192 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aran, 8, 1880. 



"William Jack awaited at the gate, and that ho held in 

 leash mail's most faithful friend, a hound, of the genua 

 our and species mongrel. Seeing; which animal, crouch- 

 ing in a posture that betokened fear of his noble master, 

 so abject that his indrawn tail tickled his nose with its 

 tip; so emaciated that Ids ribs Beemed asking 

 for air — so mangy that he was scaly withal. 

 1 inquired for what purpose he intended "this beast, 

 William Jack replied that it was to track the 

 deer of the forest that he had secured this dog, 

 to aid in the search for the fallow deer of the fields. 



William Jack then strode along, after hitching the leash 

 to his girdle, and as W. J. was a tall man, a long-legged 

 man, and the eur was a small cur, a short-legged cur, 

 there was a difference in their gait, for which the dog's 

 powers of locomotion could not compensate. But W. J. 

 did not so much as give the canine attention, but strode 

 on with mighty strides, which, the dog perceiving, did his 

 utmost to prevent. He was not accustomed to trotting 

 along behind a man, held by a restraining rope : he liked 

 to jog along leisurely, to make side darts at lizards and 

 grasshoppers, to scratch his mangy rihs once in a while, 

 and search out the lair of an annoying flea. Consequent- 

 ly he sat down and howled — or rather he tried to sit down 

 and essayed to howl — but he could not seem to find a 

 suitable " place to Bit, and the oomplaint he fain would 

 utter was promptly choked by the cruel rope. But every 

 dog has his day, and this one somehow drew his head 

 from out the noose and galloped off with a derisive yelp. 



Scouring the field he first attacked a herd of goats and 

 then an old bull, and made noise enough in half an hour 

 to frighten away all the doer in a two mile circuit, which 

 sufficiently explains why deer ware not captured that 

 morning. After having his fill of fun and revenge he 

 came back and submitted to be tied ; and the drubbing 

 that W. J. gave him was a» balm to my spirit. 



It was about 9 o'clock, and I was riding a horse that 

 had been Bent to me, sitting carelessly in the saddle with 

 my empty gun thrown over one arm and th» reins hang- 

 ing loose. The field I was crossing was a new one, and 

 there were fifty or sixty negro women at work hoeing in 

 it in a long line near a wood. The cur had long since 

 been let loose to enjoy himself as best he might, and he 

 had worried several hogs and sheep and had now disap- 

 peared in the copse. His continual yelping suddenly 

 changed to quick, excited cries, which I knew meant 

 deer, and I had just time to throw myself from thehorse, 

 slip a cartridge into my Run and the bridle over my arm, 

 when out dashed a goodly doe, heading directly for me. 

 She was 60 close in range with the women that I could 

 not fire without peppering some of them, and had to 

 wait until she was a long range off. As I threw up my 

 gun the horse drew suddenly back and spoiled my sight. 

 The deer was so frightened at the report that she ran 

 plump into a Leap of brush and fell over on her side, but 

 before I could pop in another cartridge she was up and 

 away. 



In the evening William Jack came to me, saying he 

 wished to show me deer "to' sure," as he knew where 

 they fed every night. Mounting the horses we cantered 

 down the lane half way to the river landing, where we 

 burned into a wood and hitched the beast. William had 

 stereotyped notions about deer-hunting and was a good 

 hunter when be bad with him the trained dogs belonging 

 to the proprietors ; but in ctill-huntiag I was of the opin- 

 ion that American ideas were in advance of his. Those 

 dogs hunted in a peculiar manner ; they had been trained 

 to point the deer. Instead of plunging into the bush and 

 Bkurrying through the thicket like mad, these dogs qui- 

 etly walk along ahead of the hunter, occasionally looking 

 over then- shoulder to see if he is following. When on a 

 fresh deer trail the dog comes to a halt and winks at the 

 hunter to be silent and cautiouB ; then he steps ahead 

 carefully and finally Stops before a thicket which is pretty 

 sure to coo tain a deer. 



Barbuda has been the causa of the loss of many ves- 

 sels, and it is upon the reef bordering this end of the 

 island that most of them go ashore. In years past, these 

 wrecks were the chief reliance of the people, and it is 

 presumed they may be acquitted of any other than laud- 

 able desires for gain, if they taught their children to 

 pray, like the wreckers of Bermuda, for a good fat 

 wreck: "God bless papa and mamma, and send us a 

 good wreck in the morning." 



Near "Two-foot Bay," which I visited with the Par- 

 son, is a large cave inhabited by bats, from which, as 

 from another " bat cave " in Antigua, good stores of bat 

 guano have been taken. More valuable than this, how- 

 ever, are the phosphatic cliffs near, which might possi- 

 bly pay as well as the little rock, Redonda, between 

 Xevis and Montserrat, from which an American com- 



tany has taken ship loads of a, fertilizer; or the island of 

 ombrero, near the Virgin Islands, which has been to 

 the company owning it a mine of wealth. Near the 

 cave was a barren tract covered with cacti ; Turks-head 

 Cactus sprang up everywhere, and tall candelabra, 

 prickly-pear, and half a dozen other speciea con- 

 tributed towards making the trail through this 

 tract a thorny path. But they were aglow with gay 

 flowers, and among them were deer trails in abundance, 

 and near them several heaps of shells. 



Shell-heaps, especially such as have been nearly cov- 

 ered by shifting sands, may not offer to the casual ob- 

 server "even a hint of attractiveness ; but to one archjeo- 

 logioally inclined, they reveal jjreat secrete. 1 have 



m , a : shell-heap that I nifl not want to explore to 



its very base ; for these bleached and broken bhells, 

 thrown together in apparent confusion, speak to us as 

 voices from the dead ; they are sometimes the only re- 

 mains of an unknown race. We dug into these shell- 

 heaps and soon came to charred wood and Bmoke-hlack- 

 ened shards of pottery, and a little below, to solid earth, 

 the base of the pile. A few shards of pottery and a, 

 knife wrought of conch shell were all that rewarded Our 

 labors. Until dark, we hunted carefully for deer, but, 

 though the Parson was an excellent hunter, we searched 

 in vain and returned to the house bootless, save our 

 birds and Carib relics \ but I enjoyed it just as much. 

 The naturalist in me predominates over the hunter] and 

 I delight in new birds and scenes more than in sport ob- 

 tained by the shedding of blood ; so we jogged along 

 happy and content, the Parson in the consciousness of 

 having given me pleasure, and 1 in the serenity of the 

 hour. 



To this day there comes back to me the calm atmos- 

 phere of that perfect evening, with the perfume of acacia 

 blossoms, that time haa not robbed of its strength. And 



next day, the Sabbath, I listened with enjoyment to the 

 earnest utterance of the Parson as he exhorted his at- 

 tentive flock to stricter observance of their duties. The 

 little church (Anglican) is neatly furnished, and chancel 

 and altar, brought over from England, of oak elegantly 

 carved. A congregation of three hundred attentive list- 

 eners reward the good man's labors, well-drilled in re- 

 sponses and in song, 



" Flamingo Plash " is the name bestowed upon apart of 

 the broad lagoon, on the banks of which is built the " Cas- 

 tle," whose ruins are the resort of numberless bats. 

 Large as doves were some of these bats that had their 

 haunts here. By day they would remain concealed in 

 the nooks and crannies of the ruined walls : towards 

 sunset they would sally forth by one or two at a time, 

 followed by a vast throng as night drew near, and from 

 their tenements would issue such souenkings as from a 

 host of bats, unsurpassed, I think, by those of the multi- 

 tude evoked by the "Pied Piper "of Hamelin. One of 

 them, which 1 shot as he swept above the ruins, meas- 

 ured twenty -four inches in extent of wing and was four 

 and one-half inches in length ; his wing was four inches 

 in breadth. As I walked down to the shore in the cool 

 of Monday morning, the Parson was actively engaged in 

 superintending the distillation of gome bay oil, fragrant 

 heaps of the bay filling the air with sweet odor. The 

 tree grows abundantly in the scrub, and is a profitable 

 article when the large price of the oil is considered. 



Inclosed by a rim of mangroves is a little island on 

 which the frigate pelicans breed ; as we approached it in 

 our boat they arose in a cloud and sailed up into a higher 

 atmosphere ; a few lingered a little lower and a little 

 longer than was good for them, and soon were fluttering 

 their wide-extended wings in dying struggles upon the 

 water. They measured seven feet in stretch of whig, and 

 were the same species that inhabit the southern coast of 

 the United States, the Frigata aquila. Upon the island 

 we found some young, nearly fledged, and a few eggs. 

 Brown pelicans (Pelecanus fmout) breed here also ; but 

 they flew away at our approach. 



Upon the eastern side of the lagoon we landed upon a 

 beach of shells and sand and plunged into the sea-grapes 

 after pigeons. It was now the season for sea-grapes to 

 ripen their fruit, and the red grapes, like berries, hung in 

 tempting clusters ; and to feed upon these grapes came 

 birds Of various species, but especially the white-headed 

 pigeon (Cotumba leueocephala). This pigeon is abundant 

 in the lone islands and extends northward to the Florida 

 Keys, but is only an occasional visitant of the moun- 

 tainous islands south of Antigua. It breeds here in Bar- 

 buda, and also in Antigua, and resides here throughout 

 the year, with perhaps local migrations among the is- 

 lands. It is about the tize of the American passenger 

 pigeon, though with shorter tail, and is fully as excellent 

 when on the table. The season had hardly Commenced, 

 but the pigeons were there in such numbers that we se- 

 cured sixteen in the short space of one hour. 



Other birds feed on the sea-grapes, and they are as del- 

 icate and tempting in a pie, as graceful and innocent in 

 the held, There are two species of doves, the larger. 

 Zenceda mariinicana, the smaller, Chaincepeleia pataer- 

 ina. I found thorn in every island of the group, but in 

 none so abundant as here"; the smaller species fairly 

 swarming about the. pools and mud-holes. At s shot, 

 they would arise and settle in such numbers along e 

 branch that a dozen could have been swept from it with 

 one charge. 



At the end of a fortnight, every week-day of which 

 was passed in some such manner as I have in" this article 

 described, I bade adieu to my hospitable hosts and 

 crossed the channel to Antigua, though I would gladly 

 have accepted their invitation, oft repeated, to prolong 



mv fitav. PrEti Rrrnorv 



my stay. 



Fred Beverly. 



GAME PROTECTION. 



Massachusetts Fish and Gam; Association.— Boston, 

 April 3d.— The annual meeting of this association was 

 held last evening at the headquarters 008 Washington 

 street. The anual report of the Treasurer showed a bal- 

 lance of $360 47 on hand. The present membership is 

 over 300. Sir Randall Roberts of England briefly addresed 

 tho meeting on the subject of fish hatching in Great 

 Britain; The association voted to invite him to address 

 them on the 28th inst. The following officers were 

 elected: President, Walter M. Brackett ; Vice-President. 

 Hon.Thos. Talbot, Hon. Daniel Needhani, Hon. Chas. Levi 

 Woodbury, Col, Henry Smith, Agustus T. Perkins, Esq. 

 J. Lewis Stackpole, Esq., William Emerson Baker Esq., 

 Treasurer, L. M. Chase ; Recording and Corresponding 

 Secretary, Edward S. Tobay, Jr.; Librarian, E. M. Mess- 

 inger ; Executive Committee, W. S. Hills, John Fottlor 

 Jr.', C. W. Hersey, F, R. Shattuck, C. T. JenkinB. 



Woodcock in New Jersey.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream :—. If "many of the sportsmen of that State are in 

 doubt whether or not the law has jurisdiction over the 

 deeds of a proprietor on his own estate," as stated in your 

 Notes last week, it must be because they have very 

 slight acquaintance with the law. The new lasv refer- 

 ring to woodcock is only an amendment of the general 

 game* law passed in 1874. That general game law had a 

 section which exempted from its provisions and penalties 

 proprietors killing or catching game upon their own 

 propertyj but that section (80) was repealed in 1876 and 

 the game laws of the State are of general application, 

 like other statutes which define crimes and prescribe pen- 

 alties, In specified seasons, to kill game is a misdemeanor. 

 and during these Seasons no " proprietor" has any more 

 right to take the life of a game bird, tish or animal, on 

 the plea that it is " on his own estate," than he would 

 have to take the life of a horse or a man that had strayed 

 upon his premises. New Jersey. 



Monroe CoiftJTY SrornsMi-N'd Club.— Rochester. N, Y., 

 April B.S.— The Monroe County Sportsmen's Club held a 

 meeting Thursday night, and elected the follow, □ i ! 

 gates to the State Convention : YV, J. Uabcock, Edmund 

 Redmond, Beth Green, A. P>. Uinbertotl. H. II. Morse. 

 The Club resolved to approve of the proposition 

 the By-Laws of the Slate Association on fly-throwing by 

 establishing a standard for fly-rods, the limits of length 

 to be 9ft. 6in. and lift. 6in. Powder was discussed, and 

 the views of various members obtained. 1 think the 

 Monroe County delegates will vote to hold the State 

 Convention of 1881 in New York.j, DrviNG Decoy, 



%<m\t §ag nt\d (j§m 



GA1UJ5 IN SEASON I X APBII.. 



Wild Duclts, Geese, Brant, «tc. 



GAME AND FISK DIRECTORY. 



In sending reports for the Forest and SrnBAM Directory (0 

 Came and Fish Hesorts, our correspondents aro requested to give, 

 the t oHowlnjr particulars, with such other information as they 

 may deem of value : State, Town, County : mes as of access ; Hotel 

 and other Beoommodatioos ; Game and its Season ; Fish and Its Sea- 

 son: Boats, Guides, etc.: Name ot person to address. 



Fish and Game Resorts.— We again invite attention 

 to the Game and Fish Directory, of which mention is 

 made above ; and we urge our friends to send us such in- 

 formation as they may possess for the general fund. 



—A fox was captured in Trinity Cemetery, New York 

 Citv, a few weeks ago. They caught one in Greenwood 

 in 1878, 



—An engineer on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad ran 

 down a buck in the Mississippi pine woods a fortnight 

 ago, breaking both of the animal's hind legs. Yonison 

 was served in the caboose that night. 



Godbout Winter Sport,— A late letter from our cor- 

 respondent cm the Godbout, Canada, tells of the winter 

 there :— 



There is little to he done here this winter, Trapping is 

 very poor all along the Labrador Coast. The fall hunt is 

 one-third less than usual, Winter seal shooting, which 



used to be pretty- 

 Small game is, with the exc 

 to date I have not seen 

 grouse). The ptarmigan, vi 

 the north shore, has disappe 

 for the last three years. To 1 

 been and are still unusuall 

 have at present are the co 



iplere failure. 

 sption of ducks, scarce. Up 

 a single partridge (ruffed 

 hieh used to be abundant on 

 aied. We have not seen any 

 nake up for this, ducks have 

 j numerous. The kinds we 

 der, long-tailed duck, 



or old squaws, the Iceland golden-eye and the white- 

 winged guilemot. I have killed any amount of them 

 since last November ; in fact 1 supplied the live families 

 of Indians here with as much a3 they could eat, which is 

 a good deal ; of course they taste a little fishy, but that 

 makes no difference. 



There is, however, one great drawback to winter duck 

 shooting, and that is the intense cold. One must be a 

 born gunner to enjoy it. 1 was out very often for five 

 or six hours in my little canoe among the drifting ice 

 when the thermometer stood at 30 deg. below zero, and 

 even under that sometimes. My best bag was thirty-four 

 eiders and two gohlen-eve ducks in one morning's shoot- 

 ing (Dec. SOth). 



Manitoba's Attractions.— Emerson, Manitoba, March 

 25th. — It may be interesting to some of the readers of 

 Forest aNd Stream to hear a little of the shooting to he 

 obtained in this Province, or more especially that, to be 

 met with near this point. Ducks and prairie chickens are 

 our principal game, but numbers of swans and gi 

 be killed within easy distance of Winnipeg. Almost 

 every variety of duck is to be met with, but the mallards 

 exceed others in point of number. There is good decoy 

 shooting in spring, say about middle of April, and iu the 

 fall no better flight and canoeing sport can be i 

 than that to be had either at Lake Manitoba, distant 

 eighty miles from Winnipeg, or at the Marshes at the 

 mouth of Red River, that is to say, where the river runs 

 into Lake Winnipeg. Last fall" the ducks and prairie 

 chickens were very numerous, and a. friend and myself 

 had capital sport at Rat River, distant twenty-live or 

 thirty miles from boundary line, and right on the route 

 of the Pembina branch of The Canadian Pacific Railroad. 

 Any party coming through from the States in shooting- 

 car can be landed right on the ground, so to speak ; and 

 I feel justified in saying, that they will in every way be 

 delighted with the duck shooting. October will be the 

 best time for them to come. At either Lake Winnipeg 

 or Manitoba, Indians can be hired by the day, together 

 with their canoes, at a cost of $1 per day or there- 

 abouts. Good camping grounds can be found, and, if de- 

 sired, a steam tug can be chartered at Winnipeg wliich 

 will carry the shooters to then- happy hunting grounds. 

 For prairie chickens 1 most, strongly recommend the 

 country round Hallock, Minnesota, some twenty miles 

 south | but, as a general rule, they are met with in mo6t 

 localities. Last fall on several occasions I killed from 

 eight to seventeen, within half an hour's walk of our 

 railroad station. 



We are all strong believers in small shot, using noth- 

 ing larger than Tatbam's No. 7 chilled all the year ronud. 

 For my own part, 1 load with Ai or 5 drs, of Du pout's 

 No. 1 ducking powder and 1 oz. of No. 7 shot, and 1 rind 

 that this charge, when properly directed from one of 

 :ener's 10 lbs. choke-bores, does far better execution 

 thaD l have ever done when using larger shot. 



In conclusion 1 may say. that if any of the readers of 

 Forest and Stream" think it worth their while to pay 

 this Province a visit, 1 am one of the Custom officers 

 at the boundary line land as they Dome through they 



I't help but "meet nie!, f shall only be to 

 to furnish them with any information as regard 

 nig grounds, etc., that 1 can give, fret: gratis— for noth- 

 ing. E, G. S, 



New York — Rochester, April Sd. — Woodcock have 

 been here for weeks past, but no snipe base yet put in an 

 appearance. Some of our sportsmen have had good sport ] 

 with the ducks on Cayuga Lake and the Seneca River ; 

 none worth speaking of have been bagged much nearer 



home. Brass Dbcot. 



North Cap.ol.ina— Raleigh, April 1st.— I give 

 suit of some Bhoofcing by myself durin 

 with a 30-gauge, muzzle-loading, doubli 



about thirty hours from 



birds are plentiful and the shooting good. 't 

 do nut post their lands nor object to your shoo ti 



farming lands can be bought cheap here. 1 shot ten days 



• i and bagged 53 hares 

 During months of January and February 1 .mm i 



"B, bagging 64 hares, 7S!) ouaiL and '2 snipe. Had I 



