[Jan. 4, 1908. 
16 
The Sportsmen’s Show. 
The Sportsmen’s Show, held in the Grand 
Central Palace, Lexington avenue and Forty- 
third street, New York city, under the auspices 
of the Forest, Fish and Game Society of America, 
was opened Dec. 21 and closes to-night, Jan. 4 - 
In many respects this exhibition reminds the 
visitor of the first Sportsmen’s Show, held in 
Madison Square Garden in 1895. At that show 
and this trade features were less prominent than 
exhibits of all those things the sportsman him¬ 
self collects and loves to look at and handle 
trophies, pictures, live and mounted specimens 
of our game and fish, people from the woods to 
spin yarns with, and a thousand other features 
that properly form a part of a show for sports¬ 
men. Not that trade exhibits do not belong in 
such a show, for in fact they are welcome if they 
exhibit rather than sell goods, and the visitor 
often learns more from attendants in charge than 
is possible in the shops, where all is bustle and 
confusion; but fishing rods, guns and sports¬ 
men’s paraphernalia do not mix well with en¬ 
gines, boat hulls, athletics and water stunts, and 
one cannot help thinking the aroma of balsam 
and cedar is pleasanter than that of gasolene 
and lubricating oils. 
The general arrangement of the exhibits in the 
main hall of the Grand Central Palace is pleas¬ 
ing From the large central space aisles lead 
in all directions, with booths arranged like city 
blocks, while around the four walls are pictures, 
cages containing live game and tanks for the 
fish, with large colored transparencies in all the 
many windows. Evergreens, natural logs, birch- 
bark and decorations in which dark green pre¬ 
dominates are prominent everywhere. 
Taken altogether, the Sportsmen’s Show is one 
deserving of the name, and in which the visitor 
finds much that will instruct as well as please 
and amuse him. 
Among the pictures there are several large 
paintings in oil by the veteran angler and artist, 
Walter M. Brackett, of Boston, who for many 
years has lived during the warm season in his 
camps in Maine and Canada, and here he has 
painted some beautiful pictures of salmon. Per¬ 
haps the one which attracts the most attention 
depicts a salmon leaping out of the water when 
hooked, although two others, showing these royal 
fish lying on a grassy bank, are greatly admired. 
Two others, in which the salmon are rising to 
the fly, do not call out so much favorable com¬ 
ment, although salmon fishermen who have seen 
them say they equal the best work Mr. Brackett 
has done. 
In this collection there are several canvasses 
by A. Loring Brackett. They, too, have attracted 
favorable comment, but in some minor details 
his work suffers in comparison with that of his 
father. Taken altogether, however, they are very 
pleasing to the angler. One cannot help think¬ 
ing they would be appreciated more if they were 
not side by side with his father’s masterpieces, 
for one cannot, under the circumstances, help 
comparing the work of father and son, and we 
have seen so many beautiful pictures by the 
veteran that it seems impossible that they may 
be equalled by his son in time. 
The moving pictures thrown on a large screen 
in the main hall at frequent intervals draw the 
attention of visitors, as these always do. A very 
humorous series shows a group of men picking 
plumes from an ostrich. Broncho busting is an- 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
other subject somewhat devoid of action, as the 
ponies are not inclined to buck. A third is tar¬ 
pon fishing, with a few films that are excellent, 
as they caught the big fish in the air and in a 
series of leaps that are very realistic. The best 
one is of a tarpon that was gaffed in the surf. 
Moose hunting, camp scenes and various other 
pictures are thrown on the screen at other times. 
Whether or not the visitor is an angler, the 
table of the young lady who ties flies in Schover- 
ling, Daly & Gales’ booth is always surrounded 
by visitors of both sexes, who watch every 
movement of the deft fingers with a fascinated 
attention unequalled by any other feature in the 
exhibition. The women are interested in the 
bright colors and the possibilities of combining 
them to secure the most beautiful color effects, 
which is natural; but the anglers wish they could 
train their fingers and thumbs to be equally deft 
instead of always getting into each other’s way, 
while the silk, the hackle and the wings persist 
in refusing to “stay put” and spring out in every 
direction but the correct one. No wonder, said 
a visitor, so many amateur fly-tyers prefer a 
vise to the fingers for holding the hook; but 
then, he acknowledged, becoming accustomed .to 
a vise spoils one for tying a fly without one at 
the brookside. 
To the gunner perhaps the most interesting 
exhibit at the Sportsman’s Show is the splendid 
group of wildfowl swimming free and unfettered 
in the great tank. The duck shooter may stand 
just outside the fence and see many of the most 
familiar of our ducks swimming almost within 
arm’s length and all of them in beautiful condi¬ 
tion. There is a splendid great whistling swan, 
a number of Canada geese, cackling white-fronted 
and snow geese, some brant, plenty of mallards, 
graceful sprigs, beautiful woodduck, blue-winged 
teal, gadwalls, black ducks, redheads and canvas- 
backs. Besides these there are many foreign 
birds; barnacle goose, Egyptian goose, black 
swan, some tree ducks and many others. These 
birds are loaned to the exhibition by Mr. Fred¬ 
erick Gallatin, Jr., and make a splendid and in¬ 
teresting show. 
The loan collection of the New York Zoologi¬ 
cal Society, so far as gallinaceous birds go, is 
also of much interest. The crested currassow 
of course come from our own land, but the 
Impeyan pheasants, the Mongolian pheasant, the 
golden and silver pheasants and the English 
pheasant are old world birds, some of which 
have almost gained a footing in the new world. 
There are cages of mountain quail and of Gam- 
bel’s beautiful and interesting birds. 
To the Eastern gunner, however, nothing will 
be so interesting as the three ruffed grouse loaned 
by Prof. C. F. Hodge, of Worcester, Mass., 
which are as little disturbed by their surround¬ 
ings as any birds in the whole show. They are 
beautiful, strong, healthy birds and attract very 
great attention. There is also a cage of Bob- 
white quail loaned by Mr. Hodge absolutely tame 
and unmoved by the crowds about them. We 
believe that they were reared in confinement. 
On the aisle facing the excellent exhibit of 
gallinaceous birds is the Indian exhibit, largely 
from the collection of Mr. E. T. Tefft, of this 
city, who possesses a very large and interesting 
collections of old-time Indian implements and 
clothing. Two sections of this exhibit, devoted 
to Mohawk and Iroquois, are extremely interest¬ 
ing, and there are many Indian baskets. 
The New York Zoological Society has also 
loaned a part of the Reed collection of heads 
and horns, donated to its collection by Mr. 
Emerson Macmillian. These trophies have at¬ 
tracted great attention from big-game hunters. 
The transparencies and framed pictures ex¬ 
hibited by the society attract interested atten¬ 
tion. 
It is seldom that exhibitions of this kind con¬ 
tain a collection similar to the one loaned by 
Dr. Robert T. Morris of this city. It consists 
of forty-eight groups of edible nuts and acorns 
found in North America, and is very interest¬ 
ing to the woodsloafer. Any one who has lived 
in the South realizes how difficult it is to make 
Northerners believe him when he says the shell- 
bark hickory nuts of that region sometimes grow 
to a length of two inches and are encased in a 
shell as large as an apple. Here, however, are 
fair specimens, but we overheard regrets that 
the hulls also were not included, in order that 
visitors could see how large they grow. 
There are several beautiful transparencies 
made from flashlight photographs of deer, loaned 
by the Hon. George Shiras 3d, and among the 
enlarged photographs exhibited by the Under¬ 
wood Company is one that pleases visitors, as it 
depicts a porcupine perched on a pine stub, de¬ 
fying a pointer whose attitude plainly shows 
courage and caution. 
The Camp-Fire Club has a log cabin decorated 
with pictures and curios, and the old fashioned 
fireplace is lighted so naturally that one must 
look closely to make sure the ruddy glow is arti- 1 
ficial. 
The Explorers’ Club has a large number of 
exhibits in various parts of the main hall. There 
is a dog sledge, lay figures and implements used 
in the Ziegler polar expedition, including a can¬ 
vas covered boat made in the arctics, a number 
of Arctic Club flags carried on several polar trips, 
and a large collection of paintings made by Al¬ 
bert Operti, a member of Commander Robert E. 
Peary’s 1896-7 expedition. A series of these show 
the difficulties encountered in getting the now 
famous meteorite on board ship; Eskimo villager 
scenes, sea scapes and landscapes, storms, ice-1 
bergs and sunsets. It was Mr. Operti who- 
painted the great mural curtain in the center of 
the hall. It is a bay scene with beautiful cloud 
and water effects and strings of waterfowl. These, 
are the work of Louis Agassiz Fuertes, whc 
worked with Mr. Operti. 
The large transparencies loaned by the United 
States Forestry Service attract deserved atten¬ 
tion, for they show many of the most interest-’ 
ing features of the National forest reserve anc 
forestry systems and are excellent educationa 
mediums. 
The Federal Fisheries Bureau exhibits a num 
ber of game fish groups in large tanks. Om 
of these, which attracts constant attention, con 
tains several very large brook trout, the veterai 
of them all being a malformed trout whose weigh 
is variously estimated all the way from three fi 
seven pounds. This old fellow met with a ser 
ious accident in his younger days, and as a re 
suit his back is a series of sharp curves, so tha 
he actually limps about the tank, so to speal 
Remarkably healthy specimens of young broo 
trout are also exhibited, and in another plac 
pickerel and muskellunge are seen together; bot 
species of black bass; yellow perch, carp, stripe 
