Forest AND Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, S 



i A Ybab. 10 Cts. a Copy. ) 

 Six Months, $3. ( 



NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 17, 1892. 



1 VOL, XXXIX.— No. 20 



( No. 318 Broadwat, Netv York 



CONTElfTS. 



Edttorial, 



Thp Camp at Daybreak, 

 A New Code for Vermont. 

 Fish Baskets and Poor Fish- 

 ing. 

 Snap Shots. 



The Sportsman Tourist. 



In West Virgingi'a Mountains. 



Natural History. 



More About Hie Scream. 

 The Canada Lynx. 



Game Bag and Gun. 



The Prairie Chicken. 



Notes of the Season. 



A November Tramp i n Indiana 



New Hampshire Deer. 



Grouse in South Dakota. 



Denver Notes. 



In a Maine Hunter's Camp. 



Loading: for Game. 



Chicago and the West. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



Maine Black Bass Season. 

 Feminine Success in Trouting. 

 Susquehanna Observations. 

 The P'ke-Peroh. 

 Angling Notes. 



The Kennel. 



New England Field Trials. 

 U. S. Field Trials Club's Field 

 Trials. 



International Field Trial Club 

 Mitchell Coursing Meet. 

 The Great Bend Meeting. 

 Brunswick Fur Club Trials. 

 Points and Flushes. 

 Flaps from the Beaver's Tail. 

 Dog Chat. 



Answers to Correspondents. 



Yachting. 

 Rambler. 



American Model Y. C. 

 The Deed of Gift. 



Canoeing. 



In a Rowing Boat.— II. 

 News Notes. 



Rifle Range and Gallery. 



South London Rifle Club. 



Trap Shooting. 

 Altoona Shoot. 

 Interstate Association. 

 Matches and Meeting?. 



Answers to Queries. 



For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page v. 



THE CAMP AT DAYBREAK. 



It is still night. In the darkness not a sound can be 

 heard, save now and then the stamp of a horse's hoof on 

 the frozen ground, or, faintly, their plucking of the grass, 

 for the horses begin to feed early. The sounds of the 

 middle night are hushed. The owls long ago stopped 

 their hooting, and now on noiseless wing are making their 

 last hunting rounds before the day shall come. 



Within the lodge it is darker than without. Oq the 

 ground in the middle can be seen a pale shadow — the 

 white ashes of the long cold lire; above, through the 

 smoke hole is a patch of sky less black than the invisible 

 inclosing walls, and in this bit of the heavens shine two 

 stars. In a circle about the fireplace are shapeless white 

 masses — the sleeping forms of men. They are silent and 

 motionless. 



Now on the still air very faintly is heard a distant tone 

 of music; a sweet whistle, at first low, rising and falling, 

 then gradually becoming more distinct. It comes nearer 

 and nearer until it fills the air all about, then passing on, 

 recedes, grows fainter, till at last the sound is lost. The 

 wild ducks are flying. From the lake comes a far ofi: 

 trumpet note, and then another— the mellow call of the 

 wild geese. The world is awaking. The day is near. 



The stars which looked in at the smoke hole are paling 

 now. Upon the horizon in the east lies a line of gray, 

 which slowly broadens and makes twilight where all 

 before was dark. The outlines of the tree trunks are 

 seen standing like ghosts reaching out shadowy arms, as 

 if feeling their way through the dimness. The chirp and 

 flutter of migrating birds that through the night slept in 

 the low bushes begin to be heard. 



As the light grows, dusky shapes appear in the little 

 park behind the camp— the horses feeding. Close to the 

 •lodge door, the two dogs are curled up in the grass, still 

 asleep. Their long black coats are white here and there 

 with frost, and in their sleep their muscles twitch as they 

 shiver from the cold; yet their rest is sound. 



Day is at hand. Now a stir is heard within the lodge. 

 There are muffled grunts and groans, a yawn or two, the 

 rustling of clothing, then the faint sound of footsteps, 

 and suddenly the pale glare of a match—increasing to a 

 little glow as the shavings catch, and then to a bright 

 flicker which lights up the whole lodge as the larger 

 sticks take fire and crackle, and white smoke and a few 

 sparks float from the smoke hole. Soon the door of the 

 lodge is thrown back. A man steps out and looks about, 

 yawns and shivers. He breaks the ice in the water 

 bucket and pours some in a basin. Others in the lodge 

 are getting up, Voices are heard. The men of the camp 

 pass in and out at the door. Some prepare breakfast, 

 others busy themselves about the packs and lash the 

 bundles. Two of them build a corral of ropes about 

 three trees, and then start off to drive in the horses. 

 Soon these are seen coming toward the camp. The men 

 spread themselves out and drive the animals into the in- 

 olosure, where they are caught and tied up. While this 

 is being done the call to breakfast is heard. 



Meantime, the light has spread itself over all the 

 heavens. In the east the streaky clouds have flushed to 

 deep red and paled again to richest gold. To the west 

 the snow-clad mountains are wrapped in. a gai-ment of 



rose. Looking again toward the east, the limb of the 

 sun appears over the prairie ridge. The day has come. 



A NEW CODE FOB VERMONT. 

 The Vermont Fish Commissioners, Messrs. John W 

 Titcomb and Charles C. Warren, have prepared and sub- 

 mitted to the Legislature a codification of the game and 

 fish laws of the State. Without taking into considera 

 tion the merits of all the specific provisions of 'the bill 

 it is not too much to say that the enactment of a new 

 statute in such form as here proposed would mean an 

 advance of ten years for the game and fish interests of 

 the Green Mountain State. It is an old story, and most 

 of us know to our cost how the obscurities and blind 

 statements and conflicting provisions of our protective 

 legislation often prevent a popular understanding of 

 what the law means. The very first requirement of a 

 fish or game law is that it be intelligible, understood by 

 the people, the common, every-day average man, who is 

 not versed in legal technicalities nor trained to interpret 

 statutes about the meaning of which, as in the case of 

 the Vermont six-inch trout law, even public prosecuting 

 officers entertain a difference of opinion. If the public 

 is expected to respect and observe a statute, the public 

 must understand the statute, and without paying attor- 

 ney's fees to have it explained. To make the game law 

 plain is to promote its efficiency. The Vermont laws as 

 now on the statute books are not clear. To overcome 

 the diificulty, to put the law into such simple, direct, 

 intelligible form that there may be no mistaking it, has 

 been the endeavor of the framers of the new bill. It 

 may be explained, for the benefit of others engaged in a 

 like undertaking, that the Commissioners and the Game 

 Law Committee of the Legislature supplied themselves 

 with copies of the Book of the Game Laivs for the pur- 

 pose of a study of the legislation of other States, and they 

 appear to have followed closely the new code adopted by 

 New York, As is well known, the New York law was the 

 result of the work of a special codification commission 

 charged by the Legislature with the task of reducing to 

 a clear and consistent code the chaotic accumulation 

 and accretions of years of bungling and tinkering with 

 the statutes. While the New York law is not perfect in 

 all details, it is a model of arrangement, and affords an 

 excellent standard for the work of similar commissions 

 elsewhere, and Vermont has done well to adopt it. 



The Commissioners deserve full credit for their intelli- 

 gent work in this direction; and every friend of the 

 State will share our wish that the bill may be approved. 



FISH BASKETS AND POOR FISHING. 

 The old, old struggle against illegal fishing is still pro- 

 gressing in Pennsylvania. Fish Commissioner Powell 

 has sent us from Harrisburg a statement of the difficulties 

 experienced by Fish Warden Enos Moyer in destroying 

 fish baskets, nets, and outlines which line the Susque- 

 hanna between Muncy and Lock Haven. A spot which 

 is practically favorable for the illegal fisherman and 

 especially fatal to game fish is at the junction of Loyal- 

 sock Creek with the Susquehanna. Here the unlawful 

 implements have been destroyed many times, yet they 

 are constantly renewed, and the warden finds it im- 

 possible to get sympathy and assistance in performing 

 his duty. The warden continued his work down the 

 river as far as Harrisburg, and removed a great many 

 nets. 



The wings or stone dams forming adjuncts to the fish 

 baskets have been repeatedly pulled down, only to be re- 

 placed as soon as the officer's back is turned. The 

 Juniata, the Susquehanna, and the tributaries of both 

 rivers are full of these illegal obstructions to the free 

 movements of fish, and many of the wardens are un- 

 willing to remove them and prosecute their owners. 



The natural and inevitable consequence of such fish- 

 ing is a scarcity of fish. Fishermen are dissatisfied with 

 the existing regulations, and are now preparing amend- 

 ments which they hope to introdtice into the fish laws at 

 the next session of the Legislature. Some of them want 

 to use the deadly outline, and others are clamoring for 

 an extension of the trout season from April 1 to August 1, 

 instead of April 15 to July 15, as the present excellent 

 law stands. The Fish Protective Association will have 

 to be on the alert to defeat these threatened dangers to 

 the already precarious future of the brook trout, black 

 bass, and pike-perch. What with the pollution of the 

 streams by mine and miU refuse, and the lax administra- 



tion of existing law, the fish are having a hard struggle 

 to maintain themselves, and improved fishing is out of 

 the question, 



The destructive qualities of flsh baskets and outlines 

 are denied by no one who has a grain of sense, yet their 

 employment is made possible through sympathy with 

 the law breakers and fear of incurring their enmity. 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 Now THAT the Columbus celebration has been forgotten 

 in the excitement of the national campaign, and the 

 election itself has receded into the past, the " time is 

 ripe " for Assistant District Attorney Townsend to con- 

 sider the practicability of bringing that notorious Del- 

 monico woodcock case to trial. When the new calendar 

 of the City Court was made up last summer, this case 

 was left off from it entirely. But thanks to Game Pro- 

 tector Kidd, it has been restored, and is numbered 2009. 

 There are something less than one thousand cases ahead 

 of it, so that in the regular course it would be reached 

 some time next year. It should be tried in 1892. Dis- 

 trict Attorney De Lancey NicoU has stated that it was 

 his wish to have the Delmonico case disposed of as soon 

 as practicable. Might he not instruct Mr. Townsend to 

 move for an advancement of the cause ? It is probable 

 that the Court would accede to such a motion if the facts 

 were duly set forth that this case dates from the summer 

 of 1890 ; that its obstruction in the district attorneys' 

 offices of two counties has been watched with impatience 

 by the sportsmen of the State ; and that as the evidence 

 is strong for the People there is little likelihood that the 

 actual trial will consume much of the Court's time. 



A Pennsylvania ferret breeder, whose communication 

 id printed on another page, represents that the use of 

 ferrets in rabbit hunting does not exterminate the supply 

 as is usually contended, but fosters it. He accounts for 

 this fact — if fact it be — by a theory which is plausible 

 enough. We believe that it is a matter of record that 

 the supply of skunks in a certain region in Connecticut 

 was once largely increased when the Shakers set to work 

 to trap the animals for their fur: and the same rule has 

 been found to hold elsewhere. The law against ferrets 

 is based on a belief in the exterminating effects of ferret- 

 ing. It would be interesting to know how far the Penn- 

 sylvania ferret man's theory is borne out by observation 

 in other localities. For that matter what place does the 

 rabbit (or hare) hold in popular estimation as a game ani- 

 mal? How is it looked upon by the average gunner, by 

 which is meant the bird shooter? In some States, as in 

 New York, the rabbit has no protection by law. 



The political campaign brought out a lot of talk about 

 wildcat currency, and there were reminiscenses galore of 

 the good old days when we had to refer to "Thompson's 

 Bank Note Detector" to determine whether a bill was 

 genuine or not. Now that the campaign is over it may 

 be pointed out that we need to-day not so much a wild- 

 cat currency detector as a wildcat and panther yarn de- 

 tector, to distinguish the true from the counterfeit. Nine ' 

 out of ten of the newspaper tales of ferocious panthers 

 that lug off women and devour babies are lies of the bald- 

 est character, and while they may shed luster upon the 

 imaginative ability of those who get them up, they do 

 ittle credit to the sagacity of the editors who pay "special" 

 tolls on them. 



By means of subscriptions from scientific societies 

 and private donations, a marine biological laboratory has 

 been established at Bergen, Norway, under the direction, 

 of Doctor J. Brunchorst. Biological science is already 

 deeply indebted to Norway and will receive still further 

 assistance from this new center of investigation. 



The panther's scream is an old subject, but we've never 

 had so much fun out of it. Nor more interesting stories 

 of actual personal observation and experience. The old- 

 est, most thread-bare and bygone topics take on new life 

 and interest when discussed and illuminated by the host 

 of bright Forest and Stream contributors. 



The convention of the executive committee of the New 

 York State Association for the Protection of Fish and 

 Game in Syracuse to-day affords every promise of being 

 well attended by delegates representing all sections of 

 the State and sincerely interested in,!the serious work of 

 the organization, 



