Auo. 25, 1894.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
161 
Cobure, the Duke of Ratibor and other European noblemen, as well as 
those possessed by many prominent American sportsmen, can be pro- 
cured for exhibition. 
It is still further believed that the governments of Great Britain and 
Europe, as well as that of our own country, can be sufficiently inter- 
ested to direct an exhibit of the military costumes worn by tbeir 
respective armies; also, that the costumes worn by the armies of the 
Orient and the semi-barbarous tribes of Africa can be secured. 
The exhibits which it is believed will be shown by leading taxider- 
mists of the country, will interest not only sportsmen, but the natur- 
alist and the general public as well, for the reason that it will contain 
specimens of large and small game indigenous to all parts of America, 
as well as specimens of game birds, both of the present day and those 
now extinct. 
.It is further suggested to represent in papier mache and in mounted 
specimens scenes of the chase after native animals, as conducted in 
the Arctic regions, in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, India, Aus- 
tralia, Ceylon and other countries, whose costumes, people and ani- 
mals we in the United States know but little of. 
Another suggestion, which it is thought can be carried out, and 
which there is little doubt would interest the general public greatly, 
would be the exhibition of a small herd of buffalo, of a bull, cow and 
calf moose, of a quartette of elk, of Austrian boar and other game, all 
ot which can doubtless be secured for the purpose from some one of 
the great game preserves. 
In order to make the exhibit of lasting value to exhibitors, it is 
suggested that medals be awarded for superiority in the different 
classes entered by exhibitors. 
Many other features, which would especially interest the general 
public and contribute to the financial success of the undertaking, will 
suggest themselves as the work of preparation progresses. The 
floor space of Madison Square Garden would be divided into uniform 
spaces, and is such manner as would be most advantageous to the 
display of the products entered. It is proposed to fix a rental price 
for each of these spaces, and that the same be placed at the disposition 
of intending exhibitors, each exhibitor using one or more spaces as 
he may elect, to a reasonable extent. 
The amount of interest shown by leading houses of the trade in 
New York city at so early a stage of the project's developement 
would seem to promise tne ultimate success of its undertaking. 
Once under way, and with the exhibit assuming material shape, there 
seems but little question that applications for space will come from 
many quarters which the projectors have thus far not counted upon. 
If the earnest co-operation of the trade in all of its branches is 
extended there is every probability for the successful holding of an 
exhibit, which will prove of value to the trades interested, and of 
much interest to sportsmen and the general public. 
It is for the purpose of considering the enterprise in detail and 
arranging for the earnest prosecution of the work that the meeting 
set for Aug. 27 in this city has been called, and it is hoped that such 
action will be taken at that time as will interest the trade, the press 
and the public in the ultimate success of this, the first exhibit of its 
kind contemplated in this country. 
Getting' Ready in Boston. 
The shooting parties are already making up, and some 
of them will include business and professional men of a 
good deal of note. The Megantic Club is drawing this 
year as never before, and it is to be hoped that the supply 
of game and fish may prove ample to keep up the inter- 
est. Thus far its officers say that there has been no lack. 
On Friday morning, Oct. 12, Vice-President M. C. Pres- 
cott, with Kidder, Peabody & Co. , will take the follow- 
ing party of noted gentlemen to the happy hunting 
grounds: Hon. Everett A. Stevens, Dr. E. D. Bobbins, Dr. 
Robert A. Blood, Dr. E. W. Branigan, Orrin R. Dickey, 
Sumner Paine, Jacob W. Hoffman, Harry E. Haynes, T. 
R, Bidvvell, O. H. Hallett, Philip Prager, Joseph Trow- 
bridge, Dr. Church, Capt. Seth Lowe, John H. Kenney, F. 
R. Tackoberry, Leonard W. Marston, Myron L. Wether- 
bee, G. W. Preston, Wm. Litchfield, Joseph Morrill, M. 
D. Cressey, A. V. Lincoln and Chas. Rickenberg. The 
party will have a special car and go by Moosehead Lake, 
remaining there over night Friday, and reaching the 
Spider Lake club house Saturday morning, Oct. 13, at 
10:30. The special car remains at Megantic two weeks 
till the return of the party about the first of November. 
Last year the record of this party was ten deer killed, 
besides numerous small game. This year much better 
results are expected, though almost any other party of 
hunters would be pleased with such a record. To show 
what a healthy place the location is it is mentioned that 
the aggregate gain in weight of the party last year was 
1251bs. This party claims to be the largest and best 
equipped of any starting from Boston at any time. 
_ Special. 
Not as It Used to Be. 
East Pepperell, Mass., Aug. Id.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have been trying to write you for a month 
but since my call at 318 Broadway on July 3 I have been 
on the wing.. This is my old stamping ground, where 
forty years ago I used to hook apples, snare partridge, dig 
out woodchucks and join in other sports dear to the heart 
of the average boy. But there is no chance for a boy 
here now. The woods are cut off; the streams are dried 
up or poisoned by chemicals from the paper mills, and the 
apples are not half so good as they used to be. Perhaps, 
after all, the fault is mine, but it has caused a sad feeling 
just the same. Things don't look as they used to. The 
brooks are narrower; the ponds are smaller; while the 
hills, which as a boy I used to think were young moun- 
tains, have degenerated into hummocks. 
Well, we old fellows must accept the inevitable. But I 
do feel hurt that they should have cut down the wood 
where I shot the old cock on his drumming log, and filled 
up the spring under the big rock, where I used to drink 
from a grape leaf cup. 
However, I have had lots of comfort trudging over the 
old roads and lanes and finally coming upon some half- 
forgotten rock or tree, where I would seat myself and go 
back over the years, until by shutting my eyes I could 
almost dream I was a boy again. 
I believe my old friend the chipmunk is nearly extinct. 
I have only seen one since I came North, and I found one 
woodchuck hole and started a partridge. Wasn't that 
glory enough for one day? Tarpon. 
Stop the Sale of Game. 
A Platform Plank.— The sale of game should be forbidden at all 
times. — Forkst Ann Stream, Feb. 10. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I want to get on that platform right away, along with 
the thousands of other true sportsmen in this great land 
of ours. Stop the sale of game. This is the time when 
we must come out flat-footed for or against right and 
wrong, and every honest man wants to be in the right. 
Thank goodness the law is at last being enforced here 
Simon Maier, the butcher, mentioned by "Culpepper" some 
weeks ago, was brought to trial and the case was decided 
against him, the court holding that no matter whether 
deer or other game was killed in the State or out of it, said 
game could not be offered for sale. The statement that 
was made, to the effect that the deer sold was killed in 
Texas, did not go down with the court. 
Many of your readers will be sorry to see Mr. Hough 
soon finish his letters of "The Yellowstone Park Game- 
Exploration." Can he not go again soon and give u& 
more notes on that wonderful country. A. H. S. 
What About the New York Grouse Season? 
Ithaca, N. Y., Aug. 16.— The opening day on ruffed 
grouse and woodcock was not favorable, so far as the 
weather was concerned, for anything like satisfactory 
results, it being a hot, windy, sunshiny day. The first- 
day contingent was, no doubt, out in force, but so far as 
I have been able to ascertain the shooting was of an 
inferior sort. The fact is,- the opening day on grouse 
should be deferred for at least two weeks. The birds are 
small and floppy and don't begin to afford the sport that 
they do a little later, when clothed in the full vigor of 
maturity and with wits sharpened to a keen and pene- 
trating edge. Woodcock will be found in fairly good 
numbers in Tompkins county. The shooting will be bet- 
ter though a little later on. Good ruffed grouse shooting 
after Sept. 15, say, may be had near Harford Mills, on 
the line of the S. C. R. R. , along the eastside of Cayuga 
Lake, around Mecklenburg, near Spencer and West 
Danby, points easily reached from Ithaca. 
By the by, your editorial in current issue of Forest and 
Stream, "Mr. Messiter is not to Blame," is a scathing 
arraignment of a class, large and growing larger, irre- 
pressibly seeking, as you trenchently put it, "to invade 
the rights of the public." M. Chill. 
New York, Aug. 13.— Editor Forest and Stream: Your 
editorial on the New York deer season is very plain and 
will be much appreciated. I wish you would say some- 
thing on the laws on ruffed grouse. A year or two ago I 
was out on Aug. 15, which I believe now commences the 
open season, and our dogs caught young birds that had 
not been shot at. One bird flew across an open field and 
becoming exhausted dropped in the grass, where one of 
our dogs found it, in too weak a condition to fly. I heard 
of several birds being caught that day. This law ought 
to be changed. A. F. 
The Wyoming Elk Supply. 
Marysvale, Wyoming.— Editor Forest and Stream: I 
do not agree with Mr. Dodge that only one out of every 
ten elk caught survives to reach the corral. They are 
not chased with horses here in Jackson's Hole, but are 
caught by men on snowshoes. It is a poor business, ever 
so well followed, and I would like to see it stopped. But 
we have two things worse on the elk than catching them 
alive. One is when a poor shot and poor hunter starts 
out for his meat, firing big balls into a large bunch of elk. 
He always cripples a great many that he does not get. 
The other is tourists that employ their guides and helpers 
in Idaho and Montana, and come in here hunting. They 
have no interest in the preservation of the game and kill 
all they can. The article written by "Shongo" two years 
ago was a fair example. Any sportsman should be satis- 
fied with at least two good elk. 
Now that we have some law in the Park, and that the 
Indians are to be kept out, and if we get some officers to 
see that the game is not abused in here in the winter, and 
if sportsmen will engage their guides in Wyoming, who 
have some interest in the prese.vation of the game, then 
our big game supply is assured. We like to have Eastern 
sportsmen come out and have a hunt when they come 
right. s. N. Leek. 
Notes from the Capital. 
Tom Marron of the National Museum, saw a remark- 
able flight of yellowshanks at the Eastern Branch boat 
house on Sunday, Aug. 12. To quote his words: "It 
must have contained fully 800 birds. Just at the bridge 
they separated, about one- half going up the Branch and 
the others down the Potomac. The flock was variously 
estimated at from 800 to 1,500. I think 800 is nearer the 
actual number. There were several smaller flights, rang- 
ing from 5 to 30 in a flock, during the afternoon. This 
great flock of birds was a most remarkable sight for the 
Eastern Branch, and old gunners do not recollect anything 
like it before. It being Sunday and raining hard, none 
were killed that I know of." 
The superintendent of the Museum buildings, Mr. Henry 
Horan, has a wonderfully sagacious terrier named Fannie. 
She had a litter of pups recently, and all but one of them 
were killed by the excessively hot weather. Fannie dug 
a hole in the ground in a shady spot, placed the remaining 
puppy therein and covered it with dirt, leaving only its 
head exposed. The little one has survived and promises 
to reach maturity, thanks to the intelligence of its mother. 
T. H. B. 
Missouri Quail. 
Moberly, Mo., Aug. 8.— I have spent several davs on 
the large farm of my brother-in-law (who is member of 
Congress frorn this district), and have had grand sport 
with doves and young rabbits. The season here has been 
favorable to quail, and as a result there is an immense 
crop of these birds. While fishing on the Chariton River 
I noticed a great many dead fish, of all sizes and varieties, 
floating on the water. On making inquiry I found that a 
party of vandals had been encamped on this stream, and 
had been using dynamite. This stream flows through the 
farm, and as I have the names of the scoundrels who per- 
petrated this deed, I intend to see that it is made hot for 
th em. L. C. B. 
In Massachusetts Covers. 
_ Whitman, Mass.— The prospect of good duck shooting 
an the mill ponds is better than it has been for years; the 
mud rails have arrived and will furnish good shooting for 
the next two months. There are more partridges°and 
woodcocks here than usual. The woodcock law in this 
State, I think, is a little at fault; it should come off in 
August, as most of the birds have left before September. 
Although we had a severe winter it did not have much 
effect on the quail in this section, as there are more birds 
to the square mile than I ever saw before. Now if the 
sportsmen will leave them alone during this closed vear 
as any true sportsmrn Bhould, they will furnish V 0 od 
shooting in time to come. w w 
A Connecticut Deer Law of 167*7. 
Hartford, Conn., Aug. 12.— At the last session of the 
Connecticut Legislature a law was passed forbidding the 
killing of deer in the State for a period of ten years, under 
a penalty of $100 fine. Since then two deer have been 
seen at large, doubtless truants from inclosures. In this 
connection it may be of some interest to give a copy of a 
law passed by the old Colonial Court of Assistants at a 
session held at Hartford in May, 1677, and which also fur- 
nishes precedent to the statute which forbids the trans- 
portation of game beyond the borders of the State. The 
old law, which may be found in the Colonial records, is as 
follows: 
"Whereas, It is fownd to be prejudiciall to the pub: 
weale to transport out of this colony the skinns of bucks 
and dowes, which are so serwiceable and vseful for 
eloathing, it is now ordered by this court that after the 
publication hereof, whosoever shall ship on board any ves- 
sel greater or lesser, for transportation, or otherwise shall 
transport any such skinns out of this colony, he shall for- 
feit the skinns so shipped, or the full value of them; the 
one-halfe to the complayner, and the other halfe to the 
county treasury; except they be shipped to be transported 
to another place in this county, and in such case before 
they ship them they shall give sufficient bond to the full 
value of the skinnB so shipped that they will deliver them 
to such place in the colony as they pretend to and will 
not transport them thence." E. Hart Fenn. 
keipngs. 
■ That reminds me." 
You at one time were having quite a run of yarns on 
the extraordinary shot subject. Here is one that may 
not be far behind the score, and it is a true one: Dr. 
Cummins, of Jersey City, was recently up around Green- 
wood Lake way, during the woodcock season, with a few 
friends, and on the morning I refer to he had made a 
capital shot. A woodcock rose before his dog and pitched 
into the brush. The doctor blazed away and brought 
down his bird, and at the same time a cry, in fact, two 
cries, arose from the other side of the thicket. Upon 
investigation it was discovered that he had not only 
killed his bird, but had brought down (i. e., peppered) his 
two friends on the other side of the hedge, or copse — 
Rev. Mr. Kennedy and Dr. Olcott, both of Brooklyn. 
"Whew!" says the lucky marksman, "a doctor, a dominie 
and a fall woodcock at one shot." Fortunately, neither 
of the two friends were much injured, and they joined in 
the congratulations upon their escape from serious injury. 
Jacobstaff. 
Some one not long ago suggested we hear from those 
who had guns that kicked. I have not such an article, 
but heard of a good story of one while up in the big woods 
of Maine camping out. An old fellow came into camp one 
dry day, and the conversation turned on guns. "Talk of 
intelligent guns," he said; "why, boys, I had one that 
kicked every time I looked at it. Why, one day I was 
walking on some nice clear ice when a goose flew right 
over me. I up with my gun and shot. Do you know, that 
gun kicked me flat, and then when it had me down it 
kicked me three times more. Now that's what I call a 
smart gun." 
He may not have missed the goose, but his aim was 
short-sighted in telling the story, as it was a temperance 
crowd, and nobody asked for the historic quotation of the 
Governor of South Carolina. .45 Govt. 
Connecticut Quail. 
; Noroton, Conn.— Quail are unusually abundant. I 
have been all over this end of the State and as far west as 
the Hudson, but I find more quail in this neighborhood 
than at any other section that I have passed over. 
M. L. C. 
WASHINGTON FISHING MEMORANDA. 
Washington, D. C, Aug. 18.— The shad fry which 
were placed in one of the fish ponds last spring have devel- 
oped into enormous schools of little fish which may be 
seen leaping above the surface almost any fine evening 
while feeding on insects and small water fleas. The bass 
are thriving also and the prospect of a great yield is now 
very encouraging. Mr. Edwin A. Newman received 400 
young black bass from the Fish Commission in 1892 and 
put them in a lake at Lakeland, Md. In the spring of 
1894 he reported a stock of about 30,000 as the result of 
that plant. As only 90 of his original bass were year- 
lings and the rest smaller, he thinks the attempt worth 
repeating. 
Our market is full of choice fish, sheepshead, bluefish, 
Spanish mackerel, and hundreds of beautiful red snappers. 
A dusky shark was caught in the Potomac last week in a 
gill net and Mr. R. A. Golden had it on exhibition at his 
stand on Friday. The creature was nearly 9ft. long and 
weighed 3001bs. The skin will be mounted by Mr. Wm. 
Palmer and will probably form one of the permanent 
curiosities in Mr. Golden's possession. The capture of a 
great shark in fresh water so near Washington was a 
surprise and shock to the visitors at the bathing shores 
down the river. He had probably just got wind of the 
menhaden investigation by Congress and was on his way 
-to defend his rights in the old school fashion. 
The aquarium at the Fish Commission office is under- 
going extensive' repairs and will prove more attractive 
than ever before when the work is completed. The 
grotto now has a metallic lining moulded into the shape 
of rough, red sandstone blocks, and the ventilation and 
lighting are greatly improved. It will soon be stocked 
with many kinds of marine and fresh water fish. 
Reports of bass fishing in the James River are very dis- 
couraging. Mr. E. M. Gadsden returned last week from 
Daggers, which was formerly a celebrated place for 
black bass, and said he found it very hard to get bait, and 
still more difficult to take bass. Only a few were caught 
and they were small. Clifton Forge, where General 
Hampton has captured so many fine bass with the fly. is 
almost equally unproductive this year. Minnows are un- 
usually scarce and large bass are absent. The best all- 
around bait for the James is a small catfish, because of its 
tenacity to life and its favor in the estimation of the bass. 
Small frogs are used also very effectively at certain times. 
Boats can be hired with guides for $1 a day and board 
costs another dollar. There are no hotels at Daggers, but 
any of the farmers will take care of anglers. T. H. B. 
