£98 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March ai, 1892. 



TREED BY A "MAD'AWG." 



THIRTY years ago shooting partridges on the wing was 

 a rare art in our part of North Carolina. A man 

 who could hit a bird flying was about as much of a won- 

 der then as Dr. Carver or Buffalo Bill are now. 



The partridge, as we still call the quail, was taken in 

 traps, coops, and by driving them from on horseback 

 into long, funnel-shaped nets. Pointer and setter dogs 

 were scarce, though a few were used by the netters. 



Just then my father's brother, who was something of a 

 sportsman, came from some distance to pay us a visit, 

 bringing his gun and setter in the buggy with him. 



I had been old enough for a year or more to carry a 

 gun, but had so far confined myself to shooting robins 

 and squirrels, or, to be exact, in shooting at them, the 

 terms being by no means synonymous in my case. 



TJncle Rufus's accounts of his exploits in partridge 

 hunting fired my imagination the first night. As he felt 

 too tired from the effects of bis long journey to hunt the 

 next day and was also an exceedingly kind and indulgent 

 man, I very readily obtained his permission to use his 

 gun and dog, Old Richmond, myself. 



The next ^morning after an early and hurried breakfast 

 I was off accompanied by two little negro boys, Ben- 

 Jake and Black Sam, my inseparable companions and 

 backers in every undertaking. 



It was mid-autumn, and all nature toned down by the 

 frost to tenderest brown was set in a framework of pale 

 blue sky. For a while we trudged on through the fields 

 and thickets without event, but keeping a sharp eye on 

 the dog, who bounded and circled over the land with the 

 greatest buoyancy. 



Never before had we seen a dog so tractable and obedi- 

 ent, so affectionate and so playful. Three happier, mer- 

 rier boys could not have easily been found. We sang, 

 whistled and shouted, and occasionally I fired the gun 

 off in the air to encourage the dog. 



Bat our joy and glee was of brief duration and came 

 to a sudden and startling end. Old Richmond, while 

 plunging and bounding over the fields in our front, the 

 embodiment of health and activity, stopped as short as if 

 he had run against a rock wall; almost turning a somer- 

 sault in the act. Instantly he became as rigid and motion- 

 less as a dog of stone. His head was thrust forward; his 

 tail extended like a rod; even one of his forefeet, which 

 was raised when he was seized, remained lifted from the 

 ground. A moment later a faint shiver ran through his 

 frame. 



We were dumbfounded. To our minds the faithful 

 creature had been smitten with some strange and terrible 

 malady. Our hearts went out to him in his distress; but 

 we were afraid to go to his relief, not knowing what a 

 dog of that kind might be capable of in extremity. 



As soon as our wits returned a little we held a hurried 

 consultation as to what was best to do; speaking in 

 whispers lest the dog should overhear us. 



"He's bound to be mighty sick or paralyzed, or some- 

 thing," I ventured. 



"He's got de trimbles ! " blurted out Ben- Jake. 



"He done been conjured sho's yer born!" quivered 

 Black Sam. 



"Let's go atter Unc' Butler. He's had mo' dawgs dan 

 ar man in de Nunited States, en he'll know what to do," 

 ui'ged Ben- Jake. 



"Let's run en fetch Marse Rufe, case it's his dawg, en 

 he'll know what he ought to take," plead Black Sam. 



"Let's shoot off both barrels of the gun at one time and 

 bring help," I suggested. 



But we were afraid to do anything. Not for worlds 

 would we have gone an inch closer. To fly we dared not, 

 lest we should break the spell and bring the dread canine 

 on us. So with wild eyes and trembling frames we 

 huddled together in about 40yds. of the rigid dog, and did 

 nothing. 



Presently there came an eruption that seemed to shake 

 the earth to its foundation. The explosion of a keg of 

 powder could not have been more sudden and temendous. 

 A huge covey of quail had burst from the ground at the 

 dog's feet and sped off down the branch like a whirlwind. 

 After they were gone I remembered that I had a gun, and 

 what I brought it for. 



At the next glance Old Richmond was himself again. 

 Boundless was our relief to find him on the go and dis- 

 porting himself as of old. The fuss the birds made in 

 taking wing had cured him or brought him to, we agreed 

 after no little argument. 



So onward we went, though with ardor considerably 

 diminished. Anxiety had now to some extent taken the 

 place of joy, for we knew not what moment Old Rich- 

 mond might be taken again. And then suppose there 

 should be no covey of partridges handy to bring him 

 around with the noise, what would happen. 



However, we comforted ourselves with the argument 

 that a dog could hardly get as bad off as that twice in one 

 day, talked about something else and tried very hard to 

 forget all about it, although we couldn't try hard enough 

 to succeed. 



By and by, in crossing an old field seamed with deep 

 gulleys and covered with brom straw, Old Richmond dis- 

 appeared entirely. In vain did we call, coax and threaten. 

 He came not, nor any tidings of him. 



At length, despairing of ever finding the dog, we 

 started home with heavy hearts, discussing what excuse 

 we should give Uncle Rufu3 for having lost his pet. 

 Imagine our amazement when on scrambling in a body 

 out of a deep gulley we ran almost upon Old Richmond 

 standing in the rank brom sedge. 



Half a glance showed us that the old fellow's strange 

 ailment had come back again. No friendly forty yards 

 now intervened. An extended arm could almost have 

 touched him. We were possessed with terror. Any 

 other, even the fiercest bulldog, we might have faced, 

 but there was something eerie about a setter, and a set- 

 ter's way before which all our courage became as fear. 



Again a whispered consultation was held, though in a 

 much lower key tban the first one. Shooting the dog 

 was proposed, hurriedly discussed and for weighty 

 reasons unanimously rejected. First, the gun might 

 snap and miss fire, we might miss the dog, we might 

 wound him just enough to make him still madder. Then 

 it was Uncle Rufus's dawg, too. Maybe he knew a 

 medicine that would cure his dog. 



A bright idea struck Ben- Jake. "Thunder make mud 

 turkle break his hold. Racket fotch Oie Richmond to 

 des now. Less make it thunder!" he whispered. 



This was agreed to, and make it thunder we did with a 



vim. Peal after peal of the artificial thunder rumbled 

 and muttered through the old field. In the midst of it 

 all Old Richmond's head swung around as if on hinges. 

 Then we saw that his eyes were rolling and quivering as 

 if in the last agonies of death. 



"Fits! Fits!" screamed Ben- Jake. 



"Fits! Mad'awg (dog)! Mad'awg!" exclaimed Black 

 Sam; and in a twinkling we were bouncing over gullies 

 and tearing through the old field like deer. A covey of 

 partridges rose with a loud rumble in our rear, and glan- 

 cing back over our shoulders as we fled we saw Old Rich- 

 mond coming with wild leaps straight toward us. 



Before we had been running; now we flew. The branch- 

 less trunk of a pine tree, owing to its scaling bark, is next 

 to impossible to climb, and I have never been up one be- 

 fore or since; but twenty seconds later I was in the top 

 of one 30ft. above the ground with two sable youngsters 

 keeping me close company. 



Old Richmond was already at the roots of the tree 

 bounding and barking as if he was determined not to be 

 cheated if we climbed to the moon. Our lofty perch 

 gave us a wide prospect, enabling us to see that we were 

 not more than a quarter of a mile from the road. 



Now and then men rode by on horseback, and we sig- 

 naled frantically with our hands, or hats having been 

 abandoned in the flight, and shouted "Mad'awg! Mad'- 

 awg!" with might and main. But the distance was so 

 great that the horsemen must have though that we were 

 guying them, for they only shook their riding switches at 

 us and jogged onward. 



Midday came. We had been in the tree full four 

 hours and had signaled full half a hundred people with 

 the same results. Driven to desperation, all of us now 

 pulled off our coats„and shook them at every passer-by 

 till the pine swayed and cracked dangerously* 



Finally it had effect. An old negro man plodding along 

 the road, staff in hand, Btopped, listened, looked our way, 

 and then leaving the road hobbled slowly and lumber - 

 ingly toward us. About a hundred yards from our perch 

 was a high rail fence, fringed with cedars and pine 

 bushes, forming what was termed a hedgerow. Climb- 

 ing this fence and balancing himself on the lofty top rail, 

 the old man shouted: 



"My blessed goodness, chillun, is yer 'stracted? Don't 

 yer know yer mus'n' 'sturb de neighborhood wid all dat 

 outlandish racket en ca'in' awn? You'll skyeer de women 

 en chillun to def at dat rate." 



"Mad'awg! Mad'awg! Mad'awg!" we hollered back. 



"Whar!" he ejaculated. 



"Here! Right under this tree!" we said. 



Just then the dog gave a high bound and a loud bark. 

 The old man tumbled off the fence on the further side 

 like he had been shot. Indeed, I was sure he must be 

 seriously hurt, till in an incredibly short space of time I 

 saw him emerge from behind the hedgerow half a mile 

 distant, hat in hand, stick gone and running like a 

 racer. 



After that only one more person passed the road. A 

 man came from a farmhouse at which the old negro took 

 refuge, and rode under whip and spur down the road, 

 shouting a warning to every hnuse as he shot by. A 

 panic seized the neighborhood. People, leaving plow and 

 grubbing, fled from work in the fields. Mothers hunted 

 up their children, dragged them in the house and barred 

 the doors. 



The evening crept by with leaden feet. Despite our 

 alarming predicament we grew ravenously hungry. True, 

 we had started from home that niorning carrying lunch 

 with us, but boy like, finding it a hindrance, had eaten 

 it the first half hour to get rid of it. Since then we had 

 neither food nor water. Toward sundown a motley body 

 of negro men and boys accompanied by a few white boys 

 came in sight. Some bore pitchforks, some axee, some 

 mauls, clubs and fense rails. They halted on a neigh- 

 boring hill and shouted. The dog bounded off in that 

 direction. The crowd wavered , and before Old Richmond 

 was half way to them broke and fled in wildest rout, and 

 I saw them no more. 



Another long pause followed. The pine limbs grew 

 harder; we grew hungrier every minute. The sun set. 

 A brilliant after-glow bathed the brown world in glory. 

 Just as this had given way to the weird glare which 

 heralds the coming of night, a small squad of men came 

 trudging rapidly forward, I saw through the dusk that 

 they bore guns in their hands. Old Richmond sprang 

 toward them. Instantly there came the click of half a 

 dozen gunlocks and as many leveled barrels gleamed in 

 the twilight. 



Just as we were expecting a flash and report a man in 

 front beat down the guns and rushing forward caught 

 the dog in his arms. 



"Where's the mad'awg?" they shouted, halting at the 

 fence. 



"There he is with you. Mind he don't bite," I faltered. 

 ' 'Why did you think he had run mad?" asked a familiar 

 voice. 



I described his strange condition from which nothing 

 arouse him until the thunder of bird wings broke the 

 spell. A roar of laughter was the response. Men laid 

 down their guns to laugh. They could not do justice to 

 the occasion until entirely disencumbered. 



' Come down out of the tree, boys. Come down. Thafs 

 a bird dog's way of letting you know that game is about. 

 He was only pointing a covey," said Uncle Rufus sympa- 

 thetically, as soon as he could get a hearing. 



We slipped down, hunted up hats and gun and slunk 

 home, a crestfallen trio. 



"Ef it makes ev'y dawg es sick es dat 'en puts him in 

 dat much mis'ry to smell er bird it oughter be ergin de 

 law to p'att'ige hunt. Hit ought," said Ben-Jake, and 

 we agreed with him. David Dodge, 



North Caholina, 



The full texts of the game fish laws of all the States, 

 Territories and British Provinces are given in the Book of 

 the Game Laws. 



Of all the numerous adaptations of electricity, perhaps none is 

 prettier and more useful in a small way than the newly invented 

 Electric Lighter. This is a beautiful ornament for the parlor, 

 dining room or chamber, always ready at an instant's notice to 

 produce light, and useful in many other ways. It is ornamental, 

 entirely simple in construction, perfectly safe, and it costs prac- 

 tically nothing to ke'p it in operation. Besides its use as a lighter 

 it can be made to serve other purposes. Gentle or sharp shocks 

 can be given for medical purposes, or by another attachment 

 a burglar alarm attached to all the doors and windows can he 

 had. The article is one of use and beauty, and the Barr Electric 

 Co., of 17 and 19 Broadway, New York, have found that it is a 

 "quick seller,"— Adv. 



PREPARING TO RECEIVE CAVALRY. 



WE were bringing a drive of logs down Sheet Harbor 

 waters. The boss took off two men to cross the 

 stream in order to take care of a wing jam rapidly form- 

 ing on the other side, by logs coming from the rear of 

 the drive. One of the men, Charles Campbell, had seen 

 much active service during the Civil War, and was also a 

 good stream driver. After reducing the wing jam suffi- 

 ciently to let the rear logs pass rapidly by, they took a 

 short stroll up the bank of the stream, when they dis- 

 covered a young moose asleep in the dry grass that fringed 

 the margin of the river. To'caich the* young animal and 

 fasten him to a tree with the belt that log drivers usually 

 wear was but the work of a few moments; they intended 

 in the evening to ferry him across to the camp. The 

 bleating of the calf brought the mother in furious haste. 

 Campbell saw her rapid approach and thought it time to 

 prepare to receive cavalry. Ordering his companion to 

 place the small end of peavy on the ground, with the pick 

 part pointing toward the coming moose, then firmly 

 awaited the charge. They had not long to wait before the 

 animal was in close proximity, striking at the pointed 

 weapons with her forefeet and twice knocking them out 

 of their hands. One lucky blow, however, bit the belt 

 and broke the buckle, which released her offspring, and 

 mother and calf soon disappeared. Campbell, in relating 

 the adventure that evening before the whole crew at 

 camp-fire, said he had many times faced the charges of 

 Southern cavalry with less tremor than in the defense 

 against that frantic moose. J. H. 



Shket Harbor, N. S. 



NOTES FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



OTTAWA, Kan., March 23. — A great amount of rain 

 and snow has fallen here during the past two weeks, 

 and all the ponds and creeks are full of water, insuring 

 an abundance of waterfowl this spring. Last week a 

 number of ducks were killed around here, and this week 

 they abound everywhere, though they are very wild. 

 Yesterday and to-day the weather was very warm and 

 pleasant, but I think we shall have plenty of ducks for 

 some time yet. — F. B. 



Central Lake, Mich., March 24.— The winter has been 

 mild, with no great depth of snow, and much like the 

 three which preceded it. It seems as if the climate is 

 growing milder. The deer and other game have had a 

 capital chance, and should have wintered well. An un- 

 usual number of ducks have been reported during the 

 past week. I have not seen them, but those who have, 

 call them "pintails." I think this can hardly be, as I 

 never yet happened to see a pintail here. Some of these 

 ducks have been shot, but I think that there is an in- 

 creasing respect for the game laws in this region.— 

 Kelpie. 



St. Lodis, March 26.— Duck shooting has been better 

 this spring than for many years past, and the slaughter 

 of this bud at all the club resorts has been something ter- 

 rific. Scores of 50, 75 and 100 in one day are not uncom- 

 mon. But if all the old ducks are killed in the Bpring, 

 where are the young ones to come from for succeeding 

 years? The Ellsberry Fishing and Hunting Club has 

 been organized with the following officers: President, E. 

 C. Jansen; Vice-President, A. Russell; Secretary, P. 

 Koehler; Treasurer, N. Staits. Some 2,000 acres of land 

 have been purchased on the Keokuk and Northwestern 

 road not far from Ellsberry station. The new grounds 

 will afford both fishing and hunting facilities, and a club 

 house will be built in the spring. At this writing the 

 weather is getting much warmer and duck shooting will 

 soon be over.— Aberdeen. 



INDIAN GAME FOR AMERICA. 



MACOMB, 111., March 14.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The following letter from theU. S. Consular Agpnt 

 at Karachi, India, pertaining to the Caccabis chukor, the 

 India partridge, was received this date. This is a beau- 

 tiful game bird, about the size of an American pheasant 

 or partridge. Col. Ramsdale, of the English Army in 

 India, writes to me that they are very hardy birds and 

 will stand snow and any climate in America or the cold 

 world. They are often found ou the highest hills of 

 India, and he thinks they will do much better in Amer- 

 ica than the black partridge which is found in the valleys 

 where the climate is much warmer. The black partridge 

 I imported from Calcutta last year have stood the climate 

 here where the mercury fell to 15° below zero, and they 

 are doing nicely; but I do not think they would stand 

 our Northern States, though they would do well in the 

 Western and Southern States, I have ordered five pairs 

 of Caccubis cukor partridge, and shall look for them 

 here about Aug. 1. — W. O. Blaisdell. 



United States Consular Agency, Karachi, India, 

 Feb. 10.— Dr. W. O. Blaisdell.— Dear Sir: The Caccubis 

 chukor are obtainable in the Northern Scind hills and in 

 Beloochistan, and I am waiting to consult with the gov- 

 ernment official of the district as to how be6t to obtain 

 the number you desire. When I procure them I propose 

 locating them under the care of the superintendent of 

 the local zoo. I can arrange for them us far as Liver- 

 pool. You will have to take delivery of them there. The 

 cost of birds and carriage to Liverpool I estimate at 

 5 rupees per bird. The black partridge can be obtained 

 in Scind. They would, I think, cost about 4 rupees in 

 Liverpool. Yours faithfully, James Currie, U. S. Con- 

 sular Agent. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[From a Staff Correapondent.'l 



CHICAGO, 111., March 20.— Last winter John Jacobson, 

 in northern Wisconsin, set a spring gun for deer. 

 Ed Sweeny stepped on the string and was shot and killed. 

 Jacobson was tried for manslaughter. Yesterday a jury 

 found him not guilty and he was discharged. 



A press clipping has the following: "B. C. Howell, of 

 New York city, has contracted to pump dry Lake Ange- 

 line in the upper peninsula of Michigan. The lake covers 

 a large bed of iron ore, and is estimated to contain 

 180,000,000 gallons.'' I do not know anything about 

 Lake Angeline, and it is in order for some Michigan man 

 to tell us about that. 



Lincoln Park, of this city, is to have added to its stock 

 of wild animals all those kept at South Park, among 



