Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 16, 1882. 



0OBSB8POMDENCE, 



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CONTENT*. 



Editorial. 

 The Changn of Conditions. 

 Eastern Field Trials. 



.'' CU-::ii:l:::0"r ■ ' i r, V Cc -; ; c 



The Sportsman Tourist. 

 Mendon Mere. 

 Angling in German Waters. 

 Ba rubles through Newfoundland 



Autobiographical Fragments. 

 Natural History. 

 A. Buffed Grouse Sbetobs 



Breed::,-- icuni: „i i.'..,nt>nemeur. 

 Bird Migration in 1 he Mississippi 



Vallev. 

 GameBao and (Job. 

 Bucks Below Zero. 

 Nova Scotia Moose Hunting. 

 On the "Ar-knu-saw" Prairies. 

 With the Ducks. 

 Ducking at Sou 

 Notes from Wc 

 Our Chicago Li .„ 

 Hounding vs. MtilUHunting. 

 Pinnated Grouse on Martha': 



Yinevard. 

 Michigan Association's "Work. 

 Texas Game Notes. 



er, Ma: 



Camp Fire Fli 



■■: a .■:,,, i-: r.i: i is'ii-v; 



Winter Talks on Summer Pa 

 times.— I. 



Striped Bass Clubs, 

 The Kennbl. 



>:. a. K C. Derby Entries. 



Louisiana Field Trials. 



Birmingham Boycotted. 



Memory in Dogs. 



Retrieving. 



FlSHCrLTCRE. 



Georgia Fishcuhure. 

 Biple and Trap Shooting. 

 Range and Gallery. 

 The Trap. 



Matches and Meetings. 

 Yachting and Canoeing. 



A Canoe WV, ,: ,:,■, ■ ' n i, i ,,,„ 

 half Pounds. 



Lake Yachting. 



Compared by Bulk. 



single Hand Yachts. 



Has it Come to This? 



A 1 ,',c", ,d,:„:„i r!; euccc, 



Yayu. 



Chicago Yachting. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



THE CHANGE OF CONDITIONS. 



UNOFFICIAL advices from Great Britain bringthenews 

 that the Council of the National Rifle Associon have 

 acted upon the requests sent from the Directors of our own 

 Rifle Association, and that two out of the three points asked 

 for have been granted. These concessions permit the 

 American team to be made up of members of the National 

 Guard who may become such hef ore the , first of January 

 next. It is also agreed to permit the use in the match of 

 wind gauges ou the rilles similar to those in tise on many of 

 the weapons now in the hands of the guardsmen here, but 

 on the other hand the cablegram informs us that the re- 

 quest for a modified form of the; front sight, tapering it up 

 in finer proportions than the comparatively clumsy fore 

 sight now in use, lias been denied. 



We are not informed upon what grounds these conclu- 

 sions were reached by the British Association, and it is of 

 comparatively small moment. Another week Will bring the 

 official notification of what modifications are to be made in 

 the conditions of the match of 1882. and American marksmen 

 may know precisely bow to practice and what restrictions 

 they will be placed under when they go abroad to meet the 

 Wimbledon champions on their own common. The match 

 of the last; season did not reflect, as fully as it should, in its 

 conditions, the present state of military rifle shootiug, It 

 was admirable as an exhibition of what may be done at ex- 

 treme ranges with a nominal military rifle, but while thfe 

 rifle showed marked departures from a weapon which could 

 fairly be called fit for general use in the hands of troops, yet 

 in other particulars it contained very antiquated points. 

 Two of these were indicated in the application made bj t In- 

 American directors for a modification of the conditions. 

 For some time past a readily controlled wind gauge litis been 

 :t fixture on the best models of American military rifles. It 

 has b«en shown to be a practical device. It answers its pur- 

 pose in the hands of properly trained troops, and with it 

 the National Guardsmen, of this State at least, have been 

 able to get better work out of a confessedly inferior arm. 

 It was no new-fangled contrivance, then, which was asked 

 for by the American competitors, but one which only an 

 oversight left out of the original conditions, it properly 

 should have found its place iu a match which was supposed 

 to represent the best and latest endeavors in military rifle 

 practice. Equally with this was the modification of the 



tore sight to make it better adapted to its object as a point 

 of sight. It is nonsense to suppose that the present form 

 of fore sight is by any means as well adapted for catching a 

 quick and ready sight, as the new form permitted by the 

 military authorities here, and which, by its merits, must 

 come generally into use. 



So far, then, the change in the conditions is in the rigid 

 direction. The rifles do not cease to be really military 

 rifles, but they are made much more effectual, as the records 

 of the matches will show. It is to be regretted that the 

 British Association did not, see its way clear to an entire 

 change of the conditions of the match as proposed by the 

 American Board, still as far as they go the changes ought 

 to make the American team much stronger for the match of 

 1883. It was the general conplaiut that the home team 

 was much weaker in the last match, because of the lack of 

 their accustomed wind gauge. There may have been some 

 truth in this. It certainly had the effect of making the 

 men lose confidence in their own work, and with wind 

 gauges it would have been possible to have shown how 

 wretchedly bad were the rifles under the ammunition used. 

 With wind gauges it will at once become possible to keep 

 records and establish a team system, and Col. Bouine may 

 now make his coaching a real help to the men and not have 

 it, as he has confessed it was in their late defeat, merely a 

 set of motions intended to mislead the public and keep 

 down the very, proper protests which would have come from 

 the press. AVhile it may be to a certain extent true that 

 military shooting is a matter of personal endeavor, yet with 

 tried weapons, shootiug known charges, it will be entirely 

 possible for a team to establish a. system of mutual help, 

 which iu a match will be worth many points in the aggre- 

 gate. They can surely, keep the story of what each rifle 

 will do under certain conditions of wind, light, moisture, 

 etc., and very soon it will become possible to arrive at some 

 general conclusions. We confess that we despair of seeing 

 a renewal of the series of American victories before the 

 butts until the Americen team system is re-established in 

 reality and not as a farce. With the number of men in 

 Great Britain who give so much time to local, county and 

 general rifle meetings as to become in a measure semi-pro- 

 fessionals, there will always be a body of marksmen strong 

 in an individual contest; and such their team matches really 

 are. Accustomed to shoot against each other, and always 

 striving for their personal advancement, there has been no 

 cultivation of purely team shooting. Here it is yet possible 

 to get squads of men who, under proper leadership, pull 

 together, and other conditions of rifles, position, etc. , being 

 equal, they must win. 



Touching the concession of later additions to the National 

 Guard taking places on the team, it was a pure confession 

 of inferiority on the part of the Am erican managers. It was 

 an insult to the National Guard as a whole, and if the Guard 

 is to be crammed to make up a team, there is a scandal 

 brewing which even a victory will not wipe out. 



EASTERN FIELD TRIALS. 



THE Eastern Field Trials, which commence to-morrow at 

 High Point, N. C, bid fair to prove the most important 

 and interesting trials that have yet been held in this country. 

 The meeting commences with the Members' Stake for which 

 there are fifteen entries, aud we shall look for a very interest- 

 ing contest. All of the dogs entered are good ones, and 

 the winner may be well proud of his victory, We are greatly 

 pleased to see the members of the association take the inter- 

 est they do in the object for which the club was formed. As 

 we have repeated!} 7 stated, the Members' Stake should be 

 made the most important event of the meeting, and we have 

 no doubt that the interest manifested this year, and the 

 prominence which this stake holds may give an impetus to the 

 matter which will soon accomplish the desired result. The 

 Derby closed with the goodly number of sixty entries, and, 

 judging from what we hear of the performances of the dogs, 

 and the well-known earnestness aud enthusiasm of their 

 owners, there will be a larger proportion of starters than has 

 ever been seen in any similar event, and wc feel well assured 

 that it will prove to be the most interesting aud well eon- 

 tested trial of youngsters that has yet taken place. Forty- 

 seven of the number are setters, and among them are 

 representatives of a large proportion of the best blood in the 

 world. Many of them are doing grand work, and the 

 hearts of their owners are filled with high hope of antici- 

 pated victory. The pointers number only thiiteen. Although 

 this is an ominous number their owners arc confident that 

 the merit of their favorites will secure lot them immunity 

 from the decrees of fate. The All Aged Stakes has the 



unprecedented number of thirty-six entries. A glance at 

 the list gives assurance that the struggle for supremacy will 

 be hotly contested, and worth going a long distance to see. 

 Those who are so fortunate as to be there, will undoubtedly 

 witness better work than has yet been seen at any trial in 

 this country. Birds are reported unusually plenty, and they 

 have been strictly protected on the grounds set apart for the 

 trials. Our only fear is that, owing to the mild weather, 

 the weeds are too rank, and will prove a serious obstacle to 

 the successful running of the trials. With so many starters 

 it. will be all important that the conditions for rapid woik 

 should be favorable, in order that the trials may not be pro- 

 longed beyond proper limits. We trust that our fears may 

 prove unfounded, and that we may have ono or two heavy 

 frosts in that vicinity before the trials commence. 



How to Liberate Quail. — From the number of in- 

 quiries received by us for live quail we judge that the. efforts 

 to restore depleted game grounds will be prosecuted with 

 vigor. We give a hint about putting out the birds. It is 

 the plan pursued by the Westfield, New Jersey, Game So- 

 ciety, and has worked well. The birds are put into cardboard 

 boxes, a pair in each box, and taken at night to the desig- 

 nated place. Here the boxes are put down on the ground 

 in the dark, being open at one end. Some food is spread 

 about them and they are left. The birds remain quietly in 

 the boxes all night. In the morning they come out, there is 

 nothing to frighten them, aud they begin to feed. At night 

 they come back to the boxes for shelter, In this way tbey 

 become accustomed to the locality and remain there. The 

 plan is worth tr ying. 



Doc-ss and Insanity.— In the course of the examination 

 of an alleged lunatic in this city last week, one fact advanced 

 as evidence of unsound mind was that he had paid fifty 

 dollars for a dog. Now, provided the dog was a tolerably 

 good one, there was nothing irrational about this; it should 

 rather be accepted as an evidence of the buyer's sanity, If 

 he can show that in addition to the dog he bought a fine 

 gun and a set of fishing tackle, and used them, he may have 

 no fear of incarceration in a lunatic asylum. If some of 

 the hard-working business men of the day would invest a . 

 little money in such outfits, and devote some of their time 

 to field sports, they would cheat the insane asylums out of 

 much revenue. Mens nana i?> eorpore sano—n sound mind in 

 a souud body. 



Southern Shooting Grounds. — The season is approach, 

 ing when scores of Northern sportsmen will be seeking shoot, 

 ing grounds at the South; and we are in constant receipt of in- 

 quiries as to the most desirable localities. The frequent 

 changes which a given district may undergo with respect to 

 its game supply renders the latest and fullest information 

 on these points of the utmost importance. We shall be 

 much pleased to have such particulars sent to us for publi- 

 cation. It should be remembered that the more specific 

 the details of localities, routes, accommodations, etc., the 

 more useful such advice will be. 



A Gospel of Relaxation. — At a complimeutary dinner 

 iu this city last week Herbert Spencer took occasion to 

 speak of the push and drive which had impressed him as 

 characteristic of life in this country. He urged the neces- 

 sity of accepting a new ideal of the proper conduct of life, 

 in which relaxation and leisure should have their merited 

 importance. While we Americans are not wont to pay 

 much attention to the idle criticisms of ourselves and our 

 ways, which are offered by the average visitor from abroad, 

 we cannot afford to be indifferent to the observations of so 

 profound a thinker as Herbert Spencer. His gospel of re- 

 laxation is well worthy of our heed. 



Misery Loveb Company. It was doubtless on that 

 principle that a crippled Arkansas gunner, the other day, 

 fired into a mass of ducks, bringing down fifty, of which 

 fifteen were recovered and thirty -five cripples allowed to 

 escape. If there is any consolation to be found in such 

 maiming we sincerely trust that our Arkansas friend may 

 have had the full benefit of it. When satiated with the 

 sport of duck-crippling he might emigrate to India, where 

 he would win distinction as a Thug. 



A Deer Country. — Maj. H. W. Merrill, who has just 

 returned home from an extended Western tour, reports the 

 deer very plenty in Schoolcraft and Mackinac counties in the 

 tipper Peni usula of Michigan, on the line of the new Detroit, 

 Mackinac & Marquette Railroad. This country is a natural 

 game preserve, and will probably furnish excellent still- 

 hunting for many years to come. 



