Nov. 3, 1895.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



S8B 



"That reminds me." 



Relative to the snake question, I have nothing to offer 

 in the way of information ; but I can tell you of the ex- 

 perience of niy father with a ferocious blacksnake. It 

 happened this way: One of the members of our family 

 is very deaf and has in her possession an ear trumpet or 

 speaking tube or something that goes by some such 

 name, and the resemblance between this instrument and 

 a good-sized lively blacksnake is wonderful. It puzzles 

 me to know whether the man who invented this thing 

 tried to imitate a snake or just simply to invent a trum- 

 pet; anyway the imitation is worthy of a place in a 

 museum. So, along about dark one Sunday evening I 

 took the trumpet out on the lawn and fixed it up so it 

 looked as if it was trying to crawl over the walk. Then 

 I told the rest of the family, and about ten minutes after, 

 my sister going to the door, glanced casually out, then 

 just happened to see the snake. "For heaven's sake, 

 •what's this on the walk?" she cried. 



"What's what?" inquired the governor. 



"Why, a big snake or something out here on the walk." 



Governor got up, ran out, then hollored for me. 



"Boo!" I yelled, "what the deuce is it?" 



"Big snake I" yelled the governor. "Come, now, where's 

 a Btick or something?" 



"Take the carpet whipper," I suggested, and then we 

 both tore for the shed where this infernal machine is kept. 

 Governor wanted me to lick the snake, but I told him I 

 was afraid; so he went at it. For about three minutes he 

 belabored that speaking trumpet, then, noticing some- 

 thing queer about its not moving, and hearing some 

 smothered laughter back of him, he suddenly saw 

 through the sell, and remembering a piece of pie in the 

 kitchen, went to get it and forgot to come back. Five 

 minutes later I found him there sitting on a chair hold- 

 ing his sides and smiling; but there was some melancholy 

 mixed with his smile when I told him solemnly that a 

 deacon in a church who would kill snakes on Sunday 

 ought to lose his job. He is still a deacon; but it would 

 take a good deal of coaxing to get him to kill snakes 

 again. Mao. 



Protection by Protection. 



Holland, Mich., Oct. 24. — Editor Forest and SPream: I 

 was very sorry to read in your issue of the 5th of the failure 

 of the Manistee County Fish and Game Protective Associa- 

 tion to accomplish its mission. Our experience here has been 

 altogether different, I am happy to say. A few yeare ago 

 this place could not have been easily beaten for violations of 

 the game and fish laws. Fish were netted and shipped by 

 the barrel. Quail and other game birds were shot at all 

 seasons. Spasmodic attempts were made to enforce the 

 laws, deputy State wardens coming here at times and catch- 

 ing many violators in the act, but the few arrests made had 

 no lasting effect. As soon as the wardens were gone, the 

 lawless would be at their old tricks again. One of the local 

 wardens was himself caught netting fish. 



About two years ago violations became so very frequent 

 and the violators so bold that some of us sportsmen concluded 

 something must be done. Fish had become so scarce in our 

 lake that it was nearly impossible to catch a fair-sized 

 string. 



Six or eight of us met one night and organized a pi-otective 

 association. About this time an energetic county warden 

 was appointed and we resolved to assist him in any way we 

 could. To get public sentiment with us, we stocked some of 

 our brooks with trout and procured pheasants with which 

 to stock the woods. People said that these birds and fish 

 must be protected by all means, and in this way we got them 

 on our side. 



The warden at once went to work and in a short time had 

 a number of the worst offenders arrested. Many of them 

 paid fines for illegal fishing, and one man paid $50 for shoot- 

 ing three quail and two partridges. We did not rest with 

 these convictions, but have kept at the work since, with the 

 result that the violations have practically ceased. So far 

 this year we have had but one case, and that for shooting 

 song birds. A few nets set in violation of the law have been 

 seized and destroyed. 



Many of the fishermen made threats that if a warden was 

 to seize their nets they would drown him. Three or four of 

 one party were particularly loud-mouthed; but it was all 

 bluff, for one day the warden and two assistants came upon 

 the party of twelve pulling a seine and they all ran but two; 

 those who had done the most talking ran the fastest and 

 furthest. 



In less than two years a great change has taken place; 

 public sentiment, which at first was against us, is now in 

 our favor; the laws are in most cases cheerfully complied 

 with, and we are now enjoying fine fishing in the proper sea- 

 son. 



We shall now devote ourselves more to restocking the woods 

 and to introducing desirable game and fish. The pheasants 

 which we liberated last spring have bred, and the prospects 

 are that we will some time have good sport with them. 



Arthur G. Baumgartel, Sec'y Bod and Gun Club. 



harmonious colors of plebeian paint, supplemented by the most 

 fanciful gewgaws and designs of gingerbread work, which to the 

 lover of art in nature can, as he beholds them, appear but the abom- 

 ination of desolation and but a poor substitute for the dark, rich 

 mantle of living green that once covered the romantic spot. No won- 

 der that the birds have forsaken their former course of flight, avoid- 

 ing it as a pestilence, either passing it high in the air or choosing the 

 darkness of night, in which to make their passage." The motive 

 of the sport is found in the following passage: "Grand and glorious 

 the sport is— black duck-shooting over live decoys— a sport which, in 

 the skill and science and the amount of patient toil involved, together 

 with the necessary amount of hardships that must be encountered in 

 order to circumvent the natural instincts of this most wary of the 

 duck species; the weary hours of watching and waiting amid storm 

 and cold, calling for extreme fortitude and the most hardy requisites 

 of the sportsman; the uncertainty which always attaches to the ob- 

 taining of a favorable shot even after the utmost skill has been exer- 

 cised on the part of the hunter ; and again on the other hand the fact 

 of being brought face to face with nature in her utmost solitudes, in 

 all her most variable moods; the ever changing panorama of sea and 

 sky, of lake and stream and marsh, and forest-crowned hill and shore, 

 the glorious daybreak and the gorgeous sunset, followed by the calm, 

 clear and silent moon-lit evenings, during which some of the very 

 best shooting is to be had— these and a thousand other things that go 

 toward making a successful day's duck-shooting, all combine to form 

 what m our minds is ihe par excellence of field sport, a sport that is 

 by no means to be measured by the amount of game bagged." The 

 author has something to say about duck-shooting, and he says it 

 without drawing on a thousand extraneous circumstances, or dwelling 

 on others beyond their value, and having skillfully presented what he 

 had to say, he stops — a matter not always truly appreciated by speak- 

 ers and writers. The book of 116 pages is neatly bound in cloth. 



Protection for Essex County, New York. 



Fletcher S. Beede, of Keene Valley, has been appointed 

 Game and Fish Protector for Essex county, the position 

 which Bobert Bibby, of Minerva, recently gave up. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



"Soiektxfic Duck-Shooting in Eastern Waters," by Russell Scud- 

 der Nye, is a narrative abounding in all the circumstance of duck- 

 shooting as seen and experienced by the sportsman whose days are 

 filled with business cares within city walls; and, of the days of the 

 year, but a few can be set apart by him for special recreation. Scien- 

 tific Duck-Shooting has all the charm of enthusiasm, thorough knowl- 

 edge and genuine enjoyment of the sport. The scene of the shooting 

 is in Cape Cod waters, about Coleman's Island, and the successes and 

 disappointments, patient effort, hardship and incident of camp life 

 and shooting are charmingly recounted, all so skillf uly colored with 

 desciiption of plices and happenings that the spirit of the writer is 

 felt by the reader. The work treats mostly of blind shooting over live 

 decoys, the black duck figuring conspicuously in the sport. The work 

 covers the whole scope of shooting experience, moonlight shots, camp- 

 fire chat, camp meals, clear and foul weather. The author en passant 

 utters a few words of regret for the days which have gone: "In those 

 days the wild and picturesque hills which stretched along the eastern 

 horizon were wooded with living forests of noble oaks and stately pines, 

 at the base of which flowed the great expanse of Chequaquet River, 

 and down this natural highway the birds would speed, flock succeed- 

 ing flock in rapid succession, passing out over the beach within gun- 

 shot, and affording magnificent and exciting' sport. But the in- 

 novations of modern times in a great measure changed all this, 

 and where once stood a stately forest are now to be seen 

 sfemmer cottages, gayly decked out in all sorts of in- 



%t Menml 



FIXTURES. 



BENCH SHOWS. 



Feb. 19 to 28.— Westminster Kennel Club's twentieth annual dog 

 show, Madison Square Garden. New York. James Mortimer, Supt. 



March 10 to 13.— Chicago.— Mascoutah Kennel Club's bench show. 

 John L. Lincoln, Sec'y. 



FIELD TRIALS. 

 Nov. 5— Chatham, Ont.— International F. T. Club. W. B.Wells, Sec'y. 

 Nov. 5.— Oxford, Mass.— New England Beagle Club trials. W. S. 

 Clark, Sec'y. 



Nov. 11.— Newton, N. C— U. S. Field Trial Club's Trials A. W. B. 

 Stafford, Sec'y, Trenton, Tenn. 



Nov. 11.— Hempstead, L. I.— National Beagle Club of America, fifth 

 annual trials. Geo. W. Rogers. Sec'y, 260 West Twenty-second street, 

 New York. 



Nov. 18.— Eastern F. T. Club, at Newton, N. C. W. A. Coster, 

 Sec'y, Saratoga Springs, N. Y. 



Nov. 25.— Continental Field Trials Club's quail trials at Newton. 

 P. T. Madison, Sec'y, Indianapolis, Ind. 



Dec. 2 to 4.— High Point, N. C— Irish Setter Club's trials. Geo. H. 

 Thompson, Sec'y. 



HUNTING. 



Nov. 13.— Western Massachusetts Fox Club's meet. 

 Nov. 18.— Owingsvilte, Ky.— National Fox-Hunter's Association's 

 second annual meet. H. L. Means, Sec'y, Louisville, Ky. 



1896. 



Jan. 20.— Bakersfleld, Oal.— Pacific Coast Field Trial Club. J. M. 

 Kilgarif, Sec'y. 



Jan. 20.— West Point, Miss.— TJ. S. F. T. C. trials. W. B. Stafford, 



Sec'y. 



Feb. 3.— West Point, Miss.— Southern F. T. C. seventh annual trials. 

 T. M. Brumby, Sec'y. 



COURSING. 



Oct. 28.— Goodland, Kan.— Kenmore Coursing Club's meeting. C. F. 

 Weber, Sec'y. 



THE NORTHWESTERN BEAGLE CLUB 

 TRIALS. 



Columbus, "Wis., Oct. 24. — Less than a dozen men, less 

 than two dozen dogs, the most beautiful of weather, the 

 finest of grounds, the poorest sort of work and yet the 

 most delightful sort of a time — this would briefly but 

 accurately describe the third annual trials of the North- 

 western Beagle Club. 



Last year the club had a foot or two of snow to spoil 

 the sport. This year the weather was ideal, but the 

 ground was dry as tinder, and covered with dry leaves. 

 This made the trailing very difficult indeed. As an exhi- 

 bition of beagle work, the trials were unsatisfactory and 

 discouraging, and did not one know that the best beagles 

 of the Northwest were entered, dogs which have proved 

 themselves on other occasions, he would be tempted to 

 say that half the entry should have been disqualified for 

 lack of trailing ability. It was the rarest thing for any 

 brace to hit off a trail for themselves. Time and again, 

 when brought up, with their noses thrust into a form just 

 deserted by a rabbit, they failed to carry off the trail. It 

 was the rarest thing to see a dog which could be called 

 holding its trail and running the rabbit without switching 

 off and puzzling and losing. But few rabbits were brought 

 to anything like a finish or indeed brought into sight at 

 all. As a show of sport the trials were therefore very 

 dismal. Yet one should not jump at any conclusions from 

 this, but should weigh the effect of most unusual conditions; 

 though it seems hard that beagles should ask for rain 

 before doing anything at all, and should debar the hunter 

 from sport in these most glorious October days. 



The Derby showed some very good young dogs, better 

 in average than the All- Age stakes. Indeed, it was an 

 18-months puppy which did the work of the meet and 

 won the championship at ease. The type of dog on hand 

 was very modern, it seeming to be the wish nowadays to 

 breed all breeds to a racing form. The spiky, terrier type 

 of head was in evidence. Speed (for the short heats) 

 there was an abundance. Of deep, sweet and musical 

 voices there was great dearth. Of legs too fast for noses 

 there were several. Of noses capable of holding fast to 

 one trail — one cannot in fairness say there were none 

 such present; he can only say that they must have been 

 present. 



Mr. Joe Lewis was to have judged at the trials, but 

 failed to appear. Mr. Charles Sidler, of Milwaukee, and 

 Mr. Louis Steffen, of Milwaukee, the efficient club secre- 

 tary, judged together, and they did it well. Two more 

 painstaking, hard-working and conscientious judges one 

 has never seen at any trials. They did the hard and dis- 

 couraging work of running through scrub oak thickets 

 after the dogs most faithfully, and the club should thank 

 them. 



Columbus is a most pleasant place for these trials. It is 

 a beautiful village of 3,000 souls, with a comfortable hotel, 

 at which the members stopped. The field party being so 

 small, one carry-all and one carriage served to accommo- 

 date both men and dogs on the trips to and from the run- 

 ning grounds. The latter were located on the farm of 

 Mr. Wm. Bush, a sportsman-farmer who knows a thing 

 or so about beagles. Mr. Bush was a most efficient guide 

 and obliging host, and it is to his aid that the club is in- 

 debted for much of the pleasure of the meet. The 

 grounds were of second-growth and scrub oak, with 



thickets, dry swamp lands and grass cover — ideal ground 

 for cottontail rabbits. The latter were there in abun- 

 dance. Probably twenty-five were seen the first day and 

 nearly as many the second. The party was hardly more 

 than half a mile from the house on the whole day's work, 

 and could walk in to a hot lunch with perfect ease at 

 noon. Mr. and Mrs. Bush certainly made all very com- 

 fortable. The place is about a nine miles' drive from 

 Columbus, but the ride in the nipping and eager air of 

 autumn was one of the pleasant experiences of the meet. 

 It was a delight merely to be afield in such weather and 

 amid such surroundings, and everybody enjoyed the meet 

 thoroughly. The enjoyment, too, was of a gentlemanly 

 sort. A quieter, nicer and more pleasant set of men than 

 these Northwestern men never was seen at any kind of 

 trial, and there are many field trial parties who might 

 well imitate them. There was not a boisterous act nor 

 unseemly speech in the field, and not a word of bickering 

 or criticism was heard. To be out in the woods in such 

 pleasant company, weather so beautiful, watching the 

 dogs in so pretty a style of sport, was a rest and comfort 

 and pleasure, and one could only promise himself to come 

 again when possible. 



Mr. Edward Kemeys, of Chicago, without doubt 

 America's greatest sculptor of animals, attended the trials 

 and made a most acceptable member of the field party. 

 Mr. Kemeys is an admirer of the beagle (though he pre- 

 fers the older type) and moreover knows a great deal 

 about the breed. He usually had an armful of the little 

 creatures about him, going over their points with the 

 keen eye of the anatomist. 



Mr. G. A. Buckstaff , the president of the club, should be 

 satisfied with his winnings, as reference to the runnings 

 will show. Mr. Buckstaff however wished further honors, 

 and attempted unfair advantage for his dog TJnser Fritz, 

 which had been trained by a German gardener rather 

 upon cats than upon rabbits. When a rabbit was started 

 Mr. Buckstaff sought to lay Fritz on by means of the cus- 

 tomary war cry, "Katzen suchenl" Fritz, however, was 

 of phlegmatic temperament, and coming to a rabbit sitting 

 in a brush heap drove it out, got into the form himself 

 and curled up, to wait till the rabbit came around again. 

 For this display of intelligence, and in spite of Mr. 

 Buckstaff's repeated explanations, the judges unfeelingly 

 "turned down" TJnser Fritz, insisting that the dog must 

 run in English and not to any Katzen suchen directions, 

 as the rules said nothing about cats whatever. There was 

 .some discussion over the best way to prepare Hasenpfeffer, 

 but Mr. Buckstaff's gardener not being present, the matter 

 was laid over until the following year. 



The Annual Meeting. 



The annual business meeting was held Wednesday even- 

 ing, Oct. 23. Officers were elected as follows: President, 

 Mr. C. Niss, Jr., of Milwaukee; First Vice-President, Mr. 

 F. F. Merrill, of Milwaukee; Second Vice-President, Mr. 

 E. H. Rummele, of Sheboygan. The" present efficient 

 secretary-treasurer, Mr. Louis Steffen, of Milwaukee, was 

 continued in office. The executive committee chosen 

 were Messrs. T. S. Maxwell, of Columbus; Edward Bander, 

 of Oconomowoc; Oscar Hintze, of Milwaukee; H. A. 

 Dillingham, of Sheboygan; G. A. Buckstaff, of Oshkosh. 

 Three new members were elected, Messrs. T. S. Maxwell 

 and Henry Hiller, of Columbus, Wis., and Mr. E. L. 

 Harris, of Kansas City, Mo. 



The Drawings and Descriptions. 

 The drawings to the runnings were as follows: 

 Class A. 



For dogs of all ages, I5in. and over 13in., that have not 

 been placed first in any all-age class at any beagle trials 

 held in America. 



Royal Rover— G. A. Buckstaff's b., w. and t. dog 

 (Rover— Singer G.) 



with 



King Lead— C. Niss, Jr.'s, b., w. and t. dog (Goodwood 

 Driver— Goodwood Music). 



Spotted Chief— G. A. Buckstaff's b., w. and t. dog 

 (Krueger's Bob— Pearl Caroline) 

 with 



Alderman— H. A. Dillingham's b., w. and t. dog (Krue- 

 ger's Bob — Fannie). 



Class B. 



For bitches of all ages, 15in. and over 13in,, that have 

 not been placed first in any all-age class at any beagle 

 trials held in America. 



Lady E.— R. Engelmann's b., w. and t. bitch (True — 

 Dolly) 



with 



Panic— E. H. Rummele's t., b. and w. bitch (Doc- 

 Peg). 



Pearl Caroline— C. Niss, Jr.'s b., w. and t. bitch 

 (Krueger's Judge — Krueger's Pearl) 

 with 



Speedie— Dr. A. White's b., w. and t. bitch (Bounce- 

 Nellie). 



Roth C— H. A. Dillingham's b., w. and t. bitch (Base 

 — Nellie). A bye. 



Class C. 



For dogs and bitches of all ages, 13in. and under, that 

 have not been placed first in any all-age class at any 

 beagle trials held in America. 



Royal Dick— G. A. Buckstaff's b., w. and t. dog (cham- 

 pion Royal Krueger — Baby W.) 



with 



Prince II. — Theo. Zachetzsche, Jr.'s, b., w. and t. dog 

 (Brittle— Judy). 



Phyllis — Truman Sears's b., w. and t. bitch (champion 

 Royal Krueger— Flora K,) 



with 



Queen Singer— C. Aiss, Jr.'s, b., w. and t. bitch'(Rover 

 — Singer G.). 



Class D- Derby. 



For dogs and bitches, 15in. and over 13in., whelped on 

 or after Jan L 1894. 



Ramrod— R. Engelmann's b., w. and t. dog (Black Joe 

 —Flora) 



with 



Duke— Henry Hiller's b., w. and t. dog (Finder II. — 

 Molly). 



