466 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 7, 1886. 



England. But the London Telegra/ph makes light of it, de- 

 claring that such movements are only vapid and soon disap- 

 pear, as the vanities change, and flowers and grasses take 

 the place again of bii-d plumage upon clothing. In its stil- 

 ted wisdom, that paper asks, "What is a bird after all, any 

 more than any other form of animal life?" Nothing to a 

 paper or an individual destitute of a love for the beautiful. 

 If the bird hunters would turn bird raisers and propagate 

 the beautiful forms they traffic in, then the lover of bird life 

 would have no right to complain of his taking the lives of 

 such as he had caused to multiply. But when his nefarious 

 business is exterminating the beautiful forms nature has 

 placed in the groves and fields for the good of everybody, 

 then it is time for an anti-plumage league in America. 



"If ladies chose to wear sparrows would anybody pro- 

 test?" asks the London Telegraph. Is a sparrow — an Eng- 

 lish sparrow is doubtless as far as the Telegraph ever looked 

 — is an Eugiish sparrow a thing of beauty, a bird of song? 

 To the loveVs of bird life, beautiful and tuneful birds, this 

 wholesale destruction of fashion is something wicked and 

 terrible, and the sentiment which fosters the Loudon TeU- 

 graph would send us nothing but dirty, querulous English 

 sparrows in return. 



But to one who has made a study of bird life— its forms— 

 none become more exalted. No form of animal life, with 

 the possible exception of the dog, comes so near the highly- 

 organized human. Listen to the bird song! Is there any- 

 thing gross there? Does it not rather point even higher 

 than tLe human? Take the Httle bulfinch, for example, 

 trained by the German shoemaker to pipe a tune, note by 

 note, with perfect accuracy. Note how he raises every 

 feather, quirls his little tail to one side, hops coquettishly 

 from side to side, strikes his note and pipes away, and then 

 answer me if his httle life is not a higher one than that of 

 the seal, whose blubber case is so much sought by Fashion's 

 votaries. 



I have a parrot which invariably salutes me with a pleasant 

 "How are you I" whenever I enter the room. When I put 

 on my coat to go out he says, "Good-bye, good-bye!" There 

 is owned a parrot in Brockton, Mass., which speaks some 300 

 words and uses very many of them in the right place. "Oh, 

 but," I hear you say, "that is all imitation; somebody taught 

 them to do it. " Very well, how did your little son or daugh- 

 ter learn to talk? Was it because somebody taught them or 

 by sheer imitation, or both? The mere power to imitate to 

 such an extent as mentioned above, shows a nearer approach 

 to a human soul than there exists in the lower forms of ani- 

 mal life. I believe the bird life, for which I plead to be as 

 high and noble as its powers of imitation indicate; as its 

 plumage is beautiful; as its wonderful mechanical powers ex- 

 hibited in nest building show; as its song is charming, so 

 does its little soul extend— then who can blame me if I de- 

 precate the vain, soul-lacking fashion which takes bird life 

 hy millions and attaches the withering skins to her dress, 

 thinking it to be an ornament. Special, 



The Rabbits of Oktaeio, Canada.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: In the column devoted to "Answers to Correspond- 

 ents" in Forest a3?d Stream, of Dec. 31, 1885, occurs the 

 following: "Rabbit, London, Ont.— Around this part of 

 Ontario we have the little cotton-tail rabbit, and a larger 

 kind we call hares; both have the brown coat. I have seen 

 both on the same day and as late as Christmas, when there 

 was deep snow on the ground for several weeks before. We 

 have also the white hare here, but have not noticed them 

 around before February or March. Are these different rab- 

 bits, or does the large kind change its coat after the first of 

 January? Ans. The cotton-tail (Lepus sylvaticus) is a hare 

 different from the common American large hare (L. ameri- 

 canus), which changes the color of its coat in the spring and 

 fall. A third species is the great northern hare (L. timidus, 

 var. arcticus)." The above reply, though non-committal, is 

 misleading, because it certainly implies that the white hare 

 mentioned by the correspondent might have been the Arctic 

 hare, which species has not been found within many hundred 

 miles of London, Ontario. It is not known from Lower 

 Labrador even, and Newfoundland constitutes the southern- 

 most limit of its range. The white hare of Ontario is the 

 common varying hare {Lepus americanus) in winter pelage. 

 — C. Habt Mereiam, 



Albino Squirrels. — During the years 1875-6-7-8, in the 

 southwestern portion of Waupaca county, Wisconsin, there 

 was quite a colony of albino squirrels in a somewhat flour- 

 ishing condition. These were about the size of the black 

 variety, from which I think they originated. It was a com- 

 mon occurrence for the sportsmen in that locality to shoot 

 white squirrels while hunting. Several were kept in con- 

 finement as pets near where I resided. A nest of them was 

 found in 1876 which contained three young— aU pure albinos. 

 The entire family were captured and kept in confinement 

 for some time. Their color made them so conspicuous that 

 they were noticeable for some distance, and were constantly 

 shot by the gunners, that now I believe they are extermin- 

 ated. The last one I have any record of was captured in 

 October, 1880. In a letter from Prof. Baird, in 18ci3, re- 

 lating to the above he says: "It is not impossible that by a 

 sort of natural selection among the descendants of a single 

 white parent, a white race may be established that will be 

 white for a time and populate quite an extensive territory." 

 The above is undoubtedly the true theory of the origination 

 of this colony. It is a pity that this colony was exterminated 

 so soon, as the chances are that quite a territory might have 

 been populated from tbem.— C. F. Carr (Madison, Wis.). 



The Groitse's Drtjmmikg Log.— Ferrisburgh. Vt., Dec, 

 Editor Forest and Stream: In response to "Keouk's" in- 

 quiry, I will say that of the few drumming logs I distinctly 

 remember the position of, one lies nearly east and west, one 

 northeast and southwest, one about north and south and an- 

 other a little west of north and east of south. One rock was 

 a favorite drumming place for one cock that I watched, and 

 I remember flushing another from a rock when he was drum- 

 ming. The strike of the ledsres here is neariy north and 

 south, but the rocks on which these two were drumming were 

 considerably higher than the ledges in which they were sit- 

 uated, knobs in the ledge. — Awahsoose. 



A SwAi? nr Masbachusettb.— Boston, Dec. 37.— The pas- 

 sengers on the Cape train were much interested over a wild 

 swan shot in one of the Middleboro ponds. The bird was a 

 fine large specimen, though a young bird, and made the 

 Canada goose by the side of it look quite small in compari- 

 son. Is it not a very unusual occurrence to find this species 

 so far east?— T. 



Recent Arrivals at the Philadelphia Zoological Garden. — Two 

 macaque monteys {Macacus cynomolgus), two cross foxes (Vulpes 

 fulvus decusnata) and one gray-breasted parrakeet (Bolborhynchus 

 monachns) \ purchased. Poui- opossums (Didelphys virginiana), one 

 red fox {Vulpes fulves), one raccoon (Procyon lotor). one golden eagle 

 (Aquila chrysaetus), one great horned owl {Bubo virginianus), two 

 screech om.s, iScops asio), one coot {PeUonetta perspicillata), one 

 jackass hare (Learns caZZotis), and four firee^a Mz&rds {Anolis princi- 

 palis); presented. Two lions {Felis leo), and five dingos {Cants dingo); 

 born. 



Address aU communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. I 



STRAY SHOTS FROM AN OLD RANGER. 



DO I love to hunt? Well, I am now sixty years old, and 

 have been quite intimately acquainted with myself for 

 fifty years, during which time I have handled a gun and 

 lost few opportunities to follow a dog in the proper season, 

 in whatever locality my devious path of life found me; and 

 without any reservation I cheerfully aflirm that, outside of 

 my own family enjoyments, this has been the keenest 

 pleasure of my life; and I enjoy it to-day, with as keen a 

 relish as at any time during the years that are past. 



Why is this? can any one tell? Is it because I. am cruel 

 and brutal in my nature? I do not think so; and no one 

 ever accused me of possessing these traits of character in all 

 my life. My experience has been that of a true sportsman 

 — he who enjoyed this sport in the most rational manner till 

 every fiber of his being thrilled with a delight unknown and 

 unfound in any other pursuit, was always a whole souled 

 man, possessing the kindliest of natures. 



Neither is it because I can get my birds cheaper in this 

 way than to buy them in the market. The man who shoots 

 for profit is no sportsman, and should not be countenanced 

 as such, or in fact, any way, except under extreme circum- 

 stances. A man may be so placed, that there seems no 

 other way before him in which he can earn a few dollars ; 

 in such a case I do not blame him for embracing this ; but 

 when a market man, or a dealer in sporting goods, hires a 

 gang of men as he would so many wood-choppers, and sends 

 them out to follow up the various varities of game, and 

 sweep over section after section of the country till there is 

 hardly a bird left, simply that he may make a few dollars by 

 their indiscriminate slaughter, he is no sportsman, but the 

 worst enemy a sportsman has, and is pursuing a course that 

 will soon entirely exterminate several varieties of game 

 birds. Such men should not be encouraged in any way, but 

 should be shunned by all true lovers of the sport. A sports- 

 man's birds will generally cost him two prices, and often 

 more. Although delighting in a good bag honestly won, he 

 does not shoot alone for the quantity of game he can get. 



I have been in a wild pigeon roost, and watched the 

 birds fluttering and hovering among the branches of the trees 

 until their weight would absolutely break them, without ever 

 discharging my gun. I could have killed dozens at a shot; 

 but that would have been no sport for me — I should have 

 felt guilty of bird-murder in the first degree. I have had 

 some of the most enjoyable trips of my life, when ourdailybag 

 would not exceed a dozen or fifteen woodcock, quail and 

 partridge all told ; and have been where I could load myself 

 down with game, but found very little real sport. Like all 

 good things in this life, it is, in part, the effort and labor in 

 their acquirement that adds much to their enjoyable value. 



I have hunted in various sections of our country, but no- 

 where have I derived so much unalloyed enjoyment as in a 

 week's tramp among the rugged hills and vales of New En- 

 gland, where one has to work like a beaver to make a re- 

 pectable bag. I firmly believe that if a stop can be put to 

 the shooting of woodcock in all the New England States in 

 July when the birds are half grown flabby, and not good, 

 and when the hunter and dog both suffer from heat almost 

 intolerable, and the birds he gets will turn green or get fly- 

 blown before he gets in; and if the shooting of woodcock, 

 quail and partridge can be rigidly confined to the months of 

 October and November in all these States; and if the boys 

 can be persuaded or prevented from trapping quail and 

 partridge at any and all seasons, those States will in a few 

 years afford the finest sport for these three game birds to be 

 found in the land. There are a great many "ifs" in the way 

 of producing my "happy hunting ground;" but when these 

 changes are brought about, as they certainly should be for 

 the preservation of game and the real benefit of all concerned, 

 Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire, 

 particularly the first named State, will come as near the ideal 

 shooting country as any I ever expect to ind. A, 

 Chicaoo, 111. 



WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS. 



THE shooting season just closed like that of the year be- 

 fore has been very destructive to the birds. In this 

 climate cold weather and snow generally put an end to shoot- 

 ing soon after the middle of November, making the time for 

 pursuit of game practically but two months and a half. But 

 the past two seasons for the most part have been open and 

 pleasant up to the very close. The entire open season of '85 

 furnished no more beautiful day for field sports than Dec. 30. 

 The ground was .bare while the magnificent floods of sun- 

 light and the hazy atmosphere made it seem like a perfect 

 day in an Indian summer instead of mid winter. Every 

 sportsman must have felt the influence of the day. The fre- 

 quent booming of guns showed that many were out for a 

 farewell shoot. The result of it all is that many birds have 

 been killed that would have been left over under ordinary 

 circumstances. Grouse shooting has been wonderfully good 

 but it seems impossible that it can continue so much longer. 

 So many guns are now directed against them and with such 

 relentless persistency that the effect must soon be felt in a 

 comparative scarcity of these splendid bh-ds. It seems likely 

 that the greater portion of the game is shot for market. 

 There are a good many men in the county who shoot for the 

 market, perhaps a dozen or twenty, including one or two of 

 the best game shots in the country. They get all the way 

 from fifteen to twenty-five hundred birds apiece according 

 to their skill and the amount of time devoted to the business. 



It is reported that lots of grouse are left in certain locali- 

 ties while other places are just about stripped. Early in the 

 season excellent sport was to be had within three, or four 

 miles of the centers of Holyoke, Chicopee or Springfield, 

 while from twenty to forty miles out, about as good shoot- 

 ing could be found as any one need wish. 



Quail are not very plentiful about here and are regarded 

 as a side issue. A fair flight of woodcock came about the 

 last of October with the birds in splendid condition. 



NONOTOCK. 



Holyoke, Mass, Jan. 1, 1886. 



"Forest and Stream" Trajectory Test. 



{Concluded from page 448.) 

 have now set forth all the facts touching the several 

 rifles placed in competitive test in the trajectory trial 

 undertaken by and carried through under the auspices of 

 the Forest and Stream. There are a few other weapons 

 which we would gladly have seen making a record side by 

 side with those already in, but circumstances prevented ua 

 from securing them, and besides it was the intention, de- 

 parted from in but few instances, to confine the trial to bona- 

 fide hunting weapons. What those weapons will do, what 

 may fairly be expected of them under similar or like condi- 

 tions prevailing in the trial is now within the knowledge of 

 all our readers. We feel certain that there will be a period 

 put to much of the imaginative writing which has been so 

 much the fashion on this subject. Here in our tables may 

 be found a body of facts deduced from actual experiment. 

 They are worthy of much study. To look at the trajectory 

 averages and them only would be very misleading. They 

 should be looked at in connection with the table of powder 

 charges and proportion between powder and ball. We ex- 

 pect a flat line of fire from a charge where the proportion is 

 1 to 1 or 1 to 2; but is it after all worth the punishment of 

 person and the waste of material to get the very slight ad- 

 vantage in accuracy and flat fire line? To make practice 

 and theory come together may be intensely interesting to the 

 rifle virtuoso, if we may use the term, who finds a certain 

 keen pleasure in using the experimental range to verify his 

 theories, but when it comes to the practical question of buy- 

 ing a rifle for use, there are other matters to be considered, 

 and it is to afford some light to this large class that our trial 

 was started and carried through. We have found that our 

 results correspond with those reached by theory, but it wa'l 

 manifestly impossible to subject each of the rifies offered ,' o 

 the tests necessary to get the elements of the formula us.c'd 

 in deducing the trajectory heights. The simplest method 

 and most satisfactory, we feel sure, to the majority of our 

 readers was that which we pursued, taking the weapon, 

 loading and firing, catching the record of the fleeting bullet 

 upon the gossamer tell-tale screens interposed. It is ioter- 

 esting in this connection to make up a series of supplementary 

 tables from those in the 200-yard test. Here between the 50 

 and 150 yards screen we have a 100-yard range with a mid- 

 way screen. A new 50-yard height of the bullet in progress 

 can readily be calculated, and only serve to verify the results 

 at the lower range. 



Take for instance the Winchester .50 solid ball. In shot No. 

 1 at 200 yards, call screen at 100 yards the target: 11.305+3 

 =5.652=base line on 50-yard screen. 7.737—5.652=3.075, 

 which is the curve for that shot. The other four shots show 

 the following curves on 50-yard screen by same method of 

 calculation: 2.396, 3.583, 3.343 and 2.480. This gives 

 average for the five shots 3.335 and this may be used as 

 a basis of comparison, in place of the figures actually 

 obtained in the 100-yard test. The same computation with 

 the Winchester .50 express bullet, taking the 100-yard curve 

 from the 3(t0-yard test, shows an average for the 50-yard 

 screen of 3.851, which almost exactly coincides with the re- 

 sult of the 100-yard test, and is a further proof of the steady 

 shooting of the rifle in both tests with express bullet, so far 

 as the 50-yard screen is concerned. 



Taking the Whitney-Kennedy .50-caliber solid ball and 

 computing the 100-yard curve from the 300-yard test, we get 

 an average of 2.004 for the 50-yard screen, and so on with 

 any rifle. 



Incidental to the test of rifles it will be seen that we have 

 made it a test of cartridges as well. In turning out the 

 powder from the shell after the bullet had been carefully 

 drawn, a note was made of the condition of the charge, if 

 the powder grains were bright and unbroken and seemingly 

 in first-class condition, it is entered as fine, while below this 

 other grades of good and fair are entered. In this the same 

 classification has been followed as that employed by the U. 

 S. officer in making inspections of cartridges sent out for the 

 use of the arms or for experimental purposes. How close 

 the tested cartridges come up to the labels our report in each 

 instance shows. We think that upon the whole the factory 

 makers of cartridges have reason to be congratulated upon the 

 great accuracy with which, assisted by fine machinery and 

 great care in all stages, they have been enabled to turn out in 

 such large quantity, fixed ammunition at such cheap rates. 

 We have noted at various points the powder used by the 

 various companies. The U. M. C. Co. employed the FG 

 brand from either the Laflin & Rand or Dupont works; 

 the Eemingtons draw their supplies from the Hazard mills, 

 while the "Rifle Cartridge Powder" of the American 

 Powder Mills product is used by the Winchester Co. One 

 part tin to twenty of lead is the general proportion, the bul- 

 let in a few cases being of pure lead. This last condition 

 was true in the case of the three rim-fire cartridges from the 

 Bridgeport factory and in the BuUard solid .50-115-346 and 

 in the Winchester .40-60-310 from the same works. 



The weather observations taken during the tests were 

 intended to cover everything which in any way might tend 

 to have an influence upon the rifle during the test. Gener- 

 ally the conditions were very favorable to the weapon. The 

 wind ran through the Signal Service scale from light wind 

 through gentle and fresh up to brisk. In direction, of course, 

 being at Creedmoor every point of the compass or dial i - 



