Jan. a, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
9 
conservative estimate of the rramber of ruffed grovise 
killed in this county alone during the present aeason. 
I calculate that at least 10 000 have been killed. When 
I see sure extermination going on at this rapid rate 
it makes me feel as if I must try and help 
do something to put a stop to it. As I have 
remarked, it is not a lack of numbers of those 
desiring further protection, but rather a united, con- 
certed action We see public-spirited individuals and 
associations expending money and time liberally to intro- 
duce and acclimate some foreign game bird, which is 
very commendable, but let us puppose that all should 
bend their energies toward protecting one already accli- 
mated. Give him enough close season in which to get 
his growth and strength of wing; remove the 2.')-cent 
bounty from his proud, defiant head, and we shall always 
have him with us, the king of them all. New York is a 
very large State, and the interest taken in some particu- 
lar kind of game varies much ia different sections. With 
us ruffed grouse shooting is our chief sport, Very natu- 
rally we wish to see him pro^^f c^rd. What we would like 
to see would be a law to make the open season Oct. 10 to 
Dec. 15, and to prohibit the sale. Our prPFent plan is to 
get some of the adjoining counties, whose interests are 
identical with ours, and form a five-county league (or 
whatever the number of counties may be) We feel that 
we cm acoomplisli more this way thaa any other. To 
this end I would be pleased to hear from all eportsmen in 
adjoining counties who take enough interest in protec- 
tion to write me that I may be able to submit plans to them 
looking toward the formation of county league. We 
recognize Forest and Stream as our oKly medium and 
earnest aHy in this work. H, W. Brown. 
Maine's Indian Guides. 
Worcester, Mass , Dec 15 — Editor Forest and Stream: 
In a copy of Forest and Stream published some time 
about Nov, 1 I noticed an article by Mr. A, L. Turner 
deecribing how he got even with his Indian guide. The 
tone of the article reflects on Indians in general, and has 
caused a great deal of indignation among not only the 
Indians, but among the people in general in the Penob- 
scot country. It is a gross injustice to thelndians to pub- 
lish such an article, and I hopa you will publish this to 
show the true facts. 
I spent two weeks among the Indians at Debsconeag 
dead water this fall. My guide was Joe Francis, the best 
guide and keenest hunter I know of. He would see more 
game, and give the sportsman more opportunities in a 
given time than, any guide I ever knew, 
During my first week out I shot at no less than six or 
seven deer, missing every one. I then discovered that 
the sights on my gun were wrong. On Monday of the 
second week I killed a spike buck; on Tuesday, a beauti- 
ful buck deer with fine head; and on Wednesday by 8 
o'clock in the morning I had killed a caribou weighing 
some 400 or 500lb3. The weather was not favorable to 
moose hunting, so we only hunted one day. 
Oa my return I had the thrilling experiencf» of travel- 
ing eleven miles over ice so thin that constant care was 
liecessary to avoid going through. Air holes on every 
side were a constant reminder of the danger, and no man 
in the party felt willing to release his hold on the canoe, 
which was carried on a hand sled. 
The uniform kindness and courtesy of the Indians, 
their untiring efforts to please, and the conscience dis- 
played in their work and charges command my highest 
respect, and I condemn the man who would maliciously 
disparage them. E. A. C. Becker. 
[This being Christmas week, and a proper time for pro- 
moting good feeling, we cheerfully explain that we never 
for a moment thought of the article complained of as 
casting general reflections upon the Indians of Maine, 
and we regret that it should have been so interpreted by 
the people of the Penobscot. We know Joe Francis; and 
if all the others are like him we cannot imagine that any- 
body would wish maliciously to disparage them, J 
Boone and Crockett Club Meeting. 
The annual meeting of the Boone and Crockett Club 
wUl be held at the Metropolitan Club in this city on Satur- 
day, Jan 16, at 6:30 P. M., and will be followed by a 
dinner. 
The business of the meeting will be the election of a 
president to succeed the late Gen. Bristow, election of 
ofiB.cers and committees for the coming year, and the con- 
sideration of measures for the more effective protection 
of big game in certain parts of the country where it is 
most seriously threatened. 
This meeting will inaugurate a new plan which it is in- 
tended to carry further in the future, and which is likely 
to result in making the meeting still more attractive as 
well as more significant of the purposes and interests of 
the club. 
Mr. A. P. Low, of the Canadian Geological Survey, will ■ 
be the guest of the club at this dinner and will read a 
paper, to be illustrated by stereopticon pictures, upon his 
recent explorations, made for the Dominion Government, 
in the interior of the Labrador Peninsula. Mr. Low's ex- 
plorations, one of which occupied two years, are the first 
ever undertaken in a region which until then was un- 
known. His paper deals with those portions of the 
pe*! insula which are of most interest to sportsmen. 
Connecticut Game Birds. 
Haiiden, Conn., Dec, 14. — Birds and other game have 
been more plentiful this year than for a number of years, 
and some excellent bags have been made, The Mongo- 
lian pheasants, however, which were introduced in this 
vicinity durmg the past three years and which seemed to 
be doing so well last summer, appear to haTe been exter- 
minated. Whether they were killed by^hooters before 
the law was off, or by other enemies, it is hard to say. It 
is to be regretted that the efforts of such public-spirited 
sportsmen as J. B. Robinson and others, who have un- 
selfishly given both time and money in order to introduce 
this bird here, have been crowned with such discouraging 
success. It is said that Mr. Rabinson alone has spant 
more than $500 in an attempt to make the introduction of 
this bird successful. 
While snaring has nearly become extinct in this im- 
mediate neighborhood, stiU another lawbreaker is very 
much in evidence; I refer to the Sunday shooter. I have 
had it from very reliable authority that ^these Simday 
shooters, some of them at least, are loud howlers for the 
observance of the game laws and against the snarers 
through the week, but that when Sunday comes they 
quieMy slink with dngg and guns into the woods and 
break the laws themselves. Tbtre is one thing certain, 
anyhow, and that is some one is breaking the law regu- 
larly, «s the reports of guns can be heard in the woods 
every Sanday. William H. Avis. 
"That reminds me." 
Ducking Air- Ship. 
Boston, Dec. 17 — Editor Forest and Stream: Dur- 
ing the heated debates on the proper caliber of a rifle for 
big game, I suggested a contrivance for the rapid exter- 
mination of it (the game, not the debate). I have waited 
patiently to hear from somebody who wants such a thing, 
and now I have given up all hope of ever hearing from 
anybody. Why don't Deerslayer apply for one? It would 
be much surer than a shotgun. 
Now that the duck-shooting season is at its height, I 
thought it would not be out of place for me to offer to the 
sporting public the latest improvement in that line. The 
inclosed sketch speaUs for itself. It has several advan- 
tages over the sunken barrel, hole in the mud or ice way, 
viz : No cold or wet feet; no danger of tide rising and 
you having to swim for shore; no decoys. If the birds 
feel indisposed to come to you, why, all you have got to 
do is to go to them. 
Now, there is a great field for improvement even in 
this method. Take, for instance, a suitable net or some- 
thing else to catch the killed birds in. We have often 
heard of showers of toads, but unless some inventive 
gftnius contrives some way of catching the birds after 
they're shot, showers of ducks will not be an uncommon 
occurrence in the future. The Slaughterer. 
How to Keep your Clothes Dry in a Shower. 
By the by, some of your readers may like to know 
how the Indians manage to keep their clothing dry in a 
heavy shower, A good many years ago, when south- 
western Michigan was a newer country than at present, 
a friend of Aatler's went out there to look for a home. 
He "met up" with four or five more men on the same 
business, and together they tramped across a large prairie, 
A heavy shower came up, and they "pulled foot" for the 
timber, but when they reached it were thoroughly 
drenched. They halted, built a large fire and stood 
around it to dry their steaming clothes, when they saw 
approaching a small party of Indians, whom they had 
passed at speed on the prairie. It was a conspicuous fact, 
and one not to be forgotten, that every Indian was at 
that time attired simply in his native modesty (which 
with an Indian is generally an unknown quantity), and 
further, that each sat upon a tightly rolled bundle of 
clothing, thus protecting it in a great measure from the 
pouring rain. When they passed the whites, the shower 
had passed, and they were once more duly attired in dry 
clothing. 
The whites, aftet some hours passed in attempting to 
dry their duds, moved on, saying among themselves that 
after all there was something to be learned from an In- 
dian, Kelpie. 
"Fezzunts" and: their Ways. 
Oil City, Pa., Dec. 23. — 1 extracted so much pleasure 
and comfort from reading Mr. Waters's able article on 
the ways of ruffed grouse that I feel like trying to add 
my little mite to the literature that treats of the noblest 
game bird that flies. With that idea in view I have 
clipped the following from the Oil City, Fa,., Blizzard, 
being an essay on "fezzunts" from the pen of a small 
boy: 
"i don't no much about fezzunts only what i hav hurd 
my pa tel. he hunts after them rite along but I never 
see eny of them only what hangs in frunt of the mete 
shop pa sez the fezzunt is quite taim when trout is in see- 
zun but thay keep gettin' smarter rite along til fall and 
then thay are to smart to shoot. Thay must be offul cute. 
Pa says thay will preten not to see Mm and get behin a 
tree an pa wil shoot whare he thot thay wuz. Sum- 
times he cums home reel mad. He sez if he only had a 
good settur dog he could hav plenty of fezzunts to eat 
for the mete is very wite and nice only i never had eny. 
Sumtimes pa blaims it on the kind of shott and powdur 
in his gun and then ma laffs wen pa is gone. She says 
pa used to talk that way befour i was borned; i think i 
will buy him a fezzunt for crismus from the mete shop; i 
know that wil make ma laff too," 
A Good Shot, 
Mrs. Younghub: "Oh, Ferdy! I have such a surprise 
for you?" 
Younghub: "You have, love?" 
Mrs. Younghub: "Yes, dear. See this sweet little 
dog I bought for ua — only $20, and the dog-seller war- 
ranted him to be a pure mongrel!" — Pitcfc. 
gea mid §w^r S^flittg. 
MEN 1 HAVE FISHED WITH. 
XXVII.-Kenneth King. 
Those who have followed these sketches may recall 
meeting "Ken" King in the story of Capt. Stephpn Mar- 
tin, three months back. In the spring of 1860 King was 
a man past middle Ufe, broad of shoulder and built like 
an athlete. He was an Englishman of the genial, com- 
panionable kind that love dogs and gun, keep road houses 
just out of town where the bar is hung with guns, fishing 
rods and trophies of the hunt, while the talk is mostly on 
dogs, a good bit o' snipe ground or the prospect of a 
change of wind that would start the ducks up the river. 
When you see his full ruddy face, with its closely-cropped 
beard, and note that he always wears a suit of brown cor- 
duroy which has charged through many an abbatia of 
brush and chevaux de friese of briers that have left their 
scars, you know the man thoroughly. 
It was the first mild day in spring after the ice had left 
the Hudson that I walked down the Bethlehem road 
which leads from Albany along the river and dropped 
into his inn, for there were inns and taverns then and 
every country house with a bar and a bed was not a 
"hotel. 
"Hello, Ken," said I, "how are you? Haven't seen 
you in some time," 
He took the proffered hand while about a dozen point- 
ers of different ages took a sniff of the stranger's legs, 
"Good morning!" he said, and then to another man in 
corduroy: "You use the whip too much on that dog, 'e's 
lost confidence in you an' in 'imself. Let up on the whip; 
I know un an' 'e's a good un, but none o' his breed '11 
bear much whip," 
The man went out and King turned to me and re- 
marked: "It's a nice morning," 
"You don't seem to know me. Ken," and I mentioned 
my name. 
He put one hand on the bar and lightly vaulted over, 
" 'Eavens! Lad, is it thee come back, an' so pale an' sick- 
lookin'; I'd never 'a' knowed thee. Aye! I remember 
well the day when I sold ye that pointer puppy Nell, that 
you spoiled in the breaking; but Mr. Raymond has some 
grand dogs from 'er: why not? Ther's no better pointers 
in America than her stock. Here, Click, Sally, Wads, 
Jim, come 'ere, you rascals. Look at that lot; feel o* 
their ears; ever feel silk softer 'n that? Look a' them 
ptrong legs, straight backs, an' then gaze at the heads 
Ever see anything like it in the West? No; I'll answer 
fur ye, ye didn't." 
After I had sufficiently admired the really fine animals 
Ken asked: "But what's a matter o' ye? Ye aint a bit 
like yer old self. Yer pale an' peaked an' thin; never 'd 
'a' knowed ye in the world," 
After I had explained that living for some years among 
decaying prairie sod had resulted in a form of ague that . 
had pulled me down, he said: 
"What ye want is to keep out of doors. Come an' live 
wi' me an' shoot an' fish for a month and stop taking 
medicine and you'll be all right. I'm goin' down to the 
mouth of the Normanskill in the morning to spin for pike 
or perch an' I'll give ye a bed here if ye'll go. I want to . 
talk over old times. What d' ye say?" 
I arranged to go back for my tackle, and as I didn't 
care to spend the evening at the inn, I turned up about 11 
P, M. and went to bed. The morning was foggy, and as 
the current took us down the river we talked of the old- 
time pigeon shoots at the Abbey and out at the Bull's 
Head , where the West Albany reservoir now stands. He 
asked: "Do ye remember the day at the Bull's Head 
when Liee Simmons killed twenty-five birds straight and 
was tied by Hank Webb? Well, that was a large day, an' 
when they shot off the tie ye remember that Hank won 
by a bird? Well, I'll tell ye; I loaded for Hank an' put a 
leather wad, with a hole in the middle, over the shot, an' 
the scatter fetched 'em ev'ry time, Lige missed on his 
fifth bird an' Webb killed.* 
"Lige got a hint of this before he left the grounds and 
asked about it. I showed 'im the wads an' he laughed 
an' said: 'I'll have to get some o' these for trap shooting,' 
Bring the boat inshore here at the mouth of the creek." 
Pulling up the creek until we found its current strong 
enough to spin a minnow, we tied up to the limbs of an 
overhanging wUlow and used a primitive gang of hooks, 
"a flight," Ken called it, consisting of a lip hook fas- 
tened to the gimp snell a couple of inches above the 
larger hook, which was inserted in the tail of the bait so 
as to bend the latter and make it spin in the current. 
Our rods were plain ash and lancewood, stiff, as bait rods 
should be; and here for the first time I used a reel, a poor, 
cheap one, but still a reel. The most common fish in the 
upper Hudson in those days was the yellow perch and 
they were always plenty. We took a score of perch be- 
fore I had a good strike, and under Ken's advice let the 
fish run until he stopped and the word was given to 
strike him, and I reeled in a pickerel of about 41bs. This 
was a new form of fishing to me, and a little higher kind 
than any of the methods of boyhood. 
We had our guns, a thing which to-day I dislike to 
have on a fishing trip, on the principle that made the old 
darky throw a big perch overboard, saying, "W'en I goes 
a-cattin' I goes a-cattin', an' I leaves dese yer' fellows till 
I wants 'em." But Ken King was primarily a gunner 
and only incidentally an angler. I was watching the cur- 
rent alternately bring the spinning minnow to the surface 
and then take it below, while speculating if the swivels 
were working properly so as to avoid twisting kinks in 
the line or unlaying it, when a kingfisher suddenly came 
upon us and gave its whirring alarm, and at the same in- 
stant Ken shot without warning. I wondered why he 
shot at the kingfisher; the bird went on unharmed, while 
I looked at the old man, whose back was toward me, and 
no game in sight. "Cast off, quick!" he said, and in a 
minute I was at the oars, pulling as he directed. His gun 
spoke again, and he picked up a fine mallard which had 
* I know nothing of using this sort of wad on top of shot. -Never 
heard of it before nor since, and ^ive it as 'twas told to me over 
thirty-five years ago. It was not necessary to pat a card wad over 
llie leather because in those days a man could go to the score with 
the muzzle up. I have killed many a squirrel vvith no wad over the 
shot when he was above and time was short. Old Albanians will re- 
member Elijah Simmons as one of the greatest horsemen of his day 
in the State, and also Hank Webb as the most formidable roush and- 
tumble fighter of Albany's volunteer fire department when lighting: 
was the most important qualification of a fireman. 
