1 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 4 tgo2. 
Calendar Time. 
This is the season when catalogues — many of them 
beautiful and artistic and all of them useful— are issued in 
great numbers. 
One of the most beautiful of those which have re- 
cently come to us, is that sent out by Messrs. E. I. Du 
Pont De Nemours & Co., of Wilmington, Del., which is 
commemorative of the hundredth anniversary of the 
founding of their business. The calendar itself, with its 
adornment of life-sized cock quail and woodcock, is 
beautiful, and not less interesting is the commemorative 
historical insert which represents the century, divided 
into four periods. These periods are illustrated by 
Perry's victory on Lake Erie, and hy representations of 
the civilization period, the industrial period, and the 
period of to-day. Messrs. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. 
will, while the edition lasts, send these calendars to sports- 
men who may apply for them, but will show preference 
to those applications in which postage to the amount of 
three cents is inclosed. 
The Marlin Fire Arms Co. have issued a desk calendar, 
small and convenient, which is offered to any reader of 
Forest and Stream who will send the Marlin Co., of 
New Haven, Conn., one cent to pay postage. The 
calendar is adorned with pictures of many wild creatures, 
and is very attractive and useful. 
The Peters Cartridge Co., of Cincinnati, O., has issued 
a sportsman's calendar for 1902. It is adorned with 
various shooting scenes. The most striking part of the 
calendar is a series of circles made up of the heads of 
Peters rim and central-fire metallic cartridges, and heads 
of Peters shotgun shells. Between the outer circles and 
the next are excellent pictures of feathered game; be- 
tween two other circles are the heads of furred game, 
consisting of caribou, cougar, moose, elk, deer, bear, 
antelope, and lynx. The center piece is the head of a 
bighorn, or mountain sheep. The heads of the cart- 
ridges are in gold. The calendar is handsome. It is the 
purpose of the Peters Cartridge Co. to distribute this 
calendar to the trade, whence it may be obtained by 
sportsmen. Those unable to secure it in this way may 
obtain one by inclosing six cents for postage to the 
Peters Cartridge Co.. Cincinnati, or to the eastern office, 
80 Chambers street, New York. 
Wyoming: Elk* 
We are permitted to print the following extract from 
a private letter: "When I got over on Wind River, just 
after I left my friends, two men had recently been tried 
before Justice Green on complaint made by Chas. Yarnell 
for killing elk for their ivories. They found three large 
pairs on them, and in one place Mr. Yarnell found seven 
bull elk that they had killed, and from which they had 
taken nothing but the ivories. I think they were hunt- 
ing in the section where I was, as I found one five-point 
bull killed not long before, and only the ivories taken. 
Well, the justice fined them and they left the country. 
So you see the game wardens were not very plentiful on 
the " Gros V entre and Black Rock, where I hear they 
killed these elk, and also on the Park timber reserve. If 
a man is a game warden he has got to ride and keep track 
of such men." 
This is undoubtedly the case recently referred to by 
Mr. W. Worrell Wagner, and, of course, it is quite un- 
certain how much of this elk killing for their tusks is 
going on all the time. It seems clear enough that the 
work of game protection in Wyoming is inefficiently 
done, and it is certainly an economic mistake for the resi- 
dents of that State to permit violations of the law such as 
are continually being practiced. An income-producing 
piece of the State's property is being taken by individuals 
instead of being preserved for the benefit of the State at 
large, an operation analogous to the pilfering of the State 
treasurer by a thief. 
Game at the Boston Show* 
Boston. Dec. 21. — More than 150 game animals, in- 
cluding deer from Germany and Africa, and several score 
game birds, among which are partridge from Armenia and 
Bulgaria, black game from Scotland, have already been 
received here for the third biennial exhibition of the 
Massachusetts Sportsmen's Association, which opens for 
a three weeks' run in Mechanics' Building on Washing- 
ton's Birthday. 
It is the intention of the directors to make the commg 
show broader in scope and more abundant in features 
than anything of the kind ever attempted in this coun- 
try. Heretofore only the game of America was exhibited, 
but this time, unless well-devised plans miscarry, there 
will be a large collection of foreign game birds of the 
kind that promise well for reproduction in this country. 
In order that the aquatic sports may be better con- 
ducted, the entire floor space usually given up to the 
exercise ring at horse shows, will be occupied by the 
artificial lake. The directors of the Association are Paul 
Butler, Eben D. Jordan, T. Jefferson Coolidge, Col. But- 
ler Ames, Capt. S. D. Parker. John E. Thayer, Francis B. 
Crowninshield, Col. Percy Parker, Thomas W. Lawspn, 
John T. Burnett, Samuel J. Elder, John C. Watson, E, J. 
Wardwell, Francis Skinner, Jr., Edward Read and C. W. 
Dimick. . . . . 
Headquarters of the Association is at 216 Washington 
street. The manager is Mr. Charles W. Dimick. 
Maine Non-Resident Tax. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
What's the matter down in Maine? Are they really 
so poor? They do not seem able to pay for their own 
game wardens, and are thinking of seeking aid from 
others who are fortunate enough to go within their 
sacred forests. Commissioner Carleton thinks that the 
fishermen and hunters going to Maine spend $3,000,000 
iu the State every year, and Congressman Powers places 
it at $6,000,000. It is estimated that for each deer killed 
it costs the sportsmen $200, and $500 for every moose. 
The number of deer killed is variously estimated at from 
twelve to thirty thousand this year. And still they are 
not satisfied. In fact, they are talking of jewing us down 
to the tune of $10 license for every sportsman that enters 
their precious wilds. I am a landowner in the State, and 
have a camp on one of the lakes. I pay my taxes and 
camp license, but would rather sell out than seek the aid 
of brother sportsmen from other States. 
To come directly to the point, it is an outrage, and 
should not receive the support of any Maine sportsmen. 
The hunters and anglers from outside of the State 
spend about five times as much on their trips into the 
woods as the natives do, and nine-tenths of it is spent 
in the woods. 
The thing for the Maine Legislature to do it to put 
commissioners in who are able to handle the situation. 
The same amount of money and considerably more 
brains would work wonders. Let them not antagonize 
the guides as they do. Rather work in harmony with 
them. It is done in other States, and can be done in 
Maine if they get rid of a figurehead or two. 
- POCKWAKAMUS. 
The Elk and the Order of Elks. 
There Avas published in our issue of Dec. 14 an article 
relating to the destruction of Wyoming elk for their teeth, 
to be used by the members of the Order of E'ks. Mr. 
Wm. B. Mershon, of Saginaw, Mich., sent this article' to 
Geo. A. Reynolds, the grand secretary of the order, and 
has received in reply a letter in which Secretary Reynolds 
says: "Upon my return home I find yours of the 16th, 
inclosing a clipping regarding the wanton destruction 
of the noble animal from which the fraternity which I 
represent takes its name. I sincerely thank you for your 
interest in this matter and for your information will say 
that two years ago our lodge at Cripple Creek, Colo., took 
up this matter vigorously and caused widespread publica- 
tion of their findings through the daily papers of the 
Western States, and also issued a circular to the several 
lodges of our fraternity, many of whom indorsed their 
action. The Grand Lodge of our order at the last ses- 
sion, held at Milwaukee, Wis., in July, 1901. also passed 
a resolution condemning the wholesale destruction of the 
elk, and our Western brothers said that they would take 
the matter up through the legislators of the several West- 
ern States and endeavor to have laws enacted for their 
protection." 
Massachusetts December Snipe. 
Milton, Mass., Dec. 26. — On Dec. 17 I killed two Eng- 
lish snipe near Milton, Mass. The marsh was entirely 
frozen up, with the exception of a small creek of running 
water. Is it not rather late for these birds? 
A. W. Merriam. 
$m ayd giver S*¥ n 8* 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
tViem in Forest and Stream. 
J. S. Van Cleef— A Tribute. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I never met Mr. Van Cleef, but felt acquainted with him 
through your columns. Every writer puts his own per- 
sonality into his writings, and so before his readers. 
Whether intentionally or not makes no difference, the law 
holds. And often what one reads (or may read) between 
the lines is more important than the lines themselves. It 
is rightly claimed that the Scriptures contain "revelation 
by character in action." It is just as true that character 
in action constitutes a man's revelation of himself, and 
nowhere does the real self come out more clearly than in 
travel and in the scenes and experiences of camp life. So, 
when these are truly described there is a revelation. 
Who, for example, could read Mr. Van Cleef's descrip- 
tion of the Beaverkill in early days and the careful 
Sunday observance of those anglers who then frequented 
it and not feel the moral uplift of contact with those 
noble men? And here is just the point of greatest signifi- 
cance, the element of chief value, in Mr. Van Cleef's cor- 
respondence in your paper. His writings were wholly 
fine and reverent in tone. Such also were the characters 
with whom he loved to associate. They constituted good 
company, to which he introduced us, and I have been 
thinking that any sportsman — no matter how successful 
with rod and gun — who fails to grow thus fine and reverent 
in character, has missed the main benefit of life in the 
woods— is, indeed, by so much as he lacks in this regard 
not "a true sportsman." Is not the real standard of "true 
sportsmanship" right here rather than in the method of 
taking game? 
I have often noted in your columns a strain from other 
writers similar to that from Mr. Van Cleef. This it is that 
makes Forest and Stream welcome in so many homes. 
May that note always be prominent in the paper, and may 
it never lack correspondents who shall always write their 
woodland melodies in that key! We want to be worthy 
successors of Robinson and Van Cleef. It is incumbent on 
us never to write a line which passing across another 
mind will leave a stain. The characterization of Van 
Cleef may serve as a standard — wholly fine and reverent. 
Juvenal. 
Brooklyn, Dec. 30. 
The Hearing of Fishes. 
There are three phases of sense in fish particularly 
interesting to the angler. Their exquisite powers of hear- 
ing, seeing and their subtle, abnormal sensitiveness to 
atmospheric influence* With all our experience and study 
it is doubtful if we have arrived at anything like a full 
estimate of the acute sensitiveness with which fish are 
endowed. I devote this article to hearing. By hearing 
I must obviously be understood to mean their power of 
appreciating the vibration caused by sound, the conductor 
being either solid, aerial, or liquid. A day dawned some 
vears ago when I said in my heart, "What an utter fool 
f have been all these years in not believing that fish could 
hear us calking." It was a few days after Marconi suc- 
ceeded with his first wireless message, and when the 
X-rays were booming. Those facts were a revelation to 
me, opening up channels of fact and theory with regard 
to many things beside my favorite pastime, which 
seemed to make my understanding stagger. But the sub- 
ject in hand is its relation to sound penetrating water. 
What did the working of those astoundingly delicate in- 
struments prove to us ? Two things. That vibration is the 
one means of communicating impressions, and that 
neither selid nor liquid is any obstacle to its passage, 
although they may more or less retard it. The influence 
of vibration penetrates indefinitely. There is no extraga- 
gance in asserting that scarcely a limit can be set to 
which sound as well as light may not travel to a recep- 
tive faculty sufficiently adapted and sensitive to receive 
the impression. It all depends upon how far the condi- 
tions may or may not be favorable for its transmission. 
In man it detonates the ear drum, and in that way when 
we are under water we discover little intelligible meaning 
from sounds. But the same vibrations are undoubtedly 
received by the exquisitely sensitive hearing intelligence 
of fish — if I may use the term— in a different and far 
more impressive way. By intelligence I mean an instinct- 
ive recognition by their bodies of some disturbance, just 
as man recognizes a passing breath of air. It takes the 
form of feeling. I came to the conclusion that I would 
make a few experiments. Space for the relation of them 
at any length is out of the question. But here are one 
or two facts. A friend entered into it with me, and 
we bethought ourselves of certain well-known trout in 
our preserve which were "always there." Then we placed 
thatched hurdles a day or two beforehand, so that the 
fish might get accustomed to them in such a way that 
we could approach close to their haunts without being 
seen and watch the unsuspecting, trout through a small 
hole cut in the straw. When one was not at home, the 
other generally was. My friend undertook the row- 
making, I the observation. 
From the sound of a gunshot 500 yards away, which 
made our trout distinctly start, to the breaking of a twig 
three^ yards from the fish, which did the same, we tried 
all kinds of sounds, shrill and dull, and at varying dis- 
tances, and the sum of our experiments convinced us of 
this — That our sensitively organized friends felt the dis- 
placements of molecules through ether, which we call 
sound, and the further vibrating disturbance through 
what we call water — which I verily believe conducts sen- 
sation to the fish as readily as glass permits the penetra- 
tion of light to this paper — in proportion to the distances 
and the character of the sound, but that they did hear, 
or feel rather, and with incredible quickness, too, was 
conclusively demonstrated. What they heard and were 
not alarmed at I cannot tell, but when they were alarmed 
it was evident enough by the same kind of start they 
give when their chief enemy suddenly Deeps over the 
bank. In only two cases could I discover actual fright, 
the fright that sends them down — a gunshot behind the 
hurdle, and a heavy stamp of the foot near by. It is 
noteworthy that the shrill sounds seemed to startle them 
most. For instance, a policeman's whistle at ten yards 
sent one out into the stream as if looking about for some 
source of danger, whereas a shout at the same distance 
caused no detected movement, Their way of shifting a 
little further from the bank when they have an inkling 
of danger is a very pretty side movement, well-known, 
no doubt. It seems for the purpose of watching the bank 
at a better angle, The common manner of showing their 
alarm was by a sudden quiver, sometimes followed by a 
sinking down an inch of two. as much as to say, "What's 
up?" I very much doubt if I ever crept up to my peep- 
hole without being detected, and yet I was careful, for, if 
you notice, a trout once on the qui vive gives no sign of 
alarm at a second movement or noise. Once prepared 
he is immovable till he suddenly darts off. You may 
throw your greatcoat at him, and he either braves it 
stolidly or bolts clean away. Five minutes' perfec' still- 
ness and they settled back to confidence, and then were 
again easily startled. I fancy the laws of refraction had 
something to do with it, and that even from the sky they 
sometimes perceived my movements. I had often sus- 
pected this before. Another conclusion: I believe they 
heard much they appeared not to. A sudden smack of 
the hands together, and there was a decided quiver, but 
a bird rattle, began very softly, and gradually brought 
up to its very loudest, and no notice seemed to be taken. 
But doubtless, like ourselves, however loud the noise, 
the gradient robs it of its startle. However fanciful it may 
sound, of this I am thoroughly convinced, that water is 
such an immediate transmitter of vibration to fish that 
they recognize sound from the air nearly as quickly as 
man. It is no argument to say we do not when in it. 
We have no need. Fish have. And because they have 
they are providentially endowed with supersensitiveness 
to that particular nervous influence among others. Man 
is absolutely obtuse in many of his senses compared to 
the lower animals. What is the range of man's eye, for 
instance, compared with that of the vulture? The fright- 
ened whale that kept spouting frantically puzzled Captain 
Preslow, but it didn't his Eskimos, who put the end 
of an oar to his ear till he heard what the whale heard, 
the propeller of a steamship. An hour after a thin, black 
streak from the steamship funnel appeared on the hori- 
zon, and accounted for the whale's uneasiness. If forty 
miles are nothing to a whale, why sit in your boat talk- 
ing and laughing, upsetting your bottles and your brains, 
and fancy your fish forty yards away don't hear all of it! 
Neither is it any argument to say if they heard they 
wouldn't feed. That they feed while listening to your 
yarns only proves that they are hungry, and take risks, 
just as a bird will pick up your crumbs knowing you 
would catch him if you could. 
I will hardly go so far as a friend of mine. A fellow- 
lover of quiet was one day fishing with me a favorite spot 
from a boat for pike. I had just said: "Now I believe 
we shall hit 'em." "Let's be off," he said suddenly. 
"Why?" I questioned. "Why! because you mustn't give 
your thoughts tongue like that. So-and-so and so-and- 
so have been here so often, and chattered so much, that 
every fish in the place knows the English language." 
I claim no authority to inform. I simply draw deduc- 
tions from certain reasonings and inferences from my 
own experience, and state them, more with the opject of 
suggesting than the desire of instructing.— J. Berryman 
in London. Field. 
