Fes. 24, 1900.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

mon net fishermen as well as of the pools of the 
visiting anglers. The poachers who went to jail 
in connection with these cases, were Frank Beau- 
rivage and J. N. Tremblay, if Levis; Alfred 
Cote, of Trois Pistoles, and Ernest Labrie, of St. 
Eloi. There were also two other cases against 
Antoine Fortin and Ludger Tremblay for having 
fished for salmon out of season on the Metapedia 
River. They were both condemned to a fine of 
$20 and the costs of the cases, which were very 
heavy. Several other convictions were obtained 
by Mr. Mowat during the season against poach- 
ers on the Metapedia River, and it is believed that 
such a lesson has been taught them as they are 
not soon likely to forget. 
Fishing Tackle in Old New York. 
Looking over an old copy of the New York 
Herald, printed more than sixty years ago and 
bearing the date April 24, 1845, my attention was 
directed to the cut of a fish at the head of one 
of the advertising columns. An inspection of the 
illustration soon showed, however, that it had 
nothing to do with either fish or fishing, but 
simply marked the advertisement of a gentleman’s 
furnishing store at 271 Broadway, corner of 
Chambers street. The advertisement bore the fol- 
lowing “N. B.” at its foot: “The Golden Fish will 
swim from 271 to 297 on the Ist of May.” 
John Conroy, of 52 Fulton street, and John J. 
Brown & Co., of the same thoroughfare, were 
among the fishing-tackle advertisers in the same 
column of this old newspaper. Mr. Conroy an- 
nounced for sale “a large assortment of Eastern- 
made flax fishing lines, all sizes, at the manufac- 
turers’ prices, 400 bamboos and 75,000 silkworm 
gut of various qualities.” 
John J. Brown & Co.’s advertisement was 
headed, “The fishing season has commenced,” fol- 
lowed by the couplet: 
“Tet those now fish that never fished before, 
And those that always fished, now fish the more.”’ 
“Trout tackle for the present season; also 
tackle for all seasons.and all kinds of fishing,” 
were the chief attractions offered to anglers in 
the Brown advertisement. 
The lapse of sixty years still finds the heart 
of the angling supply business in pretty much the 
same quarter of New York city. 
E. T. D. CHAMBERS. 
~ Newtown Creek in the Olden Time. 
RUNNING out from Flatbush on toward Mas- 
peth a wooden bridge crossed Newtown Creek. 
In those days the sludge’ from the oil factories 
was unknown and the water ebbed and flowed 
from the East River into the salt marshes that 
surrounded the creek uncontaminated. 
The fishing in the creek, except for eels and 
small bluefish (they called them) weighing per- 
haps half a pound each, did not amount to much. 
Crabs were abundant. 
It was a great sight when the little bluefish 
were running to see the bridge lined with men 
and boys with hand lines taking advantage of 
the incoming tide. Every man and boy seemed 
to crowd on his line as many hooks as it would 
stand, one man I remember using half a dozen, 
and it was a common thing to see each hook 
affixed to a struggling fish as the line was drawn 
out. While it lasted the fun was fast and furi- 
ous, but when the tide was full and about to ebb 
the fish with one accord ceased to bite. The 
fishing was over for the day. 
Great was the sport we boys had crabbing in 
the creek from a stone dock below the bridge in 
the salt meadows. We would find out about the 
tide and come to make a day of it, cooking our 
dinner on the shore and enjoying ourselves im- 
mensely. 
A sheepshead secured at the butcher’s and 
chopped into convenient pieces served as our bait. 
To each morsel a stout cotton line was tied’ and 
we were ready for the sport. The moment the 
tide turned inward we cast over our lines, hav- 
ing between us a dozen in the water at a time. 
The bait would sink and remain stationary 
upon the bottom, the slightest movement of the 
line always indicating the presence of a crab. 
Hand over hand, slowly and gently we drew in 
our lines and alongside of us stood the most ex- 
perienced boy with the scoop net. It required 
gentleness and patience to land the crabs, a hasty 
or clumsy move resulting in the immediate dis- 
appearance of the crab. And as the tide ad- 
vanced the numbers of the crabs seemed to in- 
crease until at times it seemed as if every line 
was being tugged at one and the same time. And 
then the boy with the net had his hands full, as 
he went up and down the line. We were often 
barefooted and many were the mishaps from 
wandering crabs, some of which crabs were, I am 
inclined to confess, set wandering purposely with 
malice prepense. 
But those were great days, and we boys en- 
joyed them to the limit. And when our crabbing 
was over we would take a swim to end up the 
fun. Loading our catch, securely covered, into 
the wagon we would harness up and drive for 
home, each one taking what he thought he could 
use of the crabs, there being plenty to go around. 
We saw the great pot of boiling water made 
ready on the range and watched the blue crusta- 
ceans turn red under the influence of the boiling 
water. And then at table we fought our battles 
over again and told how we did it in our boyish 
enthusiasm to the delight of the admiring family 
circle. CHARLES CRISTADORO. 
Fish in Colorado and Utah Waters. 
For a number of years now fish in the moun- 
tain streams contiguous to the line of the Denver 
& Rio Grande Railroad, in Colorado and Utah, 
have been increasing in great numbers. The 
United States Government and State hatcheries 
are each year planting a hundred times more fish 
(trout) than are taken out of the streams by hook 
and line. Prior to 1904 the annual planting was 
between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000. In 1904 the num- 
ber reached 6,326,000, and in 1905 7,669,000. It is 
expected that even this astonishing record will 
be exceeded in 1906, This continuous fish propa- 
gation insures the angler first-class sport for years 


to come. The 1905 distribution in detail was as 
follows: 
COLORADO. 
Headwaters, Arkansas River and tributaries...:... 1,106,000 
Gunnison River ANG, thIDiUtarviesS.2..ciecistemouae news 1,525,000 
Tributaries of the Grand, near Glenwood......... 687,0: 
MALES RIV. EL Us, ole lactate emera't cie'cs setae stdcmte stored 437,000 
RigeGrandes and  ceipUtariesmiccrc ccos deja. scene asice 1,068,000 
South Arkansas west of oalidas. .ccotesaccccte 255,0 
Doloresmaridl® tributaries ceases «con ecderciaccae ste 286,000 
Uncompahgre and tributaries................. 204,000 
San) tansand triputariest share. os os suing csc aicte 572,000 
SA MIINA Gerace tame ccelne a Unisietes aiatalonnrs s ctoucieweanenicce 235,000 
Grands Mesawliakces Werth to celct cs was qelmes semrtcarere 550,000 
Chatrar Riv endea gowns sate tice tote ces oe cnaneeetccd des 145,000 
INLESCELTATIOOUIS Ine Gertie Vaciee te ale oieltis sis oe stueatiewieaisteate 145,000 
UTAH. ! 
Provo River and various Utah streams............. 454,000 
Total 
SAICBD CagOO TAC On AOI OT ROOMS OnCOO Coopancd 7,669,000 
Mrs. Forbes and the Whip-Ray. 
From the Havana Telegraph, Feb. 3. 
Mrs. A.W. Forbes, wife of the genial pro- 
prietor of the Playa baths, in company with her 
husband and a fisherman named Pancho, have 
the best “fish story” that has been told around 
these parts for many days. But what is more 
to the point, they have the goods to prove it. 
The proof is an enormous whip-ray, weighing 
more than 1,000 pounds which is lying on the 
beach at the playa, where it is being viewed by 
scores of their admiring friends. 
The catch was made at early noon yesterday 
morning, when Mrs. Forbes, with her husband 
and the fisherman, were out in a small boat 
searching for the fish. The creature had been 
seen several times during the past few days and 
there was great strife among the fishermen to 
capture it. Consequently many fishing parties 
have been out and it required the combined ef- 
forts of three of these to tow the fish ashore. 
Mrs. Forbes was the first to spy the fish as it 
rose up out of the water, and crying to her hus- 
band and the fisherman she directed the boat in 
the direction of the prize. When close upon the 
whip-ray she threw her harpoon with great skill 
and dexterity and caught the fish fair in the side. 
It remained then only for her husband and the 
fisherman to cast their harpoons and secure the 
victim. 
399 

For the next few minutes, it is declared by 
eye-witnesses, there was quite a lively time in the 
little boat, for the fish was game, and the sharp 
points of the harpoons pricked his vanity. Never 
was there an autoboat that could have kept pace 
with the little fishing smack as it tore through 
the water, while the angered whip-ray was tiring 
himself, and it was by far the most exciting ex- 
perience Mrs. Forbes has ever enjoyed. 
The fish is similar in appearance to a sting-ray, 
and is attracting much attention from those who 
have seen it. The whip-ray, or giant ray, is the 
largest of flying-fishes, bearing about the same 
relation to the ordinary flying-fish as does the 
big balloon with which men strive to cross con- 
tinents to the inflated pink toys with which chil- 
dren amuse themselves. The whip-ray is found 
in many parts of the world, but nowhere else so 
large as in the Caribbean. 

The Flying-Fish Problem. 
Two PAPERS on the eternal flying-fish problem 
have appeared almost simultaneously, and express 
widely diverse views. In the one published in 
the Jahrbuch of the Austrian Geological Survey, 
Dr. Abel, after describing the various kinds of 
fossil flying- fish, concludes that neither the typical 
flying-fish or the flying-gurnards ever use their 
pectoral fins as active organs of flight. On the 
contrary, the initial impetus by means of which 
these fishes are launched into the air is due en- 
tirely to powerful screw-like movements of the 
tail-fin, and this.impetus is sufficient to carry 
them to the end of their journey, the “wings” 
acting merely as parachutes. In other words, the 
flight is precisely similar to that of a flat stone 
when thrown up so as to ricochet from the points 
where it touches the water till it finally falls. In 
the second paper, published in the January num- 
ber of the Annals and Magazine of Natural His- 
tory, the author, Lieut-Col. C. D. Durnford, 
takes precisely the opposite view, maintaining, on 
mechanical grounds, that the aeroplane theory, as 
the above may be called, is an absolute physical 
impossibility, owing to the fact that the wing- 
surface is far too small in proportion to the size 
and weight of the body to sustain the fish during 
its long flight. This being admitted, the only al- 
ternative is to suppose that the “wings’’ are 
moved with an exceedingly rapid vibratory mo- 
tion throughout the whole flight, and are thus, 
after the first initial impetus, the propelling 
power. The author further maintains that the 
wing-movements which many observers have 
noticed when a flying-fish touches a wave are not 
movements de novo, but merely such a slowing 
down of the continuous rapid vibrations as to 
render them visible to the eye. If Colonel Durn- 
ford’s mechanical data are trustworthy—as they 
seem to be—his case appears to be proved. The 
next point, however, to ascertain is whether the 
muscles which work the pectoral fins of flying- 
fish are really capable of imparting to them the 
power of maintaining these rapid and continuous 
vibrations, which are the essential part of the new 
theory.—London Field, Jan. 21. 
Canadian Camp Dinner. 
THE members of the Canadian Camp will be 
pleased to learn that Mr. Charles Hallock, the 
veteran sportsman, naturalist, editor and author, 
will be the guest of honor at the fourth annual 
dinner at the Hotel Astor, New York city, on 
Feb. 26. 
Other guests and speakers will include Rev. 
Allan MacRossie, D:D. (toastmaster) ; Maj. W. 
Austin Wadsworth, President of the Boone and 
Crockett Club; A. A. Anderson, President of the 
Camp-Fire Club; the Hon. Dr. Reaume, Minister 
of Fisheries of the Province of Ontario; Col. C. 
J. (Buffalo) Jones, L. F. Brown, Hon. John S. 
Wise, Rev. Leander T. Chamberlain, D.D.; W. 
M. Hays, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture; 
Alfred M. Dunham, Game Warden of Alaska; the 
Hon. Jean Prevost, Minister of Colonization, 
Mines and Fisheries of the Province of Quebec; 
Caspar Whitney, John Achorn (“Woodser’). 
An abundant supply of rare game has been do- 
nated by members, including a species never be- 
fore served in public. HArry V. RAprorp, Sec’y. 
