Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, M a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. ) 



Six Months, $3. j 



NEW YORK, JULY 10, 1890. 



! VOL. XXXIV.-No. 25. 



1 No. 318 Broadway, New York. 



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and assumed such formidable proportions that it excites 

 alarm for the future of true sportsmanship in the mind 

 of every man who has its best interests at heart." The 

 purpose of the association is stated to be " the abolition 

 of game preserves, the enforcement of existing game 

 laws and to secure the enactment of such further laws 

 as may be deemed necessary and wise; the protection of 

 the game and fish now in the State; the introduction and 

 propagation of such desirable game animals, birds and 

 fish as may flourish in the State, if introduced; the en- 

 couragement of field sports among its members, and to 

 secure to all lovers of the rod and gun such rights, priv- 

 ileges and pleasures as come within the province of an 

 association of sportsmen." 



Editorial. 



A Black Bass Number. 



Snap Shots. 

 Sportsman Tourist. 



Life and Times of Old Jack. 

 Natural History. 



Do Snakes Like Music? 



Thf Trumpet Fish. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



A Turkey Call. 



Toot and tbe Big Buck. 



A Camp Bed. 



More Parrot. 



Chinese Pheasants. 



Shot Counr and Weight. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



Sea Fishing off the Maine 

 Coast. 



Posting and Pollution. 



Early Morning on tbe Stream. 



Chicago and the West. 



Angling Notes. 



Chat of Michigan Waters. 



Who are the Fish Hogs? 



Hints for Stri ped Bass Fishing 



Some Maecallonge Experience 



FlSHCULTURE. 



New Jersey Fish Law Viola- 

 tors. 



CONTENTS. 



| Ftshculture. 



Increase of Potomac River 

 Shad. 

 The Kennel. 

 The A. K. C. Affairs. 

 Dogs of the Day. 

 E>nuel Cookery. 

 Kennel Notes. 

 Kennel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 

 Range and fiallerv, 

 Our Riflemen in Germany. 

 The Trap. 



New York State Convention. 

 Highland Gun Ulub. 

 Yachting. 

 For Sale— The Brenton's Reef 



Cup. 

 Larcumont Y. C. 

 American Y. C. 

 New Rorhelle Y. C. 

 St. Lawrence Y. C. 

 Boston City Regatta. 

 Marblehead Sweepstakes. 

 Beverlv Y. C. 

 Canoeing. 

 Tbe A. C. A. Meet. 

 Delaware River Meet. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



The present season has been an unusual one because of 

 the abundance of fresh-water and salt-water game fish, 

 which has everywhere made joyful the heart of the 

 angler. The trouting has been something unprecedented 

 within recent years; reports come from all parts of the 

 country that the fish are of unusual number and size. 

 This condition of affairs may be directly traced to the 

 mildness of the past winter. The brooks were open and 

 there was abundance of food. In severe winters, which 

 freeze small streams and ponds to the bottom, it is to be 

 presumed many fish are destroyed; and such a season as 

 the present may therefore be ascribed in part to the open 

 winter. 



to shoot at the traps. Fourth of July scores are always 

 remarkable for their "goose-eggs." Low totals prevail. 

 They tell plainly that the shooters are novices. On 

 no other day in the year would a general average be 

 found so low. Trap-shooting has advantages over base- 

 ball as a noise producing pastime; the shooter enjoys in 

 addition to the excitement of the competition the patriotic 

 satisfaction that he is celebrating the day with a proper 

 amount of racket. And as for the scores, it matters not 

 at all that they make a poor showing compared with 

 those of the experts. The Fourth of July scrub teams 

 have the fun, high totals or low, win or lose. And that 

 is more than can be said of the expert who is in it for 

 what he can make out of it and makes nothing. 



A BLACK BASS NUMBER. 



^~^UR black bass supplement, which will be published 

 July 24, will contain a variety of material which 

 will be of permanent value to anglers and all who are 

 interested in this famous fish. The supplement will be in 

 character much like those already published devoted to 

 other fish. Illustrations will be given of all the species, 

 with an account of their lives, habits, and the various 

 modes of angling for them . There will be papers specially 

 devoted to black bass fishing, among which will be one 

 by "Kingfisher," recounting "Some Personal Recollec- 

 tions of the Bass Family." This is in "Kingfisher's" best 

 ityle and will be relished by all who have enjoyed his 

 accounts of the camps of the Kingfishers. There will 

 be a paper by Dr. J. A? Henshall on the "Bass and 

 Bass Islands of Lake Erie." Dr. Henshall will also con- 

 tribute notes on black bass angling. 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 T^HE California Sportsmen's Protective Association 

 has issued an address calling attention to the growth 

 >f the preserve system in that State, by which various 

 5lubs have largely taken up the available shooting and 

 ishing territory, and urging united action to frustrate 

 ;he plans of the clubs for holding their territory and ac- 

 [uiring more. As has already been reported in these 

 olumns, the feeling in California is decidedly strong 

 tgainst the holders of exclusive fishing and hunting 

 eases, and the association was formed primarily for the 

 mrpose of combating this system. The introduction of 

 he address is as follows, " This pamphlet is issued by the 

 Sportsmen 'b Protective Association of California for the 

 mrpose of directing the attention of sportsmen to the 

 jame-preserve evil which has worked its way among us 



The shooting season of 1890 is full of promise. From 

 all parts of the country quail are reported to be exceed- 

 ingly numerous. Bob White's cheery whistle is heard 

 everywhere piping the prophesy of good things to come; 

 the nests contain unprecedented numbers of eggs; and 

 the outlook for the quail shooter is of decidedly rosy hue. 

 This is largely due to the mildness of last winter. The 

 quail is of our game birds peculiarly susceptible to de- 

 struction by heavy snow and ice storms; unusually se- 

 vere winters are followed by a corresponding scarcity of 

 birds; and after mild seasons the quail supply is abund- 

 ant. Large numbers of ruffed grouse have been observed 

 in New England; the broods are many and large. This 

 can hardly be credited to the open winter, for the grouse 

 is a bird which is in a large degree independent of weather 

 conditions through the winter. It finds its food without 

 difficulty mostly above the snow, and is not starved out 

 as the quail may be. Woodcock are reported to be less 

 abundant than usual by the trout fishermen, who usually 

 observe the birds while on their trouting expeditions; 

 but this may be accounted for by the fact that it has been 

 a wet season, and the birds have not repaired to the brooks 

 as in dry seasons, and so the anglers have not had an 

 opportunity of seeing them. 



Secretary W. O. Bonnie advises us that the Kentucky 

 Legislature has failed to pass the proposed fish and game 

 bill prepared by the Kentucky Fish and Game Club. A 

 portion of the bill passed the Senate but did not find 

 favor with the House. This is the more to be regretted 

 because the game and fish laws of Kentucky are in a 

 most deplorable condition* and their reformation is 

 urgently needed. No reasons were given for refusing to 

 adopt the suggestions in the bill prepared by the Club. 

 The Club, however, is so strong numerically and has 

 manifested such a determined intention to secure the re- 

 form that we confidently look for renewed efforts a.t the 

 next Legislature, and in time the needed laws will cer- 

 tainly be enacted. Meanwhile, the Club should not lose 

 any time in educating the public by doing missionary 

 work. No game and fish laws are effectual until the pub- 

 lic sentiment has advanced to an appreciation of their 

 value; and by keeping this matter alive and discussing it 

 in the papers of the State, Kentucky sportsmen can 

 surely prepare the way for the laws they deem necessary. 



The New York woodcock season will open Sept. 1. The 

 time was changed by a law of the last Legislature, which 

 we quoted last week. Like the average New York game 

 statute this one is a decided bungle, since it imposes a 

 new season without any reference to the former section 

 naming the season; and thus leaves open to conjecture 

 the intent of the Legislature. When the codification 

 committee shall have completed its labors, the New York 

 fish and game statutes, let us hope, will be in plain in- 

 telligible form, suited to the comprehension of common 

 people. Any persons having any suggestions to make 

 respecting the laws, should communicate with the secre- 

 tary of the Commission, Deputy Attorney-General Ed. 

 G. Whittaker, Albany. 



We have received from Mr. Frank M. Coleman, of 

 Johnstown, Pa., an unique memento of the great Johns- 

 town flood. This is an artotype engraving of Mr. John 

 Tracy's painting of the two dogs Croxteth and Sensation. 

 Mr. Coleman tells us that the picture was in his re idence 

 which was swept away by the flood, and the artotype lay 

 at least thirty feet under the water during the deluge. 

 It is certainly an interesting relic. A suit brought to 

 recover damages caused by the flood has recently been 

 decided in favor of the South Fork Fishing Club; and it 

 is stated that no further action will be taken against the 

 club looking to the recovery of damages caused by the 

 breaking of its Conemaugh dam. 



No good reason suggests itself why poetry and orni- 

 thology should no go hand in hand; there is certainly 

 enough of the poetical in the ascertained facts of bird 

 life to give scope for the versifiers. But here is a poet in 

 the June Century who writes: 



And oft is heard the drum of quail. 



This is followed by a line, 



And meadowlarks are soaring high. 



The curious phase of this is that the poem is one in- 

 spired by bird music; and its author might justly be 

 thought to be something of an observer of bird life. 



The intense heat of the July days that have passed has 

 made the woodcock shooting in those States where sum- 

 mer shooting is still permitted harder and more disagree- 

 able work than usual. While this is bad for the shooter 

 it is good for the birds, and if we are obliged to swelter 

 we may feel that this torrid beat will keep many a gun- 

 ner from killing the summer birds. The majority of 

 good sportsmen believe that summer shooting should be 

 done away with. It is to be hoped that the day is not 

 far distant when public sentiment all over the land will 

 condemn this wasteful practice. 



Skill in sport is well enough in its way, but after all it 

 is the "duffers" who have the fun. A game of base ball 

 by League teams is a pretty spectacle, and thousands pay 

 their gate-money to see the hired experts go through the 

 performance. But for a real, simon-pure, downright 

 good time commend us to a Fourth of July match in the 

 country played by scrub nines, where every individual 

 player is umpire and captain in his own person, and does 

 the muffing and the shouting with enthusiasm and enjoy- 

 ment unknown to the salaried professional. As men 

 play at ball on the Fourth who would never think of 

 playing on any other day of the year, so they are coming 



The "original package" decision, which is making 

 trouble with the commodity to which it directly referred 

 and which is capable of making more trouble with re- 

 spect to game imported into the several States and there 

 sold out ©f season, will be offset if an amendment now 

 under discussion in the Senate shall be passed. It is to th e 

 effect that any article of inter-State commerce shall, 

 when imported into any State, become subject to the laws 

 of that State. 



Black bass, wall-eyed pike and other game fishes are 

 dying by thousands in Cedar and Leading creeks, the 

 principal tributaries of the Little Kanawha river, West 

 Virginia. The cause of this mortality is utterly un- 

 known as usual, but its effect threatens to be the annihil- 

 ation of the best fishes of the region. The systematic 

 investigation of phenomena of this serious nature ought 

 to be one of the urgent duties of the Government, 



