190 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



the brood of offspring, whose exact number I have not yet de- 

 termined. 



Como is a namesake of the beautiful and picturesque Ital- 

 ian town, and though not daring to rival it in grandeur of 

 surroundings is yet appropriately named. Lake Como in 

 Wyoming is a clear crystal sheet of water, slightly alkaline, 

 blue as the sky it reflects, with several bays and indentations, 

 and stretching from close by the railway line about two miles 

 to the north east. Its shores are diversified by alternate over- 

 hanging bushes, white sandstone cliffs twenty feet in height, 

 and prairie lands sloping to the water's edge. Its depth varies 

 from three to twelve feet, and the sole denizens of its opaque 

 waters are the curious Siredon lichenoides, changing into the 

 lizard-like Amblystoma of terrestial habits, a few water beetles 

 (Hidrobim and Eydrophilus), and this year for the first time, 

 frogs and the transitional tadpole. The bed of the lake is in 

 most parts covered with a beautiful vein-like growth of moss, 

 with spaces between of clear white clay, the whole having a 

 very attractive and fishy look. The surface though, to a 

 sportsman's eye, presents the keenest attractions. Groups of 

 ducks float at all seasons lightly on its ripples, and in the fall 

 days the golden October sun looks down upon its surface lit- 

 erally covered with water fowl. Mallards, gadwalls, shovel- 

 lers, sprigtails, the three varities of teal, Oarolinensis discors 

 and cyanoptera, with occasional flocks of canvas backs, red 

 heads, scaups and a few geese, mostly Canadensis. 



The country about Como is rich in geological treasures, and 

 its beds of fossil remains are yet but slightly worked. The 

 rock exposures are wholly of Mesozoic age, and fine sections 

 from the middle Cretaceous down to the base of the Triassic 

 can be found in the vicinity. From the Jurassic beds have 

 been obtained, by parties in the employ of Professor Marsh of 

 Vale College, some of the most remarkable forms of fossil ani- 

 mals yet known from this country. Gigantic dinosaurs of the 

 most diverse descriptions, others very small and with thin and 

 bird-like bones, fishes, turtles, crocodiles and a single mam- 

 mal make up the strange list of Como's ancient Jarassic life. 

 Some of the larger saurians must, when alive, have weighed 

 many tons. 



Sunday following our arrival here we spent in rest and re- 

 cuperation, cleaning and oiling our guns and rifles, which 

 were something the worse for the weather, writing our letters, 

 and so on. On Monday we repair to the shores of the lake to 

 investigate its resources By direction of Mr. Garlin, who 

 en passant is a first-rate gun shot, I make a circuit and place 

 myself on the extreme point of a neck of land which juts out 

 into the lake and incloses quite an extensive bay, on whose 

 glassy waters I can, from my concealment, descry numerous 

 groups of teal and mallard peacefully feeding. Carlin I can 

 see crawline slowly toward them, lizard-like on all fours, at, 

 the point where the bow attains its greatest curvature. Now 

 he has stained the rushes which furnish an admirable blind, and 

 still the ducks, innocent and unsuspicious, chatter together, sip 

 the water, nearly fresh at this place, and pursue their various 

 avocations. Numerous single birds and pairs float by me as 

 1 wait, and with the moving waters reflecting the clouds and 

 bordering landscape it looks most like the moving slides of 

 the kaleidoscope. As Carlin rises, the ducks, with a roar of 

 wings take to flight, and simultaneously the puff of smoke is 

 seen and the double detonation rolls from shore to shore. A 

 half dozen birds drop to the water, and now my turn is com- 

 ing, and the birds, broken into smaller bunches, are bearing 

 down upon me. You all know without an attempted descrip- 

 tion how the birds look, as with outstretched necks they sail 

 steadily down toward the bush or brush house, intent only 

 on the dreadful enemy in their rear; how their wings quiver 

 in the sunlight and their anxious heads turn this way and 

 that seeking a haven of rest and security. And you all know 

 the feelings thrilling the breast of the hunter lying in wait 

 for the surely-approaching quarry, how he tightly grasps his 

 gunstock and barrels, and with flashing eye takes his measures 

 and singles out his birds; perhaps two are about to cross, or 

 closely huddled offer a triple shot, So 1 calculate my 

 ehances, and my dear old gun speaks volumes ; first to right, 

 then to left, and three birds close their wings and, splashing on 

 the water, lie still. The lovely panorama, a moment before 

 delighting my eyes from this water-mirror, is now utterly ob- 

 literated, and the tiny wavelets circling wider and wider from 

 the centre soon efface all semblance of land and sky and leave 

 but a conglomerate of blue, green and gray. " Bitters" (an 

 intelligent Newfoundland dog) is soon retrieving the birds one 

 by one, and one bag from the lake at this point numbers eight 

 birds, five mallards, two gadwalls and a green-winged teal. 



Now we cross the ridge and betake ourselves to the exten- 

 sive marshes, formed by the overflow of a small fresh-water 

 creek which runs into the lake and by numerous fresh springs 

 which here abound. Tall rushes cover its whole expanse with 

 their thick green stalks, and progress is necessarily slow,made 

 more so too, by the constant halts as the mallards, or teal, 

 sprung by ones and twos from the spring holes and creek 

 sides, fall here and there to the constant bang-bang of the 

 gum The walking is tedious in the extreme, deep holes 

 abound at every step, and being covered with the long grass 

 and dead reeds form admirable pitfalls for the luckless sports- 

 man. This ill, however, is more than compensated by the 

 abundance of birds. Marsh hawks are seen on every hand, 

 but so bold are they that often one will descend to snatch a 

 dead or wounded teal before we can bring it to bag ; but the 

 bird of prey pays the penalty of his life in more than one in- 

 stance foi his daring robbery. 



This sport, even with its inconveniences, is admirable. It 

 is exciting to a degree, and when one is fortunate enough to 



make a double shot, as a pair of mallards spring quacking 

 from their reedy home, the feeling is one akin to triumph 

 Wilson's snipe, too, are in season, very plenty here, but we 

 are a trifle too early, though a few are flushed in the open 

 spots of the marsh. The buckskin cord suspended across our 

 shoulders grows more and more weighty, and before we have 

 traversed a half of the ground we are fain to confess that we 

 have had enough sport of the kind for one day and, loaded 

 with eighteen fine fat ducus in prime condition, we retrace 

 our steps to the station and arrive in time to enjoy a hearty 

 lunch with the balance of the population, resident and mov- 

 ing. 



Toward evening we are again on the war trail, this time to 

 " try a whirl" at the sage grouse. The sage grouse, Uentro- 

 cercus urophasianus, is a poor table bird, excepting when 

 young, say three-quarters grown ; and even then the bird must 

 be dressed soon after being killed. The reason for this, as 

 many of your readers are aware, is that their almost exclusive, 

 or very general diet of sage seeds and leaves permeates the 

 flesh, causing a strong, sometimes pungent odor and taste. 

 This fact, to my mind, detracts much from the sport, for who 

 enjoys the killing of game merely for the sake of killing, and 

 with no after benefit to accrue ? Still, off we start, hoping to 

 fail in with a brood of young birds. No dog is obtainable, so 

 we do the next best thing, go without. A flock is soon found, 

 and the birds, great things as large as a hen-turkey, are walked 

 up. Instead of crouching down and attempting to hide they 

 stalk slowly in front of us until two or three of their number, 

 taking wing, are easily dropped, when the whole flock clum- 

 sily rise, fly three or four hundred yards and drop again. The 

 killed and wounded are left on the field and we proceed in 

 search of birds of more tender flesh and age. Luckily we 

 find an old cock and hen with seven pretty well-grown young, 

 the latter lie well, and of the seven that we almost kick from 

 the sage brush we bag six. They are about the size of a hen 

 and, being dressed and cooked, made fair food. Our fiat hav- 

 ing been pronounced against sage grouse shooting as a sport, 

 and they, when cooked, having been stigmatized as " a poor 

 dish," we clean our guns of the powder expended in their pur- 

 suit and make ready for our next turn with the ducks. 



So the days of our stay at Como glide by, days filled with 

 pleasant out-door work and nights filled with restful, dream- 

 less sleep. Occasionally the monotony of grouse and duc.t 

 shooting is varied by a tramp to Rock Oreek for deer, or an 

 antelope hunt fills out the measure of another day. As the 

 hour for my departure draws near I cannot but take a retro- 

 spect of the weeks spent near this locality, the pleasant friend- 

 ships and acquaintances formed with the generous, open- 

 hearted plainsmen and mountaineers. 



The tedious days' climbing, the return to camp and supper 

 of choicest viands, then around the camp fire the thrilling story 

 of border life, the rollicking, reckless song and the stilly night 

 beside the dying embers and beneath the starry and moonlit 

 canopy of heaven ; all this, manei alta in -mente reposlum; 

 olim et Time meminissejuvabit. Yo. 



Como, Wyoming. 



Ortyx Vibginiancs— in Particular. — The people of Virginia 

 are waking up to the importance of game preservation in that 

 State, and the leaven of conservatism is even working strong- 

 ly in the mountains ; thanks to the efforts of the Fish Uom- 

 missioners, the State Game Protective Society, and those 

 earnest and time honored papers, the Richmond Dispatch and 

 Richmond Whig. Fortunately, the State of Virginia com- 

 prises at this time one of the best game preserves in America. 

 In some sections the quail are as numerous as the multitude 

 sent into the famishing camp of the Israelites in their journey 

 to the Red Sea and beyond. Verily, the Virginian Canaan is 

 like unto the Canaan of Caleb and Joshua, those stout hench- 

 men of the patriarch Moses, who Btayed the bands of the 

 great leader and explorer uplifted in surprise at the fruitful- 

 ness of a land overflowing with quail, good grapes, peach and 

 honey. If there is any gentleman in the State capable of 

 testifying to the actual facts as herein stated, it is the senior 

 editor of the Richmond Dispatch, whose palate, though long 

 exercised, has uot lost its nicety of perception, nor his knife 

 and fork their cunning. By long study of the anatomy of 

 the bird, and careful dissection of its edible parts, assisted by 

 such gentlemen of the cloth as Messrs. Ott, Palmer and Zet- 

 tell, of Richmond, he has become perfectly familiar with the 

 natural history of the Ortyx virginianus, and can give full in- 

 formation as to its habitat, where it incubates and where it 

 alights when full-fledged. We hope that the present abund- 

 ant supply of this most succulent and edible bird may con- 

 tinue as long as he lives. 



— #H • 1 



Dek Deutsche Jagdzeittjng.— Mr. Franz Von Ivemois, of 

 Eilenburg, Prussia, has sold his popular paper, the Jagdzei- 

 lung, to Col. Otto v. Corvin, of Leipsie, and turned his atten- 

 tion more to practical sport. 



Von Ivernois made an excellent sporting journal, and his 

 enterprise in securing material for its columns was not limited 

 to the area of his own Germany. He made his readers ac- 

 quainted with sport and leading sportsmen all over the world. 

 But Von Ivernois is a young man, of abundant means to en- 

 joy leisure, tired of editorship (which is apt to be drudgery, 

 if not a "dog's life"), and panting for more active duty. So he 

 pulls up stakes for Homburg, where he expects to have a bet- 

 ter opportunity to satisfy his passion for hunting than in Eil- 

 enburg. His successor is a veteran of sixty-six years, who 

 started the first sporting paper in Germany forty years ago. It 

 was a daily paP er caUed ihe Jager, which lived for a few 



years until the revolution of 1848-0. Corvin has had enough 

 or life's vicissitudes and is now ready to drop into a routine. 

 So both parties are satisfied. 



The Colonel is so well known in America and England, and 

 bis career has been one of such varied and exciting character 

 that we are tempted here to furnish a brief biography elicited 

 from his own pen two months ago. We quote extracts from 

 a letter dated 



Lsir-sic, July 5, 1S7S. 73d Hauptmann 9tr. r, 



Dear Sir— J commanded 1S49 In Baden, defended Badatadt against 

 the PrnsBians, was condemned to be shot, was graced with six years 

 confinement, etc., etc. Alter that I was banished, and went, 1856, to 

 England, and in 1861, to America as Special Correspondent to the 

 London Times and the Augsburg AUgm. Zeitung. When the Times be- 

 came Inimical against the Union, I gave np my connection with that 

 paper, became a citizen ot the District ot Washington, entered American 

 service, etc, etc. My family is well known In the United States. Tom 

 Corvin was a son of my father's brother, who emigrated to America as 

 early as about 1730. In 1881 I returned to Gennunyaa special to the 

 New •, ork Times (under Mr. Raymond). I have written about a dozen 

 English vols , published by my friend Put. Bentley, In London ; been 

 a contributor to Dickens' " All the Tear Round " these 30 years, etc. 

 At present I am occupied with publishing a new edition of my great 

 Universal History, Illustrated. I have been a sportsman as long as t can 

 think. Though I am 65 years old, I am not jet lame, or bliud, or bald. 

 They say lam made of India rubber and steel. Thus I may last yet a 

 couple of years— accidents excepted. 



Col. Corvin adds : — 



I hope, dear sir, that we will continue to entertain the same good re- 

 lation existing between yonr paper at* Mr. v. Ivernois. What I can do 

 to Berve you I shall do with the utmost, pleasure. Though 1 published 

 also— 40 years ago— a hippological paper— the Martian (monthly)— and 

 advertised alt about horses, etc., Ido not care now for the turf, and my 

 paper Is devoted mostly to what the Germans call "Jagd," though 

 1 do not exclude fishing and other Bporta, it specially interesting. I 

 shall draw freely from your Interesting columns, and wish you might 

 And it worth the while to do the same from mine. If yon would accept 

 my oiler T would with pleasure enroll amongst your contributors. Now 

 and then something might turn up which might Interest you. 



Convrif. 



We feel much complimented by these expressions of interest 

 by our German confrere, and shall certainly be pleased to re- 

 ciprocate not only his sentiments of friendship but tangible 

 evidences of active good will. 



GAME PROTECTION. 



Action. — The first thing in oratory, according to the reply 

 of Demosthenes, is action, the second thing is action, the 

 third thing is action. We all read that in the reading book 

 emphasis exercises when we were school boys. It is also 

 our reply to the correspondents who are continually asking 

 "How can we stop the violation of the game laws." Stop 

 it by action. When men are seen to break other laws they 

 are usually apprehended and punished. If the game laws 

 are just and worthy of being observed, their observation de- 

 mands also an active interest in every law-abiding citizen. 

 Do not write to us. Give in your information to the mag- 

 istrate, and insist upon an enforcement of the statute. 



Massachusetts.— The Massachusetts Kennel Club, holding 

 that it is the object of their organization to promote improve- 

 ment in the breeding and management of dogs, and that with- 

 out game several of the most prominent breeds of dogs can- 

 not be brought to their highest perfection, have ajjpointed a 

 committee to take measures for a more thorough enforcing of 

 the game laws of the State. The committee are : John Fottler, 

 Jr., Chairman; Edward P. Brown, J. Nelson Boelaud, Fran- 

 cis B. Qreenough and George Delano. This is a most com- 

 mendable and common-sense move. In undertaking such 

 fundamental work as this the Massachusetts Club have set a 

 praiseworthy example for other kennel clubs. 



Central New Jersey Bootbtt. —The Central New Jersey 

 Game and Fish Protective Association of Plaiufield, N. J., 

 has a rapidly-increasing membership. The association was 

 organized last March, with the following officers: President, 

 William H. Sterling ; Vice-Presidents, Dr. Charles A. Hart, 

 Wilson Young and John I. Holly ; Secretary, W. L. Force ; 

 Treasurer, George Squier ; Counsel, George P. Suydam : Di- 

 rectors, E. P. Thorn, Percy C. Ohl, William H. Sterling, Isaac 

 Brokaw, Martin Schenck, John Ball, Thomas AckeD, Thomas 

 De Reusey, Rinaldo S. Little. 



West Jersey Game Protective Sooieti.— The sportsmen 

 of New Jersey are exhibiting a most commendable zeal in the 

 better enforcement of the State game protective laws. The 

 West Jersey Society are as thoroughly systematic in their 

 work as any existing organization of a similar character in the 

 country, and at the annual meeting in Camden the other day 

 the reports showing the progress of the Society and the work 

 accomplished during the past year was a gratifying exhibit. 

 Besides a very efficient police service, there are premiums of- 

 fered tor the destruction of hawks and foxes. The past year 

 more than 800 hawks have been killed and more than 100 

 foxes. The society will distribute 150,000 of the 300,000 

 salmon eggs, recently received from California by the State 

 Fish Commissioners, and 2,000 black salmon. As Directors 

 to serve for the ensuing year the following gentlemen were 

 chosen: Camden County, Henry Vanuxem s Gloucester, J. C. 

 Richman; Cumberland, Major Thomas W. Walker: (Jape- 

 May, William B. Brown; Atlantic, John R. Beebe; Phiia- 

 delphia, Frank Furness. As questions have arisen concern- 

 ing the extent of the power of game clubs in New Jersey and 

 the legality of certain actions, we publish the following enact- 

 ment of April 4, 1S78 : 



"1. Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the 

 State of INew Jersey, That, from and after the passage of this 

 act no person or persons uun-resulents of this State shall kill, 

 destroy, hunt or take any doe, buck, fawn, or any sort of 

 deer whatsoever, or shall kill, destroy, hunt or take any 

 partridge, moor fowl, ruffed grouse, quail, woodcock, Wilson or 

 gray snipe, reed bird, rail bird or rabbit, at any time, or shall 

 catch any speckled brook trout, or ppeckfed river trout, black 

 basaor salmon, at any time in this State, without complying 



