
FOREST AND STREAM. 
43 


Sea and River Sishing. 
GAME FISH IN SEASON IN SEPTEMBER. 
eee Fe 
Striped Bass, (Labram laneatus.) 
Black Bass, (Centrarchus fasciatus. 
Maskinonge 
—— +. ‘ 
With the advent of autumn the Salmon family pass off 
the stage as fish im season, and with local exceptions, 
are preparing for their work of propagation. Nevertheless the 
legal limit in the Lower Provinces for salmon and trout is 
the 15th September, and for trout in the State of New 
York, the same date. In many States the close season does 
not begin until October. 
Bluefish, (Zemnodon saltator.) 
Land-locked Salmon, (salmmo Gloveri. 
Trout, (Salmo fontinalis.) 

Black bass fishing is now in its prime. The range of this fish. 
and the number of places in which to take it, have been much 
extended by the efforts of the Fishery Commissions of 
several States, although some of the Commissioners seem 
to have a prejudice against its universal introduction. This 
is one of the gamiest fish in our waters, and by some ang- 
lers is preferred to the trout on fine tackle. For ourselves 
we give the bass preference over the rather sluggish speck- 
led trout that are taken in ponds and lakes. Lake 
Simcoe, Belleville, Nipissing, and indeed the whole extent 
of the Province of Ontario, afford supurb black bass fish- 
ing. The St. Lawrence river through the Thousand Islands, 
the lower tier of the Adirondack lakes, the great lakes of 
Western New York, and especially the lakes of Wisconsin 
and Minnesota, are favorite resorts of this fine fish. He 
takes a fly readily, and is greedy for ‘‘ spoon victuals.” The 
usual method of capture is to troll with a spoon, but by it 
one-half of the pleasure which the fly affords is lost. A 
medium sized spoon is needed, and if a fly be used a mix- 
ture of red and white feathers on a salmon hook will kill 
most every time. Brownish flies are used of several pat- 
terns, but a mixture of gaudy colors seem always requi- 
site. An economical and killing ‘‘fly” can be made from the 
nethermost part of an old flannel shirt. 
The striped bass of the ocean, like his namesake, is in full 
season now, and from this time on all through September 
and into October, the sport will be at its height. 
During the past six weeks heavy scores have been made 
along the eastern shore. The Squidnoket Club, from June 
20th to August 6th, footed up a total of 1,800 pounds with 
a 56-pounder for their heaviest trophy. The run was 
from thirteen pounds upward. 
At ‘*‘No Man’s Land,” near Martha’s Vineyard, the 
fishing has been poor thus far in consequence of a wreck 
having gone ashore there on a clay bottom. She obsti- 
nately refuses to go to pieces, and the swash of the waves 
alternately upon her staunch old sides, and upon the bot- 
tom, beclouds the water with a milky hue that keeps the 
fish away. 
At Gay Head, if the wind is southeasterly, so that it blows 
from Cuttyhunk, the fishing is also spoiled by this same 
washing of the white clay bottom; but there are one or two 
points along shore known to old fishermen only, where good 
sport can be had when the wind is from the northward. 
The lighthouse keeper at Gay Head is always. glad to en- 
tertain anglers. 
Niantic, near New London, was tormerty a remarkable 
ground for bass fishing, as much as 10,000 pounds of fish 
having been taken there ina single season with the line. The 
Niantic river, two-and-a-half miles long, connects the bay 
with a lake which receives the waters of several fine trout 
streams, so that the river and bay form a natural breeding 
and spawning ground for bass. A number of elegant villas 
line the river and sea-beach. There are two hotels, one at 
Block Point on the East Lyme side, and the other on the 
opposite side of the river at Bloody Point. Niantic Bay is 
three miles wide, and hasa depth of three fathoms. In 
the channel below the railroad bridge, itis five fathoms, 
and here is the place to throw for bass. Striped Bass have 
been biting freely for the past two weeks about the islands 
and grassy shallows of Hell Gate and Harlem River. 
Philadelphians have got to trolling for bluefish by steam. 
One of them who returned from Providence to Philadel- 
phia last week in one of the Clyde steamships, tells us 
that they trolled for bluefish and bonita along the Long 
Island and Jersey coasts while the steamer was under 
full headway. Owing to the extra resistance the hooks 
were often torn from the fishes’ mouths; but enough were 
caught to bountifully supply the table. Shade of Wal- 
ton, defend us from such innovations! 
There are no less than eleven islands in Alexandria Bay 
(St. Lawrence river) occupied by private villas. The finest 
of these island cottages is that of Hon. E. K. Hart, of Al- 
bion. ItisaSwiss cottage, sixty by seventy feet, with a 
tower rising eighty-five feet above the level of the river, 
and cost about twelve thousand dollars. 
The Germantown Telegraph says that the Pennsylvania 
Fish Commisioners will not erect more than one of the 
four fishways in the Susquehanna and tributaries this sea- 
son, and even this one (in the Columbia dam) may be re- 
sisted by the Reading Railroad Company who are lessees of 
the Susquehanna Canal Company. The Railway Company 
may interpose objections to the erection of fishways in the 
Columbia dam, but that cannot hinder the work going on, 
and is probably intended as a basis for damages from the 
Canal Company, should the said ways prove injurious. 
The stocking of the Vermont waters with salmon prom- 
ises to be a success. Several small ones placed in the 
Winooski River have grown two or three inches since last 
summer. co eo 

+ 

RULES FoR FisHERMEN.—The following excellent rules 
are attributed to Rev. Henry Ward Beecher :— 
First—Find out if there is any fish in the river to which you are going ; 
if so, get some one who knows the water to show you where the fish lie ; 
and when he shows them to you don’t you show yourself to them, 
Second—Don’t imagine if the fish does not dart away that he has not 
seen you ; on the contrary, he is yery likely devoting his whole attention 
to you, and preparing to start the moment danger is imminent, 
Third—If you are fishing with a fly, and you pass it neatly three times 
over him, and he refuses it, you need not wait any longer; he has seen 
your line of invitation and does not intend to come. “ 
Fourth—If you are above a fish when you hook him, get below him as 
soon as you can, forif you pull him one instant against the stream, and 
he is a heavy fish, he will break his hold. 
Fifth—Never throw a long line when.a short one will answer. 
Sixth—Never mind what is said about “playing your fish fill he is 
tired ;”’ put him in your basket as soon as you can. 
Seventh—Remember that everything depends upon the way yon begin 
your acquaintance. If you can prevail on a fish to go down the stream a 
little way with you, you will afterward have no difficulty in persuading 
him to let you have the pleasure of seeing him to dinner. 
To these excellent maxims IL beg leave to add one of Mr. Stoddart’s, 
especially intended for bachelors, young and old: ‘Never fallinlove with 
a woman by the waterside; there are situations in which every woman 
looks an ange.” 
Paul Smith, St. Regis Lake, Adirondacks, has this sum- 
mer added billiard and bath rooms to his other recent 
“modern improvements.” Ex-Governor Fenton and the 
Vice Consul for Italy are among his guests. The house is 
chock full and rooms at apremium, The fishing in the Adi- 
dirondacks has been better this year than ever before. We 
regret to say that an unusual quantity of deer have been 
killed. We shall give these deer slayers ‘‘ goss” when we 
are appointed Grand Forester of the new York State Park. 
A correspondent who has just returned from Moosehead 
Lake, in Maine, says the most desirable way of reaching 
the lake is to purchase an excursion ticket at the office in 
Boston via the Eastern railroad to Portiand, thence by 
Maine Central to Dexter, and thence by stage thirty-six 
miles to Lake, and return—cost $15. June and September 
are the best months for fishing the lake, but the adjacent 
ponds whose outlets empty into the Moosehead, are the 
best in July and August. Spencer Pond isa good ground. 
The largest speckled trout caught weighed four pounds. 
The brown hackle with red body and the scarlet ibis 
seemed the most killing flies to use. A guide and canoe 
cost three dollars per day, anda sail boat three dollars 
per day, to be procured at Greenville, foot of the lake. 
Frank Vaugh is reccomended as a guide. 
Art and the Drama. 
The second marked event of the opening of the fall 
season, i matters dramatic, is the production of Mid- 
summer Night’s Dream at the Grand Opera House. This 
play has often been pronounced beyond the capabilities of 
the stage to adequately meet the requirements of scenery 
and acting. Wenow have at the Grand Opera a marked 
attempt to realize the ideal ccrations of ‘‘ fairy land,” and 
from a scenic point of view, it is a great success—just such 
a kind of success, that fills Niblo’s Garden with admirers 
of the Black Crook; but those theatrical people, who are 
only charmed with the surface, at the Grand Opera House 
find the inspired language of Shakspeare, instead of the 
maudlin stuff of the Crook, and they are dissatisfied. 
There is no use to disguise the fact that an attempt has 
been made in the revival of this play to attract an audience 
by the presumed splendor of scenery, the text being merely 
used as a reason for ‘‘ gorgeous transformations” and ‘‘fairy 
dells.” The acting indeed is so subordinated to meretri- 
cious display, that it becomes merely a ‘‘gap” to give the 
scene shifters time to play their more important part, and 
Fox of Humpty Dumpty fame, the thoughtless press con- 
gratulates, as the great source of the intellectual interest 
of the performance. 
Theatricals have certainly a downward tendency and 
they seemingly begin to reach the bottom, when Shaks- 
peare is absolutely smuggled before » New York audience 
and attempted to be forced down unwilling throats, just as 
nauseous medicine is made palatable by The thick coating 
of the crystalized juice of the sugar cane. 

But the manager had one resource entirely in his power, 
viz., the reason for producing in perfection Mendelssohn’s 
incomparable musie. But here again the want of faith in 
the modern theatrical manager in anything intrinsically ex- 
cellent, comes in, and we are denied the only intellectual 
luxury that Mr. Daly could give us in perfection. It is 
certainly to be deplored that the entire managerial taste and 
capital should be directed with such prodigality on that 
which alone appeals to the senses through the eye, to such 
an extentindeed, that the intellect is even denied the charm 
of sweet music set in accord by an inspired mind. Men- 
delssohn’s music dazzles the imagination of the listening 
world far more than the varied brilliancy of gas lighted can- 
vas however gorgeous. Had some of the prodigal waste 
of money expended upon this pageant been appropriated 
to training and paying a skillful orchestra, capable of 
discoursing correctly his most wonderful music, and with 
something of the passion, finesse, and playfulness intended 
by that master mind, then Midsummer Night’s Dream would 
have offered an attraction that alone would have sufficed 
to draw thousands of our music loving public. 
Our Teutonic population is so immense, that it con- 
stitutes New York the third largest German city in the 
world, and our German friends crowd in with avidity, at 
every opportunity of hearing the compositions of favorites, 
provided the performers are properly drilled to give an ef- 
fective rendering. Now there is a witchery and charm 
pervading the entire work of Mendelssohn’s so rich in 
thought, so wealthy in detail, that in combination with the 
poetry and action, the enchantment would have been com- 
plete andthe success assured—and there might have been a 



run of many weeks and a realization of money made upon 
a legitimate representation of the highest and most intel- 
lectuai dramatic performances. Instead of this—we have 
a failure—denied, but neverless announced in the fact, that 
the Midsummer Night’s Dream is soon to be withdrawn for 
au newer and ‘more startling novelty of the Wandering 
Jew.” 
We hope the execrable taste that suggested the introduc- 
tion of ‘California music” in place of Mendelsshon’s to 
adorn Shakspeare, will soon cease its baleful influence in a 
city that should dictate, not receive, laws that control refine 
ment and good taste, 
—On Monday evening last the Lydia Thompson troupe com 
menced their fall engagement at the Olympic. The same 
evening the Opera Bouffe was presented at the Broadway, 
the piece selected being ‘‘La Fille de Madame Angot,” the 
principal character by Mlle. Aimee. 
—Salvini and Rainoute with their troupe are expected 
shortly; they were to sail the last week of August and ap 
pear at the Academy on the 15th proximo. 
—The well known prima donna Mme. Van Zandt will 
play in St. Petersburg this week. 
—A new training school for music is to be established 
in London, in connection with the Boyal Albert Hall and 
under the auspices of the Society of Arts. Three hundred 
scholarships are tobe founded, affording gratuitous instruc- 
tion andfree maintenance for students. It will be well 
when some of those charlatans, advertising their so-called 
conservatories here, will be supplanted by ‘some such in 
stitution, that will bear more resemblence to the real thing 
than the name. 
—The Grand Opera House advertises the Wandering 
Jew, (a new version), to succeed the present Shakspearean 
pot pours. 
—Mr. Finlay Finlayson, the popular baritone has just 
finished a simple little operetta for four voices without 
chorus, entitled ‘‘ Mistress and Man.” The plot by the 
same gentleman is comic, and music melodious, after the 
style of Balfe. A small orchestra places the work within 
the reach of small places, and any concert troupe can give 
it for an evening’s entertainment. 
—It is decided that the question of English opera is to 
be tried again in New York, with Miss Clara Louise Kel- 
logg as prima donna, Mrs. Moulton’s name has been men- 
tioned in connection with Santley’s. We shall give more 
information in our next number, as soon as something defi- 
nite is permitted to be known. 
—It is understood that Mme. Maskill will arrive from 
England shortly, as a rival in dramatic readings to Mrs, 
Scott Siddons. 
ee 

Srrance Errer or Terror on Anrs.—In a late num- 
ber of Nature there is an interesting letter from a Mr. 
J. D. Hague, of San Francisco, addressed to Charles Dar- 
win, on the subject of ants, and the terror they are seized 
with on perceiving dead ants on their tracks. Mr. Darwin — 
SAYS 5 
“Myr, Mogeridge tried this experimen} with some ants at 
Mentone with similar effeets. I therefore sent the letter to 
Mr. Hague, and asked him to observe whether his ants 
were alarmed by the smell left by the finger, or’were really 
terrified by the sight of their dead and dying comrades. 
The case appears curious, as believe no one has ever ob- 
served an invertebrate animal realizing danger by seeing the 
corpses of a fellow species. It is indeed very doubtful 
whether the higher animals can draw any such inferences 
from the sight ;Zbut I believe that every one who has had 
experience in trapping animals is convinced that those who 
have never been caught learn that a trap is dangerous by 
seeing others caught.” 
Se 
The Kwitehpak, or Yukon River, has its source far up 
in British America and up in the Rocky Mountains, and 
runs for hundreds of miles in British America, and then 
enters Russian America (Alaska), its course from the source 
to the centre of Russian America being Northwest, and en- 
ters into Behring’s Sea at about North latitude sixty-three 
degrees. 
History tells us that the width of this great river will 
average one mile for the distance of 1,800 miles in length, 
though in some places it is flve miles in width. History 
further tells us that it is navigable for 1,800 miles, though a 
boat could not make more than one trip a year, as the river 
is open but three or four months of the year. In length 
and volume of water it is exceeded only by the Amazon, the 
Mississippi, and, perhaps, the La Plata. It exceeds the Nile, 
the Ganges, the, Volga, the Amoor, and has afliuents to 
which the Rhone and the Rhine are but brooks. The fish- 
eries on the Amazon of the North are said to be the best in 
the world. Moose, reindeer, and hares abound on this great 
river. It costs the natives there but little exertion to po-r 
cure their food. 
$$ 
W. H. Hollister, the wealthy stock raiser of Monterey 
County , Cal., left Ohio for the Golden State twenty years 
ago, driving with him eight hundred sheep. His neighbors 
thought he was insane to enter upon such a foolhardy un- 
der-taking ; but he persisted; and after heing a year upon the 
road and enduring all manner of hardships he finally reach- 
ed California with three hundred sheep remaining out of his 
original flock. By care and good management each one of 
these three hundred sheep yielded $1,000 before it died, or a 
total of $300,000. This sum has since been increased to 
$3,000,000, his estimated wealth at present. 

—~o + 
—The Caleutia Times of India, states that a Cobra twenty 
one feet long was killed by some Englishmen lately on the 
Padueuttah bills. The snake had the day before swallowed 
a native child. 
