April 8^ 1899.] 
FORniST AND STREAM. 
tiloa and the Kiwi bird made merry together, and ihe 
Maori banqueted iipon lii6 ttidlliy tltimolegted by the Ss- 
mands of a higher civilization, 
The Taylor System. 
I WAS interested to note in a late issue of Forest and 
Stream the comment of Mr. Mather on what he terms 
the so-called "Taylor system" of fiy casting, which he 
ta.Ke§ iiot to bfe a new but an old tiling, inasttiUGh as a 
friend of his Md previously discovered thftt k foiling 
cast, with the line making considerable splash oti tliS 
water, would oftentimes take trout, as against the old 
theory of delicate casting. In so far as Mr. Mather has 
discovered that a splashing fly will sometimes take trout, 
he has hit upon the Taylor idea, but I could not well 
conceive two more dissimilar methods than those prac- 
ticed by Mr. Mather's friend, and by Mr. Taylor, as I 
tioted dttflng ffly fishing with him, Mf. Taylor being 
evidetitly oiife of the men that Mr. Mather has not fished 
With. The peculiar thing about Mf. Taylof's fishing 
seettied to tlie the very short line which he Used. Yet I 
liresUttle that of this line and leader he customarily h1- 
l.oWed hot liiofe than $. foot of sO to touch tlie water, the 
fly Beinf Used in fiickitig the Watef as one Would cut at a 
small object with the crack 8f d Whip. It was in its Wdy 
very delicate casting, and very accurate, and certainly 
the line did not roll out, but the fly was always the first 
to strike the water, being at once removed for the next 
series of sharp but accurate flickings, always delivered 
very close to the same spot, which was supposed to be 
in front of the hiding place of a trout. I once fished a 
deep bend just ahead of Mr. Taylor, and as he came up 
1 Could see his fly cuttitig the water at the edge of the 
bank just even with ffle and about ten feet away. As vve 
stood iii these felative positions he took two nice trout, 
which caffle ffotti somewhere or other and struck his fly 
ih plain sight of where 1 was standing in the water but 
a. few feet away. 1 should think Mr. Taylor rarely used 
mofe than 20 or 25ft. of line, and often 'very much less 
than that. Yet he \vas fnighty qUiet in a stream, avoid- 
ing the grating of stones beneith his feet, and being 
especially careful not to break up the surface .of the 
water into ripples by his wading. I have always taken 
much interest in this method of fishing, for which credit 
certainly must be given to Mr. Taylor for independent 
and I think original discovery. In all these comments 
regarding a somewhat similar fishing I have seen noth- 
ing which indicates to me that other persons have habit- 
ually fished in the same way that Mr. Taylor does. His 
ttietliod is so Unique and so distinct a departure from 
the old ideas that it has fully deserved all the attention it 
has feceived. 
tn this connection it may be of interest to state tttat 
Mr. J. O. Avcfill's \'efy intefgsting afticle oti Japanese 
fly casting has received fepfiht in the CoUinins of the 
Fishing Gazette of London. It would seeiii that the 
doctrine of short and heavy as against long and light is 
actually traveling around the world, even to the home of 
Izaak Walton, who, father of angling as lie was, seems 
to have overlooked this very heretical but very practical 
way of taking trout. E. Hough. 
1200 BoYCE Building, Chicago, 111. 
Oneida Lake Fish Pirates. 
The time of year for free newspaper advertising for the 
game protectors, who are supposed to look after illegal 
fishing in Oneida Lake, is at hand. From now until next 
winter we ui&y expect startling accounts, now and then, 
about how the protectors have "bravely" captured nets and 
made big bonfires. A Syracuse paper Wednesday pub- 
lished a story under scare headlines relating that Protec- 
tors Hawn and Warren had dragged sixteen trap nets 
from Chittenango Creek and the open waters at Brewer- 
ton. The protectors may be depended upon to get full 
credit in most of the newspapers for every fish net bonfire 
they kindle. 
And while the protectors are making a big fuss over 
the burning of a few nets, the fish pirates are smiling, put- 
ting out new nets and shipping fish as though nothing 
had happened. If there had never been a game protector, 
it is doubtful if the Oneida Lake would prosper more than 
it does. Many fishermen along the lake shore pav mure 
attention to teaching their children to make nets than they 
do to giving the youngsters a school education. But if a 
few pirates were prosecuted to the full extent of the law 
perhaps others of their kind would not exhibit so much 
friskiness. A few protectors of the William IT. Lindlcv 
type are needed. — Canastota Bee. 
The New York Striped Bass Season. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your edition of March 25, Fred Matlrer seems to 
think that I wish to ImVe a close season for striped bass, 
which would prevent angling, whereas I do not care to 
prevent angling at any season of the year. The wholesale 
slaughter of bass is caused by seine's and other nets in 
the summer season. 
The close season of the proposed law now before the 
Assembly at Albany is from Jan. i to May i, which covers 
part of the shad season, and as striped bass are often 
caught in shad nets, shad fishermen would violate the law 
by taking from their nets the small number of bass found 
therein, but after May i the seine fishermen would take 
bass in great quantities and break up the schools, leaving 
but few for the anglers. 
From observation during the past thirty years. T know 
that seme fishemien are at work at Crototi Point and 
Haverstraw Bay, from May to November, breaking up 
schools of bass and weakfish and leaving thousands of 
sm.all fish, including bass, upon the beach 
^Vhat is true in this locality must be the case elsewhere 
In framing a law for a close season on bas<; use a little 
common sense, upon which all laws are supposed to be 
^owded. c.^PT. A. B. Lent. 
Bangor Salmon Pool. 
A special from Bangor, Me., Saturday night says the 
open season on salmon in the Penobscot begins Anril i 
but the river IS still full of ice. and it is not likely that an^ 
fish will be taken in the Bangor Pool for several weeks 
Last year the first salmon was taken there on Fridav,' 
April I, by George Willey, of Veazie, and weighed r81bs 
ibis was unusually early; .Special ' 
Fixtures. 
BENCH SHOWS. 
April 4-7.— Boston, Mass.— New England Kennel Club's bench 
show. James Mortimer, Manager. 
Nov. 22-24.— New York.— American Pet Dog Club's show. S. 
C. Hodge, Supt. 
Some Reasoning Dogs. 
Boston, March 18.— Editor Forest and Stream : 1 have 
read with great interest the articles which have recently 
appeared in "our" paper on the subject of animal in- 
stinct, or reason, and I submit, for what it is worth, a 
personal experience which I consider as bearing upon 
this subject. I have observed several instances of, to 
me, a similar evidence of reasoning in dogs. I thought 
this was on a Somewhat different line from much that has 
been printed, but I could cite Other cases quite as xe- 
markable. 
While living in Worcester several Vears ago I owned a 
young English setter, Phil, a dog of more than ordin- 
ary intelligenGe, At the same time I had in my employ 
a man whose daily duties took him to different parts of 
the city, and Phil was frequently allowed to accompany 
him for the exercise it gave him. On one of their trips 
the man entered a Mechanic street saloon, and while he 
was busy with his "refreshments" Phil trotted around 
behind the bar, where a large tabby cat was watching 
over her litter of kittens. She "lit" on the dog's back 
and rode him out on to the street, and half way up the 
block. After his back had healed up and haired out he 
was as pleased as ever to accompany the man about the 
city, but he could never afterward induce Phil to enter 
Mechanic street._ I tried it once myself. Although he 
was too well trained to break from a command to heel, 
his fear was so overwhelming that I turned back rather 
than prolong such acute mental suffering as he plainly 
manifested. 
Starting out one day in company with a friend, to do 
an errand at some distance from the office, I called to 
Phil to accompany us. As our course took us across 
the end of Mechanic street, I mentioned Phil's aversion 
to this street and asked the gentleman to observe the 
dog's actions when he came to that street. As we ap- 
proached the corner we both glanced at him occasionally. 
He was trotting along at heel, but showed signs of 
nervousness. When about half way across the street I 
looked around for him, but he was not in sight. Nei- 
ther of us had noticed when he left us; nor could we see 
him in any direction. There were very few people on 
the street at the time, and the only object which it seemed 
possible he could have dodged behind was a passing 
horse car. I stepped out into the street, where I could 
see along the further side of the car, but could see noth- 
ing of Phil. We looked in all of the doorways in the 
vicinity, but could find no trace of him. There did not 
seem to be any shelter he could possibly reach in the 
very few seconds we took our eyes from him; but he 
had disappeared completely, and we returned to the office 
to wait until he should show up. 
At the office we found my wife and the missing dog 
Her story was as follows: She was coming down-town 
on an open car, and as it passed Mechanic street she 
was startled by a dog suddenly landing at her feet. She 
recognized him quickly and thought that I had seen her 
on the car and had jumped aboard with the dog. The 
car did not make a stop at Mechancic street, but was 
moving slowly. As she failed to find me on the car 
however, she got off at the next stop and came to the 
office to leave the dog and learn, if possible, how and 
why he had come to her. 
The facts in the case are: The dog had the most in- 
tense fear of a certain locality; had not sufficient courage 
to venture there, even in company with his master; and 
yet he dare not break away against his command. Sud- 
denly he scented Mrs. M., and whether he figured it out 
that she would protect him, or that going to her would 
serve as some sort of an excuse for leaving me I shall 
not attempt to say. Whatever he thought, he thought 
and acted on it mighty quickly. 
We noted that the wind was blowing toward the side 
of the street we were on and so established beyond 
doubt the fact that he had "winded" Mrs M on the 
passing car. Therefore it does not seem unreasonable 
to conclude that this was the influence which determined 
his decision, worked upon, as he was, by two strong 
emotions— fear and a sense of duty. 
The gentleman with me, who is as familiar with these 
i^J^^^r^^ J 1,^" myself, is an old hunter and dog lovei- 
Mr. O. A. Benoit, of Worcester, and I have no doubt he 
would corroborate my story in all its details 
It seems to me that the mental process shown here 
indicates something more than mere instinct. 
- - C. Harry Morse, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Mr. Fred Mather is always entertaining and instructive 
whatever he writes about; and never more «o than in 
his article on "Reason and Instinct." with its numerous 
citations and illustrations in support of his belief and as- 
sertion that some of the lower animals possess and exer- 
cise the faculty of reason. 
^^.^edity is a subject which has so manv side avenues 
that It is hardly safe to dogmatize about it;" but a com- 
ment on the sentence (vide, p. 304). "Plainly hereditv 
must be very .very hard on trigger indeed, when we can- 
not bring it into play even by mutilating the bodies of 
ancestors and keeping it up for a hundred" generations " I 
would merely state that there is a well-authenticated case 
of a man who, having had one of his fingers ampu- 
tated, became the father of one child, and I think of two 
or three children born with the corresponding finger either 
wholly absent, or partially developed. It has 'been the 
fashion for many years to shorten the tails of fox ter- 
riers and it is now not very uncommon for them to be 
whelped with tails of the regulation brevity. I do not 
know, but I doubt, whether the breed of polled cattle wa"? 
always a hornless breed. Certainly the screw-tail bull 
dog and Boston terrier were not always thus. 
r am, hov/ever, more particularly interested in this dis- 
cussion about reason in some of the lower animals. On 
that I take the affirmative side most decidedly. Worces- 
ter's definition of reason is; "That faculty in man. of 
which either the exclusive, or the far higher, enjoyment 
distinguishes him from the rest of the animal creation." 
His definition of instinct is: "A natural impulse in ani- 
mals by which they are directed to do what is necessary 8© 
the continuation of the individual and of the species, inde- 
pendent of instruction and experience." The defiiij'fiion o^ 
reason admits its existence in other animals besides nian,- 
but in a lower degree than it is enjoyed by man; a'nS 
it also suggests a kind of reason which may be enjoyed by 
man exclusively. 
May it not be that some of us are looking at the golden 
side of the shield and the rest of us at the silver side ? 
Is it not a question of degree — like the difference in value 
between gold and silver? The reason of the child is not 
equal to that of the adult. Possibly, if dogs lived to the 
age of three score years and ten, they might develop rea- 
soning powers in a far higher degree to what is easily 
shown they now possess. Heredity would come in as aw 
auxiliary to perpetuate and increase what former genera- 
tions had acquired. Of course, to tliis some one may ob- 
ject that the elephant, the eagle, and perhaps other ani- 
mals do now live to an age as great as, or even greater 
than, man. These animals are not, however, like the dog 
and horse, the constant companions of man. A child, 
fostered by a wild animal, and spending his life with them, 
would not even know how to talk in his native tongHe, al- 
though possessed of the proper vocal organs. 
I would claim, with Mr. Mather, and not with him 
alone, but with thousands of others who have made the 
dog and the horse their companions, that they possess 
what is called reason — and exercise it frequently in an 
unmistakable manner. The influence of association is 
perhaps greater than any other influence, both morally and 
mentally. It is especially so with children. The Mo- 
ravians, who excelled as educators, had a saying that if 
they could have a child until he was seven years old, they 
did not care who had him afterward. 
By reason of their usefulness and faithfulness, the hors« 
and dog have been companions of man from time imi- 
memorial. The Arab horse is the most intelligent of all 
breeds, because he has been for centuries the constant 
companion of his master and family. Certain breeds of 
dogs are more intelligent than others for the same reason, 
I would like to cite several instances where dogs llave 
shown the faculty of reason. I think it is hardly faiV 
to conclude that because some one has never known a dog 
to do so simple a thing as to "push the expiring brands on 
a fire," therefore all dogs are devoid of reason. With 
all due respect to the writer, I think this is rather beg- 
ging the question. It is like the man who, having been ac- 
cused of stealing by another man who saw him steal, of- 
fered to prove his innocence by bringing a hundred men 
who would swear they hadn't seen him do it. For my 
part, I humbly think it is evidence of good sense, if not 
of sound reasoning, for a dog not to take fire brands in 
his mouth under any circumstances. If a dog had hands; 
and could use a pair of tongs, it would be tjifferent. 
Shakespeare says: , 
"This boy that cannot tell what he would have',. 
But kneels, and holds up hands for fellowship. 
Does reason our petition with more strength 
Than thou hast to deny it." 
Six years ago, a gentleman sent me from Toronto a' 
dog. In his letter, notifying me of his coming, he wrote 
that there was probably only one other dog in the world 
like him, and that was his little brother. He said his 
grand dam had taken first prize in Vienna as a Great 
Dane, and his sire was a greyhound. He suggested my 
calling him a Canada greyhound; but I preferred to call 
him a Danish staghound. Every member of my family be- 
lieves that this dog understands nearly everything we say 
to him. That he tries to talk English, and would do so 
if his vocal organs were like those of a man, we also fully 
believe. As it is, I know by his voice when he is barking 
to be let in, or is barking at a tramp or peddlar, or at a 
cat up a tree, or a squirrel, or is only barking to let lis 
know some friend is approaching the house. I will men- 
tion only one instance in which he showed the reasoning 
faculty. One day, my daughter threw him a very hard 
and dry crust of bread. He took it into his mouth, hesi- 
tated for a^noment, and then went to a pail of water at 
the pump in the yard and dropped it into the pail. He 
waited for a minute or two, and then took it out and ate it. 
On being told this, I thought it over for some time, try- 
ing to account for his action ; until I remembered that in 
the kitchen there was a pail into which the cook puts 
greasy water, and frequently pieces of bread. 
Leopard was in the habit of foraging in this pail. He 
knew that the pieces of bread in that pail were soft, and 
so he reasoned that if bread was softened by water in 
that pail, it would be softened by the water in the other 
pail. He acted upon this theory, and found his conclu- 
sions were correct. There was no "sympathy" about it 
nor can you attribute it to instinct, for it was not an im- 
pulse by which he was directed to do something neces- 
sary to the continuation of himself or his species. Neither 
was it the result of any training, or of imitation. It was 
an original act with him. 
Leopard has done other things which showed calcula- 
tion and strategy, as well as good logical reasoning. But 
I never knew him to put wood on the fire — and in fact I 
don't know that he ever had any opportunity to do it. 
The late Hon. Timothy Jenkins, of Oneida, N. Y., a 
very prominent lawyer in his dzy, had a horse called Jim, 
and this horse sometimes interfered. He also had a 
green Irishman in his employ named John. One day Mr. 
Jenkins was returning from circuit and John met him" with 
old Jim. As they were driving from the station, Mr. J. 
turned to John and asked quite sharply: "Does Jim in- 
terfere any now?" John didn't know what the squire 
meant by interfere, but he knew that he must say some- 
thing, and so he said "Intherfere! Shure, sor, he's an 
able-bodied horse, and he can do it if it is required of him, 
sor." And so I think that Leopard could even nut a 
stick of wood on the fire, if it "was required of him." But 
because he has never done so is not, I take it, any very 
smart proof that he has no reason. 
Some years ago I bred a fox terrier whose name was 
Philip, A. R. R., 4229, and whose pedigree was long and 
unsullied. It would take too much space to tell of the 
many "reasonable" things he did in his short life; but I 
