Not, m, 1891.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



871 



"Now, boys," said Col. Jacoby, as he ate some of the 

 fish duck, "that's what I call good. A fellow who hasn't 

 eaten fried canvasback has missed a great deal." 



The rest of the party could not altogether agree with 

 him. especially Mr. Jewell Joslyn, who was not in the 

 secret, and said the bird tasted tiahy. The nest day Mr, 

 Organ and his friends tried the reverse of the experi- 

 ment. They got Col Jacoby 's canvasback and had Sam 

 skin and fry it for supper. 



"Here, Colonel," said Mr. Organ, "I'll show you that 

 one fried duck is just as good as another. Here's some 

 fried sheldrake, and it's just as good as your canvasback." 



"Not by a long shot!" said Colonel Jacoby, after tasting 

 of the fowl. "You can't fool me about ducks. This bird 

 is no good, it's fishy. What on earth do you want to fry 

 a sheldrake for?" 



Mr. Jewell Joslyn again was more accurate, and 

 thought the canvasback good eating, though he supposed 

 it was sheldrake. Col. Jacoby, however, was entirely 

 deceived in his own taste. I think the moral should be: 

 Never fry a canvasback. 



The feed of ducks has moit to do with their flavor. 

 Kill a canvasback and a mallard upon one of the rice 

 lakes of the West, and cook both, and I doubt whether 

 any epicure could tell the difference. There's many a 

 canvasback in the restaurants that never had auburn 

 hair. E. HouGH. 



ONTARIO MOOSE. 



TWO New York gentlemen were so impressed with 

 Mr. Roliih's account in October Harper'' s of a moose 

 hunt near Mattawa, on the Ottawa River, that they went 

 on a similar hunt, had great success, and give a lively 

 account of their trip in the last issue of Forest and 

 Stream The sportsmen reached their destination by 

 way of Brockville, penetrating to a point beyond Matta- 

 wa, bagged a couple of moose and returned home via 

 Brockville. They report that others had still greater 

 success, and that Mr. P., a New York lawyer, had sliot a 

 magnificent moose from the .steamboat going up the 

 river a day or two before. 



What we wish to point out is that the shooting of 

 moose is illegal in Ontario until Oct. 15, 1895. An 

 amendment to the act resoecting game and fur-bearing 

 animals, contained in 51 A^ictoria, 1888, fixes the date for 

 deer shooting and enacts as follows: 



Deer, elk, moose, remdeer or caribou bciweeu the twentieth day 

 of November and the tiftcctith day ol' October; but the period here- 

 inbefore limited shall not, as \o moose, elk or caribou, apply be- 

 fore or until the fifteenth day of October, lS9j, and no moose, elk. 

 reindeer or caviboti shall be hunted, taken or killed between the 

 first day of April, 1888, and the fifteenth day of October, \Wo. 



This seven years of a close period was thought neces- 

 sary to prevent the total extermination of the varieties 

 of deer mentioned, and Canadian sportsmen submittrd to 

 it with more or lets grace. If New York hunters come 

 in and evade the insjjectors one would think that a repu- 

 table sporting journal like Forest and Stream should 

 not lend itself to their cause and incite others to such un- 

 sportsmanlike lawlessness. Judging by the accotint given 

 in Forest and Stream moose are being shot down every 

 day along the Ottawa River in defiance of the game law, 

 and the provincial inspectors should make a determined 

 crusade against those hunters.— jTo/'onfo World. 



[There is nothing in the account referred to which 

 would indicate that the New Yorkers intentionally or 

 otherwise evaded the inspectors, or knew that they were 

 breaking the Ontario moose law; and the article was pub- 

 lished by us without thought of the law. While we hold 

 that it is a sportsman's duty to acquaint himself with the 

 game laws of the country he hunts in, we recognize a 

 decided difference between defying a law and unwit- 

 tingly violating it. If our esteemed contemporary is in 

 earn' St in this cause, let it fit out every visiting sports- 

 man with a copy of the Book of the Game Laws.\ 



POSSUMS UP A TREE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



"The Possum Hunt," appearing in your issue of Nov. 

 Is, was very much enjoyed by me, taking me, as it did, 

 back to my boyhood days in old Virginia:" and I most 

 cordially agree Avith every sentiment of the -writer's with 

 one slight exception, this the statement that the possum 

 can "climb no tree whose circumference he cannot grasj) 

 more than half way round." I regret to differ with one 

 who treats his subject so well, but the facts in my expe- 

 jdence will not bear out this assertion of the writer, "P." 

 I have caught many, many possums and coons, and many 

 a night have I helped to cut some monarch of the forest, 

 measuring sometimes from 2 to 3ft. "across the stump," 

 thinking at least one or more coons would be our reward, 

 to find when the din and crash of falling trees and limbs 

 had subsided only a very small specimen of the genus 

 possum in the jaws of the b^dly disappointed dogs. In 

 fact, it has often been observed by me that, generally 

 speaking, the smaller the possum the bigger the tree he 

 would select, and likewise as to the coon. 



Our game prospect is only fair. Squirrels have been 

 plenty. Quail, I think, are fairly abundant. Bears are 

 "too numerous to mention." One party killed five last 

 week in three days' hunting, and all were killed on less 

 than a mile square. I haven't hunted any this fall thus 

 far, but am hoping to take a hand soon. A. F. R. 



Hertford, North Carolina. 



Will There Be Too Majtv Pheasants? — Although 

 the stocking of woods with game and the waters with 

 fish has in many instances proven successful and beneficial 

 it is always a risky thing to interfere with the doing of 

 nature. The admirable balance of nature once disturbed 

 is likely to create trouble. There is now no longer any 

 doubt that the introduction of the English sparrow has 

 grown into a nuisance, and that the introduction of Ger- 

 man carp in the rivers has baen detrimental, for nobody 

 has as yet found a means of limiting the increase of the 

 sparrows or preparing carp so that they can be eaten by 

 persons having a respectably-educated palate. The spar- 

 rows have driven the American song birds away, and 

 the carp have induced bass, pickerel and many other 

 kinds of fish to seek other waters. Only a few years ago 

 the Passaic afforded admirable fishing; now there is little 

 to be had but carp. Naturalists are well aware of the 

 danger attending the disturbing of the balance of nature, 

 and when the Eiu-opean pheasants were first introduced 

 in this country there were some speculations as to what 

 effect theae birds would have on the American birds. But 



persons who wanted to go to work carefully in this matter 

 were laughed down, and Legislatures promptly passed 

 laws affording more protection for these birds than is 

 accorded to American birds, the idea being to give the 

 immigi-ants a chance to multiply. It is no w claimed that 

 the laws of this Sta.te in regard* to this matter are alto- 

 gether too severe, and that Americen game is injured 

 thereby. It has been found that unrestricted breeding 

 has resulted in the production of a disproportionate num- 

 ber of cocks, and that these cocks are now not only killing 

 the young of their own kind but also American grouse 

 and quail. It is said that this invariably happens when 

 there are too many cocks. The birds have multiplied 

 wonderfully, and ijromise to do as well here as did the 

 spa rrow and carp. It has been found absolutely necessary 

 to get rid of some of the cocks; but this killing is contrary 

 10 law, as a statute of this State prohibits their killing un- 

 til November of next year. Mr. Rutherford, who owns 

 large tracts of good game grounds in Morris County, has 

 authorized the killing ot cocks in order to protect the rest 

 of his gatne, but the persons who do the killing may be 

 punished therefor. The birds have spread themselves over 

 large tracts of land in this county, coming hither from 

 Morris County and from Tuxedo Park. There is no doubt 

 that after one open season for these birds there will be 

 no complaint a.bout then- being too numerous. — Chas. A. 

 Sliriner in Paterson (N. J.) JPi'ess. 



"That reminds me.'' 



BEINGr in communication with a trio of "shooting 

 men" a few days since, I overheard one of the tnost 

 remaxkable stories, which, if true, certainly "takes the 

 caice." We were speaking of the relative merits of two 

 well known dogs, and rehearsing some instances of fine 

 work done by them, when a darky standing near by re- 

 marked to a bystander, "Dat's nothin'; my old dog t'other 

 day sot a covey of birds in a hole, dug out near the woods 

 by some lumbermen fer er well, and I crept up ter see 

 what "twas, and thro wed my coat over the hole, and 

 blamed ef I didn't ketch thirteen partridge [quail] and 

 take 'em out alive." This was told for truth and we had 

 no reason to doubt it, but a thick coating of silence fell 

 on the crowd, and we changed the subject. A dog that 

 could drive birds in a hole was undoubtedly ahead. 

 Hertitobd.K. 0., Nov.U. A. F. R. 



TRULY ODD IF ODDLY TRUE. 



Mr. Samuel Hickman, of Leeshurg, Va., while hunting on tlie 

 hanks of the Potomar-, shot a squirrel, whinh fell into the water, 

 where it was seized by a black bass. Hickman waded in and 

 lifted both squirrel and il^h clpar of the water before the bass let 

 go and made its escape.— IV^eio Turk Evening Pnst. 



Carl Weldeck, of this city, and formerly of Paterson, killed 

 thirteen quail and nine rabbits at Mountain View on Tuesday. 

 Hib Gordon setter v/as disabled duriner the day by getting its foot 

 cauaht in a crack in a rock. The limb was broken and dislocated 

 at the shoulder, so that he shot the dog to put it out of misery.— 

 Nc-warK Call. 



Two Oldtowu hunters down in Maine had an odd experience. 

 They were after partridge. Very suddenly, however, as they 

 w^^e walking in the woods, a startled deer sprang from tlie 

 bushes and made a tremendous bound, going over one huater's 

 head. He Itad no time to take another leap before he fell a victim. 

 — Sprintitidd HepiMlcan. 



The other day a Boston publishing house, which had recently 

 bought out an edition of "The Complete Angler," received a letter 

 addressed to Izaak Walton. Esq. It was from a clipping bureau, 

 informing that gentleman that his book was attracting consider- 

 ble atteution, and requesting to be allowed to send notices from 

 all papers in the United States and Canada.- Boston Herald. 



Levi P.,eber, of Shoemakeraville, Berks County, has a hunting 

 ilog which is blind, but that don't make any difference. It is 

 claimed that he smells powder, and as soon as liis master is ready 

 for a hunt ihe canine is also. He is there at the word "go" every 

 time, and when he takes a start there is your rabbit, sure. On 

 Monday Mr. Reber and party, with this dog, secured thirty-seven 

 vahhita.—PMladclphia Times. 



W. 0. Green was coming across the country near Hereford, 

 accompanied hy others, when he came up with a large buck deer 

 tangled up in the harbed wire of a neighboring fence. His horns 

 were so completely tied up in the vnre that it was with difliculty 

 that they were extracted after a ballet had ended his life. He 

 had evidently struggled for many hours to regain his liberty.— 

 Tombstone {Ariz.) Prospector. 



A curious circumstance once happened to me at Pulney Loch. 

 One of my sons threw a live mouse into it, when a large trout 

 took it down immediately. The boy told me what had happened, 

 so I took my fishing rod. which was leaning against my house 

 close to the loch, and put a fly on. At the very first throw I 

 hooked a large trout, landed it, and laid it on the bank^ In two 

 seconds the mouse ran out of his mouth and got into a hole in the 

 wall before 1 could catch it.— The Penjty Magazine, (lSlt3). 



The fish in the neighborhood of Sierra Leone, West Africa, are 

 credited with some extraordinary behavior. It is only a short 

 time since that one of these marine wonders ran off with a small 

 boat which was moored in Freelam Harbor, and a correspondent 

 writing from Sierra Leone, reports the drowning of a man by a 

 huge fish. Stephen Pratt was fishing from a canoe at Cline Town 

 Wharf. A fish of immense size laaped into the boat, striking 

 Pratt severely in the face and body and rendering him uncon^ 

 scious. In this state he fell over the side of thehoat into the 

 water. His lines were tied to his feet and partly to the canoe, 

 and being thus entangled he tiltimatelv sank. In the meantime 

 time the fish had wriggled and jumped about until it had got out 

 of the boat again and soon disappeared in the water. The young 

 man who was with Pratt at once gave the alarm, and several per- 

 sons were attracted to the spot. The fishing lines were hauled tip 

 and at the end was found Pratt quite dead.— ionctoji Doi/y Chron- 

 icle. 



Some forty years agol lived near the Boston & Albany Rail- 

 road, where it passes over the mountain range in western Massa- 

 chusetts. One warm day late in the fall one of the oldest pass- 

 enger locomotive engineers on the road was climbing the steep 

 grade in the township of Chester, running his train at about 

 twenty-five miles an hour. While passing through the thick 

 forest region which skirted the road at that point he saw a large 

 red fox emerge from the underbrush diiectly abreast the locomo- 

 tive, and taking the ditch he ran directly alongside the locomo- 

 tive for more than 100yds. His tongue protruded, showing great 

 fatigue, A moment later the cause of the singular act appeared 

 in the shape of a large and fleet foxhound close in the rear, and 

 he rapidly gained upon the fox. WTien the hound had approached 

 within about 10ft, of the fox the latter sprang across the track, 

 barely missing the cow-catcher of the locomotive. The hound 

 followed and was killed by the locomotive. The fox sprang upon 

 the bank just above the railroad ditch, stopped and looked back 

 with a grin of satisfaction, and was still standing there us the 

 train passed around a bend, cutting off the view-— 07tio State 

 Journal. 



The murder case of the State against Avery, recently tried in 

 Henry county, Tenn., is one of the most remarkable in the 

 annals of criminal jurisprudence, and proved the phenomenal 

 genius of the attorney for the accused, a promiuent criminal 

 lawyer from Cincinnati, named WaUis. In June, 188", Charles 

 Ensley, a cousin of Avery, was killed iu his room, while lying on 

 a lotmge, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The weapon used was 

 a small rifle, sending a .32cal. ball through Ensley 's brain. No 

 one was in the house at the time but Ensley. An empty rifle was 

 found lying in its rack on the side of the wall and the bullet fitted 

 the tube. Avery was arrested for the crime, as he was the onlv 

 living close relation to Ensley, and would have profited by his 

 death to an extent of nearly glOt),000. Avery was tried, pleaded 



not guilty, hut was convicted of murder in the first degree and 

 sentenced to be hanged. He appealed to the Supreme Court and 

 engaged Mr, Wallis to defead him. The Supreme Court remanded 

 it back to the Circuit Court on account of technical errors. Two 

 mis-triala have been brought about. Now comes the strangest 

 part of the story. The bi'ilJlant Wallis struck the keynote to the 

 mystery. In Augxtat las': iie had the rifle loaded and hung on the 

 wall, a white sheet with the form of a man marked on it and a 

 heavy cut glass pitciier nf water placed on the shelf above. The 

 temperature was '.19° in the shade, one of the hottest days of the 

 yea)'. The pitcher of water acted as a sun glass and the hot rays 

 of the sun shining through the water were refracted directly oh 

 the cartridge chamber of the rifle. Eight witnesses were in the 

 room, and a few minutes after 3 o'clock a puff and a report, 

 and the ball si ruck tiie outlined form back of tho ear, and the 

 theory of circumstanti.ul evidence wa'? explodpd. The incident, 

 heing seen and swoi'ii to, readily explained itself to the jury. As 

 the sleeping m'tn was I V'Ug on the lounge the direct ra vs of the 

 sun glass heated the cartridge, causing it to e'splodts,— Mercantile 

 Adjuster. 



Angling Talks, By George Da wson. Price 50 cents, Fly- 

 Bods and Fly-Tackle. By II. P. Weill. Price $2.50. Fly- 

 Fisldng and Fly-Making for Trout. By J. H, Keene, 

 Price .§1.50. American Angle7'\s Book. By Thad. Norris. 

 Price $5.50. 



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

 Territories and British Provinces are given in the Book ol 

 the Game Laws. 



DERRYFIELD BEEF. 



/"CENTRAL LAKE, Mich., Nov, U.— Editor Forest and Slrcam: 

 ^ Perhaps your correspondent "Von W," will thank me for 

 sending you the whole of the poem from which he quoted in your 

 last issue. It was a squib a^'med at the town of Manchester, 

 Mass. (originally called Derryfleld), and I think deserves the, 

 honor of being emba'med in the columns of Forest and Stbeam 

 where so much of modern history has been preserved: 

 "From the eels they formed their food in chief. 

 And eels were called the 'Derryflell Beef,' 

 And the marks of eels were so plain to trace 

 That the children looked like eels in the face. 

 Such a m'ghty power did the squirmers wield 

 O'er the goodly men of Derryfieid, 

 That 'twas often said that their only care. 

 And their only wish, and their only prayer, 

 For the present world or the world to come, 

 Was a string of eels and a jug of rum." Kelpie. 



BLACK BASS IN SANDUSKY RIVER. 



AMONG the many towns along the Lake Shore Rail- 

 way there is none more widely known for its beauty 

 of location, invigorating climate and genial inhabitants 

 than the pretty village of Port Clinton, with the lapping 

 blue waters of Lake Erie roiling on the long stretch of 

 sandy beach at its very doors. The surroundings are 

 unusually picturesque. The famous islands to the north 

 and east; the rock-bound Catawba Island, with its sharp 

 lines of high wooded cliffs gently receding to a level 

 plateau rich in the production of fruit; in fact, it is rap- 

 idly becoming the most noted fruit laud in the country. 

 Port Clinton is the Gloucester of the West. A visit 

 through the fisheries will well pay the time spent, par- 

 ticularly where fishermen are so anxious to please and 

 entertain. I had the pleasure of meeting, among the 

 noted pound net fishermen, Hon. William E. Beuse, and 

 I was surprised at the welcome reception of these busy 

 men, and was vain enough to believe it was on account 

 of there being a truthful angler in town, but I soon 

 learned it was their nature. Mr. Bense stated that the 

 fishing was fairly good, but not eqtial to the demand. 

 He said the principal fish eaters were in Pittsburgh, and 

 that some of the most patient and agreeable anglers came 

 from that city. 



"Just step in here," he said, after prying open an im- 

 mense pine door which led into the company's freezing 

 vaults. There was a noticeable difference in tempera- 

 ture of some fifty degrees. Hon. Frank B. Losee, who 

 accompanied us, declared he lost ten pounds in as many 

 minutes. He afterward regained it by a bet on the 

 weight of a ten-pound whitefish with Mr. Bense. 



"We have here four tons of frogs," said the fisher- 

 man, ' frozen solid. They are for Pittsburgh's Christ- 

 mas." Cake after cake of frogs, of all sizes and shapes, 

 were piled above each other, like so many brick. "Will 

 frogs return to life when thawed?'" we innocently asked 

 a hardy fisherman, after backing ottt of this touch of 

 the north pole. "If frogs, like fish, are not killed or 

 injured when captured, and permitted to freeze slowly, 

 in a natural way, they will trndoubtedly retitrn to life. 

 You can form your conclusions from the following in- 

 cident. Some time ago the fish buildings were par- 

 tially destroyed by fire. In a freezing house we had 

 stored blocks of frogs. One side of this building was on 

 fire. The heat and water thawed out the frogs, and when 

 an opening was made in the roof hundreds of active frogs 

 leaj)ed out in all directions, making a strange sight through 

 the flames and smoke." 



With this we left the good-natured people and com- 

 pleted our arragements to go to "the greatest large- 

 mouthed black bass fishing grounds in the world," of 

 which I promised to tell the readers of the Forest anb 

 Stream in a recent number. 



The experiences mentioned about the white bass fish- 

 ing in my last ai-ticle being so uncommon to anglers at 

 large, and notwithstanding our close adherence to the 

 truthful presentation of facts, anglers who seek the re- 

 treats of the great Northwest thought the statements 

 were not made from an enthusiastic standpoint, but in- 

 clined to exaggeration. So I found it necessary to have 

 a reliable witness to substantiate what I could do if let 

 loose among "schools of black bass sporting around the 

 bends of the river undisturbed by the artful devices of 

 man." Accordingly Capt. Henry T. Marshall, the great 

 Sanger angler of the Maumee Valley, kindly volunteered 

 to accompany me. W, M.Montgomery and R. M. Hollings- 

 head are Port Clinton's crack spoon fisher cnen, and this 

 is saying a good deal, for from the editors and lawyers, 

 down to dock worm-fishermen, all have records not easily 

 beaten. 1 soon discovered why these gentlemen were the 

 recognized anglers of Portage Valley. They fish by rules 

 as laid dawn in books. The open pages are ever before 

 them on a seat in the boat. Each cast is a studied one, 

 and they never exaggerate the true number of bass upon 

 their stringers; this is a fault that many fishermen have. 

 They believe, as suggeoted by Dr. J. A. Henshall, tliat 



