THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S J 



OURNAL. ^ 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 1877- 



For Forest and Stream and Bod and (?u: 

 SENTIMENT AND HUMOR. 



BY WM. H. CABEW. 



WHEN vernal suns have kissed the hills, 

 The daffodils and daisies, 

 Tis sweet at morn to hear the birds 



Hymn out their matin praises ; 

 I love the genial airs of spring, 



The pansies and the posies, 

 The op'ning of the tender buds, 



The fragrance of the roses— 

 And more than all the two-lips sweet 



That ffomau's kiss discloses. 



Through woodland dense with tangled leaves 



Alone I love to wander, 

 To muse upon the happy past, 



Aud on the future ponder ; 

 I love to see the startled stag 



His dainty antlers flinging, 

 And hear Ihe hounds' pursuing cries 



Far in the distance ringing— 

 While frightened from the dusty road 



The screaming geese are shinning. 



And when the storm-king's thunder guns 



Flash o'er the heavenly arches, 

 I love to hear the forests far 



Hesouud like marrial marches. 

 There freedom's feathered monarch reigns, 



By battles unaffrighted, 

 Who fought the growling king of beasts, 



Both times they got excited- 

 Proud emblems of the brave and free, 

 e united. 



I love to s;e the farmer's plow- 

 Throw up the stubble furrow, 

 Where all the whistling winter long 



The rabbits kept their burrow; 

 To see at noon the horned yoke 



Graze up the clover's roses, 

 Or 'neath the branches, leafy shade, 



Indulge their lazy dozes- 

 More sweet to them are pastures green 

 Than snuff to sneezing noses. 



I love at dawn, when slow the sun, 



Fires up the mountain passeB, 

 To hear the bleating flocks afar, 



And braying Johnny asses; 

 And when at dusk the milky kine, 



Their homeward way are wending, 

 'Tis sweet to hear their tinkling bells, 



With evening vespers blending, 

 And see the little baby cows 



Their mother's step3 attending. 



And when the moon her silver light 



O'er dreamy earth diffuses, 

 I love to hear the Thomas cats 



Mew to Tabby's mew-ses. 

 On fragrant beds of catnip green, 



They lie like loving spouses, 

 And spit and purr and pledge their taila 



Inloud a-mew-siug mouses ; 

 As if no sad cat-astrophies 



Could scat-ter their carouses. 



Tis sweet, as in the days of yore, 



To hear the rippling waters, 

 Where loud the parent frogs discourse 



To croakiug s 

 And when the star-gen 



Beyond the vision re 

 Hove to hear the owlel 



Though terrible their 

 Like truant boys beue.i 



That agitates their bo 



igUteta. 



viug of night, 



the birch 



ecnes; 



My soul Is ailed with love for all 



In nature, grave or funny ; 

 For life is full of shadows dark, 



As well ;« pleasures sonny. 

 Yet far above them all I love 



The love that falters never, 

 That clings to mine in weal or woe, 



That death alone can sever, 

 Through Him who ruleth over all, 



Forever and forever. 



— Surveying parties are out, to ascertain whether the branch 

 of the Union Pacific Railroad to the Black Hills shall start from 

 Cheyenne, Sidney, or the North Platte. 



— Another mail route will be opened to the Black Hills soon, 

 making six in all. It will be run from Paddock, Neb., to Cus- 

 ter, Dakota. 



8*8 Shwtm 



BV FRANK WABW1CK. 



ABOUT the middle of August, when the woodcock depart 

 on their brief annual migration northward, and but few 

 remain to moult in their old breeding grounds, our regu'ar 

 summer shooting is over— with the exception, perhaps, of a 

 few tarrying "shore birds." 



Between this period and the regular autumn shooting of 

 grouse, quail and "fall woodcock," a new phase invites the 

 sportsman's attention, namely, the game of the bog. Very 

 little has been written on this branch of sport, and I take up 

 my pen, hoping that I may afford some little entertainment to 

 old sportsmen— not necessarily, my dear reader, old in years, 

 but in experience with "dog and gun"— and perhaps impart 

 some instruction to the young Nirnrods. 



The shooting over salt bogs,_ namely, those found adjacent to 

 the ocean or to brackish streams or rivers, exceeds in quantity 

 and variety of game found in that of the fresh, as most of the 

 waterfowl mentioned in this article are indigenous, as it were, 

 to salt or brackish feeding grounds, where the tide receding 

 offers abundance of food in the shape of snails and other small 

 Crustacea that cling to the reeds and meadow grass, among 

 which they love to run. 



I shall omit, under this head, "skiff shooting," as it is call- 

 ed — that is, shooting from a boat those species of rail which 

 frequent water too deep for a person to wade through— and 

 confine myself to those bog birds which may be successfully 

 pursued on such ground, where a boat is not required ; where 

 the ground is hardly watered more than an ordinary snipe 

 meadow, and thereby have the pleasure of seeing your dog 

 work. 



The game of the bog which is usually pursued by the sports- 

 man are : the clapper rail (or salt water marsli hen), common- 

 ly known as the mud hen ; the Virginia rail (Rallus Virginian- 

 wi), and the gall'tnule (or common water hen). 



These, together with a sprinkling of the heron and bittern 

 families, form the game — not true game, perhaps, in the full 

 sense of the word, especially the herons and bitterns — with 

 which the sportsman may occupy his attention and "keep his 

 hand in," as the saying is, until the return of the snipe {Scolo- 

 pax wilsonii) on the same ground later in the season. 



In fresh water bogs and wet, low-lying meadows the above 

 birds may be found in greater or less varieties, with the addi- 

 tion of the red -breasted rail (or fresh water marsh hen) which 

 is the largest of the Palidea. All the young bog birds are in 

 condition to shoot about the 15th of August, but in some 

 states and counties they are protected until the 1st of Sep- 

 tember. 



Rail are very secretive, and close lying in their habits (with 

 the exception of the red-breasted rail, which prefers flying to 

 lying close), and it is very difficult, in fact almost impossible, 

 to start them up without a dog to find them, hence the ques- 

 tion arises, which kind of dog is most suitable for this shoot- 

 ing : In m3 r opinion, and, in fact, the opinion of all who 

 have used them in the bog, the cocker spaniel is the 

 best dog for this work. The cunning, lazy rail, rather than 

 take wing, will dodge the pointer or setter among the tangled 

 water grasses, and as Carlo or Don is pointing, the bird will 

 slink away, dive into some little stream, and there, with only 

 the top of liis bill above water, is out of scent of the dog and 

 out of sight of the gunner. 



But the cocker will stand none of this nonsense ; on strik- 

 ing the trail of this skulking hird, whether it be Virginia rail, 

 gallinule or marsh hen, he follows, bounding over the bog tufts 

 faster than even these swift birds run through their paths, 

 among the tangled wet bog grass, and forces them to take 

 flight, at the same time calling his master's attention by his 

 his crisp, cheery yelp, and as the fat, lazy rail reluctantly takes 

 wing, not to fly further than twenty or five and twenty paces, 

 he presents the easiest wing shot in the world with his slow, 

 laboring, low flight, dangling legs and out-stretched neck. 



The Virginia rail resembles very closely its cousin, the clap- 

 per ; but it is little more than half the size of the latter. The 

 gallinule is slightly larger than the Virginia, and is easily dis- 

 tinguished from it by the former's curiously shaped bill, which 

 is very broad and flat on the sides, the upper mandible taper- 

 ing ovally to a point. 



No. 9 shot is the proper size for bog shooting. No. 10 



would be better, perhaps, for the EaMea, but a bittern or her- 

 on is often stumbled upon, and then No. 9 tells its own tale.- 

 The most common varieties of the herons and bitterns, which 

 occasionally engage the sportsman's attention, are : the great 

 blue heron, the green heron (Vulgo shytepoke), and the 

 American bitterns, all greatly resembling each other in appear- 

 ance and general characteristics. 



The largest of all is the great blue heron, next in size is the 

 American bittern, and lastly, the green heron, or "shyte- 

 poke," by which latter name it is most generally known. 

 Their flesh (what there is of it) is palatable, though coarse and 

 fishily flavored, not being nea'rly as delicate as that of the Vir- 

 ginia rail. The herons and bitterns are all distinguished by 

 ihe great mass of plumage they sport, but when plucked, they 

 make but a sorry show. Notwithstanding their size and the 

 mass of feathers which cover them, they are very easily killed 

 with small sized shot. 



All the bog birds leave for the South about the latter part of 

 September and first part of October; and I have seen the green 

 herons during the latter part of September in small groups of 

 three or five birds flying high in the air, headed for the warm 

 swamps and bayous of the "sunny south." The food of the 

 above are frogs and the same kind of Crustacea as is favored 

 by the rails. They will not lie to the dog like the RaUdea, 

 but take wing, generally giving utterance to a deep booming 

 sound, if a bittern; or, if it be a green heron, by a shrill 

 shriek-like cry, resembling " ke-urk" when observing either 

 man or dog, and fly a long distance before alighting. When 

 wounded, they will attack the fog which endeavors to re- 

 trieve them. It is the safest plan to knock them, when 

 wounded, on the head with the gun barrel, or give them a 

 second shot if the bird endeavors to escape by running, keep- 

 ing the dog at heel until this is accomplished, for if order- 

 ed to retrieve a wounded heron or bittern, his eyes may suffer 

 from the long bill, whieh all these birds use freely when 

 wounded. 



The great blue herons have frequently killed dogs by plung- 

 ing t : icir enormous bills into the bodies of their would-be cap- 

 turers. This species of heron will oftimes attack man, but its 

 bravery is always when wounded and cannot escape by run- 

 ning or by flight, for at all other times they are arrant cowards 

 and are approached with difficulty. 



Along sedgy ponds and sluggish reedy-lined creeks, these 

 birds are found in great numbers, as well as in the bog, and a 

 person passing by their haunts at eventide cannot but be im- 

 pressed by the dismal, hollow, sepulchral noise which they 

 utter. 



These birds are not the game of the bog, however, as that 

 name belongs to the ralidea and the Scolopax wilsonii, or Wil- 

 son's snipe ; but as the heron or bittern is frequently " put 

 up" they are, of course, fired at, and sometimes make a valu- 

 able addition to the bag when other birds are scarce. 



The dress for rail or bog shooting should be the same as that 

 used for snipe, as it is on the same ground, and the best tiling 

 that can be worn in this as in all other shooting is one of the 

 shooting suits advertised in the columns of the sporting papers 

 by different makers. They are all excellent articles, the coat 

 having numerous pockets for cartridges, or powder aud shot 

 flasks, etc., besides having game pockets in the skirts. The 

 goods are waterproof, which prevents rotting by continued 

 wet. 



For this shooting, as in snipe and woodcock shooting, laced 

 ankle boots and canvas or leather leggins should be worn. For 

 srouse shooting and also for quail shooting in swampy bot- 

 tome, boots may be worn, with comforts to keep the feet dry; 

 but in the bog it is impossible in all ordinary cases to prevent 

 sinking over your boot tops in mud and water— or even a sin- 

 gle splash will fill your boots to overflowing; and how nice, 

 Tight and comfortable you feel encumbered with a couple of 

 quarts of water— you dare not take off your water bags for 

 fear of not being able to get the wet things on again. 



But in laced shoes and leggins the feet become wet, but on 

 reaching drier ground the water immediately runs out of the 

 lace holes, and one feels> great deal more comfortable than if 

 one was encumbered with boots half filled with slime. Ou ar- 

 riving home after shooting, wash the feet and limbs in cold 

 water, which will both effectually remove the mud and mud- 

 dy water which may have penetrated the pants, shoes and leg- 

 gins, and prevent takiug cold. 



