Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, %i A Year. 10 Cts. a Copt. ! 

 Six Months, $2. ) 



NEW YORK, AUGUST 14, 1890. 



i VOL. XXXV.-No. 4. 



\ No. 318 Broadway, New York. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



Imagination. 



On Marsh and Meadow. 



Snap Shot?. 

 Sportsman Tourist. 



Mr. Rastus's Experience. 

 Natural History. 



Habits of the White Goat. 



Snake Gossip. 



Breeding Mink. 



Poison Oak or Poison Ivy. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Upland Plover in Nebraska. 



The Iowa Chicken Law. 



Chicago and the West. 



North American Big Game. 



First Pays Behind the Gun. 



Deer in Mexico. 



Game Notes. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



Big-Mouth and Small-Mouth. 



Chicago and the West. 



Angling Notes. 



Pickerel Bait and Watersnake 

 Ftshculturb. 



Trout Culture Delusion. 

 The Kennel. 



The Collie or Sheep Dog. 



The Kennel. 



A Visit to a Famous Kennel. 



A. K. C. Affairs. 



Wilmington Dog Show. 



Dogs of the Day. 



Dog Talk. 



Kennel Notes. 



Kennel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



San Francisco. 



The Trap. 



The L. C. Smith Cup Tangle. 

 Wolstencroft's Tournament. 

 St. Louis. 



Utah vs. Nebraska. 



The Onondagas. 

 Yachting. 



New York Y. C. Cruise. 



The Fisher Cup. 



New York Y. R. A. 



Gossoon and Minerva. 



Hull Y. C. 

 Canoeing. 



American Canoe Association 

 Meet. 



Answers to Correspondents. 

 New Publications. 



IMAGINATION: 



WHEN the sensatkm-mongering newspapers set about 

 manufacturing their annual hydrophobia scare, 

 they are generally pretty certain to describe a disease 

 which, according to so distinguished an authority as Dr. 

 W. A. Hammond, ex-Surgeon-General, U. S. A., is not 

 hydrophobia at all, but is what he terms "false hydro- 

 phobia." Since, however, in a large proportion of the 

 cases exploited by the press, the subjects die, it may be 

 suggested that real hydrophobia or "false hydrophobia," 

 it is all one in the end, each resulting in a terrible death. 

 "As well hang a man as to scare him to death." There 

 is, however, this important distinction between the two 

 forms of disease, that while, according to the same high 

 authority, the real hydrophobia is incurable and its 

 victim is beyond hope, "false hydrophobia" is by no 

 means necessarily fatal. Being a physical and nervous 

 condition produced by the action of the mind, it may, 

 under proper treatment, be cured. In relation to this 

 disease, then, surely no greater service can be rendered 

 by the medical profession than first popularizing exact 

 information respecting the two forms of hydrophobia, 

 that the "false" may be distinguished from the true. 



In the current number of the North American Review 

 Dr. Hammond points out that "false hydrophobia" is one 

 of the diseases to which hysterical and other nervous 

 persons are subject by "suggestion;" in other words, it is 

 brought on by a morbid imagination. Now, there are 

 certain well-recognized distinctions between the true and 

 the false. In ninety-nine cases out of every hundred 

 deaths by "hydrophobia" reported by the press, the vic- 

 tims are said to have barked and snapped like dogs. 

 When such symptoms are present, Dr. Hammond de- 

 clares they offer proof positive that the malady iB not 

 true hydrophobia, but is the effect of imagination. "To 

 bark like a dog, to snap at those near by, and even to run 

 about on all fours," he says, "are among the most promi- 



nent symptoms of false hydrophobia; the patient being 

 imbued with the idea that the hydrophobic virus which 

 he imagines has been absorbed into his system is calcu- 

 lated to assimilate him to the animal by which he has 

 been poisoned. Now, such symptoms are never witnessed 

 in true hydrophobia, and their presence is amply suffi- 

 cient for a discrimination between the two affections." 



In real hydrophobia, again, the victim, although ter- 

 ribly anxious and nervous, strives to conceal his state 

 from those about him. Quite the reverse is true with the 

 victim of "false hydrophobia," who is "loud in his ex- 

 pression of apprehension," and dwells upon every fancied 

 symptom with exaggerated alarm. 



Still a third distinction between the two forms is in 

 connection with the spasm of the muscles concerned in 

 respiration and swallowing, the victim of ' ' false hydro- 

 phobia " exhibiting terror and convulsive movements 

 when trying to swallow water, but yet swallowing coffee, 

 whisky and other liquids without difficulty. These sev- 

 eral symptoms stamp the imaginary malady. 



Determined by the characteristics here noted, "false hy- 

 drophobia," it will be seen, is the predominating type of 

 the disease. It is in fact common, while true hydropho- 

 bia is of extremely rare occurrence. As Dr. J. Frank 

 Perry ("Ashmont") wrote in his paper, copied in our 

 Kennel columns last week, the chances of a person giving 

 up his life on the scaffold are about as many as those of 

 his dying from hydrophobia. But it is certain that there 

 are scores and hundreds of persons who, because of their 

 peculiar nervous constitutions, are liable to die of "false 

 hydrophobia," if only a train of circumstances shall ensue 

 to set their imaginations working in that direction. They 

 may readily become the victims of "suggestion," and by 

 their morbid fancy bring on themselves that "hydropho- 

 bia" which, though denominated by the physicians "false," 

 is nevertheless fatal. 



In the light of these facts it is a grave question whether 

 the maintenance of "Pasteur Institutes" for the pre- 

 tended cure of hydrophobia is not wholly pernicious. 

 If they cannob cure the real disease, they certainly can 

 and unquestionably do, by their very existence and no- 

 toriety, produce the imaginary malady. 



Nothing is more sure than that when the world shall 

 grow better enlightened, such mischief-brewing institu- 

 tions will be suppressed, and newspaper editors who, by 

 false and sensational accounts of pretended hydrophobia 

 cases, work on public credulity, and produce "hydropho- 

 bia epidemics," will be indicted and sent to jail where 

 they belong. ^^^^^^^^^^ = 



ON MARSH AND MEADOW. 



ALTHOUGH in a few States woodcock shooting is per- 

 mitted in July, the real opening of the shooting 

 campaign takes place in this present month of August. 

 In this month we have the beach birds, the rail and the 

 reed bird, which in old times came to us by thousands 

 and gave to the gunner an opportunity to use his arm 

 and to prepare himself for the later cold weather work 

 on quail, grouse and ducks. 



The shooting of the August migrants is easy work com- 

 pared with that of the late fall. It really does not require 

 any very great skill to drop the yellowlegs, as with dang- 

 ling legs they bunch and hover over the decoys, nor to 

 stop the rail as it flaps up before the boat which goes 

 swishing through the ripening wild rice, starting one 

 bird after another from his reedy cover. The reed bird 

 is not difficult to hit. 



Years ago the swarming flocks of yellowlegs, dowitch, 

 willets and jackcurlew, of which the few advance strag- 

 glers had made their appearance in July, mustered all 

 their forces in August and began their southward flight. 

 Early in the month they came along in some numbers, 

 but it was not until after the northeast storm, which is 

 looked for about Aug. 10 to 15, that the flight was fully 

 on. Fortunate the man who could be abroad during this 

 storm. Little cared he for the wind and rain, for the 

 birds were likely to be plenty and the shooting good. 

 Then, sometimes, later in the month or early in Septem- 

 ber, came another easterly storm, which might bring to 

 our shores one of those immense flights of golden plover 

 and Esquimaux curlew, whose coming the local gunners 

 long remember. 



Beach bird shooting in the olden time when birds were 

 plenty was very pleasant sport. There was the wide, 

 flat stretch of sand or marsh, and beyond the deep blue 

 sea, with here and there a white sail or the dark trail of 



a steamer's smoke. There were the distant birds, the 

 trembling excitement as they drew nearer, the doubt as 

 to whether they would hear the call, or if they heard, 

 would heed it; the breathless waiting until they had 

 whirled over the stools, and then the roar of* the guns, 

 and again the doubt as to whether the confused birds 

 would return once more to the spot where the decoys 

 stood. Of course it was not all so rosy. Sometimes the 

 sun beat down until it seemed as if a man's brains would 

 bake under the torrid beat; sometimes the mosquitoes 

 would fairly drive one out of the blind, but if a bird's 

 wing was seen on the horizon, how quickly were these 

 discomforts forgotten. 



In August in a few localities, but in most of the States 

 on Sept. 1, begins the rail shooting to which the sport at 

 bay birds leads up. 



Rail shooting may fairly be termed a sport for invalids 

 and infants. A dear friend of ours used to shoot rail, in 

 kid gloves, sitting in a revolving arm-chair. Still there 

 are few more delightful things than to get down to the 

 river early in the morning, and in the cool air to row up 

 to the meadows. Then shooter and shover change places, 

 the long pole is set against the bottom and the boat's nose 

 moves in among the tall grass. At a distance the sharp 

 cry of the rail may be heard, and nearer at hand, a splash- 

 ing as some startled bird runs along before the boat on 

 the floating stuff. Presently his body appears above the 

 grass, the light crack sounds, and he falls, to be recovered 

 as the boat sweeps by. What fun it is when two shooters, 

 between whom there is no rivalry, can find a narrow strip 

 of cat-tails, too thick to be shoved through, yet narrow 

 enough to be thoroughly beaten by the poles of the 

 pushers. A boat takes each side of the strip, and it is 

 thrashed from one end to the other, the birds now 

 and then flying out, but most of them running 

 along until they are all collected at one extremity 

 of the strip. Then the fun begins, and as fast 

 as they can load and fire the men shoot until 

 all the birds are down or have escaped. Perhaps all the 

 blocks and even the oars have been thrown out of each 

 boat to mark the dead birds, which must now be picked 

 up. After the shooting is over, comes the pleasant row 

 to the landing, the talking over the events of the day, 

 the quaint stories of the shovers, and finally the drive 

 home along the pleasant country road. 



Ah, the good old times! Can they come again ? 



Sometimes the good shots used to get 200 rail in a single 

 tide. Do they ever make such bags nowadays ? 



For several years the bay bird and the rail shooting 

 have been disappointing, but the prospects this year seem 

 more flattering. Reports of large bay bird flights are 

 already coming in, and indications are that the season 

 will be a good one. 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 WJ E have frequently called attention to the fact that 

 ' » pelagic sealing in the waters of the North Pacific 

 Ocean would ultimately result in the destruction of our 

 seal fisheries on the Pribyloff Islands and the extermina- 

 tion of the fur seal. Under the old system, by which seals 

 were killed only on land, there was no danger to the 

 breeding stock, because the animals taken were all young 

 non-breeding males, no females being ever destroyed. 

 In pelagic sealing, however, many females are killed, 

 and this at a time when they are about to bring forth 

 their young. A report recently received at the Treasury 

 Department in Washington from Capt. Healy, com- 

 mander of the revenue cutter Bear, confirms our state- 

 ments as to the danger which threatens the seals. Captain 

 Healy visited the islands June 19 and 20, and found a 

 remarkable scarcity of seals. He says : " On both islands 

 the failure of the seals to appear in their usual numbers 

 was very noticeable, the killable seals being very scarce 

 and the breeding rookeries almost uninhabited at the 

 time of our visit, and the probabilities of the company's 

 securing their quota of 60,000 skins before the expiration 

 of the season are gravely doubted by many." 



Excelsior, the giant geyser of the National Park, has 

 been very active this season. Some days it has given 

 several eruptions, sending the water three hundred feet 

 up into the air, with a noise and an exhibition of force 

 that was fairly terrific. Tourists who have had the 

 opportunity to witness the eruptions of this geyser this 

 season may congratulate themselves, for the number of 

 people who have seen. Excelsior '^play" is very small, 



