BIO 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 23, 1899. 
delegating State legislative powers to such bodies and 
enable them to convert a general statute into an uncon- 
stitutional special local law, whose terms would be at 
variance with the policy of the statute. — San Francisco 
Chronicle, Dec. 7. 
The Wild Turkey^s Sharp Eye. 
Bledsoe County, Tenn. — After trudging all day along 
the top of the mountain with no success at all, inasmuch 
as I had shot several times, but failed to bring down my 
game, I ran across an old hunter, J. W. Hyde. After 
the usual greeting we seated ourselves on an old log to 
exchange notes. I put the question: "Why are the 
turkeys always on the run when I see them?" The old 
man spit through his teeth, changed his position, laid 
his long muzzleloading rifle on the ground, put the fourth 
portion of a plug of tobacco in his mouth and proceeded 
to tell me why the turkeys were always on the run when 
I saw them : "Of all the game I have ever hunted, tur- 
keys displajr the most wonderful power of vision. I can- 
not tell just why this is. I have made a microscopical 
examination of the eyes of the hawk, eagle, fox, weasel 
and owl, but find no material difference in the lens and 
retina; the ciliary muscles and the iris are exactly the 
same; yet none of these keen vision creatures can com- 
pare with the turkey in point of seeing. I remember the 
acuteness of sight displayed by an old gobbler in the 
spring of 1892. I had carefully concealed myself, and 
no part of my body was visible but the upper portion of 
my head. A puff of wind slightly disturbed the brim 
of my hat; he saw it and immediately took to flight. 
"On another occasion I was hunting in the mountains 
in Georgia. I was lying behind a log and was carefully 
hidden, all but the upper part of my face. A tiirkey 
was slowly coming in response to my call, and was 
carefully noticing for .signs of danger. A mosquito was 
stinging me fearfully on the forehead ; I raised my finger 
slowly to crush it. and as soon as the finger came within 
the range of vision, cluck went the turkey, and he 
was gone. 
' "Now the most inexplicable thing in regard to hunt- 
ing turkej's is that with all his acuteness of sight .the 
surest wa}^ to get shot is to sit down in an open place 
with jrour back against a tree in full view, and strange 
to say, he will walk up within ten steps without seeing 
you." Just then we noticed that the sun was down ; the 
old hunter invited me to spend the night at his camp, 
which I did, and had a most pleasant time. 
J. W. Drane. 
Conceifning Big Bagfs* 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Please present the compliments of Didymus to Mr. 
Hough, which the same confesses with shame and con- 
fusion of face that he was guilty of a little slaughtering 
in his youtliful days, but those days were not as these 
days, for the tnultitude of victims for the sportsman was 
so great that no one considered it possible that their 
ranks could ever be thinned, and no one ever dreamed 
of being censured for a croAvded bag; but now, as the 
amount of game of all kinds throughout the country is 
getting "small by degrees and beautifully less," it be- 
hooves all thinking and considerate sportsmen to put a 
little check upon their love of sport, and to kill a market- 
shooter whenever they can do it accidentally. If this is 
not done, I'm afraid posterity folks will swear at us. 
Mr. Hough asks whether Didymus is a "good, clean 
shot." Well, he thinks he was, but four score years 
has tamed his enthusiasm and made him rather shaky, 
though only a few days ago he shot a few snipe and 
quail. A great many years ago he was wicked enough to 
try his hands at trapshooting, and killed eighteen out of 
twenty double birds, at Cincinnati, but they were wild 
pigeons; still it passed as proof that he was a "good, 
clean shot." He has always had that reputation, and 
some of his best bags have been made close by the 
ground on which Mr. Hough's office stands. It was 
about the time that plans were being laid for his crea- 
tion ! Game was plenty then, for clubs were not then 
born to interfere with it. About that time he paid a 
visit to the new-born town of Madison, Wis., and 
found that part of the coimtry swarming with prairie 
grouse. They were so destructive that some of the 
farmers begged him, as a great favor, to do some 
slaughtering for them, and he did; and now behold the 
poor Chicagoites consider it a streak of luck if they 
can kill a dozen on a trip of fifty or a hundred miles. 
Shooting them was no sport for Didymus, and he would 
leave them at once if he met with quail -or snipe. All of 
which is respectfully submitted by Didymus. 
St. Augustine, Fla., Dec. 11. 
Maryland Notes* 
There are very few. partridges (Boh White), except in 
the lower part of Maryland, this year. Of the 150 dozen 
birds turned out last year only five birds were lost in 
shipping. They were carried in little _ crates, arranged 
in tiers, nine males and nine females in -each compart- 
ment. An effort will be made to have a close season next 
year so as to give the quail a fair chance to recover. 
There are still a few grouse in the hilly and moun- 
tainous part of the State. 
Ducks have been fairly plentiful, especially on the 
Susquehanna Flats, but they have been very wild and 
shy, so that the bags have not been very heavy as a rule. 
This is especially true of redheads and blackheads; the 
canvasbacks are not so easily scared. As a result of the 
mild weather, the teal have stayed with us very late — 
the latest on record. Last Saturday we noticed for the 
first time this fall little tree sparrows, which usually 
come this far south in October. Quite a number of guille- 
mot are fiving this year ; there was quite a flight of these 
birds in 1896. 
Reports from the Potomac are to the effect that few 
ducks are seen. 
Mr. F. C. Kirkwood, Secretary of the Maryland Fish 
and Game Association, with whom we have conversed 
co'ncerning game affairs in his State, says that an effort 
will be made to have the Legislature take up the fish 
bill, which •wa,s introduced two years ago but not acted 
upon. B. A. Bean. 
An Ostrich Trust, 
The owners of the Florida ostrich farm have, within 
the last forty-eight hours, completed their arrangements 
by which they have become the owners of practically all 
the ostriches in the United States, and they now con- 
trol the domestic output of ostrich feathers in this country. 
These arrangements were completed on Saturday even- 
ing by the formal acceptance by telegraph of their oifer 
for the birds and plant of the Arizona Ostrich Company, 
located at Phoenix, in that State. Their purchase of the 
birds at FuUerton, Cal., was recorded in these columns 
several weeks ago, and the shipment of thirty birds, re- 
ceived ten days ago, was the first from the new pos- 
sessions. 
The company now owns 600 ostriches, all that are in 
this country, with the exception of a few at the South 
Pasadena farms and the dozen or less that are contained 
in the traveling circuses and zoological gardens of the 
large cities. The birds at the South Pasadena farm 
are the property of Cawston & Cockburn, and by agree- 
ment these will be kept only for exhibition purposes, all 
the increase of the flock coming to the Florida com- 
pany. The investment of the Florida company is fully 
$300,000, all of which is paid up.— Jacksonville, Fla., 
Times- Union, Dec. 4. 
Currituck Ducking;. 
Currituck, N. C, Dec. 14. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Duck shooting at Currituck so far has been much be- 
low the average, owing,. I think, principally to the beau- 
tiful summer-like weather. We still hope to have good 
.sport when the winter weather comes, for we have good 
reason to believe that an abundant crop of ducks was 
raised. Several yachting parties coming down the Chesa- 
peake on their way to Florida say that they never saw 
them more plenluful. Wild geese were never imore 
numerous than now. Swans are also here in great quan- 
tities; and I have it from reliable sources that black 
brant are more plentiful down around New Inlet and 
Hatteras than they have been for many years. This 
leads us to hope that the ducks are only a little behind 
and will still come. The most ducks killed at Currituck 
this season have been ruddy ducks, and they were never 
in better condition. Canvasbacks have only begun to 
arrive, and they are also in splendid condition. Quail 
shooting has been quite up to the average in this sec- 
tion, and many nice bags have been made. 
More Anon. 
To Dry Rubber Boots-^A Wrinkle Worth 
f Knowingf. 
I WAS more than interested in the article published in 
your issue of Nov. 25, under the above heading and signed 
D. Now I would suggest to our friend D. that mstead 
of an old bit of flannel to stuff in his boots when they are 
wet, if he or any other fellow sportsman will simply take 
an old newspaper and tearing it in several pieces, crumple 
up and stuff in his boots from the toe up and let them 
stand over night he will find them absolutely dry in the 
morning, the paper having absorbed all the moisture. 
I haA^e tried this method and know whereof I speak, and 
am sure if D. will try it the next time he wants to dry 
his boots he will agree with me that newspaper is far 
superior for the purpose to flannel. E. B. K. 
Two Deer at One Shot. 
The most remarkable shooting story told by the Dead 
River guides is that about E. G. Ward. He was here 
early this week. The first day out he secured a small 
doe. Several days passed without success on his part, 
but the day before he started for home he saw a doe break 
through the underbrush and run. He watched a clear- 
ing a short distance further on, and when the doe leaped 
into that he fired. The doe dropped dead, and when he 
went to secure her he found that the bullet had passed 
completely through her and had struck a fawn by her 
side, which he had not seen. The fawn was badly in- 
jured, and, the guides say, Mr. Ward was obliged to kill 
it. He then found himself with three deer on his 
hands, one more than the law allows. — Bingham (Me.) 
Correspondence Boston Herald. 
"Concerning; an Epithet.** 
From the Prince Edward Island Magazine. 
That excellent sportsmen's paper. Forest and 
Stream, originated a name the propriety of using which 
was widely discussed in its columns. It is a slangy 
compound, but very expressive — "game hog" ! It is 
applied to the people who kill game out of season; those 
who net trout; those who are not satisfied with a full 
basket, but must needs go on fishing till they have so 
many fish that they are wasted. Very properly the 
"game hog" is held up to contempt and his methods are 
condemned. We notice evidence of the existence of the 
creature in this Province, and are requested to say that a 
vigilance committee is on the lookout for "game hogs" 
who are breaking the laws. 
"That reminds me," 
He Was Somewhat of a Shot Himself. 
Around the office stove the boys were swapping lies 
about the remarkable shooting they had performed or 
heard of. Pat, the hostler, chipped in with the re- 
mark: "I am somewhat of a shot myself, and there's 
a man living down in Skohegan now who will bear wit- 
ness to what I'm going to tell you. I was standing talk- 
ing in front of this man's store door with me rifle on me 
arm, when a felley we knew come along and he was 
a-grumbling that the domb cobbler had half-soled and 
heeled his boots, and had made the heels too dom.bed 
high. 'Never mind,' says I, 'I'll fix them for you.' And 
as that man moved away I raised me rifle to me eye and 
I took a lift off each heel as he was walking along," 
Beaver Kilb. 
m mid ^iv^r ^wf(mg. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Petrified Trout Eggs, 
Long ago I ceased to be surprised at anything strange 
which came to my ears or eyes concern. ng lish. No 
matter how improbable the story might .seem to me, ex- 
perience had taught me not to contradict it. for very 
strange things do really happen in the fish world, and it 
is not always safe to contradict a story that on its face 
seems to the hearer utterly impossible. Not long ago 
I heard a story that almost caused me to break the rule 
and say, "T do not believe it," but it would have been 
manifestly impolite to do this when the gentleman told 
me he knew it to be true. He called upon me with a 
box containing what looked as if they might be dried and 
shriveled fish eggs, and they also looked as if they might 
be something else. The story which went with the con- 
tents of the box was this: A young woman. Miss 
Seaver, fishing in Lake Titus in the autumn, caught a 
female trout, fontinalis, and put it in a spring near the 
shore of the lake; the trout spawned in the spring, and 
there were plenty of witnesses to the operation, and the 
eggs not being fertilized, some peculiar chemical prop- 
erties of the water petrified the eggs. "Had I ever heard 
of such a petrifaction?" "No." "Did it seem possible 
that trout eggs would harden in this way in water?" 
"No." Would I take the box and contents and send 
them to be examined?" "Yes." I did send the contents 
of the box to Dr. Evermann, Ichthyologist of the U. S. 
Fish Commission, and he has just replied as follows: 
"I returned from Lake Maxinkuckee, Indiana, at the 
end of October and have only now had an opportunity to 
examine the so-called petrified trout eggs which you 
were kind enough to send me some weeks ago. 
"Upon cracking one of them it was at once apparent 
that they were the seed of some plant, so I took them 
over to the Agricultural Department and submitted them 
to the man in charge of rare seed investigations. He 
pronounced them to be the seed of a species of Potam- 
ogeton, a genus of the pond weed family, and com- 
monly known as pond weeds, but he says it is impossible 
to tell which species. The nut which I cracked was still 
fresh enough to eat. It would be interesting to learn 
whether Potamogetons are common in the waters from 
which their seeds come." 
I said I would make the result known in Forest and 
Stre.a^m when Dr. Evermann replied, although I could 
not hold out any hope that water, whatever its chemical 
properties, would petrify trout eggs. I had written this 
note from memory, when I hunted up this memorandum 
made when the so-called petrified eggs were given to 
me. My caller was Chas. B. Howe, of Sandy Hill. 
N. Y. The spring had a temperature of 45 degrees, and 
considerable petrified wood has been found in the spring. 
The trout spawned in the spring four years ago. 
Mr. Maasfield's Fly-Casting Record. 
For a number of years I have compiled annually the iiy 
and bait casting records in this country and Great 
Britain, and in giving the record of Mr. Walter D. Mans- 
field, of San hrancisco, I have put hrni in the expert 
class instead of under the head of amateur, Mr. Mans- 
field writes me on the subject and I make the following 
extract from iiis letter: 
"While I do not understand the word 'expert' as ap- 
plied to fly-casting, or the difference between an expert 
and an amateur record in such event, I am in no sense a 
professional, and have entered the sport purely as an 
amateur, and with no other object than the pleasure it 
affords in its companionship with fellow sportsmen, hav- 
ing only in view improvement in the art of fly-casting; 
hence, if the word 'expert' presupposes professionalism, 
I am in the amateur class; as a matter of fact, however, 
I see no reason for classifying fly-casting records. 
"My record of 1899, to wit, 133 feet, was made at 
Stow Lake, Golden Gate Park, July 30. It was noted in 
Forest and Stream^ and has probably already met your 
attention." 
It putting Mr. Mansfield in the expert class, I but fol- 
lowed the practice of the National Rod and Reel Asso- 
ciation at the tournaments formerly held at Harlem Mere 
in Central Park. The rules varied somewhat from 
time to time, but in the main, winners of first prize in an 
amateur class were thereafter eligible only in the ex- 
pert class. At one time winners of first and second prizes 
in an amateur class had to move up to the expert class, 
and there was nothing in the conditions of the expert 
class to imply professionalism. In 1883 the amateur 
classes were open to those "who had never fi-hcd for a 
living; never been a guide; never engaged in either the 
manufacture or sale of fishing tackle, and had never 
taken a first prize in any tournament." 
At the tournaments 'of the Sportsmen's Association 
held in Madison Square Garden, amateurs were those 
who had never cast over 65 feet in a contest with SJ^- 
ounce rods; and 70 feet was the limit in the black bass 
contests, with no restrictions as to weight of rod. In 
looking over the score books I find in the expert classes 
such names as Peter Cooper Hewitt and his brother, Ed- 
ward R. Hewitt; Warren N. Goddard, Robert B. Law- 
rence, Clarence M. Roof, John A. Roosevelt, Prof. A. M. 
Mayer, Henry P. Wells, Archibald Mitchell, James L. 
Breese, Gonzalo Poey. Dr. Spencer M. Nash, Dr. George 
Trowbridge, Prof. Silvernail, Frank Endicott and many 
others who would, those of them who have not passed 
into the beyond, protest as vigorously as has Mr. Mans- 
field at being classed as professionals. 
Well I remember Mr. Peter Cooper Hewitt's first ap- 
pearance at Harlem Mere, for I served as one of the 
judges, when he took first prize from Reuben Leonard 
in expert trout class. He was obliged to go against the 
then chamoion fly-caster because he had been a prize 
winner at Tuxedo, and casting against a strong wind, he 
won with a cast of 83 feet, with Leonard second, with a 
cast of 82 feet 6 inches, to the suprise of all con- 
cerned. 
Old Records. 
In looking over 'the old score books in my possession. 
