
FOREST AND STREAM. 

freezing hard at nights. We had our sheep under shelter, a 
long pen with a sloping roof, thatched with straw, but the 
weather was so severe that when the early lambs came they 
froze to death as soon as they were dropped. In throwing 
out the first dead lamb it happened by accident to fall upon 
the sloping roof; but it didn’t stay there long I can tell you. 
Those eagles were about every day and were mighty hun- 
gry. I had hardly got away from the stock yard, when 
one of them came out of the sky like a flash of lightning, 
and picked up that dead lamb before you could say ‘ Jack 
Robinson.’ I was rather glad she (for it was the female, 
you can tell that by the greater size), took off the lamb, for 
it would save me the trouble of burying it when the warm 
weather came. As the other lambs died, and there were a 
good many of them, we threw them on the roof, knowing 
the eagles would soon carry them away. At last the 
weather grew warmer, and no more lambs died. Still the 
eagles paid us daily visits as usual, for they seemed to like 
‘spring lamb’ as well as city folks, even if it was a little off. 
T had just come out of the door one sun-shiney morning, and 
saw the eagle sweep out of the woods, then suddenly turn in 
her flight, directing her course towards the sheep pen, as 
she had often done before. Aha, I said to’ myself, no 
‘lamb chops’ for you; but swifter than my thought, she 
dashed down, and before I had even time to wonder, the 
whole thing was out. Our old white tom cat had gone on 
the sloping roof to rest himself, after a night’s mousing or 
courting, and lay there all unconscious of danger, stretched 
out in the sun. Of course the eagle had gone for another 
lamb. She only woke up a small lion, I tell you there 
were fur and feathers at once. With a terrific scream, the 
eagle struggled to rise in the air, her claws planted deep in 
old tom’s stomach. With a horrible squall the surprised 
and infuriated cat clawed and seratched, and drove her 
fangs in the eagle’s neck. The screams of the one and the 
squalls of the other, were something frightful. The feath- 
ers drifted one way and the fur floated another, as the eagle 
bore the cat higher and higher in the air. But it didn’t 
last long, that fight. Like arough and tumble fight, some- 
thing is bound to happen soon, and it did happen sooner 
than it has taken me to tell it. A hundred yards.in the air, 
the cat had given the eagle a fatal bite. Ina moment her 
head drooped, her wings collapsed, and swifter than they 
had ascended they fell together on the frozen ground. 
When I reached the spot they both lay dead in a sort of 
fatal embrace; the force of the fall had killed the cat and 
he had killed theeagle. And that you see is how that eagle 
lost his mate, and how we lost our old white tom cat. 
CANVAS BAcK. 
—_—__—<+—______ 
BASS IN TROUT WATERS. 
Rae Cea 
Honeoye Fauts, September 10th, 1873. 
Eprror or Forest AND STREAM:— 
Since the publication of my article in which I placed the 
plebian bull-head next to the lordly trout as a profitable 
fresh water table fish, I have been expecting some one to 
take up the gauntlet thus thrown down, in order that we 
might have this subject well ventilated, but as no one has 
seemingly: cared to break a lance in any such tournament 
as that, I have concluded to try again. First, to correctly 
define my position, I will say, in all that I have ever written 
upon fish, the question of profit is the one ever uppermost, 
for, as is well known, fish breeding is my business, and 
although I love it, itis not my pleasure. With the sport 
of angling, which has so many enthusiastic votaries, and 
whose able pens so well recount and describe its pleasures 
in the pages of Forest and Srreawm, I do not propose to 
interfere; but having paid some attention-to the increase 
and profitableness of many of our fresh-water fish, I will 
give my opinions always as a fish culturist and not asa. 
sportsman. 
In your issue of September 4th, ‘‘Piscator” enters his 
protest against the indiscriminate introduction of all kinds 
of predatory fish into the waters of the State, and especially 
the introduction of bass in trout waters. 
No doubt but what the Commissioners believe they were 
right in putting bass in the Racquette, but with all deference 
to those gentlemen, to whom the State of New York owes 
wuch for their invaluable services, I am among those who 
think that they made a serious blunder in this matter, and 
will be glad to hear from the other side of the questionand be 
set right, if wrong, as the truth in these matters is of far 
more value that any man’s ‘‘ ideas.” 
One of the reasons given at the time that the bass were 
put in, was that the trout were being exterminated, and 
consequently but little fishing was done there compared 
with former years, and that the bass would be more valu- 
able to the inhabitants of that region than the trout (2), that 
there would be ten pounds of bass to one of trout, and so” 
the people could have plenty of fish all the year round; 
~ also, that the pleasure of a few sportsmen who visited that 
region for a few months in the year was not to be put in 
comparison with this; all of which would be very good if 
it were not for the fact that those transient sportsmen whom 
the few trout lured farther into the wilderness than any 
amount of black bass could ever do, employed the people 
as guides, boarded with them, were transported by them, 
and left money enough there in those few months to sup- 
port them the rest of the year, and in this way more than 
compensated them for any difference in the number of 
pouads of fish. The Commissioners refer to this matter in 
their report for 1872. They say ; 
“Some species live on the product of vegetable matter, 
being the harvesters of the fields of the sea, in which there 
isa yearly growth of this nutritious food of an amount 
rarely estimated. 


“Of these species a few, such as the whitefish and suckers, 
are themselves fit for human 
useful as furnishing the support of more desirable varieties, 
On the land grain and grass are grown to feed cattle, which 
are again converted into butcher’s meat for the human 
race, 
may be carried one step further. 
: Analagous to the system 
of tillage by plowing in clover for 
ferior fish, which again may be left as prey to larger and 
more marketable kinds. While on this analogy, it may be 
suggested that rotation of crops may be as advantageously 
introduced in pisciculture as in agriculture. In a portion 
of France where the land is low, and can be overflowed at 
pleasure by a system of dyking, crops of grain and eels are 
alternated, the latter being the more profitable; but this is 
only the germ of the true principle. When one sort of root 
or grain or vegetable is repeated on the same land it is found 
that the soil is exhausted of its food, while its enemies are 
augmented in number. Identically the same thing occurs 
with fish that are kept in one locality. They use up their 
food and increase the list of their foes: 
“So soon as this happens the suffer, and should be sup- 
planted by a different species, living on different food, and 
having a totally different class of enemies. Wherever this 
has been done the effect has been surprising, the new species 
increasing enormously for the first few years, and then 
meeting the same fate as their predecessors. 
‘It was on this theory that your Commissioners acted in 
introducing black bass into some of the lakes in the wilder- 
ness of this State which were once inhabited by speckled 
trout, but which have long since been practically depopu- 
lated, and a similar benefit is confidently predicted.” 
This theory is very plausible, but let us see how it is sup- 
ported by fact. In the first place, it is hard_y fair to com- 
pare the culture of fish to that of grain, or reason from 
analogy when the objects are not analagous ;, but to dig 
right into the ease, what are the enemies of trout? Loons, 
kingfishers, wading birds, mink, otters, man, parasites, &c. 
And are they not all the enemies of bass as well? Andcon 
cerning the question of food, are not both fish pisciverous 
and insectiverous in about an equal degreee? What article 
of food does the trout consume that the bass will refuse? 
And where has this been tried with such surprising effect? 
If the Commissioners, acting on this ‘theory,’ had 
stocked these waters with whitefish, siscoes, smelts, or even 
carp, they would have conferred all the benefits alluded to 
above without injury to the trout. ; 
It would be as well before closing this article, to look at 
this ‘‘ theory.” a little. 
The waters of the Adirondacks have been the home of 
trout perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years, and 
when the white man first came they were swarming with 
them; they have been decreasing perhaps twenty years, 
certainly not more; and is this attributable to the failure or 
exhaustion of their food supply? If so, it is singular, as 
the insect breeding woods still remain, and the waters are 
undiminished. The fact is that there is more fishing out 
of season than there should be; the demand in the cities 
| has stimulated those inhabitants for whose benefit the bass 
were put in to catch trout in the winter, when the weather 
will permit them to be transported, and a false taste among 
monied parvenus who will buy them out of season encour- 
ages it. 
The last two winters I have seen the fish stands in Albany 
filed with them in January and February, and two years 
ago, while there, I called on several sportsmen and tried to 
stir them up aboutit. They, however, did not take any 
action in the matter, and so Albany is well supplied with 
brook trout all winter. 
This is the real reason why the trout are decreasing; and 
while I disagree with the Commissioners about their using 
up their food, I fully concur with them that one enemy 
at least has increased, and that one is man. : 
FRED. MATHER. 

++ 
PRAIRIE CHICKEN SHOOTING. 
a, es 
TREMPELAU Co., Wis., September 13, 1873. 
Eprror Forest anpD STREAM :— 
Remarkable are the powers of locomotion. I have been 
shooting chickens for the last two days in Trempelau Co., 
Wisconsin, with an enthusiastic English friend, who, dis- 
gusted with the opening of the season in Argylshire, ab- 
solutely packed up guns, sporting rig, and all, and with a 
dog, took steamer from Liverpool on the 14th of August, 
and on the 8th of this month telegraphed me in La Crosse 
from Chicago, something to this effect: ‘‘A dog, a gun, and 
aman lost in Chicago. Please provide for me.” An hour 
later I should have missed his telegram. Two days ago my 
friend made his appearance, and we have been hard at 
work ever since. Last year I had left a brace of dogs with 
a farmer friend of mine in the neighborhood, and was de- 
lighted with the excellent training they had gone through. 
Nothing could have been more amusing than their conduct 
towards their green English cousin, a fine specimen of the 
English pointer. I prefer very much open prairie shooting, 
and rarely follow the birds into the corn ridges, and both 
my dogs had been taught to jump occasionally clear up out 
of the high grassto show themselves. The English dog 
seemed at first fairly amazed at this performance, but 
whether from force of example or not, yesterday, having 
got over his astonishment, we were both surprised to see 
him make one or two futile attempts of the same character. 
Yesterday evening, however, we withdrew him from action. 
His long travel must have made him footsore, and net un- 
derstanding how to manage the tough resinous grass, he 
cut himself a great deal. His performances were, how- 
ever, in the highest degree creditable, and the methodical 
way in which he worked up every foot of ground, showed 
his admirable training. I am pleased to say that Lion is to 
food, but they are principally 
In the water the same course may be pursued, or it 
manure, the product of 
water vegetables may be consumed by crustaceous and in- 
83 
end his days in this country, and some day I trust to in- 
form you of the’good deeds of his offspring. 
My English friend used a gun I have never yet seen in 
the United States, Mercott’s breech-loader, which has no 
hammers. Its shooting was admirable, and its mechanism 
simplicity itself. JT had a Purdy C. F., 12 bore, bought for 
me by my friend, and IT have been delighted with its per- 
formance. I somewhat surprised my companion by the 
weight of shot and-charge of powder I used. Chicken 
shooting and the characteristics of the bird, I need not de- 
scribe, as I suppose most of your readers are familiar with 
it. Ithink birds are getting more shy, and less plenty 
every year, even in «this neighborhood. Our bag has been 
however, remarkably fair, Yesterday was.our best day, 
my English friend taking to it naturally, and dropping his 
birds in splendid style. To day birds have not been quite 
as plenty. Our total for the two days has been thirty-seven 
and a half brace. Birds in tip-top order, with a fair pro- 
portion of old birds. Grass thicker and tougher than I 
have seen for some years. My English friend says that he 
is very certain that the condition of the game in the old 
country must bring over here a number of English sports- 
men. Perhaps I may induce him to drop you a line giving 
you an Englishman’s experience in the field. He is in- 
clined to think that English shooting theory is all very fair, 
but that in some respects American practice is quite as 
good. Strange to say, he is enthusiastic over my dogs, and 
well he may be. What higher compliment could he pay 
them than by wanting to take a six months puppy of mine, 
born and bred within six miles of where I am writing this, 
back with him to old England. He says our dogs have a 
toughness and rapidity of gait which might be useful in 
England. This is rather a letter about dogs than birds. 
dt teh 
~~ 0 = 
AMERICA’S GAME AND FISH SUPERIOR 
TO THOSE OF EUROPE. 
ee ees 
‘PARTRIDGE, fat and tender, is as good as a mush. 
jay room. ‘Truffles do not improve woodcock. The 
birds can afford to go it on their own hook without any as 
sistance whatever. So with such fish as the pompano, the 
mountain trout, the Jack salmon and the shad. They are 
able to ‘stand alone. Over here they don’t stand at all. 
Their best fish is the crawfish and the snail, for the lobster 
is indigenous everywhere, and is not to be counted in the 
list at all. They know nothing of the soft-shell crab, of 
the terrapin, or of the oyster asa cookable viand. Their 
turbot will not compare with our halibut, nor their sole 
with our shad. The English white-bait is simply a min- 
now, and only a trifle better than a smelt. In soups, which 
is a thing of condiments, they do excel us. As a general 
rule their service is neater than ours. But you can give, on 
a few hours’ notice, a better dinner at the’St. Nicholas, in 
Cincinnati, or at Rufer’s, in Louisville, wines included? than 
you can give in Paris, at the Café Anglais, or in London at 
the Burlington. The American prices will range some- 
what higher, certainly. But we pay high duties on wine, 
and it is there that the figures will chieily tell in the bill. 
Not much difference will be found as to the dishes. 
A word or two about these prices. To be sure, there is 
considerable art in ordering a dinner, involving both a 
knowledge of the French language and a knowledge of the 
particular restaurant where you are dining. The Ameri. 
ican who understands neither may expect to pay thirty per 
cent. more than other people who do. Ignorance of every 
sort, and all over the world, has to be paid for. But, at 
the best, he who expects to dine like a swell must also ex- 
pect to settle like a swell. I have never heard of a good, 
first-class cheap dinner in Paris. At the Diner de Paris, 
where they charge you six francs ($1 50 in greenbacks), 
the food is all messed, and the wine is sour. There is no 
thoroughly good table @’hote at a fixed pricein Paris. When 
you order @ la carte, you will have to take the consequences, 
and $3 or $4 a head wil secure a square, well-served meal 
not gorgeous or elaborate—and that is all. It is sheer non- 
sense to talk about cheapness. If one is to live like a nabob 
he must fetch plenty of money with him and spend it 
freely.—H. W. to Louisville Courier-Journal, 
ee ee 


—What is the difference between an angler and a dunce? 
One baits his hook; the other hates his book. 
—A good many people have expressed the belief that 
Professor Wise is half crazy, but according to last accounts 
he isn’t by any means as flighty as he was. 
—They are building snow ‘sheds, Rocky Mountain 
fashion, at the Cobequid Mountains, in Nova Scotia, on the 
line of the Intercolonial Railroad. ’ 
—Prolific copper mines have lately been discovered at 
Antigouish, Nova Scotia, and new coal veins about four 
miles from Port Hood, Cape Breton. 
—The Blooming Grove Park Association has been pre- 
sented with four deer, six English pheasants, and two geese, 
from the estate of John Magee, Watkins, New York. 
—In Smileytown, Kentucky, a watermelon has been 
found without any vine. It grew directly from the roots 
within one inch of the ground. The seed was brought from 
Nicaragua, : 
—It is stated that in all the country between the valley 
of Truckee and that of Salt Lake, a*distance of nearly 600 
miles, there lived, when the Central Pacific Railroad was 
commenced, but one white man. Its civilized population 
is now nearly 100,000. 
—San Francisco institutions are especially flourishing, 
The population is estimated by Mr. Langley to be 188,000, 
of whom 12,000 are Chinese, leaving 176,000 liable to make 
deposits, which now aggregate $43,731,228. This gives a 
depositary representation of $248.50 to every individual in 
the community, and is far in excess of any other portion of 
the globe. The number of actual. depositors being 49,3065, 
the average to each is $886.95 gold, equal to $1,020 
eurrency, ; 
