Aran, 0, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



189 



fed and watered once each day and no more, care being taken 

 M course to give, them enough at each feeding to 

 last (hern twenty-four hours. Nor should they be visited 

 Hneiier, provided, of course, that they are' in a safe 

 place. They are very timid, and flic less they are 

 Excited by the visits of human beings, the b'etfer. If 

 Ihcyeanbe confined in small parlies, not over a dozen in a 

 Box so much the better, as they itre less likely to over-run 

 and crush each other, lam greatly pleased with in J UCCi 

 so far, and with the care bestowed upon the selection and 

 shipping by Ml'. Vincent, to whom I can recommend persons 

 wishing birds for stocking purposes another season. 



These birds COS! ""' S4.o(i per. dozen delivered here. Not 

 cheap, certainly, hut I have known ihe dead ones soil higher 

 in our markets', and on the whole, perhaps, cheap enough. 



VbrbE: Monte. 



Kotlamo, Yt., March 3H, 1882. 



HISTORY OF BUFFALO LEGISLATION. 



A GA1X and again have measures been introduced into 

 J. JL the National Legislature looking to the salvation of the 

 roaming buffalo against the wholesale slaughter Jo which he 

 .is subjected. In almost every Congress for ten" or a dozen 

 years past may be found the record of acts intended to pro- 

 tect the buffalo, but none of these measures have been given 

 the test of practice, for after their introduction they seemed 

 to have found a quick and quiet grave in the pigeon holes of 

 the committee rooms. 



lu 1871 Hon. S. S. Cox, of New York, introduced a hill 

 reading as follows: 



Beit enacted, &c, That excepting for the purpose of using the 

 ieat for food, orpreserdng the skin.it shall be unlawful for any 



in-: 



auds of the I uited 

 offender shall, bpon c 

 dieiion, be liable to a 



which sum shall, upo: 



any 

 . public 

 this law the 

 nviction, before, any court of competent juris- 

 neofiiOO for each animal killed, one-half of 

 its collection, be paid to the informer. 



This bill was aimed against the ruthless slaughter of 

 buffalo by bauds of so-called sportsmen, Mr. Cox" putting 

 himself on record in these words: "1 do not thinkthe. killing 

 of buffaloes amounts to game. I would just as soon shoot 

 my mother's cow in the barn-yard as kill buffaloes for sport. 

 There is no sport in such occupation." Although there was 

 the usual amount of talk on the question, the bill failed to 

 become a law. 



Subsequently in 1872, lion. R. C. McCormick, of Arizona, 

 introduced the following: 



A bill restricting the hilling of the bison, or baffalo, upon the public 

 lands. 



Ho it enacted by the. Senate and House of Represe?it;uives of the 

 United States of America in Congress assembled, That excepting for 

 the purpose of using the meat for food, or preserving the skin, it shall 

 be unlawful for any person to kill the bison, or baffalo. found any- 

 where ii|.iili the public lands of the Unit.-. I Slates, and for the violation 

 of this law the o'V.-ndei shall, upon eonvienon before anr conn, of 

 competent .iiirisilietioij, be liable to a fine of S100 for each animal killed, 

 Llf of which stun shall, upon its collection, be paid to the in- 

 former. 



Other bills of the some tenor were, introduced in the same 

 year by Senators Cole and Wilson. Noneof these were passed. 



Mr. G. L. Fort of 111., made a special effort to secure leg- 

 islation on this subject, and on Jan 5, 1874, introduced an 

 act for the prevention of buffalo slaughter into the house, 

 Which went to the Committee on Ways and Means. On 

 Feb. 2, 1874, It. C. McCormick, of Arizona, introduced a 

 very similar bill, and this went to the Committee on Public 

 La nds. On the 5th of January Mr. Fort's "bill came back from 

 the Committee with the recommendation for its unanimous 

 passage. 



The first section of the bill provided: 



That it shall hereafter be unlawful for any person who is not an In- 

 dian to kill, wound, or in any manner destroy any female buffalo, of 

 any age, found at large within the boundaries of any of the Territor- 

 ies of the United States. 



The second seel ion provided that it shall be, in 1:1 mo i ,. ml: ■■■ 

 ful for any such person to kill, wound, or destroy in said Territories 

 any greater number of male buffaloes than needed for food by such 

 person, or than can be used, cured, or preserved for the food of other 

 persons, or for the market. 11 shall be in like manner mdawful tet- 

 any such person or persons to assist or be in an v manner engaged or 

 concerned in or about such mdawful killing, wounding or destroying 

 of any such buffaloes; that any person who shall violate the provi- 

 sions of the act shall, on conviction, forfeit and pay to the united 

 States the sum of $100 for each offense, (and each buffalo so unlaw- 

 fully killed, wounded, or destroyed, shall be and constitute a sepauate 

 offense,! and on a ootiv let ion for a second offense may be com: nil. led 

 to prison for a period not exceeding thirty days; and that all United 

 Stares judges, j no! i.-.-s. eour!s and legal tribunals in said Territories 

 shall have jurisdiction in eases of the violation of the law. 



The discussion which followed is interesting and instruc- 

 tive reading, as an exhibition of how much the average con- 

 gressman knows about such a subject. The debate, was pro- 

 tracted, and as usual the Indian question came in to compli- 

 cate matters. Mr, Garfield said: 



"Mr. Speaker, this bill, as I have glanced at it on the 

 Clerk's desk, is every way right. If there is a single point 

 suggested by any gentleman, it has been satisfactorily an- 

 swered. But 1 have understood, and indeed I have heard it 

 said, and said before the Committee on Appropriations, by a 

 gentleman who is high in authority in the Government, the 

 best thing which could happen for the betterment of our 

 Indian question — the very best thing which could occur for 

 (he solution of the difficulties of that question — would be that 

 the last remaining baffalo should perish, and he gave this as 

 hi:, reason for that statement: that so long as the Indian can 

 hope to subsist by hunting buffalo, so long will he resist all 

 efforts to put him forward in the work of civilization: that 

 he would never cultivate the soil, neve;- even become a pas- 

 toral owner or controller of flocks, never take a. step toward 

 civilization, until his savage means of support were cut. off; 

 and that his great support, the quarry, if 1 may-use the word, 

 out of which he secures the very meat he feeds on, is the 

 herds of buffalo which roam over the. plains of the West. 

 The Secretary of the Interior said that he would rejoice, so 

 far as the Indian question was concerned, when the last buf- 

 falo was gone. 



i\;,w if tiio barbarism of killing buffalo for mere wautm 

 sport has any compensation in it, perhaps it may be this is a 

 compensation w»rthy of our consideration. I should like to 

 know from gentlemen, especially those in charge of Indian 

 affairs, whether they believe this theory is a Sound one, and 

 whether the very processes of civilization are not in their 

 own course sweeping away the ground upon which Indian 

 barbarism plants itself? It maybe possible in our mercy to 

 the buffalo we may be cruel to the Indian. It is the only 

 possible objection which can be urged to this bill; and with- 

 out at all indorsing the theory, I only offer it for the con- 

 sideration of the House," 



Mr. Fort was "not in favor of civilizing the Indian hy 

 starving him to death, by destroying the means which God 

 has given him for support." 



Mr. Conger contended the bill discriminated in favor of the 



Indian, and was unjust to the settlers on the frontier, who 

 might starve if they could not kill the buffalo. 



Mr. Hawley, of Connecticut, said; "I am very glad, Mr. 

 Speaker, to see this bill. I ihink every man who has any of 

 the. spirit of a sportsman in him pemst begladtosee.it. I 

 mean (he real sportsuieu, not the men who gallop on horse- 

 after the buffalo to shoot them down with as much sense, as 

 the gentleman from New York [Mr. Cox] well expressed it, 

 as a man would shoot down his mother's cow in the barn- 

 yard. But the real sportsmen will lie glad to have the game 

 law which wc have in the older States also in the Western 

 States, not to prohibit the shooting of any class of game, 

 but to protect them during certain periods of the year. 



"These men who call themselves sportsmen, but w r ho have 

 not the spirit of real sportsmen, go out in breeding time and 

 kill Ihe animals without reference to their condition, and in 

 a short time would destroy them from off the face of the 

 earth. Such men are not fit to have guns in their hands. 

 The real old hunter of the West is not; a man of that sort. 

 Very few rften go out to settle in the. West who depend on 

 their guns for their subsistence. Yet it is very convenient, 

 for settlers and also for parties of soldiers or emigrants to be 

 able to come across a buffalo. I say, then, let us preserve 

 them from wanton destruction." 



Mr. Nesmith inqidred: "How docs the real sportsman kill 

 the buffalo?" 



Mr. Hawley replied : "The real sportsman kills the buffalo 

 when he neeits it, for food or for its hide. I do not ob- 

 ject to the way in which you shoot them at all." 



And so the debate went on. The Indian, the settler, the 

 sportsman and the butcher all came in for a liberal allow- 

 ance of eloquence; and from among them all the poor buf- 

 falo finally came out safe. The bill was passed by the 

 House (ayes 132, noes not counted), and sent to the Senate. 

 Here it was referred to the Senate Committee on Territories, 

 and that was the la.st ever heard of it. 



Two years later Mr. Fort made another effort, and a pre- 

 cisely similar bill was brought before the House Feb. 23, 

 1874, and passed (ayes 104, noes 36). 



This bill reached the Senate, and on the last day of the 

 session was passed by that body after about five minutes of 

 debate on the matter. It failed to get the Executive signa- 

 ture and so failed to become law. It was the best pushed 

 of any of the bills, and its failure gives little promise that 

 any similar act will pass. 



WOLVES IN VIRGINIA. 



r TMIE lively little Scofopax wUsonii has come, and we are 

 JL wiping out our guns after a three months' rest and salut- 

 ing their arrival with a feu drjok. But as yet it is too cold 

 for the mercurial little fellows to be very abundant. On 

 Wednesday I walked with a friend over two little meadows 

 in this vicinity and found probably fifty or sixty, but they 

 were excessively wild, and fully one-half escaped unshot at. 

 There was nothing to boast of in the way of shooting, but we 

 had lots of fun, and brought back from our walk a little bag 

 of twenty-three snipe, one plover and six doves, out of forty- 

 one shots at snipe, one at plover and seven at doves; so if we 

 won no credit at least we lost none. There arc still a few 

 hluewing teal and mallard, and we flushed three, but got no 

 shot. A few 7 nights ago some of the colored brethren got up 

 an old-fash i on eel coon hunt, some miles hence near HoJston 

 River, and after tracing the coon discovered him in a crotch 

 of a big oak. To save the trouble of cutting the tree dow r n, 

 an old inusket was brought into requisition, and al the crack 

 of the gun, down tumbled among the dogs, "mongrel, puppy, 

 whelp and hound, and cm 1 of low degree," not a coon, but a 

 panther not more than half killed. By all accounts the 

 scene for the next, five minutes was exceedingly lively, almost 

 too much so for some of the dogs, wdio are now laid up for 

 repairs, and one old darkey is said to be on the retired list ; 

 but his panthership hud to yield to superior numbers and 

 was finally clubbed to death. Panthers are excessively scarce 

 throughout this part of the Virginia mountains, but there is 

 one large pack of wolves remaining, not fifteen miles from 

 the railroad, on that part of the Clinch Mountain known as 

 Bromley Ridge. On 1hree sides it rises steep and high from 

 the plain and is perhaps thirty miles long, rcachingup into a 

 wilderness, poor and very thinly inhabited, The other side 

 of this long ridge, stretching into the fertile and settled lands, 

 has been chosen for their haunt by this pack of wolves, doubt- 

 less on account of the number of sheep convenient to that 

 end. A considerable number of hunters might combine, and, 

 stretching entirely across the ridge, cutting off retreat along 

 if to the secure wilderness behind, might by Steadily advanc- 

 ing in a skirmish line, kill many, if not, exterminate the pack. 

 A "steam saw mill will be in operation on top of the ridge 

 this summer, which may frighten them away. On this ridge 

 runs Bromley Creek, swarming with the glorious speckled 

 trout, all unknowing of the terrors of rod and fly. 



DenbiGs. 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



THE rains of March 26 and 27 brought more snipe 

 to the grounds south of Philadelphia; and although 

 we have heard of no large hags having been made by 

 particular sportsmen, almost everyone that has gone out 

 has had his share of sport. The birds are yet wild, un- 

 settled and shif ling; and the meadows, owing to late heavy 

 rains, are very wet, owing to the breakage of the banks of 

 the creeks that flow through litem. During the short cold 

 suap of the 23d and 24th, one gentleman in the neighborhood 

 of Poplar MeadQWS, Delaware, found snipe (Wilson's) using 

 sonic small ponds on the high mainland grounds which were 

 ..d with dwarf cedars. Being disunited, the birds 

 returned again and again, and were killed to the number of a 

 dozen or more as they llew in, At some points on the Dela- 

 ware River below Wilmington more salt water birds have 

 appeared this spring than isusuat We hear of the greater 

 yellow shaubs in considerable numbers about Penusville, 

 Pennsgrovc and Salem Creek, Jf. J. This is rather higher 

 up the Delaware than he generally comes in quantities to be 

 spoken of, as his spring tarry is always confined to the greater 

 salt meadow \ ol the COasi proper, We reason lhat owing to 

 the prevalence of overflow at the points spoken of, better 

 feeding grounds have been created for him this spring. His 

 loud note of call can BOW be heard in many meadows where 

 it was little known before. The little jacksnipe, so often 

 mistaken for Wilson's snipe by beginners, has also been at- 

 tracted by the same new feeding grounds in more ihau ordi- 

 nary flocks within the past week. This is the same bird 

 (some do not know it) that returns with its \ ouug to our lati- 



tude in August, to be calledl the hay bird, fat bird and 

 ereeker, Then he is found almost exclusively on the salt 

 marshes, and is not the toothsome morsel he will be found 

 while feeding on the fresh water grounds in the spring. I 

 have eaten them in April, when I thought them scarcely in- 

 ferior to a Wilson snipe. The earlier varieties of shore birds 

 are making their appearance on the New Jersey coast, but 

 we have not heard of but one party who hanker after them. 

 Those of our sportsmen who devote any of their time to 

 them in the spring, prefer to w r ait until May, when the later 

 comers, the robin-breast and the dorritch arrive. Shooting at 

 Havre de Grace still continues, but the fowl are moving 

 northward. So long as one remains, some gmi will claim it 

 as a target. I am glad to say all the amateurs who visit this 

 latter and its neighboring grounds, have "hung up" for the 

 season, and big guns are being brought in to Kridcr's to be 

 overhauled and put away for next, season's work. At Barne- 

 gat and Tuckerton bays some "brant were killed last week. 

 One good day's shooting was had. Fowl arc not numerous 

 though. Homo, 



Philadelphia, March**}!). 



THE CORN ON THE COBB. 



Editor Fond and Stream : 



From, an article in your issue of March 23, on Shooting at 

 Cobb's Island, I make the following extracts : 



I. "On this sand-bank the snipe were feeding in countless 

 numbers. * * * Creeping up on our hands and knees to 

 within forty yards, we Sighted along the fluttering mosaic- 

 looking floor and pulled trigger. Two long swaths of dead 

 and dying marked the track of the shot. For every one 

 killed there are two wounded, and we have a lively chase in 

 the water after them, for the tide is rising and the crippled 

 birds can swim like a duck, and they soon reach deep water 

 and are safe from us. * * * We gather up the dead and pile 

 them in great heaps." 



II. "They * * * commenced to shoot the brant in the 

 night time' with the aid of lights and reflectors. Whole; 

 flocks can be slaughtered in that way. * * * A discharge of 

 a heavy gun, and dozens are killed at a shot, many more are 

 wounded, and the others, bewildered and scared, fly aimlessly 

 about, and in the morning migrate to distant parts." 



HI. "Is there any fate too severe for such miscreants? Oh! 

 that they could only be caught and tried by a jury of sports- 

 men. I wot well what the verdict would be." 



To which of these two classes of hunters — the "snipers," 

 described in the first quotation, or the "branters" spoken of 

 in the second, will the condemnation implied in the third best 

 apply? H. x L. 



Batavia, Ohio, March 26. 



I have read with a great deal of interest the arguments on 

 the grouse shooting question, " Wing Shooting vs. Treeing," 

 and "begin to wonder, what kind of shooting is necessary to 

 transform a sportsman into a pot-hunter or butcher. In the 

 last number (March 23), is an account of some shooting done 

 at Cobb's Island, telling how snipe were "mown down" on a 

 sandbar, and for every one killed there are two wounded, to 

 be caught by seahawks; how the dead are piled in great, [leaps 

 (too numerous to count, I suppose). Then follows an ac- 

 count of how some " vile wretches shoot, brant at night with 

 a light," to the great disgust of sportsmen, In my estima- 

 tion there^ is small choice; but I may not be a sportsman, 

 consequently ignorant of what real sport is. I have shot 

 ruffed grouse from trees, but did it with a .33 calibre rifle. 

 Shot them in the head or made a clean miss; none wounded 

 to die at leisure. Called it sport, too. From some of the 

 arguments used in the articles referred to ("Wing Shooting 

 vs. Treeing"), I must lie a pot-hunter, but still believe 1 am 

 no worse I han some of the. sportsmen. I aiu responsible for 

 the lives of a few ruffed grouse and squirrels every year, but 

 never scattered feathers as the writer of that Cobb's Island 

 article did. Would rather be excused. F. TJ. R. 



Atpleto.v, Wis. 



AN AIR-GUN FOR SMALL GAME. 



"VTOU would confer a great favor on the shooting public, 

 1l especially on those of us who are condemned to spend a 

 great part of our time in warm and tropical clirnat 1 bore 



in the Isle of Malta, if you would ventilate among your gim- 

 makers the idea of a strong-shooting air-rifle, that could be 

 used for target practice indoors, and also for the sti 

 game that is always to be found in our gardens and in- 

 closures. In your advertisements, I see mention made of I be. 

 Quackeubusb air-gun, and also in the London Fit 11 there is a 

 notice of another of the same, which judging from the name 

 of the patentee, is of German origin. But" neither of these 

 to my idea conies up to what we want, and if you and ihe 

 inventors will not be very indignant with me for my pre- 

 sumption, I will sketch out the motif hn- the construction of 

 the weapon we want, Let us say a small bore rifle of the 

 calibre of .20, carrying a bullet weighing not more than 120 

 to the pound, provided with a breech mechanism, which, by 

 working a trigger lever similar to those in use with Win- 

 chester and other repeating rifles of the same kind, would 

 compress the air in a large cylinder in the stock into a small 

 receptacle behind the bullet, which would be raised info 

 position bymeans of a carrier block and placed in Ihe bund 

 ready for' delivery hy this compressed air receptacle heiug 

 forced up against it when the trigger lever is brought home. 

 into its place. 



In short phrase, let us have a magazine air-ride, rechni ' 

 after eveiy shot, by the action of the trigger lever. I 



demand that Ihe charging and storage air cyli rulers should 

 he constructed so as to give the bullet the lowest po--i! <1,- 

 trajectory for a range of fifty yards, and that the bulk I at. 

 that distance should have force sufficient to penetrate im 

 inch clear hoard at the very least. All the parts should be 

 made of bronze, or better still phosphor bronze, and 

 si rang and at the same lime not liable to get out. of order from 

 rust. " A weapon of this kind would be most invaluable • 8 a 

 means of keeping our hands and eves in accord and in read- 

 iness for the more serious work ox shooting big game with 

 the spoiling rifle. " Gr/^XKK. 



Malta. 



A young imitator of Buffalo Bill -went mtoapho 

 gallery at Brownsville, Ivy., to have his picture token in a 



border costume, with a big revolver in his ham 



weapon accidentally went off just as he bad been lu 



posed, and made a." hole through Ins shoulder. They were 



carrying him out, just, as I wo customers were (JOl 



and one said to the. other: "See here! If they 



man to that extent, by taking his picture here, I don't go iut" 



Rough on the artist,— Et, 



