464 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LNov. 35, 1898. 



Monroe Marjsh Ducks. 



Detroit, Midi., Nov. 18.— The Monroe Marsh Club at 

 the head of Lake Erie is xjrobably one of the finest duck 

 preserves in the West, as it comprises a very large amount 

 of wild rice land, and also has a splendid bay fiUed with 

 wild celery, and is the first place that the canvasbacks 

 stop to feed coming from the north. A great many can- 

 vasbacks ai-e killed there every year. The highest bag 

 this season was made by Deeming Jarves, on Nov. 17, 

 being 48 canvasbacks. "^The same gentleman killed on 

 Nov. 15, 58 mallards, and on Nov. 16, 30, making 136 

 ducks for the three days' shoot. 



Indians and Game. 



Mitchell, S. D., Nov. 14. — ^A^'■ord was received here 

 from Fall River county that about 200 Indians passed 

 through Edgemont on their return from a hunt in the 

 mountains. The Indians say they secured over 700 deer 

 and antelope besides other game. The people of Fall 

 Uiver county are protesting that the Indian agents are 

 doing absolutely nothing to stop this fearful slaughter of 

 game, and while tlie white settlers are prohibited from 

 killing deer and antelope even for their own use, the beef- 

 fed redmen ai-e permitted to kill aU they want and more 

 too. H. G. Nichols. 



Micliigan Quail and Grouse. 



Saginaw, Mich. — I have been out after birds near home 

 two days since the season opened, but find that where 

 quail were very plentiful last year, they are very few now. 

 No doubt they are winter kiUed, but am glad to say there 

 are enough left over for seed, so that with an open winter 

 they will be thick again another year. Ruffed grouse are 

 more plentiful than for the last two or three years. 8ome 

 very large bags have been made, I hear, though so far I 

 have not been fortunate enough to get over half a dozen 

 birds in a day's tramp^^ W. B. M. 



The Gatineau Country. 



Athens, Ont., Nov. 15. — We have just returned from 

 our annual deer hunt up the G-atineau in Quebec; secured 

 fourteen fine deer and over 700Ibs. of salmon, besides bags 

 of ducks, partridges, etc. Took a lot of kodak views of 

 scenes on the trip, but the box containing plates got 

 broken and plates were spoiled. B, L, 



"Piseco" at Port Royal. 



Commandant's Office, U. S. Naval Station, Port Koyal, S. C, Nov. 

 W.— Editor Forest and Stream: I wish you could be made to realize 

 how much your comi)limentary editorial, in issue of the 11th inst., 

 just received, is appreciated, not only by me, who gets the lion's sliare 

 of the praise, but by the little band of whites around me who are in 

 daily contact with poverty and distress, beyond my wish or power to 

 describe, and who welcome every dollar or other articles sent to help 

 us help the starving. 



It is now over two months since the deluge. The little corn, peas 

 and potatoes that, ruined for all other purposes, could be and was 

 used as food by the hungry, is gone. Through some unknown cause 

 the fall stoelc of bass and "winter trout" (squeteague) has not put in 

 its usual appearance. I fished four hours a week ago. WTiere last 

 year at this time I would have been as sure as a fisherman can be of a 

 goodly catch of sheepshead and whiting, a few 6in, yellow-tails was 

 my only reward — no end of toadflsh my punishment. I fished for 

 recreation. Others go out daily in the boats Gov. Tillman so kindly 

 gave me, to get 1 ood for their families, and never now with anything 

 flke success, and in another month the small remainder will be gone, 

 following the prawn and shrimi> to Florida; and all will stay gone 

 untH that happy day late in March comes that brings the drumfish. 



Houses, furniture", bedding, stock and crops are gone, and nearly 

 400 people on this island alone are living now on the food doled to 

 them weekly by the Red Cross Association, and what do you think this 

 ration is? Let me tell you, and you try to see how far it would go 

 with you. For a family of 7 persons, for one week, 1 peck of grits, 

 lib. of pork. Reduce that to the share of one crippled person, but 

 still with an appetite: grits, '^qt. per day, pork i.,glb. per day. 



Of course there are lazy people among them who wouldn't work a 

 stroke if they could get enough of anything eatable to keep hunger 

 away, but the above-described ration don't fill the bill or even a small 

 part of their stomachs. But there is not work of any kind for the 

 large majority. The phosphate works are all stopped, dredges and 

 flats sunk and wrecked. They would rebuild their homes, and such 

 as have been able to save of their own wrecked cabins — "rectified" 

 they call it— or of their neighbors' that have floated on to their land, 

 enough lumber for a start, are without hardw^are and tools. The Red 

 Cross is now issuing nails, and a worthy lumberman, Mr. Amos Cum- 

 mings, has offered at cost to Miss Barton as much rough lumber as 

 she wants, and I am in hopes of getting a share for our poor. 



Of course we personally do what we can, and many a boiler full of 

 grits and pork has gone from our kitchen; but it is a task beyond our 

 means to begin to do what we would like to do— and feel ought to be 

 done. So we all call on our friends to help us, and I Hatter myself that 

 among the Forest and Strkam clientage there are still a goodly num- 

 ber of friends of Piseco. 



A Sick-Bed Vow. 



Bethany, W. Va.— I find myself this fall living in a beautiful wooded 

 hill country in West Virginia, a country whose scenery is as beautiful 

 as any I have ever seen, but which contains but little game. Three or 

 four weeks ago I snatched a few hours from my very confining duties 

 and tramped with dog and gun over these grand hills to see if they 

 would yield any feathered game. I succeeded in bagging a few quail, 

 doves and one ruffed grouse. Since then I have been suffering from 

 a severe attack oC sickness. No one but an ardent lover of sports 

 afield can realize with what intense longing my thoughts have dwelt, 

 as I lay in bed, on the pleasures of bird shooting. I made a vow that 

 I would spend my two weeks' vacation at Christmas in quail shooting. 

 Now I write to beg some fellow sportsman to tell me, either through 

 the columns of this paper, or, better, by a letter directed to the under- 

 signed at the FoBKST and Stream office, where I can find good quail 

 shooting not more than 300 miles from Wheehng, W. Va. Prairie 

 chicken shooting would be preferred, but I suppose that is out of the 

 question, I do not inquire about accommodations. AllI wish to learn 

 is where quail are plent iful. Shephajid. 



"American Big-Game Hunting" Abroad. 



The hunter and naturalist will find a never-failing charm in these 

 papers and in the beautiful illustrations. * * * There is variety of 

 sport as well as variety of style, and bison and elk, blaektail and 

 wapiti, prong buck and bighorn are among the wild animals whose 

 trail is follow-ed by the club. The scene changes with the nature of 

 the sport and the game; and each writer proves himself something of 

 a student of nature as well as a lover of manly exercise, while there 

 are few who do not give evidence of a dash of the vigorous and char- 

 acteristic humor of the West. The (^Edinburgh) Scotsman, Oct. SS. 



Pennsylvania Railroad Tours to "Washington. 



Pursuing the policy which has been so successfully maintained dur- 

 ing the past few winters, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company an- 

 nounces a series of pleasure tours to Washington for the fall, winter, 

 and spring of 1S93-4. These tours have won great popularity on ac- 

 count of the universal interest which attaches to the National Capital, 

 the low rates, convenient limits, and liberal conditions which the 

 tickets bear. 



The dates of leaving New York are November 30th, December 14th, 

 December 28th. January 18th, February 8th, March 1st, March asd, 

 April ISth, May 3d and May 24th.. 



The rate for these tours will be §13 from New York, Brooklyn and 

 Jersey City, covering all necessary expenses excepting meals en route 

 The special train will leave New York at 11:00, Brooklyn 10:40, and 

 Jersey City 11:14 A. M., and arrive in Washington at 5:20 P. M. A 

 tourist agent and chaperon will accompany each tour and render 

 valuable service in the welfare of the participants. 



On the third day the parties will leave Washington at;^:l.5 P. M , thus 

 affording considerable time in the most be,iui iful and interesting of 

 American cities. Tourist agents at IIDG Broadway, N. Y. and 8»jU 

 Fulton St., Brooklyn will book parties in advance for hotel accommo- 

 dations at Washington.— .4.di!. 



m Hijd ^iv^r fishing. 



THE TRIGGER FISH. 



Mr. p. G. Sanford, of the Winchester Arms Co., has 

 added to the articles of vvrtu in his cosy office, in the same 

 block with Forest and Stream, a handsome mounted 

 specimen of the trigger fish. The curious creature re- 

 warded and astonished that gentleman one day last Octo- 

 ber, when he drew up his line from Long Island waters, 

 at the old wi-eck, about half a mile off Westport, Conn. 

 Mr. Sanford was fishing with fiddler bait and was intent 

 on the capture of black fish, the wonted and prosaic fish 

 of the neighborhood, and when this curiosity stuck its 

 head above the surface, the fisherman did not know what 

 to make of it, until he found that it had a trigger, and 

 then, being a gun man, Mr. Sanford recognized it as a 

 specimen of the trigger fish, common enough in some 

 waters, but a rarity in the Sound. He brought the speci- 

 men to New York and put it into the hands of a taxider- 

 mist for preservation. His j)ride in the handsome trophy 

 would be complete if it were not that the fish is a muzzle- 

 loader. 



Our illustration, taken from the "Fishery Industries," 

 shows the peculiar first dorsal tin from which the fish 

 takes its name. There are three spines which, when 

 erect, can be lowered only by Y)ressing back the last one 

 behind. Pressure against the large spine in front has no 

 effect, nor against the second one, but when the third is 

 pulled back as one would a trigger, all will fall, with a 

 sharp click, and lie flat, sinking into a recess in the back 

 like the trunk of a centerboard. Mr. Sanford has been 

 studying this natural trigger device, and one of these days 

 probably we shall see it applied to the Winchester arms. 

 These particulars of the species are found in the "Fishery 

 Industries:" 



"The leather- jacket of Pensacola {Balistes ca^prucus), 

 called 'trigger fish' in the Carolinas, and at Key West 

 and the Bermudas known as the 'turbot,' occasionally 

 finds its way as far north as Massachusetts. It is, how- 

 ever, of no importance north of Florida. In the Bermudas 

 it is considered a valuable food fish. According to Mr. 

 Stearns, 'it is very common in the Gulf of Mexico from 

 Key West to the Mississippi River, and lies in deep water 

 near the coast on the ground where red snappers and 

 groupers are caught. It is one of the most abundant 

 species. In regions where it is not eaten it is regarded as 

 a pest by the fishermen from its habit of stealing bait 

 from their hooks. Its manner of taking the bait is rather 

 peculiar, I think, for instead of puUing the fine backward 

 or to one side it raises it up so quietly that the fisherman 

 does not perceive the motion, and then, by careful nibbling 

 cleans the hook without injury to itself. Expert fisher- 

 men, however, can tell by the "lifting of the lead," as it 



TRIGGER FISH, 



is called, what is going on below, and know what they 

 have to contend against. The usual remedy is to seek 

 other fishing grounds where leather-jackets are not so 

 troublesome. When one of these crafty fish has been 

 hooked there is not much probability that it can be 

 landed, for its sharp, powerful teeth are almost sure to 

 cut some part of the gear, enabling it to escape. I have 

 several times known of their biting in two the large red- 

 snapper hooks on which they were caught. They remain 

 throughout the year on the fishing grounds, where the 

 water varies from ten to forty fathoms. On these same 

 grounds it is probable that they spawn.' 



"Only adult species have been seen in West Florida. 

 More could probably be learned of its spawning habits in 

 the vicinity of Key West, whei-e it occurs in shallow 

 water and quite near to the shore. At Key West it is 

 known as the turbot, and is a favorite article of food. 

 It is to be seen almost daUy in the market. 



"The skin of this species is used for scouring and polish- 

 ing purposes at Key West and the Bahama Islands. 

 In the Bermudas also the skin of the turbot is used by 

 carpenters almost to the exclusion of sand-paper, the 

 former being better adapted for fine work in polishing 

 wood." 



ANGLING NOTES. 



Spawning of American Saiblinsr. 



There are but three bodies of water in the United States 

 where the American saibling are known to exist. In one 

 of these three lakes, Sunapee Lake, in New Hampshire, 

 the saibling affords excellent fishing, as the fish are 

 abundant and of good size. On the shore of this lake is 

 the only hatchery in the United States devoted in great 

 part to hatching the saibling artificially, and therefore it 

 is of especial interest. A magnificently located and thor- 

 oughly equipped private summer hotel and sanitarium is 

 in process of erection at Soo-Nipi Park, the property of 

 Dr. John D. Quackenbos, at Sunapee Lake. The Doctor 

 spent last week on the ground superintending important 

 modifications in the plan. He writes me under date of 

 Nov. 4: 



Poem in Prose. 



"I have just returned to New York from the dreamy 

 haze of a N'ew Hampshire Indian summer, leaving behind 

 me on the Lighthouse Shoals at Sunapee the grandest 

 sight ever looked upon by angler — the American saibling 

 spawning on their self-selected mid-lake beds. There, in 

 water from one to two feet deep, in all the glory of their 

 nuptial tints, flash schools of these dazzling beauties, now 

 circling in proud sweeps about the rocks they would 



select as the scenes of their loves, the poetry of an epi- 

 thalamion in every motion; now offering to the sunlight 

 in graceful leaps those gleaming sides of gold dashed with 

 vermiUon; anon, suddenly darting in little companies, 

 the broad margin of their fins seeming to trail behind 

 them hke white ribbons under the ripples. Oh, what a 

 wedding garment. Nature has given such to no other 

 salmonoid; even death does not rob our saibling of it. In 

 three hours, on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 1 helped to take eighty- 

 one specimens, ranging from 1 to 51bs. each, and on 

 Thursday, in three and a half hours, we captured sixty- 

 one. It is not considered advisable to keep the nets on 

 the beds for more than three or four hours a day, lest the 

 fish should become alarmed and desert the shallows for 

 deeper and less accessible groimds. There seems to be no 

 hmit to the hordes that are coming up from the depths on 

 to that three-acre reef, and if the weather prove favora- 

 ble the screens in the new and elaborately fitted hatchery 

 bid fair to be crowded with eggs to the possible capacity 

 of one and one-quarter millions." 



Cold-Featured Business. 

 "Already there are 300,000 brook trout eggs in situ, 

 double the largest number ever taken before, and forty 

 huge landlocked salmon (from 6 to ISlbs. each) await the 

 accomplished hand of human accoucheur. Too great 

 praise cannot be lavished upon the faithful attend- 

 ants at the Sunapee hatchery — Mr. Alonzo J. Cheney, 

 Mr. Wm. W. Hubbell and Mr. Henry C. Brown, of Hud- 

 son Center, the last-named gentleman a member of the 

 town board of education, who has consented to give his 

 time as long as necessary to the prosecution of the good 

 work. No weather deters these men, no hardship. With 

 icy hands they tenderly loose spawner and milter from 

 the net's clutch at dead of night, up to their breasts in 

 freezing water when the necessities of the case demand 

 it, beaten and drenched with tempest, but even with 

 sprightliness unchiUed, always cheerful, never complain- 

 ing, no half-hearted service, no profanity if things do not 

 go exactly right. I have nowhere seen such disinterested 

 devotion. And then the courtesy shown to visitors, who 

 must at times be very trying. Some afternoons there are 

 regular receptions, and over and over again to inquiring 

 lady and wondering farmer must be told the old story — 

 and it is always fully told without a sign of impatience. 

 Verily one may sit on the porch of the camp nowadays 

 and take lessons in genuine politeness — by which I mean 

 kindness kindly expressed. 



Then and Now. 

 "Nor can one help contrasting the success which has 

 providentially crowned the efforts of our new Commis- 

 sioners with the comparatively scanty 'take' of previous 

 seasons. The lie has been most effectively given to maledic- 

 tion. The reported allegation that no new hatchery -Cs^as 

 needed at Sunapee because 'the ignoramuses appointed by 

 the Governor could not half fill the old' (§275 woodshed), 

 has been demonstrated to be as preposterous as it was 

 malicious; and above all, the gentleman angler and sports- 

 man finds, in the way business is conducted at the station 

 of the N. 13. Fish Commission, abundant confirmation of 

 his opinion that fish catching and fish hatching may be 

 successfulUy carried on in an atmosphere of refinement 

 and morality." 



Postscriptum. 



Since receiving the letter above quoted from Dr. Quack- 

 enbos I have heard direct from the Sunapee hatchery in 

 a letter from Mr. Brown, that on Nov. 3, 148 saibling were 

 taken in the nets; on the 4th 26, and in the forenoon of 

 the 5th 16, making a total of 333 in five days. This catch 

 of spawning saibling has not been equaled in any previ- 

 ous year. The saibling yields about 1,200 eggs to the 

 pound of fish, and 200 at least of those already captured 

 are females averaging 31bs. in weight. Say that they wiU 

 give 3,000 eggs each, the fish now in hand will furnish 

 600,000 eggs and the season is not yet over. But 600,000 

 is a remarkable result and one not before dreamed of at 

 the Sunapee hatching station. Looking over my memor- 

 anda of odds and ends pertaining to fishculture I find 

 that in 1891 the catch of .spawning saibling at the Sunapee 

 hatchery between Sept. a and Nov. 2 amounted to a total 

 of 128 fish. The saibling taken in September and early 

 October of that year must have been taken in the nets at 

 the mouth of the brook, on which the hatchery and camp 

 are situated, and not on the Mud Lake shoal to which 

 they usually resort for spawning purposes. The largest 

 catch in one day in 1891 was 61 on Oct. 31. The unusual 

 catch of spawning saibling this year is particularly grati- 

 fying for other reasons than those already stated, as this 

 lake must be the one to furnish saibling eggs and fry for 

 other waters, if other waters are to be stocked with this 

 beautiful game fish; and it is not at all probable that the 

 N. H. Fish Commissioners will consent to sending eggs 

 to other waters before Sunapee Lake itself is "made stiff" 

 with the fish which is often called by the name of the 

 lake. As I am closing these notes another letter comes to 

 me stating the eggs already assured at Sunapee amount 

 to over a million, and the maximum number any previous 

 year was 300,00. A. N. Cheney. 



The Seductive Smelt. 



Quebec, Nov. 4. — ^In your issue of 21st ult. that grand 

 fisherman, sportsman and fluant raconteur Ghas. Hallock 

 relates of the "seductive smelt," and it would seem the 

 sport is rather costly in the localities he mentions. 



Here in Quebec it is now at its zenith, and all the ex- 

 pense attached is time, a bamboo rod, piece of cord and 

 half a dozen small hooks, some folks put the whole half 

 dozen on their line at once in the same manner as flies, 

 but with a few shot for sinker, and three fish at a time 

 is a common occurrence. Some connoisseurs use worms 

 for bait, but the majority a bit of red meat and then a 

 smelt cut up, which 'these small cannibals seem to prefer. 

 The best time is when the tide begins to flow to about 

 tliree-quarters full, and then at the finish of the ebb. The 

 wnarves are fined with fishermen of all sizes, ages and 

 tackles. Forty rods on one barge, all catching, is not an 

 unusual sight. Even the ladies enjoy the sport from the 

 decks of the Quebec Yacht Squadron. 



Good smelt fishing is to be had in August at all the 

 watering places on the lower St. Lawrence, Muncy Bay, 

 Caconne Riviere OueUe, Kamom-eska, Riviere du Loup, 

 etc., etc., and at Quebec from the beginning of October 

 to late in November. Fresh smelts sell at from eight to 

 ten cents per pound, and at one time I have known the 

 seiners to sell their prospective draw for 75 cents to |1, 



