

FOREST AND STREAM. 



428 



animal. In like manner 1 cauuol believe that the muzzle- 

 loader IS tile best rifle, because il is a little more accurate 

 ami lias, a sli glit I y tla Iter trajectory. Let my hunting riHe 

 bea "breech-loader loaded from the muzzle" (sometimes), 

 or a "muzzle-loader loaded from the breech," but not a gun 

 through the barrel of which daylight cannot bcnutdcto 

 shine without several minute' work with a large fraction of 

 a blacksmith's kit of tools. L. 1. Flower. 



CiMntiiixiE, N. B 



SENSIBLE VIRGINIANS. 



rpHEUE were a good many sportsmen here Ibis week. 



!- As l write, a largesloop has just lifted anchor, and 1ms 



headed lor the Virginia capes with some twenty live of the 

 Baltimore Sporting Club on board. She it) bound for a 



mohib's eiuise. Another sloop fiom Suffolk, Virginia, with 

 some twenty lovers of the gun and rod, has put in an appear 

 Mice, ami 'will leave to-morrow for Hog and Moncarn 

 islands. The Richmond, Va., Club will commence their 

 annual cruise the Oral of next week, us also will the Norfolk 

 'lull It is no wonder thai tin- ladies wander dis- 

 consolately alone at the waterlog places, fortius custom of 

 the Virginians of leasing a vessel and spending their mid- 

 suiniuci' holiday in a slag party afloat, has grown .steadily 

 into favor, and in consequence the men are represented at 

 the springs by beardless hoys, or by those effeminate young 

 men who avoid the sun and wind, as if it bore on its beams 

 and breeze the pestilence itself. 



Besides, the Virginians rtud it uot onl» more enjoyable, 

 but cheaper. Twenty -live young men clubbing together 

 can, upon paying a sum of twenty-five dollars apiece, rent a 

 sloop, provision it. and enjoy a delightful, free Bohemian 

 life for a month, when it would cost them four times I hat, 

 amouni i,, goto the Springs, and they would not have halt 

 the enjoy mem either. This place is the rendezvous of all 

 of the clubs, and they stop going and returning. The rough- 

 looking sailor irrub of the day is changed into a gorgeous 

 butterfly at night, with full dress suit; who circles in the 

 "mazy," as Mr. Dick Hwiveller expresses it. 



The Hailing is unusually tine this summer, and trout, 

 shcepshead and hogfish are' caught, in great quantities close 

 to the hotel. I saw a party of five return from a fishing ex- 

 cursion over across the Hip Raps, who had averaged eight 

 fish to the line, all of good size, too. 



Sportsmen just from Cobb's Island and vicinity, report 

 the robin snipe as having disappeared, but that the curlew. 

 willet and yellow-leg snipe are arriving in good quantities, 

 and the sport is fair. Cuasseuk. 



old Point Comfort, v a- June 82. 



MY FIRST WOODCOCK. 



IN after ySars the matron muses smilingly on her first 

 beau: the statesman. on his first speech; the mother on 



her first child. Delicious memories, all of them, and happy 

 are they to whom they can come unalloyed with sorrow. 

 In my own heart lingers one fond memory that, perhaps, 

 lacks' the sweetness of the first, the fervor of the second, the 

 beautiful frenzy of the third: yet to me it is as thrilling as 

 any or all of these, for it takes me baci; to I hat happiest day 

 ol'mv boyhood when 1 shot my first woodcock. 



That prince of sportsmen "and gentlemen, Prof, Beach, 

 was spending the summer in northern Columbia county, N. 

 Y., near the rugged hills of Green River, that region long 

 since immortalized by William Cullen Bryant. We met 

 often and fished, hunted, tramped, did everything together. 

 My boyish enthusiasm and wild love for nature phased him 

 as much as his wonderful culture and genius charmed me; 

 from our earliest meeting there was a tender and mysterious 

 bond of sympathy between us. that, made us the most con- 

 genial of companions, until the premature end of his sad 

 ami unhappy life. 



One perfect morning early in September, a (fay of 

 vastly more moment, to me than that, which witnessed 

 the victory at Marathon, or even the later episode of the 

 Charter Oak, we, Prof. Beach and 1, arose bright and earlv. 

 breakfasted, and went off over the hills together after wood- 

 cock. He was armed with his light, I rusty shotgun. I with 

 an antiquated "roar," about as well calculated for efficiency 

 as a fowling-piece as the formidable cannon made by one 

 Iviupp, or some other jaeknapes with an equally heathenish 

 name.* 



We tramped through swamp and swale nearly all the 

 forenoon, each burning about the same quantity of powder, 

 though with vastly different results; he had half a score of 

 handsome woodcock, and 1— nothing, alas! but one miser 

 able blue jay that I had shot (and 1 blush to record it) sit- 

 ting stock still. A burning shame! 



The Professor made numerous puns about my proficient, 

 shooting and deficient hitting, for I made it, a matter of re- 

 ligion to blaze furiously away at whatever crossed the range 

 of my vision, in dignified disregard of all considerations of 

 distance or other disadvantage. I had longsinee.abaudoned 

 all hope of ever hitting anything smaller than the woods, 

 or the Professor's retriever, yet, "try again'' was the motto 

 emblazoned on my escutcheon, and I swore inwardly with 

 a wild sort of a deacon's oath that 1 would try until at least 

 one genuine game bird perished. 



When, as a reward to my pertinacity, success finally came; 

 of the three, the Professor, the bird and your humble ser- 

 vant, f was the nio.-l surprised. 



Late in the afternoon, when fatigue and failure had made 

 ma desperate, and success of the highest order had elated 

 Prof. I leach, we approached a little clump of willows and 

 alder.-,, shaped like the letter V. The large end was 

 , us, the other pointing away up the valley. TV 

 dog entered the clump, the Professor passing to the left- 

 ward and I to the right. We didn't for a moment suppose 

 thai the narrow concern hid any game from our anxious 

 eyes, bin still it, was possible that a stray bird might dart 

 ■ ■lit. game was so plentiful there. 



Sure enough, one did dart out, and on my side, too. There 

 was a startled "wit-i-wit-i-wil," a confused whirr, and 

 then, with clenched teeth, 1 once more leveled my ponder- 

 oiis weapon and "unhitched" its contents at, the altogether too 

 rapidly departing bird. 



1 confidently expected to hear the Professor's gun every 

 second, but he didn't shoot. My gnu was a perfect success 

 in one respect, its capacity for producing smoke would, with 

 each discharge, put the combined effort's of a whole battery 

 to shame. 1 attributed the silence of the Professor's gun lo 

 the fog of smoke which enveloped the whole clump fiom 

 mine. But I was mistaken. 



"You've got him!" yelled the Professor. 



"Got what?" I demanded. 



"Why, the woodcock; that's what you fired at, wasn't 

 II ' 



Great essence of smoke! T surely must have frightened 

 it lo death. I didn't sec it when 1 tired, or anything else 

 tor thai mailer, and certainly couldn't have hit" it, 1 had 

 emptied my gun from mere "force of habit, into space, with 

 no other intention than such a disposal of its contents, 

 However, it was hit, and severely, too, for when we dressed 

 it the next day, its unfortunate *kin completely resembled 

 a horse-radish grater. 



Years have passed since then ; long, weary years; but 1 

 think I live that, day over again, in memory, far oftener 

 t'.iau any other day of 'my life. " Lew Vaxdeupoel. 



HUNTING RIFLE SIGHTS. 



IT 1 OR. the benefit of those that may be interested I inclose 

 herewith a rough sketch of a hunting rear sight that I 

 have found to be very effective, with the following descrip- 

 tion: 



1 have always had them forged from solid steel, the upper 

 part standing at an angle with the bar (which bar dovetails 

 into the barrel), and leaning lo the rear, so as to prevent any 

 .■hance for light to reflect hack iuto the eye. as it might do 

 if this part, were Vertical. 



This upper part is first made solid, and then drilled out 

 accurately with a J, {j or|-inck drill, according to the guu 



SW Via 



S'<u>7* 



2<T*»T.t 



Olid the size of "horns" required, and a fine slit is sawed 

 through accurately on top and in Hie middle, separating the 

 metal into the two horns, and a fine notch is cut in the bot- 

 tom of the circle, vertically under this slit, for the sight 

 notch. This "notch" may lie of any form, according to the 

 fancy of the shooter. 



Tlie "horns" are now filed up to shape as shown in the 

 sketch, their rear face being left a dead flat, and their front 

 faces being beveled oil' toward the, inside, so as to bring them 

 down to almost a knife edge on the edges on the orifice. 

 This prevents any clumce for light to reflect back from the 

 edges of this orifiee and strike into the eye. 



Directly in front of the slot or notch a deep hole is drilled, 

 and this causes the notch always to he in shadow, with no 

 light to glimmer on its edges and blur the sight. 



Now r , the hoi ns and orifice between them give, quite a 

 field of view, and (if flic gun fits the man) the front sight is 

 seen instantly on the gun being brought to the face, and bill 

 a slight movement is necessary to bring the front bead accu- 

 rately iuto the reai notch, and still have the game in the 

 field'of view. The line through the line slit on top of the 

 horns and the rear notch gives a vertical line by which to 

 hold ilie gun level, and also a line on which to take a coarser 

 sight, as the game is further off, and, there being no raising 

 slide to fool With and so lose time, the sight, is almost instan- 

 taneous. 



By experiment with a graduated peep sight and one of 

 these rear sights, I found exactly bow coarse a sight to take 

 oyer the fixed rear sight up to ijOO yards. At 500 yards 1 

 had only to sight in the top slit between the horns and 

 ignore the bottom notch, and 1 could, therefore (after 1 had 

 learned from the use of the peep sight at, fixed targets), take 

 my sight fine, or coarse at once, according as I judged the 

 game to be far or near. 



II is my experience that adjustable rear sights are a "de- 

 lusion and a snare" for ordinary hunting. They may 

 hi' all very well at. limes when game is qiiict and knows 

 nothing of Hie hunter's proximity, and he then has time lo 

 accurately judge the distance and set his sights accordingly; 

 hut under ordinary circumstances this is aimost impossible. 

 and f have kuown'the game to be lost, by the loss of time iu 

 adjusting sights. With a fixed rear sight (as nearly point 

 blank aS may be), the hunter knows he must "allow for dis- 

 tance" by a finer or coarser sight, and he can soon learn 

 how much to allow and do it almost instinctively, and the 

 temptation to adjust sights is uot there to disconcert the 

 shooting. 



I have always used a ."silver bead" front sight with this 

 rear sight, and have made it the rule to get both down as 

 close to the barrel as possible, and still see them both clearly 

 and quickly over the breech mechanism; by this the devi- 

 ation caused by the piece not being held level is reduced lo 

 a minimum, and the sights are both made better able lo 

 si and rough usage. 



After aligning the rear sight accurately, it is fastened in 

 permanently and a reference mark made on sight and barrel 

 for future use, should the sight have to be removed or be- 

 come deranged by accident. 



I have never shot without a rear sight, but I know it, is 

 done iu some of the armies of Europe at distances over 100 

 yards and at long ranges. The soldier is taught to sight over 

 the thumb of his left hand laid oyer the barrel and bent to 

 greater oi less height according to the distance; this might 

 or might not answer for hunting purposes, according lo the 

 amount of skill acquired by the shooter. 1 never have tried 



it, preferring 'l' 1 " '■'" ' coarse sight through the buck-horn 



sight hprein described. 



Nothing original is claimed for this sight. It used to be 

 very common on the Pacific coast and in Arizona, but as I 

 never have seen one on sale or advertised as made by gun- 

 smiths, it is sent as of possible value and interest to brother 

 sportsmen in the East. 0. D. 



sNEY. Wyoming. 



Information Wanted.— While on a trip across Lake 

 I'mbagog two year,- ago, 1 was informed that the lower end 

 of the lake had been seeded down to wild rice by a New York 

 sportmen's club. I have since made inquiries as to the fact, 

 hut can jet no information. Can you tell me anything in re- 

 gard to il ? I am contemplating a duck and grouse shooting 

 trip this fall and thought of going to f'mbagogor the Range- 

 leys. Will you or SOme of your many readers advise me as 

 to the best point to strike, also the besl month in the fall 

 to go?— G. N. K. (Lancaster, IS. II., June 19). 



KYNOCH SHELLS. 

 Witer forest and Stream: 



Reierrmgto a communication in your issue of 21st iust by 

 "IV of Manitowoc. Wis., concerning Kvnoeh shells, it is 

 apparent to me, us doubtless il will be to many other sports- 

 men who have not only thoroughly tested, but habitually 

 use the "Perfect" shells, thai "l> - trouble was caused by 

 the simple fact that, his guns arc not correctly chambered. 

 With paper or thick brass shells, this Fault would not, matter 

 so much, but the "Perfects" being thin and pliable, they of 

 course swell to fit, ami if the chamber is slightly larger at the 

 forward end, the shells will naturally be difficult to extract. 

 When they first appeared I was prejudiced against them, 

 notwithstanding their high repute, with English sportsmen, 

 and was first prompted to try them from motives of curi- 

 osity, 1 was. however, so agreeably surprised at the result, 

 that I now use no others, and find they work well m every 

 respect, and have so many advantage's over both paper and 

 the thick brass, that to my mind there can be little doubt 

 (hey will soon be. the rage here, as from perusal of tin- Eng- 

 lish sporting papers I judge lliem lo be abroad. II. v. L.' 



West Hobokkn, N. J., June S3. 



Editor Forett and Stream: 



As a matter of course, all readers of your interesting and 

 instructive journal feel in duty bound to inspect and lest 

 whatever of Implements or apparatus are found advertised 

 tin rein, more especially when favorably noticed by the 

 editor. 



Being something of a connoisseur in fine breech-loading 

 shotguns, you will readily sec how easy and natural it was 

 for me. as soon as I saw the advertisement of the Kvnoeh 

 patent "perfect" firass shell, lo begin at once lo consider the 

 "ways and means" whereby a supply of the aforesaid "per- 

 fect' 5 might he "reduced to possession" for the purpose of in- 

 spection and trial. An opportunity soon presented itseff, 

 and 1 became the fortunate possessor of twenty -five of the 

 coveted article, and having loaded theinwiih Three drams 

 Hazard's duck-shooting No. 3 grain, and one and one-eighth 

 ounces No. 10, 1 repaired to our range for the purpo 

 testing them at our weekly glass bail shoot. A friend 

 of mine, Mr. E. P. W.. prepared the same number in like 

 manner (the shells were 13 gauge). At the conclusion of our 

 c. ntest we were surprised to find that, about one-fourth of 

 our entire number had burst or broken off at the point where 

 the reinforce and body of the shell meet, or about one-quarter 

 of an inch from the head. 



I reloaded what remained uninjured, and at, the conclu- 

 sion of the second trial found as mau y more ruined in the 

 same manner. I then determined to consign Hie remainder 

 to the seclusion of the back yard. 



1 inclose a shell that you may the better understand the 

 matter and sec exactly how it is done. These shells were 

 tried in my Parker, in Mr. W.'s Pox and in guns of other 

 manufacture, and in ail eases fitted the chamber nicely, 

 with the exception of being a trifle close in the Pox, and 

 they in fact went a little close iu all, so that it could not be 

 due to any misfit iu chambering. Taking into considera- 

 tion these facts, we concluded, Mr. Editor, that the Kynoch 

 is very nearly a failure, at, least as a permanent investment. 

 Now 1 believe a nice, light, durable shell is "a consummation 

 devoutly to be wished," and the fuld appears to be open lo 

 some smart, enterprising Yankee lor the exercise of his in- 

 genuity, and whoever first brings out a light, durable shell 

 will undoubtedly reap a rich and well-deserved harvest of 

 ducats. The metallic shell now in common use is far too 

 heavy, no doubt about it, and must SOOU be replaced by 

 something lighter and neater, and the sooner the belter. 



Miami s II. 

 Me., June 20. 



INCIDENTS OF A JERSEY QUAIL HUNT. 



Uj-\EPARTED this life, June 3. 1881, Nellie, in the 

 JL7 twelfth year of her age, lamented by her owner and 



his family, and acknowledged, by all who knew her, to be one 

 of the best red Irish setter bitches in the house or field, that, 

 this country or any other ever knew." This should be the 

 epitaph plr.eed above the head of one of the most remarkable 



" i she 



tricks; but 



" of the situatit 



and how to hunt either 



E, for she was equally 



t some of the inexperi- 



nakc this explicit, 1 will 



th their noses close to the 



s"), in order to strike the 



iom the brush to feed, in 



To 



dogs in the field. She professed 



struck the field or brush, was "I 

 structions accessary as to win 

 quail, pheasant, woodcock or s 

 good in hunting all. Sin- was' 

 enced would call a "winder." 

 illustrate. Some dogs hunt 

 ground (these are called "trn 

 scent of a covey, as they brc; 

 the morning, or afternoon. 



Nellie was too high-minded for this, and would jump into 

 a ten-acre field, throw her head up in the wind, sniff once 

 or twice, and if the birds were out she would go to tkem 

 without further ceremony, and stay there until you came up, 

 if she had to wait for a week. When on a point, you could 

 lay a cane from Ihc ci;d of her nose to the tip of her tail — 

 straight as an arrow, .aud as stilt' as a linker she stqod. 



I remember on one occasion while out shooting in the fall 

 at Cape May, some years ago, with Nellie for my "right 



bower." and several other of ill 

 bill. _ My companion was ('baric 

 ranging over two or three fields am 

 brought up to a high rail fence, di 

 in from the adjoining farm. Nell, i 

 sprang on the top rail, and the moi 

 lo a point, tetering back- and fort 

 while the other ilogs sprang ovi 

 flushed a covey of about tucuty-ti' 

 experience had I seen such a point, 



ne specie lo help till the 

 Clark. The dogs after 

 finding nothing, at last, 

 iiling the field we were 

 e fleetest- footed of all, 

 cut she got there came 

 lo keep from falling, 

 without, winding, and 

 quail. Never in my 

 ' 'kail, ms if appeared 



e that I forgot lo shoot, while Charlie got one s\ itli each 



barrel, which 'Nell retrieved one after The other in tine 

 style. 



We marked the rest of the covey, which flew and 

 iu what is termed "down there'" a "blue bed," or "Indian 

 grass." Nell found and pointed about, two-thirds of the 

 birds we killed out of that bunch, and we went on seeking 

 for another. Before Ihc day was over she came to disgrace 

 in the following manner: About two o'clock iu the after- 

 noon the dogs drew up on a covey in the middle of a stubble 

 field, backing nicely, and ns they rose, we cut five from 

 the number with the first two barrels, and got a single one 

 a piece with the. others. The last bird I shot dropped just 

 iu the edge of a little swamp. Nell started at my command 

 lo retrieve this one, which she found, and came capering up 

 to me with the bird iuher mouth, sat down on her haunches, 

 looked up in my face with expressive eyes, as if to saw. 

 "haven't 1 done it':" and as 1 reached out my hand to take 

 the bird, she opened her mouth, aud — and the bird Hew off 



