Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



NEW YORK, OCTOBER 18, 1883. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



A Quail Club. 



Good and Bad Marksmanship. 



A Load of Meat. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



The Office Fly's Mission. 



Do' 



nBci 



uda 



My First Velveteen 



An Amateur Animal Trainer. 

 Otago Acclimatization Society. 

 The Birds of Prospect Park. 



I W( 



and Game, 

 ids. 



Maine Ga . . 

 A Hint for State Associations. 

 Winter Sport in Yucatan. 

 Fun on Rich Mountain. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 

 Tidings from "the Kingfishers." 

 Reel Plates. 



Capture of the Tarpon. 

 The Anglers' Tournament. 

 London Exhibition Awards. 



FiSHrrLTURE. 



Saltwater Hatchery at Cold 

 Spring Harbor. 

 The Kennel. 



.Bench Shows. 



The Kennel Hospital. 



Louisville Bench Show. 



Kennel Management. 



Kennel Notes. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



Boswn Fall Meeting. 



The Trap. 



Span-oa Trap Shooting. 



A. C. A. Camp. 

 The Perfect Canoe. 

 Whiter Work. 

 Yachting. 

 The Business of : 

 Yaehtincr Associat 

 Narrow I 



Exhibit 



Fahr 



s Cor 



1-1 eav* 

 ition.' 

 ?eted. 



.mpleCri..,. 



An "All-Round" Boat. 

 A Terrible Indictment. 

 The Late R. C. Y. C. Match. 

 Thrashed in a Seaw r ay. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



With its compact ti 

 of twenty-eight page- 

 amount of first-class 

 kennel, and kindred 

 American publicatio 



}e and in its permanently enlarged form 

 this journal fur dishes each weeualarger 

 •natter relating to angling, shooting, the 

 •nibjecti, than is contained in all other 

 sptti together. 



GOOD AND BAD MARKSMANSHIP. 



NEW YORK had a capital short-range shooting match 

 on Tuesday morning lust. Two burglars met in a 

 noted resort for the higher class of criminals, opened a fu- 

 Bllade on each other, and in a few seconds the world in gen- 

 eral, and this city in particular, was rid of two of its most 

 dangerous citizens. It was rapidity firing of the finest sort. 

 No "Are you ready? Fire. One, two, three," formality; 

 ho dispute about terins; no growling over adverse weather 

 conditions, but simple marksmanship, and when the referee, 

 represented by a police captain, looked over the field, he re- 

 ported two dead birds. There was one lost bird in the per- 

 son of another burglar, who ought to have fallen, but did 

 not. Still the shooting match on the whole was a grand 

 success, and we hope to see a series of such matches started 

 as a weekly metropolitan festivity, kept up until that supply 

 of targets gives out. 



A special feature of this event and one which compels our 

 admiration was the nice discrimination shown by the marks- 

 men. One of the birds dropped with a bullet through his 

 ear, the other had a bullet through his heart. Could any- 

 thing be neater or more exact? There was no mangling of 

 the game; no infliction of unnecessary pain ; no display of 

 wild animus; no need of outside scouts, but the match was a 

 perfect go-as-you-please, illustrated by experts of the first 

 order. 



The day before, and in this same great city, with its mil- 

 lion and & quarter bustling folks, there was another shooting 

 match. A Texan steer, with horns having a sweep of five 

 feet, and a flank as broad as a church door, trotted away 

 from a herd and took a browsing period in one of the smaller 

 city parks. The inevitable small boy was there and irritated 

 the stranger brute. In a trice he had cleared the area of its 

 tramps, its nursemaids, and its paid guardians. With shut 

 -ates and a high iron fence the visitor from the Southwest 



was securely corraled. Then from safe points a half dozen 

 policemen opened the batteries of their small arms upon him. 

 Of course he was not hit, and the only strange part of this 

 event, is that no innocent passers-by. suffered. The bullock 

 walked up to the fence and looked his would-be, but in- 

 capable, slaughterers full in the face. They seized the 

 chance, fired, and failed to hit. He walked away, giving 

 them a fine flank target. More rounds, more rash burning 

 of powder, more failure; and so for an hour, until having 

 wondered and wondered while a half hundred bullets 

 whistled by him, be submitted to a yoking and was led 

 away to the shambles. 



Perhaps some casuist, who can fathom the inscrutable, 

 may be able to tell us why it is that burglars are permitted 

 to shoot so well and policemen so poorly ; why it is that two 

 men in a dim dive may dance about, dodging and firing, and 

 yet each pick out a vital spot in his antagonist, while a dozen 

 policemen who are required to carry weapons, and are paid 

 by the public to be proficient in their use, cannot, under the 

 sunlight of mid-day, hit and bring down a peaceful bovine. 

 It may be that there is a deep principle of right behind these 

 two occurrences, but there seems to us something very much 

 awry, when law-breakers are so skillful and law-defenders so 

 helpless. Still, upon the whole, if we can only repeat these 

 happenings until all the burglars are dead, we shall be satis- 

 fied to see all the bulls live on. So we- cry encore! enevre! 



A QUAIL CLUB. 

 r piIE burning question of the hour witli a few thousands 

 ■*- of individuals is, Where can I get some quail shooting? 

 It is not always easy to find an answer. To refer an anxious 

 inquirer to North Carolina is simple; but North Carolina 

 contains several thousands of square miles, and the game- 

 seeker will be satisfied with nothing less than the name of 

 town, hotel, individual land proprietor and the particular 

 corner of the pea field where the birds will surely be found. 

 He has no time to spend in looking for a good shooting 

 ground; his vacation is too short for that. When shooting 

 grounds are in such constant demand it is a wonder that 

 more pains are not taken by both sportsmen and proprietors 

 of farms to preserve the game supply on certain lands for 

 the pleasure of the shooter and the emolument of the farmer. 

 There is nothing to prevent a wide-awake man from making 

 the quail on bis premises yield him a pecuniary return. In 

 estimating his crops, it might be well worth the while to 

 reckon in with others the quail harvest. The co-operation 

 of farmer and sportsman for the advantage of each, would 

 go far toward a solution of the knotty problem which vexes 

 the would be quail shooter. 



The scheme of a quail supply protected by the farmer for 

 the sportsman is a perfectly feasible one; indeed it has been 

 to a limited extent put into actual practice in New Jersey, 

 Connecticut and other States. The results have been such 

 as to warrant the adoption of the plan on a large scale. We 

 suggest for the consideration of quail-ground seekers that 

 they take measures to insure good shooting by securing the 

 protection of tracts of land. There are certain sections of 

 country which are natural quail grounds; for example in the 

 State already named, North Carolina. A club of sportsmen, 

 by joining in the expense of the undertaking, could, at a 

 very reasonable cost to each individual, secure the exclusive 

 privilege of shooting over a number of adjoining farms. 

 This privilege could be rented for a term of years at so much 

 per acre. Then the proprietors of the farms should be en- 

 couraged to take some active interest in the protection of the 

 birds, to which end a payment should be made to them on 

 whatever basis might be agreed upon; for instance, so much 

 for every covey exhibited at some fixed time of inspection, 

 something as the grouse are paid for on the moors of Scot- 

 land. This would encourage each one of the proprietors of 

 the reserved land to make some provision for the birds' food 

 and shelter in cold weather, to kill off the vermin, hawks, 

 cats, etc., and in general to conserve in every way possible 

 the game supply. 



We are quite fully convinced of the wisdom of such 

 effort on the part of shooting men. Suitable territories of 

 game ground are easily to be found, and there would be no 

 difficulty in securing members to fill such a club. 



There need be no great expense attached to such an enter- 

 prise. A club hous* could be built if the members so 

 desired ; or if not, board could be had at the village hotel or 

 elsewhere. A well behaved club of gentlemen would be 

 welcomed by the residents of the section, and the social 

 features of such an established rendezvous would be most 

 pleasant. 



To be successful a club of this character should be made 



up, in large part at least, of men who are previously known 

 to each other, and the financial management ought to be 

 intrusted to some one who will have the. confidence of the 

 rest. With discretion in the selection of members and mana- 

 gers, the future harmony of the club will be preserved from 

 the wreck that is so often made when strangers join in such 

 enterprises. 



The money expended in the leasing and protection of game 

 country will bring a more satisfactory return than the same 

 sum put into railroad tickets and hotel bills while on a wild 

 goose chase, and a return via the city market. 



THE FLY- CASTING TOURNAMENT. 

 ' PHE visitors from abroad who attended the fly-casting 

 *- tournament at Central Park yesterday and the day 

 before, probably had their eyes opened a wee bit. It will be 

 remembered that our friends over the water were inclined to 

 discredit the accuracy of the reports of the previous tourna- 

 ment. They thought that the cunning of American anglers 

 was not quite equal to casting the artificial fly to the distance 

 of eighty-two feet on the placid Harlem Mere. Last Tues- 

 day Mr. H. W. Hawes cast, in the expert class, eighty-five 

 .feet. Other scores show a corresponding raising of the 

 record. 



The weather was all that could be asked for— bright, sun- 

 shiny days, the air cool and crisp. There was an eddy of 

 wind on Tuesday which caught the ends of the lines and 

 veered them about, but it blew across the range, and not in 

 the face of the casters. 



The attendance was larger than that of last year; several 

 ladies graced the meet with their presence. The display of 

 skill by amateurs and experts was well worth going to see. 



A meeting of the National Rod and Reel Association was 

 held at the Metropolitan Hotel Tuesday evening. The sub- 

 ject of reel-plates and reel-seats was discussed. A commit- 

 tee, consisting of three members from each class of angling — 

 trout, bass and salmon — were appointed to confer with the 

 reel manufacturers. 



The officers of the Association for the ensuing year are: 

 Francis Endicott, President; Fred Mather, Secretary; James 

 L. Vallotton, Treasurer. 



The scores are given in our angling columns. 



Thk "Sairv Gamp."— The little canoe made famous by 

 "Nessmuk's" cruise through the Adirondaeks, has found a 

 resting place. Mr. Rushton forwarded the boat last week, 

 and she is now ' 'laying up" in the Forest and Stream 

 office, where she is daily a subject of wonder and admiration. 

 The "Sairy Gamp" is a very small craft; just how tiny and 

 fragile is not to be fully appreciated without seeing her. 

 Barring the peanut shell in which the three wise men of the 

 nursery rhyme went to sea, "Nessmuk's" canoe is the 

 lightest boat on record; certainly she is the lightest canoe 

 ever constructed for practical service. She is built of cedar, 

 measures 9 feet in length over all, 26 inches wide on top, 

 12 inches high at the ends, 9 inches from top of gunwale to 

 bottom of keel amidships. When new she weighed 10J 

 pounds, and after a season's use 11 pounds. She is an ex- 

 ample of what can be done with very light material and 

 thoroughly good fastenings. The "Sairy Gamp" is now on 

 exhibition; our readers are invited to call and inspect the 

 craft. 



Cutters. — It has already been conceded by all persons 

 that cutters are faster than sloops in light weather. Their 

 performance in a sea, however, has been doubted in conse- 

 quence of strangely erroneous impressions derive^ from the 

 Newport races in August, when Bedouin snapped her boom 

 and Wenonah found her mast too weak. What should have 

 been attributed to accident only, has been eagerly distorted 

 into a defeat of the cutter upon their merits. The race on 

 Tuesday between the cutters Bedouin and the sloop Gracie 

 has created a complete reversal of public opinion. Cutters 

 are now conceded on all sides to be equally as much superior 

 to sloops in strong winds and sea as in mild weather. 



A Sore Ccre. — If the game laws do not enforce them- 

 selves, tinker them up at the next meeting of the Legislature. 

 If after that they fail to work automatically, tinker them 

 again next year. 



There is a Vast Distinction between a "sporting man" 

 and a sportsman, and between a "sporting" paper and a 



sportsman's paper. 



CORRESPONDENTS ARE RESPECTFULLY REQUESTED (0 

 write on one aid,- of the paper only. 



