Feb. m, 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



29 



should be applied with reference to the different varieties pf 

 This we will illustrate hy a few examples, andwfi] 

 speak first of birds (bat are usually shot, singly, as, for in- 

 stance, (lie rail. This i« a small bird th yards 

 from the shooter, to lo"w - a horizontal flight Eorten or twenty 

 and drop of sight. A. i6-gauge liatnmertess is 

 certain!? the ideal gun for this bird. If closely choked it may 

 either miss him entirely or ruin him for the table if he catches 

 the centre of the charge. It, is hotter, therefore, to sacrifice 

 something in the way of pattern. With a cylinder gun we 

 cannot afford to do this. With the 16-gauge choke-bore, 

 we WOUW Use 2$drg. to JoZS, or as maximum charge, 

 to |o&., while for the cylinder gun we would use 

 -,s powder to the same amount of shot. 



With quail it, is different. This bird may rise at a distance, 

 pidl and be thirty or forty yards away before the shot 

 ran reach him. Under these circumstances the choke-bore 

 exhibits its advantages over the cylinder. Now, you must 

 have powder enough to drive your shot the required distance, 

 and owing to i bo choke can afford to sacrifice the pattern a 

 little. Hence 3drs. to loz. will prove more likely to kilJ 

 than the loads just mentioned. If single shotsat larger birds 

 are expected, a larger gun loaded in accordance with the 

 same principles should be used. 



Thus far we have spoken with reference to loading for 

 single birds. In 'loading for flocks the writer has had no ex- 

 perience, as he does not remember ever having loaded with 

 this special end in view. How professional gunners load for 

 flocks the. following narrations will show. Conversing a 

 couple of months ago with a Southside bayman, we asked 

 him, "How do you load for hay snipe - ?" He replied, in sub- 

 , . that he never shot at single birds except the large sort. 

 jack-curlew, etc., as ammunition was expensive, but, re- 

 - ■ ved bis charire for flocks, loading his double Sdiore muzzle- 

 loader with C.drs. FFG and 2ozs. No. 10. 



A warm September afternoon found me in the cabin of a 

 Jersey rail-pusher. In the corner stood, loaded and capped, 

 a double 4-bore muzzle-loader. We asked. "What birds do 

 you shoot with that?" "Swallows, sir," "Swallows! Why, 

 what do you shoot them for?" "For twenty shillings a hun- 

 dred, sir; the milliners in the city use their wings, - ' "What 

 loads do you use?" "Seven or eight drachms of powder and 

 two or three ounces of No. IS shot. I wait till 1 get 'em well 

 hunched, and sometimes get near a dollar's worth at a time." 

 Now, if the market gunner doesn't know how to get the most 

 meat for the least ammunition, who does'? 



"D. W. H.." in your issue of Feb. 2, seems to be a little 

 mixed as to the proper weight of an ounce of shot. It 

 should he 4f$7f grains, and not 480 grains, as he appears to 

 think. Tiie first number is the weight, of one ounce avoir- 

 dupois, the second that of an ounce Troy. The precious 

 metals are weighed by the latter standard, "and the baser by 

 the former. Hence an ounce of gold is heavier than an 

 ounce of lead. Apound of lead, however, weighs more than 

 a pound of gold. Behold the beauties of the "Americanized 

 English weights and measures, and pray for the general in- 

 troduction of the metric system, in which the unit of weight 

 or measure has*the same value the world over. II. G. P. 



To my surprise I saw him flat on his belly, with a look of as- 

 tonishment on liis /ace that I was not in a like position. I 



flushed the bird Luckily it rose fair and tumbled to tin 

 hoi torn of the. ravine. Frank had no retrieving to do; that 

 boy had that ruffed grouse by tie- neck before the dogs could 

 fairly flatten out on their "down charge." He came back to 

 i i face brilliant with approving smiles and said: 



-, Is that the way you do it, by golly V" 



"Oil. yes; we always shoot, thorn on the wing, when we 

 can " 



"Well, by golly! 1'ou may do it that way, but Siting on. a 

 is good enough for me." X. 



l, vi 



ECHOES FROM OLD FRIENDS. 



ON THE WING, OR ON A LOG? 



QUITE a controversy has sprung up between some of our 

 earnest sportsmen as to whether it is a, proper thing to 

 shoot ruffed grouse except on the wing. 



Although thi> i- simply a war of words, yet, like all wars, 

 it will tnosl likely i nd in a compromise. 



Most of us have vanity enough to believe we can bring 

 down all the birds we want after flushing and beforejMprcan 

 get out of range. It stimulates our pride and flatters our 

 vanity to do so. But suppose, like the hoy digging at the 

 woodchuck's hole, you were "out of meat and "the "minister 

 was coming," and your faithful spaniel should "tree" a 

 e in a tMck undergrowth, where to shoot him on the 

 wing would be bordering on impossible, what would the 

 average common-sense sportsman do? Swing his hat, scare 

 him off. aud trust to the precarious chance of finding him 

 again under more favorable circumstances, or walk deliber- 

 ately away, leaving the game alone in his glory, or would he 

 lake the shortest cut to get what he was after.' and proceed 

 to knock the bird out of that tree with a charge of No. 6's? 

 On the principle that, "a bird in hand is worth two in the 

 bush," I honestly believe that every "pot-hunter." every 

 farmer's boy and nine tnths of I he sportsmen of this country 

 (L do not include sportsmen shooting in English or American 

 preserves) would baa- that bird then and there. I am free to 

 confess I have done it, and under like circumstances will do 

 it again, riotwithstandrng my love and admiration for wing 

 shooting. 



Wing ^hooting is an acquired art, practiced not to increase 

 our bag-, but to enhance our pleasure. It should he en- 

 couraged and practiced by all true lovers of manly held 

 sports. But it appears to me to work no blemish upon his 

 character for the spoilsman to show good sense as well as 

 1 hooting, and not to be afraid or ashamed to shoot a, 

 deer or hear standing, a squirrel on a limb, or a ruffed grouse 

 on a trie, t 'ouioiomi.se then, anil agree to shoot the grouse 

 on the wing if you can, but if you see you cannot, shoot all 

 the same. 



The following case of native simplicity forced me to this 

 compromise : 



Several years ago, with a flue brace of pointers, ih,ii,i. ana 

 Dash, I left a little town on the Ohio Canalsome thirty miles 

 from Cleveland, after an earij breakfast; fort!;,' "Se fees," a 

 wed known partridg jrroundeast of the winding Cuyi 

 Before I go, outofthe Little hamlet, a ragged Utile bright- 

 eyed smart-lo g country boy. between "twelve and four- 

 teen years of age. came trudging along a! my heels. I said: 



"TV here are you going, my hoyf ' 



., , lg with you, if you'll let me." 



look stout enough to stand (he fatigue of the 



oil are about 10 make. Don't you go to school?" 



• i'es, but I'm riinnin' away to-day to show you where the 

 partridges is. I leu owed you was going hunting, for 

 you and them big dogs last night at the tavern." 



"Are you not afraid of getting a whipping by both your 

 teacher and your pan- 



'\o; hiii t expect to have to lie some. I'll tell the teacher 

 1 had the belly-aches and I'll tell pap I've been to school and 

 didn't v. ant no dinner." 



is I smiled audibly, and believing in his m 

 ■ and that he might show me some a grouo 



■ ' i ouUl, I told him ,■:■ ■ I, •..)-, close 



stop still when r did. He promised | a , , 

 ', oon tu it i , , ■ i i i illy a 



.--"'■ r.io .!.■ d h'>d ro :< ed id ' 







■ ■; , , topped 



VT ( )T WITHSTANDING its narrow- escape from cremation, 

 l?i the Forest axd Stream is full and fat, and better 

 looking than ever in its new dress. You are to be. congratu- 

 lated on your exemption from the fate of your unfortunate 

 neighbors. You were near enough, I imagine, to suffer 

 somewhat from the general chaos that ensued, and to get 

 upon you the smell of the flames by which they were con- 

 sumed. I will not, say more, for 1 suppose that since the 

 disaster you have become surfeited with this kind of talk, 

 fet my interest in the Forest and Stream and its staff has 

 led me to give this sincere expression of my delight at their 

 escape with so little damage. 



I learn from the Chatham Gouiie)' that Ken, the "astro- 

 logical genius" of the "Costly Perch" story, made another 

 creditable record last season, for a business man who can 

 only snatch a day now and then for the sport that he su- 

 premely loves. He caught 813 trout, aggregating 85 pounds 

 and 7 ounces. He also took #03 black bass from the waters 

 of the Mohawk River and Copake Lake, of good average 

 weight. His "signs" must have been truer to him than they 

 were on that Lake Richmond expedition. By the way, as 

 to "signs," concerning which you invite discussion, there is 

 in Batavia, 111., a Swede, by the name of Kindblode, who is 

 something of an expert with the rod and fly, who says that 

 he has always found that fishing is poor when the nights are 

 light, enabling the fish to feed. His sign was in the moon, 

 and I am strongly disposed to accept its plausibility from the 

 added evidence of my own observation and experience. I 

 can testify that fish do bite better on the mornings that fol- 

 low, and 'the evenings that, precede dark nights. 



A friend of mine, whom I left behind in Illinois when I 

 moved East, writes me about a piece of bad luck that he had 

 last November. He, with another friend, went to McHenry 

 for two day's sport, at duck snooting. He hired a breech- 

 loader at a' cost of $10, laid in a stock of 150 shells, and ex- 

 pressed his boat, on ahead of them, so as to he sure to have a 

 good one. On their arrival at McHcnry they found the 

 ducks scarce, and the country full of sloughs caused by heavy 

 raius. At the close of bh< s second day they returned' to the 

 hotel through a driving snow storm, wet and tired, with one 

 solitary duck, which thsy left in the boat house, and the 

 next, morning it was all devoured, except one wing, by some 

 cat or other ravenous beast. To save their reputation they 

 bought fourteen mallards, shipped them home, and kept 

 their friends (at home) in blissful ignorance of their ill suc- 

 cess. Printed accouu is of sporting excursions usually portray 

 the brightest side of the sportsman's experiences, and if it 

 should come to the knowledge of my distant friend that I am 

 making a public exhibitian of him he might give, me "Hail 

 Columbia" for departing from the general rule. But since 

 he is not. in your list of subscriber's (I am sorry to say) and I 

 have been so far impersonal us to withold his name and place 

 of residence, I will take the risk of any evil that might follow 

 and submit it to your judgment and columns, subscribing 

 myself as ever, Hix. 



Paterson, N. J. 



FOXES TAKE TO WATER. 



AYOUR correspondent, Mr. I. C. Lodor, iu Forest akd 

 X Stream of January 29, asks if foxes ever take to water. 

 I will relate what I saw about two weeks ago. 1 live on a 

 branch of Miles River, in Talbot county. Maryland. Two 

 weeks ago last Wednesday I was on board my yacht with a 

 party of gentlemen. We were about to leave our moorings 

 for a ducking trip, when we heard the hounds and soon saw 

 them coming across a field to our right. All of the pack, 

 with the exception of one dog, seemed to overshoot the trail, 

 as they kept on toward a cove making into the side of the 

 creek they were on. The one hound took a, trail at, a right 

 angle to the course of the rest of the pack, and ran it out, io 

 a point on the bank of the creek just below where we were 

 anchored. Tiiis called our attention to the fox, which we 

 soon espied iu the water very leisurely making bis way 

 to the other side, the creek at this point being about 250 

 yards wide. He swam quite high in the water, nearly the 

 whole of his tail being on the surface. The rest of the pack. 

 soon discovered their mistake and came back and took up 

 the trail to where Reynard had taken to the water, hut here 

 the icy cold water seemed to coo! their ardor, as they refused 

 to follow the fox, which had by this time landed on the op- 

 posite hank, and after giving himself a shake or two bounded 

 up the bank and disappeared. Several of the gentlemen, 

 who were following f lie hounds, had by this lime arrived on 

 the hank of the creek, and seeing their* trouble, I sent one of 

 our party with our skiff, who ferried the dogs over and put 

 them on' the trail while the hunt rode round the head of the 

 creek. How the hunt terminated 1 cannot say, as 1 have not 



seen any of the hunters since my return from '' a 



trip. 



It is a very common thing tor foxes to take to water in our 

 country, cut up as it is by numerous creeks and rivers. This 

 is the second instance I have known of a fox crossing this 

 creek, at or near the same place. Our fox is the common 

 red fox. SBOAt, 



The W EEATL.VSD?. 



I will gratify your correspondent and I'umwh girj] 



in regard to foxes taking to water, The red lo\ h lit 



tie regard For watei asfhc ■■■ ite panic] has ; and inpi 



. u , habitually crosses Streams of several hunflivd 

 yards iu \i 



is ., ,. i ■ , 



is formed by a division of tit oano! Into - 



I ' ■ | , . o - i - , , , I ,!,.,;, , ! 



, ■ i i ■.,',-. - rived bn it, 



and (omiuued to tlo So until BrodiUJ &JJ ; imped in 



■ , , 



I ■■ ! 



similarly colonized. The last of this colony I caught the 

 past spring, an account of which I published. I have on 

 two occasions pressed a red fox so closely that after a hotly 

 contested run up the Roanoke for fifteen' miles, he did "take 

 water" and cross that stream at a width of some SOO yards 

 and escaped. 



It is different with the gray. He never "takes water," 

 unless in so close a quartet as to make his escape otherwise 

 impossible. This i have witnessed hut once during my entire 

 hunting experience of more than 40 years. 



The red fox never resorts to such "stratagems" on "thin 

 ice and air holes," as stated by Forest "a^o Stream; 

 indeed, he cannot be regarded as strategic, he relies entirely 

 upon his heels and holes, which are ample for all purposes 

 Of escape, unless pursued by a true, speedy and determined 

 pack, The gray, however, is up to all tricks and strata- 

 gems. But lie never has a prepared hole to resort to in 

 emergencies, and only when outfooted and cornered will he 

 take a tree or water. In his night rambles he neve; "takes 

 water," and even his usual crossings over small streams will 

 he avoided, if from any cause the volume of water he per- 

 ceptibly increased. If he once escaped by inking a tree, he 

 will repeat the experiment whenever he thinks his safety is 

 secured by doing so. I have never known a red fox to do 

 so, or even attempt it, T. G. T. 



Gaston, North Carolina. 



THE MONTREAL SOCIETY. 



Montreal, Jan, 29, 1S82. 

 Editor Fortrf and Stream ■ 



The fifth annual dinner of the Fish and Game Protection 

 Club was held at the St. Lawrence Hotel, in this city, last 

 morning. Jan. 26th. Like former meetings of the Club, it, 

 was a most happy affair, and everything passed off most 

 pleasantly. The Club, by the way, is not one of those soci- 

 eties which devote so much attention to their annual dinners 

 that they have no time nor strength for anything else. The 

 report, o'f the Secretary, which is appended, shows that the 

 society is accomplishing much good. 



At the gathering last night, Alderman Wilson, President of 

 the Club, presided, and among those present were Messrs. 

 Dugas, Beyer. E. C. Monk, G. Boivin. J. S. Hall, F. Ilen- 

 shaw, H. W Matthews (Secretary). S. Cross, Proven cher, L. 

 Sutherland, Torrance, Fenwick* Geo. McKinnon. Hanson 

 and others. Dr. Mayrand, President of the Argenteuil Fish 

 and Game Protection Club, was also present. Letters of re- 

 gret at non-attendance were received from Hon. E,»J. Flynn, 

 Commissioner of Crown Lands; Mr. "Whitcher, Deputy Min- 

 ister of Marine, Mr. Proulx, Chief Game Overseer of Quebec, 

 and the President of the Eastern Townships Fish and Game 

 Club. 



After the party had discussed the good things provided, 

 toasts were drunk to "The Queen: The Governor-General; 

 and The Dominion Parliament.'' The Chairman gave the 

 "Quebec Parliament," and iu doing so said the Club was 

 much indebted for legislation to the Quebec Legislature. He 

 hoped that this year the Club would succeed in obtaining 

 amendments to the existing game laws of the Province, with 

 a view of preventing the shooting of duck in spring. The 

 "Army and Navy Volunteers" was the next sentiment. Mr, 

 Dugas" sang "Le Chasseur," which was heartily joined in by 

 the meeting. Sir. Geo. Ahern also gave "Britannia, the Pride 

 of the Ocean." "Our sister societies in Canada" was the 

 next toast given by the chairman. In doing so he said he 

 knew that this toast would be drunk with enthusiasm, In 

 reading over the hill of fare he noticed that the toast was to 

 the sister societies of Canada only. He would ask permission 

 to include in it the fish and game clubs of the United States. 

 He was happy to say that heTiad received a, letter and a copy 

 of the by-laws of the Cincinnati club, which fact showed that 

 the feeling which should prevail among the clubs should he 

 continental, and not provincial. The toast w r as drunk with 

 much enthusiasm. Dr. Mayrand, who was called upon to 

 respond to the toast, returned thanks for the St. Andrew's 

 Society of Argenteuil. Mr. Beaugrand then proposed "Out- 

 Guests." Mr. E. Roy responded to the toast, and in doing so 

 he spoke as counsel for the Society, and referred to several 

 instances connected with the prosecution of parties contra- 

 vening the fish and game laws. He pointed out instances in 

 which the greatest destruction of fish and game had been 

 prevented, and in other instances where parties had been 

 punished. Mr. E. C. Monk then gave "The Press." and in 

 doing so said that, the Club owed the greatest amount of 

 gratitude for the. services which, the press had rendered the 

 Club. He hoped it would not fail in doing in future 

 what it had done in the past. The toast was appropriatelv 

 responded to by Mr. R. S. White, of the G<ix,ltr. and Mr. 

 Proveneher, of La JL'nrrre. After "The Ladies" had been 

 duly honored, the chairman proposed "Our absent members." 

 and in doing so called Upon Mr. Fred. J. Brady and Mr. Hin- 

 tou, two of the most efficient members of the Club, to respond. 

 The toast was enthusiastically honored in Highland fashion 

 and the speakers accorded the heartiest reception of the even- 

 ing. The meeting dispersed with the singing of "Auld Lang 

 Syne" and- the National Anthem. Appended is the 



SEORKTAIIV'S kf.port. 



Your committee, in reporting the work done, by the club 

 during the past year, has much pleasure iu stating thai 

 lawt for the protection of fish and game have been much bet- 

 ter observed than in the past, that the -ale of fish and game 



: rally killed has become veryrare in Montreal, and that 

 the club is nowin a better position to carry their prosecutions 

 into the more distant districts of the province. 



The results of the work done by the club are most gratify- 

 ing. The catch of game fish during the past summer has not 

 rtfaUed for many years. Especially may be noticed 

 bass and maskirionge. The catch of the former was 

 large, and the Bsh of good size and in good condition; hut 

 the mosl marked results were shown in the great increase of 

 maskinonge, a catch of two, three, and even four fish being 



no uncommon occurreneo, these fish running from 10 to 



pounds. 

 YoureomniiMec commenced thework of they inj 



copies of the fish aud gi ■ laws to t>e p ■ '> < <■ a evei 



town, village and railroad station in the provinces, aud \h° 

 distribution of cards com. .in ,, i !: - o 



wards forth,- conviction of persons infringing thl I i id 

 during the past year rewards have accord o I i paid in 



The club have pro , : , , beet ighfn 



a obtained. Sixw, , . 

 oi ufficient evidenc 



'■■ ' ■ i i .■■ indi 



huted the -am<- an* 



■ chib did 001 



