A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



v£ TBSJTOFJTSLD AND AQUATIC SPOKTS, PRACTICAL NATUBAL fllSTOBT, 

 JISHOPMUBB, THE PROTECTION OS" GAME, PRESERVATION OF POBESTS, 

 AA.D THE INCULCATION INMEN AND WOMEN OS A HEALTHY INTEREST 



m Uut-doob Recreation and Study : 



PUBLISHED BY 



xnd ^ttemi §ubliMhittg fft 



AT-*— 



1? CHATHAM STREET, (CITY HALL SQUARE) NEW YORK, 

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NEW YOSK, THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1877. 



To Correspondents. 



» 



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The Publishers of Forest and Stream aim to merit and secure the 

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Editor and Business Manager. 



SAVE THE QUAIL. 



IT seems this season as though the elements had con- 

 spired for the extermination of the quail living north 

 of the 40th parallel. At a time, too, when we have been 

 congratulating ourselves on the abundance of the birds, 

 and were looking forward to the season of 1877 as inpros- 

 peetu to be the best for many a year from a sportsman's 

 point of view. We had experienced a delightful fall, and 

 the weather had, up to the 1st of December, been well nigh 

 faultless; but well has the ice king, waking from his long 

 lethargy, improved his opportunities since then. That he 

 has outstepped hi3 own rightful prerogatives during the 

 first month of his active work, our chilling experience af- 

 fords ample proof. But especially bad has this season 

 I* been for the quail. At the outset we had a light fall of 

 snow, then we experienced one of those winter rain storms 

 during which the water freezes as it touches the ground. 

 There was soon a coating of ice over the country that 

 completely bound in every edible thing. Even the branch- 

 es of trees and shrubs were coated with the ice mantle to 

 their every twig. Tne qaail were unable at one time for a 

 fortnight to reach even the buds, upon which they have to 

 subsist when all else fails. 



This state of things was followed by more snow, then 

 rain, and more snow again. Seeds, grain and stubbles in 

 general are thus doubly ice-bound. Besides all this, dur- 

 ing most of the time the thermometer has averaged but 

 15 degrees above zero. A good index to the suffering the 

 quail have experienced is the difference in weight between 

 birds shot during the latter days of November and those 

 killed the last of December. Should this continue we 

 shall look long and far for sport next October. 



The question now arises: Can we not alleviate their 

 sufferings and save some of their lives? The baiting of 

 game has long been practiced for purposes of capture, and 

 with just as small trouble and expense the quail may be fed 

 and saved through this severe weather. On the afternoon of 

 the 30th ult. we flushed a bevy of twenty individuals. 

 Having secured one bird and rinding it unfit to eat on ac- 

 count of its emaciated condition, we desisted from follow- 

 ing the bevy. If these birds are saved through the winter 

 there will be, say eight pairs breeding next spring. Quail 

 will on an average raise twenty pairs in a season to the 

 pair, there being two nests of eggs of about fifteen each. 

 Tne^eight pair will give in this waj 160 birds, or about 



eight bevies in the following fall. This rate of increase is 

 not placed at too high a figure. 



Weather like this will account for the alternating scarc- 

 ity and plenty of birds in different years. But it seems to 

 us that a great many quail could be preserved through the 

 winter if those interested would make an effort in this di- 

 rection. A spot should be cleared at the border of some 

 swamp which the quail are likely to frequent for food or 

 shelter. On this clearing, buckwheat, corn o^ts, or the 

 screenings of wheat and rye should be scattered, together 

 with hay and hayseed; leading from this in various direc- 

 tions grain should be sparsely scattered to some distance, 

 forming paths, which the birds coming upon, will follow 

 up. During the weather that is now upon us quail are 

 forced to travel over a great deal of ground to find a living. 

 As soon as the baiting place is discovered they will remain 

 near by until long after the supply of food is exhausted, 

 and if it is occasionally replenished they will settle in the 

 immediate locality, and probably breed near by in the spiing; 

 one would be surprised to know how little the birds can 

 eat and yet live. We must exercise foresight and take a 

 little trouble in this matter, and those of us who love the 

 golden days of October, and their accompanying delights 

 with dog and gun, should try now to help the quail sur- 

 vive the rigors of these bitter winter months. 

 — , ■+«» 



RACQUET. 



THE Racquet Court Club of this city, of whose pro- 

 ceedings several reports have appeared in our col- 

 umns, occupies the spacious building on the upper corner 

 of Twenty-sixth street and Sixth avenue. This club was 

 organized in June last— the opening day having been the 

 twentieth of that month — "with a view to encourage a taste 

 for Racquets and other athletic exercises." The aim of the 

 founders, as stated in the above clause quoted from the 

 constitution, has been fully carried out by the governing 

 committee. Not only has the necessary provision been 

 made for the practice of the special game from which the 

 club takes its name, but for engaging in nearly every other 

 form of indoor athletic and gymnastic sport. There are 

 two racquet courts each sixty-three feet long by thirty-one 

 and a half feet wide, and having end walls thirty-five feet 

 in height. These are painted of a dull red color. Adjoin- 

 ing them is a hall fitted with all the usual appurtenances 

 of a gymnasium, and having a bowling alley for those 

 fond of that game. On the upper story, and running round 

 both courts, a race track has been prepared, which is ad- 

 mirably adapted either for pedestrian exercise, or for train- 

 ing for walking or running matches. Fencing and boxing 

 are also taught in connection with the court, which is in 

 all points one of the best, if not the very best, gymnasium 

 in the city. 



In regard to the constitution of the club its provisions 

 are such as to keep it select without being unnecessarily 

 exclusive. The officers of the club are Mr. W. R. Travers, 

 President; Mr. Rutherford Stuyvesant, Vice President, 

 and Mr. M. Morgan, Secretary and Treasurer, all of whom 

 are chosen from and by a board of twenty-five governors. 

 There are also a Racquet Court Committee, a Gymnasium 

 Committee, and a House Committee, the members of 

 which are elected in a manner similar to that employed 

 in making a choice of officers. As originally provided 

 the membership is restricted to five hundred, but we be- 

 lieve that in order to meet the great number of applica- 

 tions that limit is to be extended. The fact is deserving 

 of notice as an indication of the popularity of the game, 

 and as an evidence of the many attractions of the club. 

 The candidates for membership, who must be at least 

 eighteen years of age, are disposed of by ballot at the 

 monthly meetings of the Board of Governors. A very 

 good provision applies to visitors and strangers, who may 

 be admitted to the club house or portions thereof, on such 

 terms and for such periods as the Board of Governors may 

 determine. Of the rights and duties of members there is 

 only one of which special mention need now be made. It 

 is as follows : — 



' 'Every member of the club shall pay an entrance fee of 

 fifty dollars, and the sum of fifty dollars as an annual sub- 

 scription, payable in advance, on the first day of Novem- 

 ber in each year. No entrance fee shall, however, be re- 

 quired of members who shall have advanced towards the 

 building fund to the extent of not less than $250 each." 



Besides the games usually played in a gymnasium the 

 club has a handsomely fitted billiard room, and so far as 

 we are aware there is only one constitutional limitation to 

 the kind of amusement permitted. All games of cards 

 and games of hazard are prohibited. There is also a read- 

 ing room well supplied with the best periodicals. 



It is no part of our present purpose to moralize over the 

 benefit such an institution is to a community like that of 

 New York. One significant fact is that on New Year's 

 Day its members, instead of driving through the streets, 

 after the ridiculous and in every way reprehensible custom 

 of "making calls," were hard at play in the courts with 

 racquet and ball. Mr. E. L. Montague, whose prowess is 

 universally acknowledged, and has been previously no- 

 ticed by us, was, after some very exciting play, the victor 

 of the day. 



Although the game of racquet has been played in this 

 city and vicinity for a number of years, its principles are 

 not generally understood. It appears to have been intro- 

 duced from England, but how long it has been in vogue in 

 that country may be doubted. Strutt, who wrote in 1801, 

 makes no mention of the game, although he refers to the 

 "racket" or bat with which it and tennis are played. Sim- 

 ilar references are made by other writers, and even by old 

 Father Chaucer, which do not, however, substantiate th§ 



antiquity of the sport. The derivation of the word will, 

 from the fact of the same name being given to the imple- 

 ment used in tennis, throw little light upon the subject. 

 There is an Italian word racclietta for retichetta, a deriva- 

 tion from the Latin rete, a net; and there is also a Dutch 

 word racken, to stretch. -The French word racqueite has 

 the same meaning as our racquet or racket, and as it was 

 from that country that England borrowed the word, and 

 the game of tennis, the name is clearly of French extrac- 

 tion. It is likely from the netted bat used in the game 

 that the French word came, through the Italian, from the 

 Latin, in the manner above pointed out. 



As to the game, it is one of the many forms of ball play 

 to which from time immemorial Englishmen resorted for 

 amusement. The learned aver that the first ball was made 

 by a woman named Anagalla, and that women only in the 

 days of Homer played at ball. Saint Cuthbert is said to 

 have played "atte balle with the children that his fellowes 

 were," and it was used, although we do not know in what 

 kind of pastime, in London about six hundred years ago. 

 Avery interesting passage is quoted by Strutt from St. 

 Froix, a French author, who, in speaking of hand ball, 

 says; "This exercise consisted in receiving the ball and 

 driving it back again with the palm of the hand. In for- 

 mer times they played with the naked hand, then with a 

 glove, which in some instances was lined; afterwards they 

 bound cords and tendons round their hands to make the 

 ball rebound more forcibly, and hence the racket derived its 

 origin.'' 1 This appears a very probable view of the course 

 of the ancient ball play. The French played "palm play," 

 or, as it might be called, hand tennis, at a very early pe- 

 riod. The latter game was known in England under the 

 name of "fives," and was practiced at least as early as the 

 time of the good Queen Bess. There were endle-s modifi- 

 cations— balloon-ball, stool-ball, goff, or goff hurling—and 

 when the racket was introduced tennis was added to the 

 list. It is not unlikely that the game of "racket" or "rac- 

 quet" was subsequent to those above mentioned. A not 

 improbable suggestion is that it was an adaptation of the 

 old game of "fives" designed to bring into play the racket 

 or bat used in tennis. 



Coming next to a description of the game we may pre- 

 mise that to make it intelligible is almost impossible. Like 

 many others, it must be seen to be understood, and must 

 be played to be appreciated. The court we have already 

 described, and besides it a ball and a bat are required for 

 each player. The ball is white— hence the necessity of 

 having the court painted of a dark color— and must not 

 weigh more than one ounce. The bat or racket has a long, 

 straight handle terminating in an oval form, across which 

 catgut or silk wire is stretched in such a way that a net- 

 work is formed. Although the method of play is the same 

 at the Racquet Court of this city as at present in England, 

 we believe it differs considerably from that in vogue some 

 years ago. Then the ground was marked off into four 

 spaces by lines running parallel with the end wall. One 

 side took the two inner compartments, the other the two 

 outer, the former playing "inhand" the latter "outhand." 

 In the event of there being only two players each took 

 two divisions. The player beginning the game was le- 

 quired, as now, to strike the ball so that it would be driven 

 against the wall above a certain line. If, in rebounding, it 

 fell into any of the other divisions the player allotted to 

 that division was required to return it on the first rebound, 

 and so on until the ball was missed. If, on the ball being 

 returned, it either went under the required line or over 

 the wall, the player was out. 



The courts on Twenty-sixth street are divided into two 

 parts by a line known as the "short line" running parallel 

 with the end wall. The outer of these divisions is equal- 

 ly divided by a line drawn at right angles to the short line. 

 At each end of the short iine and on its outer side, a small 

 space is marked off for the scorer. The front wall shows 

 two lines. The lower is about thirty inches above the 

 ground, and is called the "tell-tale." Any ball striking be- 

 low it, whether in serving or returning, is a hand out. 

 Above it at a considerable height is the "serving line." The 

 two divisions of the ground made by the line above refered 

 to at right angles to the short line, are called the right aid 

 left courts. Let us suppose that the players are ready to 

 begin. The scorer may be in either couit. We will as- 

 sume that he is in the right. Standing with at least one 

 foot in the ring he throws up the ball and strikes it with 

 his racket so that it is driven against the front wall above 

 the serving line, and rebounding falls within the left court. 

 If he fails in this it is a fault. Serving two faults, missing 

 the ball when he first throws it up, or failing to 

 strike the front wall first, is a hand out. Should the ball 

 be served or played into the galleries, or hit a beam rod, or 

 wood, or netting above the limited lines of the court, it 

 counts against the striker, even if it return to the floor. 

 The ball having been served in the manner described the 

 occupant of the court into which it falls must strike it 

 either before or on the first bound, and again drive it 

 against the front wall. It is considered dead on and after 

 its second hop. The racquet must be used with only one 

 hand. 



There are several rules to which it would be useless here 

 to refer. The game, as we have said, can only be under- 

 stood by those who have seen it played; but the grand ob- 

 ject of the players may be broadly said to be to keep the 

 ball up as long as possible by striking it on its rebound 

 from the front wall . That this is not an easy matter 

 may be readily admitted, and very simply tested. 

 It is much more easy for a gieen player, even 

 on serving, to miss the ball than to hit it, an4 



