FOREST AND STREAM 
159 
responds to her cluck 1 cluck ! and nestles under her wing 
at night I heard not long since of a dog in Wisconsin 
whose exploit, narrated in the Wisconsin, Slate Journal, found 
a place in my note-book. An amendment was up in the 
Legislature of that State to prohibit all hunting with dogs : 
“ While the amendment was under discussion, a large dog, 
evidently smelling trouble in the breeze, determined to come 
to the rescue of his race, and made his appearance in the as- 
sembly chamber, and placed himself in the main isle in front 
of the speaker's desk, and near the introducer of the amend- 
ment so thorougly calculated to interfere with the rights and 
pleasures of dogs. By a process of gracefully wagging his tail, 
and looking into the members’ faces with a pleasant counte- 
nance, the desired effect was produced, and the aggressive 
amendment was killed.” 
Dasii — Jackson, Miss., March 27.— Did you ever see a dog 
back out from his point on a covey of birds for fear of flush- 
ing when his master was some distance off ? If so, did you 
ever know a dog to habitually back out from a covey of part- 
ridges ( Ortyx virg.), when not in sight of his master, come to 
him and tell him — yes, tell him ! as well as a pair of expres- 
sive hazel eyes and a crouching altitude can tell— and imme- 
diately go back and find the birds again ? If you have known 
a dog to do that on partridges, have you ever known one to 
do so on snipe ? What is more, back out from his point on 
one or more snipe, but never from a single partridge. There 
is no question about understanding Dash if you have ever 
seen him do it once. Dash will come back in the same man- 
ner wheu flushing a single bird, or a covey rises wild in the 
woods, not allowing the dog to come to a point. I can in- 
stantly tell that the birds are gone. Dash, instead of going 
back carefully, rauges rather wildly, glad, I suppose, to have 
gotten off without a scolding, which he thought to be in store 
for him. 
Dash does not like water. Even in summer he never in- 
dulges in a voluntary swim. It would have done you good 
to see him retrieve a teal out of a pond, round the edges of 
which the water had congealed. Dash is a splendid retriever. 
He will bring a crippled bird without rumpling a feather. 
And with what delight he brings them in! 1 have never 
known him to deliver ft bird to any one except myself. He 
will swim a creek with the bird in his mouth rather than 
fetch it to the friend on the same side with him. He is the 
dog who, when four and one-half months old, pointed as 
r.teady as he does now. Dash would not bring shucks at a 
bench show, nor is he anything extra in the field ; simply a 
good average dog with a high order of intelligence. 
Yours truly, Geo. C. Eybich. 
A Very Conscientious Dog. — The following letter is from 
a Philadelphia correspondent. His dog is certainly a very in- 
telligent animal. She wishes, as far as is possible, to accurate- 
ly locate the game which she scents. We have known of sim- 
liar cases : 
NotlclDg several very interesting accounts ol the peculiarities of dogs 
C*irtmbhed at different times In the Fokkst and Stream and Rod and 
Gun, aud being much Interested In the same, I am constrained to con- 
tribute the following on which I wonld very much like to have your 
opinion. In my kennel I have a pointer bitch which came Into my pos- 
session after havlog been trained. She is thoroughly broken, has a 
perfect uose and Is under control at all limes, and I have never known 
her to pass a bird, although last season was my Ilrst experience with 
her. Her peculiarity Is tills : On a windy day, when she makes a point, 
she will wait until you get within ten feet of her, when off she starts, 
making a complete circle around the game, keeping her head turned 
toward the centre. On arriving at the piuce from which she started 
she makes another stand, when you can work her without any further 
difficulty. It never happens except when the wind Is blowing, aud 
never, to my knowledge, has she In tl.ls circus performance disturbed 
the game. Can you give any explanation ? or have yon ever heard 
of a similar case? G. K. M. 
—Mr. William Vie, of St. Louis, requests us to state that at 
the St. Louis Bench Show bis dog, Vance, was not entered 
for competition. 
—George E. Poyneer, of Clinton, Iowa, claims the name of 
Boston, for bis red Irish setter dog pup; color, deep red, 
white frill. Born December 15, 1877, out of St. Louis Kennel 
Club’s Duck (formerly E. F. Stoddard's), by Stoddard’s Bob. 
Bob and Duck are grand specimens of their class, as their 
many winnings indicate. 
Tennessee — Columbia, March 25. — Fanny, an imported 
English setter bitch, the property of a negro man, was killed 
by a drunken countryman who had a dislike for the negro. 
He called the dog to him and cut her throat with bis pocket- 
knife. Fanny’s loss will be felt by sportsmen, as she gave 
them fine dogs. Val - 
mul |jf it er fishing. 
FISH IN SEASON IN APRIL. 
Soeckled Trout — Salmo fontinalis. Land-locked Salmon Salmo gloven. 
White Perch — 
THE OPENING OFTHE TROUT SEASON. 
M R. EUGENE G. BLACKFORD has worked miracles 
this year in his trout exposition. This idea, novel in 
Its character, invented, if we may call it so, by Mr. Black- 
ford, only dates from some years back. The Treasurer of 
the American Fishcultural Association conceived the idea 
that two ends might be accomplished by a trout show. First- 
ly, it would act as a stimulant to the breeders of fish, and 
secondly, it would educate the general public in regard to 
what is certainly the most beautiful of all the varieties of flsb. 
Why should we not commend those who, dealing in articles 
of food, bring into the business proper ta9te as to the display 
of their business? Before Mr. Blackford’s time food in Ful- 
ton Market was dumped on stall and counter ; now, dealers 
in our great marts where food is sold are commencing to vie 
with one another in the neatness of their display. No end 
of good food Is ruined in New York from the careless way in 
which it is handled. The lesson learned in Fulton Market 
in this famous trout display will have its good effects. 
There never was such a superb show as this one. Exposed 
on marble stands, the proscenium, as it were, of a fish theatre ; 
for a background was a huge tank swarming with trout. Of 
varieties of trout, these were endless. Mr. Blackford, for 
months beforehand, had been in communication with every 
trout raiser in the country, and on the stand were fish from 
all possible localities. England, Ireland aud Scotland had 
furnished their quota, fu examining the innumerable vari- 
eties of fish having wide divergencies of color, though the 
forms all more or les9 approach to the same type, a person 
with the least insight into the general effects of the domes- 
ticity of animals, is struck with this idea— to wit : that trout 
when cultivated, just like pigeons or dogs, though starting 
from one main type, through the agency of mau, are prone to 
form certain new combinations first appreciable in color, aud 
quite likely, in time, to be manifest in form. Let us, drop- 
ping the speculalive, now get to the actual facts. The large 
tank was filled with live trout raised by Mr. H. D. McGovern. 
Mr. McGovern, a leading member of the Fishcultural Associ- 
ation, raises his trout almost in Brooklyn. Qf dead trout, 
Messrs. E. H. Seaman, of Ridgewood, N. J. ; Thomas Clap- 
ham, of Roslyn, L. I.; A. A. Anderson, of Blooimburg, N. 
J.; H. T. Dousmun, of North Prairie, Wis.; J. D. Brod- 
head, of the Delaware Water Gap ; Ira Hoyt, of Halsey Val- 
ley; G. W. Thompson, of Sag Harbor, L. I., were among 
the many contributors. Such famous breeders as Livingston 
Stone, Seth Green and R. B. Roosevelt had also seut their 
cultivated fish. Of wild trout, few streams within five hun- 
dred miles of New York were there that had not sent their 
wild fish, trout from the Provinces being in abundance. 
Even anglers had commenced fisbiug a day or so before in 
other States where the close season is over sooner than in 
New York, in order to send in specimens to Mr. Blackford. 
For one single man to do all the talking and make the expla- 
nations wa3 impossible, and accordingly. Mr. Fred Mather 
acted as cicerone , and, perhaps, there is not to be found in the 
United States a gentleman more familiar with wild and cul- 
tivated trout than is this leading fishculturist. As to the 
crowd, if it had been an exhibition of diamonds at Tiffany’s 
it could not have been more largely attended. All day Mon- 
day, Tuesday and Wednesday the passage-way in Fulton Mar- 
ket was crowded, the ladies being present in large force. Mr. 
Blackford had numerous Ferguson jars on exhibition, where 
young trout and salmon, batched out by Lim, could be seen. 
Such shows, quite unique of their kind, belong essentially to 
New York, and we doubt if such exhibitions could be made 
the same objects of interest anywhere out of the great Metrop- 
olis. We must highly applaud the good sense which dictates 
such a trout show, as it is one of the best methods of propa- 
gating fish culture and explaining its advantages to the masses. 
Certainly if trout, a most difficult fish to rear, can be raised in 
large quantity, why cannot the more ordinary fish in use be 
grown even on a more extensive scale? We have, then, in 
this hasty description, touched but little on the esthetic por- 
tion of such an exhibit, only endeavoring to show its useful- 
ness. 
To be very practical, then, we bad the good fortune to be 
one of a tasting committee, of which Captain Mortimer and 
Mr. Fred Mather were among the judges. The flavof of the 
cultivated trout has been doubted as to its delicacy. There 
were passed in solemn review under the fork of the tasters, 
fish raised by Mr. Thomas Clapham, of Roslyn, L. I.; by Mr 
Fenton, of Pequonnoc, Conn.; by Mr. H. D. McGovern, of 
Brooklyn ; by A. Jackson, of Foster Meadows ; by Ira Hoyt, 
of Halsey Falls ; by G. W. Thompson, of Sag Harbor, and 
the real, true, original wild trout, caught by Mr. J. D. Brod- 
head, of the Kittatinney House, Delaware Water Gap. The cul- 
tivated trout of Mr. McGovern’s breeding wore found t^be of 
two different colors— white and pink— and were wonderfully 
flue as to flavor. Mr. Thompson’s Sag Harbor flsb were 
equally good, as were Mr. Clapham's fish. The Clapham fish 
are not fed on liver, but on small fish and clams. In fact, all 
the fish were excellent, and no superiority could be claimed 
by the wild trout. 
Whether in the season of 1879 Mr. Blackford will surpass 
this exhibition, remains to be seen. It is hard to imagine bow 
he could make a more wonderful trout display. 
As has been noticed before in the Fobest and Stream and 
Rod and Gun, the English fish had that purple gleam which 
Rolff, the English artist, invariably gives bis fish. The Eng 
lish trout were in shape or appearance very similar to our own 
save as to color. The Blackford trout show will continue, we 
suppose, throughout the week, and the leading ictliyological 
event of April will be talked about and looked at for some 
time to come. 
—In the market last week one of the most inspiring sights 
to au old salmon rod-fisherman, was five noble Scotch salmon, 
all the way from their native Tweed. They had crossed the 
Atlantic in prime condition, and now laid side by 9ldo on the 
marble slabs at the stand of Messrs. Middleton and Carman, 
nearly uniform in size and uniform in their hues of blue and sil- 
ver, whose lustre the long voyage had scarcely dimmed. The 
quintette weighed together 125 pounds, the largest scaling full 
thirty pouuds. Au old Scotchman, whose |birth-place was be- 
neath the shadow of Kelso Abbey, was looking at them 
lovingly, as if they might be kindred. He recalled to 
miud the mauy struggles he had lmd in bygone 
days with fish as noble as they, whose capture re- 
quired all the patience and artifices of the angler’9 craft, and 
no one but those who have tried can ever know what skill is 
required to kill so heavy aud monstrous a fish with rod, reel 
and line. It is impossible to realize what 25 or 80 pounds of 
live, active salmon represents until one has seen the huge bulk 
9tretckcd out before his eyes. The achievement of lauding bo 
great a fi9h is something to be justly proud of. These five 
flsb, however, were not taken with the rod, but with gill nets. 
The discolored mnrka upon their broad shoulders showed 
where the fatal meshes had taken hold. From a measure- 
ment made, it was evident that the meshes were fully eight 
inches wide. The written testimony was a credit to the 
sagacity and providence of the Scottish fishermen and the 
wisdom of the Scottish laws, and a rebuke to the cupidity of 
greedy men who spread their toils for everything which 
swims, big or little, weaving their meshes so small that sprats 
can scarcely wriggle through. 
Round black spot9 upon the gill covers are infallible Identi- 
fications of the true salmon, and whilo these vary in number 
it is rare to find a fish without them. One of these Tweed 
salmon was peculiar in this respect, the spots being wholly 
absent. Of the other four, two had a spot each ou one opercle, 
and two on the other ; the third bad nine spot9 on one cover 
and four on the other ; the fourth, eight on one cover and 
three on the other. Wo had a present of a chunk of one of 
these Tweed salmon, and we assure our readers that it was a 
bonne bouche the flavor very little impaired by lapse of time 
since the flsb was taken from its liquid element. 
Years ago, and up to 1855, the importation of salmon from 
Great Britain was of frequent occurrence; and the market 
price was $2.25 per pound for a lot of fifty fish and upward. 
With the restoration of our own sulmon fisheries, in both the 
Atlantic and Pacific waters, the price has dropped to 40 and 
60 cents per pound, but the spring run of Eastern salmon 
readily bring $1.25 per pound. 
Fish in Market— Retail Prices.— Our quotations are 
as follows : Striped bass, 20 cents ; large do., 15 ; smelts, 15 
blue fish, 15 ; frozen salmon, 30; green do., $1 ; California 
50 ; mackerel, large, 20 ; mackerel, small, 12J ; Southern 
shad, 30 to 50; native, 00 to 75 ; Connecticut River, $1.50; 
white perch, 15 ; Spanish mackerel, 35 ; green turtle, 15 ; 
frost fish, 0; halibut, 15; haddock, 6; codfish, heads off, 
8; do., heads on, G; black-fish, 15; Newfoundland herring, 
0 ; flounders, 10; do., small, 6; eels, 18 ; lobsters, live, 8 ; 
do boiled, 10; sheepsheads, 25; turbot, 25; scallops, $1.50 
per’ gallon ; soft clams, perlOO, 30 ; do., large, GO ; whitefish, 
15 ; pickerel, 15 ; salmon trout, 15 ; Canada brook trout, 
25 ; Long Island do., $1. 
First Connecticut River shad received on Tuesday. 
Massachusetts — Medford, March 2a.- -Smelts have re 
turned to their spuwuiug beds at au earlier date arid in larger 
numbers than heretofore. The law provides for their safety 
(or rather the watchman’s pocket) from the 15th of March to 
the 1st of June, but during the unusually warm weather of 
the first of the month they made their appearance in large 
and goodly numbers, which necessitated the employment of a 
watchman to protect the hasty eperUmus from the frying pan 
of the immediate neighborhood. Memoir. 
Movements of the Fishing Fleet.— The number of fish- 
ing arrivals reported at this port the pnst week has been 80, 
viz., 8 from the Banks with 800,000 lbs. halibut, and 22 from 
Georges with 050,000 lbs. round codfish. Fresh halibut were 
in liberal receipt the first of the week .—Cape Ann Advertiser, 
March 29. 
Rhode Island— Newport, March 4 -The first sea-bass of 
the season was taken last week by Mr. Crandal at Scituato 
Point. • 6** Dock. 
North Carolina.—' The shad fishery in Albemarle Sound 
is reported to be a dead failure this season, and those who 
have large amounts of capital invested feel greatly depressed 
in consequence. 
Tennessee — Nashville, March 28. — The weather the past 
week was most favorable to anglers, and they did not fail to 
take advantage of it. All those who went out met with good 
sport, and some of them took a great many flsb. A parly of 
gentlemen from Fayetteville caught in the Elk River, a tribu- 
tary of the Tennessee (and one ot the best stocked streams in 
the State) forty pounds of trout (bass) and black perch. An- 
other party of three caught on the 2 1st inat . , in Big Harpeth, 
thirty odd pounds of trout (bass) and black perch, lo-duy 
Messrs. Massey, Baker and Jackson, of this city, caught in 
Little Harpeth fifteen trout (bass) and one black perch, the 
former averaging 1$ pounds each- They caught them early 
in the morning, the fish ceasing to bite after eleven o clock. 
A few years ago a large number of Blind eggs were put in 
the Cumberland, Tennessee aud Ohio rivers, but the experi- 
ment has not proved successful ; none of them have returned 
to the Cumberland, and but few have been seen iu either ot 
the other two rivers. At the time the deposit was made in 
the Cumberland there was a heavy freshet, am a great deal 
of drift-wood floating down, and this is no doubt the cause ol 
the failure. The Meek reel is the favorite one among the more 
scientific anglers about here. They use the nMural Japanebe 
bamboo rod, from eight to ten feet long, and weighing [w™ 
six to twelve ounces ; to give them more stiffness they nave 
them wrapped between the joints. The bjfrojKd is the rain- 
now for trout (bass) and black perch ; sometimes tfcey will 
ntriue nt a irrasshonner. From what I have seen of the tackle 
used by several of our fishermen, I am satisfied that were they 
"o use more delicate lines and colored to match be iwdn,^ 
some of the artificial flies in use elsewhere, they wouid be 
more than rewarded by the increase in their takes of flsli. 
There arc a number of artificial fish ponds about here, in which 
We numbers of bass, brim, and white perch are grown. 
When very small they are taken from the creeks with semes, 
and transferred to these ponds, where, with a . little attention 
the v grow very rapidly. There is no establishment m the 
State for hatching, though there is no place in the country 
having more natural advantages for doing so than bertL ^ 
Columbia, March 25.— Trout fishing here is now In 
full blast. Daylight finds parties on the road to the dam 
across Duck River, one mile north of the city, with their 
