100 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



[Feb. 4, 1892. 



length. The real stream emptying into it is only an in- 

 significant affair. 



At 8 o'clock we were afloat on the Margaret, a pretty 

 side-wheel steamer which makes trips from Tampa to 

 the various small towns and landings in and around the 

 bay. I think it is Buskin who has said that three ele- 

 ments are necessary to form a perfect landscape, diversity 

 of surface, rich and varied vegetation, and water. The 

 first of these elements of beauty is totally lacking 

 throughout this region. No country in the world, except 



?erhaps Buenos Ayres. is more level than South Florida, 

 he shores rise nowhere more than a few feet above high 

 tide, save where the prehistoric tribes have built their 

 kitchen middens or mounds of shells and earth, and any 

 bank rising abruptly to a slightly greater elevation than 

 the rest of the shore is invariably denominated by the 

 inhabitants a bluff, and such names as Orange Bidge, 

 Pine Bidge, and those of various mountains are applied 

 with ludicrous effect to slight elevations in the interior 

 that are imperceptible to the eye of the stranger. The 

 vegetation, though in some places varied, is rarely rich, 

 and for the most part consists of uninterrupted open pine 

 woods. Any great assemblage of trees of a single species 

 is monotonous^ but a continuous forest of Southern pinee, 

 with straight, branchless, reddish-brown trunks, sur- 

 mounted by a small tuft of crooked, gnarly limbs, is 

 dreary in the extreme. And yet with but a single ele- 

 ment of beauty abounding, there is an indescribable 

 charm in the scenery of this region. The air is soft and 

 languid and filled with a dreamy sensuousness,the water 

 — teeming with life— glances brilliantly, and in the dis- 

 tance, low islands, or keys as they are called, seem to 

 float in beds of shimmering silver. The warm wind 

 sings soothingly through the pine needles, and over and 

 above, and around all is poured a flood of brilliant sf mi- 

 tropical sunlight. No one ever visits this country with- 

 out carrying away with him delightful memories of this 

 indescribable beauty, or without feeling a desire to see it 

 again. 



"We watched the pelicans, the only birds we saw in any 

 considerable numbers, birds that my friend declared 

 were the saddest he had ever seen . 



There certainly is something lugubrious about these 

 droll creatures that ply their avocation as fishermen with 

 such untiring industry. They look mournful enough, 

 and yet in their apparent sadness there is something irre- 

 sistibly ridiculous and which excites in one the same de- 

 sire to' laugh that a man would who falls on a slippery 

 pavement. But to one who, like the writer, has been 

 familiar in years gone by with this country, there is a 

 great change noticeable in the greatly diminished amount 

 of bird, reptile and fish life along these shores. Ten or 

 twelve years ago the waters literally swarmed with fish, 

 of which about one hundrad edible species inhabited the 

 west coast. I have seen schools of mullet miles in length 

 along these keyes, among which sharks held high carni- 

 val, and the incessant sound of these fish as they struck 

 the water after making the characteristic leap was often 

 so deafening that one could not hear conversation, and 

 well authenticated stories are told of these same mullet 

 swamping and sinking boats which happened among 

 them. Yet during our cruise of ten days I did not see a 

 dozen fish jump from the water, and although our boat- 

 man and cook were experts with the cast net they tried 

 in vain to capture enough for a mess. There are, per- 

 haps, two reasons for this rapid diminution of one of the 

 most valuable food products of the countrj ; The bottom 

 of the sea in this vicinity is as flat as the dry land, and 

 -usually quite shallow. Several times each winter severe 

 wind storms set in_from the north which are locally 

 called "northers." W hen unusually strong these storms 

 drive the water out of the bays along the west coast and 

 into the Gulf of Mexico, often laying bare tens of thous- 

 ands of acres of muddy or sandy bottom. Occasionally 

 at such times the mercury falls below the freezing point, 

 and the fish, which are essentially tropical, are driven 

 into shoal water and chilled until they become perfectly 

 helpless, and so turn upon their backs and drift before 

 the wind, and are often landed in ricks on the lee shores. 

 If the tide rises soon and the weather moderates most of 

 them are restored to life, but if it continues to blow 

 cold they perish. 



In the winter of 1886 there occurred a norther of extra- 

 ordinary severity; snow fell on the Manatee for twenty- 

 four hours, and ice an inch in thickness was formed. As 

 a result millions of fish were drifted ashore and destroyed, 

 and when the tide came in at last the water was so filled 

 in many places with the dead floating about that boats 

 could neither be pulled or sailed through them. They 

 lay decaying in countless numbers along the shores, food 

 for birds of prey, and creating an intolerable stench for 

 miles inland. The fishermen made a fortune gathering 

 them up and shipping them as iced fish as long as they 

 remained good, but after this their avocation as fishermen 

 was well nigh gone. Since that time, I am told, fish have 

 never been so abundant as before. But the truth must be 

 told. There can be no doubt that they have been ruth- 

 lessly slaughtered by fishermen. I am informed that 

 companies formed for the purpose of making fish guano 

 have captured the mullet in untold numbers in their 

 seines, and used them with the sharks and other fish for 

 their preparations. Catching mullet for roe is quite a 

 business in its season, and many fishermen instead of re- 

 turning those which are not gravid to the water, allow 

 them to die on shore. The killing of the goose that lays 

 the golden egg has again brought disaster, for many of 

 these common fish seem well nigh extinct. 



Not so very long ago flocks of roseate spoonbills and the 

 « scarlet ibis* were abundant, as well as white egrets and 

 other lovely-plumaged birds, and the great flamingo and 

 Carolino paroquets were often seen. Now, on account of 

 ceaseless hunting, the latter are practically extinct, and 

 the former are only seen on rare occasions, 



Our collecting trip was a perfect success in every way. 

 Christmas on the Manatee was uncomfortably warm, and 

 in yards and gardens roses, Chinese hibiscus, the gorgeous 

 purple-tracted BouffainviUea, and Cuban morning glories 

 flaunted their gay flowers in the air, which was musical 

 with the drone of honCy bees and humming birds. 



We chartered a five-ton boat, and with a skipper and 

 cook and ten days' provisions aboard began our cruise, 



* Mr. Ridgwav. of the Katioual Museum, informs me that he has 

 never been able to obtain this hire} frooa Florida, though it is not; 

 rare in tropical America awl has be^L. reported from UouigiaDa., 

 etc. Ten oi' fifteen years aeo a tth'd SftV^ in Florida the pint 

 curlew and answer! as in apoeavanee to t&» soayiet ftl? w£s? not a? 

 rare Rbout the hays and Keys of- ^he west ?oaat , 



During low tides we searched the shores and sandy mud 

 flats for shells, crabs and other marine life, and when 

 these were covered we got under way and kept the dredge 

 constantly at work. This implement, which consists of 

 a double-bladed iron frame attached to a bag of twine 

 netting, is dragged along the bottom by means of a rope 

 attached to it, the boat being brought up into the wind, 

 so that it barely moves. After it has been allowed to 

 remain down for ten or fifteen minutes, scraping up as it 

 does all that lies loose, it is drawn aboard and dumped: 

 and this is always an interesting and exciting moment, 

 much as is the landing of a fishing seine. Molluska, 

 ascidians, sponges, bryozoa, corals, shrimp, crabs, star- 

 fish, sand dollars and sea urchins, with curious bottom 

 fish, and many other quaiut and startling forms of sea 

 life, are among the possibilities of the haul. These ani- 

 mals ai-e surprised in their homes and appear as if aston- 

 ished at this sudden and rude interruption of their daily 

 affairs. It is fascinating work to the naturalist, and one 

 becomes so interested and absorbed that he does not 

 even want to stop to eat. and night always comes too 

 soon, in running out of one of the passes between two 

 keys one day, we put a line over, baited with a piece of 

 meat. There was" all at once a wild rush at the hook, 

 which was followed a moment later by that of the crew. 

 The cook dropped his dinner pots; to the naturalists the 

 dredge, which had just been landed with specimens, sud- 

 denly lost its attractions, and even the skipper, always 

 thoughtful of his boat, let go the helm and for a few min- 

 utes she steered herself . For a quarter of an hour there 

 was a savage struggle; all hands on board against a single 

 fish in the water: everybody cautioning everybody else to 

 be careful and not let him get away, as he made fearful 

 lunges and occasionally sprang from the water — a gleam 

 of silver— and disappeared. At last he was on clerk, an 

 amber jack, a splendid fellow, weighing perhaps 35tbs , 

 and after another severe fight of a few minutes be was 

 dispatched by a few blows bn the head with the cook's 

 hatchet. The flesh of this fish is very dark, looking like 

 beef, and is not considered good eating. 



To the naturalist, no matter what branch of biology he 

 may be interested in, the west coast of Florida is a de- 

 lightful resort. The sea is alive with mollusks, crusta- 

 ceans and radiates, with many forms of fish of wondrous 

 beauty and interest, and other marine life. Numbers of 

 birds and reptiles are to be obtained in the forests and 

 swamps, and it is a paradise for insects. Something like 

 five hundred species of trees are found in the State, a 

 considerable portion of which belong to this region. Its 

 flora is a mingling of the plants of the more northern 

 region with those of the West Tndies and Tropical Amer- 

 ica; the latter planted by that great sower of seed?, the 

 Gulf Stream. Palms and pines, the magnolia and the 

 mangrove, the live oak and the India rubber tree, struggle 

 for existence in the same soil and flourish side by side. 

 While we are searching to the ends of the world for the 

 new and. the rare, to our shame it may almost be said we 

 know comparatively little of the natural history of Florida, 

 Its geology is only a half-explained mystery, its vegeta- 

 tion is but imperfectly known, as constant discoveries 

 attest, and no doubt large numbers of forms in the realm 

 of the zoologist people its shores and unexplored regions 

 that are either new or have hitherto been credited only 

 to the West Tndies. Chas. T. Simpson. ' 



Washington, D. P., Jan. 31 . 



Birds of Bridgeport, Conn.— Mr. C. K. Averill, Jr., 

 recently prepared for the Bridgeport Scientific Society a 

 brief annotated list of the birds found within ten miles 

 of -that city. The list is based on recent observations, 

 b*t the earlier papers on the birds of Connecticut, that bv 

 J. H. Linsley (1843) and of Dr. C. HartMerriara (188?) have 

 been consulted and a number of species introduced on 

 their authority, Credit is given to several local ob- 

 servers for records received from them, but the author is 

 responsible for most of the species noted. The list num- 

 bers 246 species and contains some interesting informa- 

 tion, though we feel inclined to complain of the brevity 

 of the annotations. The recent breeding of Oallinula 

 galeata near Stratford is noteworthy. The nomenclature 

 used is that of the A. O. U. list, but the proofs have been 

 carelessly read. 



The LraNiEAN Society of New York.— Begular meet- 

 ings of the society will be held at 8 P. M. at the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural Historv, Eighth avenue and 

 Seventy-seventh street, on the 3d and 17th of February. 

 No paper has been announced as yet for Feb. 3. On Feb. 

 17 a paper by Mr. B, Hicks Dutcher, "A Summer's Col- 

 lecting in Southern Calif ornia."— Jonathan Dwxght, Jr. , 

 Secretary. 



Words of Appreciation. 



It is probable there is no weekly paper that eome3 10 Maine 

 which enjoys the wide popularity possessed by the Fobest and 

 Stbbam. Other papers have a larger circulation than this, hut 

 noue is treasured more highly or quottd so often. It is read by 

 country farmers, by village and city sportsmen, by backwoods 

 lumbermen and trappers and guides, as well as business and pro. 

 fcssional men all over the State, The rough hunter reads it; for 

 tales of stirring adventures in the woods, the college Btudent and 

 summer vacationist read it for facts about canoeing and yacht- 

 ing; the crack shot scans its pages for target records, the dog 

 fancier studies it for ideas about breeding and training and prize 

 winning, and the modest naturalist patiently peruses the paper 

 for new facts about the habits of animals. The editor of this 

 paper has sat in a lumber camp forty miles from the nearest 

 habitation and heard the foreman of the crew read Forest anu 

 Stream to over half a hundred delighted lumbermen, many of 

 whom did uot know one letter of tho alphabet from the other; yet 

 ail were pleased and taught now facta by the paper that had come 

 to them over snow-olad hills and icy ponds. Guides carry copies 

 of it about in their pockets for months, and when the contents 

 have been learned by heart it is turned over to some other guide 

 or trapper as a precious keepsake. In short, Forest ane Stream 

 preaches the gospel of the forest to the woodsmen of Main6 better 

 than any other paper published. 



Last week with the first number of its thirty-eighth volume 

 Forest and Stream came out in enlarged thirty-two paged 

 quarto form, with many of its old features amplified and several 

 new ones added. It is the same old Forest and Stream, only 

 larger and better and more worthy of patronage. Under its present 

 form and management it is as near perfect in its lin6 as it iB pos* 

 siblefoy a paper to be. Its opinions aro aoynd, its statements 

 are reliable, and it& influence wide and ctuistautly increasing. 

 Mayitstriue&phs continue until every bod y ano.ll recognize the 

 merits of Forest a no Stp, ram — Bangor iVsire. 



§mt$ §dg mtd §mp 



The eodl texts of the game laws of all the States, Terri- 

 tories and British Provinces are given in the Book of the 

 Game Laws, 



INTRODUCTION OF THE CHOKEBORE, 



IN looking over the shelves of a book store the other day, 

 it was my good fortune to obtain a copy of "The Am- 

 erican Shooter's Manual," by a ' 'Gentleman of Philadel- 

 phia County," published in 1827 by Carey, Lea & Carey. 

 It was copyrighted in May of that year. The various 

 articles on "Shooting," the "Dog," "Gun," "Ducks," etc., 

 are very interesting, and the directions for using tho gun, 

 etc., are remarkably clear and concise. Among other 

 subjects treated of is that of the" boring of gun barrels. 

 As the book is probably quite rare, it may be well to give 

 the i (notation in full: 



"Not many years since," the author writes, "bell muz- 

 y.lef, as they were called, were all the rage, but they are 

 at present entirely out of use. Mr. Johnson suergests that 

 the bore be made somewhat larger at the breach [sic] and 

 some inches up the barrel." The author then quotes Mr. 

 Johnson's account of the manner in which he discovered 

 this method. Johnson purchased a gun and was delighted 

 with its shooting qualities. On examination he found it 

 had this peculiarity of bore, and so he had a very inferior 

 gun rebored by the method he gives, with results "that 

 far passed his mo-t sanguine expectations." This Mr. 

 Johnson was an Englishman who wrote "The Sports- 

 man's Encyclopedia," 1831. Our author seems to quote 

 from an earlier work. 



In the volume entitled "Sport with (run and Bod" 

 (edition of 1883} published by the Century Co., we read on 

 page 781 from the paragraph ou chokpbored barrels that 

 "Colonel Hawker, in 'Instructions to Young Sportsmen,' 

 London, 1814, had very strong opinions against choke- 

 bores. We next find mention of chokeboring in 1835, in 

 Deyeux's 'Le Vieux Chasseur.' Mr. Lomr in his 'Ameri- 

 can Wildfowl Shooting,' New York, 1879, gives the in- 

 vention of a really successful mode of chokeboring to 

 Jeremiah Smith, of Rhode Island, who discovered its 

 merits in 1837 [!]. From him it was learned by Nathaniel 

 Whitman, of Mansfield, Maes., and the method practiced 

 by Joseph Tonks, of Boston, 4n 1870,' and these choke- 

 bores of Tonks came rapidly in favor with duck shooters." 



It certainly is a curious coincidence that Mr. Smith,, 

 who is fcupposed to have been the inventor of the choke- 

 bore on this side of the water, should have hit upon thia 

 plan in the verv year in which an Ameiican author 

 quoting from an English book described the method of 

 boring the gun with a choke. 



Granting that it is perfectly possible for Mr. Smith to 

 have discovered this method on his own account, yet on. 

 the other hand it is just as possible, nay, perhaps a little 

 more probable, that he happened upon the plan in the 

 pages of the "Mmual" (published early in that same 

 year, 1827>, and being of a quick and practical disposition 

 put the method at once into actual operation. 



If this supposition is comet, we are enabled to iraee 

 the chokebore back from Tonks in 1870, through Whit- 

 man to Smith, who on his part obtained the idea from 

 the English author Johnson through "The American 

 Shooter's Manual." 



We conclude, then, that the chokebore was introduced 

 into this^country in 1827, rather than that it originated 

 here. However distasteful this view of the subject may 

 be to us as Americans, yet the evidence seems to be 

 largely in its favor. J. Stuakt Auchinclos. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



GOSSIP OF GAME AND GUNS. 



pUFFED grouse have been scarcer iu this vicinity dur- 

 XL ing the season just closed than at any time" since 

 '89. Two of my brothers, who live in Boston, were here 

 the last of September and the three of us spent a week 

 hunting grouse and woodcock. The total bag for the 

 three puna was ridiculously small, and we covered from 

 six to ten miles a day. 



A feature of our week's shooting that compensated to 

 some extent for the poor bags was the excellent work of 

 our six months old cocker puppy, a Brant— Jill whelp 

 from the kennel of Dr. Mcol, of Cookstown, Ontario. 

 The doctor told us that this youngster would make a good 

 fielder, and subsequent events have shown that he knew 

 what he was talking about. Half the grouse we killed 

 were shot over him. He would retrieve as well as an 

 old tlog, and a ruffed grouse is a rjumbersome mouthful 

 for a pup that age. More than that, he could keep going 

 as long as we could, and show fewer signs of fatigue. 



In '81, our last previous 'poor grouse year, water fowl 

 were unusually plentiful, and by a strange coincidence it 

 was the same this season. The great banks of teal that 

 used to visit us in September seem to have gone to stay, 

 but black ducks and bluebills were here in immense 

 numbers. There was about the usual quantity of whistlers 

 and broadbills. 



The last week i* October we had a cold snap, accom- 

 panied by a snowstorm, that failed to find a parallel 

 within the memory of that well-known citizen, the "old- 

 est inhabitant." On the Saturday evening of that week 

 Samuel Yanwart, who shoots for the St. Paul market, 

 taking his gun and seven "catteridges," all he had loaded, 

 sallied forth amid drifting snow to spy out the lantl and 

 see if there were any ducks left. He went down to the 

 Dugway, opposite Layetown, on the St. John Ri\er. and 

 found black ducks in the air in "families of ten-, and 

 dozens." It was nearly sundown, Seating himself on 

 the snow in plain view of any duck that chanced to look, 

 and accepting no shots where he could not "line up" 

 several ducks in range, in twenty minutes he killed 

 thirteen ducks and exhausted his ammunition. Then he 

 sat there and saw about thirty good chances go by. Any 

 one would not need to be acquainted with Samuel to 

 imagine his feelings, but his oldest friends would fail to 

 reproduce the choice Anglo-Saxon in which they found 

 vent. 



He shoots a 14 bore under-grip English gun, with 36in. 

 barrels. In leading, he "doesn't pay any attention to this 

 foolishness of drams and ounces, but puts in aoout the 

 right amount of powder and shot, wads well, and crimps 

 with his fingers." There is little doubt that he has killed 

 more ducks than any man in this Province. I hoard, him 

 tell a young city tenderfoot last, sunnier that aa old hane\ 



