PORTER TYLER. 53 



Port thought that he could serve up some nice fat 

 young muskrats so they would fill Dandaraw's descrip- 

 tion, and even Bill Fairchild would smack his lips loudly 

 and say "O-o-o," and it was agreed to try it a few weeks 

 later; but I missed the feast. 



Tyler was the only man I ever knew who could suc- 

 cessfully hunt woodcock without a dog. He seemed to 

 know just where to look for them and how to find them, 

 and said that he did not want to be bothered with a dog. 

 An English gunner and dog fancier lived in that lower 

 end of Albany called Bethlehem perhaps the same dis- 

 trict now known as Kenwood. They called him Ken 

 King, his front name being Kenneth, and I bought a bitch 

 puppy from him, the mother being a pointer of famous 

 stock and the father the then celebrated setter Dash, the 

 crack setter of the time, owned by Mr. James Bleecker. 

 By the way, this Nell of mine never showed the slightest 

 trace of setter blood, and she went to Michigan afterward, 

 and was the mother of many good pointers with never a 

 sign of setter blood. 



This was in 1853, and my people having moved to 

 Albany there was no place for Nell, and Port agreed to 

 take care of her. I wanted him to work her on snipe and 

 woodcock, but he said: "A dog is all right for men who 

 can't find birds without one, but they are little use to me; 

 I like to find 'em myself, and on the old grounds that I've 

 hunted for years I know the best feedin' spots in every 

 marsh or cornfield, and if the birds are there they'll not be 

 far from these spots." This is a strange statement, but 

 the fact that this man lived up to it and shot both snipe 

 and woodcock for market without a dog can be attested 

 by men now living in Albany and Greenbush. Surely a 

 most strange and interesting character was Old Port 

 Tyler. 



