28S 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



I-Nov. 9, 1882. 



bones for supper, and retired to rest, and in the agonies" or 

 indigestion dreamed that a darkey had caught us in a 



1,1 ' tree nd ■■ fl da 1 to ;ed int« a 'poaanm aud 



of Africa v as heaping rotiks upon us, 



Tlie next one ■niii'j n-r looked around ijk tind strolled up 



and down the. streets and alleys. Iiincolnton is an antique 

 village of Hie nid Dutch type, and reminds oneoi the 

 mouldy, mildewed cathedral towns that tourists stumble 

 '■uptimes in England. Tt stretches out n mile or 

 more on each side of I lie road. Each house is a distinctive 

 mark in itself, and its individuality is marked. Wide 

 spreading trees at irregular intervals border each sidewalk 

 :md furnish grateful shade when the Lincolntonian smokes 

 atld dozes the sleepy. languid, sensuous hours of the day 

 away. After dinner everything and everybody slumbers. 

 The burghers tilt hack their cane-bottom chairs, and. resting 

 against the snarled trunks, sink into dreamland, their 

 pipes, dropped from nerveless hands, lie smoking or char- 

 ring on the sward beneath. The bouse do as lie at length in 

 the sunshine, their fore paws covering their face, to keep 

 away the buswing blue-bottle flics. The village ™iv« in the 

 land of Nod chew their end in contented silence. The very 

 town hogs, lying in I heir wallows, are sound asleep and in 

 swinish forgctfulness dream. The very crows, fringing 

 their way oyer tha village, seem to breathe' the slumbrous air 

 and would drop on the limbs of the nearest sycamore tree 

 and rest content, until the low sun warned therri it was time 

 to so to roost. 



"Oli. if I only bad a farm here," sighed Ned 



"You wouldn't live in sueh a spot six weeks unless you 

 had a client to pick or a jury to spout to," responded TJenry 

 impatiently. 



Then we all frook drinks and waited ami rested for an 

 hour. 



"Come along, gentlemen," responded Charley Cobb, "wo 

 wdll never get any birds if we remain here." 



We moved on, and passing through a small field the dogs 

 scattered, Had suddenly the unusual sight -vyas pr 



three separate dogs standing at a separate point in full sir 

 Of each Other. A hurried consultation ensued, mid dispi . 

 lions ware mad" to attack, Fearing that the dogs might not 

 stand staunch if they heard I he guns, we determined to strike 

 them, as Napoleon' did the Russians at Borodino— all at 

 once. Ned took one (look. Reid the second, and Charley 

 ( Y.bh and myself the third. With guns on the cock we ad 

 yanoed like skirmishers feeing for the enemy's position. 

 The dogs stood each fast, but trembling with suppressed 



D at. Juat as Ohnriey and myself closed in on them 



there came the noise of two tremendous reports that sounded 

 like the. tiring of mortars. Then the two barrels of Reid's 

 gnns went off and our flock rose. ( 'barley killed bis brace 

 of birds handsomely. L missed the first bird aud i i. 

 other. Marking the covey where they lit, we turned to re 



j<ri| i li-hnds Reid was close by with one bird. We 



could not see Ned until close up to him. and then found 

 him sitting on the ground, with his gnu beside him. ruhhiug 

 his shoulder, 



"What, is the matter. Ned?" we cried in a breath. 



r . except this cursed gun brought in a cross 



action and tiled a cross bill. I have enough of it. T don't, 

 want |,o shoot a gun that knocks the breath out, of my body 

 every time 1 pull the trigger." 



"It isn't the gun's fault," We said, "it is the large load 

 you put in it. Reduce Ihcehurge and an infant could 'hoot 



We loaded up and for the space of an hour the sound of 

 rapid tiring v, as heard on every side. The coverts ami the 

 fields were full of birds, and the dog-, were standing all the 

 time. It was hot work, though, with the sun burning up 

 the earth. The mercury was somewhere up in the 'hun- 

 dreds. Two of the dogs, being setters, were completely 



id cighfc 



iar by, 

 r gone, 

 i cam i' 

 lful of 



3 bird. 



played out, and stretched themselves iu a branch 



iaiited and gasped as if their 

 We counted our gume. Charley ha 

 next with twelve, Henry had eight, Ned tee; 

 feathers that he claimed te liai - kn >c8 : - 

 and bad crippled a hare thai had somi , 



W e went into camp until evening brought a 

 phere. Selecting a shady spot to, a grove ... 

 stretched oursel.es OU the green sward, and lighting otlt 



tjoyed the burning of Tbat weed th..t Raleigh d( 

 scribes as good for "ye mind as ye body." 



For several hours we loitered In this charming spot. 

 Afar off the clear outlines of the mountains marked the va- 

 rious chains that zi/.-zagged through, the State, and a small 

 creek rippled near, making a rhy! lunatic murmur that 

 lulled one's senses to a perfect repose, 



rew poetical. "It was sueh a spot as this that Ten- 

 nyson must have composed his 'Brook.' It would stir tic 

 soul of a savage. Yes, here is the spot." 



"I'm clone with town after this." he continued. "I will 

 buy a small place and build my cot and live amid beautiful 

 nature, aud leave the world ana its cities, with all of ils 

 .-'nil pitfalls, behind me." 



"A sort of • Vicar of Wakefield," eh, Ned?" we put it. 



"No," he responded, "not exactly that, but 1 mean to 

 lead the life of a Virginia fanner, flow happy it must be 



to have your cows, churn your own butter, raise , , , 



mutton, have your own horses, plant your grain, raise youi 

 fruits and vegetables' Oh. it's the happiest "life in the 

 world!" 



Henry Reid grunted, or rather he gave a disdainful sniff. 

 "Oh, that's very pretty in theory," he said, "but I have 

 tried it. Iknow; I have been there. The cows dry up, you 

 have to buy your own butter half of the time, your sheen 

 are hound Iodic of the scab or some such disease, the 

 i" ■ iv always ailing and generally kick the bucket, your 



grain is ruined by the drought, the hugs destroy the young 



' ' ables, unci file cat birds eat up all the fruit, and ■" llil I 

 a never ending tight against all creation. Farming I ' Not am 

 iu mine, if yon pi s 



■That's because you did not take naturally to an agri- 

 eiilluiist .'„ life," responded Ned. "I do. I admire the pro 



i i hat numbered 

 Jefferson, a Madison 

 country is without B SI 

 and Spoils," 



"Well, old man, answered Henry, "have your own way 

 about it, but come on, the rest as read 



The dogs us well as lh;:ir masters" refreshed I ., In 

 bom's rest, sprung tu Iheir u ork with a vim. Mud in a few 

 minutes we were all scattered in itlu woads aud brush. 



tidcl 'iily we heard Ned's v, ice in \ itcd p 



"Come here, hoys, come here!" VVe hurri- d to tbogpot. 



"There," said Ned, pointing to n hrn-b of ■■ iars iu I hi 

 ''oHmu of a dry ditch, ■■there is imi' itranei I imaJ 1 ever 

 saw." 



pro 

 g its votaries a Washington, a 

 No. the man who don't love the 

 lifl i Si for stratagems, i c •& onn 



Of the 



cs an utter, ab- 



ritb the whole 

 .ok, by instinct, 



"What was it like?" we inquired, 



"It was as large as a dog almost and about the color of 

 one. He jumped down there before I could shoot, and he 



" re now, you bet," 



:* "It must be a 'coon," said '.'barley, "or a 'possum," I haz- 

 nrtied, "or a groundhog," cried Henry, who said as he got, 

 to (lie bottom of the ohasin. "I'll 'find out in a minute." 

 We bent oyer the brink eagerly and watehed him as he 

 threw away the pine brush. All at once the animal, with a 

 snml, jumped, aside, and in a second gave us a. dose of his 

 quality 



Ob, my countrymen! Evilwas the day and eiirsed the 

 hour when we stirred up that P. O. Si " 

 cieut city of Cologne, with its .. ra , 

 stenches! what a tetid oiioi. .Ml bad sue 

 our nose since boyhood, concentrated and 

 one foul funk, could not ma I ch is i stink 

 the scent of that foul M-:i,h, ,„.:.. "I 



isoueof deadly nausea, EollOwed bj B bill 

 ■less (hat lasts for some minutes. Then co 

 horrent disgust of everything, everybody, 

 globe thrown in, 



Every one of Us Caught it, and we all str 



for an open field, where the smell could have free space to 

 diffuse, and not be cramped or smothered by the hushes or 

 WOOOfl. 



A tt' t ,i bait' hour spent in profanity, there was another 

 council of war. This time there was mutiny in the ranks, 

 aud each one wanted to do a different thing, 'nenry desired 

 to kill himself, but was persuaded not ; Charley wan ted to strip 

 and lie in the creek all night ; Ned longed to blow his brains 

 out, while the darkey, who was the only one untouched, 

 stood a hundred yards olf, with his nose in his hand, an I 

 halloed to us to take off our garments aud bury them under 

 the wider, aud wait until he returned from the village with 

 a full supply of clothes, both inner and outer, for us." 



His advice was sound — in fact, it was the only thing we 

 could do The darkey went off like a shot, mid we'pro- 

 eeeile.l to follow instruction, Down in the deepest pools 

 we buried our apparel, by placing rocks on (hem, only taking 

 from 1 he pockets our watches and money, which were af- 

 fected strongly by the all-powerful perfume. 



There we stood", u quartette of miserable-looking wretehe: 

 —an antique group without the Greek pose, 



Henry Reid would have his joke, Ned's tigure caught 

 his eye, crouched at the foot of a gigantic tree. 



"I say. Ned." he commenced, "how sweet, fair and fresh 

 is the country." 



"i urse the country'" growled that individual. 



"How Arcadianly delicate," went on Henry. "See the 

 brawling streamlet that dances so brightly; "it hides our 

 el ! - , 'tis true, but then it sparkles like a diamond." 



'■Confound the river!" snapped Ned. 



Then an utter silence fell upon the crowd, and not until 

 the boy appeared did we utter a word. We donned our 

 raiment, and, upon the advice of Charley, placed our 

 watches and money from the old suits in keeping of the 

 darkey. Yet even' with this precaution there was a certain 

 indefinite sickly smell in the air that seemed to cling to our 

 persons. 



Just, as we were about to start for the village Ned inquired 

 how long the clothes would have to soak before the smell 

 was out. 



"About six months," was the reply. 



"Great Scott!" he moaned. "1 borrowed thai suit from 

 Frank Bracket!, and it cost sixty dollars if it cost a rent 

 and 1 will have to pay for it. I'm done for!" 



"Never mind, Ned," we said, consolingly; "you will 

 have better luck next time." 



"Next time will never come for this individual," he said. 

 Savagely! "1 am going to leave to-morrow." 



"What!" said Henry, "leave this beautiful Arcadian 

 country that you were in love with?" 



I never want to see the country again," he replied 



"What! give up your dream of a fanner's life?" 



"I would rather crack rocks on an avenue in the city than 

 farm the finest freehold in the Stale." 



"Surely", Mr. Burke," spoke up Charley Cobb, "you are 

 not going to give up the line shooting for such an accident''" 



"Yon may designate it as an accident," he replied, "hut 1 

 call it a fearful calamity. Reside, I have not had any fine 

 shooting: My shoulder is black and blue, the skin is worn 

 off my heel, and 1 am so lame 1 cannot walk; and those 

 confounded birds fly so fast that before I can get aim at 

 thorn they are out of sight, Then, again. 1 have no desire 

 to meet another infernal cat." 



"These are very rare in this section," said Charley Cobb. 

 "it is the first I baveseen for several years around in re, and 

 I am hunting over these grounds all of the time.'' 



"It would be just my luck to stir up one on every hunt," 

 answered the lawyer. "No, I have had enough, with 

 plenty left over. 1 am going home to-morrow, and I nev< r 

 want to lay my eves on the country again as long as I live." 



We marched sadly buck to town, and at the nearest drug 

 store .Ned bought a bottle of cologne with which be 

 drenched himself, and thus overcame by ouc odor the scent 

 01 .mo: h.r. The next day he returned home, accompanied 

 by Reid, who was summoned back to his bank by a tele- 

 gram. 



A few days' hunt around Liiieolntou in company with 

 Charley Colli) convinced me of the great abundance of par- 

 tridges (quail) in Western North Carolina. The birds abound, 

 and in such quantities as I never saw in Virginia. There 

 are bui few Sportsmen In the whole s?ction, and the quail 

 have nothing to pre vent their multiplying. A noticeable 

 faol Ibis season is the scarcity of hawks, j ,-i,i ,„>i see but 

 :;oh- time I was shooting. Now what 1 call a pro- 

 fusion of game is this: The coyeVs are numerous and rarely 

 counting under fifty birds, and t ley can be found on every 

 hand. To giye an instance, Mi', N. F. Cobb, Charley's 

 brother, who is an enthusiastic and accomplished snorts- 1 

 man. tells me that he often tinds a.s many as t\ 

 in one day's hunt. Speaking by the card, fioii 

 serration, I found more game in West — 

 than 1 ever did iu the most favored 1 

 l-'iom Charlotte, North Carolina, clear 

 Broad, is o region thai will give the i 



route that is the cheapest, thus avoiding the heavy tax that 

 the Virginia Midland lays upon the dogs. The Richmond 

 and Danville is the shortest and quickest route. 



I cannot conscientiously advise any brother s| ortsmen to 

 go to the only hotel in Lmcolnton, unless, indeed, he has 

 the dyspepsia and cannot eat, or has a 'stomach like an 

 ostrich and can fill up on slop and wittles. There are 

 several private families in and around the town where tour- 

 ists ana sportsmen en , get board tit a moderate place, ami 

 Mr. Cobb can. 1 presume-, i-tu^ quarters Tor them. 



"Well, I have hud my Bay; and like Captain Jack Buusby, 

 "what I says 1 stands to." I can only repeat; if you want 

 splendid partridge shooting on real game preserves, where 

 mHe eovi'vs out of ten have never been shot at. go to West- 

 ern North Carolina, take your own dogs and ammunition 

 and liquids; get in with 'the people, avoid hotels as yon 

 would a leper house, obtain board at some private house 

 where there is a cheerful host, pretty daughters and accom- 

 modating son to show the hearings, and you will have as 

 much sport during the months of November and December 

 as your ardent soul could wish. 



1 have written a long letter, but like Gratanio, I can ex- 

 claim, "Beshrew my soul, but what 1 tcllist is the truth." 



Chasseur. 



Virginia, Octob er, 1883. 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



HPHE quail shooting season opened iu Delaware and New 

 I Jersey Nov. 1, and many of our sportsmen of the 

 Quaker City are away at the present writing. Birds are 

 plentiful in both Maryland and Delaware, but in some lo- 

 calities I hear there are a number of small birds "in the 

 large coveys." This would indieate a second hatching, 

 which has very likely been the case during the past breed- 

 ing season, a>. it was an exceptionably good one. 



TJiedeer iu New Jersey have beeh protected by law f*r 

 the past two or three years, and n» shooting of "them has 

 been allowed, consequently they have increased in consider- 

 able measure. Mr. Geo. Vannato. of Barnegat, N. J., who 

 Is one of the most persistent deer hunters of his State, tells 

 me in the section where he has been in the habit of hunting 

 before the passage Of the prohibitory law the deer have be- 

 come very numerous. lie bewails the having to wail 

 another year before he can go into "the drive" again, as it 

 is not until November, 1883, that the open season begins. 



Brant and geese are now appearing iu greater numbers on 

 the New Jersey coast, and good shooting will be had when 

 favorable winds prevail. Just now tin; brant are having a 

 quiet, time and pleasant, weather, with no blustery winds to 

 keep them on the move. 



Duck shooting has been goofl in the Barnegat ami Tuck- 

 erton bays, which takes in the waters from Barnegat to 

 Little Egg Ilarhor inlets. Your correspondent has not 

 heard of t lie result, of opening day at Havre cle Grace, Gun- 

 powder and Bush rivers, but from the reports that reached 

 Philadelphia of the number of blackheads and redheads 

 that have already taken up their quarters on their noted 

 feeding grounds, "the fun must have been great. Canvas- 

 backs have not arrived there to any great extent, the 

 weather having been too pleasant. 



My Massachusetts friend, who gave me information re- 

 garding the deer on Cape Cod. also tells me that at Wood's 

 Holl. opposite Martha's Vineyard, there are now great 

 bodies of brant. Would not this show that there remain 

 yet many fowl to come southward and stop in our bays as 

 autumn and winter progresses? 



Ruffed grouse in the Lehigh Valley, Pa., region have not 

 came down from the high tablelands yet. There is plenty 

 of feed still on these elevated grounds, and it will not be un- 

 til cooler weather that they will be found at the foot of the 

 hills. Homo. 



Philadelphia, Nov. 3. 



ntv 



rn Nc 



rth C 



rolina 



alitie. 

 3 the 



of Vi 



•gima. 

 ''rem-h 



write io Charles c< 



fully giv lliem all 



Then is one seric 



Carolina on the Vil 



route, and that is tl 



The Chesapeake ap 

 To partii 



sportsmen going to North 

 nd Richmond it Danville 



to go from Washington to Richmond, by the Alexandria and 

 Fredericksburg Railroad, Uien to North Carolina by any 



MASsAcrrosETTS. — Harwich, Oct. 28.— Have been down 

 on the Cape here for a short time, and although 1 have not 

 made- any large bags of birds, I have had some fine sport. 

 Ouc morning this week 1 shot, with a light single-barrel 

 breech-loading shotgun, eight snipe on a small meadow 

 near here, and the next morning two. Have shot quite a 

 number of quail and ruffed grouSe and a few stray black 

 duck. Quail are quite plentiful, and some very good bags 

 have been made. Many black ducks hay,, been shot in the 

 ponds. The. largest number killed with one barrel was nine, 

 A number of coots and sheldrakes have been shot the past 

 week, bill not so many as would have been hud it not been 

 for the rough neath: l. Blue-wing teal have hem taken in 

 small bunches, but not as many as usual. A few winter 

 yellow-legs are on the marshes y'et. The number of yellow- 

 in irs and woodduek-. taken here' for the past two mouths has 

 been very small coinpaied with that of other seasons. Since 

 writing the above, your correspondent has been told of two 

 persons that shot, in Brewster, one day this week, forty-four 

 quail.— Ohestkr 



.V Sun-; Hunt.— Clinton, Mass., Oct. 28. —The Clinton 

 Spoilsman's Club held their first annual field day on Thurs- 

 day. G. W. Goss and G. A. Sampson as captains, cash 

 chose an equal number of men au<l started iu pursuit of 

 game. The side that scored the. smallest number of points 

 to furnish a game supper for the club at the Clinton House 

 last night. They were allowed to start at midnight Wed- 

 nesday and meet at the Clinton Rouse hall at !) A. M., Fri- 

 day, with the game. They all m.t as per agreement with 

 in amount of game that was creditable to the club. It fell 

 ,0 Goss's side to furnish the supper, as they were beaten by 

 five points, he scoring l,B95'to 1,600 for Sampson, l.aeii 

 side started in twos and threes, and some went singly. The 

 supper was served at the Clinton House at D o'clock last 

 evening. Game counted as follows: 'Coon. 75; gray rab- 

 bit, "•">: duck. 25; partridge. 35; owl. 15: crow, io; quail, 15;. 

 woodeoek, 15; gray squirrel, 15; red squirrel, .j; blue jay, •"• 

 and vi ii'iiin'killed w.-ie. 2 'i ppns, :! owls. Idm k. 

 31 ruffed greu.se, 4 woodeoek, 21 quail, -j:; l.lue 

 jays, 8 rabbits, 7J gray squirrels. 70 red squirrels. 



fifen yOBK.— Oswego, Octobei 30.— Pour members of the 

 Ontario Shooting and 'Fiohim. Club. V A. Wright, O. S. 

 OstarLout, P, O. Wii.le and 0, A. I'miicr. have just re- 

 lit, md from a t.ui day-' trip to the club's preserve, at. Little 

 Sandy. They report wild celery growing in abundance, 

 and line duck's in large floek-, anil 1 have no reason to dis- 

 b Ik-,' thi m. for they are all sportsmen of the highest order. 



invinplng argument is that, they brought home 

 with them 82 fine ' plump stall fed beauties, such as rcd- 



rLUs aud butter-balls, There.have been but very 

 few woodcock, snipe and ruffed grouse killed in this county 



.'.— Wl'KKAX. 



