340 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept, i, 1906. 
Newfoundland Salmon. 
Boston, Aug. 26 .—Editor Forest and Stream: 
The account of Newfoundland fishing in your 
paper of August 25, I think must be somewhat 
exaggerated; and while I do not doubt that Mr. 
Carroll has given you the reports as he got them, 
1 am sure that his source of information is not 
reliable. 1 have visited Newfoundland for several 
} ears and camped on the rivers all the fishing 
season, and L know that to get salmon every day 
\\e must work for them. I do not intend to run 
down Newfoundland as a sporting resort, for I 
ihink it the best I have ever visited, and hope 
to enjoy it in the future; but such statements 
as that of Lady Gray and Lord Howick taking 
fifty fish including trout that weighed 280 pounds 
I doubt, as this was evidently only half their trip. 
I was told by a man who was with them that 
they got just eighty-nine grilse and nine salmon 
in all in two weeks. That was good grilse fish¬ 
ing, but not much for salmon fishing in New¬ 
foundland, although it must be admitted that they 
were rather late. In regard to the man that 
took sixty salmon in one day on the west coast 
that weighed from ten to twelve pounds, I cer¬ 
tainly cannot swallow that, for it does not seem 
possible to me that in fishing with salmon tackle, 
as many fish as that could be landed in one day 
of the weights named. I would like to know 
who this angler is, and what his lure was, that 
hooked so many fish, for it is pretty safe to as¬ 
sume that he must have had lots of rises and 
runs that were not landed. 
The report that a Scotchman by the name of 
Muir, fishing from his yacht, had left about 300 
fish on the shore of the river to rot, I believe, is 
correct, as the captain of the Reid Newfound¬ 
land Company’s steamer Glencoe told me the 
same thing and said that the authorities had a 
warrant for Muir’s arrest. I hope they will 
catch him and make an example of such a hog, 
so that -all the world will know him for what 
he is, and that cannot be much. I will add that 
the same report came from one of his guides. 
Now the report that 'on Saturday, at Smith 
Branch, forty salmon and ten grilse were taken 
is, 1 am sure, absurd. I saw a score of two 
rods camping there two weeks at the right time; 
one had nine salmon and five grilse, and the 
other I am very sure had eight salmon and three 
grilse. The record for Grand Codroy for 1902 
was 169 salmon and 251 grilse (taken from 
the figures of the river warden, Thos. Downey; 
and he adds that about thirty more fish were 
taken and not accounted for, which would prob¬ 
ably bring up the salmon score to say 195), so 
you can readily see why I doubt that forty sal¬ 
mon and ten grilse were taken from pools in the 
vicinity of South, or on the whole river for that 
matter, in any one day. The fish that Mr. Mott 
killed in Little River Codroy were killed early 
in June, and were not fresh run fish. Little 
River Codroy is one of the latest rivers, and 
fishes best late in August. 1 fished the Little 
Codroy, (Grand River) just one day only, 
Crabbs, Robinsons, Harrys, Humber and Serpen¬ 
tine this year. 
1 heard of only one fish over twenty pounds 
taken on the Humber and that was one of thirty 
pounds by Mr. Hogan, of Ireland, at the Big- 
Fall Pool. There was only one party there when 
I left, and they came down next day without any 
salmon, and I saw another party that went up 
later and went to the headwaters on the Birchy 
Lake branch. They got only grilse. I went to 
Edies Lake, from which the Humber flows, and 
enjoyed a most beautiful canoe trip. The Hum¬ 
ber branches about ten miles above the Big Fall. 
One branch comes from Birchy Lake and the 
other from Edies Lake. There is fishing in both 
branches. I was more than pleased with the 
Humber trip and had fairly good sport, although 
conditions were bad. The fish were late, and 
came up on low water, and did not rise freely 
when they arrived at the falls. It was worth 
the trip for me to see such a beautiful river and 
to see every minute during the day (if I chose to 
look) salmon, sometimes six at a time, of all 
sizes including grilse, jumping the falls. 
I weighed a fish taken by Fred Lucky-Dag- 
rett in Little River Codroy, of thirty pounds, 
and I believe Mr. Pfeiffer, of Philadelphia, got 
one before I arrived of twenty-three pounds. 
Several of ten to seventeen pounds were taken 
and lots of trout up to four pounds. 
Perhaps Mr. Carroll will let us know all the 
particulars about that catch of sixty salmon in 
a day, and if it turns out to be the man I sus¬ 
pected it is, I will let Mr. Carroll know why I ask 
for the information. I would not have sportsmen 
think that by taking exception to some of these 
reports I am running down the fishing in New¬ 
foundland, for I believe that the best free fish¬ 
ing in the world is in Newfoundland and New¬ 
foundland Labrador, and I only regret that sal¬ 
mon do not run the year round, and that I do 
not live on the river, and even then I would 
not waste a fish. L. O. Crane. 
Massachusetts Fish and Game. 
Boston, Aug. 25. —Editor Forest and Stream: 
Dr. Field tells me that the number of heath 
hens (which has been estimated at about 150) 
on Martha’s Vineyard, has been somewhat re¬ 
duced, in all probability, by a fire which, a few 
weeks ago, burned over a portion of the covers 
where they are accustomed to nest. From as 
careful an estimate as he could make on his 
recent visit to the island, the Doctor says he 
doubts if there are now more than eighty of the 
birds left. He says that the residents are mani¬ 
festing a good deal of interest in plans to save 
what there are and to give them every oppor¬ 
tunity to increase. One of the precautions needed 
is to safeguard their covers from fires, which it 
is hoped will be done. A plan for accomplishing 
this is under consideration. 
The commissioners are encouraged with the 
result of their efforts so far in rearing quail in 
the aviary connected with the trout hatchery at 
Sutton. The birds have been laying a large 
number of eggs and a friend who visited it a 
few days ago reported that there were then 
twenty-three young fledglings that seemed strong 
and healthy, and I understand that other broods 
are hatching. A few young ruffed grouse have 
been hatched there, and I hear that Prof. Hodge, 
of Worcester, is continuing his experiments in 
the rearing of partridges. The new legislation, 
which allows the shooting of male pheasants dur¬ 
ing the open season on quail, is likely to thin 
the ranks of those birds where they are at all 
numerous, and I understand the commissioners 
are of the opinion that it is the part of wisdom 
to concentrate their efforts on the increase of 
native birds rather than of those introduced 
from other countries. Bird hunters who shoot 
over dogs have never looked with much favor 
upon pheasants because they are known to be 
great runners and do not lie well to the dog. 
Not a few think they work harm to the quail 
and grouse. 
In several towns of Essex county there are a 
good many pheasants and several hunters from 
that section have reported that where they are 
numerous they find very few of our native game 
birds. The cock pheasant is a fighter. He is 
equipped with a spur an inch long and has been 
known to kill a game cock equipped with a steel 
spur. One gentleman told me that a pheasant 
entered his hen pen and killed his biggest rooster 
and then took his departure. 
The North Brookfield Club. 
On Saturday, August 18, the writer was a guest 
at the clambake of this club held in Bates’ Park. 
This was given by Hon. Theodore C. Bates, 
owner of the 100 acre woodland park, and presi¬ 
dent of the club, to the members of the fire de¬ 
partment of the town. Two long tables placed 
in the form of the letter T accommodated the 
hundred or more who gathered under the wel¬ 
come shade of the ioo-year-old oaks of the grove. 
The president announced that the clambake was 
only a preliminary of the good times the Fish 
and Game Association is to have. “The next 
one,” he said, “will be when Allan Harwood, 
W. F. Kullam and Alfred C. Stoddard return 
from Moosehead Lake, Me., with six bucks, and 
I invite you all to be present then.” 
Mr. Bates informed the audience that the As¬ 
sociation has a membership of seventy-five, al¬ 
though it is but a few months old. He explained 
its object to be the developing of fish in the 
streams and the peopling of the woods with 
game. He extended the thanks of the Associa¬ 
tion for the use of the firemen’s headquarters as 
a place of meeting until it had secured and fur¬ 
nished a suitable hall for the purpose. Fire- 
Chief H. S. Lytic responded for the department. 
Jere R. Kane, Esq., of Spencer, a native of North 
Brookfield, and Dr. Id. P. Bartlett, made in¬ 
teresting addresses, the latter extolling the 
virtues of the Quabog spring water which he 
said centuries ago was sought by sick Indians 
who came from far and near to drink of its 
waters. ' The meeting was an unqualified success 
and the viands could not be surpassed by the 
best hotel on the Massachusetts coast. It was 
a source of much pleasure to the writer to make 
the personal acquaintance of the aclive officers of 
the Association, Vice-President, Dr. Emerson A. 
Ludden; Secretary-Treasurer, A. P. Morin; Dr. 
A. H. Prouty, Chairman of the Executive Com¬ 
mittee and others. By the courtesy of . Dr. 
Prouty, I was driven through the residential sec¬ 
tion of the town where from a beautiful hill-top 
one may get some of the most charming views to 
be obtained anywhere in the State. The Asso¬ 
ciation bids fair to be one of the most useful 
in our State. In the Brookfields are large forest 
areas and several large ponds. A few days ago 
a black bass taken from Quacumquassett Lake, 
and weighing, five pounds, was on exhibition in 
one of the store windows in the village. It was 
caught by Mr. E. C. Smith. Two white perch 
were also exhibited, weighing i (4 and 1% pounds. 
Dr. Prouty pointed out to me the covers in 
which four bunches of the quail sent by the State 
Association were liberated, and informed me that 
they are raising a whole lot of young birds. 
Such evidence should convince the most scepti¬ 
cal that imported quail breed the first year after 
planting. Mr. C. A. Taft, of Whitinsville. has 
made a most gratifying report of the birds he 
put out last winter, and from several • sources 
have come reports of a good number of par¬ 
tridges. There were no long continued cold rainy 
spells while the little birds were in the pin-feather 
stage last spring, and it is generally believed that 
the large-broods known to have been hatched are 
coming to maturity in good numbers. 
With the advent of September the duck shoot¬ 
ing season begins, and many of our sportsmen 
are making preparations for it. One of our most 
noted trapshooters, Mr. O. R. Dickey, has gone 
to Chatham where he is likely to get a good bag 
o.f shore birds the coming week. Some of our 
shore fishermen are taking a good number of 
bluefish at Cataumet and other resorts on Buz¬ 
zard’s Bay. Two New Bedford anglers, while fish¬ 
ing in Clark’s Cove for squiteague, caught a 
shark which gave them plenty of excitement for 
an hour or more. When landed the fish measured 
five feet in length and weighed seventy-five 
pounds. The yacht Evangeline took into Salem 
1,500 pounds of codfish on the 19th, caught be¬ 
tween five and nine o’clock in the forenoon. 
Fortunately when the season for trout fishing 
wanes there are literally “as good fish in the sea 
as ever were caught.” IT PI. Kimball. 
5n Praise of Angling. 
Gervase Markham, 1635. 
The invention of the Art of Angling is truly 
sayd to come from the sonnes of Seth, of which 
Noah was most principal. Thus you see it is 
good, as having no coherence with evil, worthy 
of use; in as much as it it mixt with a delight full 
profit, and most auncient, as being the recrea¬ 
tion of the first Patriarkes, wherefore I will now 
proceede to the Art it selfe, and the meanes to 
attaine it. Since Pleasure is a rapture, or power 
in this last age, stolne into the hearts of men, 
and there lodged up with such careful guard, and 
attendance, that nothing is more supreame, or 
ruleth with greater strength in their affections, 
and since all are now become the sonnes of Pleas¬ 
ure, and every good is measured by the delight 
it produceth, what work unto man can be more 
thankful then the discourse of that pleasure which 
is most comly, most honest, and giveth most 
liberty to Devine meditation, and that without all 
question is the Art of Angling, which having 
