Forest and Stream 
^ NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1909. ] 
VOL. LXXIL—No. 5.. 
No. 127 Franklin St., New York. 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $1.50. 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright. 1909, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary. 
Louis Dean Speir. Treasurer. 
127 Franklm Street, New York. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful interest 
in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate a refined 
taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
FOREST AND STREAM PRIZE STORIES. 
The pleasant labor of reading over the manu¬ 
scripts submitted in the Forest and Stream 
prize competition began immediately after its 
closing, Dec. 15, but the more difficult task of 
awarding the prizes has only just been com¬ 
pleted. The prizes awarded were as follows; 
To C. A. Cooper, of Denver, Colo., “Trout- 
ing on the Rio Grande,” $100. 
To J. A. M. Lethbridge, Chihuahua, Mexico, 
“In Menelik’s Kingdom,” $50. 
To Samuel Merrill, Cambridge, Mass., “A 
Still-Hunter’s Memory,” $25. 
To F. W. Osgood, New York, “New Bruns¬ 
wick with a Tracking Snow,” $25. 
To Dr. Chas. S. Moody, Sand Point, Idaho, 
“The Big Grizzly of the Bitter Roots,” $10. 
To Julian Burroughs, West Park, N. Y., “A 
Race with the Ebb,” $10. 
To Fred Talcott, Providence, R. L, “Camping 
and Hunting in New Brunswick,” $10. 
To H. H. Parkhouse, St. Paul, Minn., “The 
Tale of a Dog,” $10. 
To A. L. Wheeler, Bryn Mawr, Pa., “Around 
the Saw Tooth Range,” $10. 
The winning stories are of a high degree of 
excellence. They cover a wide range of sport 
with rifle, rod, gun and canoe and promise a 
feast of good things for our readers. They will 
be warmly welcomed by every member of the 
Forest and Stream family. 
GROUND HOG DAY. 
A MULTITUDE of beliefs, sacred and profane, 
cluster about the second day of February, known 
to certain Christian sects as Candlemas day, but 
in this country more generally denominated 
“ground hog day.” Its religious observance 
dates back at least as far as the seventh century, 
but the many folk superstitions that cling to it 
are far more ancient. Those which we know 
come to us from our old world forefathers, but 
have here become modified by local conditions. 
The practice of carrying lighted candles on 
Candlemas day is old in the Roman Catholic 
Church. It is said that the Romans were in the 
habit of burning candles on this day to the god¬ 
dess Februa, the mother of Mars, and that Pope 
Sergius, seeing that it would be useless to try 
to suppress a custom of such long standing, 
turned it into a Christian ceremony by order¬ 
ing a like offering of candles to the Virgin. The 
candles were supposed to frighten away the devil 
and all evil spirits. 
It is popularly believed that the weather on 
the second day of February presages that which 
is to follow for the next few weeks. This is 
expressed in many an old rhyme: 
If Candlemas day be fair and bright, 
Winter will take another flight. 
If Candlemas day bring shower and rain. 
Winter is gone, ’twill not come again. 
In the United States the ground hog and the 
black bear, both hibernating animals, are sup¬ 
posed to arouse from their winter’s slumbers on 
this day and emerge from their dens to inspect 
the weather. According to what they see, they 
decide whether their winter sleep is over, or 
they must retire to their nests for another long 
period of rest. So we say: 
If the groundhog sees his shadow in the sun, 
Six weeks more of winter will have begun. 
An almost identical saying exists in Germany, 
where the farmers declare that on Candlemas 
day the badger comes out of his hole and in¬ 
spects his surroundings. If he sees snow fall¬ 
ing he walks abroad, but if on the other hand 
the sun is shining, he retires again to his slum¬ 
bers. 
These beliefs have evident relation to the far¬ 
mer’s desire for the end of the winter and the 
coming of spring, so that the planting may be 
done in good time and an early and full crop 
raised. In certain parts of Germany it is said 
that the shepherd would rather see a wolf enter 
his sheep fold on Candlemas day than the sun. 
If we watch the weather on ground hog day 
or Candlemas day this year, we shall see how 
true the old proverb proves for 1909. 
WE AIUST PULL TOGETHER. 
Signs multiply that at last sportsmen generally 
feel the necessity of doing something to increase 
and conserve our game supply. 
For a long time people were content to talk 
about the need of better game laws', for it is 
characteristic of Americans to believe that to 
remedy an evil condition it is only necessary to 
pass a law against the abuse. We are learning 
now that laws, however good they may be, ac¬ 
complish nothing unless enforced, and that they 
will not be enforced unless they have the sup¬ 
port of public opinion. Sportsmen are begin¬ 
ning to realize that they themselves must work 
actively in behalf of the measures that hereto¬ 
fore they have only talked about, and then work 
to see that they are vigilantly executed. 
An evidence of the growing public interest 
in all these matters is the remarkable increase 
in the number of the readers of Forest and 
Stream that has taken place within the last year. 
As people become more interested in game and 
fish protection they wish to learn more about it. 
They realize that intelligent work on any sub¬ 
ject can be done only by those who understand 
that subject. For this information they naturally 
turn to the highest authority. In other.- words 
they realize that Forest and Stream is not only 
fighting the battle of the intelligent sportsmen, 
but is doing splendid missionary work among 
the indifferent and uninformed. 
The best service that can be performed by 
anyone interested in game and fish is to induce 
other gunners and anglers to inform themselves 
on these subjects. If each reader of Forest and 
Stream would see to it that some gunning or 
angling friend also reads the paper, the num¬ 
ber of intelligent workers for protection and 
propagation would at once be doubled, the in¬ 
fluence exerted more than doubled, and the re¬ 
sults so much desired would be brought that 
much nearer. 
To-day Forest and Stream is the greatest 
educational influence in behalf of game and fish 
conservation. It has worked on the subject for 
many years and knows it; its readers are'the 
most earnest laborers for this cause, which they 
discuss in these columns. Forest and Stream 
ought to be in the hand of every gunner and 
angler in order that from it he may learn what 
ought to be done and what is being done in this 
direction. 
Our readers can perform no better service for 
the cause we all have so much at heart than to 
place the paper before all their sportsmen 
friends. Sportsmen who as yet are taking little 
or no active interest in the work may yet profit¬ 
ably read Forest and Stream for the entertain¬ 
ment which it offers, and, reading it for this 
alone, will yet unconsciously absorb many of 
the wholesome lessons which it teaches, and at 
last will come to do their part toward helping 
us all to better shooting and fishing. 
Another old member of the London Fly- 
Fishers’ Club died recently. Sir Thomas Wardle 
had been a fly-fisherman for sixty-five years, and 
was one of the few who were successful in tak¬ 
ing trout with the wet fly on such streams as 
the Dove, where the dry fly is so much em¬ 
ployed. Instead of a landing net he employed 
a large smooth-haired retriever. This dog, it 
is said, took a keen interest in all of his master’s 
fishing, and when a trout had been played, would 
wade in quietly and take the fish in his mouth, 
bringing it to' h'is master uninjured. 
