Forest and 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gur 



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NEW YORK, APRIL 2 3, 18 91. 



J VOL. XXXVl.-No. 14. 



1 No. 318 Broadwat, New Yobb. 



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Forest and Stream PubllBhin^ Go. 

 No, 318 Bboaijway, Nw Yobb: City. 



CONTENTS. 



Editohiai,. 

 A Marine Reserva.tion. 

 D. W. Cross. 



Reminiscences of the Late 

 Gen. Strong. 



Snap Shots. 

 Sportsman Tourist. 



In My Boat Houae. 



People and Things. 



An Imitation SportsmaD. 

 NatubAL Htstobt. 



Habits of the Raccoon, 



About the Beaver. 



As to Rattlesnakes. 



Bird Notes from Missouri. 



Sound of Woodcock and Snipe. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Shore Bird Shooting. 



Chicago and the West. 



Between Two Rivers. 



Wildfowl in Oregon.— it. 



Notes on Deer Hunting. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



Fishing in Eagle Lake, Texas. 



Cheaper Food Fish. 



The Lump Fish. 



Ice Fishing for Pilie. 



Chicago and the West. 



Pennsylvania Trout Waters. 



Rochester and Vicinity, 



Sea ano RivEH Fishing. 

 Shedding Teeth in Salmon. 

 New England Trout Waters, 

 Angling Notes. 



FiSHCUIjTTJRE, 



California Fishculture. 



Trout Planting in Pennsyl- 

 vania. 

 The Kennel. 



Clevela^nd Dog Show. 



Black and Tans at Boston. 



Edgar Sheffield Porter, 



Vredenburgh— Peshali. 



Dog Chat. 



Kennel Notes. 



Kennel Management. 

 RiFi-B AND Trap Shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Revolver Championship, 



The Trap. 



Brooklyn Traps. 

 Yachting. 



Cape Cats and Keel Boats. 



Sippican Y, C. 



French Yachting. . 



Yachting Notes. 

 Canoeing. 



Cruise of the Shenandoah C. C. 



liochester C. C. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



A MARINE RESERVATION 

 'J'^HE recent establisUmenl; of the forest reserve adja- 

 -L ceiit to the Yellowstone Park, which was brought 

 about largely through the efforts of Secretary Noble, has 

 been welcomed with the warmest interest by a very large 

 class of people. This is a matter which appeals strongly 

 to the naturalists, a small class, to those interested in 

 forest preservation, and finally to the agriculturists and 

 stock raisers of the West, whose business must be ruined 

 unless measures are taken to pro\dde for them a never- 

 failing water supply. It is to be hoped that as time goes 

 on other forest reservations may be established in the 

 Rocky Mountain region. There can hardly be too many 

 of these. We may feel sure that Secretary Noble will do 

 all in his pow^er to forward such action. 



It will greatly interest those among our readers who are 

 naturalists— and should interest the sportsmen as well- 

 to learn that the Secretary of the Interior— following out 

 a suggestion made by Professor Langley — has in view the 

 reservation of certain portions of lands and waters sub- 

 ject to the jurisdiction of the United States in the Pacific 

 Ocean so that a chance may be given some of the great 

 ocean animals to be preserved in the future. It is well 

 known tha,t many of the marine animals of the North, 

 especially those which afford valuable fur and oil, are 

 being destroyed at a rate which foreshadows their speedy 

 extinction. While most of these animals are prone to 

 wander great distances from land, and so are exposed to 

 a thousand ^dangers which would not threaten a land 

 animal on a reservation, and more or less local in its 

 habits, it is nevertheless true that an asylum such as 

 would be fm-nished by an island or a group of islands 

 might do much toward presef ving species which are 

 on the verge of extinction. 



Animals soon learn to resort to 9- place where they are 



never disturbed, and when tliey are assured of safety in 

 such a locality they become singularly tame. This is 

 shown by the conduct of the elk, deer, sheep and ante- 

 lope in the National Park, whose lack of fear has been 

 witnessed by many of our readers. We are glad to print 

 the following letter and memorandum, which set forth 

 the plan so far as it is yet developed. Viewed from the 

 standpoint of the biologist, the matter is one of great in- 

 terest, and it may be hoped that it will he fully discussed 

 in these columns by naturalists. 



The position of Amak Island is stated in the memoran- 

 dum which we print. The Farallone Islands lie in the 

 Pacific Ocean nearly due west of the entrance to San 

 Francisco Bay and about 35 miles from land. These 

 islands have often been visited by naturalists, and re- 

 cently by Mr. W. E. Bryant, who pubhshed an interesting 

 paper giving an account of his visit there. The following 

 letter and memorandum explain themselves: 



Smithsonian Institution, Jan. 14, 1891. 



The IlanoraMc Jolm NoUe, Seeretm-u of thu Tnterior: 



Sir— -Referring to a late conversation, in which you expressed 

 an interest in a suggested plan for enabling the Government to 

 secure a place of refuge for many of the marine mammals now 

 threatened with extinction on our Paciiic coast, 1 have the honor 

 to present to you a memorandum laid before me by some of the 

 most competent experts in the country upon the matter, recom- 

 mending the reservation of Amak Island, a small, rocky, treeless 

 isle of a few square miles, bordering the Alaskan Peninsula near 

 latitude 55° north, and the well-known Farallone Islands near 

 latitude 38'' north. The latter is already, I believe, occupied by 

 the Treasury Department as a station of the Lighthouse Board. 



1 have not addressed the Honorable the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury in the matter, though, if you should think it desirable, 1 will 

 do so. 



I inclose a map showing the exact position of Amak Island, and 

 am, sir, yours very respectfully, 



(Signed) S. P. LAngley, Secretary. 



Memorandum on the establishment of Natural History Life 

 Reservations in American waters, to prevent the extinction of cer- 

 tain well-known forms of amphibious mammalia. 



1. A northern station might be established for the preservation 

 of the walrus {Odohmnm rosmanis) from impending extinction by 

 the reservation of Amak Island, in Behring Sea, Alaska. 



i!. A southern station might be established for the preservation 

 of the northern sea lion (Evmetoinas stelleri), and the California 

 sea lion {Zaiophus gillesiiii), from extermination by a prohibition 

 of the right to kill the"e animals on the Farallone Islands, off the 

 entrance to San Francisco Bay. These islets are special reserva- 

 vations of the Government to-day, and occupied only by the 

 Lighthouse Board servants. 



REMARKS. 



With reference to the reservation of these stations above 

 located, it may be stated that the title of the land is now held by 

 the Government, and the order of the Secretary of the Treasury, 

 supplemented by that of the Secretary of the Interior, whenever 

 the United States land laws are extended over Alaska, will be all 

 that is required for their control. 



It would be necessary on Amak Island to build a keeper's 

 house, supplying him with a small sailboat, .provisions and fuel. 

 The cost would be perhaps some gl,aOO annually. The cruising of 

 the Revetiue Marine cutters wool i give this keeper his supplies 

 and enforce the prohibition of killing walrus on this island. 

 These cutters cruise every summer aud early fall in these waters 

 of Behring Sea, charged with the duty of protecting the Seal 

 Islands. 



On the Farallones the Lighthouse Board has a perfect establish- 

 ment, and its keeper of the lights might have the extra duty de- 

 volved upon him of looking after the preservation of the amphib- 

 ians above cited. 



The sea elephant (Macrorhinv^n angusUfrons) of California is 

 now believed to be extinct. This animal, under the circumstances 

 of its breeding, could not very well be saved to-day, even if a few 

 breeders survived. 



The sea otter (Eyihydra marina) of the northwest coast and 

 Alaska is also at the limit of ext«rmination. The reservation of 

 Amak Island would save a few breeders and the species from 

 utter elimination. 



With reference to the other forms of marine mammalia in 

 Alaskan waters, it may be truly said that they are not, any of 

 them, in sufficient number or of value enough to tempt the 

 cupidity of the white man. It is unnecessary to attempt saving 

 them, since there is no real danger of their extermination in the 

 present, or the future, as far as we now know. The conditions 

 which operate to save the fur seal from destruction we well know, 

 though they are at the present moment being taxed to their 

 utmost to attain the object of their creation. 



The waterfowl of the Pacific Ocean coast and Behring Sea have 

 so many practically inaccessible rocks and cliffs to breed upon, 

 that they are beyond all danger of extermination— there is no 

 helpless bird among them like the extinct giant auk of the 

 Atlantic. 



.Tan. 14, 1891.— The preceding memoranda are prepared from the 

 statements of naturalists personally familiar with the marine 

 mammals and the Pacific coast, and I recommend them as worthy 

 of confidence. (Signed) S. P. Lanqley, Secretary. 



The islands proposed to be reserved in the plan outlined 

 are valueless from any commercial standpoint, yet, for 

 the purpose indicated, they may be of great benefit to 

 science, and the act of setting them apart as reservations 

 where animal life gbaJl be protected may result in the pre- 



servation from extinction of some most interesting mam- 

 mals. Just as to-day in the Yellowstone Park the visitor 

 may see a few individuals representative of the hordes of 

 buffalo which once darkened the Western prairies, so on 

 these tiny islands of the Pacific — if set aside — the natur- 

 alist of the future may study forms of ocean life which 

 but for this reservation would have been swept out of 

 existence. 



SNAP SHOTS. 



'T^^HE bill prepared by the codifiers of the New York 

 ^ game laws still hangs fire in the hands of the Senate 

 Game Law Committee, and no man can tell in just what 

 shape it wUl ultimately reach the Upper House of the 

 Legislature. It is understood that the Senate Committee 

 has determined to amend the section which legislates the 

 present Fish Commissioners out of office, leaving that 

 body as it now stands. They have also decided to leave 

 the deer and the trout law substantially without change. 

 It seems altogether probable that the day of adjournment 

 for the Legislature is not far off, and it is important that 

 this bill should be put in proiier shape as soon as possible, 

 so that action may be taken on it before the closing days 

 of the session. As the bill if it passes the Senate must 

 go back to the House and be acted on there, no time 

 should be wasted. It is certainly to be hoped that 

 the bill with i^roper amendments may become a law, 

 As may be seen by a reference to the Book of the Game 

 LaiOH, the statutes of this State with regard to fish and 

 game are at present a disgrace to a civilized community. 

 Something should be done at once to straighten out and 

 render intelligent and intelligible the obscure, confused 

 and contradictory hodgepodge of enactments which at 

 present are supposed, to protect our game and fish. 



The account of Mr. Austin Corbin's game preserve in 

 New Hampshire, published in Fobest and Stream a 

 short time ago, has excited a widespread interest, and 

 been extensively copied in the newspapers of various 

 towns and cities of the East. It is not strange that this 

 should be the case, for the general public takes a real 

 and lively interest in the preservation from extinction of 

 American wild animals. It is for this reason that the 

 public feels so deep a sentiment about the Yellowstone 

 National Park, but to many people the National Park- 

 seems so far off that they feel that they may never get 

 far enough west to see it, while New Hampshire on the 

 other hand is at our very doors, and it may fairly be 

 hoped that w^hen Mr. Corbin's park is fully stocked and 

 in fair running order the general public may be afforded 

 an opportunity to see some of the great mammals of this 

 country in a state of nature. 



The enterprise of Californians in all matters affect- 

 ing the welfare and happiness of the people of their 

 State is proverbial and has been rewarded with most 

 gratifying results. In no respect is this more strikingly 

 manifested than in the efforts to stock open waters with 

 choice fish. The shad and the striped bass now swarm 

 in California bays and rivers, while the black bass and 

 the brook trout have found congenial permanent haunts 

 in the fresh waters. We give in our columns an account, 

 drawn from the last report of the Fish Commissioners, 

 concerning the introduction of several well-known East- 

 ern game fishes by State and individual cooperation. 



The dog world of this city and vicinity are watching 

 with interest the progress of the Vredenburgh — Peshali 

 libel suit, which as we go to press is being tried before 

 Judge Marline in the Court of General Sessions. A brief 

 report of the proceedings will be found in our kennel 

 columns, but any extended consideration of the matter 

 must be postponed until the case has been decided. 



The present month has been marked by an unusual 

 mortality among well-known sportsmen, several of which 

 we chronicle this week. The list includes the veteran 

 who has completed the span of life allotted to man as 

 well as the young man just entering his prime. 



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The tmavoidably delayed index to Vol. XXXV. is sent 

 out with this issue. 



