FOREST AND STREAM. 



25 



AN OLD AUTHORITY ON GUNS. 



HOW strange it is to take up for perusal some Ameri- 

 can sporting book of even a half century old. At a 

 book stall yesterday, just such a one was found. Its well 

 thumbed appearance, a perceptible black smudge here and 

 there, as if of damp gunpowder, would lead the reader of 

 to-day, think that its old owner might have taken it into 

 the fields, and when game was scarce, had the studied book, 

 gun in hand. 



Laugh at its antiquated ideas? Not a bit of it. On the 

 table lies a host of big books of but yesterday, luxuriant in 

 fancy binding, illustrated almost, in every page, telling of a 

 thousand and one sporting matters unknown to our fathers ; 

 yet the modest volume of almost fifty years ago compares 

 favorably with the best of them. Within its pages, one can 

 find in a perfectly condensed way, a thorough treatise on 

 the diseases of the dog, and how to cure him, and all written 

 in the easiest simplest language. To paraphrase a well- 

 known quotation, evidently in those days, "dog diseases 

 were not invented, so that prescriptions could be found for 

 them." 



Of course, as to shooting, the sporting manual of 1827 is 

 decidedly forty-six years behind the times. It says "the art 

 of shooting flying has not been practised in this country, 

 excepting by a few individuals for more than fifty years, 

 and in England for not more than double that length of time. 

 The greatest improvements in this science and in the fowl- 

 ing piece itself have been made within but a few years." 

 About the time of the publication of the book, the percus - 

 sion cap was being introduced, it having followed the pellet 

 made of fulminating powder. Our sound old authoritj^ 

 says ' ' the adaptation of inflammable percussion powder, 

 has made quite a revolution in fire arms, and bids fair to 

 explode the flint and steel entirely." The disagreeable effects 

 of the pieces of copper flying back and striking the shooter 

 are complained about. That was a queer idea prevalent 

 some fifty years ago, and recorded in this book, that although 

 percussion locks could be adapted to fowling-pieces, they 

 Avould be impossible for rifles, because "the force of the 

 cock of the barrel, will depress the piece, and cause the 

 ball to strike low." What difference could exist in this re- 

 spect, between the fowling-piece and the rifle, both using 

 the same methods of a falling cock, it is hard to state. But 

 stop ; is there not some little germ of thought in this ? We 

 are getting every day nicer and nicer exactly on these very 

 same subjects. If one thinks well over it, the fall of the 

 cock, which certainly docs something to jar the barrel, and 

 depress the piece, might be prevented by a parallel method 

 of mechanism. Now those dilletanti about these matters, 

 will notice numerous new patterns invented every day 

 of locks, where the spring motions and striking points 

 are made not at right-angles but parallel with the barrel, 

 and the makers declare that accuracy will be improved 

 thereby. It is wonderful how much conventionality there 

 is in all things, and how even a gun-lock must follow the 

 forms of one hundred years ago. 



"The gentleman of Philadelphia county" who writes the 

 book modestly suggests the possibility of using condensed 

 air to ignite the powder. People certainly in those days 

 must have shaken their heads over this. Undoubtedly they 

 would be quite as likely to be somewhat staggered, if the 

 idea was advanced, that the fulminate in the cartridge could 

 be fired by an electric shock, to be generated in the gun. 

 But this is not only possible, and may be expected any day, 

 some of the most ingenious minds having directed their 

 attention towards its accomplishment. The end they aim 

 at, is precisely that intimated in this book of fifty years 

 ago, to get rid of the jar of the lock. 



But to return to the subject of old sporting books. Per- 

 haps their scarcity arises from the fact, that like children's 

 books, of any antiquity, they are so much read, that they 

 are sooner or later absolutely thumbed out of existence. 



We do not know who has made in the United States a 

 collection of such books, devoted entirely to sporting mat- 

 ters. Such an assemblage of volumes would be singularly 

 interesting. In them would not only be found, the truest 

 chornicle of the advance of inventive power in the United 

 States, the changes guns had undergone, but a perfect 

 epitome of human nature. 



-+++ 



Hioh Times at Halifax.— The presence of Lord Duf- 

 ferin, the Governor General of Canada, at the quaint old 

 capital of Nova Scotia, has set the town in a whirl. A naval 

 officer writes us privately in the following melancholy 

 strain : 



' ' For the last week I have lunched and dined out every 

 day; and what with balls, concerts, garrison theatricals, 

 &c, I have not once been able to " turn in" before three 

 o'clock, and sometimes even later. To-night we give a ball 

 on board ship, for which we have been making preparations 

 for the last five days. To-morrow night the Sixtieth Rifles 

 give a ball, and then, thank goodness, we shall once more 

 lapse into our normal state of quietude ! At present it is as 

 bad as the Shah." 



The delightful climate of Halifax makes these festivities 

 more tolerable than they are found to be at Saratoga. 



The Hon. David Price, of Quebec, the owner of no less 

 than thirty lumber mills on the St, Lawrence and the Sague- 

 nay rivers, and an ardent sportsmen withal, is one of the 

 directors of the newly formed " Anticosti Company," who 

 have lately purchased the island of that name in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence — an accurate description of which (the first 

 ever published) we are now printing in this paper. The 

 Island until recently has been almost a terra incognita, and 

 a terrible bugbear to navigators. 



I THE BLUEFISH. 



• 



VERY little practical information has been written of 

 the bluefish in works of Angling, and their habits 

 are comparatively unknown. We can trace their peregrin- 

 ations, it is true— can ascertain on what they feed, and 

 how and when to capture them ; but their spawning 

 places, and the occasion of their movements, are still a 

 mystery even to the savants. In those months when they 

 make their presence known along our coasts they are found 

 of various sizes, each size constituting a class or family of 

 its own. They are one of our most highly prized game 

 fish, and excellent for the table, whether baked, broiled or 

 boiled. 



Size 1.— The bluefish, or snap mackerel (Tennodor Salta- 

 tar) makes its first appearance at the various inlets between 

 Cape May and Egg Harbor in the latter part of the month 

 of May. These will average about seven pounds in 

 weight, poor in flesh and ravenous as a shark. In June 

 they are found equally abundant off and in Fire Island In- 

 let, and in a few days thereafter are scattered off Montauk 

 Point, the east end of Long Island, Shagwauna reef, and 

 other reefs adjacent. By or near the 20th of June, depend- 

 ing something upon the forwardness of the season, they 

 have spread themselves over the reefs of New London and 

 to the eastward, on to Block Island, and thence through 

 Fisher's Island Sound. By the 20th of August they are in 

 plentiful supply all through, inside and outside of Vineyard 

 Sound, Nantucket, &c. They have gained flesh, and be- 

 come quite palatable. The size here described is seldom 

 found to the westward of the Connecticut river. On the 

 main of Long Island Sound it is quite interesting to see 

 them drive the menhaden, or moss bunkers, in shoals, caus- 

 ing a "sleek" on the water as they spill their oil when they 

 chop them up with their great sharp teeth. 



Size 2. — Early in June a size of about three pounds weight 

 make their appearance at the same points, though much 

 fatter, and remain in the vicinity of the same grounds for 

 perhaps a month. In July they spread out to the eastward, 

 up Long Island Sound to Saybrook Bar and Faulkner's 

 Island, and westerly to Stamford, and remain until October, 

 though occasionally shifting ground for their food, which, 

 in addition to the moss bunkers, consists of a small species 

 of "shiner," (anchovy.) On some of the outer reefs they 

 remain but one or two days at a time. The writer of this 

 has trolled for them over the reefs at and near Faulkner's 

 Island for two successive days with splendid success, at all 

 times of tide, and on the following day caught nothing. 

 The shoal had left for the main land. 



Size 3. — About the middle of July the small creeks and 

 rivers, from Stamford eastward to the Connecticut river, 

 abound in a size weighing about a quarter of a pound, 

 which, in a month grow to half a pound, and these feed on 

 a size still smaller, recently spawned, and scarcely an inch 

 and a half in length. The surface of the Housatonic river, 

 from the railroad bridge to the mouth of the river, is annu- 

 ally covered from bank to bank with countless numbers of 

 this small fry, drifting with the tide as it ebbs and flows, 

 while at the same time a size larger {size 4) say about a half 

 pound in weight, is feeding upon them from beneath. 

 About the 1st of September the small fry are sufficiently 

 large to venture into the Sound, and then they swarm in the 

 creeks and harbors, affording great sport to lads who catch 

 them with a float line, with shrimp for bait. By the month 

 of October both large and small fish are all well fattened. 



The peculiarity of this fish is that, by about the middle 

 of October the large size, that weigh from nine to fourteen 

 pounds, are generally found from Nantucket to Watch Hill, 

 around Block Island and outside of Montauk Point ; while 

 from Stamford, eastward to New London, on the outer 

 reefs, they are of a uniform size of about two and a half 

 pounds weight, and those in the harbors and creeks are a 

 mixture of small fish just spawned, and a size that weighs 

 from one-eighth to one and three-quarter pounds. Another 

 singular feature is, that by about the 20th of October, or 

 the first freezing weather, these fish, of all sizes, up to two 

 and a half pounds, vacate the northern harbors and sounds ; 

 and so sudden has been their departure in many seasons 

 that a change of tide has utterly emptied the waters of their 

 teeming fish-life, with the exception of an occasional pen- 

 sioner who had been bitten or disabled, and dare not run 

 the gauntlet for southern climes. More singular still, the 

 great mass of fish, except the newly spawned, take the 

 coast within one or two miles of shore, part of them stop- 

 ping, if the weather permits, at the inlets of Fire Island, 

 Egg Harbor, Townsend's, Canarsie Bay, Cape May, and 

 so on along shore, using up all the feed, therein, and by the 

 month of December they are found in tfie creeks and rivers 

 of North and South Carolina, where they remain through 

 the winter, to migrate the next season to northern waters. 



But what becomes of the small, newly spawned fish that 

 disappeared the previous fall ? Have they been eaten up 

 by the larger fish on their journey ? or do they remain at 

 the North ? They are not seen in the South, nor do the 

 larger fish spawn there. 



It is only about forty-two years since the bluefish first made 

 its appearance in our waters. It is one of the finest of mer 

 charitable fish on the coast, and for sport is game to the 

 death. On the reefs they are generally trolled for, but will 

 take the hook with live bait. In October, near the close of the 

 season, large catches are made off Montauk Point, and from 

 Watch Hill eastward through the Vineyard Sound, that 

 weigh from ten to fourteen pounds, and are fat as seals ; so 

 also in Canarsie Bay, in some years, they have been taken 

 from twelve to eighteen pounds in weight. But it is only in 



rarely exceptional cases that these great fish are taken wes 

 of Plum Gut. 



The bluefish fraternizes with the weakfish, or sque- 

 teague, on inshore grounds, and are of large size, say from 

 five to twelve pounds. Both of these fine fish are taken 

 with the squid or jig in the surf at Montauk, Newport and 

 elsewhere, and afford the most exciting sport — the angler, 

 often standing waist deep in the breakers, throwing his 

 squid to incredible distances by practice, and dragging the 

 fish by main strength to terra firma when he has struck. 



The bluefish seem to be increasing year by year in size 

 and numbers, individuals having been caught at times 

 weighing between twenty and thirty pounds, whereas a 

 twelve pound fish was regarded as something remarkable 

 twenty years ago. Large shoals were also uncommon until 

 within the past dozen years. 



Four generations of fish make their appearance in our 

 waters at the same time. The bluefish is a migratory fish, 

 passing his winters at the South and returning to the North 

 with the advent of warm weather. 



.»«»» 



THE COACHING REVIVAL. 



FROM the other side of the water comes a pleasant rum- 

 ble. An effort is being made, and with considerable 

 success, to revive the old coaching days, ^with their pranc- 

 ing steeds and sumptuous drags, and to-day such equipages 

 are bowling over the pleasant hedge-skirted English roads. 

 Will there ever be a second Phoebus Apollo like Sir 

 John Lade, who in a hippie way, might have been sup- 

 posed capable of threading a needle with his tandem? 

 Will there ever be a new contestant, who could accomplish 

 Lade's feat of driving twenty-two times a coach-and-four 

 at full speed through a gate only two inches wider than 

 his carriage wheels? Perhaps not on our sober and estab- 

 lished highways, graded and macadamized as they are. and 

 policed with regulations against fast driving and reckless 

 feats of skill. But we opine that few persons will be 

 found in any age or clime to outshine the achievements of 

 the genuine Overland stage-driver who drives his four or 

 six in hand along the verge of ticklish precipices and 

 down the canon steeps where to miss a footing is to leap to 

 certain death. Possibly some dilapidated spark may find 

 in coaching professionally an honest employment; and who 

 can tell but that some sporting hahitve with fallen fortunes 

 will not risk his last three or four thousand dollars in the 

 purchase of some neat team and drag, and donning lively 

 himself, drive out aristocratic fares through the Parks 

 or along the " Bloomingdale Road." 



Railroads to-day mean greatest speed— the annihilation 

 of space and time. But the tourist in search of simple 

 recreation and pure aesthetics, much more enjoys the rum- 

 ble of the slower coach, with its easy stages and its many 

 comforts of wayside inns, cooling fountains, and diverting 

 landscapes. There is a journey from Woodstock, New 

 Brunswick, along the St. John river, past the Indian vil- 

 lage of Tobique, past the Grand Falls of the St. John, past 

 its many tributaries and along the great lake Temiscouta, to 

 Three Rivers on the St. Lawrence river, which affords one 

 of the most enchanting coaching routes in the country. 

 Another equally agreeable and novels the 150-mile jour- 

 ney from Pictou, Nova Scotia, across the straight of Can so, 

 and along the Bras d'OrLake to Sidney, Cape Breton. 



We must go to the Provinces for these opportunities 

 now. 



-♦♦^ 



A Joke Only 265 Yeaks Old.— Of course, we all have 

 heard it. It is the story of the master who was an egre 

 gious story-teller, and of his faithful negro-servant, who 

 always considered it a conscientious duty to swear to his 

 master's lies. The master shoots a deer through the top 

 of the ear and the hind foot, (so he says) and Cuffy vouches 

 for it, dovetailing the lie, by alleging that his master shot 

 the animal when it was in the act of scratching itself. Here 

 it is, in a common place book of one Master George Fox 

 written down A. D. 1608. We transcribe it in the old text: 



" A gentleman, very prodigal of his speeche, which made 

 his mouth often to run over, recounted that having one daye 

 strolled out into the forest with his bowe, he at one shoot 

 cutte awaye a deare's ear and his foote together, and killed 

 a foxe. The company saying it was impossible, his man', 

 which stood bye, accustomed to smooth his master's lies' 

 sayd that the deare cratching his eare with his hinder foote. 

 lost bothe, and the arrowe glancing, killed the foxe; yet witf 

 this hint in his master's ear, that he should next time lyt 

 within compasse," for quoth he, "I had never so much adc 

 as to bring the eare and foot together." 



Truly there is nothing new under the sun. 



The Hartford Courant has been estimating the chances 

 one runs of being struck by lightning, and figures it up, that 

 in 1870, 202 persons died from its effects. Taking the in- 

 crease of population from 1860 to 1870, to have been about 

 7,000,000, the increase was only eleven. The absolute ratic 

 seems to be forty-two deaths by lightning for every 100 00( 

 cases of mortality. The strange rule found by French' ob 

 servers seems still to hold good that males are more pron- 

 to be struck by lightning than females, 148 men having!* 

 killed, and only fifty-four females. During the same 

 years of observation, there were 1,345 deaths by suicide, 

 other words an individual is six times as likely to kill 

 self, as lightning is to kill him. 



—Four lions broke loose lately from a menagerie 

 where in Belgium, and a regiment of infantry had 

 called out to quell them. 



