FOREST ANO STREAM. 
LDec. 25, 189t. 
; Maine at the Sportsmen's Show. 
The proposed exhibit of the region around Moosehead 
Lake and others reached by the Bangor & Aroostook K. R., 
DOW being arranged for by Granville M. Gray, may well be 
looked for with keen interest on the part of visitors to the 
Sportsmen's Exposition in January at Madison Square 
Garden. It will be, in fact, nothing more or less than a 
breeze from the Maine woods, laden with the scent of the 
pine and fir, and giving one a glimpse of "life as it is lived" 
by the camper- out. The plans include the transportation to 
the Garden from Maine of not only a complete outfit for 
camping— the sportsmen's tent, the tlyfora "dining hall," 
the guides' tent, all put up just exactly as they would be in 
the heart of the Maine woods— but added attractions will be 
givea the exhibit by the erection in the Garden of a veritable 
Miioe forest in miniature; the trees, the mosses which cover 
the ground, the occasional moss-covered rocks, the wild 
creatures half hidden by the shrubbery and "woods" of the 
background, all will have come from' Maine to add interest 
to this exhibit and make it realistic. Even the half-burned 
logs which form the dead embers of the camp-fire will have 
been rescued from the oblivion of some long-forgotten camp- 
ing place, that the actual scene may be as like to the real 
spot represented as possible. On a knoll near the tent, rest- 
ing easily upon the bed of ferns carelessly dropped there for 
them to rest upon, will be a handsome string of the trout 
that have made Maine famous, lying just where, in his eager- 
ness to step aside for a moment, the victorious angler has 
laid them and his tackle as he has brought them from the 
water. 
Guides from the various sections of the territory touched 
upon will be on hand with maps and other descriptive mat- 
ter, and, what is far more valuable and entertaining, a great 
fund of ready "wood yarns" and practical information at 
their tongues' ends. It is designed, in fact, to make this ex- 
hibit as nearly an actual reproduction of a Maine camping 
scene, where foot of white hunter never trod before, as pos- 
sible. Mr. Gray is an expert guide, and is practically fitted 
to arrange such an exhibit from many years spent in the 
Maine woods as guide and taxidermist. 
Cheat Mountain Association. 
The members of the Sportsmen's Association of Cheat 
Mountain, of Pittsburg, Pa,., have nominated the following 
otficers for the ensuing year: W. M. Kennedy, President; U. 
Baird, W. S, Edwards, Nathaniel Ewing. W, G. Brown and 
S.B. Elkins, Vice-Presidents; Dr, W. F.^Robeson, Secretary; 
Theodore SprouU, Treasurer; Dr. W. J. Riggs, Naturalist and 
Surgeon; C. C. Scaife, George Shiras III., H. P. Pears, 
James H. Stewart, A. P. Tallman, J. M. Bell and M. C. 
Miller, Directors. 
The preserve of the Association is situated in Randolph 
and Pocahontas counties, West Virginia, and covers 64,000 
acres. A fish hatchery has recentlj'' been added, and last 
week 1,500 live trout and 150,000 eggs were turned into the 
mountain streams. The annual election takes place in Jan- 
uary. 
Virginia Quail Law. 
The Virginia law of 189S, prescribing a two-years' close 
time on quail in Virginia, has just been repealed. The gen- 
eral open season on quail runs to Jan. 1, with many special 
county laws noted in the Brief extending it to later dates. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
The Habitant. 
Every man who goes to Canada for fishing or shooting ia 
more or less familiar with the Canadian habitant, for he 
thrives where fishing is found at its best, and to know him 
even in a slight degree creates a desire to know him better. 
We know him chiefly as guide and voyageur, faithful, looking 
to our comforts and safety on portage and rapid; skillful 
with canoe and versed in woodcraft; honest as the day and 
innately polite; enduring heat and cold and bearing burdens 
for us that would tire a pack horse, yet doing it cheerfully; 
interested ia our sport and as pleased as we can be when 
successful; simple as a child, lightening labor with song; a 
loyal friend and companion that' is left behind each year 
with regret when we return to town from an outing in the 
woods and on the waters of the Dominion. It may be Joe 
Mercier, of the St. Maurice, who forty years and more ago 
journeyed to the Great Mistassini Lake; or Aim6 Beautieu, 
of the Laurentian, who takes you down the rapids of a big 
river in a frail canoe in a way to make you think it safe as a 
house; or Raphael Morace, of the Triton, who can fashion 
a moose horn or mink trap with dispatch; or Maurice 
Bolrall, of Lake St. John, who knows just where the 
ouananiche are wailing for your flies; or it may be any one 
of scores of other members of the race of hardy, faithful 
men who speak English more or less imperfectly, but who 
serve you well, good men and true, who if they have any 
little failings we prefer not to remember them, that all 
sportsmen, I am sure, desire to become better acquainted 
with. 
Dr. William Henry Drummond, of Montreal, has made 
this possible not only for those who journey to Canada, but 
for men and women of all nations; for he brings the habi- 
tant to our homes, wherever those homes may be. in his 
charming book of verse, "The Habitant and Other French- 
Canadian Poems." 
The author has lived among the habitants, fished with 
them, hunted with them, known them in their home life, 
and in his big hearted, kindly way, has come to sympathize 
with them and appreciate them, all the time absorbing their 
speech as they convey their meaning to English-speaking 
people, until he speaks the French-English like one to the 
manor born. A practicing physician, he has met the hab- 
itant in sickness and in health, at home and abroad, and has 
entered keenly into all that concerns him, and now he has 
told the world about him in verses that bear the hall mark 
of the soil in every line, and it has ail been a labor of love. 
I first heard the author read in his own library "The Wreck 
of the Julie Plante;" then I heard it recited at a club enter- 
tainment, and a little later I heard it sung at another enter- 
tainment. Upon each succeeding visit to Montreal Dr. 
Drummond would fish out of his library table a new habi- 
tant poem and read it, as he only can read it, until I began 
to ask the question : "Why do you not gather the poems to- 
gether and give them to the public in a book, for you have 
been plowing in a new field and your harvest should be a 
generous one, the reading public being quick to appreciate 
real worth?" 
The question has finally been answered and the book of 
poems is published — homely, true to the life, with never a sus- 
picion of burlefque, the desire being only to represent the 
French Canadian habitant as he is. "Hundreds of sportsmen 
will find old friendp mentioned by name in the volume, for 
the author has not been obliged to draw upon his imagination 
for the names of his characters. 
MaxiDje Labelle tells in the book of his visit to Egypt dur- 
ing the Egyptian war with a band of voyageurs, among them 
Joe Mercier, and Joe has told me the tale himself as we 
fished together on Wayagmack, and of the two stories I pre- 
fer that told by Maxime. 
The illustrations by Mr. Frederick Simpson Coburn are 
fascinating in their truthfulness and beauty of execution, and 
taking the book altogether, we feel like saying with the 
author in the only purely English poem in the volume: 
' Oil, Spirit of the Mountain ! that speaks to us to-night, 
Keturn again and bring us new dreams of past delight, 
And while our heart throbs linger, and till our pul.ses cease, 
We'll worship thee among the hills where flows the Saint Maurice." 
Ouananiche Asraln. 
Dr John D. Quackenbos, of New York city, writes me 
from Soo-Nipi Park Lodge, in New Hampshire, as follows; 
"Apropos of the discussion in Forest and Stkeam regard- 
ing the pronunciation of ouananiche, I have at the lodge a 
Montagnais Indian from Lake St. John, whom I have en- 
gaged to trap some otters that have made their appearance 
here, and take in a few_ mink, foxes, raccoons, etc., to make 
the ladies furs and rugs. He pronounces the word won- 
nahn'-iah, accent on second syllable. The first syllable is 
pronounced exactly as we pronounce one. The second 
gives the Boston sound to the a, nahn — not the flat Cape 
Cod sound nan, with a twang, nor the Jersey snap to the a. 
The last syllable is ish. I have had my Indian pronounce 
the word over and over, and it is really quite musical. No 
win-in-ish about it." 
A few years ago, at Lake St. John, Mr. Chambers and I 
interviewed a lot of men— Indians, half-breeds and habitants 
— in reference to the pronunciation of the word, and one and 
all pronounced the word in the same way, and that was as 
Dr. Quackenbos states above, except that the accent was on 
the last syllable. Pat Cleary had previously told me that 
that was the correct pronunciation, which was confirmed by 
Prosper Cleary, his brother, and young Prosper. 
I should say that they pronounced it as indicated by Dr. 
Quackenbos when left to themselves; as, for instance, when 
pointing to a fish, and asking what it was, they would one 
and all say won-nahn-ish, as the. doctor has expressed it, 
dwelling a little on the last syllable. But ask them if it was 
win-in-ish, they would say yes, and pronounce the word as 
you had done. Vary the pronunciation and ask the ques- 
tion, the reply was always yes, and they would adopt what- 
ever you suggested to them. We talked with from twelve 
to twenty men that evening to get the correct pronuncia- 
tion, and, if they had no lead, they would each one pro- 
nounce the word as I have given it, and I found this was 
true afterward at the Island House, and of my own men, but 
every blessed one of them would change it the moment 
either Chambers or I would indicate the change. Johnny 
Morel, one of the oldest of the habitant guides, who was in 
my canoe, changed the pronunciation six times in as many 
minutes when I indicated six different pronunciations, for 
he would say out, and follow my lead, only to resume the 
universal pronunciation when left to his own devices. 
Migrations of Salmon. 
It was my good fortune to be a guest of the Camp-Fire 
Club at their regular monthly dinner in New York city, and 
to be seated at table between the artist Mr. Harry S. Wat- 
son and Dr. Robert T. Morris. The subject for the speakers 
that evening was: "Where have you been and what did 
you get?" 
Dr. Morris told of his trip the past season to Labrador, 
and while I do not mean to anticipate anything the doctor 
may write of it for publication, I desire to say a few words 
upon what he told me after the dinner. He said that salmon 
and sea trout (Stagnales) run down the Eagle, Paradise, 
White Bear and North rivers to Sandwich Bay and there 
remain all winter, not going to sea at all. The bay is thirty 
miles long and twenty miles wide, with a strata of fresh 
water overlaying the salt water, and the bay so abounds in 
fish food that the salmon and trout have no reason to go to 
sea to seek it. This is but confirmation of what I wrote in 
this paper a few years ago, when I gave what I had been 
able to gather in relation to the habits of salmon in salt 
water. "There have been two theories in regard to the move- 
ments of salmon after they go to sea: One that all the salmon 
of all the rivers along a sea coast join in one great body and 
proceed for some distance until they find, generally in the 
south, suitable water and food fer their winter sojourn. 
The other, that salmon of each river resort to the sea "in the 
immediate neighborhood of their particular river. The evi- 
dence that I was able to gather pointed to the latter theory 
as being the correct one, and Dr, Morris's observations 
strengthen it. 
In Sandwich Bay the salmon and sea trout are caught 
through the ice all through the winter, and they I'emain 
there, as they find food in abundance ; and that is what 
salmon go to sea for, to recuperate on the rich ocean food 
from the exhaustion of .spawning; as they find the food 
near the mouth of the river, they seek no further for it, and 
that would appear to be the extent of their migration in the 
ocean after leaving the river in which they have spawned. 
Turtles on a Set Line. 
A Delaware & Hudson R. R. train stopped at Round Lake 
Station in Saratoga county, and Mr. John Manning, of Troy 
and Saratoga, who was sitting next me, said: "I often am 
reminded when I pass this place of coming here when I was 
a boy, probably not much above twelve years of age. Some 
friends were camping here on the lake, and I came up from 
Troy to spend the night in camp with them. There was an- 
other camp not far from ours, and members of the party in 
that camp had put out a set line for eels, as it proved. The 
next morning we were attracted by the noise of the people 
in the other camp. Some of them were out in boats and 
some on the shore, and all were excited over something, so 
we went down-to see what it was all about. The people in 
the boats were taking up their set line, and on it were a lot 
of snapping turtles. The short lines from the main line had 
been baited with minnows, and some of the minnows had 
been taken by eels 'and some by turtles. It was etli- 
mated that the sixteen or eighteen turtles that they found 
on their hooks weighed nearly a ton, and the largest 
one would weigh 85 or 901bs. Such a time as they had get- 
ting the turtles into the boat! It was no wonder that the 
men made a noise, for I distinctly remember to this day that 
it was no small matter to get the turtle up to the surface and 
into the boat, with those on shore and in the boat shouting 
directions to the men lifting the line. In some instances the 
turtles had seized the live eels that had taken the minnows, 
and I recall one big fellow that had a large piece of eel hang- 
ing from his mouth, although he was securely hooked." 
I have had minnows bitten in two by turtles when on the 
hook, for they leave a mark on the bait fish that cannot be 
mistaken ; but I have never hooked a turtle, although my 
friend, the late Judge Ranger, had that experience in Lake 
George. In the days of the Minnehaha, a steamer that ran 
down through the lake in the morning and back at night, it 
was not unusual to take boat and oarsman down the lake in 
the morning and fish during the day and have the steamer 
pick you up in midlake on her return trip. This the .ludge 
did one day when the black bass fishing was at its best. 
He had not taken any very large bass, something we are 
all ever fishing for, and it was nearly time for the sttamtr to 
be sighted. There was a nibble at his bait and he gave the 
fiah plenty of time, for it seemed to be mouthing the bait as 
though the fish were very fastidious. Finally the Judge 
struck, and to his intense surprise he was fast to something 
huge tbat he could not move with his light rod, and at this 
juncture the boat appeared in sight, but several miles down 
the lake. 
Try as he might, he could not raise his prize, whatever it 
was, from the bottom, -and he imagined all sorts of things as 
being on the hook, for it was his first experience with a 
turtle, and he had no idea whatever that that was what he 
had hooked. He thought he had the largest fish in the lake, 
trout or pike; for he was satisfied that It was too large lor a 
black bass, and that the fish was not yet alarmed, but had 
simply gorged the bait and resisted by simple avoirdupois all 
eifoi'ts to raise it to the surface. Hia boatman hud the 
anchor up, and he had mentally calculated how much line 
he could give the fish, when it made its first rush and the 
fight actually began. The steamer was drawing nearer, but 
he had lost all interest in it, for he was ready to put up an 
all-night fight if necessary to get that fish in his boat and 
eventually mounted in his oflice. All the time he was put- 
ting on as much pressure as his tackle would stand, and 
little by little gettmg his fish up in the direction of the sur- 
face, but the rush did not come and the weight was like a 
sunken log, although it did give evidence of life. When 
his fish had been lifted up some distance from the bottom he 
peered into the clear water over the side of the boat and 
made out the form of a turtle on his hook, and utterly dis- 
gusted, he cut his line and told the oarsman to row out and 
hail the steamer, which he was just in time to do. 
A. N. Cheney. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Illinois Fish Work. 
Chicago, 111., Dec. 18.— The Forest and Stream: office 
here was in receipt this week of a little visit from Pres. Nat 
Cohen and S. R. Bartlett, of the Illinois Fish Commission, 
who came in with Warden Loveday, of Chicago. These 
gentlemen say that in all probability the State Commission 
will by next spring have a brand new boat in commission — 
a craft something of the dimensions required by the great 
and growing work of the board, quite outshining the useful 
and faithful but rather inadequate Lotus. Ttie new boat is 
designed by Moritz, of Quincy, and will cost about $6,000. 
She will be a stern- wheeler, 115ft. over all and 26ft. beam, 
with a full battery of powerful boilers, and fitted up with 
all the appliances for the work along the coastwise rivers of 
this State, which has. over 1,000 miles of shore line on the 
JMississippi, Illinois, Wabash and Ohio rivers. 
Mr. Barlielt says that there are 10,C00 fishermen of the 
professional class in Illinois, and that last year they snipped 
7,)250,0001bs. of fish, worthnearly $250,000. It is with pleas- 
ure that one observes that of this amount over one-half was 
composed of that husky foreigner, the German carp. . 
Mr. Cohen is a hustler, and he gives me the quiet tip that 
next year he is going to let a large harsh substance fall on 
the neck of the transgressor in game fish matters. He says 
he at last has good tishways in at Walden and Kankakee, 
on the Kankakee River, and that he will restore the circu- 
lating medium of that stream. He is especially proud of his 
new black bass hatchery at Urbana, where he will have stock 
raised for the eastern portions of the State. 
The Florida Fish Congress. 
Mr. August Hirth, of A, G. Spalding & Bros., long and 
well. known by the angling community of this section, has 
received his commission from the Governor as delegate to 
the Fish Congress of Florida, earlier mentioned, and will 
leave for the sunny South about the middle of next month, 
It is likely that two or three others will be sent from this 
State, besides Commissioner Bartlett, named last week as one 
of the representatives for this State. It is not certain that 
the latter will be able to attend, but Mr. Hirth will go, and 
we could not have a better man to represent the better class 
of sportsmen and their interests in this part of the North, 
Hatchery Sold. 
The private trout hatchery of Mr. H. B. Gardner, on the 
Pine River of Wisconsin, was last week sold to Manager 
McLeod, of the Wisconsin Telephone Co., of Milwaukee. 
E HOTJGH, 
1206 BoYOE BniLDiMG, Caiicago. 
Sundown Fishing Club« 
The annual dinner of the Sundown Pishing Club was held 
in the banqueting room of the Lotoi Club, No. 558 Fifth 
avenue, on the evening of the 15th. The club in question ia 
a very successful one, limited to twenty members, whose 
preserve and attractive club house is in the town of Never- 
sink, Sullivan county, on the Rondout Creek. The gather- 
ing was a most pleasant one, and the dinner a great success. 
The following gentlemen were present; Rev. A. P. Van 
Gieson, President; C. B. Lawrence, Vice-President; J. B. 
Yale, Secretary; Saniuel A, Wood, Treasurer; William J 
Follett, T. A. Knapp, C, H. Post, R, C, Christopher, R. F 
Sinclair, Geo. S. Graves, C. H. Tiebout, R. E. Van Gieson 
and Geo. C. Howe. In addition to the above, the following 
invited guests were also at the dinner: D. K, de Bexideon, 
J. M. Wood bridge, George Hitchcock, N. A. McNeil and 
Dr. Cyrus Edson. 
