OCT. 8, 1885.] 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



205 



Kingbirds and Bees.— Tyrmghain, Mass.— Kingliird 

 have nested witbing twelve rods of TO.y house for the past 

 fifteen years, giving me a good chance to observe their 

 habits. They are the poultry's best friend, not a hawk or 

 crow would Lhey allow to come anywhere near the house, 

 thus saving me dollars in chickens. This is good of the 

 birds so far, but it is said that they are bee eaters. T have 

 also kept bees, and if I could have my way I would have a 

 pair of kingbirds to every swarm of bees. 1 can safely say 

 that no man ever saw a kingbird catoh a honey bee. Betore 

 I knew this I believed, in" common with others, that the 

 bird was a bee destroyer, so sitting on the fence about eight 

 feet from the hive I watched them dive iiitq the midst of the 

 bees, as they came out of the hive. This I saw them do time 

 after time. " Yes, with my own eyes I saw them go catch the 

 bee and swallow it down. It seems to me that one's eye 

 sight ought to be proof. But it is not, although I saw them 

 as I supposed. Tou may well believe I was angiy. The 

 next thing to be done was to get rid of those birds. I went 

 into the house, tixtk down my muzzleloader, and shot three 

 of them. Now for the proof. 1 opened those birds and 

 found not a single honey bee in one of them, but in all three 

 I found plenty of drones. Might not "J. L, D.," of Lock- 

 port, have mistaken a drone for a bumble bee? The drones 

 fly high in the air, while the bumble and honey bee fly near 

 the gi-ound, for there is where their food is.— G. L. Barnes. 



Drumming of the Ruffed GtROUSe.— Decatur, IVtich., 

 Sept. 38.— In answers to correspondents in Forest and 

 Stream for Sept. 3 you say to "Jay Bebe" that the ruffed 

 grouse drums every month 'during the year. I have li ved all 

 niy life in Michigan and where I could hear them drum from 

 one to four at a time, and I never heard one drum between 

 the months of March and October. They begin drumming 

 in April and continue about four or five weeks, and then 

 nothing more is heard from them nntil some time in Octo- 

 ber. This second period lasts about the same length of 

 time as that in the spring. I have known of them using one 

 log, in a wood of twelve acres, for years ; and never heard 

 one drum on any other log in liiese woods. They have 

 their particular logs to drum on and never choose any two 

 VQcy close to one another. — John SMrTBC. 



PtnaPLE GR.ACKT.E Near PhujAdelphia. — Manayunk, 

 Phila., Oct. 1. — Ediior Forest and Stream: In reply to 

 "Homo's" answer regarding purple grackles nesting in and 

 around Philadelphia, there is a nesting place in Leverington 

 Cemetery, Koxborough, Phila., and from good authority I 

 have it that they have nested there for fifteen or twenty 

 years. I have taken sets of eggs for the last four years, and 

 I estimate the number of birds to be from eighty to one 

 hundred pairs. — ElijWood C. Erdis. 



September Arrivals at the Philadelphia ZooloricAIi CJarden.— 

 Purcbasfd— Five rhesus raacacqties l^Macaous erythrcnuis), two bonnet 

 macacques (Macacus radiahts), nine common raaeacques (Maca- 

 cus cynomolgMs). one green monkey {Cercointhecua callitrichus), one 

 mitred monkey {Semnopithecus mitratus), one mandrill (Cynocepha- 

 Ins mormon), one black howler {Nycetes niijer), two hairy-nosed wom- 

 bats (Phascoloiiiys latifrons), two Es.\'ptian geese (Chelanopex cegy})- 

 fiaca), one Amherst piieasaut {Thaumalea amherstim), one Dauben- 

 ton's curassow {Crax daubentoni), one Slater's curassow (Crax 

 slatm), two rvifous-vented guans(Pe>i.eZope cristaia), one festive ama- 

 zon ( Ohrysofis f estiva), and one pine snake {Pityophis monanoleucus). 

 Presented — Two male and two female Angora goats {Capra hircus), 

 one Virginia deer {Cervus virginianus), nine opossums (Didelpliis 

 virginiana), one king rail (Rallus elegans), one mocking bird (Turdus 

 polyglottus). one pine snake (Pityophis menanoleiicus), three alligators 

 (Alligato rniisslssippiensis), two hog-nosed snakes {Reterodon platyr- 

 hinos), one copperhead snake {jtncistrodon contortrix), and one 

 black snake (Bctscanion constrictor). Bred in the Garden— One Car- 

 olina parrakeet {Conurus carolinensis). 



'^tf(^ ^tfd 



Address all communications to the Forest and Streatn Publish- 

 ing Co. 



THE CHOICE OF GUNS.-VII. 



IN preceding articles nothing has been said of Lefaucheux 

 action breechloading shotguns. When referring to guns 

 of foreign manufacture, my attention was not directed to 

 French guns made under the Lefaucheux system, but in 

 comparing guns of American make with foreign guns, I 

 have had special reference to snap-action guns of English 

 make, for two reasons: First — All American-made guns be- 

 long to that family, and, second, American importations are 

 usually English snap-action guns. 



But it is proper I should "say something of Lefaucheux 

 action guns, and I know of no better way of presenting the 

 arguments p7'o and co7i these guns than by publishing the 

 following correspondence. It is but proper to say that the 

 correspondence was not intended for publication, but upon 

 my asking leave of my correspondent to pubhsh his letter to 

 me, with my reply, he kindly consented, and, in his letter 

 of granting the permission, he replied to certain points made 

 in my letter to him, and this reply is here also given. 

 I. 



Ah-Pe — ^Dear Sir — I have been much pleased with your 

 articles on the "Choice of Guns," now appearing in Forest 

 AND Stream, As I suppose you are interested in everything 

 pertaining to guns, 1 take the liberty of writing you this, 

 and of calling your attention to what I think is an error in 

 your article of Aug. 27. I also send you by this mail a cata- 

 logue of Chevalier & Dru, Paris, France. Please return it 

 to me after reading the pages I shall refer to presently. 



You state, "You cannot buy a reliable and durable im- 

 ported gun at $50 or under." You are right if you refer 

 only to snap-action guns or guns of English make. But are 

 you aware that in this present time of hammerless and of re- 

 peating shotguns there are hundreds of thousands of sports- 

 men in France, and other countries (Spain, South America, 

 etc.) who still use, in preference to all other guns, the old 

 Lefaucheux positive action gun? These guns are now made 

 and sold in France and are the guns most in use there. The 

 Lefaucheux is there considered better than snap-action guns 

 for the following reasons : 



First — They are more durable and stronger, having no 

 springs in the action to get out of order. There are no springs 

 except in the locks. 



Second— There is not the danger of the gun getting shaky, 

 as happens sooner or later with any snap-action. 



Third — They are cheaper; any ene can make a Lefaucheux 

 action, the patent having expired years ago. 



The gun has the strength of the muzzleloader combined 

 with the safety in loading of the breechloader. It, I know, 

 is too old-fashioned ever to be adopted by our sportsmen, 

 who care more for quickness and the latest fashion in guns 



than for durability and strength, and who will rashly sac- 

 rifice the latter qualities for an.vthing new-fangled. 



Now as to price. Wages are less in Prance than in Bug- 

 land, and it coats much less tQ make the simple l^efaucheux 

 than the snap-action guns. Also, as I said before, there is 

 no royalty to pay and no monopoly in the Lefaucheux ac- 

 tion. For these' reasons and others (such as the greater 

 economy of the French people, and consequently less de- 

 mand for extravagantly high-priced guns) a first-class Le- 

 faucheux action gun can be brought from Prance for less 

 than $50. Chevalier & Dru, whose price list I send you, are 

 among the very best gunmakers in France. On page 18 of 

 the price list are the prices of Lefaucheux action pin-fire 

 guns, which range in price from 100 francs up; and the 

 prices of Lefaucheux centcr-fire guns range from 160 francs 

 up. Now 100 francs is less th.an $30; 160 francs less than 

 $32. (These guns are double barrel). On page 14 you will 

 see that these makers guarantee their guns for five years. 

 They will last a lifetime. These guns are first-class ones in 

 every respect. 



It would cost to import the $30 gun by itself as follows: 



Cost of gun in Paris Pa 



Transportation of gun to New York o 00 



Espi'eas company's charges, buying gun, getting it through 



custom house, etc 3 



Thirty-flve per cent, duty 7 50 



3;i.50 



which is less than the $50 gun stated; and the $80 gun is 

 stronger, safer and infinitely more durable than English snap- 

 action guns that sell for $100 in New Y'"ork. 



I have written this letter as one fond of guns to a brother 

 sportsman and because I don't like seeing some of the best 

 qualities in a gun lost sight of in the mad rush for novelties. 

 I have used breechloaders from the time they were first im- 

 ported to this country, twenty-two years ago, and have tried 

 about all the actions and I can sincerely say that for wear, 

 strength and lasting qualities, none are as good as the old 



Lefaucheux action. Very truly yours, 



II, 



My Dear Sir— I beg to assure you that I thoroughly 

 appreciate the sentiments in your letter of the 3d, and the 

 motives which prompted you to write it and I thank you for 

 writing. I have examined the catalogue of Chevalier & 

 Dru which you so courteously sent me and herewith return 

 it with my thanks. The catalogue has furnished me with 

 information I did not before possess. 1 did not know 

 the prices of the Lefaucheux guns were' quite so low as they 

 are. - • 



On referring to the article in Forest j^d Stream of Aug. 

 27, I am not so sure but your criticisms are, to a certain extent 

 at least, well grounded. But taking the articles as a whole, 

 you wiU see that I am writing of breechloading guns as they 

 are now made, and especially of American guns. Standing 

 alone, the assertion in the article of Aug. 27, that "you can- 

 not buy a rehable or durable imported gun at $50 or under," 

 is incorrect; but looked at in connection with Lhe context, I 

 hardly think an erroneous impression will be conveyed 

 thereby. The concluding remarks of the arficle which ap- 

 peared in Forest and Stream of Aug, 20, and the prefatory 

 remarks of the article in the issue of the 37th, in effect ex- 

 clude from consideration the Lefaucheux action guns as 

 well as the muzzleloader. 



I have lately seen some very handsome and excellent muz- 

 zleloaders, that would have sold in the days of the muzzle- 

 loader for $300, offered at $50 and under. They were "reli- 

 able and duraljle imported guns, ' but, of course, do not 

 come within the purview of the articles under discussion. 



So, too, of the Lefaucheux action. Although I am ready 

 to admit that my attention was not drawn to the subject 

 when I wrote the words above quoted, still guns of this 

 action are virtually excluded from consideration. Neces- 

 sarily the system possesses great strength; but, in my view, 

 guns made with this action are, with American sportsmen at 

 "least, as completelv obsolete as the muzzleloader or as the 

 pin-fire breechloader. The superior convenience and ease of 

 manipulation of the top-snap action have forever displaced 

 the Lefaucheux, and the action now in use will only give 

 way before something more convenient and easy of manipu- 

 lation than it is. 



I am not, however, ready to admit that the Lefaucheux is 

 necessarily stronger than a properly constructed top-snap, or 

 will out-last it. Wear takes place with all actions, and the 

 Lefaucheux is at best an exception only in degree. Even 

 when made with double levers under fore-end and double 

 bolts (as shown in MM. Chevalier & Dru's cut, page 19), 

 the wear is a continuous thing. The friction is greater than 

 in the top snap ; and I have seen Laf aucheux guns that had 

 grown quite loose from use, the barrels having sprung away 

 from the breech so as to allow gas to escape and cause the 

 muzzle to droop ; but I admit that the wear of the Lefaucheux 

 does not usually make the gun quite so "shaky" as the wear 

 of the average cheap top-snap action. 



While the element of strength ought to be considered, it 

 ought not to exclude other elements of value. The bowie 

 knife is stronger than the pen knife, but a man would hardly 

 cumber himself with the former w^hen he had use only for 

 the latter. The point of the stylus was not so apt to wear or 

 be broken as the point of the pen with which I write, but 

 the pen is decidedly more convenient and certainly an im- 

 provement on the stylus as a writing implement. 



The cheap English top-snap action guns, with no device 

 for taking up wear and that become useless on the breaking 

 of the action spring, were and are open to serious objections. 

 Even with these objections, however, I am not sure that 

 their adoption to the exclusion of the Lefaucheux action was 

 erroneous. And when we come to such American guns as 

 those of Smith, Parker, Sneider and Lefever, we find them 

 not only incomparably better than the single- bolted top-snaps 

 of English make, but, as I believe, superior in every respect 

 to any other guns that are made. After considerable ex- 

 perience with breechloaders, from the Lefaucheux forward, 

 I am convinced that in soundness of the principles of con- 

 struction, no guns are to be compared with American guns 

 as recently improved and now made. Admitting that in the 

 "rush for novelty," men overlooked the strength of the old 

 Lefaucheux and adopted a weaker thing, the improvements 

 which the ingenuity of American makers have wrought have 

 made it strong enough, and its superior convenience is appar- 

 ent. Take for example the Smith, in hammer guns, and the 

 Lefever in hammerless (guns which stand, in my opinion, at 

 the head of their respective classes in point of soundness of 

 the principles of construction), and you will find that they 

 are not only strong enough but ten times stronger than is 

 absolutely necessary. And we will find in the best American 

 guns a thing unknown to the Lefaucheux— provision made 

 for taking up wear that must occur in every action. And in 

 many respects the superiority of the improved top-snap 



action to the Lefaucheux might be shown. The points which 

 I desire to make, however, in reply to your kind criticism 

 are these : 



First— While strength of action is a thiijg of great im- 

 portance, it is not the only consideration. If two actions are 

 strong enough, that one should be selected which la the more 

 convenient and handy. 



Second — The Lefaucheujf action is as much a thing of the 

 past as the muzzleloader, and the causes which produced its 

 retirement were sufficient. 



Third— The articles in Forest and Stream only profess 

 to deal with guns as now made according to the present 

 state of the art of gunmaking, and it woul<l be as futile to 

 consider the Lefaucheux on account of its strength as it 

 would be to treat of the muzzleloader on the same account. 



Permit me to say that 1 only write in Forest and Stream 

 as a sportsman, I am not, and do not claim to be, an ex- 

 pert; but I give my views for what they are worth. In 

 many respects they may not coincide with those of my 

 brethren, and they may be erroneous. They are such as ex- 

 perience and observation have led me to form. 



Again thanking you for your letter, I remata, yours truly, 



Ah-Pe. 



in. 



My Dear Sir — Your interesting letter and price-list of 

 Chevalier & Dru came yesterday. To-day I received yours 

 of the 15th asking permission to publish in Forest and 

 Stream my letter to you. Although I expect to be ridiculed 

 as an old fogy by some and pitied by others (some of them 

 probably born since the introduction of breechloading guns), 

 yet as you desire it, you have my consent to publish the let- 

 ter in question, provided you also publish the following an- 

 swers to certain points raised in your letter: 



First — You draw a comparison between the stylus and 

 pen, etc., derogatory to the former, strength alone being the 

 criterion. But I claimed for the Lefaucheux action more 

 than mere strength, I claimed that it combined the con- 

 venience of breechloading with the strength of the muzzle- 

 loader better than any gun I know of, and I am not a novice, 

 having loved shooting before breechloading guns came into 

 fashion in this country, and having a pretty good knowledge 

 of the so-called "improvements" in the modern gun. The 

 Lefaucheux action is ampl}^ qiuck enough for legitimate 

 shooting. Of course the market-hunter, while ducks ai<. 

 flying fast, could kill more with a snap-action ; but where 

 slaughter alone is the object, a swivel gun or a cannon 

 loaded with small shot will kill more in a given time. 



Second —I hardly think it fair to state that the Lefaucheux 

 action is obsolete — a thing of the past— and that it has 

 become so on account of its inferiority to snap-actions; when 

 the truth is, that thousands of sportsmen at this moment are 

 using the Lefaucheux in France and other countries peopled 

 with the Latin race, and prefer it to snap-actions, considering 

 they have good reason for so doing. 



It will not do for a liberal, fair-minded man to get around 

 this by calling foreigners old-fashioned, behind the times, 

 etc.. and praising our sportsmen as the only go ahead people. 



Third — You have been more fortunate than I in your 

 experience with snap-actions. I have known an imported 

 gun by one of the most celebrated English makers get shaky 

 in less than eighteen mouths. This guu cost in New York 

 $210, and had all the modern "improvements." I have been 

 told of, but have not myself seen, two guns by an English 

 maker (London) costing each over $350, with all the modern 

 "improvements," get shaky in less than two years. One 

 swallow does not make a summer, I merely mention these 

 among a very great number of cases of snap actions getting 

 shaky that I have known of. 1 have been told by some that 

 it did not matter if the barrels of their snap-actions did get 

 shaky. Perhaps not ; it's a matter of taste ; but I prefer more 

 solidity in a gun, thinking it far more important than mere 

 quicknesss of loading. 1 have yet to see the snap-action 

 that will go through without damage or injury, what a 

 Lefaucheux action will bear. Of course, no sane man 

 expects to see the Lefaucheux used by our sportsmen to any 

 extent, and the reason is that they rate too highly mere 

 rapidity as compared with strength and solidity, and think 

 too much of anything new in a gun that is christened an 

 "improvement" by the gun makers and gun dealers. Very 

 sincerely yours, _^ 



Editar Forest and Stream: 



The articles of "Ah-Pe" on the choice of guns are the 

 best that have ever appeared in your columns, I wish to 

 tender him and you my acknowledgments. The thanks of 

 all lovers of the gun, I think, are due also. To say that 

 such and such guns are worth the money, or safe and satis- 

 factory, is w^ell enough; but to minutely explain the make 

 and action of each gun, and to show wherein one is superior 

 to the other, is far better. When "Ah-Pe" is done there 

 will be no further need, for some time to come, of essays on 

 the much-worn subject, "Choice of Guns." There will, no 

 doubt, be differences of opinion as to his conclusions, but 

 the facts are there for the guidance of all. It is a mass of 

 valuable information, and you and all sportsmen are to be 

 congratulated that ' 'Ah-Pe" has so excellently put it before 

 your readers. B. 



WIRE CARTRIDGES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your issue of Oct. 1 a communication appears by "N.," 

 in which he desires information concerning the wire cart- 

 ridge. Individually I have never used the wire cartridge. 

 An unshakable fear prevented me from so doing, but from 

 one who has used them I received the same wholesome ad- 

 vice as given to "N. " by the gunsmith— let them alone, as 

 they injure the gun barrel. 



If "N." will give the thread-wound cartridges a fair trial, 

 I feel convinced he will eventually adopt them permanently 

 in his shooting. They are, I verily believe, as near, if not 

 nearer perfection in the line of cartridge cases for the pur- 

 pose than any in the market. Let "N." order and try the 

 thread-wound case and report his opinion to Forest and 

 Streajvi, C, a. R. 



PiTTSnORGH, Pa. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I used Ely's wire cartridges, BB shot, fextensively in a 

 No. 7 muzzleloading duck gun before the advent of breech- 

 loaders. I generally shot an open charge in right barrel, 

 wire cartridge in left. The result was that the left barrel 

 was so worn that eventually I had to load with No. 6 wads 

 in it. I did not see that the shooting of that barrel was at 

 all impaired or the Sarrel was otherwise injured. 



I will be obliged if Mr. Clapham will say where the 

 "ulesote" bottom paint can be had, Accomac, 



"Wacha Pbeague, Accoraac County, Va. 



