Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



NEW YORK, OCTOBER 4, 1883. 



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 garded. No name will be published except with writer's consent. 

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CONTENTS. 





Sea and River Fishing. 



The Creedmoor Meeting. 



The Angling Ananias. 



American Ornothologists' Union 

 A Free Trip to Florida. 



Our Summer Outing. 





Accomack and Northampton. 



Oyster Culture in Maryland. 



Toe Sportsman Tourist. 



:■■ .:■!. 



Believed Guard. 



The Leonberg Dog. 



A Canoe Race in Burmab. 



"Little Jim. 3 ' 



Natural HISTORY. 



Characteristic Dogs. 



American Ornithologists' Union 



i i.i-i .-ji ;-!■, :' i.-. 



Game Bag and Gun. 



The London Dog Show. 



Suggestion;; for Next V\ inter. 





Large Game iu the Southwest. 





Tiie Sizes of Shot. 



The Creedmoor Meeting. 



A Fatal Flight. 



v e. [en Association Meeting. 



Hint;; on Deer Hunting. 



Department of the Platte. 



A Florida Resi 1 



Tile Clay-Pigeons. 



OnrRoen ■■ i,s . ; 



Trap and Field Shooting. 



The Gam.> was There. 



New York State Association. 



StUl-Hunting. 





The Fluctuating Grouse Supply. 



Sail Plan of Tandem Canoe. 



Game in Colorado. 



The Future Camp of the A. C. a. 



The Game Outlook in Virginia. 



N. Y. C. 0. Challenge Cup. 

 Toronto Canoe Club Races. 



Professional Men and Game. 



Adirondack Jim's Partner. 



Philadelphia Notes. 



Oriva. 



Pennsylvania Wild Turkeys. 



Model Cutter Tried. 



The Old Bachelor Beaver. 



The Sharpie's Defects. 



A Yacht Racing Association. 



Sea akd River Fishing. 



My First Adirondack Trip. 



Keels Before the Wind. 



An Ancient Angler. 



Safe Catboats. 



Bass at "the Flats." 



New Jersey Y. C. 



About Kingfishers. 



Killing Cutters. 



The Lovers of Fishes. 



Answers to Correspondents. 



Withits compact type and in its permanently enlarged form 

 of twenty-eight put/is this journal furnishes each iveet; alarger 

 amount of first-class matter relating to angling, shooting, the 

 kennel, and Irindred subjects, than is contained in all other 

 American publications put together. 



. THE CREEDMOOR MEETING. 



DURING- the past week the eleventh annual fall prize 

 meeting of the National Rifle Association was held on 

 the range at Creedmoor. Fine weather favored the gather- 

 ing, and after mote than a decade of life it would naturally 

 be expected that a good showing should be made, yet it must 

 be confessed that the affair was a failure. It was not such a 

 display as should he made after so long a term of effort has 

 been enjoyed by the managers of the N. R, A. There was 

 an excellent team from Michigan, another body of capital 

 riflemen reported on behalf of the State of Pennsylvania, and 

 the Regular Army was also secu through its local detach- 

 ments. There were a scattering few from the ranks of the 

 National Guard of this State, and in some of the matcbes the 

 scores ran ahead of the record as shown in former years iu 

 the same contests. But there was riot that rivalry which 

 should be manifested at this date in such a place as Creed- 

 moor. There should be thousands where there are but hun- 

 dreds, aud a display of enthusiasm v.hcrc only lukewarm in- 

 terest it now seen. There musl be a reason for all this, and 

 it is not difficult to see it in the policy which has been pur- 

 sued by the Association. 



Incompetency and mistaken judgment are to be met at 

 every turn. There is a petty regard for self in place of a 

 generous disposition t'j see the art of rifle shooting grow and 

 become popular, even though some of the old stagers should 

 be driven into a merited obscurity, Marksmen should not 

 be disgusted by bickerings among the managers, nor con- 

 fused by the various interpretations of the complicated mass 

 of ill-digested directions known as the "rules of the N. R. 

 A." The recent meeting was marked by a number of those 

 nonsensical happenings, and at this date, a week after the 

 the meeting was virtually over, we have found it impossible 



to get, at the office of the Association, any proper record of 

 the work done during the meeting. The whole system of 

 scoring on the range during the meeting has a cloud of doubt 

 cast over it, in the minds of some of the best posted contest- 

 ants, owing to the inefficiency of those in charge of this work. 

 The fact is, that the Creedmoor of to-day is useless for the 

 purpose for which it was instituted. Its situation kills it as 

 resort where the National Guard of this city may learn the 

 art of accurate shooting. It is a day's journey to go to and 

 come from the range. Though but a dozen or so miles from 

 the metropolis in actual distance, it is far more inaccessible 

 than many places double that distance. The proposition for 

 a new parade ground in the upper part of the city embraces 

 a plan for a rifle range of sufficient extent to give the Guards- 

 men a chance to get frequent practice without an undue 

 sacrifice of time and money. Creedmoor may be of use as 

 a place for annual or other gatherings of importance, but to 

 be such it must be made accessible, and then there must be 

 some judgment shown in so arranging the terms of the 

 matches that riflemen will be attracted, and bo treating the 

 shooters that tliey will not go home disgusted after each 

 visit to Creedmoor. 



We are firmly of opinion that there will be no falling off 

 in the aggregate of shooting done in this country. The spirit 

 of rivalry is as strong as ever, and there will always be 

 enough men who enjoy the pleasure of an hour before the 

 butts to make rifle shooting a fixture among the health-giv- 

 ing sports of the land. There is need, too, of a real National 

 Association on the subject. A good set of rules is in demand, 

 defining the various classes of rifles, and so framed as to en- 

 courage progress, and not foster obsolete patterns of arms; 

 so simple that every match will not be followed by wrangles 

 and disputes, and not liable to constant change at the whim 

 of any one of the company of self-appointed managers. If 

 this long-felt need is met, the Association will be doing some 

 real service to the cause of rifle shooting progress. 



The recent meeting has brought more and more into 

 prominence the fact that Creedmoor is dead as a real place 

 of resort on the part of marksmen. The place under its 

 present control and transit facilities should he turned into a 

 hay field or a cow pasture at once. A great deal of money 

 has been spent, and the bulk of it squandered, upon the place. 

 It has been of value in demonstrating what need there was 

 of an intelligent effort in the cultivation of rifle practice, 

 and now it is plain to all that the faults of the place are so 

 strong and overpowering as to render it useless. 



A baker's dozen of spectators during the matches and an 

 item given to the report of the doings each day in the daily 

 papers show the estimate which the public hold of the pres- 

 ent control of the range. At another site, and with matches 

 so arranged as to conditions and prizes that generous fields 

 of competitors would be assured, the Association may hope 

 to take on a new life, otherwise it may at once be conceded 

 that it is in a moribund state, destined, it may be, to drag 

 out an indefinite existence in a dead-and-alive condition. 



ACCOMACK AND NORTHAMPTON. 

 'TPHE Roman legions were once sent to rid the Balearic 

 -*- Islands of a plague of rabbits ; in the Seventeenth Cen- 

 tury Spain dispatched a company of lanceros to Hispaniola 

 to kill off the droves of wild dogs, sprung from the hounds 

 which had been imported by the Conquistadors to hunt the 

 Indians; and now from the dwellers in Accomack and 

 Northampton counties, Virginia, comes a cry for hunters to 

 destroy the superabundant and poultry-peculating foxes. 

 Before the war this peninsula country was famous for the 

 excellence of its foxhounds and the skill of its huntsmen. 

 The planters kept large packs of choice dogs, and had plenty 

 of time to hunt. Great stories are told of the exploits of 

 dogs and men. But when the war came on the planters 

 were ruined and the famous packs dispersed. The people 

 have not yet recovered from the effects of the war. They 

 have been too busy to do much hunting. Well-bred fox- 

 hounds are few and far between. 



The foxes meanwhile have had it all their own way. They 

 have increased and multiplied until they have become a 

 positive nuisance. The farmers will welcome sportsmen and 

 hounds who come to wage war on the vermin. The country 

 is a grand one for this kind of hunting. 



The game of Accomack and Northampton counties is not 

 confined to foxes. Quail are there in abundance. They are 

 to be found just out of the towns and on the plantations and 

 farms. The bays and water courses are the resort of im- 

 mense quantities of wildfowl, geese, brant, mallards, black 

 ducks, curlew, snipe, willets, etc. The birds are found on 

 both the east and west sides of the peninsula, but the east 

 side with its islands is most famous. The shooting grouuds 

 are easy of access, board is very reasonable, guides and boats 

 are to be had. For wildfowl the middle of November is the 

 best season. The grounds are reached by steamer from 

 Baltimore to Bell Haven, Va. 



A FREE TRIP TO FIORIDA. 

 T> OD and reel fishermen, attention ! To go to Florida 

 J^- 1 without paying fare, to spend three months there with 

 no board bill at the end, and then to be set down free of 

 charge in New York City again— here is a fine chance for 

 the right man. The offer is open to all, without regard to 

 race, age or previous condition of servitude to the hand-line 

 system of fishing. The only requisite demanded is skill 

 with the rod and reel; but the quality and quantity of 

 that skill must be pre-eminent. To be more specific. A gen. 

 tleman recently called at this office and made the following 

 proposition : The expert who will go to Florida and spend 

 three months, will be paid passage and board money, on the 

 sole condition that he catch one tarpon with rod and reel. 



It should be explained that the individual who makes this 

 generous offer is not a philanthropist; he is not seeking to 

 dispose of his surplus income in charity. No such high 

 motives prompt him. We suspect the feeling that animates 

 him to be quite different; it is, in short, though we did not 

 dare tell him so, revenge; for he has had some personal 

 experience with these monsters, and the average man who 

 has had one interview with a tarpon generally thirsts for 

 revenge a long time afterward. But whatever his motive, 

 we vouch for his ample responsibility, aud can assure the 

 successful angler that the money will be forthcoming imme- 

 diately upon presentation of the proper proof that a tarpon 

 has been taken in out of the wet in the manner prescribed. 



The Mecca for tarponfishers is on tin- west, coast of Florida. 

 The fish is occasionally caught in the vicinity of Mayport on 

 the east coast, but we should advise the man who intends to 

 earn his passage to go to the Gulf grouuds. 



AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION. 

 nPHE founding of the American Ornithologists' Union in 

 *- this city last week, should be recorded as one of the 

 important events in the progress of ornithological science in 

 this country. The meeting was well attended, and the mem- 

 bership of the society embraces the leading working orni- 

 thologists of the United States and Canada. By systematic 

 and concerted methods of work, the Union will accomplish 

 much more than could be attained by the independent labors 

 even of specialists. 



Of the several committees appointed, that on the Classifi- 

 cation and Namenclature of North American Birds is one of 

 the most important. There are now two check-lists, that 

 by Dr. Coues, and the other by Mr. Ridgway. The two 

 differ, and the differences, however important or unim- 

 portant in themselves. ' cause confusion and annoyance to 

 students. It is, therefore, highly desirable that these differ- 

 ences should be adjusted and the two lists harmonized into 

 one of recognized authority. The committee of the Union will 

 endeavor to do just this. Their report will be submitted to 

 the Council of the society, and by the Council to the Union 

 itself, so that the nomenclature finally adopted will carry 

 with it the authority of the. society, whose decision will 

 presumably be final. 



The Union is to be congratulated upon the harmony mani- 

 fested at its initial convention. 



The New York State Association fob the Protec- 

 tion op Fish and Game held its twenty-fifth annual con- 

 vention at Niagara Falls. Monday evening was devoted to 

 a meeting, in which it was voted to urge the passage of the 

 bill known as the Grady bill, at Albany next winter. The. 

 shooting rules were amended, and a committee was ap- 

 pointed to dispose of some of the Association prizes. Seven 

 clubs were represented. Twenty-three clubs were dropped 

 from membership. 



Painted Prizes.— Why has no genius conceived the 

 brilliant thought of painting clay-pigeons as plaques for 

 prizes? Nothing would be handsomer or more appropriate 

 as a trophy of skill at the trap. A clay-pigeon, with laud- 

 scape or bit of wild life painted on the concave side, would 

 make a pretty ornament for home or club room. 



Seasonable Hint to Anglers.— Do not put away your 

 fishing tackle until after the anglers' tournament in this city. 



There are no skies like those of October, the sportsman's 

 month. 



