—— 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
i cies ee i ————— = 
al ‘cil 
; nite 18, 1884. | 
picking out the thickest of the bunch, “pot-shoot” from a 
blind and only get one shot in on the wing. 
While we in this far-off portion of the great republic don’t 
lay any claim to being ‘‘thoroughbreds,” and don’t own any 
large marshes to shoot over, nor eyen do we belong to a 
club, we consider that it is only just to the duck and more 
credit to our guns (as ‘‘@.”’ says in his opening paragraph) *‘to 
be able to stop the old drake canvas-back as he comes sweep- 
ing along in the teeth of a southeaster;’ and we fear he for- 
gets that half the satisfaction of a thorough hunter is to 
remember with joy the downward plunge of the beautiful 
green-winged teal, ‘which as you rise in your blind doubles 
and flirts as he climbs to escape your leaden hail,” Let ‘0. 
come down here this winter, jump aboard the Santa Rosa or 
Orizaba and spend a week with us, and we will try to show 
him how we country sportsmen (if we can’t boast of a pro- 
tected march or sportsman’s club, or don’t even own a ‘*ham- 
merless”) enjoy stopping the dizzy teal or bringing to earth 
the gray old ‘‘honker.” And if we are not able to say that 
we can kill “thirty geese in two hours just for amusement,” 
Tam satisfied we can show him some good sport, and I 
think that when he returns to the ‘‘city” he will find that 
he will be well pleased with our part of the State. 
Although we are in the most isolated portion of this great 
country and probably nearly as far removed as nine-tenths 
of the readers of the Formsr AND STREAM, we try to keep 
posted as to the doings of the ‘‘fraternity” and look anxiously 
for the weekly arrival of your excellent journal, and when 
“after many days’ it comes back to me well “thumbed,” I 
store it away and await anxiously the tine when I shall have 
another twenty-six to take to the book-binder to haye put 
into volume form. I have only been reading the FoRESsT 
AND STREAM a little over a year, but in that time I haye 
made the acquaintance of the ‘‘boys” that I wouldn’t do 
without if for anything. 
lam very glad to see communications from England and 
other foreign places, as it shows the widespread popularity 
of my faverite journal, and I think that every sportsman in 
the country wide and far, ought to take and read if, as one 
can read and not fail to be benefited by a perusal of its 
editorials, its Game Bag and Gun, and Sea and River Fishing, 
Natural History, The Kennel, and Jast, but not least, the 
sportsmen’s letters and notes, A. B. PEARSON, 
San Dizao, Cal., Sept. 26, 1884. 
who tells me that while whaling in the autumn, to the east- 
ward of Wrangel Land, in 70° north latitude, he has seen 
flocks of these geese coming from the north, and steering 
straight for the coast of Alaska, several hundred miles to 
the southward. The presence of the brant and other species 
of birds in that part of the Arctic Ocean, argues favorably 
for the presence of a body of land to the northward of 
Alaska, but whether it is an eastern continuation of Wrangel 
Land or not, is, of course uncertain. The black brant never 
Wings its way far up in the sky, but keeps, as arule, between 
ten ind thirty yards aboye the water. They generally pass 
south in September, between the 15th and 28th. When the 
sharp frosts bid them depart, they pass down the coast 
through Behring’s Straits, and then, straight across the sea, 
past the Hastern Aleutian Islands, into the Pacific Ocean.” 
The writer might have added that the birds made no stop 
until they reach San Diego Hay. in Southern California. 
The food of the black brat consists of eel grass (a grass 
growing on the bottom.of the bay, visible at low tide) and 
the kelp outside the heads in the ocean. The brant can be 
hunted successfully on an ebb tide, as then they come into 
the flats and on the shoals by thousands, and from a floating 
battery with proper decoys no finer sport can be had by the 
sportsman equipped with heavy shells loaded with the best 
powder, with Nos. 3 and B mixed in front of it. 
One day of last Februaty—the 28d I think it was—from 
the peninsula across the bay, I witnessed the most successful 
hunt for black brant of the season (and I claim of the 
period), was made by Walter D. Morgan, of this place, on 
one tide. We left the boat house al 9 A. M., and -after an 
hour’s steady pull reached our grounds and planted our 
decoys, and leaving Walt in his battery, pulled across the 
channel to await the flight and retrieve the dead and capture 
the wounded, After an hour’s waiting 1 began to think that 
brant hunting wasn’t what it was cracked up to be, when 
glancing toward the lighthouse I spied a long, thin line of 
fast-moving objects, momentarily getting larger and larger. 
“Surely that’s brant,” 1 thought as the line thickened and 
spread out, and swinging away round to Walter’s right. 
They showed a beautiful array of black and white as they 
spied the decoys, and with a hoarse ¢-r r-o-o-n-k-k they soon 
swung swiftly around into the wind and prepared to settle, 
when the form of ‘Morg” showed up, and bang! bang! 
went one barrel afier the other of his gun as the demoralized 
horde of brant climbed frantically up and out of the smoke 
and noise. and just “‘made a hole in the air” as they left that 
neighborhood to make room for their mates, who came 
hurrying in from the ocean by the hundreds; and for an 
hour or two the air seemed to be full of birds, as flock after 
flock cof brant came swiftly cutting the air about a foot 
above the water, and with a whirl and a c-r-r-0-0-o-n-k pre- 
pared to settle among the decoys, only to feel the demoral- 
izing presence of Morgan and his reliable old 12-bore, 
And don’t forget that Iwas kept busy—for the shooter in 
the battery relies solely upon the ‘‘tender” (not tenderfoot) 
to retrieve his game as the tide carries it in and out, and as 
the birds get wild afters while, Morg. says: ‘‘Ad., pull 
downto No. 4 Buoy and tie up, and may be you can get 
some of the stray ones as they swing round.” ‘The battery 
was built for Morgan, who is an abbreviated specimen of 
manhood, and that the lengthy form of the writer would 
have fitted into it pretty much as a pair of tongs would fit 
into a cigar box, I pulled down to No. 4 just in time to get 
in a long shot at a brace of brant, and more by chance than 
anything else, I brought one down, and foran hour IJ did 
haye quite a let of sport, as every now and then the rem- 
nants of a flock of brunt which Morg. had demoralized came 
near enough to salute. 
Well, we cut loose about 1 o’clock, as the flight had 
stopped, and on retrieving our birds found that, not count- 
ing the few stray birds I had picked off. Morgan had bagged 
to his gun 49 brant, thus beating Richardson’s bag of 42 
killed in 1882, and J almost forgot Morg. showed up an-old 
“sprig,” or “‘pintail,” he had knocked over, he haying con- 
fided too much in the deceitful appearance of a lot of wooden 
decoys—thus making the most successful hunt on black brant 
of the period, Any Eastern sport who may at any time want 
to find a bird that will give them all the sport and all the 
work they want to “‘get to,” should come out here this win- 
CURVES OF SPORTING RIFLES. 
Editor Forest and Strewm: 
I haye been very much interested in the rifle columns of 
ForrEsT AND STREAM for several years, and especially soon 
trajectory. As I have a shooting range convenient and own 
several fine sporting rifles of different make, I have, for my 
own amusement and satisfaction, been making some tests of 
the highest point a bullet will attain in its flight over a dis- 
tance of 200 yards. 
The shooting range is on a level piece of ground, the dis- 
tance carefully measured. At 110 yards from the firing 
point I place a tissue paper screen of dark color, stretched 
as tight as if will bear, in a light frame a foot or fifteen 
inches square. This is secured in a support that will reveal 
the white bullseye just below the screen at the 200 yards. I 
then look through my~field glass from muzzle rest and see 
that the screen is properly aligned, 
If the day is suitable [ make my shots, usually ten, con- 
secutively. They should all be landed fairly on the 8-inch 
circle. Lthen, with calipers, ascertain the mean average 
distance of the center of the group of shots and draw a hori- 
zontal line across the white bullseye that will be visible 
through my telescope from the firing point. With the aid 
of an assistant I stretch ajsmall wire horizontally on the frame 
beneath the screen in a line with the center of the bore of 
the gun-and target. Select the center of the group of shots 
in the sereen, and with a rule measure tlie distance to the 
wire, which will give the rise at that point. 
‘The rifles used in the experiments are Sharps, Ballard, 
Maynard and a muzzleloader, all in first-class condition. 
Distance, 200 yards; results: 
ter and we'll break them in, o_. a |e E a 
We entertained the past winter Mr. EH. 8, Babcock, of Rifle Used Wei ee |eome (OME ei) oS 
“ . g dd. ght. I 
Nashville, Tenn,, Wm. Iglehart, of Evansville, Ind,, and Ba 3 &8 ot Fs = 
James Breeze, of New York, who at different times hunted a ° |e S| 
the dusky brant and corralled the dizzy ‘thonker,” ad, : 
although our friend Morgan is a market-bunter, he will not ee ry Tbe bas ia 40 ed prns. inchs: 
fail to show any Hastern gentleman all the courtesy necessary | 2D@"PS, mid-range...... : F 
: ; ey llard, mid-range...... : 40 5 1 
to make his stay a pleasure. And we will welcome right MayieL mates Ee ‘ is BN 40 Sh Fi 15i 
royally any and all who at any time desire to visit our shores | Muzzleloader............ li 18 | 28 | 40 | 65 | 210 | 10% 
to allure the denizens of the forest and stream. 
Besides the brant hunting, sur goose and duck sport is 
unexcelled anywhere, and the beauty of hunting in our part 
of the State is, that an overcoat is hardly ever needed and 
camping out at night is quite a luxury. 
The open season commences here on Oct. 1, and we look 
forward to early and large bags of game, as the past season 
has been highly favorable for quail, and coveys numbering 
up in the hundreds can be seen seurrying in every direction 
as one rides out in the country. Last season Messrs, Chick 
brothers and two others brought to market some 3,600 dozen 
quail, all killed within twenty miles of town, from Sept. 15 
to Feb. 5. Not a bad season’s work. They are here now 
anxiously awaiting the time to once more sallyout and bring 
to bag the little beauties. Morgan killed during the season 
1,174 brant, besides numerous ducks, geese and quail at odd 
times. 
. We promise ourselyes morethan the usual amount of 
sport this winter, as the unusual rainfall of last spring has 
quite filled all our ponds, and the adjacent rivers that, ordi- 
navily vun dry every summer are all running now, and hun- 
dreds of ducks have summered here and raised broods of 
little ones, which, when we could, we have carefully pro- 
tected, although, I am sorry to say, several of our town 
sportsmen(?) have been seen to totally destroy several broods 
of quarter-grown ducks, simply, it seems, to gloat over kill- 
mg them, 
several bands of geese have passed over, flying southward, 
lately, and yesterday I noticed an immense flock of ducks 
winging their way down the bay, southward, and as the cur- 
jew and shore plover have been in for a month, signs seem 
to indicate an early season, 
I notice in your issue of Sept. 18 an interesting letter 
signed *‘C.,” of San Francisco, on duck shooting in Cali- 
fornia, While enjoying the account yery much, I have just 
the least bit of curiosity to ask ‘‘O.” whether it is counted 
‘*just the cheese’ in his club to wait and call and recall a 
band of ‘cans’ which circle close enough ‘‘to strike with an 
_ oar” and wait until they settle among the decoys and then, 
made by George H. 
Ferris, of Utica, N. Y., and is furnished with all the appli- 
ances for fine work at the target, using a light conical ball. 
M. H. Cryper. 
The muzzleloader is a new rifle, 
Morais, Ill., Oet. 6. 
NEW ENGLAND GAME. 
eee the gunners in Maine, New Hampshire and Massa- 
chusetts who have confined their sports to the more 
southerly districts, on the borders of settlements, have found 
the ruffed grouse very plenty this fall, and many handsome 
bags have been made, But the sportsmen who have returned 
from the North Woods or the old forests on the borders of 
Northern Maine and New Hampshire report grouse scarce, but 
some spruce partridges, Canadian grouse, seen. The theory 
of guides and woodsmen in these back regions is that, owing 
to the cold, wet weather in June the eggs did not hatch. 
One party, which made its hunting ground in upper Wash- 
ington county, Me., reports the most of the grouse killed to 
have been old male birds. Another party, spending two 
weeks on the waters of the St. Francis, near the settlement 
of that name, had the same experience with grouse. 
Both parties report deer and caribou very plenty, and even 
moose in the St. Francis region, and on the borders of Maine 
and New Brunswick, to be quite plenty. This party was 
greatly pressed for time, and not a map among them under- 
stood ‘‘calling” the lordly moose. About the only guides 
they could get—Canadian Frenchmen—were as incapable as 
themselves, and the party comes back to Boston without a 
moose, caribou or deer, though the deer are as plenty as 
need be. They slept out of doors nearly every night, with- 
out bothering to build a shelter. One or two nights the 
water froze half an inch thick—the first days of October— 
and yet no one of the party took cold till on the train within 
twenty-five miles of Boston, They are much pleased with 
the country as 4 sporting region, but disgusted with the shift- 
Jess laziness of the few settlers. They recommend the pur- 
228 
chase of everything necessary before leaving civilization, 
and no guides, unless the stalwart sons of oné or two noted 
Yankee settlers, canbe obtained. QOneof the party, they say, 
should be a fair axeman and cook, and all good trampers and 
ready to carry a load or hire it carried. 
The Washington county party had better success with 
deer. One gentleman, familiar with hunting deer vitae 
in the pine barrens of New Jersey, was much surprised with 
the tameness of the Maine deer. ‘‘But,” to use his own 
words, ‘‘l soon took to the sport.” He killed two on the 
first day of October. He returns disgusted with the shotgun 
for so large game. Both deer were wounded, and found and 
shot a second time only after a most tedious search. Others 
were also fired at by the party with the probability that they 
were wounded, 
In the Maine lake regions, as before mentioned, deer are 
yery plenty. ‘The enforcement of the game laws has been 
excellent in effects, and yet public sentiment is not fully up 
to where it should be. Indications and dark hints lead to 
the conclusion that even the supporters of fish and game 
protection break over when in the woods. There is work 
for the detectives this fall, The month of September was a 
tempting one, and a good many rifles and shells loaded with 
buckshot were carried into the Maine woods during that 
month, SPECIAL, 
THE NEW JERSEY SOCIETIES. 
HE annual meeting of the New Jersey Game and Fish 
Protective Society was held at Force’s Hotel, Plainfield, 
New Jersey, Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 17, at 3 o’clock. 
The secretary reported an increase of sixty-three members 
since the last annual meeting. During the past year the 
Sociely have purchased, cared for and liberated 408 live 
quail im various parts of the State, on premises of members, 
who report that the birds have thrived and propagated be- 
yond the most sanguine expectations. Detectives employed 
to apprehend violators of the game and fish laws, reported 
no arrests made. It seemed to be the unanimous expression 
of the members present that the existing woodcock law was 
not a good one, as Summer shooting gives greater chances 
for the violator of game laws to engage in his nefarious work. 
Many also objected to the existing squirrel law, which does 
not allow these animals to be killed until Sept. 1. No 
definite action was taken in reference to the possibility of 
changing these laws, Reports were received that parties 
had drawn seines in the Raritan River contrary to law, and 
instructions were given to apprehend and punish the guilty 
parties, if necessary eyidence can besecured, After consider- 
able other routine business the following named were re- 
elected as board of directors for the ensuing year; James §. 
Vosseller, Martin W. Schenck, William EH. Jones, Isaac 
Brokaw, Edward P. Thorn; William L. Force, William B. 
Dunn, J. W. King, Israel D. Ten Eyck. The meeting then 
adjourned. 
At seven o'clock the same evening the Board of . Directors 
met for organization at E, P. Thorn’s. The following 
officers were re-elected for the ensuing year: President, 
James §. Vosseller; Vice-Presidents, Percy C. Ohl, R. M. 
Stelle, Joseph B. Miller; Secretary, William L. Force; Treas- 
urer, William E. Jones; Counsel, William B. Rankin. With 
the following Honorary Vice-Presidents: Fred Yolekman, 
N. Y. city, Gen, William H. Sterling, Plainfield, N. J,, 
James R. English, Elizabeth, N. J., William J. Thompson, 
Gloucester City, N. J., Charles Smith, Plainfield, N. J., 
George P. Suydam, Plainfield, N. J., John I. Holly, Plain- 
field, N. J., William L, Dean, Highlands, Ulster county, N. 
Y.. Elisha Shepherd and G. R. Gaddis, of Bound Brook, N. 
J., and 8. L. Serviss, and Calvin Hill of Rayville, N. J. 
The semi-annual meeting of the Passaic County Fish and 
Game Protective Association was held last week, President . 
W. M. Smith in the chair, and a large number of members 
present. The secretary reported that during the six months 
which have elapsed since the organization of the association 
the sum of $138.13 had been expended in the protection of 
fish and game and the furthering of the interests of sports- 
men. In addition tothe expenditure of this money a great deal 
of work has been done without pay by officers and members 
of the association; in fact that portion of the work which 
was most important had been done without pay. The asso- 
ciation numbers fifty-six members in good standing. Great 
difficulty has been encountered in the enforcement of the 
laws, which are badly mixed. Thus in this county the 
authorities have held that catching black bass out of season 
is a misdemeanor which can be punished only after indict- 
ments have been found by the grand jury; in Bergen county 
this offense has been held not to be a misdemeanor but only 
an offense in which every justice of the peace has juris- 
diction. ‘There is every reason to believe that the present 
grand jury will find a number of indictments on complaints 
made by the association, as the proof laid before the grand 
inquest was of the most conclusive kind, If indictments are 
found, the association will be able to have the law tested and 
in future goyern itself accordingly, When the laws of this 
State were revised the fish and game laws were not revised 
but just tumbled into the revision in eyery way, so that the 
laws are of the most conflicting nature; it would be well if 
the next Legislature were to appoint a commission to revise 
the fish and game laws and draw up a statute which would 
cover every case in a clear manner and provide for some way 
of enforcing the laws which would not be questioned at every 
turn. 
The board of directors reported that a short time ago in- 
formation was received from Newark that a number of men 
from that city intended to drag nets in the river at Singak 
on a Saturday night, Four men were engaged. by the asso- 
ciation, who rowed up and down the river in small boats 
but without discovering any traces of the alleged violators 
of the laws, although the men remained out until midnight. 
The association then transacted a lot of business which, 
owing to its nature, it would not be proper to publish, this 
business consisting of the taking of steps tending to the pun- 
ishment of persons shooting game out of season. 
- The project of better protection to song and insectivorous 
birds was next discussed. At present hundreds of thousands 
of birds are killed annually to supply the market with orna- 
ments for ladies’ hats. The State laws permit this kind of 
slaughter, as the law allows the killing of all kinds of birds 
for stuffing. A large business is at present being done in 
slaughtering birds, and it cannot be stopped except by a 
change of the State laws. The association has done all in 
its power to break up the business in this city by inducing 
the Board of Aldermen Lo pass an ordinance imposing heavy 
penalties on all persons caught killing birds or robbing nests, 
and the police of this city have been, instructed to enforce 
this ordinance; in addition to this the association has em- 
