828 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April % 1899. 



WILL THE PIKE COUNTY LAW STAND? 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



la your issue of March 31 is an article on "Pike County- 

 Trout Season" in which after giving the opinion of the 

 Attorney General on the repealing clause in the act of 

 June 11, 1885, we are informed that the Pennsylvania 

 Fish Commission have instructed its wardens to arrest all 

 parties fishing for brook trout in Pike county prior to 

 May 1 and in the rest of the State prior to April 15. With- 

 out going into the question of the advisablenesB of mak- 

 ing special fish laws for one county over those of the 

 counties surrounding it, I will say that the constitution of 

 Pennsylvania, passed 1873, five years previous to the pass- 

 ing of the act giving special privilege to Pike, prohibits 

 the General Assembly from passing any special or local 

 laws regulating counties, townships, etc., so that it is a 

 serious question whether the wardens would be justified 

 in making arrests under it, I hope Mr. Henry C, Ford, 

 President Pennsylvania Fish Commission, will aek the 

 opinion of the Attorney General, Mr. Hensel, on tbe con- 

 stitulionality of the Pike county act, and give it the same 

 publicity that he has his opinion on the repealing clause 

 in the act of June 11, 1885, since it is better for all, both 

 accused and accuser, that the correct law on the subject 

 should be known, as one has no heart to attempt an arrest 

 as the case stands at present. R. K. E. 



Saston, Pa. 



Key West Fishes.— Some idea of the great variety of 

 fish in these waters can be gathered from the following 

 li«t which contains the names of all kinds shipped to 

 Washington by Dr. J. A. Henshall while here. The ma- 

 jority of these fish are fine for food and nearly all of 

 chem axe lovely in their coloring, which varies from the 

 soberest grays' and browns to the most brilliant silver 

 and gold, reds and blues. The name conveys no idea of 

 the beauty of the fish except to the fishermen who make 

 their living by hooking them with the rod and line. Key 

 West affords the finest angling of any place on the Gulf 

 coast and those who are fond of that sport cannot resist 

 the temptation to capture the brilliantly colored nibblers 

 who glide so gracefully in and out among the coral beds, 

 transforming them to gardens in which the fish resemble 

 flower.- 3 . Lane snapper, yellow angel, pork fish, boar 

 grunt, sow grunt, leather fish, little-head porgy, Tom tate, 

 turbot, yellow tail, sand fish, grass porgy, schoolmaster, 

 bream, leather jack, pug, blue pug, parrot fish, runner, 

 mutton fish, glass-eye snapper, jolt-head porgy, black 

 angel, dog snapper, black grouper, Nassau grouper, suck 

 fish, green moray, gray snapper, hog fish (male), hog fish 

 (female), gag, red grouper, bonito, plate fish, jew fish, 

 speckled hine, stingaree, margate fish, squirrel fish, bone 

 fisb, cow fisb, pudding fisb, black moray, Scotch porgy, 

 speckled moray, bonnet-head shark, trumpet fish, "barra- 

 cuda, sheephead porgy, toad fisb, bally-hoo, scamp, shell 

 fish, French angel, reck fish, tang, sun fish, hound fish, 

 soap fisb, swell fisb, cat fisb, sennet, moon fish, horse 

 mackerel, horse-eye jack, jack, sailor's choice, runner, 

 ten pounder, bone fish, white angel, yellow-fin grouper, 

 old wife, mouse fish, albicore, amber jack, electric fish, 

 cobio, Nugent grunt.— Equator-Democrat, Key West, 

 Fla. 



Ieish Deep-Sea Fishes. — Tbe Royal Dublin Society, 

 aid-'d by Gay eminent, has fitted out an expedition for the 

 study of the shore and deep-sea fishing grounds of the 

 West Coast of Ireland. In 1890 the steamer Fingal, and 

 in 1891 the Harlequin, visited all the islands and creeks 

 and carried the explorations seaward 50 miles from land 

 into great depths. Rev. W. S Green, who became famil- 

 iar with American methods of deep-sea dredging by ob- 

 servation at the U. S. Fish Commission station at Woods 

 Holl in 1888, was in charge of the investigations. The 

 apparatus used included the dredge, the beam trawl and 

 long lines, the latter known in the United States as trawl 

 lines. Ninety-nine kinds of fish were taken, or about as 

 many as are found in Great Egg Harbor Bay, New Jersey, 

 Among these are the common mackerel and the halibut, 

 the great marine sunfishor mola, and the singular spin- 

 ous shark, which has been obtained on our coast as an ac- 

 cidental visitor. In a recent number of the Graphic, Mr. 

 Green has given a brief account of his cruising, illustrated 

 by a number of spirited sketches of scenery and tbe 

 apparatus and some of the results of the work. 



WINTER SPAWNING OF SALMON. 



"T^vEESlDER," under the title of "Salmon Spawning in 

 Ls February," records in Fishing Gazette, London, of 

 March 5, the following: "The very unusual and in many 

 respects highly phenomenal feature of salmon spawning, so 

 late as the end of February, has been observed on more than 

 ooe reach of the Aberdeenshire Dee. This is all the more 

 strange, as the Dee is a particularly early river; and especially 

 so in tbe upper waters, where fish usually go on to the redds 

 toward the end of September, and often earlier. Late fish 

 are often seen on the lower redds well into December and 

 the early days of January, but the observation is unique in 

 the annals of salmon hatching on the Dee so late in the 

 season as ten days or so ago. Whatever may be the cause, 

 and although it may not be general all over the river, yet 

 spawners have been seen on theredds in theBrsemar district, 

 and on the middle redds in the Kincardine O'Neil and 

 Branchory sections, so that the freak, or whatever it may be 

 termed, is not confined to fish of the samerun, as these places 

 are in the extreme some forty miles apart. On the Branchory 

 section, last week, an angler landed a partially spent fish, 

 or what is termed a 'baggot.' " 



STEELHEAD SALMON SPAWNING— The 17. S. Fish 

 Commission will probablv begin the hatching of the steel- 

 head salmon ov Gairdner's trout during the coming spring. 

 Breeding grounds of this giant trout— for it is really a river 

 trout, althoush known to commerce as a salmon— have been 

 observed by Mr. Waldo F. Hubbard at the falls of the Wil- 

 lamette, at Oregon City, and in Eagle Creek, which empties 

 into the Clackamas River about ten miles above Clacka- 

 mas, Ore. In these localities tbe majority of the steelheads 

 spawn in April and May. This trout reaches the extraor- 

 dinary weight of 32lbs , and resembles the Kennebec salmon 

 so closely in size, shape and coloration, that it is readily sold 

 in Eastern cities at this season of the year for the Maine 

 salmon. To anglers it is well-known because of its readiness 

 in taking the artificial fly. Its introduction into suitable 

 Eastern waters should be a very popular step for the Fish 

 Commission, and its artificial hatching will leave only one 

 important spcies of trout, the Dolly Varden, unprovided for 

 in Governmental fishculture. The advantages of a spring 

 spawning season will be at once appreciated by those who 

 have endured the hardships of winter work with tbe salmon 

 family. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION. 



[An address by Henry 0. President Pennsylvania Fish 



Commission., at the U*uuion of the Pennsylvania Fish Prater 

 tive Association m Philadelphia. March 29.] 



W'HE^the present Pennsylvania Commission of Fish- 

 eries commenced their labors in 1187, the State pos- 

 sessed three hatcheries— two trotlt hatcheHeS, one at Allen- 

 town, the other at Corry> and the whitefish hatchery at 

 Erie. 



These under the able supervision of the for met bfeMdent 

 of tbe Commission,, Col. John Gay, anVl thte Unremitting at- 

 tention of the superintendents, MS-. John P. Creveling at 

 AUentown and Mr. Wm. Bullsr- at Corry, were already 

 showing an earnest of their great subsequent production. 



Our whitefish hatchery at Erie, established by Col. Gay, 

 Was also pouring its millions of fry into that inland sea, 

 and helping with the plantings of Ohio and Michigan to 

 make that lake what it now is, the first in the commercial 

 importance of its fisheries of all the Great t*akefe. 



Though our fishcultural plant was in admirable condi- 

 tion, we found that much remained to be accomplished in 

 other directions before its steady and regular working could 

 be made produtive of the best results. 



The young fry might be deposited in ollr rivers and 

 streams, but the destructive agencies oE man were there to 

 blast the crop before it was ready for harvest. 



The Delaware and Susquehanna and many of our inland 

 streams were filled with the deadly fish baskets, that not 

 only destroyed the fish, mature or fry, planted by the Com- 

 mission, but in two instances had nearly mined the largest 

 fishel-y industry of the commonwealth, the shad fisheries of 

 the Delaware and the Susquehanna. What the fish Weirs 

 spared, illegal netting with fine-meshed nets gathered in, 

 almost to the smallest minnow, while trout and bass fish- 

 ing out of season was openly carried on as if there Were no 

 laws on the statute book to retplire the Contrary. The first 

 efforts of the Commission were directed to remedy these 

 wrongs, 



Laws for the purpose were in existence, but in loose and 

 disjointed condition. 



As early as 1808 both New Jersey and Pennsylvania pro- 

 hibited the erection of fish baskets in the Delaware, and in 

 1878 the use of nets was forbidden in any of the waters of 

 Pennsylvania above tide. 



But the laws were not enforced, and they would not have 

 been to this day, had not the Commission procured tbe pass- 

 age of stringent acts with heavy penalties, and which pro- 

 vided that every warden or any officer of the State could 

 arrest any offender, without warrant, on the spot. 



The result of fish propagation and more thorough fish pro- 

 tection has been simply marvelous. Take the Delaware 

 River alone, from which the Commission has removed every 

 fish weir, and which for the last five years has been under 

 the constant supervision of its wardens, who patrol the river 

 as policemen watch the streets of a city, and into the head- 

 waters of which millions of young shad fry have been annu- 

 ally carried from the hatchery of the United States Fish 

 Commission at Gloucester. 



In 1881 the value of the shad production had fallen to 

 880,000 for the entire Delaware River and bay. In 1888, 

 through the remedial agencies just mentioned, the value of 

 shad production had advanced to S35O.O0O; in 1889 to $460,000, 

 and in 1890 to nearly 8700,000, a production which has prob- 

 ably not been exceeded in the earliest and best years of the 

 shad fishery, a most striking example of tbe wisdom of 

 "protecting the spawning fish and enforcing the laws." 



The Pennsylvania Commission, jointly with New York, 

 have erected fishways at the Lackawaxen dam, the only ob- 

 struction in the river. These have been very successful, and 

 large numbers of shad have been taken over a hundred 

 miles above the dam, where they had not been seen since 

 1825, when the darn was built. 



In connection with the Delaware River the Commission 

 has secured a uniform law for the river with the State of 

 New Jersey; and its wardens now work in unison with our 

 own to prevent illegal fishing. It is now the object of the 

 Commission to do for the Susquehanna what it has accom- 

 plished for the Delaware; and to restore it to its former 

 prestige as a great shad-producing river. It is our intention 

 to build fishways in every dam on the Susquehanna, until 

 the headwater of the river shall be as accessible to shad as 

 are those of the Delaware. Already hundreds of fish weirs 

 have been destroyed in the Susquehanna, until now they 

 only exist in any number in the fifteen miles in which this 

 river flows through Maryland, and we hope that our fellow 

 commissioners of that State will second our efforts in 

 Pennsylvania, by the abolition of the devices that have 

 practically ruined the Susquehanna as a shad-producing 

 river. 



As an instance of the great increase in the production of 

 fry from our hatcheries, take the one item of brook trout: 



In 1883 the distribution of brook trout was less than 100,000. 

 This had increased in 1886 to 250,000. Tbe output in 1890 was 

 2.500,000, while the distribution for 1891 will reach 3,000,000, 

 or twelve times the number of brook trout distributed six 

 years ago, and still we are not able to supply the demand. 



The total output of the Commision of fish, mature and 

 fry, in the year ending June 1, 1891, including the shad fry 

 received from the IT. S. Commission, amounted to over 

 sixty-five millions of fish. 



This enormous output has been made possible by greatly 

 enlarging the capacity of our hatcheries. In 1890 at the 

 Erie hatchery we commenced the hatching of wall-eyed pike, 

 the food fish second in commercial importance to the white- 

 fish in the great lakes, hatching 16,000,000 in 1890 and 40,- 

 000,000 in 1891. 



The great expansion of the work of the Pennsylvania 

 Fish Commission has necessitated the employment of a fish 

 car, in which fish and fry can be carried in large numbers 

 and with greater safety than at present. 



This car will be finished in May, and will also enable us 

 to bring better varieties of food and game fish from West- 

 ern waters to stock streams where there are now none but 

 inferior varieties of fish. 



In the accomplishment of its work the Pennsylvania Fish 

 Commission has not been without hindrances. We have had 

 to meet and overcome adverse legislation; we have been 

 forced to combat popular prejudices, and often have en- 

 countered opposition where we have had a right to expect 

 support. But through all these opposing influences it has 

 been gratifying to realize the steady increase of popular 

 sympathy with the objects of our work. 



Laws once viewed as an infringement on personal liberty 

 are now accepted as a necessity for public welfare, and are 

 generally respected as such by the community. Associations 

 with objects similar to your own, "the protection of tbe 

 spawning fish and the enforcement of the laws," have mul- 

 tiplied throughout the State, to assist us not only in their 

 own localities, butalso in the halls of legislation. The Penn- 

 sylvania Fish Commission has "protected the spawning fish 

 and enforced the laws." We hope we may not be deemed 

 self eulogistic if like Othello we can say, "We've done the 

 State some service." It would indeed be a reward if like the 

 Moor of Venice we could also add, "and thev know it." 



H. C. Fokd, Pres. Pa. Fish Com. 



A Book About Inoians.— The Fokest and Stream will mail 

 free on application a descriptive circular of Mr. Grinnell's book, 

 "Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk- tales," giving a table of contents 

 and specimen illustrations from the volume.— Ado. 



FllttUfi&Si 



©0& sh6Ws. 



April 13 to 1'fS,— Third Annual fiog Show of. tile Continental 

 Kennel Cliib,,at Denver, Col. It. W. Isetithal, Sec'y. . 



Apriljo to 23.— Fourth Annual Dog Show of the SoUtoern Cali- 

 fornia Kennel Club, at Bos Angelee, Cal. C. A. Sumner, Sec'y. 



May 4 to 7-— Annual Dog Show of the California Kennel Club, 

 at ,San Francisco Cal. Frank J. Silvey. Sec'y. 



Se&t. 0 to a.— Second Annual Dos Show of the Hamilton Kenne 

 Club, at Hamilton, Canada. A. D. Stewart, Sec'y. 



Sept. 12 to 16.— Fourth Annual Dog Show of the Toronto In- 

 dustrial Exhibition Association, at Toronto, Canada. Ci A 

 Stone, Sec'y. _^ 



THE MASTIFF-PAST, PRESENT ANfc) FUTURE; 



Editor Potest And Sireami 



March IS brought By post your interesting issue of the :M; 

 containing excellent illustrations of &ew Tork show. I say 

 excellent illustrations, for dn opening the paper I at once 

 recognized Beadfort 3 Son, Beaufort's Black Prince, from 

 his striking likeness to what his sire was at his age. 



This typical son of a typical sire is an earnest of what 

 American enterprise can do, and I shall be glad if you can 

 find space for the following criticisms, comments and re- 

 marks of mine. 



I have been accused of being, and not a Httle abused for" 

 being, the originator and. chief exponent of the short-miiK- 

 Eled mastiff of the present day. That I have always argue.tl 

 in favor of a shoft niuz&te and undershot jawin the mastiff, 

 1 admit and still maintain; and am glad \\t not a little 

 proud ) to say the mastiff of the preseht day is no longer a 

 mongrel, df conflicting types, if in sdirie instances (owing fcft 

 breeders' errdrs and fearlessness) partially a cripple, and of 

 the two {like Mt. Lukey) I would sooner have a cripple than 

 a mongrel, although admiring neither. 



That to be typical a mastiff should have a short muzzle, I 

 have only to refer to naturalists like Cuvier, who rightly 

 place the mastiff among the short muzzled group of the 

 canine race. 



A few empirics, with the set notion that everything was 

 better when they were a boy, may dissent from this; but theif 

 puerile, ideas will not hold water beside those ol men bf 

 CuVier's stamp, ahd every man who thinks the world gener- 

 ally is deteriorating may sdlace himself with the fact, it is 

 his'own brain pOwer and sound judgment that is deterior- 

 ating and not all else-. 



Secondly, thit the mastiff to be typical shoxild be slightly 

 undershot ihay be seen at once by any unprejudiced pers'oth 

 from the fact that the boarhound, the result of crossing tbfc 

 mastiff with the greyhound group, isjrebjiently Undershot, 

 inheriting the feature from its mastiff ancestry. Again the 

 foxhound, the result of Crdssing terrier with an infusion of 

 bull (and other?) blood, frequently shows the undershot jaw 

 inherited from its bulldog ancestry. Thus that the under- 

 shot jaw is a peculiarity and characteristic of the mastiff 

 group, requires very little acumen to discern; in fact it is as 

 simple and certain as 2+2=4. Its use, origin, advantage for 

 holding power I need not here enter upon, but the type 1§ 

 obvious and the use of the animal for baiting purposes, fbf' 

 fighting purposes, as well as for a watch dog, was what the 

 mastiff was kept and Used for anciently, arid bearing this in 

 mind we can alone arrive at an ideal type. That the mas- 

 tiff of thirty to fifty years ago were often cripples or mon- 

 grels dbes not really affect what was and should be the true 

 standard. If we regard the mastiffs of the past we see Mr. 

 Lukey's Cardinal and Rufus were both grand, short-headed 

 specimens, but cripples. The much vauDted and terribly 

 overrated celebrated Governor was simply an overgrown, 

 clumsy, inactive mongrel. "The breeder of his sire" lays 

 down "for a fact he, like his sire, showed trace of a boar- 

 hound infusion, and it is likewise an incontestable fact that 

 he lost his life owing to his clumsiness and inactivity by 

 failing to drag his hind parts over some palings when fol- 

 lowing his owner, whose figure alone pronounced he Was no 

 athlete. But of the lumbering, pointed muzaled, Untypical 

 mongrel Governor I will say no more, lest 1 tread too 

 heavily on the corns of some old fogies^ who remember 

 Governor as simply the most popular show dog of his day. 



But Mr. Lukey made no such mistake; he did not object 

 to inbreeding, but he knew what mastiffs should be and 

 objected to inbreeding to strains with untypical heads. I 

 once asked him why he did not mate Treasure with her own 

 brother, who was near at hand. "Have you seen him, and 

 what a wretched head he has?" was his reply. S i much tor 

 Governor's blood and type. No. While Governor was not 

 perfection, Mr. Lukey knew what was typical and bred 

 from the best sire of his day, Mr. E, Field's King, a dog 

 full of true mastiff blood. 



So much for the past. How far has the breed deteriorated 

 or improved since the days of Baron-Beauty and Old King? 

 For my own part (and I think I am as competent to ap&ik 

 as most men) I see plainly an improvement in greater size, 

 probably averaging some two or three inchps higher than 

 the old mastiff ever did; I see also a decided improvement 

 in the majority of specimens in squareness of muzzle and 

 shortness of head, and general massiveness. But I likewise 

 perceive decided deterioration in fighting properties and 

 activity. 



To commence with, let me criticise the typical Beaufort's 

 Black Prince. He has a grand head, of tbe Crown Prince 

 type, but is far too large in ear. Why cannot breeders bear 

 this point in mind as well as breeding for a good muzzle? 1 

 cannot consider a specimen with overlarge ears to have a 

 typical head. 



Next, judging from the portrait, he lacks length of 

 body and is riot "well ribbed home." His hocks are terribly 

 straight and hindquarters mean in comparison to his fore- 

 compare the portrait of such a specimen with that of the 

 mastiff drawn by Reinagle and see if we must not candidly 

 allow the breed hps deteriorated in physical power and fight- 

 ing properties. Compare the bent sickle hocks of Bewick's 

 fighting mastiffs of 1811 with the stilts of Beaufort's Black 

 Prince and answer tbe question honestly — as an animal, is 

 the modern mastiff of 1893 an improvement on that of 1792: 

 I maintain we must admit the present is not perfection, 

 neither was the past, for mongrelism then vied with mal- 

 formation and weakness. 



In making these remarks Mr. Winchell will pardon my 

 criticising Beaufort's Black Prince, probably the best speci- 

 men in America, as his sire is in all England, specimen-; 

 beside which Mr. Lukey's Governor would have paled 

 into lookingthe under-bred, common, plain-headed mongrel 



But it is no use to quarrel over or disparage the past or 

 present, but for the future we should study. In .judging 

 honestly no man has the right to take into consideration 

 the animal's points in probable value for breeding purposes, 

 but should judge it as a whole as placed before him. 



On such grounds I cannot hide the fact that several of the. 

 older breeders failed miserably when called upon to judge. 

 For my own part I was ever, perhaps, prone to be rather 

 hard oh mongrelism, others had the vulgar error of parti- 

 ality for mere size above all else. But such is no standard 

 for the breeder's aim. 



For the future, to effect improvement, breeders must aim 

 at a smaller ear, greater length of body, better— i. e... broader 

 —loins and hindquarters, well-bent hocks, and greater 

 activity. To secure which they may well sacrifice some- 

 thing in size and bone and yet breed even more typical 

 specimens. 



The Author of "The History of the Mastiff." 



