SErr, 22, 1900,] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
227 
W. H. Bray, of CurJ-ituck, and L. R, White, oi Cof- 
lolla, are the only houses who take sportsmen. Most 
of the property is owned by clubs.. 
Some fine strings of large-mouth black bass have been 
taken from the fresh ponds at Nag's Head this summer, 
one weighing 11^ pounds. 
Any brother sportsman desiring live wild geese for 
decoys will do well to write Capt. M. D. Hayman, Wan- 
chese, as he has one of the finest lots I ever saw. I 
shall be very glad to see "American Wildfowl and How 
to Take Them," by Mr. Grinnell. I always enjoy his 
articles and know this will be instructive as well as in- 
teresting reading matter. "How to Take Them" is what 
vvc all w-ant to know. 
More Anon. 
The Tsar as a Htinter. 
Russia, by reason of its immense extent and com- 
paratively small population, offers a magnificent variety 
of sport, says a writer in Pearson's Magazine. The 
woods of Gatschina, owing to their vicinity to St. Peters- 
burg, are, however, ususally the scene of the biggest 
battues given by the Emperor. These estates are sur- 
rounded by a high wall, and are further separated from 
the road outside by a ditch. Drawbridges guarded by 
picked Cossacks give entrance to this imperial residence. 
The woods about it, though often heavily shot, are 
crowded with game. 
But perhaps the Tsar prefers the harder and more 
toilsome days spent in the forests of Bialowiege, not 
far fronl'^Hinsk, to the south of Moscow. Here an early 
start is"thc order of the day, and by 8 o'clock the whole 
party have left the Castle behind them. This country 
seat was built some years ago by the Emperor Alexander 
II f. It is the rule on such occasions to breakfast in the 
forest, and at these breakfasts the Empress is often pres- 
ent, seated on the Emperors right. This is no new 
fashion, for the Dowager Empress used to accompany 
the late Tsar, taking her children and attendants with her. 
Game abounds in these royal preserves of Bialowiege, 
the list including stags, elk, wild boars, and. rarest of 
all, the bison. No one, except the Tsar and his guests, 
ever penetrates these ancient forests, where a tree is 
never cut. 
Another reason is the fear that the bison (the bison of 
Europe, the aiu'ochs, in fact) is in considerable danger 
uf becoming extinct. W"ith the exception of the Cau- 
casian mountains, they are at the present day to be 
found nowhere else except in these forests, and here they 
arc shot but once in three years. Last year a hundred 
were killed, the best having a fine head, This one was 
shot by the Emperor himself, and Gen, Richter brought 
down another line specimen. None l.iut bulls are shot— 
io hre at a cow is a crime much'on a level with .shooting 
a lo.K in a hunting country. ' 
The stags in tliese wood^5 are splendidly grown and 
very numerous. Four hundred Were shot in a few days 
last year. 
Since the Tsar has broached tile idea of di.sarinanient, 
it is .<!aid that his views on spurt hjivc undci-g'olic a Con- 
siderable modification. 
Oil the Rail Ground. 
MiLFORD, Conn.. Sept, 6. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The rail shooting here last week was quite good, and 
although the bags made were not large, they were enough 
to give a very pleasant day's sport. 
With a companion I went out on the river on Monday, 
starting at 11 o'clock, and working for two hours. He 
killed fort3'-three rail and an English snipe, while I got 
forty-four rail and a black duck. Three other boats were 
out, one of which got thirty, one nineteen and the other 
fourteen. The odd thing about the shoot is that my friend 
lost one crippled bird, while by some accident I neither 
missed nor lost a bird during the day. If his cripple had 
been recovered, we would each have brought in forty- 
five birds. 
The English snipe got up from the edge of the meadow 
near my friend's boat, and he killed it very promptly. 
The black duck came froin up the river when the two 
boats were close together and happened to turn to my 
side. I had slipped a No. 8 cartridge into the left barrel 
some time before on the chance of seeing a duck, and 
although the bird was a long way off, the shot was heavy 
enough to bring him down. The day was cool, clear and 
with a good southwest wind, and the tide was excellent; 
not a high tide to be sure, but a good one. 
Most of the seed has fallen from the wild rice, and the 
grass is beaten down by the passage of the boats over it.- 
Incog. 
A Watch for Mr. Hunt. 
Office of the Mass.\chusetts Fish and Game Puo- 
TKCTivE Association, 5 Park Square. Boston, Sept. 17. — 
Editor Forest and Stream: A meeting of the Executive 
Committee was held a few evenings since at the Copley 
Square Hotel. Representative Harry Draper Htmt, of 
North Attleboro, was present as a guest, and was pre- 
sented with a handsome, hunting case gold watch by the 
committee as a token of appreciation of his disinterested 
efforts to secure the passage of the bird bill last winter. 
Chairman Kinne3' presided, and the presentation speech 
was made by Heman S. Fay, Esq., of Marlborough. Mr. 
Hunt, in a few well-chosen words, expressed his gratitude 
for the gift, and his determination to continue his labors 
in behalf of sportsmen's interests whenever ^his assistance 
may be needed. 
It was owing to the generosity of our chairman that 
the committee was enabled in this manner to recognize 
tlic valuable services of Representative Hunt. 
Henry H. Kimbalx.,. See'y. 
Fall Fish hut No Birdis. 
Bayville, N. J., Sept. 12. — The large fall fish are biting 
freely this week in the bay. There are no bay birds fly- 
ing — in fact, they have never been known to be as scarce 
as now. Herb. 
^0 the list of good things in Woodcraft in our adv. cols. 
Where to Hold on a Moose. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I would like to hear the opinions expressed in Forest 
AND Stream as to where is the best place to shoot a 
moose — that is, to inake an instantaneous kill. Let opin- 
ions be expressed on these three shots : ist, directly 
facing you; 2d, side shot, and, 3d, going away from you. 
In regard to the first, I say place your bullet directly 
in "the center of the chest a little above the brisket. 
2d. Put your btdlet in the middle of the neck just for- 
ward of his shoulders or behind the ear. 3d. In the 
center of the rump. This last shot seems to have a 
terrific effect on an animal. These are my opinions; 
now let us hear from others on the subject who "have 
been there." 
It may interest you to hear that the game wardens at 
Kineo are going to keep a sharp lookout for early moose 
hunters this year, and already they have caught one man. 
This fellow shot and killed a bull moose on Northeast 
Carry. Warden Nicholes caught him. He was fined 
$500 and taken to Bangor to be imprisoned for thirty 
days. This ought to be thought of by men who think 
of killing moose in Maine before Oct. 15. 
There are several large bulls left in Maine, and I will 
try my - luck on Oct. 15. I know where they are, and 
hope to get a big head. Snowshoe. 
m mid ^iver ^istjing. 
A Time-Honored Institution, 
BY C. H. HOOPER. 
From time immemorial our family has "gone fishing" 
on Dominion Day. The custom dates back so far that 
even tradition as to its origin has been lost, but still one 
can see some members of the family religiously carrying 
huge lunch baskets and fishing rods, tackle and worms 
down to the wharf and chartering the family row boat, 
launch forth upon the turbid waters of Hamilton Bay. 
That there are no fish in the bay matters nothing at all 
to Us, fof have We not always "gone fishing" on this day 
each year, and should we abandon such a hoary custom 
for the trivial reason that the fish have long since dis- 
appeared? Perish the thought. As we always have fished 
here on Dominion Day, so surely we always shall, as 
long as there is an abit^-bodied member of the family 
left to keep Up the custom. In fact we look upon it al- 
most in the light of a religious rite. 
Far back in the archive.^ of the Hamilton Prehistoric 
Society are to be found authentic records of genuine fi.sh 
having really been captured in Hamilton Bay. The in- 
formation, I. believe, was discovered ui)on a piece of 
Indian pottery and was (Iccipliercd after much trouble, 
but is not gcnel'alb' believed to be true. 
It is also rUuiofcd that iiu almost perfect specimen of 
the gentls "mudcat,'' preserved in alcohol, is on exhibi- 
tion in tlic society's nuisetim upon spedal occasions. 
This Specimen is supposed to have been caught by one 
Land (the earlit.-^t settlor), and to have been the last 
its race. Certainly there may have been fish here in 
the pre-glaciai age, or perhaps the ttioUnd builders may 
have seen them, but that is nothing to tls. Nowhere in 
the verbal injunctions handed down in the family for 
decades and almost centuries is any mention of fish 
or catching fish. We simply "go fishing," and that ends 
our duty. 
Now, last Dominion Day, there being onlj^ my father 
and myself at home, it naturally fell upon us to uphold 
the honor of the family, so packing up the usual ample 
luncheon and .shouldering our rods we started for the 
wharf. 
Arriving at the water, we discovered the boatman evi- 
dently expecting us, He was a white-haired centenarian 
and reminded me of Charon. Probably he had served my 
grandfather and great-grandfather with the same ante- 
diluvian "horse trough" that he brought around for our 
use. So many penknives and fish hooks had been 
dropped down between the bottom of the boat and the 
footboards that the space was quite choked up with 
them. This gave me an idea of its long service. 
At last we were afloat, and deciding that the Apple- 
garth Creek was as good a place for fishing as any we 
rowed across to its and commenced trolling. 
On the way we met several fishermen, mostly in the 
sere and yellow, patiently gazing at their motionless 
lloats on the greasy water. Their conversation consisted 
principally of old tales and traditions handed down from 
father to son, relating to "pike as long as your arm" and 
mythical bass long ago galhered to their fathers. A gen- 
erally peaceful feeling reigned over the scene — no splash- 
ing or changing of bait could be seen, as bait once on the 
hook remained intact until taken off at the close of the 
day. 
The Hamilton guide books inform us that "perch and 
sunfish" "are to be caught" in the bay. This is mis- 
leading, but the addition of one word wotdd set things 
straight, thus: "Perch and sunfish are yet to be caught 
in Hamilton Bay." 
But still there are some stubborn people who iish here 
with the firm conviction that they will succeed in captur- 
ing something. I suppose it is bred in them, coming as 
they do from a long line of fishermen. Most of them, 
however, I was glad to see fished from a sense of duty, 
like ourselves, to keep up the honor of the town, without 
any absurd notion of bringing away any spoils. 
It is certainly great sport trolling, to feel the rod trem- 
ble as the spoon revolves and flashes in the sun; then the 
■gentle excitment of catching a weed and having to stop 
to free the spoon. This happened on an average of once 
in two minutes. 
Thus we beguiled the morning. I noticed about 11 
A. M. that we were beconn"ng a brilliant copper color 
under the fierce heat, but did not pay much attention to 
it then. Of course it was hot; it always is hot here on 
Dominion- Day, especially when the water is like glass 
and a thick scum rises to the surface and steams under 
the fierce rays of heat. After thoroughly whipping the 
creek from source to mouth, we decided to have lunch, 
and as I had brought my camera to take some views of 
the "fishing" for posterity to gaze at we landed on the 
nearest bank and mipacked the luneh and some bottles, 
the contents of which always cheer and also inebriate if 
taken in proper quantities. But the lunch, like the fish- 
ing, was a failure. We were not hungry, and a cow came 
and bothered us, and a melancholy rustic insisted on re- 
lating to us a number of uninteresting family affairs. Al- 
together we were disgusted, and decided that photog- 
raphy was impossible under the circumstances. How- 
ever, the bottles cheered us a little and gave us enough 
interest in life to commence fishing again. We de- 
termined to "still-fish" in the Dundas Canal. 
This canal is a rather picturesque place when it isn't 
hot, but it nearly always is hot. It extends from the 
bay, a matter of six miles, up to Dundas and is bordered 
on both sides by miles of marsh, reeds and wild rice. 
The guide book is again misleading here. It states that 
"ducks abound here." The ducks of course only exist in 
the imagination of the would- be sportsmen who flock here 
in myriads on the first day of each September. 
I was once foolish enough to come here duck hunting. 
It was of course on the first, as it seems "maladroit" to 
come at any other time. We were well provided with 
shells loaded with BB and buckshot, and had lots of grub 
and decoys. The grub was the only thing we did not 
bring back intact. The shells' we took were regular in-, 
stitution.s, as we had borrowed them from a friend who 
was unable to attend the annual hunt. Many the weary 
mile they had traveled, having made many journeys to 
the marsh and returned. They had lasted many genera- 
tions intact, and I suppose will last many more. 
On that particular morning the marsh had its usual 
number of hunters— they averaged about one to every 20 
yards of marsh and were armed with every known variety 
of "fire irons," from Greener guns to matchlocks and' 
fuses. ' ■ „ , , 
The "game" that morning was phenomenally plentiful^ 
as a large heron flew over the entire line of guns at a 
height of about 700 yards from the gauntlet of them all 
— and safely. It was wonderful to see each sportsman 
arise as the heron sailed over him, and straightening his 
stiffened joints and balancing himself in his punt, pour 
into th'e game two charges of all sorts of missies, from 
iron pot legs to snipe shot. But still the heron sailed on. 
Many of the shells naturally missed fire; as they had so 
long been reserved for this momentous occasion they 
had lo.st their virtue, so it became an interesting matter 
of conjecture as to which sportsman would get off his 
gun safely. There was in fact quite a rivalry among us 
on this subject, and quite a number of bets were ex- 
changed. Some managed to discharge one barrel, and 
those fortunate ones who got off both were mildly 
cheered. The firing rerninded me of a military regiment 
performing a "feu-dc-joie." 
Every conceivable kind of report was to be heard. 
Ah, it was an inspiring sight, and the air was dark with 
metal for hours afterward, many putting up umbrellas 
to save their hats. And the heron— well, he gave a kind 
of apologetic cough fof all tlte trouble he had caused, 
but he won't return. , , 
But to hark back. In the afternoon we had quite a 
shock. For one brief instant I almost thought I had a 
bite. Of course it wasn't. Such a thing woidd be 
against all history, but while it lasted it was madly ex-- 
citing. Just imagine the feelings of an astronomer who 
for years has gazed at the sky as his father and grand- 
father have done before him. Suddenly he sees the long 
lost comet! These would have been my feelings if any- 
thing so mildly impossible as a fish had fouled my line. 
With this one break in the general monotony we spent 
the long, still, scorching afternoon, and at exactly 6 
P. M. pulled up "the anchor and rowed to the wharf. By 
this time we were simply parboiled, and face, hands and 
arms were extremely painful. Our Charon^ asked his 
usual question. "Have you caught anything?" for prob- 
ably the hundredth time, and we as usual answered. 
"No." What the result would have been if we had ,said 
"Yes" is too dreadful to contemplate. Of course, he 
would have instantly succumbed. At last we arrived at 
home, more dead than alive, scorched and burned bej^ond 
recognition. It took weeks for us to recover from this 
outing. Still we had kept up the custom at all costs. 
We had that much satisfaction out of the affair; but when 
next Dominion Day arrives I sincerely hope some other 
members of the family may undertake to keep up the 
ancient rite. I could not survive another. 
HAmLTON, Ont. 
The Salt Water League, 
The regular monthly meeting of the Protective League 
of Salt Water Fishernien was held on Sept. 17 at WalFs' 
Hotel, 106 West Thirty-first street, New York, President 
Theodore Biedinger presiding. There was an appreciable 
increase in attendance over former meetings, and earnest 
attention was paid to the proceedings. The reports of the 
various officers and committees showed favorable progress. 
A letter was read from a Jamaica Bay fisherman, calling 
attention to the illegal netting going on at that place. He 
gave the name of a netter who is hauling his nets every 
day in direct violation of the law, and suggested that the- 
League call the attention of the proper authorities to the' 
case. It was decided to carry the matter to Chief Pro- 
tector Pond. . 
Mr. Hesbach. former game warden of Jamaica Bay, 
spoke of the harm done by the nctters in the waters of 
Long Island. In Great South Bay nets are so numerous 
as to interfere with the sading of boats, and carloads of 
fish are shipped to New York which sometimes do not 
bring a quarter of ii.eent a pound. 
Mr. Charles A. Shriner, former Fish and Game Protec- 
tor of New Jersey, addressed the members on the subject 
of legislation as applied to fish and game protection. Mr. 
Shriner advised the League to limit its efforts to secure 
regulation of the net fishing rather than to attempt to 
abolish it. He spoke of the difficulties to be encountered 
in a fight to drive out so wealthy a corporation as the 
.American Fisheries Company, but expressed an opinion 
that the net fishermen would willingly compromise. He 
recited his experiences as Fish and Game Protector of 
New Jersey, when he fought the menha<3en net fishermen 
in the courts and defeated them. At the request of the 
League, Mr. Shriner has drafted a bill to regltlate the net 
fisbing in Ncay York State. At the proper time these 
