138 
March, 1920 
forest and stream 
AMERICAN 
GAME BIRD 
SHOOTING 
By George Bird Grinnell 
This large and profusely illustrated 
volume covers the whole field of upland 
shooting in America. It deals with the 
birds followed by the upland shooter with 
dog and gun, and gives practically every- 
thing that is known about the woodcock, 
the snipe, all the North American quail, 
grouse and wild turkeys. This is its 
scheme : 
Part 1 — Life histories of upland game 
birds; many portraits. 
Part II— Upland shooting, and alsq 
guns, loads, dogs, clothing. 
Part ITI — Shooting of the future, 
ruffed grouse, quail, etc. 
There are life-like colored plates of 
the ruffed grouse and quail, and 48 other 
full-page plates, with many line cuts in 
the text. 
The book is really the last word on 
upland shooting, and this is what some 
of the authorities think of it: 
"It is I think, a model of what such 
a book should be — but so seldom is. It 
is, indeed, much more than a treatise on 
field sports, for it furnishes such full and 
excellent life histories of the birds of 
which it treats that it should find a p ace 
in every library devoted to pure ornith- 
ology."— William Brewster, Cambridge, 
Mass. , . 
“A very complete monograph for sports- 
men and naturalists . . . with ancedotes. 
of his own and others . . . Tlie book will 
he enjoyed not only by sportsmen but by 
the general reader." — Sun. New iork. 
'•An important, thoroughly reliable and 
well written book; a work that will be 
read with interest and pleasure by sports- 
men. The work is the first complete one 
of its kind."— Boston Globe. 
"This volume is especially welcome—-* 
treat to every man who loves to tramp tha 
uplands with dog and gun."— Inter-Ocean, 
Chicago. 
This hook is a companion volume to 
American Duck Shooting, and the two 
cover practically the whole subject of 
field shooting with the shotgun in North 
America. 
Illustrated, cloth, About 575 pages. 
Price, $3.50 net; postage, 25c. 
For Sale by 
Forest & Stream Pub. Co. 
9 East 40th Street NEW YORK 
TARPON FISHING AT PORT ARANSAS 
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 117) 
We publish many and can 
supply any of the world’s 
outdoor books. 
FOREST & STREAM 
(BOOK DEPARTMENT ) 
9 Easi 40th St. New York, N. Y. 
B Y this time both Leonard and I had 
become beautifully sunburned, and 
his nose had begun to peel. Too 
late he tried to prevent it by doping his 
face with a preparation of zinc which 
gives one a most ghastly appearance. 
As it stays on in spite of both perspira- 
tion and spray, it would be quite effec- 
tive if applied the very first day, and 
regularly thereafter, but the trouble 
which that would involve would prove an 
infernal nuisance. For my part, I should 
prefer to take the burning, as with me 
it is not a very painful matter, but some 
people really suffer severely from the 
tanning process. 
We located that day many tarpon, in- 
cluding a lot of small ones, in and near 
the breakers. Leonard went for them 
as close to the shore as he dared; but 
after shipping a lot of water, and at the 
same time seeing several large sharks 
at hand, he returned to deep water, 
baled out the boat and tried safer fish- 
ing ground. 
I N the forenoon oi June 4th it was too 
rough to go to the South Jetty, hence 
we were forced to fish near the north 
one. Leonard had four strikes and 
saved two, and I got two with three 
strikes. Leonard took also three jack- 
fish, and I two, besides a 21-pound 
grouper, which gave me a good fight. 
As it is an excellent fish for eating, I 
subsidized the cook and persuaded him 
to serve it boiled with egg sauce for 
supper, thus making a welcome change 
from the eternal fried fish. Why is it 
that hotel cooks persist in frying fish 
when there are so many other excellent 
ways of cooking them? Being myself 
a good camp cook, and being fond of 
the job, I can prepare fish in a dozen 
different styles, all of which render it 
most palatable. 
My first strike that morning resulted 
in the escape of the fish, and with the 
second I had a most exciting time, for 
a big shark .some 14 feet long did its 
best to rob me of my quarry. The tar- 
pon was onto the game, because it made 
directly for the rocks where the sharks, 
for some reason known only to them- 
selves, object to following. I snubbed 
the fish up before it quite reached the 
jetty, thus preventing the line from be- 
ing rubbed against thei sharp barnacles 
on the stones, and by making the usual 
noise with the oar.s against the boat we 
frightened the brute off and secured the 
fish. Leonard says, however, that after 
I let it go the shark caught it, as he 
saw a big blotch of grease soon after- 
wards on the water. 
After this experience with the shark, 
I concluded to try the fishing in the 
channel, and, the water being high, we 
ran through a small gap in the jetty, 
located about a quarter of a mile from 
the outer end. Hardly had I let my line 
out before I hooked a big fellow, a heavy 
six-footer, landing it after a hard tussle. 
In the afternoon we tried the tarpon 
fishing again, but soon gave it up on 
account of the high sea both inside and 
outside of the Pass. 
T HE next day we had a companion, 
a Mr. Maloney, who had never 
done any tarpon fishing. At first 
we fished near the end of the North 
Jetty, where Mr. Maloney had a strike, 
but failed to hold. Soon afterwards he 
hooked another and landed it, saving it 
for mounting. It measured five feet 
six inches. Leonard and I each caught 
one, he having four .strikes and I three. 
One that I hung I lost on the third 
jump, but the other was captured by 
two big sharks that were fully as long 
as our skiff (14 feet). At first a yel- 
low one tackled my fish, but we fright- 
ened the beast away. Then a black one 
came along with the same result. Fi- 
nally the two joined forces and rushed 
the fish simultaneously, one from each 
side. When they met, it was good-bye 
to my tarpon! 
Leonard, when fishing near the break- 
ers along the shore, hooked a large 
shark, which first ran into the breakers, 
where it gave a good deal of trouble. 
Then it turned and went out to sea be- 
A morning’s catch of King-fish at Port Aransas 
