July 34, 1890.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



11 



big river shiners strike for my new cast, and amused 

 myself by taking three or four of these, which made a 

 good deal of fun, as they were very large. Then, as for 

 some reason I let the. fly stop as I was again bringing it 

 in, I saw a genuine unmistakable black bass just in the 

 act of taking it. When the fly stopped, he stopped too, 

 and I saw him no more at present. 



All this gave mean idea. I stuck to the bright-colored 

 cast, went ashore, and after a little while waded carefully 

 in and made a long clear cast across the grass bed, 

 toward where old Mr. Bass had showed himself a while 

 before. Down dropped Mr. Ferguson, and pop! Mr. Bass 

 had him. And then and there, brethren, was bliss, joy 

 and sweet gratitude. Never were conditions more perfect 

 for all these. 



The rod I was using was the lightest and the most 

 beautiful rod I ever owned or ever saw. In length it was 

 only 8ft., and its total weight was just 31oz. At the tip 

 it was fine as a needle, and the zylonite hand-grasp was 

 not so thick as your thumb. This rod is one of the Spald- 

 ings' Kosmics, and I believe they call it their Catskill 

 model. It was designed for work with the smallest of 

 trout. I thought so much of this rod that I always called 

 it my " baby." My friends laughed at me and told me 

 that it was carrying things to an extreme, and it was 

 predicted at the car that morning that I would smash my 

 rod if 1 ever struck a bass on it. I knew already that the 

 rod had a backbone simply wonderful for such mere 

 threads of joined bamboo, and. I had learned that it would 

 carry three bass flies— undue load for it — and handle its 

 line as well as most rods three feet longer; but the ques- 

 tion of what it would do with a bass was one which I 

 confess I awaited with only an assumed boldness. But 

 to hang a good bass with such a rod, with the lightest of 

 silk for a line, a 9ft. leader of the finest single gut, with 

 a feathery burr which was beautiful in itself, all on a 

 beautiful stream and in the most beautiful spot imagin- 

 able—if that be not the very poetry of angling and the 

 essence of angling happiness, I know not where to 

 seek it. 



The bass struck at 40ft. I should think, but after his 

 first rush and high vault out of the water he never got 

 more than 50ft. from the reel. The water was clear and 

 open, and I could see the fish all the time. It was a 

 small-mouthed bass, weighing about three-quarters of a 

 pound, and as game a fellow as ever swam. I always 

 thought these fish gamer than a trout, and far more shy. 

 This fish went out of the water half a dozen times, and 

 every time he went I could not help letting go a yell 

 which brought an answering whoop from the boys 

 around the bend. After the first lunge or two I lost all 

 fear for the rod. and gazed at it with pure admiration 

 and affection. It had a supreme confidence in itself, and 

 in short it just went to work and killed that bass as if it 

 were a bass rod by profession, and not a dainty thing de- 

 signed for little fishes. Duly I led the bass into the net, 

 and sitting down upon the bank admired him for a time. 

 I was ready at that moment to adjure bait-fishing for- 

 ever, and to pin my sole allegiance to the fly. And not 

 only this once, but six times during that same day, did I 

 prove the efficacy of my gear against the Tippecanoe 

 bass, although none of the six fish weighed over a pound. 

 I took a dozen or two of the large river shiners, which 

 struck the fly gamely, and also two more rock bass. Of 

 the latter fish this stream does not seem to have a great 

 abundance, and we found no croppies at all. There are 

 more biack bass in it than anything else, and of these 

 nearly all are the small-mouthed. They are often taken 

 weighing up to 31bs. We heard of bass taken here which 

 weighed 7, 8 and even lOlbs., but allowing duly for local 

 imagination, it is probable that there were 3 or 41bs. big^ 

 mouthed bass and taken by bait in the deep holes. The 

 native method of fishing is by throw lines, cast into the 

 deepest water, the bait being minnows, or that country 

 stand-by, plain worms. 



When the party rounded up at noon for luncheon at the 

 car, everybody was more or less bedraggled, but every- 

 body was hungry. It appeared that the fly was to be 

 more successful than the minnow as bait, and after lunch 

 the fly was used exclusively, Charlie Burton rather carry- 

 ing off the honors of the day. Messrs, Donald and Wil- 

 lard ignominiously staid home at the car and went swim- 

 ming in the evening instead of fishing. Mr. Chapin 

 laboriously and faithfully displayed his Goney Island 

 costume at every likely bend of the river, and Mr. Levings 

 fished hard, like the real angler he is, but nobody did 

 anything startling till along toward evening, when we 

 had a little fun with the bass in a deep pool below a long 

 riffle. That was a little after four o'clock. At half past 

 four the fish quit rising, and at just the time the fish- 

 ing should have been best, we saw mile after mile of 

 water lying as smooth as a mirror, undimpled by any 

 moving fin. That was a rather singular day of fishing. 

 The bass would not take the minnow, but preferred the 

 fly: they took the fly in the hottest part of a very hot day, 

 and they would have nothing but the brightest flies, in 

 that very bright, shallow, and clear water. This was a 

 plain reversal of all known rules. Ferguson, Donaldson 

 and Seth-Green were the flies that killed the fish, the 

 former doing most of the work. Yellow, or yellow and 

 green, seemed to be the right thing for that stream at the 

 time we were there. The river fairly swanned with min- 

 nows. The bass seemed numerous. Each one of the 

 party thought he must have seen forty or fifty bass that 

 day. The natives say that until the present year there 

 was any amount of seining and spearing done, as well as 

 fyke-netting, the nets being used in the deep pools. 

 Dynamiting has also been carried onto a fearful extreme, 

 although the recent closer watching of the stream has 

 stopped that largely. A certain doctor at Leiter's is 

 accused by residents of thas burg of being a regular netter 

 and spearer. The same informant says that the 0. & A. 

 station agent at North Judson is a consistent practicer of 

 the same illicit methods on that stream. I wonder if this 

 will be a bit ©f news to the C. & A. officials who love fish- 

 ing, and I wonder if they might, could or would caution 

 that North Judson agent, that he might just as well con- 

 fine himself to plain fishing, or do his spearing in some 

 capacity other than as a C. & A. agent? If these be not 

 facts, somebody is monkeying sadly with his neighbor's 

 reputation. The residents of that region unite in saying 

 that the fishing in the Tippecanoe is nothing to what it 

 used to be. They accuse the "citv folks." The latter are 

 inclined to lay some of the burden upon the countryfolks. 



But in spite of all this, there are bass enough "in this 

 lovely stream to offer good fishing to any reasonable man. 

 Our party struck the stream under weather conditions 



the most unfavorable, but yet we had good sport. In the 

 fall, when the bass are on the riffles again, it is likely 

 that some or all of the party will try the stream another 

 time. Good river fishing is more pleasant than any lake 

 fishing. Barring the Fox River, which is not so beautiful a 

 stream, there is no fly-fishing stream so near Chicago 

 which will compare with the Tippecanoe, so far as the 

 knowledge of any of our party yet extends. There is 

 not much angling done to the south of the city by Chi- 

 cago anglers. That country seems to be appreciated or 

 known by only a few. Let us put Tippecanoe on record 

 as an easily accessible water where a general angler may 

 have genuine sport a-mid surroundings simply delightful. 

 Later on this paper will show that the same region also 

 has lake fishing of a sort that a good many are looking- 

 for, and which is not surpassed by anything lying within 

 the same distance, to the north. The full fishing resources 

 of the regions about Chicago have never yet been ex- 

 ploited by any paper. 



But sufficient to our day were the pleasures thereof, and 

 the party that met around the board on "112" that night 

 at dinner gave up all thought of the past or future, and 

 for the time turned all attention to the things of the liv- 

 ing present. Scott fairly outdid himself that night and 

 spread a table which elicited groans of satisfaction. 



"There's only one way to go fishing," said Charlie Bur- 

 ton, "and that is this way." 



"This is Mr. Levings's trip," said Mr. Donald, "and 

 although it beats Charlie Burton's trout and mosquito 

 trip out of sight, it still leaves a lingering void which 

 only a little more fish can fill. Charlie Willard, it's your 

 turn to be head guide and chief promoter the next time, 

 and if you don't take us to where we can all catch fish 

 we're going to throw you in the creek." 



"Well, you needn't kick on my trip," said Mr. Levings. 

 "I brought you to where there's plenty of fish, and it 

 isn't my fault if you can't catch them." A point of order 

 was made on this, and it was voted that the next locality 

 must be not only one where there was plenty of fish, but 

 where plenty of fish could be actually taken, it being 

 argued that a fish was not legal tender until taken in 

 hand and ready for proffer upon the spot. 



Meantime the faint notes of a distant country brass 

 band practicing for the Fourth of July performance were 

 wafted through the window, predominant the sonorous 

 diapase of the "oom-pah horn," as Mr. Levings dubbed 

 the brass baes piece. "Oom-pah, oom-pah, oom poom- 

 pah ah-hah !" said the big horn all the way through 

 "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" and "America," "The 

 Suwanee River" and other Fourth of July literature until 

 by and by it struck "Home, Sweet Home," as all country 

 bands must do, sooner or later. And by and by a fast 

 train came along and snatched us up, and when we 

 awoke it was in the big and busy city of Chicago. 



E. Hough. 



NESTING OF SUNFISHES. 



Occasional Observations on the Fishes in the Aquaria of the U.S. 

 Fish Commission. 



SOME months ago the breeding habits of the common 

 sunfish " pumpkin-seed," " tobacco-box," etc, 

 (Lepomis gibboms) were discussed in Forest and 

 Stream, and as the evidence was conflicting on some 

 points, Prof. Theodore N. Gill was led to say to the 

 writer that "It is a shame that we know so little of the 

 habits of our commonest fishes. " The writer was forced 

 to confess that although familiar with its breeding habits 

 in a general way, from boyhood, iiis inferences were 

 from analogy principally, and while giving considerable 

 time to observation of the habits of rarer species, he 

 had, from the very commonness of the " pumpkin-seed," 

 failed to observe it closely. 



Recently while making observations along the shores 

 of the Potomac below Washington, the writer found 

 great numbers of the nests ("pots" in New Jersey) of 

 this species. They are simply depressions in the mud, 

 sand or gravel, hollowed out "by means of rapid motion 

 of the fins, which fans out all the lighter sedimentary 

 deposit, mud or sand, as has heretofore frequently been 

 stated. These nests were from a few inches to several 

 feet apart. In each of them, hovering over or about, was 

 a male fish, and no females were observed immediately 

 about the nests. In the breeding season the male of this 

 species is easily identified by his generally higher colora- 

 tion, conspicuous red ear-marks, and in the water, from 

 a luminous-like border to the fins. 



The marginal coloration of the fins of males during 

 the breeding season is very common among the Cent- 

 rarchidce, probably all the species of Enneacanthus and 

 /Lepomis being so marked. The large-mo\ithed black 

 (bass has, also, a pale yellow margin, which would most 

 likely have a luminous appearance from above, and the 

 red-eye or rock-bass has a purplish margin to the fins 

 when in breeding coloration. In this way the sex can 

 easily be identified by observing them from above in 

 clear water. 



In some of the nests of the pumpkin-seed, the eggs 

 were found attached to small pebbles and tufts of 

 aquatic plants. In the greater number of them, however, 

 there were no eggs, but it is probable from the presence 

 of the male fish that the eggs were hatched and that the 

 young were about the vicinity of the nest and being 

 guarded. The eggs are very small, probably averaging 

 a thirty-second of an inch in diameter. As is the case 

 generally with fishes which protect their eggs or young, 

 the eggs are not very numerous. When hatched they 

 are probably less than a quarter of an inch long and the 

 young are for some time undoubtedly very tiny. 



The writer was also fortunate enough to see a pair 

 spawning. The movement of the fish was in a small 

 'circle of probably the area of a silver dollar on the top 

 of a stone. They undoubtedly pair as with the stickle- 

 backs, paradise-fish, etc., and unlike the Oyprinidce. It 

 is probable that the character of the nest varies 

 with different species, as is the case with the stickle- 

 backs. It is possible also that the nests of the same 

 species will vary in different localities according to the 

 nature of the bottom, and the character of the enemies 

 to contend with, requiring in some cases more elaborate 

 means of protection , so that the varying descriptions of 

 the nests are possibly all accurate for the localities in 

 which they are observed. 



A further confirmation of the fact that it is the male 

 which builds the nest is that in one of the aquaria of the 

 TJ. S. Fish Commission, a nest was recently built by a 

 male of one species of which there was no female, a 

 number of others, among which was at least one female, 

 being the common pumpkin-seed. On their transfer to 

 another aquarium he immediately hollowed out another 

 "pot." He appeared to claim possession of the female 

 and was undoubted " boss " of the ranch. The female at 

 times shared possession of the nest with him, but was 

 not yet ready to spawn. Unfortunately one morning he- 

 was missed and a search discovered him outside dead. 

 Whether the other males had finally asserted the rights 

 of race and forced him to jump cannot be known. It was 

 at all events an unfortunate circumstance, as the progeny 

 would have made interesting hybrids. The fact that the 

 female of one species of fish could accept the attentions 

 of another when there were a number of males of the 

 same species about, points to the possibility of hybridiza- 

 tion and consequent variations of species by the 

 accidental introduction of a single fish to a locality. 



Wm. P. Seal. 



Hermit Thrush (T. pallasii) in Maryland in Summer. 

 — On July 9, while traversing the woods in Howard 

 county, Md., about fifteen miles southwest of Baltimore, 

 my attention was attracted by a thrush, which at once I 

 saw was not the wood thrush [Tardus mustelinus), I 

 shot the bird and was astonished to find it a hermit 

 thrush {T. pallasii Cab.). The decided rufescent tail 

 and tail coverts contrasted with the olive brown color of 

 the head and back were sufficient to identify it. Know- 

 ing that there is no record of the occurrence of this bird 

 in summer south of Massachusetts on the Atlantic coast, 

 I give some account of its characteristics. Comparing it 

 with the descriptions inRidgway's "Manual," Coues and 

 Baird, and with a mounted specimen in my collection, 

 shot in fall, I could find no difference except in the bill, 

 which though not as bulky as that of the wood thrush, is 

 longer and broader than in the mounted specimen. The 

 measurements from the nostrils to the tip of the bill were 

 as follows: Mounted specimen of T. pallasii, .36in.; the 

 above specimen of the same species, .40in.; T, mustelinus, 

 .48in. That this bird was not a young specimen of T. 

 mustelinus is shown by the fact that a young bird of that 

 species which I caught with my hands, and which had 

 the tail only half developed, showed the cinnamon color 

 of the head, the spotted sides beneath and the olive 

 brown color of the tail, while in my specimen of T. 

 pallasii the colors of the various parts differ in no re- 

 spect from the mounted specimen in my collection. On 

 dissection this bird proved to be a female. The oesophagus 

 contained the whole of a grasshopper and the larva of 

 oedipoda apparently. Before concluding I desire to speak 

 of the time of arrival and departure of this species in the 

 immediate vicinity of Baltimore. About the first or sec- 

 ond week in October it makes it appearance, and is very 

 common through that month, its number diminishing 

 gradually as winter approaches. The last specimen I 

 obtained in fall was Nov. 23. A few remain here 

 throughout the winter, as I have shown in a paper 

 printed in Forest and Stream Vol. XXVIII. No. 6. 

 The earliest date in spring at which I procured a speci- 

 men was March 5, but toward the middle or close of the 

 same month it becomes more plentiful. About the close 

 of the following month it disappears entirely. — Arthur 

 Resler (Baltimore, Md., July 17.) 



\mnt §ag and §>utj» 



LIFE WITH THE OLD HUDSON'S BAY CO. 



[Concluded from Page 51s.~[ 



VT7 E used to live a good deal on pemmican. I have eaten 

 V t pemmican ten years old, made of meat that never 

 knew any salt, Pemmican was always made of buffalo 

 meat. The great buffalo hunt was then only about forty 

 miles west of Winnipeg, or not further than the Turtle 

 Mountains. The half-breeds went out for this hunt in 

 their old Red River carts, whose wheels were tired with 

 rawhide, and which were tied together with rawhide 

 instead of being fastened with nails. Each cart was 

 drawn by a single ox, and the running ponies were led 

 behind. The hunter used a Hudson's Bay musket. He 

 carried a few bullets in his mouth when on the chase, and 

 his powder he carried in a horn. He loaded "by count" 

 as he rode, i. e., he inverted the powder horn over the 

 barrel and let it run while he counted "one, two, three," 

 on the hour glass principle, Each hunter had his horn 

 gauged so that he knew how long to count. Then he spit 

 a ball out of his mouth into the barrel, kept the muzzle 

 elevated till he got alongside his buffalo, and then threw 

 down and fired. The skins of the cows and young 

 bulls were made into robes, and those of the old bulls 

 were made into pemmican bags. The meat was sorted out 

 into two piles, the lean and the fat. The lean was cut 

 into thin. strips, dried and pounded up on the skins. The 

 bag of hide was then sewed up with sinews and stuffed 

 full of the pounded lean meat. The fat was then melted 

 and the bag was run full of the hot fat and then sewed 

 up tight. It was then pemmican, and would keep for 

 years. A piece of pemmican as big as your fist would, 

 when soaked and cooked, form a meal for two men. It 

 was practically a meat extract. A choice variety of pem- 

 mican was called "officer's pemmican." It was made of 

 buffalo hump, and the marrow obtained by breaking up 

 the bones, a quantity of service berries being added. The 

 service berry is a small berry much like a huckleberry. 

 We never used our scanty flour in the summer, but kept 

 it for winter, for use with our pemmican. Chopped pem- 

 mican, mixed with flour and water and then fried, made 

 what we called "rascho." Boiled with flour to a soup, it 

 was called "robibou," and was then eaten with a spoon. 



We caught a great many sturgeon, in heavy gill-nets, 

 and we used to keep these in a "sturgeon pen" in a creek, 

 made by building a fence of poles stuck down in the 

 bottom. An old squaw would take a sturgeon and cut 

 it into a sort of spiral, so it would draw out to twice its 

 length. It would then be smoked and wrapped in bark, 

 perhaps 501bs. in a package. The Indians caught a great 

 many sturgeon below the falls in a river near there. 



The Great Northern pike was always called jack in 

 that country. We got them of 20 and 801bs. weight. 

 We also had the mooneye, or "'golden-eye," and that was 



