Feb. 27, 18&0.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



i d 8 



we found another covey, but did not dare shoot in such 

 close proximity to the dwelling. However, we drove 

 the birds further down, and although some flew over our 

 heads and returned to the woods, we managed to get 

 some of them down in the bottom, where we added sev- 

 eral more to our bag. Of course all this took time. 



The quail of North Carolina resemble the Northern 

 bird in some respects; for instance, they will not fly to 

 order. Try as you may to drive them in one direction, if 

 they have 'made up their minds to go in the other they 

 will go that way, even though they have to fly over a 

 whole line of dogs, men and guns. Consequently our 

 "quail drive" was neither an easy nor a short matter. 

 Besides that, it had become very warm : and owing to the 

 combined effects of the heat, the brambles and the per- 

 versity of the birds, our hunting had not been for the last 

 hour or so of the most rapid description. By turns we 

 had discarded first our cardegans and then our vests, and 

 What with driving the birds, sitting on fences to rest, 

 hunting for wounded quail and shooting, the morning 

 had pretty well sped away. The "edge" of our enthusi- 

 asm had been somewhat worn off by the practical reali- 

 zation of our hopes; our legs had gradually grown heavier 

 and heavier, and the early eagerness of our manner was 

 superseded by a somewhat warm and languid style of 

 behavior. Each rest on the fence grew a little longer 

 than the last; the cool air of the morning had given way 

 to the. warm and lazy stillness of noon, and we concluded 

 to quit hunting for birds and to hunt for our lunch; so we 

 turned our faces wagon ward. 



On recrossing the track we discovered Wright in the 

 distance just setting out on horseback to procure milk at 

 the farmhouse. As we glanced toward him a pair of 

 birds took the opportunity of jumping up to the left of 

 and somewhat behind us, diving directly into a clump of 

 pines. Wheeling around we shot, and peering through 

 the branches we saw a few feathers floating in the air, 

 and the next minute Graph trotted in with a fine cock 

 bird. As we opened our guns to reload, another bird 

 whirred off, and we watched Ed. as he calmly raised his 

 gun and fired; simultaneously with the report we saw 

 the bird make a convulsive movement, drop an inch or 

 two, shake itself all over and then resume its flight, al- 

 most in a direct line toward Wright, who all this time 

 had sat motionless upon his steed watching our move- 

 ments. "Mark," we yelled as the bird flew on. In a few 

 moments there' was a stagger, an effort as if to tower, a 

 clawing and grasping at the empty air, and our game fell 

 fully 250yds. from the place where it was shot, and was 

 presently gathered, stone dead. As the bird fell Wright 

 turned his horse's head to resume his journey. The 

 animal had not taken ten paces when a bevy of birds rose 

 right before it and flew to the edge of the adjoining- 

 woods, where we afterward found them, but upon get- 

 ting a couple as they were flushed concluded to abandon 

 hunting and to respond to the calls of the inner man. 



After eating our lunch we concluded to wait, so that 

 both we ourselves and the dogs might rest. There was a 

 sleepy, sultry feeling in the air; it seemed far more 

 natural to lounge and bask in the bright sunlight than to 

 tramp through the woods and tear through the briers, so 

 we dozed the time away. After remaining in idleness 

 for an hour or more, our natural love of the sport began 

 to assert itself and we concluded to drive on a little 

 further and try it again, so on we went. 



It was about 2 o'clock, and we hardly expected to find 

 many birds at that time of the day. The ardent eager- 

 ness of the early morning, born of our native enthusiasm 

 and of the uncertainties which always attend quail shoot- 

 ing, even in the best of localities, had given way to a 

 Bteady and cool determination to enjoy the good luck 

 which fortune had sent us, and we marched on like vet- 

 erans, while the dogs hunted hither and thither with un- 

 abated zeal. "Look out," called Ed from a pine thicket 

 which he was traversing, "the dogs are making game." 

 Hardly had he spoken, when whirr, wftir-r, lohir-r-r 

 went the quail, and the air seemed full of birds. An- 

 other big covey had been started, and they quietly sailed 

 out into a field of ragweed in full view and within a 

 couple of hundred yards of us. 



Well, if we didn't have shooting, theh we are afraid 

 we don't know what shooting is. There were some 

 eighteen or nineteen birds in the covey, and inside of an 

 hour we had bagged fourteen of them, and lost one wing- 

 tipped bird as well. The dogs seemed fully aware of the 

 importance of the occasion. Not once did they break 

 shot and never a bird did they flush. They never acted 

 better in all their lives, and to-day we hold them in 

 grateful recollection. Just as sure as a bird was missed 

 in the ragweed he went back to the pines where the 

 bevy was first flushed. These constituted but a small 

 tract of woods, and as sure as we missed a bird there just 

 so surely he went back to the ragweed field — a fatal mis- 

 take in so many cases that we wonder the birds did not 

 discover wisdom sooner than they did — only two or three 

 of them having sense enough to escape into the depths of 

 a neighboring swamp. But there were few of them that 

 made the double trip, for we were shooting now with a 

 calmness and steadiness that surprised even ourselves. 

 The early morning shooting had, owing perhaps to an 

 over-eagerness on our part, been at times a little erratic, 

 and the languor of the mid-day hours had made us a 

 trifle careless then, but now, woe to the bird that rose 

 before us; and our pockets grew heavier at almost every 

 shot. 



It was getting cooler all the time. There was just a 

 rustle of a breeze from the north, it had become quite 

 cloudy and the scent seemed to be unmistakable, for the 

 dogs winded the birds again and again at surprising dis- 

 tances. On one occasion in particular Staunch was rush- 

 ing down the hill for all he was worth, the ground was 

 covered with dead leaves and pine needles, with here and 

 there a fallen treetop and occasionally a bunch of bram- 

 bles: suddenly he whirled around, and, quick as thought, 

 was as rigid as though graven in stone. Graph happened 

 to be close behind him, and so sudden was the stopping 

 of Staunch that Graph could not check himself in time, 

 but came to a point with his head extending clear across 

 the neck of the other dog. How we wished for a Kodak 

 just at that moment. Of course all things end at last, 

 and so did our shooting at this bevy, but it so happened 

 that on returning from a canebraka where our last bird 

 had dropped dead, after perversely flying just as far as he 

 was able with a half-dozen No, 8 in his gamy body, the 

 dogs began to trail, and, taking us clean across the corner 

 of an old oat patch into a field of sedge grass, both came 

 t 0 a point. It was still another covey, As the birds 



rose, seven or eight went to the left and the. rest to the 

 right. The left-hand group rose together and went off 

 so prettily that, checking our first impulse and pausing 

 for an instant we saw two about to cross, and firing just 

 in the nick of time, secured them both. We had been 

 shooting so much that there had been no time to think of 

 fatigue, and we felt almost as fresh and as steady as when 

 we started out, but the dogs had begun to look somewhat 

 worn, so, after flushing this covey, we decided to give the 

 birds a chance to run for a while in the bottom where 

 they had scattered, and to rest the dogs, and taking them 

 over to a neighboring spring, we sat ourselves on a fallen 

 tree, trunk for a recess of ten minutes. 



While sitting here Wright, who had accompanied us in 

 the afternoon hunt in the character of marker, put in a 

 plea for an early return. He urged us to stop so that we 

 might pass through the village before sundown. Upon 

 a cross-examination as to his reason for wishing to be 

 home so early, he explained that when he smoked a cigar 

 going through the town after dark (and we had observed 

 that he had always saved his cigars until he reached the 

 village) no one could see. him, and so he had to waste his 

 greatness on the desert air; while if he went through in 

 daylight wdth a cigar, a stiff collar and a silk cravat, 

 every "yellow fellow" in town could see him, and his 

 stock would be just so much elevated. We promised to 

 take his request into consideration, but, unfortunately 

 for Wright, the scattered birds in the bottom lay so 

 beautifully to the dogs, and made such excellent shoot- 

 ing, that they kept us busy until very nearly sundown, 

 and then on our way back to the wagon we found several 

 single birds, evidently a covey which had been disturbed 

 by the rabbit hunters, so that it was very nearly dark 

 when we started for home. 



On counting our game we found that altogether we 

 had thirty-seven quail, a rabbit, two gray squirrels, and a 

 gigantic red-headed woodpecker. The woodpecker grows 

 to be considerably larger than a pigeon in the South—in- 

 deed it is probably a different species from the Northern 

 bird — and this one had flown out of a tree witha a tre- 

 mendous clatter, so that for a moment we had almost 

 imagined it to be a wild turkey — although what he was 

 doing in the tree, we hadn't time to stop and consider — 

 and had banged away at him, only to discover our mis- 

 take when we picked him up. 



And so the day's sport was over. As we reached the 

 wagon and donned our overcoats, the tired dogs threw 

 themselves panting upon the ground, ready enough to 

 wag their brier-scratched tails at a kind look or a friendly 

 word, but utterly fagged out; and as we gazed at their 

 mud-stained and weary forms, we began to realize that 

 we too had done a good day's work. From the time of 

 leaving the wagon in the morning until we were ready 

 to return home we had constan tly found birds; this meant 

 "go" all the time. Every successful shot had added zest 

 to the sport and no thought of weariness had intervened. 

 But now, as we seated ourselves in the wagon, lit our 

 pipes, drew our garments about us to keep out the gather- 

 ing dampness of the evening, and watched the red and 

 yellow tints of the receding day, while Wright urged Joe 

 briskly homeward, we appreciated the facf that there is 

 a limit to one's endurance, even in quail shooting. On 

 our way home we met our early morning acquaintance, 

 Mr. Coleman, who, after cordially inquiring as to the re- 

 sult of our shooting, gave us a hearty invitation to hunt 

 upon his farm whenever we felt like it. A rapid drive 

 home, a hearty supper, a quiet game of whist, and an 

 early bed, formed the closing scenes of our first experi- 

 ence in a quail hunt in North Carolina. H. W. K. 



LOST IN THE WILDERNESS. 



T RECENTLY read in an American paper an account of 

 J. a gentleman having narrowly escaped with his life 

 through being lost for two days in the bush. On one oc- 

 casion, about twenty -six years ago, I was almost lost, and 

 think that perhaps the incident might be worth relating. 



In December, 1863, I was in the Royal Artillery at 

 Montreal. Feeling tired of garrison life I obtained ten 

 days' leave, and joined a couple of professional hunters 

 residing in a hut on Lake Chateaugay, close to the 

 Adirondack Mountains. I was not much experienced in 

 bush life, but during the previous autumn had traveled 

 for two months about the Ottawa district, and had fre- 

 quently gone alone after deer several miles froru camp or 

 hut. Iliad never found any difficulty in returning, being 

 guided by the compass, the sun, the wind, or the config- 

 uration of the land; so I in variably went out alone while 

 at Lake Chateaugay, having noticed that the chances of 

 a shot at deer were greatly diminished when any one ac- 

 companied me. 



Neither the hunters nor myself had any success for 

 some days. The snow was covered by a crust, which 

 made silent walking impossible, and deer were scarce, 

 having been driven away before the winter commenced 

 by continued hounding. At last, on getting up one morn- 

 ing, we saw that there had been a fresh fall of snow, and 

 the hunters predicted that we would get a deer before 

 nightfall. I went into the woods on the opposite side of 

 the lake, but did not find any tracks till late in the day. 

 I followed these for a long distance into the middle of a 

 large cedar swamp, not noticing, in the eagerness of 

 pursuit, that evening was drawing near, when suddenly 

 a heavy snowstorm commenced, and in a few minutes it 

 was impossible to see many yards in any direction. I 

 started for the hut, but had not gone far before night 

 came on, the darkness being so intense that the snow 

 on the ground could not be distinguished from the tree 

 trunks. I was almost blinded by the twigs continu- 

 ally striking against my eyes, and at short intervals fell 

 head first into the snow through stumbling against fallen 

 trees; or else dropped up to my knees in the small pools 

 and streams, for owing to the dense growth of the cedars 

 the ice would not bear my weight, although that upon 

 the lake was about Sin. thick. 



The barrel of my rifle, a single muzzleloader, became 

 plugged with snow, but I did not , realize that there was 

 any danger. I thought that even if unsuccessful in 

 finding the hut I would be pretty sure during the follow- 

 ing day to shoot a grouse or rabbit if not a deer ; but on 

 feeling for the powder flask I discovered that in one of 

 the numerous tumbles into the snow it had been flung 

 out of my pocket. The idea then occurred to me that I 

 ran a considerable risk of being starved to death, and I 

 felt so terrified that I sat down upon a fallen tree to de- 

 cide upon what had better be done. 



There were matches in my pocket, but the darkness 



was too great to allow of dry wood being found, Hie 

 food brought from the hut had been eaten at midday. I 

 had a compass but it could not be used for steering with- 

 out looking at it every few yards in such dense brush as 

 that. The hut was probably quite four miles distant and 

 beyond it, in the direction of the settlements, the nearest 

 house was seven miles further. On the opposite side 

 the hunters had told me that there was no house for 

 thirty miles. They would be unable to follow my 

 tracks in the morning because the snow had filled 

 them up. I was afraid to sit still because my socks 

 and moccasins were soaked with water and would 

 soon freeze, and also because I might fall asleep from the 

 cold and freeze to death before daylight — which could 

 not be expected for twelve hours, as it was then about six 

 o'clock. If I walked without some means of keeping 

 straight, I would probably go in circles until I sank from 

 exhaustion. While thinking of these things I suddenly 

 remembered that in the morning the wind was blowing 

 from the northwest. I had walked across the lake and 

 into the bush toward the north, then gone west and after- 

 ward followed the deer tracks in a southerly course. If, 

 therefore, the wind had not changed, I might return to- 

 ward the lake or its neighborhood by feeling it blowing 

 obliquely against the back of my left ear. There was 

 much difficulty in doing this, because the trees were so 

 close together that only a slight puff of wind could be 

 felt now and then, but I groped along, frequently falling 

 as before over prostrate trunks, until at last I emerged 

 from the swamp. The trees then were much further 

 apart and allowed of the snow being seeing between the 

 trunks, and the snow having ceased I was able to travel 

 with comparative ease. After a time the ground began 

 to slope toward the north, and thinking it might lead to 

 the lake I walked down hill and soon found myself on 

 the shore (about two hours after the snowstorm had com- 

 menced in the swamp). 



A walk of two miles along the banks upon the ice 

 brought me to the hut, where I met the hunters in a state 

 of great alarm. They had been firing their rifles repeat- 

 edly in order to guide me, but I had not heard them, 

 probably owing to the wind being in the wrong direction 

 and the trees too close together. I was informed that 

 only two winters previously a hunter had been lost in 

 the snow and had afterward been discovered frozen to 

 death. 



Of the various means of steering there are none equal 

 to the compass, even for the most experienced woodsman, 

 and of all compasses, none are equal to Singer's patent. 

 This has a dial plate of mother of pearl, the north half of 

 which is painted black. The uncolored half can be dis- 

 tinctly seen even by starlight. Little reliance can be 

 placed upon the "mossy north side of trees," so often 

 mentioned in travelers' books; but after a snowstorm the 

 snow will frequently be seen sticking to the windward 

 side of most of the trees, and attention to this may help 

 a man traveling by night. 



Many of the lower animals have, without doubt, a 

 mysterious sense of direction, for numerous well-authen- 

 ticated cases have occurred of dogs, cats, etc., being sent 

 long distances from home by rail, and afterward finding 

 their way back by road. A hunter with whom I spent 

 two months in the bush of western Canada had a tame 

 deer, which often accompanied him through the woods, 

 but would never go further than about seven miles from 

 home. The man assured me that, however circuitous a 

 route he might have taken, the deer always started back 

 on what he found, on reference to his compass, to be a 

 straight line. 



When shooting in India I have often walked for hours, 

 accompanied by one or two villagers, through jungles 

 where there were no apparent means of steering. It 

 seemed to me that the more utterly uncivilized these 

 men were the more readily they knew the direct road 

 back to camp. 



Is it not probable that man has naturally the same 

 sense of direction as the lower animals, but that this 

 sense becomes atrophied among civilized men by the ex- 

 cessive cultivation of their other powers? 



Combmarttn, England. J. J. MEYRICK. 



CHICAGO SHOOTING. 



CHICAGO, Feb. 23.— Editor Forest and Stream: We 

 are now almost in the height of the duck shooting 

 season here, and excellent sport is reported from all 

 points. The Kankakee marshes in Indiana especially are 

 said to be alive with ducks and geese. The members of 

 the Tolleston Club are having perhaps the best shooting, 

 and this is as it should be, for the Tolleston marsh is 

 probably the best natural duck country in America for 

 its size, and then the club has spent a large sum of money 

 each season to properly bait the marsh and provide food 

 for the birds. This is the course that must be adojjted 

 by all the shooting clubs near Chicago that hope to pre- 

 serve their sport, as it is evident that the natural food 

 supply is not enough to attract and hold the birds. 



The Liverpool Club, an organization which shoots near 

 the Tolleston marsh, reports superb sport last week, 

 many excellent bags having been made. From the Cum- 

 berland Club comes word of very heavy shooting early 

 last week wdien the birds began to arrive, one man hav- 

 ing killed a hundred ducks on last Thursday. Mr. Harry 

 Stephens, however, who has just returned from Cumber- 

 land, states that the birds have now located themselves 

 in almost inaccessible parts of the marsh, and that but a 

 few of the members are getting good shooting. 



Mr. Abner Price was at English Lake a few days ago, 

 and reports thousands of birds, but all are away back in 

 the meadows where they cannot be reached. Good sport 

 was had at Mak-saw-ba, Roll Organ bagging thirty birds 

 on Saturday, and another shooter scoring forty-seven, 

 nearly all being mallards. W. H. Haskell killed seven- 

 teen on Monday. Other good bags were made, but as at 

 other places the birds have located in pond-holes hard to 

 reach. The cold snap during the middle of the week 

 closed up the marshes and drove many of the birds to the 

 rivers, where good shooting was had. At Water Valley, 

 on Friday, Dick Turtle killed fifty-one ducks, mostly pin- 

 tails. A. C. Buchner bagged thirty-three mallards and 

 pintails at Mak-saw-ba on Thursday and Friday. 



The prospects for the coming week are excellent, and the 

 season's sport will probably reach its height in the next 

 ten days. But few bluebills and redheads are reported 

 as yet, but a few days of warm weather will bring them 

 with a rush. Shooters in this latitude must get to work 

 soon if tbey expect any spring sport, W. P, M, 



