308 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



I Mat 14, 1885. 



specimens. To guard these from injury, and also (let 

 it be hoped) to promote original work, its trustees liave 

 finally secured the services "of one of the foremost of 

 American naturalists. Foreign naturalists have hailed 

 this movement -with expressions of unfeigned joy, and 

 we can but regard it with the utmost satisfaction. We con- 

 gratulate ourselves both upon the accession of so distin- 

 guished a person as Mr. Allen, and upon the significance of 

 the fact of his appointment. The citizeus of New York, 

 surfeited with the cultivation of purely commercial inter- 

 ests, have come at length to look for something which will 

 adorn their city with more lasting monuments — which will 

 enable it to take rank with the other great cities of the world 

 in promoting the advancement aud diffusion of knowledge 

 by the encouragement of natural science. The more thought- 

 ful of them are slowly but surely arriving at the conviction 

 that no true progress in higher civilization can he made 

 until science, literature and the arts receive the hearty 

 support of the people and of the commonwealth. 

 We arc- gathered about this table to celebrate the coming 

 to our city of a man whom all honor and esteem. The 

 guest of the evening, in his younger days, accompanied the 

 elder Agassiz to South America. He has crossed the mighty 

 Amazon, and, following the immortal Humboldt, has ex- 

 plored the pathless tropical forests of the Orinoco. Among 

 his multifarious publications is one on the vertebrate fauna 

 of Lake Titicaca, nestled in the heart of the higher Andes. 

 In our own country his travels have extended from the 

 tangled everglades of Florida to the dark coniferous forests 

 of the North, and from the shores of the restless Atlantic to 

 the highest summits of the Rocky Mountains. His journey- 

 ings have not been those of the idle tourist, for wherever he 

 has gone he has been a tireless student of nature, and the 

 results of his researches have vastly enriched our knowledge 

 of the natural history of America. ' His masterly memoir on 

 the 'Mammals and Birds of Florida' contains an essay on 

 the distribution of species which, together with his subse- 

 quent papers ou the same subject, has wou him everlasting 

 renown in all the countries of Europe. His monographs 

 of North American bisons, living and extinct; of the seals, 

 sea lions and walruses, and of various groups of rodents, are 

 universally recognized as models of exhaustive research and 

 philosophical treatment; while the multitude of bis minor 

 papers as well as the able manner in which he has conducted 

 the 'Bulletin' of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, now the 

 Auk — have placed all working naturalists under the deepest 

 and most lasting obligations. It is in feeble recognition of 

 your services toscience, Mr. Allen, that we have done our- 

 selves the honor of making you our guest this evening. We 

 welcome you in the name of the citizens of New York, firm- 

 ly believing that your coming to the American Museum may 

 be regarded as marking the beginning of a new era in the 

 progress of science in the Empire State— and let us trust that 

 the impetus thus gained may never cease, but transmitted 

 like an earthquake wave upon the ocean, may spread in ever- 

 widening circles till the remotest corners of the earth have 

 felt its irresistible influence." 



Present Distribution of the American Bison. — Edi- 

 tor Forest and stream: There is a very small herd of buffalo 

 ou the western rauge of Texas, bordering on New Mexico. 

 Herders on the Good Night ranch have seen them due west 

 of Hall county, near Palaicedo Canon. — Almo (Henrietta, 

 Clay county, Tex.). 



Recent Arrivals at the Philadelphia Zoological Garden.— 

 Purchaser!— One female otter (Lutra canadensis), one common cross- 

 bill (Loria r.urvirostra), one male California quail (Lophorlyx call- 

 fornieus), and two Gambel's partridges (male and fem le) (Laphot tyx 

 gambeli). Presented- One female prairie wolf (Cani* latrons), one 

 male Virginia deer (Oervtis virginianus), one raccoon (Procyou totar), 

 two cavenne rail (Aramidescayennensis), one great-homed owl {Bubo 

 virginianus), two yellow birds (Chry.iomit.ris tristis). one red-tailed 

 hawU (Butco borealis), and one alligator (Alligator mississippiensi.;). 

 Born — One female mazame deer (Cervns ccimpestris) and three prairie 

 wolves (Cam's latrans). 



$mt{t §ug Htfd ($iw\. 



NOTES FROM ROCHESTER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The dreary winter had a rather depressing effect on sports- 

 men in this vicinity, and scarcely anything was done during 

 the cold weather, except gallery shooting, in which line of 

 sport several Rochester men excel, both with pistol and rifle. 

 Some of the more hardy and enthusiastic of the fishing fra- 

 ternity were not prevented, even by prolonged zero weather, 

 from indulging in their favorite sport, for they cut through 

 eighteen inches of ice on Irondequoit Bay and drew out pick- 

 erel and perch in large numbers. 



The return of fine weather has reawakened the old instinct 

 in all our sport-loving fellow citizens and they are again 

 ready with rod and gun to try what fortune awaits them in 

 forest and stream. 



Before the season closed I made allying trip to Braddock's 

 Bay after ducks, and was fairly rewarded. During the day, 

 while my companion and self were in a blind on the sandbar 

 between the bay and Lake Ontario, we heard at intervals of 

 half an hour a strange noise out on the lake. It began in an 

 indescribable tone and increased until it seemed to be the 

 united cackling of a thousand geese. There was nothing in 

 sight to which we could attribute the noise; but there was a 

 large field of ice floating down the lake, three or four miles 

 out from shore, and we thought that the birds or demons 

 which were making the welkin ring might be among the 

 ice. The improbability of the last-named class of creatures 

 being found on ice did not occur to us at the time, but its 

 force must be apparent to every reflecting mind. The lake 

 was very calm, and in order to ascertain if possible what the 

 noise did proceed from, I rowed out until I discovered an 

 unusually large gull cavorting in and over the water. It 

 did all the cackling, and how it managed to emit such a 

 volume of sound will ever remain a matter of wonder to me. 

 The ice field gave one a good idea of the appearance the 

 ocean must present in the far North. There were peaks of 

 ice towering above the water to an amazing height, giving 

 all the scenic effects of genuine salt-water icebergs. I am 

 not sure but that the effect was produced by the phenomenon 

 of looming, rather than by the actual elevation of the ice, 

 for looming is a very common occurrence here. 



Snipe shooting has been going on here briskly for about 

 two weeks. One man had rather hard luck this week, for 

 while driving along with a valuable setter tied under the 

 wagon the rope in some way got around the dog's neck, and 

 when his owner got out to to enter a field he found the dog 

 strangled. 



Robert Tangneuy, the veteran sportsman and inventor of 



fishing tackle, has just returned from a winter's sojourn in 

 the woods of Michigan. He went up last fall and had rare 

 sport fishing before the small lakes closed. His recital of the 

 details in contests with muscalonge set the blood of anglers 

 bounding. Up to the time the season for deer shooting 

 closed he had shot seventeen of them, and one large bear. 

 He kept no account of the number of small game bagged, 

 the amount being too great. Grouse, rabbits aud foxes were 

 particularly abundant, and he has one trophy in the skin of 

 a frightful* porcupine of unusual size. Bob, as he allows his 

 familiars to call him, accomplished a noteworthy feat in 

 angling last season. He long entertained the belief that 

 Whitefish could be caught with a hook, and to test his theory 

 went out on the lake several miles and fished in water a 

 hundred aud fifty feet deep, early in the morning. As the 

 result of his first morning's effort he hooked four or five 

 whitefish and drew them to the surface, but did not succeed 

 in getting them into the boat. He intends to experiment 

 with bait and improve his tackle until he can offer both to 

 auglers with assurance that they will take whitefish as surely 

 as a minnow does a bass. E. Redmond. 



tered the surroundings of a pair of glow worms, thinking I 

 was peppering the head of a wildcat, and I suppose if these 

 experiences were carefully elaborated, giving accurate mea- 

 surements, river weights and other vital statistics, some cool 

 calculator would rise somewhere and try to prejudice the 

 minds of readers in relation thereto. All right, give me the 

 good camp story with its tested tension and all-inclosing 

 scope and power, and "H. B. S." can have the undeviating 

 prose to his heart's content. J. C. B, 



P. S. What a charming writer "Nessmuk" is! Bless his 

 facile pen and out-door sympathies and inclinations! He is 

 my beau ideal of a camper, sportsman and gentleman, May 

 he live long and prosper, and never fail to let us hear from 

 him as long as he is able to paddle his canoe, fry bass, and 

 smoke in rapt contemplation on a log. B. 



SOME REMARKABLE SHOTS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The shot fired at Lexington and heard around the world 

 was the report of a potato popgun in comparison with some 

 you have cheeked the public with in your collection now be- 

 ing aired through the columns of the Forest and Stream. 

 "The woods are full of them," but all do not come out. 



Did 1 ever tell you about "a remarkable shot" I once saw 

 made upon the stage of the Boston Theater? The Ravels 

 were playing one of their pantomimes, and in the piece the 

 clown comes upon a scene set in the fourth grooves, taking 

 up a large portion of the stage. This scene represented a 

 street or square with many gabled houses around three sides. 

 Upon a high gable in the center through the dim light could 

 be seen a cat. The clown had a gun in his hands, and spy- 

 ing the cat took good aim and fired. The result was a sur- 

 prise both to him aud to the audience, for such a shower of 

 cats responded to that shot as to be perfectly wonderful. 

 They fell from all parts of the flies absolutely by the dozens, 

 first augmenting in" numbers with every moment until there 

 were several hundreds upou the stage, completely covering 

 it. The poor clown stood for a few moments in perfect sur- 

 prise, and finally took to his heels for safety. These cats 

 were of all colors, Maltese, black and white, all white, all 

 black, tabby, gray, gray and white, and so on through the 

 full gamut of possibilities in cat skin, and were skins stuffed. 

 I laugh even now when I think of it. 



One time we were on Montauk shooting woodcock. There 

 was a gully with some fair-sized trees upon each side grow- 

 ing down part way, and the rest filled in with dense bull 

 briers and bushes so thick no human being could penetrate 

 it; toward the lower end a path had been cut for carts and 

 a sort of road established. Our party separated, a portion 

 going each side; and sending the dogs in we were prepared 

 to take the birds as they were flushed and flew out. One of 

 the party was an Englishman, and we had stuffed him quite 

 a good lot during the day, as he was one of the kind who 

 was seeking information, and all of our ways were so very 

 odd to him, "you know." John Hull, the sportsman land- 

 lord of the Atlantic House, Bridgehampton, had poured into 

 his ears the most outrageous lies all day, and the poor fellow 

 had taken all as gospel. It happened that John, the Eng- 

 lishman and myself were together upon one side of this 

 gully, and had arrived opposite the road or path before men- 

 tioned, when ' 'Mark !" was shouted, when Hull threw up his 

 gun and fired across through the opening at a woodcock 

 coming directly toward us. The bird was killed, but such 

 was his momentum that Hull as he dropped the muzzle of 

 his gun held out his left hand and caught the bird as cleverly 

 as one could have caught a ball with preparation to do so. 

 The Englishman opened his eyes, and Hull coolly remarked, 

 "I always like to retrieve my birds that way, for I don't like 

 to have the dogs tumble their feathers." Johnny Bull said, 

 "Do you do that thing often, you know?" "Yes," replied 

 Hull, "we don't consider it much of a feat— when you know 

 how." Reignolds. 



Boston, Mass. 



Editor Forest and Stream,: 



The effect ef encouraging hunters to tell of their remark- 

 able shots is undoubtedly to cultivate an army of liars. 

 Either Munchausen did not die, as is commonly reported, 

 or he has left some very near of kin who emulate their re- 

 nowned ancestor. 



I should think that "J. C. B.," in your issue of Jan. 8, 

 could claim blood relationship with the old Barou, for he 

 just as coolly tells his remarkable shots and just as much ex- 

 pects us to believe them, too, as that truly magnificent liar, 

 the venerable Munchausen. 



"J. C. B." does not quite reach the sublimity of lying the 

 old Baron did, for he had reduced it to a science. As, for 

 instance, see how fruitful of expedients, when upon seeing a 

 pond full of ducks he ran toward them with his big gun; 

 but finding that the flint had been lost from the lock, he 

 leveled the musket at the fowls and struck his eye with his 

 fist, producing such a shower of sparks as fired olf the piece 

 and killed fifty brace of ducks, twenty widgeons and three 

 couple of teal. 



There is nothing like being exact. Let "J. C. B. and 

 others read Munchausen and learn his style. H. B. S. 



Marietta, O. , 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Yours inclosing remarks on remarkable shots, by ' H. fc$. 

 S.," received. I think he does us remarkable shooters, and 

 especially the undersigned, much injustice. In the few items 

 I gave I was very careful to state the inelastic facts. In 

 truth I cramped myself somewhat, so that I feared the little 

 narratives would seem stiff and heavy. I retained other 

 items, and have them in my mental system yet, simply 

 because of this danger of encountering factious skeptics. 

 There are people who haven't been abroad with a gun, who 

 don't know the luxury of occasional good luck and jolly 

 recompenses in the way of unexpected pot shots, to mitigate 

 the asperities of manv misses and surprising disappoint- 

 ments. Some of these remarkable shots are of excellent 

 pattern and penetration, and I for one have been very much 

 interested in examining them, noting the good hits, and see- 

 ing what a large proportion was well calculated to _ make 

 game of odd experiences, and contribute to amelioration of 

 mankind. 



I once shot at a sketch of a black-tailed deer, made by an 

 artistic Indian on the side of a rock, and wondered it didn t 

 fall ; I have shot at a moss-covered bump on a log, and scat- 



THE BORE OF GUNS. 



Editor Fmest and Stream: 



Without pretending to "know all about it," I will give my 

 deductions from a very extensive experience with small- 

 bores, and a rather limited one with medium and large cali- 

 bers. The first small-bore I ever owned was a 20-bore, 30 

 inch barrels, weight 8 pounds 7 ounces. Why the maker 

 put so much metal in it I never could conjecture. I used 

 this gun a good deal on ruffed grouse and pigeons, and now 

 and then on ducks, generally shooting heavy charges. Some- 

 times I would kill a duck at 50 or 60 yards, but more often 1 

 would fire both barrels at from 30 to 40 yards and get never 

 a feather. My next purchase was a 16-bore 6|-pound single, 

 with 34-iuch barrel. It was made for a celebrated railway 

 contractor, and his sons sold it to me when they were about 

 to follow him to Texas, whither he had "skipped." This 

 was the most deadly small-bore I ever used, and with it I 

 made all my heaviest scores on ruffed grouse. Anything it 

 hit at from 25 to 35 yards was cleanly killed, beyond that 

 range I seldom used 'it. In course of time this gun had to 

 step aside for the breechloader, and I resolved to get a heavy 

 one. 



The glib-tongued clerk at the gun store where I dealt, as- 

 sured me that the little 6^-pound double 14-bore, lo which 

 I took such a fancy, was heavy enough, and I bought it, 

 though I had probably done more shooting in a week than 

 he had in his entire life, and should have known exactly 

 what I wanted. A man is usually ready to take advice, if 

 it is the kind he wants, no matter how poor the quality. 

 This gun fitted me and would make a target equal to the 

 last 16-bore, save, perhaps, the smallest trifle in penetration, 

 but never could equal the performances of its predecessor on 

 game. The last two months of the season of 1879 I shot a 

 double 20-bore, 26-inch barrels; it was good, considering its 

 size, but I voted it a nuisance on ruffed grouse. For tiuee 

 or four years I used on ducks a heavy single-barreled, 

 muzzleloading, 11-gauge, weight about 11 pouuds (estimated). 

 Some idea of its length of barrel may be gleaned from the 

 facts that I am over six feet high, and when the butt of that 

 gun rests on the ground the muzzle is on a level with my 

 chin. That is the deadliest gun 1 ever handled, and it is 

 probably at this very moment doing its work among the 

 geese less than ten miles from where I write. I tried to buy 

 it but failed, though, strange to say, other hands than its 

 owner's usually do the shooting with it. When my guns all 

 "went up" in a holocaust, August, 1880, 1 resolved to buy, 

 as a "make-shift," a heavy 10-bore single breechloader, 

 but in the end I yielded to a "sneaking desire" for a light 

 gun, and bought* a 6 1 pound 12-bore. 



I know, Mr. Editor, that you newspaper men do not care 

 to have the work of makers who are considered respectable 

 run down, or spoken lightly of in your columns; hut 1 can- 

 not refrain from saying, and 1 wish it to go ou record, that 

 aside from the Remington, which has a good, safe action, 

 and the American Arms Company's semi-batnmer, which I 

 have not examined, I do not know of a single-barreled 

 breechloader manufactured in America that I would take as 

 a gift. It is a pity to waste good barrels on such flimsy 

 actions as some of them have. Mine is now unsafe, as are 

 also two others (of other manut'actuiers) that are in use in 

 this neighborhood; but it will outshoot any of the small 

 bores mentioned above. The man with whom 1 board here 

 has a 7-pound 16-bore muzzleloader, which he deemed in- 

 vincible. Last Tuesday, during a discussion before a num- 

 ber of witnesses on rifle-shooting, "breech vs. muzzle," 1 

 offered to shoot with a breechloader against him tor §10 a 

 side. He wouldn't do that, but he would shoot me a match 

 with the shotguns, distance 43 yards, BB shot. 1 accepted, 

 and he put 8 shot in the target aud I 32— penetration a little 

 in my favor. He'll not shoot against any more shaky breech 

 loaders this week. 



To sum up, I always shot better with single guns than 

 with double, with long barrels than with short, and all other 

 things being equal, with the larger gauges tban with the 

 smaller. A small-bore may be all very well for a man who 

 shoots nothing but quail and snipe, or is able to own two or 

 three guns, but I believe there is no work that a 16 will do 

 that a 12 will not do better, and the latter gun is made as 

 light as seven pounds, which is a weight that most any one 

 can handle and carry with ease. As for the difference in 

 cost of ammunition, I am poor enough, but I consider it to 

 be too slight to be regarded, and by the time you fire two 16s 

 to do the*work of one 12, the balance is in favor of the latter. 

 My main objection to small-bores is the number of cripples 

 they make. To any one wanting an all-round gun for duck, 

 grouse, snipe, etc., I would say get nothing smaller than a 

 12, and get a 10 if you can handle it. You will find plenty 

 who will tell you that a 16 will shoot as hard as a 10, but a 

 challenge published last spring failed to bring out one of 

 those wonderful 16s. When I place an order for a new gun, 

 as I hope to do before many months, it will not be a small- 

 bore, and I have not come to that conclusion hastily, for in 

 addition to the guns mentioned above, 1 have shot two more 

 14s and one 18, but they call for no special notice. 



Queens County, N. B. 



L. 1. Flowek. 



Uncle Lisha's Shop.— Editor Forest and Stream: There 

 was a fluttering iu my throat and more than a suspicion of 

 moisture of the eyelids when I reached the conclusion of 

 "Uncle Lisha's Shop." Perhaps one needs, like me, to be 

 reared in a backwoods settlement to fully enjoy the beauties 

 and merit of those chapters. As far back as 1 remember I 

 longed for stormy days and winter evenings that I might 

 make one of the charmed circle at the village shoemakers. 

 What happiness I have enjoyed as man and boy in that old 

 shop. Happy days were those, and I lived them over again 

 in "Uncle Lisha's Shop." Alas, that they are concluded. I 

 have looked forward tor their coming from week to week 

 till it seemed they were a part of my life and being. Dear 

 Uncle Lisha. how much he will be missed.— Maklin. 



