296 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 6, 1894. 
A Bleached Partridge. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
While bunting recently, in the vicinity of our beauti- 
ful Lake Kenosha, I was niuch surprised and pleased 
when, after a successful shot, my pointer Don delivered 
to hand a partridge of unusual color, iin examination 
showed it to be a young female, nearly grown, of 'perfect 
form, but almost entirely buff or yellow, the color vary- 
ing from light underneaih to darker shades on its back, 
the tail and lower wing leathers being of ashy hue, tinged 
with the prevailing buff. It is a beautiful and remark- 
able specimen of nature's entire departure from its law of 
regular coloring, for it does not show any of the colors 
ordinarily appearing on its species. Regarding it as truly 
a rara avis, I have placed it in the hands of a sportsman 
friend who is ski lea in the art of taxidermy. 
Impressed on my mind, often to be reviewed and re- 
enjoyed, are the conditions and incidents of this day's 
shooting. It was a perfect day, filled with the beauty and 
richmss of late September. 1 had the companionship of 
a friend, with whom I have spent many enjoyable and 
successful days afield, but from whom I had long been 
separated. We found an abundance of the noblest of 
our game birds in close proximity to my home in a large 
city. 
This particular bird was captured on a sunny hillside, 
covereu with birches with an undergrowth ot graceful 
ferns and netted vines, skirted by a cool swamp of dense 
growtli, making a natural home for the ruffed grouse. 
It is a beautiful spot, as the hill's summit affords an ex- 
cellent view. Nestled at its base, lies one of the loveliest 
of lakes, f riuged with tail pines whose graceful forms are 
mirrored in its clear depths. Tne surrounding hills and 
intervening dales, the woods, Iields, and a distant river 
view all combine in enchanting scenery. The eager but 
cautious trailing of the dug, the staunch point, tne flush 
at command, the swift flight stopped by the intuitive 
snot, the well obeyed order to ■'fetou," and tne reception 
of the prize, are tne incidents highly appreciated by all 
experienced sportsmen and were ol ten repeated during 
the day. 
I have found partridges this season in greater numbers 
than I have ever before seen them in this section. The 
occasional day spent in hunting them has been keenly 
enjoyed, also rewarded by renewed health, frequent 
game dinners for ourselves and sometimes for the friend 
who is "chained to business;" nor has the sick neighbor 
been forgotten. 1). S. Short. 
Haverbill, Mass. 
Stray Partridges. 
Preston, Conn., Sept. 27.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
It would beem by tnis item thai; there are at least one 
brace of ruffed grouse in this vicinity. 
On Wednesday a brace of partridges were started from 
the shrubbery on the grounds of W. H. Prothero, Greene 
avenue, and directly on starting, one of them flew against 
the house and lay in a dazed condition for a short time. 
Its mate circled back, ana waited till it was able to pro- 
ceed, when they flew directly across the city and disap- 
peared in the suburbs. Tney appeared in good condition. 
Queer place for them, nearly in the heart of the city. 
E. M. Brown. 
Carrier Pigeon Shot. 
Moorefield , W . Va.,Sept. 2u.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
On Sept. 2 Mr. G. C. Cunningham, who lives near here, 
saw'a bira on his barn he took for a hawk. He sent some 
one out with a shotgun to kill it. When the bird was 
picked up it proved to be a carrier pigeon. On one of its 
legs there was a metal tag, which has been lost, bearing 
the inscription "J. C. B., 7-2 94. ' 
Perhaps the publication of this letter in your columns 
may result in the discovery of the owner of the pigeon. 
A. R. Hack. 
Game in Central Pennsylvania. 
Clearfield, Pa., Set. 24. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The prospects for a good season for game in central Penn- 
sylvania are bright. Black and gray squirrels are reported 
plenty. Grouse wintered well and tneir drumming on 
tbe hillsides promises good sport. Very few deer were 
killed last fall, and as a result they are reported fairly 
plentiful in the game woods. Frank T. Harris. 
The Outlook in Virginia. 
Surry, Va., Sept. 26. — Editor Forest and Stream: As 
the bunting season is now open lor most kinds of game 
to be found in this section, I write you something in re- 
gard to it. 
The deer season opened Sept. 1, and since then several 
have been killed near here. Old sportsmen say they never 
saw as many before. The turkey season opens Oct. 1, and 
there seem, from all indications, to be numbers of them. 
Squirrels can be found in large numbers. Sora have been 
vtry plentiful in our market this season, and while I am 
writing I can hear the constant roar of guns shooting 
them. If you know of any one that wishes any informa- 
tion about hunting in this section you can refer them to 
me. A. B. G. 
Long Island Game Prospects. 
Port Jefferson, N. Y., Oct. 1.— Ihe uucks are coming 
this Way thick and fast. 1 have been watching them for 
the past three weeks, and find that there will be quite a 
great many for the first of the season's shooting. 
I think that the rabbit hunting will be very good this 
fall on the Island, but quail will not be very plentiful. 
There are an abundance of partridges (ruffed grouse) this 
season. F. B. R. 
Bather Bead It Than Eat. 
Port Jefferson, N. Y., Oct. 1.— Editor Forest and Stream: As I 
continue 10 read your valuable paper, 1 become more and more im- 
pressed with it. Like a great many other men I think that if one does 
not have the time co go hunting and fishing as much as he would like 
he siiould take the Forest and Stream and read about what his 
brother sportsmen are doing. There is a great deal or consolation in 
this. I had heard a great many people speak of the Forest and 
Stream being such a valuable paper, but did not know its worth until 
I began to get it from our newsdealer; but now I would rather go- 
without my meals than to be without it. F. B. R. 
Prairie cnickens. 
Recent reports received by the Chicago, iWwaukee & St. Paul Rail- 
way from stations in the prairie chicken country of Minnesota and 
South Dakota all indicate a prospect of the best hunting for years. 
Chickens are very plentiful and in fine condition. Duck shooting 
prospects are also good. Full information can be had by addressing 
Ticket Agent, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, 207 Clark street,, 
Chicago. — Adv. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Smelts, Black Bass and Trout. 
Mr. Edwin Hadlam. writing from Detroit. Mich., asks 
the following questions: 
"In some of your notes not long ago you spoke of cut- 
ting up fresh- water smelts for bait. I think it was in 
July. Will you state in your notes in Forest and Stream 
how you catch smelts in July. Do you use a net or hook 
and line; if a hook what size and what do you use for 
bait? Do you have to fish for them in deep water or 
shallow? Any information on this subject will be read 
with interest. 
"Do black bass (small-mouth) feed on smelt to any 
extent? 
' 'Do the rainbow and brown trout feed on smelt if they 
have the opportunity to do so? 
' 'Can rainbow trout and the native brook trout be raised 
in the same brook successfully, or will the rainbow eat 
the native trout? If so how have these facts been proven 
in wild brooks or in inclosed ponds where it was the sur- 
vival of the fittest, or of the largest and strongest fish? 
"Will black bass continue to increase in numbers in 
streams where they have been once introduced or are 
their numbers limited to the food supply? 
"Do the black bass do as well in running streams as they 
do in ponds or lakes? 
"These are a lot of hard questions for you to answer." 
The smelts that I referred to as being used, when cut 
up for bait, were caught in the deep water of Sunapee 
Lake in June and July, with hook and line. To be exact 
the water was from 58 to 63ft. deep. In August, 1890, I 
took the bottom temperature at this very place and found 
it 52° r'ah., while at the surface it was 68°. In many places 
the bottom temperature is 42°, and in one place it has 
been found as low as 38°, making it ideal water for 
smelts. The tackle used in catching smelts is a hand line 
of small size, although the size is not material, and a fine 
leader 9ft. long. Have the leader tied with loops, three 
in numbers, exclusive of the two end loops for attaching 
snelled hooks. To one of the end loops of the leader 
fasten a sinker of sufficient weight to take the line 
quickly to the bottom. A pear-shaped sinker, with wire 
swivel and l|oz in weight, is what I have used. Fasten 
three snelled hooks number 9 or 10, to the three loops in 
the leader and your smelt line is complete. Fish very 
near to the bottom and be constantly on the alert, for 
smelt bite very delicately and it requires some experience 
to hook them. For bait, use earth worms until you get a 
smelt, and thereafter bait the hook with pieces of cut-up 
smelt, which they seem to prefer to any bait which can 
be offered to them on a he ok. 
Black bass do not feed to any extent on smelts, as they 
inhabit different portions of the water oi a lake in which 
both fish are found. Comparatively the smelt is a deep- 
water fish and the black bass a shallow-water fish. In the 
spring when the smelts run up the tributary streams to 
spawn, the bass have not come on to the shores and shoals 
to spawn, so they do not meet as a rule, yet occasionally 
a bass has been found with smelt inside of him. 
Without doubt the brown trout and the rainbow trout 
would feed on the smelt if they had the opportunity, but 
I know of no water containing smelt in which the brown 
trout has been planted, or in which the rainbow trout has 
been planted and known to remain. 
Rainbow trout and native brook trout cannot be raised 
in the same brook for the reason that 99 times out of 100, 
the rainbow trout will go down stream and disappear for 
good when planted in Atlantic coast streams. They dis- 
appear when they are two years old as a rule, but there 
are a few streams in which they have remained and 
grown to good size. 
Jordan Das declared, finally, that the rainbow trout and 
the steelhead trout (once called the steelhead salmon, and 
this name is retained in the books to-day) are one and the 
same. The steelhead "ascends tbe rivers to spawn, and 
then runs out to sea again." (See my note in Forest 
and Stream of Aug. 4, this year.) This will account for 
the rainbow trout taking French leave of the streams 
when planted on the Atlantic coast. All trout are canni- 
bals to a greater or less degree, depending upon the food 
supply and circumstances. 
People are often exercised about the native brook trout 
being eaten by other fish, and in their solicitude they 
overlook the fact, or refuse to recognize it, that an old 
fontinalis is about as voracious for its size as any of the 
trout family, barring the brown trout, which grow so 
much more rapidly than the native or any other trout, 
that they are masters of the situation when planted with 
other species of the family. One has onlv to observe the 
small mouth of the rainbow trout and the large mouth of 
the native trout, fontinalis, to determine which would 
suffer in a personal encounter. I know of one pond in an 
Adirondack preserve where the rainbow trout has been 
confined with the native trout, and the forester in charge 
has told me that he never discovered that one species 
preyed upon the other; but they may have done so for all 
of that. 
Black bass will continue to increase in numbers in a 
planted stream if the water is suitable, but the matter of 
food is all important as it is with the well-being of any 
species of fish in any water. A fish can starve for lack of 
food as well as a man or a horse, but it will be longer 
about it, for there is some little food in the water under 
most conditions, and there is none at all in the air under 
any condition. Black bass fry when first hatched will 
eat one another, and there is no reason that I know of 
why an adult bass will not eat the young of the species 
rather than starve. It is simply wasting fish to plant 
them in any water lacking suitable food for them, and, I 
may add, an abundance ot it. 
Black bass will do better in a large stream than in a 
small pond. Naturally they are "big water fish" and 
they require plenty of room to be at their best. Black bass 
are not migratory in the sense that anadromous fishes are 
migratory, but they are great rovers at some seasons of the 
year provided they have the opportunity. Black bass have 
been widely distributed by the building of canals, by Fish 
Commissions, and by inoividuals; probably no other fish 
lias been so generally planted in new waters, for they 
were not natives to the waters of New England or the 
Eastern Middle States, where they are now found in. 
ponds without number, but I believe that the original 
home of the black bass was the Great Lakes, their trib- 
utaries and connections. Scores of small pond« have 
been planted with black bass that will never amount to 
anything as fishing water. For a time they have flour- 
ished and then fallen to decay. A remnant of bass may 
remain, for you cannot get entirely rid of them, but they 
are so few and far between that these little ponds can no 
longer be called good ponds for black bass fishing. Many 
mountain trout ponds have been ruinpd in this way, for 
while the black bass craze was at its height, the fish were 
planted right and left, without any sens- or judgment. 
What has been done in this direction cannot well be un- 
done, but in the future more care will be exercised in 
planting black bass in new waters. 
Making a Black Bass Pond. 
Mr. Lingo, of Denison, Texas, also desires some informa- 
tion, as follows: 
"We are organizing a club here for the purpose of 
building a lake for boating, picnics and fishing, especially 
for fishing, and more especially for black bass and crop- 
pie. The only place near here where we could secure 
any body of water has no running water, and we would 
have to depend upon surface water for the pond. We 
can cover about twenty acres of land with water and the 
water at the dam would be about 15ft. deep and the slope 
would give a fall of one foot in a hundred. We would 
drain about 200 acres of grass and timber land; the land 
sandy and rocky. Do you think black bass would do 
well in such a lake? Bass seem to do well here in some 
river bottom lakes that overflow every few years, and 
where the water is not over 3 to oft. deep. All the little 
streams near here have more or less bass in them and the 
lake could be stocked with fish from these streams. The 
land we would use is now in timber and we would cut 
everything out, leaving more or less shade entirely around 
the lake. We do not wish to go to the expense of making 
the lake and then find it useless for fishing." 
On the broad principle that all so-nailed game fishes 
require living water in which to thrive and multiply it 
would be a useless expense to make sufh a pond as is 
described in the query, for as I understand it there is no 
certainty that the water in the pond can be regularly 
renewed and aerated before it becomes stagnant. 
If there was a certainty of sufficient water to keep the 
body of the pond in motion through the overflow, such a 
pond would not be fit for fish until several years after it 
was made, as the decomposition of the vegetable growth 
in the overflowed land would kill more hardy fish than 
the large-mouth bass, which is the black bass of Texas. 
I knew of a somewhat similar pond to the one proposed 
that was made here in the North with the exception that 
it was made in the mountains and included several small 
springs. In the main the pond was dependent upon 
water from the mountain shed, although the springs were 
supposed to keep it alive. 
Among other fish introduced were bullheads, and the 
decomposition of the covered timber land killed every 
living thing in the water. After two or three years the 
pond, after repeated cleanings, became clear and the lit- 
tle springs did what was expected of them; but Mr. Lingo 
has no spring for a starter as I understand him. 
I have a letter from a friend in Texas, in which he de- 
scribes Eagle Lake, about 75 miles west of Houston. He 
says: "The lake is in the open prairie, surrounded by live 
oak trees, and covers about 3,000 acres. It has been 
known to me ever since I lived in Houston, and I have 
heard that it was full of black bass, but as I also heard 
that it was not protected and that it was seined, I never 
cared to visit the place. The lake was recently purchased 
by a farmer who invited me to visit him and fish his 
newly acquired water. I found the lake covered with 
weeds and lilypads from one end to the other. Not 100ft. 
square of open water to be found any where on which to 
cast a fly. I had taken nothing but a fly-rod with me, for 
when I was in Maine last time I snipped all my rods back 
by express, and they had not been taken from the store 
to my house when the fire occurred, so they were 
destroyed. 
"At the second or third cast I hooked a big bass which 
went into the moss which grew near the surface, and 
away went my rod in more pieces than when it left the 
maker's hands. 
"The old fisherman with us said the only way to catch 
bass was with an outfit he gave me after my rod was 
smashed. This consisted of a cane pole about 20ft. 
long with about 4ft. of line and a big spoon at the end of 
it. He coolly inlormed me that he had brought it along 
to be used atter I had broken my rod. It was no pleasure 
for me to fish with such a pole among lilypads and moss, 
but I 'yanked' two bass before night weighing from 1% to 
2^1bs. each. The lake varies from 2 to 6ft. in depth and 
has a good gravel and sand bottom, and is no doubt full 
of fish. It would be a lovely fishing spot if the pads and 
moss could be cleaned out, but I imagine it would be very 
expensive to get rid of these nuisances, and then would 
they not spring up again?" 
Naturally they would spring up again, and this descrip- 
tion of a Texas bass lake — nearly as much moss, weeds 
and lilypads as water — serves to describe other lakes in 
the State about which I have heard. So that the big- 
mouth black bass will live in waters in Texas that we 
would consider in a colder climate to be very unsuitable 
for game fish, but they will not live long in dead water. 
Landlocked Salmon for Lake George. 
Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, Assistant in charge of the Divi- 
sion of Fishculture, "0". S. U'ish Commission, writes me 
that the carload of fmgerling landlocked salmon for Lake 
George, N. Y., will be planted between Oct. 1 and 10. 
Already there is a widespread interest taken in the 
experiment of stocking the lake with this choice food and 
game fish, and I believe all the conditions are favorable to 
the success of the plant. 
Heavy Salmon Gut. 
In one of my notes in this column I said that we did 
not get the stoutest and best salmon gut on this side of 
the ocean as a rule. For this I was criticised, although I 
could have proved that I was right, for we do not pay 25 
cents and over for a single strand of gut, but a tackle 
dealer and importer wrote me lately: "Really heavy 
salmon gut is hard to get. We sent to England lor some 
and they replied that they had none to spare from the 
local trade." A. N. Cheney. 
