March 4, 1809.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
lee 
committee of conference with the House of Representa- 
tives on the bill and amendment. 
The motion was agreed to. 
By unanimous consent, the Af^ice- President was author- 
ized to appoint the conferees on the part of the Senate ; 
and Mr. Hoar, Mr. Teller and Mr. Bacon were ap- 
pointed. 
It is likely that a compromise measure will be ar- 
ranged during the remaining week of the session, but 
probably will be very materially modified. 
The Senate also passed the bill (H. R. 2524) for the 
protection of birds, preservation of game, and for the 
prevention of its sale during certain closed seasons in 
the District of Columbia, which bill passed the House 
of Representatives during the long session of this Con- 
gress, more than a year ago. 
There are some slight modifications of the House 
bill, which will undoubtedly be agreed to, and the bill 
in its completed form, as it will become a law, will pre- 
vent the shipping into the District of Cohmibia ,of il- 
legally killed game, to be publicly sold, as has been the 
case in the past. 
^ After the bill has been approved by the President, its 
provisions will be printed in Forest and Stream next 
week. Frederic Irland. 
The Laufentian ClttK 
The annual general meeting of the members of the Lau- 
rentian Club was held Feb. 9 at the Windsor Hotel, Mon- 
treal, and was well attended. This club of sportsmen, 
which, when it was organized fourteen j^ears ago, con- 
sisted of about a score of Canadians, has, through the en- 
terprise of its managing director, Mr. W- H. Parker, be- 
come one of the leading clubs in the Dominion. Its pre- 
serves, which are situated in the Laurentians, in the coun- 
ties of Champlain and St. Maurice, consist of a large tract 
of the finest fishing and htmting territory in the Province 
of Quebec, and the club is now so popular that, in order 
to keep down the membership, which has now reached 
over 250, it was found necessary some years ago to make 
the entrance fee (which was originally $25) $200, and even 
at this figure the club goes on increasing in size, and has 
members all over the United States as well as in Canada. 
In the absence of the president and vice-president, the 
chair was occupied by Mr. H. R. Ives. After the usual 
routine of the reading of the financial statement, which 
was very satisfactory, and other reports, the following Di- 
rectors were elected; Dr. W. H. Drummond. of Mon- 
treal; Robert Kiernan, of Three Rivers; David S. Cowles, 
of Ne\y York; G. E. Drummond, of Montreal; W. H. 
Parker, of Lac La Peche, Que.; Jos. W. Howe, of New 
York; C. J. Fleet, of Montreal; H. R. Ives, of Montreal; 
H. R. Wooster, of Deep River, Conn. 
At a subsequent meeting of directors the following olH- 
cers were elected: Fred Stancliffe, of Montreal, Hono- 
rary' President; Geo. E. Drummond, of Montreal, Vice- 
President; W. H. Parker, Managing Director, Lac La 
Peche, Que.; Joseph W. Howe, of New York, President: 
J, G. Veitch, Secretary-Treasurer, Imperial Building! 
Montreal. 
House Committee— D. W, H. Drummond, of Mon- 
treal; W. H. Parker, of Lac La Peche, Que.; Robert 
Kiernan, of Three Rivers, Que. 
A Remarkable Game Exhibit. 
While I write, the twelfth annual fair of the Oyster, 
Fish, Game and Industrial Association, of New Berne, is 
on. One feature of it is so unusual and appeals so 
strongly to naturalists and sportsinen that I am glad to 
put your readers in direct touch with it. Need I say that 
it is the exhibit of wild game? That a collection of some 
300 specimens and twenty-odd families should be gotten 
together in mid-winter speaks forcibly of the attractions 
which that coastwise section affords to lovers of the gun. 
The local names of the species are given in my list, and 
they are, some of them, unique and interesting. I have 
numerated them before in some forgotten issue of Forest 
AND Stream. Deers and bears seem to have not been of 
sufficient curiosity to be included in the following. 
This is the list: 100 live quail, 4 woodcock, 4 English 
snipe, 4 double i^ail, 4 single rail, 6 doves, i pair shuffiers, 
4 mallards, 12 black ducks, 2 spring tails, 4 green wing 
teal, 2 coots, 2 redheads, 2 hairy heads, 4 summer ducks, 
4 boobies, 2 bitrons, 2 marsh hens, 4 wild turkeys, 14 wild 
geese, 8 squirrels, 16 rabbits, 3 muskrats, 2 owls, 2 wild- 
cats, 8 foxes, 3 coons, 7 possums, 3 woodhens, 3 crows, 
5 bald-head eagles, 10 swamp sparrows, 3 large live alHga- 
tors, caught in Neuse River. 
This game display is the finest ever shown in North 
Carolina, and I make bold to say, in the United States 
either. No part of the country harbors such a variety of 
game and fish. Chas. Hallock. 
F.WETTEVILLE, N. C. 
Mf. Lee^s Alaskan Trophies. 
Chicago, 111., Feb. 17. — Editor Forest and Stream: I 
see that Mr. A. B. Blair, of Scranton, Pa., claims that 
his friend, Mr. E. G. Asmus, of West Hoboken, N. J., 
has the finest caribou head in the United States, and 
that it was killed in Newfoundland. I wish to inform Mr. 
Blair that we do not have to go outside of Uncle Sam's 
domain to produce a still better one. While on my hunt- 
ing trip in Alaska last fall I killed one that has fifty-seven 
perfect points, and the whole head is correspondingly 
massive. The animal which I am having mounted as he 
stood in his natural elements, is proportionally large and 
perfect in all respects. ... Harry E. Lee. 
[And Forest and Stiream has a photograph of the 
horns to accompany/ Mr. Lee'a -story of his trip.] 
Game on Clark^s Fork. 
Red Lodge, Mont., Feb. 15. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
There are about 400 head of elk wintering on Clark's 
Fork, about sixty_ miles from Red Lodge, and a good 
lot of big horns. There have been about thirty head of 
deer killed within five miles of town. On a trip last No- 
vember, Paul Bancroft and two brothers with a guide of 
mine, secured eight bull elk and some deer and other 
small game. _ Edward Olcott. 
New St. Lawrence River Club. 
Fifteen wealth}' sportsmen, most of them New Yorkers, 
have formed an association for the purpose of establish- 
ing a game preserve on one of the many islands of the 
St. Lawrence River. Among them are James H. Oli- 
phant, William C. Browning, H. F. Dewey, R. T. Wilbur, 
Charles Emery, of the American Tobacco Company; 
Charles M. English, of the English Ship-Building Com- 
pany; the two sons of the late George M. Pullman, Frank 
Lowdin, Gilbert T. RafTerty, of Pittsburg, and Charles 
and William Hayden, of Columbus, O. 
Oak Island, the one purchased, includes about 600 
acres of woodland. It is about four miles from Alexan- 
dria Bay, and near the course of the annual sailing races 
held by the Chippewa Yacht Club. The organization will 
shortly build a handsome club house, cottages and land- 
ings at various points. 
Mr. Boldt said to a New York Evening Post reporter: 
"This is a close corporation, and its members will be lim- 
ited to fifteen, with one share of $1,000 each. The island 
is for a hunting and fishing resort. We will stock it with 
pheasants and other game." 
Dr. Davis Claims Only his Share. 
Lancaster, Pa., Feb. 19. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of the iith inst, I notice the following para- 
graph : "Dr. S. T. Davis, of Pennsylvania, in a trip to 
the Jackson's Hole countrjr, of Wyoming, last season, se- 
cured four bull elk, one black tail buck, one cinnamon 
bear, one black bear, two antelope and one very large 
mountain lion, besides small game and fish. This was 
my second visit to the Hole, and we found game very 
plentiful." This is all correct as far as the enumeration 
of the game taken is concerned, but your informant ne- 
glected to mention the fact that I was accompanied by 
my old hunting friend, Mr. A. C. Kepler, of Lancaster, 
who added two of the elk, and the antelope to the string. 
Neither of us would be guilty of killing four bull elk in 
one season, in the State of Wyoming, or any place, as 
far as that is concerned. While the law of Wyoming does 
not specify very explicitly the number of bull elk which 
may be killed by one person in one open season, the 
Jackson's Hole Gun Club very gently reminds their 
guests that they consider two to each gun sufficient. 
S. T. DA\as (Shongo). 
Proprietors of fishing and hunting resorts will find it profitable 
to advertise them in Forest and Stkkau. 
In the Pound-Net. 
HV FRED .M.ATHER. 
When a man sets a pound-net miles out in a great lake 
or sea, with a leader running to the shore to stop all fish 
and turn them to deep water, and so into his net, he is 
sure to catch things of various kinds, some that he wants, 
and others. Awhile ago, so long that my memory run- 
neth not to the contrary, I said that I liked to have ques- 
tions fired at me, because they brought up things that 
suggested subjects to write on. The great want of a 
scribbler is a subject. Given that and his pen goes like 
Tennyson's brook. 
1 set my pound-net in the great waters of Forest 
AND Stream, and many strange things have been caught. 
Being stran.ge, they are interesting. Our interest in life 
is the unknowable, the hope that spurs a man on, whether 
the soldier "seeking the bubble reputation at the can- 
non's mouth," or in the more peaceful pursuit of casting 
the fly where no trout has risen for an hour, but the next 
cast may bring one to the surface. 
If we could forecast all things life would not be worth 
tlie living, and here I want to quote something about 
looking into the seeds of time to tell which ones will 
grow and which will rot, but I don't know where to 
find it. The uncertainty of the chase is its chief charm, 
and this reminds me of a happy state of affairs in the 
garden which I had on Long Island. It ran down to the 
salt water and was a most prolific one; it yielded a good 
crop every year, but I never knew until I stuck a spade 
in it whether the crop would be potatoes or clams. Much 
the same uncertainty attends the opening of the morning 
mail, or the pound-net. 
Old Jack Falstaft", not the gross beast of '"The Merry 
Wives of Windsor," but "Rare old Jack," of the King 
Henrj'S, a lovable old rascal, with most of the vices of 
civilization, said: "I am not only witty myself, but am 
the cause of wit in others." Success with the berry ques-r 
tion prompts a paraphrase of this in some way to sug- 
gest that wisdom has been drawn, etc. 
More about Berries. 
The "service berry" has been well exploited and little 
more can be said of it that will add to our knowledge of 
it, unless I should accept the following invitation from 
Mr. N. S. Smith, of Newburgh, N. Y., to go with him 
and gorge on them and then give readers of Forest 
AND Stream my own gustatory opinion of what Dr. H. 
H. Montgomery, of Pitcairn, Pa., dares to call "a berry 
before which the raspberry or strawberry, or almost any 
old berry, fades into insignificance." Such powerful lan- 
guage needs some backing when it is the first outbreak 
in favor of a berry which is comparatively unknown to 
civilized palates, and which never appears in our great 
markets. I admire the enthusiasm of Dr. Montgomery, 
as I admire all kinds of enthusiasm, and in' the coldest of 
blood hope to test his delicious "service berry," for it is 
one thing to tell a fellow how good molasses candy is and 
another thing to give him a hunk. 
The Mather Bass Fly. 
Prof. F. A. Bates, of South Braintree, Mass., writes: 
"Somewhere I have heard, read or dreamed that there 
was a black bass fly called the 'Mather.' What is it like, 
and is it good for anything? If it is I want to try it next 
season." 
Here is a bit of mislaid but not forgotten lore aroused 
by the question. It may be ten or it may be fifteen years 
ago, I received from Mr. C. F. Orvis a bass fly bearing 
the above name. I say a fly in the specific sense; but 
there were about twenty individuals. Here was fame! 
My name would appear on that tablet of immortals in the 
catalogues wherein are inscribed the yellow-sally, brown- 
hen, claret-gnat, doodle-bug and cow-dung. 1 imme- 
diately went to a cordwainer's and had him put an extra 
yi'm. of oak tan on ray boot heels. 
I regret that I cannot give a description of the fly to 
Prof. Bates beyond the fact that it had large wings of 
a light olive color, and that was the general complexion 
of the fly, sober and quiet, like some people. In my joy 
I jnailed specimens to several tackle dealers and gave all 
the rest, save one, to friends. The dealers saw at once 
that if this fly were put on the market the black bass 
would be exterminated, and so refrained from placing it 
in their spring catalogues. The friends who received one 
of the precious flies returned profuse thanks and prom- 
ised to try it. Perhaps they did, and feared to report the 
number of bass they killed for fear of being classed as 
"fish hogs." And this is all that is known 10 me on the 
subj ect. 
Canning Flics. 
The question asked by Prof. . Bates brings out another 
point. One of the above-named flies was saved and will 
not be accessible until fishing begins. The problem of 
keeping moths out of flies has puzzled many heads, Once 
I told how T did it, but it was overlooked by old anglers 
and was printed too long ago for the new crop of anglers 
which comes up every year. As it beats all camphor balls 
ctnd other preservatives, it may be well to tell it again. 
I "can" them in glass jars, put them up like fresh fruits, 
and there you are. The reason that the fly named is not 
to be dug out for present inspection is this: My flies 
are kept in glass fruit jars, with a rubber band and a 
screw top, and I'd like to see any durned moth get into 
that. When fishing is the order of the day the jars are 
opened, such flies as may be needed for the trip are put 
in the book, with more that may never be needed, and 
away we go. On return the flies are replaced in the jar, 
or the whole fly-book is put in it, and the jar is set on 
the mantle handy for another day. At the close of the 
fishing season the jars are stored away in box or trunk 
with the knowledge that they are safe. 
Furthermore: I have flies tied by Sarah McBride on 
which the gut is as sound as it was when that famous 
fly-tier died about fifteen years ago. Leaders that must, 
be at least ten years old and never used are strong and 
good, for they go in the glass jars with the flies. An- 
glers know that gut gets brittle when exposed to the 
air for some time, In the jars it does not; the only care 
I take is to see that no wet flies or leaders go in the 
jars to create dampness and mould. 
I have not bought a fly or a leader in several years, be- 
cause there was such a stock accumulated when the fly- 
casting tournaments were being held in Central Park, 
New York City. I was secretary of the association, and 
Ira Wood, Francis Endicott and others used to give me 
their stock brought to the grounds as keepsakes, and 
by carefully cutting out all parts of leaders that Avere 
frayed, and refastening flies where the gut at the shank of 
the hook was weakened, the stock has been kept up and 
is, I believe, good for five more seasons without rein- 
forcements, under the treatment given above. This has 
been a labor of love, for while I never cared to try to tie 
a fly, I like to preserve one that has done its work well 
and which often brings memories of a particular day and 
its catch. These are in the nature of pensioners, and I 
believe in caring for things which have served us, 
whether fly, horse or man. 
Berries will not be Buried. 
This berry racket which I kicked up by asking a sim- 
ple question has bitried my desk under an avalanche of 
letters, notes — and berries, as' well as promises of ber- 
ries. Some new berries, as well as dewberries, have drift- 
ed into the net and have been put in cold storage until 
there is a market for them. They are not in season now, 
but snowshoes are. 
Snowshoesj Making and Using Them. 
And now comes one William H. Avis, who has written 
to Forest and Stream of coon hunting and kindred 
intellectual games, and to whom I am indebted for sav- 
ing the lives of a lot of broad-bills which were swinging 
in to our stools, by prematurely discharging his gun and 
thereby enabling them to turn out to sea in time not only 
to save their lives, but also for me to economize on am- 
munition; but that's another story. Mr. Avis is tall and 
long of limb, and yet the snows of Connecticut trouble 
him at times. He writes: 
"Dear Major: If I remember rightly; some rime ago 
you invited us of the Forest and Stream family to fire 
questions at you to our hearts' content; and you A'^olun- 
teered to answer to the best of your ability; so here goes. 
In all my reading of Forest and Stream I do not re- 
member a good article giving a description of the way 
snowshoes are made; how to use them; how much a 
serviceable pair would cost, and about the length of time 
it ought to take an every-day sort of a fellow. to learn to 
use them. I have been bothered so much this winter in 
getting to and from tlie city that I have sworn a solemn 
oath to own a- pair of snowshoes. In New Haven, how- 
ever, such things can't be bought, for there are none here. 
Please enlighten us on this matter; I say 'us,' because I 
believe that others would be interested in your talk on this. 
I write because in your book, "Men I have Fished With," 
you mention the fact that you were on 'snowshoes for 
months when trapping in the wilds of Wisconsin nearly 
half a century ago." ^ ■ . ' 
After deeply injuring me, or what is, the same, pre- 
venting me from injuring a lot of ducks, this man turns 
my wrath aside, not by a soft answer, bvit by present- 
ing his other hard cheek. There is a. saying which I 
have heard to the effect: "I can forgive. Hut I caii't 
forget." I never knew exactly what the relations of 
forgiveness and forgetfulness were in, a general way, 
but in this case the precise formula was: Ducks = G; 
premature discharge of gun = I. and my remarks = N, 
