446 
each, for there is such a great variety and such countless 
numbers of birds and animals constantly presenting 
themselves, that although many of them be not game, 
still the temptation to shoot them is so strong that few 
resist it. For instance, there are cranes, pelicans, cor- 
morants, water turkeys, alligators, etc., offering shots at 
all ranges, and affording such fine opportunities for prac- 
tice that anj^one is justifiable in improving these oppor- 
tunities when not in localities where game is to be found. 
T estimate, from experience and observation, that an 
enthusiastic sportsman will shoot away 300 shells in each 
week that he may spend in Florida, and if he be provided 
with rifle and shotgun both, perhaps an equal division 
of this number between the two would not be far from 
the proper figure." 
Heaven defend us ! 
Verily, if his name were not on the title page, I would 
hesitate to believe that the Mr. Sliields whose personal 
doings in Florida and advice to other visitors are con- 
tained in this volume is that very same Mr. Shields 
whose persistent and iterated hue and cry of "game 
hog" is dealt out as generously to his fellow human 
beings as here in Florida he distributed his bullets and 
buckshot among the unwary brute creation. Methinks 
that if that alligator which Mr. Sliields "gave one in the 
leeward optic" could come to life again he would "wink 
the other eye." 
Now, I need not say that I am very far from having 
any intention of classifying all the Northern sportsmen 
who have visited our land as being driven about by a 
restless spirit of destruction as was Ino by the gadfly. 
It would be a scandalous libel upon the craft of sports- 
manship to picture it as made up of such lust for blood, 
such devilish cruelty, such fiendish enjoyment of the 
death agonies of inofTensive creatures as pervades the 
pages of these Florida "rustlings." But you must 
remember that such accounts as this given by Mr. Shields, 
of his doings in Florida are those which make the strong- 
est impression and go furthest in forming public opin- 
ion about sportsmen and their character. This is very 
unfortunate, but it is true. The guild of sportsmen has 
often suffered obliquy which was altogether unmerited 
because an ignoble part was thought to stand for the 
whole; and as I have said, the astonishing thing is that 
in spite of the boasts in print of men who have waged 
a war upon animate nature in our woods and along our 
water courses, we have been so long in taking any meas- 
ures to put a stop to the killing. As you suggest, the 
horse is stolen. AH we can do now, however, is to make 
the best of it, and trust that with a better administra- 
tion of our native resources the waste places may once 
more be made vocal with the songs of birds, the wilder- 
ness maj' be brightened with the brilliant colors of oiir 
native plume birds, and even the ugly and unamiable 
alligator may greet the eye of the traveler on our rivers 
and our fresh-water lakes. 
The non-resident tax will help to accomplisTi this end. 
If in addition to exacting a license fee we had the 
game-tag coupon system to restrict the amount killed by 
an individual, that would be better still. This Mr. Shields, 
I hear, is the president of a league of American sports- 
men. If there are any members of the league who are 
ambitious in their humble way to emulate the extermina- 
tory peregrinations of their president, we would do well 
to charge them double price or shut them out altogether. 
DiDYMUS. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Ate Quail in May* 
Chicago^ 111., May 27. — The annual banquet of the St. 
Louis County Medical Society was held at Duluth, 
Minn., a week or so ago, and the management intend- 
ing it to be a rather swell affair, offered as one item 
that of "larded quail." Among tho.se present was one 
Dr. T. D. Titcomb, who said that he did not think it was 
right to serve game in that way out of season. He did 
not eat his quail, but wrapped it up and took it away 
with him, declaring that he would have suit brought 
against the house. He was dissuaded later frorn tak- 
ing this course, but made request through the city at- 
torney to the hotel, asking them to serve no more game 
out of season. Now, the odd part of this whole thing 
is that other members of the Medical Association are 
very much scandalized by Dr. Titcomb's action, and 
say that he was very wrong to make, a row over such a 
little thing as Bob White quail served in the month 
of May. The Association intends to pass a vote of 
censure for the man who seems to have been about the 
most decent of those present. It would appear that the 
lawyers of St. Louis county ought now to hold a 
banquet and pass a vote of advice for the tise of the 
doctors. ^ am; 
Deer in May. 
I am in receipt to-day of a letter from Brule, Wis., 
which would indicate that human taste in the cold North- 
west now and then hankers after deer as well as quail, 
and is not particular about the season. My informant 
says, "The game laws in Douglas county, Wis., are as 
nil. Deer are killed at all seasons if a settler wants 
meat, or a sportsman thinks he needs venison. A buck 
was killed near Lake Nebagamon last week, and two 
sportsmen went up to Brule last Sunday night with 
rifles and jack lights." 
Hunting Knives, 
Mr. J. S. Jouett of Washington, D. C, writes me 
on the always entertaining topic of hunting knives, going 
on to say: "The blade of your knife is right, at least 
that is my opinion. I send tracing of my knife blade, 
which I had made and used for five years in New 
Mexico, and it is the finest steel and most perfect temper 
I ever saw, and I have been a big game hunter since 
1875 in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico." 
The outline of the blade sent by Mr. Jouett shows 
what seems to me a very serviceable and stout looking 
point. So far as skinning is concerned, it is all in the 
point, of course. I don't know when the knife Avill see 
daylight which m.y friend and myself figured out, but I 
should think the knife might be a useful one, though 
very unpretty. As to the temper of knife blades, I feel 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
obliged to state that the temper of the blade of the hunt- 
ing knife sent to me by Mr. Philpot, of South Hanover, 
Mass., is the finest that I ever saw in any piece of steel. 
I like to wear a belt knife when I am out in the woods 
even on a' trouting trip, and I think I shall wear this 
beautiful one whenever I go trouting hereafter. It will 
cut a feather or a tree, just as you like. When I was 
fishing the Prairie River this spring my companion 
pointed out a little tree which lumg out over a pool. He 
said, "I have been wanting to cut that thing away for a 
long time, but I never have an axe along. It always 
spoils the fishing of that hole under the bank." I gave 
him my knife, and he waded over and cut off the big 
stem, which was over 3in. through, with perfect ease. 
"Where on earth did you get that knife?" he asked 
me when he came back. "It certainly is a cutter." 
I notice that the maker of my knite states that he 
doubts whether any knife will cut open a can of beans, 
and still remain keen enough for skinning game. This 
is, of course, true, though his own knife goes far toward 
refuting the statement. The big Hudson Bay knife 
will chop a can of beans in two, but its edge is thick 
and cleaver like, and the weapon is too heavy for use in 
skinning anything but very large game, and even at that 
work a smaller blade would far surpass it. The temper 
of a knife is the same as the disposition of a man. I 
have some knives which are. tempered so hard that they 
are almost useless, whereas the ordinary butcher knife is 
so soft that it is good for very little but skinning 
purposes. 
Personal. 
I have located Noel Money at last, but he will not hold 
still very long. He is now in Montana, but is going to 
visit Colorado, Utah, Idaho and the Yellowstone Park; 
was thitiking of going back to England by way of 
Siberia, but admitting that it might be a little cold next 
winter, thinks he may come back East during the fall. 
There have never been any who might justly accuse Mr. 
Money of cold feet. 
Major Dabney, of Clarksdale, Miss., otherwise Coa- 
homa, of Forest and Stream, paid this city a visit all 
too brief one day early this week. So far as I can dis- 
cover, Coahoma remains unregenerate in the matter of 
his fondness for snakes. I hope he will spend more 
time in Chicago the next time he comes here. I want to 
ask him about a few things which I forgot. I had a 
dog once which was bitten by a snake, and his face 
swelled up. Now, was the pup merely letting on that 
the snake-bite hurt him, and was it all in his mind? 
Answer me this, oh, Coahoma ! 
Mr. Piatt Adams, of New York City, leaves to-night 
for his home in the East, after a stay of about a month 
m Chicago with his brother, Mr. A. W. Adams. Both 
are gentlemen very fond of the gun, and no novices in 
Its use. E. Hough. 
480 Caxton BuiLsiifG, Chicago, 111. 
Digging out Foxes. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In Forest and Stream of May 2^ B asks about wha 
is thought of digging out a fox after being holed by i 
dog. My advice to all who wish to get a fox in thi,/ 
manner is, don't. Let him alone for another run. In tht 
years in which I have been hunting foxes in our New 
England manner, I have holed a great many. Now and 
then I have dug one out, but not during the past winter, 
when my dog holed ten. One fox we did try to dig out. 
a friend was visiting me who had never shot a fox, and 
I think I can safely say he never will under ordinary con- 
ditions. My dog holed one quite near my house, and we 
planned to dig him out and let my friend shoot him; but 
although such was our intention, we failed to reach the 
fox after some hard work. I think I know just how to 
get a fox out of any ordinary hole without much dig- 
ging, but I do not intend to tell how it is done, as I 
do not believe in getting a fox in that way. 
While on a trip after moose in Nova Scotia I was 
told by one of the men in our employ of how they 
snared foxes in the Province, using three strands of 
fine copper wire. I tried this on two foxes my dog 
holed one day. The foxes did their part; that is, they 
both poked their heads through the noose; but when 
they found they were fast they bit the wire off and got 
free. _ ' , , ■ i ■ . ll'.jt„7»-, 
Trapping wild animals of any sort when using steel 
traps, unless traps are so set as to drown whatever is 
caught, is the most cruel manner of killing anything. 
I know one man m this locality who wants any and 
every fox he can possibly get. When he holes one he 
puts in a number of steel .raps and fastens the entrances 
to the hole, and I have known of his keeping a fox shut 
up in this way for three weeks, and when it was finally 
caught it would be nearly dead from starvation. 
A few years since we had a sort of half-way law passed 
to prohibit the trapping of foxes. Like all such meas- 
ures, it has proved a failure. Last winter I met a man, 
a stranger to me, in a gun store, in Boston, and as some- 
thing was said about foxes, he said he had just sold quite 
a number of skins and that he did not fool away his 
time hunting them, as he could get more of them and 
much easier by trapping. This man said he came from 
New Hampshire and that he lived in the same town as 
one of our State Fish and Game Commissioners. 
Protection of all kinds of birds and animals in New 
Hampshire is not what it should be. The prohibition 
of the sale of game at all times and in all places, accord- 
ing to the doctrine of the platform plank of the Forest 
AND Stream, failed to pass the Senate in our last Legis- 
lature, because the manager of a certain hotel, who either 
was in or had influence in the Senate thought it would 
interfere with his serving game now and then to his 
guests. I tried to interest our game associations in the 
necessity of adopting the plank, but although at their 
meetings they voted to adopt the same, they apparently 
did nothing more and the market hunter still has liis way. 
During the past printer I saw iji ,a -Boston daily paper a 
j;ath"er sarcastic aUusion to.VtheJgajne laws. It was thefl 
considered advisable by many'' t^^^ the Eng- 
lish sparrow, and the article in. question said that the 
best way would be to iriake the sparrow a game bird 
and pass game laws for his protection, and that by so 
doing his extermination was assured. Verily, under the 
t^UNElO, 1899. 
present outlook we might as well adopt a measure which 
was proposed in our last Legislature to the effect that 
all game laws be abolished, the Fish and Game Com-I 
mission be ended, and everyone kill everything they' 
could at all times and in all places. 
C. M. Stark. 
DUNBAKTON, N. H., May 26. 
Types of Sportsmen." 
Washington, D. C, May 29. — Editor Forest and: 
Stream: As a constant reader of your paper, permit me 
to say a word regarding the stories of Mr. W. W.' 
Hastings. He beautifully portrays the true "Types of! 
Sportsmen," and anyone, after reading his No. 3, would! 
not belong to the true class if they "ridiculed" him for- 
so appeahngly portraying his great affliction. While I 
sat reading it, tlie wings on memory carried me back toi 
my old Virginia home, where I spent the happiest aridi 
saddest days of my life. Returning home from a grand 
fox hunt on my faithful old friend Rod, I was met at the* 
gate by my sister, who whispered to me, ^"Madge is' 
dying." I could not understand what she meant, for li 
had left her in the morning bright and happy, and sing- 
ing ray old favorite, " 'Twas twenty years ago." Dur- 
ing my absence she had met with an accident, and she 
now sleeps beneath a beautiful willow in front of my old 
home. Every year I make a trip, just to be near her. 1 
shall ever be faithful to the one who once welcomecfi 
me, and give her often a place in my thoughts, as I know I 
was ever in hers. It is so rare to meet noble hearts and 
true friendship that sympathy, from no matter whati 
source, is a treasure; it is the purest pleasure I have. 1 
have come to look upon death as a temporary separation^ 
after which the reunion will be happier. I hope Mr. 
Hastings agrees with me. Roderick. 
Mr, Harry E. Lee in Alaska. 
We were much pleased to meet Mr. Harry E. Lee and| 
wife, of Chicago, 111., who spent several days in our city 
recently. Mr. Lee is one of the most noted crack shots and! 
sportsmen of the United States, and has a large and 
valuable collection of specimens brought down by his own 
gun. Last year he spent several months on the Keani 
Peninsula, and secured some valuable specimens. Mr. 
Lee is not alone this year, but just before leaving Seattle 
took unto himself a very charming wife, and they will 
spend their honeymoon in the wilds of Alaska. They 
have the best wishes of the Alaskan for their future hap- 
piness. — The Alaskan, Sitka, May 13. 
"That reminds me." 
The Indians of Mexico know nothing of the laws of 
contagion. They display an apathy toward certain loath- 
some diseases which surprises a foreigner. 
In a receirt hunting trip in the Sierra of Puebla, oij| 
i)arty of eight was descending toward Zacapoaxtla. We rode 
teisurely, for the trail was narrow and hemmed in by In- 
dian huts. At the door of one of these stood a woman 
and a little girl. We stopped to inquire the way, whei) 
the following conversation took place : 
"Good morning, Seiiora." 
"A very good morning, at your orders, Sefior." 
"This is the road to Zacapoaxtla, is it not?" _^ 
"You are quite right, Sefior." , 
"And is it very far?" 
"On the contrary, it is but a very little ways." 
"A thousand thanks for your kindness, Sefiora." 
"There is nothing for which to offer them, Sefior." 
"Is the little girl sick, Seiiora ?" 
"She is a little sick, Sefior." 
"What is. the matter with her?" 
"She has the smallpox, Sefior." 
"Ah, good-day, Seiiora." 
L , . Wm. S. Spencer. 
Proprietors of fishing aijd huftting resorts will find it profitabU 
to advertise tliein in Fouest and Stream. ; 
Chat of Boston Sportsmen. 
Boston. — Office of Massachusetts Fish and Game Pro- 
tective Association, May 2g.— Editor Forest and Stream. < 
I will jot down a few happenings hereabout that will, I think 
be of interest to many of the live sportsmen who read youi 
valuable paper. One of the jolliest parties that seeks 
recreation outside the limits of our own State is known as 
the Hopewell Club, named for Mr. Frank Hopewell, whc 
has been for many years an earnest member of the Massa- 
chusetts Fish and Game Protective Association. The 
Hopewell cottage is located on Great East Lake, which h 
partlj' in New Hampshire and party in Maine. 
Members of the club returned a few days since, bringing 
a hundred potmds or more of black bass. Besides Mr 
Hopewell, there were in the party Dr. E. W. Branigan, A 
J. Selfridge, Dr. M. A. Morris, Messrs. W. B. Hastings, 
Thomas H. Hall, W. L. Henry, C. S. Clarke, R. V. Joyce, 
A. A. Glasier, E. L. Pillsbury and Mr. Mertz, all of Bos- 
ton, and Messrs. Dexter and Haskell, of New York, and 
others. 
They report excellent success in taking bass from 3 tc 
61bs. in weight, and as many as they cared to catch. The 
members who went from Boston were joined by the Good4 
all brothers, the well-known plush manufacturers of San-' 
ford, Me. My classmate. Col. Ezra B. Parker, of Bos-' 
ton, has just returned from West Waterford, Vt., where 
he succeeded in capturing a fine string of trout, and met 
an adventure which he had/^nqt expected. While fishing 
from a- bridge, the pfanlc^^pn"\y.hich. he was standing gave 
way, precipitating him Mad foreinost into the pond be-* 
low, where the water was several feet over his head. The* 
Colonel says as he foimd himself drifting down toward,' 
