March 1, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



188 



are passed, an anti-doggiug law should be: there is not, 

 never was, and never can be an argument in favor of 

 dogging deer in the Adirondacks on the score of deer 

 preservation, Nitrajvt. 



MISSOURI GAME WARDENS. 



ST. LOUIS, March 2.— Editor Forest and Stream: In- 

 terest in the various measures which are pending in 

 the General Assembly for the protection of game in this 

 State is considerable to say the least. Sportsmen in this 

 city are more interested in the bill which provides for 

 the appointment of game wardens in each county; and it 

 is their wish that it may become a law. There are half 

 a dozen bills before the * Assembly relating to the preser- 

 vation of game and fish. The most important of all of 

 these is the one proposed by the committee appointed by 

 the Missouri Game and Fish Protective Association and 

 introduced by Representative Young, of St. Joe. The 

 bill is framed on the hypothesis that the present game 

 laws are sufficiently stringent if they were only enforced, 

 and therefore it contemplates principally in the way of 

 new legislation the appointment of a game warden for 

 each county by the Governor, whose duty it shall be to see 

 that the present game and fish laws are not violated in 

 any way. 



Sir. Young has received several hundred petitions from 

 all sections of this State, containing thousands of names, 

 praying for the passage of the bill, which is now in the 

 hands of the committee on criminal jurisprudence. The 

 committee, it is said, will amend the bill slightlv and 

 then report it favorablj. The bill as it now reads pro- 

 vides that in all cases of prosecutions the informer or 

 game warden shall receive one-half of the money col- 

 lected from the party fined. That section of the bill will 

 be stricken out and a new one inserted which will, give 

 county courts in certain counties authority to employ a 

 .game warden at a fixed salary and to issue a warrant' on 

 the State Treasurer for one-half of his salary. Many 

 eounties in this State do not need the services of game 

 wardens, because there is no game to speak of to protect. 

 Jt is thought by many of the friends of the bill that the 

 •change will make it more acceptable to many of the 

 members of the General Assembly, and will insure its 

 passage without fail. 



Mi-. Elvis Harrison, of Centreville, Reynolds county, 

 passed through the city a few days ago bound for Jeffer- 

 son City. He is an enthusiastic sportsman, and his visit 

 to the capitol is in the interest of the people of this 

 county, who are anxious to have a good game law. Mr. 

 Harrison, in conversation with your correspondent, said 

 that under the existing laws it would take only about 

 two years longer to kill off all the deer and turkeys in 

 Reynolds county. Hunters go from all parts of the 

 country, hunt and kill the game, and ship it to market, 

 the greater portion of it being shipped to Chicago and 

 New York. Mr. Harrison is in favor of a law to prohibit 

 the shipment of game out of the State. He wants the 

 game preserved for Missouri sportsmen to hunt for their 

 own amusement and consumption. Unser Fritz. 



A HUNT IN INDIA. 



ONE day in Northern India I found myself stranded, 

 having to wait until night for a train. I had seen 

 gll the sights and was wondering what I could do next, 

 when an Englishman at the station, who had scraped an 

 acquaintance with me, said "Do you ever shoot? Let us 

 go out and try for wild boar." 



"When I started on my trip around the world I did not 

 take either gun or shooting clothes and I missed a great 

 deal, as very often I would have had a few hours of ex- 

 cellent sport had I been equipped for it. He got a couple 

 of guns and some ammunition and off we started, with a 

 couple of natives a piece to carry our things. Nobody 

 thinks of carrying anything himself, labor is so cheap. 

 I had a servant with me for a long time, an excellent 

 man, capable, honest and willing, to whom I paid $6 per 

 month, he boarding himself, and people found fault with 

 me for paying too much, as it raised the price. 



We walked through the fields and practiced on paro- 

 quets, of which there were hundreds. They are exceed- 

 ingly swift flyers, beating a teal duck and in fact almost 

 anything, and are not an easy mark. We managed, 

 however, to kill a few, and had good sport killing pigeons, 

 of which there aire many kinds and great numbers. In 

 the States of India under native rule they are a sacred 

 bird, and in some of them it is three months imprison- 

 ment to kill one. The consequence is that they aie in 

 flocks that almost darken the air. Here it was different 

 ,and we killed all we could, also a couple of adjutant 

 cranes. They are very large and are often tamed by the 

 natives, and stalk around the houses like soldiers, but 

 woe to the luckless cat, small dog, or other small animal 

 that comes in their way ! One gulp and he is gone. 



As we reached the jungle, which was more grassy than 

 bushy at this place, and were going cautiously along 

 looking for cobras as well as game, right near us sud- 

 denly shot up twelve or fourteen wild peafowl, with a 

 whirr like thunder. My heart was in my mouth. The 

 immense birds startled me so that I fired both barrels 

 without touching a feather. Later on I was more lucky 

 and bagged an old cock with an immense tail. Peafowl 

 are very plenty in the jungle and are strong, swift flyers. 

 One is apt to shoot behind them and it is usually only the 

 tail that suffers. We shot an Argus pheasant, a few 

 eopper ones, and several jungle fowl, getting quite an 

 amount of game before we got to where we expected to 

 get the boars. They stay in the almost inpenetrable parts 

 of the jungle and come out just about dark to feed in the 

 fields, and do a great deal of damage rooting up the crops 

 and tramping down the tender plants. They are very 

 sly, and the only way to get them is to sit in a kind of 

 blind at the edge of the field they are expected to enter, 

 and shoot them as they come out. One must be ready as 

 they will notice the slightest movement and rush back, 

 not coming out again at the place that night. It is not 

 the most comfortable waiting in the world, as there are 

 myriads of ants, some of them terrible biters, besides 

 mosquitoes, centipedes, etc., to say nothing of an oc- 

 casional cobra. We sat there perhaps half an hour when 

 an old sow with three pigs showed themselves, but my 

 companion had laid his gun down while he fought the 

 Insects and they saw the motion he made to pick it up 

 and disappeared. We waited some time but "seeing no- 

 thing he concluded to go three or four hundred yards 

 further on. About fifteen minutes after he left I heard a 



slight rustle and saw the head and tusks of an enormous 

 boar looking out of the thick brush. He was watchin ? 

 the rest of the party and did not notice me. I kept sti ! 

 as death , letting anything bite me that wanted to, and in 

 a minute or two he came out, looked around, and com- 

 menced sniffing around for food. I did not dare to shoot 

 him in the head for fear of not killing him, so I waited 

 for a broadside. In a little while he turned and I aimed 

 just behind his shoulder, fired and had the satisfaction 

 of seeing him jump and fall dead. He was a very old 

 ami large one, weighing probably three hundred pounds, 

 with very large tusks which I took off and brought home 

 as a trophy. 



There were plenty of monkeys all about, but the guides 

 did not like to have us kill them, as they considered them 

 sacred, so we did not. Our pile of game made a beauti- 

 ful effect, the brilliant plumage of the parrots, peafowl, 

 pheasants, etc., showing well. India is the paradise of 

 hunters. The natives never kill anything, it being 

 against their religion to take life in any way. Thousands 

 Of them starved to death in the famine years rather than 

 kill anything to eat. The consequence is that game is 

 very abundant— antelope, buffalo, tigers, leopards, wild 

 dogs, jackals, wild boars, ducks, water fowl, pheasants, 

 peafowl, jungle fowl, many kinds of pigeons, in fact you 

 can go nowhere without seeing plenty of game to sheot. 

 I do not know of any place where a- hunter can pass as 

 pleasant a winter or have as good sport as he can in 

 India. W. 

 Chioaoo, nli 



THE WHITNEY SAFETY HAMMERLESS 



THE new arm made by the Whitney Safety Firearms 

 Co., of Northampton, Mass., is, as will be seen in the 

 cuts here given, a very strong, simple and absolutely safe 

 arm. The opening or closing of the gun has nothing 

 whatever to do with the cocking of the gun. The ham- 

 mers are always at cock except while the lever is pressed 

 home immediately after firing; the instant the lever is 

 released the hammers return to cock. This is not accom- 

 plished in the usual way by a rebound, but the main- 

 spring being swiveled to the hammer below the center as 

 tbe mainspring returns to its normal position after tiring. 

 The mainsprings have no tension on them whatever, ex- 

 cept as the tension lever is pressed home, when the 

 shooter desires to fire. In case he does not fire all he has 

 to do is to release the lever, when the mainsprings are at 

 once passive. It is impossible not to know when the gun 

 is ready to fire, for the lever is under the pistol grip, as 

 will be seen, and must be pressed home before the gun 

 can be fired. There is no slide on the upper tang, so that 

 the excuse so often heard, "I forgot to move the slide," 

 is entirely obviated. The parts are few, there being but 

 44 in the entire gun, including screws, stocks, barrels, 

 etc. Eleven parts constitute the locks. Each part is 

 very strong and simple to make. There are no springs to 

 get out of order, everything being made with the idea of 

 getting rid of the numerous small springs that are used 

 in the construction of most all hammerless guns. 



THE ACTION SAKE. 



The standard gun will be a plain gun, pistol grip, no 

 checking or engraving, with rubber butt plate, English 

 twist barrels. The workmanship and materials will be 

 of the best. Steel forgings will be used in all the parts. 

 Guns waH be made at prices varying according to the 

 wish of the party ordering as to how much extras he is 

 willing to pay for. As fine a gun will be made as any 

 gun in the world, prices being equal, but the standard 

 gun as described above will be made the popular gun for 

 the masses, and the price will also be popular. The price 

 list will be $35 and upward, according to finish. The 



BEADY FOR FIR1NQ. 



business will be rushed so as to have guns on the market 

 for the fall trade. The gtm has been submitted to the 

 trade in New York city, and has met with its hearty ap- 

 proval. The advantages claimed for the gun are its 

 strength, simplicity, easiness of working and absolute 

 safety. The style of the gun is identical with that of the 

 hammerless gun of most first-class makers, being of the 

 bar lock style. The stock is as strong as the strongest, 

 and is stronger than nine out of ten hammerless stocks, 

 as there is less wood cut away, and the wood that fits 

 against the frame is held very securely without the aid 

 of screws. 



Iowa.— Manson, March 1.— The first Canadian geese 

 arrived Feb. 28, and flocks of 15 to 25 have been seen 

 daily since. A farmer shot a large one north of town 

 yesterday, and another was hanging in front of a store 

 at Rockwell, 10 miles south of here. The ducks have 

 not arrived yet. Prairie chickens wintered well and if 

 the breeding season is favorable the shooting here next 

 fall will be superb.— H. A. K. 



Grouse Snaring forms the subject of two communi- 

 cations which will be published next week. 



A Red Tape System.— Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 would make every person wishing to hunt apply to the 

 city or town clerk and take out a license, paying say 

 twenty-five or fifty cents, this license to give him the 

 privilege of killing say twenty-five or fifty each of part- 

 ridge, quail and woodcock; for every bird he kills over 

 that number he must pay $1 per head. When he obtains 

 his license the clerk gives him a small book or card on 

 which he is to keep his record. At the end of the season, 

 say before Jan. 10, he is to return this record to the clerk, 

 who shall duly swear him that the statement is true to 

 his best knowledge and belief. I presume some will say 

 this is too much red tape and won t amount to anything. 

 But I think it will. A man is very low down in the 

 scale who will deliberately take a false oath. The large 

 ma jority of gunners would be well pleased, it would dis- 

 turb the market-hunter and the gunner who kills simply 

 to brag. It is neither fair nor right that I who love to 

 hunt as well as any man living, but who cannot afford 

 to'lose more than a short afternoon five or six times in 

 the open season should be deprived of my share of the 

 birds because they are all killed off by men who can 

 spend day after day killing off the buds simply to be 

 called a '"crack shot," and to brag that "I got ten part- 

 ridges and eight woodcock yesterday," or "I killed 492 

 birds last year." Who are the market- hunters? I know 

 several, and not one of them can make more money at 

 the business they follow in the close season than they 

 can killing birds. They follow gunning because they 

 like it better than work on the farm or in the shop. It is 

 a rare exception to find one of these men who is known 

 as a thrifty, honest citizen. They are very apt to be of 

 the Rip Van Winkle stripe. My method, if adopted, 

 would raise the price of game birds in the market. All 

 I have to say in reply is poor people do not buy them 

 now at present prices. — R. (Russelville, Mass.). 



"Jacobstaff" and "Jacob Staff."— Readers of your 

 valuable paper, as well as other sporting papers, may 

 have noticed that there are two Jacobstaffs in the field. 

 From time to time I have received letters from my 

 friends of forest and field and stream, calling attention 

 to the fact and intimating that some one writing under 

 my name was surreptitiously trying to steal my thunder. 

 Now I write this to you to state that I have been hav ng 

 a very friendly correspondence with that other Droaiio, 

 i. e., "Jacob Staff," and that he is a brick, a gold brick 

 from Texas and away back. From our letters I find that 

 housed the nom deplume "Jacob Staff" as long ago as 

 1869, though not in connection with sporting matters 

 until 1882. My first articles under the name of "Jacob- 

 staff" appeared in Forest and Stream in 1873. We both 

 rather want to keep the name, as it seems to constitute a 

 certain capital, and an introduction as it were among our 

 shooting friends. We have agreed to continue to vent 

 our garrulousness under our old names; our friends can 

 pay their money and take their choice, "Jacob Staff" of 

 Texas or, yours truly, Jacobstaff of New Jersey. 



Susquehanna County, Pa.— Springville, Pa.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: In a recent issue an article from 

 Susquehanna county by "Bon Ami" reads: "The last 

 quail disappeared from this section several years ago," 

 and "woodcock were conspicuous by their absence." It 

 is true that for the past three years quail have been 

 scarce in this section of Pennsylvania, but each winter, 

 not excepting the present, I could have shown "Bon 

 Ami" sufficient evidence that from three to ten bevies of 

 these gamy little birds tried to brave the rigors of our 

 Northern winters; and as to woodcock I bagged thirty 

 odd birds over young setters the past season in short 

 tramps, and that with scarcely any time away from 

 business. Had I taken advantage of the weather and 

 been possessed of old dogs I am confident I could have 

 tripled my score. — Nom de Plume. 



NEW YORK LEGISLATURE. 



A BILL introduced by Asseuablvman A. H. Baker, of Erie, ap- 

 propriates $10,000 so that the Superintendent of Pu He Worts 

 may construct 1n dams across Cattaraugus Creek (in such a man- 

 ner as not to injure the darns) fishwavs sj that flsii can migrate 

 to Lime Lake, Fisk Lak -, Skim Lake, Beaver Lake and Java Lake. 

 ThefLshways are to be built on plans approved by the State Com- 

 missioners of Fisheries. 



Assemblyman Fitts has introduced a bill prohibiting the taking 

 of fish except by hook and line in Owasco and Cavuga lakes, 

 their outlets and in the Senec i River. 



The Governor bas signed tbe bill adding Oneida oounty to tbe 

 Forest Preserve. 



A CODIFICATION COMMISSION. 

 An Act to provide for tbe revision and codification ef the laws 

 for the protection and preservation of fish and shell fish, and of 

 game birds and quadrupeds. 



The people of the State of New York represented in Senate and Assem- 

 bly do enact as follows: 



Sec. I. A Commission to revise and codify the laws of this State 

 for the protection and preservation of fish and sriell fish, and of 

 birds and quadrupeds, is bereby establisbed as follows: 



The Attorney-General shall select from any of bis assistant 

 attorneys-general, one member; tbe Commissioners of Fisheries 

 shall select from among tbeir number, one; and the New York 

 Association for the Protection of Game shall select from their 

 membership one; and the three persons so selected shall consti- 

 tute the Commission. Certificates of these appointments, re- 

 spectively, shall be filed in the office of tbe Secretary of State and 

 of the Comptroller. 



Tbe memoers of the said Commission shall meet at tbe Capitol 

 in tbe city of Albany at such time as shall be appointod by the 

 Attorney- General, and sball organize by the appointment of one 

 of their number as chairman and another as secretary, and shall 

 proceed to revise and codify the laws of this State for the protec- 

 tion and preservation of fish and shell fish.tand of birds and quad- 

 rupeds, and report such codi ttcation to the Legislature on or before 

 the fifteenth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and 

 ninety. 



Sec. 2. The said Commission may grant hearings and take testi- 

 mony at such times and places as they shall appoint, with 

 reference to the subject committed to them, a*.d shall have 

 authority to administer oaths to witnesses and to supply such 

 clerical and stenographic assistance as they sball actually need 

 in the prosecution and completion of their work. 



Sec. 3. Each member of the said Commission who does not 



eceive a salary from the State for official services, shall be 

 entitled to compensation at the rate of five dollars for each day's 

 actual and necessary services, and all the members of such Com- 

 mission shall be allowed their actual expenses of travel and 

 subsistence while engaged in such service. The Commission 

 sball also be allowed its actual and necessary incidental expenses; 

 and all accounts rendered by the Commission or by its individ- 

 ual members shall be subject to the audit of the Comptroller. 



Sec. 4. The sum of Ave thousand dollars or so much thereof as 

 shall be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any money in 

 the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated, for the purposes of 

 this act. 



Sec. 5. This act shall take effect immediately. 



Names and Portraits of Birds, by Gurdon Trumbull. A 

 book particularly interesting to gunners, for by its use they can 

 identify without question all the American game birds which 

 they may kill. Cloth, 220 pages, price $2.50. For sale by Forest 

 and Stream. 



