44 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 15, 1898. 
of native weapons and utensils, of all sorts, were made, so 
that ill fact the collectioHS very completely cover tile 
ground traversed in all departments of zoology. It was 
high time that this should be done, and Mr. Elliott says: 
"In a few years, from the gradual disappearance of the 
large animals,, which has been going on in the African 
continent for a considerable period, and already has re- 
sulted in the complete extinction of some of the finesf 
species, the collection brought to the Field 
Museum will be practically priceless. It is 
the only proper way to secure collections for a museum, 
and for what must still be accomplished, ' 'twere well if 
'twere done quickly'; for the time is near at hand when, 
in certain lines of zoology, especiallj'^ in the large mam- 
mals of the world, it will be forever impossible to procure 
examples. They are certain, most of them, to become as 
extinct as the mastodon or dodo are to-day. Of all the 
existing wild creatures, those of the African continent 
are disappearing the n:ost rapidly, and although the Field 
Museum by its recent acquisitions is ahead of all its sis- 
ter institutions in the United States as regards the large 
quadrupeds of Africa, yet there are large numbers not 
yet represented." 
Mr. G. A. Dorsey, Assistant Curator of Anthropology, 
has done good work among the Indians of the North- 
west; and the chiefs of other departments have all of 
them been hard at work. 
The installation of the collections has progressed rap- 
idly. Setting aside the many other interesting depart- 
ments, that devoted to mammals and birds may be es- 
pecially referred to. In the west court of this depart- 
ment are installed two remarkable groups — of musk-ox 
and the lesser koodoo — and by this time a group of ga- 
zelles is no dotibt also in place. These groups are posed 
and arranged with the utmost scientific fidelity in them- 
seh^es and in their accessories, and are on the same plan 
as the groups to be seen in the National Museum at 
Washington and in the Natural History Museum in this 
city. Through the kindness of the directors of the mu- 
seum we are able to reproduce one of these groups. 
The "Woodcock's Strut. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I read with interest ShadoAv's account of a strutting 
woodcock. I have never seen a woodcock strutting in 
daylight, except when hunting them ivith dogs, when 
I have gone into willows or thick brush to flush the 
bird. I have often seen them do exactly Avhat Shadow 
saw Mr. Allin's woodcock do; but they were frightened 
and running away. 
If Shadow will come to spend a few days with me dur- 
ing the next woodcock hunting season, he will have a fine 
opportunitj' to see from one to three or four birds strut- 
ting every evening. Just across the road from my house 
is a side-hill pasture grown up to scattered brush, leaving 
a verj^ open cover. Woodcock have nested there every 
spring since I have lived here, and I have been here eight 
years. 
I have seen eight male birds it) the air at once. Just 
at dusk they will start from the ground, fly in a small 
circle, which grows larger each time the}' go around, 
until they are quite high, and when they descend they 
sing a very pretty song, which lasts till they are any- 
where from 10 to 40ft. from the ground, when they close 
their wings and drop straight down to within 3 or 4ft. 
of the earth. Then they open their wings again, and I 
think it is a good thing for them that they do, for if one 
hit the ground at the same rate he was descending there 
would be a dead woodcock. 
I love to watch them. Every evening that I have the 
time to spare in their mating season, I am in the pasture, 
and the birds have often lit within 3 or 4ft. of whei-e T 
was standing. When they strike the ground they sit 
very still for a short time, then stand up. shake themselves 
and commence to strut, and some of them have strutted 
away from me and others have strutted in a circle, just 
as an old gobbler wn'U strut around a hen. 
I have never heard them niake anv hissing noise, and I 
have been close enough to hear it if any such noise was 
made. I do not mean to say that I doubt Mr. Allin's 
word, only the birds that I have seen strutting have made 
no such noise so I could hear it. This coming spring 
T am going to observe them more closely and see if I 
can hear them hissing. Unless frightened a bird will 
always alight within a few feet of where he got up. and 
from' this I believe that Mrs. Woodcock is somewhere 
near. I never hunted for her, for I do not like to scare 
them; and when you get a bird's lighting place located 
you can see him strutting every evening. 
I have hunted woodcock everjf fall for fh'e past eight 
years, and watched them every spring for the same length 
of time, but I do not pretend to know anything about 
them. I have told what I know to be facts- 
Some time in the future I want to ask Shadow some 
questions about grouse. My friend Robert Thilo and I 
have hunted them much together during the last season, 
and some of them cut up antics thnt were altogether 
new to us. F. E. Hamilton. 
Warren County, Pa. 
Pennsylvania Sqttirtel Season* 
A Pennsylvani.\ correspondent writes: An article ap- 
peared in one of the Pittsburg evening paoers a short 
time ago, which stated that a number of Pennsylvania 
sportsmen Avere dissatisfied with the present law, and 
intended to take immediate action in getting the law op 
squirrels changed, so that instead of opening Oct. 15, it 
would open Sept. i or 15. They claim that the best 
part of the squirrel shooting is over before the season 
opens. This is correct; but how many of these same 
men, if they did succeed in getting the law changed, 
would shoot at squirrels only? I venture to say not one 
in fifty. The majority of them would blaze away at any- 
thing that got up in front of them, and when the season 
did open for birds, the ones who had obeyed the law 
would find birds all gone. If any change is made in the 
law, it should be to lenerthen the season, to close Jan. 
I, instead of Dec. 15. This would give the people who 
can only afford to go hunting on the holidays a chance. 
As it is now, they get only one day each season (Thanks- 
giving). I hope Forest and Stream will have a few 
words to sa,y against this Gontenlplated change in the 
near future;. 
I am the oMly person in this little town who reads 
3'our paper, have been reading it for about five years 
and feel like kicking myself for missing so many years 
of the tnost ^enjoyable reading. D. G. Lamont. 
mie md ^nn. 
The Boone and Crockett Club, 
The eleventh annual meeting of the Boone and 
Crockett Club was held on Saturdaj', Jan. 8, at the 
Metropolitan Club in New York city. Among those 
present, members or guests, were Messrs. W. A. Wads- 
worth, D. G. Elliott, S. D. Warren, Madison Grant, C. 
Grant La Farge, De Forest Grant, W. A. Chanler, J. 
P. Morgan, Jr., Frank Lyman, Dr. John Rogers, Jr., J. 
L. Seward, James T. Gardiner, John L. Cadwallader, 
George Bird Grinnell, J. S. Watson, William Milne Grin- 
nell, Alden Sampson, J. J. Pierrepont, Dr. W. B. James, 
Prof. F. PI. Osborn, Philip Schuyler, C. S. Davison, R. 
H. M. Ferguson, A. Bierstadt. H. L. Stimson, H. C. 
de Rham, F. S. Billings, J. E. Roosevelt, Dr. W. K. 
Draper, Dr. L. R. Morris, L. S. Thompson, Giftord 
Pinchot, Dr. A. Lambert, Gen. W. D. Whipple, Gen. W. 
H. Jackson, Thomas Paton, Hon. W. Gary Sanger, Hon. 
Redfield Proctor,. T. H. Barber. R. F. Zogbaum, A. C. 
Humbert, W. F. Merrill, W. J. Schieft'elin and Hon. W. 
K. Townsend. 
The business meeting was called to order at 7 o'clock, 
Mr. W. A. Wadsworth, president, in the chair. After 
the reading of reports by the secretary and the treasurer 
the chairman of the Editorial Committee reported the 
publication of the third volume of the club book, "Trail 
and Camp-Fire." The chairman of the Game Law 
Committee gave a brief history of the legislation at Al- 
bany Avhich led to the abolition for a term of years of 
the practice of hounding and jacking deer. Mr. GifTord 
Pinchot gave his views on the present outlook for the 
establishment of a national forest service, and reported 
•a remarkable change of sentiment on the forestry ques- 
tion among the people of the West, where he has spent 
four months during the past summer. _ 
The revised constitution printed in the Boone and 
Crockett book was submitted for approval by the club, 
and after some discussion was accepted without change. 
The chief modifications of general interest are found in 
Articles IV.. V. and X.. as follows: 
"Article IV.— Under the head of American large game 
are included the following animals: Black or brown 
bear, grizzlj^ bear, polar bear, buffalo (bison), mountain 
sheep, woodland caribou, barren ground caribou, cougar, 
musk ox. white goat, elk (wapiti), prong-horn antelope, 
moose, Virginia deer, mule deer and Columbian black- 
tail deer. 
"Article V. — The term 'fair chase' shall not be held to 
include killing bear or cougar in traps, rior 'fire hunting,' 
nor 'crusting' moose, elk or deer in deep snow, nor 
'calling' moose, nor killing deer by any other method 
than fair stalking or still-hunting, nor killing game from 
a hoat while it is swimming in the water, nor killing 
the female or young of any ruminant, except the female 
of white goat or of musk ox. 
"Article X. — ^The use of steel traps, thiE making of 
large 'bags,' the killing of game while swimming in water 
or helpless in deep snow, and the killing of the females 
of any species of ruminant (except the musk ox or white 
goat), shall be deemed offenses. Any member who shall 
commit such offenses may be suspended or expelled from 
the club by unanimous vote of the Executive Commit- 
tee." 
The Nominating Committee's ticket contained the 
names of the old officers, who were unanimously re- 
elected. They are: President, W. A. Wadsworth; Vice- 
Presidents. Charles M. Deering. Illinois; W. B. Devereux, 
Colorado; Howard Melville Hanna. Ohio; William D. 
Pickett. Wyoming; Frank Thomson, Pennsylvania; Sec- 
retary and Treasurer. C. Grant La Farge; Executive 
Committee. Winthop Chanler, Lewis R. Morris, A. Rog- 
ers, Henry L. Stimson. Madison Grant; Editorial Com- 
mittee, George Bird Grinnell, Theodore Roosevelt. 
After the business meeting the dinner was served, and 
following this a paper was read by Mr. Daniel Giraud 
Elliot, the ornithologii5t, on his six months' trip in East- 
ern Africa, devoted to the. collection of specimens of 
large animals for the Field Columbian Museum of Chi- 
cago. The lecture was illustrated by many colored lan- 
tern slides of Eastern African scenery, animals and wild 
lieoplc. and was listened to with very keen mterest. 
At the conclusion of Mr. Elliot's paper a few lantern 
slides of North American mammals, made from photo- 
graphs taken by A. G. Wallihan, were shown. 
In the course of some remarks by Gen. W. H. Jack- 
son the speaker gave a most interesting account of 
plains life forty years ago, and of manv^ of the old-time 
plains characters, among others of David Crockett. At 
the conclusion of his remarks. Gen. Jackson was specifi- 
cally asked to tell the story of his great and uniaue feat 
of killing a grizzly bear with a saber. This he did in a 
most modest fashion somewhat as follows: 
"It was in 1856, during an Indian campaign, and ^ye 
were following the Indians and were on a hot trail. 
Strict orders had been given that no shots should be 
fired. The troops marching along stirred from a patch 
of brush a grizzly bear, which made off over the prairie, 
and T asked Major Porter, who was in command, for 
permission to try to kill it with mv saber. I was riding 
a very fine horse that I had brought with me from Ten- 
nessee, which Avas blind in its right eye. and on which 
I had killed many buffalo. I rode up to the bear, and 
as I passed it gave it a strong downward and backward 
stroke with my saber across the head. It sank back on 
its haunches and remained there while I went on, made a 
circle and turned back toward it It then started to run 
again, and I chased it. but this time, wTien I got close 
to it, it adopted the only true military tactics, that is, al- 
ways to be on the aggressive rather than on the de- 
fensive, and charged me. As it came up I held my saber 
en carte and thrust it into the bear behind and a little 
under the foreleg, and turned it loose. It was about 
fifteen minutes before I was able to go up to the animal 
and recover mj'' saber. The bear tore -me down the 
right leg, scratching the skin and bleeding me a little, 
and also cut my horse on the flank." 
Following Gen. Jackson, Senator Proctor made some 
interesting remarks, in Avhich he spoke very cordially 
of the objects of the club and of the good work that 
such an organization could do, as this club had done. 
He closed by expressing the hope that many years would 
pass before he reached a point where he could no longer 
cast a fly or aim a rifle. 
Mr. James T. Gardiner, formerly of the United States 
Geological Survey, talked interestingly on Western 
travel and on the ways of Western animals and Indians. 
The meeting was adjourned at a late hour.. 
Prairie Chicken Shooting in Iowa. 
During the prairie chicken season just passed local 
sportsmen alone have indulged in this most fascinating 
.sport, so far as I am aware, in this portion (Floyd 
county) of our State. The bags reported, while fair for 
this region and these times, are yet so small, when com- 
pared with those secured fifteen to twenty years ago by 
the local sportsmen, as well as by those from New York, 
Chicago and other Western cities, as to make a mention 
of them seem almost ridiculous in comparison. 
.Now the bags range from nothing to four to seven 
chickens for sportsmen for a day afield. In the good 
times gone by, however, the number would register 
from thirty to 150 or more per sportsman for each day's 
outing, especially if they knew the "la}^ of the land." 
During still earlier times the number of birds secured 
was much -greater, as the chickens were more plentiful, 
less wild and the sportsmen far less in number. Then, 
too, the sportsmen met with less obstacles, in various, 
ways, than later on, when the country became more 
fully settled. 
In those early times the coveys of chickens, which 
varied from five to sixteen birds in each, occurred al- 
most everywhere outside the belts of timber which 
skirted the streams of the region, although they were 
alwaj'S more numerous adjoining grain fields and in 
the stubble after the grain was cut. 
During the early morning and along toward sun- 
down they would always seek the stubble fields to feed, 
and during the rest of the day they would seek the 
prairie grass, where, during the hot days of July and 
August, it was the coolest. As every sportsman knows, 
the best time for shooting is always during the early 
morning while -the dew is on. and at this time, also, the 
dogs invariably work the best. 
During the earlier times of which we speak there was 
no law protecting the chickens in this portion of the 
State, or, perhaps. T should say whatever law was then 
in force was practictlly a dead letter. 
Some sportsmen then seemed to consider the "open 
season" began almost as soon as the chicks left the shell, 
and "held on" until the birds became so wild in the fall 
as to keep entirely out of shotgun range. This mon- 
strosity of the sporting world was, I am glad to say, 
greatly in the minority. 
During those days my brother Merton and I were 
farmer boys, and, Tike many others of like situation in 
life, had guns of our own and knew pretty well how to 
use them. My first gun, and the one which became a 
famous chicken shooter, I bought for $4-50, when I was 
fourteen y^ars old. It was an old Springfield rifle partly 
1-)ored out, with the barrel and stock liberally cm-tailed. 
The screw of the original back sight of this gun extended 
so deep into the barrel that the gunsmith didn't dare rim 
the barrel out smooth, and, as a consequence, it would 
scatter all over a forty-acre lot at medium range, but 
was a strong shooter for all that. The percussion cap 
used was a monster, being somewhat less in size than 
an ordinary 67/s hat. We always had to be careful in 
raising the hammer that the click of the lock didn't scare 
up the chickens before time. 
Until we became accustomed to this gun we always 
shut our eyes when firing at a bird, and pulled the 
trigger with" both fingers. We were always sure of bring- 
ing our bird to bag if we got the gun somewhere within 
range. The gun my brother had was an old Harper's 
Ferry musket, that" had been curtailed the same \yay 
mine" had been, and had seen plenty of service during 
our late unpleasantness. When fired, it would kick 
like a bay steer and roar like a young cannon. The per- 
cussion cap used and the click of the lock were perfect 
counterparts of those features in .my own gun. When 
properly fed, however, it was a good and strong shooter, 
and, ,unlike mine, the shot always had a tendency to 
concentrate. We, of course, used loose ammunition and 
part of the time paper wads, rammed down with a heavy 
steel ramrod. But these antiquated guns did most ex- 
cellent service dm-ing those early days. 
For many years we had no hunting dog, but as we 
knew perfectly the \ay of the country We could at .any 
time locate a half-dozen or more coveys, and this was 
all we wanted, as we never hunted for market. 
We often had grand sport with other shooters then, 
two of whom I especially recollect. They were recog- 
nized as the best local shots in the countrj% and spent 
much time engaging in this most fascinating sport. They 
had well-trained dogs and the best of double-barreled 
guns, and would happen along when Ave were in the 
midst of a covey, dropping the birds as fast as we could 
load and fire. We always considered this a gross in- 
fringement on our rights, and it was done on their part 
because we were only boys. We, however, were al- 
ways able more than to hold our hand with them, as we 
seldom ever let them get a single bird; the reason be- 
ing, we were quicker shots than they. 
Although I have since then spent much time hunt- 
ing the deer and antelope, wild turkey and other game 
on the plains and in the mountains of the Southw'est 
and in Mexico, and used the best of ammunition and 
up-to-date arms, yet never have I enjoyed such unal- 
loyed delight in these sports as I did hunting chickens 
with our old muskets Avhen we were boys on the farm, 
and as I look back now to those happy days, it seems 
