su 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



("July 29, 1880. 



a weekly Journal, 



JteVOTBD TO FrflU) AND AQUATIC SPORTS, PRACTICAL NATCTRAI, 

 History, Fish Cdi-ture, the Protection of Game, PRESERVA- 

 TION OF FORKSTB, AND THE INODLOATION IN MEN AND WOMEN OB 1 



A Healthy Interest in Out-Doob Recreation and Study i 

 PUBLISHED BI 



FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY. 



NOS. 39 AND IMP AUK ROW (TJMES BUILDING), NEW TOBK 



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 *mM8 1 K>OB DOLLARS A YEAB,STBKJH.Y Of AOTAHOB. 



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NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1880. 



To Correspondents. 



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Purchase of Carroll Island.— One of the most re- 

 nowned shooting grounds for canvas-back ducks is Car- 

 roll Island in Chesapeake Bay, not far from the mouth 

 of Gunpowder Creek, and but 14 miles from Baltimore. 

 Tliis island has an area of 1,200 acres, and the extent 

 of the shore is 10 miles. In season it is the resort 

 of multitudes of ducks, including, in the order of 

 their arrival in these waters, teal, black-heads, canvas- 

 backs and red-heads. The teal appear about the 1st of 

 October, and two weeks later the larger fowl put in an 

 appearance. The excellence of the feed and its abun- 

 dance make this a favoiite resort for the birds. The 

 celery, the tea- weed and other plants which grow in the 

 brackish water, and on which ducks delight to feed, grow 

 here in the greatest profusion, and attract the fowl from 

 far and near. 



Carroll's Island belonged originally to the old Carroll 

 estate, and more recently to William Slater. Many at- 

 tempts to purchase it have been made by shooting clubs, 

 and we believe that $100,000 was at one time offered for 

 it and refused. The shooting privileges have been rented 

 in previous years for $3,000 per annum. 



We understand that this property lias just been bought 

 by an association of twenty gentlemen, of whom ten are 

 New Yorkers, live Philadelphians, and five residents of 

 Baltimore. Each member has subscribed $2,500, as an 

 admission fee, and the deeds have this week been deliv- 

 ered to the association. Many improvements are to be 

 made on the island, and a new club-house built. 



The shooting is principally point shooting and bar shoot- 

 ing, and those who are familiar with the conformation 

 of the island will appreciate the excellence of the sport 

 that the owners of the island are likely to have this fall. 

 The bags made here average from twenty-five to fifty 

 birds to the gun on shooting days. 



A Disgraceful Squabble,— In the quarrel between 

 the agents of the Sharps and Ballard Rifle Companies, 

 as reported by cable from England, the travelers for both 

 companies have enacted rather a shameful part. It 

 might have been thought that both men would have 

 caTed more about the success of the team than they 

 did for the few dollars difference between the prize each 

 wanted and the one he got ; but any one who credited 

 them with so much patriotism and liberal feeling did 

 them a manifest injustice. 



Prom beginning to end the exhibition of the American 

 Rifle Advertising Team lias been such as to cause Ameri- 

 cans to wish that some of its members were citizens of 

 any other country than the United States. 



THE HALFORD-HYDE MATCH. 



" Q ERVED them right" was the general verdict when 



vJ the cable announced on Saturday last that the 

 squad of shooters gathered together by Gun- Agent Hyde 

 had been defeated on Wimbledon common by an equal 

 number of sinall-bore celebrities from that side. Since 

 this match was first suggested and so industriously mis- 

 represented by its projector as an international match, 

 the Forest and Stream has been vigilant in declaring its 

 true character. Defeat was predicted by us, simply be- 

 cause from the very nature of its composition those ele- 

 ments which have gone to make the victories of previ- 

 ous and bona fide American teams were wanting in this 

 nondescript company. They were either self-appointed, 

 or possibly, what is worse, hired for the work. The team, 

 if it can be so dignified, had no recognized head, and dis- 

 cipline was at the lowest ebb. The team had no backing 

 from this side the ocean, and whatever of importance 

 attached to it was in the possible mischief it could ac- 

 complish in breaking down the prestige which had grown 

 up about American rifle doings here and in Great Britain. 

 The match itself was of no moment whatever ; nothing 

 depended upon it : the Palma does not change hands ; it 

 was not a championship contest; and having defeated 

 eight Americans by a score which has never been sur- 

 passed at Wimbledon, Sir Henry Halford wins merely 

 the empty honor of having carried off the victory from 

 nobody in particular. Had Messrs. Hyde and Halford 

 carried out their original programme of having a bit of a 

 private match, in which each should be assisted by three 

 gentlemen of his choice, nobody would have aught to say 

 about it. The Forest and Stream would probably have 

 said not a word about the immaterial event, beyond a ten 

 line report of the scores. But, swelling with conceit, the 

 manager of the match had worked it up to an offensive 

 prominence under false pretenses. The Board of Direc- 

 tors here did a very dignified and proper thing in ignor- 

 ing any direct allusion to the match, and providing 

 against the contingency of having the official Irish- 

 American contest of 1880 mixed up In any way with this 

 miserable mushroom match. If it is not understood on 

 the other side by the British National Rifle Association 

 and its members that Hyde had not a scintilla of au- 

 thority to act as a representative American, it has not 

 been for want of outspoken utterances from this side. 

 There seems to have been an apprehension on the part of 

 the public that the match was nationally insig n i fi cant, 

 for the cable informs us that the spectators were but a 

 handful, and that the affair passed off with supreme 

 dreariness, without enthusiasm of any sort until, at the 

 finish, Capt. Halford began the usual talk about "our 

 cousins from the New World,'' etc Hyde, in responding, 

 seemed to have some appreciation of the cause of his 

 collapse, and struck the key-note of his opponent's suc- 

 cess, and made a confession of his own preliminary care- 

 lessness when he said that the British team discipline 

 had won them the battle. 



It does not appear that there was any special mishap 

 coming in to throw the Hyde team so far in the shade. 

 The day was palpably good, and the weather conditions 

 not unfavorable, else why the superb score of the Brit- 

 ish team. The marking was fair and just, and the Amer- 

 icans got all they earned ; but with far finer weapons in 

 their hands, they were whipped in a disgraceful manner 

 by men to whom they should have given the closest sort 

 of a struggle, and according to all precedents have shown 

 a clean pair of heels. If everybody who should read or 

 hear of the match could be made to understand precisely 

 its real insignificance as an international contest, no 

 special harm would result, and the press of Am erica very 

 generally understands the situation ; but in GreatBritain, 

 now that victory has inclined that way, much stress will 

 no doubt be laid on the " International " character of the 

 contest. If our friends over the water find any satisfac- 

 tion in this, they are abundantly welcome to it ; butthoy 

 must remember, in their congratulation, that America is 

 still the champion, and so long as the Palma remains on 

 this side of the ocean they cannot claim championship 

 honors. 



The mere accident of similarity of numbers in the 

 make-up of the team, and of the distances fired over per- 

 mits comparisons to be made with Elcho Shield contest 

 scores, and by this test the work of the British team 

 stands out very well. Sir Henry Halford has had the 

 first chance of showing that the lessons of his defeat at 

 Creedmoor, in 1877, have not been thrown away. The 

 men were capitally squadded, and the steadiest sort of 

 work is shown in the detailed list of scores. The men 

 had caught the idea from the genuine American teams 

 of former years, of each giving the cue to hiB follower at 

 the same target. Had the Hyde men been able to do the 

 same there would have been one of the finest long-range 

 contests on record, and a score to have beaten the British 

 one must needs have been very fine indeed. 



The match, such as it was. will not be without its good 

 fruits. It may teach American riflemen that they are not 

 invincible, as indeed they are very far from beiug as in- 

 dividual shots. The reliance placed by all good team cap- 

 tains thus far on a good team discipline has not been a mis- 

 placed one. There was need of it at all times, and in the 



future more even than in the past. What our American 

 riflemen are without it, Gun-Agent Hyde lias most thor- 

 oughly demonstrated. Sir Henry Halford may take 

 heart now in his promised work of bringing a band over 

 for the Palma match next year.' That match of 1881 will 

 be more nearly a trial of men than any we have yet had. 

 The Britishers have caught our secret of team organiza- 

 tion. They have taken careful observation of our weap- 

 ons, and are not a whit behind tis now as rifle makers. 

 Nothing now remains but a test of men, and this we are 

 likely to have next time, when the record will be re- 

 sumed from the point where it was dropped in 1877, 

 though the interim has been given up to such by-play as 

 walk-over matches and gun-agent farces. 



THE RISE IN SEAMANSHIP. 



THE prize for seamanship, or " neatness " in the keep 

 and outfit for the year, offered to its members by 

 the San Francisco Yacht Club, has been awarded to the 

 sloop Annie, Capt. Jabez Howes. She is thoroughly 

 equipped in every respect, as one might suppose from the 

 experience of her owner as a ship captain. Beside hand- 

 some furniture, bright paint, smooth sides and brass- 

 work throughout, her boatswain's and navigator's de- 

 partment are fully supplied with all the requisites of a 

 long cruise. Binnacle taffrail, log and lead, charts, 

 mathematical instruments, sailing directions, barometer, 

 life preservers, fenders, watch tackles, storm gear and 

 sails, ship's library, signal codes, side lights, deck and 

 riding lights, night signals, oil-skins, fog horn, scrub- 

 bing gear, boats and fittings, racing sails and spars, 

 housing topmast, taut rigging, eyes leathered, chafing 

 gear, rope ends hitched and grafted, ample ground 

 tackle, kedge and spare anchor, pumps and plumbing, 

 galley and fittings, sailmakers' and carpenters' supplies, 

 tarpaulins, skylights and hatch covers, all these, and the 

 multitude of lesser things which go to make up a suitor's 

 yacht, were found aboad the Annie sloop in regular 

 "ship-shape and Bristol fashion." Of course, skipper 

 Howes would have had his beauty in thorough trim any- 

 how, prize or no prize, but the attention drawn to his 

 craft, and the manner of her keep, will induce members 

 of the San Francisco Yacht Club to cut their jibs accord- 

 ingly, save on the beer and grog, and put their meney 

 into a tidy ship instead. The Seawanhaka Yacht Club 

 and the Salem Bay Yacht Club have followed suit, and 

 we venture to assure large results from their action in a 

 season or two, for if there is? one thing we are more de- 

 ficient in than another in our New York squadrons it is 

 in a seamanlike outfit of our yachts. We have been ab- 

 sorbed almost entirely with attempts at great speed, and 

 every other feature of the sport has been allowed to re- 

 main neglected. We guarantee that not one yachtsman 

 out of three can " box the compas," not one out of six can 

 "mark the lead line," and not one out of a hundred can 

 " work a day's reckoning.'' This is not said altogether in 

 disparagement of our amateur tars, but rather with a view 

 to calling their attention to matters wherein we are still 

 sorely deficient. So many yachtsmen are annually new 

 to the sport that they are naturally lacking in all tliat 

 calls for time, experience or study to acquire ; but from 

 the well-known adaptability of Americans to any thing 

 they undertake in earnest, we argue that a few years 

 more will work a great change for the better, especially 

 when we once have some sort of standards set up as an 

 example to follow. Hence, we have been foremost 

 among our contemporaries in advocating everything 

 that seemed to drive us nearer to the desired goal, and 

 we would like to see other clubs fall into line with those 

 mentioned in devoting a portion of the year's prize 

 money to something else than racing — to rewards foi 

 seamanship, for the greatest number of days underway, 

 for the best kept log, for improvements and useful de- 

 vices in rig, or fittings, or, generally, for the display of 

 superior efficiency in any of the principal features, the 

 attainment and spread of which would promote the in- 

 terests of the sport. 



^. > .— 



— A Long Island negro last week mistook a boy's 

 head for a woodchuck and shotatit, killing the boy. Tiie 

 jury brought in a verdict of accidental shooting. It 

 should at least have censured the man for culpable care- 

 lessness. This ia not the first instance of the kind on 

 record. Too many men and boya have been shot because 

 the shooter thought that they were wild animals. A 

 wholesome disciplining of the responsible parties would 

 have a salutary effect. 



The man who does not know the difference between a 

 boy's head and a woodchuck has no business with a gun, 

 and the gunner who discharges his rifle in the woods at 

 what ho supposes to be a deer, but which proves to be a 

 man, ought to be kept at home and not allowed to go into 

 the woods. The simple possession and handling of fire- 

 arms appear to deprive some men of common sense; 

 they become crazy to shoot, and in this condition are 

 subject to all soils of hallucinations, in which they behold 

 all manner of familiar woodland objects as game walk- 

 ing. Happily much of the supposed game turnB out to be 

 blackened stumps, dark rocks and fallen logs ; occasion 



