470 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jantfabt 18, 1881. 



was fierce. It was a fearful raoo to beliold— one of life and 

 deadi- The sxispenso was soon over, liowever, for the Hon- 

 orable S. went for llie fence tiie same wav PranQois Ravel 

 used to go llirouifli tlio clock— head first— and safely landed 

 on tbe other side afler scrapinc, hv the top rnU, all the but- 

 tons off his vest. The bull slowed up and the cows on the 

 plain seemed tickled to death, while from on high the plover, 

 with outstretched wings, looked down and squeeked out : 

 " Bless vou. mv children. Adieu !" V.PTKa 



' Bless you, my children. Adieu !" 



Epins. 



SAVE THE BIRDS. 



New Yokk, Jan. 3. 



Winter is again upon us in its fullest rigor. Snow covers 

 the whole State to the depth of fifteen inches and the quail 

 are gradually starving and then freezing. 'No game protec- 

 tive association, no LegiBliiture, noproliibitorv gauH' law can 

 help thetn; winter, the greatest foe, the gioatestentmy of Ihe 

 quail, is upon them, and if help does no't come to them soon 

 a good many of them will perish. 



But wiierc is this help to come from ? From our sports- 

 men individually, and at little expense. Every shooter, that 

 is cily sportsman, has his friends in the country, has his par- 

 ties he goes out shooting with in the fall of the year. Let, 

 then, each city siiorlsman write to liis.friends the following 

 instructions : Take a horsci and sleigh, fill up the sleigh with 

 hay or clover cut pretty short, mix with the hay or clover a 

 lot of liiiekwlieat or cracked corn, and distribute the whole 

 in piitclies large enough to be seen at a certain diiitance, so as 

 to attract allenlion, along the edges of the swamp or in any 

 field where the birds have been known to feed. Repeat this 

 transaction every other week or after every snow stoi-m. 

 The expense will not be large, Init thousands of quail will 

 thereby be saved, as every shooter knows that a well fed 

 quail can stand any amount of cold. 



1 have tried the experiment, and I am happy to state that 

 it works well. Gcstave Waltee. 



PjTrsBtmoB, Pa. 



Tou ought to speak a, word for the quail ; ynu cannot be 

 too quick about it. Only yesterday a man in" my neighbor- 

 hood picked ni3 two nearly frozen, "the lialance of I he 

 were dead- He took tJaem home, thawed them out 

 are now doing well. 



This is the worst winter on them since 1855 and 1856, and 

 unless we try to help them now we may as well quit shooting 

 for five years to come, "\^'^ly not try to get New York, 

 Pennsylvania, New Jersey and JIaryland to stop all shooting 

 for two years. Ohio would join and it would bo a blessing 

 a,U round. Two years' rest for quail, grouse and wood<_H:)ck 

 would make birds plenty for twenty years to come, but if 

 the few breeders that are now left are to be shot at from 

 October to J.<uumry of next year we may aa well give up 

 sport of this kind altogether. ,J. S. B. 



FOX HUNTING AT KITTANNING. 



KiTTANKrao, Pa., Jan. 3. 



HUNTING has peculiar charms which no one can appre- 

 ciate but those who liave engaged in the manly sport. 

 The exercise wliich it affords is much more healthful from 

 the fact that it is a,ccomp;Mued with delight and excitement. 

 The clia.=e has always lieen a source of anmsement and de- 

 light to kings and nobles, and tlie gates of the forest in Eng- 

 land and Eiu-opean mitions are closed to all except that fa- 

 vorite few. But in Anu'riea the forests arc open to all of 

 her citizens— not bam-d by (.aste or distinction— where the 

 cares incident to an aeiivc life may be cast aside, and all 

 may revel in the luxm-y of the chase, only restrained by 

 wholesome laws for the preservation of game : the object of 

 which indend is lo ineren.se oiu- pleasure.' 



In no loenlity within my knowledge is himting extensively 

 etigagediu, and so successfully piusued as in this'^very coimty 



of A 



The hunters ai 



well trained. 



fox hunter, ' 



pounds, and 



half dozen In 



with theiu tivi 



hound inipnr' 



and Ian; Nclli: 



a black and Ian pup fr 



tan i'rou! John King's 



qnile exciting, an<l 



I'^oxes and 'eoons are the favorite game. 



■ experieueed. Tlie bounds are blooded and 



the caplaiu of the lunit wa.^ the old 'coon and 



Con" Knllon, weighing over two hundred 



lay be seen uiost any da\' ac-eompanied by a 



unds. The ca[.Iain and several otlu-rs took 



bounds: Old Jack, an imported English fox 



'd by Fox, of Roxburgh, Res-Lucy, a black. 



id while, from C'learlielil County;Rock, 



m iiriryland; Drniumer, a black and 



cennels. 'Die chase must have been 



the exeiteniem of a fox hunt can be 



and game birds within a ten-mile radius of the city than any 

 one else. 



There is another thing I would like to ventilate through 

 the columns of the Forest A^^) Stream, and, although I 

 have it from a third party, I can implicilly believe him, and 

 that is parties shooting from a battery in East, or Moriches 

 Bay ; and while spending a tew days at ]\Toriches I was in- 

 formed tliat the men belonging to the life-saving station in 

 the vicinity were in the habit of " dusking" for wild fowl at 

 night. This tends more toward driving wild fowl out of the 

 bay than a whole army of sportsmen could do. 



What we want is better protection, and all the game laws 

 of the State and all the license fees collected on Long Island 

 will accomplish DOtbing if the game constables are in league 

 with the unJawful battery shooters and share their tinlawful 

 profits. El Pobkk Cazador. 



SnnENEOTADy, Dee. 31. 

 Does Mr. Pike or any of his co-^vol■k!.■rs ever stoj:! lo con- 

 sider if there are not some gentlemen spon.siuen Iti the labor- 

 ing classes, and that a ten-dollar license to them means the 

 taking away of numerous comforts from their families? I 

 know several laboring raeu in this vicinity as honorable 

 sportsmen as ever carried a gun or rod (Mltliougli Ihe one may 

 be of pot-metal and the other reed). They would not think 



Jid they 



The Washington BeporUr says: "Warren Brown] ee 



and Wm. Mounts, formerlj^ of this county, now of Missouri, 

 have promised to send a thousand quails from their farm in 

 that Slate lo this county. Tiie birds are very abundant there, 

 not being himled as they are here, br-cause the larger game is 

 found in plenty. The Sportsmen's Club of Washington 

 would be pleased to receive reports fri:im farmers and sports- 

 men, by postal card, whether the quail have sidTcrcd froju 

 the severe weather, in order tluit the loss may be made up 

 by sending them stock birds. Parties wishing birds for pre- 

 serves can get them at net cost upon api.ilieation to the club. 

 Notice will be given whenever the birds from Missouri 

 aiTive." 



RooKTSGnAir, N. C, Jan. 3. 

 The poor quail in our State are now having a hard time of 

 it. In the northern and western portions of our State the 

 snow I learn is, and has been for some weeks, aljout one foot 

 deep. In 1876 the quail were almost exterminated here, 

 but since then have great]3' increased in numbeis, and are 

 now about as mmierous as before the cold snap of that year. 



T. C.L. 



Vebnon, N. J. 

 The snows have done great injury to the quail, which are 

 the only bird left in any quautily^ in this section. RutTed 

 grouse are almost exterminated, and where several years ago 

 hundreds could be found on our mountain for a yc;ar or two 

 but very few could be foimd. Can nothing be done to save 

 this bird? F. 0. 



Wilmington, Del., Jan 5. 

 I fear all the quail in the Stale are done for. We have 

 over eighteen inches of snow all over the State, and r( ports 

 are coming in that the quail are frozen and starved lo death. 



H. W. G. 



HiGHTSTOWN, N. J., Jan. 8. 

 The sportsmen of New Jersey feel pretty certain that the 

 quad have nearly all perished in the drifts or been devoured 

 by hawks. A clo.se season of two years is generally called 

 for, and the Monmouth DfnuKrat, Higbtstown Oiuettf, Ma- 

 nasquan 8ea Side, Lakewood Journal, and other newspapers 

 are indorsing the amendment of tiie game law to that end. 



CENTREeORT, L. I. 



Entire bevies of quail have been found frozen in the snow, 

 and whole bevies have also been potted by one cliarge of shot 

 from the wretches who sneak up and deliver their broadsides 

 in the snow. W. 



Staunton, Va., Jan. 8. 

 The snow and cold have committed fearful havoc among 

 our birds, but didn't kiU them all. The groimd is still cov- 

 ered five or six inches deep, but the birds can run on top of 

 it now, and if no more comes there will be some left for 

 "seed." Jack. 



Macon, Ga., Jan. 4. 

 The excessive cold weather has put a stop to our sport, 

 this being the coldest spell since 1835; snow and ice on the 

 grotmd for a week. J. H. J. 



TAiOBWAS— Monroe, Jan. 8.— Near Saginaw two of us re- 

 cently bagged in two and a half days thirty-nine rufled 

 grouse and forty quail and as many hares as we could carry, 

 and in hunting a portion of those ff>ur cold linys I l.jagged 

 twenty ruffed grouse, twenty-eight quail and four hares, 

 alone. Those were the last four days in December, and ex- 

 ceedingly cold. Johtj Davidson. 



conveyed only in the ].ihra.seology of a hunter and a partici- 

 pant uc give bis ow^l account of it. 



"At 1 I'. M. we started for Ihe old furnace property, two 

 miles nortlnvi.'st of tliis jilacc, a tract of land containing some 

 two tbovisaiid acres of tind)er, and an excellent place for fox 

 hunting. Shortly after our arrival at the woods the pup 

 struck the trail and gave tongue. Then Old Jack and "he 

 balance followed, excepting Dnmun'er who was held on the 

 chain. Away they went dowm and across theruu, the bounds 

 giving tongue, and baying; the hunters, noisy and more ex- 

 cited than the bounds, shouting, ' There he goes : look, I S' e 

 him.' Down the run the fox went — no time to trot, but six 

 feet at every br)und— until he came near the river, when he 

 made a tm'u aral recrossed the run, and ran along the side of 

 the hill coming direcllj' toward the hunters, not one hundred 

 rods ahead of the hounds. 



"As he came near us he struck our over the hiU. ' He is 

 making for Butlonwood Knob ." shouted ' Con,' and we all 

 struck out for the Knob. The fox made good time and 

 gaiiu'd on the dogs some three hundred yjirds. When we 

 got to the Isinol) he made one circle around it, and was on 

 Ills second round when he came within some thirty yards 

 where we were stationed. 



■' • Here he comes,' shouted Alex. ' Look, Con, there he 

 goes.' 



" ' Let him go,' says ' Con,' 'and let Drummer loose.' 



"Druuuner struck out ' full tilt.' 



" ' Hip, hurray,' says Alex. ' Two to one he puts him to 

 earth or kills him in ten minutes.' 



'■ ■ 1 tidi.e the tiet,' ,-ays the lawyer from Pittsburgh. 



"Away Ihey uenl through the laurel, and iq) the hill over 

 Butlonwood Knob out of sight. 



" 'If that Ixing dog was worth a tinker's cuss he would 

 have hiui ; no use in depending upon anything except the 

 pure blood,' says ' Con.'' 



" We recrossed th- ravine, and waifedfor half an hour, 

 but no word of the dogs or fox. 



" Con thinks they have struck out for Washington Loop. 

 It Wdsgettiugdai-k so we started for home, where we arrived 

 alt) V. Jt., having seen a fox chase but caught no fox. All 

 of the dogs came home in the night time except the pup, and 

 we fomtri him .yesterday about live miles from here. The af- 

 ternoons are too short iox a fox bimt. The next time we 

 will ,go out in the moniing, and expect to bring in a fox. 

 Our uext venture will bo after a black fox m Brunt's Hol- 

 low." 



This is the account of the fox hunt. If any one of your 

 runny readers wish to have some sport in the way of fox 

 hunting let him come to the Reynolds House in luttarmy, 

 and inquire of Sheriff IJtury. ll'e will have a w^arm recep- 

 tion. A fox can be started at any time. A HtraTER. 



THE GUN TAX ON LONG ISLAKD. 



I HAVE read wilJi a great deal of pleasure Mr. Nicholas 

 Pike's letter to the farmers of Long Island, in last weeli's 

 issue of the Forest asd Stream, and although bis letter may 

 apply only to or in the neighborhood of the city, yet I in- 

 dorse eveiy word he writes in regard to the projection of ia- 

 sectivorous l.iirds. 



Kut in reference to his proposition that every gunner on 

 Long Island should be taxed ten dollars for a license per an- 

 num, I would like to eiUcr a feeble protest — not for myself, 

 but in behalf of some very worthy sportsmen, who, not hav- 

 ing plemy of lucre, could' ill afford to pay such an amount. 



It is uo"l the man w^ho can hardly spare a few debars to go 

 a short distance on Long Island wiio kills off the game some 

 distance away from the city; but it is the aristocrat (dressed 

 in the latest stye of s|:iorting suits), with a magnificent gun 

 and a brace of beautiful setters, with a supply of money un- 

 limited, on whose htmda time bangs heavily for want of occu- 

 pation, who can go any distance on the Island and stay any 

 length of time it may suit his lordship, who is the real exter- 

 minator. 



The man who is tied down to business and can with great 

 difBculty spare a day or two to enjoy soiue little shooting, 

 but whose means will not enable him lo go any distance or 

 stay beyond the siiort time allotted him, even were he dis- 

 posed to do 80, is by no means the one who annihilates game. 



By placing a license fee el ten lUillars on every sportsman 

 it would give the exclusive right of huntmg to aristocratic 

 members of opulent gun clubs and debar any one else from 

 enjoying litis tridy ennobling sport, genuinesportsman though 

 he be. 



On the other hand, by not having some kind of license 

 there is danger of that part of \,mg Island within a radius of 

 twenty miles from Brooklyn being run over by an army of 

 pot-hunters and sportsmen, which is yearly being aug- 

 mented. 



H it be fixed at $2 or §3 it will prevent " fledglings " of 

 from fourteen to eighteen years of age from setting out on 

 "scouting" expeditions from the cities of New York and 

 Brooklyn, vent m-ing just over the city limits of the latter 

 namedcity and shooting not only insectivorous birds, but 

 barn-yards fowls as well. 



These are the ones who tend more toward destroying song 



of killing or catching game out of si 

 lion aucl means do nolT allow of more thn 

 hunting in the season. Will it be just 

 these few days by putting on a prohibit' 

 erous as well as just. Don't rob 

 e'er sae poor," out of a few days' enjoy 

 plea of protecting the game, 

 able hunter on lo the criminal 



I have been 

 for over two years 

 paper is growinc i 

 perience'lbat you 

 My copy is freely 

 the pr- 



std.iseriber for Fo 

 md can fully iiiilorsc il 

 excellence. I c;in ass 

 ave far m(ire readers 

 sed in a class tliac c 



d thuir occupa- 

 ilf a (li.izen days' 



i.-:iri..-' llH.-m of 

 I.Il- gen- 



,.:,;. 1, 1,1, "iho' 



H. unoer the false 



perha|is drive an. honor- 



.1 by sellish legishUioE 



Stream 



ipinion tliat the 



you from ex- 



lan subscribers. 



ill-afford to spare 



ly paiier, rand tlii-y take great interest in it and 

 watching the jiroceedings of the different clubs and asso- 

 ciations with anxious minds, 'ihey are very expressive in 

 llicir lieartfelt gratitude to you for the many recipes found in 

 correspondents' column, which have often been of great ben- 

 efit to their dogs. J. D. J. 



OUR DETROIT LETTER. 



Detroit, Jan, 8. 

 rilHE event of the week in Detroit ."portsrnen circles was 

 I the contest for the medal of the Mcliiyan State .VIedal 

 As30cinlion. The meeting was hc-hl on We.lneMlay at the 

 grouQds which have bean tilted up for the use of tiie associ- 

 ation within the Huntfman Park iDClosmv. As 1 informed 

 you in my last letter the costly bauble which is ilie olqect for 

 which Ihe gallant men of the associnlion so often and so 

 fiercely struggle, was held by E. S. Barbour, of this city. 

 He was expected to appear to defend his possession of it 

 but the holiday burdens had been too heavy for hiin, and he 

 was downright ill. He accordingly placed the medal in the 

 bauds of a irusiy friend, tcgelher with a letter explaining the 

 cause of his absence. The day was clear and cold, but so 

 admirable are the arrangements that very little discomfort 

 was exptrienced from the depressed temperature. For in- 

 stance, the "home base" is in an inclosed shed, where a large 

 slove and plamy of fuel mado it possible for the shooters to 

 quite domesticate themselves. When one was called to the 

 bne he had merely lo seize his gun, step out from his warm 

 corner, toe the scratch, wink, " pull " and blaze away. This 

 may be regarded by some as rather an effeminate surren- 

 der to tlie borean blasts, but all such will have to be properly 

 introduced to the " boys " hereabout belore they can under- 

 stand they are men in the broadest-shouldered .sense of ihe 

 term, hardy, sturdy fellows who have waded roaring tor- 

 rents and chased the bounding roebuck over long and tedious 

 courses to gel her. The fact that home civilizaiion is called 

 on to contribute to the sportsman's luxury is, I lake it, 

 belter proof of his levelhi adeduess than of Lis effeminacy. 

 II will no doubt interest many hundreds of readers ol Fokest 

 AND Stream to know that this day's shooliDg was done over 

 traps presented by the late and still lamented Greene Smith, 

 and that beuceforih, as long as those traps shall lust, the asso- 

 ciation will use no oihers. This in memory of one of the 

 rarest and gi.'ulleEi souls th'.\l ever grew big in mortal breast at 

 Ihe opponunily to do some suffering felloiv crta'ureageuuine 

 kinduc's. The Detroit sporlsaien rnits him Sidly, and hia 

 name, like that of poor Tom Uavey, is seldom mentioutd here 

 unless accompanied by the hearteJi aspiration: "God bless 

 him.' 



Well, as I was saying, the day was brilliant, the shooters 

 wire in h'gh fiatUcr, finger joints were in good jilaying 

 order, good nature ruled ihe camp, birds were warm and 

 lively, and every fellow had an air of determination as if re- 

 solved to win or die in the attempt. Tijere was a goodly 

 number of speclal.ors pre.sent and a considerable sum of 

 money changed hands on the result — chiefly liy outsiders — 

 together wi'ih sundry bottles of wiue, gauie suppers, and 

 25"cenl cigars, t It is as'onisliing liow iuxuriously thesporls- 

 man enjoys a good ctg;ir after a da.\ '= jhooiing, apexed wiih a 

 hot game supper done up in right ttylc.) 1 rlo not need to 

 fill space uDueceaaarily with trilling details, so for the pur- 

 pose of this chronicle let it suffice that Goff Slenlon won the 

 medal by killing ten out of his eleven birds. 



At the annual meeting of the Michigan Sportsmen's Associ- 

 ation, at Lansing, on the 25th instant, esssays will bo read 

 and topics of interest fienerally to the sporting world will be 

 discussed as raalters of subordinate concern. I say subordi- 

 nate because the main point of this meeting Is the proposed 

 revolution of the game laws of Michii.'an. The latest oigaiii- 

 Zdiion to appoint delegates to the State Gouvemiou is the 

 Lake St. Clair Fishing and Shoaiing Club, its delegates are 

 Hon M. Dickinson, one of the most prominent landers of the 

 West ; Uou. Geo. H. Hopkins, Secretary lo Gov. Bagley and 

 now a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, 

 and Wm. 0. Colburn, President of the club. I shall next 

 week have for your readers an interesting history of this 

 famous gentlemen's club, which, I think, might be accepted 

 as a model by all the world of amateur sportsmen. 



Triggkk Tbix 



New Hampshibb — Na.ilma, N. H., Jan. 1. — The past 

 season has been a dry one ; but very few woodcock were 

 shot in tills vicinity, 'the usual feeding ltom!!,)., i,fing so dry 

 as to off'er no inducements to the 1, ■ . Rilfted 



grouse also were hard to find, and . j scarce. 



Squirrel hunting is the best sport of lie: -i ,; ^ n, :: luce snow 

 has come fox hunting has given fine sport to those who enjoy 



