^_?^ 



THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN^S JOURNAL. 



1 Eiitei'ed Aecorrting to Aot o£ Gougres?, Lu tUe j'eav ISTS, liy tUe Forest anil Stream FaliUalilng Company, In tne onice o£ the Librarian ol Congress, at Washington.] 



^'^^^^^^h^J^^^rr-} NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1880. U«. a^a^-A^Va';.^ AV«,-.ewror, 



CONTENTS. 



EpiTouLU, : — 



;iyeIooity of Shot ; Penuaylvania Association; A Nowspayer'n 



Eesponsibilitieg ; '' Sealed Cans '" ; The Ksh CommisBion ; 



BHrnuiu !i8 a Fish CuJturist ; Justice to Dog KiUere ; Size 



of BLii-l> Ran-, . f'hp Saw-duet Arena 203 



The Sp,.Rii,iv> Todbim :— 

 HantiDK in Montana; Proving a Dog-Poisonor's Good 



Cimracter 204 



Natttm Kt-tohy — 

 'I I I )urters ; Ornithological Work in the Weat 

 I'l Burrb : A Young Guinea Fowl: Jolui 

 I u ; Quail ift Confinement ,• Anatomy of 

 i Snakes...... 200 



FiRH CuLrcKE :— 

 Old Fishing Itema : Spearing Pish on Spawning Grouncls ; 



0\ htor Sjial ; Black BaBS ; Carp : Alewife Culture 206 



Sea and Eitur FisniNO :— 

 CfttflHhTakp the Fly; SUver Bass ; A Hint for Kenliaden 

 Pihhcra ; 'li.niting in West Virginia ; Fishing in Minnesota; 

 A Mii^ ('.if.h; New Spcsrting Grounds: For Florida; 

 C'.iii.K '„:! I uuera 206 



Larj,'i> Gii "', t > I. HoBorts about Toronto ; 



Philadr 1 I'owder ; Duck Sliootlng 



and III . Ilk Shooting on the Eio 



liiaiil. irar S)iovtiiig Powder:" 



Ji 



1 



Vw.hIm, k, 31,. La. LiluiiR; A Wmte Sporting 

 Giound-L()iit,'Piiuit OiU'Detroit Letter ; Coiuitijig Crow^ : 

 Geoigia Gamo ; Wc, Go Counng , NoteF, 208 



anooTiNO Matches 211 



The KenneTj : — 

 St. Louis Dog Show S Nebraska Field Trials : Sensation ; A 

 Long Chase ; The Boston Dog Law ;' Notes 212 



TlTE KIFI.E :— 



Range and Gallery ; Schuetzen Notes 21d 



Akchery : — 



Hatches and Scores , 214 



CniCKET :— 



England vs. America 21 1 



i'AOHTKG AND OANOElNa :— 



Single-Handed Cruising : The Other Side j ICaebtiug News. . , 21 G 

 PnBLISHEES' Depaktjtent .,. i , _ 21C 



Answeks to Coehespondests 217 



FOREST AND STREAM 



KEW YORK, THUESDAT, OCTOBER 14, 1880. 



Velocity of Shot. — We promised some weeks ago the 

 publication of the full text of Prof, flayer's paper on the 

 Velocity of Shot. We regrcl to stiite that, owing to the Rn- 

 rious illnesa of Prof. Mayer, he lias lieen luiable to prepare 

 the mantiscript for our colnixns, Imt promises it to the read- 

 ers of the PoTtusT AND Stream as early as practicable. An 

 imperfect sj'nopsis of the article appeared, ut the time it was 

 read, in some of the daily papers, and has siace been copied 

 by some of our exchanges. We thought it due to Prof. 

 Mayer and to om- readers to publish the article, when wc do 

 publish it, complete and as its author would liave it appeal'. 



Sportsmen's Associations of Western Pessstvania. — 

 The Sportsmen's As.sociation of Western Pennsylvania has 

 300 members : in fact, 2S3 appeared at lust roll call. The 

 association is now ten yeai-s old, and stfll gi'owing. It is 

 composed mainly of business and professional men, who 

 have done much to enforce the game laws. Their club 

 room is 50 feet front by 80 feet deep, situated in the most 

 populous part of Pittsburg. The first floor is divided into a 

 readuig room, library, card room and a large billiard room. 

 The seerind story is called the assembly or meeting-roora, and 

 besides Uie numerous chairs and tables for officers and mem- 

 bers, cuiit:iiiiH easES of rare specimens of birds shot by mem- 

 bers of the Association, as well as a large variety of small birds 

 pm'chased from a skillful taxidermist in Massachusetts, 

 making in all about 3,000 good specimens. Their exhibit of 

 animals and reptiles is ciuite small, and some of the boys had 

 better go after snakes a little. 



The Alleghany Sportsmen's Association of Alleghany 

 county is a little over one year old, and has at least 100 mem- 

 bers, with headquarters in Alleghany City. 



A NEWSPAPER'S RESPONSIBILITIES. 



AS newspapers are managed by indlTiduals, they are no 

 less liable to error than the latter. And, although em- 

 ploying the impersonal "we," their responsibilities to the 

 pviblic — to their readers and advertisers — are no less binding 

 than are those of the individual business man. Moreover, be- 

 cause of their greater facilities for obtaining information, 

 there are certain duties incumbent on the publishers of a 

 newspaper from which commercial men are free. They must 

 especially avoid advertising any article or implement that 

 may be injurious to health or dangerous to life or limb. No 

 concern can shirk the responsibility which will attach to it, 

 if it knowingly advertises a dangerons gun or an imsafe 

 pistol. Every one knows that a safe rifle cannot be made for 

 $5, and if persons represent that they are selling such a gun 

 for that .sum, this representation is prima fiV'i'e evidence that 

 the gun is not a proper arm to put into the hands of the 

 shooting fraternity. 



But a newspaper is not bound to furnish brains for its 

 readers. It must exercise due care in receiving advertise- 

 ments, and m this respect must protect itself and its patrons. 

 It cannot, however, vouch for the honesty or business stand- 

 ing of all those who advertise goods for sale in its columns. 

 Its readers, in treating with strangers who live at a distance, 

 must be governed by the ordiuarj- and genei'allj^ accepted 

 rules of business. A capitalist in Boston does not bu}^ a mine 

 from a Colorado prospector without, taking some measm-es to 

 see that the property in whicli ho is to put his money is 

 really what it is represented to be. Why .should a sportsman 

 in Texas buy a dog from a breeder in Maine without inquir- 

 ing as to the responsibility and trustworthiness of the seller. 

 Every man who shoots has his own ideas as to what a dog 

 should do and be, and scarcely any two men think alike on 

 this subject ; moreover, as few men understand how to handle 

 a dog, therefore an animal which will work well before a good 

 handler may be worse than Ufseless to another man, who.se ex- 

 perience or Imack is less. Years ago we laid down for our- 

 selves a. rule from which we have never deviated. It was 

 simplj^ this : never to buy a broken dog without ourselves 

 giving it a fair trial. We are willing to pay the express 

 charges both ways, and to deposit the price agi'eed on with 

 some reliable party, preferably the Express Company. If at 

 the end of the time agreed on the dog does not give satisfac- 

 tion it is returned, and the only loss we have suffered is thai 

 of the charges. 



We sometimes receive complaints from person."; who have ' 

 bought dogs through advertisements in om- colmuus, which 

 do not satisfy them. Such persons are often themselves to 

 blame for the losses that they have incurred. They have not 

 taken proper precautious to guard themselves against loss and 

 bad treatment on the part of designing men. In these days 

 of express companies no man need part with his money be- 

 fore he sees the goods which' he is buying. 



Another point to which attention must be called, is the of- 

 fers which occasionally appear to give something of great 

 value for little or nothing. It would scarcely appear neces- 

 sary to waru intelligent men against offers of this kind, but 

 certainly the "fools are not all dead yet," and each one who 

 sends his mouej' thinks that he will escape being swindled 

 and that the rest of the community will come to grief. We 

 have little charity for the people who ai'e gulled by these 

 transpai-ent humbugs. They need a lesson of this kind. To 

 all who are tempted in this way, we would say, however, bo- 

 ware of such traps ; and if a man offers to sell a 8200 gnu for 

 S20, don't buy it. Thei-e are philantliropists in the world, no 

 doubt, but they have not yet beeu driven to advertising in the 

 newspapers. They can find plenty of pcoiilc on whom to be- 

 stow their favors wthout announcing it through the press. 

 When the millennial day anives, and some noble hearted 

 sportsman desires to send to each bearer of the rod or gun, a 

 $35 split bamboo rod and equipments, a iJSOO gun, a long- 

 range rifle, and a thoroughly broken Faust-Keswick pointer, 

 all for a tlu-ee-cent stamp, we will agree that he shall have 

 free advertising in Pokbst asd Stkeam, so that the sports- 

 men of America may all avail themselves of the opportunity 

 offered. 



In considering the advertisements offered us, we try to ex- 

 clude all those which have anything about them which ap- 



pears suspicious, but occasionally thi-ough misi-epresentation 

 or from some inadvertence advertisements may appear which 

 should not have been admitted to our columns. 



Forest and Stream cannot answer or be responsible for 

 casual advertisers in its columns or for those replying to such 

 advertisements. We recommend our patrons, whether read- 

 ers or advertisers, in doing business "nith strangers, to demand 

 references, to have goods sent by express C. O. D., and in 

 fact to protect themselves by all legitimate means. No one 

 in these days expects a customer to buy goods, without in- 

 specting them, and no one need feel aggrieved at having an 

 intending purchaser use reasonable business precautions in 

 business dealings. Of com'se with a majority of our adver- 

 tisers such precautions are imnecessary. The statements of 

 established houses which have a standing in the com- 

 mercial world may be implicitly trirsted. 



"SEALED CANS." 



THIRTY-FIVB years ago. Sir John Franklin, with a com- 

 pany of one himdred and tliirty-flve men, sailed from 

 England to attempt a northwest passage to the Pacific 

 Ocean. 



No siu'vivor of that party ever returned. The mystery 

 siuromiding the fate of the expedition has never been dis- 

 pelled. In the melancholy interest with which the clivilized 

 world has not yet ceased to regard it, the Franklin expedition 

 stands alone. It is the great tragedy of the North Land. 



Attention has been newly called to the subject hy the search 

 expedition of Lieutenant Schwatka, who claims to have dis- 

 covered in King William's Land relics of the Franklin ex- 

 pedition; iuid some of the cabjc dispatches received from 

 England dm'ing the past weeks commenting upon these 

 alleged discoveries are of the most startling and unexpected 

 character. 



Commander Cheyne, who was attached to one of the 

 former search expeditions, charges that Franklin's men per- 

 ished, not from Arctic exposure, but from starvation: in 

 short, not to put too fine a point upon it, that they were 

 murdered by the contractor who fm'nished the canned meats 

 for the expedition. The cans labeled "mutton" and "beef" 

 contained, it is alleged, nothing but bones and offal. And 

 when the oflicial inquest is held upon the skeleton of one of 

 the Franklin party, which is now on its way to England, 

 Commander Cheyne says that he will reiterate and prove his 

 charges against this contractor. 



This, it mu.st be confessed, takes away all the poetry from 

 the Franklin expedition. If these terrible charges of Com,- 

 mauder Clieyne can be proven, or if there is ground for even 

 a suspicion that they may be true, the sympathy of the world 

 for the victims will straightwaj' he turned into indignation 

 against the contractor. 



The moral of all this is of nearer application than the North 

 Pole. 



Every man who seals a tin can, afflxing his own signature 

 to assure its genuhieness, and then, prompted by his accursed 

 greed for gain, and Icnowing full well thai the possible con- 

 sequences of his deception may cost human life, deliberately 

 affu-ms that that can eontains one thing, when he knows it to 

 contain another thing, a-ssumes in so doing a tremendous and 

 awful responsibility. 



It matters little whether his deception accomplishes its dis- 

 astrous result among the green fields sought for pleasiu-e ot 

 amid the wastes of an Arctic Itmd ; it is of little moment 

 whether the true nature of the contents of that can be dis- 

 covered at once or five or thirty-five years afterward. 



PiSEco. — It was once the custom when public officers had 

 proved unfaithfid to their trust, to ni;uiif:li thein from their 

 native land ; in these days a happier rn.sirim laevails, wher-e- 

 by a term of cheerless exile is made a stepping stone to ad- 

 vanced rank. The FonEsx and Stream presents its best • 

 compliments to Commander L, A. Beardslee, late of the V. 

 S. S. Jamestown, stationed at Sitka, Alaska, and now de- 

 tached and on his waj^ home to be examined for promotion. 



Commander Beardslee's task at Sitka was one of some mag- 

 nitude, the governing of a mixed population, made up of di- 

 verse nationalities and for the most part not accustomed to 

 government of any kind. Something of the nature of thia 



