New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-09-10

FISHING Edited by Horace 6. hutchinson. Crhe
volumes. Illustrated octave, PIP xviii ZIG; Kill
4i5. Imported by Charles scribner's Sons.
Fishing to-day. as Mr. Hutchinson states in
his introduction 10 the latest volumes Of the
Country Life" Library of Sport, is very far
from what it was In the days. or. maybe in the
mind only of the late and great DR.. Johnson
an affair Of "a worm at one end and fool at
the other. The grub has turned into the butter
fly and the angler has become something of an
entomologist and q good deal of an ichthyologist.
as Well as much more OF a sportsman than he
was in the good old times This Is. of course,
largely matter Of natural development. Fish
are far less plentiful and much more sought
after than OF yore, and he who would catch
them must study their habits. learn their his
tory and tempt their appetites with their favor
ite titbits or with such colorado limitations as
he can best devise.
AS the work involved in angling has in
creased through the scarceness and wariness
of the quarry. the true sportsman seeks to get as
much fun out Of It as he can, and go constructs
HIS rod and tackle as light he dares, To
render the ca pture more exciting when once he
has succeeded In hooking his prey. Frederic NJ
Hslford, the veteran angler. who contributes in
teresting chapters fiyfshing for trout, recalls
that when he Joined the famous Houghton Fish
ing Club not forty years ago. the members
wearing high black silk hats, hshed with small
salmon rods-"huge double handled affairs
with strong gut and flies two and three times
large as those now IN use II am bound to
knowledge" he adds that they caught fish,
and many fish, and big fish. but unless they
mended their ways they would not do 50 now"
How these old ways have been mended TO
meet modern conditions il set forth at
length and with much instructive detail in the
bx,S iaGy
ties as c. A Boulenger, DR.. J. Kingston Barker
J. B. Fielding John James Hardy Captain c. E
Radclyffe, f. V. Carrie F. NJ Halford. the Hon
A. E. Claiborne Hardy, r. 3. AIarston. j. Turner
Turner. Hercules Ross, A. Jardine. ]. w Willis
Bund. F. G. Ahalo and the editor himself. The
first volume is devoted to the salmon family
including the CHAIR and the CRAWLING well as
OF course the trout. The second volume takes
up the other fish which English cousins seek
for sport with rod and reel-pike, perch carp
barbel. roach rudd, club dace, teneh, Dream
and the elusive. slippery eel A few pages are
given to tarpon fishing IN Florida. and a few
cha piers 10 the game fish OF India the mahseer
and the bols, but the American reader will look
IN vain for word about that king OF all small
game fish. the sportiest spunkest little fellow of
them all - Mcropterus dolOmieu. small
mouthed black base The last half OF Volume
II is devoted TO British sea fish, and the methods
of catching them from boats and from Shore
together with a valuable digest of the English
fishery laws. Although the work is intended pri-
marily for English readers and anglers, there is
little in its contents that will not equally appeal
20 the American fisherman. The natural history
notes, by G. A. Boulenger on the different varie-
ties Of fish mentioned are extremely instructive
and suggestive and the chapters salmon and
trout fishing OF universal application.
According to a Norwegian proverb. "a dear
child has many names" and Mr. Boulenger de-
clares it applies equally well TO the salmon and
trout. dear to the heart of the fisherman. He
believes that the species have been unduly null
tiplied by many writers, but even he finds eighty
species which he regards valid Fortunately
they do not all have to be ished for in different
ways, and the methods adapted TO catching one
are under similar conditions adapted 10 catch
ing the others.
There seems TO be some difference OF opinion
among the contributors the work as to
whether the salmon is by origin fresh water or
marine dweller, but the weight OF authority
seems TO tend 20 the belief In his fresh water
origin, as ell salmon seek rivers in which to
spawn. and those which have become landlocked
thrive and develop in their fresh water environ
ment Tho argument that salmon do not eat IN
fresh water might be more convincing IL there
were more unanlmity OF opinion on that point as
well Mr. Bouenger holds that they do not, but
the anglers ask. Then why are they caught
by flies and lures? The pros and cons are given
by different writers. and when all has been said
IL Is evident that the salmon is a good deal of a
mystery yet-a fact which, happily. does not de-
tract from HIS attractions game fish. about
which there is DO uncertainty at ALL
Mr.. Hardy In his chapter on salmon flies, puts
forth the interesting theory that the salmon
does not take It because It thinks it is real
fly. but because II believes It to be a small fsh