AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



143 



point will be now 1 900 feetto the east. Butin its flight, itwill 

 have made a mathematical a.n^e, from a direct line drawn 

 from the point of emission to the centre of the earth, the 

 maximum of its altitude being 50 feet west of a perpendi- 

 cular, but as in measurable distances this would be inappre- 

 ciable, it need not be considered. Let us reverse the case, 

 and suppose a body let fall from this point in the air which 

 is passing forward at 1000 feet, and it reaches the earth 

 which is travelling at 950 feet in the second. Now where 

 will the body touch on the surface? Just 50 feet in advance 

 of the foot of the tower. 



All this proves, that if the muzzle of the gun be passing 

 laterally at the rate of 10 feet in the second, the ball can 

 possibly receive but the same momentum, and whether the 

 load be one second or the 20th part, in passing to the object, 

 the proportion will be the same. 



In addition to all this, the duck-shooters who live at 

 Egg-harbour and on the Chesapeake, have always advis- 

 ed to give a certain allowance. I have conversed with 

 scores of them, and have never heard a variance of senti- 

 ment, and in objecting to a short gun, the reason they have 

 urged was, that they had to give their aim so much 

 advance. At sixty yards, heavy shot will scatter several 

 feet when fired from the best gun, and therefore, many 

 birds are struck, when the mass of the load may have passed 

 far behind the duck. 



In common game, it would be absurd to make any allow- 

 ance, from the slowness of flight, and general nearness of 

 object, and where the number of pellets is so great, the 

 space covered, will be more than sufBcient. It is with a 

 ball alone, the matter can be determined. 



With respect to therestof "Sportsman's Rejoinder," his 

 explanation and reasoning are certainly convincing, and 

 it gives me much pleasure to acknowledge the coi"- 

 rectness of his philosophy. That a peculiar sound can 

 be heard when ducks are struck, there is no doubt, though 

 it is more than probable, the non-entering pellets produce 

 it; although, as I before remarked, a ball that passes 

 through a deer can be heard distinctly to strike. My object 

 was merely to prove, that sufficient time did elapse, for the 

 sound to be heard distinctly by the shooter, and that rarely 

 a duck was killed, without some of the shot being heard im- 

 pinging, and old duck shooters have informed me thej^ 

 could say without hesitation, from the sound alone, what 

 part of the bird received the load. I. T. S. 



Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in the Country 

 to his Friend in Philadelphia. 



"Theke is now in the grove near the house, a cock phea- 

 sant which drums every da}'. Yesterday morning as I 

 came out of tlic east door, which leads from the house to 



the office, a favourite peacock was standing close to it, and 

 I heard behind a lilac bush, two or three yards from the 

 door, the pheasant's peculiar clucking noise: as I wished 

 not to disturb him, I walked on towards the office; but had 

 scarcely passed the bush ere he went ofl^ with a whirr, almost 

 touching Jack, thepeacock, who seemed to mistake the noise 

 for thatof some missile aimed at him. He took to his wings, 

 his long tail, which spreads ten feet, dangling after him, and 

 scolding all the way, flew to one of the tall trees on the lake 

 shore, where he spent an hour on the highest branch, appa- 

 rently in deep reflection as to the cause of his alarm. I saw 

 him afterwards with his long neck stretched out, treading 

 most gently on tiptoe, and examining with his keen eyes 

 behind the lilac bush. It is not a trifle that will frighten 

 Jack. He is very familiar, and comes at a call to take any 

 thing from your hand. He possesses great courage, and has 

 several battles daily with two superb wild turkey cocks of 

 great size and most brilliant plumage, which we have do- 

 mesticated. Last year, when they were in their second 

 season, he beat them both, but this year they overpower 

 him with their great weight; and besides, they are now 

 joined by a son, a half-blood, which renders the battle very 

 unequal. But Jack's rule is, never to decline a combat of- 

 fered by them, and the servants have very frequently to 

 use switches to separate the belligerents. Whilst I write, 

 I hear Jack's shout of defiance on the south sideoftheoffice, 

 answered by the war cry gobble of the turkies on the north, 

 and I shall have to ring the bell for some mediator to in- 



terpose between them." 



May, 1831. 



Notes of a Naturalist. By Jacob Green, M. D. 



SAGACITY OF A DOG. 



'Tis thought by some, that all animals are surrounded by 

 an odoriferous atmosphere, and that each species, and even 

 each individual, emits a volatile principle peculiar to itself. 

 I knew a person whose sense of smell was so exceedingly 

 delicate as to enable him to distinguish his friends by this 

 odorous principle alone. From some recent experiments 

 of a French chemist, this odour is found in the blood, and 

 may be readilj^ produced from it by the addition of a little 

 strong sulphuric acid. Every one familiar with rural em- 

 ployments knows, that after sheep have been washed or 

 shorn, there is great confusion among the flock; the lambs 

 and ewes run bleating about, and it is some time before the 

 mother and the ofi'springrecognizeeacli other. This embar- 

 rassment, is, no doubt, occasioned by the lessor the dimi- 

 nution, in intensity, of the volatile odoriferous principle 

 peculiar to each. It has been long ago remarked, that the 

 brute creation recognize each other more from the smell 

 than the sight. The following anecdote may serve still 



