July it, igos.^ 
FOREST AND STHEAM. 
2B 
vay, and the gun fell several paces from where I was 
inding. The other barrel didn't explode, for a wonder; 
lyway it fell muzzle away. The last jinks gave me the 
orst jolt of all; what little thinker was left "thunk" a 
lole lot between the time the gun left my hands and the 
ne it was resting safely on the ground. Thus ended the 
int. I couldn't have hit a haystack after such a shaking 
1, so I wended my way homeward, a sadder but a wiser 
Dn. 
It has always been a matter for surmise in regard to the 
eories which would have been set up as to how this man 
d met his death, if things had gone amiss. He is seen 
start out hunting alone, and is found dead from a gun- 
ot wound and his own gun lying several paces away, 
icharged, and not by any means necessarily in line when 
came to rest on the ground. All this without the slight- 
stretch of the imagination was at the instant 
the direct line of possibility. Of course, if the facts in 
: case could have appeared, the universal opinion would 
ve been that the fool killer had been getting in his 
rk. Verdict unanimous — acquittal. 
have seen many large bunches of game birds, but 
iver anything approaching to that, and distance fails to 
d any enchantment to the view. One has read of a 
avocation of crows; this must have been a parliament 
grouse. What they were doing bunched up like that 
a time in the evening when they had invariably been 
ind scattered out foraging before going to roost, is 
>re than I was ever able to make out, unless it was 
it they were making family arrangements for another 
ison. Perchance the angel dropped a tear when he 
orded my excuse for being empty-handed — such a very 
usual thing, don't you know. I could not possibly 
ord to give my blamed fooling away. 
Wanderer, 
Meadowlark and Robin* 
itor Forest and Stream: 
tour correspondent, Dixmont, expresses indigna- 
n concerning my defense of the Rev. Craig for 
noting meadowlarks, and Hie-on's allusion to shoot- 
;- robins and waxwings. It is easy for me to under- 
nd and appreciate Dixmont's sentimental attitude 
,'ard the robin, but I had never supposed that any 
•h sentiment attached to the meadowlark, even in 
North. Some of these birds (larks) remain in the 
If States during the breeding season; but no one in 
se States, so far as I am aware, includes them in the 
egory of "song birds." 
"he law of Mississippi recognizes the meadowlark 
a g^me bird, and he is protected by the game law 
ing; the close season, along with the other recog- 
ed birds of that class. Moreover, he is invariably 
nd in association with doves and partridges in the 
and winter months, ieeding on the same ground 
with the same general habits. 
Vudubon says of the meadowlark: "During the 
er part of autumn, as well as in winter, this species 
3rds a good deal of sport, especially to young gun- 
s." : And, "when on the wing they seldom fly close 
Dugh to allow more than one to be shot at a time, 
len wounded they run off with alacritj', and hide with 
at care, so as to be found with difficulty." 
\.\so, "In every cornfield in the State of Kentucky 
,1 are sure to find them in company with partridges 
1 doves." And again, "It will not stand before th^ 
nter longer than a moment, and that only when 
prised among rank weeds or grass." He says 
ther they are "offered for sale in almost all our 
rkets." 
t is evident that Audubon was not shocked by the 
)otihg of these birds, as he doubtless shot them him- 
f; and yet Audubon was the most enthusiastic of 
d lovers. 
he truth is, that the question as to what birds 
jht to be shot and vice versa, is, like many other 
;stions, a purely local one, the "point of view'* be- 
everything in determining the pro or con. 
t is easy to understand the sentiment that in the- 
rth surrounds the "robin red-breast" with a sort of 
tic affection akin to reverence; but the basis for" 
h a feeling is wholly wanting in the Southern, or 
least in the Gulf States; and the reason; for the dis- 
:tion is readily explained. The robins spend the 
eding season in the Northern States; they diffuse 
mselves throughout the land in mated pairs, resort- 
to the orchards, gardens and lawns, and nesting 
r the houses. They become quasi domestic in their 
its, affiliating themselves with humanity. They are, 
reover, handsome birds and sweet songsters in the 
ting season, and appeal strongly to the affections 
old and young among their human neighbors and 
ts. 
;ut when they come South their character is en- 
ly changed. They arrive here in bleak November 
ither, scudding upon the wintry north wind, and 
the harbingers, not of springtime as in the North, 
of frost and icy weather. 
hey sing no songs here, and do not cultivate the 
lan side of their environment; but assembling them- 
i-es in large flocks, confine themselves mainly to the 
p woods, where berries are abundant, and grow 
eedingly fat and juicy feeding upon them. 
)ixmont says of the robin that, "dead they are use- 
," and Dixmont's view is quite natural for one in 
position. Neverthelessj it is true that a fat robin. 
Ml broiled, is about the most delicious morsel that 
r graced an epicure's table. 
obins are not generally shot by sportsmen in the 
ith, for the plain reason that shooting them affords 
sport to a skillful gunner. Neither are they shot 
;t to be killing something," as suggested by Dix- 
ut. Ilie-on thought they would be more suitable 
le for a young lady's prowess than the more diffi- 
sport of following the setters through wet corn- 
Is and shooting partridges on the wing, 
obins are killed by boys, negroes and pot-hunters; 
find ready sale in the markets, as they are highly 
■emed from a culinary point of view. 
he robin question has a close parallel in that of the 
olink, another cherished songster of the Northern 
is in summer time. He also changes his character 
completely when he comes South in the fall and win- 
ter. In Maryland he becomes the famous delicacy of 
the restaurants, known as the "reed bird"; while in 
South Carolina he is the "rice bird," and in Louisi- 
ana he bears off the palm among the epicures as the 
"ortolan," the most cherished of the delicacies served 
in the hotels of New Orleans. 
The rule seems to be that certain birds that do most 
regale the sesthetic senses in the lands where the spring 
and summer months are passed, do also most appeal 
to the gastronomic side of human nature in those re- 
gions where the fall and winter is passed by them in 
the sole occupation of getting fat and delicious for. 
table purposes. 
While we may abhor the idea of butchering a pet 
for instance, for the table, we feel no such compunc- 
tions about selecting one out of the flock for the 
same purpose. 
Dixmont should recognize the fact that the shield 
upon which he is looking from his viewpoint presents 
a very different appearance when viewed from the 
opposite side. ^ Coahoma. 
Note and Comment. 
The Deadly Toy Pistol, 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
The editor, in the current number, July 4, gives the 
toy pistol a scoring, and he is right, the sooner the 
toy pistol and the manufacture and sale of it are for- 
bidden by law the better. When that takes place we 
shall have a few more boys to raise. The coroner of 
Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, has held no less than 
twelve inquests in the past thirty days on boys who 
have died from lockjaw, caused by toy pistols in every 
case. 
The pistol, in itself, is harmless, of course; it is the 
mercury put in these small cartridges to make them 
give a loud report, that causes the mischief. If black 
powder only were used then the result would only be 
a sore hand for a few days, and no lockjaw. But a 
toy pistol can be got for a few cents, and as long as 
they can boys will use them. Keep after that toy pis- 
tol in and out of season until it will be by law as much 
of a crime to sell one to a boy as it is now to sell him 
a dose of poison. 
I have noticed quite a number of complaints lately, 
both in the Forest and Stream and in other papers 
(the most of them have been in the other papers) 
about these game reserves, which some of our men, 
who have the money to spare and the inclination so to 
use it, have established in different parts of the coun- 
try. The only game reserve that I have a personal in- 
terest in is a big one out in Wyoming, but I cannot 
use it to hunt in, we keep it to give part of what game 
we have left a chance to stop long enough in one place 
to see whether they are there or not, and not to be 
blown somewhere else before they find out ju«t where 
they are. I do not hear any complaint made about this 
reserve, because I suppose it belongs to all of us, and 
costs us nothing to keep it, the Government does that. 
I have no complaint, to make about those private re- 
serves, I only wish that there were more of them, they 
are generally found on land that is fit for nothing else, 
?and sooner or later a part of this game in them will 
break out of bounds; some of it may be turned out; 
then it will be our game if we want it. 
- 1|, I had the money that some of these men have I 
have often thought that there would be another big 
game preserve, but I would want mine somewhere 
south of Mason and Dixon's line, in Georgia prob- 
ably. Then next I would want a good sailing yacht, 
one with auxiliary steam power, arid with no fancy 
work about it, inside or out, but one large enough to 
take me anywhere on tbe globe that I wanted to go 
to; it would probably have to take me around the 
Horn or through the straits, and in the Pacific before 
I had it long, and I would not need a captain or sailing 
master, I could attend to that part of it myself. Then 
after I had built the finest schoolhouse that money 
could put up, in the ward I was born in, I would quit. 
Cabia Blanco. 
Both Satisfied. 
It falls to us who live in the country the year round 
to hear amusing stories from the guides of their ex- 
periences with the "tenderfeet" that visit the north 
country during the open season. One that showed the 
cuteness of the guide was told me shortly ago by the 
man himself. 
Dr. S came to Roberval with the expressed wish 
of taking home a caribou head of his own killing He 
engaged George Skene as man of all work, and Old 
Bazil, the noted guide and successful hunter. 
Although it is not customary for guides to take their 
guns when out with gentleman sportsmen, yet Old 
Bazil was an exception, as he always insisted on tak- 
ing his. Around the camp-fire Dr. S spoke of his 
great wish to kill a caribou. 
"Now," he said to old Bazil, "You bring me up close 
to one and I kill it, I'll give you a bonus of $10." 
Several times next day during the still-hunt old 
Bazil would leave the doctor to await his return, while 
he would go forward reconnoitering carefully so there 
might be no mistake. At last he came back with the 
glad tidings to the doctor, that he had seen two cari- 
bou not far in advance of where they now were. 
When it got to sneaking after Bazil through the ' 
last hundred yards to the few trees at the extreme 
edge of the forest, the d actor's heart was beating with 
such thumps that he tl.oight the noise would start 
the game. The doctor at last reached the guide 
in the fringe of trees. Bazil told him that one of 
the deer was standing rp, broadside on, while a little 
to the right was the second one lying down. The 
standing one being the larger of the two, and the only 
one having horns, was for the doctor to shoot, while 
the guide would take a pot-shot at the other. The doc- 
tor flattened out on his stomach and wriggled a few 
feet further, saw the deer through the branches, took 
^i™ and waited for Bazil to count the agreed one, two, 
Bazil argued with himself that from the uncertain 
way the doctor s gun was wabbling about there were 
several hundred chances to one against his hitting the 
cleer, and as a Consequence, he would be minus his 
bonus. 
So he employed a ruse.' He counted the agreed sig- 
nal to fire, but instead of firing at the one lying down, 
he drew a bead on the doctor's, and, of course, killed 
At the report of the guns the caribou on the ground 
sprang up, ^ and old Bazil, with consummate prevarica- 
tion, said. Oh! I missed it!" Aimed again, let go the 
other barrel and killed this one also. 
The doctor was wild with delight at his successful 
first shot, and expressed in many words his pleasure to 
old Bazil, who took it all in without a blush. 
The old guide, who was standing up back of where 
the doctor fired, had taken no chance of missing with 
his smooth bore, but fired point blank at the deer's 
fore quarters. There was found on examination a 
inghtful wound, and smashed bone; but the doctor was 
not versed enough in woodcraft to distinguish if this 
had been caused by a round bullet, and not the conical 
one from his own rifle. 
The doctor was not a pot-hunter; he had what he 
came for, and had got it in almost record time, and 
was satisfied, so he fished for brook trout while Bazil 
carefully prepared the head for transportation and 
dried the meat for his own family. Then they jour- 
neyed back to Roberval, where the men were paid off, 
Bazil receiving a bright $10 gold piece as promised 
over and above his wages. 
The doctor no doubt has that head, beautifully got- 
ten up, hanging over his sideboard, and points to it 
with pride to his guests, saying, "I killed that head 
back of Kis-ki-sink, in Canada.' Martin Hunter. 
-0= 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it pro€tabIe to advertiM 
them m Forest and Stkkak. 
Salmon Culture in America. 
In the English Fishing Gazette of June 13, Mr. R. B. 
Marston reviews the salmon culture discussion in the 
1-<0REST AND STREAM, and commeuts as follows: 
"One of the conclusions arrived at by the Salmon 
fisheries Commission last year was that until satisfactory 
evidence was forthcoming respecting the success of arti- 
ficial culture of salmon it could not recommend the estab- 
lishment oi State hatcheries. 
"It seemed to me that this was such a damaging blow 
at fishculture in connection with our noblest fish, "that I 
tliought_ it would be well to see what was the opinion on 
the subject in America, and I wrote a letter to that ex- 
cellent sporting paper Forest and Stream, which ap- 
^^f^r^^ °" February 7 last, asking for information. 
_ The result Avas, I must admit, astounding to me. My 
inquiry gave rise to a long correspondence on the subject, 
from which, I regret to say, it seems to be abundantly 
clear that as far as the true salmon {Salino salar) is 
concerned, its cultivation in the United States and Canada 
. IS an admitted failure. During, the last twenty years or 
more the Fishing Gazette has published accounts of the 
y.ork ot the Canadian and American Fish Commissions 
m turning millions upon millions of artificially bred sal- 
nion fry into the rivers flowing into the Atlantic and into 
the Pacific. The late Mr. A. Nelson Cheney sent me 
some ten or twelve years ago particulars which seemed to 
prove that several Atlantic Coast rivers had benefited 
greatly by salmon culture,' and I fully expected that my 
inquiry recently would have confirmed this. 
"The first reply was from a correspondent signing him- 
self as The Old Angler. [Mr. Marston quotes it in full.] 
in i-OREST AND Stream for March 7 appeared a lono- 
letter from Mr. Livingston Stone, which has already ap- 
peared m the Fishing Gazette. It practically admitted 
that as far as experiments with Salmo salar in the rivers 
fiowmg into the Atlantic were concerned they had come 
to nothing, but it claimed brilliant success with the Pacific 
Coast rivers. Unfortunately, as Th^ Old Angler pointed 
cut m a long reply in Forest and Stream of March 21" 
salmon had never been extinct in any of the Pacific salmori 
rivers; on the contrary, in spite of the enormous drain for 
the great canneries which send canned salmon all over the 
world, the natural supply was still incredibly great. As 
far as the salmon of the Pacific Coast are concerned, it 
seems to me that_ it must be very difficult to prove that 
artificial culture is or is not beneficial. It is admitted 
that fash in incredible numbers can still reach the spawn- 
ing beds ot the rivers, and as long as that is the case it is 
impossible to prove that turning in some millions of arti- 
ficially hatched fry materially increase the catch of sal- 
mon. It IS impossible to prove it, but it is also impossible 
to disprove _ It. The fact that such an able and ex- 
perienced pisciculturist as Mr. Livingston Stone is con- 
vinced of the value of aiding nature where over fishing 
IS the only reason for falling off in the supply of salmoii! 
1.S a fact not lightly to be brushed aside. To wait until 
the salmon of some Pacific Coast river have become ex- 
tinct before attempting to stop the drain seems to be ab- 
surd. On the other hand, it is open to question whether 
the mqney and energy expended on artificially producing- 
fish for such rivers might not be far better employed in 
preventing over-netting and trapping salmon, and in see- • 
ing that natural spawning of the fish is not interfered 
with. The salmon of the Pacific Coast are not the same 
as our Atlantic 6^a/j7;o salar, and it does not follow that 
because attempts to stock rivers with S. salar have been 
so disappointing that therefore failure must follow with 
Xht Salmo qumnat and other Pacific Coast salmon As a 
matter^ of fact, all attempts to introduce i". quinnat into 
Europe and Australasia have failed. 
"Th^ Old Angler will not allow that salmon culture 
fe n?] T''f'^"'\ t^^^.l^^":^- [Here Mr. Marston quotes 
ihe Old Angler's letter m issue of March 21.] 
