Forest and Stream 
Copyright, 1906, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 



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A WELL KNOWN ADIRONDACK FIGURE. 
Tue death of Michael Sabattis at his home at 
Long Lake, in the Adirondacks, removes a figure 
that has been conspicuous as long as the Adiron- 
dacks have been known. No name is more often 
mentioned in old-time Adirondack literature than 
his, and probably no man was ever so well known 
to the older generation of Adirondack frequenters 
—those who knew the North Woods before they 
had become fashionable and when they were actu- 
ally a wilderness. 
Michael Sabattis was a pure blooded Indian of 
the St. Francis tribe, and was the last of the 
native Adirondack red men. From childhood he 
followed the wild life of the woods and sustained 
himself by fishing, hunting, trapping and guiding. 
He had perhaps killed more bears and panthers 
than any other Adirondack hunter. The region 
about Paul Smith’s was the former stamping 
ground for Sabattis, and he guided for Hender- 
son and McIntyre in the early days of the New- 
comb iron explorations. 
His great competence as guide, woodsman and 
hunter and his kindly, friendly nature made Sa- 
battis known to many people. He was not less 
highly esteemed by his friends and neighbors 
than by those visitors who came from afar, and 
who always wished to see and talk to the old 
man if they could do nothing more. 
The correct spelling of Satattis’ name and his 
age have been much in controversy among writers 
on the Adirondacks. His Christian name has 
been spelt Michel, Michael, Mitchell, and in other 
ways, and Sabattis has had as many forms. The 
conjecture of Col. William F. Fox that the name 
was originally Michel St. Baptiste seems very 
plausible. It is believed that he was born about 
1823, and so was eighty-three years old. 
JACKDAW OR PLOVER. 
AmonG the delicacies by which the fashionable 
British palate is tickled, plovers’ eggs rank high. 
At the proper season of the year the gathering of 
them is a regular industry, and many are im- 
ported from the Continent. Several species of 
plover breed in Great Britain, as they do over 
much of northern and central Europe. The sandy 
pastures and shores of the Hebrides and of the 
Orkney and Shetland Islands are resorted to by 
thousands of the-golden plover, but other species 
breed on certain downs and moors in other parts 
of Scotland and in England. The bird which fur- 
nishes most of the eggs, however, is the “peewit” 
or lapwing, an abundant resident throughout 
Great Britain. 
The birds breed on the moors, in the fens or 
wet meadows, on the upland, in plowed fields, 
or among new wheat just starting to grow. Some- 
times an expert egg-gatherer may collect two 
dozen or more eggs in a morning. Of recent 
years, owing to the constantly increasing demand 
for plovers’ eggs and the lessening supply, there 
have been many attempts to substitute the eggs 
of some other birds for those of the plover. 
The last substitute is said to have been found 
in the eggs of the jackdaw—a small crow of Eu- 
rope. about fourteen inches long, black with a 
dark gray neck. It builds its nests in holes of 
cliffs and in ruins, is little molested, and fre- 
quents towns and villages where sometimes it 
builds its nests in unused chimneys by partly fill- 
ing them up with sticks. In doing this a great 
mass of sticks and twigs is sometimes brought 
together, and it, is reported that sixty years ago 
a pair of jackdaws, in the course of seventeen 
days, made a pile of sticks and twigs ten feet 
high in the staircase of the bell tower of Eton 
College. The jackdaw is very easily tamed, makes 
an attractive pet, and has some powers of mim- 
icry, being said to be able to imitate the human 
voice. 
If jackdaws’ eggs can be made to take the 
place of plovers’ eggs in the estimation of the 
British gourmands, the change is a good one. The 
substitution of the eggs of a semi-domesticated 
for those of a wild bird is much to be desired. 
A USE FOR-+THE DOGFISH. 
To ANGLERS the dogfish is a repulsive creature, 
while to the commercial fishermen it is a curse. 
Voracious to the last degree, and feeding on any- 
thing that it can obtain—even its own young—it 
swarms in the northern seas and is very destruc- 
tive. Mackerel fishermen state that it is often a 
most difficult matter to save the fish that they 
have inclosed in their nets, for when a school 
has been netted, the dogfish gather closely around 
the net and, striving to reach the mackerel which 
they see within, they bite through the strands 
of twine and tear the nets so that often all the 
mackerel escape. 
Hitherto only one part of the dogfish has been 
regarded as useful—the liver, which yields an 
excellent oil. But when this minute fragment of 
the carcass has been saved, the rest is thrown 
overboard as valueless. 
Among English people, however, a change of 
view seems to have taken place, for Consul 
Stevens reports from Plymouth that the dogfish 
is now considered good to eat. Its name has 
been changed to “flake,” and this makes some 
difference. This is what the Consul says: 
“The Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee have 
recently indorsed the favorable verdict previously 
given at Plymouth as to the edible qualities of 
dogfish, and no doubt their approval will give a 
further stimulus to the consumption of this once 
despised fish. The committee also approved of 
the new name given the fish—namely, ‘flake,’ 
the general acceptance of which, indeed, may 
now be said to be assured. Whereas, only a few 
months ago complaints were made of the ravages 
committeed by apparently inexhaustible shoals 
of dogfish, the fishermen now complain that they 
cannot get enough ‘flake’ for the market. They 
hope for their speedy return. Preparations are 
being made for better equipment in the way of 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1906. 
VOL. LXVI.—No. 19. 
1 No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
nets and gear for the next season. The railway 
charges for ‘flake’ have already been reduced 
from Plymouth to the great centers of popula- 
tion.” 
Dogfish is only shark, and many fishermen, 
especially the members of the old Ichthyopha- 
gous Club, have eaten shark by way of experi- 
ment; but we confess that we never heard of 
anybody who felt a passionate desire to eat it a 
second time. However, there is no doubt a certain 
amount of nourishment in the flesh of the shark, 
and if the world can be induced to eat dogfish by 
wholesale there is some hope that the creature 
will at some time, be exterminated. 
FEDERAL LEGISLATION. 
Last week the House adopted Mr. Lacey’s 
amendment to the General Appropriation bill, 
which provides money to fence a large pasture 
for buffalo in the Wichita Forest Reserve. If 
this shall be provided the New York Zoological 
Society has arranged to present to the Govern- 
ment a number of buffalo to stock the pasture, 
and the United States will then be in the position 
of owning two independent herds of buffalo, 
whose environment is entirely different and 
which will thus have a double chance of escape 
from accident and disease. 
The bill authorizing the President to set aside 
portions of the forest reserves as game refuges 
ought to be pushed forward, and will be, we are 
confident, at the first favorable opportunity. It 
is favored by all naturalists and sportsmen as 
well as by the Audubon and other humane socie- 
ties, and there seems to be no opposition to it. 
There is reported to be good prospect that it will 
pass, and- Mr. Perkins in the Senate.and Mr. 
Lacey in the House may be trusted to do all in 
their power to hurry it along. 
The Appalachian Forest Reserve bill now be- 
fore Congress ought to be acted on. New Eng- 
landers understand that unless provision is made 
soon for protecting the forests which clothe the 
slopes of the White Mountains, these forests will 
be swallowed up by the digester of the all-de- 
vouring pulp mill, and after the forests are gone 
what of the rivers? Senator Brundage, of Con- 
necticut, well said: “The White Mountains con- 
stitute the great watershed of the New England 
States. Five of the principal rivers of this section 
rise or have important tributaries that originate 
there, and all of the New England States save 
Rhode Island are concerned in the preservation 
of their even flow.” 
The mountain forests of Virginia, West Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
Alabama and Tennessee, all require like protec- 
tion, and citizens of all these States should im- 
press upon their representatives in Congress that 
the people of these States are alive to the dangers 
that threaten them. The residents of these States 
must make their influence felt. If they do not, 
their Congressmen cannot be expected to actively 
interest themselves in the measures. 
