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FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jras 8, 1888L 



Look fharply at the Clofe of Day, 

 You'll fee thefe Kinsfolk fkim away: 

 Obferve their Flight, with fteady Care; 

 Mark well the Place where they repair, 

 Which in the Morning will afford, 

 A Banquet for the next Day's Boar*. 



But in the Brightnefs of the Day, 

 They baiking in the Hedges lay; 

 The glorious Sun's Meridian Heat, 

 Makes that a charming fweet Retreats 

 Securely there, they bafking fit, 

 Nor will they fuch dear Manfions quit, 

 Unlefs fome Noife, or Voice they hear, 

 And then with Speed away they fteer. 



Be careful; let your Steps be light. 

 For ev'ry trifling Noife will fright: 

 Except the Quail which lies fo clofe, 

 She'll near endure the Lurcher's Nofe. 

 With Patience hunt; the charming Prey, 

 Will amply your Attendance pay: 

 Her Flights are ihort, obferve her Fall, 

 You'll fpring her Twice, no Doubt at ail. 



When ftiffen'd Earth by Froft is bound 

 And flocking Larks beftrew the Ground, 

 The Cold affords myfterious Meat, 

 Beft nourifh'd when they little eat. 

 The ambient Air their Pores conftrains, 

 And friendly Cold fliuts up the Veins; 

 From hence the Nutriment proceeds, 

 And ev'ry Grain fome Fatnefs breeds. 



But when bright Sol difplays his Heat, 

 They poorer grow, tho' more they eat; 

 For in one melting, fultry Day, 

 Their fatnefs all perfpires away. 



To fire at Flocks, take proper Care, 

 And thus your well-prov'd Gun prepare; 

 Obferving to difpofe your Charge, 

 As may difpenfe the Shot at large. 

 Of Powder take an equal Lot, 

 As you allow of circling Shot; 

 Deftniction then' will fcatt'ring take, 

 And many bleeding Victims make. 



When thus prepar'd, begin to ftorm, 

 And fire amidft the rifing Swarm, 

 And treble Slaughter you'll perform. 

 When Birds expanfive rife in Air, 

 The Mark lies open, raif 'd and fair, 

 And Ten Times more will dead be found, 

 Than if you (hoot them on the Ground. 



If you a Mallard chance to fee. 

 Attend, and be advif 'd by me: 

 If you're before him, hold your Arm, 

 His guarded Breaft no Shot can harm; 

 And lire behind, where, lefs fecure, 

 He can the piercing Shot endure* 



When rattling Winds do brifkly blow, 

 Snites move againft the Wind but flow; 

 And they're fo thinly clad behind, 

 They feldom travel wilh the Wind, 

 To guard againft inclement Air, 

 The Part which is fo very bare. 



The Woodcocks then fhort Flights will take, 

 And Feafants to the Trees will make: 

 Then fright them from their Boughs away, 

 And fcorn to fhoot the gazing Prey: 

 Poachers alone that Crime commit, 

 'Tis fcorn'd by Men of Senfe and Wit. 



When ftormy Winds offend the Skies, 

 You cannot hear the Partridge rife; 

 It drives the Powder in your Face, 

 And really that's a dang'rous Cafe. 



And if, my Friend, it chance to rain, 

 Take my Advice, go home again, 

 That Day no farther Sport affords; 

 Farewell the Fields! Adieu the Birds! 

 The Powder gives, and Damp will grow, 

 Take my Advice then; prithee go: 

 For fhould you ftay, I'm fure your Gains, 



Will never pay for Half your Pains! 



The Sport is o'er! Away! Away! 

 For now 'tis all in vain to ftay. 



Then o'er a Bowl or Tub of Ale, 

 Relate a merry ufeful Tale; 

 But ne'er without a jovial Soul, 

 That loves the Sucking of a Bowl. 

 And bid the Youths around, beware, 

 To ufc the dang'rous Gun with Care: 

 And let your Sons thefe Stories know, 

 To arm againft the diflant Woe. 



A blooming Youth, or rather Boy, 

 The Father's only Child and Joy, 

 Intent to make the Larks his Prey, 

 Himfelf as innocent as they; 

 The Powder, in the Porch of Death, 

 In vain difcharg'd its Flafh of Breath. 

 The curious Youth defir'd to know, 

 Whether the Piece was charg'd, or no, 

 And at the Mouth began to blow: 

 A dreadful Kifs! for now the Bane, 

 Had bor'd a Paffage thro' the Train; 

 It fhot his Skull, and dafii'd his Brains, 

 With Fury, all about the Plains. 



Once more, let me entreat the Youth, 

 To liften to an ufeful Truth. 



As through fome Brambles mix'd with Brake. 

 Young Colin did his Paffage make, 

 Againft a Sprig, the Cock lie drew; 

 if fir'd, and thus himfelf he flew. 



Unguarded Swains, remember this, 

 And to your Shoulders keep your Piece; 

 Un certain lies rely, 



The Gun remov'd may after fly: 

 When having but a fmall Command, 

 The Piece will fly from out your Hand; 

 And you perhaps may Pains endure, 

 Which Doctor's Arts can never cure. 



Forgive me if I yet detain, 

 And tire you with this Tragic Strain; 

 For mine's the Labour, your's the Gain. 



Next Hammer'd Flints, tho' much in Ufe, 

 Do various Accidents produce; 

 The Sparks into the Pan may fall, 

 And make the fatal Piece recoil: 

 The Muzzle, pointed at a Friend, 

 May foon unthought Deftruclion fend; 

 The Cock may at Half Bent go down; 

 True Sportfmen therefore mount the Gun: 

 And walk with Flint reftrain'd by Thumb, 

 Left fome unthought Misfortunes come; 

 But this unheeded is by fome. 



Such fad and dire Events have beeu, 

 Such fatal Strokes in ev'ry Scene, 

 That really I could n«t forbear, 

 To caution and alarm your Care. 



Sportfmen adieu! my Words obferve, 

 And I, at leaft, your Thanks deferve. 



MAJOR JOSEPH VERITY. 



BOMB OF HIR SPOBTTNG ADVENTURES, AS MODESTLY SET 



FOBTH BY HIS OWB BEX. 



CHAP. IV. 



THERE are certain elevated districts of Adironda, where 

 in midwinter the cold is so intense that it is only- 

 equalled by that of the Arctic regions. It was once my 

 bad fortune to be caught there at that season, through the 

 too > arduous and foolhardy pursuit of a band of moose, 

 which my companion and I followed into the upper fast- 

 nesses of the mountains. We fiist realized the severity of 

 the cold when we found that the food which we carried had 

 become so frozen that we could not gnaw off enough of it 

 to at all satisf y our hunger. Having each taken a draw from 

 our flasks, in which the strong liquor was almost frozen, we 

 presently beard a musical jingling proceeding apparently 

 from our inner selves. It was the ice crystals of the con- 

 gealing spirits tinkling in our stomachs. We succeeded in 

 building a fire, and tried to cook, or at least thaw, some of 

 our provisions. It seems incredible, but the blaze actually 

 froze to the bottom of our camp kettle, so that when we 

 tried to take it off, kettle, blaze and firewood all came off 

 in a lump, and we had to chop the kettle free from the blaze, 

 which I well remember noticing, although I was in such 

 peril, was one of the most beautiful objects I ever lieheld. 

 In this strait of suffering I bethought me of a bottle of the 

 oil of the furry bear, which I had taken with me to oil my 

 gun barrels, and at once rubbed some of it on my own and 

 my companion's bodies. It was not long before the fur 

 began to sprout all' over our skins, and in a few hours we 

 had a better protection from cold than any artificial covering 

 could afford. Then putting some generous pieces of the 

 congealed fire (which ceased not to give forth heat) in our 

 pockets, we were enabled to make our way to a less rigorous 

 region. The coating of hair whicb the bear's grease had 

 produced was for a long time very vexatious, till at last we 

 were relieved by the use of Prof. Blank's Hair Eradicator, 

 which I understand is distilled from the hairless tails of 

 rats and opossums. I know a man who tasted this bear's 

 grease, as some people must always be tasting everything, 

 and was obliged for years to shave his tongue. 



CHAP. V. 



In a certain place where I used to hunt in Adironda, I was 

 told that monkeys had been seen, but never believed it till 

 one day I actually beheld one swinging himself from tree to 

 tree, and following him stealthily I saw him disappear in a 

 great chasm. Coming to the edge of this and looking down 

 it, I saw the dark blue sky of the other side of the world 

 through the bottom of it, with the stars shining in it, it then 

 being the night of our antipodes. Then I knew how the 

 monkeys had been able to appear in so unusual a place. 



But of all the strange things which I ever discovered in 

 this wonderful region, which has furnished so many miracu- 

 lous tales of tourists and hunters, nothing exceeds a certain 

 spring which I once found there. I was still-hunting, and 

 my course lay up a stream which came down from the 

 mountains. When I struck it it was quite large, indeed 

 almost a river, but as I followed it up it grew unaccount- 

 ably smaller, though it had no tributary brooks anywhere. 

 At last I reached the fountain head, where in a slow trickle 

 a small stream came oozing out of the rocks, something as 

 molasses comes from a tap in cold weather. I tasted it and 

 found it deUcious, and then being thirsty with my long 

 tramp, took my fill of it and filled my flask" 1 with it. I then 

 went on my way, but had not gone far before I began to 

 feel an overpowering f tillness so that it seemed as if I must 

 burst. When it had become almost insupportable, the 

 water began to spurt from every pore in my body in little 

 jets, as well as in torrents from' my mouth, nose and cars. 1 

 must have resembled one of the new-fangled lawn sprinklers 

 now in fashion. I was very much alarmed, but soon began 

 to feel relieved, and the strange exudation at last ceased. 

 Knowing that it was the water of the spring which had 

 caused my painful experience, I said to myself I would 

 have no more of the vile stuff, and taking' out my flask 

 emptied it upon the ground. Wbat was my surprise to see 

 the fluid as it trickled away, soon expand into a stream 

 capable of turning a mill! It then came upon me that this 

 was a sort of condensed water, produced in the laboratory 

 of nature by some wonderful alchemy. I returned to the 

 spring and refilled my flask, and took "it to my camp to study 

 and experiment further upon it. I found that a teagpoonful 

 of it after a few minutes' exposure to the atmosphere would 

 make several gallons of the purest water, and that a barrel 

 of it in the same ratio would produce a river flowing for hours 

 with a volume sufficient for the puiposes of navigation. A 

 drop would assuage the most burning thirst. Ships might 

 set forth on a year's voyage witb only a few gallons of this 

 fluid, and have water enough for the 'whole cruise. Water- 

 less deserts would have no terrors for one who essayed to 

 cross them with only a pint of it in his pocket. A barrel of 

 it would give one water-power for a month to grind grain, 

 saw timber, spin, weave, or whatever he would. I turned 

 into my blankets to dream all night of wealth and fame 



suddenly brought within my grasp by this strange discoverj.| 

 of which I was determined to make the most. Next moral 

 ing as soon at I had eaten my breakfast, and washed it doml 

 with a copious drop of the wonderful essence of water I 

 1 started for the spring with a couple of jugs, intending tjl 

 fill them and take them down to the settlement for exhihlj 

 tion. All that day and all the next, and for many another. )j 

 searched for that wondrous fountain, but in vain. I nevsii 

 found it, and to-day, except in memory, it is as unknown tt I 

 me as if it had never existed. 



[Editor Forest and Stream: A desire to have my nan* I 

 tions as accurate as they are truthful, impels me to call you) I 

 attention to an error in your issue of the 25th ult., whicH 

 makes me say that "I was somewhat compensated tm 

 the loss of the first" (the great salmon) "by finding ftyJ 

 others so gorged upon his carcass that I captured them a. 1 1 

 easily as one would pick up a nest of young field miqe/'l 

 It should read "five otters." As it stands, it might appeal} 

 to some that I had made an untruthful, or at least a ridicu/l 

 lous statement, as it is well known that the salmon, though! 

 devouring the spawn and fry of its kind, never, as man doe»| 

 preys upon its grown-up brethren. With highest esteem j| 

 am as ever, yours truthfully, Joseph Vebity.] 



THE ILLINOIS ASSOCIATION. 



THE ninth annual meeting of the Illinois Association con-l 

 vened at Chicago Tuesday of last week, the clubs rep 

 resented being the Audubon Club, Chicago; Shooting OluM 

 Chicago; Cumberland Gun Club, Chicago; Audubon Cluhl 

 Jacksonville; Austin Gun Club, Austin; Forester Club, Chi- 1 

 cago; Blue Island Gun Club, Blue Island; Geneseo Sports- 

 men's Club, Geneseo; First Lee County Club, Franklin Grove 

 Lake George Sportsmen's Club, Chicago ; Mak-saw-Ba Club, I 

 Chicago; Maple City Club, Geneseo; South Bend Shooting; I 

 Club, Chicago; Sportsmen's and Game Dealers' Association,,! 

 Chicago; Wyoming Sportsmen's Association, Wyoming}. 

 Delavan Prairie Club, Delavan; Sportsmen's Club, EvanstonH 

 Glencoe Gun Club, Glencoe; Northwestern Gun Club, Evana-! 

 ton; Rock Island Gun Club, Rock Island; Galesburg Shoot'! 

 ing Club, Galesburg; Peoria Shooting Club, Peor.a. 



The president. Dr. F. B. Noroom, presided; and in his ad- 

 dress congratulated the association upon its prosperous con 

 dition and progress. He deprecated the attempt of Mr, 

 Henry Bergh to suppress pigeon shooting on the score of Itf 

 cruelty ; and hoped that Illinois might not be troubled b? 

 any such vexatious laws on the subject as had been proposed 

 for New York. 



Mr. C. E. Felton offered the following resolution, which 

 was passed by a unanimous vote: 



"Besoked, That the president appoint a committee of firs 

 members of the association to confer with a like committee; 

 from the game dealers of this city with a view of ascertain^ 

 ing what other legislation, if any, is required for the pin*^ 

 pose of harmonizing all interests "to further the protection at 

 game. Said committee shall have full power in the prenv 

 ises; and if, in their opinion, they deem it best- that anyi 

 changes be made in the present law, on the recommendation; 

 of a majority of this committee the Law Committee of this 

 association shall adopt a new game law, or such amendment^ 

 to the present law as may be recommended, and present thei 

 same at the next meeting of the General Assembly of tbinj 

 Slate and secure the passage of the same." 



A resolution was introduced by Mr. J. A. Sexton, endorra 

 ing the Post bill now before Congress for the protection of i 

 large game, and this resolution was adopted. 



It was decided to hold the next annual meeting at Chicago.'] 

 The election of officers resulted as follows: 



President, Charles E. Felton, of Chicago; first vicc-presl-* 

 dent, D. G. Cunningham, of Delavan ; second vice-president,';] 

 A. W. Bruner, of Rock Island; secretary, G. T. Fanner, 0t\ 

 Chicago; treasurer, Col. E. 8. Bond, of Chicago. 



The convention then adjourned erne die. 



Rail, not " Quail. '— Philadelphia, June 4— Editor For? 

 est and Stream: In one of your late issues " Mos-Ambique" t 

 very properly expresses surprise and indignation that a citi-; 

 zen of Ohio," Mr. A. McC. Wilson, should kill (his share of)' 

 ninety quail in May, and then print in the Field and StreanTt 

 department of the Cincinnati Commercial the fact (?) that he. 

 had done so. " Mos-Ambique" read the article all right, but' 

 the article was all wrong; for Mr. Wilson killed no quail,, 

 nor did he say that he had done so. I saw his letter before 

 it went to the Commercial, and his remark was that " he and 

 two others had killed ninety rail." His writing was quite, 

 legible too. It is simply one of those unaccountable typo- 

 graphical errors that will' occur sometimes, and thereby annoy 

 innocent parties. In this case the priater and the proof- 

 reader will probably desire to share the blame for the substi- 

 tution of "quail" when Mr. W. said "rail."— W. McK. 

 Heath. 



"The Chabmed White Deeb." — Escanaba, Mich.— P. 

 sec in your issue of May 11, under the head of "Charmed 

 White Deer," the writer makes Mr, Westfall say that all 

 white deer are does. Mr. Henry Lush killed a whit..: buck 

 on the Whitefish River in the winter of 1876. He sold H 

 in Chicago soon after. The Indian sayB, "No kill any more 

 white deer king." — F, A. Y. 



Ohio. — 8unday, May 21st, we moored some twelve or 

 fifteen woodcock's. Young birds seemed to be fully as large,] 

 as the old ones. — C. 



Looked Hobns.— We have received from Mr. B. M, 

 Campbell, of Summit, Mississippi, two pairs of antlers ot' 

 the Virginia deer, firmly locked together. The horns have- 

 been lying out in the weather for a long time, and «re 

 bleached and whitened, and the points gnawed by rodents. 

 The anterior portion of each skull has crumbled away, and 

 in a few years more there would have been nothing left to 

 tell the story of the combat that ended so tragically for both 

 of the participants. The horns are a most interesting relic, 

 and we shall value them highly. 



Tbansfebbeto Fish.— Persons interested in transferring 

 fish from one pond to another will be interested in tho 

 account of how the Texas Fish Commissioner did it by 

 means of syphons, as reported in our fishcultural depart- 

 ment. Our informant tells us that this was his first experi- 

 ment in transferring fish in this manner, and adds: "* 

 worked like a charm." 



•it 



New Yobk Game Law.— The Newman bill to amend 

 the New York game law was passed, and is now in the 

 hands of the Governor, We have already given an outline 

 of its provisions, 



