268 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



GAME IN SEASON FOR DECEMBER. 



Moose, Alces MalcJds.) Caribou, Tarandus Rangifer.) 



Elk or Wapiti, Cervus Canadensis.) Red Deer, Caricxs Virgiidanus.) 

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

 Wild Turkey, Meleagris gattopavo.) Quail, Ortyx Virginianus.) 

 Ruffed Grouse. Bonasa umbellus,) Pinnated Grouse, Ch/pidoria Cupido.) 



All kinds of Wild Fowl. 



{ Under the head of "■Game, and Fisn in Season'' ' we can only specify in 

 general terms the several varieties, became the laws of States vary so much 

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

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

 ujould require a great anwwnt of our space. In designating game toe are 

 guided by the laws of nature, upon which all legislation is founded, and 

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

 spective States for constant reference. Otherwise, our attempts to cissist them 

 will only create confusion^ 



— At Shokan, Ulster County, a party of three went out 

 shooting forces in what is called the Park Swamp, accom- 

 panied by Mr. Sheppard and his hounds, killing 3 dogfoxes 

 and 2 vixens in three days. 



— Three guns and two dogs, at Deekertown, New Jersey, 

 on the Midland Raikoad, last week, counted out a bag of 

 25 pheasants, 3 quail, 2 woodcock, and 21 rabbits. 



— At Montauk Point, L. I., three well known wild fowl 

 shots, shot besides black duck and geese, seven mud geese* 

 We think this must be the goose known by the name of 

 Hutchin's goose. 



— At Toronto on Thanksgiving Day, in jthe pigeon shoot- 

 ing match for the Foresters' challenge tea service, between 

 James Glen, Jr., of Toronto, and Gilbert, of St. Thomas, 

 the latter won, killing eighteen out of twenty-one birds, to 

 Glen fifteen. 



— At Miller's Island near Baltimore, there were over 

 1,200 canvas back ducks shot last week, principally by 

 gunners for the market. Sportsmen have but fair shooting, 

 all the best points and grounds being leased. The Swamp 

 Angels, used by the gunners, are generally of four to six- 

 bore and load ad Wdtunt. 



— At Turkey Point on the Eastern Shore near the mouth 

 of the Susquehanna, there are two points about 100 yards a 

 part and excellent ground to get to before the birds come. 

 Mr. Benton and a friend from Baltimore, killed on Friday 

 and Saturday last 32 red heads, 7 black ducks and 24 canvas 

 backs. 



—At Watson Hollow, last week, C. S. Pock well and 

 party, a well known bear hunter, killed 2 wild cats and shot 

 at a panther, wounding him, but could not follow him. up 

 on account of snow drift. The party went out next moru- 

 inf on home-made snow-shoes, but failed to rind the track. 

 Snow 18 inches on the level. Very few beech-nuts this 

 year, so that the bears have moved into the Neversink 

 Mountains. 



— Judge C. E. P., of Prooklyn, returned last week from 

 a shooting excursion in the southern part of Ohio, where 

 lie and three other gentlemen, with two setters, bagged 48 

 dozen quail and 13 grouse in the course of nine days' bush- 

 beating. This is pretty good work. . The Judge will stand 

 a pretty close cross-examination as to the exact locality in 

 Ohio where this was done, but we doubt if he can be in- 

 duced to commit himself. Gunning in Ohio is apt to be 

 dangerous business unless the sportsman is aquainted with 

 " the man who owns the place." 



—Gunnery is not taught, it appears, in Dartmouth Col- 

 lege. Several students of that venerable institution being- 

 out shooting lately, found a coon in a tree. They shot at 

 the animal 24 times without hitting him, while he sneered 

 at their clumsiness from his perch. At last, coming down, 

 having lost all patience at being killed so clumsily, he went 

 for those literary young men. Long the battle raged. The 

 stock of a $350 gun was shivered. Coonie died at last, for 

 the odds against him were fearful. He was one of the 

 heaviest characters of his class, and weighed 30 pounds and 

 six ounces over. 



We take this Irom the Tribune. Whether the word 

 "class" in the last sentence refers to coons, or to the under- 

 graduates of Dartmouth, we are not prepared to say. 



PIGEON SHOOTING. 



—A large party of gentlemen met on November 20th at 

 Port Morris to witness a pigeon match between the two 

 crack amateurs, Mr. Ernest Staples and Mr. Louis Living- 

 ston, of Columbia county. New York, at 25 single birds, 

 Ira Paine's best, fur $400, 1! shot., 21 yards rise, 80 yards 

 boundary. 



THE SCOKE. 



Staples-0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, t, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 

 Oil 1 — Total, 20. Killed, 17; missed, 3. 



'livwgston-O, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 

 0) o, 0— Total, 18. Killed, 0; missed, {>. 



' Staples won the choice and went to the front first. 

 Livingston, having no chance, gave up the match when 

 Staples had shot at 20 birds. 



—The simultaneous rifle match between Captain Davis' 

 Highland Company, Dundee, Scotland, and No. 2 Com- 

 pany, 13th Battlion, Hamilton, Out., twelve men on eaeh 

 side, 'which took place in October, has, according to scores 

 just 'received, resulted in a victory for the Highlanders by 

 two pomts. This company has the reputation of never 

 having been beaten in any match, and is one of the best in 

 Scotland. The firing took place at ranges'of 200, 5», and 

 600 yards, five shots at each range. The total score made 

 by the Highlanders was 511, while that of the Hamilton 

 Volunteers was 500. The highest score made by any indi- 

 vidual member was by Private Thomas Mitchell, of Ham- 

 ilton, who made 50 points, three more than the highest 

 score made by anyone in the Highland Company. The 

 lowest score made was 35, recorded for one of the High- 

 landers. At the 200 yards range Hamilton scored five more 



than the Scotchmen, and at 500 yards eight more. The 

 Canadians have no reason to feel ashamed of their score. — 

 Toronto Globe. 



— Our frequent correspondent, Isaac McClellan, who has 

 been shooting recently in Northeastern Virginia, on the 

 peninsula between the Chesapeake and Atlantic, made his 

 headquarters at the little hamlet of Eastville, which he 

 speaks well of as affording good accommodation for sports- 

 men. Among other experiences with the numerous 

 varieties of wild fowl, he mentions the swan, which he 

 claims is by long odds tho-noblest fowl to be found on the 

 coast of North Carolina and the Chesapeake. " It is some- 

 thing like sport," he says, "to drop a bird weighing some 

 eighteen pounds, with a six feet extent of pinions. These 

 great fowl, especially the cygnets, are esteemed very deliciuos 

 for the table, and far superior to the goose. They collect 

 there in great numbers, and we have seen a line of them 

 extending for more than the space of a mile, and looking 

 like a long reef of breakers, or a ridge of snow-drift. They 

 are hard to kill, and require to be hit with very coarse shot, 

 mould or T shot, before they yield up life. But once drop 

 them in the water and they are easily got, as they do not 

 dive, but reach their food with their long necks in shallow 

 water. 



The swans, early in September, leave the shores of the 

 Polar Sea and resorjt to lakes and rivers in and about Hud- 

 son's Bay, where they remain until October. They then 

 collect in flocks of fifteen or twenty, and mounting high in 

 air, in a wedge shape, depart with loud screams for a more 

 genial southern climate. They fly with great rapidity, at 

 the estimated rate of one hundred miles in the hour, which 

 is about double that of the goose. They do not, like the 

 geese, follow the line of sea coast, but fly far inland, usually 

 reaching their feeding-grounds at night; and the first signal 

 of their arrival is given the next morning by a universal 

 clamor. They seem to be greeting each other with their 

 musical notes after their completed journey. When settled 

 on their feeding grounds, they do not forsake them, unless 

 driven away by very severe weather. 



In the Chesapeake the wild swan collect in large flocks of 

 hundreds feeding over extensive flats on the duck-grass, 

 worms, insects and shell-fish. They are found from the 

 mouth of the Chesapeake to the capes of Virginia, but do 

 not pass southward of Hatteras inlet. We have seen a few 

 flocks of them in the bays of Jersey, but have never met 

 with them in the waters of Long Island. They feed with 

 the geese, but do not fly with them. When crippled and 

 caught they are easily tamed, and we have had them, at the 

 south, in our door-yards stalking majestically among the 

 tame wild-geese and other domestic fowl." 



Malaga, Gloucester Co., New Jersey, Nov. 12th, '75. 

 Editor of Forest and Stream :—" 



Mr. Miller, our secretary, forwarded me your letter of 

 the 7th, making inquiries as to our Game Protective Society. 

 I forward a copy of Acts of incorporation, constitution 

 and by-laws, which will fully explain its object. Our 

 society is yet in its infancy, having been organized only 

 abont six months. We have now about 224 non-resident 

 members. Of course, our non-resident membership will 

 largely exceed the resident members, since the residents of 

 other States cannot shoot in the counties coming within 

 the provision of our Act unless they connect themselves 

 with our association. The funds received can be used for 

 no other purpose than restocking. 



At a meeting of the Directors, held in the city of Camdem, 

 Saturday, November 22d, the President was authorized to 

 purchase 1,000 pairs of live quail, to be put 'out in March 

 next, in the counties of Camden, Gloucester, Atlantic, 

 Cumberland, and Cape May. 



Game, (quail and deer), are quite plenty in this section. 

 Deer in Atlantic, and quail in all the lower counties, with 

 quite a number of partridges. Over 150 deer have been 

 killed in Atlantic County since November 1st within a 

 radius of twenty miles from this place. Season for deer 

 hunting closes December 1st. The writer killed a fine 

 buck in Atlantic county on Saturday last, twelve miles 

 east from these works. A friend, J. E. Sharp, of Philadel- 

 phia, and myself, were out yesterday, (Thanksgiving Day), 

 and bagged forty-six quail and two partridges, not open 

 field shooting, but all — except a few covey shots — made in 

 the scrub oak and second growth timber. In haste, 



Yours, W. B. Rosenbaum, 

 "President West Jersey Game Protective Society." 

 qf — An "Old Hand" sends us the following sketch from 

 Dallas County, Iowa:— 



The prairie hen or pinnated grouse is lawful game in 

 most of the States between the middle of August and the 

 first of January, but the season closes in reality about the 

 first of November, on account of the birds getting so wild 

 that but few care to hunt them. . But for the sportsman who 

 does not mind working for his game and who delights in 

 trying his own skill and the excellence of his gun on a full- 

 grown bird at long range, there are occasionally days on 

 which the sport is splendid. You get up some morning 

 and find it clear and frosty, but you know it will be warm 

 and still for three hours during the middle of the day; so 

 by sun up or a little later you are on some knoll on the edge 

 of the prairie watching; you see grouse flying everywhere 

 from one alone to perhaps a thousand together; they alight 

 in the cornfields mostly, though some come down on the 

 prairie again. Look! yonder come a dozen; they will fly 

 right over you; no, they swerve fifty yards to one side and 

 pass you like bullets, single out your bird, hold your feet 

 in front, and when he is barely opposite, cut loose. Fol- 

 lowing the crack of the gun you hear a sharp whack as the 

 shot strike and you have tumbled an old cock into the grass, 



You have, of course, marked down as many of the birds as 

 possible; let them feed an hour and then drive them. up. 

 They will rise very wild and the only object in flushing 

 them is to see them down where they will take their noon- 

 day siesta. Now you may go to the house— or more likely 

 to your wagon— rest and get through with your lunch so as 

 to be in the field by twelve o'clock, sharp. You go direct 

 to where you marked some birds down in the morning. At 

 about fifty yards ahead up spring the birds with a terrible 

 clucking and rushing of wings. Quick! no time for parley 

 now! cover and cut loose as quickly as you can ! There 

 you have winged one and hurt another one that will fly out 

 of Sight and die. 



If you use a muzzle-loader you will get no more shots 

 there, but you can load a breech-loader before the few that 

 still stick, will rise. When you get these up let the dog 

 hunt the ground for a hundred yards all around where they 

 rose, and he will probably get you a half dozen shots at a 

 thirty yards rise; and if your gun is good and you are any 

 sort of a shot, you will get every one. Now go for that 

 pack of five hundred you saw down on yonder hill-side a 

 mile away. You get half way there when your dog, which 

 is a hundred yards in advance, flushed one. Serves you 

 right for not keeping him in; they won't lay to dogs now. 

 Dash lays down and waits till you come up. You go a 

 little further, when up gets one right under your feet. 

 Hold on! you'll miss entirely or cut him to shreds if you 

 don't give him at least twenty yards. At the crack of your 

 gun there is a cloud of feathers and the bird has disappear- 

 ed; but there goes another crossing you forty yards ahead; 

 aim two feet ahead and you will bring him. The grass 

 seems to be literally alive with them, 1 and they get up 

 faster than you can take them till you have bagged seven 

 or eight. You go on till you get within three or four hun- 

 dred yards of " that big pack" when they go off in a body 

 and don't give you a shot. It is now nearly two o'clock 

 and the birds are getting hungry again. However, if you 

 are not too tired you can find some more scattered ones 

 that will add a few to your bag; but after three o'clock it 

 is useless to pursue them; besides you have now bagged 

 ten or twelve brace and ought to be satisfied. If you are 

 not, your attention will be attracted to a few flocks of mal- 

 lards that are flying over an adjacent cornfield. Repairing 

 thence you build a blind by lacing two corn hills together 

 and cutting stalks and leaning against them. Hurry, for the 

 ducks are coming fast. A thousand have already alighted, 

 and as many more are already hovering over them. Now 

 you &re ready. Wait till they droop their wings to alight. 

 Now! There you've brought down, four with one barrel, 

 and one with the other. Now retri^e and wait for another 

 shot. You don't wait long; and so the sport goes on till 

 after sundown, and you have bagged fifteen, and frighten- 

 ed nearly all the rest away. Honk! Honk! remove your 

 cartridges and put in a couple charged with four drachms 

 of powder and one and a half oz., of ones or 00 shot. Lie 

 close now, they have been alarmed and are looking for yon. 

 They pass sixty yards to the left; aim at the leader's head 

 and let him have it. There! a lucky shot has broken his 

 neck. The rest hurdle together affrighted and you put 

 your left right in. You hear the charge strike but no bird 

 falls; look sharp! others are coming down. He falls in a 

 slough a quarter of a mile off, but you are sure Dash can 

 find him, and sure enough he does after trailing a long- 

 ways. You now go to the wagon tired out and hungry as 

 one ever needs to get. You count your bag and find 19 

 grouse, 15 ducks and 2 geese, the latter weighing 12 and 16 

 lbs. respectively. 



In conclusion, I will say that this is no imaginary sketch, 

 but is a faithful account of one day's shooting, and is not 

 the best day's work that has been done here either, though 

 it is among the best. In conclusion, I will say that for this 

 late shooting one should use a 10 or 12 guage not shorter 

 than 23 inches. Use 3-J- drachms powde* and 1£ oz. of No. 

 6 shot. Use two pink edge wads on top of powder; or 

 what is better, one wad of new harness leather next to 

 powder, and pink edge wad on that, as the felt wad will 

 blow to pieces if used with a heavy charge. 



A Heroine. — A girl of fourteen, daughter of John Nich- 

 ols, of the town of Albion, has proved herself made of the 

 heroic stuff. Going into the woods a few days since with 

 a five-year-old brother nutting, they became lost, and were 

 compelled to remain all night without shelter. To protect 

 her little brother, she stripped off her outer garments, and, 

 soothing him to quiet and sleep in her arms, sat through 

 the long hours while her own limbs were freezing. When 

 found the next forenoon she was unable to stand on her 

 feet, but the physician hopes to be able to preserve her life 

 and limbs, a hope which will be heartily reechoed wher- 

 ever the story is known. 



. — ■ 1 — «^>-«<0»— 



— Late advices from China say that another of those anti- 

 foreign placards against foreigners has been posted on the 

 walls of Wu-chang, setting forth how the foreign devils en- 

 tice children to their schools and they are never seen any 

 more alive or otherwise. There is an absurd story about 

 the children being taken to the upper flats of the foreigners' 

 houses, and there being deprived of life, and afterwards of 

 brains and eyes to make up some sort of barbarian medi- 

 cine. 



— "The melancholy day's are come" when defunct pork- 

 ers, with "the ends of their nose and the tips of their toes 

 turned up to the roots of the daises" (where they will never 

 more root hog nor die) are carried through the streets, cob 

 in mouth, to be tucked away with buckwheat cakes. 



— «S*~»-©a- 



— Bunches of autumn leaves are said to be very beauti- 

 ful evening decorations, if a lighted candle be set behind 

 them. If the flame of the candle be allowed to touch one 

 of them the brilliancy of the display is greatly increased. 



