Dec. 8, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



383 



ing, Jacob and the rest of my living collection were 

 carted down to the beach, preparatory to embarking. At 

 that time all vessels lay at anchor in the bay, and their 

 Cargoes were shipped or landed in large cargo boats, 

 ■which would run up as far as possible on the beacb , and 

 secured to a warp, passing through chocks at the bow 

 and stern, which was fastened to two anchors, one on 

 shore and the other well out in deep water. All the cargo 

 was handled by naked Fingoes, who, watching their 

 Opportunity, would wade out between the rollers, which 

 were constantly combing in, and manage to pass the 

 cargo, either to or from the boat, without wetting it. 

 Passengers were transferred in like manner, and I 

 frequently saw ladies trotted through the surf on the 

 shoulders of a naked Kaffir, which must have been a new 

 sensation to them. Having seen Jacob and the rest of his 

 load safely landed on the sand, I turned to the second 

 dray and was busy superintending its discharge, when a 

 series of howls came from the direction of Jacob's cage, 

 which I found lying on its side, having been dropped by 

 the Fingoes, who had incautiously exposed their naked 

 skins to Jacob's paws while in the act of lifting it. 



Having righted the cage I borrowed a couple of oars 

 from the captain of the cargo boat, which were lashed to 

 the case, and Jacob was shipped, palanquin fashion, with- 

 out further mishap. On getting alongside the vessel, 

 Jacob, no doubt remembering the experience he had lately 

 undergone with similar tackle, objected to having the fall 

 properly hooked, for the purpose of hoisting him on deck, 

 consequently I had to arrange it myself and was drawn 

 up with him, as I feared further trouble when the lashings 

 would be cast off. His reception by the crew was not a 

 warm one, as his bad reputation had preceded him; and 

 it required some persuasion, mixed with warnings, to get 

 them to assist me in placing him on the main hatch, where 

 it was intended he should remain during the voyage. 

 Having- temporarily secured his cage for the night, I 

 turned in and was awakened early the next morning by 

 the first mate, who requested me "to turn out and look 

 after that infernal baboon, which had nearly stripped one 

 of the crew who had thoughtlessly passed within reaching 

 distance of him." On reaching the deck I found Jacob 

 wrought into a perfect frenzy by the noise and bustle 

 caused in getting the vessel under sail, and in order to 

 keep him quiet I was compelled to seat myself with my 

 back against the bars until we discharged the pilot off 

 Cape Recife, outside the harbor. I then approached the 

 mate with some misgivings, and solicited help in lashing 

 and properly seeming Jacob and the rest of my living 

 freight. He mischievously selected the sailor who had 

 been badly used, and another to assist me, and with their 

 help everything was securely fastened, but whenever a 

 lashing had to be passed, or a knot made in Jacob's vicin- 

 ity, I had to attend to it personally, under their direc- 

 tions, which were given at a safe distance. 



As we were to make a winter passage around the Cape 

 of Good Hope, I borrowed a couple of large tarpaulins, 

 which were lashed over all the cages to keep out the wet 

 and cold, leaving the lower portions so they could be 

 raised for cleaning, feeding, etc., and during the whole 

 voyage I had to look after Jacob, as he would not allow 

 one of the ship's apprentices, whom I engaged as assistant 

 keeper, to have anything to do with him. After round- 

 ing the Cape and getting up in the latitude of St. Helena, 

 in warm weather, the tarpaulins were so arranged that 

 the portions in front of the cages could be rolled up for 

 air, and I took the precaution to build a rail in front of 

 Jacob's cage, flattering myself that there would be no 

 further trouble with him during the voyage. 



Just before leaving Port Elizabeth, the captain had 

 been presented with a large dog, which, from his vicious 

 disposition, had become a terror to his immediate neigh- 

 borhood, and his care fell to the youngster who assisted 

 me. One day, hearing Jacob screaming with anger, I 

 stepped from the cabin and found the imp feeding the 

 dog just in front of his cage. The pair were ordered for- 

 ward with the threat that if the like again happened the 

 captain would be informed, which would be likely to be 

 followed by a taste of a rope's end. Jacob did not forget 

 the affront, but it was not until we got up off the Bermu- 

 das that he succeeded in having his revenge. One after- 

 noon while lying half asleep in the shade of the bulwarks, 

 I was startled by the yelps of the dog, mixed with the im- 

 precations of the boy. Starting up, I found Jacob vigor- 

 ously chewing the dog's tail, while the apprentice was 

 shouting and swearing at the top of his voice. On my 

 appearance in front of the cage Jacob instantly ceased 

 hostilities and the dog ran forward howling, followed by 

 his chum, and the upshot was that for several days I had 

 to stand black looks of the captain, and with the limited 

 means at hand endeavor to heal the lacerated tail of a 

 brute who invariably attempted to bite me while under- 

 going surgical treatment. 



After a fine passage the Falcon anchored inside Sandy 

 Hook on the night of the fifty-fourth day from Port 

 'Elizabeth. Early the next morning we were towed up 

 off the Battery, and while coming up the Harbor the 

 main hatch was cleared, preparatory to breaking out the 

 cargo. The cages were ranged along each side of the 

 deck and Jacob's was placed just under the foremast 

 shrouds. No sooner was the anchor down than the sailor 

 boarding house runners attempted to come on board, but 

 so soon as one of them would show his head above the 

 rail he was forced to drop into his boat by the dog, who 

 took charge of the forward deck and would not allow 

 any stranger to come over the bulwarks. The captain 

 and myself, standing on the poop, were enjoying the fun 

 and encouraging the dog, when the runners suddenly 

 ceased their attempts and the boats drew off and clust- 

 ered together just forward of the bows. After a few 

 moments' consultation two boats pulled out from the 

 knot and attempted to board the bark, simultaneously 

 on each side, at the forward chain-plates. As luck would 

 have it one reached the side facing Jacob first* and as the 

 runner's head appeared above the rail the dog started 

 for him, thus giving the one on the contrary side the cov- 

 eted opportunity of boarding while the dog's attention 

 was attracted on the opposite side of the vessel. He in- 

 stantly took advantage of it by stepping lightly on Jacob's 

 cage and dropping on the deck just in front of it, chuckl- 

 ing at the success of his ruse. In a trice he was seized 

 en arriere and forcibly jerked backward against the 

 bars. With a yell of terror he tore himself loose, sprang 

 on to the rail, and took a header into the water. The 

 captain shouted with laughter, while I sprang off the 

 poop, ran forward, looked over the bulwarks and was 

 relieved on seeing the runner being hauled into the boat 



by his comrades. As soon as he found himself in safety 

 he shook his fist at me, and, speaking to his mates, the 

 boat was pulled off in the direction of the Barge Office. 

 Turning to look after Jacob, I found him gravely inspect- 

 ing the major portion of the seat of a pah of dungaree 

 trousers, which I left in his possession, taking the pre- 

 caution to cover the front of his cage with a tarpaulin to 

 prevent any like captures. On returning aft I met the 

 captain, still shaking with laughter, coming down from 

 the poop, who said: 



"After the service he has rendered in ridding us of those 

 pests, I freely forgive Jacob for biting my dog s tail. 

 Come on ! Breakfast is ready, and let's have our last meal 

 together." 



We were just finishing, when the second mate's grin- 

 ning face appeared, saying: 



"The police boat is alongside, sir ! and the officer says 

 he lias come after the man whom you have in irons." 



"Jacob again! by thunder!" exclaimed the captain. 

 "Thompson you go and tell him that you are the doctor, 

 and it's all a mistake, and it is only a drunken sailor 

 whom you are treating." 



Trying to put on a professional air, I stepped out, 

 closely followed by the captain, and said to the officer: 

 "I fear you have been misinformed, as it is only a mild 

 case of delirium tremens, and I don't think there will be 

 any further difficulty with my patient." 



"A drunken sailor ! Well, just give him to me, I am 

 used to handling such fellows. Where is he?" 



"Come forward and I will show him to you, and you'll 

 be convinced that I can handle him better than your- 

 self. " 



Leading the way forward, with the captain in company, 

 I suddenly threw up the tarpaulin just as the officer got 

 in front of the cage. He sprang back with a blasphemous 

 exclamation, just in time to escape a vicious wipe of 

 Jacob's paw, and until he left the vessel, much to the 

 captain's amusement, never ceased calling down maledic- 

 tions on the runner fraternity generally, and particularly 

 on the one who had so outrageously sold him. 



That afternoon the vessel hauled' into dock, and all my 

 living specimens passed into the hands of a dealer, and 

 on calling a few days after to inquire after my fellow 

 voyagers, I was grieved to learn that Jacob and his vrouw 

 had become the property of some peripatetic showman. 

 NwYobk. Frank J . Thompson. 



Evening Grosbeak at Elmtra, N. Y.— Elmira, N. Y., 

 Dec. 6. — While on my way to work, the 25th ult., I heard 

 a bird's note that was new to me. On sneaking up to the 

 songster I saw a bird that was also new to me. I identi- 

 fied my bird as a grosbeak, but of what species I could 

 not make out, so I went and got my gun and brought him 

 down with a charge of dust shot. When I picked him 

 up I confess I did not know what he was. You can 

 imagine that I was surprised when on looking in that- 

 most excellent book, Ridg way's "Manual of Northern 

 American Bird," I found my bird was an evening gros- 

 beck (C. vespertinus). It was a male in full winter dress. 

 This is the first specimen of this bird that I have known 

 to have been taken in this part of the State. I have 

 heard that one was taken near Buffalo, and came into the 

 possession of Professor Chas. Linden. I mounted the 

 bird in nice shape for my cabinet and placed him in what 

 I thought was a safe place, to dry. The next day when I 

 came home my folks informed me that a Thomas cat be- 

 longing to a neighbor had made way with my bird, that I 

 would not have taken a goodly sum for. All that re- 

 mained was a mangled mass of feathers. It is needless 

 to say that Mr. Thomas Cat sleeps in the valley.— Edward 

 Swift. [The specimen taken near Buffalo was reported 

 in Forest and Stream, Vol. XXVIII., p. 367]. 



Sex Markings of Grouse.— Elmira, N. Y., Dec. 6.— 

 Editor Forest and Stream: In an article by "Jay 

 Beebe" in your last week's issue concerning the identifi- 

 cation of the sex of ruffed grouse by the plumage and 

 other markings, I was much interested, as I have made 

 this subject a special study this fall. I agree with "Jay 

 Beebe" that the metallic lustre on the ruff is the surest 

 test that the specimen is a male. The male is generally 

 larger than the hen, but only a very little. The tail is 

 generally a shade longer than that of the hen; of 24 birds 

 examined, 10 adult females and 14 adult males, the aver- 

 age length of the tail was, in the males, 6.74m. ; in the 

 hens, 6.25in. The orange-colored spot over the eye on the 

 superciliary membrane is also a sure sign that the bird is 

 a male. I do not agree with Mr. Davison of Lockport, 

 that in the hen grouse the two center feathers of the tail, 

 the black band near the end is broken and irregular, 

 while in the male the pure black is sharply defined. I 

 have found this true in about two-thirds of the birds ex- 

 amined, while the other third were not marked in the 

 way Mr. Davison claims, but the irregular band was on 

 the males. The sex of all the birds I have examined has 

 been carefully ascertained by dissection, after I had 

 observed their plumage and markings. — Edward Swift. 



A Wonderful Watch-dial. — A gentleman connected 

 with the Illinois Watch Company has a wonderfully curious 

 watch-dial. Instead of Roman numerals to denote the hours, 

 there are eleven small but very distinct silhouette figures, 

 representing a man out with his dog for a day's sport. At 

 seven o'clock he is seen starting out with his gun and dog; 

 at eight o'clock he makes a shot; at nine o'clock he has a 

 sandhill crane which measures as long as himself; at ten 

 o'clock the man and his dog are scared at the sight of a jack- 

 rabbit, which is sitting upon his hind legs, with his big long 

 ears raised above the bushes; at eleven o'clock the hunter 

 takes a drink, and while in this attitude the dog sits in front 

 of his master, with his nose pointing directly at the flask; at 

 twelve o'clock the sportsman is seen sitting on a stump, and 

 is eating a lunch— the dog is eyeing the piece of bread which 

 the hunter has in his hand. At one o'clock he starts out to 

 fish the rest of the day, and so he takes his dog and fishing 

 tackle, and goes to the water; at two o'clock the dog, which 

 is behind his master, has been caught with the hook by an 

 attempt to throw in his line; at three o'clock he and the dog 

 are all straightened out again, and the line is in the water; 

 he has both hands on the pole, and his foot braced on a stump 

 by the water's edge as though he had a tremendous bite; at 

 four o'clock the man has got a big fish on his line, which has 

 pulled him off his feet, and he falls on the dog and doubles 

 him all up, but the man is holding fast to the pole, which is 

 bent almost double; at five o'clock he is all straightened out 

 again; his pole is thrown across nis shoulder, and with his 

 fish in the other hand he starts out for home, the dog follow- 

 ing behind with his head hanging down, being tired out. 

 The man's name is also painted in the center of the dial in 

 rustic letters. This dial reflects a great deal of credit upon 

 the artist, Mr. Charles Geyer. The figure VI. is superseded 

 by the seconds.— Jewelry News. 



fame §ag mi 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



Antelope and Deer of America. By J. D. Caton. 

 Price $2.50. Wing and Glass Ball Shooting with the 

 Rifle. By W. C. Bliss. Price 50 cents. Rifle, Rod and 

 Gun in California. By T. S. Van Dyke. 'Price $1.50. 

 Shore Birds. Price 15 cents. Woodcraft. By "iVess- 

 muk." Price $1. Trajectories of Hunting Rifles. Price 

 50 cents. The Still-Hunter. By T. S. Van Dyke. Price $2. 



PATTERN AND PENETRATION. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The following account of the re&ults of a series of ex- 

 peri ments relative to the penetration of small shot may 

 perhaps be of interest and possibly of use to some of your 

 readers. My object in making the trials was to find what 

 differences exist between the larger and smaller bores, 

 and for this purpose I used chiefly two barrels, which fit 

 upon the stock of a Maynard rifle. Both are 26in. long 

 and of homogeneous steel, one of .55-caliber or 28 bore, 

 and the other of .65-caliber or 18 bore. The former is 

 chokebored on the usual system, with a constricted 

 muzzle, and the latter on the recess system called tulip- 

 choke in America. For testing the penetration sheets of 

 strawboard were used, placed in groves at intervals of 

 about an inch in a long narrow box, as recommended in 

 a book I possess by J. Long called "American Wildfowl 

 Shooting," and highly spoken of by Greener in his work 

 on the "Gun and Its Development." The strawboards 

 were 7in. long and 6in. wide, but as the ends of the box 

 w r ere protected by strips of zinc, the actual surface ex- 

 posed to the shot was almost exactly 5Jin. square. 

 Only cards penetrated by at least three pellets were 

 counted to prevent errors arising from one pellet here and 

 there being possibly larger than the rest. Every charge 

 of shot was carefully weighed and the charges of powder 

 were measured from the flasks used for muzzleloaders. 

 By always tapping these the same number of times on the 

 hip the weights of successive charges will be found very 

 even. Some of the strawboards were 15 to the pound and 

 others 25. The latter, although obtained from a gun- 

 maker, differ perceptibly in thickness, which will account 

 for the considerable variations in penetration sometimes 

 observed. 



With strawboards of equal thickness and texture, I do 

 not think any other method of testing penetration will 

 give such accurate results, because they can be made 

 thin enough to avoid flattening the softest shot, and they 

 are too far apart to stop penetration by being driven one 

 upon another, as constantly occurs when paper pads are 

 used. 



The results of the trials were very different from what 

 I expected. With very minute charges the ,55-bore had 

 a decided advantage in both pattern and penetration, but 

 when the charges were increased even to such small 

 quantities as -Joz. of shot and l^drs. of powder, the .65 was 

 equal and sometimes superior in penetration, and nearly 

 always closer in pattern. 



For instance, when loaded with 90grs. weight of No. 12 

 shot (1,272 pellets to the ounce) and 20 to 27grs. of No. 3 

 powder, the strawboards at 16yds. were so riddled that a 

 humming bird could not have escaped from the .55 bar- 

 rel, which penetrated on the average 8 or 9 of the 25 to 

 the pound boards. The .65 barrel averaged only 4 or 5 

 boards, and made a more open pattern, from 40 to 70 shots ' 

 through the first board. 



With larger shot (370 to ounce) at 20yds. the .55 barrel 

 was still superior, though not to so marked an extent. 

 With 90grs. of shot and 20grs. of powder the results were: 

 Boards Shots Boards Shots 



pierced by through pierced by through 



3 pellets. 1st board. 3 pellets. 1st board. 



5 1 12 15- 



34 . 65 barrel.. < 12 30 

 24 J 12 8 



With |oz. No. 12 shot and ifdts. of No. 3 powder, at 

 25yds. : 



Boards Through Boards Through 



pierced. 1st board. pierced. 1st board. 



.55 barrel., -j \ 20 .65 barrel.. { \ » 



With the same charge but the larger shot (370 to oz.) at 

 30yds.: 



Boards Through Boards 

 pierced. 1st hoard. pierced. 

 I 13 7 (15 



.55 barrel.. -< 10 4 .65 barrel..- 16 



( 10 9 | 15 



With the same charge but No. 6 grain powder: 



.55 barrel, number of boards pierced 10 13 11 



.05 barrel, number of boards pierced 14 14 15 



Pattern of .65 rather closer, but not counted on all the boards. 

 With foz. of No. 7 shot (360 to oz.) and 2drs. of No. 3 

 powder, the largest charge that the brass shells of the .55 

 barrel will hold, using boards of 15 to the lb., at 30yds.: 

 Boards Through Boards Through 



pierced. 1st board. pierced. 1st board. 



I 6 14 f 6 30 



.55 barrel..-! 6 11 .65 barrel.. -< 6 20 

 I 8 11 / 7 15 



With same charge and No. 6 shot (300 to oz.) at 35yds.: 

 Boards Through Boards Through 



pierced. 1st board. pierced. 1st board. 



(6 8 t 7 16 



.55 barrel..^ 4 6 .65 barrel..-^ 6 6 

 I 4 3 l % gti 



I then tried two shots from the right barrel of a double 

 16-bore, by T. Turner, of London, 28-inch, recess-choked, 

 Damascus barrels, and brass shells loaded with the above 

 charges in the same manner as those of the Maynard, viz. , 

 with two cloth wads on the powder and one on the shot : 

 Boards pierced. Through 1st board. 

 Double 16-bore -j ^ fjj 



On another day, with same strawboards of 15 to lb., 

 ioz. No. 7 shot and lidrs. No, 3 powder at 25yds., and the 

 Maynard barrels: 



.55 barrel 



■ i pene 

 j 13 

 .\ 14 

 1 14 



Through 

 1st board. 

 8 

 13 

 13 



.55 barrel 



Boards 

 pierced. 



• 7 



Through 

 1st board. 

 9 



13 



31 



.65 barrel. 



Boards 

 pierced. 



7 



Through 

 1st board. 



12 



17 



From the above experiments and others not here given 

 I think we may draw the conclusion that for a naturalist 

 in a wild country who wants to economize ammunition 

 in collecting small birds, the .55-barrel would be far 

 superior to the .65, but that the latter would be more 



