Forest and Stream: 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, S4 a Teab. 10 Cts. a Copy, i 

 Six Months, $3. ( 



CONTENTS. 



NEW YORK, JANUARY 12, 1893. 



VOL. XL.— No. 3. 



. 338 Broadway, New York. 



Editorial. 



Familiar Acquaiutauoe.-;. 

 The Eeservation of AfugLLa.k, 



The Sportsman Tourist. 



On Ru.ssian River. 

 On the Pampas of Bntre Eios. 

 K!is.sininiee. Caloosa, Okeechobee 

 The Parli Scheme. 



Natural History. 



A Cauarta Wolf is Lefin and 



Htuigry. 

 Double- Ai-niored Herrings, 



Game Bag and Gun. 



Another Story of the Ozarks. 

 Sotue New Brunswick Traps, 

 Our '92 Northern Missoui-i Hunt. 

 Small Rifles and Big CTame. 

 A Suggested -True Test." 

 yiv. Brown's Deer. 

 The Maine Deer Supply. 

 An Encounter with a Deer. 

 Black Ducks from a Battery.' 

 Trees and Men. 

 Maine Game. 

 Chicago and the West- 

 Pennsylvania Protection. 

 A Gfrizzly in the Gloaming. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



The Metabetchoiian Winninish. 

 On the North Shore.— i. 

 The Barnyard Hackle Wins. 

 A Trout Pool. 



Mechanicsville Fishway Affau-. 

 AngUng Notes. 



Fishculture. 



List of Fish Cornniissioners. 



The Kennel. 



Gloversville Dog Show. 

 Curing a Gunsh^- Dog. 

 Points and Fhis'hes. 

 Dog Chat. 



Answers to CorrespondeJits. 

 Yachting. 



Ice-Bound. 



New Watson Yachts. 



Jacob E. Buekhout. 



Measurement Rules. 



Yacht Buildiug. 



The Dutch Boier Elizabetli. 



Canoeing. 



Ahimiuuni and Alumituuu Boats. 

 Royal C. C. 



, Atlantic Division Meet. 

 The W. C. A. Winter Banquet. 

 News Notes. 



Rifle Range and Gallery. 



Denver Riflemen. 



Trap Shooting. 



Newark vs. Parlnva}". 

 Southside Gun Club. 

 ■'Jack Rabbit" Shoot at Roches- 

 ter. 



AVesteru Traps. 

 Drivers and Twisters. 



Answers to Queries. 



-Fo/' Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page V. 



THE RESERVATION OF AFOGNAK. 



The establishment of marine preserves for the protec- 

 tion and increase of valuable aquatic animals has been 

 advocated by Forest and Stream ever since these aids to 

 the existence of the walrus, sea Uon, seals, sea otter and 

 salmon were first suggested. In our numbers of April 23, 

 April 30 and May 21, 1891, will be fomid discussions of the 

 subject, both editorially and by arious zoologists who are 

 familiar with the requirements of such institutions. 



In 1889 Cou.gress directed Commissioner SIcDonald to 

 investigate the habits, abundance and distribution of the 

 Alaslsan salmon and the conditions and methods of the 

 fisheries, with the view of recommending legislation to 

 instire the permanence of the fishing industry. Dr. Bean 

 was placed in charge of the exialoration and was accom- 

 panied by Messrs. Livingston Stone and Franklin Booth, 

 of California, and Mr. Robert Lewis, of Washington. 



During the course of the mvestigations Messrs, Booth 

 and Sf one were detached for a visit to Afognak, to deter- 

 mine the possibilities of conducting a sahnon hatching 

 establishment on that island. They were favorably im- 

 pressed with the advantages of Afognak River and lake, 

 and made reports upon the region which were utilized in 

 the general report of the exploration and published in 

 1890. 



At the NeAV York meeting of the American Fisheries 

 Society in May, 1892, was read, a paper in which Mr. Stone 

 definitely proposed the conA'crsion of Afognak Island into 

 a national salmon reservation. This article was published 

 soon after by Forest and Stream, from which jouriial it 

 was quoted by Commissioner McDonald in his second re- 

 port on the Alaskan Salmon Fisheries during the same 

 year. 



The importance of the plan became manifest to the 

 President, and he directed the Secretarj^ of the Interior 

 and the Commissioner of Fisheries to iuA^estigate the sub- 

 ject and report upon its feasibilit}^ under the law. They 

 found. that he had the authority to make the reservation, 

 and m-ged liim to do so. 



The President, therefore, issued a proclamation on Dec. 

 34, 1892, reserving for timber and fishculture purposes the 

 island of Afognak, Alaska, and its adjacent rocks and ter- 

 ritorial waters, mcluding the Sea Lion rocks and Sea Otter 

 Island. Tlie Commissioner of Fisheries has chosen Afog- 

 nak Bay and the river and lake of the same name, together 

 with tlie tributaries of the river and lake and one mile of 

 land from the shores of the river and lake, for the pur- 

 poses of fishculture. 



The salmon canneries on the bay wfil be vacated, but 

 the natives will retain whatever fishing rights they had 

 duiing the Russian occupation. It is hoped that several 

 important marine species including tlie sea otter may be 

 preserved on this reservation, and there is no doubt that 

 the half dozen or more kinds of salmon and trout that 

 now abound in Afognak River wiU be saved from ex- 

 termination, and will soon raGreaae the supplies of tlie 

 Burrouinling region . 



Fvom fee aecou»K of Messrs, $t»»e-and Booth, w&leain 



that Afognak (or Litnik) River, is admirably adapted to 

 salmon hatching, being near a safe li arbor in a region 

 A\'hei-e skilled Itibor is cheap, abounding witli fairly good 

 timber, and visited by salmon and trout in large numbers. 

 Moreover, the river is not subject to great changes of 

 leA^el and will furnish ample supply of AA'ater by gravity. 



The President, at the suggestion of the Interior Depart- 

 ment and the Fisli Commission, has by a stroke of his pen 

 efl'ected an object, the importance of Avhich cannot easily 

 be over-estimated. 



FAMILIAR ACQUAINTANCES. 



the ruffed GROUSE. 



The woods in the older jjarts of our countiy possess 

 scarcety a trait of the primeval forest. The oldest trees 

 haA^e a comparatively youtliful appearance, and are pig- 

 mies in girth beside the decaying stumps of their giant 

 ancestors. They are not so shagged with moss nor so 

 scaled with lichens. The forest floor has lost its ancient 

 carpet of ankle-deep moss and the intricate maze of fallen 

 trees in every stage of decay, and looks clean-swept and 

 bare. The tangle of undergroAvth is gone, many of the 

 species which composed it having quite disa,ppeared, as 

 have many of the animals that flourished in the perennial 

 shade of the old Avoods. 



If in their season one sees and hears more birds among 

 their loAver interlaced branches, he is not likely to catch 

 sight or sound of many of the denizens of the old wilder- 

 ness. No startled deer bounds away before him nor bear 

 shuffles awkwardly from his feast of mast at one's ap- 

 proach, nor does one's flesh creep at the howl of the gath- 

 ering wolves or the panther's scream or the mstle of his 

 stealthy footsteps. 



But as you satinter on your devious way yovi may hear 

 a rustle of quick feet in the dry leaves before you, and a 

 sharp, insistant cry, a succession of short, high-pitched 

 clucks' running into and again out of a querulous 

 ''ker-r-r-7',"^ all expressing warning as mu(;h as alarm. 

 Your ears guide your eyes to the exact point from which 

 the sounds apparently come, but if they are not keen and 

 weU trained, they fail to detach any animate form from 

 the inanimate dun and gray of dead leaves and under- 

 bi'ush. 



With startling suddenness out of the monotony of life- 

 less color in an eddying flurry of dead leaves, fanned to 

 erratic flight by his Aving-beats, the ruffed grouse bursts 

 into view in full fliglit Avith the first strokes of his thimd- 

 ering pinions, and you have a brief vision of untamed 

 nature as it was in the old days. On either side of the 

 vanishing brown nebula the ancient mossed and lichened 

 trunks rear themselves again, aboA^e it their lofty ramage 

 veils the sky, beneath it lie the deep, noiseless cushion of 

 moss, shrubs and plants that the old wood-rangers knew 

 and the moose browsed on and the tangled trunks of 

 fallen trees. You almost fancy that you hear the long- 

 ago silenced voices of the Avoods, so vividly does this wild 

 spirit for an instant conjtire up before you a vision of the 

 old wild world whereof he is a surAdval. 



Acquaintance with civilized man has not tamed him, 

 but made Mm the wilder. He deigns to feed upon yom* 

 apple tree buds and buckwheat and woodside clover, not 

 as a gift, but a begrudged compensation for what you 

 have taken from him, and gives you therefor not even 

 the thanks of famiharity, and notwithstanding his ac- 

 quaintance with generations of your race he will not 

 suffer you to come so near to liim as he Avould your 

 grandfather. 



If, Avhen the leaves are failing, you find him in yoiu- 

 barnyard, garden or out-house, or on your porch, do not 

 think he has any intention of associating with you or 

 your plebian poultry. You can only wonder Avhere he 

 found refuge from the painted shower when all his world 

 was wooded. 



If he invites your attendance at his drum solo it is 

 only to fool you with the sight of an emptj-- stage, for 

 you must be as stealthy and keen-eyed as a lynx if you 

 see his proud display of distended ruff and Avide spread 

 of barred tail and accelerated beat of wings that mimic 

 thunder, or see even the leafy curtain of his stage flut- 

 ter in the wind of his swift exit. 



How the definite recognition of his motionless form 

 evades you, so perfectly are his colors merged into those 

 of his environment, whether it be in the flush gi-eenness 

 of summer, the painted hues of autumn or its later faded 

 dun and gxay, or in the whiteness of %viater. Among one 

 Qr^\]x^ other U§ is ]m% a pJot of dead leaves, a knot upon 



branch, the gray stumi^ of a saphng proti'uding from the 

 snow, or covered tleep in the unmarked whiteness, he 

 bursts from it like a mine exploded at your feet, leaving 

 you agape till he has A'anished from j^our sight and your 

 ears have caught the last flick of his wings against the dry 

 branches. 



In May, his mate sits on her nest, indistinguishable 

 a,mong tlie lirown leaves and gray branches about herself. 

 Later wJien you surprise her with her brood, hoAv con- 

 spicuous she makes lierself, fluttering and staggermg 

 along tlie ground, while her callow chicks, old in cunnmg 

 thottgjj so \aie\j their eyes first beheld the world, scatter- 

 ing in every direction like a shattered globule of quick- 

 silver ai.id magically disappearing whei-e there is no ap- 

 parent hiding-place. 



Did they con the first lesson of safety in the dark cham- 

 ber of the egg, or absorb it with the warmth of the brood- 

 ing breast that gave them life? 



Listen , and out of the silence which f oUows the noisj^ 

 dispersion of the family you wiU. hear the Ioav sibilant 

 A'oice of the mother calling her children to her or caution- 

 ing them to continued hiding, and perhaps you may see 

 her alertly skulking among the underbntsh still uttering 

 that tender, persuasive cry, so faint that the chirp of a 

 cricket might OA^erbear it. 



Scatter her brood Avhen the members are half grown and 

 almost as strong of Aving as herself, and you presently 

 hear her softly calling them and assuring them of her con- 

 tinued care. 



With many other things that make you aware of the 

 clian ging season, you note the dispersion of this wildwood 

 family. Each member is now shifting for itself in mat- 

 ters of seeking food, safety, pleasm-e and comfort. 



You will come upon one in the ferny undergTowth of 

 the lowland woods where he is consorting with woodcock, 

 frighten another from iiis feast on the fenceside elder- 

 berries, scare one in the tluck shadows of the evergreens, 

 another on the sparsely wooded steep of a rocky hillside, 

 and later hear the drum beat of a young cock that the soft 

 Indian summer has fooled into springtime love-making, 

 and each has the alertness tliat complete self-dependence 

 has enforced. 



Stni, you may come ivpon them gathered in social 

 groups, yet each going his own way when flushed. Upon 

 rare occasions you may surprise a grand convention of all 

 the grouse of the region congregated on. the sunny lee of 

 a hillside. 



It is a sight and sound to remember long, though for 

 the moment you forget the gxm m yom- hands, when by 

 ones, twos and dozens the dusky forms burst away up 

 wind, doAvn wind, across wind, signallmg theii* departure 

 with volleys of intermittant and continuous thunder. 

 Not many times in yom- life will you see this, yet if but 

 once, you will be thankful that you have not outlived all 

 the old workl's wildness. 



It is reported that the Maine Legislatm-e will be asked 

 to consider a.n amendment of the game law, providing for 

 anon-resident license. fee to be exacted from citizens of 

 other States who may visit the Maine woods for shooting 

 or fishing. This schetne may have originated Avith some 

 genius who thinks he sees in it added rcA'cnue for his fel- 

 low citizens, who make a very handsome thing now out 

 of summer and autumn tourist travel, or it may be an out- 

 cropping of a long-standmg and loersistent natural preju- 

 dice some folks entertain against foreigners, and its pur- 

 pose prohibitory. The Commissioners are manifestly not 

 in favor of the plan, if we may accept the statement of 

 the fii-st quoted paragraph of their report on page 30 as 

 expressive of theu* views. Not to mention the unconstitu- 

 tional aspect, there are ten good reasons to forbid the 

 adoption of a Maine non-resident law to one plausible 

 reason for it; and Ave do not beUeve that the proposition 

 Avill ever be given serious consideration at Augusta. 



The fij-st annual meeting of the reorganized New York 

 State Association for the Protection of Fish and Game wUI 

 meet m Syracuse to-day. The Pennsylvania State Sports- 

 men's Association is marshalling its forces for reform and 

 progress. Teimessee sportsmen are falling into line with 

 a sensible demand for a State law without county excep- 

 tions. The recent IMinneapolis convention of commission- 

 ers and game Avardens representmg six States, to consider 

 the attainment of uniform laAvs, was the begirffiiiig of i\ 

 movemerit whic]i ig f\ijl of prgo^se, 



