Mat 19, 1894. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



calculations and to perdition with poor tackle. The hook 

 and gut parted company; the straining line came back 

 with a twaDg and I sat down in the moist earth. But 

 never mind. It was only one more case of "the biggest 

 one got away." I recovered in time to catch these words 

 of sympathy from Chum: "Served you right; ought to 

 have shown more sense," and other consoling remarks. 

 We reached the meadow with a gooly lot of trout in our 

 creels. 



There is one object to be found along the stream de- 

 serving the pity of all who lay claim to manhood. Pic- 

 ture the drunken angler lurching along the mossy banks, 

 where song of birds and fragranee of flowers are mingled 

 with the glint of sunshine through the whispering leaves. 

 Is not this sacrilege on these chosen spots? Hearing loud 

 voices from a clump of alders as we entered the meadow, 

 we drew nigh; and closer investigation discovered two 

 pilgrims, whose rods, reels and general makeup marked 

 them as (Heaven save the mark) members of the fraternity 

 — both loaded. Aside from the aversion naturally 

 arising from such a condition, their antics were comical 

 in the extreme. There was soon a tacit understanding 

 between Freezy and me to dispense with this charming 

 company at the earliest opportunity; but this we found no 

 easy matter, for ever and anon, as we followed the 

 stream's winding course, we were confronted by this 

 precious pair, who, forgetful of all previous greetings, 

 would meet us with a howl of recognition and a pressing 

 invitation to "take suthin." All this was annoying enough 

 and coupled with the uproar, made angling a fruitless oc- 

 cupation ; but at last the climax was reached when we 

 came suddenly upon one of them sitting in the overflow 

 of the stream, in water waist deep, industriously fishing 

 underneath an old log without a vestige of bait on his 

 hook. This was a little too much even for his friend, 

 whose disgust found expression in the suggestion, "Come, 

 you old fool, let's go home." Pulling the old man from 

 the water we started them off to the nearest road, and 

 away they went. 



The pleasures of the next hour effectually soothed our 

 ruffled feelings. The alder-arched stream wound across 

 a charming meadow, its many abrupt turns causing num- 

 erous little eddies flecked with patches of whirling foam. 

 Numerous openings in the brush gave ample opportunity 

 to make the cast and nearly every cast was productive of 

 a trout, not large but high colored, plump and gamy 

 fighters. 



While we were eating lunch, a long mooted question 

 once more came under discussion, and we determined to 

 fish a choice bit of water just below. Freezy slid over 

 the wall, and as he let his line drop down between the 

 alders into a shady pool, I saw by the quick firm grasp of 

 the rod and the expectant look in Chums eye that he had 

 on hand a battle with a gamey trout. I watched the con- 

 test with bated breath. The fish made the reel fairly 

 smoke as he started off at a Nancy Hanks gait, but when 

 he had run the proper distance a strong pressure of the 

 drag stopped his little game. Finding himself thus balked, 

 he made a rush and shot into the air a foot above the 

 surface. But it gained him nothing, for Freezy quickly 

 pulled him over into the stream and started him shore- 

 ward. Several times he made a break but a reminder 

 from the drag brought him back, and as he came skating 

 in Chum lifted him out of the wet. 



Next we entered Palmer's big woods, and here I had 

 the laugh on Freezy. In the woods is a charming pool, 

 overshadowed by a .venerable leaning maple, beneath 

 whose gnarled roots under the overhanging banks lived a 

 wary old trout, the hero of many an engagement with the 

 tempting fly or plebeian worm. Now, Chum had come 

 especially "well heeled" to try conclusions with this cun- 

 ning old veteran; he had secured a choice tidbit, which 

 surely must fetch him — a young wood mouse, which "Sen- 

 eca" says is a killing bait for large trout. All day hart 

 Chum carefully guarded the little rodent, which lay in a 

 bed of cotton incased in a perforated box. Stretched at 

 ease on the ferns, I watched the contest. Freezy tempted 

 the trout with a variety of flies, bugs and worms; but no; 

 he would have none of them. "Well," said he, "by Jove! 

 I have something that will do it," and proudly drew forth 

 the box. Lifting the cover, he peered in with a blank 

 look. Mousey was dead and cold, from fright no doubt. 

 "Well, Chum's sunny disposition soon overcame his disap- 

 pointment; and he left the pooL with a vow that he would 

 have its occupant if he had to start a mouse farm to ac- 

 complish it. 



The remainder of the afternoon was a pleasant ramble. 

 We followed the stream with thoughts wholly abandoned 

 to the surroundings, now stopping to examine a meadow 

 flower of unusual beauty, or to listen to the clear notes of 

 some wood warbler, or pausing at some well-known eddy 

 to draw forth a mottled dweller of the stream. Ah! these 

 are days worth living, days of pleasure on which the 

 thoughts linger lovingly, which bring rest to the tired 

 brain. At last the lengthening shadows now warned 

 us that the day was nearly done, and we plodded home in 

 the twilight, the weight of our creels giving ample proof 

 that my predictions of the morning were fulfilled.^ ^ 



Preston, Conn. _ 



New Hampshire Trout. 



Charleston, N. H., May 10. — I am glad to see the let- 

 ters of my old friend, "Mascomy," and wish to tell him 

 that a young friend of mine went to that Acworth brook 

 last week, and returned with one trout! I have not been 

 out myself yet. The weather is very bright and clear, 

 and the brooks very low, and we are in need of a good, 

 long, warm rain before the water will be in proper con- 

 dition for fishing. 



We need a change in our game laws. The trout season 

 should be restored to May 1 or even May 15, instead of 

 April 15, as it now stands, which is too early for any 

 region north of Pennsylvania or southern New York, 

 unless it be on Long Island and the seacoast of Massachu- 

 setts and Connecticut. 



All northern New York, north of N. Y. C. R. R. should 

 adopt the same date. The letters in Forest and Stream 

 of May 5 clearly prove this. 



I cannot close this without a word to express my delight 

 in my good friend, R. E. Robinson's "Danvis Folks," and 

 my hope that for years to come he may continue his 

 graphic descriptions of the simple, honest folk and the 

 quiet, happy life of "New England in the olden time." 

 H Vcn W. 



The pickerel has a large mouth, but not large enough to 

 swallow some of the stories that are told about him.— Ex. 



THE MOUNTED COLLECTION OF FISH 



At the U. S. National Museum. 



SECOND PAPER. 



One of the most interesting fresh-water fishes in this 

 country is the bowfin (Amia calva), and the Museum has 

 in the collection a very beautiful cast of one, which has 

 been faithfully colored to imitate the natural specimen. 



Science thus far has knowledge of but one species of 

 bowfin in the fresh waters of the United States, it being 

 the "dogfish" or "sawyer" of the Great Lakes; the "mud- 

 fish" of certain parts of New England; while where it 

 occurs in the South it is known as the "Johnny Cirindle" 

 or "bowfin." 



In 1883 I saw negroes capture this fish, with hook and 

 line, in the bayous south of New Orleans city. They used 



Skate (Raia erinaeea). 



small frogs and minnows for bait, and the fish took them 

 most voraciously. Negroes in the South are very fond of 

 the bowfin, but beyond them they are not otherwise held 

 in any esteem. They are a beautiful fish when caught, 

 especially those that possess the large black and orange 

 eye-spot at the base of the tail above. I have seen them 

 caught over 2ft. long, and weighing as much as 12 or 

 15lbs. Sportsmen troll for the bowfin, and many con- 

 sider him a gamy fish, well worthy of their skill. The 

 young make capital bait for pickerel. Bowfins are vora- 

 cious fishes, exceedingly tenacious of life, and the very 

 small ones are great favorites in aquaria. But they will 



Bowfin (Amia calva). 



not tolerate other species in the tank with them for an 

 instant, as the savage fry, with their sharp teeth, will 

 make away with anything, save a snail, in very short 

 order. It has been observed that the young bowfins must 

 arise to the surface every once in a while to breathe. 

 Dr. Estes has said, "While the parent still remains with 

 the young, if the family become suddenly alarmed, the 

 capacious mouth of the old fish will open, and in rushes 

 the entire host of little ones; the ugly maw is at once 

 closed, and off she rushes to a place of security, when 

 again the little captives are set at liberty." — ("Sportsman's 

 Gazetteer." 1877, pp. 324-326.) Nothing of this kind has 



Large Red Drum (Scicenaps ocellatus). 



ever been observed by the present writer, though no 

 doubt other fishermen than Dr. Estes have both seen and 

 described the habit. 



j iThe drumfish in the collection are represented by a fine 

 cast of the large red drum (Scicenops oseellatus). As in 

 the case of several of its congeners, the red drum may be 

 distinguished by its short, though spiny, dorsal fin, which 

 is followed behind by an unusually long and soft-rayed 

 one, which is carried down to near the base of the tail. 

 This species also has the power of giving vent to loud 

 drutnlike noises, which is accomplished by a peculiarity in 

 the structure of the air bladder. On our coast the species 

 is found from Chesapeake Bay to Galveston, being abund- 

 ant in many localities, especially on the coast of Texas. 

 More properly this fish should be called the redfish, as 

 suggested by Goode, while in many parts of the South it 

 is known as "bass," or bass with various prefixes attached 



to it. It may attain a length of 5ft. and weigh over 401bs. 

 The Washington Market specimens I have examined are 

 usually not nearly as large as this. Professor Goode has 

 said, "The food is similar to that of the striped bass, which 

 it seems to resemble in habits. It preys upon small fish 

 and the crustaceans with which Southern waters are filled. 

 They swim in scattered schools at times, probably in the 

 spawning season, and may be heard spring above the sur- 

 face while feeding. At this time the fish are taken in 

 large gill-nets, which are set around them by the fishermen. 

 This species undoubtedly gathers much food from the 

 bottom, although it cannot be so much of a grubber as 

 many other members of the same family, better provided 

 for this kind of foraging by the tactile organs under the 

 chin, and a set of grinding teeth with which to liberate 

 the shells of mussels and barnacles. An accurate observer 

 describes them as swimming along close to the bottom, 

 with head down and body obliquely upward, wriggling 

 through the water, rooting up the weeds and grass, 

 among which it finds quantities of shrimps and crabs. 

 Their enemies are sharks, porpoises and sawfish. The 

 power of uttering sounds is also shared by this fish, but 

 probably not to any very great degree. No one has re- 

 ported observations upon this point." With regard to this 

 last statement, it may be added that practically we know 

 little or nothing as yet of the migrations and breeding 

 habits of this interesting species, and ichthyologists will 

 be very grateful for any that may be forthcoming. As 

 long ago as 1864 the present writer recollects the catching 

 of this fish by the fishermen inhabiting some of the cays 

 of the Bahama Banks, and I have a drawing of one of the 

 specimens which I made there during the latter part of 

 tnat year. 



One of the most satisfactory casts in the entire collec- 

 tion is that of a skate, and this specimen has been beauti- 

 fully reproduced. Rays and skates and their kin are in- 

 variably regarded with abject horror by every taxiderm- 

 ist who has ever made the attempt to preserve them by 

 the ordinary methods of skinning and stuffing. 



During the drying process the specimen warps all out 

 of shape; the incision made by the taxidermist for the 

 purpose of removing the body, gaps wide open in a most 

 hopeless manner; and the entire specimen in a few weeks 

 comes to be fit only for a bonfire in the rear of the natur- 

 alist's quarters. This being painfully true, it is all the 

 more fortunate that we possess the means of preserving 

 the forms of these otherwise intractable specimens, which 

 we do by the methods of casting in plaster of paris, or the 

 still more elegant one, in gelatine. 



The skates and rays belong to a very interesting group 

 of fishes, more or less nearly related to the sharks. It 

 contains such remarkable forms as the electric ray or 

 torpedo fish, and the sting rays and whip rays, the eagle 

 rays and sea devils. Speaking of sea devils, or the devil- 

 fish as it is better known (Manta birostris), I will not 

 soon forget the one I once saw in Key West Harbor, 

 Florida. I was aboard a man-of-war anchored some dis- 

 tance off old Fort Taylor. Near us there lay at anchor a 

 small Government gunboat, she being about three times 

 the size of an ordinary steam tug. She was so close that 

 everything going on on board of her could easily be seen. 

 While looking out from where I stood on the deck over 

 the stretch of water that separated the two vessels I pres- 

 ently saw a great fish slowly come to the surface and 

 head over toward the gunboat. It took but a glance to 

 recognize the fact that it was an enormous specimen of 

 the far-famed devilfish, and the marine on guard on the 

 gunboat saw it nearly as soon as myself. As it was swim- 

 ming quite rapidly, in a few moments it was close to and 

 resting itself on her starboard cable, which was down 

 with her anchor. By a wave of his hand I saw the offi- 

 cer of the deck give the sentry permission to shoot at that 

 ponderous fish, though I wager he had no idea of the 

 kind of a row he was to raise thereby. After receiving 

 the shot, the devilfish for a second or two was not seen to 

 move, but immediately after broke out in all his fury, and 

 lashed the sea about the prow of that gunboat into one 

 seething mass of bloody foam. It by no means improved 

 matters when two of the seamen pinned him with two 

 large whaling harpoons. This simply infuriated the brute 

 still more. He became tangled up in the cable just as the 

 entire marine guard gave him a volley from the fore- 

 castle. This was more than any fish could be called upon 

 to stand, and plunging forward and apparently dragging 

 the vessel from her moorings he put both cable and har- 

 poon lines on the stretch. At this point, when the very 

 safety of the vessel seemed to be endangered, he received 

 a second volley from the marines, and then the lines 

 parted, one after the other, like two pistol shots, and the 

 huge creature tore over the surface of water seaward, to 

 soon disappear. 



I shall always believe that that devilfish was 40ft. from 

 tip to tip and weighed at least a half a dozen tons. 



R. W. Shufeldt. 



NEWS FROM FISHING WATERS. 



Three Lakes, Wis., May 7.— The lakes have been open 

 for some time. Muskalionge, pike and bass fishing will be 

 good by May 15. Deer, partridge and rabbits are very 

 plentiful; they wintered well. J. R. French. 



Spring Lake, Flagstaff, Me., May 5.— Douglass & Savage 

 shot a large bear here Saturday, the 4th, after a smart 

 brush. The bear had got free from the clog that had been 

 attached to the trap, giving him considerable liberty as 

 well as temper. Fishing promises well. A. B. Douglass. 



Potsdam, N. Y,, May 9. — Ghas. F. Heaton returned one 

 day last week from Kildare Pond, his father's preserve, 

 with about 501bs. of as fine trout as has been brought into 

 town in a long time. The catch represented one day's 

 fishing. 



Fishing in Louisiana. 



New Orleans, La., May 10.— The fishing season has 

 opened for all fish in our waters except black bass, which 

 our law protects until May 15. One of the pretty catches 

 made last Sunday at Lookout was 11 redfish, 8sheephead, 

 1 croaker, 2 speckled trout, caught by Mr. P. Mallard, of 

 the Marshall Club. Mr. Mallard also caught 28 black bass, 

 which he threw back into the water in accordance with 

 the law. 



Mr. T. Lyons, of Lookout ^Club, with Mr. Pinkard as 

 invited guest, also spent a very pleasant day and both 

 made a good haul. Anodrac, 



