FOREST AND STREAM. 



329 



"I quote the following passage from Mr. Greener's 

 work, because it bas especial reference to American sports- 

 men:— 



" 'The usual bize fof breech loaders is noTfunaUy No. 12 

 KUagR: that means In take the No. 13 cartridge case. Rut 

 Uia size or bore of the hand is left partly to tire discretion 

 of the maker, who bores it according to llis own fancy. 

 Thirteen bore is tu« actual size gene rally adopted, but some 

 makers prefer twelve and even eleven bore. All these sizes 

 cauno! be adopted fOT COrrecl shooting, as Hie inside of a 

 cartridge case is etaoily eleven bun:. There is only one 

 particular $j#e that is suitable; and this has to be found out 

 by repeated trials at a target. All first class shooting gun 

 barrels will be found marked thirteen bare. This mark is 

 at, the breech end, stamped ai Iheproof bouse. In all eases 

 when barrels are not bored up to t lie size before being 

 proved, tire proof-house people mark them Ihe size under 

 l£or instance, supposing the barrels to be thirteen ami a 

 half gauge, they mark them No, 13; ami again, if the No. 

 13 plug will not pass easily clown the barrels Ihe whole- 

 length, they still mark them No. 13. These marks are 

 looked on by some as denoting the. exact bore of the gun, 

 but this can' not always be depended on. 



" 'All breech loading barrels are line bored a f l er I hey have 

 received the proof mark, in order to remove the indications 

 caused by stamping thcin a! proof, It often happens that, 

 they are marked thirteen ami gauge full twelve. 



" 'Some Americans will insist; upon having their gins 

 marked twelve at, the proof. This is a great mistake." It 

 is impossible Torus to make a, really first-class, shooting gun 

 so marked. The same remarks apply to guns of ten bore. 

 These should be marked eleven bore, which allows the 

 barrels to be, when finished, just under ten bore. We 

 would strongly recommend all purchasers Of breech loaders 

 to state the size, of carl ridge case they wish to use, and 

 leave tile question of the bore to the gunmakcr.' " 



Another Sr-onTSMEx's Convention.— We cheerfully 

 comply with the request, of the commiltee to publish tire 

 following call for a Convention to meet at St. Louis next 

 18th January, and will do everything in our power to 

 further its objects. The call embodies the resolutions 

 adopted at the organization of the National Sportsmen's 

 Association at Niagara Falls last September, but as they 

 are long, and we have already published them in this 

 journal, we have omitted them in that part of the Circular 

 indicated by aslerisks.(*) 



St. Louis, December 1st, 1S74. 

 To t!ie Sportsmen of Missouri; 



Realizing the great and growing necessity of a concerted 

 effort on the part of amateur sportsmen 'throughout the 

 State to secure to our game and fish that intelligent and 

 reasonable protection against unseasonable and wholesale 

 destruction which is requisite to prevent their total exter- 

 mination, the "Missouri Sportsmen':, Club and Game Law 

 Association" of the city of St. Louis, at a regular meeting 

 thereof held November 13, 1874, adopted the following 

 resolutions: 



"Rcw'ml, That this Association issue a call for a mass 

 convention of amateur sportsmen of the State, to be held at. 

 the Madison House, in Jefferson City, on Tuesday, January 

 13, 1875, at 7 o'clock, P. M., then and there to take steps 

 towards organizing a State Association, under the jurisdic- 

 tion of, and in harmony with, the National Sportsmen's 

 Association of the United States. 



"Resolved, That all amateur sportsmen throughout the 

 State, independent of local organizations, be and they are 

 hereby invited to attend and participate in the deliberations 

 of the convention, and that all organize"! clubs be requested 

 and urged to unite with this club in sending full delegations 

 to the convention, and in taking such action as will insure 

 a large representative attendance. 



"Resolved, That C. Shaler Smith, J. D. Johnson, John W. 

 Munsen, Basil Duke, Charles H. Turner, Edward P. Li fid- 

 ley, and W. H. Wadsworth, be and are hereby appointed 

 delegates of this Association to said convention; also' as an 

 executive committee, with full authority to issue addresses, 

 carry on correspondence, and to arrange all necessary de- 

 tails for the meeting of the proposed convention." 



The game hirds and animals arc slowly disappearing from 

 our State as they are from other AVestern States, and as 

 they have already disappeared from many of the Eastern 

 States. At the rate of decrease now, and without I lie in- 

 tervention of strict laws rigidly enforced, our fields and 

 forests will soon be barren of every species of game, ami 

 the pleasures of the sportsmen destroyed. 



By the proper organization of a. State club, and of active 

 local clubs in many or all of the counties, and by securing 

 the passage and enforcement uf EUoll laws as are suggested 

 by the resolutions of the National Association, we can not 

 only maintain the preseut supply of game, but increase it 

 in a ten-fold ratio within a reasonable period. The fore- 

 going suggestions apply with equal pertinency to the fish 

 in our streams and lakes. 



With a majority of us the gun and rod possess equal at- 

 tractions, and ihe pleasure aud profit of using either are 

 being dissipated aud destroyed by mercenary men. It de- 

 volves upon sportsmen to save to themselves their sport, 

 and they can do it now only by a united and organized 

 effort. 



The convention will meet at the time aud place specified 

 in the resolutions, and we depend upon the true sportsmen 

 of the State to make it a success in point of numbers and 

 influence and the work it will accomplish. Let there be 

 an individual representation from every county, aud by all 

 means a large representation from each organized club in 

 the State. 



All communications on the subject of the convention 

 addressed to W. II. Wadsworth, 318 Walnut street, St. 

 Louis, Mo., will meet with prompt attention. 



C. Shaler Smith, J. D. Johnson, Jno. W. Munson, Chas. 

 H. Turner, Edward P. Lindley, AV. H. Wadsworth, Basil 

 Duke, Committee. 



Ooit Floiuda Expedition.— A telegram from our cor- 

 respondent "Al Fresco," dated at Punta Rassa, West coast 

 of Florida, says:— "All well; start for the interior this 

 morning." We have anticipated frequent notes of pro- 

 gress from him, hut it is evidently intended to defer com- 

 municating with this journal until a complete narrative can 

 be furnished iu detail. Writiug is uot easy under the con- 

 ditions iu which an explorer generally finds h i l - . 



gttt(f of the Jgrish J|*Vfm. 



IM MKDIATELY after the conclusion of the International 

 Rifle Match at Crecdmoor last September, between the 

 American and Irish teams. Major Arthur 15. Leech, tile 

 Irish Captain, expressed a desire on behalf of several of the 

 members and their ladies, to visit the remote West on a 

 short hunting excursion. Whereupon the editor of the 

 Fokest and Stream offered his services, which were 

 accepted by Maj. Leech in a courteous note, and then im- 

 mediately set about arranging an acceptable programme of 

 Ihe trip, lie entrusted the management of tlto Western 

 division to 0. W. Dorman, Esq., of Hannibal, Missouri, 

 while with much telegraphing aud correspondence, he 

 essayed to make pleasant the journey between Mew York 

 aud Hannibal. Railway companies responded with gener- 

 ous alacrily, and provided [lasses and special coaches; Ihe 

 Erie railway placing at their disposal its finest palace 

 OOSthig $40,000, which was soon after burned at Clifton, 

 Canada. Receptions were arranged at Buffalo and Toledo, 

 aud a committee ot railway officials and prominent citizens 

 was delegated from Hannibal to go up the Wabash and 

 Brest Western Road as far as Decatur, and escort the dis- 

 tinguished guests to their first objective point, Hannibal, 

 where lodging cars, dogs, hunters, tents, provisions, and 

 all necessary equipments for the hunt were to be in readi- 

 ness, provided conjointly by private parties and the Missouri, 

 Kansas and Texas R. R, Co. q'henee the party were to 

 proceed to Kansas aud the Indian Territory, and the hunt 

 would begin. 



Doubtless the programme and journey would have been 

 carried out through all its agreeable continuity, had not 

 several of the Irishmen decided to postpone the start in 

 order to compete for Ihe Bennett Challenge Cup on October 

 3d. Meanwhile, Major Leech himself, the ladies, and those 

 not participating in the rifle match, went on a visit to 

 Niagara Falls, and thence proceeded to Buffalo by tele- 

 graphic order, where they awaited the arrival of the rear 

 guard on Monday noon, October 4th. This delay of six- 

 days unavoidably threw the machinery of the pre-arrange- 

 ment altogelber out of gear, so that when the ranks of the 

 excursionists were closed up and numbers told off, it was 

 found. that no provision whatever had been made for the 

 party (now comprising ten gentlemen and three ladies), all 

 of whom were left standing at fault, in the inhospitable de- 

 pot, shed, while the trains that should have borne ihem 

 westward sped away I This fiasco so discouraged Ihe vis- 

 itors that all but live of the gentlemen and the editor of 

 ihis journal, returned to Niagara Falls by the first (rain ! 

 The desertion of so large a pan of the expedition at, once 

 dashed Ihe ardor of the remainder. Maj. Leech, Hie distin- 

 guished chief, and the ladies, till of whom were adepls in 

 the chase ai In. me, being left out, the hunt of the "Irish 

 leant, ' as such, then and there praelieally received its 

 p ' ■ v . The eclat of the tour was lost in the decima- 

 te honorable fragment could not maintain the 

 nimand the consideration of the distill- 

 Curiosity of the interviewing public was 

 proportionately abated. Reception slates along the line 

 were of course wiped off. Railway officials and delegated 

 committees, who had held themselves in readiness to "meet 

 appointments, found their professional duties pressing upon 

 them. Special cars were, countermanded. Aud "so the 

 original programme lapsed. The issue was unfortunate 

 and the disappointment great in all quarters. However! 

 those who remained were most cordially received by the 

 "Forester Club," of Buffalo, and made happy at their hos- 

 pitable headquarters, until the departure of the midnight 

 train for the West. The names of the undaunted were 

 Rigby, Milncr, Bagnall, Johnson and Kellv, and the num- 

 ber included four of the best shots in the" "team." They 

 spoke of their reception at Buffalo as one of the rnosM, 

 pleasant of their American experiences. Arriving at Toledo 

 with twenty minutes to spare, theyfound a crowd of several 

 hundred cilizeus awaiting them in the depot, at the head 

 of which were His Houor, Mayor Jones, Rev. Father 

 Ilanniu, Mr. Locke, ("Petroleum V. Nasby !") of the 

 loledo Blade, Superintendent Malcolm, and other officers 

 ot the loledo, Wabash and Great Western Railroad. All 

 courtesies that were possible under the circumstances were 

 eifteude'd to them, and Father ilannin and others accompa- 

 nied iheni torly miles: on their journey West. Fifty miles 

 east ot Hannibal, Mr. Dorman (Solus) met. them with a 

 special car; but, alas ! the courtesy extended to a meagre 

 half dozen guests, expended itself upon a betrgarlv account 

 of empty seats. At Hannibal, a few citizens, faithful in 

 patient waiting siuce-the Tuesday previous, received them 

 and escorted them to the Planter's Hotel. The following 

 morning they were joined by Mr. Edward Hope, of La- 

 grange, with a keuuel of six famous pointers and setters in 

 charge of a most competent trainer and hunter. The do^s 

 were assigned to such quarters and care on board the tra'n 

 as no Eastern road that we wot of ever provided Heart- 

 that have wept and bled over the neglect and indignities 

 that valuable canines have suffered elsewhere within their 

 experience, would have leaped for joy now. The pariv 

 increased lo nine, resumed their journey. The quantity o' 

 luggage, gun cases, and ammunition packages was for- 

 midable. During three days of continuous travel the 

 Irishmen had been going West, and thev now beffftn to 

 think that this was "a great country!" They longed for 

 *»" thule, still two days' journey beyond. No wi 



importai 

 guished who 



-.; ultiir, 



deruess yet appeared, and civilization, with its populous 

 towns, its magnificent farms, and elegant residences kept 

 pace Willi their progress, and seemed as ripe here as'in the 

 older States in the East. At Sedalia, Mo., passenger Su 

 penntendent Brown joined the party, with his dog, and at 

 Schell Olty the first halt was made, and two days were 

 spent over quail and prairie chickens, with a wwon'load of 

 birds as the result. Accommodation and table were found 

 here at the R. R. Cq.'s refectory, surpassed by none al the 

 East. Fountains, rockeries and aauaria embellished a 

 shaded lawn, and vases welled up with luxuriant flowers 

 One morning here, while the Team were at, breakfast some 

 inquisitive meddler carelessly handled a guu in the Vecen 

 tion room at joining, and the charge, went off, ,,, . 

 ugly hole in the wall, Ten day. ,(,.,■. „ ,1 



county papers aummneed ., , | 



had accidentally fired off a gild in the dining room, and 

 came near killing a servant "girl ! The honorable distinc- 

 tion that had given the parly such wide-spread renown 

 still clung to this humble fragthenl of riflemen iii their 

 isolation on the prairies of the' far West. 



An additional day's journey brought them toCheiopa, on 

 (lie Kansas line, 'two miles from the Indian Territory. 

 Here, within a circuit of thirty miles, was to be the princi- 

 pal theatre of adventure. Wagons, saddle horses, guides, 

 hunters, cooks, more dogs, teuls and pi -.visions 7 were 

 secured, and tile party was now Increased to thirteen. 

 Bupt, Brown had returned to Sedali i. A filteen mile drive 

 over the open prairie brought them to their first, camp on 

 Cabin Creek, in the Indian "Territory, an ample supply of 

 lords for supper having been secured on the route. All 

 traces of civilization were left, behind as soon as the line 

 was crossed. Most exhilarating was. the ride inlo the 

 "Nation" over the long undulating sweeps of prairie, 

 broken only by occasional groves of oak and long sketches 

 of limber that fringed the beds of creeks now dry. Brown 

 for the most pail and seared by the long 'continued 

 drought, the dry grass swept the knee-S; but, here and t hero 

 at intervals, where fires had run over large areas some 

 weeks before, the blades were of intensest vivid green, 

 looking like compacted sward al a distance, but, under 

 foot scant and scattered, affording no sustenance for the 

 deer that usually ranged these. ' regions. Crasshoppers 

 drouths And tires had scourged Ihe land, and vory little 

 animal life was seen. Occasionally a ground squirrel or 

 crawfish scramble! int:: :te I; le, and a solitary buzzard 

 sailed lazily overhead. Smokes from numerous fires hung 

 over the horizon, or belched upward in thick volume from 

 behind some intervening knoll, in the swales, where the 

 seeds of ranker grass afforded food for si niggling flocks of 

 prairie hens, ihe doe- would sometimes make a poinl, and 

 a half dozen birds would drop to the sportsmen's guns ; the 

 unhurt, residue flying a half mile or more out of sight and 

 harm's way. Atmospheric, effects were sometimes' weird. 

 While elevated objects stood out Willi remarkable distinct- 

 ness, the refraction was such that the unaccustomed eye - 

 could hardly determine whether they were far off or near. 

 They lost their distinctive outlines in a kind of mirage, so 

 that a. solitary bush that crested a knoll was mistaken for an 

 Indian videttc, and distant I tees looked like houses or 

 slacks of hay. " Toward sundown, when these objects cast 

 their lengthened shadows, illusions were intensified, and 

 then the vivid green of distant grass patches glowed in the 

 light with a coppery hue that dazzled the eye. Yery dif- 

 ferent to the Irishmen were these prairie experiences from 

 the renderings of their native moors. 



The hunt of the "Team" in the West bad excited among 

 sportsmen au interest greater than mere curiosity, for the 

 desire was general to know whether they acquitted them- 

 selves creditably in the Field as at the Range ; whether 

 their practice would challenge favorable comparison with 

 our own. In short, Ihe hunt was regarded by many as a 

 sort of field trial, wdiich was to test their endurance 'of the 

 rough vicissitudes of Ihe bush and bivouac, and their ability 

 to shoot a deer off baud as far as they could see him a*s 

 easily as they could pink the centre of a target at a 1,000 

 yards range. 



The discipline imposed upon them was severe from the 

 outset. The brawny bordeiers who took them in charge 

 catered for them in their own rude fashion. No dainties 

 filled their provender kit. The commissary was barren of 

 canned fruits, condensed milk and preserved meats. A 

 single string of onions and a jar of pickles were the 

 only luxuries. Hard tack, salt pork, butter, tea and 

 sugar filled up the measure of their supplies. When they 

 camped at night it yvas a toss for the four places in the 

 single tent. The two wagons accommodated four lodgers 

 more, and the remainder of the parly had choice of the 

 best spots around the fire. Fifteen miles thev had to travel 

 Ihe first day over the scathed prairie before they found any 

 water at all, and when they pulled up at a creek wdiich rah 

 bank full in Spring, they found only a shallow puddle in 

 the bottom, across which an impounded catfish scuttled 

 Vigorously, stirring up the mud in a roily wave as he 

 swam. Here they were compelled to spread their, blankets. 

 Fortunately, a two-gallon keg, brought, from town, furnish- 

 ed sufficient good water for the tea kettle. For the chicken 

 stew six quarts of doubtful fluid were carefully skimmed in 

 tin cups from the surface of the puddle. The horses drank 

 sparingly at the brink, and were mired to the knees in the 

 attempt. The second night Ihe party fared worse. Pure 

 water would have sold then at a high figure, for all were 

 thirsty. The guides had tested two" of the customary 

 camping places, and at each found the creek beds dry and 

 cracked, with small dead fish scattered about where the 

 water had soaked in and left them. A third attempt dis- 

 covered a considerable puddle, and camp was accordingly 

 made in the timber hard by. There was no other water 

 within several miles. Green ooze rankled thick on its 

 surface. The thirsty horses blew a small circle into it with 

 their nostrils, and were soon satisfied. For culinary pur- 

 poses the liquid was not a success. Experimental tests 

 were not assuring ; and so, pot, frying pan and tea kettle 

 were dispensed with. Each man cut a stick and toasted 

 his meat over the hot coals. Milner (of the Team) had been 

 fortunate enough lo shoot a fine buck that day, Whose flesh., 

 together with the birds that had dropped to the gunners] 

 made a, most ample and delicious repast. It wonld have 

 made the Lord Mayor of Dublin choke with envy to see 

 his countrymen among that charmed circle of fourteen, 

 squat on their haunches around the fire in the dry bed of 

 the creek, each with his bit of a slick pointed toward the 

 common centre of heat and happiness, watchiDg with gaze 

 intent the cooking of the savory morsel at Ihe end ot°it I 

 And he would have given friend lielly, of Castle Bagot, 

 credit for being no ''greenhorn" had he seen him slyly ' 

 whip off a generous cut of the tenderloin from the carcass 

 beside him, and smile sardonically when others complained 

 that their pieces were tough ! With a small mouthful of 

 whiskey to wash down their supper, the Irishmen were not 

 in a bad strait for water after all, aud no one wished him- 

 self back on the "ould sod." When all were satisfied, the 

 guides wrapped the carcass (what remained of it) in ils hide, 

 and swung it up on a sapling, out of reach of the coyotes. 

 The debris was fed lo the dogs, and right royally I hey 

 feasted then. Commend us these dogs for patient, waiting! 

 With what schooled self-denial they." lie with their noses 

 toward the tempting viands, restraininiug whine and fidget 

 until their masters have done ! 



Cheerily flashed the dancing firelight through Lho 

 branches of oak and eoltonwood, gleaming afar oui'on the 



prairie, where burners, outlaws and viei 

 »tontly roved; but. no on* feared its betrayal. It ;■ ■■-.! 



