210 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Cot. 2, 1890, 



Eollins and a prospector have found a new lake in the 

 forest, about two miles from his ranch, and they took 

 seven big-mouth bass here in about that many minutes. 

 But best of all and most thrilling is the fact that Charles 

 Hunger, one of the Wausaukee guides, had a few days 

 ago treed a bear and two cubs, only a short distance from 

 the club house. Hunger had no gun, but being on horse- 

 back, rode rapidly to the house to get one. On his return 

 the bears were gone. A bear has been eating at the slop 

 barrel of the tiub house, and the black cook, with native 

 negro horror of "bah," is afraid to stick his head outside 

 the door. He would leave the place, but he is afraid to 

 take the ride through the woods. 



The Grand Calumet Heights Club holds its quarterly 

 meeting at the Grand Pacific this evening, and 1 regret I 

 cannot attend, as matters of general interest in the club 

 management are to be brought up. In his call, the secre- 

 tary plaintively begs everybody to pay up the club dues, 

 as he has not had a vacation this summer. That is a 

 yarn, for George Harshall went woodcock shooting, to my 

 certain knowledge; but maybe he didn't pay for the trip 

 out of the club dues. E. Hough. 



WAYS OF THE RUFFED GROUSE. 



THERE is probably not in North America a bird that 

 has made a deeper impression on the minds of sports- 

 men than the ruffed grouse. This is due, in part, to his 

 great beauty, his wisdom, the difficulty of obtaining him 

 and his intrinsic worth , as well likewise' as to the wild 

 and attractive scenery of his home. The grouse does not 

 rely for safety entirely upon his phenomenal flight or his 

 flashlike movements on the ground, or the awful roar, 

 the intensity of which he can gauge at pleasure to bewil- 

 der his pursuer. These alone wotud not suffice to accom- 

 plish that purpose, and the bird would ere long become 

 exterminated. He has many other ways and devices, 

 some of which exhibit an intelligence equal to that of 

 man in a state of nature, and far excel, by native wit, in 

 the science of woodcraft the highest efforts of the ordin- 

 ary civilized human being. 



Among many other characteristics there are two in his 

 disposition which I have often observed, his curious in- 

 quisitiveness and his love of music. These seem to fasten 

 him to a place and rivet his attention. 



One day while strolling through the woods a ruffed 

 grouse rose up from the leaves where he had lain among 

 the witch hazels, and running swiftly across my path and 

 down a little hillside, secreted himself behind a tree but 

 a short distance away. I stood motionless. In a little 

 while his head appeared. After looking long and anx- 

 iously, he finally walked out, and keeping his eyes fixed 

 on me waltzed off into cover. 



On the other occasion I was lunching in the woods in 

 company with a friend. We had been there about an 

 hour, when I discovered a grouse on a large hemlock 

 about 40yds. off. He was standing f our or five feet from 

 the body of the tree. "We purposely engaged in more 

 talking, laughing and hilar.ty to observe the effect. It 

 was interesting to see him turn his head to get a better 

 view and to hear more distinctly. 



Once I was walking carelessly along in the woods 

 whistling a lively tune; on looking ahead I was surprised 

 to see a grouse on a limb 10ft. from the body of a tree and 

 about 15£t. from the ground, and hardly 20yds. away. I 

 stopped walking, but continued to whistle for several 

 minutes, the bird remaining to hear, when becoming 

 alarmed at the barking of my dog he spread his wings and 

 sailed away. 



On another accasion I stopped in a grove of chestnut 

 trees to pick up a few nuts, and afterwards sat down near 

 by, and began to sing to relieve the monotony. I soon 

 found I had an audience, from sundry movements in the 

 dry leaves. After looking sharply for some time I saw 

 a grouse standing among some dead branches, his neck, 

 head and body were stretched up, giving the appearance 

 of a dark-colored stick about a foot and a half in length. 

 I continued singing for some time, the bird continuing to 

 look at me. Finally I moved toward him, when he flew, 

 and others also which 1 had not seen, to the number of 

 seven or eight. 



I think I could have kept that bird there for several 

 hours, had I wished to do so. Dorp. 



Schenectady, New York. 



A Norristown Expedition.— Norristown, Pa.— The 

 Norristown Hunting Club, organized Jan. 1 and composed 

 of 15 of the representative business men of the town, pro- 

 pose this year to make a two-weeks' hunting tour some- 

 where within a radius of 300 or 400 miles. They will 

 charter a car and use the same for their accommodation 

 at whatever point or points may be decided on to visit. 

 The idea is to visit several shooting grounds upon a line 

 of railway. Should game be not found in sufficient 

 quantities at one, principally small game, such as quail, 

 pheasant, turkey, etc. , combined with pleasure and rec- 

 reation , new fields will be sought. They would be only 

 too well pleased to hear from any fellow sportsman or 

 friends who could offer points as to the most desirable 

 localities, abundance of game, pleasure, etc., such a trip 

 as proposed would receive in their vicinity. We are not 

 pot-hunters in any sense of the word, but men who handle 

 the gun for pleasure and sport, and would sincerely 

 thank any member of the fraternity who would lend his 

 assistance to our pleasure. They may address H. E. 

 Elston. 



Iowa Game. — Elm Lake, la., Sept. 23. — I left home 

 (Forest county) last Friday morning on my annual fishing 

 and hunting trip, and dropped in here, thinking I would 

 do a few days' hunting on chicken, snipe, etc., as I wanted 

 to limber up and get used to handling my new hammer- 

 less. But my Saturday afternoon hunt resulted in bag- 

 ging two Wilson longbills, and this in a country where 

 six or seven years ago I have got fifteen good shots on 

 chickens in walking around a five-acre piece of stubble. 

 The prospect for fall shooting here is very poor; no snipe, 

 chicken nor plover; and there is not water enough to en- 

 tice ducks to linger long on their southern flight. I start 

 from here Tuesday morning for Nebraska, and will try 

 upland shooting for a while, and try the Platte for some 

 wildfowl shooting.— Wm. H. Steele. 



Nebraska's Abundant Game.— South Omaha, Neb., 

 Sept. 24. — Last night, while eating supper, I looked out of 

 the window and saw a covey of quail near my barn at the 



rear of the store. I got my gun out and gave them a shot 

 just as they were flushed by some boys, who had been 

 chasing them up with slingshots, I never knew quail to 

 be so plentiful as they are this fall. Last Saturday I saw 

 several coveys of from twenty to forty birds. I cannot 

 account for this, for no one pays any attention to the 

 game laws. A month and more ago I met several parties 

 on Sundays with quail and chickens among their bags of 

 upland plover. Ihe birds then were very small and 

 hardly able to fly. Duck shooting has already begun; 

 teal and mallards are here in large numbers. Some good 

 bags were made last week at Honey Creek Lake and Still- 

 water. I expect to start Saturday on a ducking trip, and 

 may have something to write about when I get back. — C. 

 H. S. 



Haine. — Heron Island, Sept. 21, — Since the storm a few 

 coots and black ducks have come in. Partridges, ruffed 

 grouse, on mainland not too plentiful, and brush and 

 walking both of the worst kind imaginable. I shot two 

 on 2d inst. after half a day's tramp around an old stone 

 quarry near South Bristol, a small town within sight of 

 my cottage door. The heavy rains for the past two weeks 

 have put a quietus on early shooting. — E. H. F. 



THE GAME FISHES OF IDAHO. 



SINCE my last to Forest and Stream I have been con- 

 tinuously in the high ranges of that part of the 

 Rocky Hountains in Idaho which form the natural divi- 

 sion between that State and Hontana. It has furnished 

 me a pleasant relief from the heat of summer and ex- 

 tended my acquaintance with the different varieties of 

 trout found in this region. The mountains themselves 

 are well worth a visit from their rare beauty. The higher 

 ranges are formed from thousands of cone-shaped hills, 

 mostly with surfaces smooth and free from cliff s and cov- 

 ered with evergreen trees. Huge^pines and tall fir trees 

 abound. And now that frost has come in these high alti- 

 tudes and painted autumn on the herbage of the hillsides, 

 it is useless to attempt a description. Several large rivers 

 have their sources near the summit of the range, and find 

 their way to the sea through the Snake and Columbia. 

 These mountain streams are well stocked with fisb. The 

 common mountain trout is abundant. A kind known as 

 whitefish, abundant in the Snake River, is often found 

 in the branches of that river almost up to their begin- 

 nings. The salmon force their way up every stream as 

 far as depth of water will permit. About the first of 

 June they have ended their journey about a thousand 

 miles from sea. When first arrived they are considered 

 fit food, and are killed by shooting mostly : but when they 

 first appear in streams high up in the hills many of them 

 show contusions, generally thought to be the result of 

 their long journey and the perils of navigating waters 

 where there are great falls and many sharp rocks to en- 

 counter. Two months later they exhibit disease and signs 

 of dissolution. The skin begins to slough and the body 

 and gills are covered with parasites. About this time 

 they are found dead along the bends of the streams or 

 sunk in deep pools of still water. When the salmon 

 appear near the surface of the rivers where the water is 

 shallow bears come down from the hills to catch and eat 

 them. These fishers find a favorable rock in the stream, 

 where they watch for a salmon to pass and snatch him 

 from the water. The white or "bald-face" bear is often- 

 est found in this employment. And prospectors have 

 told me that in the morning they have seen as many as 

 five of these bears returning to the hills in single file after 

 a night's fishing. There are lakes at the heads of the 

 Boise, Payette and Salmon rivers, and in the lakes of the 

 two last named rivers are found the species of fish known 

 as redfish. The fish give name to the lakes, and the Red- 

 fish Lakes are now much frequented by visitors, though 

 they are reached by a score of miles of horseback travel. 

 A full grown redfish is about 20in. in length. The color 

 about the head is of a greenish cast, and the body flesh 

 color and showing the red much stronger when in the 

 water. The shape of the fish is not very different from 

 that of salmon trout of the same weight. The upper jaw 

 and snout of the male fish turns up slightly and protrudes 

 half an inch or more beyond the lower, and Is armed 

 with very strong hooked teeth. I am indebted to Philip 

 Thomas, of Rocky Bar, for a pair of this variety of fish, 

 brought fresh from the lakes. The body was covered 

 with a thick slime. The flesh is red, like that of salmon, 

 and in all the year, except at spawning time, the redfish 

 is regarded equal with trout for table use. In July the 

 redfish begins to leave the lakes for the inlets and creeks, 

 where they go to deposit their spawn. At that time the 

 flesh becomes soft, parasites appear, and after they have 

 deposited their eggs they die and go to pieces, never re- 

 turning to the lake. When they first start on their 

 journey up the inlets of the lake a boy, with a hook fast- 

 ened on a stick, can secure as many as he wishes, for the 

 stream is overcrowded with redfish. Like the salmon 

 they get as high up the stream as they can, spawn and 

 die. In August the banks of the creeks running into 

 the lake already showed quantities of dead fish. It 

 has been claimed that the redfish run up from the 

 sea. In my judgemnt it is an error. It seems more 

 probable that they mature in the depths of the Redfish 

 Lakes. One of these lakes has been sounded to the depth 

 of 1,500ft. without bottom. Hard in the wake of the sal- 

 mon as he makes his annual appearance come several 

 species of trout and evidently for the purpose of devour- 

 ing the salmon spawn. Of these may be mentioned a 

 dark-colored thick-set fish with large head, commonly 

 called bull trout, the brown trout, the silver, and a slim 

 trout, marked like the speckled trout of the East, with 

 bright red spots. The spots on some specimens have an 

 orange colored spot on the sides along with the red. The 

 ''bull trout" lies in the deep pools and is caught with 

 bait sunk to near the bottom. The other three varieties, 

 together with the common mountain trout, take the fly 

 freely during the summer months. The common way of 

 fishing here among the boys who are not up to fly-casting 

 is to go to the creek and with a rock kill a salmon. Then 

 taking the roe dry a few hours with some sugar sprinkled 

 over it. The eggs are about the size of No. 1 shot when 

 ready for use. One or more eggs on a hook make the 

 best known bait for these trout. G. H. W 



Boise City, Idaho. 



ANGLING NOTES. 



THE question is often asked, "Will black bass take the 

 fly in the fall?" Now and then we hear of an angler 

 or two who have tried fall fly-fishing for bass, but they are 

 so few and far between that their experience is not suffi- 

 cient to settle the question. Black bass, like trout, seek 

 deep water in warm weather, but the question is, do they 

 return to shallow waters when the cool nights of Septem- 

 ber and October reduce the temperature of the surface of 

 the lakes. As we all know, trout spawn in the fall, and 

 perhaps that has much to do with their return to shallow 

 water as soon as it is cool enough. Bass do not spawn 

 until spring; they therefore would not have the same 

 desire or instinct to seek the shallows. We hope that 

 some of our bass fishermen will try the artificial fly 

 thoroughly in October, and we believe they will be well 

 repaid. The trouble is that many of our best fly-fishermen 

 have their attention taken up now by the deer and the 

 grouse and the October cock shooting, so they do not care 

 to devote much time to fishing unless for striped bass. 



Last year, while rowing over Raquette Lake early one 

 September morning, we noticed a number of large black 

 bass rolling over like miniature porpoises and it seemed 

 then as if they must take a fly. Unfortunately we were 

 trying to catch the Blue Hountain boat and could not 

 stop to make the experiment. 



Hr. Geo. Bird, of this city, killed a fine pound-and- 

 three-quarters hybrid trout in the waters of the Kildare 

 Club recently. It was a cross between a salmon trout 

 and speckled trout. Hr. Bird states that it fought very 

 much like a landlocked salmon, and jumped repeatedly 

 out of the water. 



Heavy rains are reported in the Adirodack region for 

 the month of September, raising the lakes and streams so 

 high that fishing was practically stopped. This is very 

 unfortunate for the anglers who looked forward to the 

 last two weeks of the open season for some good fly- 

 fishing: but it will save the lives of many trout, full of 

 ripe spawn, and enable them to reach their beds in 

 safety. 



The repeat comes from Hoosehead Lake that a number 

 of deer have been shot in pure wantonness and left to rot 

 where they fell. These undoubtedly have been killed by 

 the cockney sportsmen (?), who seem to think that when 

 in the woods they must shoot every living thing they se_. 

 It is a pity that the carrying of guns and rifles during the 

 close season is not forbidden by law. It was only last 

 July, we think, that a young man was killed at or near 

 Hoosehead Lake by the discharge of his rifle as he moved 

 it from one comer of the room to another. Now, what 

 business has any one with a rifle at that time of year? 

 To see the way some visitors go about the woods in sum- 

 mer with knives and pistols stuck all over them, and 

 carrying guns or rifles, people would think that the 

 country was full of Indians and bears. All they ever do is 

 to shoot themselves or some of their friends", unless to 

 kill game out of season. 



THE GREEK CATFISH OR GLANIS. 



THE common catfish of the United States is a repre- 

 sentative of an order of fishes generally called 

 Nematognathi. which embraces over 800 species scattered 

 through the fresh as well as salt waters of the globe. 

 About twenty species are known from the fresh waters of 

 North America (exclusive of Hexico), but only one spe- 

 cies has been generally recognized as an inhabitant of the 

 fresh waters of Europe. A number of species have been 

 observed, so far as the care of the eggs is concerned, in 

 different parts of the world, and it is thought that all 

 assume more or less charge of their young, although in 

 different ways. We have a description by Aristotle, over 

 2,000 years old, of the care-taking by the European cat- 

 fish, known to the Grecian naturalists then as the Glanis, 

 which is especially interesting and noteworthy, and is 

 reproduced in the following translation, which has already 

 appeared in an article on the "Glanis of Aristotle," pub- 

 lished by Prof. Louis Agassiz, in 1856, in the Proceedings 

 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Vol. III., 

 pp. 325-333). It will be observed that this description of 

 Aristotle is quite specific, and that he assigns to the male 

 the office of care-taker of the nest. In this knowledge 

 he preceded all other naturalists, and not only preceded 

 them, but even the knowledge that there was such care 

 taken had disappeared; so that Prof. Agassiz appears to 

 have been constrained to believe that the Glanis of Aris- 

 totle was a different species, and even of a different 

 generic type from the Silurus that he knew in his youth 

 about the lake of Neufchatel. The verity of the history 

 was also doubted by Cuvier and Valenciennes, who said 

 in their great work, "What Aristotle relates in detail and 

 in two passages, of the care which the male Silotirus takes 

 of the eggs of the female, borders on the marvelous. 

 According to him, the large Silouri deposit them in deep 

 waters: the smaller among the roots of willows and other 

 trees, among the reeds or even the mosses. The female 

 having laid them leaves them, but the male guards and 

 defends them; and as the eggs are long in developing, he 

 continues the care forty or fifty days." 



Nevertheless, as we now well know, the care-taking 

 of a siluroid , far from bordering on the marvelous, is 

 strictly in accordance with analogy and the results of 

 observation of the American catfishes. It is remarkable 

 that no details or mention of the paternal care of the 

 young is to be found in the standard works on the fishes 

 of Germany, such as Heckel and Kner's, Benecke's 

 and Siebold's. It was this want of any recorded observa- 

 tions or personal observation on this point that partly 

 influenced Prof. Agassiz to differentiate the Glanis as a 

 distinct species from the common Wels or catfish of 

 middle and northern Europe. But Agassiz also thought 

 that there were discrepancies between scattered observa- 

 tions of Aristotle on the Glanis and the facts relating to 

 the Wels. He has not, how r ever, specified the contrasts, 

 and we still remain in as absolute ignorance of the differ- 

 ence (if any) between the Glanis and the Silurus as our 

 forefathers were. In all the ten pages of the paper in the 

 Proceedings of the American Academy on the Glanis no 

 specified or contrasted differences are recorded. Yet for 

 over a third of a century specimens have been in the col- 

 lections of the Huseum of Comparative Zoology of Cam- 

 bridge. 



It is to be hoped that eventually we may learn what the 



