470 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



iDbc. 1, 1893. 



VELOCITY OF SHOT. 



Berlin, Germany, Nov. 9.— Editor Foretst and Stream: 

 Mr. Noel Money's opinion, as expressed in his communi- 

 cation to the Forest and Stream of Oct. 27, and per- 

 taining to the availability of the chronograph for measur- 

 ing the velocity of shot, is quite to the point. He men- 

 tions as an interesting fact that the velocity of shot 

 discharged from a cold gun is lower than that from a 

 shot tired from a warm gun, and wishes to know if any 

 one can explain the cause for this phenomena. 



Velocity and gas jiressure are governed to a great 

 extent by the tension created by the gases in the barrel. 

 Cold barrels have a tendency to produce a chilling effect 

 on the gases and to diminish the tension in the barrel. 

 High tension generally is followed by a comparative high 

 velocity and high gas pressure if we reverse the order of 

 things, and as a sign of a high tension may be considered 

 a heavy recoil. 



Velocity is penetration, and if the former is below the 

 standard figures the latter will sm-ely prove insufficient. 

 All gunpowders, especially the nitrous compounds, will 

 produce a lower velocity in cold weather than in a higher 

 temi)erature. Hence sportsmen in this country who are 

 acquainted with these laws of nature increase their powder 

 charges during the cold season. 



If a certain charge of powder gives a satisfactory 

 velocity and penetration in summer or as long as Jack 

 Frost has not made his appearance, this charge must be 

 increased a little less than 10 per cent, of its weight 

 during cold weather, Such an increase is quite sufficient 

 to balance the influence of a low temperature upon all 

 gunpowders. Dampness also has a detrimental effect on 

 most explosives. The effect of moisture in the atmospheric 

 air should also be taken in consideration by the gunner. 

 Some powders absorb less moifture than others. Black 

 powder, for instance, is less affected by moisture than 

 many of the nitrous compounds. Among the latter class 

 the Walsrode smokeless powder shows the nearest ap- 

 proach in this respect to black powder, 



Armiht Tenner. 



WOUNDED DEER. 



Brewer, Me., Nov. 19.— I am glad to see that Mr. Dar- 

 ling writes on wounded deer. The best shot in the world 

 cannot get every deer which he kills when still-hunting 

 on bare ground. Having talked with those who together 

 have killed thousands, I judge that if one secures three- 

 fom-ths of those which are badly hit on bare ground 

 without using a dog, he is doing well. 



So many write of deer falling dead or "giving a convul- 

 sive spring, only to fall a lifeless mass, that many seem 

 to believe that this is the proper thing for a well trained 

 deer to do; but unfortunately most of the few it has been 

 ray lot to meet did not know what was expected of them. 

 While I have seen a good many drop at the shot, they 

 usually struggled some, and more than half of all I ever 

 saw shot ran from ten to forty rods and often had to be 

 nhot twice or tkree times at that, i have seen a small 

 deer go fully forty rods with one shoulder and whole 

 foreleg smashed, and two forty-six to the pound rountl 

 bails fairly through behind the shoulders. I have seen a 

 large buck with a ball weighing nearly an ounce, which 

 smashed the shoulder and passed fairly through the lower 

 end of the heart, go lOOyds. 



Many deer which go off badly wounded, and which on 

 anow would be recovered, cannot be followed on bare 

 ground, and eventually recover. I have skinned those 

 which bad been shot years before, and have taken a riile 

 ball from a deer's shoulder which passed through it and 

 was encysted near the skin. This same deer also had 

 several ribs broken by coarse shot, several of which I took 

 out which had passed clear through, lodging on the op- 

 posite side. As the rifle ball showed the creases plainly, 

 it was certain that two separate shots had been fired, and 

 probably with quite a long time between; but in spite of 

 these wounds the deer was very fat and showed no sign 

 of being injured. When one remembers how many 

 men in the late war recovered from wounds which every 

 one thought mortal, it is no wonder that many fairly hit 

 deer escape, and that some recover from wounds ^hich 

 would prove fatal to others. M. Hardy. 



A Good Retriever. 



SYRAcasE, N. y., Nov. 24.— Mr, John Venner. of Syra- 

 cuse, tells me this story of what he saw during a. recent 

 huntmg trip: It was at Little Sandy Pond, in Oswe<^o 

 county, and connected by water with Lake Ontario 

 when he wmged a broadbiU duck. The bird at once be- 

 gan to retreat by swimming toward the opposite side of 

 the pond, a mile or more away, occasionally diving to 

 elude further danger, but gradually approaching a still 

 more serious situation. Two eagles saw the almo<it help- 

 less wanderer, and at once resolved to secure a Tbanks- 

 giymg dinner. They circled around and above the duck 

 intently watching its progress, occasionally dipping to- 

 ward It as if to make a seizure, when the bird would dive 

 to evade the talons which were set to make it a prisoner. 

 As the bird paddled its way along, the attacks upon it 

 became more and more frequent, as if to worry the duck 

 and for twenty minutes it would hardly show its head 

 above the water before it was in imminent danger of be- 

 ing kidnapped. As often as it would go down it would 

 bob up serenely, untU the poor thing was half drowned, 

 and at an unguarded moment one eaele seized it, lifted 

 It trom the water, and choosing to float along with the 

 wind flew directly over the blind which Mr. Venner oc- 

 cupied, at an elevation beyond the reach of bis gun. But 

 he chanced a shot and was surprised and made happy by 

 the fact that the eagle at once released its prey, which 

 fell almost at his feet. The bird was still alive but badly 

 ^cOTated and bloody as a consequence of its unnatural 



Adirondack Rabbits, 



NORTHWOOD, N. Y., Nov. 37.-Few, very few, rabbits 

 We been killed on bare ground this year about North- 



S f ^ w,^ ^"^l ^5?^ ^Vhen the four inches 

 2 Ti ^fJ^^ ^^^^ted all the fall went out 



as usual, takmg their dogs with them. A party of three 

 men shot seven rabbits, ^ - 



r JJff?"°*r^ ^^I" ""^^^^y *° regular runways of 



rabbits as they do of deer- and foxes on bare groundf but 

 wait until snow falls and then go tramping through the 

 swamps until their dogs jump a rabbit, tlfen they go on 



their back track till they get to the rabbit runway they 

 crossed last, and stand there until they are most froze 

 waiting for the game to come to them. He does some- 

 times, but if the dog is too fast or too slow the rabbit 

 leads away to some other swamp or goes into some aban- 

 doned weodchuck hole. 



The hunting of rabbits is kept up as long as snow lasts. 

 The law would make little difference, except the rabbis 

 are told of in the store if killed legally and nothing said^f 

 billed out of season. Traps are not used in their capture. 

 The steel tran cuts a rabbit's leg nearly off' at the first 

 snap and the rabbit freed by its struggles to escap?. The 

 rabbits have not increased nor decreased perceptibly. 



Eaymond S. Spears. 



Without a Rival. 



The most perfect and best fciaipoed passenger train in tlie 

 country to-day is the famous JT. F. T. Limited, which runs solid 

 between nincinnati, Washington and New York via the , OheFa- 

 peake & Ohio Railway, aptly termed "the Rhine, the Alps and 

 the battlefield line." This train is Pullman huilt, vestibuled 

 throughout, lighted witb electricity from headlight to rear plat- 

 form, and heated with steam from the engine. The day coaches 

 are of the latest design, luxuriously furnished, with comfortable 

 seat?, elegantly upholstei-ed, separate toilet rooms and smoking- 

 apartment, and are looked aftenby pob'te and attentive porlers— 

 R. feature that cannot be overlooked by ladies traveling, alone. 

 The Pullman Sleepers are entirely new and marvels of beauty, 

 unrivaled in style, elegance and lusury; the dining cars, Pullman 

 built, but owned and operated by the company, have established 

 an enviable reputation, and altogether travelers by this train 

 have "very convenience, comfort and luxury that a modern hotel 

 can furnish.— ^du. 



Tlie FMi Laivs of the United States and Canada, in the 

 "Gmne Laim In Brief," 33 cents. In the "BoqTt, of the 

 Game Laws" {full text), 50 cents. 



GOOSE-FISH OR BELLOWS-FISH. 



This quaint and crafty angler has been aptly described 

 as a fish all head, the head all mouth, and the rdouth 

 hollow t© the top of the tail. Mr, Smillie, thf> well-known 

 photographer of the National Museum, once photographed 

 a specimen which fully justified the above rather loose 

 description. 



A representative of Forest and Stream was attracted 



GOOSEPISH, ANGLER. BET.T.OWSFISH, MONKFISH, FISHING 



FROG {LopMus jjiscatonus). 



to Mr. Blackford's quarter of Fulton Market recently by 

 the announcement of the arrival of a queer fish 6 ft. long 

 and with fishing rods on its head. Here is a picture of 

 what he saw; the fish shrunk materiallv before the re- 

 porter came on the scene, but is nevertheless an interest- 

 ing fellow and rejoices in many aliases. 



Following it down the coast from Maine to North Caro- 

 lina, it is recognized by fishermen as the monk-fish, 

 goose-fish, bellows-fish, molligut, and allmouth. Its 

 range extends to the other side of the Atlantic, where it 

 appears as the angler, frog-fish, fishing frog, mermaid 

 etc, etc. 



The goose-fish begins life in a veil-like gelatinous mass 

 of a purplish or brownish color, in which the numerous 

 eggs are thoroughly protected from birds and spawn-eat- 

 ing fish. The egg-envelope is about 1ft. in width and 

 oO or 40ft, long, and floats near the surface. It is a con- 

 spicuous object in the bays and sounds of New England 

 m summer, ° 



The young fish are occasionally taken at the surface, 

 but usually descend to the deep waters, where their 

 growth is rapid and the changes of shape remarkable. 

 The adults attain to the length of 4ft. and weisrh as 

 much as 401bp, ^ 



The goose-fish has little value in America as a food- 

 fish, but it is prized by Italians and some people of areat 

 Britain, It is an active destroyer of food fish, for whose 

 capture it lies hidden on sandy bottoms, presumably with 

 Its curious rod-hke cephalic spines bent forward, dang- 

 ling their terminal tufts to attract the prey into its 

 capacious mouth, where it is securely held by long and 

 sharp slender teeth, as irresistible as the teeth of a thresh- 

 ing machine. 



The shape of the fish and its adornment with tags and 

 fringes of skin around the head and along the lower edge 

 of the body give it great advantage in securing the nrev 

 especiaUy since its upper Furface is colored in imitation 

 pt rocks and sea weeds. Geese, loons and ducks have 

 been taken from the stomach of the goose-fish, which 

 sometimes seizes birds at the surface, and mackerel scul- 

 pms, sea-ravens, dog-fish, crabs, squids and lobsters' have 

 been observed m them by members of the U S Fish 

 Commission. Perhaps the climax of a ravenous appetite 

 was reached m those authentic records of gooose-fish 

 having swallowed lobst«>r-pot buoys and suffered captSe 

 by means of a boat anchor for a hook. "'"^^'^^^ capture 



ANGLING NOTES. 



Fish Breeding. 



A FEW weeks ago Land and Water contained a two- 

 column leading editorial article under the head of " Fish 

 Breeding," which would surprise a very large number of 

 people in this country if they could read it. In a word, 

 the writer of the article gave fish breeding by artificial 

 means a very, very black eye, and incidentally put a 

 very, very small poultice on it to relieve the hurt. The 

 article says, in brief, that the fish breeding season of 1892 

 is at hand, and angling clubs, boards of conservators, 

 fishery proprietors, etc., will order ova or fry, for, as a 

 rule, yearlings are too expensive a luxury. " We ven- 

 ture to think that, if intending purchasers are wise, they 

 will keep their money; for if they make the ordinary 

 purchase of so many thousands, and turn them out in the 

 usual way, the result is always the same — nothing. We 

 say most unhesitatingly that seventy-five per cent, of 

 the money spent on fish breeding is money wasted." 

 Where the writer gets his data for this rather startling 

 assertion there is no evidence given. Land, and Water 

 is a very excellent organ for the racehorse interests and 

 for liunting men; for 1 believe it speaks intelligently and 

 with authority upon both subjects. As a medium for 

 shooting men, too, it holds high rank, and its political 

 articles, I presume, are sound, and its theatrical and 

 society gOFsip satisfying to those interested in such 

 matters. Its articles upon fishing as a pastime have 

 not been given the prominence that is given to the 

 same subject in other journals, but so far as they 

 have gone I imagine they have satisfied the demands 

 of the clientage of the paper, I think there was a 

 time during the life of the late Frank Buckland when 

 Land and Water took an active and intelligent interest 

 in matters pertaining to fishculture. But why this 

 journal should now be competent to speak oracularly 

 upon the subject of artificial fishculture is not wholly 

 clear to me, judging as best I can from reading the 

 paper in the past, and more particularly from reading 

 the very article under consideration. After due reflec- 

 tion it would really seem as if the editor of the fishcul- 

 ture department was away judging at a dog show, or 

 riding to hounds, and the article had been written in his , 

 absence by the horse editor. Let me continue the eye- j 

 blacking; " But we always find persons who are ready! 

 to hatch a few ova, turn them out, and think of the great | 

 and wonderful things they have done for the stream, 1 

 while in reality all they have don has befen to waste a I 

 certain amount of money. * * * It cannot be too-f 

 strongly impressed on those who think of turning down 

 a few trout that they could employ their money better, 

 and that the spasmodic attempts to improve our fisheries i 

 that are made from time to time by well-intentioned i 

 people are useless."' 



It will please be noticed that it is old Mr. Pessimist 

 himself who pushes the pen in that paragraph, for hei 

 could not trust any of the " subs" to do the subject 

 j ustice. 



But there is more of it: "For instance, a man will say 

 that he or his club havp done so much tor a stream; they 

 have turned down 10,000 fry— that is to say, the produce 

 of some fifteen trout. * * Out of the 10,000 in ques- 

 tion it is doubtful if 100 ever reach the stage of year- 

 lings; it is not mere death they have to dread " (probably 

 at this point the snake editor is taking a hack at it, and. 

 besides •' mere death " the poor fish dread chills and fever^ 

 and indigestion). " It is the hundreds of enemies with 

 which an uncultivated river abounds, the change of tem- 

 perature, the difficulty of getting food and the struggles, 

 that beset them. If any one takes the trouble to look afe 

 the enormous number of fry and fish he can see in a 

 stream, and the very small quantity of adult fish, he will 

 begin to realize how utterly absurd it is to hope by simply 

 turning down so many fry to really improve a river.": 

 Mr, Editor, is there not an old nursery rhyme about a 

 wiser and greater than Solomon arriving in town, and 

 some of the outfit were in rags, and some struggled with, 

 jags — not Solomon, for he was a prohibitionist, or have' 

 I confused two rhymes V Anyway, when I. read what I 

 have last quoted the indications pointed to the arrival of 

 a greater than Solomon, and that there was imminent) 

 danger of his giving himself away, I admit that a, 

 change of temperature to some fishes may prove more^ 

 fatal than "mere death," but then there is Florida andi 

 the Riviera for such of them as can afford it, and the< 

 water can be heated or iced for such as cannot, and all 

 things considered, I think in time artificially hatchedi 

 fish will take kindly to water and live in it, even if it 

 does not agree in temperature with what they think it 

 should be. Perhaps the most amazing count in the indict^ 

 ment is the admission that "enormous numbers of fry" 

 can be seen in these streams where it is absurd to plant 

 them. Fishculture has not yet arrived at that degree of 

 perfection where two-pound trout can be hatched from 

 the egg; and I do not know of any species of trout that 

 upon arriving at an adult age are in the habit of coming 

 out on the bank and forming in ranks to be inspected 

 and coimted. Enormous numbers of trout fry in a 

 stream would appear to be the best possible indication of 

 success in stocking the stream, provided they escaped 

 " mere death," which, by the way, they do not have to 

 dread; and in all probability, when such fish have passed 

 the Ferious ills of infancy, like " changes of tempera- 

 ture " and the " struggles that beset them," and have ar- 

 rived at an age of discretion, they would retire to haunts 

 of seclusion, as it is the nature of such fish to do. 



Having quoted much of the arraignment, which II 

 called a black eye to fishculture, it is but fair that II 

 quote what I called the poultice, and here it is, spread 

 very thin: " We are not denying that under certain con- 

 ditions artificial breeding had done and will do very 

 great good to a river, but the cases where this happens 

 are few." This seems to contradict in a measure what 

 preceded it, and perhaps I was mistaken in saying that 

 Solomon was a prohibitionist. There is one theory thatj 

 I nearly passed over, and that is the statement that' 

 10,000 trout fry turned down by the well intentionedi 

 people are " the produce of some fifteen trout." I find 

 no fault with the figures, for fifteen trout may spawn 

 anywhere from 3,000 to 30,000 eggs, depending upon 

 their weight and condition, but in this connection there 

 is an assumption in the article that it is better to breed J 

 fish naturally than it is to breed them artificially. I 

 wonder if the writer of the article knows how many- 

 fry would have been produced from fifteen trout hatched' 

 naturaUy f He says 10,000 by artificial means, and fish 



