March. 9, 18'95. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
187 
•north side of the Alleghany River, on what was then 
known jk& Smoky Island. A high, naked, narrow hill, 
known as Hogback, (now Monument Hill) ov erlooked 
the Aleghany River on one side, and the "common," 
now the West Park of Alleghany City, on the other. 
A young man named Frank Byrne, stood on the rivpr side 
of Hogsback and in one morning shot 96 pigeons by shoot- 
ing at the flocks flying past him. 
In the spring of the year, generally in March, the pig- 
eons flew ovpr to their nesting ground in Northern Ne w 
York, in immense flocks nuuib Q ring millions. I have 
seen a single flock stretching from horizon to horizon. 
I have also seen them lighting on the woods, covering 
the ground by thousands, advancing in rows as it were, 
stirring up the leaves in search of the fallen mast, chiefly 
acorns, dogwood berries, and sassafras berries. Pigeons 
have been shot in the spring with rice in their crops, show 
ing long flights, though this is not wonderful, as the wild 
pigeon's flight is about ninety miles an hour. 
_ In the thirties the pigeons began to be scarce and con- 
tinued in the forties to grow fewer, owing, it was said, 
to the breaking up of their nesting grounds in Northern 
New York. It is now many years since any have been 
seen in this section 
In the early time I have referred to, game was plenti- 
ful in the vicinity of Pittsburgh . About 1823 or '24 I saw 
a large flock of wild turkey in the heart of what is now 
Alleghany City. There were then a very few houses in 
that city. Below the Penitentiary on West Common , 
now the Park, there were but a fewfarm houses, and all 
that region to the Ohio River and to Woods Run, about 
two miles below, was excellent quail ground. I remem- 
ber once flushing fourteen bevies of quail between the 
common and the Woods Run. All this ground is now 
built up, and for half a mile below Woods Run. It was 
■ once Manchester, and now a part of Alleghany City. 
Squirrels were numerous. I remember about 1822 see- 
ing John Sheriff walking up Wood street, in Pittsburgh, 
with his rifle over his shoulder, carrying on it a bundle 
I of probably fifty squirrels. Then all rifles were flint locks, 
and 3 think men were as good marksmen as they are now. 
I followed a hunter one day on Hones Hill, now Troy Hill, 
Alleghany City while he killed seventeen or eighteen squir- 
rels without missing a shot, and shooting all in the head. 
About 1824, an Englishman brought the first percussion 
lock shotgun to Pittsburgh. It was not fired by a cap, 
but by a fine powder carried in a pocket primer poured 
into a small cup on the barrel. 
As the time is way past and the scene is afar and the 
face of the country wholly changed, I have thought these 
early pigeon and game times might be interesting to 
some of your readers. Daniel Agnew. 
j_ BEAVEE,Pa. 
ACCEPTING AN INVITATION. 
Cxranby, P. Q. — Newt and I were up on Shefford 
Mountain one afternoon last October after grey squirrels. 
As we entered the woods Newt saw several running and 
claimed he saw six go up one tree, a very high, maple 
with a hole way up near the top. 
I went up over the mountain, watching and looking 
everywhere, while Newt remained to watch the tree 
and wait till those six came out. All at once I saw 
what I thought was a tail disappear around the other 
side of the tree, and after careful reconnoitering I saw 
him lying flat on a limb and took a snap shot at 
him. He fell, but in coming down caught on and ran 
round the trunk. I threw a stick on that side on the 
impulse of the moment and he came back to my side, 
when I picked him off. 
1 went back to find Newt, who had some time before 
abandoned the tree, as he saw numbers of them in a 
butternut grove below him ; but when he got there they 
had disappeared. 
We continued the hunt without any success till about 
5 o'clock, when we got around again to the original 
tree, and saw two more disappear up it. Newt said he 
would wait again and I also posted myself lower down 
and watched for some time. Finally I saw one making 
his way down the draw toward us, but in place of com- 
ing he went over a hill and disappeared. I stole 
cautiously his way, and saw him disappear in another 
tree. 
I went up to the head of the draw and watched for 
some time and at last heard a shot, followed very closely 
by another. On going down I found that Newt had one 
grey. It was nearly dusk, and believing that there were 
more up the tree I told Newt he could go down to the 
grove and intercept any coming up, and possibly the 
noise of his going away would make any in the tree 
think we had gone. 
I watched for about five minutes, when one ran down 
from a top limb, and as he was coming out to jump to 
another tree I took a quick aim and dropped him. 
We then went to the farmer's, and there found that a 
man with a load of sheep had just come in from near 
Boscobel, who seemed very sorry for us that our result 
was only three squirrels. 
"Why, come out our way," he said, "squirrels are 
plentiful. Down in MacFarlane's sugar bush they are 
there by the hundreds. If you want any bunting come 
and spend a couple of days with me. I have a fine dog 
that will run foxes, tree partridges and give you plenty 
of sport. I have a regular game pocket. It was only 
last Sunday that as we were coming back from church a 
big moose crossed the road in front of us. Two years 
ago we killed a deer ; also have seen bears, while ducks 
are in plenty on the flats. I never crossed the bridge 
but that several flocks could be seen around the bend. 
Trout? Yes, why, the Indians camp on the flats every 
year and live on trout, and lots of camping parties come 
there every summer. ' ' 
"Do they catch any big ones?" asked Newt. 
, "Oh, yes, they run from two to five pounds. " 
"Have you only one dog?" I asked. 
T "Yes, but he's a daisy. " 
s "I should think that when you wanted him to hunt 
partridges he would get on a fox scent and leave you?" 
"No, he knows when it's partridges you're after. 
He'll hunt them up, put them to tree and then sit and 
Dark at them till you come up and shoot them. It is 
lead easy, and you can get 25 birds in a day easily. ' ' 
"Will you sell that dog?" asked Newt. 
"No, sir, money can't buy that dog. I am going to 
Farnham with those sheep, will be back on Monday and 
you come up Tuesday and we will go out and give you 
some sport, aud show you what kind of a dog I have. 
It won't cost you a cent ; stop at my place. I'm just 
dying for a good hunt and will be delighted to go out 
With you. ' ' 
With the promise that we would drive over there on 
Tuesday if the weather held good, and thanking him 
for his kind invitation we started home. We talked the 
matter over It meant a drive of thirty miles. Newt 
thought he talked too big, while I thought that there 
was so much game represented, surely we would find 
enough to satisfy us, as half a dozen partridges at most 
would be enough for us. As the weather continued fair 
we started on our thirty mile drive on Tuesday over 
very rough roads. The country being new, we had to 
make many inquiries, but finally descended a very steep 
hill, which showed at the foot a small river, that we 
took to be the flats aforesaid. In crossing the bridge we 
looked anxiously up and down the river for the ducks, 
but we could not see a sign of one. 
A little farther on we came to the house. ' An old 
man was in the yard, from whom we inquired if our 
newly made friend lived there. 
"That's my boy. Yes, sir, he lives here when he is 
at home. ' ' 
"He is not at home, then?. When do>ou expect him 
back?" - * " 
' ' Oh, the Lord only knows. He left herel Saturday 
with a load of sheep and was going on to Farnham. 
Said he would be home last night, but I didn't believe 
him. Why, he went down there last year, and was to 
be home in two days, and never came back for two 
weeks. He has some relations down there, and they 
have apple parings, corn huskings and parties, and he 
gets in with the girls, and the fool never knows when 
to come home. ' ' 
We had been driving "all forenoon ; it was then 2 
o'clock. We had had a cold lunch and the horses had 
not been fed, and the old man did not seem anxious to 
invite us in. We explained how we had met this young 
man, who had invited us over, but he didn't take the 
hint. 
"Is there much game around here?" asked Newt. 
"No, not mnch. Quite a few foxes, but then it's too 
early for them. ' ' 
"Any partridges?" 
" Yes, quite a lot, but it's too early for them ; have to 
wait till the snow comes ; then go out at sundown, 
when you will find them budding, often a whole covey 
in a tree. All yon have to do is to shoot the lowest one, 
and the rest will stay there till you kill them all. Just 
now they are very wild ; would have to have a dog to 
tree them. " 
"Won't that dog of yours tree them?" 
"Yes, I guess so. Never tried him. He'd be no good 
for them if a fox was around. He's a dandy for foxes. " 
The dog was making friends with me. I thought he 
had been sheared, as the hair was all gone smooth to 
the skin all over his face ; there was a tuft of hair back 
of his ears and a little on the under part of his tail, but 
from his shoulders back it was smooth and fuzzy and 
very short, while what , little there was on his neck 
showed that in normal condition he would have been a 
long-haired dog, evidently a breed between a collie and 
a fox hound. He was very thin in flesh. 
"What is the matter with that dog?" asked Newt. 
"Noth'n, except that he don't eat enough — isn't 
reg'lar at his meals, * ■ as an after thought. 
"Has he had the distemper?" 
' ' Not as I knows on. ' ' 
"Well, what makes his hair so short? Did you shear 
him?" 
"Oh, no. He's worn that all off chasing foxes 
through the brush. He is after them most of the time. 
You might come here every day for a week and not find 
him at home. Might hear him after the foxes back in 
the woods. He is often two days at a time chasing 
them. 
"I shouldn't think he would be of any use to you, " 
said Newt. ' ' Don't you want to sell him ?" 
"No, sir. He's the finest cattle dog I ever owned. I 
have no fences to speak of, but the neighbors' cattle 
don't bother me, nor do my own break in. I can send 
that dog away down to the lower end of the lot after 
cattle, and if there are any strange cattle there, he will 
drive them away, and bring my own home, and when 
he chases them out of a field a couple of times they don't 
come back. Besides, when I once set him on to drive 
them out of a field he watches till he learns them that 
he is guardian over it, without any further orders from 
me. ' ' 
We had no opportunity to try the dog in any way, 
but he is the first one I ever saw or heard of that wore 
his hair all off chasing foxes through the brush. I 
wonder if any of your readers ever saw a similar case? 
"How about the fishing?" asked Newt. "Do they 
catch many trout down on the flats?" 
' ' Occasionally they will catch a trout. The French- 
men fish nights down there after pouts, of wnich there 
are lots, but trout are mighty scarce ' ' 
"How about ducks?" 
"Well, ducks don't amount to much. There used to 
be quite a few here at times, principally in the fall and 
early winter. You see the water is warm down there 
and the current pretty swift in places, so that when the 
ice first takes in other streams around here the ducks 
make for this place, as it is open till very late. Why, 
two years ago there was a flock down there that got 
caught in a snowstorm and seemed to be pretty well 
used up. I went down, had only one charge, walked 
right up to them and got four with the one shot. They 
didn't seem to be able to move much. No, I never go 
hunting after them. Ain't got time. " 
After a little further conversation we inquired the 
road to Valcourt and went over to pass the night, reach- 
ing there a little after 6 o'clock. 
When the hotel loungers saw our guns they came 
around and commenced telling us stories about the game. 
A deer had been seen there the past summer. One man 
a few years ago had caught eight fishes down on the 
brook. One old fellow pretty well corned with ' ' whisky 
blanc" said he had a friend in the barroom who had 
been a hunter for forty years, and who could tell us an 
about it. He tried to talk Euglish, and seemed quite 
offended that I should want to carry on the conversation 
iu French He produced his friend forthwith and in- 
troduced us as English gentlemen to a friend of forty 
years' experience. Newt immediately nicknamed him 
' ' Old Forty. ' ' His statement of present game supply 
showed very poor, the principal game to be foxes, of 
which he had taken about fifty the past season. 
He gave us one wrinkle in trapping them that I never 
heard of before. Down on the flats, or beaver meadow, 
or on a shallow brook he places his trap in the water, 
takes a sod and puts it on the pan and jaws, completely 
covering the trap, but necessarily thin. He then takes 
two other sods, placing one about stepning distance 
from the trap on either side, and if necessary to give 
dry footing from the edge of the water places other 
sods. The bait, a head of a chicken, or piece of meat, 
is stuck on the end of a bent sapling to hang over the 
trap. The fox, wishing to avoid the water, will step 
from sod to sod, and to reach the bait must step on the 
sod on the trap, which, of course, springs it. He trapped 
them in the fall, till snow came, then he caught the 
rest with ' 1 bullets, ' ' which, being translated, means 
"pills. " 
The next morning we started back home, but on the 
road stopped at a place we thought was good partridge 
ground and worked it. We went down to the old wood 
road a piece, Newt ahead, when two partridges went up 
off the brush fence, Newt calling to me to fire at them 
on the wing, or to fire, anyway, which I did when he 
explained that he had been told that when two or more 
partridges went up always to fire anyway, as some of 
them would go to tree. It didn't work this time, and 
we did not get the birds. 
At another place in the woods Newt raised five, but 
forgot to fire to tree them, till too late. They were 
marked down pretty well. I went over a hill, and 
standing on the top looked around among the brush to 
discover them if possible. Suddenly one broke cover 
from almost under my feet and scared me so that I for- 
got my gun. I pulled up, however, when she was about 
out of sight, and as I did so, two more went up. One 
of these I fired at and missed. At the discharge up 
went three more. I used the other barrel and had the 
satisfaction of seeing one of them fall. I shoved in two 
more shells, and still standing in my tracks I looked 
through the brush for more. I heard a " purt purt, " 
and looking around in time to see one start up, tried 
for her but missed. Up went two more, at which I 
tried again and missed. I loaded again, and started to 
move down to retrieve, when up went some more. I 
tried again and missed. In moving down where my 
bird fell I found she was only wounded and had to take 
another shot, as she was running with a broken wing. 
I secured her, however, which was the first bird I had 
ever touched on the wing. We hunted after the others, 
but I did not see a sign of them. Newt said that two 
of them looked down at him out of a tree till they were 
tired, and he only discovered it as they flew away. I 
raised tw o more coming out of the woods and tried for 
them, but missed, and also another on the road, a nice 
birch tree taking the charge of shot in place of the bird. 
I heard Newt fire once down in the swamp, but when 
I got down there he said there was a fine rabbit looking 
at him off the end of a log, he drew a bead on him, but 
seemed to be seized with remorse as he pressed the 
trigger, because the rabbit ran away. 
We got home that night in a storm, the results of the 
two days' trip of about seventy miles driving being one 
partridge, but then we had learned a lot about different 
things, had the pleasure of meeting ' ' Old Forty, ' ' saw ft 
new specimen of a dog and came to the conclusion in 
future to take enthusiasts' big stories with a grain of 
salt. It was a wild goose chase, but my touching a 
biid on the wing was as much satisfaction to me as if I 
had shot a dozen out of a tree, besides I had found that 
one could shoot at a partridge on the wing much 
quicker than I had any idea of, but I have yet to learn 
how to shoot straight. J. Bruce Payne. 
An Armless Shooter- 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Raleigh, N. C, Feb. 14.— We have had in Raleigh an 
armless shooter, Rev. R. T. Vann, a Baptist preacher, of 
whom to-day's Evening Visitor tells the story: "Rev.R.T. 
Vann performed a wonderful feat near Scotland Lake. 
It is remarkable that he can hunt and shoot so well, not 
having any hands and only one arm, from a little above 
the wrist. ' Mr. J. P. Futrell made Mr. Vann a turkey- 
caller with a rough cigar box and slate. Mr. Vann prac- 
tised with the caller one night, and went out with Mr. 
Futrell next day to hunt turkeys. They scattered the 
turkeys and made a blind apiece, some hundreds of yards 
apart. Mr. Vann occupied one blind and Futrell the other 
They both called for turkeys. Mr. Vann, having no 
hands, had to lay his gun clown and take his caller be- 
tween his knees, and use his slate as best he could with 
his teeth and stub of an arm. He succeeded in calling- 
well. He laid down his caller, took up his gun some way, 
rose up, and shot and brought down a 19-pound gobbler. 
Mr. Futrell came, out of curiosity, to see what Mr. Vann 
had done, when, to his great surprise, Mr. Vann had killed 
the turkey, gathered him up with his teeth and piece of 
an arm, and had deposited him in the blind, and was 
ready to* sit for another. Mr. Futrell is an old and ex- 
perienced hunter, and thinks Mr. Vann's the best and 
most wonderful turkey record he has ever known." 
When a boy, lie lost both hands in an accident with a 
sorghum mill, one being gone just above the wrist and 
the other above the elbow. Notwithstanding his crippled 
condition he managed to do some shooting, of which he 
is very fond, and is said to be a good wing shot. 
With his stumps of arms he raises his gun to his shoul- 
der and pulls the trigger with his teeth. To do this he 
has fixed a twine string from the trigger, passing around 
the grip of the stock and attached to a, bit of wood, in a 
position where his teeth will easily take hold while the 
gun is at his shoulder. Verily, the Nimrod in some men 
is hard to subdue. T. C. H. 
Lost Ten Years. 
MARYLAND— I oertainlydo enjoy your paper; sorry I have 
missed such interesting reading tor the past tea vears; at least, 
uad all of last year's uound. HARRY VV. BOVVERS. 
