S28 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[No^. 12, 1891. 



FEEDING HABITS OF SHARKS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



While quite ready to admit that a shark in taking a 

 live bait does not pay much attention to the angle that 

 he tiu-ns, I must still heg leave to differ from the state- 

 ment of S. C. C. in Forest and Stkeam, that a shark in 

 taking a bait — that is, with hook and line attached— does 

 not turn on his side. From personal observation in six 

 or eight cases the shark seemed iu no particular hurry to 

 bite, but finally coming to the conclusion that he was 

 hungry, tm-ned slightly on his side before taking it. On 

 five of these occasions I was on the Fish Commission 

 steamer Albatross, in either the Caribbean Sea or near 

 the Bahamas, where the clearness of the water and the 

 height of the deck above its surface gave a splendid 

 chance for observation. In all cases the shark turned on 

 his side before biting. On one occasion the shark swam 

 by the bait, vsdthin about two feet of it, as if he did not 

 care a snap one way or the other : but after going thi'ee 

 or four yards, apparently came to the conclusion that he 

 had passed something and, turning around, took up a 

 position within about a foot and a half of the bait, and 

 after looking at it for at least fifteen seconds, turned well 

 on his side and bit slowly so as almost to suck it in. Now, 

 the conclusion T draw is, that in taking a baited hook the 

 shark sees the line, and mistaking it for part of the bait, 

 thinks his nose projecting as it does over his mouth will 

 push the bait out of the way, turns on his side to get over 

 the difficulty. At least this is the conclusion I have 

 reached after careful observation. With his moiTth 

 where nature has placed it, it would be almost impossi- 

 ble for him to take a bait with line attached without 

 turning on his side. The shai'k which I so foolishly 

 played with evidently took me for live bait, in which he 

 was entirely correct ; in fact, I was very much alive for 

 the next few minutes, as those present can testify. 



WiLLARD Nye, Jr, 



Nw Bedford, Mas s. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Believing it desirable to place on record facts relating 

 to the natural history of our fishes, and having had many 

 opportunities in a sea experience of more than 30 yeai's 

 to note the feeding habits of sharks, I may perhaps be 

 pardoned for continuing the interesting discussion relat- 

 ing thereto which has appeared in Forest and Stream. 



Several varieties of sharks occur in considerable abun- 

 dance in the Gulf of Maine in summer and on the south- 

 ern mackerel grounds in spring. Aside from the dog-fish, 

 which will not be considered here, the mackerel shark 

 {Lannia corniibiea) is the most numerous, and this species 

 in particular was the bete noir of the mackerel fisherman 

 in the days when hook and line fishing was the most 

 common method. Many a good day's fishing has been 

 spoiled by these sea wolves, and a frequent experience 

 was to see a fine school of biting fish disappear like magic, 

 while a flash of blue and white glancing by fathoms 

 down in the clear blue water showed the cause. 



So frequently did tliis occur that on most vessels fish- 

 ing in the Gulf of Maine it was the rule to have a baited 

 shark line drailing from the stern while drifting for 

 mackerel, or at least ready to throw out upon the first 

 indication of the presence of a shark. The bait was al- 

 most invariably a freshly caught mackerel, mostly of 

 small size. Only a few fathoms of line were played" out, 

 and the bait was kept in plain sight. It was therefore 

 easy to see how the sharks bit at the lure. 



I do not now recall a single instance, of the hundreds 

 I have seen biting at mackerel in this way, where the 

 shark failed to turn either on his side or back down. In 

 most cases, where they came at the bait with a rush, 

 they turned on their sides, with their mouths on edge, as 

 one might say. But quite as often they would approach 

 the bait in a leisurely manner and swim around it several 

 times, as if suspicious or waiting for a favorable oppor- 

 tunity to attack. Generally this was followed by the 

 shark turning almost completely belly up. to seize the 

 bait. 



It was not unusual to see them turn on their sides 

 when in pursuit of living prey, so that the white of the 

 lower part of their bodies could be seen. So far as my 

 observation extends this habit is common to many, if not 

 most sharks, though it is entirely possible there may be 

 exceptions to it. j. w. Colmns. 



A New "Nottall's."— Little, Brown & Co. announce 

 a new edition of Nuttall's Ornithology, prepared by Mr. 

 Montague Chamberlain, of whose editorial work the pub- 

 lishers say: "Keeping fully in mind the need of a popular 

 and untechnical book on American ornithology, Mr. 

 Chamberlain has added to the merits the original work 

 possessed in this respect by giving the names by which 

 the birds are best known to the people, in addition to the 

 vernacular names used by naturalists. The scientific 

 names used are those recently adopted by the American 

 Ornithological Union. Of the original work by Nuttall 

 everything of value and interest has been retained, includ- 

 ing all of Nuttall's delightful descriptions of bird-life, a 

 feature of the original which has had much to do with its 

 popularity. Only those portions which have been ren- 

 dered valueless by recent discoveries and determinations 

 are omitted. The present work will be found to be more 

 fnlly illustrated than the original, and throughout its 

 preparation everything possible has been done to thor- 

 oughly adapt it to the needs of time and to make it a 

 convenient and useful manual for the household and for 

 the student who can carry with him only a work of 

 moderate size." 



It is not generally realized that there are in this country 

 literally millions of lakes which are available for water- 

 farming; in size all the way from mere ponds to the great 

 inland seas of fresh water. In Illinois alone there are tens 

 of thousands of lakes, and hundreds of thousands more 

 can be readily created. There are in Illinois manv ex- 

 tinct lakes, which can easily be transformed into sheets 

 of water by the simplest means. All the enormous "Lake 

 Plan," as it is known to geologlists, comprising Wiscon- 

 sin, Minnesota, and Michigan, north of the Ohio River, 

 is dotted with countless sheets of water, conditions being 

 favorable for creating many more by such inexpensive 

 artifices as the damming of streams. By damming at 

 intervals, every creek and rivulet can be made to form 

 artificial lakes. Even the vast arid region, the "Great 

 Desert" of the West, is specked all over with multitudes of 

 extinct lakes which can be filled once more and made to 

 teem with life, as they once did.— 



Mr. Nye and the Sharks.— We have told the story 

 of Mr. Nye's painful injury at Woods Holl, Mass., while 

 feeding a shark. The sequel to the accident has come to us 

 from Superintendent Maxwell, who has informed us that 

 the injm-y was fully repau'ed in about a fortnight, and 

 Mr. Nye evened up the account by harpooning a number 

 of the sharks, in order to clear out the pool for cod and 

 other breeding fish. Although poisoning was feared, no 

 lasting bad effects followed the ugly lacerated wounds 

 made by the se rrated teeth. 



The ftjll tests of the game laws of all the States, Terri- 

 tories and British Provinces are given in the Book of the 

 Oams Lavjs. 



AN OLD WOOD ROAD. 



WHETHER it is because I am growing older and 

 think more of my ease, and am beginning to 

 magnify the molehills of youth into mountains as the 

 years slip by, I know not, but certain it is that now when- 

 ever I snatch a day's pleasure with my gun I leave the 

 dense thickets and thorny brakes to younger men, and 

 resort to some one of the many wood roads I have marked 

 down during years of shooting in this vicinity, and along 

 its sinuous trail take whatever of success the good Pan 

 may send me and take it thankfully. 



There is a charm about a wood road in October that is 

 irresistible to°me. I love to follow its erratic windings 

 and revel in its sylvan surprises as I advance step by step 

 along its leafy carpeted way. 



It is early morning and I find myself on a favorite 

 forest avenue, with the one idea of squirrels nerving me 

 for a long quiet tramp over this well-known highway. 

 My friend and shooting companion, a noisy editor with a 

 noisier spaniel, bent on birds, is beating the woodcock 

 grounds in the valley, and the whole v^ooda are left to 

 silence and to me. 



There has been a succession of sharp frosts, and the 

 chestnut burrs are all agape, so with the bright sun rising 

 and a soft south wind blowing and the dew-laden leaves 

 along the path as noiseless as a "Wilton carpet, I am sure 

 of a delightful day at least, come what may in the way 

 of success. I am not blood-thirsty. In fact, I have con- 

 fessed in these columns to a change of heart in the mat- 

 ter of wantonly destroying God's creatures. Still there 

 are times when the old Adam asserts itself, and when, 

 as I stole along, the ventriloquial call of a squirrel came 

 to my ear, I was like a newly converted cracker that the 

 refractory mule kicked back into the beggarly elements 

 of the world, and immediately set all my wits to work to 

 get a shot at the black nutcracker. After infinite toil 

 and patience, advancing while the call sounded and stop- 

 ping when it ceased, I caught sight of my quarry in a 

 distant chestnut, and an open space intervening, making 

 further advance impossible, I drew a careful bead with 

 my left barrel (which is a modified choke), fired and 

 missed. But wait a minute. With the report of the gun 

 another black squirrel appeared within easy shot upon 

 the bough of a bass wood tree, and without waiting to re- 

 gret my fii-st failiu-e, I brought him down with the right 

 barrel (open bore and was loaded with 8s for a possible 

 grouse). Shall I confess that my triumph melted into 

 regret as I picked up my game,* but a moment before 

 buoyant with life, and as I watched the glazing eye and 

 —all that sort of thing ? No, I won't say anything about 

 it : it is enough to know that I put him in my game-bag 

 and resumed my walk along the road. 



"What a lovely day it was. Just such as one reads 

 a description of between the lines when Rip Van Winkle 

 went squirrel hunting in the Kaatskills, when he heard 

 the rollmg of the nine-pin balls of the crew of the Half- 

 moon, and the squirrels were out, too, and more than 

 once that day I stifled my regret swhile my game pocket 

 grew heavier with each stifle. 



There are many things to see along an old wood road, if 

 only one is a lover of the woods and keeps his eyes open. 

 Every log alongside has a story to tell of drumming grouse 

 or gnawing squirrel; there are the marks as plain as 

 though written. Here is a hollow in the track where a 

 grouse dusted not an hour ago, and a little beyond a hand- 

 ful of scattered feathers speak mutely of a woodland 

 tragedy. In the moist mould, where a little spring crosses 

 the track, Br'er Coon's plantigrades have left an impres- 

 sion; and the marks of the busy Httle chipmuck are every 

 where. Speaking of the chipmuck, I believe that the 

 little rascal plays a very important part in the economy 

 of the woods in acting as a sentinel for the more noble 

 game. Who has not, in squirrel hunting, had the song of 

 the game he was following suddenly cease as one of those 

 little stripped-backed watchmen sounded his shrill note of 

 alarm? No use looking for the squirrel now, nothing is 

 left but to sit down and wait or depart for fresh fields. 



As I walked down a little incline in the roaSj with 

 stiff thicket on either side, I suddenly became aware tha.^, 

 there were grouse about. How I knew it I cannot tell. 

 There was no sound, no movement — nothing to indicate 

 the presence of the birds. StiU, I seemed to know that 

 they were not far away, and instinctively cocked my 

 right barrel and brought my gnn to a ready. I have a 

 friend who declares to me that on a damp, still day. 

 when the grouse are lying well, he has more than once 

 on approaching his dog that was pointing, detected the 

 subtle game odor of the birds. I have told him that no 

 matter how well the birds were lying, he was lying 

 better: but he would not see the joke, and insisted that it 

 was true. Be that as ifc may, I know, and every sports- 

 man knows, that there is something about the presence 

 of game that often manifests itself in an inexplicable 

 way, so that one is almost certain the quarry is just 

 before him, although he has seen or heard nothing to 

 warrant it. 



I was all ready, and the bu-ds — one, two, three, four — 

 got up all about me; and poking around to get a shot I 

 never fired my gun. A little further on, however, a 

 grouse jumped from a log, presenting a fine side shot, 

 which I took and missed. 



I ate my lunch and eat down and waited, but as the 

 day wore on the leaves became dry and brittle, and it 

 became utterly impossible to stalk a sqxiirrel. I had 

 enough, however; and as the walk home was a long one, 

 I descended into the valley, found my editor and home- 

 wai-d we plodded, he enthusiastic over his day's sport and 

 I quietly content at what my dear old wood road had 

 yielded me. H. W. D. L. 



'ONE OF THE MISTAKES OF MOSES." 



IVTOSE was my friend, and so one morn 



We started off together. 

 Bound to explode or have some fun, 

 'Twas glorions winter weather. 



Off to the woods with hurried stride?; 



Our swiftest pace was still too slow. 

 Earth seemed more fair than e'er a bride, 



lu its pure wMte dress of snow. 



Our outing was in quest of game- 

 Bear, deer, partridge or quail; 



Fur or feather, just the same, 

 Anything— crow to cottoutail. 



We hurried on, till very soon 

 We saw upon the snow a fresh-made track. 



Mose called it rabbit, I a coon- 

 It prored to be a cat. 



We followed it with anxious haste. 



Till we could plainly see 

 It ended in a hole beneath 



An old dead basswood tree. 



Mose knelt down, and looking in 



Saw something moving there; 

 He knew it was a cottontail 



By the color of the hair. 



With outstretched arm he made a grab, 



And pulled from out that hole 

 A rabbit— no, alas! it was 



The cat that's sumamed pole. 



The thing itself was black and white. 



The air around was blue; 

 A -misty haze obscured the light— 



'Twas not the falling dew. 



He did not hold his captive long. 



But with a mighty yell 

 He kicked the stuflin' out o' him, 



And left him where he fell; 



Then came toward me— or started to— 



But looked straight down my gun, 

 And understood our friendship then 



Must be a distant one. 



I did uot think that it could be 



That trifles "light as air" 

 Could come between my friend and me; 



But I just then became aware 



That I no longer cared to have 



His presence quite so near, 

 That strongest friendships could not live 



In such an impure air. 



How bright the start, how sad the end. 



We hurried home without delay; 

 1 walked to windward of my friend, 



A hundred yards away. 



Mose changed his boudoir to the barn, 



He also changed his clothes 

 For those less pleasing to the eye 



But more so to the nose. 



The tailor makes the man, 'tis said; 



If this is true— it's hard. 

 The tailor part of Mose is dead 



And buried iu the yard. 



Be mortuis nihil nm bomim. 

 May serve to cloak men's evil habits; 



But Moses says, and says it with a dum, 

 It don't apply to long-tailed rabbits. Norton. 



OREGON GAME GROUNDS. 



PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 8.— Our markets are well 

 supplied with all kinds of birds. Deer, bear and 

 an occasional elk adorns these places where game is used 

 as merchandise. 



The lakes around Portland are all leased to local sports- 

 men except those more fortunate who can afford to buy 

 the lakes and the ground surrounding them. Last sum- 

 mer tiiie famous Muckle place, containing about 900 acres, 

 and one of the best shooting resorts in this part of the 

 country, was sold for ,$27,000 to four of our local sports- 

 men. The buyers were Messrs. Walter and Herman 

 Burrel, C. C. Clark and Wm. Sibson. The place was 

 formerly leased to a party for .$350 a year. Another partv 

 bought the Little Jewett for $13,000. and still another 

 bought a part of the Dead Willow Lake for $3,000. This 

 shows thajgthe sportsmen of Oregon are not idle. 



Some o«ne l^^st bags of ducks made this year were 

 ly Capt. W. J. Riley, Robt. Jennings and A. .J. Johnson, 

 who got 120 in eight hom-s. C. K. Marbaugh killed 51 

 mallards in seven hours. S. H, Green bagged 36 in 

 three and a half hours. Many others have got good 

 shooting here. A few canvasbacks have made their ap- 

 pearance, and the fact causes the hunters to expect very 

 severe weather, as the canvasbacks are strictly cold 

 weather birds. The late heavy rains have driven the 

 snipe to other grounds, A great many of these gamy 

 little rascals have been killed this year, one hunter bag- 

 ging 137 in one day. The brant are with us yet in large 

 numbers, and a great many have been killed this fall. 

 One hunter reports having seen and killed a genuine 

 woodcock at the lower end of Greer Lt^he ThA? r^nzj 

 or may not have been a woodcock and as ii ic tne first 

 report of the highly-prized bird in this part little credence 

 is given by the older sportsmen. 



The Mongolian pheasants are rapidly increasing, and 

 in some parts of the Willamette Valley the farmers are 

 shooting them for self protection. They are gi-ain de- 

 stroyers of the first water, and will fmrnish great sport 

 when the open season comes, as they are swift iiyers 

 and alight on the run and then keep running. If all re- 

 |)orts concerning this beautiful bird are true, the most 

 speedy of our dogs will come in second best in a foot 

 race with them. We have no woodcock here, and 

 some parts of the East have no Mongolian pheasants 

 Now, if any enterprising sportsman will exchange a few 

 live woodcock for the same number of Mongolian pheas- 

 ants, let him say so through the columns of the Eoeest 

 AND Stbeaji. Sand Hill, 



