Forest and stream. 



283 



— At Merrick Bay. near Sniithsville, Long Island, is an 

 excellent place for shooting the great-head duck, as the 

 food in this bay is the great attraction for the wild fowl. 

 It consists of the small mussel and the still smaller scollop. 

 What has caused this molusk to degenerate in size we can- 

 not conceive. At the same time it is fat, plump and juicy, 

 and abounds immense numbers. Most wild fowl require 

 very little extent of water as long as they have grass hum- 

 mocks to walk about and feed in. No more fresh water is 

 necessary than is sufficient to wash and drink in, which 

 they generally obtain from the little streams which empty 

 into the man}'- bays surrounding our coast. The brant 

 seems to eat scarcely anything but sedge grass, snails and 

 worms, though preferring the inland snail and worm to 

 that of the seashore. He is a far more graceful bird on 

 land than the black duck, for quick and active as the lat- 

 ter is in the water, his great flat feet, placed far behind, are 

 of little service to him in walking. Wild fowl, like human 

 beings, will always congregate in numbers where they can 

 procure the food best suited to their habits and tastes. 

 Study nature, and you will find that it rarely ever leads 

 astray. There are no mallards down at Merrick Bay, a few 

 geese, and fair brant shooting, but the great-head duck is 

 by far the most numerous. Jim Baldwin, the gunner, is an 

 excellent wild fowl "caller," his imitation of "honk, honk" 

 and "R-rui;, r-rut" of the brant being simply natural. The 

 charges arc moderate, boats, stools, and every appliance 

 for a good day's sport, $4,00. 



—A grand rifle and pistol tournament will take place in 

 the gallery of I. S. Coniin, 930 Broadway, commencing on 

 January 12, 1874, and ending February 21. The particu- 

 lars as to rules governing shooting and competitors will ap- 

 pear in our next issue. 



— The members of the Long Island Gun Club met to- 

 gether at Dexter s, Long Island, on Saturday last to partici- 

 pate in a seiies of handicap pigeon matches. The shooting 

 of Ira Paine at 25 yards, killing 9 out of 10, was excellent, 

 as two of the birds Avere killed at at least 40 yards. The 

 birds were of the usual kind. 



Handicap sweepstakes at 10 yards, 1£ ounces of shot, 80 

 yard's boundary; Long Island rules. 



Ira A. Paine, 25 yards— 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1— Shot at 

 9, killed 8. 



Mr. Hatch, 19 yards— 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0— Shot at 

 9, killed 6. 



Mr. Deforrest, 21 yards— 1,- 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0— Shot 

 at 9, kiled 6. 



Messrs. Hatch and Deforrest then shot oif their tie to de- 

 cide who should pay for the birds, miss to pay. Mr. De- 

 forrest, 1, 1, 1; Mr. Hatch. 1, 1, 0. 



Handicap match at 10 birds, same conditions. 



Mr. Deforrest, at 21 yards— 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1— 

 Shot at 10, killed 8. 



Mr. Hatch, 19 yards— 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0— Shot at 

 9, killed 6. 



Handicap match at 10 birds, same conditions. 



Ira A. Paine, 25 yards— 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1— Shot 

 at 9, killod 8. 



Mr. Deforrest, 21 yards— 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0— Shot at 7, 

 killed 4. 



Match at five birds, 21 yards rise, 1£ ounces shot, 80 yards 

 boundary, Long Island rules. 



Mr. Hatch— 1, 1, 1, 1— Shot at 4 birds, killed all. 



Mr. Post— 1, 0, 1, 1, 0— Shot at 5 birds, killed 3. 



Handicap sweepstakes at five birds, 1£ ounces of shot, 80 

 yards boundary; Paine to use both barrels, otherwise Long- 

 Island rules. 



Mr. Hatch, 21 yards— 1, 1, 1, 0, 1— Shot at 5, killed 4. 



Mr. Deforrest, 25 yards— 1, 1, 0, 0, 1— Shot at 5 killed 3. 



Mr. Post, 21 yards— 0, 0, 1, 1— Shot at 4, killed 2. 



Ira A. Paine, 30 yards— 0, 0, 0, 0— Shot at 4 birds. 



Referees — Messrs. Staples and Miller. 



Ira Paine shot with a 10-bore Dougall. 



—The three best points for fowl shooting on the New 

 Jersey coast are at Brigantine, Barnegat and Long Beach, 

 and capital sport can be had in November and December, 

 March and April, as geese and brant are passing sonthward 

 in the fall and migrating northward to their breeding- 

 grounds in the early spring, the numerous bays and i nlets 

 affording good resting places and feeding grounds in which 

 they tarry during their vernal and autumnal journeys. 



On the state of the wind depends to a great extent the 

 success of the sportsman. As the bayman says, "any wind 

 hut from the northwest, and any tide but low water in the 

 early morning." In addition to geese and brant, the fowler 

 can have the canvas back, redneck, black and broad bill 

 duck as game, and while stooling for larger fowl, will have 

 ducks of all descriptions visit his decoj^s. 



To enjoy good shooting at Long Beach one needs but to 

 write to the proprietor of the Carlton House at Tuckerton, 

 to engage his bay-man, and there is scarcely a choice be- 

 tween Sam Shrods and Hays Jones, alias "Dad," although 

 Sam Smith and Joe Shrods are as frequently employed by 

 the fowler, each having his favorite. 



A word of advice to the sportsmen wishing to try the 

 November or December shooting at Little Egg Harbor. 

 Take plenty of wraps wherewith to keep warm, and do not 

 forget thick woolen stockings and rubber boots reaching 

 well up the thigh. 



In our next issue we shall publish a letter from a cor- 

 respondent giving some shooting experiences at Little Egg 

 Harbor. 



— The Exeter, Canada, Times is informed by Mr. Charles 

 Morris that he dug out on his farm a few days ago, a moose 

 horn of wonderful dimensions; at the base or root it meas- 

 ured two feet in circumference, and was over three feet in 

 length, a couple of feet having been broken off. * 



— The Association for the Protection of Game met on 

 Monday evening last, Royal Phelps, Esq., presiding. Mr. 

 Phelps reported that nine suits were pending for violations 

 of the game laws, and announced that the Southside Club 

 was giving its most hearty cooperation, having caused the 

 arrest of several trout poachers, and that the appointment 

 of game constables was already doing a great deal of good. 

 Mr. Phelps dwelt on the fact that other States were uniting 

 in the general work of preserving game, and cited the Mis- 

 souri Sportsmen's Club and Game Law Association as hav- 

 ing just been organized with the same view. The particu- 

 lar case of a certain person of Randolph, Cattaraugus Co., 

 N. Y., who had offered to Mr. Thomas, a well known res- 

 taurant keeper in New York, trout at $1,50 during the close 

 season, and Mr. Thomas' letter declining the offer, was read, 

 Mr. Thomas' letter informing the person who was attempt- 

 ing to infringe on the game laws that there was a penalty 

 of $25 for each trout sold or had in possession between the 

 15th day of September and the 15th day of March. The 

 following important resolution, proposed by Mr. White- 

 head, was passed: 



Resolved, That the society learns with regret that the open 

 season for taking trout in the State of Maine was extended 

 by the last Legislature of that State from October 1 to Oc- 

 tober 15; that in our opinion such change is injurious to the 

 fisheries of that State, as it leaves trout^exposed during two 

 w r eeks of their spawning season, and we respectfully call 

 the attention of the fishermen and legislators of that State 

 to this subject. 



We sincerely trust the authorities of the State of Maine 

 will see how suicidal it is to their interests to give, the trout 

 in their State no time for breeding, and that the measures 

 in regard to trout, advocated by the Forest and Stream 

 in this particular case, will have a most careful considera- 

 tion. 



— What country school boy does not remember those 

 glorious winter days when he "played hookey" and went 

 rabbit hunting in the soft feathery snow! When there was 

 a fall sufficiently deep for tracking, it was hard to resist the 

 temptation to follow a trail that crossed the path. And if 

 we did play truant occasionally, where was the blame? 

 Didn't we gain more in health and general knowledge of 

 the woods and of natural history than we would have 

 gained from our books in the confined air of the little red 

 school house? We knew it and felt it, and we were therefore 

 loth to be adjudged guilty in the e matters, albeit we did 

 entice our fellows to run away with us; and we enjoyed the 

 sport, too, with such zest that this fact of itself should be 

 accepted as prima facie evidence that we were innocent of 

 crime. Naughty children can't be happy you know. In- 

 deed we felt the excitement the more keenly be 

 cause of the necessity to use stealth in getting our dogs 

 and guns out; and generally we went home with well filled 

 game bags, which, by the way, was seldom the case when 

 we went by permission. This is another strong point for 

 the defence. Nevertheless, our yells and hunahs were 

 often hushed in the height of the chase if we happened to 

 see any one who would be likely to tell the "governor," 

 for whenever he found out where we had been our hunt 

 was very apt to be supplemented by a whaling voyage in 

 the evening. 



But men as well as boys relish the pastime ot rabbit 

 shooting, and the above train of thought was started by a 

 letter from an occasional correspondent, which we append 

 herewith: 



Centreville, Ind., Dec, 1873. 

 Editor Forest and Stream-. — 



Last week snow deep enough for tracking fell, and with 

 dogs and guns we went hunting. We kept the dogs in the 

 rear when we followed a track, and let the rabbit start up 

 and get about four rods off, when we fired, and had the 

 pleasure of seing it turn a somersault in the air. We sel- 

 dom missed a shot, and when we did, the dogs gave chase 

 and usually picked it up. But I have seen some old rab- 

 bits that gave a dog all he wanted to do to catch it, and 

 sometimes more than he could do, for in spite of all our 

 dogs one would occasionally get away from us, as they are 

 good at dodging and turning, and confuse a dog, but in an 

 open field a rabbit will seldom get away, in one brier 

 patch of* no more than three acres, we started up fifteen 

 and shot ten of them, the others getting into a hole in the 

 bank. We bagged ten apiece for each gun in less than 

 half a day. At this season of the year, and before the deep 

 snows of the winter have fallen, the rabbits are fat and in 

 good order, and I have killed them in corn fields so fat that 

 they were not good eating. I consider a rabbit pie the 

 perfection of good things. I have hunted along an osage 

 hedge, one man, with gun and dog on each side, and in 

 one mile of hedge I have killed forty rabbits. Unless there 

 be a man on either side of the hedge, but little game will 

 be killed, as they dart through, and neither man nor dog 

 can follow. In patches of blackberry and elder bushes, in 

 high grass or along brooks and drains, and in corn fields, 

 rabbits abound, and afford fine sport, but in the neighbor- 

 hood of hay stacks, bridges and blind drains, it is not 

 worth while to hunt them, as they take refuge in these 

 places, and it will not pay to dislodge them. A. M. S. 



—The Toronto Gun Club enjoyed its first annual dinner 

 last week. A goodly company was present. In reply to a 

 toast, Mr. Bell, the president, alluded to the success of the 

 past year, and said that he w T ould be glad to see the Wim- 

 bledon regulations adopted entirely at ranges throughout 

 the country. This club was organized in 1868. 



—Duck shooting is nearly over on the Potomac. On 

 last week a party of gentlemen consisting of Col. Lewis, 

 Thos. Chapman, Capt. Chapman, Courtland Smith and 

 Alex. Hunter, met with fine sport at Craney Island, twenty 



miles below Alexandria on the Potomac, shooting ducks 

 by decoys. The best day's shooting was done by Colonel 

 Lewis and Thomas Chapman, they killing fifty-four ducks, 

 single shots, on the wing. All the professional duckers 

 have left the river, fearing to be caught in the freeze which 

 is daily expected. Most of the ducks killed on the Poto- 

 mac are the "shuffler." The canvas back and redhead 

 are most rare this season. 



—Our brief mention in No, 16 of this paper, page 251, of 

 an admirable, simple, and apparently effective explosive 

 bullet, has elicited the following letter from its distinguish- 

 ed inventor. We are gratified with the testimony afforded 

 by the actual experimental data given, which we think suf- 

 ficient to determine the value of the missile. Still we are 

 sufficiently interested in the invention to wish for all addi- 

 tional light we can obtain : 



New York, December 5, 1873. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: — 



On page 251 of your most interesting journal is a descrip- 

 tion of the best, most accurate, and cheapest explosive bul- 

 let known, with an account of its usual effect on game. 



This combination of a rim-fire, metallic cartridge with a 

 hollow bullet, was invented independently by General M. 

 C. Meigs, U, S. A., and by myself. 



As I had slight priority, it was patented by me in 1872. 

 Simple as it is, its adoption was the result of much thought 

 and many experiments with more dangerous explosives, in- 

 cluding nitro-glycerine, from 1869 to the present time. The 

 progress of invention is uniformly from complex to sim- 

 ple, not the reverse, and as soon as a discovery has been 

 worked out, all wonder that no one thought of it before. 



General Meigs was familiar with the history of explosive 

 bullets which have been in use for forty years. My own 

 efforts were directed to adapt the artillery shell to small 

 arms. The fact that we both hit upon the rim-fire car- 

 tridge, with its circular anvil, flat base, and certainty of 

 fire, would seem to prove its usefolness, as well as the 

 sagacity of the editor of the Forest and Stream in recom- 

 mending its use. 



We carried the shells in Colorado, California, and Cen- 

 tral America, and finding them a sure thing for ordinary 

 game, had them manufactured by the Union Metallic Car- 

 tridge Company, at Bridgeport, * Lieut. Carpenter, of the 

 Hayden exploring expedition, while in the Sierra Madre 

 this summer, fired a .50 calibre, seventy grain U. S. Gov't 

 cartridge at a thousand pound grizzly, in a Remington rifle, 

 at one hundred and forty yards range. The 450 grain bul- 

 let containing a .22 cal. long pistol cartridge with 7 grains of 

 powder, exploded in the brain and tore off the top of the 

 skull, killing him instantly. Mr. Grizzly fell and disap- 

 peared in the tall grass. The lieutenant cautiously effected 

 a change of base to a position within sight of the animal at 

 thirty yards range, but the bear was already "coralled" and 

 was stone dead. The entire skeleton is to be mounted in 

 the museum of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. 



Sam. H. Mead, Jr. 



— The Norridotcn (Pa.) Herald says: "Three of our crack 

 sportsmen have been, during the last two weeks, on a raid 

 among the game of Bucks county, putting up at Quaker- 

 town. Their first excursion resulted in bagging 64 rabbits, 

 13 pheasants, and 22 woodcock. The second produced 76 

 rabbits and 30 woodcock. The third and last, 103 par- 

 tridges, 1 grey squirrel, 1 pheasant, and 33 rabbits. 



—Our correspondents continue to report an unusual 

 abundance of deer running this season. In New York a 

 huge carcass hangs at nearly every principal restaurant. A 

 250 pound buck, dressed, is nothing uncommon, and we 

 have seen does of that weight. The deer of Pennsylvania 

 are the largest of the species in the United States. 



—Miles L. Johnson, of Yardville, N.J., and Moses Myers, 



of Belleville, N. J., shot at 50 birds each, atDcerfoot Park, 



December 9th. The Rhode Island Badge rules were agreed 



to, to govern the match. 



Myers— 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, l, l, 



0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 



1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1. 



Johnson— 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, l, 

 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, i, o, 0, 

 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1. 



Miles Johnson won, killing 42 birds out of 48. Myers 

 killed 39 birds out of 48. 



—Match for 10 birds each, between Smith and Sather- 

 waite, $25 a side. 



Smith— 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1. 



Satherwaite— 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, l, i. 



Smith won, killing 10 straight. 



—The following are the wholesale prices of game in 

 Fulton Market on Tuesday, the 9th December:— Swans, 

 each, $2; wild geese, each, 75 cents; brant, $1.50; canvas 

 backs, $1 a pair; red heads and black ducks, 75c. a pair; 

 mallards, 75 cents a pair; broad bills, pair, 50 cents; teal, 

 pair, 50 cents; widgeon, 50 cents; pinated grouse, pair, 90 

 cents; woodcock, pair, $1; English snipe, pair, 50 cents; 

 quail, trapped, $1.50 a dozen; wild turkey, 15 cents a 

 pound: wild pigeons per dozen, $1.50; wild rabbits, pair, 

 40 cents. Game is quite low in consequence of the unusual 

 mild weather. Deer legs, 11 cents; saddles, 18 cents; 

 haunch, 20 cents; bear, coming in. 



— While witnessing a game of base ball out West, a boy 

 was struck on the head, the bawl coming out of his mouth ' 

 «♦»♦» 



—'•'What is your name, little girl?" "Minnie." "Min- 

 nie what?" "Minnie Don't, that's what mamma calls me." 



-*-~»~ 



—When is charity like a bee ? When jx begins to hum, 



