FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



103 



looked at his compass once. At first 

 I thought he was using the wind for a 

 guide. In reality, he was familiar with 

 every bunch of brush, every depression and 

 elevation of the tundra and every lake, 

 swamp and stream. 



Our range of vision during the storm was 

 not more than 30 yards and sometimes less. 

 The wind shrieked and moaned . in that 

 weird, lonesome way only heard in the far 

 North. As the storm increased in fury and 

 the snow swept by in great waves, on 

 their crests, wreathed in robes of snow, I 

 seemed to see a female form that cried. 

 "Oh, man ! knowest thou the precious bur- 

 den thou dost bear? Think of the gray 

 haired fathers, lonely mothers, wives and 

 children, sisters true and sweethearts dear, 

 who are waiting for a token from loved 

 ones in the North. Fail not ! Fail not !" 

 With an effort I shook off the drowsy feel- 

 ing that precedes death by freezing. The 

 noble dogs rushed forward and out of the 

 storm appeared the igloo. The overland 

 mail was safe. 



sins. Poor old cloak ! It is a great won- 

 der it has not been torn into strings long 

 ago, but it is not large enough to cover the 

 proceedings of these 2 men. Courtney's 

 number in the game hog book is 1037 and 

 Benson's is 1038. I am sorry Chief Joyner 

 did not go with them so I could properly 

 give him a number as well. — Editor. 



CHARITY NO EXCUSE. 



W. R. Joyner, chief of the fire department of 

 Atlanta, Ga., who has become famous as an ama- 

 teur chafing dish chef, was asked to cook and 

 serve 100 quails at a dinner. The chief readily 

 accepted the invitation but he was informed that 

 he was not only to cook and serve the birds, but 

 to furnish them. He thereupon selected M. G. 

 Benson and G." C. Courtney, 2 members of the 

 Atlanta fire department who are excellent shots, 

 and told them to go out and kill every bird 

 they could find. 



Courtney and Benson spent one day in the 

 fields and woods with guns and dogs, and re- 

 turned with 130 quails and 16 rabbits. — Georgia 

 paper. 



I wrote Joyner as follows : 



I am informed that you instructed 2 of 

 your firemen, named Courtney and Benson, 

 to provide the quails for a dinner and that 

 they did so, bringing in a string of 130 

 quails and 16 rabbits as a result of one 

 day's shooting. Will you kindly let me 

 know if the report is true? 



You are correct in reference to Courtney 

 and Benson, 2 members of this department. 

 Last winter I promised a charitv organ- 

 ization to furnish and serve for them a 

 quail lunch to be cooked on chafing dishes. 

 I thought the best way to get these quails 

 was to have some one go out and kill them, 

 so I selected Messrs. Courtney and Benson, 

 both good shots. They were gone a little 

 over a day and possibly got about a day 

 and a half of hunting. The number killed 

 was as you state. The birds were served 

 and the charity organization succeeded in 

 getting a neat little sum out of the lunch. 

 W. N. Joyner, Atlanta, Ga. 



This is another case where a man bor- 

 rowed the cloak of charity to cover his 



GAME NOTES. 

 Local sportsmen would like to have 

 somebody explain the present inequalities 

 in the game laws of California. The limit 

 on quail is placed at 25 a day. It is enough 

 and to spare, though the birds are plen- 

 tiful and increasing ; but why should the 

 limit on ducks, which are few and rapidly 

 diminishing in number, be held at 50 and 

 their sale be permitted? Some local associ- 

 ations have taken the matter in hand ; 

 please help us stir up the rest in your col- 

 umns. Can you call a man a game hog 

 who stops within the legal limit? If so 

 such beasts are numerous here. 



R. R. Cameron, Los Angeles, Cal. 



ANSWER. 



Yes, a man who kills 50 ducks in a day 

 simply because the law of the State per- 

 mits it is a hog, and no amount of white- 

 washing or of legal sanction will make 

 anything else of him. 



The laws in effect in 3 or 4 States which 

 permit the killing of 50 ducks a day by 

 each man are made at the instance of game 

 butchers and in opposition to the wishes of 

 decent sportsmen. Time will work changes 

 in the minds of these bristlebacks and the 

 bag limits will be reduced in all States to 

 20 or 25 birds ; but that will doubtless be 

 after most of the ducks have been killed. — 

 Editor. 



An Indiana paper recently printed an 

 item to the effect that James Wilson had 

 killed 117 rabbits in less than 2 hours. In 

 reply to a letter of inquiry I received the 

 following : 



These are the facts : Seven of my friends 

 and I decided to go rabbit hunting, sell the 

 rabbits and expend the proceeds for an 

 oyster supper for ourselves and families. 

 Determined that my side should win, I was 

 on the ground early, commenced shoot- 

 ing as soon as it was light enough to see, 

 and by sun-up I had killed 25 rabbits, get- 

 ting them all off an 11 acre tract covered 

 with wild grass. 



After breakfast I killed 94 more before 

 1 o'clock, when my shells were exhausted ; 

 making, in all, 119 rabbits before 1 o'clock. 

 The 8 members of the party killed in all 

 465. 



J. D. Wilson, Crawfordsville, Ind. 



You evidently have not the /emotest idea 

 of what is meant by decent sportsmanship. 



