy. As White went to him the bird fiushe'd from under 

 the dog's nose and the bevy went also and settled in a brier 

 patch that was worked out by both dogs, but they failed to 

 find them and were ordered on. After going a short distance 

 Lebauon swung back to the briers and flushed a single. 

 After working out a little more ground without finding 

 them, the dogs were taken back across the railroad to a 

 large stubble field, which was beat out, and as Rap came to 

 the upper end he made a very wide cast through a cornfield 

 to a thicket, when he took the edge of it and swung back 

 down to a branch and then down the branch until he met 

 the party. This was a very good piece of work, although no 

 birds were found. Shortly after Rap cast into the cornfield 

 Capt. MeMurdo flushed a single bird iu the sedge, but his 

 dog was too far away to hear tbe whistle. We could not see 

 whether Luke marked the bird or not, but he worked his 

 dog in the direction it went and obtained a point to it. The 

 dogs were then taken across the branch and worked on the 

 hillside where birds were known to freqxieut. Both dogs 

 had let down in speed, although Rap was still going much 

 the best and ranging well, while Lebanon was "going slow 

 and not doing much hunting. Rap made a cast down Avind 

 through a piece of woods, and, turning at the upper side, ran 

 along the edge with the wind blowing across him, and 

 catching scent he made a very stylish point. Lebanon was 

 200 or 300yds. away, working out a strip of sedge, his hand- 

 ler and one of the judges beiug the only persons near. 

 When Luke was called to bring up his 'dog to back, he 

 claimed that he was making game, and the judge, not aware 

 that Rap was on point, allowed him to work out the scent 

 and then to cast his dog into a likely-looking corner and 

 beat it out, and it was several minutes before Lebanon was 

 brought up to back, which he did, and Capt. MeMurdo was 

 ordered to flush the birds, but they had run some 50yds. to 

 one side and into the woods, and he failed to put them up 

 and ordered on his dog. Rap had stayed there so long that 

 the scent had become cold or was* blown away, and be 

 made a cast further along the edge of the woods, 

 aud before he came back Luke had thrown Lebanon 

 on the bevy aud he made the only really good point that he 

 had made during the heat, and the birds were flushed and 

 the dogs-were ordered up and the heat was awarded to 

 Lebanon. Just previous to the decision Col. Odell rode up 

 near the judges and said that it was .time that the heat was 

 decided as they had run two hours and one dog had not 

 made a point, while the other had pointed two bevies. We 

 do not for a moment believe that this interference had any- 

 thing to do in the way of influencing the judges in their 

 decision, but some thought otherwise, and the least that can 

 be said of the unfortunate occurrence is that the action of 

 Col. Odell was as ill-advised as it was unprecedented iu the 

 history of field trials so far as our experience goes. We 

 have attended nearly a score of field trial meetings and 

 never before have we heard an officer of the club say 

 one word that could be construed as an attempt to in- 

 fluence the judges in any manner, and for the welfare of 

 field trials we sincerely hope that we shall never again have 

 occasion to record anything of the kind. In managing the 

 heat after Rap made his point a serious blunder was made, 

 the rules were violated and we believe that great injustice 

 was done one of the best dogs iu the stake. Under the rules 

 the judges are instructed as follows- '"Judges shall avoid, 

 as far as possible, holding a dog so long on a point, for the 

 purpose of securing a back or otherwise, as to enable the 

 birds to run; and if the pointing dog be held on a point, by 

 order of the judges, for a competing dog to secure a back, 

 the pointing dog shall not incur any penalty for results. 

 Dogs shall be brought up to back only when the opportunity 

 offers, without interfering with the pointing dog, and a dog 

 drawing on or pointing game which he has found independ- 

 ently, shall be afforded ample opportunity to locate the 

 game without competition, and the handler shall have 

 ample time to flush the bird." 



Rap had undoubtedly made his point to the hot scent of 

 the bevy, and had his handler been allowed to go on as he 

 should have done there is every probability that the dog 

 would have been able to have drawn straight to his birds 



