Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. ) 



Six Months, $2? j 



NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 17, 1885. 



j VOL. XXV.— No. 8. 



) Nos. .39 & 40 Pabk Row, New York. 



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Foreiit and Stream Pnbllsblng Co. 

 Nos. 39 AND 40 Pabk Bow. New York City. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 

 A Call for Massachusetts Volun- 

 teers. 



The St. Louis Convention. 



The President and the Hounds. 



Our Rifle Trial. 



In A. D. 1950. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Among the Waterfowl in Du- 

 rango. 

 Natural History. 



Natural Eistory of the White 

 Pine. 



Game Bag and Gun. 



On the Platte.— I. 



The Hunting Ride Test. 



The St. Louis Convention. 



A Veracious Relation. 



Iowa Prairie Chickens. 



The Choice of biuns.— V. 



Dakota Pleld Days. 



Southern Shooting Grounds. 



Deer in the Adirondacks. 



To Make the Grouse Lie. 



The Game of Ventura. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



Spanish Mackerel. 



Sea and River Fishing. 

 How I Lost a Big Fish. 

 Catfish Take the Fly. 



FiSHOULTUBB. 



The Chief Characteristics of 

 North American Fish Fauna. 

 The Kennel. 



Judges and Reporters. 



Dew Claws on St. Bernards. 



The Attleboro Dog Show. 



Kennel Management. 



Kennel Notes. 

 Betle and Trap Shootl'ing. 



The Trajectory Test. 



Muzzieloaders to the Front. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Trap. 



National Gun Association. 

 Canoeing. 



A Cauoe Cruise Without a Carry 



Bayonne C. C, Sept. 5. 



Sailing Canoes. 

 Yachting. 



The Great Races. 



The Representative American 

 Sloop. 



Answers to Correspondents. 



OUR RIFLE TRIAL. 



THE preparations for the trajectory test which has been 

 uudertalien by the Forest and Stream on behalf of 

 those wlio own and use hunting rifles have been about com- 

 pleted, and immediately following the close of the Creed- 

 moor fall meeting we hope to have such weather as will be 

 favorable to the open air shooting. A secure iron rest, capa- 

 ble of fine adjustment, and with spring buffers to take up 

 the recoil and render it uniform at each shot, has been secured 

 and will insure a perfectly accurate and fair trial for each 

 weapon used. 



In answer to a demand from many quarters for a trial of 

 the smaller caliber rifles now so popular, we have concluded 

 to build a platform at the 100-yard point in addition to that at 

 the 200-yard point for the main trial. The screens for the 

 longer distance will be set at 150, 100 and 50 yards from the 

 target, while for the 100-yard range similar screens will be 

 provided at 75, 50 and 25 yards. In this way we will get exact 

 data of the curves made by the moving bullet . As far as 

 possible full details will be given concerning each rifle used. 



The manufacturers are responding very generally to our 

 invitations to provide rifles, taken from the regular stock on 

 hand, for the purposes of the trial. It was our wish to get 

 such weapons as an. ordinary customer writing an order from 

 ■ an interior point to one of the companies would get in return 

 for his money and patronage. Then as to ammunition, the 

 endeavor will be to have such as an order to one of the 

 cartridge companies would provide. Such a test witli such 

 a combination of arm and charge is the one which will in- 

 terest the mass of sportsmen, and such we wish to have. Of 

 course each marksman of experience will have his own ideas 

 as to loading and will carry them out, often with marked 

 advantage over the ordinary factory loading. 



The trials will be conducted under the care of one of the 

 best known experts in matters of this kind. When the final 

 report is presented in our columns within the next few 

 weeks we hope to make it so full and satisfactory as to put 

 an end to much of the speculation now passing for fact. 



It is probable that the trials will begin on Thursday or 

 Friday of next week, the date depending upon the progress 

 of the Creedmoor meeting. They will be held on the Creed- 

 moor range, which is reached by the Long Island Railroad 



(Queens station). All persons interested are cordially in- 

 vited to be present. Exact information on all points will be 

 given in our ne xt issue. 



THE PRESIDENT AND THE HOUNDS. 

 FN the New York World of Aug. 26 appeared an account 

 of a reporter's unwarranted invasion of President Cleve- 

 land's camp in tlie Adirondacks. In the course of the ac- 

 count the statement was made : 



"While we were eating breakfast the distant baying of a 

 deerhound was heard. The President, Mr. Ward, Mr. Bacon, 

 and three of the guides went down to the pond and stationed 

 themselves at various points to wait for the deer that the 

 excited baying of the hound showed to have been started. 

 They saw never a deer, however." 



Commenting on this, we expressed the opinion that the 

 statement that the President's party employed hounds for 

 hunting deer was not sustained by the facts of the case. The 

 story might well enough have been permitted to drop then 

 and there as a reporter's yarn, had it not transpired that the 

 report was eagerly seized upon by Adirondack visitors of 

 lax morality as an excuse and defense for their own mis- 

 demeanors. The story was industriously circulated from 

 one end of the North Woods to the other that the President 

 of the United States had openly defied the law of the land, 

 and had shown his contempt for the deer hounding statute 

 by himself employing hounds at his camp. It would be 

 hard to conceive a more utterly ridiculous canard than this, 

 but the fact is that the story did have credence in the woods, 

 and for that matter out of the woods too. 



Upon the return to Albany of Dr. S. B. Ward, the Presi- 

 dent's companion in the Adirondacks, we addressed him a 

 note asking his authority to contradict the report that Mr. 

 Cleveland had employed deer hounds. In reply we have 

 received the following note, dated September 13: 



'T have to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 10th iust., and 

 while it seems rather absurd to be called upon to reply to newspaper 

 gossip, I have to say, in answer to your inquiry, that during the past 

 month no dogs were put out after deer by tlie direction of either the 

 President or myself . Very truly yours, Sam'l B. Ward." 



So much for the silly stoiy that the President of the 

 United States so far forgot his position as to break the game 

 laws of New York. 



THE ST. LOUIS CONVENTION. 



IF THE actual attendance of sportsmen at the St. Louis 

 convention, Sept. 29, proves to be as large as the re- 

 sponses already received lead the promoters to anticipate, 

 there will be a large gathering, representing many of the 

 States, The St. Louis clubs, whose members number a 

 strong one thousand, are making arrangements for the enter- 

 tainment of their visitors, who are invited to have their guns 

 on hand for sweepstake trap-shooting. There is no question 

 that the sportsmen who visit St. Louis and accept the hospi- 

 talities proffered them there, will have a most enjoyable 

 time, and one to which they are now justified in looking 

 forward with pleasant anticipation, and to which they will 

 look back with equal pleasure. The convention will un- 

 questionably be useful in that it will bring together the 

 sportsmen of different sections and make them acquainted 

 with one another. 



The committee in charge of the affair express themselves 

 as hopeful of more tangible results than this. They are of 

 the opinion that the meeting will have an influence on future 

 gaaie legislation ; that it will lead to the accomplishment of 

 more uniformity in the game laws of the different States; that 

 it will render assistance to the execution of the local laws in 

 the different States; that it will lead to the regulation of 

 marketing game, that it will in some measure remove the 

 causes of conflict between sportsmen and game dealers, and 

 that it will foster and increase the supply of game and fish. 

 All these are results, of very great importance, and if the 

 convention, or the national association which is to be 

 established, shall succeed in attaining them, future genera- 

 tions of sportsmen will rise up to call it blessed. 



There arCj^ however, many obstacles in the way of attain- 

 ing immediate benefit from the St. Louis movement, and it 

 will not be wise to anticipate too much from it. The actual 

 change in game laws, when such changes are desirable, 

 must after all be undertaken and carried through by hard 

 work in each particular State, and it is not quite clear in 

 what manner the national association can be of any use in 

 such work, beyond, perhaps, by its annual conventions 

 stimulating the interest and determination of State delegates. 



A CALL FOR MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. 



IF peace, as well as war, has its victories, they surely are 

 not won without fighting. There is a very momentous 

 conflict to be waged, and a most important victory to be 

 gained in Massachusetts, and the leaders who are now plan 

 ning the coming campaign are calling for Massachusetts 

 volunteers to come to their aid, and by united effort carry 

 the day. 



It is the old, old struggle of game protection against law- 

 lessness and greed. The Massachusetts Fish and Game Pro- 

 tective Association is not discouraged by its defeat of last 

 winter. The officers are maturing their programme for 

 another endeavor to amend the laws. They ask for the co- 

 operation of game clubs and individuals in every part of the 

 State. All persons interested are xirged to send their names 

 to the secretary of the society, Henry J. Thayer, Esq., No. 

 246 Washington street, Boston, Mass. We hope the response 

 will be general. Individual effort exerted at random may 

 not accomplish anything, but the united efforts of the Asso- 

 ciation and its individual allies ought to be powerful enough 

 to secure all the legislation needed. 



The "Kingfishers."— Last week we said that "King- 

 fisher" had returned from his "annual fish." Next week we 

 shall have something about "Kingfishers" and jailbirds. 



The American Kennel Club.— There is to be a meeting 

 of the American Kennel Club at Pittsburgh on Tuesday, 

 Sept. 29. It is of the greatest importance that every mem- 

 ber of the association be personally represented. This 

 meeting will be the turning point in the existence of the club 

 and it is to be hoped that every effort will be made to direct 

 its action then taken, so that no question can arise as to the 

 fitness of the association to take charge of the kennel inter- 

 ests of the country. No narrow-minded sectional nor weak- 

 kneed policy will be tolerated, only a broadly national and 

 thoroughly upright course can succeed in winning the con- 

 fidence and support of the public, without which the asso- 

 ciation must go to the wall. There is pressing need of an 

 organization to preside over the canine interests of the 

 country, and we urgently press upon every one entitled to 

 a voice in the matter the vital importance of attending the 

 meeting at Pittsburgh and using his influence to place the 

 American Kennel Club in a position worthy its name and 

 mission. 



Mr. H. R. French, president of the game dealers' society 

 in this city which bears the misleading and deceptive title of 

 the "National Game Preserving Company," their only pre- 

 serving being in refrigerators and cold-storage houses, has 

 written to the St. Louis convention committee that his 

 society will be represented there if the sportsmen of the 

 West have become convinced of the injustic of the present 

 laws regulating the sale of game and are now ready to modify 

 these laws for the benefit of the dealers. We beg to assure Mr. 

 French that the sportsmen of the West have become convinced 

 of no such thing, and contemplate no change in the law to 

 facilitate the shipment of their game to his cold storage 

 warehouses. What the sportsmen of the West ask for are 

 more stringent regulations to control the shipment of game 

 to the great Eastern markets. 



The Adirondack Forestry Commissioners just ap- 

 jDointed have been put into place none too soon. The sum- 

 mer has been frittered away without anything being accom- 

 plished in the actual work of Adirondack forestrj^ reform. 

 Now that the commission is finally appointed, the public 

 will expect to see progress, and progTess unhampered by the 

 curse of political shackles. The commonwealth cannot 

 afford to sacrifice its forests to politicians' aspirations. 



To Jom THE Wild Pigeon. — The St. Louis and Indian- 

 apolis trap-shooters are engaged in a laudable endeavor to 

 prove the adaptation of the English sparrow to trap-shooting 

 If they succeed, the English sparrow nuisance problem will 

 be solved, the trap-shooting citizen will pose as a patriot, 

 and the imported feathered vermin will go to the bourne 

 whence the wild pigeon has not returned. 



It is Easier to help form a national sportsmen's associa- 

 tion than it is to enforce the local game laws in one's own 

 town and county. If the delegates who are going to St. 

 Louis to attend the convention are bound thither with the 

 hope of finding there some hitherto unknown mode of enforc- 

 ing local game regulations, they are greatly mistaken. 



A New England Farm Record. — The Termont farm, 

 on which is the plot of land described by Mr. B. Hosford, 

 in another column, has been in the uninterrupted possession 

 of the family of that name for six generations. This is a 

 noteworthy record for a New England homestead. 



