472 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 2, 1800. 



Suggestions for Reform.— Easthanipton, Mass.— 

 Editor Forest and Stream: The idea suggested by your 

 correspondent, "Cayuga," of shooting only three days 

 in the week during the open season, I think is good, for 

 it will reach just the ones who are killing off the game, 

 that is the inarket-hunter.who plies his business every day 

 in the week, and the man of leisure, who is not confined 

 so closely but what he can go hunting every day if he 

 wishes to do so. Govern these two parties, and there 

 will be some chance for those who can only go out for a 

 short afternoon once a week, or once in two weeks, to get 

 a few birds. I would also suggest that September — at 

 least the first half it — should be close in this State, and 

 when the law closes the season on partridges it should 

 close on quail at same time. As it is now, the excuse for 

 hunting quail gives all so inclined a chance to shoot par- 

 tridges, as these two birds are usually found in same 

 cover in New England.— S. H. 



W. L. Colville ("Dick Swiveller"), now connected 

 with the Baker Gun Co., wandered slowly into the office 

 one day this week. Like nine-tenths of the inhabitants 

 of New York city, he had been touched with the prevail- 

 ing influenza and his customary brightness of eye and 

 cheery manner were somewhat dimmed, butenough vital- 

 ity yet remained for one of his old-time grips. He was 

 loud in praise of a wonderful cure for colds, which con- 

 sists of many ingredients confined in a glass receptacle of 

 suitable shape to be carried in one's pocket. Dick has 

 just started on his annual trip to the Coast, with his new- 

 model Baker, and we presume, with the aid of this won- 

 derful cure, that his cold was a thing of the past before 

 he had left New York 100 miles behind. 



TAXING GUNS IN NEW JERSEY. 



EilUiir Forest and Stream: 



Some time ago 1 saw a notice in some newspaper to the effect 

 that some gentlemen connected with a New Jersey Fish and 

 Game Protective Association had prepared a law taxing guns in 

 New Jersey and would urge its passage at the next sessiou of the 

 Legislature. Since that time this project has been discussed iu 

 various newspapers, and a correspondent in your issue of the 19th 

 argues in favor of it on tiie ground that game needs protection in 

 Now Jersey and that the game laws are not observed. 



1 am heartily in favor of anything that will protect hunting and 

 fishing, but I fail to see how taxing guns is going to accomplish 

 the object. The tax, of course, would have to be equal, despite 

 the fact that one gun may do more mischief than a dozen others. 

 1 am not. at all surprised to find that, sportsmen are casting 

 about for some remedy when they look at the present state of 

 affairs and like drowning men grasping at straws are willing to 

 do anything that will prolong their lives as sportsmen; Will 

 taxing guns accomplish this? It is true that the present laws of 

 the State i elating to dsh and game are freuueutly violated, hut 

 where is the guarantee that every gun will be, taxed, even ad- 

 mitting rliat such a taxation will protect game? Would not. the 

 same spirit fit indifference svhtch permits violations of the 

 lirer^ciji laws also conduce towards making a gun tax law a 

 nullity? In my humble opinion it might be better to pass some 

 iaNVS providing lor the e.n force-meet of the present laws. Let us 

 first trv this remtdy before casting about for others. 



As the law stands at present in New Jer.iey_there is no pro- 



there l as been for several years a vacancy in the Commission. 

 The Commissioners appoint fish wardens and these wardens are 

 charged wirh the enforcement of ihe fishing laws. They have no 

 authority whatever to enforce the taws concerning gunning with 

 one exception; if the Board of Freeholders of any county instructs 

 the wardens to enforce the game laws the wardens are authorized 

 to do so on Suuday; during the rest of the week the game can 

 take care of itself, and if the Board of Freeholders takes no action 

 the poacher can have his own way about it for 52 days a year 

 more. Might it not be well to provide soms officer to enforce the 

 game law? It might be argued that every person has a right to 

 make a complaint. True enough, but aside from the fact that 

 what is everybody's business is nobody's business, the laws cer- 

 tainly extend no encouragement to a person to look after the 

 game laws. There arc so many loop-holes in the law that the 

 chances are always iu favor of a person accused escaping, and the 

 law provides that the prevailing party shall recover the cost". 



If a man makes a complaint against another for violating the 

 law he always runs the risk of being required to pay costs, 

 amounting to from 8-5 to $6Q, and when there is a contest he is 

 compelled to employ the services of a lawyer, even if he succeeds 

 in obtaining a conviction, after spending his monev and time, 

 the fine is ouiv §20 in most cases; of this the complainant gets 

 one-half, with which to pay his lawyer and the risk he ran of 

 being required to pay the costs. This is in addition to the proba- 

 bility that the convicted will take an appeal, which would neces- 

 sitate further outlay for costs and lawyer's fees, with the chance 

 that at the end the prosecutor may he compelled to pay $100 or 

 more for costs. I sueak from experience, for 1 could cite half a 

 dozen cases iu my experience within the past year in which I ob- 

 tained convictions and found myself out of pocket. Such victor- 

 ies are not apt to encourage a person to enforce the game laws. 



Although in the abstract I have the greatest respect for game 

 laws, I cannot say that this respect, extends to the jumble of acts 

 constituting the fish and game laws of New Jersey. A law which 

 provides that a person may take perch, for instance, out of the 

 streams of the State at all times of the year and which sends a 

 man to State prison for six months for taking a perch out of a 

 lake does not call for particular admiration. The trout law pro- 

 vides that trout shall not be caught except after the 1st of April 

 and before the 15th of July, but it is not contrary to law to have a 

 trout in possession at all times of the year; the poacher may at all 

 times dispose of his loot, and no one can prosecute unless be can 

 prove that the poacher caught the trout in the State. The law 

 sends a boy to prison for shirring a sucker; the law concerning 

 wens has been repealed, and it is well known that trout, bass, 

 pickerel and all kinds of fish are continually being caught, in 

 weirs and openly sold, for there is no law mentioning weirs. 

 Rabbits may be trapped under certain conditions for six weeks 

 every year, but the dealer who procures prairie chickens from the 

 West is punished if he sells them after the 1st January, although 

 1 have not heard of prairie chickens in Jew Jersey for many 

 years. Might it not be well first to enact a code of laws which 

 would be consistent and engender respect and then provide some 

 means of enforcing these laws? Charles A. Shhinbr, 



Fish Warden of Passaic County. 



"That reminds me." 

 294. 



MR. E, HOUGH'S yarn of shooting a prairie chicken 

 as it rose up between him and the full moon, re- 

 minds me of an experience of mine, many years ago. 

 when spearing fish at night. It was in southern Michigan 

 where clear lakes abound. We had a "jack," a frame 

 made of iron cross bars, on which we burned finely split 

 dry wood. This would make a great blaze, and by it we 

 would spear the fish. One night at the period 'of full 

 moon, our wood became used up at about midnight, and 

 we started for our landing place. The moon was shining 

 brightly nearly overhead, and on looking down in the 

 water I saw the moon reflected from the dark bottom of 

 the lake, and the next instant a large pickerel appeared 

 between the reflection and myself. In an instant I had 

 him on my spear and into the boat. Izaak, Jr. 



St. Lours, Dee.jJB. 



FoiiKST and StC-RBAJU has illustrated circulars of Mr. (i. O 

 .■shi;ll* ue-.v bo k (.raisings in the Cascades which will L— 

 sent to any address on application. The hook is highly com- 

 mended by T. S. Van Dyke, "P.," W. B. Lefflugwe-ll and other 

 prominent sportsmen, as one of the best that has ever been writ- 

 ten on big game hunting.— Atlr. 



ANGLING NOTES. 



ONE of the greatest charms of angling among the 

 Thousand Islands is the custom of spending an hour 

 or two at noon under the shade on some convenient island 

 while the guides cook the fish you have just caught,which, 

 with steaming potatoes and hot coffee, make a very ex- 

 cellent dinner, particularly with the addition of the good 

 things furnished by the hotels. Often a number of boats 

 will meet by appointment and make quite a dinner party, 

 among which will be found as many ladies as men. The 

 boatmen have of late years added, many little conve- 

 niences to their outfit in the shape of folding tables, 

 chairs, etc. So that instead of the old-time way of din- 

 ing on the grass where the different varieties of the insect 

 world could meander over the food at their own sweet 

 will, and the angler had to almost break his back to reach 

 his plate, one can now eat like a Christian in peace and 

 comfort. 



Mr. Wm. P. Esterbrook, formerly the efficient building 

 inspector of this city and a well-known St. Lawrence 

 River angler, has added another luxury to the outfit 

 which he carries in his boat. His invention consists of a 

 light sheet-iron stove, made only of three pieces and 

 without any pipe. The directions for making it are as 

 follows : Take a piece of stiff sheet iron, 32 inches wide 

 at one end, 16 inches wide at the other end, and 30 inches 

 long. Fold down an edge 2* inches wide all the way 

 around and finish the edge with stout wire : this stiffens 

 it and prevents the sides from spreading apart when the 

 stove is set up. The two sides, each 8 inches high, should 

 be fastened to the top inside of the edges with hinges so 

 arranged that they can fold inwards when not in use. A 

 hole 7 inches in diameter must be cut near the small end 

 of the top for the kettle to fit into, and this kettle should 

 be made with a shoulder, so that it will sit down at least 

 2 inches below the level of the top in order to heat more 

 quickly. Cut a few good sized holes in the turned down 

 edge at the small end so the fire can draw through. In 

 setting up the stove, place it so the large open end will 

 point toward the wind, and if the fire burns too fiercely, 

 a stone or piece of wood can be put before the opening to 

 shut off the draught. The coffeepot, cups, etc., can be 

 carried inside the kettle, and a gridiron can be carried 

 with the folded stove in a canvas bag. The angler will 

 find this simple arrangement a. great convenience, and 

 ran cook on it lu perfection. The smoke will not bother 

 him nor the ashes fly into his food i besides this, it will 

 need but little fuel, 



The fishing for speckled trout in the Ohaleaugiiy lakeb 

 was not up to the mark this season. They say that the 

 miners are spoiling those far-famed waters by using set 

 lines, giant powder, etc. The hotel keepers, who dare 

 not complain for fear of having their property destroyed, 

 will be the principal sufferers, as anglers will have to 

 seek other fishing grounds if the poaching is not pre- 

 vented. Deer were unusually plenty this fall, and too 

 many were killed for the good of that region. 



THE TROUT OF THE YELLOWSTONE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Recalling my promise I will endeavor to give you the 

 result of my observations on the trout of the Yellowstone 

 region during the past summer. 



Although a well-known fact, it will be perhaps well to 

 recall to readers of Forest and Stream that the trout 

 of Yellowstone Lake, of the Yellowstone River and its 

 tributaries, are not fish of the same species as our East- 

 ern trout. They differ not only specifically, but even to 

 a greater extent, and fall properly into the genus Salmo, 

 having teeth upon the vomer, and distinct, well devel- 

 oped, though small scales. The difference in color is of 

 course apparent at the first glance, but mere difference 

 in coloring has very properly long since ceased to be a 

 means of discriminating between any species of fish. 

 The Yellowstone trout, in fact, are much more closely 

 allied in structure to Salmo fario, the common trout of 

 Europe, than to Salvelinus fontinalis, our Eastern trout. 

 Perhaps I should apologize for offering those well known 

 facts to your readers, but they constitute a necessary 

 postulate to a most interesting question and to my dis- 

 cussion of it. 



As is well known, both the fauna and flora of the west- 

 ern Rocky Mountain region is much more nearly allied 

 to that of Europe and Asia than is that of our Eastern 

 States— and this not only as to the species represented, 

 but even the genera. The question then arises: Why do 

 we find fish of a form belonging to the Pacific fauna 

 in Atlantic waters? Why do we find a species of Salmo 

 in headwaters of the Missouri and Scdveliims in head- 

 waters of the Mississippi, when both these rivers belong 

 to the same fluvial system? Why have these two forms 

 never m in gled? And again, why do we find these fish 

 above the grand falls of the Yellowstone and also above 

 the great falls on the Snake, while we do not find them 

 above much lower falls on all of the tributaries of these 

 streams, as, for example, the Gardiner, the Gibbon, 

 Ciark's Fork of the Yellowstone, in Shoshone Lake and 

 many others that might be mentioned. The whole 

 region of the National Park is full of such apparently 

 curious anomalies. On Soda Butte Creek, for example, 

 I saw large trout lying in a pool be low a falls scarcely 

 10ft. high, while a magnificent stretch of natural trout 

 waters lay utterly Ashless above. 



These are curious facts which must present themselves 

 to every inquiring person who is so fortunate as to be 

 able to visit those attractive regions. A careful study of 

 the topography of the continental water-shed in the 

 National Park and its geological history as worked out 

 by the U. S. Geological Survey, to which I am indebted 

 for these geological details, will furnish us, I think, with 

 at least a partial solution of these problems. 



The family Salmonidw is one which we now know dates 

 back as far as the Tertiary period. Analogy would indi- 

 cate that they developed in the fresh waters of the North- 

 ern Hemisphere in obedience to the law of equal condi- 

 tions; and some of them gradually acquired the habit of 

 going to sea, and this, as in the case of the salmon, became 

 permanent. In obedience to the law of evolution which 

 requires each individual to pass through in bis short 

 cycle, the same changes that his various forms of ances- 



tors have in the slow progress of ages, the young must 

 be born and live for a time at least in fresh water, and 

 hence we find our salmon coming into the rivers to 

 deposit their spawn, 



It is probable that at the opening of the glacial epoch 

 the fresh waters of North America swarmed with various 

 salmonoid fishes. If they existed in the streams flowing 

 from the continental crest within the Park, they must 

 have been destroyed by the time the point of highest 

 severity of that epoch was reached. For this whole 

 region was covered with enormous glaciers, whose slowly 

 retreating ice may still be seen in spots, and the power 

 of whosw presence is plainly shown by the great moraiual 

 hills they left and the great valleys they plowed out. 

 All streams were obliterated in the mass of ice, and then- 

 former beds were ground and gouged by the irresistible 

 force of the vast and moving mass. At the close of this 

 epoch all streams that had been subjected to their influ- 

 ence were Ashless. On the Yellowstone these glaciers 

 reached below the falls. How can we then explain the 

 presence of fish in the Yellowstone Lake to-day. Whde 

 in many ways it is possible to imagine the populating of 

 a river with fish from above, downward over falls of 

 almost any height, scarcely any conceivable and reason- 

 able hypothesis can be advanced which would get them 

 up over falls more than 300ft. high. 



The presence then of this Pacific form of trout in the 

 Yellowstone system must be explained otherwise, and 

 the key to the problem lies in Two-Ocean Pass on the 

 continental watershed. At this place lies a swamp 

 flooded in the spring, and at one end its waters flow by 

 Pacific Creek into the Snake River, and so westward into 

 the Pacific, and at the other end eastward by Atlantic 

 Creek into the Yellowstone. 



During the glacial epoch the ice melted oil to the west- 

 ward above the great falls in the Snake. At its close 

 when the lakes and streams were released from their icy 

 fetter?, the fish in the Snake above its falls ascended the 

 river to its head. They also ascended its tributaries 

 until stopped by falls, and so to-day we find them, in no 

 lake or stream which has falls in it which they could 

 not surmount, but up to its very foot. Crossing at some 

 period of high water, they went through Two-Ocean Pass 

 and descended into the Yellowstone Lake, and so on 

 down the river, and in like manner ascended all of the 

 tributaries of this system, unless stopped at some poiut 

 as before. In those streams which have no falls, as for 

 example the Stinking Water. I found them up to the 

 very head. 



This hypothesis explains the presence of this fish in At- 

 lantic waters only not, but also 1 think all the facts 

 brought forward as to their presence or absence in given 

 waters of the Yellowstone system. 



The problem of having the fish m L lie Snake ki\er, 

 originally above its tabs,, is the same one that confronts 

 us in hundreds of instances all over the continent. 



In this particular case it might be answered by saying, 

 that either they developed above them or ascended from 

 below, before the falls were cut. The general condition 

 is one that must be left to the pakeo-ichthyologists to 

 solve. 



There are some other points about the Yellowstone 

 trout that may be of interest to readers of Forest and 

 Stream. In size they have been much over-estimated. 

 While below the falls they attain good size, even running 

 up to 81bs. or so in rare cases, and are well fed, well 

 flavored and gamy, in the river above, in the lake and in 

 tributary streams they very rarely attain a weight of 

 over 21bs. Of hundreds caught by our camp not one 

 would reach that weight. I weighed a great number, 

 the largest scaling lib. 12oz., and this was taken in the 

 river. They almost uniformly average about lib. in the 

 lake. They are not, generally speaking, so well fed as 

 the trout of other regions. One of our ordinary Eastern 

 trout the same length as a lib. Yellowstone trout would 

 certainly average i more in weight. The reason of this 

 uniformity of size and lack of plumpness can be readily 

 seen when we know that their only food (for all trout in 

 the system above the Yellowstone falls) consists of insects 

 and small crustaceans. The insect food, though abun- 

 dant at times, lasts only a part of the year. A diet like 

 this is most excellent for young trout, and these, of which 

 one often sees considerable schools in the lake, are well 

 fed and apparently in good condition. But it is not 

 suited for carrying mature trout beyond a certain size, 

 and in the lack of small fish of all kinds for food we can 

 hardly be surprised at then- present condition. It is 

 earnestly to be hoped that the efforts of the Fish Com- 

 mission in planting the whitefish above the falls will be 

 successful, as they form a constant diet for the large 

 trout below. 



It used to be a mistaken impression which still prevails 

 to some extent, that there were two species of trout in 

 these waters. This came evidently from not distinguish- 

 ing between the sexes, the female being generally paler 

 and more silvery in lustre, while the male tends more to 

 an orange coloration beneath, and has besides most gorg- 

 eous hues of scarlet near the gills, the colors growing 

 more vivid toward the breeding season. 



On an average I should say about one trout in four is 

 infested with the parasite peculiar to these waters. I did 

 not attempt to establish any ratio by count, but accord- 

 ing to my recollection this holds good for the lake; in 

 Pelican Creek the percentage must be larger, as nearly- 

 half of those I caught were so infested, and I recall one 

 of our packers bringing in twenty, of which nine had to 

 be thrown away. At Sylvan Lake, which empties into 

 the Yellowstone Lake by Clear Creek, not one diseased 

 trout was taken out of several hundred taken for food 

 during our week's stay. E. Hofer informed me that to 

 his knowledge no diseased trout has ever been taken be- 

 low the falls on the Yellowstone, and \o a limited extent 

 this is confirmed by my own experience. Nor did I ever 

 take such an one among great numbers caught in the 

 tributaries to the river below the falls. For the benefit 

 of anglers who may fish in these waters in the future I 

 may say that trout infested with these parasites are 

 almost universally marked by an excrescence or swelling 

 of the skin, generally below the median fine. On cutting 

 into this a white worm about the size of a knitting needle 

 will be found snugly coiled up, just beneath the skin, the 

 head projecting through a hole in the abdominal wall 

 into the body cavity. 



Besides this form of parasite two others were noticed 

 often infesting otherwise healthy fish. One was a white 

 mass clinging to the body externally and just under the 

 pectoral fins. Its point of juncture was accompanied by 



