Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



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

 Six Months, $2. j 



NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1894. 



( VOL. XLH.— No. 15. 



I No. 818 Broadway, New York, 



For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page vii. 



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. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



\ Save the Park Buffalo. 

 I Snap Shots. 



■The Sportsman Tourist. 

 I Dan vis Folks.— xxvii. 

 f r On the North Snore of Lake 

 Superior. 



■Natural History. 



[ The Strange Animals of Thibet. 



K5ame Bag and Gun. 



f Dixie Land.— vi. 



I Stop the Sale of Game. 



I Hunting with a Dog. 



I Jacksnipe Shooting. 



j Along the Minnesota River. 



I A Virginia Wiid Turkey Hunt. 



) Massachusetts Game Interests. 



I Evil of Spring Shooting. 



ISea and River Fishing. 

 I The Torch Fish. 

 I The Grasshopper-Loving Trout. 

 I In Billy Bowlegs' Land. 

 I From Worm to Feathers. 

 The Trout Netting Case. 



The Kennel. 



Points and Flushes. 

 Cocker Truths. 

 Specialty Cluo Dog Show. 

 Louisville Dog Show. 

 Boston Dog Show. 

 Dog Chat. 



The Kennel. 



The Amateur Trainer. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



Hunting and Coursing. 



The Foxhound Standard. 

 Hunting and Coursing Notes. 



Canoeing. 



Bed Dragon C. C. 

 Waterproofing. 

 News Notes. 



Yachting. 



Cruising in the Cy-Pres, 1893.-m 

 Mosquito Boats. 



The Wew Steam Yacht Eleanor. 

 Capt. Bayly's Yachts. 

 News Notes. 



Rifle Range and Gallery. 



Midwinter Shooting Festival. 

 Zettlers at Cypress Hills. 

 Club Doings. 

 Notes. 



Trap Shooting. 



The Grand American Handicap 

 Texas Traps. 

 Brewer vs. Miller. 

 Apgar and Wolstencroft vs. Pea- 

 cock and Heikes. 

 Drivers and Twisters. 

 Matches and Meetings. 



Answers to Queries. 



"Forest and Stream's" Yellowstone Park 

 Game Exploration. 



In February of 1887, in the face of, or on the heels 

 of, the disastrous Schwatka expedition, the Forest and 

 Stream dispatched Mr. Elwood Hofer, as a special com- 

 missioner, to make a snowshoe exploration of the Yel- 

 lowstone Park. Commissioner Hofer accomplished his 

 mission successfully and with much credit; and his 

 account of the exploration with its results was con- 

 tributed to our columns in a series of extremely inter- 

 esting chapters describing "Winter in Wonderland." 

 The story was extensively copied by the daily press, 

 and we believe had an important influence in the 

 making of public opinion favorable to the Park. So 

 rich was the store of information then obtained, so 

 valuable the facts ascertained, so fascinating the story 

 of adventures amid the tremerldous scenery of the Park — 

 that it was determined to repeat the undertaking when- 

 ever the occasion should arise to demand it. 



That occasion came with 1894. For with the assur- 

 ance of raids on the territory of the Park by con- 

 scienceless money-hunters in the United States Congress, 

 there came to us rumors of projected raids by no less 

 conscienceless head-hunters on the game of the Yellow- 

 stone. In view of these things the expedition was sent 

 out. 



The events of the past few weeks have abundantly 

 justified our prevision. The Park has been assailed in 

 Congress. The buffalo butchers have committed their 

 depredations. Now, if ever, there is need of direct, 

 authentic, first-hand information about the Park and its 

 game. Now, if ever, the time has come to sound a call 

 which shall awaken anew public interest, and direct the 

 attention of the public to those priceless possessions of 

 the public which can be protected only by the activity 

 and the voice of the public. 



Last month the Forest and Stream's Yellowstone Park 

 Game Exploration party was equipped for an extended 

 snowshoe expedition, and set out upon its work, Mr. E. 

 Hough, our Chicago and the West staff correspondent, 

 and Mr. Elwood Hofer, of the Mammoth Hot Springs, 

 being equal in command. Comradeship in the Boone 

 and Crockett Club Cabin of the World's Fair had 

 tried and proved their camp compatibility; and no two 



men ever put on snowshoes for a wilderness tour better 

 equipped than they with lively interest in their cause 

 and alertness and intelligence for its successful prosecu- 

 tion. 



The first fruits of the exploration have already come 

 to us in a personal letter from Mr. Hough telling of the 

 diminution of the buffalo of the Park and of the raids of 

 trophy thieves. Extracts from this letter are given on 

 another page. When the whole story shall be told, as it 

 will be with every detail, the facts will demonstrate anew 

 the crying urgency for action by our apathetic Congress. 



We need not add that the new pictures of "Winter in 

 Wonderland," which are in store for readers of Forest 

 and Stream, will be awaited with high expectation. The 

 graphic pen of our versatile correspondent has never had 

 a worthier task than the picturing of the Yellowstone in 

 the time of its winter enchantment. And if all shall go 

 well there will be some big-game photographs, taken by 

 Forest and Stream cameras, which will prove notable 

 additions to the series already published in our columns. 



SAVE THE PARK BUFFALO. 



It is but a short time since we announced the capture 

 of a poacher in the National Park, and the fact that he 

 had killed eleven buffalo, and this announcement greatly 

 surprised and alarmed all who are interested in the 

 National Park and all public-spirited citizens as well. 



In another column we quote statements contained in a 

 private letter received from our staff correspondent in the 

 National Park, and these statements show that the condi- 

 tion of things there, so far as the buffalo are concerned, is 

 infinitely worse than any one had supposed. Besides the 

 buffalo known to have been killed by Howell, Messrs. 

 Hough and Hofer, of t the Forest and Stream Yellow- 

 stone Park Game Exploration, discovered in another 

 place eight buffalo carcasses scattered over the hillside 

 and buried under 4ft. of snow. The date at which these 

 were killed has not yet been determined, as it was im- 

 possible with the means at hand for the travelers to get 

 to the carcasses. 



There seems now to be little doubt that within the last 

 year or two a wholesale slaughter has been taking place 

 among our buffalo preserved in the Yellowstone Park. It 

 was believed that these, if they had been protected, would 

 by natural increase have reached four or five hundred by 

 this time, but if the herd has been preyed on by poachers 

 in other years as it has in the winter of 1893^4, we can 

 well imagine that two hundred or two hundred and fifty 

 is the outside limit for the buffalo in the Park. 



As we stated a few days ago, Congress has put a 

 premium on the head of every one of these great beasts. 

 Any man is free to enter the National Park and kill- them, 

 and knows that — even if taken in the act — no punishment 

 can be inflicted on him. The chances against his capture 

 are considerable, and even if he is taken, the only incon- 

 venience that he suffers is a confiscation of his outfit, 

 amounting to but a few dollars in value, and a few weeks 

 discomfort in the guard house. Against this there is the 

 prospect of selling for $200 or $300 the head of every 

 buffalo which he has killed, and in the deep snows of 

 winter there would be no difficulty in killing in the course 

 of three or four days, all the buffalo in the Hayden Valley, 

 which, as our correspondent reports, are now not more 

 than from seventy-five to one hundred head. 



It is not surprising that sportsmen and many of the 

 newspapers of the country are stirred up about this 

 matter, nor that a number of police bills have been intro- 

 duced in Congress to remedy the existing state of things. 

 Most of the bills introduced thus far are entirely inade- 

 quate, partly because they have been drawn by persons 

 who are not familiar with the condition of things in the 

 Park, and so are ignorant of what is required in such a 

 bill. It is somewhat absurd to provide the penalty of a 

 fine of $100 for killing a buffalo, when it is perfectly well 

 known that if a man kills one and succeeds in getting its 

 head out of the Park, he can obtain for it three times the 

 amount of the possible fine. On the other hand the 

 penalties should not be so severe as to excite sympathy 

 for the law breaker, and so to render the law inoperative. 



We have already said that these animals are Gov- 

 ernment property, and that injury to them should be 

 punished in the same way as injury to any other Govern- 



ment property. The Yellowstone Park has by law been 

 distinctly set aside as a public Park or pleasuring ground 

 for the people, and the natural objects in it, whether 

 animate or inanimate, belong to the public. It is 

 the business of the Government, which acts for the 

 people, to protect this property which belongs to those 

 whom it represents. The executive branch of the 

 Government has done and is doing all in its power to 

 furnish this protection, but the legislative branch has 

 failed and continues to fail to do its duty, for it refuses to 

 provide methods and means for enforcing the protection 

 which it has authorized in the organic act establishing 

 the Park. 



We suggest that every reader of Forest and Stream 

 who is interested in the Park or in natural history, or in 

 the things pertaining to America, should write to his 

 Senator and Representative in Congress, asking them to 

 take an active interest in the protection of the Park. In 

 no other way can Congress be made to feel the force of 

 public opinion, and be induced to enact the necessary- 

 laws for the protection of the National Park. 



SNAP SHOTS. 



If you visit the Greatest Show on Earth you will ob- 

 serve that of all the brute performers, horses, donkeys, 

 bears, lions, dogs, monkeys, elephants, the dog is the 

 only one that shows any recognition of the audience. All 

 the rest go through their tasks as stolidly as if they were 

 in the solitude of the wilderness, with never a look to the 

 right or the left, from the time they enter the arena to 

 the moment of going out again. But no sooner does the 

 dog come in than he looks about the vast auditorium; 

 with eye and ear and wag of tail — and all the canine 

 modes of expression — he recognizes the thousands who 

 are looking at him; and never through all the perform- 

 ance does he forget that he is going through his part in 

 the presence of spectators. In the intervals of the acts, 

 the trick elephant stands stolid, an inert mass; but the 

 dog improves the opportunity to glance about at the 

 people and to give them a wag which is canine for a wink. 

 Thus the animal show of the circus exhibits anew the 

 human companionability of the dog above that of all 

 other brute creatures. 



Forest and Stream's yachting editor, Mr. Stephens, 

 has a little Scotch-Yorkshire-Skye terrier about four 

 months old. Last week, while playing in the road in 

 front of the house, this puppy was run over by a passing 

 wagon and lay in a rut, unable to move. He had been 

 playing with a fox-terrier, which, seeing another wagon 

 coming along, and evidently appreciating the disabled 

 condition of his young friend, deliberately put his nose 

 under the puppy's body and pushed him out of the rut 

 before the wagon passed. Then the fox-terrier ran to the 

 house door and barked until he attracted the attention of 

 the inmates, who at once hastened to rescue his disabled 

 friend. The two legs on one side were found to be broken. 

 These were put in splints, and the puppy is now in a fair 

 way to recovery, for on Sunday he walked twenty feet 

 and down a flight of stairs on the remaining two sound 

 legs. The fox-terrier cannot boast a pedigree, but this is 

 little consequence when his heart and head are evidently 

 in the right place. 



Carrier pigeons are employed in the lake fisheries to 

 some extent. Cleveland (Ohio) companies are said to 

 supply each of their boats with two birds, the first of 

 which is set free after the nets have been drawn. This 

 bird bears a note announcing the size and character of 

 the catch in order that the necessary preparations may 

 be made for receiving it at the wharf and for commu- 

 nicating with the buyers. The second pigeon is held in 

 reserve to give notice of any accident or danger. 



Senator Lindsay of Kentucky having been removed to 

 a higher sphere of usefulness, the Legislature of that 

 State has at last adopted the long-fought-for measure to 

 forbid the seining of fish in inland waters. Now that 

 there promises to be an end of ^discriminate destruc- 

 tion there will be some encouragement for the stocking 

 of Kentucky streams with fish of old and new varieties. 



The Russian Government is about to found two chairs 

 for instruction in pisciculture. One will be at the 

 Forestry Institute of St. Petersburg and the other at 

 the Rural Economy Station at New Alexandria. 



