FOREST AND STREAM. 



281 



birds or dogs, and to distribute these through the woods, 

 especially near the drinking places of the wolves, where a 

 single carcase might suffice to destroy all the wolves of a 

 forest. 



In our western country the pursuit of the wolf for its 

 skin has long been carried on. In the localities where these 

 animals are at all plentiful the hunter and trapper cannot 

 afford to use his ammunition for wolves, for the distance 

 which it must be transported before it reaches hirn makes 

 it so costly that each cartridge must be expended only to 

 secure food or to protect life in his not infrequent encoun- 

 ters with the Indians. Besides this a rifle ball would in- 

 jure the skin, and then, too, wolves rarely show themselves 

 during the day in sufficient numbers to make it worth 

 while to try to shoot them. The hunter, therefore, has 

 recourse to the use of poison, and with it is most success- 

 ful. His method is simple and very effective . Having 

 killed rome large animal, a deer for example, or a buffalo, 

 he makes a number of long cuts in the flesh, in which he 

 places more or less of the strychnine; a few pieces of 

 meat thoroughly poisoned are strewn about the carcase, and 

 it is then left to take care of itself. At the end of two or 

 three clays it is visited, and about it are often found from 

 one to a dozen coyotes, gray wolves and foxes. As wolf 

 skins large and small, i. e., gray wolves aad coyote, bring 

 $2,50 each at the traders store, it can readily be believed 

 that the business is a profitable one as long as the animals 

 are abundant. 



Wolfing, as it is called, is carried on only in winter, and 

 in this way in Dakota, Montana and Idaho, employment is 

 furnished to a large number of teamsters, miners, steam- 

 boat hands and others — men who, but for this pursuit, 

 would necessarily be idle during the long winters of the 

 northwest. It is no uncommon thing for two men to clear 

 during a winter's work the neat sum of $1,500 to $2,000. 

 We see no reason why the method for dealing with these 

 destructive pests suggested by Mr. Lazarewsky should not 

 be as successful in the Sclavic provinces as it has proved in 

 this country, and should this course be pursued our Rus- 

 sian friends may not only save their cattle, but may also 

 in some measure repay themselves for the losses which 



they have experienced heretofore. 



.»•*» 



GAME PROTECTION. 



ulated upon the enterprise which he has displayed in the 

 whole management of his paper, the result of which can- 

 not but be satisfactory, in a pecuniary as well as every 

 other sense. We believe there is more reading matter in 

 this Christmas number of the Spirit than in any single is- 

 sue of any weekly paper hitherto published. 

 .*»*. • 



A Turkey Call.— We feel much indebted to a Michi- 

 gan correspondent for informing us of a certain style of 

 Turkey Call in general use in that section, which is con- 

 sidered far ahead of the wing bone. It consists of a box 

 about tbree inches long, one and one-half inches wide, and 

 one and one-half incbe3 deep, the end and bottom made 

 from one quarter inch stuff; the sides or box scant one- 

 eighth inch stuff. Rub the open edge of the box with 

 resin, and use a slate pencil or narrow piece of slate, and 

 draw across one edge of box, taking short strokes. A 

 very little practice will soon make a man expert. Rub- 

 bing lightly or heavily, and near the end or centre of the 

 box, will give the notes 4 of either old or young turkeys. 



New York.— A correspondent asks if we think that the 

 corning Legislature will dabble with the game laws, and 

 adds:— 



"Our laws regarding the taking of trout are sufficiently 

 stringent, only enforce them. Local game constables are 

 a nuisance. What we want are {Slate Commissioners, with 

 an order to visit the Adirondacks twice or thrice during 

 the season of hunting and fishing, and with pjwef to 

 arrest all offenders. The law for the preservation of Ceer 

 is too loose. Forbid transportation for five years, allow 

 shooting from September 1st until December 1st, but no 

 transportation, and at the end of the five years deer will 



»be as plenty as sheep. Ah I too much red tape exists in 

 legislation. For twenty-five years i have traversed the 

 AUirondacks nearly one-half of every summer, and have 

 seen the disregard of the present law on nearly every lake, 

 and speak from experience as to the real want to protect 

 trout and deer. We need authority, and thai authority 

 applied during the entire seasen." 



Undoubtedly the next Legislature will have strong 

 pressure brought to bear upon it, the result of which we 

 trust will be a satisfactory revision of our game laws. If 

 the Game Committees of the Senate and Assembly will 

 only confer with those of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 

 a general system of close seasons could be arranged which 

 would at once put at rest all our troubles in this direction. 

 As it is at present;, a sportsman residing in New York is 

 obliged to have almost a library of State laws, and even 

 then, what with the constant changes and local enactments, 

 is as likely as not to violate some of them and risk being 

 fined. 



Ohio. — Judging from a paragraph we find in the Hills- 

 boro Gazette, law-breakers were not having an easy time of 

 it in Ohio. Two sportsmen (?) were arrested at Lynden re- 

 cently for killing quail contrary to law, and in default of 

 the fifty dollars fine for each bird were incarcerated in the 

 Chillicothe jail. The same journal suggetts that if sein- 

 ing the streams in Highland county were stopped for three 

 or four years, bass fishing would be excellent, and there 

 would be sport and fish for everybody. 



HF* The Association for the protection of Game, of the 

 city of New York, will meet at ihe house of the President, 

 No. 22 East Sixteenth street, on the 11th inst. (the 2d 

 Monday in December), and it is hoped that the members 

 will all attend. 



The "Spirit."— The Christmas number of our enter- 

 prising contemporary, the Spirit of the Times, the pioneer 

 of sporting literature in this country, promises to be far 

 ahead of anything of the kind ever before offered to the 

 public. It is to comprise forty pages, illustrated, with 100 

 portraits of celebrated oarsmen, riflemen, actors and ac- 

 tresses, horses, and a fine picture by the celebrated artist 

 Jas. H. Beard. Mr. Wilkie Collins, the novelist, contrib- 

 utes an original Christmas story-, and a host of other pop- 

 ular writers will help to perfect this unique departure in 

 American journalism. "Devoted Yachtsman," the popu- 

 lar writer on aquatic matters, will drop his incognito, and 

 give not only his name but his portrait. John W. Forney 

 will contribute a characteristic paper, and the list includes 

 also Rev. W. H. H. Murray, of Adirondack fame; Genio 

 C. Scott, the modern Walton; E. L. Blanchard, the play- 

 wright; Capt. Ostrom, of the Cornell navy, and others. 

 Mr. g. o. ggefe tiie $4&°F #f the fyitft, Is fco he congr$» 



^porting 



ram JlbrontL 



FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. 



London, November 20th. 



SO after all we arc to have no Kennel Club Show. Mr. 

 C. Lowe, the Secretary of the club, sends to seveial 

 of last week's sporting papers a letter announcing that the 

 Alexandra Palace Company at the very last moment de- 

 clined to allow the use of their building, notwithstanding 

 that the Kennel Club were fully prepared to tarry out their 

 agreement. All entries and subscriptions are to be return- 

 ed, but the club will in all probability immediately com- 

 mence preparations for holding another show. It is not 

 an easy matter however, even in London, to find a building 

 suitably arranged for the successful display of a thousand 

 or more dogs. Ihe previous shows of the Kennel Club 

 had been so successful; tbe Alexandra Palace is so conven- 

 ient of access and this show had been so looked forward 

 to by breeders and owners, that the disappointment is 

 general and very great. Among the disappointed ones are 

 many of our countrymen, who had so timed their itiner 

 arys as to be present. The growing interest on your side of 

 the pond in canine matters is duly noted oil this, and sime 

 persons fear that the best dog breeding stock of Great 

 Britain may follow the lead of the racing stock and go out 

 of the country. The results of selling the best equine 

 blood to foreigners have been two-fold; not only have 

 breeders here had to repurchase at high figures but the 

 French and German bred horses are no longer to be dis- 

 pised either across country or on the flat. 



I mentioned in my last that the fox hunting season had 

 fairly opened. A frost in the early part of the following 

 week somewhat interfered but later repoits from nearly all 

 quarters indicate fair sport. One of the London dailies 

 contains some interesting statistics regarding this pursuit, 

 which convey an idea of the magnitude with which hunt- 

 ing {anglice) is carried on. For the present season there 

 are no less than 342 packs of fox hounds, stag hounds, har- 

 riers, and beagles, advertised in the United Kingdom. And 

 in addition to these, which may be called public packs, 

 there are a number of others, private packs, whose meet- 

 ings are not advertised. The total number of dogs com- 

 prising them amounts to about 20,000, divided into, 6,826 

 couples of fox-hounds, 2,2(56 couples of harriers, 371 

 couples of stag hounds and 296 couples of beagles. These 

 dogs provide amusement for fifty thousand persons who 

 hunt regularly, and employment for nearly four thousand 

 more, and are kept up at an annual expense of over three 

 and a half million dollars. To calculate the value of the 

 horses used in the sport would bring what Mr. Mantilini 

 would call the "dernnition total" up to a ptodigious figure. 

 It would do the heart of Mr. Bergh good to see some of 

 Ihe kennels in which those hounds are housed, with their 

 paved courtyards, running water and every convenience 

 for health and comfort. But, by the bye, although we 

 often reael of Mr. Bergh's interference in behalf of ill 

 treated horses and cattle, and sometimes even cats, I can 

 not recall an instance of his having come to the rescue of 

 the dogs. I may be misinformed, but I believe there is no 

 institution in your city where lost and homeless dogs are 

 cared for. Now here in London there is a Home, where 

 even the poor cur of the gutter can find at least a tem- 

 porary refuge. Many valuable animals are picked up and 

 sent to the Home from whence they aie restored to their 

 masters or are sold. In one year 3,200 dogs were thus pro- 

 vided for. But your city fathers have, or at least had a 

 much more summary mode of disposing of stray dogs, and 

 the authorities of Glasgow appear to have taken a leaf 

 from their boqk, as recently a raid was made on dogs in 

 that city and over a thousand were destroyed by being 

 drowned gradually in a sewer. And the street gamins who 

 assisted in their capture, only received three pence per 

 head, a sum at which a New York newsboy would turn up 

 his nose in disgust. Now it appears that the action of the 

 Glasgow authorities was contrary to law, and the massacre 

 has been stopped, but not until after many a pet poodle 

 had been torn from the arms of a wailing mistress. And 

 yet, a Glasgow man, oi at least a man in Glasgow, has 

 brought out some interesting facts regarding the size of 

 the brain in the dog. A Mr. Garner recently read before 

 the British Association at Glasgow, a paper from which it 

 seems that the size of the brain in the dog docs not corres- 

 pond very closely with the size of the animal. No dog has 

 go. large § bysm $s thj W9j£ ? w pae so smalt as the jackal. 



The brain of a Newfoundland dog is very little larger than 

 that of a terrier. Professor Macalister, of Dublin, gave an 

 account of the brain of Master Magrath, the celebrated 

 grayhound. He had weighed the brain of many others, 

 but Master Magrath's was the heaviest of all, and the con- 

 volutions were much more complex. He has found that 

 the brains of dogs vary in the complexity of their convolu- 

 tions as rauih as those of human beings. 



But enough about dogs. Hoises come next, although 

 racing, at least on tbe flat, is almost over. Two meetings 

 this week, one at Warwick and one at Manchester, wind 

 up the season. Then comes steeple chasing, and the 

 weights for some of the principal events are out. On dit 

 that the French horses arc going to be particularly strong 

 at the "lepping" this season. Many well known flat racers 

 are to be introduced to the jumping business, particularly 

 hurdling, where a turn of speed comes in so handily at the 

 finish. The list of winning mounts for the year is nearly 

 completed anei F. Archer, who heads the list, wants but 

 three more to complete two hundred, a feat hitherto un- 

 accomplished. As he has a number of mounts this week, 

 the chances are in his favor. Archer has ridden in all, 625 

 races during 1876. Constable comes next with 294 mounts 

 and 72 wins. Fordham, the popular jockey, is in retire- 

 ment this season for the benefit of his health. The life of 

 a successful jocky is a peculiar one. Perhaps cuffed and 

 kicked about the stable until showing some indications of 

 judgment and the possession of "hands," and afterwards 

 petted by gentlemen and given large sums of money, he 

 either loses his health, through wasting and training, or, 

 as is too frequently the case, succumbs to temptation and 

 sinks into oblivion. There are many, however, who save 

 their earnings, and after marrying, settle down to life in a 

 "public," or become trainers. Next to the jockeys perhaps 

 the book-makers are the most important appendages to the 

 British turf.' Through them most of the betting is done 

 and their business is as systematically conducted as many 

 occupatioBS or professions of a more legitimate character. 

 Their transactions are sometimes colossal and they are not 

 inaptly termed "leviathans" of the turf. Whether the 

 term is intended to be synonymous with whale, as indica- 

 ting capacity, or shark, as meaning rapacity, I do not 

 know, but the word as used in its sense of immensity would 

 apply to the operations of a Mr. Steel, who very appropi- 

 ately hails from Sheffield, and who, by judiciously making 

 his "book" has cleared one hundred thousand pounds dur- 

 ing the present racing season, and will now "retire." To 

 show the magnitude of this book maker's operations, he 

 won about one hundred thousand pounds by the double 

 victory of Roseberry in the Cesarewitch and Cambridge- 

 shire, forty thousand on the Liverpool Cup, and thirty 

 thousand on the Lincolnshire Handicap. Of course he 

 lost on other races, but was left with the handsome balance 

 above mentioned. 



In the last number of the Volunteer Service Gazette con- 

 siderable space is devoted to the scores made in the late 

 International rifle match at Creedmoor, as a complete re- 

 cord of what it terms "the most important Any Rifle 

 Match and the most magnificent Team shooting that kas 

 ever taken place." The same journal has a leader upon the 

 grave situation in which England finds herself in the 

 threatening appearance of Eastern politics. In the event 

 of a war in which England should be called upon to take a 

 part, her regular army would probably be all engaged 

 abroad, and the services of the Volunteer forces 

 would then most likely be called upon. The value of the 

 organization and the practice at Wimbledon would then 

 be felt. . Apropos of a report of the meeting of the Lon- 

 don Athletic Club, Volunteers are impressed with the im- 

 portance of something more than a mere proficiency in, 

 drill. Marching power can only be acquired by constant 

 development of the natural strength of various parts of 

 the body, and to this end the formation of Athletic Associa- 

 tions is earnestly advocated. By the bye, a very inteiest- 

 ing case was tried in Ireland the other day at the Wicklow 

 sessions, in which those popular riflemen and gunmakers, 

 Messrs. John and William Kigby were the defendants. 

 The prosecution was for carrying arms without a license, 

 and the offence occurred in June last at the meeting of the 

 Irish Rifle Association at Wicklow. According to a Times 

 correspondent, Mr. John RJgby, who represented the firm, 

 in defence, contended that he was present at the match in 

 order to try experiments with a new invention, and that 

 a range was specially set apart for the purpose. He had 

 done so at different places for six years without being prose- 

 cuted. He had gone to Wimbledon, to Curragh, and else- 

 where for the same purpose as that for which he had gone 

 to Wicklow — namely, to try whether a particular experi- 

 ment which he had made was an improvement. One of 

 the magistrates stated that if it could be shown that Mr. 

 Rigby attended at Wicklow only in discharge of his busi- 

 ness the case would be decided in his favor, but that as he 

 did not deny, however, that he took prizes at Wicklow, 

 the Bench held that they were bound to inflict a fine of 

 £2 10s. and costs. Notice of appeal was given. 



The Pigeon Shooting season has fairly commenced afhd 

 most of the old clubs and some new one3 have gotten to 

 work. On Saturday week one of the most fashionable, the 

 Gun Club held its initial meeting at Notting Hill. One of 

 the best shots and most popular members of the club is 

 Mr. Howard S. Jaff ray, of New York. In this match he 

 was handicapped at 29^ yards, rather a severe test before 

 five traps. At Monaco, that petty principality on the Med- 

 iterranian, in which one has almost one foot in France and 

 one in Italy, and which may be said to be the home of 

 p^^pgliri^ethede^4eiioeo| &%&m^&en m&M^ - 



