FOREST ANt) STREAM. 
Dec. I, 1900.] 
Why Game is Scarce. 
New York, Nov. 26. — Editor Forest and Stream : Just 
read this experience and tell us if it does not explain 
why game is scarce: Wliile hunting iit Stevensvillc, 
Sullivan county, N. Y., I destroyed more than 100 dead- 
falls set for rabbits, also snares set for partridge. I 
learned from the farmers that' summer boarders have 
been shooting at the game all summer. I tried the quail 
at Wading River, L. I., on Election Day, and found them 
wild and well scattered. I learned that they have been 
shot at during the month of October. On Nov. 19 I went 
down to the Raunt Station, Jamaica Bay, for ducks. I 
saw a number of geese going Up the bay. About 4 A. M. 
I heard two shots fired from a heavy gun, followed by the 
cackling of geese. My brother told me that there is 
some one out every night jacking. I started out about 
6 A. M., but could not see or hear a single bird. I 
hope our sportsman's association will lake up this matter 
and see that we get wardens that will uphold the game 
laws in certain parts of our State. Charles Grolz. 
100 Spommett's finds. 
Some of the Qweer Discoveries Made by Those Who Are 
Looking for Game or Fish. 
32, 
This is a story of a man who was hunting a skunk and 
found a burglar. Perhaps the man after a skunk might 
not come Avithin the classification of sportsmen, but it 
was a "find" by a gunner, and belongs among our hun- 
I dred. This is what happened: The station agent at Gales 
' Ferry, Conn.; had locked up the station for the night, and 
was on his way home about 10 o'clock when he noticed a 
polecat near the roadside, and went into the house of 
an acquaintance to borrow a gun. After he secured the 
1. gun he retraced his steps toward the railroad station in 
search of the animal, and discovered that the station had 
been broken into during his absence. Entering, he found 
a man standing in front of the open money drawer. 
"Hold up your hands!" shouted the station agent, as he 
leveled the gun, but the man refused. The station agent 
then fired, the charge entering the breast of the burglar 
Mud causing instant death. 
33 
A recent press dispatch from Phoeiiix, Arir., says that 
hunters have found a skeleton believed to be the re- 
I mains of Burt Alvord, leader of one of the most des- 
, perate bands of train robbers that ever operated in Ari- 
zona. It is thought that he was killed by one of his own 
gang. ■ 
34 
J. S. Althenhaus, who lives in the Big Horn Moun- 
tains in northern Wj'oming, while out hunting recently 
came upon the tracks of a big silver-tipped bear and fol- 
lowed the trail to the mouth of a mountain cave. The 
hunter prepared a torch and entered the cave, A deep- 
throated growl and the shining of phosphorescent eyes 
betrayed Brum's position, and a close and cool shot ended 
ins career. In removing the hear the attention of Mr. 
' Althenhaus was attracted to a mineral vein showing on 
the cavern wall. Securing samples of the rock, an assay 
•vvas afterward made, which gave returns of 40 per cent, 
lead and 200 ounces of silver to the ton. The vein is 
about 4 feet in width and extends for the full length of 
the cavern, some 300 feet. Mr. Althenhaus named the 
claim the Silver Tip. 
Notice. 
All communications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co.. and 
not to any ]ndivi4tial connected with the paper. 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them m FoHEST and Stream. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
M^^ ----- - 
The Mafston Char. - 
Some four or five years ago I made a jourftej'- to one 
of the lakes on the tract of the Triton Club in search of a 
"red trout" and did not find it. The "red trout" was re- 
ported as having been seen first at one place and then in 
another in Canada, and years passed without further 
knowledge of the fish than was conveyed in the reports. 
Finally Mr. William AfcCormick sent me some speci- 
mens of the red trout, but I was not at home, and they 
might have been any color by the time I arrived in 
I their neighborhood. Another attempt was made through 
the efforts of Mr. McCormick, and this time the red 
"trout were sent direct to Prof. Samuel Gorman by Mr. 
George Van Felson, of Quebec. Prof. Gorman wrote 
me that the fish arrived in "loud condition, but identi- 
fiable." His report on them is as follows: 
"From the material before me I am inclined to place 
the 'red trout of Quebec' in the same species as the 
Marston char of the Lac de Marbre. It is true that on 
comparison with the type specimen of S. marstoni, slight 
differences appear, which may be only sexual, or may 
perhaps indicate that we have to deal with two varieties 
of the species, but this is a matter which should not be 
decided without both males and females from each local- 
ity. Your specimens have more brown over the gill 
covers and the throat, and besides, they are less slender 
than the Lac de Marbre individual; these, however, may 
be due to greater age. The species is one of the most 
beautiful, if indeed it is not the most brilliantly colored, 
of the entire group. Aapparently it differs from all of the 
others in having no spots on its sides. The relationship 
with the little "blueback' (5". oquassa) is more remote 
than was at first supposed. To define the species exactly 
orne should have a series of individuals, small to large, 
of both sexes '" 
The specimen sent by Mr. Van Felson came from the 
waters of the Tourilli Club in Quebec. The red trout 
have been found in several places on the club tract, and 
Mr. McCormick very kindly sent me a map indicating 
the points where it had been di.scovered, but I have 
sent map and letters on to Prof. Gorman, so that T 
cannot now refer to them. The "red trout" has been 
found in still another district in Canada; this time near 
the tract, if not on it, of the St. Bernard Club. Anyway 
on a private preserve near the St. Bernard Club belong- 
ing to Mr, Simpson, of New York, the red trout has 
been found in considerable numbers, and this fall Com- 
missioner Titcorab, of Vermont, went there to arrange 
for taking eggs. I was to have some specimens of the 
fish, but they have not been received up to this time. 
It is to be hoped that some one who is in a position 
to do so will take sufficient interest in this matter to se- 
cure.' the specimens of different ages and of both sexes 
t-Q clear the question once for all as to what the red trout 
from difl'erent sections of Canada really are. I am greatly 
indebted to Mr. McCormick and Mr. Van Felson for 
their efi:orts to mak? the matter plain as to the identity 
of the "red trout." 
Leaping Trotit. 
A week or two ago I told a little story about some 
little trout and their leaping powers. I said that the 
trout, fingerlings, hatched last spring, jimiped, as nearly 
as I could measure the distance with my eye, a foot above 
the water. Since writing that note I haA^e again been to the 
State hatchery on Long Island, and I wish to revise my 
story. Mr. Walters, the foreman, called my attention to 
the fact that the baby trout were jumping so that they 
could be seen above the edge of the pond standing some 
distance away, and investigation with a foot rule showed 
that the side of the pond was 20 inches from the water 
to the top of the wall, so that the fish were jumping 
nearly, if not quite, 20 inches, or say a height of four or 
five times greater than their length. Night before last, 
as I was in the Caledonia hatchery, when the men were 
unpacking 3,000,000 lake trout eggs received that after- 
noon from Lake Superior, Frank Redband, the foreman, 
told me that fingerling trout had become mixed in the 
rearing ponds where it was several feet from the water 
to the top of the wall. In this instance the trout jumped 
from the water to the inlet pipe, and when they struck 
the' opening fairly they by a motion too quick for the 
eye to follow went into the pipe and up its length to 
come down into another pond, so that rainbow, brown 
and brook trout became mixed from this sort of leaping 
and visiting the dift'erent ponds. I intended to measure 
the jump yesterday before I left there, but as the eggs 
were not all unpacked until just before my train left I 
neglected it. This sort of jumping surprised the fore- 
man, so that he admitted that he would not have believed 
it possible had he not witnessed it. I have heard of 
trout jumping and passing through an augur hole 2 
inches in diameter in a plank in a flood dam, but I 
believed it. for I have come to that pass that I believe 
most anything that is told about fish, for they certainly 
do some remarkable things, and th^t "truth is stranger 
than fiction" applies to fish. 
Red Trout. 
My "Angling Note's*' "are written as opportunity of- 
fers, and last evening I had written thus far and was 
obliged to put tliem aside. This afternoon I was travel- 
ing on the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, and met Mr. 
C. H. Wilson, and a few moments later when changing 
cars I met Mr. Chas F. Burhans, the only two men I 
know in tlie State, and perhaps the only ones in the 
State, who have seen the red trout in its lair. This 
season Mr. Burhans caught a red trout with a fly, and 
though I had heard of the capture I had not seen him 
to learn the particulars of his visit to Canada, Almost 
his first greeting was to ask if I would go with him 
four days after this dale to Canada, where the red trout 
grow. He said he had received positive instructions to 
bring out good specimens to me, but it would be far 
better for me to go myself atid pick them. He is to go 
with Commissioner Titcomb, and he tells me that already 
a few ripe female red trout have been taken. They 
spawn on shoals in the lake, and do not enter the 
streams. Curiously tnough, Mr. Burhans tells me that 
some of the trout ar6 forked as to caudal fin and some 
are square-tailed. Examined at night on the beds by 
jack light the fish look more like bars of shining gold 
than anything else he can think of to compare them 
with. Prof. Gorman is to have a sufficient number of 
specimens of both sexes to settle their identity, and 
nothing but imperative business keeps me from visiting 
the lake where the red trout are found. As Mr. Bur- 
hans and Mr. Wilson talked of the fish I was turning 
the matter over in my mind to discover some good 
reason why I should go, but all the good reasons pointed 
to my not going at this time. 
Spawning of Trout. 
Lake George, New York, has long been noted for its 
lake trout, as the fish are particularly fat and well 
flavored. This lake was one of the first to receive atten- 
tion from the State Fish Commission when restocking 
of State waters was begun, and the first lake trout fry 
were planted in its waters as early as February, 1873. 
During the twenty-seven years following, the lake has 
had contributions of lake trout fry from eggs obtained 
in Lake Ontario, Lake Huron. Lake Michigan and 
Lake Superior, and through this fresh blood the trout 
have vastly improved. This fall the Forest, Fish and 
Game Commission determined to experiment with nets 
in the lake, and find if it would be profitable another 
year to conduct operations there for the pilrpose of ob- 
taining lake trout eggs for the hatching stations. E. L. 
Marks, a capable man in this business, was sent to the 
lake, and he has explored it for about half its length. 
"In the old days" the spawning beds of the trout were 
well known — too well known in fact, for the man with 
jack and spear knew just where they were, and that is 
one reason why trout became scarce in the lake, and it 
was necessary to restock it. According to the old in- 
habitants who were communicative on the subject the 
trout resprtgd in numbers to certain §hoaIs, and there, 
4Sl 
- ... .... ....... . . 
if the light of the jack did not take the place of the light 
of the moon, they spawned. Of late years Officer Bur- 
nett has eliminated the light of the jack in great degree, 
and only the eels get in their deadly work at the mar- 
riage feast under the light of the moon and stars, so that 
the people did not know as much about spawning beds 
as once they did, and Mr. Marks found a queer state of 
affair.s. Instead of being large spawning beds, as for- 
merly, the trout spawned all over the lake in squads,. 
Wherever there were a few rocks and gravel there were 
trout preparing to spawn, and there also were eels. The 
planted trout fry and fingerlings had no home ties or 
figurative roof tree. They had been planted in the lake 
at various and divers places, and when they had grown 
to spawning age one spot was as good as another for 
the purpose of depositing their eggs, and so, apparently 
the first spot of gravel and rocks was selected. 
That mysterious something which in a natural state 
leads salmon and trout unerringly back year after year 
to the place of birth or babyhood, to celebrate the 
nuptial ceremony, may have been present in these fish, 
but they were born on a tray in a hatching house, and 
their babyhood was passed in a rearing race and a tin 
can, and they had in a way become cosmopolitan in the 
fish world; all roeks and gravel looked alike to them 
until they had established homes of their own and formed 
ties for the future. This condition of things opens the 
door for speculation as to the general effect of planting 
hatchery-reared fish and their influence upon the estab- 
lishment of spawning beds in new places. This would 
relate more particularly to lake trout, for brook trout 
would as a rule seek the source of a stream for spawn- 
ing. With lake trout spawning all over a lake where a 
patch of gravel may be found, it would operate to their 
advantage, so far as falling a prey to the spearer is con- 
cerned, but it does not minimize the destruction of 
spawn by eels and bullheads. 
In his experimontal netting Mr. Marks secured more 
eggs from the lake trout than it was originally expected, 
and he found larger trout in his nets than had ever been 
taken from the lake with hook and line; but in aU his 
explorations he did not find a good spawning ground on 
which to draw a seine, as on each place that the trout 
had selected for a spawning bed there were large rocks, 
so that the nets were over the trout, which were between 
the rocks. On every spawning bed the males far out- 
numbered the female fish from beginning to end of the 
experiments, and the eels were ever present to eat the 
spawn as soon as it was deposited. 
Flies, 
In my mail this evening I found a package which 
proved to be from the friend who sent me the old hand- 
made reel spoken of not long ago in these notes, and 
when I opened it it developed into a book of artificial 
flies, eighty of them. There were four pages of twenty 
flies each, numbered and named. They are well tied 
flies, and to one not familiar with flies such a book 
would be invaluable. Upon looking at the flies, how- 
ever, I find that the collection emphasizes the necessity 
for a standard of patterns. I doubt of Uncle Reuben 
Wood, for instance, if he could revisit the earth, would 
accept the fly in the book bearing his name as the 
simon-pure Reuben-Wood without the little red tag. 
No one would perhaps object to the Montreal, for each 
fly-tyer seems to fashion a fly of his own to bear this 
name, and many fly-dressers seem to desire to add or 
remove something from what we have come to call 
standard flies, to stamp his own production with his 
individuality. . To me this seems to be the height of ab- 
surdity, for if we have a type why not adhere to it, 
whether the fly is made in New York, Boston, San Fran- 
cisco or else^vhere? — for it simply confuses still more 
what is now badly confused, Lo add feathers and bits 
of silk to a coachman to make it Jones'-coachman, or 
.Smith's-coachman, when the average angler cares onlj- 
for a plain coachman, with no frills added by Jones or 
Smith to stamp it with his trade mark. There are for- 
tunately fly-dressers whose chief desire is to know the 
correct pattern of any standard fly and adhere to it, and it 
is this style of work which gives the flies of such people 
an enviable reputation, and their flies are always more 
reliable than the Jones' annex sort. 
Hatching and Protecting. 
Land and Water has a letter concerning a proposed 
salmon hatchery on the Shannon from S. J. Hurley, and 
I quote one paragraph of it only: 
■'If during the spawning season the tributary rivers, in 
which the breeding fish are made away with in hundreds, 
were looked after, there would be no necessity for hatch- 
eries. Indeed, I hesitate not to say that there are more 
salmon ova lost to the Shannon every winter than would 
stock all the salmon rivers in England. Want of pro- 
tection is the cause of all the mischief." 
r thought of saying something on this subject, but 
Mr, Hurley's letter is so nearly correct I will let it stand 
without comment, only for this country substitute other 
iish for salmon. ' A. N. Chenev. 
The Cuvier Banquet. 
The twenty-seventh annual dinner of the faiiious 
Cuvier Club, says the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, 
was one of the most notable events in the history of the 
organization. This club, in years gone by, has given some 
of the grandest feasts ever known in this city, and each 
succeeding year new laurels have been added. The affair 
in many respects eclipsed all previous efforts. The 
attendance was usually large, and a spirit of geniahty 
and good fellowship permeated the atm_osphere. 
x\n innovation was the opening of the large museum 
on the second floor for the entertainment of the guests. 
This relieved the usual congested condition of the main 
hall. About half the guests were served in the museum, 
which was elaborately decorated for the occasion and 
so arranged as to be peculiarly inviting. Throughout 
the spacious club home had been supplied things to inter- 
est arid attract. Nothing had been overlooked by the 
committee that would tend to please the taste. Par- 
ticularly tempting were the tables, burdened as they were 
with appetizing rareties, There was no stiffness about 
