366 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



| Nov. 29, 1888. 



tainly the case. I know once on the Illinois River we 

 killed a mallard in the spring which had escaped from a 

 market shooter the year hef ore. He had wing-tipped it, 

 and for a time used it as a decoy, tying it by means of a 

 piece of cotton stuff fastened to its leg. When killed, it 

 had a piece of the same string attached tightly to its leg. 

 I think, therefore, that if we once used the ducks to our 

 marshes, they would return to us, and so we would es- 

 tablish a flight large enough at least to afford us a little 

 shooting, and to make us feel that the maintenance of 

 our grounds was not a needless expense. The members 

 of the Tolleston Club are ready to say that they have 

 duck shooting, and are going to have duck shooting." 



The Tolleston marsh Jies back from the lower end of 

 the lake a few miles, and is five and a half miles long by 

 an average of three-f ourths of a mile wide. The ducks 

 sometimes leave the marsh and work over toward the 

 lake, but Mr. Howe does not believe they bank up in the 

 big waters as others report to him. He says that he has 

 watched the ducks of this locality for years, and has 

 found that redheads and bluebills follow the lines of sew- 

 age out into the lake, and sometimes form big rafts inside 

 the breakwater, or along the reef of rocks in the shallow 

 water about half a mile off Cheltenham beach; but that 

 mallards and teal do not bank up in the open. 



Mr. Howe further thought that there are a good many 

 ducks north of us yet, on the wild celery beds. The Tol- 

 leston marsh is too shallow for celery, but the other feed 

 should attract the last flight for a few days before the 

 final freeze up. 



Chicago, 111., Nov. 22.— Mr. T. Hart, of Crown Point, 

 Ind. , reports an unsuccessful hunt for ducks last week, 

 over country which should be alive with them. 



Mr. A. W. Furman bagged 2S mallards on Topping's 

 Marsh, on the Kankakee, one day week before last; and 

 also 18 mallards one evening last week. 



Members of the Grand Calumet Heights Club report 

 ducks in bodies as large as 1,500 out on the open waters 

 of Lake Michigan, near the club marsh; but the ducks 

 are not flying and no shooting is afforded. 



Mr. H. D. Nicholls will in a few weeks start south on 

 a duck shooting trip, and declares he will go till he gets 

 to them, if that means all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Mr. Nicholls is a member of the Cumberland club here. 



Letters received here this week report mallard shoot- 

 ing on Eeelfoot Lake, Tennessee, as very good indeed. 



Billy Mussey, known to every shooter in (Shicago, is 

 to-day in receipt of a letter from Jack Taylor, at Bald- 

 win, Indian Territory, which states that ducks and geese 

 are there by thousands, and in greater numbers than for 

 years. 



Mr. C. M. Cole writes Mr. Mussay from Phoenix, Ari- 

 zona Territory, that ducks have appeared there in very 

 great numbers. 



Word received from Arkansas states that duck shooting 

 is now good there, the water being high and feed plenti- 

 ful. 



Mr. C. D. Gammon, lately back from a very successful 

 trip in Dakota, of which mention has been made, says 

 that he has word from that country that the shallow 

 lakes have all frozen up, and the ducks have left. 



A telegram to Mr. A. W. Fish from Lake George, 27 

 miles below here, a few days ago said, "Plenty of ducks 

 and no shooters." I do not hear of any shooting on those 

 grounds, and think the flight was not steady. 



There was a flurry on Fox Lake early this week, at the 

 time of the cold pinch, but the opinion seems general that 

 not much need be expected there this fall after this. 



The opinion, therefore, seems to be general among our 

 shooters that the birds have left the north, and are now 

 making then- appearance in the country below here. No 

 shooting beyond a chance skurry is expected in this 

 section. Electricity isn't fast enough to get a shooter to 

 the grounds before the ducks are gone. 



Asked as to the cause of this desertion of what was 

 once a very noted duck country, Mr. C. D. Gammon says, 

 "We must stop spring shooting. That, and the growing 

 plenty of feed in further western sections is what has 

 hurt our shooting." 



Mr. Alex. T. Loyd, president of the Grand Calumet 

 Heights Club, attributes the scarcity of ducks here to the 

 fact that Dakota, Minnesota and other Western regions 

 have settled up and now offer large grain fields for feed, 

 and that in a country where the birds are not much 

 molested. There being no cause for them to visit this 

 region for feed, they stay north until entirelv frozen out, 

 and then go by here in a hurry. Mr. Loyd cites the fact 

 of having lately had excellent shooting'in northwestern 

 Iowa on canvasbacks and redheads— birds until late years 

 almost entirely unknown in that section. Iowa shooters 

 confirm this report this fall. 



The Mak-saw-ba Club planted a number of quail last 

 year and the year before, on their grounds near Davis 

 Station, Ind., but report that the natives have trapped 

 them all off about as fast as they grew. Not much en- 

 couragement in that. 



Mr. C. S. Petrie, of the city fire department offices, is 

 secretary of the Mak-saw-ba club, has made several trips 

 to the grounds this fall, but has grown skeptical, and will 

 not now easily be lured out by reports of a flight. He 

 says the marsh is too low this year. 



Mr. J. A. Kinney, vice-president of the same club, and 

 also of the city fire marshal's office, is more faithful than 

 Mr. Petrie, and has not let a week go by without a trip 

 to the club house. He reports a bag of ten or a dozen 

 too good to complain about now. 



There is considerable talk here about the proposed trap 

 shoot between this city and St. Louis, the gun club of 

 Chicago having challenged the St. Louis Gun Club. A 

 letter received to-day from the editor of the St. Louis 

 Bqwbhean, an officer of the St. Louis club, states that 

 then- boys are all out duck shooting, so that they cannot 

 get up a respectable team, but that when they get back 

 they will accommodate the Chicago boys in their am- 

 bition, and welcome them with open arms to a large 

 defeat. Mr. Mussey is a member of the Chicago Club 

 and to-day was obliged by Mr. H. D. NichoUs to place a 

 box of cigars in trust, pending the decision, to sustain 

 the honor of his club. It may not be generally known 

 that this truly modest and diffident body of shooters who 

 constitute the gun club of Chicago is the supporter of the 

 mantle of the former gaudy and impressive "Dude Club " 

 composed largely of Board of Trade men and other 

 magnificents. Mr. Mussey says they do not now brook the 

 appelation of the "Dude Club," since the resignation of 

 one or two shining Board of Trade lights, and the retire- 

 ment of that luminous sportsman Mi*. Henry Miller. 



Mr. Henry Miller was formerly with Spalding, Bros. ; 

 then he was interested in the proposed manufacture of a 

 cheap hammerless shotgun; he is now agent for a wealthy 

 fimi at Kearney, Neb., which has of late been reported as 

 a region of high barometric pressure. 



Mr. R. A. Turtle, a well-known and skilled taxidermist, 

 of this city, and a member of the Lake George Club, is ill 

 and absent from his office. At his office to-day I saw a 

 beautifully mounted pair of canvasbacks. I was never 

 before so forcibly impressed with the gamy look of these 

 birds. The beak and head of the male especially are 

 drawn on wonderfully shapely lines. Mr. Turtle's brother 

 showed me some good elk heads. He tells me buffalo 

 heads bring from $150 up. He had just got in a number 

 of heads of mountain sheep for mounting, also several 

 sets of elk antlers in the velvet. I do not like to see 

 antlers in the velvet. 



The pushers at Fox Lake are again excited over the 

 appearance of a snow white redhead duck and have made 

 numerous long reaches to secure this phantom flyer. 

 This duck, the pushers all claim, was first seen on the 

 lake eight vears ago, and has so far evaded all attempts 

 upon its life. Ed Howard tells of an albino crow duck 

 or rnudhen, which he and a friend have often sought to 

 ambush. George Beck with says a white teal was killed 

 on Pistaqua Lake not long ago, and also an albino rail. 

 They are all white men who tell these stories, and I guess 

 they are so. 



The Illinois State Sportsmen's Association has passed 

 seemly resolutions of respect and regret for the late un- 

 timely death of their vice-president, the lamented Harry 

 Orvis, which occurred last month from blood poisoning, 

 consequent upon a compound fracture of the ankle, re- 

 ceived while aligbtiKg from a wagon, during his shoot- 

 ing trip in Dakota. These resolutions will be duly for- 

 warded. Mr. Orvis was a member of the Board of Trade. 

 He was a man of large and generous nature, kindly and 

 genial, and respected, I think, as much as any sportsman 

 in Chicago, It makes the boys sober to speak of him 

 now. 



Mr. J. B. Wiggins, of the Mak-saw-bas, starts for Davis 

 station to-morrow. I think I shall also go down. We 

 will try to give the ducks a few lurid mornings yet. 



E. Hough. 



WHAT THE BLIZZARD BROUGHT. 



WHOOP, who-o-o-o-p-e-e, oh ! we're '11 right ! As 

 Judge says, "Great Scott! what struck us?" The 

 mellow blizzard is evidently abroad this year early, not 

 only the old-fashioned one, but a new one, cut to order 

 and with frills a yard wide. Old Bliz hunted up Kansas 

 City — he calls it "Kan-zas City," strong and forcible, 

 without a lisp; none of the aesthetic "Sen Lewie" with a 

 drawl, but quick and in a hurry. Bliz said How! Kansas 

 City? and the cold snap and snow brought thousands of 

 ducks to our favorite shooting grounds, and the boys 

 pounded out many a good canvasback, redhead and mal- 

 lard, fat and in the finest of condition. The turkeys, 

 however, in the Territory, have not been up to standard, 

 a great many having a sort of cholera or fever. I would 

 like to hear from some one who knows absolutely in re- 

 gard to the distemper so prevalent and what causes it. 

 Quail shooting this season has been abundant, and our 

 markets seem to be filled, as a rule, with fresh wholesome 

 birds. Deer are plenty and in good condition, in fact, I 

 made my sUpper off a couple of very fine juicy steaks to- 

 night. 



Croppie and bass fishing seem to have interested the 

 boys more than usual this fall, and several good catches 

 are reported within fifteen miles of our city. I was 

 present upon one occasion when several as fine croppies 

 were taken from a little lake of only 100yds. in width as 

 I ever saw at the great fisliing grounds of the North ; the 

 largest measured upward of l4in. in length and Tin, 

 deep, weight about lllbs. Our sportsmen, as a rule, are 

 a jolly set, and in most instances prefer to come home 

 with a little story but lots of game, taken without the aid 

 of silver or amateur photography. Still, we have a very 

 select club, with the club house "on Current River, down 

 in the Ozark Mountains, where they have a guide. They 

 always send home plenty of game, for it can be obtained 

 of the natives without danger of detection, and at re- 

 duced rates where club orders are executed. It is re- 

 ported that some of our "Sen Lewie" friends have been 

 down on Black River. "Unser Fritz," give us a good 

 letter, with all the detail, and tell us under what head 

 croppie will be classed. I am somewhat at sea with this 

 species. Fishing has become a regular craze here, and 

 many a scolding have I had to endure for coaxing some 

 fond wife's better half off to the lakes, bringing him back 

 on a late train, tired and cross. The fair sex are about 

 to make war on us, so boys brace up and stand together. 

 We will all be "cranks" to the last; let the rod, reel and 

 creel bespeak the verdict in advance. What true sports- 

 man would want a better jury after adding the gun, dog 

 and horse? And where will conviction ever be more true 

 and certain than the same jury would give to the nefar- 

 ious pot-hunter and hide collector? 



This letter will not be complete without giving a little 

 story of our only Uncle Joe Irwin after his turkey. 

 Old Uncle Joe Irwin, as he is known far and near, is one 

 of the best anglers and best posted men of the country 

 when fish and game are the desired quantity. There 

 were Judge White of our Criminal Court, ex-Police Sur- 

 geon Wood and several others, with old Bolivar, the 

 colored gemmen, to attend the commissary, with Uncle 

 Joe as chaperon if you please. After a day's good fish- 

 ing, during which Uncle Joe won a turkey on a little 

 outside issue, we made ready to come home. Bolivar 

 was to catch the turkey after they had gone to roost; 

 but Uncle Joe thought to steal a march and show us all 

 that he was still young and spry ; so climbing aloft to 

 the top of the old shed and scanning the turkeys over, 

 he picked out a fine gobbler and snatched him. The 

 commotion was great and of course we all rushed to the 

 scene of conflict. It was short. The gobbler won first 

 knock down and blood. With a flop and parry he un- 

 seated Uncle Joe from the rafter and both took a header 

 to mother earth. But Uncle Joe was game. He held to 

 the gobbler notwithstanding in the tumble and stop he 

 received a cut on top of his head about three inches long, 

 and all but cracked a couple of ribs. It took lots of good 

 Kentucky balm to soothe him and— to tell the truth— 

 about six stitches to sew up the cut. Uncle Joe has 

 sworn off turkey snatching, but he is still the same able 

 fisherman and ready to putjhis skill against the best of us. 



Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 17, Tile. 



THE LETHEANS. 



"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, 

 Drink deep or not, all of the Lethean stream." 



TEN or twelve years ago the above was perpetrated by 

 a pedantic young school teacher, and it is seldom 

 that an aphorism bears on its face such a palpable impress 

 of the truth of its first line. I will have to ask any who 

 read this to believe that it was owing to the use (or abuse) 

 of the word in connection with the above misquotation 

 that a club of five members, mentioned in a former letter 

 to Forest and Stream, was sometimes distinguished by 

 the prefix "Letheans." 



Trusting that no one will be any worse off for making 

 their acquaintance, I ask the privilege of introducing 

 the members individually. First there was Aleck, here- 

 inafter referred to as the Doctor, who was certain death 

 on anything within range that would remain quiet 

 long enough for him to train on it his well-charged shot- 

 gun, and, indeed, from the number of double and triple 

 slaughters among the muskrats that he had made at sin- 

 gle shots he has no right to resent the title of "rat exter- 

 minator." Judging from the rack-like fixity with which 

 he holds a shotgun that he could also do very fine work 

 with the rifle, we have often called his attention to the 

 fact, but he always replied that in numbers there was 

 safety, and he never could trust one chunk of lead on an 

 important mission when he could as well send a hundred. 

 Then there was Ed, who liked revolvers, but did not care 

 much for guns; yet he would hunt all day with as much 

 vim as any of us, merely for the sake of assisting the 

 others in having a good time; for as a natural wit and all- 

 round man we could ill afford to spare him. Next comes 

 "Duke, the lone fisherman," who when a boy was always 

 hunting for some one to go a-fishing with him; andlastly 

 Belyea and myself, champion grouse trailers; for we 

 chased the same old cock-partridge during the whole of 

 a November day, and left him at night as good as new; 

 we even harbored the conceit that his next interviewer 

 would find him slightly improved by our society. 



There was a singular uniformity, perhaps consistency, 

 in the demeanour of the Letheans; for whether on the 

 marsh or in pursuit of wildfowl or the fragrant muskrat, 

 in the woods after grouse or "Molly-cottontail," or gath- 

 ered about the bright, open fire in the dining room of the 

 Doctor's ancestral home, (our favorite place of meeting) 

 there was always noise. But it must not be inferred that 

 it was always void of harmony. We had a quartette of 

 whistlers that could carry their parts as easily as a brass 

 baud, and the Doctor was a soloist, organist and banjoist 

 of no mean order. As I was often the entire audience I 

 am prepared to prove that the performances were highly 

 appreciated. "Nothing in this world can last," frequent- 

 ly sang our soloist, and, alas! we found it too true; for, 

 as the northeast wind scatters the thistle down from its 

 parent stem, so did fate disperse the Letheans from the 

 scene of their youthful pleasures: but as the germs borne 

 by the down take root, grow and wax strong — some near 

 the soil that give them birth, others in remoter parts of 

 the continent, so did our friends take root and flourish in 

 the places wherein their lot was cast. 



We had no real grievance against fate until two years 

 ago, when Duke's health broke down, and in the moun- 

 tains of Montana he has ever since been trying to present 

 a solid front against pulmonary disease. Then, last fall 

 poor Ed received a summons to the silent land . Things 

 began to look serious; but this was not to end our misfor- 

 tunes. Last winter the Doctor became afflicted with a i 

 bronchial trouble, and three months ago he gave up his 

 practice, and came home to the farm to recuperate. The 

 buoyancy of his spirits is very little less than ten years 

 ago, and from the way in which he laughs and jokes the 

 stranger would never suspect that he was a semi-invalid. 

 However, there is one difference that is painfully appar- 

 ent to his friends; he seldom sounds a note of music. 

 We trust that he will recover his health in the delightful 

 climate of southern California, to which he has just de- 

 parted, and that he may have many good years before 

 him yet. 



Now the Doctor has a dog, Paddy, whose character is 

 made up of one or two traits, the predominant one being 

 constancy in nothing save inconstancy. I regret that I 

 am unable to name his breed; but were I to hazard an 

 opinion I would say that he is a cross between an Irish 

 water spaniel and a stove-tarrier (not terrier), with a de- 

 cided leaning toward the habits of the latter. He will rush 

 at a cow as if he intended to swallow her, but no bovine 

 was ever scared by his toothmarks. After prospecting 

 the marsh for muskrats, he will dry himself off by dash- 

 ing through a field of standing grain with an energy suf- 

 ficient to demolish ten acres in ten minutes, but he was 

 never known to trample down more than a quarter of an 

 acre at a time. When he starts to dig a rat out you 

 would think that he intended to possess himself of that 

 "varmint" if he tunneled through to China for it; yet, 

 though he has started some "sizable" shafts on the sur- 

 face, he seldom gets them deep enough to hide, his eyes 

 when he thrusts his nose to the bottom. 



Oct. 16 was one of the very few fine days that we have 

 had this fall. In the afternoon, the Doctor having as- 

 sisted in putting a load of grain on the wagon, handed 

 the team over to a hired man, and started off toward the 

 woods for a walk. Paddy, noting the movement, left his 

 occupation of intermittent mouse hunting, and tempor- 

 arily attached himself to the Doctor's staff. The latter 

 was doubtless in a meditative mood. On the next day he 

 would complete his twenty-eighth year. Perhaps, as Sam 

 Lovel would have put it, "the fog of some of the old 

 times was hangin' around there yit." From the long 

 slope on which he stood he could cast his eye over as fair 

 a country as is usually the lot of man to view, while a 

 little further back from the river were the big woods, re- 

 splendent in the hues of autumn; the whole effect height- 

 ened by the bright afternoon sun. He may have been 

 smoking his brier root calumet, but I am unable to say 

 with certainty. Sucfdenlythe bell-like notes of Paddy 

 announced that he had stumbled on an object of interest. 

 As may be inferred from what I have said, objects of in- 

 terest are too plentiful with Paddy to excite any curiosity 

 in his master, but as the Doctor's path through the thin 

 copse lay near the spreading oak by which Paddy was 

 giving tongue, and he saw the dog gazing upward with 

 an unequivocal look of concern, and his muscles all set 

 for instant retreat if necessary, the Doctor naturally 

 looked up to see what was at the end of Pat's line of 

 vision. He saw a large and curiously shaped ball of fur 

 such as could belong to no animal of which he had any 

 knowledge. I might tiy to work up a climax after the 



