234 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



to the upper end of the rear sight so as to swing freely, the 

 aperture being in a line with the sight when perpendicular, 

 would be superior to the level, as it would, by observing 

 the peep hole in the rear sight, indicate at once if the rifle 

 was twisted. It is understood that Dr. Maynard is getting 

 up something of the kind. If he is we shall be glad to no- 

 tice it. 



It has generally been supposed that ingenuity had been 

 exhausted in regard to point sights, every possible device 

 of pin, bar and skeleton having its advocates. Mr. Henry 

 Fulton, of No. 85 Broadway, Williamsburg, a member of 

 the Amateur Club, has invented a foresight, however, that 

 seems entirely novel. It consists of a glass disc, fitting the 

 ordinary globe sight, and having a small hole bored through 

 its centre, and two scratches, one perpendicular and one 

 horizontal, the sight traversing by a screw so as to give a 

 widcguage. The theory is, that when placed upon the 

 target the glass gives a haze over all the target, while the 

 hole in the centre gives a fine bead of light to sight by, 

 the scratches showing every deviation from the perpendic- 

 ular. This sight is designed to avoid the objection to 

 "solid discs pierced in the centre," which are forbidden by 

 N. R. A. rules as dangerous, from their concealing the 

 danger signal, when displayed— that is to say, that a rifle- 

 man intent on his butt and the bull's eye, when looking at 

 it through a pin hole in the perforated disc, is unable to 

 see the marker, and the life of the man at the target might 

 be endangered. 



As far as can be judged from an inspection the idea is a 

 good one, although the sight seems rather high. The only 

 way to be certain upon the subject, however, is to try it by 

 actual practice on the range. If brought down there— as 

 we understand it will shortly be— the Amateurs will soon 

 decide its merits 



Mr. J. P. M. Richards, the well known and successful 

 shot, is understood to be getting up a score book, by which 

 a rifleman can keep a record, not only of his scores, but of 

 the wind, light, elevation, ammunition, and other similar 

 matters indispensable to secure accuracy. By keeping a 

 areful record of each shot a vast amount of experimental 

 s hooting can be dispensed with, and the results to be ob- 

 ained under all circumstances definitely known. If the 

 book is properly prepared, as we have no doubt it will be, 

 no one intending to stand high at Creedmoor can do with- 

 out it. 



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Regarding the shooting collectively, taking the average 

 of the ten, 503 is in the highest degree creditable. It 

 showed he remembered that at Wimbledon, in shooting for 

 the grand event, the Queen's Prize, at long ranges, the av- 

 erage of sixty of the best shots in England, who had been 

 practicing for years, was 53. At Creedmoor, on Saturday, 

 it was a trifle over 50. Adjustments for differences of 

 wind, etc., are more cared for in England; but as we have 

 before remarked, we may very shortly expect that Ameri- 

 can ingenuity will supply all the finer points necessary for 

 absolutely accurate shooting. 



Mr Omand's score, with a Remington Sporting Rifle, of 

 23 at 500 yards, 25 at 800 yards, and 22 at 1,000 yards— 28 

 bein"- only possible at each distance— is very wondeful 

 shooting, and speaks well for the man and the gun. Mr. 

 Conlin's score, 23, 23, and 19 with a Sharpe's Sporting, is 

 also highly creditable. Col. Gildersleeve, who always 

 makes good shooting, after making three bull's eyes in 

 succession, was unfortunate in having his sight misplaced, 

 while Mr. Canfield was equally unlucky from having his 

 rifle sight injured. 



A new interest was given to this particular contest by 

 the fact that T. C. Clark, Esq., of Philadelphia, a member 

 of the Rifle Association, had presented a very elegant 

 Whitworth Rifle, to be won by the second best shot. The 



conditions are as follows: The rifle to be taken at each 

 meeting of the Remington Diamond Badge by the person 

 making the second best score. When the contest for the 

 badge is concluded the rifle will become the property of 

 the marksman standing next on the score, who will neces- 

 sarily be the second person who has held the Diamond 

 Badge the most frequently. If there be more than one con- 

 testant for this second place of honor, the rifle is to be shot 

 for at 1,000 yards, under the rules of the Association. 



The Remington Diamond Badge Match, shot for on Sat- 

 urday last, will conclude the Creedmoor season of 1873, 

 which has been in every way a most successful one. 



§pettitfg <$ewB ffrom ^h[amL 



,^ ; 



— Heigh iioav for neatly fitting leathers, for red coats, for 

 bard hats crowded on men's heads, for long stocked whips, 

 and Whoops and Halloas, and Tallyhoes, as the splendid 

 hunters, the paragons of horses — speed, bottom, and cour- 

 age all united in the same animal — spring over hedges 

 and clear ditches, carrying on their backs the best and 

 pluckiest riders the world has ever seen! But ware — easy — 

 look out for a rasper — a crippler of the worst kind ! Per- 

 haps some of our readers, with cavalry experiences, may 

 have had the inexplicable delight of riding at the head of 

 a column, horses going full tilt, with the enemy's skirmishers 

 just within easy reach. Some ambitious men are fully 

 fifty yards in advance, when over they all go, like a pile of 

 bricks, men and horses all in a heap. * There has not been 

 a gun fired, and yet some fifteen or twenty horsemen lie 

 prostrate on mother earth, and the animals are struggling 

 alongside of them. No matter now (for, thank God! those 

 cruel times have passed) — no matter now to find out which 

 side did it; the only fact worth recording is that some five 

 to six lengths of miserable telegraphic wire, stretched from 

 about two feet from the ground up to about, the nose%f a 

 horse, when you ride on it and don't expect it, is one of the 

 meanest and most terrible checks to the movements of a 

 horseman that can be found. Of course, all is fair in love 

 and war, but not in hunting. Now this wire arrangement 

 is exactly what that industrious, painstaking but unsports- 

 manlike English agriculturist has been using of late for his 

 fences in order to keep in his sheep and cows and to keep 

 out other people's waifs and strays — indifferent to the gal- 

 lant hunt and fox and hounds — and so, in a most wretched 

 way, putting up his wire lines has brought many good men 

 to grief. "Six months' notice to quit from the landlord to 

 the tenant who, after the 1st of November, so imperils his 

 neighbor's neck, has been found efficacious in some cases, 

 while a pair of strong wire nippers, easily and safely can ied 

 in the breast pocket of the rider, will open a road for a 

 whole field of pounded ones." So suggests, in a peremp- 

 tory way, one of our most worthy English contemporaries. 

 How would it do to have on the whip-stock one of those 

 patent Yankee omnium arrangements, where nippers, pliers, 

 and a number of other ingenious notions are combined? 

 Passing over this little disagrement we have to remark that 

 the prospects for the coming English hunting season never 

 were better, and pig skin is more prominent than ever. If 

 good horses command higher figures, men have more money, 

 and three and four hundred pounds for a good mount, ca- 

 pable of bringing in to the death a fourteen stone man, is 

 not thought much about. For months, then, to come we 

 shall hear of the Pytchley and Atherstone hunts, and 

 others of high degree, and the merits of "fashionable 

 dogs" and "old-fashioned hounds" will be thoroughly dis- 

 cussed. Advertisements appropriate to the fox-hunting 

 season crowd the leading journals, such as announcements 

 of hotels and stables adjacent to hunting meets; and there 

 are to be found such curious ones — as nurserymen who 

 offer various kinds of hedge plants, such as the ever- 

 greens, laurels, and hornbeams for fox coverts as a substi- 

 tute for the gorse." 



—There has been a great deal of discussion consequent 

 to the decision of the English Jockey Club in regard to 

 the running of two year olds, and a decision was arrived 

 at, by a small majority, that two year olds should be 

 brought before the public even when less matured than 

 they have been in former years. We believe, notwith- 

 standing all the arguments to the contrary, that the early 

 forcing of horses is against every rule of nature, and must 

 in time affect disastrously the best efforts of the English 

 turf. The leading authorities seem to be decidedly on 

 the fence about it. One argument used in favor of the 

 placing of such young stock on the track is as follows : — 

 "That the breeding and purchase of thoroughbreds in- 

 volves a great outlay of capital, and if the capital is to be 

 locked up for three years there is little chance of utiliz- 

 ing it, and greater expenditure in so doing, consequently 

 a discouragement to the breeder and buyer alike ; and the 

 more stock; that is bred the larger the entries for the great 

 races." Those on the other side, and we are in with them, 

 state what seems to us to be perfectly obvious, that it 

 must depreciate the soundness of animals, and so the 

 merits of the individual horses. What is certain about it 

 is that among high-bred horses now in England "soarers" 

 and unsound horses predominate, and that the progeny of 

 such a famous horse as Blair Athol all have defects of 

 wind. 



— We notice with pleasure the efforts of the Royal So- 

 ciety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to obtain 

 a railway truck suitable for the better conveyance of cat- 

 tle. The reward is £400. We give a brief outline of 

 what is required:— 



"CONDITIONS. 



I "The Improved Truck shall be suitable in gauge, di 



mensions, construction, material, &c, for the same pur- 

 poses for which cattle trucks are now used; the truck 

 shall be roofed and provided with spring buffers and axle 

 springs, or other appliances to prevent injuries to ani- 

 mals during shuntings and sudden startings and stop- 

 pages. The truck shall be provided with appointments 

 for the supply of food and water to animals in the car- 

 riage during the time when the train is in motion, or when 

 it is stationary at a platform or siding, so as to avoid the 

 necessity of removing the animals from the truck for re- 

 freshment; the cost "of the truck shall not be greatly in 

 excess of the cost of cattle trucks now in use; and the. 

 truck shall be satisfactory to the judges." 



The secretary's address is John Colam, 105 Jenny n si., 

 St. James, London. 



In a former number of the Forest and Stream we 

 called attention to an American invention of this charac- 

 ter. We should advise those having this model to send the 

 same to England before Christmas, when the competition 

 commences. In the United States we transport cattle much 

 further than in England. We suppose Mr. Bergh would 

 only be too glad to give his co-operation to a matter of this 

 character. 



— We notice preparations for the winter season in Eng- 

 land—notably by the skaters. We think we make better 

 skates here than those used in England. We observe, how- 

 ever, one arrangement for a lady's skate Which might be 

 useful. It is a spring guard. They call them crutches, 

 which, padded nicely over the lady's ankles, must make 

 firm hold and prevent cramping. 



-*^e» 



The Sky an Indicator of the Weather,— The color 

 of the sky at particular times affords good guidance. Not 

 only does a very rosy sunset presage good weather, and a 

 ruddy sunrise bad weather, but there are other tints which 

 speak' with equal clearness and accuracy. A bright yellow 

 sky in the evening indicates wind; a pale yellow, wet; a 

 neutral gray color constitutes a favorable sign in the eve- 

 ning, and an unfavorable one in the morning. The clouds 

 are again full of meaning in themselves If their forms are 

 soft, undefined, and feathery, the weather will be tine; if 

 their edges are hard, sharp and definite, it will be foul. 

 Generally speaking, any deep, unusual hues betoken wind 

 or rain; while the more quiet and delicate tints bespeak 

 fair weather. These are simple maxims; and yet the 

 British Board of Trade has thought fit to publish them for 

 the use of seafaring men. 



GAME IN SEASON FOR NOVEMBER. 



Moose, Afaite Malchis.)' Caribou, Tarandus Rongifer.) 



Elk or Wapiti, Vermis Canadensis.) Red Deer, Carious Virginia wis:) 

 Rabbits, common Brown and Grey.) Squirrels, Red Black and Gray.) 

 Wild Turkey, Meleagris gattopavb.) (Juail, Ortyx Virginiaims.) 

 Ruffed Grouse. Bonasa umbelius,) Pinnated Grouse, Oupidoria Uupido.) 



All kin ds of Wild Fowl. 



[ Under the head of " Game, and Fisii, m Season" we can only specify lH 

 general terms the several varie'ies, because the laws of States cury so much 

 that were ice to attempt to particularize we could do no less than publish 

 those entire sections that relate to the kinds of game in question. This 

 ■would require a great amount of our space. In designating game we are 

 gwided try the. laics of nature, upon, which, all legislation is founded, avd 

 our readers would do well to provide themselves with the laws of their re- 

 spective States for constant, reference. Otherwise, our attempts to assist than 

 will only create confusion.} 



— Kifle Clubs can secure not only the best American 

 Manual of Rifle Shooting, but can get the best Breech- 

 loading Rifles, made by the leading manufacturers, by sub- 

 scribing to Forest and Stream. 



— The shooting season is nearly over in Canada, the cold 

 weather and snow having driven the migratory birds farther 

 south. However, if one does not mind being snowed under 

 or frozen up, there is still time to do some good deer shoot- 

 ing before Dec. 1st in Ontario or January 1st in Quebec. 

 The Toronto Sporting Times reports extraordinary duck 

 shooting all through the season, thirty brace per day being 

 nothing unusual. Messrs. Shears and party are having glo- 

 rious sport at St. Clair Flats, and never in their ten years 

 experience in that section have th^y had finer luck than 

 this present trip. Their collection includes swan, geese, 

 and every description of duck. 



In this connection, we think the observations of our 

 Portland correspondent, who is a worthy and efficient mem- 

 ber of the "Forest City Shooting Club," deserving of atten- 

 tion. We print his letterherewith, regretting that it came 

 too late for publication in our last issue: — 



Portland, Me., Nov. 8, 1878. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



Many of your readers may have noticed that within the 

 last two or three years there has been a very perceptible 

 increase in the number of sea shore birds, both marsh and 

 water fowl, arising from the enforcement of the Canadian 

 ltjfv forbidding the taking of birds' eggs on the islands and 

 shores around Labrador. To the class of gunners interest- 

 ed in this species of game, it will doubtless be gratifying to 

 learn, as they soon will, that gray coot, black duck and 

 teal have been very plenty with us "Down Easters," and 

 now loons, "red divers," shelldrakes, old squaws, grebes 

 and various kinds of coot, are in great numbers in the coves 

 and inlets, giving good promise of fine decoy shooting at 

 « ' Montauk, " ' ' South Bay, " ' ' Barnegat, " *' ' Currituck," 

 &c. As to snipe, they have been, and are still, here in fair 

 cmantities; while woodcock are plenty, and ruff ed grouse 

 in greater numbers than for years previously. 



One noticeable feature of the movement southward ot 

 flight birds this season is its lateness, and the unusual num- 

 bers that stop on the way at the various feeding grounds, 

 with every appearance of remaining there till the last High' 

 shall come along, which action on their part, will doubtless be 

 fully appreciated by my numerous brother sportsmen, {oi 

 the salt water order), to the southward. While the game 

 laws of our northern neighbors are being looked after so 

 well, and with, such beneficial results to all gunners both 

 there and here, we, of Maine, have our own troi 



