Oct. 1, 1885.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



18B 



into the school fand, the remainlag half shall be paid to the 

 iiifomiei'. Any further the gun or guns, hoat or l)ont.s, aini 

 decoys of auy such person guilty of such offense h1i;iI1 be 

 forfeited to the Slate." Cbaptof :!92, approved April 11, 

 1885, piibJislicd April 17, 1885 repeals the private and local 

 laws of 187G and 1877 applying to Lake Kosbkonoug as fol- 

 lows : "Chapter 92 ol the private and local laws of 1876 entitled 

 'an act for tlie preserviitioa of duclfs and other wildfowl;' 

 and Chapter 97 of the laws of 1877, entitled 'an act to amend 

 Section 1, Chapter 93 of the laws of 187fi, entitled an ;ict 

 for the preservation of ducks and other wildfowl, are hereby 

 repealed." This makes Section 4565 as first above quoted 

 the present law on Lake ICoshkonong. Chapter 414, approved 

 April 11, 1885, and published xlpril 16, 1885, prohibits fish- 

 ing witli nets or seines of any kind as follows: "Section 1. 

 It shall be unlawful for any person to take any fish, suckers, 

 minnows and whitelish, excepting in tlie inland lakes or 

 streams of this State by the use of any net or seine of n,ny kind 

 except as now provided by la\A' for the Fish Commisfiioner 

 of the State. Seclion 3. Any person violating the provisions 

 of Section 1 shall be deemed' guilty of a misdemeanor, and 

 upon the conviction thereof shall be fined ten dollars for 

 eacli and every offense, or by imprisonment in the county 

 jail for a term not exceeding thirty days, or by both such 

 line and imprisonment. Section 3. The' provisions of this 

 act, so far as they permit the catching of suckers, white- 

 fish or minnows, shall not apply to Lake Koshkonong orauy 

 of tlie tributary walers thereof within five miles of said lake. 

 Section 4, All acts or parts of acts interfering with the pro- 

 visions of this act are hereby repealed." 



G. "W". ESTERLY. 



Whitewater, Wis. 



"BOB WHITE" AND "PARTRIDGE." 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



]Vly friend "Wells" has gotten me into a controversy with 

 "S." on the subject of quail, partridge, Bob White, etc., and 

 has iugloriously retired and left me to fight it out. He ought 

 to come forward and claim paternity of his own offspring, 

 and defend its cognomen. But if I must battle alone in this 

 cause, here goes. 



About a dozen years ago some one signing himself "Bob 

 White" wrote an article in one of the literary magazines, I 

 have forgotten which one, suggesting and advocating the 

 name of Bob White for our partridge. That has been a 

 common nickname or pet name for this bird in the South 

 ever since 1 was old enough to carry game for my older 

 brother. I don't know how much longer. It arose "from a 

 fancied resemblance of the cock's call note in the mating 

 season to that combination of syllables. The name "par- 

 tridge" as the proper designation of the bii'd, has always 

 prevailed all over the South as far as my knowledge of the 

 subject extends, and I never heard the term "quail" apphed 

 to ii until after tiie war, when a large influx of Northern 

 sportsmen brought the name with them. Some Southern 

 sportsmen, rather of the "dude" order, have come to affect 

 that name, but it is generally regarded as an innovation. So 

 much for facts. Now for argument. I have not a copy of 

 Audubon by me, but if my recollection serves, he distinctly 

 dissociatesjt from the quad family and allies it with that of 

 the partri%e. In the North, there are several varieties of 

 game birds, having, as I understand, the general characteris- 

 tics of the partridge, but each having its own specific designa- 

 tion, among which the partridge proper is the least promi- 

 nent of aU. In the South the partridge is by far the most 

 jjromineut and widely prevailing game bird w'e have. Indeed, 

 with^ the exception of a few prairie chickens, in limited 

 localities, he may be said to be the only resident game liird 

 we have, aside from wild turkeys and woodducks, for we 

 do not call doves game birds. Now, considering the 

 premises, that he is about the only native game bird we' have, 

 and he is far more numerous in the South than in any other 

 part of the world, as he whistles "Bob White" on every 

 worm fence from Maryland to Texas, I humbly submit that 

 we ought not to be deprived of our long-establ'ished, heredi- 

 tary right to caU him "partridge," as did our fathers and 

 fore-fathers. 



Now, Mr. "Wells," it is your turn. Coahoma. 

 IVlEMPias, Tenn., Sept. ai. 



DAYS WITH THE SQUIRRELS. 



I.— IN AN ARKANSAS SW^AMP. 



ON Aug. 30 I was invited by members of the Blackflsh 

 Hunting and Trolhng Club, of Memphis, to join them 

 in a squiiTel hunt at their club grounds on Blackfish Lake, 

 in Arkansas. This lake lies three or lour miles north of the 

 Memphis & Little Rock Railroad, and about parallel with 

 it, the middle point, where the club house is situated, being 

 opposite the twenty-five-mile post west from Memphis. The 

 lake is eight miles 'long by three hundred yards wide. Shell 

 Lake, another fine body of water, lies three miles southwest 

 of the club house, to its nearest point. Blackfish has high, 

 steep banks, and deep water, is evidently a former river 

 channel. The banks ai'c high for the swamp, and clothed 

 with hea^ry timber, hickory, white oak, etc. and cane. Black 

 bass and white perch fishing is very fine in season, but they 

 were not then biting. 1 partook of a bass from this water 

 last spring, which weighed six pounds two ounces, taken 

 with a spoon troll. The country in the vicinity for many 

 miles is an unbroken forest, teeming with many varieties of 

 game, from squirrels to black bear, and late in the fall and 

 through the winter there are ducks innumerable. Oiu- party 

 was hunting squirrels, no other game being there in season, 

 though young turkeys ai'e very numerous. 



We left Memphis, four of us, by the 4:40 A. M. train, 

 cro.ssed the Mississippi on the railroad transfer boat and at 

 6:;J0 were deposited in the woods at the twenty-five-mile 

 post. There were half a dozen other members of the club 

 on the train in another party. We soon heard the voice of 

 the Swamp Angel, otherwise Martin Mitchell, coming with 

 agon and team to convey us to the club house. 

 The Swamp Ange! deserves a passing notice, as he is a 

 local celebrity, and has figured extensively in the Memphis 

 newspapers. He has had several deadly feuds with other 

 swampers, is reputed to have killed a man or two, and has 

 still on hand a feud or two with certain other * 'angels" in the 

 remote swamps. He is in charge of the clubhouse and prop- 

 erty arid entertains uieml)ers at one dollar per day for board 

 and attendance. It was stated iu one of the dailies a short 

 time ago that certain timid members of the club were afraidi 

 to venture into these woods for fear they might get into a 

 cross fire betweeri the Angel and his assailants. It was ac- 

 companied by an assurance from him that they might come 

 without mnning into any danger. The said Angel has also 

 the reputation of highly coloring his recitals of Ms own ex- 



ploits and hairbreadth escapes. I was curious to make hia 

 acquaintance. I found him to be accommodating and rather 

 good-natured, nmch given to talk, and he was a butt for 

 the jokes of ( he party, notwithstanding the ferocious nature 

 of his talking. I concluded that the talcs of his bloody 

 career were much exaggerated, though he has had several 

 shooting scrapes. 



We mounted the wagon, ten of us, the Angel driving the 

 two handsome gray mules, property of the cmb. While on 

 the road the Angel told us that the second night previous a 

 bear had come to the house and captured a 350-pound hog 

 from under the building. He ran out when the uproar oc- 

 curred, and tried to shoot the bear, a very large one, hut had 

 a shell caught in his gun in .such a way that he could not 

 use it. The bear carried away the hog, holding it clear of 

 the ground. 'Vha next day he found what remained of the 

 hog three miles olL He built a pen trap and placed the re- 

 maining portion of the hog in it, and expected to trap the 

 bear. This story was received with incredulity by the party, 

 but three days after he brought to town an enormous bear's 

 paw. quite fresh, also three wild turkeys. His story is that 

 the bear came back and caught another hog, thai he crippled 

 it badly with an axe, and it crawled a short distance into the 

 corn, where he found it and shot it next morning. The black 

 bear of the South has none of the pugnacity of his Northern 

 brother, hut is always disposed to run away from man rather 

 than fight. 



When we arrived at the club houses, there being two sub- 

 stantial and comfortable buildings, built high up from the 

 ground for high water, we found that the Angel had a family 

 —which I had not suspected — a comely dame and three 

 little Angels, pretty children with bright eyes and yellow 

 curls. The madam soon served up a sav'ory and substantial 

 breakfast, and afterward we sallied forth "for the squirrels. 

 Captain De Garis, Nick Maletesta's "cub" (a young cadet on 

 vacation), and the writer, constituted our party, the genial 

 "Old Nick" himself concluding to troll for ba.ss. 



The extreme dryness of the swamp at this season concen- 

 trates most of the .squirrels along near the lake, where the 

 cane is very thick and the only available hunting ground is 

 in a wood road running along the lake bank, andean occa- 

 sional dry bayou channel. So the hunters extended their 

 wanderings for several miles. We had lost the best part of 

 the morning, it being now between 8 and 9 o'clock. It was 

 very warm, and the squirrels were not at all active. A good 

 many were feeding, however, rather quietly, in the thick 

 white oak and tupelo gum trees. I having separated from 

 the others, was alone all day and suffered niuch from thirst, 

 for these swamps, which have such a vast superabundance 

 of water during the flood season, are extremely dry at the 

 low water period. In fact, a hard rain will leave no visible 

 traces after an hour or two, the water is .so rapidly absorbed. 

 The only water which was accessible was in the lake, and 

 that being filled with green vegetable matter is utterly unfit 

 to drink. I am told that Shell Lake is clear and wholesome 

 at all sea.sons. The inhabitants of the alluvial country rely 

 mainly for drinking water on "drove wells," which consist 

 of an inch and a half pipe driven from twenty to sixty feet 

 into the ground. These afford an abundant supply of water, 

 which, however, is net very palatable to those unaccustomed 

 to it. 



About 4 P. M., when I expected to have had my best 

 shooting, a high wind arose and spoiled all further sport. 

 This, combined with thirst and fatigue, drove me back to 

 the club house, some two miles off. Arriving there I got 

 hold of a two gallon demijohn of good Catawba wine, which 

 the sumptuous Nick had provided. This, in conjunction 

 with crushed ice, I found to be about the most palatable 

 allayer of thirst that could be imagined, and my parched 

 mouth and throat and empty stomach received something 

 like a quart of it with great unction. 



De Garis and the "cub" had preceded me to the house. 

 De Garis had kiiled eleven squirrels and the "cub" five I 

 had bagged an even dozen. This was considered very poor 

 sport, though the half dozen other hunters had averaged 

 about ten each, with a leading score of fourteen, making a 

 total for the day of about ninety. Three men came in from 

 that locality a few days after with sixty-seven squirrels and 

 four turkeys. Later in the season, when the leaves have 

 fallen and the air is frosty, the hunting there will be very 

 fine. There is equally good and accessible ground on the 

 Kansas City road, running northwest, and the Mississippi 

 Valley road, running south. There are club grounds estab- 

 lished on each of these roads, all easily and quickly reached 

 from Memphis. 



After a good rest and a much-relished supper the Angel 

 got out his gray mules and wagon, and we embarked for the 

 railroad to catch the 8:20 train. The swamp was enveloped 

 in Egyptian darkness, and the road narrow, tortuous and 

 full of stumps and large roots, but between the sharp eyes 

 of the Angel and the sagacity of the gray mules, we reached 

 the railroad without accident a few minutes ahead of the 

 train, which, having flagged down, we all boarded; and at 

 10 o'clock again we landed in Memphis. The next morning 

 1 went to my place of business with feet and muscles a little 

 sore from previous confinement to office duties during most 

 of the summer, but much invigorated both in mind and body 

 by the day's outing. 



Memphis sportsmen enjoy extraordinary facilities for both 

 hunting and fishing, with excellent grounds m easy reach by 

 several raihoads running westward and southward, while all 

 ihe ea.stern roads give access to the best kind of partridge 

 grounds. The railroads are very liberal to sportsmen, giving 

 return tickets at two cents per mile for the round trip, that 

 is, one dollar for twenty-five miles and return. One may 

 enjoy a good day's sport with but httle cost or trouble, leav- 

 ing town early in the morning and returning by bed time. 



Since writing the above I am informed that the Swamp 

 Angel, who built the club houses on Blackfish Lake, and 

 has not been settled with to his satisfaction by the club, has 

 elevated the "black flag," has overturned the principal build- 

 ing into the lake, and threatens a hot time to any members 

 of the club who present themselves in that vicinity. It is 

 diflicult for me to take in this startling news, since it was 

 exactly a week ago that I was over there, and the Angel was 

 then the very pink of courtesy. I am inclined to believe 

 there is much bluster and exaggeration about it. 



I wrote the foregoing ten days ago, since which date I 

 have been constantly riding through the counties of Desoto, 

 Tunica and Coahoma, in Mis,sissippi, along the river of that 

 name. Squirrels abound in extraordinary numbers all over 

 the country; all the swamps are alive with them. I found 

 the luxury of young squirrels on almost every table through- 

 out my journey, 



I have just read witb interest the contribution by "Iron 

 Ramrod," in your last issue. He contrasts the antiquated 

 muzzleloader rifle with the breechloader in squirrel shooting, 



and certainly strikes a responsive chord, 4o to speak, in my 

 own bosom. I have never been able to kill small game with 

 any facility with the magazine rifle, though in years gone 

 by, with the muzzlcloading, hair-trigger rifle, I could gener- 

 ally hit a squirrel's head. 



While in the SAvamp a few days ago, I took a magazine 

 rifle into the woods, Squirrels were plenty enough, but the 

 woods were rather dark, and whenever I raised the gun to 

 shoot a squirrel I had great difliculty in findiu"- the' sights 

 and getting them into line. When this part of the process 

 was accomplished I generally found that the squinel had 

 changed his position, or did so while I was endeavcnlng to 

 assign him to his proper position in these arranooments. 1 

 did succeed in killing one in four or five shots, and T tliink 

 the squirrel and myself were equally astonished. I was dis- 

 posed to attribute the difficulty to my failing powers of 

 vision, but perhaps the trouble was iu the rifle's sight instead 

 of my own. There is certainly an existing want of some 

 modern rifle suitable for squirrel shooting. It is absurd to 

 use a gun capable of kilUng a deer five hundred yards off, to 

 shoot a squirrel twenty-five yards. The httle .32 caliber 

 rifles are little better than toys. They soon lead up and then 

 shoot very inaccurately. If facility of loading could be 

 combined with the excellent qualities of the old muzzleloader 

 for small game at short range, the product would be a very 

 valuable weapon. Here is a field for enterprise among gun 

 makers. Coahoma. 

 Mbmphi.'?, Tennessee. 



WHICH IS THE BEST GUN? 



[From an Addendum to Chaptef VII. of "Woodcraft."] 

 T\7HICH is the best gun, i. e., the most murderous? Be- 



T y cause in the present rapid increase of game birds 

 and wOd animals, and especially the larger and more dan- 

 gerous varieties, it is of the highest importance that every 

 sportsman who goes to the woods for a few days' rest and 

 sport should be armed with the most destructive weapon 

 that modern skill could devise. Wherefore we encumber 

 ourselves with magazine rifles and 8-bore shotguns, with a 

 backload of cartridges which we mostly bring back to camp 

 at night; and we tramp around with loads that are mainly 

 useless and always unpleasant, because we wished to be 

 heeled for an emergency, w^hich very seldom or never comes. 



Which is the best weapon— the best gun? The answer to 

 that conundrum is very simple. There is no best sun, 

 2)6r se. 



To quote from myself in Forest and Stream, Nov. 27, 

 1884: "The best gun for chipmunks or red squirrels may 

 be a light 32 calibcr rifle or a .40 cahber fight shotgun. But 

 if I had lost a grizzly and were looking for him I woidd pre- 

 fer a heavy steel- barreled rifle, carrying a long bullet weigh- 

 ing 24 ounces, and nearly cylindrical - say one-eighth of'au 

 inch narrower at the peak than at the butt, and sharplv 

 dished at the peak. Such a bullet is murderous, The gun 

 should be as heavy as I could hold off'-hand, and I would 

 load as heavily with powder as I dared. But such a gun for 

 the quiet camper-out and the average sportsman would 

 simply be ridiculous. As well take out a 4-pound cannon." 



For the professional duck butcher, a far-killing 4-bore 

 Greener may be the best gun, or better still, a swivel gun, 

 shooting a half pound of coarse shot. And for the market 

 hunters and skin butchers (the back of my hand, the sole of 

 my foot, and an old woodsman's bitterest curse rest on the 

 heads of the entire wolfish tribe) a heavy repeater, a business 

 Sharps, or a Hotchkiss may be the "best gun." For a 

 decent white man, a lover of nature, and a fair gentleman 

 sportsman the "mongrel gun," rifle and shot, wilt be found 

 satisfactory, sufficiently deadly, and a pleasant, steady, satis- 

 factory weapon to handle. • Such guns are made at present, 

 breechloaders, of course, but they all have the barrels side 

 by side, and they are all a trifle clumsy, let alone that they 

 all pull much too hard on the trigger for accurate off-hand 

 rifle practice. 



I once had a gun made to order, a short description of 

 which was pubfished in Forest .and Stream, Sept. 35, 

 1884. Iciuote: "My next gun was made as follows: Rifle 

 and shot, barrels lying vertically, locks, 'over and under,' 

 weight 8.1- ix)unds, shot barrel 14-g'auge, rifle 80 round balls 

 to the pound, conical bullet 40 to'the pound. It proved the 

 best all-round hunting gun for sporting and general use I 

 have ever owned. Rather heavy for chipmunks, and not 

 powerful enough for grizzfies. But, as I never hunt either, 

 I managed to keep myself pretty well heeled for anything 

 from a squirrel to a deer. Had the gun not gone up in an 

 unlucky fire, it would probably be my favorite to-day." 



A gentlemanly writer, "J. J. M.," in Forest and Stream 

 demurred to the size of the bullet as too small. I made a 

 brief explanation, as follows: "'J. J. M.' thinks eighty 

 round balls to the pound rather light, and gives reasons 

 therefor. Let me explain. Say the conical bullet is forty 

 to the pound. Now hollow out the top and bore into it with 

 a large brad-awl, making it something like the modern spat- 

 ter ball. That is what 1 did, although I had never heard of 

 spatter or express bullets then. But it was only pleasant 

 pastime to sit in front of a blazing camp-fire during the long- 

 November evenings and carefully fit half a dozen buffet's 

 with dishing tips; and the bullets were most effective. They 

 threw blood freely from the start, and a deer fairly hit with 

 one seldom got away. I used it in Eaton county, Mich., for 

 an entire season as a deer gun, and it was just as effective as 

 a 12-pound steel barrel carrying forty round balls to the 

 pound, which my partner used. Up to the day before 

 Christmas I had killed sixteen deer and the heavy steel bar- 

 rel had scored fifteen. Moreover, my deer were killed clean, 

 and I only lost one wounded deer, 'while my partner lost 

 half a dozen or more with his powerful rifle and large ball. 

 This, however, was rather attributable to our different modes 

 of still-hunting. 



It is seldom that two men go in for a partnership hunt so 

 diametrically opposite iu all their modes of camping and 

 hunting as Ad. Smith and the writer. He was a powerful, 

 active six-footer, weighing in running order 185 pounds. I 

 was five feet Hve inches high, weight at that time 115 pounds. 

 He w^ould start out from camp at dawn at a five-mile gait, 

 and arriving on my favorite ground, would hardly move 

 three miles in an all-day hunt. He was constantly jumping 

 deer at pretty long range, and taking chances on stern shots, 

 by which it happened that he had a good many wounded 

 deer to look after, while I crept about silently, o"i- kept still 

 on the runways, and my shots were nearly all tucked snugly 

 in just abaft the foreleg. He made at least four shots to my 

 one, and he did make some remarkable hits at long range— 

 for the woods, while I refused all stern shots at uncertain 

 range, not caring to liit a deer in the hips and chase it all 

 day, because I could mostly find another deer and a better 

 shot with much less trouble. He worked like a beaver. I 



