Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Tekms, $i A Year. 10 Cis. A Oopr. I 

 Six Months, $3. I 



NEW YORK, DECEMBER 1, 1892. 



( VOL. XXXIX.-No. 23. 



] No. 318 Bhoadwat, New York. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



Snap Shots. 



The Sportsman Tourist. 



New Hampshire's Mountain 



Forests. 

 Aniicipations of a Winter's 



A Puzzle. 



The Canada Goose. 

 Natural History. 



The Bay Lynx. 



Interesting Collection of 



Horns. 

 More About the Scream. 

 Some Chat from Texas. 



Game Bag and Gun. 



Adirondack Deer Hunting. 

 Amateur Photography. 

 Wounded Deer. 

 A Fire-Himt. 

 Tennessee is Waking Up. 

 Chicago and the West. 

 Rabbits and Ferrets. 

 Pattern and Penetration. 

 Velocity of Shot. 

 The Lost Park Buffalo Again. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



Gronse-Fish or Bellows Fish. 

 A Kekoskee Medal. 

 The Channel Catfish. 

 Vermont Fish and Game 

 League. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



Anetling Notes. 



A Florida House Boat. 



The Kennel. 



Brooklyn Dok Show. 

 Eastern Field Trials, 

 Gloversville Dog Show. 

 PhiladPlphia F. T. Club's 



Trials. 

 Points and Flushes. 

 Dog Chat. 



Answers to Correspondents. 

 Yachting. 



Lord Dunraven's Letter. 

 British Measurement Rules. 

 Building Notes. 

 Canadian Canals. 



Canoeing. 



The Cruise of the Elsa. 

 A. C. A. Finances. 

 Paddling Records. 



Rifle Range and Gallery. 



New York Rifle Practice. 

 John Rebhan's Pattern. 



Trap Shooting. 



About Handicapping. 

 Thanksgiving Day at Wheel- 

 ing. 



Milwaukee B!g Wolf Shcot. 

 Drivers and Twisters. 



Answers to Queries. 



For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page v. 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 The showing which Gen. B. M. Whitlock makes in his 

 first annual report as head of the Department of Rifle 

 Practice in the New York State Guard is a most credit, 

 able one. When at the opening of the out-door practice 

 season he issued his orders for the shooting by the troops 

 there was a widespread cry of disapproval by those who 

 thought that no improvement was possible in the old 

 way of doing things. If results justify means then Gen. 

 Whitlock took just the right plan, for the reports sent in 

 to him show a greater number of skilled shooters than 

 have ever before been reported in the Guard. The num- 

 ber of qualified marksmen in the State is now 6,315 out 

 of a total enlistment of about 13,000, and a marksman 

 means a man who has scored 30 in a possible 50 at five 

 shots each over the 300 and 500yds. ranges. A sharp- 

 shooter goes a bit further and scores 43 in a possible 50 

 over the 500 and 600yds. This is very good work to get 

 out of the Remington .50cal, supplied to the Guard, and 

 546 of the men managed to score as high as this. 



The whole showing is a very excellent one and puts the 

 New York guard of citizen soldiery on a very high plane 

 of efficiency as practical, reliable fighters. It has taken 

 years of work and talk, of preaching and teaching to get 

 men to make these figures, but there are the scores and 

 the men are here and there in every workshop and office 

 of the State ready to drop into the ranks at an hour's 

 notice as a traiued army, not merely with guns in their 

 hands, but with skill to use them eft'ectually. 



That rifle shooting may legally be promoted by a char- 

 itable bequest is the curious point of law which has 

 recently been made by the English courts. A testator 

 bequeathed money to the National Rifle Association of 

 Great Britain, declaring that the object of the gift was 

 to prevent the recurrence of such a catastrophe as that 

 of Majuba Hill, in the South African war, where the 

 British troops were defeated because the Boers excelled 

 them as rifle shots. Contestants of the will urged that 

 the bequest could not be classed as a charitable gift, since 

 its purpose was the killing of one's enemies. The justice 

 held, however, that it was not the killing of one's 

 enemies, but the ability to defend one's self against 

 them, which was the true purpose intended, and he was 

 of opinion that this gift came within an old definition of 

 a Charitable gift, namely, "a gift to a general public use 

 which extends to the poor as well as the rich," and gave 

 judgment accordingly. 



An interesting bit of special legislation — enacted at the 

 demand of an individual and for the benefit of an indi- 

 vidual, not desired by the public, and not for the benefit 

 of the public — is embodied in a certain clause in the New 

 York game law, which permits the use of batteries for 

 shooting ducks on the Great Sodus Bay of Lake Ontario. 

 Mr. E. P. Doyle, clerk of the Fish Commission, told the 

 New York State Association meeting in Syracuse last 

 week, that the clause was inserted at the personal solicita- 

 tion of Senator Hunter. Now the Rochester Union in- 



forms us that the one person to benefit by the provision 

 was a summer cottager on the shore of the bay. When, 

 after protracted and careful consideration, a commission 

 specially provided by the State has determined on a code 

 of laws deemed wisest and best for the general good, it 

 is intolerable that one man should step in and demand of 

 the State of New York an exemption of his special bay 

 or stream or frog pond. 



To Mr. George Holmes, of Henderson county. North 

 Carolina, we extend assurances of our most distinguished 

 consideration; and we embrace this opportunity to ex- 

 press our gratitude to him for the rattler which, is "in our 

 midst." 



Some weeks ago when Professor Cope's rattlesnake 

 spitting assertion was under such searching and illum- 

 inating discussion in our Natural History columns, Mr. 

 Holmes told us that he had a live rattlesnake destined for 

 the FoKEST AND STREAM office, to be employed in snake 

 spitting tests. Soon thereafter the rattler of our fondest 

 anticipation was converted into a rattler of vain r egrets j 

 by advice from our North Carolina friend that the beast 

 had perished miserably, without ever having contributed 

 one shred to scieace. The rattler of vain regrets has 

 now in turn given way to a new rattler of lively surprise 

 and pleasure, brought in by the expressman last Friday, 

 and duly deposited, all alive, handsome, graceful, amiable 

 and ready to sing his little song without unreasonable 

 persuasion. He shall be well cared for, fed to repletion 

 on anonymous communications, and if all goes well, given 

 an opportunity to show us what he knows about Prof. 

 Cope's snake-spitting theory. If any newspaper in this 

 great and glorious country is prepared to dispute the 

 Forest and Stream's proud claim of being the only 

 journal to maintain an office rattlesnake we would be 

 glad to know of it. 



The Forest and Stream's rattler has been in the office 

 less than a week, but has already given a fine illustra- 

 tion of the way in which insufficiency of data may lead 

 to long and profitless discussion by observers of natural 

 history. In presence of one visitor the snake rattled 

 twice, each time concluding the long rattling with two 

 very short rattles, at intervals of a second; and the obser- 

 ver noted that "a rattlesnake always follows his long 

 rattle with two short ones." For the next visitor the 

 snake repeatedly gave his long rattle, but there was no 

 after-rattle following it. Now, it would probably require 

 columns of newspaper discussion to convince either of 

 these two persons that a rattler rattles as the other one 

 heard this one rattle. Yet on quite as meager experience 

 will a person often put forward his dictum, maintain it 

 through thick and thin, and never budge, though the 

 heavens fall. 



We have noted before that the Vermont game and flsh 

 bill prepared by Commissioner Titcomb and his associ- 

 ates followed closely in form and arrangement the New 

 York codification; and now that the bill has been ap- 

 proved Vermont has a law which is simple, plain and di- 

 rect in its provisions, readily understood, and for that 

 reason is likely to be better observed than a more com- 

 plex and inconsistent set of laws could be. But what 

 does the term "pheasant" stand for, in the clause which 

 provides for the protection of "pheasant" between Nov. 

 30 and Oct. 1 following? The context shows that it is not 

 a ruffed grouse nor a quail, but it may be a duck or 

 "pheasant duck." According to Trumbull, "pheasant," 

 "sea pheasant," "water pheasant'' and "pheasant duck" 

 are terms applied to certain water fowl. Is the Vermont 

 "pheasant" web-footed? 



One day last week a Fredericksburg, Va., wild turkey 

 hunter, failing to return home, was sought by a search 

 party, and discovered dead in a turkey blind. He had 

 been shot through the head. The Coroner's jury ren- 

 dered a verdict of murder by persons unknown , and sub- 

 sequently a suspected individual was arrested for the 

 supposed crime. It appears to be quite probable, how- 

 ever, that the unfortunate hunter met death in a way 

 in which it has come to others skilled in the art of call- 

 ing. For it has happened more than once that a caller 

 gifted with skill perfectly to simulate the notes of the 

 bird, has been shot in his ambush by some other hrmter 

 deceived into the belief that the turkey call came from a 

 real turkey. Such a case was reported from Pennsyl- 



vania a fornight ago; and others will be reported so 

 long as men shoot at sounds and at objects unseen. 



The reports of shooting casualties are this season an 

 numerous as ever, and quite as instructive. Last Satur- 

 day a Massachusetts gunner riding in a wagon undertook 

 to prop himself up with a gun, his hands over the 

 muzzle. Four fingers were amputated. Monday the 

 well-known Hebrew philanthropist, Baron de Hirsch, 

 was wounded by the explosion of his gun. Tuesday a 

 New Jersey farmer died from wounds self-inflicted while 

 he was dragging his gun after him through a fence. 



There is nothing in the cablegram to show that Baron 

 de Hirsch was at fault, but every one of a score of other 

 recent casualties may be accounted for on the score of 

 gross carelessness. The New Jersey victim of the gun in 

 the fence was reported to have committed suicide, and 

 the report aroused much indignation among his friends; 

 but in this age of the world an intelligent man ought to 

 understand that pulling a gun muzzle-foremost from boat 

 or wagon or fence is tempting fate in a degree little 

 lower than that of the deliberate suicide. 



If you have a gun selected for that boy of yours on 

 Christmas morning let not these daily reports of fatal 

 carelessness with firearms deter you from giving him the 

 gift. A gun is a safe and sensible possession for man or 

 boy. Life insurance companies do not discriminate 

 against users of sporting firearms; there are no provisions 

 in the policies that the insured must not go shooting. If 

 gunning were regarded as an "extra-hazardous" pursuit, 

 or even as one involving any appreciable or unusual 

 degree of peril, public sentiment would not sanction the 

 shooting excursions of President Harrison, nor of Mr. 

 Cleveland. As a matter of fact, most intelligent people 

 know perfectly well that a shotgun is a safe weapon in 

 the hands of a man who will keep himself behind it in- 

 stead of getting in front of it. 



Thousands and tens of thousands of guns are used with 

 safety. It is the ten thousand and first that does the dam- 

 age we read of in the papers. See that this ten thousand 

 and first handler shall not be of your kith and kin. 

 Teach the boy to handle the arm after approved rules. 

 Begin right. Caution is best instilled at the very outset. 

 Habit is everything, and it is just as easy to acquire ; 

 careful habits at the first. Give your boy a gun for his 

 Christmas, give him with it an appreciation of its proper 

 using, and you will have given that which will be a joy 

 and a satisfaction to him long after he shall have reached 

 a riiDer age than your own. 



The fourth and last of the promised drawings by Mr. 

 E. E. Thompson, illustrating American wild animals, is 

 given as a supplement with this issue. It pictures the 

 Bay Lynx, and the faithfulness of the portrait will be 

 recognized by those who have had the fortune — good or 

 ill— to observe the living creature at large. The publica- 

 tion of another series of drawings now in preparation , 

 will be begun shortly. Readers of the Forest and 

 Stream in 1893 may look for an even more generous 

 supply of illustrations than that which has marked the 

 new departure of 1893. 



The recent conference of New England Fish Commis- 

 sioners in Boston, of which we gave meager details last 

 week, was an occasion of general interest, and we trust 

 that public notice may be given of the next meeting. A 

 full report would undoubtedly stimulate thought and dis- 

 cussion on fish and game protection topics, and these are 

 subjects which will profit by such open, free and general 

 discussion. 



The "Kekoskee Fish Story" has been reprinted by our 

 London contemporary, the Fishing Gazette, and we con- 

 fidently look for it in our Calcutta exchange, the Asian. 

 It is a relation— a plain, simple, artless, ingenuous and 

 unvarnished relation of facts, which deserves to make its 

 way around the world. 



There would *be no difficulty in ridding Lake Keuka, 

 in this State, of unlawful nets, if the protector of that 

 district would set about it in a business way. Game Pro- 

 tectors Cotton, of Bath, and Clark, of Pulaski, made a 

 raid on Keuka nets last week a,nd had their men fined. 



