Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



l ERMS, $4 A VkaR. 10 OtS. a CDPF. 1 



Six Monies, $3. I 



NEW YORK, OCTOBER 6, 1892. 



I VOL. XXXIX.-No. 14. 



I No. 318 Bboadwat, New yoHK 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



S'lOotiBK Without a Gun. 

 The Ocelot. 



Tt e Ketlka Lake Scandal. 

 Snap Shots. 



The Sportsman Tourist. 



At Hemlock Lake. 

 The Fulton CUain. 

 G'-aboing Time. 

 A Camper's Diary.— v. 



Natural History. 



Mr. Jewell's Frogs. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



An Interview With a Panther. 

 Ttie Thomas Deer. 

 Shooting on the Road. 

 Squirrel Pie. 



Dciys With the Upland Plover. 

 A Flying Trip South for a 



Deer Hunt. 

 Chicago and the West, 

 ■'frame Laws in Brief." 

 A Snipe Hunt Near Denver. 

 Xew York State Association. 

 Oame Notes. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



Western Prairie and Eastern 



Streams. 

 A Summer on Nag's Head. 

 Some Illinois Waters. 

 Angling Notes. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



Chicago and the West. 

 The Kennel. 



Ottawa Dog Sliow. 

 Rof^hester Dog Show. 

 Sheepdog Trials. 

 Points and Flushps. 

 Flap'' from the Beaver's Tail. 

 Sale of W. K. O. Pointers. 

 Dog Chat. 



Answers to Correspondents. 

 Yachting. 



The Dismasting of the Truant. 

 Rhode Island Y. C. 

 The New Carroll Yaoht. 

 A Model Fishing Schooner. 

 News Notes. 



Canoeing. 



Two Canoe Cruises. 

 News Notes. 



Rifle Range and Gallery. 



Revolver Shooting. 

 Chicago Rifles. 



Trap Shooting. 



Pigeons and Targets at Peeks- 

 kill. 



White Plains Tournament. 

 Pittsburgh G. C. Tournament. 



Answers to Queries. 



For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page v. 



OUB. ILLUSTRATION SUPPLEMENT. 

 With this Bumber is given as an extra sheet supple- 

 ment Mr. Thompson's drawing of the Ocelot, being tbe 

 second one in the series of four illustrations of American 

 wild animal life. The first was of the Panther, in issue 

 of Sept. 8. The others will be the Canada Lynx, Nov. 3, 

 and the Bay Lynx, Dec. 1. 



THE KEUKA LAKE SCANDAL, 



Attention was recently called to the scandalous condi- 

 tion of affairs by which one of- the New York State Game 

 Protectors, Sheridan, of the Thirteenth District, is re- 

 tained in a position for which he is notoriously unfit and 

 from which in the public interest he should have been 

 dismissed long ago. The case is one which ought not to 

 be lost sight of; it is one which we propose" to discuss 

 until its merits shall be clearly understood by the public. 



Sheridan is a gar .e and fish protector. The business of 

 a game and fish protector is to enforce the game and fish 

 laws, to arrest the law-breakers, seize and destroy their 

 nets, break up their business, defend the fish supply from 

 ravage and ruin at their hands. In short, a protector's 

 business is to protect. That is what he is paid to do. 

 When he ceases to do it, and refuses to do it, his pay 

 should stop then and there. The continued retention in 

 office of such an unfaithful servant is a standing disgrace. 

 If. is a rotten condition of affairs that would not be toler- 

 ated for a moment in private life. Suppose that this man 

 Sheridan were employed to care for a private estate, and 

 instead of protecting the premises should permit tres- 

 passers to invade them, net the trout out of the pond, 

 steal the chickens from the roost and run away with the 

 horses by night. How long would he be "kept in his 

 job?" How long would he draw his pay for standing 

 around with hands in pocket and lips puckered in a 

 whistle, while the thieves held high carnival? To ask 

 such a question is to answer it. 



But this same Sheridan, employed by the Fish Commis- 

 sioners to protect the people's fish, shows himself by his 

 inaction to be in league with the lawless netters of Lake 

 Keuka, refuses to do what hia contract with the State 

 demands of him— to protect the fish— and yet is kept in 

 his place and paid his salary month after month. 



Why? 



Bacause he is a political heeler and controls votes: and 

 by paying him funds out of the State treasury the influ- 

 ence and the votes can be made certain. 



That is the difference between private business methods 

 and public business methods. 



As we have said before, we do not so much blame 

 Sheridan. If he finds that he can draw his pay without 

 doing the work, if he finds that the value of his services 

 8s a heeler and wire-puller offset the worthlessness of 

 his services as a protector and assure him of his berth 

 and its pay, he would count it foolishness to lift a hand 

 against the fish pirates. 



The real responsibility rests with Sheridan's superiors, 

 those who maintain him in his place. They are the ones 

 who must answer not only for the scandal and disgrace 

 of this unworthy servant's retention in office, but for the 

 ruin of the Lake Keuka fishing. 



THE OCELOT. 



It is only to residents of the extreme Southwest that 

 the ocelot is known as a wild animal, for it is a species 

 of Southern distribution, its range not extending much 

 further north than that of the jaguar. It is one of the 

 many sprcies of leopard-like cats which in the Southwest 

 are known as tiger cats, and is a graceful and beautiful 

 animal. In length it measures about 4ft. and it stands 

 about 18in. at the shoulders. The ground color of the 

 fur varies from gray to a deep fawn, which contrasts 

 finely with the black markings. 



The food of this species consists for the most part of 

 birds and small mammals, and its expertness as a tree 

 climber is such that it is said to chase and capture monkeys 

 among the branches where tliey have taken refuge. 



The ocelot is often seen in captivity and freqaantly be- 

 comes quite gentle and much attached to its attendant. 

 Sometimes, however, it is sullen and ferocious and seems 

 anxious only to scratch and bite any one who may ven- 

 ture near its cage. We knew of a pair, sent from Mexico 

 to New York as a present to a merchant here, which 

 never became tame, although much time and attention 

 was given them. 



The scientific name of the ocelot is Felispardalis, and 

 those naturalists who divide the genus Felts into several 

 sub-genera usually place the ocelot in the group Leopardus. 

 Several species of ocelots have been described, the differ- 

 ences being chiefly in shade of color and character of 

 markings. They closely resemble each other in habits, 

 and are miniature leopards. 



In the accounts of wildcat hunts in Texas which we 

 often receive, the species pursued may in many cases be 

 the ocelot, though its range is shared by other small cats, 

 especially the bay lyax, which is almost universally dis- 

 tributed through the United States. 



Facts with regard to the distribution of the ocelot 

 within our borders are much to be desired, and we would 

 urge upon our readers in Texas and the Southwest the 

 importance of recording any observations which they may 

 make on the species. In any case where doubt exists as 

 to the species, specimens of the skull and skin should be 

 sent us for identification. 



SHOOTING WITHOUT A GUN. 



Doubtless the highest test of sportsmanship is the 

 woodcraft which gives one that knowledge of the habits 

 of game that enables him to find it under the various 

 conditions of weather and seasons, and the ability to 

 make the stealthy approach which shall bring him within 

 range, without alarming the object of his pursuit. 



Without these qualities, partly inborn and partly ac- 

 quired, there cannot be completely successful sportsman- 

 ship, however skilled one may be in the use of the gun, a 

 skill that may be acquired in great measure by practice at 

 the fixed and flying target. 



All the skill of woodcraft that goes to the making of 

 the successful hunter with the gun, must be possessed by 

 him who hunts his game with the camera. 



His must be the stealthy, panther-like tread that breaks 

 no twig nor rustles the fallen leaves. His the eye that 

 reads at a glance the signs that to the ordinary sight are 

 a blank or at most are an untranslatable enigma. His a 

 patience that counts time as nothing when measured with 

 the object sought. 



When by the use and practice of these, he has drawn 

 within a closer range of his timid game than his brother 

 of the gun need attain, he pulls trigger of a weapon that 

 destroys not, but preserves its unharmed quarry in the 

 very counterfeit of life and motion. 



The wild world is not made the poorer by one life for 

 his shot, nor nature's peace disturbed , nor her nicely ad- 

 justed balance jarred. 



He bears home his game, wearing still its pretty ways 

 of life in the midst of its loved surroundings, the sway- 

 ing hemlock bough where the grouse perched, the bend- 

 ing ferns about the deer's couch, the dew-beaded sedges 

 where the woodcock skulks in the shadows of the alders, 

 the lichened trunks and dim vistas of primeval woods, 

 the sheen of voiceless waterfalls, the flash of sunlit waves 

 that never break. 



His trophies the moth may not assail. His game 

 touches a finer sense than the palate possesses, satisfies a 

 nobler appetite than the stomach's craving, and furnishes 

 forth a feast that, ever spread, ever invites, and never 

 palls upon the taste. 



Moreover, this gentlest of sportsmen is hampered by no 



restrictions of close time, nor confronted by penalties of 

 trespass. All seasons are open for his bloodless forays, 

 all woods and waters free to his harmless weapon. 



Neither is he trammeled by any nice distinctions as to 

 what may or may not be considered game. 



Everything counts in his score. The eagle on his 

 craggy perch, the highhole on his hollow tree are as 

 legitimate game for him as the deer and grouse. 



All things beautiful and wild and picturesque are his, 

 yet he kills them not, but makes them a living and 

 enduring joy, to himself and all who behold them. 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 In our fishing columns Mr. J. S. Van Cleef advances 

 an interesting theory to account for the diminished flow 

 of mountain streams in the East. The explanation com- 

 monly accepted is that after the mountains have been 

 denuded of their timber and the humus which acts as a 

 storage reservoir, the water is no longer held back for 

 gradual discharge, but rushes down in an impetuous 

 flood to be succeeded by dry creek beds. This explana- 

 tion does not involve a lessened precipitation, but an 

 inadequate storage of the moisture. Mr. Yan Cleef's 

 theory, however, ascribea the scarcity of water flow not 

 to rapid drainage, but to a change in the original source 

 of supply. Our trout brooks, he suggests, are drying up, 

 because the winds from the west are no longer laden 

 with moisture as in the past. Mr. Van Cleef has been 

 familiar with the country of which he writes for thirty 

 years, the facts stated by him are not open to question: 

 and his theory to account for them is worthy of atten- 

 tion. 



Two years and three months have elapsed since Del- 

 monico's fashionable restaurant, of this city, was caught 

 serving woodcock out of season ; and from what can be 

 learned, or rather from our inability to learn anything; 

 definitely about the case, the most reasonable supposition 

 is that District Attorney Delancey Nicoll has no intention 

 of trying it. Disgraceful as was the record of those who 

 shirked their duty in this case before it reached him, Mr. 

 Nicoll is proving himself the champion dilly-dallier of 

 them all. The new law of 1892 empowers the commis- 

 sioners, in their discretion to employ special counsel to 

 commence and maintain actions. After the experience 

 of this case, we may be sure that the next time the game 

 protectors catch a wealthy restaurateur serving game 

 out of season, no district attorney will be given a chance 

 to stand between the culprit and the law. 



With a tell-tale tan and a betraying bronze, Mr. 

 Henry P. Wells, of this city, has just returned from a 

 "good time" in the Maine woods, at the Parmachenee 

 Club, where he has spent six weeks in fishing, exploring 

 and mountain climbing. The warm weather in Maine 

 has been unduly prolonged this season; the temperature 

 of the trout streams has been unusually high, and the 

 big fish have refused to rise. But one need not listen to 

 Mr, Wells two minutes before discovering that for him 

 the pleasure of an outing is not to be measured by the 

 size or number of fish taken. Indeed, who shall begin to 

 analyze and catalogue a half of the many complex and 

 often subtle factors which go to make up a "good time," 

 as that expression is used by a professional man in the 

 woods. 



We have word of the death of Wm. F. Martin, on the 

 evening of the 3d inst., at the Saranac Lakes, N. Y. Mr. 

 Martin was the pioneer landlord in the Saranac Lake 

 region, Adirondacks, opening his hotel about 1853. He 

 will be kindly remembered by the many sportsmen who 

 visited the woods at that time. As a host he was always 

 obliging and interested in the success of his guests. 



*'It was not that I was not posted on the ways of fish, 

 and on fishing and on where fish were to be found," ex- 

 plained the returned fisherman; "I was thoroughly posted 

 in every particular, and so were the streams ; and that 

 was what was the matter. So I posted home." 



It is estimated by an English fox hunter that the cost 

 of keeping the 330 packs of hounds in Great Britain and 

 maintaining fox hunting requires an annual expenditure 

 of not less than $23,000,000. 



