86 
Missouri and Kalispel, and are trying to save the white 
pine and cedar, thousands of acres of which have been 
burned over already. Some of the fine timber on the 
Flathead reservation has already been burned. The 
Indians have been killing the elk and deer started out by 
the fires which they have set. Fifteen dead deer and 
one elk were found in one bunch. From all accounts it 
would seem that a great deal of desolation is going on in 
what is naturally a very noble mountain country. 
E. Hough. 
Haktford Building, Chicago, III. 
The Illinois Game Outlook.- 
Alton, 111., July 21.— Illinois sportsmen are much elated 
over the magnificent prospect for field shooting in the 
State this fall. This is good news, but of more mterest 
is the knowledge of how and why the condition has been 
brought about. The season has not been especially 
propitious; in fact, the weather has been rather too wet 
for the best progress of young bird broods. The improve- 
ment in the game stock is due wholly to the better pro- 
tection afforded in season and out under the new game 
law which went into effect one year ago this month. One 
unacquainted with the facts would hardly suppose that 
any law, were it ever so good, could have such a notice- 
able effect in so short a time. 
But everything was ripe in Illinois for the enactment 
of this law^ The resident sportsmen had been working 
for it for years, and as soon as it went on the books it 
was backed with the moral and. active support, both of 
hunters and of the IlHnois Audubon and other .societies 
working for the protection of the native fauna of the 
State. Governor Tanner, himself an ardent sportsman, 
was singularly fortunate in his selection of H. W. Love- 
day as State Game Commissioner. This gentleman had 
his plans all mapped out and most of his assistants_ chosen 
by the time the law became operative, and by the middle of 
July every pot and market hunter, and the indifferent 
slaughterer of all birds and beasts in which no neighbor 
could claim ownership, awoke to the fact that a new era 
had dawned which necessitated his keeping within the 
statute or undergoing sundry and considerable incon- 
veniences. As one of the Congressional district wardens, 
the writer had much to do with the enforcement of the 
law in certain sections; and he was impressed with the 
degree of sympathy and support which came from all 
quarters. 
Although the remuneration was practically nothing, it 
was no trouble to get deputies who could be relied upon, 
and but few prosecutions followed. When, however, 
arrests became necessary, the cases were pushed for all 
they were worth, with the full power of the State be- 
hind them, and in every important action, I believe, the 
law was sustained. The law is lacking in a few particu- 
lars yet, notably in its failure to provide an adequate 
revenue for the payment of deputies' fees and salaries, 
but this is to be remedied in the next Legislature, if the 
sportsmen remember to elect only the right kind of men 
to represent them, and then we shall have in Illinois a 
game law of which every citizen may well be proud. The 
fields are musical this summer with the cheery piping of 
Bob White, where he had been almost unknown for 
years. Reports from the central counties tell of a goodly 
supply of prairie chickens, while doves, now for the first 
time recognized as a game bird, and therefore protected, 
teem on every wheat and oat field in the State. But it is 
not only the game wliich is protected. Every bird that 
builds its nest within the borders of the State, save the 
crow, blackbird, sparrow and hawk, is protected by the 
arm of the law, which makes it worth $5 and costs to 
any one who shoots at it — if the officer find it out. 
This may be an old thing in mai:y Eastern States, but 
with us it marks what we consider a splendid stride for- 
ward, and we cannot help feeling proud of it. 
F. C. RlEHL. 
New Jersey Shofe Birds. 
Bayville^ N. J., July 28. — ^Yellowlegs are coming in. 
Some few willet and curlew are flying. A good season 
is looked for on birds. A good many fish are being 
caught. -He&b. 
Stray Carrier Pigeon. 
Alder Ckeek, N. Y., July 9. — ^Whose carrier pigeon is 
this? The bird arrived on the 7th inst. Marks in rubber 
band inside, No. 2277; outside, 397. Metallic band, 
M. P. A. 471 86. F. N. Phelps. 
In the Country. 
It seems to me I'd like to go 
Where bells don't ring, nor whistles blow, 
Nor clocks don't strike, nor gongs sound. 
And I'd have stillness all around. 
Not real stillness, but just the trees' 
Low whisperings, or the hum of bees, 
Or brooks' faint babbling over stones 
In strangely, softly tangled tones. 
Of maybe a cricket or katydid. 
Or the songs of birds in the hedges hid, 
Or just some such sweet sounds as these 
fill a tired hearti with ease. 
If *tweren't for sight and sound and smell, 
I'd like a city pretty well; 
But when it comes to getting rest, 
I like the country lots the best. 
Soinetimes it seems to ine 1 itiiiSt 
Just quit the city's din and dust, 
And get out where the sky is blue; 
And say, now, how does it seem to you? 
—Eugene Field. 
A dog has no right to brood over its wrongs, and remem- 
ber in malice. That the injured girl threw sticks and 
.stones at the dog several months before she was bitten 
furnished no excuse. The only defense available to the 
dog's master is the doing of an unlawful act, at the time 
of the attack, by the person injured. — Iowa Supreme Court 
(Van Bergen vs. Eulberg, 82 N. W. Rep., 483). 
FOREST^ ANp_ STREAM. 
Winter Fishing at Tamp?co. 
About the end of last October I left Kansas City for 
an extended business trip in the Republic of Mexico, but 
stopped en route at Aransas Pass for my annual outing 
on tarpon fishing. Unfortunately it was too late in the 
season, so after ten days of rather poor luck I left for 
Mexico City and took with me two tarpon rods, two 
reels, a gaff, one new line and a couple of old ones, about 
a dozen mounted tarpon hooks, a good supply of smaller 
hooks and a few other articles of my fishing outfit, send- 
ing home by express the larger part thereof. 
My object in taking the tackle along was to try for 
tarpon .at Tampico, in case that time could be spared 
from business; for when I was in Mexico during the 
spring of '99 I heard a rumor to the effect that there 
Avere tarpon at that port, but that nobody ever fished 
for them. How many times afterward did I club myself 
for not having brought down my entire outfit! Had it 
not been that I was greatly overloaded with baggage I 
would have done so. 
After arriving at Mexico City I began mak-ing in- 
quiries concerning the fishing cranks, and found that 
they are very scarce in the republic. Two men only 
had tried tarpon fishing at Tampico, and these with 
hand lines. One of them stated that tarpon there will 
not take a mullet, but will strike well at an artificial bait; 
and the other remarked, "You cannot land tarpon at 
Tampico as you do at Aransas, one out of five strikes 
or even one out of ten; for I had fully sixty strikes there 
without landing a single fish." 
With both of these gentlemen I begged to differ, and 
wiiether I was right or not the sequel will show. 
Toward the end of November, foreseeing that there 
OFF the WHA31F AT EA BARRA. 
would be a hiatus of a couple of weeks in my work, I 
made arrangements for a little fishing party at Tampico, 
consisting of Dr. H. W. Howe and Dr. Jose Rojo, both 
dentists, living in Mexico City. Dr. Howe is a man still 
on the right side of sixty, notwithstanding the fact that 
he served in the Federal army all through the American 
Civil War — a jolly good fellow, who can tell a good 
story and get up day after day at 5 A. M. and fish till 
dark. He is a big man, with a big laugh and a big heart, 
and as good a companion as the most fastidious sports- 
man could ask for. As I have told him more than once, 
he has but one serious failing, which is that at heart he 
is not a true tarpon fisherman, because on the slightest 
provocation he will quit his legitimate business with the 
grande ecaile and go after sharks, jewfish, sawfish and 
such like vermin with hand lines as thick as one's finger, 
hooks strong, enough to suspend an ox by, and chains 
that would hold a good-sized vessel at anchor. In this 
respect I fear that he is incorrigible; but I may be mis- 
taken, for after having succeeded in catching the silver 
king on a rod he may be converted to legitimate sport 
exclusively. 
Dr. Rojo, or, as we called him, Don Jose, is a young 
man of about five and twenty, who is assistant to Dr. 
Howe in his business. He is a type of the true Spanish 
gentleman, being descended mainly from Spanish and 
French stock, with just enough of the native Mexican 
blood to give him a good complexion and the privilege 
of calling himself a real Mexican. He is a most charm- 
ing young fellow, with polished manners and engaging 
address. At fishing, however, he is (or, rather, was) a 
tyro, having never in his life caught a fish large enough 
to serve as bait for tarpon. 
My time being short, and my companions not being 
ready to start when I was, I left Mexico City by the Mex- 
ican Central Railway for Tampico on the morning of Nov. 
29. The ride on the branch line between Aguas Calientes 
and Tampico was well worth the trip. The scenery 
through the great cafion was splendid, and I could not 
but admire the fine engineering involved in the location 
and construction of this part of the railway. 
I arrived at Tampico on the evening of the 30th, and 
proceeded directly to the Hotel Hidalgo, where I hoped 
to find that all the necessary arrangements for my sport 
had been made by the proprietor, including the pro- 
viding of a boat, chair, boatman and a plentiful supply 
of mullet, according to the special request of Dr. Howe. 
In this, however, I was disappointed, as practically 
nothing had been done; and the proprietor had the 
coolness to propose that I wait a few days until Dr. 
Howe's arrival, so that he could show me how to get 
things ready. 
As this suggestion did not meet with my approval, I 
hustled around after dark, found a boatman who agreed 
to provide a boat, appropriated from the hotel a hard- 
bottomed chair, then turned in. Long before daylight 
I turned out and proceeded to the fish market to buy 
bait, which proved to be verv scarce; but fortunately 
I made the acquaintance of a Philippine fisherman, who 
can be found at daybreak every morning at the bridge 
which crosses the little river that runs through the city. 
[Aug. 4. 1900. 
He agreed to catch me a good supply of small mullet 
every morning, and to have it ready at 5:30; and during 
my entire stay he kept his promise fairly well. Return- 
ing to the hotel, I made arrangements for a basket lunch 
daily, and after many trials and tribulations managed to 
get started about 8 o'clock for La Barra, where the 
main river empties into the Gulf. 
And now, before beginning the record of this fishing 
experience, I desire to assure my readers on my honor 
as a gentleman that every statement which I make is 
strictly true in every particular, and that the story I have 
to tell is in no way colored for their amusement or edifi- 
cation. In truth, the narrative needs no coloring, for 
the sport obtained at times surpassed anything of which 
I have ever heard. As I kept a rough diary during my 
stay at Tampico, it will be well to quote therefrom some- 
what, in order to save the writer's space and the reader's 
time. 
December J, 
Went down the river by skiff some six miles to La 
Earra, where the jetties begin, trolling all the way, and 
neither getting a strike nor seeing a fish till we had 
nearly reached the little wharf, when a tarpon showed 
up on the surface, much to my relief, as I had begun to 
think that there were none in the river. A rather stiff 
breeze was blowing from the north, and as my boatman 
was a mere boy and very small, it was not safe to go 
within several hundred yards of the ends of the jetties, 
so at first we kept under the shelter of the north jetty; 
then, after the wind had abated in violence somewhat, we 
passed over to the south jetty. 
Within an hour I had a strike from a fish nearly 6 
feet long, but it shook off. I was using one of Dr. 
Howe's new patent reel,s that he himself had made for 
me, all but the cog wheels, which he had a Mexican 
workman manufacture. 
After another hour I got a second strike, and hung the 
fish, which instantly made a big rim, that I, according 
to my usual practice, proceeded to stop as quickly as 
possible. In trying to reel in the line the miserable cog 
wheels failed and caused the reel to turn with much 
friction, so the line became slack and of course the fish 
got away. Very stupidly, I had left my two old reels at 
the hotel, so had to continue fishing with the crippled 
one. During the afternoon I got a third strike. The 
fish did not jump after the hook was set, showing that 
it was not a tarpon, but started off for sea in spite of all 
the pressure brought to bear with the brake, which, by 
the way, was lacking in rigidity. After 75 yards had 
run out I stopped the fish, and we began towing it up 
toward La Barra, about a mile and a half di.stant. To 
my dismay, when I tried to reel in some line the reel 
would not turn at all, but it would revolve the other 
way under the strain from the fish, consequently the fur- 
ther we towed it the more line it got out, so when we 
reached the landing place, a piece of sandy beach just 
above La Barra wharf, there were nearly 150 yards of 
line out, and the fisherman was in a badly exhausted 
condition. Springing out on to the beach, L dragged 
the line a short distance and got my boatman and a by- 
stander to take hold of it with handkerchiefs to avoid 
cutting their hands; then throwing down the rod L coiled 
up the slack until the fish neared the beach. Until this 
time I was uncertain as to what was on the line, for 
from its action it might have been a stingray, a jewfish 
or a shark; but when it neared the beach first its large 
back fin and next its immense mouth proclaimed it a 
jewfish — much to my gratification. So I grabbed' the 
gaff out of the boat, rushed into the water up to my knees, 
hooked the fish in the gills and dragged it high and dry 
on to the sand. ' 
, It was smaller than I anticipated from the fight it had 
made, weighing probably about 125 pounds. Had I had 
a good reel the fight would have been over in fifteen or 
tAi'enty minutes. 
In spite of the failure of this particular reel, I am firmly 
convinced from subseqvient experience that Dr. Howe's 
patent brake is the ideal device for holding big fish with 
ease to the sportsman's hands and safety against the reel 
overrunning. Dr. Howe is now having a dozen im- 
proved reels made; and I anticipate that the one which 
is to belong to me will be the reel that I shall use ex- 
clusively in the future. 
But to return to the narrative. The bystander got the 
jewfish in reward for his services, notwithstanding the 
fact that it could have been sold in Tampico for ten 
cents (Mexican) per pound; and I rolled up the line on 
the outside of the reel and quit fishing for that day. 
We left our boat at the wharf, took everything out of 
it (because the Mexican peons are incurable thieves), and 
left all of our paraphernalia except the rod and crippled 
reel at the residence of the Custom House officer, a most 
kindly and obliging gentleman, who showed us many 
courtesies during our stay. 
Went back to the city by train, put the fishing tackle 
in order for the next day, and retired early, with the in- 
tention of taking the 5:50 A. M. train for La Barra. 
December 2. 
Arose in good tirne, but everything seemed against 
my making an early- start — no bait, breakfast not ready, 
lunch not put up, etc. — so had to wait for the 8:30 train. 
Started fishing at 9-30, and by 10:30 had beached a tarpon 
5 feet 5 inches in length, which made an elegant fight, 
leaping from the water continually, and not giving up 
even after the boat was beached, for the awkward little 
pigmy who did the rowing, instead of setting the gaff 
into the fish with a vim, tried to hook it in the most 
tender and gentle manner possible, the result being an- 
other hard run, which I had to meet from the shore. 
Finally I got the fish once more into shallow water, 
passed the rod to the boatman, took the gaff from him, 
and with it hauled the fish up to a place of safety. 
Our friend, the Custom House officer, took it with 
many expressions of gratitude, for the Mexicans eat 
tarpon, although of course preferring more delicate fish. 
Before noon I had hooked and beached (this time on 
the south shore of the river above the ifiner end of the 
jetty) a still larger fish, 5 feet 10 inches long, which made 
a much harder fight than did the first one; conse- 
quently after towing it a mile and a half I was so used 
no that I insisted on the boatmah doing the gaffing. 
The landing place was not a good one, being a little 
piece of sandy beach about 50 feet long, with the rock 
