Oct. x, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
S 3 ? 
in the month of August, when they visit the 
rivers to feed on the salmon. 
In the winter the black and gray wolves, 
which in summer are scattered out over the 
country, collect in packs and make hunts up and 
down the valley, killing many moose. 
Fish of various sorts, including grayling, are 
found in these waters, and wild geese and a few 
swans breed in the wider valleys. 
The paper is interestingly illustrated by beau¬ 
tiful photographs and has a large map. 
Hunting in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., Sept. 20.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: The hunting season for ducks, 
English snipe, shore birds and valley quail will 
be ushered in Oct. 1. and sportsmen are now 
getting ready for the opening. Ponds are being- 
baited to accustom the birds that are here to 
visit them, and all the clubs are having their 
lodges and arks made ready. Those who have 
made a study of conditions state that the pros¬ 
pects are for a very fine season. They point 
to the fact that the water in the Sacramento 
and San Joaquin rivers is lower than it has been 
for years, and that in the mountains there is 
practically no snow. In addition to this there 
will be no high tides in October, and it is rea¬ 
soned that as a result there will be vast areas 
of marsh land that will be dry instead of being 
flooded when the shooting season commences. 
This will have the effect of driving the birds 
to the preserves, and with as many birds here 
as in former years there should be better sport, 
as they will not be so badly scattered unless 
unusually heavy rains fall within the course of 
the next month. Many birds are now to be 
found on the marshes, some of these being 
birds that have tome this season from the 
North. Most of these, however, are cinnamon 
teal, which nest here, but some sprig are now- 
arriving. There are also numbers of mallards 
to be seen but no canvasbacks as yet. But few 
ducks have been seen on the bay so far, but 
they are expected to scatter with the first rain. 
This season for the first time Catalina Island 
will be open to the hunter, and it is reported 
from there that quail are to be seen in abund¬ 
ance, these being very tame. A hunting lodge 
has been erected at Middle Ranch, about fifteen 
miles from Avalon, a new wagon road having 
been built to that place, and this will be head¬ 
quarters for hunters. After the rainy season 
commences duck shooting will be available, as 
some good sized lakes form there then. Hunt¬ 
ers will be required to have the usual county 
permit to hunt on the island and must also 
secure a permit from the Banning Company, 
tlje owners. In addition to quail and duck 
hunting there is also some fine sport hunting 
mountain goats. A. P. B. 
Wild Ducks Dying in Utah. 
Dispatches to the daily newspapers, when 
they deal with subjects unfamiliar to the aver¬ 
age man, are usually read with some suspicion. 
\\ hen, therefore, we read about the wild 
ducks of Utah suffering from “cholera” we are 
disposed to wonder what it is all about. It is 
possible of course that some epidemic disease 
may have attacked the wild ducks of the Cen¬ 
tral Plateau, but we should like a little definite 
information on the subject. 
At various times in the past, wild ducks have 
been found dead or dying on various shooting- 
grounds in the South, and in his book, “Ameri¬ 
can Duck Shooting,” Mr. Grinnell has described 
a disease, called in North Carolina “croup,” 
which proved to be neither more nor less than 
lead poisoning; the ducks, geese and swans hav¬ 
ing picked up from the mud at the bottom of 
the water pellets of shot, which, being ground 
to powder in the gizzard, have finally induced 
lead poisoning and death. 
The dispatch referred to, from Salt Lake 
City, Sept. 22, is as follows: 
The plague which is killing the wild duck of Utah by 
the thousands may save them from the annual slaughter 
at the hands of hunters. At a meeting here last night 
the State Food and Dairy Commission announced that 
the sale of ducks would not be permitted during the open 
season, and representatives of all the principal shooting 
clubs pledged their members not to hunt them while 
the epidemic continues. 
Physicians who have studied the diseases of the ducks 
pronounce it a form of cholera, and are of the opinion 
that it might be contracted by human beings. 
It is to be hoped that birds that have died 
will be carefully examined, and that we may 
know what it is that killed them. 
In the Adirond&cks. 
Blue Mountain Lake, N. Y., Sept. 26.— Editor 
Forest and Stream: Your “warning” in this 
week's paper is timely. Already two cases of 
shooting of men are reported in the Adiron- 
dacks. Deer are plenty, but few have been killed 
in this region so far. The foliage is heavy and 
hunters numerous. Several cases of careless 
shooting and handling of rifles that did not re¬ 
sult fatally are known here. Men as well as 
boys are reported guilty. In one instance a 
bullet pierced a house near a hotel and passed 
near a man inside the house. Juvenal. 
THE TOP RAIL. 
In Forest and Stream of Aug. 13 I read H. 
J. H.’s comments on ferrules with interest. This 
reminds me to ask why the British anglers refer 
to American ferrules as suction ferrules when 
they are not suction ferrules at all? Perhaps, 
however, I can answer my own question, in this 
wise: The British rodmakers do not believe in 
what they call suction ferrules, they alleging that 
these will .not hold unless equipped with some 
one of their clumsy lock-fast devices. The diffi¬ 
culty with them is that they use brass instead of 
German silver, and brass will stretch, so that 
after a time their suction ferrules work loose. 
I have seen Englishmen cast a middle joint or 
a tip or both out of their rods in fishing when 
these brass suction ferrules were used—and on 
occasions of this sort they always swear long 
and loud, but stick to their clumsy old bean poles 
just the same, with a tenacity worthy of a better 
cause. Ilcnce the natural inference is that suc¬ 
tion alone does not hold ferrules together. 
Our ferrules are friction ferrules, nothing 
else. Suction, in my opinion, does not account 
for five per cent, of their “sticktoitiveness”; it 
is friction. They fit very snug, but not so snug 
that the air cannot escape when a rod is jointed 
up ; that is, the center is not so finely polished 
that the air cannot pass out through minute 
abrasions on its surface. The best ferrules are 
interchangeable, but this statement must be 
qualified, for every set is fitted by hand, and 
there is more or less expert filing and buffing 
to be done in accomplishing a fit that will be 
effective—neither too tight nor too loose. 
Bottles of cut glass have glass stoppers. 
Break one of these stoppers and you must take 
the bottle, not the stopper to, the repair man. 
lie will tell you that a new stopper must be 
fitted by grinding both the stopper and the bot¬ 
tle’s mouth together in a lathe—while both sur¬ 
faces are coated with an abrasive—wet sand, if 
I remember correctly. There is a taper and the 
stopper is held by friction, but to make it a 
suction fit, and air-tight at the same time, wipe 
a film of olive oil ground the stopper. 
It is not safe to carry this friction fit to tent- 
pole fei rules, for such poles are not easy to 
handle in the backwoods if they stick. Besides, 
a tight fit is not necessary, hence a suction fit 
is best. If a set is too tight, turn the male 
down slightly in a lathe, or file it or rub it with 
crocus cloth or even fine sandpaper until it can 
be pushed into the long ferrule without diffi¬ 
culty. Heat until a bit of paraffin wax will 
melt and run around it as it is turned, then in¬ 
sert it in its companion ferrule and turn both 
until the melted wax coats both surfaces 
and you will have a suction fit that will not 
stick. Lard oil, paraffin oil or even vaseline 
will serve, but oils are objectionable/ as they 
soil the tent and your outfit. Bar soap is bet¬ 
ter ; indeed, this is handy for numerous re¬ 
pairs. A wood screw can be turned down with 
half the effort if it is first rubbed with soap. 
* * 
^The following paragraph appeared in the New 
York Press recently: 
The increase in the number of women followers of 
Izaak Walton is indicated by the fact that about thirty 
out of 1 he seventy-five contestants in the semi-annual fly- 
casting contest under the auspices of the Illinois Fly 
Casting Association in Chicago, last week were women. 
Women are becoming more and more interested in fish¬ 
ing every year. They are enthusiastic anglers, once they 
really get an idea of the sport of going after trout, 
landlocked salmon and black bass. They are as ready -to 
whip a stream or pass hours casting for landlocked salmon 
as men. Among women interested in the sport is Mrs. 
R. E. Botthof, of Oak Park. She has ranked near to the 
prize winner in all the recent contests. She handles a 
rod with grace and ease in the contests. Her ability as 
a fisherman is proved still further by the strings of 
treut she invariably catches when she goes after those 
gamy fish. 
There is no “Illinois Fly-Casting- Association” 
in Chicago. An enthusiast of Kalamazoo once 
offered to bring a team of women to the East 
to teach the veteran anglers how to cast Al¬ 
and bait, but little has been heard of “the lady 
casters of Kalamazoo” in recent years. Every 
town which has a casting club boasts one or 
two women who are accurate and graceful 
casters, but they seldom enter public contests. 
Their reasons are very well understood, and 
they are respected all the more because of the 
timidity and modesty which prevent them from 
doing their best casting in public. 
Grizzly King. 
