Feb. 9, 189a.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



IIB 



dropped his prey. I saw it drop and the water splash 

 when it dropped. Going a few yards further I flushed a 

 lai'ge covey of quail. Thinking that it must be a quail I 

 had seen drop I retraced my steps and went to the point. 

 I carefully scanned every bunch of grass and pool for my 

 bird. Not a feather eveii could I find. Looliing into a 

 little pool at about the iJoint I had seen the l;)ird drop, I 

 discovered a small terrapin making slight efforts to ni(_ive. 

 Thinking that the past few suniry days had removed Ins 

 torpidity I got a stick and drew it fr®m the water. Tak- 

 ing it in my hand I saw blood dropping from tlie region 

 of the head. Upon examination I found that the head 

 and most of the neck had been bitten oif, leaving the 

 ragged skin hanging and bleeding. The tail and legs con- 

 tinued to move with the peculiar aimless movements we 

 have all noticed in a beheaded turtle. We knowing that 

 a turtle wlaen caught always withdraws hishead.'and it is 

 with difificulty his captor can induce him to extend his 

 neck or exhibit his head, why should the hawk have 

 snapped off the turtle's head and neck instead of his leg 

 or tail that are visible and in active motion? Was it in- 

 stinct or experience? Albeiiaule. 



The Dreaming Kitten. 



The other day, Avhen kitty lay sound asleep in the cush- 

 ioned chair she uses for a bed, I put a small piece of fresh 

 beef on the end of a toothpick and held it within half an 

 inch of her nose. After a few seconds tlie muscles of the 

 throat twitched slightly, the mouth oj^ened, tlie jaws be- 

 gan to work and every detail of chewing and swallowing 

 followed, after which she licked her lips, but]she slept right 

 on, and she did not awake for some time afterward. 



O. H, Hajipton. 



Pine Grosbeaks. 



The folio whig letter explains itself and we hope that it 

 may draw out responses from some of our' ornithological 

 readers: 



No. 145 Brattle Street. Cambridge, Mass. 

 .Jan. 25, 1893. 



Dear Sir: Dm-iug the early pai't of the present winter CamhridKe. 

 Massachusetts, was visited by an unusual number of pine grosbealcs 

 (Fuu'coh I PHUcUator'), vrhich, a.ftf-r exhausting the food supply, de 

 parted very suddenly. I wish to trace. If possible, the routes which 

 they followed and the total area covered by their niigi-ation. You can 

 aid me in this by kindly answ-ering the following queKtions: 



1. Have any pine grosbeal-cs appeared in your neighborhood this 

 winter? fHeports of their apparent absence willl)e quite as useful as 

 records of their occurrence. ) 



2. When were the first seen and at what date were they most nu- 

 merous? (Approximate dates will lie nuicli better than none.) 



3. What was the greatest number of birds seen in one day? 



4. Did they occni- in lai-ge or small flocks as a rule and what was 

 the greatest number seen in any one floclc? 



8. About what was the proportion of red (i.e., full-plum aged males) 

 to the females and young (?'. t'., plain brown or gray birds)? 



0. \^liat was their principal food wdien with you? 



7. If they have disappeared or materially decreased in numbers 

 about when did this occur? 



The following Ijrief description of the pine groslaeak may enable 

 tliose unacquainted wdth the bird to recognize it. In size a little 

 smaller than a I'obin, plump, well feathered, witli short, stout bill. 

 Old males with most of the plumage rosy red. Females and young 

 males ashy browm, with more or less yellowish saffron or duU red oil 

 the rump and top of head. Both sexes have tw o conspicuous white 

 bars on tlie wings. Yours truly, William Brewster. 



0miii^ ^Hg and 0mi 



"OariiG Laws in Brief,'' United States and Canada,, 

 illustmted, 25 cents. "■Book of the Game Laws" (fvU 

 text), 50 cents. " _ _ 



THE BIG TURKEY. 



Thirty years have flown since when, on a -\-isit to an 

 older brother in Avestcrn Iowa, vety soon after my ar- 

 rival I was requested to take my brother^s shotgim" and 

 kill the turkey which for several evenings past had been 

 heard gobbling in the timber along the Nishnabottia River 

 about a mile distanti 



Wild turkeys were even then becoming quite scarce, 

 though a few wary birds still remained ih the timber along 

 the streams. 



I was informed that the bird usually began gobbling 

 about an hour before sunset, and an occasional call Avould 

 be heard from him until dark. No one had interfered 

 with him, as the hunting fe^^er never burned in the veins 

 of my sedate brother, ^vho, however, was very well aware 

 that few words of urging were ever required to start a 

 certahi half-AA-ild young enthusiast off on the wildest of 

 wild goose chases after anything that looked like game. 



I knew from experience that I had a full-sized contract 

 on my hands, for a fine gobbler, whose former fellows 

 had nearly or quite all fallen to the rifle of the Western 

 hunter, was quite apt to prove able to take good care of 

 himself, and the chance of surprising him seemed like that 

 of "catching a weasel asleep." 



However, a,^ I had then much rather hunt than eat or 

 sleep, I improved the early hours of the afternoon in giv- 

 ing the old single-barrel muzzleloader a thorough clean- 

 ing and careful loading in the manner which experience 

 had proven best for the old fuzee, than which I question 

 very much if a better ' 'shooting iron." exists to-day among 

 all the dudes of America. 



It wasn't "treble ( 1 ) boU d noi ton Mnp ' n(u 

 "liistol .grip," nor "m ) 1 fi d liol t it w isn t 1 ) d d \\ itli 

 "E. C," nor '-Sch-ultz.'. uur --b. h>.. nor even Avith Mr 

 Elliott's favorite "wood powder; and no ■■jtink edgf. 

 wads or ''chilled si ot pm i r ui d du uio )th in ide 

 of its long barrel. l:('t all the same when tlie doclimng 

 sun was but a hand breadth .above the horizon . and I 

 shouldered the old blun h iDLi^ md siut d t 1 u )\ 

 of timber in the first big bend ot the river below the 

 house, out of which now canie, clear and distniot. the 

 fii-st subdued call of the wary (jLI sen try. ii ^.v;!s with the 

 confident assurance that tae big load ot plain Western 

 ammunition, deep luduen m tue cavernotis stomacti of 

 the old •'stand-by," would give a good account of itself, 

 and that should I succeed in catching sight of the turkey 

 at forty or fifty yards di.-,tance it vrould pro^-e a cold dav. 

 indeed, if the old gun didn't elevate tlie temperature for 

 him. 



There were no settlements on the river below for a num- 

 ber of miles, and there was? no fear of interruption by 

 otliers OQ the same quest, that greatest of all auiioA^nn^'es 

 whicl I can befall the hunter. The gun was loaded v.-ith 

 No. 4 sViot, the l;;irgesl, obtainable. At inteiwals of several 

 muiutes^oach came the clea.r call of tlie turkey, borne on 

 theVings of the 2-entle breeze, which, .fortunately for me. 



proved him to be to wmdward. Choosing the dry bed of 

 an old bayou v>drich circled through the bottom land to- 

 ward the river, I succeeded in gaining the edge of the 

 grove without being seen, and here made quite a pause 

 until repeated calls of the turkey proved tha,t my game 

 was at the furtlier side of the body of timber that filled 

 the whole bend of the ('rooked stream, which at this j)oint 

 nuade a great half circle beyond the timber to the edge of 

 I^rairie land beyond tlie ftu tlier bank. I could move in 

 silence over tlie sandy soil, and it appeared now to be only 

 a question of A\liich, the game or the hunter, had the 

 sharpest eyes. Picking my way slowly along, all eyes, all 

 ears, with thumb on hammei- and finger on trigger, 1 

 reached the further edge of the tiuiber, only to find that 

 the crooked river, with its steei?, muddy banks and deep, 

 sluggish current lay just beyond, while a low call from 

 the gobbler just tlien aunoimccd to me the tmwelcome 

 fact'that the object of my careful searcli was still beyond 

 the appareiitl.y impassalile sti-eam. 



But just as the unpleasant truth forced itself upon me 

 my boyish heart leaped with exultation as I saw that right 

 in front of me and almost in line with the last call of the 

 gobbler, lay the stem of a gigantic Cottonwood which, 

 long ago undermined by the encrouching stream , had in 

 its fall coiniiletely spanned the river, affording me a safe 

 and convenient bridge. 



Another low call of the turkey, fainter than any yet 

 lieard, warned me that he was becoming suspicious, 

 though I knew tliat he ha d not yet seen, heard or scented 

 me. This proved the last call I was to hear from him, 

 but whicli gff\'e me liis direction, exactly. Did a premon- 

 ition of impending doom visit hinr as he kept vigil in his 

 lonely thicket, warning him to silence? 



Creeping out on the big cottoiiwood beyond the fringe 

 of bushes lining the shore, I saw at a glance the hiding- 

 place of the wary old bird. About 40yds. from the shore 

 of the stream, above which on the top of the log I at 

 length stood, grew a dense thicket of wild plum bushes 

 about 20yds. in length up and down the sti'eam and about 

 10yds. wide, while just beyond rose a slight elevation of 

 prairie land, and about 10ft. higher than that on which 

 grew the brishes, crowned with short grass too Ioav to 

 conceal the turkey, and nothing aboA^e or beloAv save a 

 dense growth of tangled A;dnes too low to hide him and 

 too densely tangled for suitable cover. His hiding place 

 Avas AA^eU chosen, and as I stood uyion the log I pondered 

 long upon the question of what to do next, for a glance at 

 the gi'ound betAveen the log and the thicket shoAved the 

 hopelessness of the task of attempting to pick my Avay 

 through the tangled Adnes with anything like the silence 

 necessary in approaching my watchful game, and no 

 other avemre of approach was Adsible. 



Finally I decided upon the only course really left for 

 me. That was to get in perfect readiness for action, take 

 a full breath, and with no further regard whateA^er for 

 silence to run Avith all possible speed from the log to the 

 opposite side of the thicket, through a partial opening 

 near its center, and take chances on being able to get 

 there before the fleet-footed old racer could place himself 

 beyond range. 



There AA^as but this one thing to do: and first sca,nning 

 carefully every step of my short but tangled course from 

 the point of vantage Mgh up on the big log, I glanced at 

 the gun to a.ssure myself that itAvas in perfect order, drew 

 a deep breath, and Avith a long leap down among the 

 tangled and rustling vines, tore my noisy Avay through the 

 vegetation with racket enough for the cbai'ge of a bull 

 buffalo. Nearing the thicket, I ducked my head and 

 AAuth half-closed eyes dashed through the hindering net- 

 Avork of thorn-fringed boughs, and gaining the open slope 

 beyond, rose up, glancing quickly from right to left in 

 search of the absconding tm-key. 



Wary and cunning old rascal! 



Nothing save the Nancy Hanks gait of my swift ap- 

 proach cA-er brouglit to my view the roast turkey dinner 

 of the succeeding day. Squarely to the left he had 

 turned. Avhere oid'y a narrow point of the liigher land, 

 projecting toward the river, remained to be crossed before 

 placing himself beyond sight entirely. Forty yards dis- 

 tant, on the A'Cry crest of the point, Avithin five jumps of 

 safety, Avith neck outstretched and drooping head, and 

 Avith "the foot-long beard pendant from his breast SAveeping 

 the short grass in front, sped the biggest turkey I ever 

 bagged at a pace that seemed a guarantee of safety. 



There remained but the work of a moment, for seconds 

 were inn'celess! 



Stooping the instant the faithful old gun spoke, for a 

 glance beneath the belching smoke cloud. I had the hap- 

 piness of seeing the great bird collapse like a folding um- 

 brella, while the long roar of the miniahire cannon, fol- 

 lowed by the Pawnee yell of the half cimy enthusiast, 

 sounded a fitting requiem, and announced to distant 

 friends the welcome ncAvs that the chase was done. 

 A glorious chase it had been, too! The very tornado 

 of my SAvift approach had yjrobably confused him 

 into those few seconds of fatal delay. And although a 

 ntmiber of turkeys have at other times faUen to my rifle, 

 and in fact this Avas the only one which I CA'er killed with 

 a shotgun, still this little adventure, Avith its tumultuously 

 pleasant ending, proved the most enjoyable himt I ever 

 knew. 



And hoAA" fortunate, by the Avay. is the hunter, in com- 

 parison with the hsherman! 



loril, in eoiH lLiMioTi. I tell of rav bu-d AveuYhing 21hs. 

 ni 1 th 1 1 th n i ulfvot in> oIIki hun<"i md o< 



his beard measurms' oin. lon2,'er than auA'' other similar 

 trophy, ot course all weli instructed readers of ••Our 

 Paper will undersiand tliai: (imliko the amateur tisher- 

 un n y\lo ii lih silmi i^ the hist fih t ia ml ni 

 roi (rqui 1 ( o 1 in ' n > slio \ it dltkeii ntei) 1 c an t 

 calmlA'^ ill tlic assurance that my brother hunters, guile- 

 less and innoneiii, as tiiione hirnsell (forwlio CA'er tie.'ird nt 

 a hunter ■■A'arnmar ) will make no euAuous clutch at uiy 

 well earned laurels. 



I Avonder, if "O. O. S." had told us of killmg the biggest 

 tai-[ion on record Avdth a hand-spike instead of the great 

 cat of the Coluinbia, Iioaa" long it would have been before 

 we heard &■! a much larger Florida specimen having been 

 kiUed Avith a bootjack'^ Sage contributor. 



When he gets ready to give us one of the very best of 

 the long list of good stories 3'et chronicled by the only 

 sriorts man's paper on this green earth to-day (don't blush, 

 Itr. Editv. [May.e !ceep your blue pejieil oft that line, 

 lor 1 n\'::::ii C v ev; \, ovj of it), lie A\'isely di-op.-. the fisher- 

 man, tiigelhei witii the old lancewood out of sight in the 

 bushes, and emerges ti innipliautly therefrom the cham- 

 pion pedestrian-hnnter of Anierica. T trust the haJr of 



his wig has since settled smoothly into place, and when 

 next he visits the great forests of the Pacitic coast to try 

 his speed with the "big kitties," "may I be there to see." 



Orin Belknap, 



VAiLBY, Stevens County, Wasliington. 



PATTERN AND PENETRATION. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The issue of Forest and Stream of Dec. 1 contains a 

 communication from Mr. O.' H. Hampton, in Avhich the 

 writer presents the theory that the cause why nitro- 

 poAvders give a closer pattern than black poAvder is 

 chiefly due to the fact that the gas pressure at and near 

 the muzzle of the gun is greater from a charge of black 

 powder than from a charge of nitro poAvder. 



Mr. Hampton's premises are incorrect, and consequently 

 his conclusion must be Avrong. I have made extensive 

 exjieriments on the line pointed out by Mr. Hampton and 

 the results of these tests are not in accordance with the 

 Auews adA'anced by him . 



If Mr. Hampton would have fired a series of shots from 

 a larger number of guns with both kinds of explosives he 

 undoubtedly had arrived at a different conclusion, for as 

 a matter of fact one gun will shoot nitro powder better 

 than black powder, while another gam Avill give the best 

 and the most effective patterns with black poAvder. 



The distribution of the gass pressure in a gun barrel of 

 a charge of black powder does not differ greatly from that 

 of a charge of nitro poAvder. 



Since Mr. Hampton evidently has not the requisite 

 instruments for determining the question at issue at 

 his command, I AviU |give here the gas pressure pro- 

 duced hj the various gunpoAA^ders in the barrel. 



The gas pressures were m aU instances measured first 

 in the cai-tridge chamber, second 1ft. further toAvard the 

 muzzle, and third 2ft. from the chamber. The figures 

 thus obtained Avere as foUoAvs: 



1. Standard charge'of fine-grained black poAvder: Point 

 1— average pressure 445,4 atmospheres; point 2— 138.8 atm. ; 

 point 3—47.4 atm. 



2. Standard charge of coarse-grained black powder: 

 Point 1—414.6. atm.; point 2— 138. & atm.; point 3— 51.8 

 atm. 



3. Standard charge of Schultze powder: Point 1 — 510.6 

 atm.; point 2—86.4 atm.; point 3 — 47.8 atm. 



4. Standard charge of E. C. powder: Point 1—496.8 atm. ; 

 point 2—72.2 atm.; point 3—41.2 atm. 



5. Standard charge of Walsrode smokeless powder: 

 Point 1—482 atm. ; point 2—59.2 atm.; pomt 3—6.8 atm. 

 The initial velocities were in all cases about the same. 



Now if Mr. Hampton's theory would be coiTCct the 

 patterns of the Walsrode powder, which produces the 

 loAvest pressure near- the muzzle should have been the best. 

 This, howcA^er, has not been the case, they were not 

 superior to those obtained from, the coarse-grained black 

 poAvder. although very satisfactory and unsurpassed by 

 any explosive. The inerits of a gunpowder must, to a 

 great extent, be judged .from the uniformity of the gas 

 pressure, since evenness of pattern is goA^erned by a regu- 

 larity of the gas pressure. Mo nitro poAvder can in this 

 respect be compared with a good qualitj- of black powder, 

 and the Walsrode powder shoAVS in this regard the nearest 

 approach to black powder among the nitro explosive.^. 

 This fact, howeAW, may be mainly due to its great in- 

 difference to try heat or the effect of moisture in the at- 

 mospheric air, less to the distribution of pressure in the 

 gun barrel. 



I cannot agree again AAuth Mr. Hampton when he asserts 

 or believes that the peUets fired from a chokebore barrel 

 Avill cross in their flight through the air. 



In order to ascertain Avhich portion of a charge of shot 

 Avould as a rule constitute the main body of the center of 

 the killing circle, hundreds of shots were fired from choke- 

 bore and cylhidrical barrels and the pellets Avere marked. 

 It was found that those pellets forming the outer layers 

 in the shell, and naturafly .subjected to the most friction 

 in their passage through the ba.rrel,Avould in their majority 

 be fotmd among the scattering shot and give the least 

 penetration, Avhile those pellets near or more close to the 

 center of the charge in the shell will furnish the highest 

 per centage of the pellets found in the middle of the 

 shooting circle. This rule applies to both kinds of barrels. 



ARfflN Tenner, 

 Manager of the German Shooting Association. 



Berlin, Gennany. 



PENNSYLVANIA GAME LAWS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Revising the game laws of Pennsylvania and making 

 them uniform is all well enough in certam limits. But 

 making tlie open season on Avoodcock commence in No- 

 vember as some propose, isn't all Avell enough, unless we 

 resolA^e to quit shooting such game entirely. It simply 

 amounts to tliat nractically. In northern Pennsylvania 

 the AVOodcock are^all gone by Nov. 1. Sept. 1 is the proper 

 time for A\'o.'->dcock and grouse shooting to begin. Now 

 we commence on woodcock July 4. IE Ave surrender two 

 months we certainly ought to have two months Avhere we 

 now ha,A-e at lea^t four. If Ave can't get this we had bet- 

 ter op|U).se any change, and keep the law as it is now, and 

 workuia: fairly a\ eh. . ..... , i, t 



Wo iUchI 1 11 _i n )iA biid^ Hu come early, breed 

 early and ^'o «outli witli the first frosts. It makes no 

 odd« bow httle or how much Ave shoot them in any one 

 year- the same supplv conies back to the same feeding 

 r-..,..-.,^^j.^.]u fci- the nevt year. They are not lilie native birds, 

 whiHi rnavrun out by extensive kflling. By aU means 

 ■ i-e OS at lenst two months for this sport. It wiU simply 

 --o'l tlr's ^hriotmg bv bavmg onlv half a month for it, 

 September i^ the lieat faU month, and we should by all 

 niemi'^' h-nn- that, with October and wdrat of November 

 ixj^iY Hvailable. and some of it is. m the southern part 

 of th'^ Ktr. ie. but not in the northern part of the State and 

 further north. _ , , .:, i_ i. 



-Vnd some reasonable provision should be made about 

 squirrels. It will be hard to convince the old farmer and 

 his half a dozen boys that squirrels should not be destroyed 

 when tlieA' heoin to destroy tlie corn. 



A rea:;Mn:i,hli' ijiiange may go through. But anrmreason- 

 able one will mt- ke the law leas valuable than it is now. 



Penn, 



The AinLu-Irfm ])airijriiim gives elaborate directions for 

 curino- bnliVdo Rtdn.s. A recipe for cookhig moa eggs or 

 making feather beds from great auks would he about as use- 

 ful and tunely and practioal. 



