Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copt. I 

 Six Months, $2. ( 



NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 189S. 



j VOL. XLI.-N0. 6. 



( No. 318 Broadway, Nkw York. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



Signs of the Season. 



The Adirondack Deer Season. 



Snap Shots. 



The Sportsman Tourist. 



Danvis Folks.— xi. 

 A Disciple of Old Py. 



Natural History. 



Pearls in the United States, 

 "Podgers's" Commentaries. 



Game Bag and Gun. 



An American Proof House. 

 The Game of Ventura. 

 A Clo.se Call. 

 Chicago and the West. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



Fishing About Cape May Penin- 

 sula. 



New California Fishes. 

 Lake Wentworth Bass. 

 Trout Fishing in the Skagit. 



Fishcultnre. 



Trout and Trout Waters. 

 The Kennel. 



Appointment of Substitute 



Judges. 

 Foxhounds in the South. 

 The New A. K. C. Rules. 



The Kennel. 



Advisory Committee Meeting. 

 Flaps from the Beaver's Tall. 

 Points and Flushes. 

 Dog Chat. 

 Kennel Notes. 



Answers to Correspondents. 



Yachting. 



New YorkY. C. Cruise. 

 Model Yacht Racing. 

 The Isle of Wight Races. 

 Satanita. 

 News Notes. 



Canoeing. 



A Day's Sail. 

 A. C A. Meet. 

 Chicago C. C. Calamity. 

 News Notes. 



Rifle Range and Gallery. 



A Bisley Interview. 



New York Central Corps Prize 



Shoot. 

 Rifle Notes. 



Trap Shooting. 



Manufacturers at Wheeling. 

 Highland Gun Club. 

 Matches and Meetings. 

 Drivers and Twisters. 



Answers to Queries. 



For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page viii. 



The Forest and Stream is put to press 

 on Tuesdays. Correspondence intended for 

 publication should reach us by Mondays and 

 as much earlier as may be practicable. 



SIQm OF THE SEASON. 

 The early warnings of approaching autumn are upon 

 us. Already, a month ago, the tops of the chestnut trees 

 had begun to be patched with masses of long feathery fila- 

 ments, shining white against the dark green leaves. Slowly 

 the clusters of whiteness yellowed and turned brown, a.nd 

 when their work was done they fell to earth to carpet the 

 green grass with slender shriveled stems. Now on the 

 tips of the great trees' twigs hang the tiny rough balls, 

 which, after nature shall have completed the changes, 

 wrought by her mysterious alchemy, will, at the coming 

 of the early frosts, open their prickly fingers and shower 

 down on the withering grass the shining nuts, dearest to 

 the vagrant small boy and the hungry squirrel, but valued 

 also by nutters of larger size. 



mutterings, confidentially exchanged between a few 

 speakers who are far apart, but later rising to a shrill 

 chorus from the contentious multitude who with angry 

 contradiction give each other the lie all through the 

 lengthening night. Six weeks before the first frost, we 

 are told, the first katydids are heard — and the time for 

 them is almost here. 



The fall of the chestnut blossoms is no great event in 

 nature, but it is full of suggestion. No sudden change 

 follows it, for a time. The weather is only a little hotter, 

 the air only a little more lifeless, the dust in the roads a 

 little deeper and drier, the leaves of the trees a little 

 duller and dirtier. But we know that a change is going 

 on. The half -hour of the year has struck. Since mid- 

 winter all the wonderful forces of nature, those mysteri- 

 ous old but ever new processes which have been working 

 under our eyes, have been tending toward life, growth, 

 increase. The long hand has been moving away from 

 the twelve. But with the falling of the chestnut blos- 

 soms begins that other opposite change, not less beautiful 

 when rightly seen and not less important in the economy 

 of nature, which we call maturity, death, decay; and when 

 we see the chestnut blossoms falling we are reminded that 

 soon the ripened chestnuts and the ripened leaves of the 

 year will fall together, and return to the earth which 

 gave them birth. 



As we sit out of doors in the evening, longing for some 

 movement in the heavy air, we hear now-a-days the 

 cheerful trill of the cricket, who, standing at the door 

 of his home, keeps up his monotonoiis cadence all through 

 the night. He is good company for the tired man, and 

 though slirill, his voice has power to soothe. He may 

 seem to be within a foot or two of where we sit, yet it is 

 not easy to place him. Though he ventures close to us, 

 the cricket is shy, and at the least alarm he is silent, and 

 at a movement he vanishes backward into his hole. Now, 

 too, begins nightly the drowsy undertone of some dweller 

 in the treetops, sounding as a faint distant bass to the 

 cricket's high pitched treble; and we begin to hear the 

 sharp rattle of the locust — quaintly marked according to 

 boyish legend for St. John the Baptist, or dreadful threat- 

 ener of wars to be declared during the coming year— and 

 as the scorching days go by, the children wiU bring us 

 dead ones, and insist on knowing what they are and all 

 about them. Only a little time will pass before we hear 

 the voices of the earliest katydids, at first only sleepy 



In the ways of the birds we now begin to see another 

 sign of the passing of the year. The mellow voice of the 

 robin sounds but seldom, and rarely in the twUight do 

 we catch the liquid note of the belated woodthrush. 

 Most of the birds have finished their nesting and turned 

 their broods adrift, though families of spotted-vested 

 robins as large as their parents may still be seen on the 

 lawn tagging about after an industrious mother, too 

 tender-hearted to force her lazy offspring to forage for 

 themselves. The melancholy call of the rain-crow may 

 yet be heard as she tends her tardy brood, and some- 

 times the turtle-dove complaining from the edge of the 

 wood, and nightly the quivering cry of the little screech 

 owl. But most bird songs are silent now, for the birds 

 are resting and beginning to renew their plumage for 

 their coming journey. 



And now along the seashore sands, or above the wide 

 salt marshes, or over the pastures where the cattle feed, 

 the swallows are gathering by thousands, AU day long 

 they play about, swinging here and there in wide circles, 

 now high in air, then low along the ground, sometimes 

 sweeping close to the resting cows or again disappearing 

 in the cloudless blue. Already they have begun to 

 gather on the telegraph wires and twitter and chatter 

 to one another, and in little companies to take short 

 flights into the air. The annual swallow parliament is 

 being held. Not all are there, but of barn and cliff and 

 bank swallows there is a fuK contingent, anti there are 

 some rough- wings and tree swallows. The chimney swifts 

 are absent. After all have come, speeches are made, 

 ways and means discussed, and soon a decision is reached. 

 The company flies away to the south, not to return for 

 nearly nine months. 



Now the few ducks that breed with us are leading 

 their broods to the best feeding grounds, and the young 

 are getting strong and their feathers cover them. A few 

 beach birds are seen along the shore. Close-flying flocks 

 of blackbirds shoot across the wet meadows, bobolinks 

 that have laid aside their gorgeous springtime livery of 

 buff, black and white, and become now simple reedbirds, 

 modestly colored like the ripened grass, swing on the 

 stems of the rushes and call to each other in unmusical 

 notes. The blossoms are showing on tine stalks of the 

 wild rice, and the filling heads begin to nod. The flags 

 in the marshes have attained their growth, and the stiff 

 brown cat-tail spikes — their flowers — show above the 

 green masses of ribbons yielding before the passing 

 breeze. Soon the rail will be in season. 

 It is almost time to get out the gun. 



hunting than for^giving them July and June hunting as 

 well. The deer season should be fixed for the benefit of 

 deer hunters, not of trout fishermen. Nor would the 

 hotel-keepers lose anything by the change. For the 

 patronage of such August guests as visit the woods purely 

 for the purpose of deer hunting, they would have full 

 compensation in the patronage of other sportsmen who 

 would visit the woods later in the year. The communica- 

 tion alluded to represented the hotel men as now being in 

 favor of a later date. 



The Adirondack deer question long ago ceased to be a 

 consideration of game protection proper or of sportsman- 

 ship proper. It has been made a question of the personal 

 interests of individuals and classes. These considerations 

 will rule. The hunting season will always be determined 

 by them. We would like an expression of opinion, then, 

 on the part of those who may be interested in the deer of 

 the Adirondaoks, as to what season would best serve their 

 interests. 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 The work of the Anglers' Association of the St. Law- 

 rence River is an object lesson of what may be accom- 

 plished in a practical way to protect the fishing for 

 public advantage. The Association began its work at a 

 time when there was much prejudice to be overcome 

 among certain classes of dwellers in the vicinity. Not 

 the least noteworthy among its achievements has been 

 the education of large numbers of its opponents, and 

 their convei'sion to a hearty support of the work. The 

 Association has worked hand in hand with the local 

 district protector, and the result has been just what has 

 rewarded such a course everywhere. 



What is the rule about shooting into wildfowl sitting 

 on the water? There are two schools of partridge or 

 grouse shooters, one which maintains that it is sportsman- 

 like only to shoot the bird on the wing, and one which 

 goes in for potting it on a limb. All are agreed that quail 

 may not be shot on the ground. What is the principle, 

 and what is the practice, with respect to ducks? There 

 are professors of sportsmanship, those who set up to give 

 instruction, guidance and counsel in the art, who write 

 books for the benefit of the novice, and who tell us that a 

 duck is a lawful target whenever and wherever and how* 

 ever it may be covered. In a company of ten duck 

 shooters, how many would subscribe to such a ruling? 



THE ADIRONDACK DEER SEASON. 



The present law defining the period for hunting deer in 

 the Adirondaoks opens tlie season on Aug. 15. This date 

 was not chosen because any one believed that the game 

 was then fit to be hunted, or that at that time might 

 be hunted in a decent way. Aug. 15 was selected because 

 the personal convenience of a handful of individuals 

 demanded it; and this handful had enough influence to 

 make their demand heard. Besides these individuals, there 

 were some fishermen, going into camp in August, who 

 himgered for venison, and claimed the privilege of kiUing 

 it for camp supply; and some hotel keepers, who vocif- 

 erously declaimed that without August deer killing their 

 business would go to the bow-wows. 



In a communication printed the other day it was stated 

 that the law has not given satisfaction to Adirondack deer 

 hunters, the great majority of whom would favor a 

 change. Those opposed to August deer hunting are resi- 

 dent sportsmen and guides, and many of the hotel keepers. 

 It is probable that a canvass to determine local feeling 

 would show a sentiment strongly in support of changing 

 the beginning of the season to a later date. 



Such a change would work no hardship anywhere. 

 With the improved transportation facilities of the present, 

 trout fishermen may supply themselves with provisions 

 without killing August venison; and for that matter, there 

 is no more reason for giving the fishermeA August deer 



A citizen of Newark, N. J,, who has refused to comply 

 with the ordinance which requires him to pay a $5 license 

 fee for a terrier, bases his refusal on the contention that 

 the tax is unconstitutional ; and he has obtained from the 

 Supreme Court a writ to carry the new law to that body 

 for review. Prevailing systems of dog taxing, licensing, 

 impounding and destruction, are the gradual outgrowth 

 of loose legislation ; and there is hardly room for doubt 

 that some of their requirements and practices would not 

 stand the test of the higher courts. The dog license laws 

 are enforced year after year chiefly because the average 

 person prefers to pay the fee or the fine, however con- 

 siderable it may be, and so to have done with it, rather 

 than to vex himself with a fight about it in the courts. 



The ohained-to-business philosopher, who makes the 

 best of it, by perusing the fishing columns of Forest and 

 Stream, may find here in these days a store of reading ^ 

 for the equal of which in extent, variety and quality one 

 might search the world in vain. The fact is that the 

 Forest and Stream gives an amount of material weekly 

 in its several departments which has no equal; it is not 

 only the largest journal of its class in America but the 

 largest printed anywhere. 



Mr. Armin Tenner*s proposal to establish a proof house 

 for the testing of guns is hkely to be well received. Such 

 an institution would prove of decided advantage to indi- 

 vidual shooters by determining the most effective charges 

 for their guns. 



At the Izaak Walton celebration at Niagara-on-the-Lake ; 

 last Wednesday, there was a go-as-you-please competition 

 in fish stories. Had the Keekoskee fish story man been 

 there he would have been first, with no second. 



The vivacious and original "O. O. S." appears to be 

 laboring under the delusion that this is a journal of food 

 and feeding. 



