Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



NEW YORK, DECEMBER 6, 1883. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



The Forest asd Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 

 oit-nt, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 

 Communications upon the subjects to which its pages are devoted are 

 respectfully invited. Anonymous communications will net be re- 

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

 The Editors are not responsible for the views of correspondents. 



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EDITORIAL- 

 'S acuta' Winnings for 1683. 



Gallery Extension. 



Don't 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Life mmii! tin- KlacH'cet,— u. 



Egena Park.-i. 

 Natural History. 



Change of Name. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Protecting Gnus from Rust 

 MvOld yiv.7-A- .■:■'■ 

 Wild Moss Creek. 



1 ,!0. _■ ! i :.| '.'.''■ -'I 1' ■' 



Michigan Notes. 

 A Thank 



CONTENTS. 

 TheKe: 



Eastern Field Trials, 

 The National Field Trials. 

 Pacific Coast Field Trials. 

 The New Orleans Dog Show. 

 Pointers and Setters. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 

 Range and Gallery. 

 a New Metropolitan Gallery. 

 "iraBmeB. 



Thuj-.ksgLv 

 The Trap, 



\ Shooting. 



from the newspaper reports of shotgun casualties, scores of 

 people never read them, or else they forgot all about it. 

 Perhaps if our "Dont's" were placarded in every depot and 

 at every crossroads, and on every tree in the woods where 

 game and gunners congregate, we should still hear of foolish 

 individuals who persist in doing just what we implore them 

 not to do. 



A West Stockholm, N Y., squirrel hunter leaned on his 

 gun to rest, the muzzle pointing at his head. A Staten 

 Island gunner pulled his gun through a hedge, muzzle tore- 

 most, and aimed at his stomach. A Mount Joy, Pa., man 

 did the same thing, a wire fence taking the place of the 

 hedge. A LeatOTi, Mick, gunner, carrying his gun with 

 muzzle toward him, jumped on a log. Another Pennsyl- 

 vania man carried his gun through a cornfield, while a small 

 hoy followed behind and in full range. A Boston gunner 

 did it with ano'ber small boy. A Commercial Point, 111. 

 youth returned from hunting, and brought his guu down 

 with » bang on the floor. A Michigan gunner grasped the 

 muzzle end of his gun to club the life out of a 'coon. 



While it is true that almost every shotgun casualty results 

 from culpable carelessness, the pity of it is that to men, who 

 are habitually most cautious and thoughtful in their use of 

 field weapons, there sometimes comes a fatal mischance, 

 against which precaution and care seem not to avail. 



and the blunders in btr'lding which always accompany the 

 troduction of new schemes and methods, the cutters have 

 come in for (he biggest half of the prizes in proportion to 

 the number of times they were started, which is encourage- 

 ment enough for the future outlook of yachts which recom- 

 mend themselves so strongly in other respects. 



Mo: 

 Gun and 

 The Cho 



iotes. 



f Hi] 



_- KM.- 



Sea, 



The St. Lawrence River. 

 After Conger Eels ami ;■■■ 

 A New Bait for Black Bass. 

 English and Amc. ican Trout. 

 Mr. Silk and the Mark Bass. 



FlSHCULTURE. 



Success of Fisbeulture. 

 The Flavor of Carp. 



The Galley Fire. 

 Information Wanted. 

 How to make Coffee. 



YACHTING. 



A New Single-Hander. 

 Yachts of Limited Draft. 

 Successful Experiments with 

 .(lie Fcndeur. 



With its compact type and in its permanently enlarged form 

 o f twenty-eight pa,ges this journal furnishes each weeK a larger 

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

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

 American publications put together. 



DON'T. 



A LITTLE book entitled "Don't" has made a decided hit 

 this season. It is found in all the bookstores; con- 

 fronts you on the newstands, and greets you in the cars. 

 The hook tells its readers what not to do. "Don't put your 

 knife into your mouth," it says; "Don't spit tobacco juice 

 upon the carpet," and "Don't" be guilty of a thousand or 

 two other similar offenses against good breeding. All these 

 • 'Don'ts" are well enough. Perhaps it was worth while to 

 print, them. The^ offenses are venial; and the man who 

 habitually spits tobacco juice on the carpet might contend 

 that, after all, it is only a matter of taste. There are far 

 more important injunctions. If we were to write a book 

 telling people what not to do, it would not relate to etiquette 

 in the parlor, but to conduct in the field. The first chapter 

 would be something like this: 

 Don't point your gun at yourself. 

 Don't point your gun at any one else. 



Don't carry your gun so its range includes all your hunting com 

 panions. 



Don't try to find out whether your gun is loaded by shutting one 

 eye and looking down the barrel with the other. 

 Don't use your guu for a walking stick. 



Don't throw your gun into a boat so the triggers will catch and de- 

 posit the charge of shot in your stomach. 

 Don't use your gun for a sledge-hammer. 

 Don't carry you gun with the hammer down. 

 Don't be a fool. 



Don't you forget it unless you have serious in tendons of leaving 

 this mundane sphere. 



When we had written so much we would stop. This 

 would be a tract instead of a book. So much the better; 

 we should look about for some philanthropist, who wanted 

 to save human lives, to distribute this tract by millions. 



These exhortations may have a familiar look to the reader. 

 We have printed them before. They were copied into 

 scores of newspapers and repeated all over the country, appears that, considering the heavy odds against cutters in 

 Perhaps they saved some lives. But, if we may judge | the way of numbers, crews inexperienced in their handling 



YACHTS' WINNINGS FOR 1883. 

 ■"pilE list of winning yachts published exclusively in 

 J- Forest and Stream for Nov. 22, shows a total of 

 381 boats, among whom the prizes of the season were 

 divided. The total value of these prizes reaches about 

 $4,500. The winners are to be assigned to the various 

 districts in the following numbers: 



Eastern 182 yachts. 



Metropolitan 1 15 yachts. 



Western anil Canadian 57 yachts. 



Central 18 yachts. 



Southern 8 yachts. 



Pacific - yachts. 



The total number of schooners winning prizes was 16; the 

 number of sloops, cutters, and yawls 193 ; the numher of 

 catboats 115: catamarans 3; luggers 1; splits 1; and the 

 rig of the rest not known. Among the winners we find the 

 names of 18 cutters. Of this fleet there were 26 yachts over 

 45ft. length on loadline, 53 yachts were from 45ft. to 30ft., 

 and 80S yachts under 30ft., including a few whose length is 

 not known hut which probably will all fall into the smallest 

 class. From the foregoing it will be seen that the East 

 captures the largest share, of the glory with a long lead in 

 the number of winners, and that schooners as sporting 

 vessels constitute but a very small fraction, there being 

 already more cutters in the list than yachts of the class which 

 once were considered to be especially of our "national rig." 

 In point of size, large yachts likewise make a very limited 

 display, no doubt due to the cost of keeping big vessels as 

 well as to their unwieldy character for short, near-by sailing. 

 The largest number of races sailed by any one boat was 

 16, this being credited to the Niobe, Mr. J. F. Brown, Dor- 

 chester Y. C. Second in number of starts comes the Dande- 

 lion, Mr. C. F. Adams, Beverly Y. C, with 15 races, and 

 then follow David Crockett. Queen Mab and Spray with 14 

 races each. Joker, of the Hull Y. C, was sent away 13 times: 

 Amy and Kismet, 12 times; Lillie and Thisbe, 11 times; the 

 sloop Gracie, Messrs. Flint and Earle, N. Y. Y. C, 10 

 times: the Myrtle, of the Hull Y. C, the Samaria, of the 

 Dorchester Y. C, the Spider of the Beverly Y. C„ and 

 the Wildfire of the Quincy, each 10 times. With the ex- 

 ception of the Graeie, these arc all Eastern boats. 



The largest number of prizes was taken by Queen Mab, 

 having won 8 firsts and 1 fourth; Dandelion the same; 

 Niobe. 3 firsts, 4 seconds and 1 third. The record of the 

 sloop Shadow, Dr. John Bryant, Eastern Y. C, is the best 

 in the list, with 7firsts for 8 stains. 



Among the cutters we find the Aileen, of Toronto, finished 

 3 times and won 2 firsts; Beetle, of Beverly, started 3 times 

 and won 2 firsts; Carmita, of Beverly, started three times 

 and won 1 first and 1 second; Maggie finished 4 times and 

 won 2 firsts and 1 second; Mona started once and took sec- 

 ond prize; Peri, of Chicago, started once and took first 

 prize; Mr. Hyslop's Petrel finished 4 times and took 2 firsts, 

 Vayu, of Boston, got off in o»e match and captured first; 

 Veleuar, of Halifax, raced 3 times, taking 2 seconds and 1 

 third; Verve, of Toronto, finished 3 times and won 2 firsts; 

 Wenonah started 5 times and landed 4 firsts; Bedouin 

 finished 4 times and won 2 firsts, and so on. From this it 



GALLERY EXTENSION. 

 r jPHE opening of a new shooting range in this city seems 

 *- to rail for a renewal of the warning which we have 

 before given in respect to the management of these places. 

 They are sources of mischief or places of innocent enjoy- 

 ment, precisely as they are mismanaged or well conducted. 

 There is a continual menace of danger and this needs to be 

 guarded against from the opening to the closing of the 

 range. While a rifle remains exposed there is the risk that 

 somebody may put a ball caitridgc in it and then mischief 

 of some sort or degree follow. 



There is one cardinal rule which if, carried out and lived 

 up to, will prevent, a large majority, if not all accidents that 

 are so often heard of, and it is from the violation of this rule 

 that all the mishaps we now recall have come. The rule is, 

 that the rifle shall never go beyond the reach of the attend- 

 ant. Wheu the lad or man in charge hands the shooter 

 a rifle or weapon of any sort, he should stand close beside the 

 marksman. While it is raised to the shoulder and the muz- 

 zle points targe'tward, there is no attempt at interference, 

 hut if the saooter turns to speak to a friend behind him, or 

 any third party in any way comes to render assistance or 

 intermeddle in any way, then the hand of the attendant is 

 laid quietly and firmly upon the barrel of the rifle and it 

 passes at once into his possession and control. There is no 

 dispute, not a word need be spoken, and there is an avoidance 

 even of any appearance of censorship over the actions of the 

 shooter. 



To carry out this scheme of control it will be seen that the 

 ordinary counter or barrier between the shooter and the 

 attendant is insufficient. Both must be free to act provided 

 they act properly, and free to check each other in case any 

 dangerous pranks are even unwittingly indulged in. With 

 such a care vigilantly carried out a shooting gallery may be 

 as safe as any other resort, provided, of course, that it is in 

 the first place constructed with proper care, and that the 

 weapons are regularly inspected at short intervals of time. 

 Places of shooting resort not thus fitted up and not thus 

 conducted ought to he suppressed, and the police and Board 

 of Health could conduct, no better crusade than one against 

 these miscellaneous death traps. 



Work rs the Field. — We give an unusual amount of 

 space in this issue to kennel news. The report of the field 

 trials in North Carolina is extended and detailed. The de- 

 scription of the running will interest all practical field shoot- 

 ers. One of the great charms of a day in the stubble is the 

 working of the dogs. If your setter acquits himself well 

 there is in that full compensation for a light bag; if he. is 

 wild, flushes, breaks to shot and conducts himself in general 

 as a canine insane asylum "broke loose," no bunch of plump 

 birds will cover your disappointment. A field trial, then, is 

 only, under another name, a shooting excursion; and a field 

 trial report is an account of actual field work, in which 

 prominence is given to the canine performers. 



December is the last mouth for game shooting in most of 

 the Northern States. This year, owing to the lack of snow, 

 the huddled covies have not been potted on such a wholesale 

 scale as in other years. With the coming of cold weather, 

 many sportsmen, both anglers and shooters, are turning their 

 faces southward. One very pleasant phase of a Northern 

 man's pleasure trip South is the cordiality with v-.hich ho is 

 welcomed by the residents there. We hear this spoken of 

 repeatedly by gentlemen upon their return. Perhaps the 

 hint is unnecessary, but we suggest to the tourist going 

 South that he will find letters of introduction desirable when- 

 ever tbey can be taken. 



Oor Readers will confer a favor by tending >i* the. names 

 of such of their friends as ore not now among the mbaetrihen 

 of the Forest and Stream, but who would presumably be 

 interested in the paper. 



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 to 

 mite on one side of the paper only. 



