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FOREST AND STREAM, 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 

 Devoted to Field and Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural History, 

 Fish Culture, the Protection op Game, Presrvation op Forests, 

 and the Inculcation in Men and Women op a healthy interest 

 in Oui-noR Recreation and Study: 



PUBLISHED BY 



Rarest md ^trewtf jfflubHzhmg <j^om$m\% f 



AT 



103 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK. 



Terms, Five Dollars a Year, Strictly In Advance. 



♦ 



A discount of twenty per cent, for five copies and upwards. Any person 

 sending us one subscription and Five Dollars will receive a copy of 

 Hallock's "Fishing Tourist, postage free. 



4 



Advertising Kates. 



In regular advertising columns, nonpareil type, 121ines to the inch, 25 

 cents per line. Advertisements on outside page, 40 cents per line. Reading 

 notices, 50 cents per line. Advertisements in double column 25 per cent, 

 extra. Where advertisements are inserted over 1 month, a discount of 

 10 per cent, will be made ; over three months, 20 per cent ; over six 

 months, 30 per cent. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JAN. 1, 1874. 



To Correspondents. 



♦ 



All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 

 correspondence, must be addressed to The Forest and Stream Pub- 

 lishing Company. Personal letters only, to the Manager. 



All communications intended for publication must, be accompanied with 

 real name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published if 

 objection be made. No anonymous contributions will be regarded. 

 $• Articles relating to any topic within the scope of this paper are solicited. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Ladies are especially invited to use our columns, which will be pre- 

 pared with t :af eful reference to their perusal and instruction. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brief 

 notes of their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of this paper 



become a medium of useful and reliable information between gentle- 

 men sportsmen from one end of the country to the other ; and they will 

 find our columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements. 



The Publishers of Forest and Stream aim to merit and secure the 

 patronage and countenance of that portion of the community whose re- 

 fined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 

 is beautiful in Nature. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 

 the legitimate sports of land and water to those base uses which always 

 iend to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise- 

 ment or business notice of an immoral character will be received on any 

 terms ; and nothing will be admitted to any department o the paper that 

 may not be read with propriety in the home circle. 



We cannot be responsible for the dereliction of the mail service, if 

 money remitted to us is lost. 



Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, ir possible. 



CHARLES HALLOCK, 

 Managing Editor. 



HAPPY NEW YEAR! 



NOW let the joy-bells that usher in the New Year 

 ring out a merry peal ! Let all the rubbish of the 

 Old — its sorrows, panics, perils, and distresses, go out with 

 the departed dead. Dig deeply the grave, if need be, and 

 bury all in oblivion. Set the old veteran's face toward the 

 East, Indian fashion, pitch him his hour-glass and scythe, 

 pull his cowl over his head, and bid him good speed on 

 wings of time to join the hosts of years that have gone 

 before to make up the cycles. Hopes and promises are 

 ever wound like wreaths of flowers around the chain of the 

 future, and past distresses bring no discouragement to re- 

 peated efforts. And yet, after all, not much of serious dis- 

 aster or peril has marked the year just past. Clouds that 

 threatened have either lapsed away, or actual calamities 

 have been tempered by the purification that resulted. 



As for us Of the Forest and Stream, whom financial 

 troubles overtook with others, we can hang green garlands 

 upon the milestone that marks the year departed. Our 

 journal is already a success, both pecuniarily and in the 

 estimation in which it is held by its patrons at home and 

 abroad. We presume no newspaper has ever started in this 

 country which so soon established its position; and old 

 journalists pronounce its success a marvel. We have re- 

 ceived the recognition in Europe and here of leading scien- 

 tific men and institutions, and their actual support, in large 

 measure. We promise much for the future, but not more 

 than we can perform. Improvements in quantity and 

 quality of our material will keep pace with the patronage 

 vouchsafed to us. Our friends are both earnest and stead- 

 fast and we feel with kindly sympathy the warmth of the 

 grip which the true brotherhood of sportsmen give us. 



Gentlemen: The protection given to our streams and 

 forests, is a guaranty of abundant bags in future. What 

 can we say with more earnest purpose or courteous expres- 

 sion, than to wish you all A Happy New Year, and to 

 express the hope that with the recurring seasons your bags 

 may be always full, and your hearts overflow with kindness 

 to all men, and especially to the beautiful dumb creatures 

 who claim your protection and are entitled to it. Brethren, 



we salute you ! 



■*«»■ 



Champion Pointer Dog "Belle."— The portrait of 

 this remarkable dog, the champion of England for 1873, 

 the winner of the great Bala Field .trials, for all aged 

 pointers and setters, beating Mr. Macdona's Ranger, Mr. 

 Llewellen's Countess and Flax, Mr. Slatter's Rob Roy, &c, 

 &c with pedigree, and points made in the trial appended, 

 sent by mail. Price, $1. Discount to the trade. Forest 

 and Stream Publishing Co., 103 Fulton street, N. Y. 



THE FOREST AND STREAM GREETING. 



ON the advent of the New Year the Forest and Stream 

 offers its congratulations to its numerous readers and 

 thinks the occasion a most fitting one for its editor to re- 

 turn his sincere thanks to the public who have so gene- 

 rously given the paper their patronage and support. 



Perhaps there is no feeling in the human heart so pleas 

 ant,- or which impels one to more vigorous action than a 

 retrospective survey taken of obstacles successfully sur- 

 mounted, and of work accomplished amidst checks and hin- 

 drances. If impediments have been placed in our way, 

 they have arisen solely from accidental causes, such as of 

 the monetary crises, which affected all business, and not 

 from any inherent fault within the paper itself. 



The projector of the Forest and Stream, had carefully 

 surveyed the ground many years in advance, and was 

 thoroughly imbued with the idea that the gentlemen of the 

 United States, those who hunted and fished, who rowed 

 and sailed, who played cricket or base ball, who loved 

 horses and dogs, who were fond of rational sports, who 

 discountenanced wha*t was coarse and low, would take most 

 kindly to just such a paper as he proposed to edit, and his 

 aspirations cf success have been more than verified in the 

 paper of his creation, the Forest and Stream. 



From the very first number, issued August the 14th, 1873, 

 the appreciation we have met with has been even a matter 

 of surprise to us. To-day, with our twenty-first number, 

 though in a newspaper sense we may be but, a bantling as 

 to years, we have been warmly taken in hand not only by 

 the public, but by our older confreres of the press, and have 

 been treated with a respect beyond our years (or months) 

 or merits. 



Of course there must be always certain amount of indivi- 

 ality about a paper which gives it its peculiar stamp, but 

 the Forest and Stream owes its success and «credit per- 

 haps more to the efforts of of its contributors than to any- 

 thing else. With us the task has been often a most diffi- 

 cult and delicate one, to select from the varied richness 

 which has been showered upon us. From North, South, 

 East and West there has come to us matter of rare excel- 

 lence, written with freshness and elegance, describing lo- 

 calities, giving notes on birds and fishes, which have not 

 only been of use to sportsmen, but have called the atten- 

 tion of naturalists both at home and abroad. 



One, two or three men, no matter how thorough may be 

 their journalistic training, from the peculiar character of 

 their task, cannot, even at their best, always furnish that 

 vigorous and natural matter which often emanates from 

 fresher and younger pens, outside of the profession. We 

 repeat, then, that our sincere thanks are due to our con- 

 tributors, believing that the success of the Forest and 

 Stream belongs more to them than to ourselves. 



But it is for us rather to think of the time to come, and 

 the advance the Forest and Stream must make in 

 this year, than to expatiate on past performances. Now 

 that the first course has been eaten, the appetite whetted, 

 not satiated, what is coming by and by? 



It takes time, a long time, to arrange thoroughly all those 

 various lines, which, like telegraph wires diverge from one 

 common newspaper centre. The Forest and Stream has 

 arranged to have correspondence of interest furnished it 

 from England, the Continent, and from the East. 



There is a homely adage "that the proof of the pudding 

 is in the eating of it." When at this season the old year 

 is lost sight of, and the new year, strong and lusty at his 

 birth, is greeted with shouts and toasts and merry mak- 

 " ings, as the plum pudding is placed on the board, think of 

 us, kind reader. As we are with all of you this year in your 

 rejoicings, (if not in person at least in spirit,) let us hope 

 that we may be even better acquainted, and that a perma- 

 nent frienpship may be made between you and the Forest 

 and Stream, not only for this year of 1874, but for many 



a long year to come. 



■#*♦ 



WHAT THEY THINK OF OUR RIFLE 



MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND. 



UNDER date of December 19th, the Volunteer Service 

 Gazette, the official organ of the English Volunteer 

 Force, copies in full from the columns of the Forest and 

 Stream our extended reports of Creedmoor, and thus 

 editorially comments upon the rifle movement in the United 

 States : — 



"We have great pleasure in publishing, from a New 

 York contemporary, a full report of the meeting of the 

 United States Rifle Association in October last. We see 

 that our American cousins are already contemplating the 

 probability of International Rifle matches. May we once 

 more repeat that a team from the United States would be, 

 we are sure, most heartily welcomed at Wimbledon, and 

 that the objections we have so often urged against European 

 International competitions do not apply at all to the inter- 

 change of visits of 'eights 5 or 'twenties' between Wimbledon 

 and Creedmoor." 



We perfectly agree with our contemporary in regard to 

 the stupidity of bringing together on the rifle range in an 

 International match, whole companies of men unaccustom- 

 ed to the more delicate use of the rifle, who fire away rao- 

 notously for hours, making ricochets and scoring nothing. 

 Of course practice is necessary for all hands, and while we 

 may watch with interest the exercises of even an awkward 

 squad at the rifle range, when it comes to a match one feels 

 tired and disappointed at having to witness the efforts of 

 tyros." 



The reference the Volunteer Swrvice Gazette makes to "the 

 objections urged against European International matches," is 



directed towards the visits paid by foreign Volunteer troops 

 to England, when contests took place at Wimbledon. 

 Socially, these visits were of the greatest benefit, and with 

 their well-known hospitality, the English Volunteers gave 

 to their foreign guests a most cordial greeting. But when 

 it came to shooting for rifle contests, whole foreign brigades 

 not knowing anything about their weapons, save their drill 

 manual, the exhibition of their shooting must have been as 

 wearisome as it was without practical results. 



A : ifle range is the place of course for both the muffs and 

 experts. But when at some future time our International 

 match takes place and we send our men abroad, of course 

 it will be only a most carefully selected team, which must 

 represent the elite of our rifle shots, and should the Irish 

 team, whose challenge was reeorded by us some time ago 

 pay us a visit, we may feel pretty sure that the best rifle 

 men in Ireland will he selected. 



We sincerely trust that the challenge thrown out by Mr. 

 Leech in behalf of the Irish Rifle Association, will betaken 

 up by the members of our own National Rifle Association, 

 and that the Amateur Rifle Club, will make all due arrange- 

 ments for their reception, and will have the authority to 

 select such American marksmen as they may think the 

 most fitting to enter in the contest. Whether it would be 

 wise to accept the challenge for the coming season of 1874 

 or to postpone it until our own men have had more practice 

 at long ranges, we suppose the Amateur Rifle Club will best 

 be able to determine. 



We feel, though, very certain that when we are honored 

 by a visit from the English or Irish Rifle Teams, the same 

 courtesy on the range, which welcomed our Provincial 

 rifle friends, and which they have most pleasantly acknowl- 

 edged, vill be extended to all the members of the English 

 Volunteer Service. 



The Volunteer Service Gazette concludes the review of 

 Creedmoor as follows in regard to the Irish challenge 

 victory : — 



" The conditions of the challenge are liberal, and do not 

 impose any seriously objectionable restrictions. 



The want of experier ce and need of a reliable long-range 

 rifle of American manufacture may cause some mistrust, 

 but should the American National Rifle Association accept 

 and invite the English and Scotch teams to participate, 

 Wimbledon could scarcely create more interest or a greater 

 furore than Creedmoor." Just as we were writing this, 

 we have the intelligence of the 



ACCEPTANCE OP THE CHALLENGE. 



In pursuance of the resolution of the Amateur Rifle Club, 

 published in the Forest and Stream of November 27th, 

 a letter has been addressed to their President, Captain Geo. 

 W. Wingate, to A. Blenerhasset Leech, the Captain of the 

 Irish Team, stating the willingness of that Club to accept 

 the challenge on behalf of themselves and the riflemen of 

 America, and asking Mr. Leech to specify the nature of the 

 deposit referred to in his letter. No objection is made to 

 the terms of the challenge, except, that as the range at 

 Creedmoor is limited to one thousand yards, the firing must 

 not exceed that distance. 



The letter closes with the remark, that while the Amateur 

 Club, from their recent organization, are not very sanguine 

 of surpassing marksmen of such renown as Mr. Leech's 

 Irish Team, yet, they have no hesitation of assuring them 

 of a cordial welcome to this country. 



PRIZE AND FIELD DOGS. 



MOST of the pointers and setters imported from abroad 

 of late years, have gained a high reputation at prize 

 dogs, animals that have taken medals and cups as some 

 well advertised prize dog-show. For weeks previous to the 

 show, these dogs have been carefully fed, combed, brushed 

 and medically treated, in order that they may appear on 

 the day of competition, with all their points standing out 

 in symmetrical array before the sensitive eye of the judges. 

 Not satisfied with all this overwrought preparation, the ex- 

 hibitors even go further; the cages and kennels are all nicely 

 painted, so that the color of the dog may harmonize with 

 the exact shade of the kennel, and so show the dog to the 

 ever critical eye to the best advantage. Again these 

 animals are clothed in an elaborately worked coat, covering 

 the shoulders, ribs and hind-quarters, leaving only the 

 head, legs and part of the neck of the dog to be distinctly 

 seen by the oi polloi; so that the general public have no op- 

 portunity of judging of some of the most important 

 parts of the animal — that is the chest, ribs and hind- 

 quarters. We, of course, admit that the head of any 

 animal, like the head of man, is or ought to be the promi- 

 nent characteristic feature of the entire body; but we do 

 consider as ranking next in importance, the hind-quarters or 

 propelling part of the dog. Many sportsmen have remarked 

 to the writer about prize dogs in language like the follow- 

 ing: " What a splendid dog he is to look at! How beauti- 

 fully his head is shaped! Quite the correct color for shoot- 

 ing over! Observe his fine feathered tail and silky coat!" 

 Just take him out in the field K however, and he will be 

 found for shooting over game not worth the powder to kill 

 him. 



Now take the case of field dogs. They must perform 

 well or they are worthless for any and every purpose. As 

 a general thing those field dogs are not the beau-ideal of 

 perfection of beauty, nor are they the marvels of symmetry 

 that most persons outside the shooting fraternity imagine 

 them to be, but take them into the scrub oak and brush, 

 which is the only test of a dog for the purchaser and sports 

 man, it is there these animals show their wonderful breed- 

 ing, training and extraordinary bringing out of the dormant 



