AuGf. 21, 1891.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



109 



are small, one brood of 8 being: the largest I have heard 

 of, and most of them running from 2 to 5. 



Quail wintered mmsually well, and if they have bred 

 well we should have better quail shooting than ever before. 



The land posting craze is on the decline, at least it is 

 making no headway, which shows a weatening. A little 

 foresight and decency on the part of all sportsmen would 

 in a short time eliminate the nuisance, as the better class 

 of farmers are already tired of driving oil friends and 

 neighbors, many of them allowing their postings to go to 

 ruin or tearing them down. 



One of the worst evils we have to contend with at 

 present is the unwarranted jirominence given minor 

 shooting and fishing events by local newspapers. To the 

 unsophisticated it must appear at times as if one-half the 

 inhabitants of the county spent their entire time hunting 

 or fishing. This doesn't'help matters with the farmers 

 any. Hal. 



The Bridgeport Gun Implement Co, have brought 

 out a tool which they call the '^handy closer cup." It 

 produces a round or square crimp, and is especially in- 

 tended for dealers or gunsmiths, bein^ adapted for use in 

 an ordinary foot or power lathe. Tliis new closer cup 

 has reversible steel pins, and in combination with the 

 automatic expanding follower and burnisher produces a 

 crimp that is remarkable for beauty of finish and close- 

 ness. Every shell is finished exactly alike. The cup will 

 turn down and burnish smooth the interior surface of 



shell, thus restoring the broken fibre of the paper, pro- 

 ducing the close, even crimp so much desired by users of 

 nitro powders. The end of flbell being turned in evenly 

 all around, resting squarely upon wad and burnished 

 closely to side of shell at this point, gives resistance and 

 uniform iweseure so desirable for accuracy. The steel 

 pins are reversible, so that the cup will crimp either 

 round or square by simply changing position of pins. 

 The company tell us that they shall bring out shortly a 

 straight feed closer with this cup for sportsmen's use. 



Indians AND Gam R, — ^Wood Mountain, Moospjau. North- 

 west Tei-ritoriea, July ^1.— Editor Forest and Sti-eam: It 

 is regretable that Indians should be allowed to take ducks' 

 eggs in the way they do. A game guardian detected a 

 party of Indians last week talcing eggs on the Wascana 

 near Mcln tyre's, and in one cart betw^een 400 and 500 eggs 

 were found, some of them hai-ching. As the ordinance 

 stands he could do nothing. This kind of thing is going 

 on all the time and should certainly be stopped. Owing 

 to the new railway in northern Montana, large quantities 

 of deer and antelope have been driven into Canadian ter- 

 ritory, which are being hunted by Indians, wlio kill 

 bucks, does and fawns. Two Sioux Indians and their 

 families returned lately from a hunt which lasted about 

 ten days. They brought with them no less than thirty- 

 four antelope bides which these two Indians had shot, 

 also quantities of wildfowl and prairie chicken eggs. And 

 this is the so-called close season. These are non-treaty 

 Indians, belonging to the other side of the boundary, and 

 there are lots more of their kind hunting now. What 

 chance has a law-abiding citizen of the Northwest of hav- 

 ing legitimate sport, when it is so effectually destroyed in 

 close season? If some means are not soon adopted to pre- 

 vent this state of things, there will in a few years but 

 little game for any one, black or white, to shoot. I know 

 of one Indian alone who has shot fifty-three deer and 

 antelope this spring and summer, and there are other 

 hunting parties out yet. I am afraid that the residents 

 will not wake up until everything is exterminated. — Red 

 Antlers. 



Early Chicken Killers.— St. Louis, Aug. 19.— In- 

 closed find a clipping from this morning's Republic: 

 "Danville, III., Aug. 18.— Justice W. C. Hollowell 

 issued warrants to-day for the arrest of J. W. Simmons, 

 superintendent of the Claire division of the Bip: Four 

 Railroad, and Dr. Graves Blackman, of Indianapolis, for 

 killing prairie chickens. E. T, Peck, general superin- 

 tendent, and A. G. Wells, superintendent of the Peoria 

 division, through their attorney, pleaded guilty, the 

 former to killing three birds and the latter one' bird. 

 Their fines and costs aggregated $45. Blackman and 

 Simmons must have been better hunters, as the quartet 

 bagged twenty-two chickens." It would seem that such 

 men as those named would be above breaking the game 

 laws.— P. H. H. 



Notes From Mexico.— Dove shooting is pretty good 

 now and cottontails are as ufual abundant. We have 

 .had but little rain in this section so far. Farmers are 

 suffering and I fear the ponds will be rather low for the 

 ducks. Thei-e were heavy rains in this month last year, 

 howpver. Local hunters are on the look out for a pfover, 

 JSgialitis ?>io?iifana perhaps, which appears here in August 

 or September. I haTve never seen the bird myself. They 

 call it ''gauga," which is in Spain the name of a perdix. 

 Another case of the misapplication of the Old World 

 names. — ^Aztec (San Luis Potosi, Aug. 14). 



To Poi ISH Deer Horns scrub them with a brush and 

 sand to take off the dirt and loose fiber, then polish with 

 rouge and rotten ston^ and a cloth, and varnish with 

 copal y-Araisb. —Scientific American. 



"Forest and Stream" Nursery Rhymes. 



V. 



There was a youne boy with a gim. 

 Who said he'd have t ooriles of fun- 

 But lie blew in the muzzle— 

 * * * * * * 1 



Atidt]36r.T>6y Imew]iehaa sense, 

 So all he blew in was bis pence; 



But the gun which he bought, 



Just as U3-u-al caught, 

 And blew into the boy, from a fence. 



A bunter there was who was queer; 

 He shot "what he thought was a deer." 



'Twas a man that Ije shot. 



Who turned on the spot, 

 And made a bullseye of his ear. 

 Shasta Mountains. Paige. 



Tennessee.— Greenville, Aug, 13,— The prospect for 

 quad, our only reliance for sport, is exceedingly good, 

 and it is no unusual thina; to find a mother with two or 

 three dozen young.— J, M. M. 



Forest and Stream. Box 2.8,33, N. Y. city, ha=i descriptive illus- 

 Iratf d circulars ot W. E, Leffengwell's book, "Wild Fowl Shoot' 

 )n2," which v/ill bp mailed free an reduesti The book Is pro- 

 nounced by "Nanit." -Qlaan'' "Dick Sf iveller," "3yblllenB*' and 

 Other ooaapetsat a^tfeerifi^s *.o fe« tfee h^k treftti«« &n ttee s^"b|ei5rfc 



^iv^r fishing. 



The full texts of the game fish laws of all the States, 

 Territories and British Provinces are given in the Booh of 

 the 0 ame Laws. 



A NOVICE IN PIKE COUNTY. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I wish to thank Mr. J. B. Mayer, of Hawley, Pa., for 

 sending me to Pike county and advising that I stay with 

 Mr. J. H. Thompson; also the Forest and Stream for 

 refen-ing me to Mr. Mayer. I found what I was seek- 

 ing, and if Mr. Mayer makes as happy a hit in all his sug- 

 gestions then indeed is he a most wonderful man. As 

 for Mr. Thompson, it seems to me that I shall never suc- 

 ceed in discharging the many obligations under which he 

 placed me, and when I say Mr. Thompson I likewise in- 

 clude his entire household — bis good wife, Grandmother 

 Thompson, and even little Dick, the four-year old son 

 and heir, who would insist on going afishing with us and 

 who caught a bass too lively for his chubby hands to 

 manage. Bless me, what a fisherman that hoy will make. 

 Before we reached the shore he earnestly insisted that his 

 bass was as long as his arm. When taken out of the 

 boat it was as large as Fanny, a six-months-old hound 

 pup, and when at the supper table he told his mother 

 and grandmother, hi.3 eyes sparkling with pxcitement, 

 that he caught a bass""as big as the house!" What a 

 future is before that boy! 



I have no tale of record-breaking to unfold, nor of a 

 huge bass that took me just so many minutes by the 

 watch to land. I am a greenhorn or tenderfoot at fresh- 

 water fishing. Thf( gentle art is to me a tantalizing and 

 inviting mystery. I have got it all to learn. I know 

 now, since I have had time to think it over, that I 

 handled too roughly the bass I did hook. To state the 

 case plainly,! yanked them, and generally lost them. But 

 I am going to do better ne±t time, or at least try very 

 earnestly. Mr. Thompson will see when next we meet 

 that his "good advice has not all been thrown away. 



Mr. T. has a lovely little place up on the mountain?, 

 nearly all woods and water. Some people might call the 

 water a pond, and show a disposition to treat it with 

 "sniff,'' but to me it's a real lake with clear, cold water, 

 rocks and yellow lilies, with the trees and bushes at the 

 very edge of the water, just as if they had come down 

 from the hills to have a look at themselves in nature's 

 mirror. And the rocks and bnulders also have slipped 

 their moorings from the heights above. Some halted at 

 the bank, but most of them must have tumbled in, for 

 nearly every bass I hooked went straight off to look for a 

 rock, and he found what he was looking for with great 

 suddenness, much to my sorrow and regret, and usually 

 the loss of a hook or leader. What a collection of fisliing 

 tackle the bass and pickerel of that lake must have 

 secured in the course of time. I contributed liberally. 

 And what a heap of fun those fishes had with me. I 

 know they are longing to renew the sport. One bass, a 

 big dark-complexioned fellow of the gypsy type, came 

 out of the water to look at me, and when he saw that I 

 had my line tangled around the reel he laughed so heart- 

 ily that the hook dropped out of his mouth. 



I cannot help bvft admire the pickerel. He is a fish of 

 a very even disposition, and his composure under the 

 most trying circumstances is something truly wonderful. 

 I saw one approach a sun fish that was hooked through 

 the lips, and gently but firmly grasp it crosswise in his 

 mouth. I was all excitement while the sunfish was par- 

 alyzed with fear and pain, but the pickerel appeared as 

 calm and self-possessed as you please. He swam around 

 in an aimless sort of way for what seemed to me at least 

 three minutes, but really about half a minute, making no 

 effort whatever to swallow the fish till he got good and 

 ready. Then he turned the fish in his mouth and com- 

 menced to swallow it, head first. At this stage of the 

 game my patience became exhausted, and I attempted to 

 fasten the hook in him by a quick movement, but it ^vae 

 no go. He held on for awhile and then let me have the 

 sunfish. There is nothing like experience to graft facts 

 to a man's memory. In the first place I should have let 

 the pickerel run a little longer and then pulled in gently. 

 I had been told that before. Just wait till I meet that 

 fellow again. 



Thpre are quite a nuuiber of bass in the lake. In the 

 evenings they could be seen breaking around the lily jjads 

 and well out toward the middle of the lake. I tried cast- 

 ing the fly. In making this statement I feel that I owe 

 an apology to every fly-fisherman of even ordinary abil- 

 ity; but then, I suppose, they were all beginners once 

 and their efforts as awkward as mine. However, it does 

 smack somewhat of presumption to see a tenderfoot 

 tackle the fly on his first trip. By the way, I came near 

 forsretting to say that I caught no bass with the fly. 



After all, how very important are the unimportant 

 things of this life. After you return from a fishing or 

 gunning trip how the trifles and small happenings loom 

 up, and what pleasure it gives to review them. The 

 most exciting thing that transpired on my trip was the 

 hooking of a large bass or pickerel while trolling alone 

 and my frantic and unsuccessful pfforts to save him, 

 Yet where I recall this once, I muse a dozen times over 

 the little red squirrel that ran along a fallen tree at the 

 edge of the water, or the ground aos that mounted a 



in the boat, or the wood duck that made the circuit of the 

 lake with such an easy, graceful flight, or the hen part- 

 ridge calling in the woods. These and a hundred other 

 little things come to me now, and I loye to think upon 

 them. 



Each has its individual history, and some way or other 

 has been more or less associated with my past life. The 

 red squirrel is an old friend. Curiosity has often led 

 him to approach quite hear to me, where he would clatter 

 away for d(^er life, no doubt asking all sorts of questions 

 and working himself into a rage over my provoking 

 silence. Yet the slightest movement would send him 

 scampering. What formidable looking teeth that ground- 

 hog displayed while gazing at me from the rock. Little 

 will they avail him when Spider and Ruby, a pair of fox- 

 terriers at the house, once strike his trail. No matter 

 how early I got about in the morning those two dogs 

 were always ofl: on a hunt, and ilr. F, told me they killed 

 any number of groundhogs. As to the hen partridge 

 and the woodduck, I hope to cultivate their closer ac- 

 quaintance in September or October. They are both old 

 friends, especially the woodduck. 



I wish to go on record as living one week in Pike county 

 without seeing a rattlesnake. Nearly everybody who 

 visits that county returns with a snake experience. At 

 first I stepped around mighty careful and expected every 

 minute to hear a snake sound his rattles; but my expecta- 

 tions were not realized, although I tramped thi'ough some 

 very likely-looking snake territory. 



A pi'omising-looking trout brook runs from the lake and 

 finds its way to the Lacka waxen River through a very 

 thickly wooded country. I should say the brook was 

 about 10 miles long. A number of small brooks feed the 

 larger one. These do not carry enough water for trout of 

 large size, but IMr. Thompson and myself noticed quite a 

 number of small trout in one of them, and Mr. T. sug- 

 gested that it would be a good scheme to place the young 

 fish sent up every year by the Fish Commission in these 

 small streams instead of in the lai'ge one as is now done. 

 This would prevent such a large yer cent, of them being 

 devoured by the big trout. As they increase in size and 

 become better able to shift for themselves they would 

 run into the main brook. W. L. Hall. 



FALL FISHING IN CANADA. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Now that a few cool nights have almost entirely re- 

 moved the discomfort arising from the fly pest that 

 makes life almost unbearable in most Canadian woods in 

 the parly part of August, the leading American fishermen 

 having trout and bass preserves in this country are re- 

 turning for their fall fishing. Among these are members 

 of the Metabetchouan and "Springfield fishing clubs, and 

 of the Penn Club, of Philadplphia. Friends of these 

 clubs in Quebec, including U. S. Consul Ryder, who 

 fished the trout waters of the Metabetchouan River and 

 neighboring lakes about the middle of August, succeeded 

 in doing very little this year. The mid-summer fishing 

 is not usually good in these waters, but look out for big 

 fish and large catches during the whole of September. I 

 would strongly also recommend the fishing in the lower 

 part of Lake Edward, and especially in its discharge, the 

 Jeannotte River, for large trout in September. This is 

 only to be excelled in Canada, I believe, for fall fishing 

 by the Mistassiui and Peribotica riveis and connecting 

 waters. The balmy air and bright invigorating climate 

 of a Canadian September, as well as the absence of insect 

 pests, make this the month par excellence for visiting 

 Lake St. John and its tributary waters. 



Of course if ouananiche fishing is desu-ed, it must be 

 done before the 16th of September, and I might, perhaps, 

 indicate where this obstinate warrior now most generally 

 disports himself. Those fond of fishing in the Grande 

 Discharge of Lake St, John will do little in September 

 below the rapids. The fish are now making for the 

 rivers, and numbers of them are to be taken at the com- ■ 

 mencement of the lake's outlet, in the vicinity of the 

 Island House, having surmounted the heavy rapids of the 

 Discharge. A few favorite September pools for ouana- 

 niche are near the mouth of the Metabetchouan River, to 

 reach which anglers disembark from the railway train at 

 Chambord Junction. But even better sport than this is 

 obtainable in either the Peribonca or Mistassini or Ashu- 

 apmouchouan rivers, guides for either of which may be 

 bad at Roberval, either Indian or French Canadian, as 

 anglers may prefer. Fifteen to eighteen miles from Rob- 

 erval, on the Ashuapmouchouan River, is what is known 

 as the Salmon River chute— picturesque falls, where the 

 entire stream, here about a thousand leet wide, leaps over 

 a ledge of rocks extending from shore to shore, and form- 

 ing a kind of natural dam. 



There are a couple of pools just below the falls where 

 the ouananiche congregate before leaping the obstruction 

 above, and here a number of splendid fish have been 

 taken within the last few days, running from 2 to Tibs, 

 apiece. I am now speaking from personal experience 

 and observation. Ou the lObh of August in company 

 with Mr. Patterson, formerly of the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 paay and now a fur trader at Lake St. John, I killed four 

 ouananiche in the morning's fi.^hing, of which three 

 weighed 13-Jlbs. Notwithstanding that TSlb. sturgeon 

 killed on an 8oz. split bamboo fly-rod and single gut 

 leader (see Forest and Stream of Aug. 20), I am free to 

 confess that my 8oz. lancewood was subjected to quite a 

 severe enough strain before I had killed my best ouana- 

 niche, and he was under Slbs. too. If he had confined 

 himself to his native element it might have been different, 

 but his skyward somersaidts and aerial contortions were 

 something tremendous. 



Bass fishing is now fairly good in Lake St. Joseph, 

 which is only twenty-four miles from Quebec by Lake St, 

 John Railway. It ought now to improve every day. 



E. T. D. Chambers. 



Quebec, Aug. 33. 



No More Fishing There. — ^New Haven, Aug. 21.— 

 The "old marsh" lake at Ferryville, Litchfield county, 

 which had been a favorite fishing place in the northwest- 

 ern part of the State for two centuries, has passed out of 

 existence, the ancient dam being torn away because it 

 was considered unsafe. The lake was two miles long 

 and a mile and a half at its greatest width. The ledges 

 about the lake were noted as hiding places for Tories 

 during the Revolutionary war. Fish were taken away 

 by the barrelful wbea th© water was drawn o&.—NavS 

 I York Tim^M, 



