Sept. HQ, 1893. j 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



2 / 1 



Visitors to our Exhibit in the AngVmg Pavilion at 

 the World's Fair should not fail to examine the 

 stock of "Forest and Stream" bootcs which will 

 be slnown by the attendant. 



A SUMMER'S DAY IN IOWA. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



That a stupid day will follow one of pleasurable outing 

 is as sure as the laws of the Medes and Persians, and I 

 know no better way to dispel its depression than by re- 

 living, through the medium of the pen, its vaxying inci- 

 dents. 



With this intent permit me, through the columns of 

 Forest and Stream, to give vent to my enthusiasm for 

 invigorating, outdoor sports. Enough cannot be said for 

 the excellent sanitary results to those delicate or en- 

 feebled women, who join the field sports of husband, 

 father or son whenever practicable. To get the best good 

 out of such days is to give care to the winds, and open the 

 mind to an entirely different set of too seldom used facili- 

 ties, and one is surprised to see how soon the "button is 

 touched" to the entrance to another world. 



To wish to escape the noise and smell of powder on In- 

 dependence day may appear unpatriotic, but patriotism 

 may lie sleeping, say I, when there is no other use for it. 

 A little party of five, consisting of a doctor, a newspaper 

 editor, with their wives and a son of the doctor's, a lad of 

 twelve years, determined to have something more satis- 

 factory than smoke for the day, and planned a iishing 

 trip six miles out on the Maquoketa — the stream the 

 waters of which turn our mill wheels and make possible 

 our manufactories. - 



The day opened with rain and a bad promise, but by 8 

 o'clock it had spent its force, leaving the atmosphere cool 

 and dustless, and loading an open wagon with fishing 

 tackle, bait, baskets of provisions and other necessary 

 baggage, we took the reins and started out. 



The prospect of getting out of town safely through fir- 

 ing cannon and playing bands was anything but certain, 

 but the doctor's persuasive voice calmed the fears of the 

 spirited horses, and we were soon flying along through a 

 country which in the summer months is as delightful as 

 any known to man. As some one has said, "Doubtless 

 God could have made a better, but He never did," and if 

 any of the readers of your breezy paper are thinking of 

 taking a trip to Iowa, let me ui-ge them to come in June, 

 before the reaper has touched the fields, and when "corn 

 is king," in height for the time of year, in color and in 

 the prospective beauty of an abundant harvest. 



No touch of any color is visible as far as the eye can 

 reach, save studies in green, and one may tiMvel for days 

 along the same magnificent thorouglifares, enlivened by 

 the song of the black-throated bunting, flying up from 

 the roadside or meadow grass, singing on the wing or 

 alighting on the fence with his back toward you, and 

 flinging back his song with a ventriloquial effect of its 

 having come from another direction The Western 

 horned lark and the bobolink divide the liouors of greet- 

 ing, and if a kindly farmer will allow the barn swallow to 

 build under his eaves, you may encounter this beautiful 

 bird gathering mud for its nest from a wayside puddle or 

 in busy flocks going and coming on the same delightful 

 errand. 



The Western wild flowers, sown broad-cast upon every 

 foot of uncropped or untilled ground, wiU catch the trav- 

 eler's eye as another feature of interest, but to me they 

 are mostly "what are you's?" awaiting names and habits 

 for other days. But I must not linger by the way, but 

 tell you of our too speedy arrival, for our fishermen were 

 in a hurry to unreel the line and throw the shining bait. 



Alighting at the wooded banks of the river, the party 

 soon separated, the fishers to cast their lines and the 

 women to explore the "fretted aisles," where nymphs of 

 woods and waves might still have danced and sung and 

 fed on aerial honey and ambrosial dews, as in the vales of 

 Menalus. The trees were vocal with bird chatter and 

 song, and the ash-throated flycatcher, the most elusive of 

 birds, led us a chase to catch a glimpse of his personality. 

 A field glass brought him down for a first sight to one of 

 lis wlio had hitherto known him only by his voice. His 

 is a wood voice as much as that of the hermit thrush, 

 and he must be sought in his favorite haunts if one would 

 see him. Chewinks refused to be disturbed by our intru- 

 sion, and pursued their usual occupation of scratching 

 among the leaves or walking about the grounds. One 

 treated us to a few bars of song in a quality of voice clear 

 and sweet. Song sparrows did the most of the real sing- 

 ing, pouring out their heart of glee from bush and brake. 

 The singing season is beginning to Avane, and it is appar- 

 ent even now that many voices are stifled; but the song 

 sparrow wfll sing for some time to come. 



Thus the morning sped for \m, and the demands for 

 dinner called the party together, when it was revealed 

 that the experienced fishers had not had a bite, and Paul 

 had caught the only fish. The Doctor dressed it, and we 

 cooked it over a fire of fagots, made coffee, and spread 

 our cloth on the lap of mother earth. The man of the 

 qufll enlivened the dinner with anecdotes from his x)rivate 

 drawer, and the flow of wit from the assembled company 

 effervesced into thin air, a great loss to posterity. We 

 were aU of one mind, that coffee cooked out of door was 

 no less than the distilled nectar of the gods, and though 

 the fish was beyond compare it needed the miracle of 

 numbers. 



There was not much ceremony in the leave taking of 

 the fishers after dinner, and when the "work was done 

 up" the lonesome wives concluded to go to the river and 

 take lessons in Jishing. From here we saw the doctor 

 and Paul whipping the stream with their lines, and the 

 sage editor intently scrutinizing a depression filled with 

 water near the mill dam. The old mill was stiU standing, 

 a picturesque object to an artist's eye, but its usefulness 

 was its departed glory, and I involuntarily feU to dream- 

 ing over its incomers and outgoers on its palmiest days, 

 oblivious to the fish the editor was pulling from that hole. 

 The doctor's wife, enjoying a bit of fun turned against 

 lier sex, had brought a travesty by John Paul on 

 Augusta Evans's "St. Elmo," and while deep in the ana- 

 lytical expose of nonsensical and imreal characters, we 

 heard a muflied call from the editor for a fish string 

 whereon to hang his trophies. The alacrity with which 

 tl>e request was complied with lost the doctor his gold- 



bowed glasses, but that was of small moment compared 

 with the tinduig of fish. 



Paul and the doctor immediately turned to the pool, 

 and for the next two hours the fun was lively. After 

 they had caught twenty black bass, the doctor coijcluded 

 that he had enough and came tugging his string to camp, 

 but the editor was as tenacious of another bite as Jie is of 

 giving no quarter to an opponent in politics. I will not 

 relate how long we waited for that fishing editor. At 

 length we sent Paul after him, and then the doctor went 

 after Paul, but they brought him finally between them, 

 with more fish, and we turned the heads of the restless 

 horses toward home, arriving at 8 o'clock in the evening. 



By the road side we passed three men, one playing an 

 accordion, one dancing, and all enjoying the hour— sug- 

 gestive of the rambling life woven into the romances of 

 the troubadour days — perhaps never before had we felt so 

 close a sympathy with vagabondism, or been quite so 

 ready to excuse aU exuberance of spirits. 



And thus was passed one gala day, beneath pictured 

 skies and among woodland draperies, where the belted 

 kingfisher screams his delight, rattles his castanets and 

 waits not to bait his hook to catch his fish, vowing that 

 more days of the same sort should hereafter grace our 

 calendar. JIary L. Rame. 



Manchester, Iowa. 



Eagles and Other Things. 



Tate Spring, Tenn.— In the office of the Tate Spring 

 Hotel is to be seen the stuffed remains of a magnificent 

 American eagle which was shot some time ago on Clinch 

 Motmtain, near this place. The bird, which measures 

 7ft. 3in, from tip to tip of wing, was shot by Sandy 

 Butler, who is widely known among the native populace 

 as a crack marksman. He uses the old-fashioned muzzle- 

 loading squirrel rifle, familiarly known among the moun- 

 tain sportsmen as the "Long Tom." 



This proud bird of liberty was in the act of bearing away 

 a201bs. goose from a barnyard when he was killed. Butler 

 made a good shot according to his own statement. The 

 bird was 300yds. or better away and the shot was made at 

 an angle of 45 deg. The buUet went direct to the heart. 

 The eagle had been making inroads on the poultry yards 

 and sheep folds of the neighborhood for several weeks 

 previous, and several attempts had been made to bring 

 him down. The dead bird was sold to Capt. Tomlinson, 

 proprietor of the hotel, and was stuffed by a taxidermist 

 in the employ of Geo. W. A'anderbilt at Asheville, N. C. 

 In this connection I may say that Mr. Vanderbilt is making 

 a collection of the game and song birds of this section, 

 which wiU be one of the leading attractions of his flne 

 million-dollar place near Asheville. 



The eagle is becoming scarce in this section, although 

 one of the golden variety, measuring 6ft. , was killed just 

 across the line in Scott county, Va., a few months ago. 

 In 1885 an American eagle was captured alive near Mor- 

 ristown which measured 7ft. Gin. from tip to tip and 

 which was sent to President Cleveland as a Christmas 

 present by Capt. Tomlinson. The bird became known as 

 "Old Grover" and he was given a soft berth in the Zoo, 

 where he recently died, as the Washington papers say, 

 because he preferred death to conflnement. 



There promises to be good quail shooting in the valley 

 of East Tennessee this fall, notwithstanding that thous- 

 ands of birds were frozen to death during the cold weather 

 of last J anuary. W. D. P. 



Hybrid Quail. 



New York, Sept. 23. — Editor Forest and Stream; In 

 your issue of last week. Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, in his article 

 upon American quail, in speaking of the Bob White, Cali- 

 fornia and Massena quails, states that he has never seen 

 an hybrid, or cross, between any of these varieties. 



While living in Concho county, Texas, where I resided 

 some six years, Mr. J. A. Loomis, of that county, and I 

 killed a quail which we took to be the resvilt of inter- 

 breeding between the California quaU and the Bub White. 

 We sent the skin to the Smithsonian Institution and re- 

 ceived a letter in return, thanking us for the specimen, 

 and stating that we were right in our conclusion as to the 

 probable genealogical tree of our quail. 



In all probability the skin of that bird is still in the 

 Smithsonian Institution. This skin was sent to Wasliington 

 in the faU of 1889, I think. We hunted faithfully for 

 another specimen of like general appearance, but, although 

 we practically exterminated the bevy from which we 

 secured the above mentioned bird, we found the rest of 

 the family to be Bob Whites pure and simple. 



I mention this case thinking Dr. Shufeldt might like to 

 investigate the matter further. H. L. B. 



Seabirds Ashore. 



LoCKPORT, N. Y., Sept. 22. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Under the above heading in your issue of Sept. 16 "W. 

 McC, Jr." reports the captm-e at Rouse's Point, N. Y., of 

 a bird that he identified as a stormy petrel or Mother 

 Carey's chicken. From the fact that he first thought it 

 was a martin I would suggest that the specimen was a 

 Wilson's petrel {Oceanites oceanicus). I have in my col- 

 lection an individual of this species that was taken just 

 beyond this city's limits in 1875 by Mr. J. A. Newton 

 whfle shooting plover, and which was flying about the 

 fields with the plover when kUled, apparently adopting 

 the ways and means of living of the plover. This was 

 immediately after a severe easterly storm. I think 

 this is the furthest inland record of this species being 

 taken. If I am mistaken in this I should be pleased to 

 learn through FOREST and Stream of other inland occur- 

 rences. J.^L. Davison. 



South Dakota Notes. 



Vermilion, S. D., Sept. 18. — The chickens in this part 

 of the county are pretty weU kQled off, but they are still 

 plenty back on the prairie ten or twelve miles. 



I have not seen the quail as plenty in a number of years 

 as they are this fall, and I don't know that I ever saw 

 them plentier since I have lived here, and that has been 

 since the spring of 1861. There are a good many ducks 

 on the Vermflion River, but there is not one to-day where 

 there used to be thousands, still some say they are thick. 

 I have seen fine shooting in this country In past; years. 



I saw a large flock of pelican pass over here Sept. 10, 

 and I saw a flock of golden plover this morning, Sept. 18. 



Fishing is poor here; the rivers are too low; every slough 

 in this section is dry and the weather is stiU dry and hot. 

 I am afraid the ducks and geese will not stop long with 

 us this f aU. J. D. S. 



•^^^^ ^ttd ^ni\. 



The FoFvEST AND SteeAM is p\it to press each week on Tues- 

 day. Correspondence intended for publication should reach 

 us at the latest by Monday, and as much earlier as practicable 



IN MASSACHUSETTS AND MAINE. 



The open season on ruffed grouse or partridge and 

 woodcock began on Sept. 15. Generally the opening of 

 the season has not been hailed with much enthusiasm, 

 for the reason that the birds are regarded as very scarce. 

 The opening day was pleasant, and a few Boston gunners 

 were out, but 1 have not learned of any bags of game. 

 A gentleman was in the other day from western Massa- 

 chusetts, an enthusiast in regard to bird shooting. He 

 talked very discouragingly about his part of the State. 

 He bad seen only a very few broods of either partridge or 

 woodcock. He scarcely expects to bag a dozen birds this 

 season, though he has a couple of good dogs. Mr, Claude 

 H. Tarbox, not wholly unknown to the readers of the 

 Forest and Stream as a good shot, says that there are 

 several good broods of partridges near his house in Bay- 

 field, and that he intends early to have the most of them. 

 As for woodcock, he has seen very few broods this year. 

 A couple of gunners returned from Plymouth Saturday 

 evening a good deal disgusted. They had tried hard for 

 partridge and woodcock on Friday and Saturday, with a 

 result of three woodcock and no partridge to two guns. 

 Tliey have also found shore birds scarce in that part f 

 the country. They obtained a few summer yellowlegs, 

 but very few plover. 



Mr. J. F. Dwinell, of Dwinell, Hayward & Co., is plan- 

 ning for his annual partridge hunting trip to Upton, Me. 

 He has been there almost every season for several years. 

 He makes a stay of several weeks and hunts partridge in 

 pleasant weather. With two guides, Mr, Lomin Sargent 

 and Aldana Brooks, he will be likely to obtain as many 

 birds as any gunner that goes out this season. Probably 

 few men enjoy grouse shooting in Maine more than he, 

 and few have better luck, if luck it may be termed. But 

 experience is better. He is fond of visiting the same 

 locality, believing that it takes years to become well ac- 

 quainted with one location for shooting, and that the bet- 

 ter one is acquainted the better work he can do. Shooting 

 in a new locality is scarcely pleasant to many of the best 

 gunners. Mr. E. N. Cook, with James S. Emery & Co., 

 is one of the most enthusiastic of Boston gunners. He 

 has made one trip down to the lower part of the Cape 

 already, with the result of a fair lot of birds, the lot con- 

 aining more jjlover than other gunners have been able 

 o obtain this season. He hopes to make at least a couple 

 more gunning trips this fall. His idea is that the flights 

 of shore birds of the larger varieties has been larger this 

 season than many gunners have suppo.sed. There has 

 been such a succession of heavy gales, beginning even as 

 eaiiy as July, that the birds have doubtless been a good 

 deal broken up and disturbed in their flights, and hence 

 the gunners have neither been able to get them nor see 

 them. Mr. E. B. Taylor returned last week from an ex- 

 tended gunning trip to the Cape. He found birds scarce, 

 especially of the larger varieties. The flocks were un- 

 usually small, though fairly frequent. His. idea is the 

 same as that of Mr. Cook — that the flights have been 

 broken up by the recent gales. 



Mr. Wm. H. Coggin, with Dwinell, Hayward & Co., 

 is fast becoming an enthusiast, both in fishing and gun- 

 ning. He is just back from his cottage at Falmouth, 

 where with his wife and baby he has spent a most enjoy- 

 able vacation. He went fishing for scup, tautog, or sea 

 bass almost every day when the weather permitted. He 

 obtained several fine bass, and an abundance of scup and 

 tautog. He fished over the same grounds as President 

 Cleveland. Salt-water fishing is growing in favor with 

 him, though very fond of pickerel fishing in the ponds in 

 Maine, his native State. 



Camp Vive Vale, in the Narrows of Richardson Lake, 

 in Maine, has been receiving some handsome and needed 

 additions this season. That camp, at first the property of 

 a club of four, is all now owned by Mr. C. P. Stevens, of 

 Boston, of printers' roller fame. Mr. Stevens wished to 

 make a good many improvements, while the others were 

 content with the camp as it was, and they visit only a 

 short time for spring fishing; so he bought them out. 

 Now they will go each spring as his guests. From being 

 one of the most enthusiastic trout fishermen in the world, 

 Mr. Stevens has come to delight in spending his entire 

 summers at the camp. This year he has achieved a long- 

 cherished purpose, that of taking Mrs. Stevens into camp 

 also. She is much of an invalid, and has always dreaded 

 the idea of camp life, especially the getting in and out. 

 Early in the season she got as far as Bethel, when after 

 getting nicely rested by a stay of several days, she was 

 taken in to the lake by an easy buckboard, and has been 

 able to remain there all the season, doubtless much to her 

 benefit, and to che great delight of her husband. In the 

 meantime Mr. Stevens has given considerable time to 

 camp improvements. He has buflt guides' quarters, boat- 

 houses and other bufldings, besides decidedly improving 

 his main camp. Late in August his nephew and man- 

 ager of his Boston office, Mr. Frank H. Stevens, with his 

 wife, paid their uncle and aimt a visit of a week or two. 

 Mrs. Frank Stevens was delighted with the outing, and 

 was greatly benefited by it. It was her first trip to the 

 Maine trout lakes. Fishing was poor, however, the lake 

 being low and the water very warm. By diligent fishing 

 at nightfall or very early in the morning, a few trout 

 could be taken. But the sport was little like that which 

 the Stevens part}' usually gets in the spring. They are 

 almost always the first sportsmen to be off in the spring, 

 and their record would scarcely be believed, if published. 



Travel to the World's Columbian Exposition is drawing 

 heavily upon the ranks of sportsmen this fall, heavier 

 than in the spring even. This is right, and as it should 

 be. The World's Fait- is a featm-e of 1893, and cannot 

 come again, in its present form and magnitude. But we 

 can go fishing and shooting each year for many years, 

 we hope. Allow me to suggest, when at the World's 

 Fair, that we look into the exhibit the Forest and Stream 

 has prepared for us, in the Fisheries Building. From 

 accounts jjublished, together with the fine work of the 

 photographer and the half-tone process, we may judge 

 that the exhibit is one that it will pay to spend time upon, 

 and that it will be of lasting benefit to the lover ol tlie 

 gun and rod. Special. 



