Sept. 17, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
445 
population of Texas, the entire year's catch 
would barely furnish one good meM of fish 
for this large dinner party. Fish experts be¬ 
lieve that this condition of affairs can be 
remedied in Texas, as it has been remedied in 
other States. They believe that fishing can be 
made a leading industry, and Texas can furnish 
fish for Northern and Eastern markets, as it is 
furnishing fruits and vegetables. 
What is needed is better protection for the 
fish that already exist, and hatcheries, to pro¬ 
vide for future generations. There is not a 
better breeding ground for fish in the world 
than that stretch of coast from Galveston Bay 
to the Rio Grande. It is a series of bays pro¬ 
tected by outlying islands with bottoms covered 
with natural grasses and seaweed. The fish 
that should be better protected and more largely 
propagated by the means of hatcheries are red 
fish, speckled trout, whiting and pompano. 
New York State owns eight hatcheries in ad¬ 
dition to those maintained by the United States 
Fisheries Bureau. New York with its enorm¬ 
ously overcrowded population, furnished its 
citizens with an average of forty pounds of fish 
per capita. Texas, with its long stretch of 
coast, furnished little more than one pound per 
capita. The State hatcheries in New York pro¬ 
duce in a year 2.95,000,000 spawn. Millions of 
these fish possibilities, which would be lost if 
produced in the sea and left to hatch by ordi¬ 
nary processes, are saved by the hatcheries 
and brought up to fish maturity and made avail¬ 
able for food supply. The great hatcheries at 
Gloucester, Mass., contribute no little to the 
pre-eminence of that fishing metropolis of the 
Atlantic Coast, and if hatcheries were placed 
at some advantageous Texas point and installed 
on a sufficiently large scale, it may be that a 
Southern Gloucester would be developed here. 
—Houston Post. 
THE MEADOW LARK IN CHICAGO. 
Its name hardly would suggest that the 
meadow lark might be a city bird. The larks, 
however, nest yearly within the borders of this 
big town, says a writer in the Chicago Post. 
In the northwestern part of the city, where 
there is left something of the open country, the 
meadow lark nests every year. It was not so 
long ago that 1 found a nest in a field border¬ 
ing South Chicago avenue in the southeastern 
part of the city. The lark will linger as a sum¬ 
mer resident within the city’s walls as long as 
there is anything left worthy the name of 
meadow. 
The early English settlers in America looked 
about them for the bird friends of the home¬ 
land, but could not find them. Most of all per¬ 
haps they missed the skylark, and when at the 
first spring tilling of the fields they found a 
bird which, like the songster over the sea, 
showed that it loved the sun they called it the 
lark, and the lark it is to this day. 
Later when the new country folk learned that 
the bird lacked the soaring instinct of its Eng¬ 
lish namesake and preferred earth to sky they 
added the name of its nesting place, and it be¬ 
came the meadow lark. Years passed and the 
scientists came to study and to tell the people 
that their lark was no lark at all, but a bird of 
a different feather. The scientists spoke too 
late and while they may class the bird as they 
will in their books to the people the meadow¬ 
lark remains a lark. 
Frequently it has been said that the meadow 
lark is an early spring arrival. It does come 
early, but those of the birds which are seen be¬ 
fore winter has fairly fled probably have re¬ 
mained in the north all the cold winter through. 
In northern Indiana meadow larks are not at 
all uncommon in all the winter months. All 
one winter through a flock of larks kept me 
company on a storm-swept island in Long 
Island Sound. The birds were cheerful when 
weather conditions were at their worst, and not 
even the ocean gales forced them to forsake the 
fields for the shelter of the trees. 
In a little sketch of the meadow lark written 
some years ago I said that the spring melody of 
the bird had been called both joyous and melan¬ 
choly. It is the same melody, and the difference 
in meaning must lie in the mental attitude of the 
listener. 
The world probably must wait for a perfect 
interpreter of the songs of nature. Possibly, 
however, the perfect interpreter has come but 
thus far has been denied his claim to be such, 
for the interpretation must reach the reason 
and the soul of all apparently or else its truth 
will not be granted. This is true perhaps more 
particularly of the translation of the moods of 
bird music. 
The meadow lark, as has been said, comes to 
us early, and its song, rising from the winter- 
wasted fields, revives in us something of the 
spirit of forgotten springs. How can such a 
song, awaking such memories, have in it even 
a suggestion of melancholy? The Phoebe’s 
call in March—a sorrow-laden note, according 
to some poet interpreters—has in it a touch of 
the gladness of the reviving year. 
It was John Burroughs who said that the 
meadow lark sings “Spring o’ the year” and re¬ 
peats this bit of cheering news. It is not as 
hard a task to- put a bird song into words as it 
is to get its spirit, and it requires but a slight 
effort of the imagination to make one agree 
that Uncle John has read the lark’s message 
right. The meadow lark, however, frequently 
sings in the fall, and it is not at all difficult to 
slip the word for the dying season into the place 
of that which tells of the resurrection—and then 
it is that the melancholy—minded ones have 
their chance to say that the meadow lark’s note 
has in it much of sorrow. 
With a fence post against whose stability the 
March winds are of no avail, the meadow lark 
is content as a stage for its singing, but when 
it changes station to a tree it must have a place 
upon the slender swaying outer branches with 
nothing between it and the sun. There it swings 
and sings, with the wind blowing a soft ac¬ 
companiment. 
The searcher for city birds must not expect 
to find the meadow lark in his dooryard, nor 
yet in the trees of the streets. It is an infre¬ 
quent visitor, even to the great city parks. It 
loves the open meadow, bordered by the trees. 
It will remain a city dweller as long as such 
a congenial abiding place can be found. It is 
worth a long journey to meet and to know this 
bird of the open. 
FISHING IN PROSPECT PARK. 
Visitors in Prospect Park saw recently the 
unusual sight of men drawing a seine in the lake. 
As a rule fishing is- not allowed in the park 
lakes, but there are privileged fishermen. 
The party that fished in the Prospect Park 
lake as stated consisted of Capt. De Nyse of 
the New York Aquarium arid a crew of three 
men. They used a skiff and a seine .150 feet 
long. They were in quest of yellow and white 
perch and carp, and they made a big haul. The 
lake is populous with all of those fish, especially 
white perch. The perch are used to replenish 
the stock of the Aquarium. A certain number 
of the perch caught are returned to the lake, but 
all of the carp are killed. 
It is the purpose of the authorities to exter¬ 
minate them if possible, because they are very 
destructive of the spawn and fry of other fish, 
however, it is not an easy matter, to extermi¬ 
nate carp, as it is a prolific and hardy fish. The 
Prospect Park lake is fished by Capt. De Nyse 
several times a year, but not in the spring, which 
is the spawning season.—Sun. 
GAME BIRDS PLENTIFUL. 
“The fact that there are more game birds in 
Pennsylvania to-day than there have been for 
many years,” said Secretary Kalbfus, of the 
State Game Commission, “is not due to the ef¬ 
forts of the game commission alone, but to the 
awakened interest of the people of the Common¬ 
wealth in the birds. They are now realizing 
that the birds are the best friends of the farmers 
and that to protect them benefits the State at 
large.”—Shamokin Herald. 
SfCel Fishing RocM 
Snappers, Pickerel, Perch Pike, Bass and 
many other good fish are biting in Septem¬ 
ber. Go after them with “BRISTOL” 
Rods. 
A three year printed guarantee goes with 
every “BRISTOL” provided it is a real 
“BRISTOL” Rod with the trade mark on 
the handle. Good dealers handle “BRIS¬ 
TOL” Rods. 
Write for FREE catalog and handy hook 
disgorger. 
THE HORTON MFG. CO. 
84 Horton Street 
BRISTOL, CONN. 
CATCHES MORE FISH—Stops <ruti-Saves 
little fish —THE WILLIAMS BARBLHSS 
HOOK—English needle point—No mechanism— 
Highest quality flies $1.60 per doz—Snelled bait 
)1—Used by world’s best Anglers—Write us 
LACEY Y. WILLIAMS - 96 Ohio Bid*., Toledo. Ohio 
FISHERMEN NEED DIXON’S GRAPHITE 
ferrules, tangling of line 
find is good for ree 
iree sample arid booklet 
dCSSSfPH DIXON CRUCIBLE CO, 
SAVE 208 SHAVES 
$ 20 . 8 o a year. Also save the razor, your 
face, time and temper by using “3 in One” 
on the»blade. 
keeps the blade keen and clean, by prevent¬ 
ing surface rusting which is caused by moisture 
from the lather. Write for free sample 
and special “razor saver” circular. 
Why not know the truth ? 
3 IN ONE OIL CO., 
112 New Street, New York City. 
HEALTH-CULTURE 
A monthly magazine, W. R. C. Latson, M D., editor, considering the rela¬ 
tion of Food, Exercise Work, Rest, Recreation, etc., to Health and Bodily 
Development of men, women and children. Beautifully illustrated. $1.00 a 
year. 10c. a number. We want your address that we may send a sample 
copy free to see how you will like it, with a large catalogue of books on 
Scientific Living. Your list of reading matter will not be complete without 
it Send address at once on a postal to THE HEALTH-CULTURE MAGAZINE, 
1135f Broadway, New York. 
SHORTHAND 
GAME 
F. H. READ. Box 406, 
<f0 
Learn Shorthand by 
Playing the Game. 
Book of ten lessons for be¬ 
ginners. Over 100 celluloid 
shorthand characters. Great 
fun. 
ONLY 25c in Stamps. 
Oaklawn, R. I. 
