Sept. 0, 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



108 



only difference 1 can possibly discover is the entire absence 

 of kail in tht -barn -K-, which "is usually found in all guns 

 after firing several hundred shots without cleaning. 1 un- 

 qualifiedly recommend the star wads as perfect in every re, 

 epect ' Remt,ai'. 



Baltimore. Aug . 89. 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



I AM sorry to write yon that many rail and reed birds have 

 been shot on the 'Pennsylvania side of the river before 

 the season has opened. Your correspondent was on the New 

 Jersey shore of the Delaware this week and saw quite a 

 number of boats being pushed through the reeds on the 

 broad marsh opposite Gloucester, and was told by parlies 

 that illegal shooting had been going on for a week or more. 

 It is a good excuse to sav that blackbird shooting takes you 

 into the reeds, but both the rail and the blackbird are to be 

 found on the same grounds. The New Jersey side of the 

 river is well protected by the West Jersey Game Society, but 

 our Pennsylvania shore baa bail no care since the Philadel- 

 phia Sportsmen',-; Association gave up active warfare against 

 law- breakers. As 1 wrote you a fortnight ago, two or three 

 Bight* of rail have already "reached our meadows and there 

 arc everywhere plenty of birds. Good shooting would be in 

 order during the opening weeks of this season, but the tides. 

 I am told, will not suit until about the middle of next month. 

 I feel that the rail will leave ua early this year. All migra- 

 lory birds have made early comings and goings this season, 

 and I think it will be so with the SaUtl-i ttibe. 



"Writing of the West Jersey Game Protective Association 

 reminds me there appeared hi one of your local morning 

 papers lately, a statement that the society had distributed 

 15.000 quail and 100 guinea hens in the Slate of New Jersey 

 this spring. Also lhat 15,000 black bass and .500,000 salmon 

 eggs were planted in its waters. This statement is prepos- 

 terous, for 1 am reliably informed that but 1.1500 bass were 

 disposed of, and instead of 500,000 salmon eggs, 200.000 

 young salmon were liberated. A reply to the article re- 

 ferred to states that '-of the quail distributed (and the num- 

 ber will be in the hundreds, not thousands) their where- 

 abouts are known to only a few members of the society who 

 are certain to kill every one of them soon after the. opening 

 of the season, and some native one's besides." Now this 

 statement in reference to the quail shooting. I do not think 

 at all fair, for being once a member of the West Jersey 

 Game Protective Association. I am sure there were many 

 quail let loose in sections where the favored few, so-called, 

 never shot over, and i believe the same system of distribu- 

 tion of the birds is still followed. Any member on applica- 

 tion can leain in what districts the quail are liberated, or 

 the desired information can be gained by attending any of 

 the meetings of the association. Homo. 



August 31. 



A DUCK SHOOT AT TIAJUANA. 



MISSION VALLEY, only live miles distant from San 

 Diego, is in season literally full of ducks, .affording 

 sport for "at least a dozen sportsmen at a time; the ponds 

 being from a half a mile to a mile apart, and the river run- 

 ning through the entire length of the valley, affords feeding 

 grounds for thousands of dinks. 



The same ground in the same mouths can be hunted for 

 quail with astonishing success, every little arrays or cation 

 being filled with them, and you can imagine whai sport a 

 person may have, when I tell you a young man of this place 

 accompanied bv another from San 'Bernardino shot, from 

 September 15 to December 30, of last vcar. over l.TOO-dozen 

 quail, and shot most all of them on the wing. One used a 12- 

 gauge muzzle-loading shotgun, the other a 12-gauge Parker 

 breech-loader. They shipped them to San Francisco, distant 

 over 480 miles, and received from the markets there from 70 

 cents to $1.10 per dozen, 



The quail in this section of the country are considered by 

 farmers and viuicullurtsts to lie a greater nuisance than the 

 squirrels and gophers, as they destroy literally acres of 

 grapes while ripening; and to our small vineyardists, who 

 make a speciality of raisin culture, it pays them to furnish 

 ammunition to thin the quail out, 



Tiajuana Valley, distant twelve miles, is another favorite 

 resort for our local sportsmen who are devotees of duck 

 shooting. "Dusking" is a favorite method of eapturiug 

 them, as they will not fly in from the ocean and bay in the 

 day lime, and only come into the sloughs at night to feed, 

 and it is impossible to get: within shooting distance on the 

 bay. 



One evening in November of last year 1 was standing 

 •'talking duck" in the store of one of our most successful 

 sportsmen, when he suddenly spoke up: "P., why don't 

 you get flime one and go down to Tiajuana to-night. There's 

 a hue moon, and Doc 6. and Charley C. are going to start 

 about nine o'clock to go down to the slough, and you'll have 

 plenty of time to head them oil and turn the tallies on the 

 boys nicely. You know how fond Doc is of playing that 

 trick on others, (fo and get a team and 'light out,' now; 

 its only 7:80, and you can get the ground covered before 

 they get there. They have been bragging to me all day of 

 the sport they are going to have, and have kept quiet to 

 every one else." 



1 procured a light, buckboard and a fast horse and got my 

 traps together in a huri v. and Will D. and mvself pulled 

 nutat ,H:20, with a sharp breeze at our back, for Tiajuana 

 Valley. The moon as nearly full, not a cloud in the sky, 

 and I Ml like a fighting eoeU and terrifically exhilarated at 

 the idea of the way we were going to "get to the collar" of 

 our fancy sportsmen. 



Just as we eame to the hill going down into the valley, 

 and distant only about 200 yards from the pond, I pulled 

 up and listened"; away back on the hard, frosty road I could 

 hear a double pat-patty pat patty, and getting louder every 

 instant. We fairly flew down the hill, turned sharply to our 

 right, and. while Will unhitched the horse, I tore blankets, 

 guns and ammunition from the bottom of the buckboard, 

 and sung out for Will to "tic the horse to a stout bush and 

 come on." and tore Frantically through the weeds and ehap- 

 paral toward the pond, with Will panting at my heels. 

 When we gol within about fifty yards of the pond, we pulled 

 up to breathe and post ourselves as to where the most of the 

 ducks were, and just as w r e "located" them well, we heard, 

 not a hundred yards off to our left, the voices of our friends 

 Doc and Charlie. 



went 



"Now." I whispered, and bang — bang — ka-whang — bang! 



.ml four barrels, in quick succession. "Blazes I w-hat's 



that','" says Doc, while Charlie simply cussed. "I won- 

 der who In condemnation is here?!' murmured Doc, again. 

 "Just our luck." says Charlie. 

 In the meantime, Will and 1 were rolling over and over on 



the grass with laughter, and our dogs were retrieving duck 

 after duck, and beauties, too. Well, Doc and Charlie 

 came over and and we held our hands low and waited as long 

 as possible before looking up, 



"By grab, that looks like P.'s setter. Charlie," says Doc. 

 "Yes': and, by dad, and that's P., too." Then 1 looked up 

 and actually yelled, to see the blank look of astonishment 

 give way to a heavy frown. "I thought 1 saw you in W.'s 

 store about two hours ago?" says Charlie, while Doc mur- 

 mured: "This takes tbe"cake. 1 suppose we might as well 

 no back, Charlie. They have got this place corraled. and 

 are able to attend to all the clucks that come in." "Sitdown, 

 Doc. and make yourself comfortable, and I'll go over to the 

 wagon and get our bottle; it's cold," said Charlie, and off he 

 went. 



"Where is your team?" 1 asked. "Charlie tied them to a 

 'waler-moty,' " says Doe. 



"Aren't you afraid they'll pull it up and get away?" 



"N-o-o. * Not unless they get frightened." 



"Bang!" "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa !" we heard across the 

 mesa, and we jumped to our feet to see Charlie off about 

 two hundred yards in frantic pursuit of Hinton's span of 

 blacks, known as the worst "broncos" in town. 



"Well I'm dashed," whispered Doc. while Will and 1 

 fairly yelled again. 



Doe' said, ""What you fellows see funny in this is more 

 than I can see. There's nothing so particularly nice in being 

 left twelve miles from borne at ten o'clock Saturday night, 

 with half a dozen patients waiting for you in the morning, 

 and no farm-house within sight, or way to get back." 



Just then Charlie came back. "P.! what will you take 

 to get on your horse and overtake our team?" 



"lie won't ride, and f can't catch those blacks if he 

 would." 



"Well, when you get back to town tell Hinton to send 

 down for us immediately. When do you think you will go 

 back?" 



"Oh, in two or three hours." 



"All right," says Charlie. 



And just then, wkio-o-whio-wh-i-o, came the flap-flap of 

 the heavy wings of about a dozen "sprigs." "Bang— bang 

 — bang — bang— bang— bang— bang — bang," went eight bar- 

 rels, and duck after duck eame tumbling blindly dowu. 

 Well, from that on, for four solid hours the flight continued, 

 as the wind raised and drew the ducks into still water, until 

 nearly daylight, when I started to go over and get the horse 

 ready for home. 



Picking my way across the mesa, 1 finally arrived in the 

 little hollow where my horse ouce reposed, tied to a bush: 

 hut the horse, oh! where was he? The buckboard and har- 

 ness were as I left them, but a bole about a foot round 

 showed where once grew a bush, and buggy track's over 

 cactus, chollas and chapparal showed where Charlie's team 

 of "broncos" had just grazed our buckboard, and our mus- 

 tang, not to be left alone, had promptly evacuated the valley 

 for' home. Well, I laughed; weakly, at. first, 1 will con- 

 fess, until the whole ludicrous situation dawned upon me, 

 when 1 really enjoyed the joke. "I wonder what Doc and 

 Charlie will say now?'' 1 reflected, as I thought of Charlie's 

 closed drug store and Doc's sick patients. (1 forgot to say 

 that Charlie was our most popular druggist and Doc G. 

 our favorite disciple of Eseulapius.) Well, I "mozied" 

 slowly back to the pond and met Charlie nearby. "Well. 

 why the deuce ain t you on the road home. P.?" he said, 

 quickly. "Don't you know how important it is for me to 

 get to town, and 'steamer day,' too, and Sunday at that, 

 and no one to open the store? What are you loafing here 

 for? If you're going, light out, or let me* have your rig;" 

 and I could see he was working himself up into a perfect 

 frenzy. 



"Pm not going to town with my horse, and what's more, 

 you are not either, Charlie," I sharply replied. 



"What!" he yelled, growing black in the face, "I'll show 

 you whether 1 go or not, and don't think you can stop me 

 unless you want to get hurt," he continued, as he ambled 

 across the field. 



"What's the matter?" says Doc, eyeing me quizzically, 

 being too old a bird to get caught by such chaff, and know- 

 ing that something was wrong. 



"Well, Doc, your team frightened mine, and the result 

 is we're all in the same box together," I rejoined. 



"Whew!" whistled he, and Will, who didn't care whether 

 he stayed a week or not. just got up and howled. 



Just then Charlie came back with the most woebegone 

 expression on his face I ever saw. "It's no use. boys/' he 

 murmured, "I can't doit justice," and he sat down and 

 minutely examined an old "spooner" with as "exorbitant 

 a hill" as the hotel keepers' at Yellowstone Park. "Well," 

 says Doc, "what's to be done?" "Oh, the horses will go 

 home and the livery men will know enough to send another 

 team after us, I told them where we were bound for, " says 

 1, and we finally grew reconciled, with the exception of the 

 "Pop Drug," who still bewailed bis lot, and was almost 

 ready to walk it. 



But the wind was blowing quite a gale and ducks had 

 commenced to fly again, and Doc says, "Boys, we're here, 

 and as long as ammunition holds out and ducks fly, we'll 

 kill everything in sight." 



Well, we stayed at that pond until 11 o'clock Sunday 

 morning, and by that tune Charlie had grown nearly frantic, 

 and he finally jumped to his feet and says: "I'm going out 

 to reconnoiter, and if 1 can see a house within Ave miles, 

 right there I'm going to get a team to get home." And away 

 be went. 



My cartridges had given out and I lay down under a bush 

 and look a nap. We had brought nolunch (not expecting 

 to be out more than eight hours), and were correspondingly 

 empty. Will had tried roast duck, but as we had no salt it. 

 could' not be called a success. About 3 o'clock in the after- 

 noon 1 was awakened by a shout, and here was Charlie, 

 radiant with satisfaction, perched upon the seat of an im- 

 mense Stbdebaker farm-wagon, with a burly granger hold- 

 ing the reins. "Pile your things in," he veiled, "and let's get 

 off." 



We tied my buckboard on behind the wagon, threw the 

 dogs and game in and stalled homeward. As we neared 

 town, Charlie says to the granger: "Take the road to the 

 light, as there we won't be seen ; it's Sunda.v and steamer 

 day too, and every man, woman and child in town will be 

 going to see her off, and as it's now half past four, and she 

 leaves at five, we'll meet the whole town on Fifth street. " 



"Mr. Farmer," Doe whispered, "I'll give you a dollar 

 extra if you'll go down Fifth street, and we'll have a first - 

 class funeral procession if Charlie will only hang his head 

 over the side of the wagon and look dead." Wi II, we went, 

 and it was a success. Will had filled Charlie's and Doe's 

 hat rim full of the steering feathers out of the tails of the 



"sprigs," and as we were all muddy and powder burnt, and 

 attired in as old clothes as we could find, and all sat in a 

 row on the edge of the wagon, with our buckboard trailing' 

 louesomely astern, we were the cynosure of all eyes. And 

 it really seemed as though all Sim Diego had turned out to 

 greel us. 



Charlie stood it for two blocks and then sank down in the 

 bottom of the wagon with a groan. "Boys, I cave," he 

 murmured, and the granger sadly smiled as lie whin 

 the off mule and turned the wagon ai'ouud in front of the 

 leading hotel and stopped at the drug store, "ltov.ii my 

 ducks do you want. Charlie?" I asked. "Dod blast the 

 ducks," he' growled, "if either of you say duck to me as 

 long as you live, you'll repent it." And Charlie disappeared 

 from view. 



Well, we found our horses all right. They had only 

 reached town a short time before we had, and the livery 

 keepers were just debating whether to send out after us, 

 when we got in. On counting our ducks we found that 

 between the four of us we had 187. hi 

 dogs failed to retrieve, and some we had 

 road home through National Oily, Fully 

 were shot on the wing — some few stray 

 they lit on the surface of the pond. 

 San DrEao, California. 



sides a number the 

 ii n n ay on our 

 r-fifths'of them 

 3 being shot as 

 Y OS-E :V-ET\ 



THE KYNOCH SHELLS. 

 Editor Forest and Stream.: 



In touching upon the merits and demerits of the Kynoch 

 shell as I have fouud them, 1 shall endeavor to stand in the 

 position of an unbiassed experimenter who desires only the 

 fads, and doing so. I shall neither spare its faults nor' omit 

 praise where praise is due. 



To begin with, allow me 'o say that I have never been a 

 strong advocate of the brass shell in any form, its foulness, 

 bulk and weight when empty bearing largely against it. 

 Yet its shooting powers stand pre-eminent, and it is water- 

 tight, gas-tight and almost indcstruclible— but more anon. 

 1 have noted all remarks of correspondents in Fouest AND 

 SartEAM relating to the Kynoch .-lull, but I have found in 

 none of them, ft seems tome, a sullicieut trial upon which 

 to base a sound Opinion, nor have J seen anywhere a recorded 

 trial of its shooting qualities in comparison with lhat of a 

 standard brass shell; probably this has occurred more from 

 waut of proper facilities for thoroughly testing than any 

 other cause. 



One correspondent says. "I hey slick in the chamber." an- 

 other that "they burst," a third says "the head drives in," 

 while a fourth finds them to be "almost peifection." Among 

 so many able and honest correspondents, each relating his 

 individual experience — it is reasonable to suppose that each 

 Stated facts; hence where one finds perfection and another 

 grave faults, we must conclude that uniform results are. not 

 an eminent feature of the Kynoch. 



Before considering their shooting qualities we must first 

 compare them with, say the U. M. C. standard brass shelf 

 as to cost, weight, bulk, stability o. wearing attributes, 

 "sticking," crimping, indenting when empty, etc. 



Taking cost, the Kynoch shows about 50 per cent, in ils favor 

 and as to weight an* equal percent., viz.. the Kynoch run- 

 ning, 12-gauge, 10 to the pound, while the standard runs 20 to 

 the pound. Bulk admits of no comparison, beingpractieally 

 the same. As towcaring qualities, it must be largely in favor 

 of the ordinary, or standard, by which word I will designate 

 the thick shell hereafter. I know of plenty of standards which 

 have been in almost Constant use fur eight years, and seem- 

 ingly they are as good as ever. Ou the other hand, the 

 Kynoch is a too late invention to admit of anything like 

 wearing trials, saying nothing about the continuous crimp- 

 ing to whi eh they are and will be subjected, and their se- 

 cured baldness of structure, which, as will be shown further 

 on, occasioned a burst at the third discharge. However, 

 this might not occur again in 1,000 shells tested, and the 

 shells should not be conclemued on an isolated occurrence of 

 this kind. 



Again, while the standard will submit to almost any amount 

 of hard usage without injury, empty or charged, the Ky 

 uoch is apt to assume all kinds of forms, particularly when 

 empty, after firing in rouelt field work. 



Pliability is an important feature, of the Kynoch which 

 admits of crimping it with absolute security to the charge, 

 with perhaps some falling off in force," I am using a 

 Greener ami J/igbtwood crimper, which docs its workquickly 

 and effectively. I have not been troubled with "sticking,"" 

 after discharge, only in the case of i he burst shell before 

 mentioned. The. sticking occurs when it becomes necessary 

 to remove a loaded shell to replace it by another, and this 1 

 found to be a serious matter in the field, requiring an i 

 tracl or to accomplish it. This is occasioned by the bulging 

 of the thin metal by the seated wads. If there has been 

 "sticking" after tiring, as I believe some assert.it should 

 not, in my opinion, be laid to any fault in the chambeiing, 

 and I am "sustained in this assertion by your timely editorial 

 "Hod and Reel Makers," issue of August 33, cidi Moham- 

 med and the mountain. 



We must admit that the Kynoch, in consequence of its 

 increased interior diameter, will allow of larger charges, 

 that is, if a shell is forced to take all it will hold. The 

 gauge of a standard 12-gauge shell is, after use, at the muz- 

 zle, tight 11-gauge, tapering to a 12-gauge at the base, in- 

 side measurement; that of a 12-gauge Kynoch is about 10- 

 gnuge ils whole length, and sometimes more, depending on 

 The ehambering, allowing the shell to expand more or? 

 hence a 10-gauge wad ofttimes becomes too loose, while a 

 D-gauge, which must be used instead, will cause the bulging 

 before spoken of. Now T , admitting the larger charges which 

 the Kynoch can hold, what is gained? The ordinary charge 

 for a 12-gauge, 7 lo S pound gun is from ii and H.\ d is. of 

 powder and from J to l ri ounces of shot, and tor an ,S to to 

 pound 10-gauge, from 4 to 5 drs. of powder, with H to li 

 ounces of shot. Either will hold these charges with plenty 

 of room to spare, and he who feels that he is not loading 

 heavy enough, using these charges from a fair. shoot big gnu. 

 had best procure a blunderbuss at once. 



The Kynoch forwarded tonrst at the third discharei 

 ing my trials for pattern anil force, and is eh signaled in the 

 record given below. Hie rapture is in the form of the let- 

 ter S, extending vertically with axis of shell one-half inch 

 from the edge of reinforcing base. 



We now lake up the shooting qualities of the Kynoch vs. 

 standard. The trial recorded below was made from an 

 accurate machine rest, a cut anil description of which with 

 target appeared in Fokkst ami STREAM, 



The gun selected was an Spoil nd I2e.auge Park.' Ifl 

 inch barrels, full choke. Distance forty yards, eirclc thirty 

 inch, circle struck after fifing, The shells used were tlue'e 



