151 
FOREST AND STREAM 
their heads. Even dog fighting bad lost its charms. The 
Dight was enlivened by a herd of cattle that Bmclt the one 
hundred and fifty pounds of salt that wo brought along to 
salt our bear meat. They would trump all around the camp, 
walk over the dogs, poke their heads into the tent, and scatter 
oar traps promiscuously. At the first peep of day three of 
us went for deer. After waiting some lime one of our party 
obtained a running shot, but effected nothing. We returned 
to camp and put in the day by chasing the cattle away from 
camp. The seventh morning was cool aud frosly. Four of 
us went for deer, but with the same success as heretofore— 
got nothing. 
We now came to the following conclusions : 
Firstly. That there was plenty of gime there. 
Secondly. That it would stay there for all we couli do to 
keep it from it. 
Thirdly. That bear was dry meat anyhow. 
Fourthly. That home was the best place after all. 
The above resolutions being unanimously cirricd, we set 
about preparing to leave. The next day being Sunday, and 
teams idle, it was decided to leave then. A drizzling rain 
fell all day, and we failed to get out to the river on Sunday ; 
but Monday found us on our way. I took one more little 
round f >r deer and joined the party about two miles from 
camp. I laid old “ Long Tom " sadly in the wagon, and I 
will not say what I thought about bear hunting then. The 
roads were better, as the reins had thinned the mud, and if 
one did go a little deeper, it was not so hard to get out. We 
got to the river in time to hoard a bout before night, and were 
happy again. Some of your readers may wonder what I 
wrote this for, as there is nothing remarkable chronicled in 
it— no hair-breadth escapes from panthers or wolves, or suf- 
focating hugs from bears or anything else, like most of the 
letters to your pxp.’r contain. That is just it. I wish to 
state to some of the uninitiated that a hunter's life has its ups 
and downs as well as any other ; that it does not always run 
smooth and flow wiih milk and honey. 
Although we made a miserable failure, we are far from 
being disheartened, and if everything works right, next No- 
vember will find some of us back there. We have learned 
the way and got acquainted a little, and with the right kind 
of season, a party could have glorious sp ort, as there is any 
amount of game there. Paddy O'Leary. 
Ashbgsburg, Hopkins County, Kentucky. 
his companion, who sculls, assumes a like attitude in the 
stern, with his head just sufficiently raised to see over the 
bows of the boat. In this position, the birds having first been 
sighted with a j*ood spy-gla«s, the boat is noiselessly sculled 
to within shot, if possible, or uutilthc movements of the birds 
give evidence to the silent worker of the “ float " that their 
suspicions arc arroused, aud they are about to take flight. It 
is no easy matter even for the most skillful boatman to ap- 
proach these shy water-fowl, ever on the alert for danger, aud 
well knowing, by hard experience, to shun every object that 
looks even most remotely like a device of their greatest enemy 
— min. Here is the place where the shooting power of a gun 
can be well tested. Many birdsare brought to hag from sixty I 
up to seventy-five yards, aud old gunners speak of hnviog 
knocked over geese at one hundred yards or more with their 
old-fashioned, bell muzzled ducking guns, with barrels six- 
feet in length. " “Float.” 
Portsmouth, N. II., March, 21, 1878. 
Sbh €‘>Uttn f 
Salmon in thk Hudson. — Professor Spencer F. Baird, of 
the Smithsonian Institution, writes us in regard to the salmon 
found at Peekskill, in the North River: 
“ I have little doubt that the salmon found in the North 
River was a spawning fish that had entered the river last 
summer or autumn, and remnined there throughout the win- 
ter. This a very common thing in the Penobscot and the 
streams of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the fish return- 
ing to the ocean the following spring. I shall "be delighted to 
have the first procurable specimen of a Hudson River 
salmon, as I have from the Delaware." 
—The Greenwood Lake Association placed fifty thousand 
salmon trout in Greenwood Lake on the 22d March. 
Dcok Shooting in Southekn Illinois.— Since last Decem- 
ber some of us sportsmen have been looking forward with no 
small amount of interest to a grand duck and CAmplDg-out ex- 
pedition, to take place about the first of March (or whenever 
the ducks begin to come in) at the great duck grounds, the 
lakes south of Jonesboro, III. Our friends at Jonesboro were 
to keep us posted as to the best time for the three of us to 
start from the vicinity of St. Louis. Last Tuesday a dispatch 
came, worded thus: “Come by first train ; the lake is filled 
with ducks. There's millions in it, and more coming." 
—On the 19th inst. 10,000 young salmon were put into 
Lake Waramnug, Conn. Five thousand were put in four 
years ago. The Litchfield Enquirer hears they have been 
seen to weigh two and one-lialf pounds. 
SHOOTING ON GREAT BAY. 
As viewed at high tide, a more beautiful sheet of water it 
has rarely been my good fortune to see in a somewhat exten- 
sive traveling experience, than Great Bay in Rockingham 
county, N. H., some four miles from Portsmouth. Sur- 
rounded as it is with charmingly diversified scenery, wiih 
well cultivated farms stretching down to its shores, beautiful 
with wooded capes jutting out into its waters, paradises for 
picnic parlies and deliciously shaded little nooks into which 
one may sail to escape the heat of the summer sun, it has 
many a time been a source of never ending delight to me, as I 
have skimmed over its placid surface and realized that ke< n 
sense of enjoyment that makes one glad to be alive to feast his 
eyes on the rich beauties of nature. 
But not the least an.oDg its many charms are the facilities 
and felicities which Great Bay furnishes to the sportsman, to 
tell of which this article was more especially written than for 
the purpose of describing this great reservoir into whose basin 
the Piscataqua River pours its rushing tide. To those sports- 
men, whose numerous inquiries I see in your valuable paper 
as to where good shooting can be found, I would say, here is 
an opportunity for you to try your skill on the water-fowl 
that make these waters their resting place and feeding ground 
during their spring and autumn flights. From the great wild 
goose down to the little “dipper " duck through all the grades 
of water-fowl that wing their way along our coast, some are 
almost always to be found, in their seasoD, upon the bosom of 
this beautiful bay ; but let no sportsman, who may condescend 
to read this communication, come here with the expectation 
of making the enormous bags such as are shot on the Chesa- 
peake and at Currituck or the prairie sloughs of the West; 
indeed, for myself— than whom no one can be more fond of 
the gun— there is but little sport where such a surfeit of game 
can be found ; for, in my opinion, sport degenerates into 
slaughter, and there is more satisfaction for me to stop the 
lighmiDg flight of the ruffed grouse in full October plumage, 
than to bag a dozen brace of teal or mallard where they exist 
io such profusion as I have seen them in the prairie water- 
holes of Western Kansas. I read— more with sorrow than 
with envy — of men, calling themselves sportsmen, shooting 
down hundreds of water fowl in the course of a day, many of 
w hich must necessarily spoil unless slut for the market, and 
maDy of which they allow to escape, wounded— especially if 
hogging them is attended with any exertion ; and then they 
call this indiscriminate destruction sport. 1 have no patience 
with such libels on the name of sportsmen. 
The water fowl which, durirg their flight, make this their 
rendezvous, are, generally speaking, and moie especially in 
the spring, the wariest of their kind. Shot at, as they are, 
fiom every available point in their long autumnal journey to 
their southern resorts, and running the gauntlet of a like fusi- 
lade during their return flight to their far-away breeding 
haunts in the north, all the skill of the hunter is required to get 
them within reach of his gun. In the fall larger bags can be 
made ; probably because the young broods, from lack of inti- 
macy with the hunter, are more unsophisticated and not posted 
in the many wiles originated for their destruction. But the 
spring bird is an entirely different customer, and the hunter 
who can show four or five brace for his day's work goes home 
with a good appetite for his dinner and the feeling that it 
ha3 not been wanton destruction on his part, hut simply a 
match of human cunning against the wary shyness of his game. 
All shooting is done here from a “ float "—a very light boat 
some twelve or fifieen feet in length, with a square stem per- 
forated a little to the left of the centre, with a “ 6cull-hole," 
the edges of which are lined with leather; that part of the 
paddle which in 6CulliDg is in contact, is also lined with leather 
in order that in working the boat the noise shall be reduced to 
a minimum. This description may not be considered super-* 
fluous by some of your Western readers, who are, perhaps, 
unaware of the difficulties Eastern sporUmen have to contend 
with in approaching this species of game. With one of these 
“ lloits " so-called, its “ guonel "entirely concealed by a cover- 
ing of eel-grass or rock-weed, the gunner takes his place in the 
bows on a bed of straw, recliaing in such a position as to be 
hidden from sight of everything on the surface of the water • 
Gold Fish in thk Potomao. — Washington, D. C., March 
29.— My attention has several times been called, during the 
. -o- past three or four years, to the calch of gold fish (Cyprinus 
That was sufficient, but rteht here a disappointment stepped auratus) in the seines hauled in the Potomac and eastern 
in— two of our party fauna that it would be impossible for branch, in the immediate vicinity of Washington. These at- 
them to go, and so your humble servant was forced to go un- 
accompanied. After a ride of 140 miles, at 3:42, Wednesday 
afternoon, I arrived at Jonesboro aud found Mr. D., Mr. G. 
and Jim at the depot, and the greeting I received was both 
appreciated and reciprocated. And right here, I rernaik that 
there is something about the greeting extended by one sports- 
man to another that is different from most any other greet- 
ing in vogue. There is a whole-souled heartiness about it 
it is so entirely void 
and returned with the 
that is both contagious and refreshin 
of any selfishne-s that it is receive 
same gusto. I think that my fellow sportsmen will bear me 
out in this assertion. 
Daybreak coming, morning found us busily packing our 
wagon with camping utensils, etc., and soon we were on our 
way to the lakes, where we arrived about noon. After hav- 
ing selected our camping ground close by the lakes, we 
speedily pitched our two large tents, and, in a short time, 
seemingly an incredibly short time, we had fire made, coffee 
boiling, table spread, and were partaking of the abundance of 
good things before us, only interrupted by watching the 
flight nf ducks which constantly passed over U9. The meal 
over, pipes were brought into service, and about five p. m. 
the rubber boots were put on, shells inserted iuto belts and 
pockets, and, walking fifty yards, each selected a boat and 
tractive little fellows, which are so often found in glass globes 
and other vessels ornamenting parlors, and in aquariums at- 
tached to greenhouses, originally came from Chinese waters ; 
but I do not mean to say that they have encircled the globe 
and altered the Potomac from the Pei Ko or some other 
Chinese stream. For years they have been in the fountain 
bowls and baisins in our public parks, and especially in the 
large pool on the west front of the Capitol, in which the 
Dpcatur monument formerly stood. After the removal of 
that monument to Annapolis, stones were loosly placed in the 
pool, which afforded suitable shelter and crevices for the fish 
to spawn, and they multiplied rapidly. The outlet from this 
pool connects with a 6ewer which empties into the Potomac, 
and through the wire covering which guards the outlet the 
spawn has escaped from time to time and been co.nveyed to 
the river, where the young fish soon developed and thrived, 
and are now becoming quite plentiful. R. F. B. 
The Carp Hatching Ponds. — The work of converting the 
lakes south of the Executive mansion into a national carp 
hatching establishment, is progressing rapidly under direction 
of Prof. Baird, U. S. Fish Commissioner, and Prof. Rudolph 
Hessel. In a recent letter I described at length these pond9, 
and proposed changes to adapt them to the propagation of 
for the fish now in the ponds of the Maryland Fish Commis- 
sion in Druid Hill Park. The establishment promises to be a 
place of much interest, and will surpass some of the renowned 
hatching ponds of Germany -and other European countries. 
—Recently Mr. Reilly introduced in the House of Repre- 
sentatives a bill for the preservation of game and protection 
of birds in the District of Columbia, the provisions of which 
are the same as of that introduced in the Senate by William 
Edmunds, of Vermont, a year or more ago, and which was 
noticed at length in this correspondence. A strong effort will 
be made to have the bill passed at the present session, as we 
are badly in need of a game law in this district. 
slowly pushed (we used push-poles only) away to the differ- , - - . . „ 
ent points and parses for our evening shooting. We returned * or dlstr 'D ltl0u > n southern waters, Congress having ap 
at du9k highly delighted with our sport, and couming heads I P ro P riat , e d $5,000 for that purpose. They will soon- be read] 
(duck heads) we found sixty-eight on hand. After a good 
supper (aud the way we made the food vauish would be a 
mystery to any one but a hungry hunter) jokes and reminis- 
cences of former hunts held the boards ; and, Oh .' how we 
did make those old woods ring with the laughter that could 
not be contained. Before long, however, drowsiness ruled the 
hour, and in a short time nothing was heard but the dismal 
croak of the frogs, and the occasional “ hook, honk,” of the 
wild geese in their flight; and last, but by no means least, 
the sundry frightful communications and exclamations made 
by Jim in his sleep. At four o'clock, while yet everything 
was dark, we were all up, fire re-kindled, a hasty breakfast 
eateD, belts recharged with shells, a hurried consultation, and 
then to the boats ; the water baled out, another word, and 
each slowly and silently glided into the gloom. D. and C. 
went to points nearly opposite to each other down the lake ; 
W. and Jim opposite each other in the middle of the lake, and 
I up to the head of the lake. Alter having pushed my monitor 
into a good point and getting in readiness, I sat down to 
await the approach of dawn and ducks. I shall never forget 
that morniog's shooting. I had not remained in my cover 
long before the coming of the morning became apparent ; the 
darkness began to change to a grayer tint, and as the faint 
streaks of light flashed up from the eastern horizon, heralding 
the nearer approach of the great luminary, I fancied I could 
see to the further end of the lake. Ab, what’s that ? Clear 
down the lake there shoots up a thread of fire, and boom, 
boom comes floating up to me. Now for business; those 
were C. and D.'s guns 1 thought. Boom; there goes Jim; 
and boom, boom ; now W. has “ turned loose on them,” and ( „ 
before I’m fully prepared here they are ri>»lit on to me I More Mississippi Salmon.— M r. Jesse Turner, of \an 
discharge the first barrel ; missed, by alf that's pleasant ' Buren > Arkansas, in a letter dated March 17, 1878, states that 
Not so with the left, however, for down he comes right bv 1188 ^ u9t heard of the recent capture of a salmon in the 
me, quite dead. Quickly extracting the shell and as quickly Mls . sl8s 'PPi nvtr . at Helena, Arkansas, just below Memphis, 
replacing it by a loaded one; again I am ready for them but 4 sim,lar occurrence has taken place recently, which we no- 
none too soon, for the continued firing of my companions be- ticed m our last and P reviou0 issues of our journal. 
Private Fish Pond9 in Virginia. — In reply to a question 
from Mr. Charles T. Palmer, Attorney-General James G. 
Field construes the words “ waters of this Commonwealth,” 
as used in the first section of an act entitled an act for the 
protection of fish in the waters of this Commonwealth, above 
tide-water, approved April 4, 1877, to comprehend and mean 
lakes, ponds, dams, rivers, creeks, runs and branches in their 
natural courses within the limits of the State, and in which fish 
are found in their natural condition. The language does not 
embrace nor apply to what are known as private ponds, con- 
structed for raising fish, and into which the owners have 
placed fish, taken from their native streams, and thereby made 
private property. —Richmond Whig. 
low me kept the ducks sweeping over me in a continued 
whirl; aud how we did give it to them! I would fire at a 
fine flock ; back they would go only to receive two barrels 
from W., and then over to Jim to receive a similar compli- 
ment, and then right down to D. aud C. , who were most cer- 
tain to get two or three of them. So the sport went on • 
bang, bang, on every side. By nine o'clock we are pushing 
back for camp, perfectly satisfied with our morning's work. 
Again we count heads, and this time we find, for us all 210 
Thu was not so bad considering the fact that some of us’ were 
not the best shots in the world. The rest of our shooting was 
only a repetition of this just described, and we returned home 
Sunday fully satisfied with the amount of sport afforded, all 
declaring that a more delightful time could not well have 
been had; and we promised each other that the fall shooting 
should find us all grasping hands again, and ready for the 
ducks at the old camping grounds. Will 
Lebanon, IU., March 10. 
The Last Trek in tub Bowery.— The button-ball in front 
of 104 Bowery, this city, is the last of the many trees which 
once shaded that famous thoroughfare. It lias braved the 
storms of seventy years to fall at last before tbe ax of the 
Elevated Railroad. It is the custom of some savage tribes, 
when a tree is felled in the forest, to offer sacrifices to the 
deity of the wood. Some such ceremony would be emi- 
nently fitliog now if, indeed, the sylvan deities have not long 
departed from these haunts. • The gamin would make an edi- 
fying priest, and that elixir peculiar to the Bowery a fittiug 
libation. 
W HiTEFisn in Michigan.— Detroit, March 23.— During the 
past week the State fish commission, through their agent, C. 
H. Brownell, of the State Fish Hatchery at Pokagon, planted 
Whitehall fry from Detroit Hatchery, viz.: Adrian, Wamplais 
Lake, 50,000 ; Hudson, Mallory Lake, 20,000 ; Hillsdale, Bau 
Beese Lake, 50,000; Long Lake, 40,000; Quiucy, Marble 
Lake, 40,000; Douglas, Klinger Lake, 50,000 : White Pigeon, 
Pickerel Lake, 40,000 ; Bristol, LoDg Lake, 40,000 ; Baldwin 
Lake, 40,000, and Indiana Lake, 40,000. All of the above are 
near the line of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Rail- 
road. The following were distributed along the line of the 
Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad : Ross, Hilton Lake, 
40,000 ; Crystal Lake, 20,000 ; Cedar Springs, OIeans Lake, 
40,000 ; Wood Lake Station, Whiteflsh Lake, 80,000 ; Wood 
Lake, 60,000; Clam Lake Station, Muskrat Lake, 60,000, and 
Traverse City, Ann Lake, 100,000. Over 2,000,000 fish 
hatched at the Detroit IIa‘chery this spring have been hatched 
in Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River Druid. 
— The Sandwich, Mich., Hatchery closes this season with a 
very good record ; 50,000 salmon have been distributed in tbe 
lower lakes and rivers, and 22,000,000 whitetish have been 
placed in the Detroit River alone, 
— Forty thousand whiteflsh have been put in Turtle Lake, 
Union City. Thirty thousund eels will be put in the same 
lake next June. 
‘ 
— A young salmon, thirteen and one-half inches in length, 
has been caught in the Kalamazoo River below the dam at 
Plainwel). 
