Sept. 13. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



125 



"Snipe," said Dory, "are the best game, that flies. The 

 kind I Mean are culled English, or Wilson's snipe, and are 

 splendid ! Long legs, long bills, dusky hue" 



"Stran-ger, stop thar! I've seen the critters; know em 

 like an old boot," interrupted the Raekensackiau. "I've 

 m r] wn in the Lewsiauny swamps— I have! Do you 

 really eat them sr' critters on North?" 



■ f'ertuiulv we do." said Dory, "but you said you had seen 

 them down' in the Louisiana swamps— they winter there. 1 

 expect?" 



"Winter and summer both. Thar ar' a few, I should 

 think, in Arkausaw! Two of inv boys was down choppin' 

 wood for the steamer t'other day, and them ar' sung bo loud 

 they come back at night and said thar war a camp-meetin' 

 goin' on down river." 



"Sing?" inquired Dory. "That is singular. At the-Morth, 



as they "rise, I have heard them utter a low whistle, tml p 



knew them to sing before!" 



"Sing!" said the Eaekensaekian; "they sing so they make 

 my ha'r stand on end. You raally shoot them ar' critters on 

 to the North? Stran-ger, if you'll only come up to my plan- 

 tation and shoot off the crop thar, Til give you the hesthoise 

 von can pick out. and throw in a nigger to take keer of 

 him." 



"Where- do you live?" asked Dory. "If I ever am up 

 vour way, you'll have to owe me a horse and a negro." 



"Wall", stranger, I live at Powder Horn Point, on Meto 

 Creek, bout thirty miles from Napoleon, and cuss me if the 

 man that shoots' off them ar' birds for me don't be my 

 eternal friend— he will! Look hyar. the infernal things 

 pitched into my youngest child arter it was born, so that its 

 head swelled up 'as big as a puukin!" 



"Pitched into your child!— swelled head!— big as a pump- 

 kin! Did snipe do thisV" asked Dory, in great hopes of hav- 

 ing discovered something new. 



"Well they did! Leastwise what you call snipe. We 

 call 'em mus-kee-ters!" 



Grand tableau. Curtain descends to slow music of toddy- 

 sticks, broken ice, and the song of an Arkansas snipe! 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



WITH a great abundance of rail birds in our markets we 

 have had poor shooting during the past week. A con- 

 tinued westerly wind since last: I wrote has made bad tides. 

 and pushers have only been able to put their boats on the 

 low grounds from which the rail have been driven into the 

 higher portions of the marshes, which need not be reached 

 until we l:i" iii i> winds and better tides. Tne grounds 

 about Gloucester, notwithstanding these adverse conditions 

 of the waters, are famishing a respectable number of birds, 

 and on the 4th, 5th and 6th the different boats Drought in 

 from fifteen to twenty rail. One shooter boated fifty-one on 

 Newtown Creek. At the Lazaretto and Chester. Pa., very 

 few have beca killed, although hundreds are heard in the 

 more elevated grounds where they have taken refuge. What 

 sport there would be if one. could have a storm tide. When 

 this occurs, and we will likely have it during the next 

 fortnight, you will hear of very large scores. You made me 

 stale in error last week that the tides would not suit until next 

 month. It should have read next week, referring to the one 

 just passed. During the week beginning September 10, the 

 tides suitable for rail shooting occur either too early in the 

 morning or loo late in the evening around Philadelphia, but 

 the week opening September IT, and closing the 23d inst., 

 will just suit, and if a storm takes place during this week, 

 there will be more rail killed here than for some years. 



A weekly paper ill a late article on rail shooting stated 

 that "a new" sport, that of hunting these birds in the high 

 grounds and meadows with spaniels was growing in favor 

 here, and goes on to describe its m$&H8 operandi. Now, the 

 use of spaniels and even setters by some in rail shooting about 

 Philadelphia is old. Krider, in his "Sporting Anecdotes." 

 tells of it forty years ago, when it was regularly followed, and 

 I think you will find your correspondent has written of it 

 in your columns, coupled with a condemnation of the use of 

 setters in the sport — if it may lie called sport— as having a 

 great tendency of making a field dog slow, pottering, and 

 only satisfied with a very close point at his birds. 



I cannot learn of the appearance of any teal in ourmarshes. 

 Next week they will be on. and should the wind shift and 

 blow from the eastward for a day or two, they will come 

 all in a bunch. There has been no shooting at Morris River 

 or Port Peuu yet, owing to adverse winds and a lack of 

 water. Homo. 



PiULAnELPau. Sept. 8. 



MOUNTAIN PLOVER. 



Ml H'VIAIN plover {Pothiutri/s moalatius) have made us a 

 brief visit. They are such a delicate, finely flavored 

 bird that 1 wonder I have never come across any account of 

 them. They were an unknown bird tome until the 37th of 

 last month. On that date I saw some dead birds that I 

 recognized as plover, and Dr. Coues's "Key" showed them 

 to be the mountain plover. They were here by the thousand. 

 1 went after them four times and killed 211: stopping each 

 time because I had all I could use. They were more full- 

 blooded than any T bird 1 know of, and bled profusely when 

 shot. 



Examination of the stomach shows that they feed chiefly 

 on small grasshoppers and insects. They were found on the 

 second bench from the Arkansas River, on 1he bare prairie — 

 never in the bottoms — and on a trip of twenty-four miles 

 hack fmm the river, made August 29, none were found after 

 the second bench was left. Were usually found scattered, 

 but occasionally flocks of twenty or thirty were seen. No 

 sport in Shooting them, as they 'seldom can be made to fly, 

 bui in running they showed that their name 0odmum^»— 

 "swift as to his feet") was appropriate. 



The strange thing to me is that none of the people here 

 seem to know anything about them. This might he ac- 

 counted for bj the contempt of theaverage Colorado man for 

 iing not big enough to kill with a rifle, but an intelli- 

 gentjcolorcd man. who drives me out shooting, tells me he 

 ii In i n here fourteen years and that he never saw this bird 

 before. 



Last night there was a wind and rain storm, and this 

 moruing the mountain plover, when' is. he',' Certainly not 

 here as I know. "What a pity." says my wife. "1 thought 

 their flavor improved each day we had them. They gruw 

 on you." 



The birds called upland plover (Brtrtriluwt hnrjirmuU) are 

 tolerant; abundant here, and are in fine condition, hut give 

 us back our mountain p] F. 



FoetLton, Col., Bept 3 



RATTLESNAKE JKA Tbee, — On Saturday morning last, 

 the law having made it legal for squirrel shooting, Messrs. 

 Alex, and William Titmau, of Walnut Valley, started in 

 search of this game, and were tolerably successful in their 

 efforts. After they had come upon what is known as the 

 Willever property, some three miles from this town, along 

 the mountain, they were traveling along at a moderate pace. 

 looking to the top of the trees for a shot at a squirrel. It 

 was while thus engaged, and when near a slender birch tree. 

 Alex, saw a rattlesnake at least forty feet from the ground, 

 dangling from the limb of the tree. After watching the 

 operations of the snake for some time the hunters became 

 satisfied that the repl ile was in quest of the same game as they 

 were, and a shut from the gun of William brought it wrigg- 

 ling to the ground, when it was found that the snake bore 

 nine rattles'; and was of unusual size. The tree which the 

 snake had ascended to such a height, was in circumference 

 about the size of a telegraph pole, and uot a sign of a limb 

 upon it for a distance of not less than forty feet, upon whieh 

 the snake was supported when discoverer! and shot. It is 

 seldom that rattlers attempt climbing trees, and never 

 before had it come under the observation of our informant 

 that, one had attaiued such a height, but as there was a 

 hickory-nut tree standing near at hand, it is very probable 

 that the energetic snaker which lost its life by its venture- 

 some experiment, was after a squirrel, and expected it to 

 jumpfrom the hickory to the birch tree, and become a willing 

 Victim to the snake's 'appetite. — Rlairxtown (N. J.) Press. 



Wildfowl ln Northern Dakota. — Sanborn. Dak., Sept. 

 5. — Dakota is one of the breeding grounds for ducks, geese, 

 curlew, plover, etc. These bird's are all plenty in Northern 

 Dakota this season ; but if ducks and geese are not soon pro- 

 tected by law, the day is not far distant when this Territory 

 will cease to be a nesting ground for them. Pot-hunters 

 have been shooting them all summer, even killing the ducks 

 and gesse sitting on their nests. Numberless instances of 

 this have come to my knowledge. Prairie chickens have 

 not come into this part of the Territory yet, except a few strag- 

 glers. Pin-tailed grouse are here in limited numbers and are 

 mistaken for pinnated grouse by many. I have bagged bui 

 eight in a twenty-mile drive in Barnes county, although they 

 are more numerous in Traill and Griggs counties. Some 

 geese have been bagged in this, Barnes county; they have 

 not came in from the north yet. — Oak Tree. 



Clark, Dakota. Aug. 27.— There is every prospect of fine 

 sport for this fall's shooting. There is a big supply of young 

 ducks that have been hatched in this county. Parties have 

 been coming in with bags of sixty, seventy, and some over 

 one hundred. I killed eleven Friday coming in from my 

 claim three miles south. They are all' of the small varieties. 

 1 killed six pinnated grouse coming in this morning. I hunt 

 for sport and quality, not quantity.— K, G. W. 



Where Game is Plenty. — Denison, Texas, Sept. 4. — 

 Quail are more plentiful in this vicinity than for the past 

 ten years. The number is almost incredible. Denison City 

 is on the border of the Indian Territory, where deer and 

 turkey abound in great numbers. Old hunters tell marvel- 

 ous stories of the number of young turkeys seen in the 

 wuods. one man declaring that he saw droves of a thousand 

 in one day T . We liave also some famous ducking grounds 

 near at hand. There is no better chicken shooting in the 

 Union; in fact, this point is the hunter's paradise. We have 

 a gun club composed of some of the crack shots of the 

 State, and who always extend a hearty welcome to visiting 

 sportsmen, Last winter I cut loose from civilization and 

 spent two months in camp in the wilds of the Indian Ter- 

 ritory. My companion was a frontiersman. We lived in a 

 deserted cabin near a stream called Wolf Creek. Our only 

 neighbors were wolves, deer and turkeys, it was i he hap- 

 piest period of my life, and this winter if I can find a suit- 

 able companion 1 shall spend another one or two months in 

 the woods. — Polk. 



The Death of Prof. Phelps.— Editor Forest a ... ,sy , , j , 

 1 have read in youi issue of September 6 the notice of the 

 unfortunate death of Prof. Stuart Phelps from the careless 

 use of firearms. It is about the same account that has 

 been going the rounds of the press. But as I happen to know 

 the facts in the case I think the Forest and Stream should 

 have it correct. He was deer hunting, and was lying in the 

 bottom of Ids canoe with his gun by his side, which he at- 

 tempted to pull toward htm for the purpose of shooting a 

 caribou. As the gun offered some resistance lie gave it a 

 slight jerk, when it went off and the whole charge of buck- 

 shot entered his neck and chin. The jugular vein was cut 

 and death followed almost instantly. I quite agree with 

 you that "a loaded gun is no respecter of persons. " and 

 would add that, the "open season on deer in Maine com- 

 mences October 1. — Game Law. 



Sullivan County Notes. — Stevensville, N. Y , Sept. 4. 

 — I have been here since 24th ult. with clogs. Game scarce. 

 except, grouse, which are fairly plentiful but almost impossi- 

 ble to bag, the cover is so thick. I have only killed a few 

 woodcock. I bagged some English snipe and yellow -legs 

 last week, but they are about gone now. There seem to lie 

 more gunners than ducks cm "The Pond." Hundreds of 

 city boarders are here enjoying the fine, clear mountain air 

 anil scaring away the few birds that try to exist here. 1 

 treated my dogs to a fine fish chowder yesterday, made of 

 eighty bullheads, caught by myself and" young "man who 

 cares" for the dogs. Pickerel are taken from "The Pond" in 

 great quantities. — Luke W. White. 



Montreal, Sept. 5. — The season opened very quietly here 

 September 1. The weather was hot and the few sportsmen 

 who went out made but poor bags, though duck and plover 

 are more plenty here this year than usual; but woodcock and 

 snipe shooting is poor a't present, as those birds that bred 

 here have left, while the migratory hirds have not arrived 

 to take their places. Last night, however, we bad a cold 

 storm, with reported snow further north, which will soon 

 bring the birds along. The writer and son shot over the 

 Highgate, Vc, marshes on the lstand bagged lour ducks and 

 twenty-seven plover, yellow-shanks, kitdeer, etc. — Sta^- 



STEAD. 



Where Bears Abound. — A correspondent writes from 

 Carrabellc. Fla. : "Bear and deer abound here; we would 

 welcome a regiment of hunters with the right kind of dogs 

 to rid the country of the bears, which are becoming a pest 

 in the vicinity." Carrabelle is on the Gulf coast, midway be 

 I ween St. Mark's and Apalnchicola, reached from the latter 

 point or from Chattahoochee 



Live Pkatrie Chickens Wanted. — North Bloomfield, 

 Trumbull County, 0.. Sept, 3. — We have no prairie chickens 

 in this part of the world, and, I believe, very few in this 

 Stale. I wish we had. We have a tamarack swamp five 

 miles long and from 30 rods to 200 rods in width, that was 

 pretty thoroughly burned over manv vears ago, destroying 

 all the large timber. It is now covered with wild grasses, 

 clumps of small bushes, etc., etc . making very fine cover 

 for turkeys, partridge and quail, all of which, however, are 

 now scarce. 1 believe the pinnated grouse (or chicken) 

 would do well and multiply here if we. could get them. 1 

 have t ried a number of times, but, the game laws have always 

 been the excuse. Can you or any of .four correspondents or 

 readers put me in the way of getting a dozen or so of these 

 fine birds, alive and strong? — E. AT B. 



Rochester Game Notes.— Sept. 8.— I have not heard that 

 any of the men who went for ducks or ruffed grouse the 1st 

 inst. had much success. There were a large number of 

 shooters on the marshes, but ducks were scarce. Since the 

 1st one Rochester man bagged eight grouse and several wood- 

 cock one day. There has been excellent woodcock shooting 

 here this season, and the supply is by no means exhausted, 

 most of the hirds find their way to market. The first gray 

 plover of the season were shot in Penfield this week, and in 

 due time appeared iu an east side market, where they excited 

 the envy of sportsmen until taken away to gratify the gas- 

 tronomic appetite of some gourmand. — E. R. 



Ontario Non-Expokt.— The text of the Ontario non- 

 export law is as follows; "The exportation of deer, wild 

 turkey and quail in the carcass or parts thereof is hereby de- 

 clared unlawful and prohibited: and any person exporting 

 or attempting to export any such article shall, for each such 

 offense, incur a penalty of "si 00, and the article so attempted 

 to be exported shall be forfeited, and may', on reasonable 

 cause of suspicion of intention to export the same, be seized 

 by any officer of the customs, and if such intention be 

 proved", shall be dealt with as for breach of customs laws." 



Another Tame Quail. — Deputy Sheriff Beattie. of 

 Turner's, N. Y., has a quail a year old that is perfectly 

 tame, and noes when and where it wants to, always return- 

 ing to its cage. Mr. Beattie has also two tame red squirrels 

 that occupy' the same cage with tie- quail, and they, too, 

 go and comeatw T ill. and between them and the bird there 

 seems to be a decided affection, the quail exercising a mater- 

 nal care, hovering them as she would her young, the squir- 

 rels seeming to sleep the sounder for it. 



Minnesota. — Hallock. Kittson County. Sept i. — Weather 

 delightful here: no frosts as yet. No goose migrations yet; 

 all quiet on the praiiie. — Chas. Hallock. 



Tenafly, N. .1., is stated by a correspondent to give good 

 quail and woodcock shooting. 



Connecticut.— Thomaston, Sept. 10.— Gray squirrel 

 shooters report capital sport. 



gmnp S il $ J7ntow#s, 



"That reminds me. 11 



IN a Certain town, in this gamy State of Minnesota, live 

 two young men. brothers, named Jim and Bill, who 

 stand well up toward the head in that class of individuals 

 usually denominated as "half-witted." One day last fall 

 they conceived the idea of going deer hunting.' So each 

 borrowed an old shotgun, loaded up with buckshot, and 

 started for the wi tods, Shouting and swearing at each other, 

 they- went tearing along through the woods, and, of course, 

 saw no deer. 



On their way home Bill said, pointing to a ridge some 

 twenty rods away : "O, how I wish I could see a buck run- 

 ning along thai.' Wouldn't 1 knock him over fust pop." 



"Er. ye fool," said Jim, "yer couldn't hit him." "Beta 

 dollar 1 could.' said Bill. "Bet two dollars yer couldn't," 

 said Jim. The dispute waxed hot and the parties wratliy. 



"Tell yer what I'll do," said Jim. "I'll go over on the 

 ridge and run along, and yer fire at me. If yer hit me I'll 

 give yer a dollar." "All right! Yer see if I don't send yer 

 to glory hallaujah, orsom'ers else, the fust flop." 



So Jim went over on the ridge and commenced to amble 

 ,il ii al as much like a deer as he could. 



"Ar yer ready?" yelled Bill. 



"Yis, fire away. ''answered Jim. And crash went the old 

 gun. 



"Did 1 buyer?" called out Bill. 



"No, yer fool. I told yer, yer couldn't. Load up. and try 

 it again"'' J. F. Locke. 



Speaking about kicking guns reminds me of au old time 

 "Queen Anne" musket that my friend S. has. This old 

 weapon has been converted over 'from a flint to a percussion 

 lock, and as a kicker will hold its own with a Georgia 

 mule. It is also a strong shooter, which tact makes S. use 

 it as a duck gun though the boys say that he takes it along 

 for a propeller — simply heads his boa! in the direction he 

 wishes to go, then fires oil' "old fusee," and it will kick him 

 to his destination, even if it is clean across the lake. 



One hot day in June, when the mercury stood up to near 

 100' in the shade, 8., wdio is a large farmer, thought it too 

 hot for his men to woik out iu the fields, so he tooted lie 1 

 farm horn to call them under cover at the house. Among 

 the farm help was a young Canadian who had often cast 

 longing eves at "old fusee," which had stood for months 

 rusting in the kitchen eonu-raud loaded with a heavy duck 

 charge. After the men had rea led the house, jo the 

 young Frenehv, said- "MJSser S., spoeenim too hot to work, 

 you let me take old gun. go up in the woods, kill suuthiug." 

 S. was on the point of "refusing to let, him go. then in 

 thought that any white man who would voluntarily go out 

 into that hot sun deserved to lie "well kicked." So he gave 

 his consent, and Jo shouldered the gun and started off up 

 the hill toward the woods. Shortly alt. award a report was 

 heard that sounded like that of a young cannon. In about 

 half an hour Jo came creeping into the shed, doubled up as 

 though he had a si long dose of colic aboard. After he had 

 gun up S. asked him what he had killed. "1 tell you, 

 MUser 8.. when I go up dot bill de sun he vas very hot, "and 

 when 1 get in the woods 1 see big snake all curled up. I 

 hold te gun so (the breech against the front, purl of bis waist- 

 band) an rake all to pieces, but O. Miss 



n do push me so back!'' Stanstead. 



