Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun, 



Teems, Si a Yeab. 10 Cts. a Oopy. ) 



Six Months, $2. 1 



NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 20, 1890. 



j VOL. XXXV.-No. 18. 



I No. 318 Broadway, New York. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



Serious Chargee. 



Thirty-Two Pages. 

 Sportsman Tourist. 



Moose River and the West 

 Branch. 

 Natural History. 



The Lion of Fancy and of Fact 



The Yellow Rail in Michigan. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Chicago and the West. 



Half Hours in the Sierra 

 Nevada. 



Care of Dead Game. 



The Coon Hunters. 



A Pennsylvania Night Run. 



A "Danvis" Coon Hunt. 



"Bre'r Coon." 



Some Points on Coon Hunting. 

 The Ozark Hills. 

 Ohio Quail Hunters. 

 Deer Hounding in Wisconsin. 

 "All Around" the Gun. 

 Elk on the Snake River. 

 Deer in Michigan. 

 Done in a Thorough Manner. 

 Cornfield Snap Shooting. 

 New Jersey Deer Hunting. 

 Southern Shooting Grounds. 

 New England Fox Hunting:. 

 Western Massachusetts Fox 

 Hunt. 



New York Game Protector. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 

 Striped Bass on the Pacific 



Coast, 

 A New Hybrid Trout. 

 Some Texas Fishes. 

 "Granny Shepard." 



Sea River and Fishing. 



Angling Notes. 



Vermont Trout. 

 Ftshculture. 



Georgia Fishculture. 

 The Kennel. 



Cocker Spaniels of 1890. 



Damages for Killing a Dog. 



A Day With the Radnor Hunt. 



The A. K. C. Constitution. 



Indiana Kennel Club's Field 

 Trials. 



Actions, Not Words. 



Central Field Trial Entries. 



Show Dates. 



New Brunswick Fur Club. 

 Black and Tan Terrier Color. 

 Canadian Trials. 

 Eastern Field Trials. 

 Kennel Notes. 

 Kennel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting, 

 Range and Gallery. 

 The Trap. 



Chicago— Kansas City. 



New York State Shoot. 



Newark Gun Club. 



Watson's Park. 

 Yachting. 



An American Design in Dutch 

 Waters. 



The Lake Y. R. A. 

 Canoeing. 



The A. C. A. Meet of 1800. 



A. C. A. Executive Committee 

 Meeting. 



The Standing Sail. 

 New Publications. 

 Answers to Correspondents 



SERIOUS CHARGES. 

 yN New York there are fifteen game and fish, protec- 

 A tors. They are appointed by the Commissioners of 

 Fisheries. The law prescribes that these protectors 

 "shall hold their office respectively during the pleasure 

 of the Board of Fish Commissioners, who may summarily 

 remove any one of their number whenever, in their judg- 

 ment, they shall deem such a change, for any cause, 

 advisable." They are further authorized to designate 

 one of the fifteen protectors as a chief, to have superin- 

 tendence of the others. He is as one of the fifteen sub- 

 ject to summary removal. 



At the last meeting of the Commission Fred. P. Drew 

 was removed from the position of chief protector, and 

 J. Warren Pond, of Malone, was put in the place. We 

 have already commented on the criticism elicited by this 

 action; but new charges have now been brought against 

 the Commissioners, which surely deserve attention, for 

 they are of a most serious character. 



One former criticism had been that Mr. Drew was 

 Gen. Sherman's man, and that in removing his man in 

 Gen. Sherman's absence, the other Commissioners put 

 upon Gen. Sherman a direct personal affront. A second 

 charge was that the removal was without' due cause. A 

 third, that the change means certain and serious injury to 

 the cause of protection. 



Of these several charges the first one is quite unim- 

 portant from the public standpoint. If there was any 

 lack of courtesy in the course pursued by the Commis- 

 sioners it was certainly unfortunate and to be deplored; 

 but it as certainly has nothing whatever to do with the 

 one point at issue, which is the wisdom of the change. 

 As to the second charge, that Mr. Drew's removal 

 was without sufficient cause, we have previously ex- 

 pressed the opinion that his superiors might justly 

 be presumed to know more about that than the 

 public; and the presumption — good until proved erron- 

 eous—is that .they acted under a conviction that the 



change would benefit the service. This presumption is 

 based on the known character of the Commissioners. 

 The third charge, that the removal of Mr. Drew means a 

 blow to the interests of protection, may be true or it may 

 be unfounded. That will depend largely on the conduct 

 and ability of his successor. 



The new man, J. Warren Pond, of Malone, was ap- 

 pointed wholly on his record, which was far the best of 

 all the protectors; he has never lost a case; is a man of 

 acknowledged courage and ability, and has won the 

 respect and confidence of those who are familiar with his 

 work in the fifth district. Whether he is competent to 

 fill the place of chief protector time will tell. If he can- 

 not do the work of the office, we have not the slightest 

 doubt that some one else can be found to do it. But we 

 believe in the justice of giving Chief Pond an opportunity 

 to show his mettle, before crying out that his appoint- 

 ment means the death blow of game and fish protection 

 in this State. At best this third criticism can be at pres- 

 ent only a matter of opinion and prognostication; his 

 conduct of the office will demonstrate the facts. 



There are other charges against the Commissioners 

 which are so serious that they should be proved true or 

 withdrawn, and that at once. In the Utica Morning 

 Herald Mr. John D. Collins, of the Utica Association, 

 commenting on the Forest and Stream's suggestion that 

 it was to be presumed that the Commissioners had good 

 cause for their action, says: "From knowledge of the 

 chief's official success and zeal in protection, equally it 

 may be 'presumed' he has been too efficient, his success 

 interfered too much with Fulton Market's supply of fish 

 caught by illegal nets. In the 103 nets destroyed in 

 Oneida Lake in the past few months some seventy-five 

 barrels of game fish were liberated from them. These 

 fish were to be shipped to New York city's markets, as 

 such spoils have been, generally in barrels labeled 'pota- 

 tatoes.' * * * There are many other facts in possession 

 that come much closer to this question of removal, that 

 relate to the doings and happenings inside Fulton Mar- 

 ket, where the president of the Commission has a place 

 of business, from which the public might claim 'pre- 

 sumption' that would go to show the contrary on equally 

 as good grounds as the Forest and Stream presumes 

 probable cause; but is not necessary at present." 



This is saying in effect that the four Fish Commission- 

 ers, Messrs. Blackford, Burden, Joline and Bowman, re- 

 moved Chief Drew because he interfered with the supply 

 of illegally caught fish shipped to Fulton Market. In other 

 words that public officers charged with executing certain 

 laws have conspired to render the violation of those laws 

 more easy; and have removed a subordinate because he 

 stood in their way toward effecting this end. Further, 

 the plain implication is that Mr. Blackford was himself 

 to be the recipient of these unlawfully caught fish, which 

 were intercepted on their way to market by the activity 

 of Protector Drew. 



It would be difficult to frame a charge more serious 

 than this one against the Commissioners. It would be 

 intolerable if State officers guilty of such malfeasance 

 were permitted to hold office. The gravity of the accusa- 

 tion demands that Mr. Collins should give his evidence to 

 the public or lay it before the Governor, in order that the 

 charges may be substantiated, and the Commissioners re- 

 moved. Mr. Collins must at least believe that he has the 

 necessary evidence, for it is difficult to understand how 

 any one should make such public charges without be- 

 lieving them well founded on something more than 

 hearsay. 



As we have said, all other criticisms of the course of 

 the Commissioners in this affair are trivial in comparison 

 with this one. Every body of men is liable to errors of 

 judgment and ill-advised steps; but no public body should 

 be permitted to continue in existence, if so morally rot- 

 ten as Mr. John D. Collins by implication avers the New 

 York Fish Commission to be. 



We need not remind Mr. Collins that this proof should 

 be forthcoming, not only for the public good, but for his 

 own sake as well. Until he substantiates his accusations 

 their acceptance will be confined to those who are ready 

 to believe evil of the Commissioners because they do not 

 know them; while that portion of the public which now 

 esteems the members of the board, honors them for their 

 public services and trusts them as men of integrity and 

 high character, will demand that these charges against 

 them be proven or withdrawn. Until such proof shall 

 be forthcoming the Commissioners will continue to enjoy 

 public confidence, 



THIRTY-TWO PACES. 



'TMUS is a period of unusual activity, and our space ; 



even with an enlarged paper, is taxed to the utmost 

 to record the meetings of field trial clubs and the great 

 Kansas City and Chicago trap-shooting contest. Our 

 pages this week reflect the wide scope of American field 

 sports. One noticeable feature of the growth of these 

 pastimes is the proclivity to organize for competitive 

 trials, witness the newly established beagle "field trials" 

 and the fox hunting "field trials." The angling competi- 

 tions have apparently died out, there having been no 

 fly-casting tournament; but if the tendency of the times 

 shall prevail here we may look for a revival of these pleas- 

 ant gatherings. 



In a recent despatch from Laramie, Wyo., to the San 

 Francisco Chronicle are narrated the adventures of an 

 expedition made by some young men into the Bed Desert 

 country to try to capture the last of the buffalo which 

 are lingering in that waterless waste. Six or seven years 

 ago there were 250 to 300 of these animals there, but they 

 have been killed off mainly by Indians and cowpunchers, 

 until now there are not more than 20 or 25 in the whole 

 region. The purpose of the party who set out on this 

 trip was to secure enough living buffalo to start a buffalo 

 ranch. It is hardly necessary to say that they were 

 wholly unsuccessful. During two months of hard work, 

 lasting through September and October, they saw but 

 two bunches of buffalo, one containing five and the other 

 fifteen individuals. They roped two cows, one of which 

 died of exhaustion after being tied, while the other was 

 choked to death. It has often been stated that these Bed 

 Desert buffalo were a herd that had wandered out of the 

 National Park, but there is no reason for believing this 

 to be the case. Persons familiar with the region have 

 known for twelve or fifteen years of the existence here of 

 this small herd of buffalo, which has constantly grown 

 smaller, and it is believed that it has always ranged in 

 this section.. It is true that the Bed Desert lies south of 

 the National Park, but we know of no reason for suppos- 

 ing that the herd of buffalo which has so long ranged 

 there was ever recruited from the bands that are found 

 in the Park. For years — ever since the extermination of 

 the wild buffalo in the West became inevitable — most of 

 those who knew of the Bed Desert herd kept its existence 

 a secret so far as possible. Now that it has become prac- 

 tically extinct, there is no longer reason for silence on 

 the subject. 



In these days of carping criticism of fishcultural meth- 

 ods it is gratifying to be able to record some recent work 

 of the Pennsylvania Fish Commission. At the Corry 

 hatchery in western Pennsylvania, the number of eggs of 

 the brook trout taken up to the present time is about 

 1,000,000, and the capacity of the station is so heavily 

 taxed that it has become necessary to send eggs to the 

 AUentown station. It will be necessary also to dispose of 

 a lot of large brook trout in the spring because the pond 

 capacity is not great enough to retain the stock of breed- 

 ers. Besides these eggs of brook trout, Corry has collected 

 250,000 eggs of lake trout, and 100,000 have been taken 

 from the beautiful hybrids between the lake and brook 

 trout. Superintendent Buller says that some of the hy- 

 brids are extremely large and as handsome fish as he has 

 ever seen. 



The two modes of American fox-hunting are well rep- 

 resented in our reports to-day of the Badnor Hunt and of 

 the Western Massachusetts meet. In the former the 

 hunters rode to hounds, in the latter they shot at foxes on 

 runways in approved New England style. It is to be said 

 for these pursuits that each is proper in its place; and 

 nothing can be more foolish than for the participants in 

 one form of fox hunting to criticise those who take part 

 in the other. That both flourish here side by side, and 

 are growing in popularity, is a pleasing testimony to the 

 sportsman's resources of the country. 



The London, Ont. , Gun Club has made a capital stroke 

 by enlisting the services of the lithographic color artist, 

 and has had prepared a large and flaming poster in red 

 and blue, giving a digest of the game and fish laws. This 

 is the most elaborate and attractive poster for such a 

 purpose we have seen, and it ought to go far toward 

 proclaiming the statutes so that he who runs may read. 



