284 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LNov. 3, 1887' 



lag m\A 



THE "SPOTTED" CURLEW. 



AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO THE WART NINE-INCH SICKEE- 

 BILDEB, LATE OP ALAMEDA MABSHES, BT J. G. B. 



"Pipes, 



"T'M safe— I'm safe; from dan-ger free; 

 Oh, who would not a C-u-r-l-e-w be?" 

 Fowler's Soliloquy. 

 There on the sand-spit you repose, 

 Comporting yourself as if to doze; 

 When I could "raise" you, if I choose, 

 From even here. 



If you wish to raise my ire, 

 Cross within my line of fire, 

 And see if I don't "knock you higher 

 Than a kite." 



I have that at my command 

 That in your vicinity I could land, 

 Were I disposed to raise my hand; 

 But I forbear. 



By and by will come along 

 A flock of curlew forty strong, 

 And around you they will throng 

 Over there. 



Soon after some obliging cuss 

 Away beyond will raise a fuss: 

 Only making matters worse 

 My "pip" for you. 



Your attention will be distracted, 

 A tragedy will be enacted; 

 But this too long has been protracted, 

 And all for you. 



You will rise with uproarious clamor 

 (Simultaneously with my hammer), 

 And vociferously you'll stammer 

 Apologies profuse. 



But I shall not them accept; 

 And beg, my friend, that you'll reflect 

 On the "rattling" charge you'll intercept 

 When I "cut loose." 



You rise at last; with breezes toss'd, 

 My whereabouts, alas! you've lost; 

 Escape you must, at any cost, 

 But how, and where"? 



You are egged on well now from behind 

 By officious friends to danger blind; 

 My whereabouts at last you find- 

 Too late. 



With visage grim I rise and poke 

 A glistening barrel; "Fire and smoke, 

 Tt must have been a double choke 

 To pierce so far." 



Pipes. 



"Why does experience come too late; 

 Did not I deserve a better fate 

 Than flying foul of Number Eight? 

 Farewell." 



A DAY'S GUNNING. 



IN common with many other subscribers of your paper, 

 I read of exploits with rod and gun by old veterans 

 who have became used to looking on big bags with a calm 

 indifference, but experiences of a real novice, a beginner, 

 are rather rare. 



Now, I think there must be others who, like myself, are 

 much interested in outdoor sports, but who have not as 

 yet done much in that line. 



If this account of my first experience of shooting over 

 a dog interests any one half as much as I have been in- 

 terested by some articles in your paper, I shall feel amply 

 repaid for writing it. 



Two weeks ago according to agreement the Doctor 

 drove up to the door of our house, and soon after, being 

 joined by me, we were rolling along toward our destina- 

 tion, about six miles out in the bush. The air was brac- 

 ing, and after a pleasant but rather chilly ride of about 

 an hour, we tied up at a cosy-looking farmhouse near 

 the locality we proposed to hunt over. 



It being early for the birds, we spent half an hour or 

 so looking for "grays," but found none, quite a number 

 having been shot there this season. Working our way 

 round we entered a likely looking piece of woods, and 

 not 50ft. inside Nat, the Doctor's setter, pointed. She did 

 look beautiful, her head stretched forward, her nostrils 

 dilated and her jaws moving slowly, "drinking it in." 

 The Doctor approached and flushed the bird, but by put- 

 ting a pine shrub in line of fire it escaped unhurt. 



We worked that piece of ground pretty thoroughly and 

 had three fair shots, but with no result. The birds did 

 not lie well to the dog and flushed wild, plainly showing 

 that they "had been there before." One old bird played 

 a pretty neat trick on us in this manner. Nat came to a 

 point in rather rough ground, but soon broke it, and made 

 another a few yards further on. The Doctor called me to 

 his side, and I soon saw the reason; the bird would run a 

 few feet and then stop, so that the dog could not keep a 

 steady point. We let the partridge run, not wishing to 

 shoot her on the ground; but she ran under a ledge, and 

 when fairly out of sight rose, not even giving us a glimpse 

 of her. For the rest of the morning until 10 o'clock we 

 saw no game whatever. They weren't there, for if they 

 had been I am sure Nat would have found them. Nat is 

 a beautiful, intelligent black, tan and white setter bitch, 

 about four years old, a very thorough and rapid worker 

 and staunch as a rock when on a point. 



Finally, seeing some brush which he thought promised 

 well for woodcock, the Doctor motioned Nat into it and 

 followed himself, leaving me to do outside work on a road 

 parallel to the woods. Hardly were they inside when 

 Nat stood a bird. The Doctor advanced, flushed it, and 

 at the report of his gun (a W. & C. Scott hammerless) I 

 thought I saw the bird plump down in the underbrush. 

 I told the Doctor, and he sent the dog in to retrieve. The 

 dog couldn't find her, and we thought that I had been 

 mistaken and the Doctor had missed his bird. 



We had worked along through the tangle for some 

 time when Nat "pinted," broke and pointed again. On 

 going in to flush the bird the Doctor saw her on the 

 ground, and when Nat retrieved we found the bird to be 

 the same one the Doctor had fired at away back. She 

 had one wing broken and had traveled between an eighth 

 and a quarter of a mile in that state. Crossing the road 

 we flushed a partridge, who got off with a whole skin, 

 though the Doctor did his best to convince her that she 

 bad better stop with us. 



The next hour was spent in laboriously traveling 

 through young scrub oak, a tiresome occupation, and we 

 were by no means disappointed when we reached some 

 more promising and also more open ground. Nat pointed 

 a bird very soon and the Doctor missed a rather difficult 

 shot. 



With one bird brought to bag, at 11 o'clock we thought 

 we weren't quite doing what we ought, so we made a 

 break for perhaps half a mile until w r e struck a place that 

 had the "real look" to it. Before we had been in these 

 woods five minutes Nat pointed, and flushing the bud 

 the Doctor scored a miss. Finally we separated, the 

 Doctor taking the dog and working the high ground, 

 while I did outside duty in the meadow below. 



As I followed the course of a small brook which ran 

 through the meadow I came upon three birds at one of 

 its numerous turns, and being startled made a miserable 

 miss with the first shot, but scored a bird with my 

 second. 



I had heard the Doctor's gun several times and was not 

 surprised when he met me with a partridge and a wood- 

 cock to his credit. Nat coming up, retrieved my bird 

 from the brook in great style. 



We now crossed the brook to the edge of the meadow 

 where a thick growth of alders presented a good retreat 

 for woodcock, and Nat soon pointed in her usual style. 

 The bird flushed wildly and we could not put her up again 

 but being ahead of the dog I soon flushed one and missed, 

 walked 10ft. further, flushed another and missed as 

 usual, but he was dropped by the Doctor at my cry of 

 Mark! 



As it was now noon the Doctor and I returned to the 

 wagon with our morning's bag of three partridge and two 

 woodcock. After eating our lunch under the shelter of a 

 stone wall, we again sallied forth to the same place and to 

 resume our interrupted sport. 



All the afternoon or until four o'clock we got no birds, 

 they were very wild and strong, hard flyers, not to say 

 that we got no shots for if I remember rightly I made 

 three bad misses. Along toward four we found ourselves 

 in the same meadow mentioned before. Nat pointed a 

 woodcock and in spite of repeated attempts on the Doc- 

 tor's part to induce the dog to flush the bird himself, she 

 budged not an inch and the Doctor flushed it himself. 

 We both missed that bird. 



On our way up the meadow the Doctor made one splen- 

 did shot, taking a towering bird just when I thought she 

 was lost. And five minutes after we got another, that is 

 he fired and hit her and as she passed me she got another 

 charge in the neck, bringing her down like a stone. 

 These two brought the result of our day's sport up to five 

 rjartridges and two woodcock. Just enough for a good 

 day's sport. To finish my nearly completed score of 

 blanks I missed a bird which flew directly across the open 

 in front of me, flushed by the Doctor, and that after I had 

 been fully prepared by a cry from him. Although the 

 day was on my part a "chapter of misses," I never spent 

 a pleasanter day afield in my life. 



And so it goes. A day's gunning is not complete unless 

 there is an ample sprinkling of misses and other incidents. 

 It gives one something to think on, and what is one of the 

 chief charms of such a sport but as a constant furnisher 

 of mental food. Pemigewasset. 



Wobcesteb, Mass., Oct. 22. 



TEXAS NOTES AND NOTIONS. 



SO far this fall we have had an exceptionally good 

 shooting season. Migratory birds have not arrived 

 in any considerable numbers as yet, but all the conditions 

 for plenty of them later on are good. A heavy live oak 

 mast with plenty of water in the creeks and bayous are 

 never failing indications of a good supply of waterfowl 

 during the winter. The prairie chicken season opens 

 here Aug. 1 — a month too earlv — the weather being too 

 warm for either men or dogs to hunt with any comfort. 

 A few misguided, unregenerate individuals, however, will 

 insist on tempting Providence by rushing out at the open- 

 ing of the season. They are of the class of hunters who 

 shoot game on the wing, on the ground, or club it to 

 death; any way to get it. Happily this class has few 

 representatives here. Quail have not been so numerous 

 for years as at present. Our last Legislature passed 

 laws prohibiting netting and snaring and extended 

 the close season to Oct. 1. This, I think, in a great meas- 

 ure accounts for the increase. Bags of seventy-five to 

 eighty-five for a day's shooting to two guns have been 

 reported during the past week. Deer are (as the market 

 reports in papers say) in moderate supply and firm; that 

 is firm in their determination not to be hauled out of the 

 bottom if they can prevent it. So far this season have 

 heard of but two having been killed; one by the writer 

 early in September and one by a hunting companion a 

 day or two since. 



This last deer was killed with a 22-cal. Winchester 

 single shot rifle. The cartridge contains I5grs. powder 

 with a 45grs, naked bullet. I became an early convert to 

 the capabilities of this gun as a weapon for large game. 

 I tested it thoroughly for range, accuracy and penetration 

 with the most surprising results. Four one-inch yel'ow 

 pine boards were stood on end against a rifle butt. 

 Against these a 3x6 scantling was placed, making 7in. of 

 solid yellow pine. Any one acquainted with this timber 

 knows it is by no means soft — it is fully as hard as well 

 seasoned ash. The gun was fired at about fifty feet from 

 the target, and on examination the bullet was found to 

 have passed entirely tlrrough the Tin. of pine and into the 

 butt. We dug the bullet out and found it had upset and 

 spread out for about half its length, so that the front end 

 of bullet was at least double its former diameter. The 

 holes through the boards were of a size that easily ad- 

 mitted my little finger up to the first joint. For range 

 and accuracy, I tried the gun with target sights at 200yds., 

 Hinman target. After getting sights adjusted I made 

 five successive tens without cleaning, shooting with a 

 rest. The advantages of this gun as a hunting weapon 

 are its small size and weight, the ease with which 50 or 

 100 rounds of ammunition can be carried, together with a 



remarkably flat trajectory, which, taken altogether, 

 obviates the danger of taking the wrong gun when you 

 go hunting with a rifle. 



Another new gun that is rapidly gaining favor with 

 sportsmen here is the repeating shotgun manufactured 

 by the above firm. There are about a dozen in use here 

 and the owners appear well pleased with them. I am 

 rather sorry to see them coming into use, as I fear their 

 effect on small game may be akin to that of the repeating 

 rifle on the buffalo. 



A few reasonably disposed sportsmen from a distance 

 could find first-class shooting in this vicinity during the 

 months of December, January, and part of February. By 

 "reasonably disposed" I mean those sportsmen who are 

 satisfied with a faiivfcag to show for a day's outing and 

 will not shoot more game than they can possibly use just 

 for the sake of seeing it drop, nor kick themselves to 

 death if they fail to fill their bag every day they go out. 

 If they feel desirous of trying bigger game they can go 

 further west and hunt train robbers. They are worth 

 $3,000 each to the man that shoots them, which makes 

 them about as big game as can be found in any country. 



Guadalupe. 



Victoria, Texas, Oct. 24. 



SHOOTING NOTES. 



PAY squirrels are very abundant in certain localities 



r in New Jersey this autumn, big bags have been 

 killed in Salem county, and in Warren county the woods 

 are well stocked with them. A good squirrel hunter 

 could go to the vicinity of Waterloo and kill from a dozen 

 to twenty squirrels. Red squirrels are not as numerous- 

 in northern New Jersey as they used to be. 



Considering the great number of foxes that at this time; 

 infest the mountains of northern New Jersey, it is as- 

 tonishing that there are so many partridges alive in that: 

 locality. While a few of the reynards are shot by the 

 local hrmters, the foxes have it pretty much their own 

 way, and it is full time a bounty was offered by the town- 

 ships for then destruction. They are greatly on the in- 

 crease in both Sussex and Warren county, where rabbits 

 are uncommonly numerous this season. In fact there is 

 excellent rabbit shooting in New Jersey this season, and 

 I am told a sufficient number of big hares in the Catskill 

 Mountains to insure some very jolly and exciting sport.. 

 Several years ago I used to go up there every winter and 

 run these big white long-legged fellows with some fast- 

 going hounds. When the snow is on the ground it is a. 

 winter sport not to be despised. It necessitates some 

 hard walking, but the novelty and excellence of the 

 shooting was always found to compensate the fatigues; 

 and inconveniences of the trip. There is a lot of fun to> 

 be had in the Catskills in winter time, and many com- 

 fortable places to stop at, with warm fires and good tables- 



The full moon has come and gone, but woodcock are- 

 still scarce outside of Connecticut. The flight there is. 

 no tiling to brag of compared to that of some years ago- 

 Big bags were killed last week in New Jersey. One that 

 is reliable was made by Mr. W. Fred. Quimby and 1 

 his brother on Tuesday last near Mendham, in Morris; 

 county. It consisted of ten birds out of fourteen moved.. 

 Fifteen years ago the country was a great find in the> 

 autumn for longbills, and I remember once seeing a. 

 very large bag made in three days by the late William 

 Hinds of Newark, Theodore Tappin of Hanover Neck, W.. 

 S. E. Ogilby of Staten Island, and Harvey Day of Mend- 

 ham. It consisted of some eighty cock, hah of which 

 were killed in one day. Besides the woodcock, the party 

 got a lot of partridges and a few quail. 



Mr. Frank Dunning, of Florida, Orange county, N. Y, v 

 has been killing some woodcock and partridges this- 

 autumn. He is well posted as to the grounds and is a. 

 very good shot. 



Mr. John E. I. Grainger, of this city, has been out sev- 

 eral times at Guymard, Orange county, N. Y. Like all 

 the rest of us he found woodcock very scarce. He has. 

 killed about a dozen cock and partridges. 



Mr. Joseph Earle, owner of the yacht Gracie, has been 

 shooting at Tuxedo Park with fair success. He will try 

 his luck there again this week. Among the other sports- 

 men at Tuxedo are Mi*. John G. Heckscher and Mr. Pierre' 

 Lorillard, Jr. The latter is shooting pigeons at this time' 

 in his best form. He in a recent shoot for a cup killed 

 38 hard birds straight: 28 of these were in the ties. It was- 

 a remarkably clever performance, and is the talk of Union 

 Club men. 



Mr. Howard W. Hayes, of Newark, has been shooting; 

 some broadbills in Barnegat Bay. While ducks are not 

 plentiful as yet this season, there are a few black ducks 

 and small ducks trading about, and a few snipe yet left, 

 on the marshes. 



Mr. Samuel Camp, of rail-shooting fame, writes me 

 from Morristown, N. J., that he has never known more 

 quail than there are at present in South Jersey. He says; 

 he can recommend the quail shooting at his place. Mr- 

 Camp is the proprietor of a good hotel. 



Wild geese are reported to be very abundant in Stump 

 Lake, Dakota. These combine several varieties: the 

 Canada geese, snow geese and "prairie brant." In Cali- 

 fornia all the different varieties of brant are called 

 "geese." I have shot in Dakota and know about the im- 

 mense number of fowl there in the autumn, but I must 

 say I never saw T geese until I visited Lake Tulare, in Cali- 

 fornia. There the geese roost in the lake, flying from it 

 and back twice a day, early in the morning and late in 

 the afternoon. They feed in the grain fields close to the 

 base of the Sierra Nevadas. When they leave their feed- 

 ing places, owing to the clear atmosphere, the great 

 flocks can be seen many miles away. Under these con- 

 ditions more fowl can be seen at one glance than any 

 other place in the world. The fowl, as a rule, are tame, 

 and can be easily killed as they fly over. On foggy 

 mornings the hunters stand on the edge of the tules and 

 have great fun. While a large wagon can be loaded with 

 geese by two men in a day's shoot, there i3 no way of dis- 

 posing of the birds. It is impossible to give them away 

 even in the surrounding villages. Shooting, therefore,, 

 in this locality ceases to be a legitimate sport, and as the; 

 geese cannot be disposed of but few men follow shooting, 

 there. 



There is some wonderfully good shooting at ducks, ibis 

 and snipe in the lagoons south of Acapulco. Mexico, this 

 season. For some reason the northward flight from South 

 and Central America has been earlier than usual. Sports- 

 men traveling on the Pacific coast during the next few 

 months would do well to stop over a steamer at Acapulco 

 and try the shooting in the mangroves. My information 



