330 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



of all this is i Don't shoot until you know what you are 

 shooting at. It is better to lose a dozen deer through delay 

 than to shoot one man through haste. 



Canada— CbJoury, Nov. 16.— Party got back a few days 

 ago with eight fine deer. We do all our hunting here with 

 dogs, as it is nearly all a "burnt country." Plenty of ducks 

 at the lake and lots of powder burnt, but we do not hear of 

 many big bags. Blub Box. 



Massachusetts — Wareltam, Nov. 5. — The game laws in the 

 old Bay State were up on the first day of November, and on 

 the evening previous the register of the Kendrick House, 

 Wareham, with a score of fancy bird dogs iu the office, 

 showed the unmistakable fact that a war on feathers was 

 declared for the morrow. At an early hour in the morning 

 the scene of professionals, with their thoroughbreds, demon- 

 strated the probabilities of the evening before by the forward 

 marching of six shontists in the following order: Mr. P. 8. 

 Backet, of the Kendrick House, Wareham, aud Dr. J. P. W. 

 Wilson, of the Hub, took a westerly course from the village; 

 While Messrs. D. P. Wilbour, of Holbrook, E. M. Coles, of 

 Middleboro, A. Ward, of Brooklyn, and Pete Wasburn took 

 to the east. The result of the two days' hunt was figured up 

 a9 follows : Eleven partridges, thirty-two quails, and one 

 white hare. The aggregate of the two days' hunt was a sad 

 disappointment to the hunters as well as the sitters around 

 until fully explained. During the entire summer the general 

 tallt has been that quails were unusually abundant, and the 

 honest expert and sportsman counted scores of bevies in the 

 bag, so to speak; but in their stead the huntsman simply 

 found small distracted parts of bevies of wild birds, made so 

 in the few days previous by men who hunt with bull-dogs. 

 Another year and those poaching intruders on honest sports- 

 men will be looked after. 



Neio Bedfi/rd, Nov. 12.— Since the opening of the season 

 for quail and partridge several of our sportsmen have been on 

 the alert with dog and gun, and several large bags of quail 

 have been taken, aswell as considerable numbers of woodcock, 

 although for the past week the latter have about gone to their 

 winter resorts. Black ducks and sea fowl extremely plenty. 



Concha. 



Connecticut— Lakeville, Nov. 18.— Buffed grouse have 

 been very scarce with us this fall, especially young ones. I 

 know that a good many broods were hatched, but when the 

 season opened there were only four or five left in a brood, 

 and in some cases they were gone altogether. Foxes are very 

 numerous, but it don't seem as though they could kill all the 

 birds. Woodcock were also scarce. W. H. W. 



New York— Atlanlicville, L. I., Nam. 10.— The day before 

 the act was off for shooting quail, one of our so-called sports- 

 men, Eugene Jackson, and his brother went out and killed 

 seven. This any other person, being a good shot, could have 

 done, but they are mostly law-abiding, and do not try to take 

 so mean an advantage as this. It is worse than going out a 

 month or so before the time, as far as the advantage is con- 

 cerned. The law should be made with a heavier penalty for 

 shooting in the last week of the act's being on. Hon. A. H. 

 Dailey, Surrogate of King's County, and a friend of his, have 

 been at the Balsey House, shooting ducks and quail. The 

 latter are very plentiful, and the former equally so, but very 

 wild. W- P. H. 



Bhtlter Island, Nov. 14.— The wild fowl here, so far, has 

 not been so good as usual, though some little success with the 

 Boot bus been had with the batteries. The fowl are very wild, 

 and almost unapproachable with sailing boats, and they are 

 shy of batteries ; but if there should be a mild winter they 

 will doubtless be plentiful and tame, as was the case last 

 winter. Brant, geese and broadbills have scarcely appeared 

 here, in Peconic and Gardner's Bay. These are not their 

 natural feeding-grounds, though they often pass over them in 

 their migratory passages. I. McL. 



Brooklyn, Nov. 15.— Just returned from Boonton, N. J., 

 with friend. In two days' shooting bagged eleven ruffed 

 grouse, thirteen quail, forty-six rabbits. Country hard and 

 rough for tramping. B. W. M. 



Delaware. — The market hunters have been shipping great 

 numbers of ducks from the Chesapeake Bay. The fall fusi- 

 lade is a vigorous one. 



Maryland— Rabbits and partridges are plenty in Frederick 

 County. The high tide the other day along the Ohoptauk 

 drowned great numbers of birds and rabbits. 



Virginia— Richmond, Nov. 19. — Game has not been found 

 Id even fair numbers near this place during the season so far, 

 and I have only small bags to report, my best being twenty- 

 five partridges and three hares to one gun, and five woodcock 

 and two hares to two guns, all of which were made last week. 



CHARGE. 



Mecklenburg, Nov. 14. — Geese are now affording much 

 sport for the boys about the Roanoke Biver. The guns are 

 out and the men, too, and the geese are falling all about. 



Tappahannock, Nov. 15.— The steam yacht Lurline, of 

 New York, has arrived here. Her owner, Mr. Lorillard, and 

 a party of friends are hunting on the Rappahannock. A par- 

 ty of Baltimore gentlemen have been hunting in the lower 

 part of the county, and report good success. 



Ship-Shape, 



Tennessee— Savannah, Nov. 9.— We have had several killing 

 frosts, and shooting is much improved. Ducks have began 

 to come in small bunches. I killed the first snipe of the 

 season yesterday. They were very fat, and in fine condition 

 for the table. A large gray eagle, measuriug seveu feet two 

 inches from tip to tip, waa killed about one mile and a half 

 from town yesterday. He was found in a thicket of cane and 

 vines by a party out in pursuit of turkeys, and, being unable 

 to fly on account of the dense growth, was easily shot. Tur- 

 keys and squirrels reported quite plentiful. Will. 



Nashville, Nov. 13.— Messrs. Willard and McCann bagged 

 last Saturday on Captain Robinson's farm in Williamson 

 County 41 quail, U field larks, 4 rabbits and a few squirrels. 

 Quantities of wild ducks are being brought from Reel- 

 foot Lake, where the shooting is said to be better than ever 

 known before. Gennett & Co. received yesterday over three 

 .huudred brace of ducks, mostly mallards, from there. Rab- 

 "bits and opossums are being hawked about the streets and in 

 the markets. The oldest sportsmen about here tell me that 

 fmcu flue sport was never known about here as this year's. 



J. D. H, 



Columbia, Nov. 16. — Quail are plentiful and hunters nurner- 

 ons ; good bags frequent. The beet to dale are eighty-eight, 

 from 10 a. m. to 5 v. m., scored for Willis Connor and Walter 

 Parker, each killing forty -four ; Web Ridley, Jr., forty-five 

 from 12 m. to 5 p. m, within four-mile circuit; Messl'e. Chaf- 

 fin and White twenty-five in three hours' shooting. The 

 weather has been rather unfavorable for hunting, being very 

 dry and dusty. The rain of last night will revive the good 

 shooting. Messrs. Parker, Craig, Kittrel, Harris, Kindel, 

 Brooks and Brown went to Cecil's Camp, remained five days 

 and killed four deer, Parker, Oraig, Kiltrell and Brooks killing 

 one each. Report them scarce. Val. 



Florida Game Drowned Out by Rains.— The submerging 

 by the heavy rains of the Everglades and Oaloosabatchee re- 

 gion has caused great suffering among the Indians aB well as 

 among the whites on that river. Deer and stock have, col- 

 lected on little dry knolls and black-jack ridges scattered 

 about in that section. On some of these knolls the deer are 

 reported so thick and gentle as to make no effort to get out of 

 the way, and therefore easily captured or killed. The Indians 

 are bound, if they arc not already doing it, to depredate on 

 the stock of the cattle owners of that section. Mr. Dennis 

 O'Hicky, living i ear the Oaloosahatchee River, some 18 miles 

 above Fort Myers, caught the finest kind of fresh water trout 

 with a hook and line in his yard.— Key West Key. 



O aio— Hamilton Co., Nov. 15. — Shootere of high and low 

 degree are abroad in the land, and the Bob Whites are being 

 met with a fusilade in every field. Very little rest is given 

 them even on Sundays, and some communities are getting de- 

 cidedly restless over this Sunday violation. Some complain 

 that little attention is paid to the warning signs on "posted" 

 premises. W. McK. H. 



Rochester, N. Y., Nov. 16. — Have returned from a successful 

 quail shoot at Ottawa, O. Was accompanied by Jas. C. Hart, 

 E. O. Sage and Chas. A. Hayden. Messrs. Sage and Hart 

 are now at Jamestown, O., and to-day I received a telegram 

 from them saying, "We have struck a bonanza," which I 

 interpret that they have found plenty of quail. H. H. M. 



Michigan — Roscommon. — The deer in this county have 

 been sadly depleted by continuous raids. It is eBtimated 

 that there are not a thirtieth part of the number to be found 

 here formerly. 



Detroit, Nov. 16.— November 11 Albert Hill took a trip 

 down the river for a little sport and bagged eleven ducks. 

 November 12 Charles Chope took a run out for patridge, hav- 

 ing very poor luck, bagging only three. On the 13th iust. 

 the Blakeley brothers, Lyman W. and Spencer returned from 

 a four days' hunt with the following fine bag : 48 quail, 31 

 partridges, 52 rabbits and 53 squirrels. November 13 Geo. 

 S. Foote was up to the St. Clair Plats for ducks and bagged 

 13. James Battle was out on the 8th and 9th insts.*and 

 bagged 15 quail and 4 partridge. A. J. Rogers and a friend 

 returned from a three days' trip on the 9th inst. with the fol- 

 lowing bag, viz : 1 turke} r , partridges, 4 quail 7 ducks, 2 

 rabbits and 5 squirrels. Druid. 



Minnesota — St. Paul, Nov. 14. — The club had their last 

 pigeon match for the season last week, but I did not attend 

 and have not heard the result. Zimmerman probably will send 

 you the particulars. Duck shooting has been first-rate this 

 fall, and there are plenty of these birds here yet. Some two 

 weeks ago Col . Uline and two friends killed 180 in two days. 

 Snipe, too, have been pretty plenty, I went out a short dis- 

 tance back of my house and got quite a number. John. 



California. — A letter from a member of the Wheeler Ex- 

 pedition, dated at San Bemadina, November 2, to a gentle- 

 man in this city, says ; " Have just returned from the moun- 

 tains of San Gabriel Creek, only 60 miles from Los Angeles. 

 The country is very rocky and bushy, with an occasional deer 

 flat, and streams in every direction abounding in trout. The 

 trout are now spawning at the head of the streams. As arule 

 there was too much brush for fly fishing, and I used worms. 

 At one place I caught 31 trout in 30 minutes, while another 

 man took 47 in the same time ; the average weight was one- 

 third of a pound. The best catch I made with a fly waa 16 

 trout in an hour, all taken from the one pool, and the largest 

 weighing X\ pounds. Deer were plenty, and I killed two (a 

 buck and a doe) one day. The country just teems with quail, 

 and we get from two to four at every shot. So you see we do 

 not want for game. W. H." 



Obegon— Eugene, Nov. 5.— The prairie goose shooting is 

 very good this season, and we are having excellent sport. On 

 Friday evening four of us chartered a wagon and team and 

 drove about nine miles from town, camping under Borne oak 

 trees and sleeping in a barn near by. In the morning we were 

 out at our stands in the stubble fields before daybreak, and as 

 soon as it became light enough to shoot the geese commenced 

 coming in to feed from their mountain lakes, and our four 

 breech-loaders kept up a constant war, the old honkers some- 

 times sailing along within thirty feet of us. Occasionally a 

 flock of ducks whirled past, and now and then a flock of snow 

 geese and sandhill cranes. As the fog rose and the sun came 

 out warm they ceased flying, and the shooting was over for 

 that day. We came home well satisfied, with our bag of 38 

 geese, fifteen of which fell to me. The next Saturday the 

 same party killed 32 geese, and last Saturday three of us 

 brought in 29. That made a total of 99 in three forenoons. 

 Duck shooting will bo good this month when the swales are 

 filled with water. J. G. S. 



Gaud's Rotary Glabs BallTbap.— We have recently been 

 enabled, through the kindness of Mr. William E. Cruttenden, 

 of Cazenovia, N. Y., to experiment with one of these traps, 

 and we can conscientiously recommend it to all of our readers 

 who take pleasure in shattering the swiftly flying glass ball. 



The peculiar feature of the trap is the rotary motion im- 

 parted to the arm in pulling it off, thus preventing both 

 shooter and puller from knowing the direction which the ball 

 will take, and rendering tho shooting much more difficult 

 than it is in the ordinary straight-away traps. The spring is 

 strong, and the ball, rising and darting swiftly oil, always in 

 an unexpected direction, seemed to us to resemble a quail in 

 the speed and straightness of its flight. We can think of no 

 better practice for the tyro than shooting at bails sprung from 

 one of these traps, and in truth we have seen them puzzle 

 more than one veteran. 



We do not see why one of these Card traps should not be 

 quite as useful in match shooting as the five traps that are 

 sometimes used. Mr. Cruttenden's advertisement will be 

 found In another column. 



HOW SHOT IS MADE. 



Philadelphia, Nov. 4, 1878. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



Dear Sir: It may not be uninteresting to some of you readers, 

 especially those who indulge in shooting, io know something 

 of the manufacture of shot, and, with your kind permission, 

 I will give you the result, of what I learned from a visit to T. 

 W. Sparks' shot tower. 



This lofty tower, which looms up 150 feet above the ground, 

 has been a landmark in our city for more than seventy years 

 (the works having been founded on the 4th of July, 1808) and 

 is well worth a visit. It was my pleasure to inspect this 

 place under the guidance of Mr. L. \V. Tracy, the gentleman- 

 ly and efficient superintendent of the works. 



For the purpose of showing me the whole modus operandi, 

 I was conducted by a Spiral stairway up to the very top of 

 the tower, where a tine view of the city and surrounding 

 country is obtained; but the view from the inside, looking 

 downward between the heavy wooden railing, is not bo pleas- 

 ant, as the opening through which the shot descends into the 

 well becomes so apparently narrow as it nears the bottom, that 

 nothing can be seen but darkness. 1 asked Mr. Tracey where 

 a man would go who fell through that opening, and he an- 

 swered that if depended very much upon what sort of a life 

 that man had led. " Some t " he said, "are supposed to go to 

 heaven when they le-ve this mundane sphere, aud others are 

 said to go to— the other place." I was satisfied, and asked 

 no more conundrums. 



In the highest room in this tower, and also in another apart- 

 ment half way up, are furnuces andmeltlug pots, and into the 

 latter is placed the prepared metal from which the shot are 

 cast. The melted metal is poured into cast iron pans with 

 bottoms of Russia sheet iron, perforated so small that for the 

 No. 12 and other small shot the holes would scarcely admit 

 the point of it pin. The incited metal oozes through these 

 holes and enlarges, and forms in globules on the under side 

 and drops a fall of suventy-tive feet into a well containing 

 from six to eight feet of water. The larger size shot, from 

 No. 4 to F, are cast at the top of the tower, and have a fall of 

 150 feet into the water. This casting process is a curious ar- 

 rangement, for while the smaller size, or bird shot, enlarge 

 after they ooze through the perforated bottoms of the pans, 

 the larger size are cast in pans with holes larger than the size 

 shot desired, as the metal in that case contracts in cooling. 

 Great care is necessary in mixing the metal, as, if not of the 

 proper quality, it would run through the holes and drop in 

 strings, and no shot could bo produced. 



The shot is taken out of the water aud placed in drying 

 pans and carried up a short distance, from which it is allowed 

 to run through an inclined trough into a receiver, which pro- 

 cess dries it. From the receiver it passes into a nimbler, 

 which cleanses it, thence through a screen on to glass tables. 

 These glass tables are five in number ; the first one i3 slightly 

 inclined, so that the shot can roll over it on to the second, 

 which is less inclined, the inclination of each diminishing un- 

 til they arrive at the lust one, which is perfectly flat. Tliere 

 is a space of about two inches between each table, and a fall 

 of about two and a half inches from one to the other. The 

 shot that are perfectly round roll over the first table a distance 

 Of about three leet, and, skipping the gap, fall upon the next 

 table, and so continue until they reach the last one, from 

 which they ro',1 into another receiver. All the flat or imper- 

 fect shot fall between the tables and are collected together for 

 remelting. From these lust receivers the shot passes by means 

 of pipes iDto a cone-shaped brass cylinder perforated with 

 holes the exact standard size of No. 12 shot, which revolves 

 by steam. There are eighteen of these cylinders perforated 

 from No. 12 to No. 1, and also B. BB, BBB, T, TT and F, 

 connected by pipes, and the shot flow from one to the other. 

 Those pellets that cannot pass through the No 12 holes go on 

 to tho No. 11 cylinder, and so on through them all up to W. 

 Each cylinder has a zinc-lined box under it, into which the 

 shot fall, and so perfect is this arrangement that scarcely ever 

 is a wrong font shot (to use a printer's phrase) found among 

 them. The boxes into which the shot tall are connected with 

 the packing department on the lower floor by means of pipes, 

 through which the shot run into iron boxes, which also re- 

 volve by steam ; a small quantity ot plumbago ia mixed with 

 the shot. A few revolutions of the box containing the shot 

 thus mixed with plumbago gives them a brilliant polish. The 

 shot are then weighed and packed in canvas bags, marked 

 and numbered, aud are ready for shipment. 



The buckshot are kept m a receiver by themselves, whence 

 they pass into a revolving cylinder which scales and polishes 

 them, and they are then turned out, a small quantity at a 

 time, upon an inclined wooden table ; the perfect ones roll 

 down the table and fall into a receiver, while the flat or im- 

 perfect ones remain stationary upon the table, and are thrown 

 out for remelting. 



The chilled shot undergo the same process as the others, 

 the only difference being in the mixture of the metal, which 

 requires great care ; for, if the metal is too hard, the shot 

 break after leaving the gun, and their efficiency for penetra- 

 tion (which is really their principal recommendation) is en- 

 tirely destroyed. O. 



GAME IN ARKANSAS. 



Van Ruben, Ark., Nov. 6, 1878. 

 Editor Forest and Stiieam : 



It would seem that the fact of our having the finest small 

 game country in America is to the balauce of the world a 

 sealed book. Nevertheless, it ia certainly true that we have 

 quail in such abundance that small boys often kill them with 

 stones. The country literally swarms with them in and on 

 stubble fields, prairies, woodlands, etc. Our lakes and sloughs 

 in the great bottoms on the Arkansas Kiver swarm with 

 ducks of all kinds ever found in the Western country— mal- 

 lard, teal, buffalo heads, black and gray ducks, broad bills, 

 swamp mallards (a very distinct variety sometimes called 

 canvas-back( flsh ducks) three varieties), coots, etc.; and as for 

 rabbits, squirrels, coons and opossums we hardly consider 

 them game. There is such an abundance of tliem every where 

 that few take the pains to shoot them, while the darkies pur- 

 sue and catch them with dogs iu such quantities as are de- 

 sired. Larger game, such as bear, deer aud turkeys, are nu- 

 merous in places, particularly so back from eighteen to 

 twenty-five miles from the Little Rock and Fort Smith Bail 

 road, which runs from Little Rock to the Indian Tevritory, a 

 distance of 170 miles, tracing the river valley through the en- 

 tire distance, crossing nuuuaous large, bold, running streams 

 of water which aflord as fine fishing as the most sanguine 

 Waltonian could desire. Black bass, croppie aud bream aro 

 numerous, aud bite at almost every kind of bait. If these 

 facts are known to sportsmen back in the older 8tntes, it 

 seems strange that so few of them come out to hunt and fish 



