860 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 3, 1911. 
After sitting for a while I heard—apparently 
two or three fields distant—the notes of a yel¬ 
low-breasted chat, a bird I had not seen for 
several years partly because of lack of oppor¬ 
tunity to be out of doors. I called m} com¬ 
panion’s attention to the note, and described the 
bird and some of its odd ways, and she ex¬ 
pressed the hope that it might come over to us. 
A few moments later a bird flew into a near¬ 
by small scrub oak, branched down to the ground. 
It was our chat. He fed there for some time 
and gave us a fine view. At times he would 
work up the tree on one side to the topmost 
branches, then down on the other and then 
spend a little time on the grass beneath. Pres¬ 
ently, while he was on the ground, a brown 
thrasher darted from a hedge row fifty feet 
from the little oak straight for the chat, which 
took wing and flew off across the field. The 
thrasher did not follow, but fed about in the 
tree and on the ground, spending more time on 
the ground than the chat had. Presently the 
thrasher flew away to the hedge row he had 
come from, and, somewhat to my astonishment, 
five minutes later the chat returned to the little 
oak and again began to feed. 
While we were watching him and when the 
chat was in the branches of the tree four or five 
feet from the ground, back came the thrasher 
—not apparently with the purpose of feeding, 
but rather of attacking the chat, which again 
took to flight. The thrasher again spent a few 
minutes hopping about, feeding and again re¬ 
treated to an apple tree in the hedge row, and 
not very long after the chat came back again. 
I sat for some time on the watch, wondering 
whether the big bird would make a third attack 
on the lesser one, but he did not do so; and after 
a time the chat having apparently exhausted the 
food possibilities of the little oak for the 
moment, flew away across the field. 
By this time the sky had cleared and the sun 
was shining with great force. I left my station 
and returned to the house. G. B. G. 
head and 12 flounders. A small party caught 
fifty perch at Lake Catherine. A number of 
croakers, redfish and striped bass were landed. 
At Chef Menteur, Jake Rief, Phil Reich and 
Philip Nastis caught a turtle weighing 125 
pounds. Spanish mackerel were caught at sev¬ 
eral of the fishing resorts. 
The fishing season has opened in earnest and 
scores of local sportsmen are now going to the 
various resorts on Saturday afternoons and re¬ 
turning to the city Monday morning. A number 
of families have gone to Bay St. Louis, Wave- 
land, Pass Christian, Ocean Springs, Gulfport, 
Biloxi and other resorts for the summer and will 
enjoy the sport of fishing, especially on Satur¬ 
days and Sund'ays. A number of visitors have 
accepted the hospitality of the several fishing 
clubs and are enjoying the sport. The preva¬ 
lence of real summer weather has stimulated 
the fishermen, and especially those who are tak¬ 
ing their usual vacations at this season of the 
year. The best fishing months are considered 
to be May, June and a portion of July and the 
early part of October. A number of the club 
houses at the Rigolets, Lake Catherine, Chef 
Menteur, Lookout and other fishing resorts have 
recently been renovated and repaired and are 
now in good condition for the rush season. The 
L. & N. railroad has put on its club car on its 
Saturday afternoon train, and the prominent fish¬ 
ermen are patronizing it. F. G. G. 
The Biggest Artificial Fly. 
Whenever the opportunity presents itself, some 
enterprising or patriotic person in England in¬ 
vents a new artificial fly. There are two, at 
least, so far to appear in the festivities which 
are to culminate in the coronation of King 
George, himself an angler. These are the coro¬ 
nation and the empire. Just how these are tied 
is not known, but in each the colors, red, white 
and blue are prominent. The coronation fly is 
said to have “white angel’s wings, sky-blue body 
and sunset hackles,” hence it is not remarkable 
that they are being made up into brooches for 
women’s wear. It is also added that trout take 
the new fly eagerly! 
The empire fly has attracted the attention of 
visitors to the Festival of Empire and Imperial 
Exhibition in London. One of these was sus¬ 
pended high overhead in the transept of the 
building. It certainly is “a fly to catch the eye,’ 
says the Fishing Gazette, being a b'aze of rich 
patriotic red, white and blue velvets, silks, satins, 
ostrich feathers, golden bands and cordings 
The dressing is an exact reproduction of the 
newly invented empire fly. The size of this 
model fly must be imagined when it is sta*ed 
that a proportionate fisherman to cast it must 
be at least 600 feet high and his rod 1,800 feet 
long! The hook is over nine feet long, and the 
wing thirteen feet. 
Fishing in the South. 
New Orleans, La., May 26. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: Superintendent E. A. Tulian, of 
fish hatcheries for Louisiana, has reported to 
the Game Commission that catfish spawn in April 
and May and do not finish depositing their eggs 
until about the middle of June. Mr. Tulian has 
made an extensive investigation of the inland 
and other streams in Louisiana for the purpose 
of ascertaining just when the catfish and buffalo 
fish spawn. He is stiff in doubt about buffalo 
fish, but he states he will be able to file a defi¬ 
nite report on that subject shortly. Many of 
the professional fishermen were in doubt about 
catfish and buffalo fish in reference to the time 
of spawning, and Mr. Tulian’s report is con- 
sidtred valuable, and his additional report in re- 
SHOWING THE COMPARATIVE SIZE OF THE EMPIRE 
FLY. 
gard to buffalo fish is awaited with much interest 
by those who are interested in fishing in Louis¬ 
iana. 
Commissioner Frank Milier and Mr. Tulian 
left Monday for an extended tour of the State 
for the purpose of locating a large fish hatchery. 
It is thought the commission has in view a big 
hatchery in a large sulphur spring near the 
central portion of the State. It is proposed to 
acquire this spring and additional property if it 
can be done for a reasonable price. 
One of the fishing parties at the Rigolets 
caught 302 speckled trout Sunday. The party 
was composed of E. W. Johnson, A. Stenz, C. L. 
Cooper ard E. Roth. Another party at Lookout 
landed 45 speckled trout, 135 croakers, 7 sheeps- 
Overconfidence. 
It beats all how confident some untried ang¬ 
lers are just before fishing. There was the case 
of Andrew Jameson and a companion at Punta 
Rassa recently. They were from Dublin, Ire¬ 
land, and just took a run over to show how 
easy it was to catch tarpon and then get back 
home as if nothing had happened. There was 
a boy there who had spent three months trying 
to land a tarpon and had lost every fish he 
hooked. It consoled him to hear these new¬ 
comers telling how they were going to get their 
tarpon. “Of course, we will use heavy tackle 
for our first fish,” said one of them. “That is 
just conventional, but after that we will catch 
them with trout tackle, just to show how easily 
it could be done.” They hooked nine tarpon be¬ 
tween them and did not bring one of the fish 
to gaff. Everybody was sorry that they had to 
leave without a tarpon, especially as these fish 
were running in schools past Sanibel "thick as 
mullets,” as one professional fisherman said. 
For the next month or two tarpon fishing will 
be at its best, but it is always easier to hook 
them than to land them.—Newark Call. 
Brook Trout Near the City. 
Fred T. Mapes, secretary of the Newark Fly- 
and Bait-Casting Club, of Newark, N. J., has 
sent us a picture of three brook trout that were 
taken by him in a brook within twenty-five miles 
of New York city recently. They measured 11^2, 
11V2 and iiJ 4 inches respectively, and what is 
still more unusual in small streams so near the 
city, he took no undersized trout that day, hence 
put none back in the water. 
All the fish laws of the United States and 
Canada, rezhscd to date and noiv in force, are 
given in the Game Lazos in Brief. See adv. 
