333 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



One September afternoon I was sitting in the ligbt -wagon 

 holding the reins listlessly, under the shade of a noble chest- 

 nut, -which stood about twenty-five yards from the station, 

 awaiting the arrival of the train from New York. 



"The Pines/' -where your humble scribe -was "holding 

 forth" for the summer and early fall shooting, is about two 

 and a half miles from the aforesaid station, which is that of R — 

 New Jersey. I had writ! en in Lang Moorston, an old friend, 

 and as thorough a good fellow B5 "ever drew trigger, to run 

 down for a few days and practice on the rail, which were 

 quite abundant in the bayou near the South Shrewsbury Kiver 

 — and it was to convey him home with me that I was awaiting 

 Hie train. 



There are quite a number of vehicles clustered around the 

 depot, and as for want of something better to do I am scruti 

 nizing each and the inhabitants thereon, the welcome rumbling 

 of the approaching train sounds like music to my impatient 

 ears, the white smoke can be seen floating in wreaths of fan- 

 tastic shapes over yonder wood — now the iron horse breaks 

 into the open, and soon is rushing by the depot with breaks 

 hard down, amidst the hissing and bellowing of the escaping 

 steam — people- are flocking out, and I look eagerly for the 

 jovial face of Lang. 



There he is, gun case in one hand, and in the other a port- 

 manteau, and also a dog chain, to whose lower end is attached 

 a beautiful liver and white cocker spaniel. Of course he is 

 looking in the wrong direction for me (for who, on leaving a 

 train, was ever known to look in the right one), but I immedi- 

 ately attract his attention by uttering the shrill treble of the 

 woodcock. Soon greetings are exchanged— not the lisping 



the dogs flounder with difficulty ., but the general Surface W 

 good, where the spaniels can work with freedom among the 

 reeds, in the slimv. muddv and watery soil. 



Ah ! there is Jack after something ; and I see him bound- 

 ing along, nose to the ground, with an indistinct feathery 

 form muning swift.lv ahead of him through the tangled hog- 

 grass. "Wow, wow!" says Jack, as Ballus rirginianus 

 rises in the same manner as did his cousin, the clapper. 

 Bang ! my 12 bore rines out, and this most delicious species 

 of rail is rum est. 



Now the Virginia nus rise right and left for a few mo- 

 ments ; we have struck, so to speak, a flock, and Lang and I 

 bang away. It seems almost impossible to miss these slow- 

 flying birds. At last the end of the bog is reached, namely, 

 where deep water prevents further passage, so Lang and I 

 fall in together and head for the dry land or the south side, 

 to rest and count our game- This is nearly reached, when 

 fully forty yards away springs up, like a rocket, uttering his 

 deep, booming cry, the American bittern. Bang! Moorston 

 salutea, but on goes the American representative. " Try 

 him. Frank," Lang exclaims, your gun shoots farther than 

 mine. Frank's gun tries and" succeeds, for down comes the 

 bittern, head dangling down, wings powerless, and strikes 

 the earth a confused heap of feathers. Jack starts to re- 

 trieve, and Joe Lang's dog starts to keep him company, but 

 he. is instantly recalled by his owner. With difficulty 1 cram 

 the "lengthy" bird in my game pocket. 



A resting-place is now reached in the shape of a fence, and 

 seating ourselves thereon, we proceed to talk over the shoot and 

 count the birds. Lang has three galliunlcs, one marsh hen 

 and seven rail, while Frank has six rail, two marsh hens, one 

 gallinule, and last, but not the least— in size, anyway— an 



i^t^&Kv^&1ffi!XaSw £» r^'m-addUaonV^se we must not forget 

 t^^f^Jf^iio^J^tZi^^Z I 'seeYng liyXsun that it is nearly breakfast time, and feel- 

 SSSf&^SS Z is tri v a illnifi^nt an mlal wi h lone ™£ pamfu'Uy conscious of the claims of the inner man, we 

 vrnoxryie teat, nc is irmy a ma uiiiceui auimai, ion | homeward across the meadows. Lans ex- 



ickly feathered limbs and si 

 sweep away the morning dew" and a full expressive eye. Lang 

 isseated beside me, andl gather up the lines, and we are soon oil 

 at a rattling pace, headed for the house, and conversing about 

 what had happened, where we had been since last we met. 



Up and down the hills of the dusty country road, broad, 

 green fields stretching alongside; over creaking, wooden 

 bridges which cross creeks and streams of all sizes; through 

 woods whose darkness make the afternoon seem later than it 

 is; now and then passing a cosy farmhouse ; until at last we 

 arrive at the gate *aj of -'The Pines"— so named on account 

 of the number of these trees which surround the place. 



Driving down to the stables we surrender our steed to 

 the care of the coachman, and, giving Lang' eld! 

 and gun to the stable boy to carry to the house, we proceed 

 to the kennel, whose presence readily manifests itself by the 

 numerous yells of the inhabitants at the new-comer to find a 

 place for Joe. This being done, aud tying him securely, 

 Lang pauses to examine the other inhabitants, which consist 

 of a black pointer, a Gordon setter, and last, but not least, a 

 black cocker spaniel. Reaching the house we are greeted by 

 another setter, a white Belton, who is happy in being the 

 house dog, if the happiness of a dog consists of being 

 crammed to suffocation by indulgent sisters and cousins. 



A good wash, then supper, after which we take out the 

 dogs for a run over the green upland field stretching away to 

 the west. A good long chat on shooting after this, and, read- 

 ing the evening papers which Lang brought with him, we 

 turn in early, so as to be up with the sun next morning. 



Awakening next day while it is yet dark, I proceed to 

 pound on Lang's door to awaken him. This being accom- 

 plished 1 return to my room to don the habiliments of the 

 field. 1 have hardly finished my toilet when Moorston enters, 

 gun in hand, in the glory of a new shooting suit and high, 

 English leggins. I pick up my breech-loader and a couple 

 of handfuls of Eley's brown paper cartridges loaded with No. 

 9, and accompany my friend to the kennel for our respective 

 spaniels, just as the September twilight announces the 

 coming day. 



With dogs at heel, so as to husband their strength for the 

 botr, we pass down the avenue and gain the main road : then 

 turning to the right into a little lane, we travel down this un- 

 til we gain the meadows. Here a beautiful sight pi 

 itself — meadows, stretching and rolling away each side as far 

 as the eye can reach, here and there show a low, wide, long 

 vale-like hollow, with its tall, brown-headed "ait tails" and 

 high waving bog-grass, which hollow is gently watered by 

 creeks streaming in from the river. These hollows augur 

 well lor our hunting ground, namely, being the bogs. Away 

 in front of us stretches the Shrewsbury River, while farther 

 over still, separated from it by only a thin neck of land, rolls 

 the broad Atlantic, seemingly from whose depths the rising 

 sun is emerging. The shrill, hen-like cry of the fish-hawk, 

 and the sonorous caw of the crow, are the only sounds which 

 float to our ears in the early morning. 



Striking across the meadows in the direction of the nearest 

 bog, we order our respective canines to " Hie on," in order to 

 warm them up for the coming work, and amuse ourselves 

 watching them slowly bee wiing acquainted. How sweet and 

 fresh the salt air seems, purified by the cool, early rays of the 

 sun. 



•• Quick, shoot!" Lang yells out, and bangs away according- 

 ly into a flock of bay snipe we had surprised in the long grass. 

 My gun also twice gives tongue. Seven birds have dropped 

 from the flock, and" the spaniels make merry work of it re- 

 trieving them. They arc upland plover, as fat as one could 

 Wish, 



A moment's more walking and the first bog is reached. 

 Leaving Mx>rston aud Joe to hunt on that side, I take Jack 

 and cross to the other to hunt down toward the creek. On 

 goes the spaniel through the tangled grass and reeds, which 

 reach to my waist. Now Jack has disappeared from view in 

 the high reeds, when from a clump of "cat-tails" I hear his 

 cheery bark ; holding the gun in readiness I wait. Up she 

 goes, a salt water marsh hen, hanging heavily on wing; but 

 something strikes her in the shape of a few pellets of No. 9, 

 and down she drops. Little Jack soon finds her, and bound- 

 ing oyer the bog tufts lays her at my feet. We had not yet 

 reached the exact haunt's of the Virginia rail, which were a 

 little farther down where the land was more boggy, Moors- 

 ton in the meantime bagging a gallinule. 



On we go. Glancing in Lang's direction I can see his cocker 

 on the scent, and dashing at a great rate he gives tongue. 

 At the same instant up goes a mud-hen, with its sharp, cack- 

 ling cry, Hying away slowly and lazily, and but three feet 

 from the ground. Tip goes Moorston's gun, a puff 

 smoke and a report, aud the lazy old "clapper" flies no 

 more. 



"Now, Lang, we are in for it," 1 shout across to my 

 friend, as we strike the bog in every sense of the word— 



wend our way homeward across the meadows. Lan^ 

 presses himseif well satisfied with the first bog shoot of the 

 season, aud we both resolve to try to find a woodcock or 

 two that afternoon. 



REMINISCENCES OF CAMP LIFE IN 

 FLORIDA. 



water and mud, sometimes knee deep, through which places ■ battels. 



Chattahoochee, Fla., May 26, 1S77. 

 Editob Forest and Steeajt: 



Leaving Columbus, Ca-, about the 1st of last November, a 

 party of four of us started on a hunting and fishing excursion 

 to Florida. The trip down the Chattahoochee Hirer to 

 Kieves Bluff (a distance of about 400 miles) was made in 

 about two days. Having letters lo several of the resident 

 farmers— wiffi instruction* to put us Hi mugh—vte anticipated 

 flue sport. Nor were we disappointed, as this section of 

 Country is hunted and fished in less than any other portion of 

 the Union; and all kinds of game can be found ai a I 

 of the year, and it only requires a visit there to get as much 

 sport us you want. 



While waiting for horses to be procured for us, and to noti- 

 fv one or two parlies who had the crack bear dogs of the 

 country, we devoted our first day to duck shooting, or at 

 hast a part of the day, as the sport became monotonous, from 

 the ease with which the fowls were killed and the immense 

 number bagged. Earlv the next morning we were aroused 

 from our slumbers by the baying of innumerable hounds, 

 on emerging from our tent we were immediately surrounded 

 by a perfect horde of lean, hungry dogs— not the fat, well- 

 kept deer and bear dogs that we expected to see, but a miser- 

 able, half-starved set "that soon devoured everything eatable 

 that happened to be outside the tent. And such a number! 

 It seemed as if every man within a radius of 50 miles had 

 turned out, and each had a full packof hounds following him. 

 Dispatching a bastv meal, we mounted our horses and started 

 for the 'swampy country, some five or six miles from the river, 

 which was said to abound in bears. Who can describe the 

 sensation'on first emerging from the low river bottoms iu Flo- 

 rida, and coming suddenly upon the finest sight that the eye 

 of man ever rested? Florida— "Land of Flowers!" It 

 is certainly correctly named. Stretching before you as far as 

 M see is a perfect carpet of (lowers, every hue in the 

 rainbow represented. The dew on each flower, as the morn- 

 ing sun shines on it, sparkles and glitters, anil appears like 

 diamonds set in a natural bed of flowers. But a loud bay dis- 

 turbs our thoughts, and away we go at a break-neck pace in 

 order to get a good stand for a shot as the bear passes from 

 one swamp to another. 



In this section of Florida there are a large number of small 

 swamps, low and marshy, and filled with a low shrub or bush 

 called ti-ti. These swamps are almost impenetrable to a man 

 on foot and quite so to one on horseback ; and the only way 

 to successfully hunt the bear is to send the dogs in to drive 

 him out, and having taken your stand at some point near 

 another swamp to get a shot as he passes you. Deer are also 

 hunted this way ; but as they are so numerous a party rarely 

 goes out for hunting deer solely, but they get as many 

 shots as they want while bear hunting. To those not 

 initiated, riding after dogs on a bear hunt is quite dangerous, 

 owing to the innumerable gopher holes in the ground, which 

 your horse is liable to stumble into at every step ; and many 

 amusing incidents happened to our party daring the day, one 

 notable one which I will perhaps mention later. It was late 

 in the afternoon before we killed our bear, although he was 

 shot at, at a good fair ranaa, perhaps twenty times during 

 the chase. But we had killed seven deer during that time. 

 aud considered we had had a very fair day's sport. 



And now for camp '. W T e learned we were seventeen miles 

 from it aud had we been alone no one of our party would have 

 knowu'eveuthe direction to take. Seventeen miles through 

 an uninhabited country, with deep and almost impenetrable 

 swamps to pass through: and to make matters worse one of our 

 party, whose weight was 220 Un, Who had been riding a mule 

 which stumbled into a gopher hole, had been thrown. and the 

 mule getting away 1 from him had left for parts unknown. 

 However, we had' guides who knew every foot of the country, 

 aud by frightening our heavy man with snakes, ami occasion- 

 ally letting him ride, we at last got back to camp, completely 

 fagged out, but well satisfied with our first day's sport in 



Florida. 



I forgot to mention that one of the deer was killed with 

 bird ( No. 1 1 shot. The evening before, one of our 

 been shooting birds, and had a number of cartridges loaded 

 with bird shot in his coat pocket. Being on his stand, and 

 not noticing what he was doing, he loaded with one of these 

 cartridges, and a full-grown doe passing him, he fired, killing 

 i de id. IJpon examination it was found he had kill 

 bird shot. It was one of Scott ec Son's gun, No. 10, Stun. 



But for fear I may lengthen out my letter too long and 

 weary your readers, 1 will bring it to a close. If you desire 

 it, in some future communication I will give you a description 

 of the fishing in this section, also alligator shooting, turkey 

 hunting, etc! Cuoke-Bore. 



[We shall hope to hear again from this correspondent. —Ed.] 

 _♦- — 



NOOSING A GRIZZLY. 



HT NET) TirjNTUNE. 



I WAS over the Contra Costa Range east of San Jose, in 

 California, on a hunting and fishing trip, living high on 

 crested quail, venison and speckled troul when I came across ■ 

 two noted native cattle raisers, Don Miguel de Castro and 

 Ramon Pico, who were feeding an immense lot of stock over 

 in those valleys, aided by fifteen or twenty Indian and half- 

 breed pedus. ' I had got acquainted with both gentlemen be- 

 fore in San Francisco, so that il was a pleasant meeting when 

 I rode into their camp and dismounted at their invitation to 

 coffee and broiled beefsteak, for they had just killed a fat 

 yearling: 



"Colonel, you shall have some fun after dinner if you will 

 take a ride with us," said Don Miguel. " A huge grizzly has 

 been making free with our stock, and as we traced liim {ohls 

 nest by the trail of a heifer he carried off, we intend to make 

 meat of him between now and sundonn. 



I'm in for that, especially if you'll indulge me with a 

 chance to try my Sharp's improved rifle," said 1. 



You can" kill him," said Don Ramon. "But we want 

 some fun with the lariat first." 



" All right." said I, wondering what fun they could have 

 with a lariat on an animal of the known ferocity" and power of 

 the grizzly. 



Alter dinner we rode up the valley about a half mile and 

 then turned short into a little- canyon 'pretty well grown up 

 with short bushes and tall grass. Through this a well-beaten 

 trail showed the course of the grizzly. And before we. had 

 ridden three hundred yards we saw the geutleman in a little 

 bare slope unler a high overhanging ledge of rocks, lying 

 lazily by the carcass, half devoured, of his last prize. " He 

 raised his head, his red. tierce eyes scanning us as we halted 

 for Consultation about a hundred yards from him, but showed 

 eion to move. 

 •• Had I not better open on him ?" said I. H I can bore him 

 through and through with my .45 calibre from here." 



"It vou dul kill him you'd spoil the fun we want to show 

 you," said Don Ramon. "But uo single shot will ever put 

 him out of the way. He will go over a thousand pounds. Da 

 not fire till we t elf you." 



And the intrepid" Caiifornian, swinging his lariat over his 

 head, rode directly toward the large animal. When within 

 forty feet or less, 'the lariat flew out! and in a breath it was 

 around the neck of the grizzly. With a snort of anger he made 

 a rush for Pico, who darted toward us for a little way and 

 then turned off at a short angle, and before the bear "could 

 check his way toward us the lasso was tight, and huge as he 

 was the grizzly went over backward. 



Now was Don Miguel's turn, and in a second his lariat flew 

 out and a second noose was over the grizzly's neck. Such 

 clawing and tearing, and snarling and snort nig [ never saw be- 

 fore or expect to again. The tough ropes of raw hide were of 

 immense strength, and though the bear seemed bound to break 

 away, first rushing for one and then for the other, the two 

 splendid horsemen turnbled him over and over a dozen times, 

 or more. 

 He was now furious, and I felt sure he would breakaway, and 

 ■ _ ■■ ■ i ■ ■ i mission to put an end to the struggle with my "Old 

 Reliable." Pretty well tired, horses and men, my Caiifornian 

 friends consented, aud dismounting I waited for the beast to 

 for one second so I could put the ball where I wanted 

 to. As they both slacked up their lariats a little the grizzly 

 gathered himself up as if to pick out a victim, set hiaogiy 

 front fairly toward me, and I had the chance I wanted — ashot, 

 head on at* twenty paces. That bullet went as fairly through 

 his thick skull between the eyes as lead could go, and how far 

 into his body I know not, for we only took his skin— we did 

 n«t examine or want (he meat— Me single xhat Idlkd him. The 

 two Dons were astonished. 



i; I was bom in California andl have seen full a hundred 

 grizzlies killed, und helped to kill a great many, but this is 

 the first I ever saw killed with a single ball," said Don 

 Miguel. "Colonel, I must have your rifle or one like it, no 

 matter what it costs!" 



But I would never have risked the shot so near had not that 

 grizzly been noosed. 



OUR WASHINGTON LETTER. 



The U. S. Fish Commission-— ScocExsfi-l Kesflt op its 

 Laboes — Operations of ihe Present Season— Importa- 

 tion of Carp, Etc , Etc. 



"ff.om off. special coreesposdent! 



Washington, D. C, June 16, 1877. 



PROF. SPENCER F. BATUD, chief of the I". S. Com. 

 mission of Fish and Fisheries, is actively engaged in 

 preparations for the work of the Commission this season, and 

 will leave here about the first of J uly for Salem, Mass., where 

 the headquarters of the Commission will be established this 

 summer, for thepurposeof inquiring into the fisheries of Massa- 

 chusestts Bay, and the New England coast between Portland 

 and Cape Cod. The fish to which particular attention will be 

 directed this year are cod, mackerel, blue fish, tautog, men- 

 haden, haddock, pollack, sea herring, cusk and hake, and care- 

 ful inquiry will be made as to the temperature of the water at 

 different depths, its varying transparency, density, chemical 

 composition, percentage of saline matter, surface and under 

 , ie , etc. The Commission will also ascertain from 

 fishermen and others in that locality, all information possible 

 as to the distribution of the fish, character of their food, their 

 abundance, and modes of capture* and to this end a series of 

 questions relative to the food fishes of the United States will 

 be freely distributed. These questions relate to the name, 

 distribution, abundance, size, migrations and movements, 

 relationships, food, reprtd ictioii, artificial culture, protection; 

 diseases, parasites, capture, economical value of the var'cu? 

 fish, etc., and are calculated to elicit full information upon all 



