March 2, 1895. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
WOODS NOTES. 
A MAINE BEAR RECORD. 
In eight towns bordering the southern forest of Ran- 
ge! ey Lake, in the northwestern part of Oxford County, 
has been killed 77 hears the past season; in Bethel 14, 
Newry 10, Byron 14, Roxbury 12, Ruin ford 5, Andover 7, 
Gilead 5, Mason 4. 
WINTER GAME HAUNTS THE WATER. 
Apropos about grouse locating near streams and brooks 
in winter, I shot sixteen one morning following the bed 
of a brook, one winter before protection laws were made. 
They were mostly in pairs, and seemed to come from high 
land, making their Avay down toward the brook. I 
tracked them in the light snow, which had fallen the 
night before. 
COLD WATER EXTRACTS FROST. 
It is a curious fact that cold water will extract frost 
from a frozen object quicker than hot water or even fire. 
Thus frozen fish soaked in cold water will soften much 
more quickly than in boiling water. Often have I in the 
coldest winter days, while traversing over lakes, finding 
my feet freezing, cut a hole through the ice and stuck 
my booted feet down into the water, which immediately 
took out the frost and made them feel comfortable. 
In our last cold snap, in which the thermometer fell to 
26 below, attended with a heavy gale of wind, during the 
night our house plants froze and the ground in the pots 
solid. I profusely showered them with cold water and 
they are to-day bright as ever and in full bloom. 
LOONS AND FISH, 
In a late number of Forest and Stream a writer deplores 
the shooting of loons (the great northern diver), and 
fears their extermination. Any sportsman familiar with 
their habits knows very well that the loon destroys more 
fish in one day than would feed many men. And in good 
trouting waters they are very destructive. 
WILD PIGEONS. 
I can remember when the farmers in Northern Maine 
used to net them on the grain fields after harvesting in 
the fall. 
They baited them with wheat several days, on a smooth 
patch of earth prepared for the purpose, and after the 
birds got familiar with the arrangement they set their 
net and would sometimes secure many dozens, which 
they killed by pinching thpir heads with thumb and fin- 
ger, as they stuck their heads up through the net. I 
knew one man, who, after his thumb got sore in the 
operation, used to bite their heads with his teeth. 
ANIMAL SENSE. 
Whenever wild animals are suddenly started by coming 
upon tnem unexpectedly, they rush away at fearful speed 
for a short distance, say one-fourth of a mile or less, then 
stop short, raise their head high in air, and take a good 
look to see what frightened them; then they immediately 
continue their flight. 
Whether or not it is the trait of curiosity, same as we 
mortals possess, or to ascertain if they are pursued, or to 
make sure of their sense of smell, Ave cannot tell; but it 
is, nevertheless, a universal trait in all wild animals. 
Apropos of this fact, I was at one time roasting a grouse 
on a stick for a lunch, on a wet day in the Rangeley wil- 
derness, way back in the forties. It was raining slowly, 
my gun sat against a tree at my back with the case on, 
and I was thinking how good that partridge would taste, 
for I was veiy hungry. All nature was hushed in the 
stillness like death. Not a leaf stirred in that lonely for- 
est, fifty miles from an opening. Suddenly a loud snap 
of a broken stick behind the tree I was leaning against, 
brought me to my feet at a jump, and turning in the air 
before I struck the ground. There, within four feet of 
me, I beheld a large black bear. But he did not stay 
there a moment; in fact, he appeared to be as frightened 
as I was, and in five seconds was hidden in the thick 
woods. 
He was probably attracted by the smell of the roasting 
bird. He had a white spot on his breast. I set a bear 
trap which I had with me beside that tree, and baited it 
with a grouse and started on up the mountain, and before 
I had gone a mile I heard him scream. He had come 
back to see what frightened him, and was caught. 
Maine. J. G. Rich. 
"That reminds me." 
The first cold snap of winter had struck the wilds of 
Muskoka, and the dry crispy snow was whirling into little 
drifts around the corners of the houses, while a few old 
sportsmen were seated around a warm, rearing coal stove 
and discussing the number of deer that had been killed 
and the amount of ammunition fired during the open 
season. 
We were matching dog stories when Dave Sword 
dropped in. He listened to our dogs' great qualifications. 
J. B. had just told us what his dogs had done, Mac owned 
a good one, and he considered that old Captain would 
hold his own with the best of them. I was about' launch- 
ing out to recite the praises of my old pet, McGriffin, 
wnen Dave apologized for intruding, "but," he said, 
"gentlemen, I canna bide yere an' listen to sic ilowg 
stories, while I ken I've ane o' the best dowgs that ever 
wagged a tail over his hurdles. " "What is he good for?" 
we all queried at once. " What is he good for? ye say." 
"What is he not good for? I say." "Well, one thing he 
canna be beaten on, and that is treeing pai tricks; and 
he never was beaten yet as a coon dog. I tell ye sirs 
what I've seen that dowg do. I've seen him charm a 
coon doon out o' the tap of a elm tree fifty feet from the 
ground. Yes, it may sound redioulous, but he has done 
it and can do it again, an' I'll tell you how he does it. 
He wheels about and grabs his tail in his mouth and 
spin aboot like a pivot, and he will keep up that can- 
tantrup until coon comes doon to see what's the mat- 
ter with him." 
"And he catches the coon." we suggested. 
"Na, na, not so fast as a' that; he canna catch naething 
wi' his head in such a swirl, but he has Collie trained to 
run in on the coon as soon as he strikes the ground." 
We all passed, and Dave made his point alone. 
Pansy Sound, Ont. Caberpeigh 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Having read the testimony of Old Sam concerning the 
color of black bass, their stationary habits, etc., I do not 
see that we differ materially. 
It is true that I might have been more explicit, but on 
previous occasions I have written so at length upon this 
subject that I thought it all sufficient to say: "Black bass 
assume the color of the bottom over which they rest." 
It has long been known that the brook trout took on the 
general color of its surroundings, and that the change 
was made so quickly from light to dark, or vice versa, as 
to entitle the fish to be called a "lightning change artist." 
Chase a trout in a brook from dark bottom to light and 
his color will fade while you are looking at htm, if he re- 
mains stationary. I discovered this peculiarity in the 
black bass by putting them alive into the well of a boat. 
On the day "in question my companion and I had talked 
of the various colors of the. bass as we caught them. In 
one place the bass would be light, in another dark, still 
another barred, etc. 
At the boat landing the coloring of the fish was referred 
to again, and as I took the bass from the well to kill them 
they were all of the sa ne color. 
In the case of the trout this peculiarity is said to bp a 
provision of nature to einble the fish to hide, in a meas- 
ure, from its enemies; but the bass does not need to hide 
for tins reason, ami it must chamel ionize itself that it 
nniy the more easily prey upon other fish. So far as I 
have observed or know, the black bass may make the 
change in its livery as quickly as the brook trout. Read- 
ing over what I have written, I cannot see that I even in- 
timated that daylight or darkness had anything to do 
with the change in the color of the bass, and I never re- 
motely suspected that it had. 
Old Sam quotes what I said about the bass coming on 
to the shoals at night to feed, and about waiting for them 
until long after dark, and then asks: "Does this indicate 
that the habits of the bass at night were stationary?" 
I do not quite comprehend why, if I was to be quoted at 
all, I was not quoted in full, for I said further: "I did not 
attribute the stationary h^bit of the bass at night to faulty 
eyesight. I knew that the fish came on to the bars and 
shoals at night to feed, and supposed that when gorged 
they remained till morning. " 
I believe just that now. I waited for the bass to come 
in from deep water, where they were during the day, to 
the shoals to feed, and such as came in after feeding re- 
mained until morning. Naturally they took on the color 
of the white sand. Fish that came in to feed in the morn- 
ing were darker in color, showing that they came from 
the weeds and grass and only recently arrived. 
As a rule, during the month of August there are no 
bass on the shoals (luring the day, but they may be found 
there evening and morning. 
The exceptions may or may not prove the rule, for bass 
have been taken at all hours of the night, as others have 
testified besides myself, and it would be consistent to say 
that this state of affairs offered the best possible evidence 
that the bass so biting had become gorged with food and 
therefore were not ready to settle down in one place for 
the night, or, in other words, to become stationary. 
TIP-UP FISHING. 
One of the most popular amendments to the Fish and 
Game Law of New York is that found in Section 141, 
which provides that "Pickerel, bullheads, catfish, eels, 
perch, and sunfish may be fished for through the ice with 
tip-ups in any waters of the State not inhabited by trout, 
lake trout, salmon trout, or land-locked salmon." 
Fishing through the ice with tip-ups for pike and pick- 
erel has been practiced so long by the country people that 
they came to look upon it as an inalienable right, and 
when the law forbade this style of fishing a howl went up 
that the game and fish laws were enacted for city sports- 
men, and the country fishermen were ignored. Of course, 
there was no truth in this statement, but it caused a feel- 
ing of antagonism against all fish laws. Since the tip-up 
law has been restored, I have had more requests for in- 
formation regarding its provisions than I have had in re- 
gard to any other one section of the game law, and this 
coupled with personal observation and conversation with 
fishermen generally has led me to express myself as in 
the first sentence of this note. 
Game laws to be effective must, oftentimes, be framed 
to provide safeguards that seem at first thought rather 
unnecessary. For example, fishing through the ice in a 
certain lake was forbidden, because the lake contained 
trout, but it also contained yellow perch, and perch are 
an excellent pan fish, and there was really no good reason 
why they should not be caught as they supplied food to a 
community at a time when other food was not abundant. 
Perch fishing through the ice was permitted, and at once 
under cover of fishing for perch, the people for whom the 
law was passed began to fish for and catch lake trout. 
Perch and lake trout do not inhabit the same depth of 
water, or the same part of a lake in winter, and when a 
man was found with holes cut in the ice where the water 
was one hundred feet deep, those acquainted with the 
facts knew that he was fishing for trout, although he 
might declare he was fishing for perch, and the only way 
to convict him of law breaking was to catch him with 
trout in his possession, although the mere fact that he 
was fishing when it was known there were no perch, was 
moral evidence that his intent was to evade the law. Tins 
state of affairs made those who asked for the perch law 
clamorous for its repeal and the enactment of a law for- 
bidding, all fishing through the ice in waters containing 
trout. The Lip-up law as it now stands pleases a givat 
number of people in the country, and others not of the 
country, and it can do no harm to the troui or salmon, 
but already it is sought to enlarge the privilege granted 
in Section 141, and no one knows where tlie end. may be. 
A bill has been introduced in the Assembly, its number 
is 349, amending Section 11 as follows: "Pickerel, bull- 
heads, catfish, eels, perch, and sunfish may be fished for 
through the ice with tip-ups in the waters of Lake Keuka 
or Crooked Lake, and m any of the waters of the Scate 
not inhabited by trout, lake trout, salmon trout, or land- 
locked salmon. ' ' 
Not much of a change from the present law to be sure 
but enough to admit — shall we call it the cloven hoof? 
The change is in limited by the words underlined, and 
the waters so indicated are trout waters, and if these 
particular trout waters are excepted will any of the trout 
waters in the State escape. There must have been some 
good reason why fishing through the ice in trout waters 
has been forbidden, for such a law has been on the books 
for a number of years, and is there any good reason why 
any part of it should be repealed. 
I heard this bill condemned most heartily by anglers in 
Albany a day or so ago, and one suggested that all ice 
fishing should be limited by the length of the line used; 
th it no one should be allowed to use a line extending 
more than H fteen feet below the ice. 
That is all right in theory, who is to measure the thou^ 
sands of lines that will be used. 
It is true that fifteen feet of line will be enough to catch 
all the pi Ice and pickerel, that swim at the season of tip- 
up fishing, and fifteen feet of line will not catch lake 
trout, neither will it catch perch. I have caught brook 
trout through the ice with less than fifteen feet of line, 
and I did it legally, too, but that was many years ago, 
although I suppose it may still be done. Limiting the 
length of line to be used will not answer, and the only 
way to save trout is to forbid all ice fishing in trout 
waters. 
ADIRONDACK GUIDES. 
The Adirondack Guides' Association, Hon. Verplanck 
Colviu, Honorary President; Senator F. D. Kilburn^ 
Treasurer, and John H. Miller, Secretary, will hold their 
annual meeting in the Opera House at Saranac Lake, 
WedsmeMday evening, Feb. 27, to be followed by a ban- 
quet and camp-fire. 
The secretary writes me that the association proposes 
to recommend certain changes in the Game Law. "The 
members of our association believe in supporting the 
Forest, Fish, and Game Laws of the State. We do not 
care for any particular change in the fish laws, but We 
do wish to have the deer season made shorter. ' ' 
To become an active member of the Adirondack Guides' 
Association one must be a citizen of the United States, 
and have a permanent residence within the State of New 
York; to be at least twenty-one years old, and have been 
known as a resident of the Adirondacks for fifteen years, 
and an Adirondack guide having at least three years ex- 
perience." 
There are other requirements necessary to membership, 
but what I have given are sufficient to commend the as- 
sociation to sportsmen. 
Too often one has to give himself over body and boots 
to the care of so-called guides who have not the least 
qualification for their alleged vocation, and who are ut- 
terly incompetent and irresponsible, and all who have 
had such experience and all who fear it, will uphold such 
organizations as the Adirondack Guides' Association, with 
an executive committee as a board of appeal, to adjust 
differences and protect employer and employee and create 
a feeling of security on the part of the employed, that 
must be of benefit to both. 
PIKE, PERCH AND BLACK BASS. 
Black bass have been charged with all sorts of destruc- 
tiveness. It has been said that they destroy trout, exter- 
minate pike, the so-called pickerel, and that they are 
scarcely fit associates for any other species of fish. It is 
true that the black bass is often accused unjustly, but 
the fish has acquired a reputation that it will take years 
to live down. The black bass now appears in a new role, 
as the oppressed and not the oppressor in the fish world. 
Talking with Judge A. A. Yates, of Schenectady, re- 
cently, who is one of the most enthusiastic anglers of my 
acquaintance, he informed me that the introduction of 
pike-perch into certain waters had been opposed, because 
i^ was feared that they would destroy the black bass. 
Black bass and pike perch have lived together for ages, so 
far as we know, in the same lakes and rivers, and this is 
the first that I have heard of such a charge against the 
bass, and it is as groundless as some other and similar 
charges, with the bass as defendant. If one could hear 
Judge Yates expound upon the subject, drawing upon 
life-long experience with both fish, there would be no fear 
of introducing the pike-perch into any black^bass waters, 
and from my own experience I can say such fears are en- 
tirely groundless. 
[BROWN AND RAINBOW TROUT. 
A correspondent in Vermont wxdtes: "Having noticed 
in Forest and Stream your readiness to give advice in 
angling matters, I write to ask your opinion on a matter 
in which a friend and myself are much interested. We 
propose making an attempt to restock a fine trout stream 
here which has been nearly fished out. The stream is 
large for Vermont, and has several good-sized tributary 
brooks and many small ones. There are but few brook 
trout remaining in the main stream compared with the 
number it once had, although quite a number are taken 
early in the season. We have the promise of about 
twenty-five thousand brown and rainbow trout, mostly 
this year's hatching, but a few larger ones as starters. 
Would you see any objection to putting these trout into 
the stream with what brook trout remain? That is, 
would the natives hold their own against the others? 
Also we wish to provide for some sort of fish food other 
than that already there. Would it be a good plan to ob- 
tain some shrimps, or could you suggest anything better? 
Shrimps are an unknown quality to us, all we know of 
them being what we have read in your columns in Forest 
and Stream." 
There can be no reason whatever why the brown trout 
and rainbow trout should not be planted in such a stream 
as you describe. The rainbow trout will probably disap- 
pear after the second year, and that is the last you will 
near of them, or be troubled with them, although of the 
two streams fresh in my mind where the rainbow have 
remained after being planted, one is in Vermont, and 
the other in Virginia. The rainbow is declared by Dr. 
Jordon to be the young of the steeihead, a Pacific Coast 
trout (once called a salmon) , which runs down to the sea. 
Certainly in the majority of cases where the rainbow has 
been planted in Atlantic Coast waters it disappears for- 
ever after the second year, unless it is confined in ponds. 
The big str am will, in time, become the home of the big 
trout of native and brown species, and the smaller 
feeders will serves as nurseries for the smaller fish from, 
which they will work down as they attain a size to fit 
them for it, Some years ago I sent a lot of brown trout 
to a stream in Vermont, similar to the one described. 
They have done well and there has not been a word of 
GOniplauic about their destroying the native trout. 
There can be no better food for the trout than the fresh- 
