154 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Mr. Ruskin, the many-sided critic, ever as ready to dis¬ 
cuss the merits of a Turner as prone to argue on the com¬ 
parative necessity for an improved series of Napier’s Loga¬ 
rithms, has of late been airing the best of English in re¬ 
gard to the recreations of the ’Varsity men. “ It is all very 
well in its way,” he says, “ for you, gentlemen of England, 
to run and jump, box, play cricket, and pull boats, but 
don’t you think you might turn your thews and muscles to 
some better account ? Now, for instance, instead of your 
working yourselves to death in a boat, straining your heart¬ 
strings in order to gain the honor of a paltry race, why 
don’t you strip and take a harrow or a spade and dig- 
ditches, or plant trees, or grow turnips, or do some¬ 
thing which may benefit mankind either in an agricultural 
or in a landscape gardening point of view ? In this way 
you would not only improve your healths, but be of a real 
benefit to mankind.” These are not exactly the words the 
great English art critic uses, but they embody pretty much 
his thoughts. Of course all ideas of this character are as 
impossible as they are utopian. They call for an utilitarian 
principle in man, which does not exist. As well declaim 
against race-horses, and want them all to be yoked to the 
plow or harrow, or insist that all fox hounds, pointers and 
setters, should be either turn-spits, or used to draw, as do 
some unfortunate curs in France, the burdens. Some peo¬ 
ple must del /e while others must dance. There are men 
who would pine away and grow rusty both in mind and 
body, whose backs would be forever bent, did they spade 
and shovel, no matter were they certain that in time to 
come some noble grove of trees planted by them shading 
the way, or a fair route constructed by their hands leading 
to a beautiful country, were the certain ends of their toil. 
We must have in this world objects and aims which flatter 
ambition, which the world may immediately speak about. 
They may be evanescent—ephemeral, if you please, but the 
present satisfaction they give is worth ten times the future 
encomiums they may receive. As well say to young people 
who dance, “ ’Tis waste of time ! Are you acquainted with 
the enormous power you are wasting in the raise d deux 
temps f Have a tread-mill erected in your ball-rooms; 
tramp away on that altogether ; convert yourselves into 
so much horse-power; attach a series of looms to your 
wheel, or the saw of a lumber mill, and you will be sur¬ 
prised at the amount of work you will accomplish.” Mr. 
Ruskin had better find a new Turner, and let athletic 
amusements alone for the nonce There is a deal too much 
of the doctrinaire about Mr. Ruskin of late to please us. 
But while - commenting on art critics, it gives us pleasure to 
notice that Mr. Buckland is busy among the Landseer pic¬ 
tures. It seems that in one of Landseer’s works, the “Deer 
Fighting,” a picture in Dunrobin Castle, on the broken 
antler of a red deer there is a single drop of blood—but one. 
Here now comes in the question for the naturalist: Does any 
blood come at all from an old horn on a buck’s head ? The 
subject might be, we think, disposed of at once, by simply 
imagining that the go&te of blood came from a lunge the 
angry deer had given his enemy, and like a warrior, the 
conquering buck had moistened his glave in his adversary’s 
heart’s blood. Mr. Buckland, however, goes through the 
whole catalogue of Landseer’s pictures, and finds, mirabile 
dictu! that the greatest of English animal painters always 
used a little bit of red somewhere. And why not ? Is red 
a forbidden note—a discord in the gamut of colors ? One 
thing certain is, that Landseer wanted color badly, and felt 
that his pictures were too often morne and terne, over-sad, 
subdued-like in tone, and with mindful artistic acumen, 
stuck in a little bit of brightness—sometimes even a little 
out of place, whenever there was an excuse for it. 
—If Eton, Harrow or Rugby, famed for cricket and foot¬ 
ball, in the opinion of many only make sturdy batsmen, 
bowlers or kickers, can they do anything more ? If our 
own Harvard or Cambridge athletic exercises make chests 
to grow broader and give more lung capacity, increasing 
flexors, do they diminish the mental powers ? We have in 
England some glorious triumphs in the Classical Honor 
Lists. Here are Harrow men reported as taking all the gold 
medals for the G-reek and Latin odes. As remarks most 
justly our English contemporary.: “ These are a sufficient 
argument against people who think only of such ancient 
foundations as seminaries for young athletes.” A man may, 
therefore, be stroke-oar and be up in Euripides, and 
measure 42 inches around the chest, which by no means 
implies a want of brain capacity. The ideal man, the 
paragon of human beings, is he who can lift a ton weight 
without turning a hair, and then read Pindar without 
making a false quantity. 
—Mr. Ashbury, in his steam yacht Eothen, may be said 
to have made a prolonged cruise. Starting in August, 1873, 
visiting the Cape de Verde Islands, and finally Brazil, in 
January of this year he left Montevideo, and has just re¬ 
turned home from Montevideo to the Eddystone. Some 
7,000 long miles is a fair trip. Total distance sailed, 14,- 
250 miles. The greater part of the voyage was made with 
sails. Under sail on March the 1st the Eothen made 200 
miles. We may not exactly think Mr. Ashbury’s yachts, 
(we mean such as he brought to the United States) can com¬ 
pete with our own, but no one can gainsay the fact, that 
the owner of the Eothen is a thorough devotee to sailing. 
The time will not be far distant when our California friends 
will heave up the anchor on some trim pleasure craft, glide 
out of the Golden Gate, touch at Otahiti, and with a clean 
pair of heels never stop until they sight Japan or China; 
thence round the coast to Bombay or Calcutta; then make 
for the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the Lesseps Canal; 
then onwards to the Mediterranean, through the Straits to 
the Atlantic, and then through the canal across the Isthmus 
Darien (for it will be built before ten years are over), and 
home again to San Francisco. We know we are prophetic, 
but all will be done some day (the trip and the canal), and 
the Forest and Stream will live to record it. 
— From Bell's Life we find anticipations in regard to the 
coming field trials at Shrewsbury. Field trials are now 
national institutions in England. It is believed that even 
in the greatest country in the world for field sports, by field 
trials the many admirable points of the pointer and setter 
will be better appreciated, and then gentlemen understand¬ 
ing how much pleasure can be derived from having per¬ 
fectly trained animals of pure race, will give over 
effeminate and murderous battues and drivings. The 
prestige of a dog who wins at a field trial is ten times 
greater than any honors to be acquired at .a dog show. 
—The Inter-University sports took place on the 28tli of 
last month. We can give but a short resume of the clever 
performances. Oxford won the high jump, Brooks clear¬ 
ing 5 ft. 10 in. Cambridge won the 440 yard race. In put¬ 
ting the 16 lb. weight Oxford won with a throw of 37 feet 
11 inches. In the mile race, Sanford of Oxford came in 
ahead in four minutes forty seconds; at 100 yards Cam¬ 
bridge won. In throwing the 16 lb. hammer, Hales, of 
Cambridge, threw 126 feet 9 inches. In the 120 yards 
hurdle Oxford won. In the long jump Cambridge again 
took the honors, its representative clearing 22 feet 10^ 
inches. In the last contest—the three mile race—it was the 
turn of Oxford, Stevenson winning leisurely in 15 minutes 
43£ seconds. Oxford having won most of the prizes, was 
declared the victor. There have been eleven competitions 
so far, five matches having been won by each. There was 
a tie in ’64. Is it beyond the range of possibility to get up 
a match of this kind at home some of these days V 
—Where will not the ubiquitous Yankee and his peculiar 
notions go ? Scarcely in the habit of advertising gratu¬ 
itously, we still copy from a Paris paper a notice of this 
character: “A vendee. Un trotteur Americain. Tres bril¬ 
liant . ” And: “ Un Sulky de course , d tres peu servi. Poids 
BO Ml.” Unfortunate nag ! Unhappy vehicle ! They may 
use the former, but what on earth will they do with the 
latter ? Perhaps mount a mitrailleur on the sulky, and use 
it in some future campaign. 
APRIL IS A CLOSE SEASON FOR GAME. 
—Wild ducks have not been as plenty in a good many 
years as they are about the Montezuma marshes and 
swamps this spring. The black ash swamps are teeming 
with the dusky, grey and wood duck in the vicinity of 
Seneca River, and gunners are having fine, sport in stalking 
them among the timber. English snipe have also com¬ 
menced to arrive and the Onondaga sportsmen will soon be 
skirmishing along the Montezuma flats. 
—Syracuse is the residence of many of the children of 
Nimrod and Walton, and has two of the most flourishing 
sportsmen clubs in the State. Mr. Frank Klock is Presi¬ 
dent of the Central City Club, and new officers of Onondaga 
Club have just been elected, viz:—President, F. E. Carroll; 
Vice-President, S. W. Sherlock; Secretary and Treasurer, 
JohnStedmau; Financial Secretary, E. H. Mann; Attor¬ 
ney, D. J. Mitchell; Executive Committee, Thomas Kim- 
ber, Charles LI. Finch, John Bedford. 
—A Washington correspondent says, under date April 
10th:—“Northwest winds and rough water have interfered 
much with the duck shooting during the last week. The 
box is the form of approach generally used here, and its use 
is impracticable but in smooth water. Ducks were never 
more plentiful. On a trip from the city to Mount Vernon, 
on the 2d inst., we started up flock after flock of thousands 
of red heads, black heads and red necks. Canvass backs 
getting scarce and not found in flock with other ducks; 
now and then a little flock b} r themselves. They are get¬ 
ting fishy in flavor, feeding now principally on the minnows 
and thread herring. The other named ducks have become 
too fishy to retain any value for the table. Jack snipe, 
season just opening, are quite plentiful and in plump good 
condition. A gunner wading the magazine marsh put up 
twenty-one in a half mile tramp, bagging seven.” 
—Messrs. Ira A. Paine of New York, and E. W. Tinker 
of Providence, shot a match at pigeons at Providence, 
Rhode Island, on Saturday, April 11th. The conditions 
of the match were to shoot at twenty-five yards rise, 
ground traps, five yards apart, l£oz. shot. The birds ar¬ 
rived on the ground in only fair condition, as they had to 
to be transported by steamer from this city and were evi¬ 
dently sea-sick. Notwithstanding this slight drawback there 
were a large number of field sportsmen present, the mem¬ 
bers of the Narragansett and Boston Clubs attending in a 
body, and at the solicitation of Mr. Henry Bergh a number 
of gentlemen from the Rhode Island Society for the Preven¬ 
tion of Cruelty to Animals, who expressed themselves on 
the ground as follows:—“They could detect no more cruelty 
than was necessary in the killing of game-birds in the field, 
in fact the birds were more expeditiously killed than it was 
possible for a sportsman to carry out in field shooting.” 
The match was won by Tinker, killing thirty-five birds to 
Paine’s thirty-three. 
—The Philadelphia Sportsmen’s Club will hold their fifth 
social meeting on Saturday, April 23d, at the Tinicum Fish 
House, A shooting match for three prize medals by mem¬ 
bers of the club will commence at 11 o’clock, A. M., sharp 
entries close April 23d. A special train for Tinicum will 
leave Gray’s Ferry Station, at 10:15, A. M., returning, leave 
Tinicum at 6:50, P. M. 
—The bluff City shooting Club of Memphis, Tenn., held 
their second match for the possession of the Champion Cup 
of the Club last week. The match was at five double oirds 
eighteen yards rise, 100 yards boundaiy, the club rules to 
govern. The weather was much against both the birds and 
shooters. At the first match Mr. Biyson killed seven out 
of five double rises and carried off the prize. The second 
j match Mr. R. W. Lightburne won the prize after shooting 
\ off the tie with Mr. Specht:— 
J THE SCORE. 
\ Name, 
i Jos. Specht, Jr... 
J R. W. Lightburne 
? D. D. Saunders . 
\ William Bowles . 
| J. W. Alley. 
A. F. Granger_ 
j P. Bryson. 
E. W. Welles. 
, D. O. Dyer. 
D. Bryson. 
J. M. Rodgers... 
S. L. Barinds. 
*No birds. 
Scored. 
11 *00 11 11 10 01 
11 11 01 11 01 
10 10 10 11 *00 *00 *00 11 
10 11 10 10 11 
00 11 00 11 01 
10 01 10 10 10 
00 00 *00 11 11 10 
*00 n oi oo :i oo 
00 10 11 10 00 
*00 01 00 10 10 10 
10 11 *00 *00 00 10 00 
00 00 00 00 10 
Total. 
-8 
-8 
—0 
—1 
—5 
—5 
—4 
-4 
-4 
-1 
Messrs. Lightburne and Specht shot off the tie at twenty 
yards at three double birds each. Mr. Specht killed onlV 
three, and Mr. Lightburne killing five out of the six, won 
the match and cup. 
—An old hunter of many years’ experience, who resides 
in the wilds of Pennsylvania, sends us the following notes 
relative to McKean, Cameron and Wyoming Counties, a 
region that we receive frequent inquiries about:— 
Lovelton, Wyoming County, Pa., March 9, 1874. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
I have had some considerable sport in still hunting deer in McKean, 
Cameron and Wyoming Counties. In the two former, in the fall of 1859 
I took my first lessons in the art with an old hunter, W. T. You mav 
think I liked the business well, as I did not lose a day’s hunting in five 
weeks (except Sundays). We still-hunted, when there was no crust on 
the snow, or enough to make it noisy travelling, as anyone knows that is 
acquainted with still-hunting, and when there was too much crust, we 
generally drove the deer, one of us taking the fresh trail and following 
it and the other heading off. In this mode the one that heads off should 
understand the ground well and the runways. So I generally had to do 
the trailing, and in this I would sometimes get a shot. If a hunter un¬ 
derstands the ground thoroughly, he can start a deer and head it off 
many times alone, if he ain’t too lazy. This often makes lively and ex¬ 
citing work and serves to warm up a person thoroughly and makes a very 
agreeable chauge, after getting pretty thoroughly chilled by the slow 
movements that are necessary, at times, in order to get a -shot. While 
we were hunting in Cameron County, along the spurs of the mountain 
that faced the Sinnemahoning Creek, W. T. had the satisfaction of kill¬ 
ing five deer in one day, and all alone. Starting them in the head of 
the hollows between the spurs, they generally would run around tie 
point of the spurs, so that by crossing over from the head of one hollow 
to the next, he would head them off. I tried this one day, starting two 
dee!; they made around the point, and I started over across to head 
them off, and as I gained the top of the hill I looked down cautiously to 
see if I could see anything of my game; but instead of seeing the deer 
that I had started, I saw a large buck lying down on a sort of bench down 
the hill. But as his head was turned directly toward me, I was afraid to 
move for fear of starting the old fellow. Sol trusted to my chances of 
hitting him by rising on tip-toe on the brush and limbs that were in the 
way. The result was that I did no harm, except to scare him, and as lie 
went away another deer followed that had laid out of my sight. And 
this was not all. Before I could get my gun loaded, along came the other 
two deer that I had started and was trying to head off. But I have 
learned now to hunt with a different gun than a single-barrel, muzzle- 
loader, as I use now a breech-loader, either single shot ora repeating 
gun, and think that it would be difficult to persuade me to go back to 
the use of a muzzle-loader of any description. I have also found that 
too light a ball is objectionable. I used one season a gun that carried a 
ball of about 120 to the pound, and I lost as many as I killed, when a 
ball twice as heavy would have killed them all It is bad enough 
to shoot a deer down dead., let alone having to shoot them three or four 
times, or else they get away and perhaps die. Besides I had rather fol¬ 
low a well deer than one slightly wounded, as they are more on the look¬ 
out and not feeding much. The practice of hounding deer, that 
I cannot sustain. A deer that has been run any length of time is not fit 
to eat, and he that cannot kill his deer without hounding is no hunter, 
and I think the time is not far distant when this practice will be prohib¬ 
ited wherever there is deer. The wilderness in this and the adjoining 
county has been famous the past six years for the nesting of pigeons, 
except last year, but the beech-nuts are so plenty this season that we look 
for them back. Deer have been plenty this season, and so have hares, 
and all fat. We have a large wilderness here yet of some 40 miles square. 
Considerable many trout are caught here in their season, but there are 
too many fishermen to have good fishing. Tuscarora. 
New York, April 6, 1874. 
Editor Forestand Stream:— 
On Good Friday I went cut on Long Island, hunting for snipe. 1 
hunted all over but did not find any, and on my way home, as I was 
crossing the meadows I struck on a spot where there was a small pond, 
and the water was about three feet deep, and as I neared the pond I 
heard a Quack! Quack! noise. I immediately brought my gun to full 
cock and kept a steady look out, as I thought to see a duck raise every 
moment. The quacking continued. I walked over in the direction 
where I heard the noise, but could see nothing. After a while I heard 
the quacking very distinctly in three different places, and I thought of 
course that it was ducks calling each other. I waded around for 
about two hours, but I found no dneks, so I discharged one of the barrels 
of my gun, as I thought that would scare them up, if anything would, 
but no ducks raised. It is the most curious thing that ever happened to 
me. Have you ever heard of an instance of this kind? Please answer, 
or clear this mystery for me. By so doing you will much oblige. 
There were indications of =ducks all round, as the grass was cut short 
as if ducks had been feeding there. G. T. J. O. 
Did our correspondent mistake the Scaipe! Scaipe! of the snipe?— Ed. 
San Francisco, Cal., March 31,1874. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
I want to know what is the opinion of riflemen generally in the east as 
to the relative merits of breech and muzzle loaders for accuracy as tar¬ 
get rifles, especially at long ranges. Considerable experimenting has 
been carried on ra San Francisco, for the purpose of testing rifles, by 
firing them from a machine rest at all ranges from 220 to 2,000 yards, and 
we have never yet found a breech-loader which could compare with the 
muzzle loaders, especially above 200 yards. To illustrate: One target 
has been made here at 220 yards (in the open air, where the wind had to 
be calculated for) of 100 consecutive shots, only one of which was out¬ 
side a four inch bull’s eye, and the total string measured 93 inches and a 
fraction. If you will notice, most of the shooting dohe at Creedmoor 
last year was by breech-loading guns which won all but one of the 
prizes. If we look fit the experience of the English who, remember, 
