18 
FOREST AND STREAM 
January 3, 1914. 
for wild geese and ducks, during their vernal and 
autumn migrations, there is in the whole world, 
and along, both above and below, the little city of 
Clarks, there has been no more favored region 
from its source to its mouth. Ask Sam Rich¬ 
mond or any of the hunters who resort there, 
and they will tell you that there is just as good 
shooting on the old grounds to-day, in season, as 
A BOUT a mile north of Memphis is a small 
lake known as the “Pocket.” It is the old 
bed of the great “Father of Waters,” 
which, in accordance with the fickleness of that 
old gentleman, has been discarded for a new and 
“younger” one, just as some old men discard 
their beds, and others would like to. Well, when 
we had only an afternoon to spare, and not time 
to run over to Arkansas for a little sport with 
the ducks, we generally went to the “Pocket.” 
One afternoon, or as we say in the south, evening, 
I went to the “Pocket.” I was real sorry I went, 
too. The reason is this: 
It was very cold and a stiff north wind was 
blowing straight down the lake without any in¬ 
terference for more than a mile; and as the 
landing was at the extreme southern end, I had 
to paddle my “dug out” straight against it to get 
to the willows that grew in the north end, and 
where I expected to waylay the ducks. But I 
wanted ducks, and you know what a fellow will 
do, and how much he can stand, with that idea 
in his mind, a double-barrel gun on his shoulder, 
and plenty of shells loaded with No. 5s in his 
pockets. So I lit my pipe, and pulled out. 
I reached the willows after a pretty hard 
pull, which, though a little tiring, had the good 
effect of warming me up, and proceeded to pad¬ 
dle around quietly to see if I could get a duck; 
I got one—but it was not the kind I was after. 
I had gone way back into the brush, and 
was pulling, with my hands, my “dug out” 
through the willows, as they were so thick as to 
make the paddle useless. 1 had gone as far as 
I could in that way without seeing anything, and 
determined to return and paddle over to another 
place. I accordingly moved carefully to the 
other end of my “ship,” and was in the act of 
beginning to pull back, when I glanced up, and 
saw a duck. My! he was coming so fast and 
so close that he seemed as big as a turkey. All 
thought of “dug out,” water, cold, and anything 
else, save that duck, and my gun, was out of 
my mind; so I sprang to the other end, jerked 
up my gun from where I had left it when I 
changed ends, and raised if to my shoulder. 
Bang! went the gun; on went the duck; out 
went the “dug out,” and down I went on my 
back. I saw him laugh at me as I fell, so I fired 
the other barrel at him—I don’t think I hit him. 
(I didn’t think then, it was after.) My! but 
it was cold! Happily, the water was only about 
three feet deep, so I didn’t have to swim, and 
didn’t lose my gun. Well, there I' was, in water 
waist deep, almost frozen—when I had a chance 
to think of it—and my “dug out” upside down. 
The first thing I did, of course, was to fish 
out my gun, “empty” it, and hang it on the brush 
to dry—I was glad that I hadn’t taken my Win¬ 
chester “pump,” for I think more of that than 
most anything. I tried to get my “dug out” right 
side up, but, well, did you ever try it? I saw a 
colored man out on the lake in his boat, and 
called to him, and gave him a quarter, and he 
is to be found anywhere else in the state. Just 
how it is out there now, I am unable to say, but 
I was told a day or so ago, that there was a good 
chance for a fair mallard shot anywhere between 
Roger’s and Brady’s islands, and if anyone wants 
to venture out and try it, I think they will find 
it as reported. 
said: “Boss, yo’ better go over to de bank an’ 
buil’ yo’ a ‘fyar’ an’ kinder thaw yo’se’f!” 1 
said, ‘Gimmeamatch!’ ” 
I got to the bank, built the fire and began 
to “thaw,” thinking surely I had had enough 
tough luck for that day. I took off my coat and 
“vest,” laid them on a log, then took off my 
boots, “emptied” them; took off my socks, wrung 
a couple of pints of water out and hung them 
up on a stick over the fire to dry. I then dried 
out some tobacco and lit my pipe; arranged my 
boots, and then my coat, etc., so that they would 
all get dry as fast as possible. Then I sat down 
to have a quiet think about how it all happened, 
and where the duck was, and if he was still 
laughing at me. As I slowly puffed my pipe and 
meditated, my eyes glanced in the direction of 
where I had hung my socks—but! where, oh, 
where were they? The fire had grown larger, 
the heat had become greater, the socks had be¬ 
come dryer, the flames had become closer and 
there was only one thing that could make matters 
worse, and that happened. 
That night I dreamed about that duck. His 
face, with that laugh on it, so pictured itself on 
my mind that I'll know him if I see him again, 
even though he be among a thousand. I’m going 
after him again. I'm going to take my “pump” 
and a raft. 
The Wolf and the Fox—A Tale of a Tail 
By UNCLE BILL 
A wolf and a fox were walking in a wood 
one day when the wolf observed a hidden trap. 
He induced the unsuspecting fox to sit down on 
the spot; the latter complied, the trap was sprung 
and the fox’s tail was cut off. The fox naturally 
felt much humiliated and upbraided the wolf for 
his duplicity. “Don't take this trifle so much to 
heart,” said the wolf, “but come along with me. 
There is a blacksmith down there who is a friend 
of mine and who will put a new tail on for you 
so well that no one will be a bit the wiser.” 
The fox hesitated, but there was nothing else 
for him to do, so he went with his false friend 
to the blacksmith. Unfortunately the latter was 
out of tails just then, but he undertook to make 
a first-rate imitation one of cast steel. He set to 
work at once and turned out a lovely one. While 
he was waiting for the metal to cool, the wolf saw 
his opportunity for still more mischief. He as¬ 
sured the fox that that was the best time to fasten 
it on and he winked at the blacksmith toward 
whom he backed the fox. The blacksmith clamped 
the red hot tail on the raw stump of the poor fox 
which, with a yell, bounded out of the smithy and 
ran till he was quite exhausted and the metal was 
quite cool. He naturally felt very sore at this and 
mentioned the matter to his friends who took it 
up and decided to cut the acquaintance of all 
wolves from that date. Before that time, foxes 
always carried their tails erect, while now their 
tails always hang down. 
News of Legislature 
By RALEIGH RAINES 
Washington, D. C., Dec. 23, 1913. 
EPRESENTATIVE LITHICUM, of Mary¬ 
land, has introduced two bills in the House 
of Representatives, which he believes will 
have a salutary effect in preserving the food fish 
of the country. One of the bills seeks to regu¬ 
late, under Federal authority, over interstate 
commerce, the practice of using food fish for 
manufacturing fertilizer, and the other bill would 
give the Department of Commerce authority to 
proclaim open and closed seasons for fishing, 
with a view to protecting fish during the propa¬ 
gating period, and also to regulate methods by 
which fish may be taken. “I am convinced that 
what is required to preserve fish is National 
legislation,” declared Mr. Lithieum, in discussing 
his bills. “My investigations lead me to the con¬ 
clusion that the depletion of our fish supply can 
be traced to two principal causes: First, the 
deliberate sacrifice of good fish by the fertilizer 
factories in the manufacture of oil or fertilizer 
compounds; second, the lack of regulations as 
to the time, manner, and place under which fish 
are taken. One of my bills seeks to regulate the 
interstate transportation of fish, or products, or 
compounds thereof, when intended for use as fer¬ 
tilizer, or oil of the manufacture of same. The 
bill which I have drawn especially excepts men¬ 
haden, which in some localities is also known as 
the porgie, or fatback, or mosshunker. It places 
no restraint upon the use of menhaden for fer¬ 
tilizer purposes, and also permits the use for the 
same purpose of sharks, dogfish, skates, rays, sea- 
robins, and sculpins, so that it cannot be claimed 
that this measure is inimical to or would inflict 
hardships on the fish fertilizer industry, because 
the men controlling such factories violently pro¬ 
test that they use only the menhaden. The bill 
merely seeks to prevent the deliberate use of food 
fish for manufacturing fertilizers. In order to 
give the Department of Commerce, which would 
have charge of enforcing this law, and convenient 
means to administer the same, my bill provides 
that every interstate shipment of fertilizers shall 
bear a label certifying that such shipment con¬ 
tains no fish except such as is permitted under 
this act.” The Lithieum bill provides penalties 
ranging from a $200 fine to three years’ imprison¬ 
ment for violations of the proposed act, and the 
Secretary of Commerce is vested with full pow¬ 
ers to make all necessary regulations for its 
proper enforcement. Representative Lithieum 
declared that although his bill did not seek to 
cripple the fish fertilizer factories, they were, 
nevertheless, actively opposing its enactment. 
“Year after year.” continued Mr. Lithieum, “our 
National Bureau of Fisheries has directed atten¬ 
tion to the steady decrease in the catch of food 
fish, pointing out the abuses that existed and 
urging upon the various states the necessity of 
enacting remedial laws. It appears that these 
warnings have been generally ignored and we 
are now about to reap the reward of our waste¬ 
fulness. As an object lesson ofi-The enormous 
decrease of food fish in our bays and rivers 
consider the case of the owners of probably the 
largest seine in the country, who operate this 
immense fish net, 7,200 feet long, which requires 
forty-five men and two steamers to operate it, 
who report to the Bureau of Fisheries that their 
entire catch on the Potomac River and Chesa¬ 
peake Bay for the two seasons of 1912-13 did 
not equal more than one day's catch in former 
years.” “Unfortunately, our scandalously wasteful 
“A Duck But Not A Duck” 
By DRIFTWEED 
