280 
August 7, 1875. 
(Late THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN), 
ruMislied by the Rod andtheOun Association. 
WIL'.IAM HCMPHEETS Editor. 
T. C. B-AXKS, Hcsisbss MaXjioeb. 
S. H. TCERILL, Chicago Maxagbb. 
ting sun. Of less dangerous type are our countless 
(troves of buffalo, our herds of deer, and the unlimited 
game of our broad prairies, which furnish sport to the 
fas', increasing bands of sportsmen springing from all 
classes, since with us neither rank nor wealth is needed 
to confer the right to carry a gun and shoot. 
As fine shots on feathered game we think our sports- 
men, as a class, superior to the English. This is due to 
the fact that all our shooting is strictly in the fie'd, and 
that we seek our game in its native haunts, and kill it in 
the face of obstacles insurmountable to men differently 
brought up. The character of the English land pre- 
cludes, in a great measure, the possibility of wild game. 
In a thickly settled country the birds are of necessity 
confined to welt kept preserves, where they become so 
familiarized to the presence of man, that when the close 
season expires, lines of beaters are required to rouse the 
fat victims, and induce them to fl}’ toward the stands 
where, with their brace of breech-loaders and men to 
load, the sportsmen await their shots. Partridge shoot- 
ing, where driving is not practiced, is, indeed, different 
from this, but even it is all done in the open, and un- 
der the most favorable circumstances which good 
L"-round and tame Ihrds can afford. Grouse shooting 
upon the moors, and duck shooting on the waters of the 
coast are the only varieties of English sporting which 
approximate to ours; so that probably three-quarters of 
the shots fired by our tran.s- Atlantic cousins occur under 
circumstances that rarely favor our sportsmen. 
A great portion of onr shooting is done in such thick 
Cover as cannot be found abroad. Nearly all of our 
.Vmerican woodcock arc killed in the closest braktjs, 
where “ the finger of faith" is neetled to send the bloody 
rtiarge after the unseen victim Even in the fall, when 
the flight birds come, they are found in the tall trees or 
lying in the thick fringe of bushes, everywhere requiring 
emck shots to bring them down with any degree of cer- 
tainty. That noblest of all our birds, tlie ruffed grouse, 
makes his haunts in timber where the ground is thickly- 
strewn with fallen trees and tree tops, under which he 
lies perdu till he bursts away on his strong pinions, giv- 
ing even the coolest .sportsman but balf a chance for a 
sln t. Pinnated grouse, though in the early sea.son they 
lie like stones, and reiiuire but the merest tyro’s skill to 
bring them to bay, in a few weeks arc different birds, and 
in wildness and hard-dying qualities, rival the shyest 
grouse or black grouse of the moors or mountains. 
Then, too, the countless throngs of wild fowl which 
cross our continent twice a year from north to south af- 
ford the finest practice and require.the highest skill. 
cMich is the game of the two countries, and it is fair 
to suppose there mu.st be a corresponding difference in 
the sportsmen. IVe would j;ot detract anything from 
the just claims of English sportsmen, but think we can 
fairly claim superiority for men brought up, as our 
sportsmen are, shooting in all kinds of places as well as 
at all kinds of game, equally at home upon the quail 
stubble or the well washed point over which the wild 
fowl sweep with the speed of light, standing the charge 
of a wounded buflalo, or watting with unerring rifle the 
snoit of the terrible grizzly. This, at least, is our opi- 
nion, and if ever the matter is tested in an international 
match, as we hope it may be, we fully believe the result 
will sustain us in our judgment. 
decrease of brook TROIT IN THE UNITED 
STATES. 
BY X. S. (XlLI.IXS. 
I saw in a recent article in a foreign paper that out of 
one hundred fish eggs laid naturally, about thirty per 
cent, would be hatched out. This p.aragraph, although 
grossly inaccurate, suggested some thoughts about the 
way our brook trout are disappearing. The New Eng- 
land streams furnish inferior fishing, instead of the old 
abundance. The Adirondacks are nearly exhausted, 
Pennsylvania is yearly yielding less, and every season 
trout fishermen find their luck further back in the wilds 
of Canada. 1 am inclined, at present, to a.ssign for the 
decrea.«e of trout the following causes: 
1. The catting of the foresU. 
2. Saw -mills, etc. 
3. In-breeding. 
4. Persistent fishing. 
I assign the first place in importance to the destruc- 
tion of the immense tracts of timber which formerly 
surrounded the springs of trout streams. This timber 
equalized the water supply. It held the rains in sum- 
mer, giving the water a chance to soak slowly into the 
ground, and reappear at the spring-heads. In winter it 
penetrated the rapid thaw of the snows, aceon)- 
plisbed the same end. Where a spiring stream used t.i 
vary scarcely any in volume from one year’s end to the 
other, it is now a river in spring, and at every heavp- 
summer shower; but in the later summer and fall only 
a rivulet. 
Now this affects the spawning grounds of the fish. 
Along in October, when the water is low, the fish la}’ 
their eggs in places which are suitable at that time for 
hatching. The hatching proce.ss in these latitudes taki s 
from sixty to one hundred and twenty days (sometimes 
longer). If, during all this time, the stream maintains 
an even volume of water, the hatching will go on wiili- 
out interruption, and a due proportion of eggs will 
hatch. This proportion is not thirty percent., however. 
The average of all the nests in natural streams iGiich I 
have myself examined is only three pier cent. fi rtilized 
and approaching maturity. But during this pieriod of 
one hundred days and more, there is little chance of the 
stream maintaining an even volume of water. Trout 
nests are made near the surface, and a very little change 
in volume will affect the nest, cither making too great 
a current and washing away the eggs, or giving too little 
and thus destroying them. Only a few trout can make 
their nests in the springs at the very head waters, and 
these are the nests which in our days still furnish a 
scanty supply of fish. 
Then, again, in spring the fry seek the banks. .V 
spring freshet raises the stream over the bordering 
meadows, carrying the yciingfish with it, and an equally 
sudden fall of the water leaves them on dry ground. 
These freshets also destroy the food on which the trout 
feed, by sweeping out eggs, insects and plants on which 
the insects feed. 
The next reason in importance for the decrease of the 
trout may lie found in the saw-mills, etc., which are 
now, or have been, on almost every mountain stream. 
The saw mills themselves, the dams, etc., do not dimin- 
ish the number of the fish, nor does the sawdust, as a 
general thing, hurt the fish ; but the sawdust accumu- 
lates upon their spawning beds, and renders it a matter 
of difficulty for them to find a suitable place for deposit- 
ing eggs. The exigencies of the mills also demand a 
constant raising and lowering of the water, and that, 
too, at a time when it is most important for the trout 
that the water should be even in flow. 
The third cause I am inclined to assign to in-breeding. 
The largest male chooses his female, and the pair choose 
their place. The scanty good places in the stream, 
where the eggs will most certainly hatch, are monopo- 
lized by a few of the largest pairs. The same thing is 
kept up year after year, so that the strain of blood is in 
reality kept within narrow limits. 
Over-fishing I assign as the least operative cause. 
Although excessive fishing would alone diminish the 
number of the trout, yet there has not been enough fish- 
ing in the laigest portion of our streams to account for 
the decrease. So far as my experience goes, it is not 
possible to fish out a natural trout stream. The numbers 
may be very much diminished, but the fish are so shy 
and wary, that some will always be left for seed. 
Having given briefly my ideas as to the causes of their 
decrease, I propose in another article to consider ways 
for increasing the supply. 
IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION. 
The season is comt when by the edict of Gity Fathers 
every doz is required to wear a muzzle, and for weeks 
endure the greatest torture and discomfort, all because 
popular isnorance conjures up a phantom with which 
to affright itself. Beyond all question hydrophobia is a 
terrible disease, but, like all great calamities, it is of 
veiy rare occurrence, though folly and cowardice raise 
the cry, mad dog, every day over some poor cur in a 
harmless fit. Every dog that is found frothing at the 
mouth is at once pronounced Tnad, though this symptom 
is never exhibited by the truly rabid animal, and is 
either stoned and clubbed to death by a crowd of men 
and boys, or shot by some valiant policeman, who is 
foithwith commended by the wiseacres of the press for 
his gallant conduct. 
If ignorance upon the subject of this disea-se is ex- 
cusable in the mass of the people, it is not i» cultivated 
persons or in the press, which is looked upon as the 
great popular teacher. Scientific investigation, though 
it has as yet failed to discover a cure for the developed 
disease, still stripped away from it many of its horrors, 
by showing that it is rarely met with at any season, and 
THE OXLT JOURNAL IN THE UNITED STATES 
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re” We earnestly request all onr contributors to adopt the plan la 
reSrd to the Use of sclentlflc names which some of them have already 
adodDted viz.: to PRINT all such names legibly In the miOiuscript. 
as this will prevent error by giving the compositor pWn copy to fol- 
low Above all things, we say. do not venture upon tlie use of scien- 
tific names at all unless certain of thoir accuracy. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 1ST5. 
Page. Page. 
"shootine- on the Wing 273 Decrease of ^rook Trout in 
Luters from SiKirtsmea lUf the United States -JSO 
Pigeon Matches •2T'i Ignorance and Snperstition . . ISU 
Americans and Englislunen qiiories and Amswers 
as Sportsmen 2S0 
CORP-ESPONDENTS arc requested to note change of 
address — The Rod and Gun. 31 Park Row, N. Y. 
In ANSWER to inquiries after the missing numher for 
.Tuly 24, we remind our friends that we a.sked their in 
dulgence it any irregulaiity should take place in one is- 
sue hv rea-son of cuir removal from Meriden to New 
York. We found it impossible to get out the paper of 
•Tuly 24 on time, and were compelled to pass it over. 
AMERICANS AND ENGLISHMEN AS SPORTING 
MEN. 
While the entire countiy is jubilant over the glorious 
victorv won by our rifle team at Dollymoiint, we deem 
this an appr(ipri:ite occasion to fulfill an ancient promise 
and consider as fairly as we can the comparative skill of 
American and Engli-h sportsmen. At first sight, such 
a comparison seems impossible, since we must oppose 
to a favored few the great entire mass of this great na 
tion; and there is an apparent inju.stlce in tliis, arising 
from the great inequality of numbers. This is, how 
ever, counterbalanced by the peculiar cliaracteristics 
and privileges which English sportsmen have alw.ays 
enjoyed, which, in themselves, compensate for a lack of 
numbers. 
Sporting in England is confined to the nobility and 
wealthy landowners who preserve the game and shoot 
under license. This drives the great ma.ssof the people 
from participation in the sports of the field ; but while 
it narrows the citx-le of siKtrlsmen, it gives to each indi 
vidual thus privileged far greater opportunity for enjoy 
ment than he could Itave but for this monopoly. This 
class is an old one, receiving its sporting instincts and 
facilities through many generations of similarly en 
(lowed ancestors. It has the reputation of past mighty 
hunters to maintain, and the widely extended territory 
over which Great Britain holds sway, portions of it 
lying under the sun of every zone, affords every species 
of game, from the royal tiger and lordly elephant to 
the diminutive partridge or snipe. In the pursuit of 
dangerous game it is probable that no men can siirp.ass 
the English Nimrods ; hut unquestionably they can be 
equaled : and the qu.alfiies of eye and hand essential to 
a dead shot are acquired with great facility and pre- 
cision by the men wiio dwell upon our frontier, where 
both food and life often depend upon the rifle. We may 
have neither tigers nor elephants, but we have the large 
grizzly, and still more large red man, and from either 
straight shooting powder is the sole escape. Yet our 
Western riflemen are driving both red man and grizzly 
Etea lily before their advance, into the waters of the set- 
