36 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



the old date was last year resumed, and the January snooting, 

 when birds (ire -wild and go like bullets, was aDolished. So 

 there is nothing tor it but to resign the trusty barrels to their 

 accustomed corner — unless, indeed, your lot be cast upon the 

 sea coast or upon the banks of any of the larger rivers, -where 

 ad duck resort. 



Quail have been, I think, as plentiful as usual in the south- 

 tro portion of the State. Tho best day the writer assisted 

 at produced seventy odd head of birds, besides rabbits and 

 woodcock, to four guns. The latter bird has been wonder- 

 fully scarce this year in his usual haunts, and as the country 

 rises to the Blue Ridge, it is the merest chance if you ever 

 stumble on one. 



Sporting dogs are very plentiful in Virginia, but really 

 good pointers or setters are not by any means common, and 

 well broken ones are rarer still. 1 bave shot for a great many 

 seasons in the Stnte and over a great many different dogs, but 

 .1 1 (never yet had tho good fortune 10 see one that could 

 conscientiously be advertised as " broken." I do not presume 

 to say that such a ram a/Bit could not be found, but simply 

 state that 1 have never seen one. There are an immense 

 quantity both of pointers and setters in the State, such as 

 they are after generations of in-breeding, careless raising and 

 general neglect. It can scarcely be expected that in the uni- 

 versal, bappy-go-lucky state of affairs that has always existed 

 in this part of tho world, the kennels (if one may burlesque 

 the word) can have escaped contamination. 



The Virginia setter as often as not plays the part of family 

 watch-dog, sleeping on the porcb throughout the coldest 

 nights of winter. He is trained by day to drive the chickens 

 and calves out of the yard, and all the time be has to himself 

 be employs in pursuing rabbits with the most plebeian com- 

 panions he can collect. This affectionate aud domestic quad- 

 ruped always has his three meals a day with the family, while 

 his unrestrained amatory rambles are not infrequently produc- 

 tive of torn cars and peppered hind quarters. Who can won- 

 der that when the season comes round he should be the cause 

 of placing much bad language to his master's account and 

 ruin the first week of the shooting? At one time be is 

 dumped with the butt of a gun, kicked or shot for chasing 

 fur : at another he is urged in lhe excitement of tho moment 

 10 pursue a hare that his'owner has bit but failed to Btop. So 

 frequently is Master Ponto in these parts a devourer of dead 

 birds that on one occasion I was out with five setters, every 

 one of wbom accounted for a brace before the day was over, 

 ll. is a laughable and undignified spectacle to see a stampede 

 of elderly gentlemen, with brandished guns, in full cry after 

 a cunning dog who is chewing a bird in his flight. 



It is not uncommon to bear people say that in these days of 

 breech-loaders the "down charge" is unnecessary. Can 

 anything be more absurd ? Imagine yourself, brother sports- 

 itmn, enjoying that very cream of quail Bhooting, when a 

 covey alter the first rise has scattered beneath the tall stems 

 of aii oak or chestnut forest. Huddled up like leathery balls 

 upon the dry leaves, they dash off, one by one, on every side 

 of you, sometimes before tie most experienced and sagacious 

 old pointer has got so much as a whiff of the delicious odor. 

 How is it, then, to bave even one dog go blundering on after 

 your first shot, much less two or three of them ? 



Sportsmen in a thinly settled country who are busy in 

 agricultural pursuits, who have not much opportunity of mix- 

 iug to any extent with their fellows, and who are not bound 

 (is in England for instance) by an unwritten sporting code 

 t lat conventionality forbids them to break through, are very 

 apt to get slovenly in sporting matters. It is to the cities 

 that American sport looks for everything that tends to for- 

 ward aud elevate it. I cannot help thinking that pointers and 

 setters must eventually shift their headquarters to this side. 

 The way in which they bave been (partly from necessity) 

 slielved of late years in England, and the utter ignorance that 

 the rising squirearchy of that country arc growing up in con- 

 erning them points to that conclusion. 



The use of the pointer and the setter in England, as every 

 boly knows, has all but become a thing of the past. Short 

 subbles and hit'h farming have left the birds nothing but 

 turnip fields for a refuge, and even during the first part of 

 S ptember when they wiU lie to dogs it is equally, or more, 

 easy to walk them up, so it would perhaps be unfair on the 

 present generation of English sportsmen to blame them for 

 oeaaing to cherish breeds that would at any rate be no practi- 

 cal help to them in the field. The grouse shooting, of course, 

 for a week or two keeps up a demand for setters more par- 

 ticuliarl v but vet as one thinks of all this it is hard to shake oil 

 the idea that the trreat field trials in Wales, at Shrewsbury, 

 aud elsewhere, with their great entries of highly broken and 

 bi.'h pedigree dogs have come, rather late in the day, and are 

 rather sad mockeries of a time that has passed away, we 

 over here, however, can look at things from a more cheerful 

 point iSf view. Field trials, perhaps, are in their infancy, but 

 vet they have a great and useful future before them. The 

 pointer, the setter and the spaniel is not with us merely a use- 

 ful adiuuet at the best, or the possible winner of a cup, but 

 be is as necessary to us as our guns themselves, and hundreds 

 of thousands of acres of prairie, stubble, and woodland hold- 

 ing game would be of little account without the valued com- 

 panions of our sporting expeditions 



I don'l know anything that so readily produces that uncom- 

 fortable feeling within me that is supposed to be common to 

 most of us a hundred miles out from Sandy Hook as being 

 a«ked that jarring question of "Who beat?" after a day's 

 shooting with friends. It should be doubly irritating to the 

 true sportsman if he happen to bave shot straigbter than the 

 rest of the party. This district, boasts some few of as good 

 shots as ever pulled a trigger, but tho way these veterans 

 shoot and claim one another's birds would make a stranger 

 suppose that competition was the sole object of the day. The 

 ordinary laws of courtesy in shooting as elsewhere observed 

 wilb regard to single shots, etc., seem to be unrecognized, 

 •aid to crown all, the odious question of "Who beat?" invari- 

 able' greets the returning sportsmen aud encourages the ran- 

 dom jealous shooting. Rkqwood. 



. — , «' « 



D1TTMAR POWDER. 



Faiblanp, Ind., Jan. 2T, 1819. 

 EniTOK Four.sT AMD BISSAU* ; 



I Have used the Ultimar powder from the commencement of tlie 

 season to Us close in qaall shooting, with better re suits than I have 

 ever Hart before ; ami tho absence of smoke and dirt are conalderal loos 

 of paramount importance to the sportsman. AU tporisuien bare ex- 

 perienced i.hc annoyance of the smoke from the Drat barrel staging 

 like a curtain between him and the birds lira! at, so i nat it was Unpos- 

 aiblc not only to use the second barrel, bur, even to know if thetlist 

 one had been effective. This is entirely obviated i>y the use or the 

 I iltl mar in the arat barrel, if It is not. desired to UBe it altogether. For 

 a number of days I pursued this course, but 1 so disliked the shock of 

 toe black powder in my seoond thai I finally abandoned it entirely. 



When using tho black powder f used (he Orange Ducking No. -t, which 

 is far the moat pleasant of any of lhe black powders i have used. 

 If your correspondent and all others who ma; wisn to avoid the 

 i fllrl and shock incident to the use of black powder, will try 



the C. Dlttmar, loading about the same in all respects as i 

 proved method of loading the bluck powder, I do not hesitate to say 

 that it will be found incomparably more pleasant, and the resu.ts en 

 tirely satisfactory. I only Bee one drawback to its general use in the 

 Held, as well as lu glass ball shooting by professionals like Bogardus, 

 Carver ami others, namely, Its expense. Most sportsmen nse for ordi- 

 nary held shooting the FG ride powder that costs but forty cents per 

 pound, and do not care to pay one dollar per pound for a line powder, 

 however free It may be from the faults complained of in the black 

 powder. 



Apropos of quail shooting: Tour correspondent's sketch of "Quail 

 Shooting in West Jersey " was very readable and highly Interesting, 

 but it Beema to me that in sketches cf that kind care should lie taken 

 not to violate any of tho well-known facts pertaining to that kind of 

 sport. Shooting ulne quail out of a covey of ten la a little overdrawn 

 I should tnink, in an experience of eighteen to twenty years quail 

 shooting, with companions whom I know to be good shots, and more 

 than an avorago at that, I have never failed to see a few escape, at 



least three or four, especially In woodland or In the neie;h 



thickets. It is a f aot that no sporting writer whom I have ever read, 

 not even Forester, haB ever mentioned, I believe, that In quail shoot- 

 ing, however well the birds may lie, you never succeed in shooting 

 more than five or six before the balance of the covey take tho alarm 

 and fly away. I have tried the experiment after marking the birds 

 down, and, when they were partially scattered, of shooting two or three 

 birds, then, retiring oorne distance,reload and proceed agala to pick up 

 two or three more birds. But even theae.tactlca, so very successful In 

 grouse shooting, fail utterly oa quail, aud that, too, when they " hold 

 their scent." So that you may have to tramp over the same ground 

 many times before flushing a bird, and that, too, when your dogs shall 

 utterly fall to give any notice of the presence of birds. C.W W, 



WATERPROOF SHOOTING SUITS. 



Philadelphia, Jan. 9, 1ST9. 

 Editob Fobbbt and Stream : 



In a re cent issue of your paper I notice some suggestions made to the 

 manufacturers of waterproof clothing that are welt worth their atten- 

 tion, it is to be hoped that they will act upon them, for, whether in- 

 tentionally or not, they, In a certain Bense, Ignore the wants of sports- 

 men both In the make-up and color of their goods. Slartlug, for a light 

 and serviceable gun coat what do we llnd except white and black? 

 The former may do among the snow aud ice, but how near under any 

 clrcnmsiancea will you get to wlld-rowl in a black one 1 There is a 

 coat sold as waterproof, the material of which is called Hock,andin 

 varloua'colors ; price, without cape, $5 to S7. It these goods were really 

 waterproof they would be just the thing, but, alas ! they are a delusion 

 and a snare, and we advise all sportsmen to stand from under. The 

 one we secured was of the favorite dead-grass shade, and wo refolded 

 with exceeding joy null, the fact leaked in, as well as out, that though 

 there may be some things that will turn water, it Is Dot one of them 

 The English goasamer coat is a splendid article, but expensive and of 

 the wrong color. They are made without gloss, but tills amounts to 

 nothing, practically, as the rain puts on a polish lustanter. What we 

 need Is a thin, soft and tough material, that will retain its color when 

 wet, thoroughly waterproof, and the proper shade for marsh or point 

 shooting, as tills covers all requirements, save, as before Intimated, 

 among the Ice, and there a perfectly white one ia preferable. A light 

 (aid con vonlcut rig for snipe shooting would also be a very desirable 

 garment, and should constat of a short boot— say aix to eight Inehes- 

 with regular pantaloon attachment. The usual black material should 

 not be used for the latter, as it. draws the sun fearfully, aud will not 

 stand challug for any leDgth of time. There is a cloth-faced goods that 

 is admirable for the purp03e, but any we have been able to and in this 

 city is too heavy to tramp in. It would be exceUent, however, for duok 

 shooting, as a person could sit lu a damp boat, or drop on his knees on 

 a wet marsh with impunity -, and besides, there is great warmth in it. 

 The old plan of wading about in ahoes or defunct boots may suit some, 

 but the majority of sportsmen prefer to keep dry— and very sensibly so. 

 We feel sure, therefore, that if the manufacturers of rubher goods 

 would study tho wants of sportsmen, uciing under the direction of 

 some really practical person, they would be amply repaid for their 

 trouble. As to ordinary shooting suits they seem adapted to all tastes. 

 Some are a mass of pockets, the utility of wliich no fellow can find out. 

 in fact, I doubt it it were ever intended we should know more tl.au that 

 Uiey are there, and lor some wise purpose— faith does the rest, On the 

 pocket question I am in the same quaudary as " Jake," of New Haven, 

 and with him believe that two-thirds o( them could ba dispensed with 

 to advantage. Aud now, while in the direction of bodily comforts for 

 the angler or sportsman, allow me to suggest the propriety of some of 

 our leather-goods manufacturers getting up genuine India 

 skin suits similar to the English. They are iuilnitely superior to any 

 kind of cloth for warmth and wear, and have only to be worn once to 

 be fully appreciated. I am aware that leather is used as a lining, etc., 

 but as far ua our observation extends, they are not what we are after, 



U. 



RUST PREVENTIVE. 



MoNTMSLiKK, vt., Jan. 

 Editor Forest and stream : 



My attention has lately been called to the substance called " OOamn- 

 line {Untjuenlumpetrolei), ono of the products of pei.ro'< am, ■ 

 Object in writing you Is to ask whether you or your renders know any- 

 thing in regard to It as a rust preventer. It la said to be absolutely 

 free from moisture, and to poBseas a strong nou-utllnlty r.o both niolst- 

 nre and oxygen; to keep in any climate, aud not to ferment or Become 

 rancid. It comes in the form of a aoit paste, which 1 think very con- 

 venient to carry about aud to use on guna; but 1 presume it might be 

 cut in turpentine, or something of that nature, anil nsed like oil. Can 

 you enlighten me on that point, and also as to the clfect salt water 

 would bave upon it 1 I am using it on guns with good results I has far, 

 bnt it has not yet been subjected lo any test suillclcnt. to demonstrate 

 .-inability to all ibe requirements of the case. 

 Tours Major. 



Wo have not used this substance, but perhaps some of 



our correspondents have. 



PIGEON MATCHES. 



Raymond sportsman's ('i,t«-to''», Feb. i.—' The Kaymond Spt 

 man's Club neld (Heir regular liass u OJi ,an i ; i 



leaded, Urn day being glorious for i as:ou. I he club is in n 



Miner Rod and Gun Olot.— ftnttta/M -', Feb. t).— First handicap 

 match at 27 pigeons; \K o'z. shot, Sil yards boundary: ^ 



N8WY0BK— Bi o I .-At Bvrou .Vhnlta's; swecpstiikes, 21 



-. weather raw and cold ■ ground traps 



i : let , ..1 11 1 1— 5 coerber, Jr. l l l l o— 4 



T Collins o l i l ti— 3 G Vine... i o o i 1—3 



KSmitb 1 1 1 11-5 HTwitehell 1110—8 



W Oo-imbs 1 1 i 1—4 A W Eggtrt 1 n 1 1-3 



G KBiuith I) 1 1 1 0-3 PHeina 1 1110—4 



SB Green I 1 1 1 ft— 4 J Refer, .tr 1 11(1 ' 



Jas ltallerty 1 1111-6 C Suckow L .0 I 



Geo Marsh 1 i l 1 1—6 ,1 Franklin 11 1 0—1 



Tics of live, 'a yards, won by RufTerty ; Coombs. Heinz aud Beler 

 tied on two at 96 yards, the latter winning with three at 81 yards ; 

 Collins and Smith tied again and divided. TJNCJA 



Fountain Gon Club— rarli-Ji.k, L. I,, Feb. 5 —Regular monthly 

 handicap shoot for a gold badge ; shot ror at seven birds each : handi- 

 cap rise, sii yards boundaty; from 11 audi' traps; l'j ouucesof shot ; 

 the club rules to govern : 



AE(ldy....2Tyda..l 1 1 1 I 1-t Miller.. ..23 yds... .1 1 1 « t) 1—t 

 L Bohiing. 25 .mni i—s Cooover,.M „..l 010 1 « u— a 

 Lemken...23 ,.o i l i *i 1—5 "White. ...23 ....0 11*00 1—3 



Carlin 21 ..11010 11—5 Clark....l!l .,..0 W 



Kearney... 2T ..1 101*1 0—4 



Ties on six. 

 Eddy 1 " 1— J Bohiing 01 0—1 



Same Day— Sweepstakes, $2 entry, at 3 biids each, 25 yards rise; had 



1 8, making *l« ; divided, 5?, $5 and S3 : 



Smith 1 1 i_3 Bohiing 1*0-1 



Conover. I 1 1-3 Lemkth * 1— 1 



Car'iu l 11 i_2 Uarrett Ow 



White 1 II 0— 1 Mtulrsou 11 w 



Smith and Conover divided. 



Brooklyn, Jan. 10.— Lexington Cun Club monthly atoot ; nine corupeti 

 tions; blue rock plgeonB ; II, and T. plunge traps, twenty-five yards 

 rise, one hundred v. . , . ■ ■. , In BCore: 



J Gutierrez 1 l l 1 11 1 1 1 1" 1 1 1 1 1—13 



Eliooth i 10 11110111011 0— 11 



c Havern 1 i 11 1 1 1 1 l 1 1 n 11 1-10 



SOrait 1 1 101101OIIUIO 1—10 



W Goodman 1 1 1 ] 1 1 1 1 0—8 



C M Coons 1 100101110 010 1— S 



RBIinu 1 10001111110 00—9 



Cyprus Alills, L. J., Feb. lo.— Fitly birds, 2S yards rise, SO yards 

 boundary, for ractlo " -uppers: 



Allan P Nichols (Mr Nichols was handicapped to 3<i yds)— 1 11111 

 11(1111111 Oil 111 11111111 1111 111 11X111 

 1 1 1 I 1-43 



Lojd Foley (of the Philadelphia Gun Club)— 1 11111 1111111 

 1 1 01 1 1 1 t 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 l 1 ] 1 1 1 1 I 1 

 -45 



Ellis Livingston (Cliaiiuccy Club)— 1 1 1 1 1 1) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 

 110 11111111111110 11111111111111 1— IT 



46 



Referee, E. V.'m. Hudson. 



Mr. Nichols' shooting hua net 

 though the birds favored him. 

 Livingston the latter won by k 

 of Newton's. A match to br- 

 and Mr. Livingston, ia looked 



Shooting Tourna5I7:nt at S 

 huld at the Astor House last lie 

 tournament, to be held at 8) 

 piooable that a large number 

 country will be preBeiii, 10 purtn 

 arranged for purses of SHOO, 

 each a purse except the last, w 

 is Mr. Charles K. Wright, ol ay] 



JjfRSKi- Citt Heights Gun CLUB— Ifarion, if. ,/., Feb. K— - Regular 

 ■ in fur in-bad gold nudge from three liogartlus traps : 



A Heritage 21 yards....! 11111111111 I 1 1 1 1 1 1—19 



G B Eaton is ....1 1 1 1 1 1 u 1 1 1 1 l n 1 1 1 1—15 



RC Johnson is ....0 1 u 1 11 1 11 1 1 1 11 1 1 i) 1 u u— u 



j Powell 1= ....1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 n 11 1 1 i— ia 



•1 cole ia ....1 y 1 11 1 L 11 1 01 1.11111 1 1— 10 



A Andrew.-. is ....0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 u 1 1 U— in 



JaCOBStaJ'J'. 



> our knowledge, been equaled, tu- 

 be ihoot-ofl between Newton and 

 three birds straight, over the two 

 mxi week, between 3Ir.NP.hols 

 rd to with interest. E. HtinsoN. 



USK.— At the meet lug l : 



ie,' N. Y., Feb. 20, 21 and 22. It la 



rtamen from different 



. There are toul regular ountotla 



■ 1 1 1, nun, respectively, 



is divided Into five. The manager 



The Sin 



I, (lux AXO RlFI.K CJ.UH OF I'nrLAOELi'mA."— Ae 



a accounted me match, 



I numtier of your piper. 



serious ruru uururLirraLe error of calling the club from 



Philadelphia Gnu Cluo." if ou shoold have said, I n 



•1 Rule ciun ot Philadelphia." The Philadelphia Gnu 



rand entirely distinct uijiauization, having on m c u- roll 

 lust expert shots in this part of the cnuuiry. We are 

 1 at being mailed 111 a match with which 



im wimnnz. By kindly imoiiahing rhls 

 igj " The Social Gun and Klile Ciub of 



ti) u vs. Phi adelphla, published 1 





To mistake a man's name is to give uupardonable offense. \Y u 

 therefore cheerfully make what restitution wo can by promptly cor- 

 recting the error. But why do our Philadelphia irlenda assume such a 

 voluminous appellation? A name one-fourth as long would be 

 haudler in everyway. 



Alabama— Mobile, Jan. 30.— Match for championship of the oily j 

 21 yards, «u yards buuudury, plange traps, Gulf City Uun Club rules : 



Tuustall t 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1-1-1 



Yass 11111 111111 11 1—14 



Holt 1 1 l> 1 1 I 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1—14 



Bush 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 l 11 0-13 



.scales I loillliiilllll 1-13 



1 - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 11—13 



LaSd t iiiioiiiiiiio 1-13 



If Mavis 1 110 111111111 1-13 



iloodall 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 l I 1 1 1-12 



Carra 11011111101 i 1 i-ia 



Harwell 1 1 1 1 I 1 l I 1 1 1-11 



Seuimea 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i i 1—11 



Ptiesier 1 1 1 1 t 1 1 1 1 1— to 



Alexander 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1-1.1 



1 1 1 1 I 1 I I 1-0 



WSheUleld 1 1 u 1 1 1 " 1 1 1 1 u ti— ;i 



aid 1 1 : 1 1 u 1 1 1 11 1- 11 



1 1 n 1 i> u 1 1 1 1 t 1- a 



laaon 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1— 9 



GBome. " 1 1 l I 1 1 1 1 1 



juauue I 1 1 1 I 1 l 1— a 



Gordon » lit) l ii 1 o o o i o- .. 



OWDavis i( o i. i i i ' o i i i u i i— b 



Parley o i o o t o i i o o o o o— 4 



Ties of 11 shot elf at 211 yards, miss and out, won by Vass with 3, 

 Sweepstakes at 21 yards : 



Vasa l 1111—6 Holt.- l i 1 1— i 



,; 1 1 1 1 1-5 Ladd on l i l-H 



t 1 1 1 1-5 Gordon 1 u l i-;; 



o rill. I 1 1 I '— "' Tompkins 1 03 I II 



prUihsrtl i iiui—4 Carre l i i o u-3 



IftVlS ....1110 1-4 GOOllall 10 11—3 



Harwell . l 1 1 1 0— I Alexander 10011 



1 ii 1 1 l-J Prim u 1 1 <W! 



Tuustall 1 i IJ 1 1— * W 1> Davis I o o o I— 2 



'Plea of live shot oh at 2(i yds., misB and out, won by bush ; Prlchartl, 

 ei"-' Tuustall and Holt tied again on s at 20 ; yds.. Scales winning 

 with • : :'al 26 J its., aud Touipkius wuu wilh 3 at SI yds. 



Mr. vaas has accepted a challenge from Jlr. Btisu for a match at fifty 

 birds' and the chimipiorislnp. 



nxraois— CMce o Sweepstakes niatah at the Kxposl- 



i, divided into prizes. of ISO, $ao and ■ .' 



. .; traps: 



i I 01 11 llll 1 U 11011 11-18 



L 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1—11 



1 u Mi 1 1 li 1 1 - 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1— tt 



i. 1111111111111)111 111-H 



1 1 o 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 



Kleinr'-iail 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I I II 1 I 1 1 1 1 II - Ift 



l-ai-fl " --•" 1011110 II 111111111 I— IB 



Tm-lIP - 1 " I " i i "' I 1 1 1 1 1— l-J 



Kimball '."■■■« HI 01 i i I I •, i n ■ i n i ' i " .-I 



V..,|er '.".ii,.; IU 



I t I 1-13 



