June 16, 1893.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



669 



Ida Lake Black Bass. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have sent you to-day per express a specimen of the 

 small-mouth bass. They are commonly called the gray 

 or Oswego bass. Mr. C. B:dman, of Ida Lake, Alexan- 

 dria, Minn., informed me you were desirous of obtaining 

 a specimen, and having just returned from a fishing trip 

 on the lake, I take the liberty of sending it. Through the 

 courtesy of the American Express agent here the package 

 goes through free of charge. I have taken pains to pack 

 fish carefully and hope you will receive it in good order. 

 Kindly let me know if it arrives O. K, J. Ridler. 



St. Paul, Mtan. 



[The fish reached the office of Forest and Stream in 

 beautiful condition and was found to bo the small- mouthed 

 black bass. Mr. Ridler's method of packing cannot be too 

 highly recommended. The gills were cut out, leaving 

 the head uninjured, and all the contents of the belly were 

 drawn out. The cavity was then filled with salt and the 

 fish was packed in ice and sawdust. If it had been in- 

 tended for the table, moss could have been used instead 

 of sawdn3t. The beautiful yellow and bronze colors of 

 the sides were retained, and the red iris had not lost its 

 brightness. The black bass of Lake Ida, if this is an 

 average sample, are distinguished by their rich colors and 

 elegant shape, as well as their fighting qualities, concern- 

 ing which Mr. Mershon has written.] 



Dead Bluefish in Chesapeake Bay. 



Bltjefish have made their appearance in Chesapeake 

 Bay in enormous schools and among them are some very 

 large specimens measuring 3 to 4ft. in length. At 

 Easton, Md., on June 2, dead bluefish were reported 

 floating at the surface in considerable numbers and it is 

 suspected that certain parties are killing the fish with 

 dynamite to get them for manure. The light keeper at 

 Sharp's Island saw twenty dead fish while going from 

 the lighthouse to the shore on June 1. Passengers on 

 the steamer B. S. Ford saw many of them between Clai- 

 borne and Baltimore. Commissioner McDonald thinks 

 it impossible that the fish were killed by the explosion of 

 dynamite, but they mar have been lost by some fisher- 

 man or by the capsizing of a boat. He believes that the 

 use of dynamite for killing fish should be prohibited by 

 all the States, for in certain localities, as in the narrow 

 inlets of the Labrador coast, the fisheries c juld be en- 

 tirely destroyed by this means. The explosion of dyna- 

 mite over oyster beds would kill every oyster within a 

 considerable radius. We have referred already to the 

 use of this deadly substance in Great E*g Harbor Bay 

 within the last five years ostensibly for clearing out 

 wrecks, but really for the illegal destruction of sheeps- 

 head, and we have shown how entirely successful the 

 savage practice has been in exterminating the fish, 

 which were slowly increasing in numbers up to 1887. 



ROD AND GUN AND CAMERA. 



As a recognition of the important place of amateur photography 

 n its relation to sports of the held and prairie and mountain aDd 

 forest and stream, the Fob est and Stream offers a series of 

 prizes for meritorious work with the camera. The conditions 

 under whicn these prizes will be givei are in brief as here set 

 forth: 



There will be ten prizes, as follow:: First $25. Second $20 

 Third §15. Fourth $10. Six of $5 each. 



The competition will be open to amateurs only. 1 



The su^j ->ets must relate to Forest and Stream's held— game 

 and fish (ilive or dead;. s^ootiDg and fishing, the camp, campers 

 and camp life, sportsman travel by land or water. 



There is no restriction as to the time when the pictures may 

 have been or may be mide— whether in 1892 or in previous years. 



Pictures will be received up to Dec. 31, of this year. 



All work must be original; that is to say, it must not have been 

 submitted in any other competition, nor have been published. 



There are no restrictions as to make or style of camera, nor as 

 to size of plate. 



A competitor need not be a subscriber of Forest and Stream. 



All photographs will be submitteed to a committee, shortly to 

 be announced. In making their awards the judges will be in- 

 structed to take inti consideration the technical merits of the 

 work as a photograph, its artistic qualities; and other things 

 being equal, the unique and difficult nature of the subject. 



Photographs must be marked only with initials or a pseudonym 

 for identification. With each photograph should be given name 

 of sender, title of view, locality, date, and name of camera. 



The photographs shall be the property of the Forest and 

 Stream. This applies only to the particular prints fent us. 



From time to time we shall reproduce by the half-tone process 

 samples of the work submitted, and should the interest in 

 Forest and Stream's Amateur Photography Collection prove 

 to be what is anticipated, we may ask for an expression of opinion 

 by a vote of all our readers after the manner of the successful 

 and famous "Camp-Fire Flickering Vote." Such popular vote 

 will be quite distinct from the award by the committee. 



One of the natural curiosities in this country is Lone Lake 

 which lies in a butte or mound in the Simeoe foothills, six 

 miles northwest of this city. This butte looks as though the 

 top had caved in, as the trees are lying dead all over the 

 bottom and years ago were growing where the lake now 

 lies. This lake cannot be seen until one reaches the sum- 

 mit of the butte, as it is circular in form and surrounded by 

 a wall or bank of earth which is covered with trees. The 

 bank itself is more than 100ft. wide. The early settlers tell 

 of cutting hay on the ground which this body of water now 

 covers a good many years ago. There is no doubt, the waters 

 steadily rising, trees have been covered, havefallen and now 

 lie slowly decaying beneath the waters. It is fairly possible 

 that the lake will one day fill the entire cavity in the butte 

 and overflow the banks. A few years ago the lake was 

 stocked with carp, and its waters are fairly alive with them 

 now. Last season a great many catfish were put into the 

 lake. They will likely do well there and soon exterminate 

 the other fish. The lake affords excellent boating, and is 

 becoming a pleasure resort.— Glendale (Ore.) Sentinel. 



Since May 14 the weather has been so stormy and so cold 

 that the insect food of swallows and. peewees was too stiff to 

 be awing; so, lacking food, the birds were the worse cLilled 

 for their emptiness; and at Milltngton, in this town, the 

 children have found 19 dead birds in and around the store's 

 shed. They seem to have been, from descriptions, peewees, 

 wood peewees, swallows, vireos, with a tanager and a black- 

 bird not far away.— New Salem (Mass.) Correspondence 

 Springfield Republican, May 24. J 



POINTS AND FLUSHES. 



Chicago, June 11,— During a number of months past there 

 have been many articles written which contained a number 

 of adverse criticisms on field trial rules, field trial dogs and 

 field trial theories. Many of the writers were men who had 

 never seen a field trial, presumably, as their writings were 

 entirely from a day's shooting standpoint, in every particu- 

 lar. The writings also assumed, in most instances, that 

 field trial judges and reporters favored wild, headstrong 

 dogs, ones which would race out of sight and be absent dur- 

 ing long intervals of time, scurrying over vast tracts of 

 country, causing long searches to fiod them. It has also 

 been intimated that the press has indorsed and advocated 

 this kind of dog; that such dog is designated "high class," 

 while a useful field dog is contemptuously called a "plug 

 shooting dog " Thus the field trial standpoint is fully de- 

 fined by the critics, and very caustic and elaborate criticisms 

 are deduced therefrom, as is easily the case where the critic 

 defines the position of the opposite side to suit himself, and 

 therefrom draws such deductions as accord with his ideas or 

 prejudgments. 



I never could see any benefit in exaggeration or unfair- 

 ness in discussion, or in arguing from a detail or part as if 

 it were a whole. 



It is only necessary to review the records to prove the fal- 

 lacy of all the recent strictures. 



In the first place, no field trial club or field trial judge 

 whom I know (and I have the honor of knowing nearly, if 

 not quite, all of them) have any such ideas as those ascribed 

 to them of what constitutes a high-class dog. Everv field 

 trial judge knows what constitutes a good, practical field 

 dog for "an ordinary day's shooting" quite as well as the 

 critics of field trials; indeed, they number among them the 

 best sportsmen in the land. 



It is a noticeable feature of every adverse writing that it 

 contains no sp?cifications. Everything is in general terms, 

 one sweeping assumption of field trial incompetency serv- 

 ing for a starter, while the imagination does the rest. 



Neither field trial judges nor field trial associations favor 

 a wild, untrained dog which will abandon his trainer and 

 bolt or go self-hunting. In all the field trials held in this 

 country but a very small per cent, of the winners were other 

 than dogs which worked well to the gun. A very few 

 instances can be mentioned where dogs, which would range 

 out of sight and be gone a longer or shorter time, have won, 

 but this peculiarity was only betimes and was not habitual. 

 In every instance, without one exception, such dogs did not. 

 by any means, win because they would hunt out of sight 

 betimes; on the contrary, such fault scored heavily against 

 them, but they won beciuse they had field qualities of an 

 exceptionally high order and superior by far to those of 

 their competitors. Such dogs have always been subjected 

 to the most thorough tests and have won in spite of their 

 faults, instead of lor their faults, as assumed by recent 

 critics. 



As remarked hereinbefore, the number of dogs which have 

 won after exhibiting the errors mentioned, is extremely 

 small compared to the whole number of winners. Even 

 these dogs, when found after apparently abandoning their 

 handlers, were frequently found pointing staunchly, which 

 explained their long absence and relieved them of the sus- 

 picion of being self-hunters. This being granted, it by no 

 means affords an argument to show that such dogs are the 

 ones approved of by field trial men. Unless a dog has some 

 remarkable superiority, an exhibition of prolonged absence 

 or self-hunting is certain to destroy his chances, and there 

 are instances where the dog of remarkable superiority in all 

 other respects, was retired for being absent too long. A do<* 

 which wins under such circumstances, does not win on 

 account of the fault. He is the rare exception, yet this ex- 

 ception is taken by the critics as being a fair representative 

 of the whole. 



Nor are the field trial dogs unfit for ordinary shooting. If 

 a dog has not been properly trained, he is not fit for good 

 field trial or field work. It is much more difficult to keep a 

 well-broken dog up to field trial form than to field form, 

 since, in the former instance, he must be in fine spirits, keen 

 for work, and capable of doing accurate work quickly. It is 

 the work of some weeks to get a dog in field trial form, and 

 in the greater number of cases the work of a few days to get 

 him back to field form. This is true of any competition 

 where physical perfection and skill are brought into compe- 

 tition. 



Now, in respect to the pr^ss advocating the bolting or self- 

 hunting dog as "high-class," I will be a gainer in knowledge 

 and under obligations if any one of the critics will point out 

 a single instance in which a dog hunted out of sight of his 

 handler an unreasonable or improper length of time 

 that the sporting journals did not declare such work faulty! 



Associations do not desire ill-broken dogs, and they do not 

 encourage them. The press has for years criticised adversely 

 the scrambling at field trials, the noisy handler and the balf- 

 broken dog; and field trial associations began to remedy the 

 evils long before the outside public was thoroughly conscious 

 of them. To overcome the evil effects of a wild unmanageable 

 dog on an honest competitor, some of the leading associations 

 adopted the rule that a dog could be run alone when neces- 

 sary, this admirable provision giving an honest dog full 

 opportunity to display his qualities without obstruction. If 

 a handler runs a half-broken or unbroken dog, the judges 

 cannot be blamed for that. If a half-broken dog should win \ 

 it is because he has some remarkable qualities and is superior 

 to all others. 



The heat system was a great obstruction to the be>t work, 

 and had some inherent defects which neither associations 

 judges nor handlers could remedy. 



Since the adoption of the spotting system, there has been 

 a remarkable improvement in field trial handling and break- 

 ing. In the heat system, it was a direct competition in a 

 heat between two dogs, and one was absolutely required to 

 beat the other. If one dog was wild and his handler noisy 

 the competing dog, if well broken, was almost sure to be 

 beaten, everything else being equal or even near equal 

 When a dog was beaten, all the dogs he had previously 

 beaten were beaten also. 



In the spotting system all this is changed. "When two 

 dogs are running, they are not competing dog against dog, 

 but one dog's performance against all the dogs' performan- 

 ces severally in the stake. There is no inducement to 

 scramble, for a handler knows that if he by rushiDg gains 

 more in quantity it may not nelp him if the work is of poor 

 quality. And there is no gain whatever in obstructing his 

 competitor, since the judges will allow such disturbed dog 

 to work alone till his merits are fully determined. 



After the winners are determined, there are commonly 

 many dogs left in the stake which are most excellent per- 

 formers. The greater number of field trial dogs are good 

 field dogs. There are many dogs on the other hand used for 

 field dogs which are very poor dogs. And, strange as it may 

 seem, there are not a few men who have shot for years who 

 do not know what real gOod work is. 



It is commonly assumed by those who have not had ex- 

 perience at field trials that a man with large experience in 

 ordinary field shooting is therefore necessarily a good field 

 trial judge. Nothing could be more mistaken. He may be 

 a good judge and he may not. If he is a judge, he is out for 

 an entirely different purpose than when shooting; and if he 

 has not been a close student of the dog and had opportuni- 

 ties to see many different dogs at work, his experience afield 



will be of little value to him. In fact a man who has shot 

 over a few dogs for a long while becomes intensely preju- 

 diced in favor of their peculiar manner of work, and con- 

 siders it superlative. Everybody knows how prone the man 

 of field experience is to praise his own dogs and their per- 

 formances, and how firmly he believes they can beat all 

 other dogs easily. At a field trial be will see different and 

 successful methods of pursuit exercised by different dogs. 

 The great variety of methods and performances will require 

 careful consideration. 



It requires experience to manage a competition between 

 two dogs in a field trial. Most ' ordinary-day's" shooting 

 men, when judging, are continually getting the dogs into 

 corners, and turning here and there, back and across, and 

 round and round till handlers and dogs are all bewildered. 

 Or the dogs are run on such grounds as keep them searching 

 vainly for birds; and the orders are continuous and incon- 

 sistent. It requires experience to be a good judge in every 

 respect. B. Watebs. 



THE MERCER CASE AND "MOUNT ROYAL." 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



"Mount Royal" gives us another illustration of exasper- 

 ating perversity in Fohest and Stream for May 36, and I 

 fear his back will bear many stripes ere he learns that dog- 

 men will not be pedagogued in such style. What the mean- 

 ing of his first paragraph is I don't know, nor does anybody 

 else that I-can find. His second paragraph would have read 

 much better had it accompanied his letter in the Canadian 

 Kennel Gazette; as it now shows forth, it is simply fishy. 

 His third "par" starts off as a statement of facts. Very 

 well; but when he builds so much on Mr. Mercer's acquaint- 

 ance with rules, I would ask him to point out the rule for- 

 bidding a man to enter another's dog without the owner's 

 consent! I don't know, and care still less for, what Dr. 

 Mills chooses to call a "fraud," and am not going to play 

 dictionary to supply him with the knowledge that he lacks; 

 but I do say that entering another man's dog, as the owner's 

 agent and without the owner's consent, is not "fraud." 

 Finally, "Mount Royal" does say something right. He says 

 that there has been too much sophistication about this busi- 

 ness and it is time things were called by their right name. 

 Then why in the world does he continue his schoolmaster 

 sophistications? and why does he call grave indiscretion or 

 unwarranted liberties, "frauds"? That word is sometimes 

 double-edged. Dr. Mills has never hesitated to speak his 

 mind, and it would have been better for him if he had often 

 spoken somebody else's. 



The unutterable rot and nonsense of saying that had the 

 0. K. C. inflicted on Mr. Mercer anything less than the ex- 

 treme limit of the law, the penalty properly applying to 

 rascals, swindlers and liars, it would have been encouraging 

 such liberties as Mr. Mercer took with Mr. Little, is— well, 

 it is thoroughly "Mount Royalish." It will be many and 

 many a day before the C. K. C, under Dr. Mills's guidance, 

 stands as firmly established in public respect as the Spaniel 

 Club, and it took the correct view of Mr. Mercer's offence, 

 censured him and let him go. Now, if Dr. Mills wishes to 

 dispel sophistications, he should distinctly point out the 

 exact disgrace Mr. Mercer was guilty of, whom he deceived, 

 whom he injured, and wherein he swindled. Failing in so 

 doing, I will not hesitate to charge him with using his 

 official position to punish a man against whom he has a 

 grudge. 



The most objecti.nable part of the C. K. C.'s action is that 

 they resorted to this method of getting rid of a man they 

 "have it in for," knowing that by virtue of their agreement 

 with the American Kennel Club the latter would be forced 

 to support them without possibility of meeting the case as 

 it deserved. Persecution is bad, but cowardly, sneaking 

 persecution is far worse. 



While I propose no such task of Tantalus as attempting 

 to instruct Dr. Mills, I will say to the doggy public that Mr. 

 Mercer entered Mr. Little's dog without any authority from 

 Mr. Little; a most unwarrantable liberty to take, certainly; 

 but if this is fraud, if it is the kind of act that leadsmen 

 into indignation at, or disgust with, the actor, why I guess 

 we will have to dispense with existing authorities and set up 

 "Mount Royal" as the sole, universal authority on ethics, 

 moralities, "proprieties, the Graces, physics, physicking, et 

 omnia. It wouldn't hurt if he gave us his views on boldly 

 pirating from "Ashmout," if perchance he ever heard of such 

 a writer or read anything of his writings, although perhaps 

 this last is asking too much of him. W. Wade. 



Hulton, Pa., May 28. 



DOGMATICS OF DOGDOM. 



Never judge of a dog's disposition by the size of hia 

 mouth. 



-§- 



Dogs which can pay their own board bills are rapidly be- 

 coming the favorites. ^ 



It is noticeable that some men discover for the first time 

 that the dog is a noble animal when he can be sold for a 

 good price. 



-§- 



Most of us think that a dog never sleeps cold because he 

 does not complain of the weather. 



-§- 



A sportsman is often the work of a day— the day on which 

 he buys a dog and gun. On the second day he is ready for 

 disputation. 



-§- 



The modesty of dog men is their greatest virtue. 



-§- 



A dog believes that his own master is the one perfect, 

 supreme being of the universe, and the master loves the dog 

 for his belief. 



The man who is noisily and ceaselessly interested in the 

 welfare of the dog always asks the highest prices for them 

 and makes a sneak on the advertising columns when pos- 

 sible. 



-§- 



Some dogs born with good dispositions and honest pur- 

 poses become indifferent by association with man. 



-§- 



When a man owns a dog neither the man's nor the dog's 

 nature is changed; the dog has the same nature and the 

 man shows his real nature. 



-§- 



Dogs are proud animals and have good taste in some 

 things— meat, for instance. 



The A. K. C. is run entirely for the improvement of the 

 dog! The difference between getting a cur and a blue blood 

 recognized by the A. K. C. is 75 cents. 



Is the dam of a dog a dog-ma? 



The Cynic. 



The National Beagle Club are out with their dates for 

 bench show and fie'd trials, to be held at Nanuet, N. Y. 

 The dog show will be held Oct. 24, and the trials commenoe 

 Oct. 35. The entries for the bench show close Oct. 1, for the 

 Derby, entries close Aug. 1, and entries for all other stakes, 

 Oct. 1. 



