July 15^ 1893.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



27 



were models of elegance and fine finish. There was one 

 Canadian paddling canoe, one sailing canoe, one paddling 

 cruiser, one Penobscot Elver skiff, one Indian model pad- 

 dling canoe and one yacht tender. 



The Seamless Steel Boat. 

 A pressed seamless steel boat excited much interest. It 

 was made on beautiful lines. It was quite a large row- 

 boat. The process of manufacture is said to be very 

 simple. Each half is stamped out of a sheet of steel; the 

 two sides are then soldered or fused together by heat, 

 )9 Security Building, Chicago. B. WATERS. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[F)-om a Staiff Correspondent.] 



Chicago, 111., June 30.— Mr. E. A. Carroll, of Little 

 Rock. Ark., writes me as follows: 



"Mr. Lacy Tilghman, while out exercising his dogs a few 

 days ago, found a quail's nest containing twenty-four 

 eggs. Yesterday he hai^pened to be in the vicinity of the 

 nest and thought he would take a look at it. Imagine his 

 surprise at finding the nest occupied by a kingsnake and 

 the eggs Kone. He killed the snake and found tliat it had 

 swallowed the whole two dozen eggs. Thus another 

 covey passes on to the golden whence, without hearing 

 the crack of a gun or being honored and flattered by the 

 earnest attention of a dog. 



It do seem like the life of a Bob White is a continuous 

 ScyUa and Charybdis. I never lieard of so pronounced 

 I case of quail omelet as this kingsnake evidently had in 

 mind. 



Shot Do Ball. 



An esteemed contemporary pubUshed at Chicago has 

 within the last few years published about 17,569,387 col- 

 umns of unique matter under the intensely interesting 

 heading "Do Shot Ball?" In the meantime everybody 

 knows shot do ball, but the stereotyped head goes on its 

 ihrilling journalistic career. Well, this isn't what I was 

 joins to say, though I might add that the inventor of the 

 above catastroplie-head might satisfy himself in his mind 

 jittd give ease to his readers by making a little trip down 

 io the Wild West and laaving a talk with Mr. Frank Ent- 

 er, the manager of Miss Annie Oakley. From the head 

 )£ the arena where Miss Oakley stands while doing her 

 leautiful and almost unbelievable feats with the shotgim 

 it is perhaps 125 to 150yds. to the big canvas screen which 

 surrounds the artificial Eocky Mountains at the back of 

 >pen space. This canvas is well riddled with shot, but 

 ihat isn't what I was going to say. The other day, while 

 Miss Oakley was doing her turn, a. gob of shot became 

 solidified in the discharge, which, I take it, is equivalent 

 to saying that tliey balled, and the resultant mass of lead, 

 or bailed shot, cut a clean, round hole as big as a half dol- 

 lar through the Rock}'^ Mountains, passed across the alley- 

 way at the stables, went through an inch upright board 

 screen which surmounted one of the buildings, crossed the 

 street beyond the inclosure and struck the front of the 

 mission church wliich stands on the other side of the 

 street, about 2()0ydR. in all from the firing point. The 

 mass of lead did not enter the board front of the church, 

 but left its mark and feU to the ground. May we hope 

 ;hat this will, peradventure, give ease to the eagerly ques- 

 tioning journah'stic mind winch .seeks to tear away the 

 mask and to wrest from Truth the information whether 

 or not shot do ever ball? Will this suffice to take down 

 the haunting ijuestion mark? To gaze too long upon an 

 infinitude of the same question mark is dangerous, dam- 

 aging and dizzifying. It causes us to cast the mind free 

 upon the brink of an abyssmal doubt, there to hang, shud- 

 dering and unstaid, uncomforted of human hand. Let us 

 away with this. Let us settle the question and go on 

 house-keeping. Do shot ball— oh! do they ball? They do, 

 they do. You can see the holes. Gladly and exultantly 

 I announce it. They do! They do! Now let the .agitated 

 country go back to peace and to its calmer associations. 



A Pleasant Reception. 



I was speaking of Miss Annie Oakley. It is a pleasure 

 to speak of a celebrity whose vanity has never grown and 

 whose head has never been turned. The recipient of 

 princely and royal favors, as testified by gold and gems, 

 and petted the world over, this American girl has always 

 remained the same, simple, unaffected and frank as a 

 child. She shoots so easily and naturally that it is a 

 question whether she values her own skill. At any I'ate, 

 there isn't a shooter m America who wouldn't tight for 

 her. And yet, although known in all corners of Europe 

 and America, in her own native State of Ohio she is most 

 nearly without honor. This week Gen. A. M. Anderson, 

 % member of Congress and State representative of Ohio 

 at tbe World's Fair, wandered into tbe home-like tent 

 where Miss Oakley receives. He learned that Miss Oakley 

 was an Ohio girl (from Darke county, one of the northern 

 woods districts), and he was so pleased at his "discovery" 

 that he resolved to do something in memory of the occa- 

 sion. He accordingly decreed a State reception in honor 

 of the State's representative at the gun, and Wednesday, 

 June 28, 11 till 1 o'clock, was Annie Oakley day at the 

 Ohio building at the World's Fair. I am glad of this, and 

 I know all the boys will also be glad to know of it, for 

 this honest and simple little woman is a favorite aU over 

 the sliooting world. 



Odd Names. 



In the North we have deep water ducks and "marsh 

 ducks." In the South the latter are called "puddle 

 ducks." The bluebills of the North are called "gray- 

 backs" in Texas, and are also caUed "do-grees." I couldn't 

 figure out that last name for a while, till it occurred to me 

 that it meant "dos r/m" — Galveston French for "gray 

 back." The latter seems the general Southern or Texas 

 name for the bluebill. 



Even more puzzling was the term "pull — does," which 

 I found was the common name for our mud hens in the 

 South. Yet when j'ou think of the French "jjoule cVeau," 

 or "water hen," the rest is easy. 



The Speed of Canvasbacks. 



One reads much of the estimated speed of flight of wild 

 ducks under fidl headway. Mr. Percy Stone, of this city, 

 'teUs me of an intei'estine way in which he once estimated 

 the speed of canvasbacks. The birds were flying down 

 the Fox River, over Grass Lake to Vox Lake. There was 

 a bhnd at the old bridge, and a shooter m the blind 

 Prom the bridge down stream to the fence at which Mr. 

 Stone had his blind was a distance of exactly one mile, 



as the section lines were marked by the road at the 

 bridge and the fence at which Mr. Stone was located. 

 W^hen a bunch of canvas passed the bridge a puff of 

 smoke from the shooter's gun there was the signal for 

 "Go!" on their mile run. Taking the time at the puff of 

 smoke for the start, and again timing the same birds as 

 they passed over his fence, Mr. Stone foimd by a simple 

 and very accurate calculation that they were going at a 

 rate of 90 to 110 miles an hour. The redheads and blue- 

 bills did not fly quite so fast. This is the most accurate 

 method of timing the flight of wildfowl of which I ever 

 heard, and the results would seem practically conclusive. 

 It Means Indians Also. 



Mr. Thos. Johnson writes me from Winnipeg, Manitoba, 

 June 9 as follows: 



"You will note from the inclosed clipping from to-day's 

 Winnipeg Free Press that the sportsmen of the Northwest 

 are getting in their work. The Indians did more harm to 

 game by shooting tliem at aU times, in season or out, sum- 

 mer and winner — ^than even your snipe shooting spring 

 shooters," 



The clipping reads: 

 "The Indian Department issues notice that on and after the first day 

 of January, 1894, the laws respecting game in force in the North-West 

 Territories shall apply to the following Indians: 



Band. Reserve. Band. Reserve. 



Enoch Birdtail Creek One Arrow Batoche 



Oak River Oak River Okomasis , Duck Lake 



Oak Lake Oak Lake Beardy Duck Lake 



Kah-do-min-Ie. . . .Turtle Mountain John Smith Saskatchewan 



Pleasant Rump. , .Moose Mountain Red Pheasant Eagle Hills 



Striped Blanket. .Mooso Mountain Stony Eagle Hills 



White Bear Moose Mountain Moosomin Jackfish Creek 



Oh-Chah-Pow-Ace. . . .Round Lake Sweet Grass Battle River 



Kah-Iiee-Wiss-Ha w . . .Round Lake Poundmaker Battle River 



Cow-Ess-Ess Crooked Lake Thunder Child Battle River 



Sakimay Crooked Lake Little Pine Battlef ord 



Piapola Qu'AppeUe Lakes Lucky Man Battleford 



Carry-the-Kettle Indian Head See-Kas-Koots Onion Lake 



Standing Buffalo. Qu'AppelleL'kes Michel Sturgeon River 



Pasquah Qu'Appelle Lakes Enoch Lapotac Stoney Plain 



Muscowpetung..Qu'Appelle Valley Ermine Skin Bears Hill 



Pee-PeeKee Sis File Hills Sampson Bears Hill 



Okanese File Hills Bobtail Battle River 



Star Blanket File Hills Louis Muddy Bull. . . .Battle River 



Little Black Bear File Hills Bull's Head Near Calgary 



Muscoiv-E Quan . Little TV'd Hills Old Sun Bow River 



Geo. Gordon. Little T'chwood Hills Eagle Tail Old Man's River 



Day Star Touchwood Hills Red Crow Delly River 



Poor Man Touchwood Hdls 



Stragglers at Medicine Hat, Maple Creek, Moose Jaw and Swift Cur- 

 rent." 



909 Security Building. E. Hough. 



Ring-Necked Pheasants for Nova Scotia. 



The introduction by the Game Society of the English 

 pheasant into Nova Scotia, is an important and intereSing 

 step in relation to future sport in this province. 



For some time a number of gentlemen, foreseeing the 

 gradual decrease of our partridge, have been urging the 

 introduction of this most prolific game bird; but only last 

 winter did a circumstance arise which induced the 

 society to give this bird to the public of Nova Scotia. 

 Mr. Price, of Kentville, who in England had much ex- 

 perience of pheasants, last year raised a few of these birds 

 at his place in the outskirts of that town. They were 

 put out in the woods to take care of themselves. Some 

 of the chickens were killed by various accidents, but out 

 of the lot three cocks and one lien spent last winter in 

 the open. Though one of the severest winters in living re- 

 collection these birds all turned up in the spring in capital 

 condition. They had been seen at times during the 

 severest weather of the winter apparently not in the least 

 distressed by the cold. They fed themselvas, and in their 

 own persons demonstrated the proposition that the pheas- 

 ant can thrive in a Nova Scotian winter. 



Mr. Price communicated this result to the Game 

 Society, and that body immediately ordered from England 

 fifteen hens and three cocks. They arrived in May, in 

 splendid order. They are the "ring-necked" variety, the 

 very best now in England. After being taken to the 

 residence of Mr. Piers, the secretary of the society, at 

 Dutch Vflhage, that gentleman has distributed them in 

 favorable places. Four hens were sent to Kentville, to 

 furnish mates for the cocks there imder Mr. Price's care. 

 A quartette was set free in the rear of the Dutch Village, 

 another on the Margaret's Bay road and another at Green 

 Head, a secluded spot on the Nine Mile River. In each 

 case the birds have been placed under the care of a person 

 near whose place they were jjut, and who, taking an in- 

 terest in them, will use every exertion for their protection. 

 As the cost of the birds was large, the society jareferred to 

 have them all where they will be under the eye and care 

 of its own oflBcers. If they succeed and increase they 

 wiU next year be distributed all over the ijrovince. Since 

 their being set free they have several times been heard 

 from. The cocks in partictilar have been seen in various 

 clearings, and the hens are .supposed to be setting, as they 

 have not shown themselves often, 



Of com-se the law forbids the killing of these birds, and 

 also prohibits, under heavy penaltie-s, having tliem in 

 possession. 



The society relies on the aid of aU citizens in protecting 

 these birds and aiding the society in giving to the people 

 of this province the most prohfic and estimable of English 

 game birds. No trouble or expense will be spared to give 

 them every chance. The society also contemplates intro- 

 ducing other game into the province — ^principally the 

 Newfoundland grouse, and the red deer. Arz-angements 

 are now being made with the government of New Bruns- 

 wick, to perniit a herd of the latter to be caught and ex- 

 ported to this province. There seems no reason why 

 these beautiful animals should not thrive here, and, with 

 our fast increasing moose, help to make our forests the 

 paradise for profitable hunting, which it was in days of 

 yore. The New Brunswick government has consented 

 to the exportation of the deer upon receiving the assur- 

 ance of our government, that they will be taken care of 

 by some public society and kept for the public good. 

 This has been given and the animals will be sent over as 

 the conditions are favorable. One of the pheasant hens 

 was seen yesterday afternoon with a large brood of 

 chickeiLii.— Halifax {N. S.) Mail. 



Hanging up a Seer. 



This is my way of hanging up a deer out of the reach 

 of coyotes and other varmint: After I have taken out 

 the entrails and cut oft" the windpipe and swallow from 

 the root of the tongue, I insert the pole in the grotmd 

 about 3ft. from a tree; then place the other end in the 

 deer's neck between the jaws; then up-end the deer and 

 let it lean against the tree. Lew Wilmot. 



GRAY FOXES IN CONNECTICUT. 



Derby, Conn., July 2.— Editor Forest and Stream: It 

 has been truly said that no New England valley affords 

 more matei'ial for bird shooting and fox hunting than 

 that of the picturesque Naugatuck. 



At a point some ten miles from its source, the rolling, 

 tumbling Naugatuck River joins the smooth and stately 

 Housatonic. The town of Derby is at this junction and it 

 was near here that the following incident took place: 



The tale was told to me by Mr. .Joseph M. Iloadley, a 

 fox hunter, resident in this place for some forty years 

 Mr. Hoadley has hunted through this State in quest of 

 birds and foxes for nearly fifty years, and no man knows 

 more about the woodcraft of Connecticut, nor has any one 

 hunted over more ground in our State, than he. The 

 stories he can teU of his days in the fields and woods are 

 both interesting and instructive, even to non-hunters. 



In December of '93, accompanied by Mr. Peck, another 

 fox hunter on whom the hand of time shows its work, 

 Mr. Hoadley went to Tm-key HiU, some three miles below 

 Derby, taking three hounds. Hector and Jim owned by 

 Mr. Hoadley, and Drive by Mr. Peck. 



The honor of starting the fox fell to Jim, but soon all • 

 three were in full chase. The fox, a gray one, ran around 

 in rather a small space, so that the hounds were always 

 within hearing, and to make things more interesting two 

 rabbit hunters were in the woods with their three dogs, 

 As the foxhounds swept by with their blood-curdling yelp 

 which only fox hunters know how to fully appreciate, the 

 three rabbit hounds joined the chorus and the six dogs 

 filled the woods with their music. After running about 

 fifteen minutes the fox, in his circuit, passed where Mr, 

 Peck was lying in wait, but for some reason when he fired 

 at the fox he only succeeded in wounding it. Close in the 

 fox's wake came the six dogs in full cry, but soon they 

 stopped and began to bark. 



Mr. Hoadley was the first to arrive at the scene of the 

 disturbance, and there found the six dogs in a circle 

 around an elm tree. Looking up, he saw to his surprise 

 the fox in the lowest branches of this tree, some thirty feet 

 from the ground. There was only oneway for him to get 

 there. That was to chmb, as there were no trees near, 

 and the tree in question had a smooth trunk. The tree 

 was some ten inches in diameter at its base, 



Mr. Hoadley did not shoot, but whooped to Mr. Peck, 

 who soon came up. He had previously said that foxes 

 had never been known to climb trees, and that he would 

 not believe it possible until he had seen it. He now found 

 it not only possible, but an actual fact. 



All six dogs were barking at the foot of the tree in wild 

 excitement, and they had to be tied up, when Mr. Peck 

 shot the fox, in order to keep them from tearing each 

 other to pieces. Mr. Hoadley says that in all his thirty- 

 five years' fox hunting he never witnessed anything so 

 exciting as this chase. 



While the reader has the gray fox in mind it may be 

 well to add a few words, giving Mr. Hoadley's opinion of 

 its habits, size and mode of living. 



The gray fox, or wood gray as it is sometimes called, is 

 a recent arrival in Connecticut. Twenty-five years ago 

 they were unknown in these parts but now seem to be 

 very numerous in the southern New England States. 

 They are found in nearly all of the ledges, and, unlike 

 our common red fox, they do not lie in the swamps. 

 When chased by the hounds the gray fox seldom leaves 

 the vicinity of his burrow, which is almost always in 

 some ledge. 



The grays are much less afraid of the dogs than the red, 

 and often run not more than twenty or thirty feet ahead 

 of the hounds. They run in circuits, which affords more 

 jort to the hunter. Still it is much more difficult for 

 the hottnds to keep the track of these foxes as they do not 

 leave a strong scent. Whether their endurance is less or 

 their attachment for home greater than the red I am un- 

 able to say, but they do not run on an average more than 

 an hour at a time. At times they will run two, three and 

 even five hours. 



In some respects their habits resemble those of the 

 coon. They are very fond of apples and some vegetables, 

 and like the red are not averse to carrion. They have 

 all the cunning of the red fox with some of the coon 

 climbing ability. It is Mr. Hoadley's opinion after his in- 

 timacy with them that they whip the red fox. 



One peculiar feature is their sensitiveness to cold, for 

 in very cold weather they do not leave their burrows. 



In form the gi'ay is in many respects different from the 

 red. He has a shorter head, legs, flag, and a much smaller 

 foot, but the body is larger. C. H. 



[The gray fox (Vulpes {Urocyon) cinereo-argentatus) is 

 a common species and is noted for its tree-climbing pow- 

 ers. It appears to be somewhat more abundant in the 

 South than in the North, yet some of the books say tbat it 

 is distributed over the whole United States. It is not to 

 be confounded with the cross fox, a color variety of the 

 red, which is also gray in color.] 



A Story of "Sters." 



If every man makes a new "ster" out of something, I 

 am beginning to fear that we shall shortly see stories 

 like the following, in our favorite paper: Once upon a 

 time there was a famous gunster and rodster. He had a 

 couple of friends who were also great devotees of the rod 

 and gun. One was also a noted dogster. These three 

 good friends had been chums ever since they were young- 

 sters, and were now well seasoned campsters, canoester 

 and pim(t)sters. These three jolly comrades kept clear of 

 all tricksters, and never allowed a shyster near their camp. 

 After due talk and smoke (they were all yarnsters and 

 smokesters), they decided to go for an outing, of a week 

 or ten days duration. Before setting out they had to buy 

 provisions for the trip, They bought bread and biscuits 

 from a bakester, beer, etc., from a brewster. They went 

 to a hookster for fishing fines, hooks, etc., and also visited 

 a porkster for ham and bacon, and last of all a cowster 

 for butter and cheese. Tbey preferred to be flysters, but 

 they also took a good sized can from the wormsters. 

 They engaged a cookster and canoester, but the start was 

 scarcely made when the wind ttu-ned to a nor'easter. Soon 

 they were all in a fluster, and being such coinsters and 

 ptmsters, the canoe sank and they were all drowned. 



VonL 



It Becomes a Necessity. 



Lancaster, N. Y.. June 17.— I have been a subscriber for Foeest' 

 AiTD Stream since the commencement of its third volume, andaltbough 

 I've had to give up a good many things in the past few months, I can't 

 give up my Forest A-nd Streaji. B. 



