Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun, 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Ots. a Copr. ) 

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NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 26, 1891. 



J VOL. XXXVI,-No. 6. 



( No. 318 Broadway, New York. 



coerespondMtoe. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 

 The National Fish Commis- 

 sion. 



Demoraliz^ition in Maine. 

 The New York Game Bill. 

 Live Game for Siocliing. 

 Snap Shots. 

 Sportsman Tourist. 

 At the Depot. 



In the Region Round Nicato- 

 wis. — VII. 



The Charms of Indian River. 



Henry Hastings Sibley. 



A Thanksgiving Climb. 



Facts from the North Woods. 

 Natural History. 



Pelican and Catfish. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Cleaning Guns, 



The Other Side. 



The New York Game Bill. 



A Shotgun Test. 



Prairie Chickens for Market. 



Mr. Corbin's Deer. 



Game Notes. 

 Sea and Riv^er. Fishing. 



The New York Trout Law. 



Tarpon at Punta Gorda. 



Memories of Macatawa. 



Sea and River Fishing. 

 Camps of the Olentangy Club. 



Ftshculture. 



Pishculture Discussions-Ethi- 

 cal Phases. 



Sea Trout from Scotland. 

 The Kenn^el. 



The New York Dog Show. 



Salisbury and Cardinal. 



Brunswick Pur Club Meet. 



What Did It- What It Did. 



Dog Chat. 



Kennel Notes. 



Kennel Management. 

 RiFEK AND Trap Shooting. 



Range and GaUery. 



The Trap. 



North and South. 



Brooklyn Traps. 



Forester Tournament. 



Live Pigeon Shooting. 

 Yachting. 



Cruise of the Monaitipee.— ni. 

 Canoeing. 



White Squall's '88 Cmise.-ui, 



The Librarian Receives a 

 Crtiise. 



Careless Canoeing. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



FISH HATGHEBY FOB LAKE ONTABIO, 



A BILL for the establishment of a fish hatchery in the 

 State of New York, near the St. Lawrence River, 

 has been reported by the Committee on Merchant Marine 

 and Fisheries to the committee of the whole House, with 

 a recommodation for its passage provided that the U. S. 

 Commissioner of Fisheries shall first be satisfied that the 

 State of New York has taken efficient measures for the 

 regulation of fishing and the protection of spawning fish 

 in the waters of northern New York. 



A letter communicated to the Senate by Commissioner 

 McDonald is made a part of the report of the committee. 

 This letter refers to the extensive drainage area which 

 would be benefited by the establishment of a hatchery 

 near the St. Lawrence, to the great decline in the number 

 of whitefish in Lake Ontario as compared with other lakes 

 of the same chain, the magnificent results of artificial 

 propagation of whitefish by the States of Michigan, Ohio 

 and Wisconsin, the Canadian government, and later by 

 the U. S. Fish Commission. The Commissioner also 

 directs attention to the necessity of conducting such work 

 under Government auspices, because the benefit will be a 

 public one. The practical extinction of the Atlantic 

 salmon in Lake Ontario is mentioned, and in this connec- 

 tion an instructive report by Messrs. Whitcher and Ven- 

 ning is introduced because of its graphic account of the 

 former abundance of salmon in Wilmot's Creek, the 

 deadly means employed for their destruction, and the 

 consequent extermination of the fish. The Commissioner 

 states that the same agencies which destroyed the salmon 

 of Wilmot's Creek have depleted all the salmon streams 

 of the State of New York draining into Lake Ontario and 

 the St. Lawrence. Obstructions in the rivers have pre- 

 vented the salmon from reaching their spawning grounds 

 and made natural reproduction impossible. ' 'It is entirely 

 practicable to restore and maintain the whitefish and 

 salmon fisheries through fisbcultural work, systematically 

 and persisteixtly pursued," The Conamisaioner goes on 



to say that this work must be supplemented by 'concur- 

 rent regulation of the lake fisheries by the United States 

 and Canada, and by the enforcement on the part of New 

 York of legislation providing for the unobstructed ascent 

 of the salmon to their spawning grounds. He places the 

 cost of a station, which will be adequate for the purpose, 

 at $20,000, besides the expense of the site and water priv- 

 ileges, and estimates for its annual running expense the 

 sum of $9,000. This hatchery should provide for the de- 

 velopment of 100,000,000 whitefish eggs and 1,000,000 eggs 

 of salmon, together with trough accommodation for a 

 million salmon fry and an extensive system of ponds for 

 rearing salmon to a size which will insure their safety 

 from destruction by other fish. 



L.n^ GAME FOB STOCKING. 



MUCH indignation has been aroused over a reported 

 attempt by Mr. Austin Corbin of this city to 

 stock his New Hampshire game preserve with live 

 deer captured in Maine and Quebec, As it is forbidden 

 by the statutes of both to capture deer at this season of 

 the year Mr. Corbin's agents are clearly in the wrong, 

 and if they persist in their purpose should be punished. 

 Aside from its bare illegality, however, there is nothing 

 in the enterprise which appears to warrant the exi3ressed 

 indignation against it. Mr. Corbin's scheme of estab- 

 lishing a great game preserve, stocked with buffalo, elk, 

 deer and other species, is one which commends itself to all 

 who are interested in American big game. If the laws 

 of a State where deer abound as thev do in Maine make 

 no provision for the capture alive of specimens for stock- 

 ing purposes, the laws are in so far defective' 



The same principle applies here that holds with respect 

 to live quail for stocking. The purpose is laudable; it 

 should be possible of accomplishment by lawful means. 

 Maine might very well provide for the capture alive of a 

 certain specified reasonable number of deer each season, 

 their taking to be duly supervised by agents under au- 

 thority of the Game Commissioners. Such transporta- 

 tion would not appreciably affect the native stock. Sim- 

 ilar provisions for transplanting quail and prairie chickens 

 and Chinese pheasants and other game birds, all under 

 reasonable limitations, might profitably be inserted in 

 the game laws of States and Territories where the supply 

 is large. In short, this is a form of public-spirited enter- 

 prise which should be encouraged. 



THE NEW YORK GAWIE BILL. 



IN another column are noted several changes which 

 have been made in the game bill now before the 

 New York Legislature; among them is one, the import- 

 ance of which has been urged in these columns, restoring 

 the original composition of the Board of Fish Commis- 

 sioners by retaining the present number, five, instead of 

 three. In addition to the alterations mentioned on page 

 107 numerous verbal changes have been made which do 

 not alter the purport of the several sections, but strengthen 

 the original provisions by the use of more explicit terms. 

 The codifiers have taken advantage of study of the 

 printed text to make the measure more definite in 

 phraseology and more secure in its effect. 



As a matter of course comments on the bill have been 

 mainly in the nature of adverse criticism, for those who 

 have taken occasion to speak of it have chiefly been those 

 who have advocated changes. It was not to be expected 

 that where so many interests are concerned and where 

 there is such latitude for honest differences of opinion, 

 any measure would escape criticism. It would be unfor- 

 tunate, however, if because of these criticisms the public 

 has failed to appreciate how weU the codification com- 

 mission has done its work and what an admirable measure 

 the bill is, in conciseness, clearness and arrangement. 

 The codifiers have brought order out of chaos; they have 

 substituted for an inexact, unintelligible and contradic- 

 tory -'mess" of legislation a succession of sections which 

 are consistent, readily understood and definite in their 

 meaning. Whatever may be the dissatisfaction with 

 different provisions, the codifiers deserve and should 

 receive generous credit for the work done. 



As we have already suggested, the game and fish laws 

 of numerous other States should be treated in the 8ag?ae 

 way; and we hope to see the example of New York ex- 

 tensively followed. To codify means to render intelli- 

 gible and harmonious; which means to make more effec- 

 tive; wbiish meaus better game and fish protection. 



DEMOBALIZATION IN MAINE. 

 TTT" E invite careful reading of the communication from 



* * Mr. Manly Hardy, relating to the demoralization 

 which now prevails in Maine with respect to the game 

 laws. The story told by Mr, Hardy is in brief this, that 

 visitors from other States have killed game out of^'season 

 to an outrageous extent; and have enjoyed practical im- 

 munity in doing so; that the people of Maine, contem- 

 plating this wanton destruction, have wearied of striving 

 to save the moose and deer for legitimate use, and have 

 adopted the plan of killing out of season to satisfy their 

 wants. This is a startling condition of afiiairs, and one 

 well deserving immediate and careful consideration, that 

 if possible the remedy may be provided. 



It is quite obvious that the lawlessness of visiting sports- 

 men furnishes no justification for the course pursued by 

 the Maine residents. Two wrongs do not make a right. 

 If men from Boston and New Haven and New York have 

 killed game out of season and left it to rot, they deserved 

 punishment; but their failure to receive their desserts 

 afforded no warrant to others to join in the illicit des- 

 truction. That some burglars go unpunished does not 

 justify other thieves, nor do sensible people whose houses 

 have been robbed adopt the plan of evening up by break- 

 ing into their neighbors' houses. It was the duty of 

 Maine citizens cognizant of these outrages to bring their 

 perpetrators to justice, or failing in that, to provide better 

 machinery for effective execution of the laws. 



All this, we say, is obvious, and must have been thought 

 of by Mr. Hardy. But after all is said, the condition — 

 whether reasonable or unreasonable — remains; and our 

 correspondent has done a public service by picturing it. 

 We hope to lay before our readers more facts shedding 

 light on the case, to present all sides of the question, and 

 to discuss it thoroughly and impartially, in the trust that 

 such discussion will help toward preparing the way for a 

 better state of things. 



THE NATIONAL FISH 003IMISSI0N. 



IT is a subject of since* satisfaction that the Senate 

 Committee on Fisheries, after a prolpnged and .ex- 

 haustive investigation of the affairs of the United States 

 Fish Commission, has reported that none of the charges 

 preferred against Commissioner MacDonald have been 

 sustained. The report concludes with this by no means 

 uncertain endorsement of the condrict of the affairs of the 

 Commission: 



In view of the great importance to the country of the work of 

 the Commision, and the urgent necessity for its continuance, we 

 ask a careful examination of the testimony presented, believing 

 that it is sufficient to convince all fair-minded persons that there 

 is no just cause to criticise the policy of the Commission or the 

 course of the Commissioner in the matter of administering the 

 affairs of the office, but on the contrary he deserves commenda- 

 tion for the conscientious manner in which he performed his 

 Avork. 



This is precisely the sort of report expected by those 

 who knew anything of the National Commission. The 

 charges preferred against Col. MacDonald and his asso- 

 ciates bore every evidence of prompting by a combination 

 of personal enmity and political greed for patronage. 

 The attack was initiated by discharged employees, it was 

 carried on by politicians eager to convert the Commission 

 into a part of the political machine. That the schemers 

 have been defeated means the continued efficiency of the 

 Commission. Col. MacDonald is to be congratulated on 

 having won this vindication and commendation, but 

 vastly more has the country at large reason for thankful- 

 ness that the national fisbcultural interests have not 

 been sacrified to political greed. 



The volume of travel to Florida this year is very large, 

 and the tourist whose baggage includes rod or gun, or 

 who has a four-footed companion's comfort to look after, 

 in encountered at every turn. If one may believe the 

 railroad folders and guides.'game and fish were never in 

 greater plenty than now. The drum fishing season has 

 opened well; one native fisherman paddled his dugout to 

 the wharf at St. Augustine last Friday with a catch of 

 seven drum as the reward of a day's fishing. 



The deaths within a week of one another of Gen. H. H. 

 Sibley and Col. Thos. A. Picton haVe removed two of the 

 circle of writers who were best known to a former gen- 

 eration of readers of sporting literature. Both were con- 

 tributors to the Spirit of the Times in Frank Forester'.s 

 day. 



