Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $i A Yeah, 10 Cts. a Copy. ) 



Srx Months, iffS. f 



NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 11, 1890. 



( VOL. XXXV.-No. 8. 



i No. 318 Broauwat, New York. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editoeial. 



An Anti-Brute League. 



The Decline of Large Regattas 



The Mudfish or Lawver. 



Hoxie. 1 

 Sportsman Tourist. 



A River (poetry). 



Trapping Days.— III. 

 Natural History. 



Six Weeks with a Sparrow 

 Family. 



Habits of Elk. 



Stinging Snakes. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



The North Loup Valley. 



Bay Snipe on the Carolina 

 Coast. 



Game in Mexico. 



Southwestern Game Country. 



Chicago and tbe West. 



Boston Notes. 



Game Notes. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



Tbe Clubs of the St. Clair Flats 



Fishing in Minnesota. 



Chicago and the West. 



Angling Notes. 

 Ftshculture. 



The Calico Bass in Europe. 

 The Kennel. 



A Coon Racket on Skitcha- 

 wany Mountain. 



Wilmington Dog Show. 



The Kennel. 



Dog Talk from England. 



Kingston Dog Show. 



Dogs of the Day. 



Kennel Nores. 

 Rifle and Trap Shoohno. 



Range and Gallery. 



German Marksmen. 



The Canadian Wimbledon. 



Zettler Club. 



The Trap. 



Shot Makers Combine. 

 Brooklyn. 



White Plains Tournament. 



Springfield Tournament. 



Hackettstown. 



Mil ford. 



Newark. 



Death of Arthur C. Dittmar. 

 Yachting. 

 St. Lawrence Y. C. 

 Beverly Y. C. 



Marine and Field Club Re- 

 gatta. 



Mr. Fife's Visit. 



Gossoon and Ventura. 



Larchmont Y. C. 

 Canoeing. 



Racing Rules and Standing 

 Sails. 



The Paddling Championship. 

 Mohican C. C. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



WANTED — AN ANTI-BRUTE LEAGUE. 

 TT7HEN a man joins a fraternity and assumes its badge 



» ' of membership, he takes upon himself an obliga- 

 tion not to disgrace that body. It would be happily con- 

 ditioned if all those who claim to belong to the fraternity 

 of sportsmen, while wearing no outward token of their 

 membership in the craft, should feel a like obligation to 

 do nothing which would bring discredit and dishonor to 

 their fellows. As things go now, any individual man or 

 brute is at liberty to trap himself out with the implements 

 of sport, and conduct himself with decency or indecency 

 as his instincts prompt, and still claim to be a sportsman. 



There is a Philadelphian — a deer hunter — who deserves 

 to be read out of the fraternity of sportsmen and into 

 jail. We find his latest exploit recorded in the Albany 

 Argus of Sept. 9. It happened on Chateaugay Lake, in 

 the Adirondacks. Two ladies, one of them being Mrs. 

 Dr. Sandon , of this city, were out on the lake in a boat 

 on Monday of last week, when they saw a doe and her 

 spotted fawn emerge from the cover on the lake shore, 

 the hounds being close behind on then: tracks. A rifle 

 crack was heard, and the doe was seen to fall on the 

 beach. The little fawn in its terror swam out into the 

 lake, and coming near to the boat in which were the two 

 ladies, it was caught by Mrs. Sandon, who lifted it by 

 the ears out of the water into the boat. The Philadelphia 

 "sportsman," who had killed the mother deer, hereupon 

 hurried up in a boat and demanded the fawn, threaten- 

 ing to shoot it in the lady's arms if she did not give it up. 

 Frightened by his brutal threats and menacing bearing, 

 Mrs. Sandon handed over the fawn. The Philadelphia 

 brute drowned it. 



The full record of Adirondack deer hounding would 

 show scores of outrageous deeds of wantonness and hard- 

 ened brutality, but we very much question if there are 

 many incidents even in that record mpre disgusting than 



this. It is many degrees worse than what happened on 

 the following Saturday on Lake George, when John 

 Cronkhite, proprietor of the Trout Pavilion, took out a 

 number of New York guests, drove a deer into the water, 

 rowed out to it, cut its throat, towed it ashore and proudly 

 displayed it'suspended from a tree as the steamer Horicon 

 passed the hotel in the afternoon. 



Manifestly when city snobs in the Adirondacks commit 

 these water-killing abominations year after year, the 

 tone of public sentiment prevailing at the hotel resorts in 

 that region must be exceedingly debased. Reformation 

 in that quarter can at best be slow. But surely there 

 should be some way of expressing the feeling of New 

 York sportsmen at large on such outrages. If the New 

 York Association for the Protection of Fish and Game 

 were still in existence— in its old type of membership — 

 we might look to that body for action in these cases. 

 In the absence of any organization of the kind, might 

 it not be entirely practicable for a number of sportsmen 

 to organize themselves into a society for the express pur- 

 pose of voicing the sentiment of decent men respecting 

 the brutalities of snobs in sportsman's guise? Properly 

 conducted such a league might at least have some deter- 

 rent influence, for these fellows of low instincts, like this 

 Philadelphian, are nevertheless quite prone to shrink 

 from the expressed scorn and censure of sportsmen. 

 They would find in the attentions bestowed on them by 

 an anti-brute society less satisfaction than they now 

 derive from the homage paid them by their fellow snobs. 



What we need is an anti-brute league; and for that 

 matter, not one but a dozen. 



THE MUDFISH OR LAWYER. 



IT is reported that the mudfish (Amia calva), which 

 made its appearance in Seneca and Oneida rivers, 

 New York, in large numbers, recently, is a mysterious 

 visitor, its origin being unknown. During the last three 

 months fully fifty, averaging 21bs. in weight, have been 

 caught in the streams mentioned, usually with crawfish 

 for bait. Their sudden appearance in such numbers has 

 excited apprehension that they may prove destructive to 

 game fish, and the misgiving is well founded. The mud- 

 fish is exceedingly voracious and clings to life with the 

 tenacity of a bulldog. Its jaws are massive and armed 

 with strong, sharp teeth ; its body, moreover, is protected 

 by a covering of bony scales, and the skull bones are 

 thick and heavy. The cold water of trout streams is not 

 favorable to the existence of this fish and we may, there- 

 fore, rest easy as far as they are concerned; but the 

 black bass, perch and most other fishes inhabiting waters 

 of moderate temperature, together with the smaller fishes 

 upon which these subsist, are liable to extermination 

 when associated in close quarters with the worthless 

 mudfish. 



HOXIE. 



AN old woman being in want of a goose-herd, Reynard 

 offered his services. Installed as goose-herd, he 

 did his duty so assiduously that at the end of a fortnight 

 there remained of the geese to be herded only one 

 scrawny old gander, which the fox had disdained as too 

 tough to be eaten. 



The people of Hopkinton, Rhode Island, had some par- 

 tridges and woodcock in their game covers, for which 

 they appointed a farmer named Hoxie game warden, and 

 set him to guard the game. He went at it in Reynard 

 style, preserving it — after he had shot it out of season — 

 by hiding it in wells until he could sell it. Hoxie was 

 rapidly reducing the Hopkinton game to the single gan- 

 der status, where it would require no more policing, when 

 the subject was brought to the attention of President 

 Penny of the Society for the Protection of Game and 

 Fish. We have already reported how this game-thieving 

 constable was neatly trapped with a basket of birds in 

 possession, and how with his contraband booty he at- 

 tempted to skedaddle. 



We recur to the case because Hoxie appears to be a 

 fair type of one class of Rhode Island farmers. It is a 

 common practice for many of them who live near the 

 popular summer resorts on the shore to kill immature 

 game birds for sale to the hotels. 



Hoxie is reputed to be worth thirty or forty thousand 

 dollars; and presumably is not driven by sufferings of his 

 family to provide food for them in this way. He appears 

 to have had an appetite for illicit game, and when a man 

 has once contracted such a taste he cannot be cured of it 



by investiture with a game warden's badge, no more than 

 a fox can be cured of his hankering for poultry by being 

 made goose-herd, or than a sneak thief can be made 

 honest by putting a policeman's uniform on him. More- 

 over Hoxie is a ring politician, and a crony of the judge 

 before whom he was tried for this offense, and who let 

 him off so tenderly that the prosecuting society announces 

 its intention of going to another court with the case. 

 The further progress of the suit will be watched with 

 interest. The society is a strong one. Its membership is 

 growing; and there is work enough to keep it busy. 



THE DECLINE OF LARGE REGATTAS. 

 T^HE most important event of the week in yachting is 

 the announcement of the abandonment by the New 

 York Y. C. of its proposed fall regatta, set for next Sat- 

 urday. After weeks of preparation and every effort to 

 secure entries, the regatta committee is compelled to an- 

 nounce the abandonment of the race, the entries being 

 too few to warrant the trouble and expense. The present 

 season has been marked by two important features, the 

 great regattas of the two large clubs have all been fail- 

 ures, owing to the very meagre entries, while at the 

 same time there have been more match races sailed than 

 ever before. 



At first sight these two facts would seem to be contra- 

 dictory, but a closer examination will show that both 

 follow naturally from the same cause. The racing yacht 

 has reached a degree of perfection which, while it inten- 

 sifies the rivalry between a few of the fastest in each 

 class, makes it absolutely useless for any but racing craft 

 to start in the races. The line between the cruiser and 

 the racer is so sharply drawn in actual practice that it 

 can no longer be ignored by the yacht clubs; its existence 

 must be recognized and rules made to fit the altered con- 

 ditions of racing. 



After the many failures of this season, it is plain that 

 the great open regatta is a thing of the past, unless some 

 method can be devised for separating the thorough racers 

 from the great majority of other craft that formerly 

 started; a task that is by no means an easy one, but which 

 the clubs must take up very soon if there is to be any 

 general revival of yacht racing next season. 



ONE Drawback in the visiting sportsman's satisfaction 

 in Maine, and it must be conceded that it is a decided 

 drawback, is the fact that he may not take home his 

 venison. This is a wise provision in general, its intent 

 being to cut off entirely the marketing of Maine venison. 

 But there are modifications of the non- export law which 

 serve their purpose admirably and which do not bear as 

 a hardship on the sportsman whose intentions and actions 

 are honest. By limiting the amount of game that may 

 be exported in one season by one individual and by re- 

 quiring the owner to accompany the meat while in tran- 

 sit, it has been found quite feasible in other States 

 to cut off the marketing of venison, while at the same 

 time the sportsman is allowed the satisfaction of taking 

 home the game he has killed. We do not know that in- 

 genuity has as yet devised any scheme by which the pur- 

 pose of such a law can be thwarted, or the privilege 

 given sportsmen abused. We should like to see it tried 

 in Maine. 



Salmon in the Hudson have been noted by scores 

 this season; and now that a Rogers fishway has been put 

 into the dam at Mechanicsville, the fish are going over 

 that obstruction in large numbers. The stocking of the 

 Hudson with salmon may now be regarded as an es- 

 tablished success, or at least as an enterprise for which 

 success can with excellent reasons be promised. There are 

 other dams and falls yet to be provided with fish ways, and 

 now that the Mechanicsville way is proving so effective, it 

 would be only folly to postpone extension of this work. 

 The Hudson, as a salmon river, is destined to be famous. 



Winninish from the Metabetchotjan. — In answer to 

 our request for winninish Mr. C. C. Maxson, of Westerly, 

 R. I., has sent us three fresh specimens, which were 

 taken in the Metabetchouan River, P. Q., Sept. 3. Mr. 

 Maxson calls attention to the marked difference in color- 

 ation and ratio of weight to length between these fish 

 and examples from the Discharge. We shall take great 

 pleasure in fully describing these beautiful specimens in 

 our next number. Mr. Maxson has our hearty thanks 

 for his courtesy. 



