FOREST AND STREAM. 



55 



150,000 head of cattle; or rather do not feed them, for we 

 are told Ihttt in those States the cattle feed on the natural 

 grasses, getting no other feed than u little hay on exception- 

 ally severe days in winter. 



I observe that importations of nnolher character are sug- 

 gested in Zand and Wnicr. Your quail, ruffed and pin- 

 nuled grouse, it is thought, would thrive in English covers. 

 They all undoubtedly would, and so would the beautiful 

 California quail. Oue remark, however, in the article al- 

 luded to I cannot pass unnoticed. The writer says that 

 the ruffed grouse is a very hardy bird, swift on the wing, 

 ami at difficult to shoot ds a woodcock. 1 should like to have 

 that man in, say Pike county, Pennsylvania, for a few days 

 in October and November, with the birds rising at from 

 ihirly to forly yards distance, and after quickly putting J 

 a tree between the gun and themselves, going "like a i 

 streak of greased lightning;" he would find after learning I 

 to kill them that woodcock shooting was but child's play. ] 

 The same writer thinks that the prairie chicken, or pin- I 

 nated grouse, would be better adapted for English preserves } 

 than the ruffed grouse. Herein I totally disagree with bim. 

 Not ouly is the Utter, in my opinion at least., incomparably 

 the better bird for the table, but I do not believe that the 

 prairie chicken is adapted for the high civilization and ex- 

 tended and thorough cultivation of England. Tetroo ca- 

 pido is a sort of nomad; he appears to prefer the outskirts 

 of civilization. Years ago he left the Atlantic seaboard 

 and preceded the Star of Empire ou its western course. 

 Like some uf Cooper's heroes he lingers In the "settle- 

 ments" only until the houses become numerous, and then 

 seeks pastures new, where neighbors are more than rifle 

 shot apart, and where the new soil brings forth such abund- 

 ant crops that he can rightfully claim his share without 

 robbing Ihe farmer. 



Virginia must look to her laurels. I have supposed that 

 the Old Dominion had a monopoly of the tournament busi- 

 ness in the present ceniury, but the sturdy Briton is about 

 to encase himself in the armor of his ancestors and enter 

 the lists once more. In May there is to be a revival of the 

 famous old Eglurton Tournament. Hurlingham is to be 

 the sceue of the jousts, and blue rocks and breech-loaders 

 for the nonce give' way to blunt lances and mail-clad steeds. 

 The PriAae of Wales will appear as oue of tne knights, 

 bis Princess, it is said, being the suggestor of the idea. 

 The programme as given iu the Sporting Gazette is as. fol- 

 lows: "Four knights of the lied Cross who have just come 

 back from doing battle with the Paynuin iu Palestine, will 

 pit themselves against four knights who have remained at 

 home to guard the safety and honor of the kingdom, and 

 prove wnetber the home-keeping youths or the gailant 

 Crusaders have the firmer seat and the more practised 

 lance. The costumes will be gorgeous. The four Cru- 

 saders are to be attended by squires and pages, attired iu 

 all the fantastic magnificence of the East. Kensington 

 Museum will be ransacked to supply Eastern arms and ac- 

 coutrements—the splendid collection there having been 

 placed at the service of the promoters of the tournament " 

 Brit there is one innovation upon knightly custom to which 

 true knights should never submit. That is the selection of 

 the Queen of Love and Beauty by ballot instead of leaving 

 the choice to the victor. 



Speaking of Hurlingham reminds me of the gay doings 

 at Monaco and Nice during the past few weeks. At Mo 

 naco pigeon shooting on a scale that would almost rival 

 one of your "State shoots-" has occupied the attention of 

 sportsmen of celebrity from all parts of Europe and also 

 of some from America. The principal event, in which 

 the prize was worth not far from five thousand dollars, was 

 won by an English gentleman, Mr. Arundel Yco. His 

 name, whenever 1 come across it, always reminds me of 

 Cnas. Kingsley and Amyas Leigh. He must be a Devon 

 man. We have not in our country been accustomed to 

 look on foreigners, that is other than Englishmen, as been 

 skilful in the use of the gun; but if you should see some of 

 these French and Italian gentlemen and noblemen kill pig- 

 eons you would be astonished. Still more wouW the wonder- 

 ment of some of your crack pigeon shots be excited did 

 they see the guns; 18 or even 14 bores, weighing sometimes 

 as little as six and a half pounds, and loaded with three 

 drachms of powder. The shooting is usually done from 

 five traps and the distances frequently as high as 28 yards, 

 with the use of both barrels. And the birds are killed as 

 clean us with the old single-barreled "Cannons" which have 

 scarcely gone out of use with you. 



The "choke-bore" war is still being carried on in the col- 

 umns of the Field, and one week the "chokes" seem to have 

 it and the next the "cylinders." One point, however, ap- 

 pears to be generally conceded, and that is that for general 

 shooting the left barrel should be choked or "modified." 



Quite a stir has been made in racing circles by Lord 

 Falmouth's proposition before the Joeky Club, "Thai no 

 produce slakes or weight-fur-age race to be entered for as 

 i .o year-olds shall be open to foreign- 



b r ed horses', unless specially advertised to be so, or unless 

 such horses were bred in those countries which throw open 

 ttinr laces on equal terms to British horses." The object 

 in 1 1n is resolution is 10 fdrce a reciprocity. For years past 

 all racing iu England has been open to the world, with a 

 liberal allowance of weight for foreign-bred horses. But 

 the French, in particular, while they have of talc years 

 carried off many of the richest prizes on the British turf, 

 have kept their own races, with some few exceptions, 

 closed against horses bred outside of France. Probably 

 there is no man in England who could offer such a resolu- 

 tion with less danger of having his motives misconstrued 

 ami jealousy ascribed where only fair dealing is aimed at 

 than Lord Faluioutu. While successful in carrying off at 

 one lime or another all the great races, the starting or 

 running of his horses is never influenced by the State of 

 ibe"odds. Yaqueho. 



\mntl. 



THE KENNEL. REGISTER. 



St. Louis, February 20th, 1877. 



EdTTOU FortEBT AND STREAM:— 



In your comments on my communication of February 

 1st you propose that the N. A. K. Club shall turn over ail 

 their pedigrees to your paper for registration and publica- 

 tion in your proposed stud book. The proposition is re- 

 spectfully declined. I think if you appreciated the 

 situation you would not have made such a proposition. 



The National American Kennel Club is, or is intended to 

 be, a representative body of men composed of those in- 

 terested iu breeding and raising pure bred dogs; ana to be, 

 as its name indicates, national in its character. It would 

 bear the same relation to the breeders of dogs that the 

 Jersey Cattle Club does to the breeders of Alderoey cattle, 

 or the American Association of Short-horn Breeders docs 

 to the breeders of short-boru cattle That such an asso- 

 ciation is desirable I think you will not deny. That the 

 N. A. K. Club is the only association of the kind in this 

 country claiming to be national in its character I think you 

 will admit. That it is as thoroughly national in its cha- 

 racter as could be expected in so young an organization is 

 not to he successfully denied. These tacts being admitted 

 allow me to ask, how is it possible for the N. A. K. C. to 

 accept your proposition— turn over its pedigrees to you — 

 to abandon all responsibility as to the genuineness or au 

 thenlicity of all the pedigrees you may publish, and lire 

 supervision of the stud book lo be left to gentlemen who 

 are not even Members of the elnl! 



I think there would be no difficulty in arranging this 

 matter satisfactorily to all concerned if it were not for the 

 jealously and rivalry existing between the sporting pipers; 

 and ihey will be held responsible by the sportsmen of the 

 country for the confusion and dissatisfaction which is 

 likely to result from their conduct. 



You know that from the time we met at the Baltimore 

 Show up to the present time I have been trying to recon- 

 cile differences with a view to having co-operation and 



position, and such, we are glad to learn, is the general 

 opinion among our readers. Wearenot informed what the 

 cost of the book would be if published by the rT. A. K. C, 

 but it is au underiiab le fact that our plan would have saved 

 to each person registering a pedigree at least one dollar. 



But to return Iu Mr. Sterling's letter. In his first parn, 

 graph he scarcely states the case fairly when he says that 

 we proposed that the N. A. K. C. should turn over all 

 their pedigrees to our paper for registration and publica- 

 tion in our proposed stud book. Such was not our meaning, 

 or intention. Our proposition was (or at least so intended) 

 that their pedigrees should be lurned over lo us, or to who 

 ever should prepare the book for the press, after they had 

 passed through the hand* Of and been approved by their c<nn- 

 mittee, we undeitaking to have the same office performed 

 here for our own pedigrees. Ab foi the relations which the 

 Ni A. K. C. bears to the breeders of dogs iu general there 

 is much that might be said. At present we will only re- 

 peat what we have said before, that we helieve an error 

 was made at the outset iu not inducing a more general re- 

 presentation in the formation of the club. The people of 

 this country are peculiar in some of their notions, and more 

 than a hundred years ago expressed in the strongest man- 

 ner their objections lo taxation without representation. 

 But if a precedent is required for our printing a stud book 

 we will refer them to Bruce's Stud Book or (he English 

 Kennel Club Stud Book, the latter of which is edited by 

 Mr. Pierce, Kennel Editor of the London Field, and is pub- 

 lished from the office of that paper. 



Ml-. Sterling thinks that there would be no difficulty in 

 arranging this matter satisfactorily if it were not for the 

 jealousy and rivalry existing between Ihe sparling papers. 

 We are not aware of either jealousy or rivalry on our part, 

 aud arc assured of being exempt from all responsibility in 

 the matter. We shall do what we consider our duty, and 



DASH-THE PROPERTY OF GEO. 0. COLBURN, ESQ, 



harmony in this mailer. Having failed in that I see 

 nothing left to bo done but for the N. A. K. C. to proceed 

 with the publication of their stud book; and if the com- 

 mittee on publication do their duty with freedom from 

 prejudice and with justice to all I care not how many 

 other stud books are published, their's, in the end, will be 

 considered the authority. E. C. Sterling, 



For the Com. on Publication of Stud Book. 

 We think that Mr. Sterling in his zeal for his club does 

 not. sufficiently appreciate our position in this matter. Be- 

 fore the National American Kennel Club was iu existence 

 we had established a Kennel Register, and had agreed with 

 our constituents to publish from time to time, iu book 

 form, an abstract of the pedigrees entered therein. Sub 

 sequently a Western contemporary opened a similar book 

 which it afterwards announced would be issued under the 

 supervision aud jurisdiction of tho N. A. K. C, and our 

 own enterprise was referred to as a mere money-making 

 scheme, simply because we asked for a subscription to the 

 book in the shape of a registration fee which was to as- 

 sist in defraying the expenses of printing. Recognizing 

 the fact that our motives might be so miscoustrued we 

 abandoned the registration fee. When it was proposed to 

 us to band over our pedigrees to be joined with those that 

 were supposed to be the property of Ihe N. A. K. C, we, 

 believing that to do so would not only further the interests 

 of breeders and sportsmen generally, through their being 

 but one stud book, but would also have the effect of arous- 

 ing a more general interest in the club itself, and hence 

 strengthen it, were willing to accede to the proposition. 

 We were informed, however, that a registration fee would 

 be required for every pedigree printed. This placed us in 

 the position of having either to pay the iee ourselves for 

 all the pedigrees entered in our register or repudiate our 

 agreement, neither of which could we do. When we pro- 

 posed to publish the stud book and give it to breeders and 

 owners without any expense to them beyond the 

 copy we imagined that we were making a very liberal pro- 



adhere tenaciously to our Tights without fear or favor If 

 there is any jealousy or rivalry affecting the interests of 

 the N. A. K. C. (one-sided though it be) the club bas only 

 itself to blame for making the editor of one of the sport- 

 ing papers its President. And we do not say this in an in- 

 vidious sense, but merely from the point, of expediency. 



We might, allude to the efforts nlade by this paper to ad- 

 vance the interests and impruve the breeding of dogs, dating 

 from its first issue, more than two years before our west- 

 ern contemponuy came under its present management, 

 and claim some consideration on that score; and we can 

 only reiterate our assertion that the same motives influ 

 ence us now. 



In conclusion we would call attenl ion to the point that 

 whatever may be published the Kennel Register opened at 

 ihif office is an accomplished fact. We are iu possession 

 not merely of a number of names of dogs and their own- 

 ers, but of a volume which will always be the book of 

 original record, and which contains the pedigrees of nearly 

 four huudred dogs duly certified to by their owners or 

 breeders, and whick is receiving daily accessions. 

 ■ **♦ 



Dash. — Dash, the subject of this sketch, was whelped 

 in August, 1869, and is of a rich black audlan, white frill 

 on chest, fore legs about one-third up strongly intermixed 

 or spotted with tan. He measures 28 inches at shoulder, 

 with good strong limbs and deep chest, and combines the 

 English, Irish and Gordon strains. A few weeks after his 

 birth he was given by his owner, Mr. H. A. Valentine, to 

 his brnthtr-in-law, Mr. W. L. Robinson, of this city, and 

 by him thoroughly broken on woodcock, quail, grouse and 

 snipe. When he was some three years old he was pur- 

 chased by Mr. Geo. C. Colburn, of this city, in whose 

 good hands he has not at all deteriorated. At first glance 

 to a stranger he would not appear to be a very last dog, 

 but when you notice his immense stride, and the quantity 

 of ground he gets over in;;such short space of time, you 

 will then see that he is much faster.than you jit flsst sup. 



