Dboimbsb W, 1881,] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



a 



429 



THE WEIGHT OF GRAY SQUIRRELS. 



Abiagdon, Va., Deo. 17, 1881. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



While out walking one afternoon last week I shot two 

 gray squirrels. One of them struck me as being unusually 

 large, and when I returned home I weighed them both. 

 One, which I considered a little above the average in size 

 and condition, weighed sixteen ounces, the other drew down 

 the scales to twenty-four ounces. This was gross weight. 

 Ic seems to me that twenty-lour ounces is an unusual weight 

 for a eray squirrel, and I would like to hear something; of 

 the experience of your correspondents on this point. Both 

 the squirrels had tawny markings on the sides, and the larger 

 had also ra'her a broad yellow stripe extending from a little 

 below the shoulders to the root of the tail. Do gray squir- 

 rels and fox squirrels ever cross breed? If so, this rnight 

 account for the increased size. In all other respects the 

 squirrel resembled the common gray squirrel. Will. 



[May not the heavier animal been a fox-squiirel? They 

 vary much in size.] 



%ag and %ntu 



About Wild Tfukevs— Harrisburg, Pa., Dec, 17.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream : "Keouk" has sent bis name and ad- 

 dress to Mr. C. L. Jordan, who has so kindly given his views 

 to the readers of your paper on the 15th inst. on " Callers 

 and Turkey Calling." 1 should like to have some more in- 

 formation about wild turkeys. Are they in plumage and 

 markings the same as the tame turkey? Tho wild turkeys 

 that I have shot all had reddish legs and chestnut brown in 

 the extreme end of their tail feathers. Those that I see 

 hanging in front of restaurants have black legs and whito in 

 the extreme end of the tail feathers. Do wild turkeys have 

 black legs and white tails ? How is a person to distinguish ? 

 Will some one tell us through the columns of the Fobkstakd 

 Stkeam. I am told that wild turkeys carry their tails nearer 

 the ground than tame turkeys do, and that is why a wild one 

 can be distinguished while among tame ones. How is this, 

 and who will tell ?— "J£eocte" 



[Wild turkeys have reddish legs and chest nut- tipped tnil 

 feathers such as " Keouk" describes. The black legs and 

 white tipped tails appertain to the domesticated bird,] 



Black Sqtjiebbls— Kingston, Ont , Dec. 19, 1881 — 

 Editor Forest and Stream: A friend of mine has had a 

 pair of black squirrels in his possession for three years, a 

 very handsome pair they are too, and very tame. Have you, 

 or any of the readers of Forest and Stream, ever known of 

 their breeding in captivity? The owner alluded to is 

 anxious to have the opinion of those who have kept them 

 caged. I have, I think, something of a lunus naturae in the 

 way of a black chipmunk, which is exceedingly rare. I kept 

 him alive for a time, when he died. I mounted him and 

 have him now in my collection of stuffed birds aud animals. 

 Some years ago a friend of mine here had a white one.— 

 James Colwbll. 



, — ~»^— 



THE IDEAL SPORTSMAN. 



You ask "What is the American sportsman?' 1 Verily, a hard 

 question to answer. I think I know what he ought 'to be, and 

 ■what, if I mistake not, Fokestand Stkeam is endeavoring to make 

 him. 



This ideal sportsman is, first, a thorough-going business man— 

 whether Ma business be banker, merchant, teacher or author— and 

 not a loafer, dead-heat, nor bummer. He is honest to the core ; his 

 word ia as good as his bond, and ho hates lying, dishonesty and 

 fraud, bb the Devil hates holy water. Next, ho is cheerful and 

 good-tompered, being the happy possossor of a Bound mind in a 

 sound body — sunny-dinpoeitioned, careful to avoid giving needless 

 offense, and not prone to take it, where none is meant. 



Ho is a votary of art and science— not a more dilettante— hav- 

 ing a genuine love and admiration for the true and beautiful, 

 wherever found. Ho is kindly and merciful, and abhors giving 

 needless pain, impaling even " a worm as though he loves him ;" 

 and kills, when kill he does, without useless torture, and in a way 

 which would make oven his victims grateful, could they but know 

 it. He is not a two-legged hog, keeping selfishly to lumself any 

 chance-discovered trout-stream, but rejoicing to share such bo- 

 nanzas with kindred spirits ; not a son of the horse-leeob, crying 

 for "more, mors," but ready to stop when he has;had a fair day's 

 sport ; not a sneaking pot-hunter, slaughtering coveys of cowering 

 victims upon tho ground, nor a professional shot, mangling hnif- 

 starved pigeonB, dizzy from long confinement, as th* y are hurled 

 into the ah from a rotary catapult ; but a lover of fan- play, will- 

 ing to match his keenness of sight, his coolness of nerve, his en- 

 durance of fatigue and his subtleness of wood-craft against the 

 llpeed of tho hurtling grouse, the wariness of the trout, or the sa- 

 gaoity of the red-d«er. He is a gentleman, not a butcher, and 

 makes of hunting and Ashing a noble pastime, and not a money- 

 gljttmg trade. He takes to tiro field, not because he loves to kill, 

 but because of tho houlthful influences with which a hunter's life 

 urn-rounds him. He is, emphatically and above all, a lover of Na- 

 ture, and rejoices more in the study of her subtle woods than in 

 the blood of slaughtered victims. 



Moreover, though he has never touched brnsh to palette, yet the 

 glory of the scarlet leaf, the tapering lines of the fir-tree shaft, 

 the Bwaying ulenderness of the ground pine, the silvery mealineSB 

 of the birchen bark, and the tender green of the budding larch, 

 all satisfy ana delight his artist's eye. 



Though he never sang a note in hus Ufa, yet he has a musician's 

 ear, and the sighing of the wind in the tree-tops, the babble of the 

 watMfall, the tinkle of the rain-drops on the leaves, the plunge 

 of the surf upon tho shore and the shrilling of tho wind enrough 

 the rigging or his yacht, are to him the gamut of a higher melody 

 than Donizetti or Beethoven ever knew. 



Guiltless of over having attempted to rhymo one word with an- 

 other, yet the tender beauty of the dawn, the lusty radiance of 

 mid-noon, and the solemn glory of the starry night, the sober 

 splendors of the russet uplands, the ineffable majesty of tho heav- 

 ing ocean, aud the stem lousiness of wind-swept mountain crags, 

 rouse within his soul tbrilln of true poetic rapture. 



Such, then, is our ideal American sportsman— keen, alert and 

 wide-awake— manly, tender and true— artist, mutieian and poet — 

 in fine, " God's last, best work, a gentleman." 



Some few suchl know— would that their number were greater— 

 and of audi, 1 am glad to feel, Fohest aSo Htiu3A.ii endeavors to 

 be tho true mouth-piece and exponent. H. P. fJ. 



THE A. B, C. OF WING-BHOOTING. 



SoMBsvitxE. Mass., Dec. 16. 



I NOTICE in the last issue of Fokebt and Stream that 

 a correspondent wsks why he d.ies not kill ruffed grouse 

 on the wing. I will try t ■ give a few m ire hints on grouse 

 shooting. Let us commence at the beginning and suppose that 

 we are about to initiate a boy in the art of wing shooting. 



In the first place he wants a gun that he can dandle easily 

 and not too heavy. Great care should be taken that the gun 

 "fits "him. This he will ascertain by graBping it with 

 both bauds and throwing it up to his shoulder, as if to Are 

 it. If the eye catches the centre of the rib Bnd the " b ad " 

 all right, the gun will answer, if not, probably the stock is 

 not crooked enougb. I do not recommend too much crook 

 or drop of stock. Another important point ia to ascertain 

 tha right length of stock. 



We will suppose that tha gun is selected and our fliat les- 

 son commences. We will now direct our conversation to 

 the boy in question. Go out by yourself where yuu can 

 put up some object about the size of your hat, say coma 

 twenty yards away. Then tatie your position and cum- 

 mence to throw up your gun to your shoul er, and, keeping 

 your eyes open, see how near you can bring the beat) iii line 

 with your eye and the object at the instant that the butt- 

 plate touches your shoulder. Try this a few limes and 

 then rest a few minutes. Then try again, out do oof fatigue 

 yourself. After you can throw the giia en to the mark with 

 your eyes open, shut up both eyes and throw the gun to your 

 shoulder in the same manner as Before, and the instant that 

 you feel the butt touch your shoulder open both eyes and 

 see where your gun is pointed. Keep up this practice until 

 you can throw your gun into line with any object that you 

 may select, whether It is above, below or on the same level 

 with your eyes. One thing 1 wish to impress upon you: 

 mind in particular as the greatest help in shooting giouie 

 in cover, always bring the muzzle of your gun up on your 

 bird from below if risiug shots — and they almost all are. 

 Don't I ry to shoot on the "drop " as it is termed, for then 

 the gun is falling and the biro £h rising, and you have 

 twenty chances to miss where you have one to kill. 



After you are perfected to a satisfactory decree in the 

 practice of throwing your gun up to some object, take a 

 piece of paper about two feet scrub e, and with som- tacks 

 fasten it up on an old shed, barn or old building, where you 

 will do no damage, aid then step back twenty or thirty 

 steps aud load your gnu. cock it and hold it in position vi.h 

 tbe muzzle toward I he ground at an angle of about forty five 

 degrees. Fix your eyes on the target, shut both eyes and 

 instantly throw up your gun aud fire, keeping your eyes 

 closed until after tne discharge. If your practice has been 

 faithfully performed before this you will probably And the 

 paper riddled with shot, and if you do not you will readily 

 see where tie charge did strike, which will help you to 

 remedy it at the next fire. When you can hit that paper 

 (with a moderate degree of certainty) with your eyes closed 

 you have more than " half the battle," for youhave mastered 

 the "hang" of the gun, and the rest is comparatively easy 

 after a little practice. 



Supposing now that you can throw your gun up in line 

 with any object that you wish to, we are about ready to 

 start for the woods, but before we go it is necessary to give 

 some attention to our ammunition, for aB much depends upon 

 good ammunition and having the gun properly loaded a3 it 

 does upon having a good gun. Much has beeneaidand written 

 upon tho subject of loading guns, and hardly any two think 

 alike. But this much I will say, uBe tho best powder that 

 you can get, if it does cost a little more. The difference in 

 the shooting will more than repay you ; besideB, poor powder 

 injurcB the barrels of your gun, causing them to rust and 

 spot. Use good powder and plenty of it ; use the best pink- 

 edge wads, two or three of them over the powder, and one 

 over the shot. Don't use p-isteboard wads anyway. If you 

 wish to cut your own wads, cut them from 6oft, spongy, 

 clean leather, and lubrieate them well with tallow and plum- 

 bago. In the early part of the season No. 6 shot (chilled) is 

 food for grouse ; later, say in November, you will want No. 

 , for grouse will cany away a big load of fine Bhot, and 

 seemingly mind nothing about it If you use a muzzle-loader, 

 use nothing but the best water-proof caps. Having our am- 

 munition all right, we will now see if we can find a grouse 

 to try your hand at, so will walk along down to the woods. 

 Now, remember, when a grouse starts, nine times out of ten 

 he will start from the ground. If he is going straight away 

 trom you, throw up your gun so as to shoot a litt'e over 

 where you see him, and by the tune your gun gets uo and 

 discharged, he will have flown right into the shower of shot. 

 If he starts toward the right or 1- ft, throw up your gun so 

 as to shoot a Utile high and in advance of him, say from one 

 to three feet ; you must UEe your judgment about that, and 

 be govern.' d by tbe speed of the bird and the surroundings, 

 etc. Follow the bird with your eyes and your hands will 

 unconsciously follow your eyes with the gun. I have to 

 Drake more allowance for speed when a bird is flying '0 the 

 right limn I do when it is going to the left. I know not 

 wny, I only know that I do. Well, now, here we are in the 

 brush. You go ahead with your gun and I will follow and 

 p-ck up the birds. What ? " Shall not get any ?" That will 

 aeverdo You must have confidence in y uirself. JIuke up 

 your mind that you will get tbe first bird that starts ; and 

 when 3ne does start, if you can see him, let him have it, if 

 there :s even a ghost of a chance of killing him. Now we 

 mu stop talking, lor i be sound of the human voice will 

 ,-e as dilicb as any thing that I know of, and — 

 Qui t, guit, quit. W/ur-r-r-r-r, ba»g. bang ! Welldooo, my 

 boy excellently done; but you did not need to fire the second 

 barrel, for the first barrel flx"d him so that he will never 

 drum anymore old logs. Fortunately for you, your first 

 shot was a straight sway. I am not surprised that you look 

 pale, fee] faint, and tremble all over like a leaf, for such joy 

 as is felt by a boy when he knocks over his first ruffed 

 grouse (this king of gmae birds and one of the niOBt difficult 

 to kill oil 'he wing), is probably never felt again tha side of 

 tfwae " happy hunting grounds" ifi the unfa honied rmure. 



. - liny, jrmi »r ; not Ruing bo bill cv< ry bi tj 

 Husk; but this wing c ho ting is like Bwimmlng; after you 

 have once taken rfaw strokes, you will never h - drowned, no 

 matter how deep the wat. -r is, if you have a fan chance ; and 

 after you have ones killed e ruffed gtonae On the wing, v ■■" 

 will be astonished to see what confidence yon r 

 yourself to kill the next. And if you dp n i| brlUj 

 you wi 1 still live in hope, and with patience p 

 and practice as of ten as it can be made convenient, y ou will 



sooner or later be o lied by your friends a " crack sh- t." I 

 have uot tried to writs up "orae fancy theory on wing shoot- 

 lug, and could no' ii 1 should t y, but the above bints are 

 taken from my own practical tap r enccof tweuty-nveyfars 

 in what I cdl my specialty — huuting partridges. My first 

 bird was kided in exactly the Eame manner as I h<ve de- 

 scribed. Ikos Rajheod. 



■ -« -B- 



THE HURTLING GROUSE. 



TBEBDJG OS. WINS 8H0OTIXC1. 



McDonald's Cobsse, New Brunswick, Dog. 16. 



Editor Forest and Stream ■ 



Where shall we draw the line between sport and murder? 

 This question was suggisted by a communication in a re- 

 cent number of your paper, signed "Ruffed Grouse," in 

 which the writi r denounces, in language which seems to mo 

 rather epithetic, the practice of "murdering" grouse 

 while they are in trees. After drawing a picture of the 

 poor whisky-puniehing tree-shooter, which must hava 

 strained his imagination considerably, he assures us that 

 "it any one is conscious that the coat fits him well, be ia 

 welcome to the ubc of it." All of your readers, 1 think, 

 trike tfie latt' r phrase t>t its fsee vidua and recognize it as a 

 foster-parent for slurs, which, in my opinion, are lees manly 

 than peraoualities, and also as an ■.•■rer-convenient parapet 

 to shield from "returu fire." 1 always suf-pect the manu- 

 facturer of a garment of tbe sort of tak ■■- from 

 a reversible article that wa3 originally made from hid c*wn 

 measure. 



Are tree-shooting and "whisky-guzzling" necessarily as- 

 sociates? Nb( much. It is abBurd to try to fasten the 

 vice of intemperance on any particular class of hunters, and 

 an argument that needs bolstering with such incongruities 

 seems to me a lit'k hine. Of tho grouse-shootiL'g leaders 

 of Foeist axd Btkbait, I will venture to fay that fully one- 

 third will openly declare that they "pull Irigge " en a ruffed 

 grouse (in the ooeD season) wherever they &■ e him; and 

 among them you will hud as little whisky drinking, ' fj-tfib 

 muscle" and "befogped brain" as amoug the stnne number 

 of self-respecting wlrg-shooters. 



"lam no orator, as Brutus is," but I would like to s.'o 

 this subject thoroughly ventilated, even though I be curved 

 up in the process by some abler knight of the. quill. 



If, after three davs' p-Uieut manoeuvring, 1 have the s-ighta 

 of my antiquated Snider full ou a carib u standing one hun- 

 dred yards away, on a barren, must I jump the animal and 

 try to shoot him on the run? Would it be "murder" if I 

 Beffl tlwtballto his heart (if I cou!u\ or would it be more 

 spot,-: manlike to run the risk of woundii g hi i and alloWiag 

 ',im to suffer for days, or of missing him a-Uogethei ? If tho 



iter is 'he proper method, I would likfl to know the name 

 ■ if ih' person who practices it: yet any one win has tried 

 both will admit that you can hit a loaning caribou in tha 

 open as easily as you can a flying gr.iuse in thick c ver. 

 Bom a may say, " We don't slill-huut grouae ; your com pail- 

 sou is inconsistent." We are not discussing the question of 

 difficulty of approach, but that of "sport m. murder." 

 Which 13 the "murderer," ttie man who shootB the head off 

 — : in a tree, or the wiug-shoottr who mangles bins, 

 leaving him to end his sufferings some hmr* or days later? 

 I do not with to be Understood as writing ogainst wing- 

 shoo'ing, for I usuaUy try anything that rides within range ; 

 nor do 1 accuse those who advocate the shooting of grous* 

 Bole)y in this way, of writing in ilia interest of mimunition 

 factories. The questions I wish to see answered are, simply 

 these: Why should we bepardal to the grouse? (What is 

 sauce for one gend> r of a certain bird is usually considered 

 good f 'T i he other.) Secondly, is every mati a "murderer" 

 who shoots at game which is not in motion ? If so. it is time 

 there was a radical change. Let the editors of sporting pa- 

 pers gpeak out. Let tee sportsmen of Amer ca i i e aud 

 make a ciusad6 against raking shotB at ducks i;i the water, 

 the shooting of any biid when not on the wing, and shott- 

 range rlfie-sh'Miting at any animal not in motion. "Let 

 him that is witho.t sin cast the first stone;" and then, in- 

 stead of applying a seven-by-nin.- practice to sever 1 suuara 

 miles uf theory, let us. stand up for " iho right," mid prac- 

 tice what we preach. Again I say, give the sporismen of 

 America light on this subject, and let us know just what is 



1 Ot US. 



I was interested in the letter of "Stans'ead" which sp- 

 peir r jd in a recent issue. He has evidently "been there" 

 often, and his advice is "s lid." " Try all fair wiuc-s .ots, 

 and uerhaps ! q the c mrse of time you will Rhoot th ui in no 

 oth-r way." An old sportsman whom 1 onci knew used to 

 tay thit "a chance shot would kill ina Devil" I don't 

 vouch for the truth of the aasertion. neither do I teiteva in 

 a material JJavll upon whom the sinht of a gun cou'd ba 

 brought to beat : "nut I think that just that »ort of a shot 

 often kills a flying gfouse, arid f he letters of some who kill 

 them (that of "Iron Harordd," for example) serves to 

 s rengthen tins theoiy. I Lave bVen to th- w in In t>v-icB 

 sincel r<-sd tine anvioe of "Til rk West" "to idioot on sight." 

 On the first day I hit one, but he dropped in a bop. and, as 

 we bad no dog, we roofed 0- Oi the second occasion w« 

 took our dog aud made him work near us. My brother 

 scored one oo a " pot Bboti" an I 1 can BBBureyou that a big 

 fir behind which an old fellow took a b iomerani T "sa'd" was 

 fdarfully mangled by the sUbscfuVr. Oar s-ntimenis as we 

 wemtcd our way home might be embodied in the following 

 parody: 



Thai 



i U plain, 



-ir slinta taut mi; vain, 

 Tbe'tiui'iitui grouss' is pecunarj 

 WiUall S"."n l am ire.; 1 1 maintain. 

 Had T not already written too mnch, 1 would tell you a 

 true tale of what Dele i one of our crack shots while it- 

 tempting io sconp in a fiyisg par' ridge, but as it ia, I will 

 subside by wiehng all Forest and Streamers a merry C'hriat- 

 mas and a happy New Tear. L. I. F. 



Fkahkliv, New York. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 

 I agree wi h "Ruff d Grouse,'' w' ere he says : 'ft is 

 yakil and nerve required to bog B*0u 

 that afford the fascination of the i td up 



Be] tod tones uo t : '.e system, ' ate! a 

 erned I c m]& convinc him inat I am uo "slouch 



shot" in caver or open field, and can snspB-hot as many in 

 unber or thicket, without the gun to the shoulder, as 



me \..-t of them I hcve. ever met. But in the Eastern /mi! 

 ■ of the Middle States and Canada, where abundance 

 k timber and brush preclude the possibility of wary 



