June 19, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



433 



FLIGHT OF THE RUFFED GROUSE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Every one conversant with the habits of the ruffed 

 grouse knows that the direction of their flight is almost 

 invariably in a straight line, although they do occasion- 

 ally take a wide circle to reach a favorite spot, and also 

 a smaller one before they alight on the ground. When 

 they light on a limb, they fly straight for it, and make no 

 noise in striking except they be wounded. On one occa- 

 sion a grouse flew toward me for 50yds., and then passed 

 within 10ft. in an open field. He must surely have seen 

 me from the start, and once a grouse coming from behind 



Eassed so close to my head that I felt the windage. I 

 ave never seen a grouse directly change his line of 

 flight but once. While out shooting in company with my 

 brother I was walking on a meadow a short distance from 

 a belt of woods, my brother being within the cover, when 

 a grouse started. He flew toward me. As soon as he 

 got clear of the trees and caught sight of me, he stopped 

 his flight and became almost stationary. It was a glori- 

 ous eight to see him poised in the air nearly over me. 

 Then he started again in a direction at right angles with 

 his former line of flight; but before he could get fully 

 under way the gun was on him, and he fell on the 

 meadow just 30ft. from me by actual measurement. 

 My brother, coming out, said, ''That was the prettiest 

 sight 1 ever saw." Dorp. 



A NEW LEFEVER. 



Q YRACUSE, N. Y.— Editor Forest and Stream: We 



0 have for a number of months past been earnestly 

 solicited by our patrons to place on the market a ham- 

 merless gun of our own manufacture, to bo sold at a 

 value less than any of the hammerless guns heretofore 

 manufactured by us. So great has been the demand for 

 our higher grades of guns that we have been unable to 

 entertain the suggestion. It is being constantly urged upon 

 us that there are a large number of sportsmen who are 

 admirers of the Lefever gun and are anxious to become 

 purchasers, but for various reasons are not prepared to 

 order our higher grades of guns. Again, the owners of 

 some of our higher grade guns write us that they have 

 use for sueh a gun in addition to their present supply of 

 guns. We have concluded, finally, to listen to these re- 



' quests, and to this end have increased the capacity of 

 our factory, for the production of this medium-priced 

 hammerless gun, in addition to our higher grades. We 

 are now prepared to receive orders for this gun. It is a 

 well finished arm in all its appointments, having good 

 Damascus barrels, English walnut stock, full pistol grip, 

 simply engraved with no attempt at outward ornamen- 

 tation, has our re-modeled action and all our late im- 

 provements. This special gun will be known as our "G" 

 grade, and will be sold through dealers only. We avail 

 ourselves of this opportunity of advising our patrons of 

 our. decision to manufacture this special gun and to sug- 

 gest to such of them as contemplate the purchase of this 

 gun. to confer with their gun dealer regarding it. 



Lefeve r Arms Co. 



"Bridal Totjr op the Kennedys."— St. Louis, Mo.— 

 Editor Forest and Stream: I have just finished reading 

 that excellent story, the "Bridal Tour of the Kennedys,"' 

 and have enjoyed every word of it. I know that hun- 

 dreds of tired and worn office-tied sportsmen have read 

 with delight the story that carries them back to the days 

 when they tramped after deer and followed the stream. 



1 have seen my room mate, an enthusiastic duck hunter, 

 after a hard day's work, tired and worn out, pick up the 

 Forest and Stream and in a minute hear him yell, 

 "Now, just hear that. 'Got up at 4 A. M., and after eat- 

 ing a hearty breakfast step out in the cold, clear air, 

 loaded down with gun, shells and paddles, and as we 

 walk down to where the boats are tied, can hear the wee- 

 wee of duck wings overhead." Ah! now I feel better," he 

 would say; and as soon as the story was finished, instead 

 of going to bed, as he had intended to do, he would start 

 out in the evening air for a walk. The writers of little 

 sketches that carry a man's mind back to pleasant days 

 and off the cares of the world for a time, are the ones 

 who do humanity a kindness.— An Old Reader. 



FISHING NEAR NEW YORK. 

 Tj^OR practical and specific directions to reach several hundred 

 <*- fishing resorts within easy distance of New York city, see 

 issues of 18S9 as follows: April 18, April 25, May 2, May 9, May 30. 

 June 8, June 13, June 20, June 27. 



NEW ENGLAND WATERS. 



BOSTON, Mass., June 10.— The early exodus of the 

 fishermen is about over for this spring, though a 

 few more parties are to take up line and rod before the 

 dreaded black flies and mosquitoes hold full sway at the 

 fishing resorts of the North Woods of Maine. J. A. 

 French, landlord at the Upper Dam Camps, Richardson 

 Lake, was in Boston yesterday in search of a good cook. 

 He said that the fishing is good at the dam by spells, 

 but the weather has again been cold and unfavorable. A 

 party of fifteen from Waterbury, Conn., he expects this 

 week. At his house there have been quartered some 

 days of late thirty to forty guests, and mostly trout fish- 

 ermen. The returning parties are not all satisfied this 

 year, though the majority are pleased. Harry Gardner, 

 of Smith, Hogg & Gardner, did not have any success at 

 all. The weather was very cold and wet when he reached 

 the lakes, and he scarcely went fishing at all before he 

 caught a bad cold, followed by rheumatism, which sent 

 him on the road homeward the second day. His party 

 remained a few days longer, but without much success, 

 gbpr Mr. Lane, of Paris, Me., was another unfortunate. 

 He has visited Richardson Lake for several seasons, but 

 this time may be his last. He was fishing in the rapids 

 of Mill Brook, at the head of the lake above named, when 

 his foot slipped from the log he was standing on, and the 

 fall broke his leg badly. There was no surgeon to reduce 

 the fracture nearer than Andover, seventeen miles down 

 the lake, and then twelve miles by buckboard. Mr. Bet- 

 ton's steamer fortunately happened to be in that vicinity 

 for wood, and the poor man was conveyed to the South 

 Arm, where, after considerable delay, a team was secured 

 for Andover. When the injured man reached Andover 

 the limb was so badly swollen that the physician there 



did not attempt to reduce the fracture, and the man was 

 transported twenty miles to the railroad, and finally by 

 train to his home. Report says that the fracture cannot 

 be reduced for several days, or till the swelling subsides. 

 Such are the misfortunes of an unlucky fall in the woods 

 so far from civilization. 



But not all of the fishing trips this season have been 

 fraught with disaster. On the contrary, there has been 

 a good deal of rare sport and much enjoyment. The 

 fishing for some of the parties at Moosehead has been 

 very good. Such was the case with the Harry Moore 

 party. They came home last week a set of happy fel- 

 lows. The fishing was excellent. The party of seven 

 took fully 2501bs. of trout and some of very good size for 

 that lake. The party was finally composed of H. B. 

 Moore, S. G. Moore, Dr. J. C. French and J. C. Faulkner, 

 of this city; G. C. Moore, of North Chelmsford; G. R. 

 Moore, of Westport, and B. T. Stephenson of Waltham. 



S. G. Moore is Harry's father, and is over 70 years of 

 age. Though a fisherman sometimes on the same waters 

 many years ago, he had not wet a line there for many 

 season , and it was a treat to note his enjoyment. He was 

 a boy again. But he had about the only mishap of the 



party. He was fishing with Tim , one of the most 



careful guides of the Moosehead region. The old gentle- 

 man had caught seven trout, when feeling tired of sitting 

 on the tli wart of the boat, he rose up erect, and stretch- 

 ing himself, remarked: "Well, Tim, it does seem good to 

 get up once in a while after sitting so long." No sooner 

 were the words uttered than the boat gave a little lurch, 

 when the old gentleman, trying to regain his balance, 

 lost his footing completely. Over went the boat and 

 both were left clinging to her keel. Fortunately other 

 boats were close at hand, with the little steamer not far 

 away. They were picked up, and not much injured by 

 their bath in the almost ice-cold water. The old gentle- 

 man was the first to be drawn on board of a dryer craft, 

 followed by Tim, a good deal discomfited. But the old 

 gentleman was the first to break the silence with the re- 

 mark: "By gracious, Tim! our seven trout are gone! 

 Where is my brier wood pipe? That's sunk too!" ' The 

 hale old gentleman didn't seem to mind the ducking in 

 the least, though the water was ice-cold. The little 

 steamer was soon alongside and Mr. Moore, senior, was 

 consigned to a warm place beside the boiler, and imme- 

 diately carried to the hotel. It neod only be remarked 

 that he was out next morning fishing, not a particle the 

 worse for his cold dip in the Moosehead waters. 



Stopping at the same hotel with the Harry Moore 

 party was the Rev. Julian K. Smyth, of the Swedehborgian 

 Church of Boston Highlands. He is Harry Moore's pas- 

 tor, and a jovial kind of a minister he is, and he and 

 Harry are the best pf friends. Harry gave him fair 

 warning early in the trip, that although a fair sort of 

 a fellow he might be in Boston, yet it would not do for 

 the minister to believe all that he might say while on this 

 fishing trip. Right here it might be well to remark that 

 Harry is the man who brought those moose and deer 

 stories out of the Maine woods that appeared in the For- 

 est and Stream some months since. Well, the reverend 

 gentleman soon took a trout weighing 4ilbs., and was 

 high line for some days. But this was not to be endured 

 by Harry. He waited patiently for a bigger trout to 

 come to his hook, but without success. At last he caught 

 on that would not go above 41bs. naturally, but the fish- 

 erman had three great spikes in his pocket ready for just 

 this occasion. He quietly drove them down the throat 

 of the trout one after the other. At the hotel at night 

 he suggested to the minister that he had caught a trout 

 which, though not quite as long as the high-liner of the 

 reverend gentleman, yet he thought might weigh quite 

 as much. He requested the clergyman to" weigh the fish. 

 He complied, with the remark that "It is a pretty solid 

 fellow, and I am afraid that you have beaten roe." The 

 fish turned the scales handsomely at Gibs., half a pound 

 heavier than the minister's trout. He yielded gracefully 

 and congratulated Harry on his success. But the joke 

 did not end here. On the last day in camp Harry ap- 

 proached the kind-hearted reverend with a great show of 

 seriousness and an air of secrecy, though he previously 

 looked out that the other fellows were within hearing. 

 "There is something on my mind which worries me," he 

 remarked, "and I feel as though I should like to tell you 

 about it." The pastor encouraged him to proceed. 

 "Well," said Harry, "I knew that that confounded trout 

 of mine had a terribly voracious appetite, but you would 

 hardly have thought that the guide would have swallowed 

 these three spikes that he found in the fish when he 

 dressed him this morning." At this he produced the 

 three great nails that had made his trout weigh so 

 heavily. It is needless to add that Mr. Smyth enjoyed 

 the joke as well as the rest of the party. 



Mr. Bayard Thayer, the owner of Birch Lodge, Rich- 

 ardson Lake, has taken his Sib. trout this spring, his 

 first season on the lakes. He has been back to Boston 

 once since the spring opened, but is again in camp with 

 a party of friends. Mr. Warren Rawson, of Arlington, 

 Mass., is back from Camp Bemis, where he goes every 

 season, and is happy in having landed a 3flb. trout. Mrs. 

 C. A. Stearns, the guest of Mrs. W. K. Moody at Camp 

 Stewart, landed a 41b. trout the second day of June. Mrs. 

 Moody landed one of about the same weight on the same 

 day. 



Fish Commissioner Henry O. Stanley is just complet- 

 ing the distribution of the landlocked salmon fry that he, 

 with bis colleague E. M. Stilwell, have taken at the Edes 

 Falls hatching works. They have taken some 500,000 

 which are returned to the Sebago waters, and some 

 300,000 that are taken to other waters in the State. Mr. 

 Stanley says that the landlocked salmon fishing has been 

 good at the Sebago this spring, for rather moderate sized 

 fish, but very large ones have been scarce. He is grati- 

 fied, however, at the fact that a great many small fish 

 shy of 1 and 2lbs., are being taken, indicating that the 

 recent work of restocking these waters is bearing fruit. 

 . There comes still another report of the foolish destruc- 

 tion of small trout taken from the streams in the neigh- 

 borhood of Bartlett, New Hampshire. The last record, 

 bragged of by a Boston sportsman, was 259 trout, and all 

 of them brought home in a 61b. basket, He thought that 

 his success had been wonderful. Special. 



ANGLING NOTES. 



THERE are still a few trout left up in Duchess county, 

 N. Y., it seems. The streams are small there and 

 over-fished, but once in a while a fortunate angler strikes 

 a big one and is made happy. Mr. Wm. F. Sage, a well- 

 known angler of Fishkill-on-the-Hudson, was fishing 

 recently on one of the little brooks a few miles back in 

 the country, when he was agreeably startled by the 

 swirl of a big fish, followed by an exciting ten-minute 

 fight. The rod and tackle were very light, and the fly, a 

 coachman, was dressed on a small hook, so that Mr. Sage 

 dared not treat him roughly, for this was the fish he had 

 dreamed of and hoped for for years. After following 

 him 1 00yds. or more through rapids and pools, he landed 

 a very handsome well-fed trout — Mtyin. long and weigh- 

 ing just 21bs.— a monster for such a brook. The fish was 

 exhibited next day at the village drug store, where he 

 a ttracted considerable a ttention. It is surprising how many 

 of these old overfished brooks contain trout and how hard 

 it is to exterminate them. If restocked and given half a 

 chance they soon recover and afford fair fishing. For 

 instance, we heard of several very fair baskets of trout 

 having been killed on Decoration Day, in small bubble 

 streams within a few miles of New York city, streams 

 that were supposed to contain only a few shiners or iin 

 occasional brook pike. It is impossible to destroy the 

 fishing by fair means. If it were not for the night lines, 

 spears and nets there would be no trouble about the 

 supply. Even the upper waters of the Bronx have fur- 

 nished quite a number of trout this spring, much to the 

 surprise of every one. 



Saranac Lake, N. Y., June 12.— Many are enjoying 

 the trout fishing in the famous Upper Saranac Lake, 

 among whom Mr. J. H. Lockwood, of New York, guest 

 of E. R. McCoy, Rustic Lodge, caught a lake trout weigh- 

 ing 21^1bs. 



Complaints are made by the visitors to many of our 

 black bass waters that these fish are decreasing in num- 

 ber and size. To remedy this, it is proposed that the 

 leason be made to open July 1 instead of June 1 or rather 

 May 30. Of course that change would put an end to fly- 

 fishing, the prettiest and most sportsmanlike way of kill- 

 ing bass. Instead of altering the law, which, if done, 

 would only leave the waters open to poachers, while con- 

 scientious anglers staid at home, we would suggest that 

 the law against fish racks and set lines be more strictly 

 enforced. As soon as the shades of night descend on the 

 majority of lakes and ponds the poachers put out their 

 long set lines and" slip their fish racks in the sluiceway, 

 "just to catch a few catfish, you," and the result is that 

 the bass get caught — and generally they are the biggest 

 ones. Anglers dislike to complain of these men, because 

 in many cases they are the ones they depend on for boats 

 and accommodations. 



Last week witnessed the departure of a goodly number 

 of salmon anglers for different Canadian rivers. Reports 

 from the Restigouche are very flattering. An unusual 

 number of fish were seen spawning last season, particu- 

 larly just above the head of tide water. Those who are 

 at the upper pools have had no fishing yet, but the salmon 

 are expected daily, as they have appeared in large num- 

 bers in the lower pools, where some ninety odd have 

 already been killed. As soon as the water runs down a 

 little the fishing will be at its best. Messrs. Sage, Law- 

 rence, Florence, Dunning, DeForest, Wilson, Bailou, Dr. 

 Baxter and many others are on hand. Dr. Baxter, we 

 believe, leads the score so far with a 3731b, salmon. 



There are a few salmon still being taken at Bangor, but 

 the river is so crowded with boats and fishermen that it 

 spoils all the pleasure of angling. 



There are so many different rod grips and handles ad- 

 vertised nowadays that it is hard for the angler to decide. 

 One who has tried it vouches for the following: Fit a 

 thick piece of chamois skin over your butt or hand piece: 

 it can be sewed on quite smooth and neat, and it makes 

 the pleasantest grip in the world. It can easily be re- 

 placed when soiled or worn and never blisters the* hand. 



Advices from Alexandria Bay just received (June 14) 

 report that bass are taking the fly very well. 



Trout and Mink.— Dr. Levering and Charlie, with 

 Wm. Kurran and Will Hedden, of jersey City, returned 

 recently from a short trip to Canadensis and the trout 

 streams thereabout. They report besides a fair share 

 of trout that the brush was fairly alive with woodcock 

 and grouse. Woodcock were continually rising from 

 almost under their feet, while the drum of the grouse 

 was constant. One episode of the trip is worth mention- 

 ing. Upon approaching the bridge across Broadhead 

 Creek but a short distance from Crane's, a mink with two 

 young were observed coming out of the water, where 

 they had undoubtedly done their share in thinning out 

 fontinalis. Hedden, who is a capital shot with a revolver, 

 whipped out the instrument, and though across the creek 

 and some 25 or 30yds. away, fortunately planted a ball, 

 through the mink's head. The young remained by their 

 dead mother and were easily captured and are now being- 

 domesticated in a wired box. When a small trout was 

 thrown to them it was devoured with voracity, and they 

 are continually crying for more. Those of the gentle 

 art who know what destruction a single mink will make 

 in a trout stream in one day and night will breathe their 

 thanks aloud to Mr. Hedden for his fortunate riddance of 

 this three of a kind, Mr. H. will have the bodv carefully 

 mounted. What he will do with the others should they 

 live we are not informed, but we trust that they will not 

 be allowed to escape.— Jacobstaff. 



WITH FLY-ROD AND CAMERA. 



TN size, interest of text, wealth of illustration, and beauty of 

 production, the most notable work on salmon fishing issued. 

 See advertisement elsewhere. 



CONTENTS OP CHAPTER III. 



Bright Morning— Notions About Flies — A Nuisance of Sea 

 Trout— Another Salmon Hooked— Splendid Play— Dismay — 

 "Confound the Drift "Wood I"— Philosophers— Killing the Fish 

 not all there is of Fishing— Kingfishers and Sheldrakes as 

 Pests on a Salmon or Trout River— It's a Wonder we have any 

 Salmon Left— A Salmon that has Long been in the liiver is 

 Shy on the Fly— Tbe Phantom Minnow Used in Trolling for 

 Salmon— A Strange Lot of Fish— Aggravating Salmon— Ex- 

 citing Times— Worms as Bait for Salmon— A Strong Fish, aud 

 a Contest Long to be Remembered— A Bad Mess— Retribution- 

 Rising to the Fly in Still Water— An Exciting Struggle— Vic- 

 tory— Fish in Abundance— Our Permanent Camp— Such Luck 

 as an Amateur Sometimes Has— Salmon that Played Me— 

 FishQriaan's Luck. 



