10 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[l'i,n. 1, 1881!. 



or 30 there will be u grand tourney at that place given by 

 tin sportsman's club and Cogun, "Hays, Tun-ill, Williams 

 and the rest of the Chicago shots are wanted over there to 

 carry off some sweepstake money. This is about all there 

 is here this week. 

 Chicago, Jan. 20. 



THE AIR SPACE. 



I FIND quite a discussion going on in your paper m re- 

 gard to an air space in guns. During my experience as 

 a rifle maker for the past thirty-five years, I have seen 08 

 many as fifty guns spoiled by being fired when the bullet or 

 some other obstruction was near or back of the center, or at 

 the muzzle of the barrel: in most cases in rifles where the ball 

 was wedged at a point from eight to twelve inches from the 

 breech. "The column of air in such case is driven into a 

 space of -,'„ to £• inch long, which cuts a groove in the barrel 

 as cylindrical as though it hud been done with a tool made 

 for the purpose. The air being at so high pressure causes 

 the barrel to bulge at that point, which loosens the ball so 

 it passes out. A. bullet driven into the muzzle from two to 

 six inches will not damage a strung barrel, because the 

 eoluni! of air is SO long, and divided over so much space, 

 that it starts the bullet without damage to the rifle, but it 

 would be likely to spoil a shot barrel unless it was un- 

 common strong. A good shot barrel might stand when 

 wad iu the muzzle, but wet earth or sand would 

 To fire a rifle or strong shot barrel with a ball 

 three inches from the breech would not be likely 

 them. It depends on the length of the air 

 column whether it spoils the gun or not. 



A light, loose-fitting ball might be tired when twelve 

 inches from the breech of a strong steel barrel and not in- 

 jure it, but if a heaw conical ball of soft lead was used it 

 would spoil the gun, 'provided the ball fitted air-tight, and a 

 suitable charge o( powder were used as in target-shooting. 

 1 consider it dangerous to tire a gun with the ball or charge 

 of shot from eight io fifteen inches from the breech, and 

 bad for a shotgun when the obstruction is near the muzzle. 

 1 wrote a few lines on this subject in my letter published in 

 Fouest and BTKEAM, Jau. 34, 1878. GEO. H, Ferriss. 



fired wit 

 burst thi 

 only two 



Ettitm- Forest and Stream: 



I have seen corks fired from the muzzle of Springfield mil- 

 itary breech-loaders on .several occasions, and once in the sum- 

 mer" of 1880 (being •nplain of a team), coming from the 

 target to take my turn to shoot. I loaded and fired hastily. 

 1 made a good four with the bullet, ami made the sand flv 

 with a baff-ounce sinker and n yard of stout Hue with an 

 oiled rag attached used for a wiper. No bad results to gun. 

 The wiper had been left in the gun for safety, but was lost. 



HEAD Ltotit. 



Eiue, Pa. 



DUCK TRAPS IN THE JAMES RIVER. 



VTTH.EN" on the James River last December, about fifteen 

 V T miles below City Point, we found on the feeding 

 grounds "duck traps" by dozens, each visited every morn- 

 big by men iu boats, and' yielding up from twenty-five to a. 

 hundred or more victims who are scooped out with a hand 

 net through the opening left in I he top net, which is tied again 

 when the trap is emptied of its contents. The ducks' necks 

 are wrung as thev are flung fluttering into the boat. The 

 trap is built on the principle of an ordinary fvke net and 

 baited with corn, which is plentifully strewn in the entrance. 

 The dimensions of the trap being 12ft. x 16ft., each one will 

 hold a large number of fowl ; and I was informed on good 

 authority that two of the mosl successful machines had cap- 

 tured, one, over one thousand, the Other, from eight to nine 

 hundred ; and this in the space of eleven days only. These 

 traps are set along the river for miles, by fours and fives, 

 on the most frequented feeding grounds, and the destruction 

 they caUSC is enormous. The effect of this wholesale slaugh- 

 ter is growing more perceptible, vearbv year, in the scarcity 

 of fowl on their old haunts. Broadbili .widgeon and black 

 duck are the greatesl sufferers; the eanvus-back and red. 

 head avoid them to a great extent. The proprietors are 

 mostly negroes, although the " white gemruau " is not by any 

 means backward in the business, sometimes having three or 

 four of them iu running order. The first heavy ice coming 

 down the river takes them with it, but they are easily re- 

 placed and at small expense. All condemn them, and yet 

 no one has courage to take steps toward their removal, for 

 fear "some one will get square," you know. Many a fin 

 bird is sold in the Southern markets, and 1 dare say in Mcv 

 York, if the truth were known, without a shot mark upon 

 them — " seared to death," one might say. But iu the words 

 of one of our notorious public men, in years gone by, What 

 arc you going to do about it ? Dick. 



New York, Jau. 25, 1883. 



PENNSYLVANIA NOTES. 



* N extract from a letter from a friend residing in th 

 A Lehigh Valley, Pa., will show- how much .good thi 

 planting of quail and attention to them in the winter season 

 has done in bis section of the country between Maueh 

 Chunk and Catasauqua. "What little time I put in last 

 fall was near home. Woodcock were scarce, hut. quail were 

 plentiful iu certain districts where we put them nut last 

 Spring. The trouble was that llie voting birds were all 

 small at the opening of the season and before they v 

 large enough to shoot. 1 went Wos! on business and did 

 not return until it began to get cold and blustery, and [n< 

 had a fair chance at them until between Christinas and New 

 Sear, when the season was nearly over. There are any 

 quantity of birds left over here. A friend, who was out oil 

 the last 'day of the season/reported ten coveys, most of them 

 full with twelve or fifteen' birds, within a few miles of low n. 

 We shall trap and keep all we can over until nexi spring. 

 We have had'somc bad weather for birds lately, one snow 

 after another, not very deep, however, but crust made. 

 Winter is not hull' over and there is plenty of lime for 

 more." 



Until within a few years quail have been an unknown 

 bird, so to speak, in the portion of the Lehigh Valley fri 

 which my informant, writes, owing to the general sever! 

 Of the winter iu that elevated section of the Slate, and 

 lias ouly been by the exertions of four or five gentlemen that 

 the birds have been steadily increasing. Your correspond- 

 ent can always get a good day's sport there, and has it yearly 

 on invitation, although the' hill clhubin- is ferri 

 more level country would be greatly pn-fei a'ed The efforts 



of these gentlemen may well be copied by others i 



State. In New Kaglai 



suits could be effected by a systematic care of the quail in 

 the winter. 

 Hawks this winter, in Maryland, are eery numerous, and 



have been very destructive to the quail. 1 am also told by 

 'sidenfs of >filford, Del., that whole coveys that were left 

 over on the "neck" farms of that section have been reduced. 

 bird by bird, by the same pests, until but. few remain. 



A trip down the Delaware River on one of our city ice- 

 boats as far as Reedy Island shows no fowl except a few 

 sheldrakes. The fiats are frozen stiff, quantities of ice a re 

 Boating, and this freezing during the cold snaps requires the 

 fforfs of all the iceboats to keep the channel open. The 

 vcathci is moderating to-day. We look for more snow. 



A large snow owl was shot back of Pemisgrove, N. J., 

 ist week. 



The Delaware Kiver shores about Burlington. N. J., and 

 Bristol. Pa., tire black with flocks of crows eking out a 

 icaaty livelihood. Kellers catch them by hundreds when 

 he snow covers the ground and will supply them for trap 

 hooting at ten cents apiece. Their flight is slow and heavy 

 and such practice from a trap is poor. Homo. 



Philadelphia. Jan. 02 



teeth 

 m 



di 



P 



"LET WELL ENOUGH ALONE." 



TIKK black flies, punkies, mosquitoes and small-pox, in 

 J their time, so already have proposed amendments to the 

 me laws pul in their appearance at AKiany. to distr ct 

 the attention of the 1 r-gislators, perplex the public, and 

 make trouble and expense for all interested in the pro- 

 of game and fish. No such changes or amend- 

 .ents ar needed. First— because existing laws, as a rule, 

 •c sufficiently stringent and intelligible to accomplish the 

 .■sired purpose: and secondly (and what is of great; im- 

 artaucet, because the laws are now generally understood, 

 id in some sections of this State, where enforced, are re- 

 use the public have tear ed when the different 

 and close, what the pe tallies and other eon- 

 These being the facts, to amend or ru enact 

 i se doubt, confusion and indifference, and it 

 is therefore better to let the laws remain as they are. If 

 after a series of years, and a thorough enforcement < t 

 present laws, defects shall lie found, then, and not till 

 then, should any changes be made. You cannot; make a 

 horse draw a Lad by urging him on and making him stop 

 at the same time. 



There is not a poacher or marketman iu this set lion 

 that does not know just how far he can go with impunity, 

 and how far he cannot go without, subjecting himself to 

 penalties that he does r 

 Therefore I say, "let 



tied, her 

 ipe 



dilious are. 

 will surely t 



and \ 



public 



hat Ui 

 game protec 

 and made h 

 done let all . 

 let every man kill 



■11 enough alone." What is needed 



nsist upon is a greater number of 



ade so by the State, paid by the State, 



duty by the Stale, and unless this is 



be expunged from 1 he statutes, and 



alch, or have in possession, when or 



where he way, and the devil ought to and will have the 



hindmost . STtiAC ;sk 



SPRING WILDFOWL SHOOTING. 



I READ with pleasure the article in your issue of January 

 18, by "Upland and Bay Shooter," and heartily advo- 

 cate the principles therein enunciated. It is not only emi- 

 nently proper, but absolutely necessary, in order to "insure- 

 the continued existence of migratory bay birds among us, 

 top spring shooting. The sagacity of wildfowl is well 

 wn to observant sportsmen. They soon get "trained," 

 and the continuous "hazing" of them in the springtime when 

 thev have alighted in our waters for quiet and resl for the 

 purpose of mating, and While they are engaged in this senti 

 lental pastime preparatory to their hegira homeward to their 

 esting places, makes a lasting repression upon them, and 

 the consequence is that in the autumn, when the old ones 

 are leading their respective broods southward, they take 

 good care to avoid the places where their previous reception 

 was accompanied by death and destruction. 



"Moreover, many limes their eggs have commenced to ger- 

 minate when they are killed in the spring and the death or 

 wounding of one is equivalent to the destruction of the old 

 and the. prospective young. 



Notwithstanding it is pretty generally admitted that spring 

 shooting is disastrous iu its consequences and is rapidly 

 drivingall wildfowl from our waters, there are still many 

 self-styled sportsmen who oppose its abolition. Their miuds 

 seem so deeply tinctured with "the bird in the handis worth 

 two in the bush" principle, that they have entirely over- 

 looked the necessity of first having the birds in the bush 

 before thev can get them iu the hand. 



The matter resolves itself into this simple question, viz. 

 Shall we for a very few years of poor spring shooting in. 

 ■prvsenU, absolutely destroy all shooting for the future' 

 Shall the near future be absolutely sacrificed to thi 

 present.' 



In reference to the contribution of money from Hie dif 

 ferent clubs for the purpose of paying the expenses of the 

 game protector, I regard the suggestion as a good oue. 

 There snould be yearly contributions and a yearly convo- 

 cation of representatives chosen from each club in the State, 

 the number of representative!, from each society to depend 

 upon its numerical force, SO that whatever "action was 

 necessary to be taken would have the strength of union, 

 and not 'as heretofore has been the case, occasional spas- 

 modic and disintegrated efforts by a few individuals. 



The only way to effectually establish a thorough game pro- 

 tective system is for the sportsmen in every part of the State 

 to form game protective societies, then from each such 

 society leF representatives be chosen who will form a central 

 organization, whose duty it will be to procure the enact- 

 ment of proper laws-leaving each society to see to their en- 

 forcement iu its own particular locality. 



There has always been a deep-rooted prejudice iu the 

 minds of out bucolic brethren against all game laws, and it 

 is not until a recent date that legislatures dared even 

 think Of such measures. The injustice, severitv and cruelly 

 of the old English poaching laws are well defined traditions 

 with them, and they still see vision-, of Ruunynie.de before 

 ihcm.and till game law's ami prosecutions uudei ihem are 



still look ■ ■ - : - ■■! old world tyranny ami inf. 



idicc thai 



n.ki 



jested would gri . 



the foolishness of such prejudices in these times of highly 

 1 lui tell nrejt did are overcome there 



Will hi- no dithVub.;. in enacting and enforcing all proper 

 game laws, CjUsi 



NOTES ON BACK NUMBERS. 



Editor Ftfrestand Sirmiu 



Your ever welcome paper reached me this A. M., and a.s 

 usual it Was full of items that were interesting and instruc- 

 tive. First your editorial on ihe People's Park. Now I 

 don't know that I shall ever have an opportunity of enjoy - 



l the beauties of those grand old mountains, springs, etc., 



shooting any of the game there, but this is of national in. 



•est, and' I wish to thank you for exposing this big fraud. 



"Nimrod in the North" was read and enjoyed very much 

 by myself and sons. We had learned much of Ca.pt. Hall 

 a'ud Esquimaux .foe and the A relic world from our own 

 lamented Capt. P. A. Chapel, at whose fireside we have 

 passed many pleasant hours listening to descriptions of that 

 northern country. Then "Upland and Bay Shooter" says 

 he is in favor of prohibiting the shooting of water-fowl in 

 the spring (so am I). May 1 ask how he stands on the wood- 



cock and grousi 

 State, are particularly intei 

 like to have the do ; sense 

 found, when we have -n:: 

 Queens andWestcl tercc 

 don't care what you hfiv 

 But we have had summer 

 shooting to such an extent 

 as "Nessmuk" saw-, "thel 

 I read "Pious jeemes's" t 

 red Irish, began to lookup 

 limited experience of field t 

 had be 



We, in the interior of the 

 in thesti birds, and would 



teuiber 1. I have always 



. this change, that Kings, 

 s, as o majority say, "V. | 

 ■ want summer shooting." 

 leoek and summer grouse 

 here are rto birds left, and 



'. and f.eing a lover of the 

 ! of the fads, and in my 

 . found that some Irish dogs 

 well to the front, and know that the Irish dogs had 

 friends here to let this go by without the facts and 

 figures. ' "Mont Clare" shows us that* there aie some level- 

 headed Irish dogs, and 1 am just foolish enough to keep my 

 little Irish bitch and hunt her another yea r before gtv ing her 

 away and buying a Llewellin. 



And now a" word about Speaker Chopin's appointment of 

 Committee on Game -Laws. They may be all in fa\orof 

 the protection of game, but I know one that is not, or at 

 least was not last year. • And by their acts ye shall 

 know them." Mr. Schermcrhoru. the representative from 

 this district (not the true sportsman's or game protective 



representative, be he Democrat or Republican), tried 



did do all he could last year to help a bill through to allow 

 the use of the swivel gun on the lltnl-ou River in Columbia 

 and Greene counties. The swivel-gun men tell us that this 

 year it will pass, as Schermerhoru is right where he can do 

 more for them than he (lid last year. This being the ease 

 we ask the gentlemen composing the Committee on Game 

 Laws that they will see that four or five tin: 

 it granted Ihe privilea-, of Ming 



ing machines (at 20u 



this State. We are ready li 



the swivel-gun advocates lie 



but know full well thai thet 



for one minute to any argument 



ivel 

 hese death-deal- 

 er or iu auy part of 

 Schermcrhorn and all 

 mmittee (if necessary^ 



man thai WOukl listen 

 favor of swivel gun. 



Leaving this in the hands of the gentlemen composing the 

 ■ommittee (not Columbia's representative), 1 am yours, 

 HcDSQH, >'ew York. .Tan. 1!) Pl.AJSKJii:s. 



SPESUTIA ISLAND NIGHT HUNTERS. 

 [From the Baltimore American, Jan. 28.] 



SPORTING circles in Baltimore wen- quite excited \ ester-. 

 day over the news thai a raid laid been made on the pot 

 hunter's on the Susquehanna Liver. The interest in the. 

 affair is also heightened by the air of mystery which sur 

 rounds it. Exactly who instigated it is not generally known. 

 beyond that it was done at tin- instance of the gentlemen 

 who own ducking shores around the Susquehanna, Gut 

 powder. Bush and Back rivers, by clubs and individuals! 

 who live in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. There 

 is considerable comment over the raid here, as there are 

 many gentlemen in this city who are fond of ducfa shoot 

 :1 who have had occasion to bemourn the decrease 

 canvas-hack. For a long time there has existed 

 around I lavre-dt-Gracc a gaugol pothunters, who, 

 villi huge guns, mounted in skills, go out at night 

 liter duck's by thousands on the loosting places. 



the 



Thr 



-pi 



■hiliiting the killing of thicks iu this 



' fact thai some of these poachers 



nen, the law is a nullity so far as 



iw passed bj the Legislature makp- 

 agent. Biuce this the pot hunters 

 band of outlaws, with a captain, 

 Barnes, They have taken pos- 

 hich is about sin miles below 

 t their stronghold. No snorts 

 man not in accord with the gang can shoot ducks in this 

 neighborhood, as the poachers cruise around iu their .-loops 

 all day, and by raising and lowering their sails purposely 



i..„,.*\ .l.ir.lrr- ..!,,-,,• 'IS, I.-itiii- ttniiOlltlu tat Mini i^ Mm 1 » • i v.- , - r\ I" 



s an old I. 

 r, but owius 

 are politically lnth 

 Harford -county m 

 Last winter tnere 

 ing the penalties n 

 have hecolut p ac 

 whose name is Ws 

 session of Spesutia i.sla.t 

 Havre tie Grace, and mad 



al 1 



gton 



the base of 

 ess', which is 

 he hardships 

 ibte. These 



ii as "night 

 latlern of the 



i : nks away, 'faking Spesutia island 



operations, the pot-hunters conduct their bu 



remarkably lucrative. In fact, it must be, 



and exposures they undeiaro are sometimes i 



men kill ducks by means of What are lu 



guns." They are huge fowling-pieces, on tl 



ordinary shotgun, but weighing loll pound, _ 



bore like a howilzct . ami -a capacity ior at least apomidand 



a half of powder. A gun of this kitnl is mounted in the bow^s 



of a small skiff, which can either be navigated in water or put 



upon runners, ami propelled over the ice. The stock of the 



mm is braced against a block, so that the recoil 



'boat back through the water, and Uteie is no big shock al 



there otherwise would he. The gun is usually painted the 



color of Ihe boat, some dull neutral tint, and is fitted with a 



patent buoy, by which the owner, if surprised by an ollieer 



of the law." can pitch it overboard and return for il tgafe 



when the alarm is over. The sound of one of the gu Us. can 



be heard five miles, and the destruction of ducks is great, 



as thev sleep quietly upon the water. There are instances 



recorded where eighty-five and one hundred cam 



were killed al one' discharge On account of this slaughter 



the law passed by the last Legislature imposes a. line of Sf.'Utl 



or imprisonment for each and every offense constituted by 



having iu possession, using or disposing of any sink boat, 

 sneak boat, big or evt ivel gun. or killing a duck iu the night 

 time iu any manner iu the Chesapeake Say or it* tributaries, 



and the law further adds that if it be proved thai any party 

 so charged was at or about the place ut the ti»n 



lib a gun iu his possess it shall he 



deemed prima:' Eacie evidence for his conviction. 



It was 01 ■ thi Eion thai Mr .iuHi 



■ ties who intended 

 . pot -hunters Out i laid hisplan&fora 



r:,i,i I-,, ing m i ■ : "-. before Harfo 



&i worthlBsa 



