186 
and as soon as.one animal was down the remaining cartridge 
was taken from the “hand‘cannon” and it was carried un- 
loaded until in other hands. I haye worked in the capacity 
of uide in this vicinity ten years and the men employing 
me have been hke-minded to the moose linters, and game 
is increasing in numbers yearly, likewise thox<e killed. Ido 
not wish to think the men 1 have been with so many years 
undeserying the name and honor due to the title of *'sports- 
man.” Np Norton. 
SEconD Connecricur Lark, N. H., Sept, 22. 
RAIL SHOOTING. 
N R. THOMAS B. STARR, of Salem, N. J., killed 188 
rail birds on one tide on the 13th of this month. 
The Supawanva mcadows where these birds were boated 
are quite low, and Mr. Starr, taking advantage of the 
Only gvod tide we have thus far had, made this Jarge score. 
On the same day Mr. H. G. Johnson got 155, Linn John- 
son 118 and W. T. Flilliard 80. There haye been about 
2 500 rail all told thus far killed at the Lazaretto, the highest 
bout being W. Stewart, purbed by J. M. Weod. All the 
Wood boys are handy with the push pole, and there is 
scarcely a choice between either Dick, Mit orJim. The 
tide on Thursday, owing to Wednesday's easterly wind, was 
better than any for a week back. Before this govs to print 
the equinox which has been brewing for two or three days 
will be upou us, and with it will come the wished for storm 
tides. Thousands of ruil will be killed, and the end of the 
ree] bird season will have come, especially if we have the 
cool weather that usually follows. A party of enterpri-ing 
gentlemen fond of shooting have ervated out of the property 
of Mr. Joho Beebe, of Cumberland county, a game prescrve. 
The tract consists of 9,500 acres, and is located about ten 
miles from Manumuskin station on the West Jersey Ruil- 
road. Being rituated some distance from the railroad, and 
only accessible by stage, the natural game advantages of the 
tract are great. Member:bip is limited to thirts, and the 
officers of the club are: President, A. T. Purves; Vice-Presi- 
dent, 8. Cansp; Secretary and Treasurer, W. Sterling, 
Directors, Jos. McKinney, D. W. Hallam, J. C. Davis and 
G. C. Settle. 
The hichest score of rail birdsfor each day of last week at 
the Lazaretto is as follows: 
Sept. 20—H. B. Tatham, Jr., pushed by W. Vail, 50, 
Sept, 22—Jos. Thorne, pushed by J. Wood, 28. 
Sept. 22—M. Vanderslea, pushed by W. Wood, 28. 
Spt. 24—Wm. Sullivan, pushed by J. Gardner, 10. 
Sept. 24—Judge Gilderslecve, pushed by W. Vail, 24, 
Sept. 25—A. B Montgomery, pushed by R, Wood, 26. 
Sept. 26—Jolin Campion, pushed by J. M. Wood, 17. 
Homo, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In illustration of the cunning of our Connecticut rail, I 
may mention an incident of a bunt on one evening of this 
week on the banks of the river from which our State takes 
itspame. My fricnd’s dog started up one—a strong flyer, 
which, faltering but little under his shot, swung by me. 
My fire brought him to the ground, and Lran to mark him 
down. It was the first bird shot and we wanted the dog to 
retrieve him, I found the bird, and was waiting for th: 
dog to draw out of the mud and reeds, when the little fel- 
low ran between my legs. 1 involuntarily put my hands 
down to catch him. but he dissappeared, My fricnd’s mock- 
ing litgh made me think the bird lost, and 1 stared around 
the sky to catch bis flight. My eyes had nearly taken in the 
horizon, when the dog pointcd between my legs. <A careful 
search 1evexled the bird hidden in a wagon track in the 
grass between my feet. I was very glad 10 have the: dog re- 
trieve him to his master and thus check his unseemly hilar- 
ity. We both concluded that the rau is a zood hider even 
in the open field. tL, De Pe 
HARTFORD, Conn., Sept. 29. 
DUCKING CLUBS ON THE GUNPOWDER 
FEXHE cold snap a few days ago produced quite a flutter in 
sporting circles, and developid considerable activity at 
those stations on the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad 
coutiguous to Gunpowder aud Bush rivers, those favorite 
haunts and fe.ding grounds of the various species of water- 
fow! which annually migrate bither in immense numbers. 
At Magnolia and Edgewood stations numbers of boxes and 
packages of supplirs, decoys, «tc, necessary for prepara- 
tions adi quate to the wants and conorts of those gentlemen 
bi longing to the gunning clubs have been recently received. 
We have also welcomed the familiar features of some of the 
prominent members, who may be seen actively engaged in 
forwarding supplies and superintending the erection of 
blinds and various other matters essential to succers, con- 
yveniepee or comfort. Prominent among’ these is the robust 
and healthy form of H. T. Weld, Eq , the presidcnt of the 
St. Domingo Club, who, I belicve, has the advantage of all 
other members in years, yet is practically as active as the 
more youthtul In fact, he appears to anticipate the enjoy- 
ment of the sport of the ensuing season with as much zest 
and eagcrness as a schoolboy anticipates the summer vacation. 
John Stewart, Esq., a distinguished membcr of the Balti- 
more bar, is also a member of the above club, who takes an 
active interest in its welfare and keenly enjoys the sport 
appertaining to the rod, as well as the more exciting pleas- 
ues of the gun, And inasmuch as the waters of the same 
locality afford an abundance of food suitable for fi-h as well 
as fowl, he frequently indulges in that line of sport, and dur- 
ing the present season has been remarkably successful. In 
fact, he is equally as expert with the rod as he is skillful 
with the gun; the most indubitable evidence of which is his 
success, He has not only secured aniple numbers upon every 
occasion, but I have been informed he captured the finest 
specimen of ‘striped bass (or rock bass, as it is called) taken 
with a hook in the Gunpowder this season. Jobn Ridgely, 
of Hampton, is also a very active member of this club. He 
not only inherits the name and possessions, but also the ami- 
ability and hospitality characteristic of this distinguished 
Marylund family. He is one of the youngest members of 
the club, yet takes great interest in promoting its welfare and 
prosperity. . 
Tne St. Domingo Club is composed of twelye members, 
four of whom reside in New York, tiie others in Baltimore 
or Maryland. It is considered the leading clu!) of Gunpow- 
dir Neck; not that we think those members of other clubs 
are not equals in all respeets, but we believe it 1s more Fully 
organized, has a greater extent of water front, and, we be- 
lieve, a greater number of members than any other. : 
Maxwell’s Point is located on the Gunpowder, a few miles 
below St. Domingo. The club oecupying this point is com- 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
posed of four wealthy gentlemen of Philadelphia, who do 
not gua to excess, but frequently indulge in the exciting and 
fascinating sport of decoy and bar shooting, for the latter of 
which their point is particularly adapted, owing to the pecn- | 
liar formation of the land. This point is considered by many 
to be superior in point of certainty to any on the Chesapeake 
or its tributaries. 
_ Those two clubs have been exceedingly fortunate in secur- 
ing the services Of two of the best qualified sportsmen of the 
Chesapeake, judging by their display of knowledg? a¢quired 
by personal study of the water fowl, ils habits and nature, 
or skill as marksmen, arresting them in rapid flight. Hilward 
Lynch isat Maxwell’s Point and John Sweeting at St. 
Domingo. Both are large, heavy men, yet entirely different 
mm appearance. Edward Lynch is tall and musevlar, and 
although quiet and yentlemanly in manner, his aim is certain 
death to the fowl within its range. John Sweeting is very 
stout, thick set. und his appearance, to those unacquainted 
with him, would indicate dull and heavy movements, but 
such is not the case; on the contrary he is exceedingly active 
and quick as lightning ata snap shot. I have heen informed 
by gentlemen who haye examined the different localities 
that there is this season a great abundance of the various 
species of marine plants, suitable to all the varieties of fowl. 
Therefore they anticipate an abundance of game, which as 
2, matter of course will afford ample opportunities of indulg- 
ing in the exercise of their skill, 
In tracing the extensive line of shore, with its numberless 
indentations and curves, we find quite a number of gunning 
clubs located cn the mosf desirable situations, the members 
of which are residents of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New 
York and as far north as Boston, and one of tlie members at 
Legoes Poiut i. an Englishman, and crosses the ocean annn- 
ally to enjoy the sport of shooting swan and geese, for which 
this point is famous as their feeding ground. ITvuRos. 
Hotpme AnEap.—Hiitor Forest and Stream; Recent ex- 
periments in England by Major W. McClintock. RA. 
(Journal of the Roya! United Service Institution), will tend to 
modify some of the ideas obtaining upon this subject. A 
charge of 44 drams best C & H. powder gives to No. 4 shot, 
a muzzle velocity of 1,344 feet. Inferior powder wuuld of 
course give less. The time of flight for a velocity of 1,300 
feet is: 30 yards, .098; 40 yards, .1342; 50 yards, .1797; 60 
yards, .2811. ete, This will about equal the velocity usually 
obtained from a teu-bore with 434 drams of good powder 
and it ounces of No 4shot. A bird crossing the line of 
fire at 30 yards distance (flying at the rate of s mile a 
minute) would pass over about 84 feet while the shot passes 
through the 30 yards, At 40 yards the bird would cover 
about 12 feet, at 50 yards about 16 feet, and at 60 yards the 
bird would cover about 22 feet. If any one will give us 
the yelocities with which the birds fly, we can from these 
tables of Major McClintock calculate with accuracy how 
much to 'thold ahead” (in theory!)—8. 
PRAIRIE CHICKENS IN WIsconsin,—Menomonie, Wis., 
St pt. 27.—Prairie chicken shootiag is now on the wane for 
this season, the birds having been hunted so thoroughly 
they rise almost out of range. Birds are not so abundant as 
is gencrally suppused. To illustrate; the most successful 
hunting parties of fuur shooters have not bagged over forty 
birds in a long day’s hunt, and several parties have been out 
and hunted hard all day and not killed more than two birds 
per man. Itis pleasant for those who are fond of shooting 
und of a fine gun to think that they can bring the skill they 
have acquired ut the trap to bear on game. at any time th y 
care to 20 out on a shooting trip, but it is a bard fact that 
ruffed grouse are perceptibiy less abundant than they were 
two years ago. In the match of sportsmen, guns and dogs 
vs. birds, the birds will ‘‘get left.” There are too many 
brevchloaders and too much skill among sportsmen through 
out the country for game to remain abundant, The same 
may be said of dver,—B. A. HE. 
Notes FRoM THE PrRatkims.—Pillsbury, Minn., Sept. 24. 
—A purty of four, consisting o! 8 C Hayden, of Syracuse, 
N. Y.; J. T. Locke, of Minneapolis; H. C Eldred, of Burn- 
namville, and the writer, have just returned from a ten days’ 
shooting trip on the prairivs. Good bags of dueks and 
chickens were secured. It was too early in the season, or 
rather the exceptionally warm weather prevented successful 
goose shooting. Sanuhill cranes were seen in vast numbers, 
and one monster, evidently the king of all the cranes, fell to 
the gun of the writer. The weather is now turning cool, 
apd we shall soon be in the height of the duck season here, 
Wild rice is unusually abundant, MRuffed grouse are even 
more plenty than last year. During a ride of twenty miles 
last week through the timber I think fully fifty were flushed. 
Deer sizns are plenty.—J. F. Locks, 
Nuw Jursny Norrs.—Madicon, N, J., Sept 27 —Quite a 
number of reed birds on our meadows. A few hunt them, 
but asa rule they are considered too “small fry” by our 
local hunters. The pruspect for good snipe shooting looks 
gloomy enough, since no rain has fallen for two weeks or 
more, consequently the meadows are as dry as I haye ever 
seen them, even the ditches running through them contain 
little or no water. The Passaic Rivir is very low. Quite a 
number of pickerel have been caught in the river this year. 
A friend of mine living near the river heard a party of men 
last Wednessday night hauling a net quite near Chatham 
Bridge. ‘This explains the scarcity of fish in that stream. 
Game notes are scarce just now. It will be lawful to kill 
wovdcock November 1. Willreport luck —SixteeN-BorE. 
Tuurmors.—Macomb.—Prairie chicken shooting was good 
this year, and bags of one to forty were made in a half day 
by some of our sportsmen, Quail wintered well but are not 
very plenty. If let alone until the first of October fair 
shooting may be nad. A fellow sportsman reports two 
flocks of turkeys of about twenty each within fifteen miles 
of here, and we expect to bring a few of them to bag this 
week. Our mode of hunting them will be to go out im the 
evening and scatter them, then in the morning they can be 
easily culled within gunshot.—EN AMI. 
InpIANA Rurrep Grouse AND Quartu.—Hartferd City, 
Ind , Sept, 23.—Pheasants, as they are termed here, are more 
numerous than they have been for several years, Can find 
them 1n coveys of fiom eight to fiftevn in a half hour’s walk, 
Can raise two to three coveys of quail in a field of ten actes, 
thuugh many were frozen last winter. We will have better 
shooting and more of it than we have ever enjoyed before. 
1 long for the 15th of October.—An Loox. 
Notes From Scoonarm, N. Y.—BSept. 23.—We have some 
very excellent shooting here now. We have partridges and 
red and gray squirrels in good numbers, Of woodcock there 
are not so many as we havé had some seasons here. Rabbits. 
are reported quite numerous. Later in the fall we will haye 
some good duck shooting, One that is a good shot can BO 
out and bag a good number of birds in a day,—ScHOuARIE, 
a 
Ican recommend to go to Olark W. Holmses’s, South Phe 
mouth, Mass,, where they can trv their hand at winy-shoot- 
ing and return home satisfied if they are even ordinary shots, — 
I was there last season, and the scores were all the way from 
two up to thirty-one for a morning’s shooting, the latter score — 
being made by Mr. Holmes.—W, L. U. . 
Coor Suoorine.—Any one who is fond of cont shooting 
New Jnrsey.—West Englewood.—The game constables — 
don’t keep a very sharp lookout in this section, On the 28th, 
29th, #0th and 31st of August there was considerable shoot 
ing done slong the Hackensack River.—J. F. B. {|Commu- 
nicate with the New Jersey Game and Fish Protective Soci: 
ety, of Plainfield, W, L. Fore, Secretary. ] ) 
Massacnuserrs Game.—South Duxbury, Mass., Sept. 
29.—The quail seasou opened well this spring all along the — 
south shore and I have seen quite 2 number of coveys this 
fall, three within five minutes’ walk of my place. Partridge 
scree, shore birds not very plenty. Water fowl beginuing 
to appear.—SouTH SHORE. 
New Yor«.—The bird shooting in southern Ulster county, 
Where I frquently go, promises finely for this fall. The 
woodcock were hardly shot at this summer. and should be 
plentiful this fall, There also promises to be good shooting 
of quail and rabbit.—J. G. G@ } 
Lath HarcHine or Quatn.—Hartford City, Ind., Sept. 
23,— While out walking a day or two ago I found one brood 
of young quail that could not fly, and also a nest that the 
old bird was sitting on. It was full of eggs.—An Loox. 
Iris A Prerry Bie Sratre.—Clinton, Oneida County, 
N. Y,—You report ruffed grouse plenty in this State. In 
the fiye seasons 1 haye been in this section they have not 
been as scarce as the present season.—H. 
CLEANING BRAss SHELLS.—Take strong vinegar and salt, 
ecour them well and rinse in hot water and dry in warm 
place. They will come out of the pickle bright as new 
unless badly corroded.—An Loox. 
Sea and River Sishing. 
THE DOBSON. 
FIND that the illustrated article in last Formst AND 
STREAM on the helgramite or dobson, has necessitated a 
few more words on the subject in answer tu sevi ral corres- 
pundents, Therefore 1 will say: I donot know how long 
it tukes the larya to grow to the size usually taken as buit 
for black bass, As the ege is laid in midsummer, the young 
worm must be small by the time winter comes on, and as we 
find them full-sized in June, it is probable that these are 
more than one year old, because they may not grow much in 
winter. The larya of some insects, notably the snapping 
bevtle, pusses six or seven years asa wood borer before it 
assumes the perfect state. While Ido not assert that our 
baits are over a year old it is not impossible that they may 
be. The fly dovs not live through the winter. This to 
To “G. W. B.’ I will say: There are seyeral similar forms 
(see article), but they are small. The genus dala I think to_ 
be the Jurva of what anglers call the ‘‘alder fly,” which they - 
imitate for a trout lure. I do not lay claim to any «ntomoe- 
logical knowledge. The range of the dubson (Corydalus) 
miy be indicated by the list of popular numes given, and - 
these include Connecticut on the north and Georgia on the - 
south and Wisconsin on the West: I have seen it in New 
Hampshire. 
“H P L”’—It is usually found in swift, stony brooks, 
but I took one specimen under a stone near the shore of an 
island in Fourth Lake of the Fulton Chain, Adirondacks. 
They may iuvhabit lakes, in fac!, this seems lo prove that - 
they do, but it would be difficult to capture them there, 
The only way to learn if they inhabit brooks in your 
vicinity is to turn over the stones in them and find oat, 
“Epicure.”—No; the Ichthyopbagous Club has never 
eaten dobsons. The suggestion shows that you are wortliy 
to be a member of that body, White to the caterer, Mr, E- 
G. Blackford, Fulton Market, New York; he may wish ai 
few quarts for the approaching dinner. FRep MArTHmr. 
Coup Spring Harsor, N. ¥. 
TROUT STREAMS OF KALAMAZOO. 
WN the summer of 1880 some of the sportsmen of Kalama- 
zoo, Mich , concvived the happy idea of stocking the 
small spring brooks iu that vicinity with brook trout (Selme 
jontinalis) And, much to their praise, they carried out their 
ideas, instead of just thinking about il, as a great many 
would do; consequently the results wee far beyond theirex- 
pectutions. Procuring 100,000 fry from the State hatchery, 
located at Paris, Mecosta county, they were distributed 1 ~ 
these small streams, Spring Brook, a large. clear, cold and — 
swift-running stream, being the recipient of a majority of 
the fry. Then these sportsmen waited for the thrve long 
years required by law betore a stocked stream: can be fished 
to roll by. Many a chronic grumbler predicted that the 
trout wouldn’t live, and if they did, that they would all run — 
into the Kalamazoo River. But the sportsmen, like all good 
disciples of Izaak Wulton, waited patiently and bided their — 
time. . 
In 1882 J. Y, Portman, of the State Fish Commission, and 
some other gentlemen, made an investigation to seeif the 
trout were there and how they prospered, and were some. 
what surprised as well as highly clated to find that the fry — 
of two years before had not ouly grown 10 upward of 4 
pound in weight, but had also spawned, as could be proved 
by the hundreds of little ones to be seen. Hre the dawn of — 
day on Muay 1, 1888—the beginning of the open season—many © 
au angler could be seen making his way for these small 
streams to catch trout of his own raising. And such was — 
the success, there being hundreds of tront taken during the ~ 
— 
