364 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 37, 189a. 



THE ONE BIRD ALWAYS REMEMBERED. 



Schenectady, N. Y.— This is the place. There is the 

 old mill — deserted. The wheel is going to decay, but the 

 stream runs on as it did. There is the penstock that 

 brought the clear, cold water from the shaded nook. As 

 I look around me, while the sun of autumn sheds a mild 

 radiance over the scene, the thrilling interest and the 

 companionship of other days are revived, and I live again 

 in the past. Those wei-e pleasant times. There is the 

 home of the grouse, the life and ornament of the woods. 



That heavily wooded hillside, covered with the pines, 

 the hemlocks, spruce, and other evergreen and forest 

 trees, is where the ruflfed grouse finds a home. On the 

 opposite side of the valley there is a delightful wilderness 

 of vegetation, bordered with old apple trees, the fragrant 

 fruit scattered over the ground; and in the distance is 

 the cider-mill. All is silent and still, save the sound of 

 the hunter's gun or the wood-chopper's ax, providing for 

 the coming winter. It recalls Read's verse: 



"All sights were mellowed and all sights subdued; 

 The hiUs seemed ftirther and the streams sang low, 

 And in a dream the distant woodman hewed 

 His winter log with many a muiiled blow." 



The scene brings to memory the circumstances of the 

 first grouse I shot. This to some may seem a trival thing 

 — the shooting a bird; but to me at the time was a notable 

 event. I had often hunted partiidge, but always unsuc- 

 cessfully and had many times returned home disappointed, 

 save for the pleasure of the charming surroundings and 

 the healthful exercise it brought. These failures were not 

 due to a scarcity of the biMs, but to my want of skill 

 with the gun, and my lack of knowledge of the habits 

 and ways of the birds, and their ability at that time to out- 

 wit me; but at last I succeeded. 



On this occasion, accompanied by my brother, I went 

 down to the old farm in Clifton Park, and while we were 

 walking through the woods together I said to him, ' 'It 

 is my highest ambition, to-day, to shoot a parti-idge." 

 Soon after I heard a rustling in the dry leaves under the 

 thick evergreens that bordered the wood. I followed the 

 sound for about 50yds. to an old road that ran into the 

 field, when away went a grouse with a tremendous roar. 

 Raising the gun quickly I fired in the direction it went 

 and was electrified to see it fall. Rushing out after the 

 bird fluttering over the ground I picked it up, and taking 

 it by the feet held it very securely. In the excitement 

 and enthusiasm of the m©ment I waved it over my head, 

 shouting out to my brother that I had got liim. We re- 

 joiced together. Under such cu-cumatances our grouse 

 shooting began. On the next occasion when we were out, 

 which it may be believed was not long after, I shot two 

 grouse and my brother also shot one, his first. Dorp. 



A MASSACHUSETTS LAW. 



The lovers of fish and game protection have scored an- 

 other victory in Massachusetts. The achievement has 

 been made mainly through the instrumentality of the 

 Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association, and 

 for once the market-men have been taken rather by sur- 

 prise. It was the intention of the act of 1891 that buying 

 or selling or having in possession a.r\j ga me lurd or animal 

 after the commencement of the legal close season on such 

 game should subject the buyer, seller or possessor to the 

 force of the law, but for some unaccountable reason that 

 part of the section was omitted. The dealers in game 

 have taken advantage of this oversight in the framing of 

 the law, and have boldly had in ]Dossession, sold and ex- 

 posed for sale, game birds, after the close season. But an 

 amendment has been secured of Section 1 of Chapter 142 

 of the Laws of 1891. The measure has passed both branches 

 of the Legislature, and was signed by the Governor on the 

 12th inst. The amendment inserted reads as follows: 



And whoever buys, sells or has in his possession any of the birds 

 or animals named in this act and protected thereby, during the time 

 within which the taking or killing thereof is prohibited, whenever or 

 wherever the aforesaid birds or animals may have been taken or 

 kiUed. 



The amendment aleo inserts at the end of the section 

 the words "or had in possession," so that the section as 

 amended reads: 



Section 1. Whoever takes or kills a pinnated grouse at any time, or 

 a woodcock, or a ruffed grouse, commonly called a partridge, between 

 the 1st day of January and the 15th day of September, or a quail be- 

 tween the 1st day of January and the 15th day of October, or a wood 

 or summer duck, black duck, or teal, or any of the so-called duck 

 species, between the 35th day of April and the first day of September; 

 and whoever buys, sells or has in his possession any of the birds or 

 animals named in this act and protected thereby, during the time 

 within which the taking or killing thereof is prohibited, whenever or 

 wherever the aforesaid birds or animals may have been taken or 

 Idhed, shaU be punished by a fine of §20 for every bu d so taken, killed 

 or had in possession. 



The law under which arrests are to be made is a strong 

 one, and the game dealers are both surprised and alarmed, 

 though they must have been aware that they were run- 

 ning a great deal of risk in selling game after the legal 

 close season on the same. The enforcing act, approved 

 by the Governor on the 17th of March, reads as follows: 



An act to authorize officers qualified to servo criminal processes, 

 and the commissioners of inland fisheries and game and their depu- 

 ties, to make ari'ests without warrant for violation of fish and game 

 laws. 



Be it enacted, etc., as follows: Section 1. All officers qualified to 

 serve criminal processes, and the commissioners on inland fisheries 

 and game and their deputies, are hereby authorized and empowered 

 to arrest without warrant any person whom they shall find violating 

 any of the fish and game la-\vs; provided, however, that persons en- 

 gaged in the business of regulai lj- dealing in the buying and selling of 

 game as an articleof commerce shall not'be arrested without warrant 

 for having in possession or selling game at theh usual places of busi- 

 ness. 



Section 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. 



The game dealers in the Boston markets are evidently 

 greatly disturbed and alarmed. Game lias disappea,red 

 from their stores. As to what they have done with it or 

 will do with it, they are silent. It is suggested that it will 

 be shipped to New York, or some other cities. One dealer 

 rather good-naturedly says that he has shipped his birds 

 to the World's Fair. It is known that they have thous- 

 ands of dollars worth of game in cold storage. The 

 amendment to the laws is good. For a long time it has 

 been understood that imscrupulous dealers have been in 

 the habit of buying game in the close season, though weU 

 aware that it m\ist have been illegally killed. The amend- 

 ment makes tlie law very plain, and its enforcement will 

 be a great step toward preserving what is left of game in 

 the Bay State. It is also a good measure for tlie adjoin- 

 ing States, which generally have laws preventing the 

 sefliug of game in close season. Heretofore there has 



been an inducement to illegally kiU game in Maine, be- 

 cause once smuggled into the Boston markets it could be 

 sold without restraint. Now the illegal market for Maine 

 game has been pretty effectually dammed, so far as game 

 birds are concerned. 



Spring shooting has not been as much of a success as 

 usual this year along the Massachusetts coast. Mr. Gordon 

 Plmnmer, of the Boston Leather Company, is one of the 

 most successful brant shooters in the city. He returned 

 last week from a fairly successful shoot. In his party 

 were W. E. Plummer, Jr., A. B. Clark, of Peabody, Dr. 

 Hanson and E. F. Sturgis. Tliey brought back some fifty 

 brant, besides a lot of ducks and other sea fowl. They 

 went "down the south shore," they say, not caring to give 

 the location of their success to othi r shooters. 



Mr. Frank Small, of Provincetown, Mass., is much 

 interested in the propagation of game on the Cape. Some 

 time ago he received 300 quail — from California, I believe 

 — when the weather was yet too cold and the snow too 

 deep to put them out. He kept them in confinement for 

 a while, the best he could. But they died too rapidly to 

 please him, and he resolved to take his chances in liberat- 

 ing them at once, though aware that the chances were 

 against such a step, the spring having scarcely begun. He 

 calculates that nearly 100 had died before liberating them. 

 For a while he saw signs of the hberated birds, but later 

 all have disappeared, and Mr. Small fears that all have 

 perished. Special. 



NOTABLE SHOTS.-IX. 



Rockland, Me., April 3. — There seems to be an abund- 

 ance of shooters who have killed two woodcock on the 

 wing at one shot, but where are those who have killed two 

 grouse? Why are they silent? 



I have himted woodcock every- fall for nearly twenty 

 years, but have never known of two being killed at one 

 shot by any one where I have hunted; but I do know of 

 three pairs of grouse being killed on the wing. 



One pair was shot last fall by my friend D. C, one of 

 our best shots, and what he doesn't know about the tricks 

 of that tricky bird, none of us younger ones need try to 

 teach him. One day late in the fall, after the leaves had 

 fallen, D. C. flushed two grouse, one on either side, and as 

 they llew off he saw that they would cross within gun- 

 shot. So he calmly waited, and just at tlie right moment 

 off went the old 10-bore and down fell two dead grouse. 



At another time Parks, Josh and I were liunting up an 

 alder run, when Parks sang out that Yic was pointing up 

 rtm and he wanted us to come over to his side. But we 

 said no, that we would take our chances where vve were, 

 for if he failed to kill, the bird would fly to cover and 

 would be sure to come our way. In a few minutes Parks 

 shot and sang out for us to look out for the bird, as she 

 was flying toward us. But no bird came in sight, and we 

 callfid back to him that he must have killed it^ as It could 

 not have got out of the run without our seeing it. He re- 

 plied that he did kill one of them, but that two liad risen 

 and flew directly toward us. We said that it wa.s ( ortaiii 

 that no bird had come out of the run and asked liim to 

 send Vic in again, which he did, and in a few minutes she 

 came out with the second bird. He said that both birds 

 were in line when he shot, but until Vic brought in the 

 second one he had no idea that he had killed them both. 



The third pair I killed myself. Josh and I were out 

 one day having pretty fair luck, and for once the balance 

 was in my favor, and as that was unusual, Josli was 

 getting a little rattled. We were limiting a side hill. Josh 

 below and I nearly at the top, when my dot; J\Li( k came 

 to a point between us. Josh went in near tlie doK, think- 

 ing that he might get a shot from there, when up jumped 

 the grouse a-boiit 20yds. off, and gave me a lel't-quartering 

 shot. As I raised my gun to shoot I heard other birds 

 rise, but .shot at the first one and killed, and Mack soon 

 brought him in, and as he dropped him I heard what 

 soimded like a fluttering bird up to my left. Mack also 

 heard it and \\^as oft", returning in a few minutes with 

 another dead grouse. Josh soon came up and when I 

 told him the result of my shot he went into the air and 

 swore that he had rather have my luck than a license to 

 steal Dow^N Easter. 



[We have seen two grouse killed by one barrel on only 

 one occasion. Three birds were routed from under a 

 fence in a swamp, and flew down it close together. The 

 two last ones were killed by the shooter.] 



Cortland, N. Y.— Mr. B., of this town, tells me of a 

 notable shot he once maae. It was in the early spring- 

 time, and the clamorous crow was flitting about the farm 

 with a large degree of boldness. Opposite to his father's 

 house, across the highway, lived a connection of the fam- 

 ily. The carcass of a young calf was placed some ten 

 rods in the rear of the bam and at an acute angle to the 

 highway which ran past the two farmhouses. The crow 

 bait was thus located at a right angle, or nearly so, to the 

 house occupied by the aforementioned relative. The 

 morning after thrusting out the bait the sable-coated corn- 

 pullers were congregated about the dehcious morsel in 

 goodly numbers. Young B, discharged an army musket 

 loaded with a hea%'y charge of black powder and a miscel- 

 laneous assortment of leaden slugs into the gatherers at 

 the feast, killing seven of the ebony reveUers and, as it 

 was subsequently discovered, nearly killing his aunt, busy 

 with her household duties at her home across the way. 

 One of the bullets had struck a "hard-head" stone near 

 the "bait," glanced ott' at right angles to its line of flight, 

 passed througli the side of the farmhouse and flattened 

 itself against the dining room door casement, striking 

 within two feet of the astonished and deeply mystified 

 atmt. M. C. H. 



A DiflEferent Kindllof a Shot. 



San Luis Potosi, Mexico.— There was no hogshead 

 ricochet involved, and I \vish it distinctly understood that 

 I am not trying to "raise" that story. 



I had come in from a round after deer among the hills, 

 and was on my way to the cornfields for a try at the 

 cranes. I had my shotgun strapped on the saddle in its 

 case and was still carrying my .45-90 express rifle. Some 

 cowboys routed out a flock of cranes as we were riding 

 along a ditch lined with ti-ees, and they came over our 

 heads. This is a bird that can only rise by circhng. His 

 wings are so set that for the first few hundred yards of 

 his flight he can only get about 50 or 60ft. from the 

 ground. But by the time they reached us they were up 

 rather high. My companion let drive, but scored a miss 

 with both barrel. I had dismounted, and in sheer dis- 



gust at not having my gun ready, blazed away with my 

 rifle. To my surprise I heard the distinct wliack of the 

 bullet and saw a tuft of feathers drop. The big bird set 

 his wings and slowly came to the ground. When we 

 reached him he was dead. The big exjiress bullet (hol- 

 low) had shaved off one leg close to the body as clean as 

 if done with a butcher's cleaver. Its diameter, where 

 cut, must have been at least Sin. I did not know which 

 to be most sm'prised at, hitting him at all, or the effect of 

 the bullet. Aztec. 



On and after May 1 the Western office of Torest 

 and Stream Pub. Co. will be permanently located 

 at 909 Security Building, cor. Fifth avenue and' 

 Madison street, Chicago. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[Frovi a Staff Correspondent.] 

 Heavy Flight. 



Chicago, 111 , Aprfl 22.— This spring has been notable 

 for its heavy flight of the migratory birds. More ducks 

 passed over this country than for three years past, and 

 jacksnipe have not been so abundant for a time ranch 

 longer than that. Heavy bags of the la,tter bird have 

 been common up to within the last four days. On 

 Wednesday last there began the prolonged cold storm 

 which has prevailed during the remainder of the week all 

 over the West and Northwest. We have had snow here 

 for two days, and an unspeakably miserable rain the rest 

 of the time. As a result of all tliis, the snipe are now 

 probably scattered far and Avide. On Wednesday they 

 were wild as ghosts, and even if they come backbit will 

 probably be long before they settle enough for good shoot- 

 ing, and by that time the flight will be due to appear 

 much north of here. 



On last Monday there were simply thousands of snipe 

 on the marsh three miles below Calumet Lake. Last 

 week Mr. Ben O. Bush and a friend kiEed 114 in thret 

 days at Hanna on the Kankakee. John Watson, R. B. 

 Organ and a friend kflled six dozen a week ago to-day, 

 Mt. C. E. Irvin writes me from Warsaw that he and three 

 friends killed 90 last Monday, and he has been telegi-aph- 

 ing me ever since to come on over. At Walkerton, at 

 Koutts, at Shelby and other points on the Kankakee 

 Mai-sh, fine bags have been the usual thing until thit 

 wretched blizzard spoiled the fun. The probabilities say 

 warmer weather now, and it is a consiunmation devoutly 

 to be wished. 



;One Hundred Parkers. 



C'fipt. A. W. DuBray, in charge of the exhibit of Fm li r 

 Bros., arrived in town three days ago. He tells me thai 

 he has on hand for the display, 100 Parker guns. "TJies( 

 are not special guns," said he, "prepared with extra cai f 

 for this exhibit, but gmis taken out of stock, witli uut u 

 file mark of special finish on them." 



What an interesting display the gun men alone will li n vc 

 to show the sportsmen of the country. 



Noted Indians. 



Rain-in-the-Face, the Sioux chief so prominent in lli- 

 fateful Custer massacre, is now in Chicago and will join 

 Buffalo Bill's slio\\'. The old Indian is pennant ntty lanie. 

 The British otliLers and flglitiug men who have niet the 

 fighting savages of India and the Soudan, and who now 

 are assembled here 200 strong to hold a military tourna- 

 ment, might look with some curiosity on this leader of tht 

 ancient enemies of the V. S. troopers. 



Sitting Bull, the Napoleon of the Sioux, who planned 

 the battle of the Little Big Horn, has joined the majority 

 of warriors, but his cabin, full of btdlet holes made by the 

 Indian police, who kflled him that morning on the Grand 

 River, is now here at the Fair. 



Many Boats. 



Very interesting is the display of boats in various parts 

 of the Fair. In the Fisheries, Norway and Canada vit 

 with each other. Fishing boats, birch barks, dug-outs, 

 all sorts of native boats are to be seen. Aside from this, 

 the great Manufactures Bmlding will show the beautiful 

 output of individual firms engaged in the boat trade. 

 Much of this later. 



Sixty gondoliers from Venice arrived in the city this 

 morning. They will play at gondoliering on the lagoons 

 this summer. 



There are too many Turks, Arabs, Chinese, Bulgarians, 

 Englishmen, Kanakas, Malays and Hindoos in town now 

 to attract much attention any longer. You can't walk 

 without stubbing your toe against some be-fezzed, or be- 

 slippered, or be-turbaned alien, the expression of whcst 

 face for the most part is to the effect that he wishes tht 

 climate miglit be d— d. E. Hough. 



175 MosROE Steeet, Chicago. 



On and after May 1 the Western office of Forest 

 and Stream Pub. Co. will be permanently located 

 at 909 Security Building, cor. Fifth avenue and 

 Madison street, Chicago. 



Can These Things Be? 



The following extract from the Evening Sun of Denver 

 Colo. , if true, reveals a most extraordinary condition of 

 things in that State: 



A lobby was formed by a gang of iunters who slaughter game ir. 

 great quantities, to defeat House bill No. 360, which protects gamt 

 against marauders. Money was doled out to the "corporation gaug' 

 and the bill was as good as killed by the changing of a single letter 

 The letter "f" in the word '-food' in Section 12 was changed to "g,' 

 making "food" "good." 



The section reads as follows: 



"Section 12. No person shall kill, wound, ensnare, trap or have in 

 possession any deer, elk or antelope or parts thereof within this Stair 

 for any purpose whatever, at any time, except that those deer, ante 

 lope and elk which have horns may be killed and had in possessioL 

 between Aug. 1 and Nov. 1 of the same year for good piu-poses onl.> . 

 and then when necessary for immediat-e use, governed in amount aiid 

 quaUty by the reasonable necessity of the person or persons kiUint 

 the same. * * *" 



In the original bill the word "good" read "food" and made sense, 

 and would have preveuted a hunter from slaughtering the game, but 

 a httle money made the httle change, and the deer and elk and ante 

 lopefor "good purposes" are made the prey of conscienceless huntei's 

 and may be exterminated within a few years. 



Governor Waite signed this bill as it now stands with all its danger- 

 ous provisions. 



There is no telling how many bills have been ruined in this way. i 



