Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 15, 1883. 



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CONTENTS. 



"Editorial. 



Visions of the Night. 

 The Dogs of Homer. 



■ I'm: J71 I. 



The Yellowstone Region. 



Around the Coast of Florida. -rv. 



The National Park Grab. 

 Xatckai. Histokv. 



The Birds of 'Maine. 



The Carrion Crow. 



Tlii' Boi.ioin of the Sea. 



Maine Winter Notes. 

 Game Bao and Gun. 



The Seven-League Boots. 



Running for Life. 



Freedman vs. Bob White. 



Improved Shotgun Shells. 



Adirondack Waiter Notes. 



Ducking mi .Tulington Creek. 



"A Long Pun and a. Strong Full" 



Summer Shooting. 

 In- mi. 'tun IH'L'kPi--. 



The Air-Spaoo. 



It was Loaded. 



Mysterious Monsters. 



Beer and Small Shot. 



Guinea Fowl as a Game Bird. 



• Fi 



DRrv 



l Fli 



» Fish: 



With Hackles and Gentles.—" 

 Fishiug Through the Ice. 

 The New "Screed." 

 Pennsylvania Association. 

 ::: l ! rrl:.F 

 Memoranda on Land-Locked 



Salmon. 

 Whitefish Culture. 

 The Kennel. 



'i ■ mi, ,,'i: it .Mil ;'.!,. Ml 



Some Old-Fashioned Fox Hunts 

 The Bloodhound. 

 Kennel Notes. 

 Rifle and Trap SnoOTrsc. 

 The Rifles for the Match. 

 Range and Gallery, 

 The Trap. 



The Champions at Louisville, 

 "-"dies and Meetings. 



_ dCai ___ 

 Metallic Splicing. 

 Red Tape Nuisance. 

 Steam Yachts. 

 Races in New England. 1883. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



Withits compact type and in its permanently enlarged 'form 

 of twenty-eight paces th is journal j'urn ishes each iveek a larger 

 am-ount of first-class matter relating to angling, shooting, the 

 kennel, and kindred subjects, than is contained in all other 

 American publications pui together. 



PARK PROTECTION. 



THE consideration of the Tariff bill and other matters bare 

 SO occupied the attention of the Senate that the bill 

 tor tlie extension and proper protection of the Yellowstone 

 National Park lias not yet been culled up for consideration. 

 Amatter of such deep interest to the people at large must 

 not he overlooked, and we hope that before long it will re- 

 ceive the attention it requires. 



The Park is the only one among the many natural wonders 

 of this country that has not yet been turned into a peep show 

 to fill private pockets, and it is hoped that it may yet be 

 *aved from the grasp of the unscrupulous monopolists who 

 rave endeavored to seize it. 



From all quarters are heard protests against the grab, 

 showing that the people are at last thoroughly aroused on the 

 aibject. 



The letter from our aorrespondent "P. "in another Colunin 

 Sails attention to a wonder m llje immediate neighborhood 

 of the Park, as it at present exists, which should be saved to 

 She people. 



By bo amending the bill, now in the bands of Senator 

 Vesi i mm iniiMf. „.. io v.i.-nil rbe Park sixty miles to the 



istwtrid instead of fort} , as now proposed, and southward 

 o the parallel of -13 30 , a great number of natural wonders 

 which real n belong in it would be included in the reserva- 

 ion. Such are the headwaters of Clark's Fork of theVel- 

 nw*tonc. of the Si inking Water, Gray Bull and Owl rivers 

 m the past) on the south, I he Three Tetons, .and a con 

 siderable portion of the range to which they belong, .fack- 

 son - Lake and Hole, aud a number of beautiful lakes, 

 mountains and rivers which would add much lo the at- 

 tractions and the picturesqueness of our wonderland. 



Even if it should not be thought advisable to extend 



mi I- 1 i ■■■ iv, a rd any furl iter than Cedar Mountain, or 

 fvnat would be better, the 103th meridian, we hope that the 

 extension to the southward mm be made toy one who 



will look at a good map of the region will, we think, see 

 the desirability of including within the Park a region of so 

 much natural beauty as this. 



Another most important provision which should he in- 

 serted in Senator Vest's bill is the one suggested by our 

 correspondent, forbiddiug the erection of any building 

 whatever in sight of the points of interest of the Park. It 

 is only too true, as lie asserts, that in their eager haste for 

 gain the men who are seeking to secure control of the Park 

 will not scruple to degrade its natural wonders to any use 

 that may serve their short-sighted and selfish ends. 



VISION* OF THE NIGHT. 

 T57"E know one "ardent sportsman" — he is not a thousand 

 '' miles from our elbow, as we write — who is a crack 

 shot in the field, aud a better one in his sleep; the reai bird 

 rarely fails to drop at the explosion of his gun, the phantom 

 never. Our friend was one night following his dog over 

 the Elysian fields of dreamland, when the dog, coming to a 

 point, wavered and flushed the birds. The sportsman, en- 

 raged at such a breach of duty, doubled up his list and 

 struck at the dog, planting a tremendous blow on the bed- 

 post. Pei-haps the pain and the subsequent Soreness of 

 scarified knuckles had something to do with his conversion 

 to that humane treatment of his dogs, for which he is now 

 well known. 



A somewhat similar experience one night hefel our friend 

 H., who was out on a visionary grouse shooting expedition. 

 The birds were plenty and he was having a capital time of 

 it. Old True pointed staunch; our hero walked up; the. 

 bird flushed and darted away in circuitous flight through 

 the brush. Instantly wheeling and throwing his gun 

 around to cut down the bird in an opening, the shooter's 

 hand came in violent contact with the trunk of a sapling — 

 and he awoke to find himself sitting erect in l>ed, his arms out- 

 stretched as if holding a gun, and his wife by his side, a very 

 badly -frightened woman with a bleeding nose. He did not 

 soon forget that dream, not so long at least as the black and 

 blue marks on his wife's face remained to remind him of 

 his exploit. 



But these misadventures arc trivial in comparison with 

 the fate which overtook Mr. Jno. L. Cross, of Highland, 

 Virginia. One night, some months ago. we are toid, Mr. 

 Cross dreamed that he was pursuing a deer in the Alle- 

 ghany Mountains, at the base of which is his home; and 

 in the excitement of the chase he leaped from bed, and 

 was severely bruised in the operation. One night last 

 week the same phantom "stag" returned to vex his slum- 

 bers, and again the dreamer started on his fanciful 

 chase. Hard-pressed by the hounds, the buck turned at 

 bay. and the hunter, with a wild cry, springing to the 

 scene of conflict, jumped from, his bed and rushed head- 

 long down a stairway, receiving injuries from which on 

 the following day he died. 



Such is the veracious tale of the press dispatches. There 

 is a ready moral to the story, but we shall permit tbereader 

 to frame it, each in his own way. 



It is well known that dogs dream of the field, and some- 

 times an experienced old dog, lying before the fire, will rise 

 from t he tioor to a staunch somnambulistic point, and then 

 sink down again, still sound asleep. One of the most beauti- 

 ful points we ever saw was thus made in his sleep by an un- 

 broken puppy. 



Sportsmen and their dogs dream of the pursuit of game. 

 Does the game ever dream? May it not be that the sleeping 

 deer springe from his slumber in affright at the visionary 

 bounds upon his track'' Is the sleeping circle of quail ever 

 Startled Ivy the phantom form of a pointer or the horrible 

 nightmare of a gun barrel! These are questions simple 

 enough to ask. but hard to answer— like the letter that 

 cattie to the Forest atsd Stream the other day wanting to 

 know the prospects for success in the diamond fields of 

 Africa, and promising to send ten cents for a copy of the 

 paper containing the reply, upon receipt of a lei tor telling 

 the letter writer in what issue it would appear. 



Clark's Fork Canyon.— In our "Sportsman Tourist" 

 columns will be found a communication from our well- 

 known correspondent, "P.," in which he hriefly describes the 

 Yellowstone Park country, and gives an account of his ex- 

 ploration of the Grand Canyon of the Clark's Pork. This 

 is SO far as we are aware, the first exploration and descrip- 

 tion of that regien, which, in some respects, is superior in 

 grandeur to the Yellowstone Park itself. Our readers will 

 await with interest the more detailed account promised by 

 our correspi indent 



THE DOGS OF HOMER, 

 TN a former article upon the chase in the time of Homer, 

 J- we saw how highly the ancient Greeks valued their 

 dogs for the assistance these gave in protecting their flocks 

 and herds and hi the pursuit of game. Aside from this 

 much prized service, these animals were held in no less 

 repute for their st erlmg qualities of sagacity and fidelity 

 Long before the time which is the object of our study, "to 

 dog had become the symbol of trust worthiness, for in 

 Homer this character is proverbial. We cannot avoid 

 drawing this inference from the fact that even then the 

 figure of this animal wrought with skill in cosily metal 

 graced the entrance to the abode of wealth and taste, 

 Ilepliaistos himself with highest skill fashioned Of silver 

 and of gold the dogs which were placed on either side the 

 entrance to the palace of Alkinoos to protect the royal 

 household. Homer quaintly adds thai dogs of this breed 

 are immortal, and are not liable to be all the time growing 

 old (Oil. VII,, 91-94). The Romans of a much later time 

 displayed a similar though less cultivated taste in the way 

 of decorating the approach to (heir houses, for Pelronius 

 Arbiter mentions the practice of painting on the wall near 

 by the entrance to the house, the figure of a burly watch- 

 dog, aud just above the figure the wools, ,',ov. r.irr ■■„,„ ,„; 

 hook out, look out for the dog! 



Priam, referring to the dogs lie had reared in the palace, 

 calls them not only the guardians of his gates, but also his 

 messmates or table-companions (ll. XXII. Hi)). These 

 table-dogs, as we may call them, seem to have been of a 

 disti net breed from those whose duty it v, as to guard the 

 house. They were kept as pets and lot companionship, and 

 were prized for their beauty of form and lor their intelli- 

 gent and affeolionatc character, as we shall see from what 

 Odysseus says in reference to his old flog Argos. Nine of 

 these table-dogs had Patroklos reared and trained as pets, 

 and when their master's body was laid upon the funeral 

 pyre two of the number were slain and their bodies burned 

 with that of their dead owner, that their shades might fawn 

 around his ghost in the sunless regions of the dead (II. 

 XXlll., 173). 



Homer was a close Observer of these animals as be was of 

 the men who were their masters. Some of the poet's most 

 delicate touches are employed in displaying their peculiar 

 habits. No one having the slightest appreciation ot nature 

 can fail to note with pleasure the fidelity with which he 

 pictures some of their more' striking traits, In reading of 

 his dogs, it is not easy to realize that they lived more than 

 three thousand years ago, and are not waiting for us at our 

 own or at our neighbor's gate. One of the most familiar 

 passages is that in which is related how Odysseus came 

 back to his home from Troy after an absence of twentv 

 years in war, and in not less adventurous wanderings. Upon 

 his coming to his native Ithaka, Athena changed his form 

 to that of an old man infirm from years and from hardship, 

 and his limbs were scantily clad with mean apparel. In 

 this guise of a homeless beggar the hero came to the cottage 

 of his old and faithful swineherd, who failed to recognize 

 his master in such plight. To the four dogs thai were lying 

 outside the yards where the swine were brought at night for 

 protection the new-comer was a stranger, and his unseemly 

 garb but increased the fierceness of their ill-natured greet- 

 ing. So bitter was their hostility, that had not Kuniaeos 

 dropped in haste the leatherfrom which he was then cutting 

 for himself a pair of shoes, and rushed to ihe rescue of his 

 guest, the dogs would have endangered the old man's life. 

 (Od. XIV., 29). Further on in the course of his story, the 

 poet tells hov, these same dogs-Behaved the next morning 



irta : 



i the two men in the lint, Odysseus and th' excellent swineherd 



Kkt'ast prepared for themselves at. the dawn having kindled a fire 



I off the herdsmen In charge ot the swim- collected togethW, 



ind Telamacoos fawned the dogs accustomed to harking, 



they harked,,., I as [in came. Then noticed the godlike 0n\VS- 



d lliei 



nd li. 



i],M !'■, 



lehi, ill 



Spoke to Eimtaeos at once addressing him minis I lint, were winged. : 

 "Really, Euntaeos. sunn comrade Of ihiue t-n thy cottage is coming, 

 i it- some acquaintance it is. s.'.ie. ,i„. ,;, ,gg refrain from then- barking, 

 But they are fawning ..round, and I en,, I, , he faint eel,.,.,, footstep?." 



O.l. XXI , I in, 

 Bui the cuniplolesl picture Homer any where gives of the 

 dog is found in the account he gives of the meeting of 

 Odysseus with his old dog Argos. The passage is a fsi.mil 

 iar one, but it will bear a second reading by all who estimate 

 at its full worth sincerity and devotion in friendship. 



though it he shown on the part of an humble hrutr. The 



