FOREST AND STREAM. 



107 



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I ROM UlTi SPECIAL KS6MSH CORBE8FONDKNT.] 



AS ! write 1 can hear the breech-loaders cracking away 

 right merrily amongst the turnips, and see white 

 puffs of smoke rising on the hillside, whilst two spots, one 

 white and one red, denote two dogs which have dropped, 

 or have been dropped to shot, The weather is inauspi- 

 cious, for tbe rain "it rainetb every day," and during the 

 past week it has blown half a gale, and spoilt the very best 

 meerschaum I could choose from my tobacconists' stock. 

 I don't think there has been on the whole so had a crop of 

 birds hi the dyspeptics say. I for one have seen plenty, 

 and killed enough to show me how beautifully developed 

 is the instinct and sagacity of my black and tan stud setter, 

 ! :1 as wedded to me, and too good for any 

 man's money, as the farmer said to the old duke who 

 wanted to buy his old mure. As for the rain, I can laugh 

 at it. for Cording's water-proof keeps it off like a cuirass 

 would arrows, and I take good care that my boots are not 

 of the light fantastic toe pattern. When a friend of mine 

 in the North asked me to stalk deer with him, and throw 

 flies over the brawling mountain streams, I may have hesi- 

 tated and lit, au extra pipe over it, but my mind was set 

 on "things below," and I don't regret my choice, though 

 twenty-five brace all told has been the best bag at present 

 made by two games of which one is myself. The worst 

 Dart of toy shooting is, or perhaps are, the red legged 

 Frenchmen. These wretched foreigners, unlike ourEnglish 

 birds, and like enough to the Gauls themselves, are so ter- 

 ribly fond of running, especially where there is any chance 

 of their being shot. They were imported by some lunatics, 

 and have gone on and prospered, and like the Hanoverian 

 rats, cannot be exterminated. "I doubt very much," said 

 a distinguished naturalist to me the other clay, "if it even 

 really pays to acclimatise birds or animals." I laughed at 

 him, then, and said something I thought very crushing 

 about pheasants, but he bowled me over by some clever 

 arguments about pheasants dying cut if artificial means 

 were not employed to prevent, it, and it never struck me to 

 mention the French partridges. There is no fearing their 

 dying out. They abound in some parts, and my shooting 

 teems with them. My dog makes a point. "Now for it," 

 1 mentally ejaculate, and go up to him, and there is 

 nothing there. Fifty yards further on he becomes catal eptic. 

 in tp a'like effect, and after some mysterious reading 

 and feathering and champing, the scent ends by patting up 

 one af. these red legs, and he looks as big fool as his master. 

 They spoil the best of dogs and the best of tempers, and I 

 wish the aecliinali-sers had chosen pinnated grouse instead 

 of them, or even quail, though I believe the latter are to be 

 found in the i'ens of Lincolnshire in some abundance, and 

 require some little "straight powder" to hit them. 



Hunting men will soon have their turn again, and the 

 advertisements for cleaning top boots and stretching 

 breeches are fast re-occupying their old places in the spott- 

 ing journals. I read some accounts of excellent sports 

 with the cubs, but this is a schoolboy's sport, and as it 

 necessitated nothing better. than an ordinary hack and a 

 knowledge of the country, it isn't quite good euough for 

 me, at all events. The Carlisle otter hounds would be 

 more in my line, if 250 miles didn't separate us. It is often 

 difficult, even behind as plucky a fox as ever broke cover, 

 to get up much feeliug of excitement when your horse is 

 blown, and you have to get across ten acres of ploughed 

 ground; but with wild woodland scenery, and a frothy, 

 sparkling river in the foreground, with the rough, unkempt 

 and picturesque hounds trying every nook and "holt" 

 along the banks, it is very sugges'ive of too mauy glasses 

 over night, and strongish cigars, if you don't feel a hunter's 

 joy, let the morning be bleak and cold as it may. There 

 ate at: spears or other such atrocities allowed at Carlisle. 

 The varmint has a fair chance, and though the bubbles 

 mark his track, not a single thrust is leveled at him. The 

 killing part of the programme is left to Lucifer, Dellmau, 

 Matchless, and Mermaid, the grand old hounds which, 

 almost, unique in their style and beauty, have won Mr. 

 Carrich the master, fame, both in the field and on the show 

 bench. If they can't follow him up drains or under the 

 tree roots, there is another sort of physic in store for him; 

 but it is purely of a canine nature, and consists of the ter- 

 riers; and a terrier that will face an otter in his lair is no 

 pampered drawing-room favorite or carpet knight. A 

 badger is a joke to the salmon poacher, and not a patch on 

 him. Talk about a dog beating his weight in wild cats, and 

 you will yet have cut your meat lean. These otters bite, 

 and then hold on and tear out their teeth without loosing 

 their grip, and they tell me the way the old hounds are cut 

 and scarred is a caution to snakes. Apropos of hunting, a 

 Mr. Fitzwilliam, a, well-known M. F. H., has started a 

 theory (not a new one by the way, but an old one revived), 

 that hounds don't require "blooding." This, coming from 

 a, man of Mr. Fitzwilliarn's experience, carries some weight 

 with it, but I do not agree with him, as I think an occa- 

 sional taste of blood gives a hound far more dash and go 

 than forced abstinence. Beckford, who is to hounds as 

 great an authority as Stoneheuge is to other dogs, is on my 

 side: but the Cotley harriers, it seems, have not eaten ahare 

 for the past live years, although they killed no less than 

 138 last season. Mr. Meynell, another hunting authority, 

 was very indifferent about blood, and Mr. Osbaldstone, who 

 ranked "facile prinotps" in bis day, says the best sport he 

 ever had was out nine days in Leicestershire (our best hunt- 

 ing county), where his hounds never tasted a single fox, 

 the system of rewarding hunting leopards in India with 



the deer's entrails, and trained falcons with some portion 

 of the quarry, seems opposed to this theory, and I cannot 

 but think that it must beget indifference. 



I have to record a pedestrian teat in the behalf of a some- 

 what, brilliant amateur. Lieut. Boyne, of the 38th regi- 

 ment, (who a short time ago walked from Aldershot to 

 London in less than seven hours), recently for a considerable 

 wager walked twice the distance, nearly TO miles, within 17 

 hours. He started from the officer's mess for London at 

 3 P. M., on Wednesday, and arrived at, the mess at 7.39 A. 

 M., on Thursday morning, thus winning by half an hour. 

 He was heartily cheered, and appeared but little distressed. 

 It is said a good deal of money changed hands over the 

 affair. 



The death has just been announced of a celebrated tra- 

 gedian, known in professional circles by the svubriond of 

 Master Betty, at the mature age of 83. This, pupil of 

 Thespis some seventy years ago was the idol of all theatre 

 loving London; and one of the shortest, yet most brilliant 

 runs which ever an actor experienced in public. It is said 

 that at seven years old he became almost miraculously 

 "stage struck," whilst witnessing the acting of Mrs. hid- 

 dons, and when eleven, he prevailed on his friends to allow 

 him to appear as Osmau in the play cf Zara. His success 

 was wouderful, aud far exceeded every one's anticipations 

 at Belfast. He next played Douglas, in Homes' once 

 famous play of that, name, aud when he betook himself to 

 Dublin, crowded houses witnessed his rendering of Hamlet, 

 Prince Arthur, Romeo, and other difficult characters. 

 When he made his debut in London at Covenl Garden 

 theatre, tin: place was crammed within half an hour after 

 the doors were opened, aud he received an ovation unpre- 

 cedented since the first existence, of the stage. He was 

 then engaged at Drury Lane for twent.v-eight nights, at £50 

 a night, and the receipts for those twenty-eight nights 

 reached the sum of £18.000, or about, £li00" a night. So 

 great was the entiiusiasm he inspired that, Mr. Pitt actually 

 used his influence lo adjourn the House of Commons on 

 one occasion to see him play Hamlet, and the University of 

 Cambridge made him the suujflc! pi a prize poem. This 

 case of a boy of 13 making at least glQ.OQO a year has never 

 been equalled, and the extraordinary part of his history is. 

 that when he grew older his talents decreased, aud though 

 at 13 he had thrown Macrcady, Kemble, and a dozen 

 talented men into the shade, yet at 30 he failed to secure 

 the slightest notice, and finally left the stage in disgust, but 

 with a large fortune. 



The mare "Apology" is still well up in the betting for 

 the St. Leger, but Atlantic, another favorite it is said, has 

 broken a blood-vessel; aud though Hermit won the Derby 

 after a similar disaster, yet it, is to be feared that he will 

 not perform a similar feat. A full account of this race, 

 second only to English Derby, will be found in a future 

 letter from Idstone, Jk. 



j§/*tf/ 0un and QifJe. 



GAME IN SEASON FOR SEPTEMBER. 

 HOBS, Lfcas J/otaAt*. Snipe aud Biiv Birds. 



\mderOu header "Oat 



.'.-(.• onty V" ■'.'':.' '" 



ttat'vm if founded, and 



,, s :,-, ci-mst than 



(i\MF in Market. — Woodcock not plenty, though a 

 shade lower in price, and selling at $1 50 a brace. Perhaps 

 the proportion of birds coming from the West is 100 to one 

 killed in tbe States adjacent to Now York. Prairie chick- 

 ens rather scarce. Worth $1 50 a pair. Birds in nice 

 order. Majority young birds. Pinnated grouse in good 

 demand, but hardly any supply. Selling at $2 00 a pair. 

 Reed birds from Delaware and rice birds from Savannah, 

 all in prime order, selling at $1 25 l he dozen. Ox eyes — 

 plovers — and small bay birds, coming in, in good quantity, 

 and in nice order. Wild pigeons, the early flights killed in 

 Fulton county in this State, ate selling at $2 00 a dozen. 



Vermont. — Grafton, Sept. 16. — Any persons desiring 

 some good partridge shooting would do well to visit this 

 section. As 1 remarked to Forest and Stream once be- 

 fore, there is not a good dog nor gun in this town. The 

 Country is rough and birds plentv, and we have a first rate 

 hotel.— 8. W. G. 



Massachusetts.— Salem, Sept. Sort,— Bays birds plenty, 

 black breast, plover no! having beeu so numerous for years. 

 Two Salem sportsmen, in one week, at Chatham, shooting 

 382 good birds, including dough birds, yellow legs, plover, 

 &c. ; not bad this for the old bay Stale. Coots are also re- 

 ported in the bay. Prospeets for quail fair. Woodcock 

 and snipe scarce. Rail, a few of them. Quail on Cape 

 Cod thick. Yours, R: L. N. 



New Jersey.— WwetDWt, Sept. 2U(. — Shooting has im- 

 proved, and fine bags are reported as having been made. 

 On the meadows near West Creek, Barnegat, and here, 

 curlew and browu backs have appeared in gteat numbers. 

 One party in West Creek killed over forty on Thursday. 

 On the same day several fine bags were brought in from 

 the Barnegat meadows. While here- 1 saw one sportsman 

 come in with twenty brown backs, and another with curlew r 

 and brown backs; how many I cannot tell. Yours, 



A. 'Brick. 



PEHHSTIiVANlA. — PhSaS^}Aia t September Wb.— The east- 

 erly winds of the past two or three days prompted us to 

 experiment with the rail at Chester yesterday. Fully 

 twenty boats started from that point, some to try the flats 

 on the Jersey Bhore, and others Chester Island; but nothing- 

 was done by any. My pusher, uncle Ed, Rump, brother of 

 the famous defunct Bill, so lone noted for his prowess with 

 the push pole, worked over ground enough for me to have 

 killed one hundred rail, but a lack of water prevented their 

 being started, and "we heard them all around us. Never 

 navel seen tin- reeds and cover so dense. I boated all 1 

 saw. only seven in number, aud five in our party could 

 count up but twenty-one on their return. We need ruin 

 a,nd "a big blow of* weather" to make shooting good. to- 

 day's showers savor well, and 1 hope to give you a better 

 report the latter part of this or the beginning of next week, 



I hear of nothing but small scores at. all points on the 

 Delaware. At Port" Perio, 90, Si and 78 rail have thus fat- 

 been "high boats.'' This does not compare favorably with 

 the record of the shooting of about the same date, and 

 same places last year, which was published in the Forest 

 axb Stream. At Chester 38 birds is the highest up to loth, 

 and at the Lazaretto, 29. On the flats in the neighborhood 

 of Bristol, it is said 39 rail were boated by a sportsman one 

 day this week, but I doubt it, for we have always had belter 

 shooting down the river, aud birds are more plentiful there. 

 I learn from parties at Chester thai a company of three 

 gentlemen boated 575 rail at Augustine in flats in three days 

 the first of the^ season. Black ducks, teal and summer 

 duck are beginning to arrive in the Delaware, but shooting 

 for them will not commence until the weather is cooler, 



Ho.ui i, 



Virginia.— Snicker's Gap, of tbe Blue Ridge, Va,, is 

 said to be alive with quail. 



— Between one hundred and fifty and two hundred of the 

 different varieties of plover, besides immense numbers of 

 sora and reed birds, were killed in the marshes near this 

 city yesterday. A pair of fine blue wing ducks lighted 

 among a flock of tame ducks swimming near Jones' Point, 

 this morning, but were soon singled out and shot by some 

 of the many sportsmen who continually roam about that 

 locality. — Akin ndria Gazette: 



— The 31 ount Vernon Ducking Club has been reorganized, 

 and has eleeted the following officers.- — J. H. Kruhling, 

 President; A. S. Bryan, Vice President; Henry R. Searle, 

 Secretary; J. R. Moorehouse, Treasurer. They are now 

 actively engaged in removing their blinds, boats, and quar- 

 ters, and as they have from Fort Washington to Occoquan 

 Bay as their hunting grounds, taking in Mount Vernon, we 

 expect to hear a good report, of them. They propose to 

 commence their shooting about the 1st of November, and 

 continue during the season. 



Messrs. Smith, Creecv, Woods, and Haeuer paid a visit 

 to the Patuxent on Wednesday last, and "returned Thurs- 

 day evening, having been successful in bagging, in the 

 order named, 148, 87, 92, and 97 rail, (ortolan). This is 

 the work of one tide, and is a fine showing. — Washington 

 s tl ,ut<ni BTerald, 20//,. 



Mil ihm an. —The St. Clair flats are favorite resorts forgun- 

 ners, both from Canada and the United Stales. The Indian 

 reserve on the Canadian side, has been overrun of late years 

 by crowds, who have made a pretty clean sweep of the 

 ducks, muskrats, fish. etc.. without recognizing the rights 

 of the Imlians at all. To counteract ' the mischief the 

 Indians have leased their marsh shootings for ten years at 

 an annual rent of $400, while! they retain for their own ex- 

 clusive use the animals and the fish. Trespassers will be 

 warned off, and if they persist, will lie prosecuted. This 

 is a capital move: it will benefit the Indians and the duck- 

 shooters, and preserve the animals. Any respectable person 

 will find little difficulty in securing permission at reasonable 

 times aud on reasonable terms, and surely this is all that is 

 necessary. 



Florida.— Jwskwn riUe, Sept. UK//.— The weather is get- 

 ting very pleasant and cool. Wild ducks have made their 

 appearance, on the river, a sign of early winter auhe North, 

 (so southern papers say) and an earlv crop of visitors 



South. 



Canada. — Game is plentiful in the North this season. A 

 Parry Sound correspondent of the Free Grant Gazette re- 

 ports that deer, duck and partridge are numerous. 



— Wild pigeons are in great numbers through the States 

 of Michigan", Indiana, and Wisconsin, and" can be shot 

 without much difficulty. These birds come in very nicely 

 for the pot, especially when grouse and other game birds 

 are scarce. They are generally to be found in the beech 

 woods, and as there are large quantities of mast and beech 

 this fall, they are likely to be. plentiful. 



— Moose, have become so scarce in Maine that a bill will 

 be brought before the Legislature at the next session to 

 prohibit the killing of these, animals for a period of five 

 years. The bill ought to pass without, debate. 



— They have at least one vigilant and earnest conservator 

 of game in Connecticut, a gentleman who is known to our 

 readers as an occasional correspondent of the Forest and 

 Stream. This is Mr. S. Chamberlin, of New Haven, who 

 advertises in the city papers, over his own signature, a re- 

 ward of $25 to any vme who will detect and prosecute any 

 person violating the game law by shooting woodcock, 

 quail, or ruffed grouse "out of season, trapping or snaring 

 game on another person's land at any time, or dealing in 

 said game out of season. Mr. Chamberlin's offer holds 

 good until July 1st, 1875. 



—The Waltonian Club of Elgin, 111., dedicated with all 

 due honors their fine club house at. Fox Lake, Wis., on 

 Tuesday last. 



—The Virginia Shooting Club of Illinois is an organiza- 

 tion comprising some 120 mem I tars. On the 15th of Sep- 

 tember they shot a pigeon match which resulted in .he 

 killiug of nineteen birds by one side aud thirteen by the 

 other, each aide shooting "at thirty-six birds. This "week 

 six prominent shots of the club, three on each side, will 

 shoot for $50 a side. 



— Last week our Scotch friends given to rifle shooting 

 held a meeting.. Colonel Lang was chosen chairman, with 

 Sergeant Cameron as Secretary. Colonel Beatiie. Captains 

 Munro, Dingwall, Lyndsay aiici Bruce were appointed a 

 committee to consider on the proper name of the club, the 

 qualification of membership and nomination of officers. 

 After a short recess ihe committee reported that the name 

 of the organization be "The Scottish-American Rifle Club 



