206 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aprtl 9, 1885, 



MOOR SHOOTING IN FEBRUARY. 



WE have very nearly reached the limit of our tether over 

 here as far as the shooting season of 1884-85 is con- 

 cerned. Taken, altogether, it has been a decided success; 

 game has been plentiful, the weather has on the whole been 

 what it ought to be, and those of us who have had the time 

 and the opportunity are doubtless ready to usher in Febru- 

 ary month with a feeling of satisfaction". Some of us, how- 

 ever, do not have the opportunity of sharing in the general 

 campaign, and perforce find ourselves on the lookout for 

 such bits and scraps as fall from the rich man's table, and it 

 is frequently during the month of February that we arc 

 best able to replenish their larders. Sportsmen who pride 

 themselves upou the orthodoxy of their sportive character 

 generally clean, oil and pat l.tv their shooting impedimenta 

 after Jan. 31 ; but between that date and March 1, the last 

 limit of our close season, there are some who still, gun iu 

 hand, may be seen ardently faking their pleasure iu someone 

 or other of the few, very few, out-of-the-way comers we 

 have left in Britain where a little sport can be had. The 

 sport is usually small, but it is essentially true. There is no 

 ceremony about it, no humbug, and it "is. therefore, doubt- 

 less thoroughly distasteful to "many of our "swell" sports- 

 men. It nevertheless makes up in quality for any lack in 

 quantity, and some of the prettiest of this no-season shooting 

 is to be had upon the single real moor in our southern coun- 

 ties. 



Devonshire is usually regarded as the garden of England. 

 Superficially that is doubtless the ease; but anyhow the gar- 

 den has as its central feature a considerable and decided 

 howling wilderness— from the horticulturist's point of view. 

 The wilderness is a moor, Dartmoor by name. It occupies 

 nearly the heart of the county and extends about twenty 

 miles from north to south, by about twelve miles in width, 

 The greatest elevation reached is about 2,000 feet, and the 

 average height of the plateau must be about 1,000 feet above 

 sea level. It is a huge upheaval of granite rock, and consists 

 of a series of rugged hills intersected by countless water- 

 courses of more er less volume. This moor is called the 

 forest of Dartmoor, and the name of "forest" is doubtless 

 given it because there is probably without exception a less 

 number of trees than upon any similar part of England. 



Upon Dartmoor I have found three sorts of snipe out of 

 the four we include among our British game birds. The first 

 kind and the rarest is Scolopa.r major, the solitary or great 

 snipe, as we term him in the vernacular. He is a big'gen- 

 tleman, weighing about eight ounces, and easy enough to 

 kill when you find him. We get very few of tliese snipe in 

 the British Isles; not more than a dozen being recorded as 

 killed every year. The solitary snipe is rarely found in the 

 near neighborhood of the smaller kinds, and as far as my 

 experience goes — it only extends to two~8colopax major is 

 usually out on the open moorland pursuing a really solitary 

 course of life, choosing for his diurnal haunt a broken dip 

 in the ground, where it is fairly dry and thoroughly exposed 

 to every inclemency of weather. That he is not a thorough- 

 going Britisher is certain ; the east wind seems to be particu- 

 larly to his liking. 



The little jacksuipe (8. galUnula) ranges about one-third 

 the size and weight of the foregoing. He is a mere atom of 

 a bird, yet possessed of an independent character of his own, 

 and nearly as idiosyncratic as others of his kind. I have 

 found the common snipe upon almost every sort of ground on 

 Dartmoor, but these little jacks seem to adhere to tnat which 

 we consider typical snipe ground: Wet, sodden mires, 

 high-lying and well out on the moor, as far from the haunts 

 of man as" possible, seem to provide these feeble wildfowl 

 with a congenial haunt. Sometimes one finds them as thick 

 as bees, while at others their absence is their typical point. 

 But for their smallness they would provide but poor sport, 

 but in February, when one goes tramping through the wet, 

 uncertain bogland, they get up so quietly and so unexpec- 

 tedly, that for the moment you seem to forget that they are 

 what you have been seeking, and in that moment's hesita- 

 tion the best chance is lost, for as he gathers speed, so he 

 gathers waywardness in flight, and although less headlong 

 in his rate of departure, still the true snipe zigzag is there, 

 and uules8 you take him at one of the moments when he 

 seems to steady his flight a bit, the chances are that you will 

 miss the little fellow— for the time being. After a short 

 journey of 100 or 200 yards he will be down again, and very 

 often a bad or unhandy shot will go through the same per- 

 formance two or three times before the snipe is brought to 

 bag, or gets tired of the business and clears off altogether. 

 Sometimes, in February, one gets a iot of these little beggars, 

 far more, as a rule, than of the commou variety (S. gallinago 

 or Gallinago medio), although earlier in the season the last 

 named are the most plentiful. We call this bird the moor 

 snipe, and also the heather bleaker, and some of us call him 

 other names too, but we don't write them down often. In 

 February he has become a wary and very wild gentleman 

 indeed. Successive flushings, and perhaps shots at him de- 

 prive this eccentric feathered personage of any sedateness of 

 manner which he may have formerly possessed, and you 

 want to be very careful and plan your mode of attack upon 

 lines of the most advanced strategy in order to cope success- 

 fully with this moorfowl in February month. At this season 

 there is no knowing where to find them in numbers. ISio 

 rules can be laid down, and even the most experienced moor 

 sportsman will often and often find himself egregiously 

 wrong in his speculations as to where the snipe will be. 1 

 have gone out upon this south-country moor one day when 

 things look roseate for the sportsman and bad for the snipe, 

 and things have turned out as expected. Next day the same 

 general aspect of affairs, tried similar ground and came home 

 nearly snipeless, finding a mere apology for a sprinkling of 

 birds, and every "likely place" a scene of disappointment. 

 Sometimes the birds are all in the soft low ground; another 

 day, under precisely similar circumstances apparently, they 

 are on the high, dry parts. When you have studied their 

 varying habits for a* week, you come to the conclusion that 

 under such and such conditions of wind, temperature and 

 weather, the snipe should be in certain places, and yet when 

 you come to prove the correctness of the theory, lo! it is 

 completely and irretrievably upset. This is the rule with 

 snipe all the season, more or less, but when the close time 

 . approaches, the birds seem to desire to anticipate it, and 

 simply flabbergast one with the eccentricities of their habits; 

 at least, so it is upon this old-world corner, and I suppose so 

 it is all through this mundane sphere. 



Closely allied to the snipe is the woodcock, and when the' 

 time comes round for shooting snipe, so shortly after does 

 the other long-billed gentry put in their appearance. Upon 

 Dartmoor itself, upon the real actual moorland but few 

 woodcock can be got, but upon its outskirts, where the in- 

 hospitable granite and heather and mire gives place to the 



cultivated fields, the rough, broken brake and the manv- 

 colored fir plantations, there I have killed many a wood- 

 cock, and even in February one occasionally comes across 

 them by accident, and can find a good few by trying for 

 them. To me there is something" very delightful about 

 woodcock— or as we prefer to stvlelt, 'cock— shooting under 

 such circumstances. The clear frosty air, the crackle of the 

 rime upon the long tussocky grass beneath the firs, the scent 

 of the trees, and the general feeling of exhilaration produced 

 by a fine winter morning all combine to set one thoroughly 

 in accord with one's self, and the peculiar difficulty of find- 

 ing your bird and moreover of killing him when found, lend 

 a zest to this moorland sport which the more conventional 

 cock shooting afforded by well-preserved, less easy-going 

 districts wholly lack. Folks over here pride themselves 

 more over a woodcock well killed than half a dozeu pheas- 

 ants; and when iu February, when others have put away 

 their guns, you take out a steady hustling old spaniel and 

 along with the keeper and a friend manage to secure a brace 

 or two of cock, why then you are envied of the countryside, 

 and feel that you ought to be. 



Sometimes when we are trying for woodcock in the out- 

 lying plantations we flush a gray hen, sometimes even an 

 old black cock, and it reminds one of the earlier part of the 

 season, back in November, when coming home that long 

 four-mile tramp from the big mire, the setter made point 

 after point, and we just managed to get hold of a brace and 

 a half out of the covey in the dusk of the autumn evening, 

 and wondered how on earth it managed to remain untouched 

 so long. Ah, they are "brave old birds" those heath-poults, 

 and send the blood tearing through your veins when they 

 dash up through the closely set boughs of the spruce sap- 

 lings, and make you wish the 10th of December were not 

 gone by, tempting you sorely to break the close time. 



The uncertainties usually attaching to the ways of the 

 woodcock are less conspicuous in February than are they at 

 other periods of the season. Probably those we find so 'late 

 are the ones bent on meeting with us— they are very few— 

 aud so in order to accommodate themselves to the change 

 from a life of wandering nature to one of more settled de- 

 scription, they become less restive and changeable as regards 

 their haunts. Anyhow it is only at such times as we write 

 of that you can with any hope of success forecast the where- 

 abouts of the few woodcock remaining. Where you find 

 them one day you may with a reasonable amount of cer- 

 tainty expect to brush them up on the next; which of the 

 woodcock is saying a great deal. 



If the winter has been a hard one, there will, in February, 

 be some fun, to be had at the expense of the moorfowl 

 proper; to wit, curlew, plover, and perhaps a few duck. The 

 first-uamed fall to the gun by chance. One never tries for 

 them. They are few and far between, and to get them you 

 must trust to luck. At least, 1 do so, and I get very few of 

 (hem, although, often seeing numbers; they are too wary and 

 too difficult to get at to waste time over, and are often 

 a precious nuisance into the bargain. Many a morning, 

 when I have successfully maneuvered up to nearly within 

 range of a flock of golden plover, has one or two of these 

 wary gentry gotten up, and with their "curlewing" and 

 circling put up the plover, too, aud earned for themselves 

 curses loud and deep. The plover, on the other hand, are 

 more easily got at, and afford better sport. They come iu 

 large aud plentiful flocks, usually passing from the higher to 

 the lower lands and mse rerxa, once during the day. 1 have 

 rather a weakness for the golden plover, and my favorite 

 way of trying for them is to be out on the moor by daylight. 

 This plover is an early riser and also au early breakf aster, 

 and it is necessary to arrange to interview him before the 

 matutinal meal. He will probably have occupied a strategic 

 position at the head of some mire, being for the nonce upon 

 the dry ground at the leeward side. The course of proceed 

 ing, then, is to walk up to him and his many companions 

 against wind, adopting as deliberate and regular a mode of 

 progression as the inequalities of the ground will permit. If 

 you have any luck, you continue to approach until within 

 gunshot, and directly the flock rises, when about two feet 

 from the ground, have at them ! Fire into the brown this 

 time and next time, while they are circling round pick out 

 your bird — it will probably be more than one — and if you 

 think it worth while, reload quickly, and there may be a 

 third shot to be obtained before the birds crowd off to a mire 

 on the other side of the hill. The spoil is collected, and the 

 birds must be followed along the line of flight to the other 

 bog. If you have a dog with you, he may find one or two 

 stray ones, slightly hit, which can be picked up on the way 

 across, only one must not fire so as to set the flock moving 

 again. 1 usually trust to sighting plover myself, it leads to 

 more successful results on this southern moorland than does 

 working a dog to them; but it requires some knowledge of 

 the ground and some experience of the work to do this. A 

 novice at it may almost walk through a flock of golden 

 plover and never see one. I know that 1 have in my earliei 

 days on the moor, and the first time "I ever heern or see" 

 golden plover on Dartmoor was one Sunday evening when 

 strolling along, I happened to glance toward the ground, and 

 certainly not ten yards from me the ground was black with 

 them. Before twelve hours were gone by 1 was among them 

 again, only the aim in view was of a week day character. 



Sometimes several wild duck, sometimes a little teal maybe 

 picked up iu the pools of the streams during hard weather; 

 but they come more by chauce than because the ground suits 

 them and rarely stay long. They want a deal of stalking 

 when you do sight one upon the stream, in an open, level 

 part of the moor, and many a beastly cold crawl have I had 

 after them, success rarely attending the undignified opera- 

 tion. In February, though, they are few and far between, 

 and no one would set out to get duck clown in this part. 



Feather, it will be seen, is of varied character upon the 

 moor I write of, and sometimes it is plentiful; but fur is 

 scarce. An occasional hare and a few rabbits may be 

 brought to bag, but the former are all too scarce, and pro- 

 vide sport almost exclusively for the harriers which hunt 

 various parts of the moor. It's rough work for certain, hare 

 hunting; but it's grand fun if you get a good Dartmoor hare 

 going wefl. and I suppose there is no more pleasanter way of 

 breaking one's neck than is offered by many of the rough 

 bits crossed in a day with the Dartvale and other harriers. 

 And yet you always come well out of it, that is, if you have 

 a horse of the country, and not the least exhilarating is this 

 one of the several sports which February offers to sojourners 

 in this south country moor during the twilight of the shoot- 

 ing season. "Moorman. 



England, Feb. 14, 1884. 



MtrciLAGED Wads. — Editor Forest and Stream: F. H. 

 Hack's reply of the 19th inst. to my communication of the 

 5th inst., in which I described my method of "securing wads 



in place without crimping," may, in the wad he advocates 

 suggest the same idea more perfectly and fully. But I have 

 serious objection to any wad fixed in place by adhesive sub- 

 star] ces, mucilaginous or gummy. In my experience the gu m 

 will form a chemical combination with the burnt powder, 

 and in many instances firmly adheres to the inside of the 

 barrel, thus contributing to the rapid fouling of the gun • de- 

 positing itself in streaks and patches, and, like a bad lubri- 

 cant used on machinery, wear and tear would take place at 

 some points of the bearings while other parts would he pro- 

 tected Of course in a shotgun this would be a mere baga- 

 telle; but the difficulty does not stop here. This deposit is 

 hard to remove; water and the ordinary cleaning processes 

 will not do il. I have frequently had to use strong turpen- 

 tine^ refined petroleum or something of the sort in order to 

 cut it out. As most sportsmen love to keep their funs per- 

 fectly clean, it behooves them to be a little wary as to what 

 they admit on the inside. If lubricants, as applied to wads, 

 are desirable, tallow, pure and simple, is far ahead of the 

 waxy and gummy substances too frequently used.— Back- 

 avoods (Beverly, Randolph county, W. Va., March 2?). 



Washington Territorv.— Tacoma, March 15.— Editor 

 Fbrext and Stream: West of the Rocky Mountains and north 

 of Oregon I have not met with any well-bred dogs. Those 

 few now located in this region, which are designated as 

 good dogs are very indifferent workers, and as far as breed- 

 ing is concerned, are nil. I regret this, because I consider 

 myself safe in predicting that this yet unopen country will, 

 at no distant day, rank high in the estimation of the sports- 

 man. Our snipe season is an unusually long one, embracina- 

 almost the entire winter; as is also the case" regarding duck. 

 California trout, transplanted here from their native State 

 a few years ago, are most fortunately multiplying. Pheasant 

 and grouse abound, while this is a kingdom of joy for those 

 fond of the trout, rod ; all our fresh waters abound in trout, 

 ranging from eight ounces up as high as four pounds, and 

 averaging, say, about one. I have swung a fly now for two 

 years, and cannot complain of ever having returned home in 

 a disappointed frame of mind. Elk can be found in our 

 vicinity; deer, bear and cougar within a day's tramp. — W. 



An Incident. — Duck shooting on Hay Bay with a friend, 

 1 once winged a duck which fell on the bog. Our punt was 

 lyiug alongside. My dosrretrieved the bird, andashe brought 

 it up my friend said, "Look out, or you'll lose it." I jerked 

 off its head, and the body disappeared in the water. 

 "There," said he, "I told you he'd get away." I answered, 

 "If he does, here is his head." We pushed off the punt, audi 

 paddled about, but could not see the duck. We went back 

 to the spot and after great difficulty I scooped out from 

 under the bog the dead body. A French physician once said 

 that after decapitation the senses were not immediately 

 destroyed, and to test this it was arranged with the doctor 

 and the criminal that if this were true he would, on his head 

 being cut off, wink his right eye, which occurred. In the 

 present case the question arises, did the duck take in the 

 situation and die accordingly?— R P. J. (Picton, Ontario). 



Fowl Shooting.— There have been but few ducks killed 

 here this spring, owing to there being so much ice, aud even 

 at this late day it is dangerous lo pot out your decoys, for 

 there is always a floe around ready 10 sweep everything 

 away. To-morrow, Monday, is the last day of the season 

 and great preparation is beiug made to give the ducks a 

 parting salute. Ham Disston's«steain yacht Manatee is here, 

 having on board a lot of Philadelphia spoilsmen, who in 

 their minds are slaughtering the poor ducks. John B. 

 Graham has sold his yacht Graham, but this summer wili 

 rebuild one specially fitted for the convenience and comfort 

 of sportsmen who may desire a day of genuine sport among 

 the ducks. Snipe have not made their appearance here yet, 

 we have had our guns in readiness for some time. — Pro- 

 fessional (Charlestown, Md., March 29). 



Currituck Matters. — The annual meeting and election 

 of the Palmer Island Club, whose grounds are on the outer 

 beach of Currituck Sound, was held April 1. The following 

 gentlemen were elected: President aud Treasurer, Mr. 

 William F. Bridge; Secretary, Mr. John G. fteckscher; Gov- 

 ernors — Messrs. Henry Steers, Howlaud Robbins and Isaac 

 Townsend. The annual meeting of the Narrows Island 

 Club is called for April 13. The season for fowl shooting 

 at Currituck usually closes Feb. 1, but this year, owing to the 

 cold weather of February and March, it lasted much later, 

 and those club members who stayed into the month of March 

 had some very good shooting, mostly, however, at common 

 docks. 



Philadelphia Notes.— Snipe are being killed all around 

 Philadelphia within a radius of fifty miles. The flight does 

 not seem to lie a large one, and the birds are dropping into 

 favored places in bunches of twos and threes. The frost is 

 fast disappearing in the fields, and in New Jersey, within 

 twelve miles of this city, plowing of the light soil has begun. 

 Returning from Haddonfield, N J., this A. M., your corre- 

 spondent noticed all the migratory birds about due at this 

 season, and listened to their love songs which filled the air. 

 —Homo. 



Winter in Tennessee. — Although our winter has been 

 exceptionally severe, the snowfall has been less than an 

 average, and this county and Middle Tenuessee generally, is 

 well slocked with quail. There are fewer bird flogs ucre 

 than formerly, and many coveys have lost none, save from 

 predacious birds and animals. 'Formerly cotton aud tobacco 

 were extensively cultivated here, but now the grasses and 

 cereals have supplanted them, leaving excellent cover and 

 abundant feed.— C. (Franklin, Tenn,, March 23). 



Robins Island Club Election.— At a meeting recently 

 held in Brooklyn, by the Robins Island Club, officers for the 

 year 1885 were elected, as follows: President, S. Fleet Speir, 

 M. D. ; Vice-President, H. D. PoJhemus; Secretary and 

 Treasurer, W. H. Force. Board of Directors: Alden S. 

 Swan, W. B. Kendall, W. B. Dickerman, Henry I. Cullcn, 

 Jr., and the officers above mentioned. We have in type a 

 description of the island as it is to-day, which we hope to 

 publish in our next issue. 



Albino Fox.— A pure white fox was shot near here a few 

 days ago. Have asked fox hunters about finding them 

 asleep. Mr. Amidon shot two the past winter while asleep. 

 My brother shot one while asleep the winter of 1883.— J. 

 Otis Fellows (Hornellsville, N. Y., April 1). 



