144 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[September 22 1881. 



to be constantly urged to do Ids duty. The unfortunate 

 shooter incurs the contempt of the pusher, who is now only 

 anxious to have the tide over ami to get ashore again. 



Ten species of the family Pallida: are known as inhabitants 

 of North America j and of these, the so-called sor.i or Caro- 

 lina rail (Por;:ana Carolina), is by far the most abuudant. 

 It is this species which furnishes ninety-nine one hundredths 

 of the birds killed during the season. The salt water marsh 

 lien, Ralhis longiroUris, is perhaps next in order of numbers, 

 and is followed by the Virginia rail, H. aryinianus. This 

 species is much more abundant than is ordinarily supposed to 

 be the case, but as it never flies when it can possibly escape 

 by running, it is not often seen. The coot (Fnlica fflherica- 

 na) is not very abundant along our Middle Atlantic coast, 

 but is very numerous inland, and on the Pacific coast. The 

 gallinules (GalUmila galeala and martinka) are southern 

 birds, but the former is frequently taken in the Middle States 

 and even in Massachusetts. The yellow rail, and the black 

 rail [Porzana naveburoeen&is and P.jamahen&is) are not often 

 seec, but the former is common on some marshes in Octo- 

 ber. The latter is rare everywhere, we believe. 



From the 15th to the 25lh of September the rail shooting 

 is at its height, and the next easterly storm that we haye 

 will, we think, bring a flight of birds, which should be in 

 fine order. By the first of October the greater- part of the 

 birds have passed on, although the few that remain are fat 

 and delicious. We have killed rail in November, but, only 

 as stragglers, for, as a rule, they disappear with the first 

 sharp frosts. 



In another column will be found a brief description of some 

 of our North American Pallida: 



THE CREEDMOOR FALL MEETING. 



THE full report which we present of the work at Creed- 

 moor during the past week tells the story of a success- 

 ful rifle gathering. The flock of outsiders was iudeed want- 

 ing, but this was not a loss, for it must be some such ex- 

 traneous inducements as the glamour of a foreign team or the 

 presence of a pool box that will bring the ordinary idler to 

 study the progress of a rifle contest. 



In many other ways the receut meeting differed from pre- 

 vious assemblies of the sort on the Creedmoor range. The 

 regular army was represented only by such entries as were 

 made up among the Willcll's Point Engineers. These men 

 were among the earliest of the firm friends of the National 

 Rifle Association. Not a meeting or a match of consequence 

 has passed without the presence of competitors of the blue- 

 coated rank and file of the Willelt's Point garrison. They 

 come a3 individuals, and not as representing the Army of the 

 United States. The War Department took no steps to se- 

 cure a showing of the progress which the regulars may have 

 made during the past year. It is true that more attention is 

 now paid to ball practice in the ranks of Uncle Sam's mili- 

 tary force titan at any previous period in the history of the 

 army, but while reports of progress may be ever so flatter- 

 ing on paper, there will always be a margin of uncertainty 

 and doubt unless the people are allowed to see tho picked 

 teams of the Army brought out in direct competition with 

 other marksmen not of the Army cloth. Hence it should be 

 looked upon as an expressed want of faith in their own 

 powers or of a waning interest in rifle shooting, when the 

 names of the several Army divisions do not figure on the 

 list of entries at this, the representative rifle gathering of the 

 country. To be sure the regulars have made what may be 

 termed a "ten strike" at Creedmoor. A year ago they made 

 for themselves a record of which they may well be proud, 

 but they will soon be placed in the ranks of the "havebeens" 

 if they do not steadily maintain the fight for first place. 



The meeting has had its local character somewhat relieved 

 by the presence of the Pennsylvania and the New Jersey 

 teams, but, though they did not figure as leaders in any of 

 the matches, these teams did sufficiently well to encourage 

 further visits. They are handicapped by the fact of shoot- 

 ing on a strange range, while the city teams are thoroughly 

 at home. The "woodchuck hunters" of Watertown, N. Y., 

 perhaps did not find warrant in their success to repeal their 

 former triumphal entry into their native town, and the 

 stuffed woodchuck will hibernate yet another year, but they 

 did well considering that the assisting arm of the State was 

 withdrawn from them. Too many good things have come 

 out of this pleasant Northern city in the past not to lead us 

 to look for desirable visitors in the future. 



The Massachusetts representatives from Walnut Hill 

 proved that they could do good and fine work away from 

 their favorite all-the-year shooting ground ; and deserve all 

 the credit given them for their skill as close-hitting marks- 

 men. The management of the meeting was very far from 

 the best. When it takes the "juvenile asylum " in charge 

 of the score tickets several days to arrange the figures of a 

 single match, it is not strange that there are complaints from 

 those whose duty it is to place oo record the dongs at tho 

 range, and that the newspapers present so many departures 

 from a strict accuracy of report. Of course there are many 

 points in the management which the contestants would crit- 

 icise, and t'je fact that there are several protests to be con- 

 sidered docs not speak well for the thoroughness of the man- 

 agement on the. ground. However, fair weather enabled the 

 meeting, with its comparatively few contestants and many 

 days of shooting, to be carried out without, at times, such a 

 seeming necessity as mi executive officer; but the directors 

 BHWt not be surprised if sharp tilings arc said of tUern when 



they shuffle over their assumed duties in such a perfunctory 

 style. 



To the Slate authorities at Albany, with their beggarly 

 neglect of the question of rifle-shooting, the meeting teaches 

 the lessou that as obstructionists they can Jo very little, 

 while as advocates of, and supporters of, a well-considered, 

 and economically carried out, plan of practice, they can do 

 much. In such a work, whatever scheme of drill may be 

 adopted, it is necessary to excite the best endeavors of the 

 men by emulation, and the fall meeting at Creedmoor is the 

 goal to which the efforts of those who are confident of their 

 ability naturally tend. To reduce the rifle practice of the 

 State to the mere making up of so many schedules of figures 

 to be pigeon-holed into the oblivion of the Adjutant Gen- 

 eral's office at Albany, is to kill the interest of the National 

 Guard in the subject. We would hazard nothing in saying 

 that the interest awakened by the making up of a legimental 

 team for the Creedinoor competitions of the past week would 

 be of more service in an organization than all the ordered 

 drill at the butts which the sapient Attorney-General is likely 

 to force upon men who don tmif onus. and shoulder rifles 

 under the conditions which govern our militia. 



BYE-WAYS OF THE NORTHWEST. 



•main 1'apej!. 



VICTORIA is a charming town of Six or seven thousand 

 inhabitants, situated on the extreme southeastern point 

 of Vau Cpuvor Island. Previous to the gold excitement of 1858 

 it consisted merely of a Hudson's flay fort, with the few dwell- 

 ings occupied by the servants of that powerful company. 

 The discovery of gold in small quantities on the Fraser River 

 in 1857, and later on the Quesnelle and at Cariboo, wrought 

 a great change in the prospects of the place. The story of 

 the new "diggings" soon reached California, and caused a 

 wild excitement among the mining population of that State, 

 then ripe for a fresh move. The usual rush took place, and 

 the drowsy old Hudson's Bay post, to which heretofore the 

 only event of the year had beeu the arrival of the ship from 

 England with the mail, was starllcd from its slumbers by 

 the advent of tweuty thousand miners, who pitched their 

 tents about it and formed what is now Victoria. Build- 

 ings soon sprang up and trade 11 (Wished. Everything going 

 to or coming from the mines passed through the town and 

 paid it tribute. High hopes were entertained of its future 

 greatness and, in 1803, one writer said : "Already it has be- 

 come the emporium of commerce, the metropolis of the 

 northwest coast of America." But, unfortunately for Vic- 

 toria, the mines, which caused its existence as a town, ceased 

 to pay, and its commerce tell off. It has not fulfilled the 

 promise of its early youth and, until it can have some more 

 speedy means of communication with the outer world than 

 it at present possesses, its growth will be very slow. The 

 completion of the Canadian Puei fie Railroad, now in process 

 of construction, will unquestionably be of the greatest benefit 

 lo the place as well, as to the other towns in British Colum- 

 bia, for it will give them a market for their products, and at 

 present they have none. The duty which goods sent to the 

 United States have to pay leaves little margin for profit, 

 and the very heavy tariff on imports bears severely on the in- 

 habitants of the Province. Although the work of constructing 

 the railroad is going on, it is not progressing as rapidly as 

 might be expected, and there is uo immediate prospect of its 

 completion. Labor is hard to obtain in British Columbia, 

 much of it coming from the United States, and great dissat- 

 isfaction seems to exist among the hands employed by the 

 railway contractors. To so great an extent is this the case 

 that the men are continually leaving the work and fresh 

 hands have to he obtained. Of the real merits of this case I, 

 of course, have no knowledge. The fact seems well estab- 

 lished, however, that the men employed on the road are 

 leaving constantly and, as they say, on account of bad treat- 

 ment. 



The country about Victoria is extremely picturesque and 

 attractive, and the roads are good. There arc few places 

 about which one can find so many pleasant drives, and sev- 

 eral days devoted to an examination of the environs of the 

 town will not be wasted. The Gorge is within easy walking 

 distance — about four miles — and at half-tide is a boiling 

 torrent, flowing between high rocky banks. Cedar Hill is 

 about six miles distant, and from its summit one may obtain 

 a fine coup d'umil of the city, the Straits of Puca, the Gulf of 

 Georgia, with its hundreds of islands, and the main land 

 rough with mountain peaks, among which, and rising far 

 above them all, stands Mt. Baker, calm and white, a snow- 

 robed monarch. 



I should feel myself decidedly blameworthy were I to fail 

 to mention that at Victoria there is one of the very best ho- 

 tels that I know of. An experience of many years of travel in 

 America and Europe gives me the confidence to believe that 

 I am qualified to judge in a matter of this kind, and I have 

 no hesitation in saying that, I know of no place on this con- 

 tinent where one will fare more comfortably than at the 

 Driard House. The rooms, it is true, are not furnished in a 

 particularly luxurious style, but they are neat and comforta- 

 ble. The table is perfection; the food of the very best 

 quality and far more carefully aud bettor cooked than is the 

 case in many of the leading hotels of our largest cities. One 

 of the proprietors does all the marketing and is the clief de 

 cuisine, and he is certainly a jewel among cooks, a veritable 

 artist, So long as. the Driard remains under its present man- 



agement, and maintains the reputation which it now has, no 

 one need hesitate about which hotel to go to while in Vic- 

 toria. 



If I were to attempt to describe all the beautiful scenery 

 that is passed in approaching Victoria, from whatever 

 point, my letters would spin themselves out to an uncon- ( 

 scionable length ; whether one comes by way of the ocean, 

 through the Straits of Fuca, or direct from the United States 

 over the blue waters, and by the pine-clad hills of Puget 

 Sound, or from the mainland of British Columbia, threading 

 his way through any of the narrow passages that separate . 

 the many islands of th? gulf, now breasting the tideway of 

 one channel, and again being hurried forward by the current 

 of another — from whichever side he comes — the scene is one 

 of great beauty. Few places have greater natural advantages 

 than Victoria. Her harbor is, it is true, small and needs a 

 good deal of improvement before it will be at all what is 

 needed, but in that of Esquimau, only three miles distant, 

 she has one which will accommodate the largest vessels. The 

 sportsmen of Victoria are fortunate in having shooting and 

 fishing-grounds close at hand. During the months of July 

 and August, the salt waters of the straits and gulf abounds 

 with salmon, which are readily taken by trolling, and when 

 thus taken on a light rod afford fine sport. Most of the 

 brooks of the island afford excellent trout-fishing, the Comox 

 River being especially renowned for the size aud the numbers 

 of the fish in it. 



About Victoria there are found two species of grouse, the 

 dusky or blue, (Canace obscurus) and the ruffed (TJanasa 

 uvihellus var. sabiitH.) The California quail (Lophortyx 

 calif arnica,) has been introduced here, and seems from all 

 reports to have done well, but is not in particularly bigh 

 favor, owing to its habit of taking to the thick brush as soon 

 as flushed, and its failure thereafter to lie satisfactorily to 

 the dog. Whether these faults can be overcome by e Jura- 

 tion is a question that time alone can answer. In the 

 autumn, ducks and geese are found in favorable localities in 

 great numbars, and judging from all trie reports, the shoot- 

 ing must be very good. 



Of large game there is considerable variety. The black I 

 tail deer (Dermis columbianu.i) is" extremely abundant within 

 a few miles of Victoria, and it is not an uncommon thing 

 for parties to start out with a wagon in the evening and re- 

 turn the next night with several deer. Among the scrub 

 oaks which grow here in certain localities still-hunting may 

 be successfully practiced, but in most sections recourse must 

 be had to hounds in order to obtain the game, as the timber- 

 is so thick, and the underbrush and ferns so dense anfl 

 tangled, that it is impossible for one to travel through the 

 brush without making a great deal of noise. 



On the northern end of Vancouver Island, and in the in- 

 terior as far south as the Comox River, elk are to be found," 

 but I fancy, from the accounts which reached mo, that they 

 are by no means numerous. Bears and panthers are said to 

 be abundant everywhere on the island. Sooke, distant from i 

 Victoria about twenty miles, is a great place for bears. By, 

 lar the greater number of those killed are black or cinua-3 

 mon, but I was shown the remains of a grizzly, said to have 

 been killed at Sooke. The panthers are hunted aud killed 

 chiefly by those farmers who have flocks or herds to protect) t 

 aud are not often seen by deer hunters. There arc a feW' 

 wolves, but they are not often seen except in winter. 



My stay in Victoria on this occasion was not very long, 

 and I hastened to the town of New Westminster, on the 

 mainland, by the first sttamer. Here I had the very great 

 pleasure of meeting "Mowitch," whose graceful and instruc- 

 tive letters to Foebst ajto Stream have given to its readers 

 so much information relative to the fauna of this far distant 

 country, and to the methods employed in the capture of its 

 game. Through his kindness I was enabled to see much that 

 was new and interesting to me, and from the stoies of his 

 knowledge of British Columbia I drew many facts which af- 

 terward proved extremely useful. 



While enjoying the kind hospitality of Mi-. H. on the 

 evening of my arrival at New Westminster, he proposed that 

 we should make a little hunt together next morning, as be 

 thought it likely that we might get a deer before breakfast. 

 Accordingly the next day about four o'clack we started on 

 foot for a little lake about four miles from town. 



The day promised to be a perfect one ; the sky was cloud- 

 less, and no fog obscured lj>e view. The sun had not yet 

 risen, but in the east, above the jagged and broken summits 

 of the Pitt River Mountains, stars were beginning to disap- 

 pear, and the sky to flush and glow, each instant becoming 

 more and more bright. We were soon parsing through the 

 woods. The air was cool, fresh and exhilerating. A gentle 

 breeze just moved the higher branches of the enormous trees, 

 and brought from the recesses of the tangled forest the bal- 

 samic breath of the Douglas firs and the terebinthine fra- 

 grance of the cedars, mingled with the faint damp odor of 

 decaying vegetation so characteristic of the timber in all 

 climates. Tha vegetation was all new to me, and I admired 

 the dark green of the firs, the paler foliage of the cedar, the 

 maples with their large leaves, the tangle of underbrush, 

 and, beneath all, the ferns from four to seven feet high. We 

 were passing between high walls of foliage extending far be- J 

 fore us on either side. Above was a narrow strip of sky, j 

 and before us the yellow road. Little bits of bright color! 

 were not wanting along the roadside. The Epilobium, so i 

 universally distributed through the mountains, shone like a 

 tongue of flame against its background of green ; here and i 

 ' there, from the wet springy places, the foxglove nodded its 



