Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, : 



4 A Year. 10 Cts. a Cop v. ) 

 Six Motrins, S3. \ 



NEW YORK, JANUARY 28, 1892, 



\ VOL. XXXVIII. -No. 4. 



i No. 318 Bhoabwat, New York. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



High-Class Militia Shooting. 

 A Story from Russia. 

 Snap Shots. 



The Sportsman Tourist. 



In Those Days. 



The Adi rondacks.— i. 



Wilbur R. Wehster. 



Natural History. 



Another Collection of Botes. 

 Shore "Birds near Toronto. 



Game Bag and Gun. 



Notes on Game. 

 Short Gun Barrels. 

 Watchins Tb>m Arrive. 

 Yates County Oarne L-nvs. 

 The Blu' Partridge of Arizona 

 New Jersey Game Laws. 

 Chii ago and rhe West. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



Salmon Fishine in Canada. 



The Six-Incb Trnut Law. 



Troutingin tfip Cascades.- -vn. 



Bas* and Butterfly. 



The Preservation of Minnows. 



The Sperm Whale. 



Angling Notes. 



The Connecticut Lakes. 



Fishculture, 



Impassable Fishways. 

 The Kennel. 

 Canadian Kennel Notes. 

 New England Field Trial Club 

 Meeting. 



The Kennel. 



National Beagle Club Meeting 

 That Iron-Clad Coursing Rule 

 American Field Tr'al Club. 

 Re the Name Psovoi vs. Barzoi 

 American Spaniel Club Special 

 Poultry and Pigeon Show. 

 SpanialsUsed for Field Sports. 

 Points and Flushes, 

 Temperauire of the Dog. 

 Lord Clover's Pedieree. 

 Field Trials and Field Work 



Depreciation. 

 Dog Chat. 

 Kennel Notes. 



Answers to Correspondents. 

 Rifle Range and Gallery. 



"Forest and Stream" Tourna- 

 ment. 



"Modern American Rifles. " 



Trap Shooting. 



Drivers and Twisters. 

 Matches and Meetings, 



Yachting. 



BuildiDg at Bristol. 

 Modern Sheer Plans. 

 "Fort and Starboard." 



Canoeing. 



Cruising Spoonbills. 

 Down the Mississippi. 

 A New Racing Canoe. 

 Canoeists 1 Club of New York. 

 Suggestions for a Centerboard 



Answers to Queries. 



For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page 93. 



npO INSURE INSERTION in the next issue of 

 ^ " Forest and Stream, 5 * advertisements must 

 be received not later than Monday morning. 



HIGH CLASS MILITIA SHOOTING. 



THE scores published in our rifle columns of the work 

 done at an indoor shoot of the 7th Regt. , N, G. , S. N. 

 Y., ought to carry a lesson full of significance to the men 

 and officers of every militia regiment in the country and 

 for that matter to the regular army as well. Where is 

 there a command which can make such a showing — to 

 muster a team of 25 men from each of ten companies, to 

 have the men shoot through a long match and cotne out 

 with an average of centers for the whole 330 ? In other 

 words, it was to keep the shots within an average 26-inch 

 circle at 200yds., and within an average 38-inch circle at 

 500yds. , and this was done not with selected rifles but with 

 the arm issued by the State, and every rifleman the 

 country over knows what sort of an arm the .50-caliber 

 Remington is, 



Turning back a bit into the history of rifle shooting by 

 the National Guard of this State, the whole secret, if there 

 be any, of this fine shooting for the Kemp Trophy, is 

 made plain. From the start, as soon as rifle shooting 

 was made part and parcel of the Guardsman's duty, the 

 7th men set out to reach the top round of the ladder of ex- 

 cellence. It meant hard work. It meant hard duty as 

 instructors by those who had already learned ho.v to 

 shoot, and hard attention as pupils by those who had yet 

 to learn. All through the shooting season, while the 

 range at Creedmoorwas open, this out-door drill went on. 

 The official days of practice were not counted on as days 

 of rare frolic for an outing in uniform, but were intelli- 

 gently devoted to watching wind and weather, to noting 

 the doings of the older and more experienced shots and 

 to intense emulation on the part of the duffer shots to get 

 into the marksmen class. How well this plan of cam- 

 paign succeeded a glance at the record will tell. They 

 became a regiment of marksmen. 



But with the close of the season of pleasant out-door 

 work came the period of armory practice. There was 

 not chance for the rust of inactivity to gather on those 

 rifles or the stiffness which comes from want of practice 

 to bother these riflemen. A series of matches, of sharp 

 little rivalries in score making, were established at the 

 armory range, and one of these is chronicled in the scores 

 of tlie Kemp Trophy match. 



In the description of the new armories now building so 

 generally in various cities at public expense, for the use 

 of the volunteer forces, there is always an account of the 

 excellent and safe range provided. How often after do 

 we find these ranges dark and drear, closed and neglec- 

 ted. When official orders direct the men to go to the 

 summer ranges for practice, what an incompetent show- 

 ing the few who do obey make at the target. There are ex- 

 cuses by the score, but no scores of any other sort. What 

 the 7th is doing any other command may do, and when 

 they fail to do so their uniform becomes merely a cover 



for inefficiency, and their taking and spending of public 

 moneys under pretense of being more reliable defenders 

 of the public safety, little short of misappropriation. 

 Certain it is that a single company of the 7th. shooting as 

 its members do, would be worth a whole average regi- 

 ment facing a riot on riot duty. 



A STORY FROM RUSSIA. 



AMONG the animals of the globe which through man's 

 agency are extinct, or about to become so, are the 

 buffalo, of North America, and the zubr, or bison, of 

 Europe, its nearest living relative, often erroneously 

 termed the aurochs. The^fetter has been preserved in 

 Europe only by governmental protection, which has heen 

 given to it for many years, just as within a short time the 

 protecting arm of the law has been extended over the 

 American buff do in the Yellowstone National Park, 



Our own buffalo has been hunted by many of the 

 readers of Fokest and Stream, and its practical extinc- 

 tion in the United States, almost without warning, is 

 even yet scarcely realized by the people of this country 

 at large, This extermination gives a great interest to its 

 nearest relative in Europe, which has for many years 

 been on the verge of passing from the list of animals of 

 Europe, and which yet to-day probably equals in numbers 

 the pitiful existing remnant of the millions of great 

 beasts which once darkened our western plains. 



Appreciating the interest felt in this subject, the Fok- 

 est and Stream recently made arrangements with a 

 gentleman residing near Grodno in Russia, where the 

 perserved herds of the European bison still exist, by which 

 an elaborate account of the European bison should be 

 written for these columns. This account, which is very 

 full, will give for the first time in any American journal 

 an adequate history of what the historian Pliny called 

 Bonassus. It will tell of his history, his habits, the chase, 

 the capture, and the life of the animal in captivity. That 

 it will be read with intense interest by the naturalist and 

 the sportsman we need not say. 



In some works on natural history and in encyclope- 

 dias may be found a few brief paragraphs treating of this 

 great beast which roamed through Europe in the days 

 when Ceesar conquered "all Gaul" and all Germany as 

 well; but the American reader who desires to inform 

 himself on the history and habits of the European bison 

 can scarcely do so unless he makes a journey to Europe 

 and delves in some of the great libraries. The Forest 

 and Stream now supplies this want by furnishing an 

 account so full and so trustworthy that nothing more is 

 needed. 



DELMONICCrS AND THE DISTRICT-ATTORNEY. 



IN some parts of Canada last Tuesday the mercury 

 went down 60 degrees in four hours; this was the 

 quickest and deepest drop recorded since District- 

 Attorney Piatt and Judge Nelson Baker, of Westchester 

 county, N. Y., cooled down so suddenly in the prosecu- 

 tion of Delmonico for serving woodcock in July. The 

 facts have been given, but they are instructive and will 

 bear repetition, as given in our issue of Dec. 10. 



Some eighteen months ago, in July, 1890, Dr. "Wiilett Kidd, the 

 game protector of the district in which New York city is included , 

 visited Delmonico's restaurant and found that woodcock were then 

 served there out of season. He promptly put the case into the hands 

 of District Attorney Piatt, of Westchester county. Mr. Piatt mani- 

 fested a willingness to do his duty as a public officer with alacrity 

 and dispatch. This willingness mysteriously gave way to reluctance 

 and the alacrity to procrastination, and the dispatch in turn to in- 

 nocuous inaciion. Not even were the papers served. At length, 

 since District Attorney Piatt and his assistant, Mr. Verplank, were so 

 crowded with work that they could not attend to the Delmonico ease, 

 the protector employed as outside couuset Judge Nelson H. Baker. 

 Judge Baker was for an immediate, aggressive and uncompromising 

 prosecution of the case. In due course of time Judge Baker was so 

 overwhelmed with other business that he really could not give any 

 time to the Delmonico case. Tlie papers were still not served. Pro- 

 tector Kidd then transferred the case to New York county, and gave 

 it to District Attorney Nicoll, This was done, we believe, at the close 

 of last year (1890) or in the beginning of 1891. For some reason the 

 case has not been tried, and this is the more worthy of note because 

 the evidence is said to b9 very clear, and the District Attorney is 

 believed to have a perfectly good case. We understand that the last 

 stay of proceedings secured by the defendants will expire to-day ; 

 and we shall watch with much interest the further progress (or 

 delay) of the case. 



That was the summary up to that date, and now, over 

 a month later, it is the summary up to the present date. 

 From what we can learn District Attorney Nicoll is not 

 a whit nearer bringing Delmonico to time. la reply to 

 an inquiry last week, Mr, Nicoll advised us, under date 

 of Jan, 21 , that he expected " to have the case tried and 



disposed of within a few weeks. - ' As this Delmonico 

 indictment has been dawdled with for more than a year 

 and a half, it will not involve a severe tax of patience to 

 wait <£ a few weeks " longer for District Attorney Nicoll 

 to act. We do not class Mr. Nicoll with Messrs. Piatt 

 and Baker, as having been first red-bot, then lukewarm, 

 and all of a sudden stone-cold, for he has never manifested 

 any special eagerness to bring this wealthy game caterer 

 to time; his enthusiasm has not oozed; there was none of 

 it to begin with. But whether or not Mr. Nicoll likes to 

 do his duty, and whatever may be the nature of the Del- 

 monico "pull," we insist that this case must be tried; that 

 Delmonico must be treated precisely as would be the 

 humblest market man charged with a misdemeanor: and 

 that no mysterious influence shall be permitted to render 

 the game law a nullity when it strikes Fifth avenue. 



SNAP SHOTS. 



YJ^J HEN Gov. Hill's summary removal of Mr. E. G. 



" * Blackford showed a purpose to convert the New 

 York Fish Commission into a political machine, it was 

 left to every right-minded member of the board either to 

 remain in office and withstand the degradation of the 

 Commission, or to resign and wash his hands of it. It is 

 a cause for regret that Mr. Henry Burden has chosen 

 to adopt the latter course and has tendered his resigna- 

 tion as follows: 



Office of the Commissioners of Fisheries, State of New 

 York, New York, Jan. 32, 1892. Governor R. P. Flower: Dear Sir— 

 I herewith present my resignation as a member of the Commis- 

 sion of Fisheries of this State. The work of the Commission has 

 increased very much of late years, and as the Board is at present 

 constituted the labor will principally devolve upon two of us; in 

 view of thi3 fact I do not feel that I can do justice to the extra 

 work that will be thrown upon me. 



In the two and one-half years that 1 have been on the Commis- 

 sion the question of politics has not entered into the few appoint- 

 ments we have had to make, and I think I voice the sentiment of 

 all my former associates on the Board that it, should be kept out. 

 as we recognize the fact that its efficiency would be destroyed if 

 other than fitness and merit should control our appointments. I 

 regret to say that our freedom of action has been somewhat 

 hampered of late by politicians and State officials high in au» 

 thority. The work of the Commission is of such a nature that it 

 cannot be made a political machine without destroying its use- 

 fulness. 



A& we receive no salary I had a personal pride that our work 

 should be conducted as one would his private business, that is, to 

 give the people the best possible results with the means at our 

 command. In view of the above facts I can not consistently 

 longer remain a member of this Board. Very respectfully yours, 

 Hkkby Burden. 



Mr. Burden was one Of the most genuinely interested, 

 capable and efficient members of the board, and his with- 

 drawal will mean a distinct loss to the State. 



A forthcoming contribution to the literature of Ameri- 

 can fishes is a report on the fishes of Pennsylvania, by 

 Dr. T. H. Bean, of the Smithsonian Institution, and 

 Angling Editor of the Forest and Stream. It will con- 

 tain descriptions of all the species, with notes on their com- 

 mon names, distribution, s'ze, habits, reproduction, rate 

 of growth, uses, modes of capture, etc., and will be accom- 

 panied by fifteen colored plates and about sixty small 

 figures in black and white. It will appear in the appen- 

 dix of tho next Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries. 

 The colored plates include shad, whitefish, carp, salmon, 

 rainbow trout, brown trout, brook trout, lake trout, calico 

 bass, rock bass, black bass, yellow perch, pike perch, 

 striped bass, and white perch. The drawings were made 

 by Mr. S. F. Denton, In all 157 species will be described. 



The prospects for a large and much-interested conven- 

 tion of New York sportsmen at Syracuse on Feb. 1.3 are 

 excellent. More than 500 circular invitatians have been 

 sent oul", and many responses received. Our publication 

 of the call this week will reach a vast number of other 

 people. The movement is in the right hands, and it is to 

 be hoped that the attendance will be full and that the 

 State at large may be well represented. 



A bill has been introduced into the Virginia House of 

 Delegates to tax dogs at their true value, none to be as- 

 sessed at less than $10, the tax thus derived to go to the 

 State school fund. If the assessors were to take the bench 

 show catalogue valuations the revenue would provide 

 not only for the school fund, but for the State debt. 



Vol. XXXVII. was concluded with the issue of Dec. 31, 

 which was No. 24. That volume contains only twentj - 

 four numbers instead of tweuty-Fix, 



