FOREST AND STREAM- 



THE INTERNATIONAL MATCH. 



A DISPATCH from London informs ua that the Scott- 

 ish National Rifle Club has resolved to accept the 

 challenge to come to this country and shoot for the cham- 

 pionship of the world next summer; this resolution being 

 the result of favorrble answers received from a majority 

 of the small bore shots of Scotland. The competitions 

 for the selection of a team of eight, with two reserves, 

 will begin forthwith. "Welcome as it is to know that a 

 team of such prowess as Scotland can send forth will visit 

 us, we trust that the International match will in no ways 

 be endangered thereby. If we remember aright, the Na- 

 tional Rifle Association in accepting the challenge to shoot 

 an International nfatch, stipulated that no "outside" teams 

 should be admitted to the match, and Sir Henry Hal ford, 

 in a letter to our contemporary the Volunteer Service Ga- 

 zette, sta f ed, that "the team which will shoot in America 

 this year will be selected from the best shots in Great 

 Britain and Ireland, and will not be restricted to Great 

 Britain alone." Now this was a direct invita lion to the 

 riflemen of Scotland to compete for places on the team, 

 so that the action of ihe Scottish National Rifle Club segms 

 to call for some explanation. 



That Sir Henry Halford "means business" there can be 

 no doubt, and it behooves our riflemen to be on the alert 

 and not fall into a state of apathy or over confidence. To 

 repeat the victories of the last two years will require some 

 hard work and preliminary practice. There is one thing 

 that our cousins have learned by the visit of Col. Gilder- 

 sleeve and his companions, and that is, the necessity of 

 team organization. Major Drake, who has been appointed 

 adjutant for the English party, writes "It is to be hoped 

 that we shall get a very strong team, thoroughly determined 

 to shoot as a team" adding the significant words, "We 

 shall want it." That this object will be canied out is evi- 

 dent from the stringent regulations to which each member 

 of the team is supposed to subscribe before competing for 

 a place, and which are as follows: — 



"It is my intention to compete for a place in the team 

 which will shoot in the match in America next year, and 

 in the event of my being selected as one of the eight, 

 or accepting a place as one of the four men in waiting, i 

 hereby bind myself to the following: — 



1. To proceed to America at the lime and in the vessel 

 selected by the Captain of the team. 



2. To conform to all regulations laid down by him; and 

 in the event of my not doing so, to forfeit my right to 

 shoot in the team. 



3. To defray my own expenses throughout. 



4. To make no engagements in America, for business or 

 pleasure, without the consent of the Captain, until after 

 the match shall have been shot." 



There is no reason, however, why two teams should not 

 visit us, although, of course, but one could act as the 

 representative in the International match. The other 

 would find plenty of occupation, particularly in off hand 

 or mid-range shooting. The shooting at 500 yards of 

 some of our riflemen, both East to West, has never been 

 equalled across the water. It would be worth while for 

 some of the British riflemen to shoot for a while with our 

 riflts and demonstrate whether the superiority was in the 

 rifles or in the men. 





American Rifle Association. — Maj. Gen. J. Watts De 

 Peysrer was visited on Saturday evening, Jan. 22d, 1876, 

 by the officers of this association. The object was to pre- 

 sent to the General handsomely engrossed and framed res- 

 olutions, which constitute the General an honorary director 

 for life. Col. J. T. Underbill was to have made the presen- 

 tation speech, but was detained at home by a serious acci- 

 dent. It therefore devolved upon Capt. F. Whittaker, the 

 Vice President, wjio did it nicely. Gen. De Peyster re- 

 sponded in a few eloquent and interesting remarks. The 

 officers left at a late hour, well pleased with the interesting- 

 visit. 



Conlin's Gallery. — The ninth contest for the Forest 

 and Stream badges was shot Thursday, January 27th. 

 Mr. Cheever was ihe victor of the first badge for the sec- 

 ond time. The winners of the badges are as follows: — 

 C. A. Cheever, 42; J. B. Blydenburgh, (second badge, cen- 

 tres), 40; H. D. Blydenburgh, (third badge, inners), 80. 

 The Turf, Field and Farm badge will ,be shot for Thurs- 

 day, February 3d, 1876, commencing at four P. M. All 

 comers are invited. 



On Friday evening last a match was shot at this gallery 

 between Messrs Hayes and Cheever, resulting in excellent 

 scores and a very close contest, Mr. Hayes winning by one 

 point. Conditions — Five targets, ten shots per target, 200 

 yards target, (reduced in proportion to the range, 110 feet), 

 Wimbledon rules. Highest possible score, 250: — 



HAYJKS. I CHEEVER. 



1st. target 39 1st. target 40 



2nd. target .42 2nd. target. 47 



3rd. target 42 1 3rd. target. .... . :. .40 



4th.. target. . . 43 4th. target 41 



5th. target 42 



Grand total 210 



Another match will be shot 



5th. target... 45 



Grand total ...21! 



Average per target, 42. 

 soon. 



Cbeedmoor, Jr. — The fifth competion for the Union 

 Metallic Cartridge Company's badges came off Tuesday, 

 Feb. 1st. Mr. Backofen was the winning man again, on a 

 score of 45, and as this was the tiiird time he has won it, 

 the first badge was duly delivered to him as his property, 

 and we believe that among the many trophies this reliable 

 off-hand shot will wear as evidence of his skill, the U. M. 

 6. badge will be conspicuous for its size and beauty. The 

 w. nning scores were as follows: — 



Name. Fcore. Total. 



F. Backofen. ...... .4 5 4 4 5 5 5 5 4 4 45 



W. H H. Sabin 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 i 4 4 89 



€K O. Stairr, ...-V.-.-JJ 4 4 4 4 2 3 2 4 30 



The remaining two prizes will be shot for on conditions 

 which will be published in next week's paper. 



Next Tuesday, Feb. 8th, will be the fifth subscription 

 match day. Open to all comers, one half entrance money 

 divided between first, fifth, tenth, fifteenth, and twentieth 

 best scores . 



Hellwig's Gallery. — The ninth weekly competition, 

 in lying position, for a gold medal, a double barrel shot 

 gun, a rifle and revolver^ took place at Hellwig's shooting 

 gallery, 271 and 273 Eighth avenue, January 26th. The 

 winners were M. L. Riggs, first prize, 49; Fred Kessler, 

 second prize, 45; F. N. DeVVitt, third prize, 40; D. E. 

 Vannett, fourth prize, 30. The winners of the several 

 competitions at Hellwig's are as follows: — 



WINNERS OF FIK8T PhlZE. f WINNERS OF SECOND PRIZE. 



Name. Total. I Name. Total. 



Capt.-Wm. Lindsay.. 46 P. N. De Witt 4^ 



Capt. Wm. Lindsay 47|M»jorD. L. Beckwith .46 



A. B. Van Heusen 41 (Donald Cameron 45 



M,. L. Rig«8 ...48 Fred Kessler 45 



John Treyesser 47 



Charles Morris? 46 



M. L. Riggs._ 47 



P. C. Banks 45 



M. L. liigga 49 



WINNERS OF "THIRD PRIZE. I WINNERS OF FOURTH PRIZE. 



Name. Total. [E.G. Chambers 29 



MajorD. D. Beekwith 39 J. McGiensey 30 



M. L. Kiggs 4()jJ. McGlensey ....30 



Major D. L. Beekwith .40 Henry Ellinger 29 



Capt. Wm. Lindsay 40! Geo ge Grentzer 28 



J. McGltnsey 40! Louis Ciiker 21 



T. C. Banks 40 C. L. JNixou.. 28 



M. L. I%ge ..30 



D. E. Vannett 80 



J. McGlensey 40 



D. K. Vannett 40 



P. N. DeWitt 4 , 



Mr. M. L. Higgs, it will be seen, secures the first prize, 

 having won it the third time, as provided in the conditions 

 of the match. The shot gun, heretofore offered as second 

 prize, will be substituted for the first. The competitions 

 will be continued every Wednesday evening, as usual. 



New Yohk State. — The Ogdensburg Journal says in a 

 recent issue: "There is a very decided improvement in 

 the shooting of the members of the Ogdensburg Rifle 

 Club. There are at least a dozen who are now good for 40 

 points off-hand at 200 yards. Several have made scores of 

 41, 42, 43, and 44. Willi fair weather and steady improve- 

 ment we expect to see some shots developed here that may 

 be considered worthy to shoot in a State or national con- 

 test. The West Side team, Wednesday, made a splendid 

 general average. 



Syracuse. — The new rifle range of the Sixth Division, 

 N. U- , at .East Syracuse, is rapidly approaching comple- 

 tion. A storm-house is in preparation, from which shoot- 

 ing can be done on the range during the Winter. 



— The Amateur Rifle Club, of Rochester, has challenged 

 the amateur riflemen to a friendly team gallery match, to 

 be shot with rifle .32 calibre, 15 shots each man off-hand. 



§hat %nn nnd ^ifle. 



<3& 



GAME IN SEASON IN JANUARY. 



• * 



Hares, brown and giay. Wild duck, geese, brant, &c. 



FOR FLORIDA . 



Deer, Wild Turkey, Woodcock, Quail, Snipe, Ducks, and Wild Fowl. 



Game tn Market. — It seems singularly inappropriate to be 

 obliged to report prices of game that is long out of season 

 in our own State. This is owing to the present law which 

 enables dealers to sell grouse and quail to the uttermot t 

 date permitted by any other State. The time for selling 

 venison expired on the 31st ult. , hence this variety is elim- 

 inated from our quotations. Ruffed grouse are worth $1.25 

 to $1.50 per pair, and prairie chickens the same. Quail 

 are very scarce, and well they may be, as Long Island and 

 Connecticut have been pretty well snared out; they sell for 

 $5.50 to $6 per dozen. Canvas back ducks are scarce at 

 $3.25 to $3.75 per pair; red-heads, $1.25 to $1.50; mal- 

 lards, the same; widgeon, black ducks and sprig-tails 

 are worth $1 per pair; teal, 75 cents to $1; broad-bills and 

 whistlers, 00 to 75 cents; rabbits 50 to GO cents; hares 40 

 50 cents. 



A Dog Following a Deer into Water.— A corre- 

 spondent wrote us some time since that he feared losing a 

 hound from his proclivity for following deer into water. 

 We now hear that Mr. John M. Perkins, of Jackson, N. 

 EL, started a deer on the 15th ultimo, which took to the 

 water, followed by a valuable dog. The deer was secured, 

 but the dog was drowned. 



— A lad of fifteen shot a bear weighing 400 pounds in 

 New Hampshire recently, and resolved to remain by his 

 game until help came, which he did. "How long would 

 you have stopped?" he was asked. "Until I had eaten 

 enough of the bear to have been able to carry the rest 

 home." And he would have done it. 



— Over 10,000 rabbits have been shipped from Jonesport, 

 Maine, the past season. 



Connecticut — West Meriden, January 24th, 187G. — Game 

 in this part Of the State has been very scarce for the past 

 ten or twelve years. One of our best sportsmen, with two 

 fine dogs, hunted for several hours the other day without 

 rinding a bird. We have a game club, the members of 

 which are anxious and willing to do all in their power to 

 restock our fields and woods, but the game law is such a 

 miserable failure in this State that it is almost impossible 

 to convict and punish the innumerable pot-hunters with 

 which the commuuitv is afflicted. Von G. 



New Jersey. — A friend of mine scared up six English 

 snipe as he was crossing the meadows near Hackensack 

 last Tuesday, the 25th of January. I note a number of 

 woodcock have been Fe'en in that region within the last 

 week or two. Is not this a very unusual occurrence for 

 this time of the year in this part of the country? R. W. 



[Yes; particularly as far as the woodcock are concerned, 

 and is to be accounted for only by the unusaally open 

 Winter and absence of ice and snow=— Ed,] 



South Carolina — Columbia, January 26th, 1876. — We 

 had quite a cold snap here last week, and ducks were plen^ 

 tiful. I was out partridge shpoting, and flushed twenty 

 mallard ducks, of which all were drakes except one. 

 They were feeding m mud puddles, caused by a freshet in 

 the river. Woodcock are plentiful on the Hampton place, 

 five miles below, also partridges. Rabbits and swamp 

 hares can be found almost anywhere, squirrels are abund- 

 ant in the swamp, and geese are plentiful in the river, 



H. S. 



Port Royal, January 28th, 1876.— The unprecedented 

 warm weather has retarded the southward movement of 

 flight birds, so that, notwithstanding the attractions which 

 the intricate channels of the Sea Islands here present, 

 there are no wild fowl to speak of. A few straggling wa- 

 ders, with an occasional bunch of teal and broadbills, are 

 all that are afforded to the sportsman. A long drouth has 

 made everything very dry at present. Deer can be had in 

 abundance near here. The Hunting Islands, ten miles 

 away, are a famous resort for curlew and snipe, and an 

 hour's ride by rail will carry us up the Combahee to good 

 duck shooting, when ducks are flying. To amuse our- 

 selves we take an early morning shot at the quail and gray 

 squirels, while as to rabbits, they are destruction 

 to the young orange trees, and so numerous 

 that the surface of some of the abandoned cotton- 

 fields, is absolutely covered with "signs" of the most dis- 

 tinctive character, as widely strewn as on the floor of a 

 warren. The weather is too wa^m to make long tramps 

 comfortable. Doubtless we shall have blustering weather 

 before the spring asserts itself. While sportsmen are ex- 

 pectant, growers are apprehensive about their orange buds. 



Hal. 



Missouri — Hannibal, January 22d, 1876.— Col . Buchanan, 

 Cornelius Voorhis, and J. H. Worihington, in two days' 

 shooting last month, bagged 95 quail, 3 grouse, and 14 rab- 

 bits, one of the party not shooting on the second day. Mr. 

 Voorhis did some remarkable shooting, killing 45 single 

 birds in fifty shots, and that in cOrn fields, timber, and 

 "rag threads." He shot over his pointer Judge, who made 

 some two or three beautiful points while returning with a 

 dead bird in his mouth, which he has done before on sev- 

 eral occasions. Is this or is it not an uncommon feat? 



J. H. W. 



[We have frequently had old dogs point with a dead 

 bird in their mouth. Herbert mentions an instance in one 

 of his books, and, where birds are very abundant, we be- 

 lieve it would not be uncommon with first-rate dogs. — Ed.] 



Dakotaii — White Swan, Jan. 25. — There are a great many 

 black-tail deer slaughtered here every day. The weather 

 has been so fine that antelope stay back on open ground. 

 During the big snow of last Winter there were sixty-four 

 antelopes killed by two men in one week, at Bijou Hills 

 forty-five miles up river. 



—On Wednesday last a well-contested pigeon match took 

 place near Jamaica, L. I., under the rules of the Long 

 Island club, and was numerously attended by the sporting 

 men of .Long Island. The weather was unfavorable to the 

 match, however, and the well-known participants did not 

 score as well as on former occasions. The match was at 

 27 yards rise, 80 yards boundary. The following is the 

 score : — 



Name. Total.! Name. Total. 



Geo. H. Creed lljs. Jones 9 



Thos. Lloyd 7iJ. Wilkinson H 



J. T. Brush.. 71 A. J. Wilkinson. 11 



C.J. Stewart 9JL. R. Ju»gar 9 



R. 



—The Long Island Shooting Ciub shot on January 28 for 

 the Club cup. There were twenty-two entries at seven 

 birds each; club rules. The report is received at so late an 

 hour that we are unable to print more than a few of the 

 best scores: — 



Total. 



Name. Tots!. 



T. Broadway 6 



C . Wlngate 5 



Name. 



R. Robinson 



IT. Pi.Ihemus 6 



±5. Talbot '....*> 



Mr. Robinson, the Treasurer and a veteran pigeon shooter, 

 was also, the recipient of a handsome pair of silver 

 soup ladles presented by E. Thomas, Esq., gunmaker of 

 Chicago, to whoever should win the cup that day. This 

 shoot was the first in which the new rule of the club, in 

 regard to birds was enforced, which is as follows: That 

 the mutilation of birds shall not be allowed on the grounds 

 of the Long Island Shooting Club under any circumstances, 

 by any person whatsoever, and that this resolution be con- 

 spicuously placed on the club grounds. Hereafter no 

 shooting either by members or others, will be allowed on 

 the club grounds, unless the above resolution is strictly 

 carried out. B. 



— A match was shot on Saturday at Deerfoot Park be- 

 tween Captain Bogardus and William King, the^conditions 

 being fifteen double rises, 21 yards rise, from s*pring traps 

 ten yards apart, each man to pull his own traps; stakes, 

 $125 a side. Bogardus was the favorite at long odds, and 

 won easily "by the following score:— 



BojWdiiB a 121 1121 100222 2-20 



King ...1 0001021121111 0-12 



Several sweepstakes were afterwards shot, in which 

 Messrs. Paine, Bogardus, Johnson, King, Gildersleeve, 

 and Connor entered. 



—To-morrow there will be a match of double rises at 

 Dexter Park between Ben West and Dr. Talbot, followed 

 by sweepstakes. An interesting sweepstakes match of 

 double rises is in preparation, to come off at the same 

 place, between ten weli-known shooters, $20 to enter. The 

 time will be fixed this week. 



Tournament at New Orleans.— A grand pigeon- 

 shooting tournament will be held at New Orleans com- 

 mencing on the 26th instant, with class-shooting for all 

 amateurs, for a $1,500 purse, divided into three prizes of 

 $700, $500, and $300. On the 27th there will be shooting 

 for similar prizes, and on the 28th there will be a grand 

 contest, open to all pigeon-shooters in the world, for a 

 $1,000 purse, to be divided into $500, $300, and a diamond 

 badge. On the same day there will be an amateur match 

 for a $500 purse. On the 1st of March there will be a 

 match for the amateur championship of the United States, 

 and a diamond badge. The sports will close on the 3d 

 with a match for the amateur championship of Louisiana, 

 and a diamond badge. In all matches, save that open to 

 the world, and in all, save the match for the United States 

 amateur championship, the shooting will be at ten single 

 birds. In the latter match there will be ten single and five 

 double rises. In all matches the entrance money wilt 

 be $20. 



