hour before sunrise and an hour after sunset is 
that in] the districts away from the coast and the 
high land away from the feeding and roosting 
grounds there is no shooting except during these 
hours. The ducks are a night feeder. They come 
in to feed after sundown, and they leave the 
feeding grounds before sunrise, and if you do 
not let the people in the district where the ducks 
do not spend the day get an hour’s shooting 
morning, or night, they get no s'hooting at all, and 
violate the law continuously because they will 
shoot in spite of the legal regulations, and they 
are certainly entitled to this time for shooting. 
The law covering the protection of game preserve 
should be amended somewhat. 
Two species of wild duck breed regularly in 
Louisiana: the wood duck and the Florida duck, 
sometimes called summer mallard, summer black 
duck, or Mexican mallard. The latter is fairly 
abundant in the coastal section and the former 
is still reasonably common in all swampy portions 
of the state. To a limited extent, also, the blue¬ 
winged teal is a breeder in the state. As has 
been repeatedly shown by the Federal authorities 
on game protection, the wood duck, however, is 
a species very sensitive to persecution, and it has 
disappeared from many portions of the country. 
The wisdom -of permitting the killing of this 
species as early as September ist is extremely 
doubtful, and as it serves as an invitation to 
bring hunters into the field before other kinds of 
game may be killed, it is certainly antagonistic to 
the general practices of game protection as com¬ 
prised in the other laws of the state. 
Satisfactory conditions as to the quantity of 
game birds have been reported from most parts 
of the state since the commission was organized- 
As in former years, the greatest number of ducks 
have been reported from the southwestern por¬ 
tion of the state. The majority of shipments 
of ducks to the New Orleans markets have origi¬ 
nated at points in Calcasieu, Cameron, Acadia, 
Vermillion and Plaquemine parishes. The same 
is in a large measure true with reference to snipe. 
The application of the laws with reference to the 
shipment of game has been successfully carried 
out, a thorough system of checking all consign¬ 
ments of game having been worked out by the 
commission, so that its agents have readily se¬ 
cured the co-operation of express and railroad 
companies. All hunters understand clearly that 
shipments of game must be tagged with the ship¬ 
per's name, and itemized in accordance with law, 
so that no game can be handled by a common 
carrier without being easily inspected by the 
agen'ts of the commission. The law makes the 
carrier equally responsible with the shipper for 
any violation of the law, and the carriers have 
willingly co-operated with the commission. The 
shipment of game taken in violation of the law 
or intended for unlawful purposes is thus read¬ 
ily detected. 
A great majority of the game birds killed 
within the state are migratory species and the 
protection necessitated during the closed season 
is thus reduced to some extent, and especially 
the area requiring surveillance. 
Fisheries of Louisiana Are Equally Important. 
Statistics collected from fishermen operating in 
the Atchafalaya River and connecting waters, also 
estimates furnished the commission by several 
of the larger dealers in fresh water fish through¬ 
out the state, indicate that the catch of catfish in 
Louisiana territory for the calendar year 1913 
amounted in round numbers to 13,200,000 pounds. 
The same authority gives a catch of 7,875,000 
pounds of buffalofish for that year. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
The fishermen were paid 4 cents per pound 
for catfish and 2 cents per pound for buffalofish 
at their landings during 1913. Therefore, they re¬ 
ceived for' the 13,200,000 pounds of catfish $528,- 
000, and $157,500 for their catch of 7,875,000 
pounds of buffalofish, or a total of $685,500 for 
the two species. 
The product of the spoonbill cat fisheries of 
Louisiana was approximately 16,500 pounds of 
caviar valued at $1.25 per pound, or $20,625, and 
396,000 pounds of fish sold at an average of 4 
cents per pound or for $15,840. Thus the total 
of this product amounted to $36,465. 
Unquestionably, the entire amount of the rev¬ 
enue derived by the people of Louisiana from 
their fresh water fisheries would total up to at 
least $2,000,000 for the calendar year 1913. 
The catfish and buffalofish are, respectively, 
the two most important fresh water commercial 
species. The larger proportion of these fish come 
from fisheries located along the Atchafalaya, 
Grand and Red Rivers and adjacent waters. 
From Morgan City to Plaquemine, thence to 
Melville, a distance of something like 100 miles, 
the output of these fisheries had reached such 
enormous proportions that early in 1912, twenty- 
one gasoline boats capable of handling from four 
to fifteen thousand pounds each trip, were en¬ 
gaged in buying catfish and buffalofish in this 
territory alone. Nearly every one of these boats 
towed a live-car having a capacity of from six to 
fifteen thousand pounds of fish at a trip. Three 
or four of the number, however, were fitted with 
ice boxes, each having a carrying capacity of 
from four to eight thousand pounds of fish. 
From the Gulf to Plaquemine, Alexandria and 
Jonesville, through the Atchafalaya, Grand, Red 
and Black Rivers, fully five hundred fishermen 
were employed in this industry alone. Therefore, 
a very large population is supported by it. 
Paddle-Fish or Spoon-Bill Cat. 
According to most authorities, this family con¬ 
tain but twb known species Phephurus gladius, 
an inhabitant of the fresh waters of China and 
the paddle-fish or spoon-bill cat Polyodon spa- 
thula found in the United States. 
Its range is said to be along the Mississippi 
Valley from Texas and Louisiana on the south 
to Minnesota and Wisconsin on the north. It is 
not uncommon in the Ohio and its larger tribu¬ 
taries, and in the Missouri basin it is found as far 
west at least as western South Dakota. Its home 
is mostly in the bayous and lowland streams. 
These fish reach an immense size. One of these 
fish, a female, was recently taken from a small 
lake near Angola, Louisiana, which weighed, 
when dressed, 102 pounds, and contained ten 
pounds of eggs. These eggs were sold at $2 per 
pound for manufacturing into caviar, or a total 
of $20. The flesh was disposed of at 10 cents 
per pound, or for $10.20, therefore the fishermen 
who caught this fish realized $30.20. It was said 
that the flesh would be smoked and sold as stur¬ 
geon. My own observations while watching these 
fish being dressed convinces me that they will 
lose at least one-third by the process in use; 
hence, it follows that this fish weighed over 150 
pounds when taken from the water. 
Another fish of this species recently sold at 
Natchez, Miss., for something over forty dollars. 
This probably weighed considerably more than 
150 pounds. 
According to different well known authorities 
the record fish of this species was taken from 
275 
Lake Manitou, Indiana, and weighed 163 pounds. 
It is said that the record also shows one individ¬ 
ual taken from Lake Tippecanoe, Indiana, which 
measured 6 feet 2 inches in length and 4 feet 
in greatest circumference and weighed 150 
pounds. 
Fishing for this species is carried on in widely 
different sections of Louisiana. However, the 
spoonbill cat fisheries of White Lake are prob¬ 
ably at present the most important in the state, 
if not in the south. At one time during De¬ 
cember and January, 1913 and 19I4, there were 
ten large outfits operating in this body of water 
for taking this species exclusively. Two of these 
outfits netted their owner each, over four thou¬ 
sand dollars during the season of three or four 
months. Practically all of this money was paid 
them for eggs from which to make caviar. It is 
siad that all but three of the ten companies oper¬ 
ating in White Lake averaged a net income of 
from $1,000 to $4,000 each, also that the other 
three made a comfortable living for their owner. 
The method of operating seines has only been 
in vogue about a year and is very unique. Its 
efficiency was discovered quite by accident by 
some fishermen who began towing a seine across 
a small lake connected with White Lake to 
catch a few buffalofish and others to cut up for 
baiting catfish trot lines. Once on the fishing 
grounds, each end of the seine is fastened to a 
gasoline boat and is then dragged up and down 
the lake by them all day without being hauled out. 
About every half hour a fisherman in a row boat 
starts at one end of the seine and pulls his boat 
along by the twine which he raises sufficiently 
to remove each fish as he comes to it, being able 
to detect the fish by its mild struggles to release 
itself. As a fish feels the touch of the seine be¬ 
ing dragged along, he shoots up toward the top 
of the waters so close to the twine that its bill 
is pushed through one of the meshes, where it 
remains practically motionless until hauled up 
by the fisherman. I know of the existence of no 
other species of fish which are sufficiently docile 
to submit to this mode of capture. To be sure, 
the paddle or bill conspires to make its capture in 
this manner easy, but if they possessed one-half 
the activity of almost any other species of fish 
they could not be taken in this manner, since 
their bill is so smooth that it does not become 
entangled in the coarse twine of which the seines 
are made. In spite of being so very inactive 
these fish cling tenaciously to life, and live a 
long time out of water, probably fully as long as 
a catfish under similar conditions. It is hardly 
necessary to say that the seines fished in this 
manner rarely ever capture any other species of 
fish, although catfish and the various species of 
game fish are fairly numerous in White Lake and 
are readily taken in seines when hauled out upon 
the surrounding shores or up under a “round¬ 
up.” 
While making a study of the spoonbill cat con¬ 
ditions in White Lake, about the middle of Febru¬ 
ary this year, it was found that a very few fe¬ 
males had already deposited their eggs; however, 
no fully matured milt was found in any of the 
males captured. The roe from the fish found in 
this lake is only suitable for caviar from about 
November 15th or December ist to about March 
15th or 30th, according to climatic conditions. 
In spite of the short season, however, it is ad¬ 
mitted by all who are familiar with the present 
(Continued on page 290.) 
