348 



F©REST AND STREAM. 



[December 1, 1881. 



Mr. J. W. Sutton had known an expert in this line in the 

 Bfineca Mver valley in tbis State, an ignorant, mtempetato 

 man, whoso success was remarkable. The wells in that dis- 

 trict were from fifteen to thirty feet deep, with great differ- 

 ences in the depth and productiveness. It was particularly 

 important to strike one of the strong underground streams. 

 In some formations it is of little consequence where we dig. 

 We would get water from sand on Long Island or Cape Ood, 

 •with about the same liberality in all situations. 



That man had a great local fame. He used a Blender 

 crotched twig of green wood, alleged to be witch hazel, about 

 ihreefeel o I butt about one foot and the arms about 

 two feet each. He held it by the small ends, one in each 

 hand. It was sufficiently flexible to describe about a quar- 

 ter circle by its weight. He walked solemnly aisd as | teadily 

 as his condition would allow, holding the simple twig before 

 him with one fork in each hand, the butt end depending by 

 its weight so as to bob around, say six inches lower than his 

 hands. It was not easy to be certain that there was any 

 marked increase in the descents or plunges of the free end 

 at the place he would light on, but the operator seemed to 

 feel or believe there was a difference, and he usually, and he 

 believed universally, selected favorable places. A remark- 

 ably copious well near the public square in Waterloo, N. Y., 

 was located by that man, using the forked twig and profess- 

 ing to be aided thereby, 



— ' ' a ELK HORNS IMBEDDED IN WOOD. 



Piney Falls, Nov. 19. 

 Editor Forest and, Stream : 



The skull of a bighorn imbedded in the trunk of a tree, 

 as illustrated iu your issue of November 3, reminds me of a 

 somewhat similar circumstance, which was related to me in 

 my younger days by an old Indian chief, who was one of 

 the few wise counsellors of the Seneca Nation. Although an 

 Indian, he was a man of rare abilities, and great perceptive 

 faculties, and I may say possessed all the virtues of an 

 Indian, with but few vices of the white man. He stood six 

 feet in his moccasins, and was considered the best shot and 

 one of the best hunters in all that region. When in his 

 communicative moods I have listened with eager attention 

 to his graphic and matter of fact descriptions of many ex- 

 citing incidents which occurred during the eventful life of 

 this old veteran of the forest. 1 shall not attempt to note 

 down the particulars of a very interesting elk hunt, as re- 

 lated by the Indian, except so much as relates to a pair of 

 horns, the substance of which was about as follows : He, with 

 several other Indians, had killed a large elk with uncom- 

 monly large antlers, and bavins packed the meat, which they 

 had to carry a long distance, each one having a heavy load, they 

 were compelled to leave the horns, which were taken off with 

 theupper part of the head, and placed or wedged in the forks of 

 a stout sapling, four or five feet frum the ground. Here they 

 remained fourteen years, as he ascertained when passing that 

 way again for the first time since they had left them. The 

 tree had grown to more than double its former size, and still 

 larger where the forks joined. The wood had grown entirely 

 over the skull and had closed up around the butts of the 

 horns, which gave them the appearance of having grown out 

 of the solid timber. They were apparently sound, but were 

 bleached out neatly to the whiteness of chalk. Antler. 



Notes on Ftjxioa Americana— Vicksburg, Miss., Nov. 

 17, 1881.— The bird called "mud hen" at the north "pull 

 cloo" here, and " Indian hen" at New Orleans, must be very 

 prolific, or else their wonderful increase must be attributed 

 to the fact that, being nearly worthless as an article of food, 

 they are not killed off by hunters. Webster describes them 

 as "a bluish-black wading bird (FuUca Americana), com- 

 mon In the United States— the Mallus crepitans of the 

 south." Just, before leaving Lincoln, Nebraska, in the latter 

 part of October, in a small lake or marsh near Ashland, I 

 think 1 saw at least ten thousand of those birds. They were 

 so numerous and restless that they interfered materially with 

 the shooting by onr party at ducks. I came down here by 

 river from St. Louis about the 1st of November, and found 

 great flocks of them in the water the entire distance. Ffere 

 the darkeys find them an easy prey to their old muzzle- 

 loaders, and take them in out of the wet on all occasions as a 

 sweet morsel. Last week a commission merchant here re- 

 ceived a mud-hen in a coop of chickens that had been 

 shipped him by Mr. Goforth from Pelahatchie, a little town 

 out in the pine woods on the railroad east of here. It beir.g 

 quite a curiosity several called to see the stranger. It seemed 

 to be quite gentle, but had a warlike disposition, and de- 

 lighted in pecking at any one who came near it, I wrote 

 Mr. Goforth asking him to give me its history. He replied 

 paying that it had beer, picked Up ou the roadside by a little 

 boy, that it made no effort to get out of the way, that his 

 son kept: it in a coop three or four days, and then, as nobody 

 out there would eat it, he thought it would make a nice dish 

 for Vicksburg, winding urj by saying that as I seemed to like 

 the bird he would try to send me some more. He said they 

 were known out there by the name of " thumb-pinchen 

 the name no doubt originating from the habit of the bird of 

 pecking at every finger pointed near its sharp white beak. 

 What was this bird-doing out among the pines on dry land, 

 away from its wateiy element ? — Btirb H. Polk. 



\ 



Mictitoan Notes— Cadillac, Michigan, November 17, 

 1881. — Editor Deer hunting in this 



part of the Slate cannot he called a success so far this season 

 on account of too much rain. A party of three of us spent 

 three days in the woods, and succeeded iu getting three the 

 last day, two noes and a buck. One of the does was a crotch 

 horn and weighed about tOO pounds. 1 should judge about 

 four years old and had apparently been dry for the last 

 son. The first snow fell November 8, and. was all gone by 

 the 17th. A i-insH flqclt of snow buntings was observed Oc- 

 tober 15; afineBnowyowl EGeured. October 28. The red- 

 poll linnets came No 1 I on the morningof the 

 3d the first English sparrows rrncbed Cadillac, if the rain 



would only hold up line spoil, could be bad here, foe there is 

 plenty ot '<!ur, ruffed grouse, gi ese. and duck shooting. The 

 black-bai Se woodpa : ■■■ ■"'■!■■' > is a resident 



here, bb ie ale ■ <■ | 1 1 l» Hgl tornuspikaiitt i. 

 L have i mi oimi a of the 

 pecke; ( He fcai u i. The pine linnet (ChrywmUrh 

 pinus) is now very common here. Last summer I found the 

 snow bird (Junto f,g,vi(iii-) and n e white) hroated sparrow 

 (Zowtri i breeding here. Tat ing everything in 

 consideration 1 ihink ibis a fine field tor the oiniihiiogist or 

 sportsman, A. B. Cvvbut 



(j§mt(e $§ng nnd %utu 



|DEER AND PARTRIDGE. 



Neak toe Adibondaoks, Nov. 23, 1881. 



Editor Forest and, Stream : 



It is only a short time since I returned from my yearly trip 

 to the South-woods, as we call the Adirondacks here, where 

 I have been since the first of August, most of the time in 

 camp on the Bixteen-mile Level, above Blue Mountain, in the 

 St. Regis district. 



Owing to tho uncertainty of getting my mail, I did not 

 leave orders for the Forest and Stream to be forwarded to 

 me. 1 was nearly repaid for the loss, however, by having 

 such a large quantity of good reading on hand at one time. 

 I have been greatly interested in reading the reminiscences of 

 hunting and fishing trips that have appeared in the late 

 numbers. Nearly all in some part of them remind one of 

 like experiences they themselves have gone through at one 

 time or another in times gone by. I have been interested on 

 the subject of rust spots in gun barrels. There seems to be 

 a great variety of opinion as to the cause as well as to the 

 best preventive. I think, as you first suggested, to be careful 

 and get the barrels perfectly clean, and then use nothing but 

 the best of oils is as good a preventive as any re'eommeuded. 



Deer were plenty all over the St. Regisdistrict when I came 

 away. Any one wishing for a locality to still-huut could not 

 find, I think, within the Adirondacks, a better place to go 

 the remainder of the season than to Blue Mt., and hunt in 

 the tract of country south and west of there. There is a 

 great tract of unbroken wilderness there which has been but 

 very little hunted. _ It is the home of deer and «thor large 

 animals found within the Adirondack region, and is a sort of 

 reservoir of game, from which the districts on its borders, 

 which are easy of access, keep up their supply. It is also a 

 place of refuge for the game when hunted to excess with 

 dogs in those localities. 



Those who may wish to go there to hunt will find as good 

 and cheap accommodations at the Blue Mt. House as cau be 

 found anywhere at any establishment of the kind within the 

 Adirondacks. The house is just on the northern border of 

 the above tract of wilderness ; and one could hunt over the 

 northern part of it and lodge nights at the house. There is 

 also a splendid tract of couutry for still hunting several miles 

 in extent, bordering on the river to the east of the Blue Mt. 

 House, beginning only about three-quarters of a mile away, 

 aud reaching to Meacham Lake, some eight or ten miles 

 across it. Partridges and squirrels are plenty near the house 

 in any direction one may choose to go. 



I was intending to say something about the fishing on the 

 Level in August and also about the slaughter of deer there, 

 through the early part of the bummer, hut I shall reservethat 

 for another time. « 



Here in Northern New York, in Franklin county, at least, 

 for the last two years, partridges have been unusually plenty. 

 And we have all these agencies that have been mentioned as 

 destructive — the pot-hunters, foxes, squirrels, hawks, owls, 

 breech-loadiDg shot-guns, etc., all except the "snare." 

 During the forty years I have resided and hunted in Northern 

 New York I have never yet seen a snare set for bird or ani- 

 mal. We have as cold winters as they do almost anywhere 

 within the United States, and plenty of vermin that prey upon 

 the ruffed grouse, with-tbe average number of pot-huniing 

 men aud boys also ; yet partridges are plenty, as the follow- 

 ing figures will show : — There is a man here in Franklin 

 county, who has been buying partridges for market ever 

 since the seaBon opened, j He tells me he has bought and 

 shipped already this season 2,000 partridges, and expects 

 before Ihe seasouis over to get as many more. He had bought 

 on the day I saw him (last Friday) thirty-two. He has 

 promised to let me know how many he has received when 

 he is done buying. A man living near this village has shot 

 at odd spells now and then upward of seventy 'this season 

 with the help of a little cur dog he has. During the pas': 

 month several partridges have been seen in the yards and 

 gardens within the village. I scared one up myself the other 

 morning out of a yard in front of the school house here, as I 

 was passing by. About a week ago, as a young man living 

 in the village was dressing himself one morning, he saw a 

 partTidge silling in an apple tree near his bedroom window. 

 There happened to be a gun in Ihe room already loaded, and 

 taking it and carefully raising the window, he shot the bird 

 and had it cooked for his breakfast. 



The 2,000 pari ridges bought up by the person referred to 

 above were nearly all killed in the northwest portion of the 

 county, over a territory about twenty by eight miles in extent. 

 He has boys and young men shooting 'for him all over this 

 par) of the county, and goes round once in so often andpicks 

 them up. Out of the 2,000 bought, I don't tbink twenty-five 

 were shot on the wing. We have shooters here who can cut 

 off the head of a partridge four times out of five shots, hut 

 I know of none that cau drop one on the wing twice out of 

 five shots. No one abemt here thinks it is unsportsman-like 

 to shoot a partridge when sitting or in any position they can 

 get the chance. And I find all sportsmen that come here 

 from abroad think the same after they get here. 



I shall not attempt to account for the scarcity of partridges 

 in many localities where they formerly have been plenty. 

 But here I have always noticed, that if we had a cold and 

 lainy season during the hatching time of the partridge, that 

 they would always be scarce the following fall. On the other 

 band, if the weather is warm and dry, they are always plenty, 

 as has been the case here the last two seasons. Ah hough 

 Ihe partridge, like the goose, when grown is a hardy bird, 

 there is no bird more tender when first hatched, except the 

 goslirg. 



Of course many partridges are rlestroycdeveiy year as wed 

 »fl Other birds by animals and birds of prey. But no uu 

 so of late years than formerly, when the country was li 

 settled. So I elon't think the liouhlecant e charged to them. 

 It may be, as you suggesb d, Ihe partridge fly that iioubles 

 them m some localities. I have examined a numb : 

 ridges hi re, and have only found one that had the fly I n it-. 



i i . ad squirrels were very plenty here last season and are 

 BO ibis year. Then is one thing I don't understand, which 

 is, ihat last year I found on the Bixl eei -mile Level more spruce 

 partridges than any other kind, but this year 1 have OOtSi en 

 the first one. What has become of them all I don't know ; 

 but they have either left for other parts, or have been destroyed 

 in some manner. 1 found the bones and leathers last season 

 of several near my camp that had been killed by minks, as I 

 suppi s;d. The mink tracks were plentiful around some I 

 f I an u! on soft ground. But I. cannot Ikhik the mink destroyed 



them all. Good partridge hunting can be found now iu the 

 woods south of here, where they have not been hunted, so 

 much. Those near the settlements have become very wild, 

 and when flushed fly a long distance before alighting. And 

 I doubt very much that the man who is buying them hero 

 will get the 3,000 more he expects to this season. 



Adrion Ondaok. 



THE HURTLING GROUSE AGAIN. 



New Y t ouk, Nov. 25. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



If your correspondent "L. I. F.," who writes from Mc- 

 Donald's Corner, N. B., will practice on ruffed grouse in the 

 way that all of us who can hit thern have done, he will soon 

 learn to kill birds in such a style that his tutors in shooting 

 will open their eyes to a new revelation of possibilities. Let 

 me suggest to L. L F. that the way to kill ruffed grouse iR to 

 shoot at them on sight and not to wait for a straightaway 

 open shot. 



When I first began to shoot them, it was in company with 

 an old shooter, who averaged one ruffed grouse to every two 

 shots, day in and day out, and he fired at every grouse that 

 he saw, too, no matter whether the bird was just dodging 

 behind a tree, or describing a corkscrew around a bunch of 

 alders, or exhausting Euclid in geometrical curves. My in- 

 structions were to "always shoot at a bird on sight, no mat- 

 ter where he was, or whether there was any chance of my hit- 

 ting him or not." These instructions I carefully fallowed, 

 and now a good many years having elapsed, and a good many 

 ruffed grouse having come to grief, it is a positive pleasure 

 to me to have a grouse do his worst when he bursts forth from 

 the brush. A good many Bhooters have seen your humble 

 servant in the brush, and although they have often seen much 

 better shots, they an nevertheless tell you that something ia 

 liable to happen to a grouse when he gets up within gunshot 

 of Mark West. 

 » ■■■ . 



LORD -DUNRAVEN AND NOVA SCOTIA GAME LAWS. 



Halijtax, Nova Scotia, Nov. 21. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



My attention has been called to an article in the New York 

 World on the above subject, purporting to give the result of 

 an interview with Earl Dunraven, which contains so many 

 gross misstatements of facts, and misrepresentations as to the 

 nature of the game laws of this Province as to demand a 

 reply Lord Dunraven is reported to have stated that he 

 was arrested for hunting without a license " under a law of 

 one of the counties of Nova Scotia, and on the ground that 

 he had failed to take out a county license, though be had ap- 

 plied for a general license for shootingint.be provli 

 This is not correct. There are no game laws in ibis Province 

 applicable to one county more than another, and Uteri are no 

 " count-!/ licenses,'' 1 as Lord Dunraven well knows; for he is 

 perfectly well posted in our game laws, and on a former occa- 

 sion had to pay a fine for their breach. Our system of game- 

 laws is a very simple one, and easily understood by those 

 who wish to do so. Game licenses are granted lo persons not 

 having their domicile in Nova Scotia who may wish to hunt 



d for one 

 i ad 



at 



ho 

 game 



therein, for which a fee of thirty dollars is 

 year. This is a general Ifcanse/er the v>n 

 they are issued in Halifax, but, for tho conve 

 men, who may enter the Province for spoil 

 outlying districts, a number of licenses are d 

 clerk of the peace of different counties in 

 districts lie, who are authorized to issue them. Under these 

 licenses a sportsman can kill two moose and four caribou in 

 any one year, and if he shall not have killed the prescribed 

 number in any one district he cau do so in any oilier, upon 

 making affidavit before the game commissi oner I 

 ber he had previously shot. You will observe that Lord 

 Dunraven says that he had "applied" for a general iici D86, 

 but he does not pretend to say that he had reeriiv-i 

 he commenced to hunt; and his Lordship as ai 

 ought lo know, that, he bad no more right to hunt without 

 having a license in his possession than a liquor dealer has to 

 sell, alter he has applied lor, but before a license has been 

 granted lo him. The truth is that Earl Dunraven hod no 

 license to hunt whatever, until after he had left the county 

 and gone to another, and was consequently liable lo the penalty. 

 Now, as regards the mode, of the collection of the fine, 

 there was a blunder made it is true, by the game warden of 

 the district who had his lordship arrested under a eap&u, 

 instead of following the very simple provisions of the lav; and 

 suing him as for an ordinary debt. Bui 

 official doesn't alter the fact; that his lordship was guilty of a 

 breach of the game laws, for which he was, and still in, liable 

 to a penalty. The story about his having initiated pri 

 in Halifax for false imprisonment is all bosh, 

 ear! gave Halifax a wide berth on his return, and if he h, u l 

 come here he would have found the propei'legal papers await- 

 ing him. 



Now, a word to the New York Work/, whose orb tor (with- 

 out probably ever haying seen them), undertakes is 

 " that the Nova Scotia game laws" (a copy of which 1 send 

 you) "seem to be made less for the purpose Of protecting the 

 game of that interesting region than with an eye to making it 

 impossible, for the stranger and the wayfaring spoilsman to 

 shoot anywhere in Nova Scotia wil ' every turn 



for the privilege." I would beg to inform the erudite indi- 

 vidual, whose head appears to have been turned by ihe un- 

 wonted honor ot interviewing "a Ihe hrd," Ihat Ihe Nova 

 Scotia game laws were framed by a body of gentlemen who 

 are true sportsmen, whose sole desire was to devise means to 

 preserve our game from threatened destruction, and not to 

 make money gut of strangers or anybody else, and I think, 

 Mr. Editor, that upon reading them, yon will agree with me 

 that they will compare favorably Willi those Of any pi your 

 States. As there is now no grant from the Legislature for tho 

 protection of game, the license system wb i , > 

 purpose of raising a fund lo recompense in pan Uiii 



va n leas for their services, aud to defray I he ex- 

 pense of protecting the garnegii. n sure no 

 ruesportsn i ct to paying- the small fee imposed, 

 when lie knows the purposes to which it is applied, 



ig you for the space- you have given me, I am, 

 A Member of toe 



Nova Scotiv Game Protection Sooibtv. 



CALtFOKKiA. — Gilroy, Cal., Nov. 16. — Game is booming in 

 ( ur country at the present time, arid it is a very common 

 occurrence for an amateur io bag from four to - ; i s dozen quaijs 

 per day. Soipe are also very plentiful at the present time, 

 and 1 have heard of bags ranging from one to five dften per 

 day near here. Aa for myself I have not had a turn at the 

 snipe yet, but expect to within the next week.— H. M. B. 



