Nov. 10, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



307 



to hold. Ten or fifteen years ago 15,000 were killed in 

 a day's shooting. In an average season there are here 

 about 50 boxes and 150 bushwaekers. Tbe capital in- 

 vested in the business is from $75,000 to $100,000. This 

 includes boats, decoys, boxes, guns, etc. From 25,000 to 

 35,000 ducks have been killed in a. season in latter years. 

 They are sold everywhere. The best prices are given in 

 New York, Washington, Boston, Baltimore and Philadel- 

 phia. No wildfowl can equal in flavor a Susquehanna 

 canvasback duck. 



From 3,000 to 5,000 were slain by all the gunners to- 

 day. Tbe varieties are black and redheads and canvas- 

 backs. For some time past the ducking yachts, which 

 their owners use here every season, have been preparing 

 for the gunners. Among those here now, with their 

 owners, are the Susquehanna, owned by Mr. Moore, of 

 New York, of the firm of Tiffany & Co. ; Reckless, owned 

 by H. D. Folhemus and J. H. Dernot, of New York; the 

 sloop Carrie, belonging to J. G. Watmaugh, of Philadel- 

 phia; the yacht Came, owned by A. Hamilton, Col. Wag- 

 staff and others, of New York; J. A. Russell, property of 

 Messrs. Fresh muth, Green. Dando and others, of Phila- 

 delphia; C. W. Middleton's yacht Evadne, of Philadelphia; 

 the yacht Widgeon, of Philadelphia; W. D. Winsor's 

 yacht Lillie, Joseph Stickney's steam yacht from New 

 York. The latter is 171ft. long. There are also the steam 

 yacht Canvas Back, from New Jersey ; Elsie, Rough Ash- 

 ler, and others. These yachts are fitted and furnished 

 in tbe most lavish style. Tbe Susquehanna's cabin work, 

 all of mahogany, cost $2,200. She. is worth $6,000. The 

 owners bring then friends with them, and when not 

 shooting pass their time in comfort aboard their beautiful 

 floating houses. They bring along servants, cooks, etc., 

 and enjoy tbe good things of life. When the ducks leave 

 here on account of the ice they not infrequently follow 

 them south. Card playing, telling fish stories, and other 

 amusements are common. 



Gunners this year complain a good deal about the way 

 ducks axe being caught by trammel nets. These nets are 

 made of three nets, one witb an inch and a quarter mesh, 

 between two made of large meshes. They are made 

 slack and, weighted, drift with the tide. The owners say 

 they set them in deep water for fish. The ducks dive for the 

 celery, strike the net, force the bill through tbe big meshes, 

 and become entangled in tbe small ones inside" and are 

 drowned. The owners say they are after fish, and if the 

 ducks get in they are not to blame. Others say that the 

 nets are constructed specially to catch ducks in. When the 

 Legislature meets, this matter will be brought before it.— 

 Baltimore American, Nov, 3. 



CONNECTICUT COMPLICATIONS. 



HARTFORD, Nov. 2.— -Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 inclose a slip from the Hartford Oourant of to-day, 

 aad I beg for a careful reading of the same: 



H. H. Hewitt and his clerk, II. S. Elmer, were before the police 

 court yesterday charged with selling snared partridges. Mr. 

 Hewitt keeps the Litchfield county market at 501 Main street. 

 Mr. A. C. Collins, the game warden, testified that he tried ro buy 

 a partridge there last Thursday that appeared to have been 

 snared, and that Hewitt started to take it out for him but then 

 refused. Mr. Collins saw seven birds in the bunch and was cer- 

 tain they had not been shot. Then a partridge was produced that 

 was bought of the clerk Elmer the same dav by Mr. K. Wallace. 

 Mr. Wall ace testified that he asked for birds that had not been 

 shot and that Elmer said they had some snared birds, but had to 

 be careful about selling them. Mr. Hewitt said that when Mr. 

 Collins said the bird he asked for was snared, he refused to sell it 

 for tiiat reason. He also said that the birds in the bunch were 

 afterward, dressed and appeared to have been shot. Mr. Elmer 

 denied that when he sold the bird to Mr. Wallace anything was 

 said about the birds being snared. On this point there seems to 

 be a question of veracity. The fun of the trial was in some of the 

 other evidence. There was the bird, showing no marks of shot, 

 hut having a mark round the neck just such as would be made by 

 the noose of the snare. One man testified thai partridges died iii 

 a queer way. He was out the other dav and fired at two birds, 

 each of which was brought in by his doe:, but had no shot marks. 

 The birds fell when he fired. Whether they were scared to death 

 he did not say. There was also testimony that partridges were 

 accustomed to dash themselves against trees and break their 

 necks or die of the concussion. A following witness clinched this 

 by testifying that he also knew that they died in this way of 

 oxcussion. It was also testified by J. D. Thompson of Coventry, 

 that when his dog brought iu a wounded bird he killed it by biting 

 its neck. He added that everybody did so— w r hich will be hews to 

 several worthy sportsmen. This evidence was apparently in- 

 tended to account for the ringround the neck of the bird in court. 

 If it were killed in that way, however, the man who got it must 

 have taken the whole head in his mouth, and then turned the 

 bird around so as to bite equally on every side of the neck. There 

 was more highly instructive talk of the same kind. Judge White 

 held that the burden of proof lay with the State, that there re- 

 mained a doubt, and therefore discharged the accused. 



You will note that the defense attempted to show that 

 partridges (ruffed grouse) are sometimes killed by "ox- 

 cussion" or "excussion." This must be a very fatal 

 disease, for the bird that I produced in court had the 

 usual markings of a bird that had been snared. It may 

 be news to the sportsmen of Connecticut that the lordly 

 grouse has another enemy not mentioned by any living 

 writer, viz., "oxcussion" or "excussion." Will some of 

 the readers of Forest and Stream enlighten an unedu- 

 cated public so that this disease will not annihilate this 

 king of game birds'? If discussion or percussion should 

 attack the grouse we might have a stringent law framed. 



In your issue of Oct. 20 I said ' 'any sportsman in this 

 State that wishes to cooperate with me in trying to en- 

 force oru- game laws kindly write me." My mail has not 

 increased to any great extent since that date. That is 

 right, gentlemen, sit down, Tbe laws will enforce them- 

 selves, self-acting, as it were. 



Thompson, of Coventry, Conn., testified that he went 

 out a few days ago and got four partridges; he shot two 

 and his dog caught two without a sign of a shot mark on 

 them. He said he paid $20 for the dog and he (tbe dog) 

 was a red Irish. I hope the owners of Elcho, Messrs 

 Wenzel, Pierce, Roberts, Dunphy, Avill pardon me for 

 speaking of the wonderful speed of this dog. Thompson 

 chews the neck of such partridges, and the result of such 

 work produces the same marking that a snare would. I 

 was laughed at by the learned counsel who defended the 

 party because I had never seen a partridge when fright- 

 ened dash against a tree and kill himself or drop when I 

 fired without a shot hitting the bird. I replied that "I 

 would have larger bags if such were the case. The owner 

 of the dashing red said be used a muzzleloading gun and 

 he did not mention whether the dog was muzzleloading 

 or if he was trained by "Training vs. Breaking." and I 

 should presume he was not. 



No doubt the gentleman from Coventry has never read 

 of "The One-eyed Grouse of Maple Run" by the pen of 

 genial "Shadow." The above person also said that he 

 "shoots" three months in the year and has snared birds, 

 also admitted that he owns no land. 



We may, if we have another snaring case, convict, pro- 

 vided we have the section of the earth where the bud 

 was snared and a rod or two of hedge with well defined 

 tracks of the snared bird and the patty who snared the 

 bird who has never lost sight of the bird until sold, and 

 can identify the same in court. 



A. C. Collins, Game Warden. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I was much interested in an article by "Wiseacre," 

 where be said that information was given him by a pro- 

 minent market man that the gist of the woodcock came 

 from Connecuticut. This I can verify, for I have just 

 returned from a week's hunting trip to Colchester, Conn., 

 and lama informed by a credible witness that from 25 to 

 45 each of woodcock and ruffed grouse are. shipped daily 

 from this town via stage to Norwich and so to New 

 York. Tbe birds are almost all snared. 



I found no difficulty with the owners of property as to 

 shooting, for though everybody has some grievance, when 

 talked pleasantly with a minute or two and they see that 

 you are a gentleman and will do the fences no harm, they 

 will allow you to shoot at will. 



Tbe great trouble seems to be that the boys in the pur- 

 suit of hares tear down much fence, and this is laid on 

 the shooter. Now the market hunter shoots nothing but 

 woodcock and grouse, for quail and rabbits do not pay 

 enough to bother about; and few city sportsmen care to 

 carry a load of rabbits around, and few want the con- 

 founded things at all. 



Towns on the Connecticut River still ship via the 

 Connecticut River Steamboat Company, through the con- 

 nivance of the baggage masters, some game which is dis- 

 posed of in New York by the baggage master, who makes 

 his returns at a very much lower figure than actual sales 

 to his boy snarers along the route. 



Of the Connecticut game I found few or no quail; plenty 

 of woodcock, the best of the flight birds had hardly come 

 as yet, but good picking was to be had among the birches, 

 and there were lots of grouse, though the sportsman 

 who wants grouse needs a splendid dog, a good gun, lots 

 of patience to boot, and he must know how to shoot, for 

 a well-put-up grouse is harder to hit than a streak of 

 chain lightning. Elk. 



CAPE COD QUAIL. 



A WEEK with the quail, a week full of glorious sport 

 from sunrise to sunset. Once more we have enjoyed 

 the long tramps over the old fields, through the clear cool 

 air of the pleasant October days. Once again we have 

 followed our trusty dogs to old familiar spots, where we 

 nearly always find our favorites. 



The 15th of October dawned clear and cool with the 

 wind blowing fresh from the northwest, just the right 

 kind of a day to make one feel like walking. A hunt 

 over our old grounds disclosed as many coveys as usual, 

 but of much smaller size than I ever saw thein before at 

 this season of the 3 r ear; in fact, every season of late years 

 quail seem to be smaller and smaller on the 15th of Octo- 

 ber, and this season they were exceedingly small. I need 

 not hesitate to say, and it is corroborated by reports from 

 different parts of the cape, that one-half of the quail were 

 unfit to shoot at that time, not being more than two- 

 thirds grown. Out of seven coveys found Oct. 20, two 

 were so small that they could hardly fly and one was 

 without old birds, which had been shot. One covey con- 

 tained two different sized birds, part of which were about 

 two-thirds grown and part just able to fly. The next 

 day, the 21st, we had a severe rain storm, which cleared 

 away that afternoon with a cold wind from the north- 

 west, which doubtless proved fatal to most of the very 

 small quail. The law ought not to be taken off of quail 

 down here until Nov. 1. Many gunners, if the young 

 quail in a covey are too small to shoot, kill the two old 

 birds, leaving the young to perish, as they generally do in 

 the cold nights of October without old bird to cover them. 

 I have not heard of any large bags being made, a bag of 

 10 or 15 birds to two men in a day is considered a fair 

 number. 



The quail of late years seem to keep close to the small 

 swamps and pines, where in years past they used to be 

 found quite frequently in the old fields about the bay- 

 berry bushes. Your correspondent and two others left 

 the house at 12:30 P. M., found seven coveys of quail, 

 shot 18 and were back at the house at 5:30 P. M., having 

 covered about four miles of ground. This was not a large 

 bag considering the number of birds found, but they were 

 in bad places, and one of the coveys put down in a cedar 

 swamp into which we did not follow. The most pleasure 

 was in seeing the dogs work, the three pointers, father, 

 mother and son, pointing side by side the same quail, 

 which they did several times in succession. 



Ruffed grouse are more plentiful than usual this season; 

 for a number of years this bird decreased for some reason 

 that no one can tell, but I am pleased to learn that they 

 are on the increase at present. Chester. 



Harwich, Mass., Oct. 29. 



Ducks in Gardiner's Bat,— Sag Harbor, N. Y., Oct. 

 26.— Editor Forest and Stream-. Last vvinter our Legisla- 

 ture modified the law so that ducks can be chased down 

 by steamers in Gardiner's and Peconic bays. Now, 

 would a practiced gunner be seen on a steam yacht about 

 every clay in tbe week chasing ducks and scaring them to 

 death'?— for I think that is the way they get the most they 

 do get. There is one yacht which has made this a regu- 

 lar business ever since the first ducks made their appear- 

 ance, and I am told the owner was the principal man to 

 get the act through the Legislature. He is about the only 

 one that makes a business of it. We used to have fine 

 beach sbooting before that practice commenced, but there 

 is none now. The ducks are driven from their feeding 

 grounds and are now setting over in the ocean, tens of 

 thousand of them, all the way from Fire Island to Mon- 

 tauk Point, because they are not permitted to stay on 

 their old haunts. The yacht I speak of was just as busy 

 last year, when its owner knew he was violating the law, 

 and cared nothing for it. The gentleman who said the 

 game laws are made for pot-hunters was sound; people 

 who have more money than principle can do as they 

 please and have the laws all made to suit themselves.. It 

 is too bad that good shooting should be spoiled by one or 

 two who care for no one but themselves. I say give the 

 birds a chance for their lives, and if they get away, let 

 them go; but let us try by hard work to allow Gardiner's 

 Bay and Peconic Bay' birds to have an equal chance with 

 those of the other waters of our State.— South Hampton. 



DEER AND QUAIL. 



ON Monday, the 24th inst. (October), a party of several 

 persons went to a point about twelve miles north of 

 this place, well prepared with dogs and guns, to see if 

 they could get a good store of venison. Tbe week pre- 

 vious had been quite rainy and they hoped they might 

 have several days of fan- weather. In such case no doubt 

 existed that several deer would be their reward for all 

 the trouble which they might undergo. They started out 

 from their rendezvous at an early hour on Monday and 

 succeeded in starting, but the animal was so lucky as to 

 take a route in which none of the expectant sportsmen 

 bad taken a stand. During the drive a fine gobbler was 

 killed. Soon after this the darkened sky, tired of its load, 

 began to drop it on the earth, and by night, when they 

 returned to camp, a warm fire and a change of clothes 

 became necessary as well as comfortable. I reached the 

 place about 1 o'clock, just as the rain began to fall, 

 and concluding that wisdom required that I should avail 

 myself of the shelter which the roof afforded, I remained, 

 within doors, communing with'my friend Mud as he sat 

 in front of a crackling fire made of dry blackjack wood. 



On the way my untireable dog Argo/albeit fat enough 

 to make excellent French sausages, in his range set a 

 covey of birds in the corner of a field. I could not resist 

 tbe temptation, and getting out my 14-bore choke (one of 

 the nicest guns I ever saw) I requested Mud to hold the 

 reins of our Bucephalus while I made a trial of my skill. 

 The dog held his point most staunchly, and when I got 

 within a few yards of him 1 ordered him on. At the 

 spring a covey arose, and selecting one I gave him the 

 right barrel, making a nice kill. At the report of the 

 gun another got up, and I knocked it over. The others 

 having taken thick cover, I did not choose to pursue. 

 The birds were not grown. In fact a majority of the 

 coveys are too small for sport. 



It rained all the wbile the sportsmen remained on their 

 hunt, and, in consequence thereof, nothing was done. 

 Some of them had gone after opossums (I write it thus to 

 show my orthographical knowledge) on Monday night, 

 and had caught four nice fat ones. These, the gobbler, 

 and the provisions they frd brought from home, served 

 to give them some excellent feasting. 



One of the party is a great sufferer from that annoying 

 trouble called bay fever. He had spent three days at the 

 place during the past summer, and had been greatly re- 

 he ved. The first night he did not sleep well; but all the 

 others he was free from his trouble. If he had remained 

 a fortnight during the summer, I think he coidd have 

 bridged the chasm. There is little doubt as I think, that 

 the water from the spring, which is a combination of sul- 

 phur, iron and sodium, will do any one troubled with hay 

 fever a great deal of good. When the warm weather 

 returns a number of persons mean to try its virtues. 



During the prere t week I think of going up to Moun- 

 tain Creek to see if there are any birds large enough to 

 shoot. You shall be advised of the result. Wells. 

 Rockingham, N. C, Oct. 31. 



AVIS DIFFICILIS. 



I> ANGS is a poet. Bangs would be a sportsman. Quoth 

 y Bangs: "'Tis the mellow autumn time. 'Tis the 

 falling of the year. 'Tis the time when the poet and the 

 sportsman should be abroad. 1 will hie me to the forests 

 —to the haunts of the wary pheasant !" 



The poet's soul is in sweet harmony with the occasion 

 and the surroundings. As he warily approaches "the 

 cover," his lips murmur this challenge to his expectant 

 prize: 



"O bird, 

 With plumage iridescent ! 



Beauteous pheasant ! 

 I come in sport to slay thee. 

 With shot and shell to stay thee, 

 Wild bird ! 

 "ifes, bird, 

 To dine upon most pleasant ! 



Delicious pheasant ! 

 This hammerless I carry 

 Shall indite thine obituary. 

 Game bird." 



Sounds heard. WMr-r-r-r-r Bang! Bangs loquitur. 



"O bird, 

 With spirit effervescent ! 



Sudden pheasant ! 

 You caught me not quite ready, 

 My aim somewhat unsteady, 

 Quick bird I" 



Bangs marks down his victim behind a log in the dis- 

 tance. Softly he approaches the spot and finds it — not 

 there. As he turns disappointed away, he is constrained 

 thus to apostrophize the absent fowl: 

 "O bird, 

 With body evanescent 1 

 Fleeting pheasant ! 

 'Tis hard to slay thee— very, 

 I'll postpone thine obituary, 

 Live bird !" 



The Domlne. 



Stkubenville, O., Nov. 1. 



Out of its Element.— Augusta, Ga., Nov. 2.— On the 

 21st of October I took a day's outing on quail. I had a 

 scattered covey along a dry ditch, and in hunting them 

 my dog came to a point. On reaching him and while 

 expecting a bird to rise, the clog gave a sudden jump and 

 caught a coot, called "blue peter - ' with us. This is the 

 strangest catch I ever made on high land. This bird 

 always precedes ducks here, and is aquatic. He was not 

 within three miles of water enough to swim in, and I can 

 account for it being on high land in no other way than 

 having dropped from exhaustion. — J. M. W. 



A Voice from the Rockies.— "Alrands, Oct. 18.— In 

 for supplies and then off for Grey Bull for sheep and bear; 

 have had good sport; our score is now 23 head (elk, moose, 

 blacktails and antelope). Have seven very fine elk heads, 

 one fcr you. We have had a fine trip and pleasant 

 weather. The Colonel and I are in prime condition. We 

 are hunting on a range of mountains 9,000ft. high; a side 

 step steady up, and a general slip and slide down soon 

 takes the fat off. — Gov'nor." I will send you full par- 

 ticulars of the expedition on the return of the huntsmen. 

 — Capt. Clayton. 



