248 



d 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Ami. 38, 1881. 



there for air, when they may bp .shot or speared i'roni the 

 banks. This method lo be successful must not he attempted 

 when the ice is higher at the shore than on the surface, as 

 that affords breathing places, which will lie taken advantage 

 of in preference to the openings described heretofore. 



Experiments, -which -were the results of long experience, 

 and which have been successful, were always considered se- 

 crets of the trade and Jealously guarded, but such secrets are 

 of no great importance except to experienced hunters and 

 trappers; for you may explain just how to east a fly, or 

 bow far ahead to aim on a ruffed grouse, and then il takes 

 years of practice and a nat ural tact and fondness for the sport 

 to make the information of any practical use. II. C. W. 



WcU&itte, A r . Y. 



SHORE AND INLAND NOTES. 



Lumen Valley, Pa,, April 12. 



I HAVE been summoned to the beautiful town of , 

 in the Lehigh Valley, by a friend who is anxious that I 

 should accompany him on a fishing trip to a stream uotfardis- 

 titnt, Where he has always enjoyed good fly fishing quite early 

 hi the season. 1 am promptly at. his side, but to-day it is rain- 

 ing in torrents, and I must content myself with looking out 

 of the window at the dull clouds as they roll over the hill- 

 tops, and be impressed with the not very good prospects for 

 the morrow. 



Before leaving Philadelphia and stopping in at Krider's to 

 replenish my stock of flies, leaders, etc., etc., I met ("apt. 

 Bond, of Long Beach, N. J., and, anxious to learn anything 

 of interest from Tuckerton Bay, questioned him regarding 

 the fowl iu his wa' era and the effect the freezing of the 

 shoal places has had upon the feed of the ducks. The Cap- 

 tain tells me that when the ice broke up it carried off all the 

 vegetable matter with it, pulling it. up by the roots, and thus 

 leaving no food for the fowl. "Geese and brant have been 

 plentiful enough, but have not stopped long in Tuckerton 

 Bay." The black duck shooting is being ruined, he states, 

 by the night shooters and " pond watchers " •' Captain Sam 

 Shords and his boys and Captain Billy Gaskill and his boys 

 following this sort of work every favorable night. The con- 

 sequence is," said Bond, "the black ducks arc yearly de- 

 creasing in numbers, and soon will not come into the bay to 

 feed." 



I found Captain Clay and Dan Wells just about starting 

 on a yachting trip down the Delaware Kiver to the bay for 

 ducks and snipe. They will go down as far a9 Prime Hook 

 and Slaughter Hook marshes " 



Last week Mr. Geo Filler had a Bhot at a swan, a short 

 distance below Philadelphia, but it was a long one, and the 

 bird was not killed. This swan is the second one that has 

 been seen so near the city for many years. One of our river 

 men killed several wild geese near Tinnicun's Island ft few 

 day ssince. This is considered a " ten-strike and a spare." 



To break the monotony of the dull, rainy day your cor- 

 respondent ran up to Mauch Chunk to inspect the trout 

 ponds (J f Mr, Alex. Leiscnring, and to pass an hour or two 

 with the genial sportsmen of that place. At the Mansion 

 House we were shown a very well bred red Irish setter be- 

 longing to the worthy landlord, Mr. J. S. Weibert. The dog, 

 we are told, is of Capl. Silsbey's breeding. Mr. Weibert 

 owns another very fine setter we once had the pleasure if 

 shooting over when she (Kate) was in the possession of her 

 former owner. We looked at a number of very fair native 

 setters belonging to tile Bporismen of the neighborhood. 

 Some arc famous for ruffed grouse, and their owners kill not, 

 a few of these noble birds every season, as the valleys and 

 hillsides in this section of the country abound with them. 



The quail of the Lehigh Valley have been completely de- 

 stroyed by the snows of Ihe past winter, but we are pleased 

 to know that a few gentlemen have clubbed together and 

 housed between one and two hundred birds, which will fur- 

 nish the stock for the coming breeding season. 



We were luckily present at feeding time, when we reached 

 the trout ponds of Mr. Ltiseuring and wit ness ed the commotion 

 made by two or three thousand hungry fish, as the attendant 

 threwupon the water the minced liver with which they were 

 fed. Mr. Leiscnring has two ponds— in one there are twelve 

 or fifteen hundred fish, at least fifteen inches long — in the 

 other a like number, averaging eighteen lo twenty inches. 

 One of the fish we saw Mr. John Lessening stated was twenty- 

 six inches from tip to tip— Mr. Blackford should have this 

 monster. The ponds and trout we understand are for sale and 

 can be bought at a very low price. 



To-morrow, if the weather will permit, we will try 1 lie 



trout in Creek, but the prospect, as I look out of the 



window, is a forlorn one. Homo. 



GAME NOTES FROM MANY QUABTEBS. 



California.— Onx quail reason closed on the 15th of lust month, 

 and wc have lots of them left for breeding purposes. I am glad 

 to see that a war of extermination ia' begun against the hawks ■ 



lliev an- ii fcj aikle M'.'i;rfi' :uui 1 near miss an opportunity to kill 

 nun cif them, although our California quail always frequent much 

 r than the Eastern quail do.— H. M. B. 



CoWrrook, N. H. Thi gas 



tered 11 



lallv well. 



this part of the State has win- 



' citing has been done near the 



i that •■ around the. First Cou- 



dc,.-r at .1 ni'. -at. rati, ami the 



. a an ad one iiimii recti 



.ions after Ushers found w 



Investigation revealed ai 



I last fall. "" 



settled li 



uoetiont Lake the natives are 



hotel men there are encoura 



men will oontoibuls to fcb il 



per day for Magalloway guid 



low, and a party of them rau 



Tom Chester iu one ot his 



thev had been digging in the 



bull moose that had died bofu. . 



measured 3 ft, 7 in. spread, and had a great number of points ami 



brow antlers. F. .J. Gamsbv, of this town, has caught fifty-eight 



foxes since ln-t October.— Ned Morton, 



Wenhporl, N. Y— Woodcock, snipe and plover are coming iu.— 

 Don. 



Oshornville, ,V. ./.—Whole bevies of quail were found hero frozen 

 to death after the snow went off .— J. W. J. 0. 



Pri'TSEUEOH, Pa., April 21.— Ducks are beginning to arrive on 

 our rivers ; -ainui l'ai: am- a, '.iti made. A few arrived withm 

 tho city limits, but they aid not stay long, as they came to the con- 

 clusion that thev had fouud an unsafe place, as every gunner in 

 the city almost was out after them.— N. 



MrKMESOTA— Camden, B. J.— I have just come in from a ten 

 days' sojourn in Minnesota. What a grand State it is, with its rare 

 and bracing air ! Ducks and geese are very thick, and 1 found 

 p.omo very good gunning ground in a section of the State in which 

 1 had entered some lurid twriitv-seven years ago, only to find the 

 land— then a wilderness— now on the St. Paul & Dnluth Bailroad, 

 and near the former citv. f came through with Gen. Gibson, of 

 Montana, of the Regular Army. He told me of catching a niue- 

 poimd trout iu the Missoula River, Montana. I took the liberty of 



telling him you would be glad to get his experiences l>y ' , 



field," and he said he would gladly avail himself of your pages* 



Stated Ist.axo— Brooklyn, April 1,3. —A friend and myself made 

 a flying visit to Stateu Island last Thursday to try our hick. After 

 a tough tag day, cold and wiudy. We found twelve birds. Oil winch 



we Viaec'i-d flevcn. Circle veiv v, ild — auly ccrtinc two |\ iriN on. 

 of the lot. We hunted down wind.— Smoke, 



WbbTERH New York— Buffalo, April 17.— Spring is still very 

 backward and fishermen are -ulchi,,. .com miaurniiv of the bin'o 

 and yelloH pike through holes in the ice, which still aovers Tea 

 Eric to the depth of nearly three feet, as far as the eve can reach. 

 'Ida li-,-, WU; m .iiijieot the season' was shot here oil April 15 by 

 Jaio Swartis, in iraeprGssible pursuer of flu, fur and feather. A 

 dm speciw is ol the white bellied swallows have made their ap- 

 pearanoe, and the mountain ash trees in and about the ei v . i 

 alive with flocks of the cedar birds. Beyond ibis everytmngliaB a 

 January- like aspect, with sharp frosts every night.— C.L. 



West Vjboixu— West Jlilforcl, April 19.- 



-■.mi - i any eom- 



mmucations in luiaai Am Srhaoi from 



oi c B ate, and I m 



aware that our sportsmen are not so much ii 





as iumauv other States, never k ,- i a : . r 





of late years than formerly. On* game law 



eadeeed. and Of late aremmerall- 



birds ; no fish taken except with rod and lii 



sare good oongh, it 



& Onrrivar is pretty 



well stocked with pike, perch, catfish and 





axe aw principle game bird* ; grouse, I thi 



difca-Xeet 



ouail sidiercd much irom continued mows. 



probably CO per cent. 



saved. Wc will have no shooting now f 



m ■'•-; expect 



plenty by that time, if the following wintei 

 We had no good shooting last fall, on accot 



s should be favorable. 



Hi- ei winter setting in 



bo early.— B. D. E. 





Who Shot "Old Ai.ea."— Confluence, Pa. — There ap- 

 peared in the Pittsburgh 7 ',..«', Sept. IS, lsfai, an article 

 signed "J. 0. B., Confluence, Pa.;" in which lie statei I thai 

 until within, a couple of weeks a. buck, familiarly known as 

 "Old Alex.," roamed in the mountains rjear Confluence, 

 Pa., defying the skill of our own as well 

 noted marksmen. But by good fortune il fell to M 

 Watson, of Alleghany, to kill his buckship; and tb 

 the article ends by saying that shot, would seith 



Old Alex." 

 i hono 



M<m I wit 



ed 



writer of 

 all con- 

 to rnr- 

 iKmor is 



g laurel.' 



troversy as to w) 

 reel the above I 

 due," as wo tlis 

 not their own. 



was not alive. 

 Burgettslown, 

 lib yards, thee 

 He was killed ii 

 or December, 1 



by Silas Duller, 



took. For the 



be was often s 



Jonathan Butler, L. P. Shipley and Win. Hi 



among the oldest settlers ; and wh >, tif* IB '"' 



pronounced bin) Die fatuous- deer known a 



and would testify to the same, if p& 



the horns and hide in bis pose, 



merely to "show that Stephenson did shoot the 



original deer known as "Old Alex.," and tin 



County IS entitled to the honors of his death 



iegbony. If •' .1. 0. 13." will go back to the fi 



and Gun, then published in New York Oity, 



ISii, be will find an account of his having been shot by 



Stephenson.— G. C. Butleh. 



Ilia State, on the b:h day 

 >n the farm tlie.n owned 

 sslon .d iM.itbias- iMeClin 

 ears before he was killed 

 da far »a H Sc, l\K Tic, 

 1 Wm. Bickher, who are 



m Mm dead, 

 known as •• Old Alex.," 

 pessary, Stephenson has 

 We write this 

 i Old and only 



and i it. -j- 



nf the Ron 



Pi run 



Detroit Notes. — This is the first day in Which there has 

 been felt a genuine touch of spring. Yesterday (April! 7 I, 



ssed a trer 

 M. and continued unceasingly for a pe 

 \\ ben I came down town this morning 

 the grass between the curb and the side 

 and On private lawns bad lalonon 

 twenty- four hours before WW D t mm 

 pleasant music; the pavements 

 (ben: was in the city a kind of 1 a am , 

 think Spring bad indeed ma, 

 common with you of fiTewYoyk, have 

 tor. Ai old hunter told me not icing a; 



18-11. The fall of mow was anon] 

 the question,, except during the t 

 through the ice waypraetically aiu 



thusiastic fishers having found thi 

 the extraordinary severity of the \ 



I pan look out of my window i 

 cra.hle flocks of wild ducks, flying i 

 waul, though at this moment the 

 floating Erieward. Shooting is gc 



It is'reportcd tiiat several M&tq 

 at Six .l,i 



lob begau about _ 



od of fifteen hours. 



the air was balmy, 



rails ia the ell | 



ea,, green, which 



-■in m-m bird -e 



; dry, and 



We 



' I>< 



oit, in 



> that no ad, 



he most en- 



m 



is elm 



Lake St, 0,'air- 

 keii with ice 

 oiag on rather lively 

 piette sportsmen intend to 



JO Lake. TilCtJ i ma! m, 



ipot for such a purpose, as there is in that re- 

 gioi abundance of game and speckled trout. Trout, fish- 

 ing, savs a waggish friend, is rather slim just now — the snow 

 and ice darken the water so much that they can't see to bite. 



CliAKON. 



A JjOON-Y Pkefoumaxce. — Last Sal 

 had a rather animated shooting iniirnai 

 wa--, one of those impromptu affairs tb 

 a large crowd without any preliminrny 

 been announced for several lays tha 

 " Wild Jim," would on that afternoon 



rday 



erity with the rifle. Some time before the 

 hour nan. ed for the show on "The Island," a. solitary loon, 

 (!,W//w//iBjiii™/nm-:i5 seen in the river near the bridge. 



and the fun" commenced. At IfaSl forty rpUndt a i , 

 lit him before be SUGCUmbed. The boiubardonm.; -..,:.-, :-.:--,: 

 up for more thou half an hour from both shores find the 

 bridge, which was crowded with spectators There must 

 bave'been four hundred persons attracted to the spot by the 

 shooting. It wns bang here, and bang there, and mm 

 der, and sometimes several sinraltaneouB bangs'every time 

 the loon's head broke the surface. Every miss was a signal 

 for a, succession of groans from the crowd, and when he was 

 Ida, II- i, i by some lucky fellow on the west shore, the shouts 

 applause nrere deafening. "Wild Jim's" shooting of 

 glass balls and walnuts that followed this free enter taintnent 

 was a tame thing in comparison. 



Wild ducks and geese have been ftyingLorethia wi k in 

 laree numbers, and many have been shot along Pox Biver. 

 Tliere is hardly an evening but wc hear the a ... 



, a ut-.f village. Itgivea one the " gnu fever : i ,,!,,- , 

 their" monotonous cackle, and large, coveys of ducks like the 

 rush of mighty wiuds, 



BSEOTS ■ Wn.n Fowl StroOTiSG — Pocassel, Mass., 

 April 13. — Spring shooting affords us much sport at times. 



Buzzard's — lies in the way of many misraiory 

 fowl. The best shooting places are, "Back of Marshnee," 

 "1 irrows," Cataumut Beach and some points on 



i -bore. Brant favor Cataumet Beach, and some- 

 ia ■ ofJMarshnee." "Back of Marsbnee " 



is the passtige between Marshnen Island and Toby's. Coots, 

 loons, shclldrakos and many other species fly up through this 

 passage on their way North. 



A party of three camped for a few days near Cataumet 

 Beach. They were too early for the coots, but got some 

 shelldrakes. and had a grand time notwithstanding the cold 

 weather. In a week or two the coots will come, and though 

 m, Ibev afford line shootimj-- In season I have seen 

 thirty boats lying between Marahnee and Toby's islands. 

 The coots fly in flocks ranging from a few pair to thousands. 

 The time of shooting is from daybreak till an hour or so after 

 sunrise. The afternoon shooting begins at about 4 p. m. , and 

 lasts till it's too dark fusee. A aoUttlWest wind is best as the 

 birds then try to cross over the cape— Cape Cast. IE they 

 fly too high then the gnnner whistles them down, I have 

 known them to pitch down to the water from a height of 

 more than 200 yards on hearing the gunner's sharp whistle, 

 il tes they Often fly very dose to one's boat and are 

 quite diflicult to hit. After they are whistled down Ihey go 

 up the bay a short way, and then turn and comeotit, thus giv- 

 ing two shots. In this way many are killed in one da)'. 



good point shooting, but they are tough in every 

 sense of the" word. Our winter ducks have left. Mergds. 



The Ways Oe Eeynaed.— Pittsford, Rutland Co., Vt.— 

 I see in issue of Feb. 24 an article in regard to foxes reliev- 

 hard pressed by the hound. j\ly ex- 



■ the 



ui i 



u the s 

 id star 



responde: 



of the hound, and both foxes c: 

 ninwavs on which I was standing id hesatue 

 dift'ereut directions, [shot a thestiay fpxam 

 mi |{, I then attempted to servo the ot 

 but my second barrel missed fire, and on he v 

 id, dee- came up be saw the fox I had killed 

 a , i,iin toshakebimashealwaysdi 



and t 



ig for the 

 pitrsmi 

 a ISO to 

 jf the tv 



before be is satisfied, but just as helipened 1 

 him in he discovered i t was not th 

 up bis head and commenced eircl 

 rue) and away he went, i 

 sivo evidence that this dog had 5 

 the diiT. rence between the scent, 

 an liotir I killed the fox the dc 



ai , li nies. Iii all my expericne 

 which time laoi'C lli*Ui 150 m 

 , , i | | , .■■ ., . - i -,,-■ i i | my k ,\ f 



I, and never have 1 OWned 



I shasc a | e , . ,; I'si'v as loi 



We have uoiliingbut red foxes hi 

 be different. Willi a dog thathai 

 i add take place. — E. S. 



er the 



.a, : 



'opped 



ewise, 



When 



riade a 



loin times 



ith to take 



He threw 



1 which be 



as conclu- 



cnough to discern 



■ Ibxea. In about 



r, ami found both 



shooting, during 



mm in, never 



started by 



11 WOllld I ma 



This ^ 



Fii 'i r-I)oi i, in ik - ' I 





die, 



r Gr 



I fi , a mm, 1 

 to mind) 11 



imposs'liu: '•! get il pB r ' ! . 

 mi 'i i gun. 1 Bl 



him. I think thai any ia 

 , ,i ei ■ im' lug 'a... n : Is 

 barrels turned out in a factory are i 

 quality nor free from flaws. The 

 ;-n i= are. without doniif, jeimine 



ley are rejected barrels ; 

 theae guns, ■ iporti 



ail' ie Without t 



Inside oe outside ' : 



. a 



fori 



SUinihg tO lVITOfelll I wi-i m am 



not apparent i I ihO surface. II any 



a let him patroni»o one of 



smiths, and bo will get value for hi 



a I . i air-e.i.is liaiTel^, however - . 



. Out.- -I saw iii the 



m I I n m jei| ea)] 



led -The;: - m,, 



ed to think lhat it is 



laminated sk i k :: , 

 inclined to differ witli 

 amluadcr that is rep- 



,:iy luis them. The 

 no means uniform iu 

 irrela of these cheap 

 lmaseus or laminated 

 hundreds ,,f 

 milies of examining, 1 

 me or mure llaws, either 

 bis is the secret of their 

 Md imuations, as niany 

 i the barrels of a gun by 



b mi where the fraud is 



one wants a good tifty- 

 our own American gun- 

 3 money every time, not 

 An Sable. 



ml i 



that section. If wi 



_mi.a. Woodme 

 e, . . a, i he tike, 



Qu.mi,. — The Hockbmd, i\le., Krpir-w reports 



Hessiua quail have been seen in the west part 



m a , u f ( ] |C g oc k imported last year 



The -nine paper says that "Dr. Stevens basin 



a .' Portland a deer thai is a curiosity in 



in in the Dead Biver woods near 



iimfers who nave seen if, say they 



ars of the animal are nine inches 



i young coil's; It completely an- 



a : a given by books ot the mule deer of the 



. :.y Houn tains." 



Mi Everett Smith writes to the Portland, Me., A rgws : 



acal and known to have bred in Maine last 



year, migrated south in the autumn, but may be expected to 



make their appearance herein May, and commence nesting 



- in June. In reply to inquiries about these birds, 



which always nest on the ground, I will quote a paragraph 



be Commissioners of Fisheries and Game 



for I880i 



m, allbe kept of this 



a a in -a a ,uai]s to the avifauna of our State, and I 

 ■ la- request that any observation of these birds 

 •mnuinicatcd to mc at the above address. . 



Foima iii.M.i.r. Pijoh 0] Ouoxanoe has recently been sub- ■ 

 ed for our inspection. It is the invention of Mr. Kuy- 

 S. Giles, ere 1 .: known to the sportsmen of America as the 

 ili-r and leading spirit of the Blooming Grove Park As- 

 mi am a mis of a breech loading six barreled rifle, 

 mtrived that one, two or three barrels may be discharged 

 ' ''tawied loose" simultaneously. It 

 il give the same pattern at 500 

 at usually attained at, 30 yards with 

 he penetration being equal to that 

 Object if ibis poly-gastric gun is, in 

 .mi kk an arm equally fatal to the 

 , mm '. n, , a mountain peak. 



is claimed that the am 

 yards with bullets as tb 

 shot from a eh- aim 

 of mi Express riae< i'i" 

 adiori. to psovide the gun 

 squirrel ou a Btuinp and I 



The c Wi>io!iesteh Exveess in India— Poonah, India.— 

 • Having lately sceu several let 



