302 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 25. 1911. 
deed, there is “nothin’ to it,” and yet appar¬ 
ently a strong sentiment prevails over and be¬ 
tween those who love the wild outdoor which 
impels them to get together annually at the dawn 
of the outing season, and makes them better for 
so doing. 
The fourth annual dinner and camp-fire of the 
club will be held March 31, at a place to be 
designated later. Judge E. B. Belden, of Racine, 
Wis., will preside and chronicle some casting re¬ 
sults even more remarkable than any made public. 
The secretary will promptly add suggested 
names to the roster, and will be thankful for 
any hints. George Henry Cleveland. 
The Anglers’ Casting Club of Chicago. 
Chicago, Ill., Feb. 17 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: At the annual business meeting held 
Feb. 10 the following officers were elected for 
the year 1911: President, L. N. Place; Vice- 
President, Geo. L. Ames; Secretary-Treasurer, 
E. M. Town; Captain, II. J. Hokamp; Assistant 
Captain, F. Kleinfeldt. The executive board con¬ 
sists of our president, vice-president, secretary 
and captain, assisted by Dr. F. T. Hays, S. F. 
Campbell and W. S. Maloney. E. M. Town was 
elected to succeed himself as national executive 
committeeman. E. M. Town, Sec’y. 
New Publications. 
Letters to a Salmon Fisher's Sons, by A. H. 
Chaytor. Cloth, large 8vo.. 285 pages, illus¬ 
trated from photographs, $3 net. New York, 
Houghton Mifflin Company. 
From his large experience in fishing for sal¬ 
mon in Great Britain, Norway and New Zea¬ 
land, the author has drawn for the purpose of 
aiding young anglers, but there is much that he 
has set down which will be read eagerly by 
veterans. The chapters on rods and tackle, on 
casting and fishing, are valuable though brief 
and to the point. He cites a number of in¬ 
stances as apparent proof that salmon feel very 
little, if any, pain while hooked. One of these 
is the habit of many salmon to sulk head down 
while they hammer at the line with the tail. A 
salmon which for a long time submits quietly to 
a steady strain or sharp tugs, he believes, feels 
no pain. Again he compares the actions of a 
puppy which has snapped up a wasp with those 
of a salmon that has quietly taken one of these 
fiery insects from the water surface. 
Falling in a salmon stream while wearing 
waders, Mr. Claytor says, need not be serious 
if one keeps his head and does not tire himself 
trying to breast the current. Air in the waders 
is not dangerous when one has to swim. Steel 
centered rods, he says, are a mistake. 
Several chapters are devoted to the habits of 
salmon, as observed by tho author, who has made 
a study of the spawning of these fish during 
many years. This alone is very interesting, as 
his deductions are in some respects contrary to 
accepted theories. 
The Book of the Dry Fly, by George A. B. 
Dewar. New edition, cloth, 277 pages with 
eight full-page illustrations in colors, $2.50, 
net. New York, the Macmillan Company. 
Not all of the teachings of the dry-fly pur¬ 
suits are applicable to American waters, but 
some of them are, and the rapidly increasing 
number of anglers who fish with dry flies and 
follow, in greater or lesser degree, the methods 
that have come into vogue in England, have 
attained an important measure of success. But 
here as in some continental waters, to quote 
Mr. Dewar, “the dry fly is as clearly out of 
place on the wet fly water as the wet fly is on 
the dry fly stream.” Beginners, therefore, will 
find in this volume much information which will 
enable them to avoid that which may prove 
useless here, and at the same time learn how 
and when it may prove best to fish the rises or 
to search for trout, using floating flies. 
Methods of Attracting Birds, by Gilbert H. 
Trafton. Cloth, octavo, 171 pages, illus¬ 
trated with drawings and from photographs, 
$1.25 net. Published under the auspices of 
the National Association of Audubon So¬ 
cieties, by the Houghton Mifflin Company. 
There are plenty of persons, old and young, 
who are endeavoring to attract birds to their 
homes, but who, through lack of experience, do 
not go about the work in the best way. Mr. 
Trafton, in telling how this may be done, points 
out the fact that providing shelter and homes 
for our birds has become almost a necessity 
because of the destruction of their natural shel¬ 
ter through the clearing and “improving” of 
lands, particularly in the vicinity of towns and 
cities. The birds being willing, the work of 
attracting and keeping them is easy when it is 
prosecuted intelligently. The chief enemies of 
birds, the cat and the sparrow, are difficult 
to outwit, but how this may be done he de¬ 
scribes interestingly, and this portion of the 
book alone is of great value. The species that 
may be attracted, their habits, food and shel¬ 
ters that may be made by any person possess¬ 
ing ordinary tools, are all treated fully, while 
the drawings and photographic reproductions 
assist materially in making all points plain. 
Every bird lover and every school should pos¬ 
sess the book. 
The Big Game of Africa, by Richard Tjader. 
Cloth, 364 pages, illustrated from photo¬ 
graphs. New York, D. Appleton & Co. 
It was after he had made three expeditions 
to British East Africa and had delivered a series 
of lectures on that large subject that Mr. Tjader’s 
friends induced him to write a book for the 
guidance of other African hunters. This, then, 
is different from many of the numerous books 
on African hunting, recently issued. It is not 
a recital of events, but a carefully planned and 
executed treatise on every phase of African 
journeying and hunting. Each subject is treated 
separately and fully, though not at unnecessary 
length. 
The author first describes the country, the 
shooting seasons, licenses and game laws. He 
gives in detail the necessary equipment, the ex¬ 
pense, the men and animals needed and the way 
in which the stranger may live in harmony with 
his helpers. Then follow chapters on the habits 
and the pursuit of all of the large and small 
game to be met with. The final chapters are 
on the natives; on missionaries, settlers and 
officials; on photographing wild animals; on 
taxidermy; on outfits and routes. 
Interspersed throughout are stories of the 
chase, making the volume anything but dull. In 
fact, it is far more interesting than the average 
book of its kind. 
Fish Diseases. 
The study of this subject is referred to in the 
annual report of the United States Fish Com¬ 
mission as follows: 
During the fiscal year the Bureau has con¬ 
tinued co-operation with the New York State 
Cancer Laboratory in the investigation of thy¬ 
roid tumor or cancer in domesticated fishes. An 
aquarium with two independent systems of 
closed-water circulation, with proper means of 
refrigeration, has been established for the ob¬ 
servation of salmon and trout and experiments 
in inoculation and treatment. Investigation at 
various stations of the Bureau and at other 
hatcheries have shown that the disease is even 
more widespread and general than was suspected. 
Considerable difficulty has been encountered in 
obtaining for purposes of experiment a sufficient 
number of fish above suspicion of infection, and 
it has been necessary in this effort to secure a 
quantity of wild trout from remote streams. 
Owing to the technical difficulties attending this 
work, which are equal to those retarding the 
advance of knowledge relating to the cause and 
nature of cancer in human beings, progress is 
made only by slow and painstaking steps and 
by the use of the most approved appliances and 
methods. For this reason it is highly important 
that the Bureau should be provided with a well- 
equipped laboratory and experimental hatchery, 
not only for the purposes of the present investi¬ 
gation, but for the study of the many other 
diseases affecting fishes, both under domestica¬ 
tion and in a state of nature. 
During the year the Bureau was called on to 
investigate epidemics among hatchery fish at 
Spruce Creek, Pa., and Roxbury, Vt. At the 
former place the mortality was due in part to 
the thyroid tumor or cancer before alluded to, 
but the majority of the deaths were apparently 
caused by the bacterial infection which the 
Bureau has found at other places, but which it 
has not the facilities to study at present. At 
Roxbury the disease is also infectious and an¬ 
nually causes large losses. The Bureau has like¬ 
wise made investigations in Pennsylvania, Ohio 
and West Virginia upon the kindred subject of 
the pollution of streams in its relation to fishes 
and the fisheries. 
By an act of Congress approved April 21, 
T910, that portion of the previous law requiring 
the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to lease 
the privilege of killing sea’s on the Pribilof 
Islands was repealed, and as the lease of the 
North American Commercial Company expired 
by limitation on April 30, 1910. the Bureau, under 
the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and 
Labor, assumed the entire administration of the 
islands, including the functions and obligations 
previously imposed on the lessees. The present 
duties of the Bureau on the islands, therefore, 
embrace all matters whatsoever relating to the 
seal herd and the care, education and welfare of 
the native population. 
Owing to the abuses connected with pelagic 
sealing mentioned in the preceding report of the 
Bureau, the condition of the seal herd is more 
precarious than at any previous period of its 
known history, and the utmost care must be 
exercised to save it from commercial extinction. 
In anticipation of the expiration of the lease re¬ 
cently in force and in view of the advisability 
(Continued on page 317.) 
