19 i 
States Fish Commission and the State of- New Hampshire 
furnished the fish for the aquaria, and in New York the 
fish was furnished by the Forest, Fish and Game Commis- 
sion of the State of New York. The latter is the smaller 
exhibit, as no attempt has been made to show more than 
3 sample of the work of the Commission in rearing trout 
for public distribution, and under the present conditions 
existing at Madison Square Garden it is not possible to 
have more than a meager exhibition of the product of the 
State hatching stations, as the horse show or some other 
shoAv is hustled out of the Garden some evening at six 
o'clock, and the Sportsmen's show begins to hustle in 
about the same hour, and all must be in readiness for 
opening a few days later. It is a case of "The King is 
dead; long live the King." This year the dead king was 
the dog and the live king was fish and things that other 
pens will write about. 
So far as it went the fish exhibit was an excellent one 
of brook, brown and rainbow trout. There Was tank each 
of one and two year old fish, one of steelhead trout and 
one of red-throat or black spotted trout, and a big tank of 
big trout of brook, brown and rainbows. The fish were in 
fine condition, and probably no finer young fish can be 
found anywhere. As the trout came chiefly from the 
ILong Island liatching station they were remarkable for 
their size, and it was difficult to make visitors understand 
that the yearlings and two-year-olds had been reared 
from the egg in twelve and twenty-four calendar months 
respectively. In connection with the aquaria was a minia- 
ture trout hatchery, and this exhibit was one that attracted 
much attention and provoked endless queries that the at- 
tendants were kept busy in answering. In one trough 
were the eyed ova in process of hatching, and in another 
the fry just as they had- absorbed the yolk sac. A plat- 
form had been erected for the convenience of visitors, that 
they might look down into the water and thus see the eggs 
on the trays and the fry in the troiigh to better advan- 
tage, and this also made it convenient for many boys, a 
few men, and occasionally a woman, to lift out some eggs, 
feel of the trout fry, or cut off the water supply ; but as it 
was all done out of pardonable but fatal curiosity, the 
attendants only said ''Please don't," when perhaps they 
wished to use another and larger D. There is no question 
about live fish exhibits being educational in a high degree, 
and the fish subject is one that so many people are inter- 
ested in the moment it is called to their attention, and I 
think it would be of great benefit to have a live fish exhibit 
another year that would really do credit to the State; but 
it would have to be planned in advance and everything 
made ready elsewhere to move in between two days, as it 
were. One thing needful is filtered water. The fish foul 
the water very quickly, but before they are put into the 
tanks the water is far from clear, and the greatest com- 
•plaint made is that the people cannot see the fish as plainly 
as they may wish. It would, however, be impossible to 
make a fish exhibit showing all the branches of the work 
of the State Commission and set it all down in the Gar- 
den for a stay of two weeks, for the work goes on in 
various branches during twelve months, and it cannot be 
condensed into two weeks. This is too late to show 
whitefish work and too early to show pike-perch and 
shad work, and so a compromise has been made this year 
on fall spawning and spring spaAvning trout of various 
species, and as I said in the beginning it is an excellent 
.show as far as it goes. A. N. Cheney. 
New England Ice Fishing. 
Boston, March 3. — There is some ice fishing yet, but 
the weather has been most remarkably severe. Mr. E. 
Frank Lewis, of Lawrence, Mass., with six of his friends, 
is out of the woods from an ice-fishing trip to Hartland 
Lake, Me. They occupied the camp of the Commodore 
Club. In as many days they had six or seven sorts of 
weather: blinding and drifting snow storms, gales of 
wind, mercury down below zero and a rain storm. They 
had no difficulty in keeping comfortable in the well-pro- 
vided camps of the club, but fishing was another cjues- 
tion a part of the time. Still, they got a fair showing of 
pickerel, and would like to be there again. Among the 
lakes and ponds in that section included in the list of those 
opened to ice fishing by the Commisioners this winter, are 
Douglass, Moose, Indian, White, Mud, Stafford and Star- 
bird ponds. It is understood that these ponds are now 
well stocked with trout and salmon, under the efforts 
of the Commissioners. Massachusetts fishermen own 
camps on several of them, and as soon as the weather is in 
the least reasonable, they propose to visit their camps for 
ice fishing. Winthrop and Wayne ponds are also popu- 
lar resorts for ice fishermen, and something has already 
been done, but parties generally are waiting for better 
weather. 
A correspondent of the Forest and Stream, who signs 
himself Hobo, Jr., says that I stated in your issue of Feb. 
10, that there was no good pickerel fishing near Boston — 
within twenty or thirty miles. Now if he will note more 
closely what I did say. he will find that I stated that I \yas 
constantly being asked where there is good pickerel fishing 
within twenty or thirty miles of Boston, and that I was 
uaable to direct the inquirers to the desired grounds, as 
such spots were few and far between, or words to that 
eifect. If Hobo, Jr., knows of good pickerel fishing, as 
he states, within twelve or fifteen miles of Boston, and will 
describe the locations to the Forest and Stream, or 
allow me to do so, he will confer a good deal of a favor on 
hosts of sportsmen who are looking for just such places, 
where they can go and be only one day from business, and 
be reasonably .sure of a few pickerel. 
The Sportsmen's Show is bringing sportsmen and 
gentlemen interested in fish and game more nearly to- 
gether. A meeting preliminary to the formation of a 
permanent organization of wider scope than any now in 
existence was held at Weber's the other evening. Covers 
were laid for twenty, and among the guests of honor were 
J. W. Collins, Chairman of the Massachusetts Fish and 
Game Commission : H. W. Kimball, Secretary' and Treas- 
urer of the Massachusetts Central Committee for the Pro- 
tection of Fi«h and Game; Dr. S. W. Abbott, Secretary 
of the State Board of Health, and BiHv Sonle. pronrietor 
of Pleasant Island Camns, Cupsuntic Lfke Me. Officers 
nnd committee-; were chosen, with J. C. Hartshorne, of 
Wakefield, chairman, and I. M. Poland, secretarv. 
Special. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Labrador Salmon Rivers. 
New York, Feb. 26.— Hon. S. H. Parent, Commis- 
sioner Lands, Forests and Fisheries, Quebec, Canada. 
Dear Sir. — Among my angling experience of the past sea- 
son was included a week or ten days' camp at the Riviere 
a la Truite, on the North shore, in the Labrador District, 
and in accordance with my practice of reporting to you 
for the information of your department,' and possibly for 
the guidance of other anglers, I send you the following 
particulars concerning it from an angling point of view. 
This little river (the a la Truite) lies about eight miles 
easterly (along the coast) from the Moisie. It is a small 
stream, perhaps 15 yards in width at its mouth, entering 
the sea between two low rocky point.s, off which He one or 
two small rocky islets, which are practically submerged 
at high tide. There are no inhabitants at the mouth, nor 
has tfiere been any house there since the great fire, which 
started at or near the Ste. Marguerite-en has and swept 
across country to the Hamilton River, at which time the 
Chisholms house, which stood on a terrain a little to the 
east of the mouth of the river, was burned— if I remember 
rightly some twenty-odd years ago. To the east, at a dis- 
tance of perhaps fifteen miles, the nearest river is the 
quite inconsiderable Riviere Pigou, a few miles beyond 
which lies Cape Cormorant and the RiA'iere Bouleau. 
The entrance to the a la Truite is only practicable at high 
tide for chaloupcs drawing 3 or 4 feet of water, and there 
is a little cove in the rocks on the easterly side of the 
river, perhaps T50 yards from its mouth, where such a 
boat can be safely moored bow and stern and remain 
afloat except at very low tides. The river is inconvenient 
of access, as the only practicable approach for wagons 
from the Moisie is along the beach, while tents, pro- 
visions, etc., have to be transferred to boats about 150 
yards from the mouth, to be taken around the rocky point 
on the westerly side of the entrance, the sand beach ter- 
minating at that point. During the prevalence of winds 
anywhere between east and southwest (except, of course, 
light breezes) the entrance is impracticable because of a 
heavy breaker which forms across the mouth of the river 
between the outlying rocks spoken of above ; and even with 
northerly winds the entrance to the river is unsecure or 
impossible during ebb tide. The trail which follows the 
route of the Government telegraph line along the coast 
crosses the river by a fairly substantial foot-bridge some 
250 yards from the mouth. The only available camping 
ground is near the mouth on the easterly side, where a few 
feet of sand beach leads up to a low hill and in a south- 
easterly direction over to the former location of the 
Chislrolms house, on a little bay, just beyond the point 
of rocks which forms the easterly side of the river's 
moutli. 
As for "maranguins," "moustiques" and "brulots," I 
have never found a place where these amiable accessories 
of salmon fishing approached in numbers, viciousness and 
uniform distribution those indigenous to this river. The 
fire, which spared a patch of woods on the westerly bank, 
came down to the sea on the east, and it may be from 
the fact that one has to camp in this old brule that they 
are so l)ad, the theory being, I believe, as to "mous- 
tiques," that they are worse in a brule than almost any- 
where else. 
The general course of the river is, as with nearly all 
the rivers along this coast, from north to south. The 
impassable falls are about three and a half miles (by- 
liver) from the mouth. .Above them lie one or two 
small lakes, while the river, though very inconsiderable in 
size, has quite a long course beyond — perhaps twenty or 
thirty miles (some say fifty or more). 
The head of tide water at ordinary high tides is about 
three hundred yards from the mouth and somewhat above 
the little bridge already spoken of, though Avhen I speak 
oi the head of "tide water" it is substantially the fresh 
water of the river backed up by the rising tide, rather 
than an influx of sea water which is referred to. From 
ihe moutb to the first falls, a distance of perhaps 600 yards, 
the course of the river is almost mathematically straight, 
of substantially uniform width throughout, and it flows 
between sharply defined rocky banks of some little height. 
The fall of the river bed, being considerable, presents a 
continuous succession of rapids, up to the pool which lies 
immediately below the first falls, though at high tide the 
lower rapids are submerged. During these times some 
salmon lie in the lower portion of the river, but do not 
there take the fly. since from the absence of current it 
cannot be properly presented to them. With that excep- 
tion fish do not appear to He at any point until the pool 
immediately at the toot of the first falls is reached. 
This pool is the termination of the straight course of 
the river. It varies in width from 15 to 20 yards, and it 
has a length of perhaps 200 feet. The river enters it at 
the upper end of its easterly side at right angles and by a 
somewhat broken falls of (in all) perhaps 16 or 18 feet. 
The current. sweei)ing squarely across the head of the 
pool (until deflected by the precipitous rocks which form 
its westerly bank), renders the upper portion of the pool 
unfit for angling. A steep, and, except at its upper ex- 
tremity, more or less insecure bank of rock on the east- 
erly side, and immediately to the south of the falls, affords 
the only suitable location for fly-casting. Neither can a 
fish be followed for more than 8 or 10 yards down the 
pool. From this it follows that any heavy fish hooked in 
the pool which descends the rapids is lost. Practically any 
fish of over 15 pounds must be fought and killed in the 
pool itself if he is to be saved. Moreover, toward the 
center, about a third of the way down the available por- 
tion of the pool, lie some sunken rocks, which also re- 
sult in the loss of many fish. 
There seem to be, as nearly as my observation afforded 
opportunity to determine, two runs of fish in the river, 
one, the earlier, being of somewhat larger fish, running 
up possibly to not over 20 pounds, and the second and 
later a run of very small fish, of, say, from ."5 to 9 pounds. 
Indeed, I got last year in this pool the smallest full-grown 
salmon I have ever killed— just under 4 pounds. It may, 
however, very well be that the larger fish, from their 
erreater strength, are able to ascend the falls early in 
the season, wheii there is more water passing over them 
. than the small fi'^h c£in fnce- and that passing up and leav- 
insr the small fish behind, they thus create the impression 
pf there being a second run of small fish. Moreover, the 
distance from the mouth of the river to the first falls being 
so inconsiderable, it may be that, at any time when the 
[Ma&ck to, 1900. 
volume of water Qoming down the falls is not too great, 
the larger fish do not lie for any length of time in the 
pool, but pass immediately up from the seas to the higher 
reaches of the river. Or again, as has been suggested in 
I elation to this river, the larger fish may not belong there, 
but be fish belonging in and ultimately bound for the 
Aloisie, which (eitner in mere wantonness or by mistake) 
have run into the a la Truite and mounted to the first 
])ooj, whence, recognizing from the contracted quarters 
in which they And themselves that they have erred, they 
return again to the sea. As to this latter view, I may add 
that while I have seen a number of fish mounting the 
falls, 1 have seen none over, at the outside, to or 12 
pounds attternpting to do so. 
The river being so inconsiderable in size, the total num- 
ber of fish is not very great, and this is unfortunately the 
ni,ore so from the fact of the rigid coast netting to which 
the vicinity is subjected, there being a netting stand every 
mile on each side of the river for a long distance. Seven, 
if I remember rightly, are located betwen the river and 
the mouth of the Moisie, each stand being furnished with 
a full-length net with four wings (two on either side). 
Also, last year, there were (very unfortunately, as 1 must 
think) two nets permitted to be set oft* shore from the 
rocky islets, one on each side of the river mouth, each 
slightly inclining toward the other, which may be said 
to have substantially barred the entrance to the river. 
Above the first falls the river winds for perhaps three 
miles behind some bare (burnt over) rocky hills of no 
great height, until it reaches the impassable falls. 
Although angling- has been essayed at various points 
above the first falls, no place has been found where the 
fish would take the fly, and at the foot of the great falls, 
where it would seem as though angling might be success- 
ful, by reason, apparently, of the fish lying over in the 
quiet or sluggish water near a marsh or savanne, no op- 
portunity of properly presenting the fly is afforded. 
Angling on the river is therefore confined to the single 
small pool, with its attendant disadvantages, which has 
been mentioned. 
It is almost unnecessary to add that, being by name the 
"a la Truite," the river is substantially devoid of that 
variety of salmonidse, a very few, very small trout ap- 
pearing to be all that it affords. There may be a run of 
sea trout late in July or .August — indeed, it would be ex- 
traordinary if some sea trout did not visit the river later 
in the season — but as to this I do not know. I can only 
say that during the salmon season it appears to afford 
fewer and smaller trout tlian any other river of its size, 
general location and characteristics. 
Svich details as f^ies, tackle, etc., suitable at particular 
localities being always of interest to the angling fraternity, 
leads me to add that a fairly heavy rod (to militate against 
the suceess of attempts to descend the rapid below the 
pool by the larger fish) is desirable in the early season; 
later, when the small fish are in the pool, a heavy trout 
rod would probably afford more sport. So, also, during 
the early season, double and triple twisted gut casting lines 
(to turn or hold fair-siried fish by main strength when at- 
tempting to descend) would be advantageous. 
The general tone of the river water is brown (as indi- 
cated by the reddish brown staining of all the rocks in the 
river and around its mouth, which in their natural state 
are a light gray). This characteristic of the water doubt- 
less arises from the presence of iron, but is not sufficiently 
pronounced to render coft"ee-stained gut a necessity, the 
usual mist-colored gut answering equally well, appar- 
ently. Perhaps it might be desirable, however, to try 
brown-stained gut after the sun reaches the pool. Double 
hooks seem to swim and work better than single^ ones in 
the pool, and should undoubtedly be of small sizes (4s, 
6s and 8s). As for flies, the butcher and Habersham ap- 
pear to be more successful, while, when the sun is on the 
pool, a very small silver gray, dusty miller or silver doc- 
tor appear to do better than more somber flies. From the 
surroundings and orientation of the pool the sun reaches 
it fairly early, say about 7:30 to 8 o'clock in the morning, 
and is hardly off it before 4 or a little later in the after- 
noon, between which hours I did not find angling as a 
general rule renmnerative. As for the season, the river 
would appear to be, if anything, a slightly "early" rather 
than a "late" river, as compared wdth other rivers on the 
north shore, though not distinctively so, and perhaps only 
because one is obliged to limit one's angling to the first 
pool. In other words, the larger fish appear to have left 
the river or passed up over the falls, in ordinary seasons 
as to water, by about the end of June, while the small 
fish appear to mount the falls in numbers during the first 
ten days of July. Travel on the river being impossible 
for canoes, and all paths and trails having been obliter- 
ated by the great fire, passage to the upper falls or to any 
point above the first pool is attended with the usual dis- 
comforts and difficulties of making one's way through 
an old brule, the usual wilderness of fallen trees, burnt 
stumps and the other mementos of a forest fire encoun- 
tering' one on every hand. I remain, 
Ymtrs A^ery respectfully, 
Charles Stewart Davison. 
Department of LandSj Forests and Fisheries — 
Fisheries and Game Branch, Quebec, Jan. 20, 1900. — Chas. 
Stewart Davison, Esq, : I have the honor to acknowledge 
receipt of your letter of the 4th of January instant, re the 
Ste. Marguerite River, north shore of the St. Lawrence, 
and to thank you for the information therein contained. 
We take note of the fact that you do not want your 
h ase of this river to run any longer. We quite tmder- 
stand that under the circumstances, this lease is almost 
I'seless to you. We would gladly take into favorable con- 
sideration and act on your suggestion to blast out the 
rocks in the falls, six miles from the mouth of the river, 
but we are of opinion that this work will have to be de- 
layed until such time as an agreement will have been 
reached between this Government and the Federal author- 
ity, as to the issuing of licenses for net fishing itt the 
estuaries of the rivers. You will readily understand that 
it would be useless for this Department to spend four or 
five hundred dollars to allow the salmon to go up the Ste. 
Marguerite River if this fish is stopped at tlie mouth of the 
river by nets under license to the Federal Government. 
I have the honor to be, sir. 
Your obedient: servant, 
E. 1^, Tache. 
