SOS 
« 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
IApril 20, 190T. 
will ever know. The best o£ the big ducks in Chicago 
markets have brought at times not over $2.75 per dozen. 
The Return of the Birds. 
Master Clarke Washburne, a young sportsman of the 
mature age of twelve years, is good enough to send to 
Forest and Stream his observations on the song birds 
and game birds of this locality. Master Washburne is 
growing up in the right way as a sportsman, and in the 
company of his father, Mr. Hempstead Washburne, has 
already attained considerable proficiency with the rod and 
The birds are returning from their long winter migra- 
tion. Many varieties can be found any morning in the 
parks in this city, while in the country they are eveiy- 
where, I am-glad to see that others have noticed the in- 
crease of the bluebirds this spring, I have seen several 
large flocks this spring, whereas in past years I saw 
only a few single ones. I have seen the following birds 
so far this spring: Bluebird, song sparraw. junco, fox 
sparrow, meadow lark. Bonaparte's gull, ringbill gull, 
crow, phoebe. robin, blackbird, bluejay, pintail duck, 
mallard, blue and green wing teal, chickadee, redwinged 
blackbird, white-bellied nuthatch, blackheads, bluebills 
and canvasbacks. That is about the order in which I 
saw them. I do not doubt that many other people have 
seen more birds than I have, as I have only been out 
looking for birds a few times so far. 
The great flight of mallards, pintails and other earlj^ 
ducks is almost over, as they will soon be moving north 
in the warm weather. Soon we will have the blackheads, 
bluebills, canvasbacks, etc., here and I expect to go and 
meet them at the Swan Lake Shooting Qub next week. 
1 will attempt to give you a description "of the shoot as 
soon as I get back from it. 
I look forward to good times with rod and reel next 
summer and I hope that each and every reader of For- 
est AND Stream shall have a pleasant summer. 
An Alarm^ for Safety. 
The^paradox of an alarming device for increasing the 
safety of the sportsman is sprung by Mr. W. T. Baggett, 
of San Francisco, who has devised an electric battery to 
be located in the stock of the rifle, which continually ad- 
vises the hunter of the fact that his gun is cocked. This 
is accomplished, according to reports, by means of a 
small dry battery and buzzer located in the stock of the 
gun. Directly underneath the hammer on top of the grip 
a spring-controlled push-button is placed, the motion of 
the hammer when being cocked pressing the button 
downward until the electric circuit is closed, which starts 
the buzzer in the end of the stock. This little device 
keeps up a continual clicking, which may be felt rather 
than heard, if desired, the vibrations being _ plainly 
noticeable to any one carrying the gun. When it is de- 
sired to stop the vibrations, as when the gun is in action, 
the thumb of the shooter is pressed against a second 
spring button, which acts as an interrupter and breaks 
the current. 
Learning the Diamond Hitch. 
It will pain a great many friends of Capt. R. E. Bobo, 
of Bobo, Miss., to hear that the operation performed on 
his eye last fall proved unsuccessful so far as the future 
use of his eye was concerned. With a brave man's de- 
cision, Bobo determined that, rather than have an in- 
efficient eye, more or less motionless in the socket and a 
source of considerable annoyance, he would have the 
entire eye taken out. Last week he came to Chicago 
and had this heroic operation performed, and_ at this 
time he is lying in a hospital, declaring that he is better 
in his mind again, can see much better out of his good 
eye, and that all he needs is a little exercise! The doctors 
say that Bobo is a wonderful man physically, and con- 
fidently express the belief that his head could be cut off 
and that it would grow out again in the course of a 
couple of weeks. It is pretty sad for the old bear hunter 
to lose his shooting eye. and it is sad for his friends to 
know of this fact, but it is a matter of very great con- 
gratulation that he is recovering so nicely from so serious 
Pending his ultimate release from the hospital Bobo 
sits up and tells bear stories to his friends. Billy Hofer, 
who is still in town, has spent some time with him during 
the past week, and the two have been together studying 
the intriciacics of the "diamond hitch," which Billy has 
been endeavoring to explain to the bear hunter. Bpbo 
declares now that he can throw the "diamond hitch" as 
well as anybody, and says that, when he goes home, he 
is going to get a pack saddle or so, and after this will 
hunt bears the same way they do in the Rock Mountains. 
"I can put a little tent and a couple of weeks' grub on 
the back of a mule," said he, "and take one or two men 
and just go flying anwhere we want to, and we don't need 
bother'^ about where we are going to stop. If we run out 
of corn or grub, I can send a man and a mule back with 
the pack saddle. I am just going to kill all the bears 
there are left in Mississippi this spring, and this is how 
I am going to do it." 
I don't think there is much doubt that Bobo will 
wreak a horrible revenge on the bear family when he gets 
turned loose again in good shape, 
Whether to Hunt or to Fish. 
I presume every outdoor man has had occasion to 
answer more than once the question "Would you rather 
go hunting or go fishing?" and I presume he has often 
a difficulty in his own mind in regard to answering. This 
is how Mr. George K. Andrews, of St. Louis, figures it 
out : 
"You are right about us spending our time after we 
are rich at fishing, instead of hunting. It is so much 
easier — so much more a philosopher's resource. Here 
I am just in from the duck club. I got up at 1:30 this 
A. M. rode 5 miles to take the train, slept 70 miles, and 
then staggered out with a lot of heavy ducks to another 
suburban train. Last night, up the "wet" prairie my 
pusher and I started to the club house, landing against a 
heavy swell and a head wind, he poling and I paddling 
and "the water splashing in on us. It was a constant 
struggle for over an hour. The two hen tame decoys 
when we released them flew up into the boat, while the 
three mallard drakes swam alsongside, but the wind soon 
put them f^r astern, and the hens c|ille<! Iu,sti!y all the v^ay 
down to guide them. Once one of the mallards flew into 
the boat and rested a few moments 
"Then, too, when I go home after awhile I must pack 
ducks around to the neighbors. Hereafter I fish— unless 
the fever seizes me again — ^just once. 
"I was wading in a water covered bottom where mal- 
lards were dropping in, and a fox squirrel came down her 
tree to drink at the unusual water lapping at the trunk. 
I barked at her. and she ran up the tree and sized me 
up, and presently began to bark back at me. I told her 
in bark talk what a fool she was to get water bound 
down there in the bottom, and oh but she swore at me. 
She told me I wasn't respectable; and she came down on 
the lowest limb, no thicker than your finger, and shook 
her tail over her head and used language I'm ^shamed to 
repeat. And then another one, on a tree nearer to me 
than she was, came down and joined in. This one threat- 
ened to "jump" me. One was about fifteen feet from me 
and the other_ about six. Finally I abandoned squirrel 
talk and said in my own tongue, "You both know per- 
fectly well you have a nest full of children up there, so 
what's the use of denying it ?" Scampered. 
E. Hough 
Hartford Building, Chicago, 111. 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
Brant at Monomoy. 
Boston, April 13. — There are reports of an abundance 
of brant at Monomoy. A gentleman came up from Chat- 
ham Wednesday and volunteers the information that the 
"hay is full of brant." He says that a couple of guru- 
ners, belonging to one of the Monomoy Brant Club 
shooting parties, came over to Chatham early in the 
week with over thirty brant. They reported that their 
party had over 100 brant in camp and ready to bring 
home. This naturally set the members of the "boys' party" 
that started for that shooting ground yesterdaj'^ "wild 
with enthusiasm." They are to remain till the 20th. There 
are also great reports of duck shooting at several points 
along the coast, and those who indulge in spring shooting- 
are reaping a harvest. A gunner came up Tuesday from 
Chatham, or thereabouts, with a big string of black ducks, 
which he probabb^ landed in Faneuil Hall Market, since 
he was headed that way. He says that the continued 
dull weather and deep fogs have made the ducks and brant 
pause in their northward flight. The local gunners seem 
to be getting a good many, as mentioned in reports from 
several locations along the Cape. I learn from dealers 
that the markets here have received over a hundred 
Canada geese within a few days. They sell hard. The 
marketmen say that they are "good for nothing." being 
poor and thin. From 50 to 75 cents a pair is all they 
have brought. Even the marketmen say that it is a pity 
to shoot them in the spring. Massachusetts game laws 
do not protect geese at all, and brant are reckoned as 
geese. But ducks of all kinds are protected from April 
15 to Sept. I. Special. 
Spring Shooting;. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I saw an article in my last Forest and Stream (April 
13) which rather surprised me. It said, "This winter a 
law has been passed stopping the sale of ducks; that 
would be all right if all the markets in all the States were 
clo.sed. Now we raise and feed the young ones for some 
one else to kill and sell." This was signed by C. W. V.. 
but I think the writer made a mistake when he said "for 
others to kill and sell." For this reason, as soon as the 
ducks learn that they are not going to be banged at and 
shot, and that they can come to a place and stay there in 
peace (ducks soon learn), they are going to come to that 
place, and, of course, when the law permits there will be 
good shooting in that place, so the good work will benefit 
the ones who protect the birds in spring and hurt those 
who do not follow a good example. Ducks are not going 
to stay in a place where they are shot to death every 
spring, week after week, providing they can find a place 
where they will not be harmed. So C. W. V. will benefit 
and have good sport, while others who have no law will 
lose. I think in course of time spring duck shooting will 
have to stop, because if the law does not stop it it will 
stop itself — there will be no more ducks. 
C. K. W. Byrne. 
Dttcfcs Breeding- in Michigan. 
Hartford, Mich., April g.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
We are having very cold weather for this time of the 
year; but the robins and bluebirds came back from the 
sunny South, and we have not had as many bluebirds for 
twenty years as we have' this spring, and they are a most 
welcome visitor. 
As to ducks breeding here in Michigan, twenty years 
ago every cove or bayou on the river had its flock of 
young wood ducks or mallards or teal; every fall our 
stubble fields were visited every evening in September by 
hundreds of ducks. But with spring shooting we hardly 
ever see any ducks till the fall flight brings them down 
from the North. I was in hopes our Legislature would 
pass a gun license bill, and that would stop the irrepres- 
sible boy who bangs away at every bird he sees and does 
not know a duck from a mud hen. Every duck killed in 
March or April means ten or twelve less in September. 
Sullivan Cook. 
An Adirondack Deer Snarer Convicted. 
Canton, N. Y. April 11. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
A lumber jobber named Bonno was convicted here yes- 
terday of snaring deer and fined $100 and costs. The 
offense was committed in December, in the township of 
Clare, some fifteen miles from here, I believe. At the 
first trial the jury disagreed. J. H. R. 
Notice. 
All communications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., and 
not to any individual connected with the paper. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
The April Woodcraft. 
The April number of the Game Laws in Brief and 
Woodcraft Magazine has been delayed by the great JViass 
pf tardy legislatioii in numeraqs States, 
Suggestion for Fly-Books. 
This is the season when anglers get out their fly-books, 
even though they live in the land of frost and snow and 
the time for rising trout is yet some distance off, while 
the fishing season, as provided by law, is close at hand. 
It may not be a general custom to get the fly-books out 
before the snelled hooks are examined or provided, but it 
was called to my attention ©ne night late when I was 
going to bed very tired and very sleepy by noticing my 
tackle trunk in which I kept rods and things. This 
trunk, by the way, is upholstered and has a spring top to 
disguise it as a small couch, but as my eyes fell upon 
it I opened it and then forgot to go to bed, for in one of 
the top_ trays was a fly-book brought to me by a dear 
friend from London, and as I turned over its leaves sleep 
fled from my eyelids. When first it came to me I intended 
to write- a note about it, or rather a feature of it, but it 
was not in the fishing season, and it passed from my 
mind until I was seated on the spring top of the box, held 
up by the fly-book on my way to bed. 
Salmon anglers in speaking of killing salmon are prone 
to give the number of the hook of the fly on which some 
particular fish was killed, and this is because salmon 
anglers are given to knowing the size of their flies as they 
use them. Trout fishermen do this to a more limited 
extent because there are more trout than salmon fisher- 
men, and as a rule it is not a matter of pride with them 
to know just the size of the fly they use, and often they 
cannot tell the size if asked the question, for they are 
not familiar enough with the sizes to carry them in their 
memory, and they have no other means of telling if the 
package in which the flies were received from the maker 
or dealer happen to be lost. My particular fly-book solved 
thi.s difficult}'. It is a book from Farlaws, and a parch- 
ment leaf is put in to protect the flies in the first leaf of 
pockets from injury by the pigskin cover. On this pro- 
tecting leaf is stamped two rows of hooks with their 
numbers. There is a row of sneck bend hooks and a 
row of_old Limerick or O'Shaughnessy hooks of sizes 
most affected by English fly-fishers. If the angler is in 
doubt as to the size of the fly he is about to mount on 
his cast and desires to know it, he has but to put the 
fly on the stamped row and find its counterpart in size 
and the number brushes away the doubt from his mind. 
This, of course, can be done just as well after the trout 
is killed and it is necessary to know whether the 2-pounder 
was killed on a No. 8 or No. 12 hook, for in telling the 
story to round it out the number of the hook must be 
given to the elect. Then, in addition, if one makes to 
order a particular size by number, the comparison is re- 
sorted to. 
If this idea is to be carried out to its nicest point, I 
would advise American makers of fly-books to use two' 
series of numbers, the old style and the new, or the , 
Redditch or Pennell styles of numbering. Ever .since ' 
Cholmondeley Pennell revolutionized the numbering of 
hooks there has been some confvision in ordering flies by 
number, as an old style No. 12 is a new style No. 3, and 
an old No. i is a new No. 14. They do not come together 
at any point, the nearest being that an old No. 8 is a new 
No. 7, and an old No. 7 is a ne-w No. 8. In preparing a 
cut it will be an easy matter to give the old and new 
numbers, and in doing a thing of this kind it should be 
done to the limit. 
Lampreys. 
When the State of New York began some experiments 
ostensibly to destroy lake lampreys in Cayuga Lake, but 
at the same time to study their habits and the habits of 
other fishes that might be captured with them, it was npt 
unusual to hear that the lamprey did no particular harm 
to so-called game fishes, and that it was the bullhead 
which suffered chiefly from the attacks of the lamprey^ 
Admitting this to be true, the bullhead is one of our 
most valuable of the fresh-water fishes from a commercial 
standpoint, and if this excellent food fish was the only 
one to suffer it would be unnecessary to look for other 
reasons for destroying the lamprey. The argument is 
that the lamprey could attach itself only to sluggish fishes 
like the bullhead, and that the trout would be too active 
and the scales of the black bass would shield it from 
attack. 
Mr. Dean Sage read the article on the lake lamprey in 
the fourth annual report of the Forest, Fish and Game 
Commission, and wrote me a lettfer, from which I make 
the following extract: "The article on the lamprey at- 
tracted me, as I have never seen anything on that subject 
approaching it in information, I caught, on a fly, in the 
Ristigouche River a few years ago, a fresh-run salmon 
with sea lice on him and a good-sized lamprey clinging- 
to him just behind the right pectoral fin. I do not think 
the fish could have been out of salt water ten hours, and 
the lamprey looked just like one of the kind common ta 
Cayuga Lake when I made my first acquaintance with the 
brutes when a hoy." There are more than a dozen 
species of lampreys, from the great sea lamprey to the 
little brook lamprey, and very likely the lamprey which 
Mr. Sage found on his salmon was a sea lamprey, but it 
was a lamprey, and it was found on the king of game 
fishes, and about as active a fish as swims, and what 
one lamprey can do others may do, so it is not safe to say 
bullheads are the only fish which the lampreys attack 
and destroy. 
Fish Rising at Night. 
It is safe to say that a score of times each year I am 
asked how to lure fish of some kind that refuse all kinds 
of natural and artificial baits, and almost always I reply 
^o try the fish fit night. In the case of the brown trout 
