FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. io, 1904. 
keeps a fine pack of deer hounds always ready for the use 
of his friends, and it is certainly well worth while to be a 
friend of "Uncle John." His stories of his past deeds in 
the hunting field fill in the evenings delightfully. He has 
a negro assistant, "Uncle Needham," who is as old as 
Uncle John, and the two have hunted together ever since 
they were a dozen years old. Needham keeps at the hunt- 
ing almost every day. He is very proud of being a bear 
hunter, and in that section has killed about thirty of these 
animals, this fall having shot two, one of which weighed 
over 300 pounds. He thinks there is no meat on earth quite 
so good as that of the bear, and nothing can be more 
amusing than Needham's stories, in his native dialect, 
about his hunting of the bear, not to speak of lesser game. 
Every night Needham sat in the middle of the floor, the 
center of attention, and told us, young and old, story 
after story about bears and ghosts, or "hants," as he calls 
them. His belief in a "hant" is as firm as that he holds 
in the Supreme Being. The negroes never say ghosts, but 
always "hants." He actually got the youngsters in the 
party so frightened by his stories that in broad daylight 
they were afraid to go to the spring after a bucket of 
water, and at night dared not stick their heads out of the 
door. Uncle John has a nephew, Noah McGowan, whom 
he is training to succeed him as a deer hunter. Soon the 
mantle of this Elijah of the hunting field will fall upon 
the trusty Noah, for there is a pride in the family in 
always having a crack deer hunter in its ranks. This has 
come down for generations from the old hunting days, 
away back before 1700. 
After breaking camp, the party made their way in boats 
up a creek to the house of Uncle John, shooting all the 
way, and walking from their camp to his snug old house, 
where they first of all received a hearty greeting at the 
hands of his niece, Miss Gratsy McGowan, who, by the 
way, is a notable housekeeper. Such a supper as was laid ! 
Made up, first of all, of a great blue china platter piled 
high with North Carolina "collards," admirably cooked; 
other dishes being a pile of well baked sweet potatoes 
(yams, not those miserable things which the New Jersey 
people raise and eat, and which so many unfortunately 
ignorant Northern folk call sweet potatoes) ; North 
Carolina ham, cornbread in great slabs, hot and fine ; cold 
pork, biscuits as big as your fist and standing as high; 
truly a noble meal, which was washed down with plenty 
of black coffee, hot and fine. The hunters ate until they 
could barely move, and left the table greatly to the dis- 
tress of Miss Gratsy, who deplored the utter loss of appe- 
tite, though they had eaten about six pounds apiece it 
really seemed. They left the kitchen and went to what 
the country folks call the "big house." Uncle John wasn't 
feeling very well just then, but sat up in bed and told a 
few stories and enjoyed the companionship of the crowd 
very much. The party had taken with them on the trip 
three gallons of corn whiskey, commonly known as "white 
liquor." That is the sort which gets next to the heart 
and the stomach of your native North Carolinian. No 
"red liquor" for him; it doesn't go at all. He will leave 
a bottle^ of it unnoticed, but will sail into the white stuff 
every time, declaring it to be the only pure whiskey. 
Uncle John can carry off a quart every day with the 
finest grace in the world, and declares it makes him 
younger. 
People who go to eastern North Carolina hunting had 
better take tents. The winters are very mild and tents 
give all the comfort desired. Croatan is immediately 
upon a railway and is very conveniently located. Persons 
who may desire to go there, or anywhere in the State, for 
that matter, to hunt, had better write ahead and obtain 
permission, and arrange all affairs beforehand. These 
people own the land for miles and miles around Croatan, 
and of course they also control the hunting. If you are 
all right they like you ; that is the sort of people they are. 
This is indeed typical of all North Carolinians. Be sure 
you are right and then go ahead. It is a good old motto, 
and applies to hunting trips just as much as it does to 
anything else in the world. 
Mention ought to be made of Wiley Pittman, of 
Croatan, as a capital hunter and good companion and 
boatman. He is an expert and knows all that country 
far and near ; by the way, owning his own boats and seines, 
He went with the party on all the trips, and was in- 
valuable, full of good advice as to the best hunting 
ground, and a very companionable fellow in every way. 
Sportsmen who come to North Carolina will have to un- 
learn a good many things they think they know, and if 
they keep their eyes and ears open, they will go home 
with a great many admirable new ideas. They can pick 
up something else in North Carolina besides game. 
All this is just a mere little bit of a chat about the 
possibilities of the eastern section as a resort for true 
sportsmen. Now for a little line or two about the shoot- 
ing in Raleigh's vicinity. Charles E. Johnson, who is one 
of the best sportsmen here, is very proud of his new self- 
acting shotgun, one of those terrible weapons which it is 
the_ desire of not a few to see put utterly out of action. 
It is^ a five-shot automatic. The other day he was out 
hunting partridges near here. His dogs found a fine 
covey. A bird got up, and was killed ; he put in another 
cartridge, giving him five ready for use, and as in very 
rapid succession the birds got up, killed five without 'a 
break, then going forward and getting all the six. Mr. 
Johnson by no means is a "hunting hog," but a gentle- 
man sportsman, and tells me that with the advent of his 
new automatic he has made a fixed resolve never to kill 
more than 15 birds in any one day. He has killed over 
6b in a day._ He says that with moderation such as his, 
the automatic is no more a slaughterer of game than the 
old-fashioned gun. 
. For the first time Raleigh will this winter enter the 
lists as a place of resort for Northern people, with two 
up-to-date hotels, the Yarborough and the Park, and will 
present not only the attractions, social and otherwise, of a 
charming old Southern town, but will offer to sportsmen 
a point of special advantage, from which they can easily 
reach good shooting very near-by on five lines of railway, 
and from whence they can quickly get to other points of 
advantage in this particular. A number of people from 
the North are already arranging to come here. Pine- 
hurst, of which the writer has written several times, is 
only a little over an hour distant, and there will be much 
visiting between the two points. Raleigh is so close to 
New York (only 15 hours' run by either the Seaboard or 
the Southern Railway) that there is no trouble about 
getting in or getting out. The main line of the Seaboard 
passes through the city. The partridge shooting will be 
found to be excellent. A new railway is in course of 
construction which will be an air-line to one of the finest 
duck shooting sections of the State, to which one can 
go from Raleigh in three or four hours when the road is 
finished. Another fact is that the schedules out of 
Raleigh and into it for local points are perfect for sports- 
men, so they can spend the day in any direction they 
choose. Good roads, macadam or gravel, well graded, 
add to the facilities for getting out into the country. The 
presence of Northern people here in numbers will mark a 
new era in the life of Raleigh— something it has hereto- 
fore not known except by hearsay. Fred. A. Olds. 
All the game laws and fish laws of the United States 
and Canada are given in the "Game Laws in Brief." 
A Massachusetts Deer Case. 
Boston, Mass., Nov. 29.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Inclosed find clipping from a local paper giving a short 
account of a trial held in the district court, South 
Framingham, Mass., Nov. 19, 1904, for the illegal killing 
of a deer: 
"Fred. L. Bowman was arraigned before Associate 
Justice Higley in District Court this morning charged 
with hunting and killing a deer on his farm in Sudbury. 
He pleaded not guilty and stood trial, being represented 
by counsel. The prosecutors were officials of the Massa- 
chusetts Fish and Game Protective Association. The 
evidence was not sufficient to convict the defendant. The 
testimony showed that one Young, a meat dealer of Sud- 
bury, had deer meat from the defendant, and which, he 
testified, he took thinking it was veal. Officers also found 
a sack saturated with blood, and clinging to which were 
deer hairs, on defendant's farm. Bowman denied any 
knowledge of the presence of the sack on his place. He 
was discharged." 
The defendant was acquitted on account of the evi- 
dence not being sufficient to justify the conviction of the 
guilty party. You will notice that Young, the meat dealer 
whd sold the venison, testified under oath that he received 
deer meat from the defendant supposing it to be veal. On 
inquiring into the case I find that Young took this meat 
which he supposed to be veal and sold some of it as 
venison to one party and offered it as venison to another 
party. Both parties were in court and testified to this. 
If such an open violation of the law, with such evi- 
dence as was given, can go unpunished, I would like to 
have you or some reader of Forest and Stream tell me 
what kind of evidence is necessary to bring about the con- 
viction of parties who kill these harmless animals. How 
long will the deer last in a community where only the fear 
of the law keeps them from being slaughtered, if such 
open violations as this can go unpunished ? 
Constant Reader of Forest and Stream. 
In Florida. 
Punta Gorda, Fla.— Editor Forest and Stream: In 
your number of November 26 is an article by "W." on 
"A Cheap Winter in Florida." The article is far from 
correct. To say that "the absence of pines is a striking 
feature of Florida's landscape" is in nowise a fact, and the 
writer must know very little of the State. He says that 
the lowering of Lake Okechobee by the numerous drain- 
age canals, etc." There has been no lowering of Lake 
Okechobee ; all the work of the Hamilton Disston Drain- 
age Company was a failure. There is no change in the 
conditions as to the rise or fall of water. The woods 
are practically the same. The only change is caused by 
cattle men who burn the grass for their stock, and by 
the new turpentine stills. Your correspondent says 
radishes grow in three weeks. Humbug! And those 
famous ibis and flamingo. I have been in Florida for six- 
teen winters, and have only seen one flamingo. And 
"Paroquets displaying richness of plumage that startles 
the spectator." I have never seen these birds, and never 
saw a man who had. Have passed from Kissinumee to 
the Gulf and back; have hunted in about as wild country 
as there is. He says "rattlesnakes are so scarce that 
hunters have to make a diligent search for one." I have 
to keep up a search to avoid them. One of my men killed 
a 6^-foot fellow to-day that had nine rattles and a button. 
He says "Alligators are few and small of size." There 
are lots of them from ten to twelve feet long. In one pond 
last winter I saw thirty young ones. 
Where could this man have been to learn so much that 
ls not s0 ? C. A. Dean. 
The Sea Trout Again. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Among all the writers on Fish and Fishing who con- 
tribute to the columns of the oldest and best known sport- 
ing paper in America, there is not one whose pleasant 
gossip is looked for with more eagerness or read with 
more interest by The Old Angler than that furnished by 
your usually well-informed correspondent, E. T. D. 
Chambers. Much to the writer's regret he reads in your 
issue of November 19 nearly two columns of information 
( ?) respecting what Mr. C. calls the "sea-run trout of the 
Saguenay and its tributaries;" those found in the lower 
part of the St. Lawrence, in the bays and harbors of 
P. E. Island, in the mouth of the Cascapedia in Bay 
Chaleurs, and in the tidal waters of the Moisie, the 
Trinity and the Saguenay rivers. 
Whether intended or not, the scope of the paper im- 
plies that these "sea-run trout" are denizens of the sea, 
and resort to fresh water rivers only to spawn or "run 
into some of them after the smelt upon which they feed, 
and when these latter return to the sea, late in the year, 
the sea trout again follow after them." 
There is nothing in the article to indicate that Mr. 
Chambers ever saw these "sea trout" except in the Sague- 
nay and some of its tributaries. Indeed, the context leads 
us to conclude that the last summer was the only time he 
"was fortunate enough to enjoy opportunities for their 
study." Unfortunately for the conclusions to which his 
single season's study has led him, they directly contradict 
the conclusions of other observers who have made this 
fish the study of a lifetime, and have had exceptional 
opportunities for the study. 
In your issue of April 11, 1903, the veteran artist and 
angler, Walter M. Brackett, of Boston (than whom, in 
the present writer's opinion, no more competent and 
careful observer can be found), wrote: "Allow me to 
*m that I have spent thirty gammers in the pursuit of 
my favorite sport of salmon fishing on the Restigouche 
and its tributaries, the York and St. John in Gaspe, and 
for the past twenty seasons on the Ste. Marguerite, a 
tributary of the Saguenay, all of which rivers abound in 
sea trout (so-called). During all these years I have been 
a careful observer of their structure, habits, etc., and 
have yet to find a single point of difference between them 
and brook trout, excepting that these have acquired the 
habit of spending a part of each year in salt water, but 
always in the vicinity of the streams in which they are 
bred. They spawn in the upper regions of the streams 
under the same conditions and at the same time as other 
trout." _ Mr. Brackett concluded a minute and correct 
description of this fish in these words: "In answer to 
Mr. Hallock's question, When is a sea trout a brook 
trout?' I will say ever and always, whether in fresh or 
salt water, he is the much-loved fontinalis pure and 
simple." 
In your issue of July 23 last, that veteran angler and 
charming writer, Edward A. Samuels, said: "So far as 
I have been able to discover, we have but one 5". fon- 
tinalis, and I have handled the fish upward of fifty years, 
having taken them not only in the waters of many of the 
States, but also in all the Provinces of the Dominion, and 
have even creeled them from the Laurentide lakes, and 
have never been able to discover such peculiarities of 
markings and coloration as would be necessary to consti- 
tute a distinct variety." 
With the waters of Bay Chaleurs and most of the 
rivers debouching into it on both sides, the present writer 
is familiar, and he can say with confidence that, while 
all abound with the so-called sea trout, these are identical 
with the common brook trout in structure, in habits, in 
markings, -in colors, and that_ more are caught far from 
the estuaries of their native rivers. 
Had Mr. C. looked a little more sharply into Frank 
Forester's "Fish and Fishing," from which he quoted all 
that part of his paper relating to P. E. Island, he would 
have found that writer indorsing the belief of his friend, 
the late M. H. Perley, that there is but one distinct 
species of brook trout in North America, and that this 
is a migratory fish which, when not debarred, descends to 
salt water and returns to spawn in the clearest, coolest, 
and most limpid water it can find. In his "Report on the 
Sea and River Fisheries of New Brunswick," Mr. Perley 
says : "During the last thirty years the writer has caught 
many thousands of these trout in estuaries, rivers, streams 
and lakes in the Provinces and in Maine, and can safely 
say, after close and attentive examination, that he has 
never seen but one species of the brook trout, whatever 
naturalists may say to the contrary." This was the 
opinion of Prof. Agassiz, of Harvard, and of Profs. 
Baird and Goode, of the Smithsonian Institution, each of 
whom carefully examined specimens sent them by 
The Old Angler. 
The Rainbow Trout. 
It is about twenty years since the rainbow trout was 
introduced into note by the United States Fish Com- 
mission. My friend, Prof. Baird, kindly called my at- 
tention to them, knowing my interest in such matter, 
and at my request the Commission sent me, to my place 
in North Carolina, a few live fish and some eggs. They 
reached me safely, and.were duly planted in the streams 
which supplied two large ponds. They grew wonder- 
fully, so much so that, to my astonishment, some of 
them were taken the next, year which weighed over a 
pound, and very soon two and three-pound fish were 
commonly taken by the summer visitors here, who have 
free use of my stream and ponds. Since then I have 
not done much fishing myself, nor have taken much 
care to keep trace of the fishing done by the many 
summer visitors who come here to enjoy our beauti- 
ful mountain country; but I have quite often heard of 
fish of three or four pounds being taken, and on one 
