Feb. 24, 1900.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
149 
to kill as many as possible at one shot. They continued 
to gather in great numbers, coming from all parts of 
the timber land. I will have difficulty in making you 
understand the quantity of squirrels that gathered about 
me on this occassion. If any of you have ever seen cat- 
erpillars clingmg about the branches and bodies of apple 
trees, you can get an idea of the number of squirrels in 
these chestnuts over my head and scampering about the 
ground not far distant, and along the fence. 
"Finall}^, I saw that my opportunity had arrived. On 
the branch of a chestnut tree over my head were perched 
seventeen black squirrels, in a direct line, so that I cal- 
culated that one discharge of my gun would pla''.(; the 
whole number in my bag. You must remembc that I 
am an old man, and in those days the flint-lock gun had 
just been supplanted by a gun discharged with a pill per- 
cussion. This percussion was round and about one- 
fourth as large as a small pea, which was deposited in a 
little cup in the tube, and the hammer discharged it as 
it does the cap which succeeded the pill percussion. 
"As I raieed my gun to take aim at this row of squir- 
rels on the branch of the tree, the pill percussion rolled 
out of the tube, thus when I pulled the trigger the gun 
was not discharged. The squirrels seemed to take in the 
situation, and to realize that I was simply a boy. At this 
moment they made a dive for me in large numbers. 
Every one of the thousand squirrels seemed possessed 
with a common desire to cause my destruction. They 
crawled up my trousers legs, inside and out, they wig- 
gled up my arms, over my shoulders, and around my 
neck. They nipped at my legs, at my arms and at my 
body with their sharp teeth. They tore my clothing, they 
pulled off my hat. In agony I fell upon the ground, roll- 
ing about in an effort to rid myself of my tormentors, 
but all in vain. Finally, I made a rush for the brook 
which ran near by. over which was a bridge. Reaching 
the water I plunged in, rolling over and over, then made 
a dive for the bridge, disappearing at the further side. 
This movement seemed to distract the squirrels, and I 
arrived at home in safety, but severly bitten in many 
places. If you do not believe this story, I can show you 
to-day the very farm upon which this incident occurred." 
Rochester, N. Y. CharLES A. GreeN. 
If Sir Thomas Browne were writing of the "vulgar 
errors" of these days, he would probably include among 
the other delusions the common and widely prevalent 
notion that the Smithsonian Institution is engaged in 
offering large prizes for rare specimens of birds, snakes 
and other animals. 
Farmer and Sportsman. 
Philadelphia, Pa. — Editor Forest and Stream: I read 
your admirable editorial in a recent issue of Forest and 
Stream, anent the farmer's rights in property and the 
status of sportsmen- who desire to shoot on the farmer's 
lands. 
To me the editorial seemed so fairly and justly to define 
the relations of the two classes that it was unanswerable. 
Mr. M. Schenck, who did me the honor to debate with 
me some instructive points in your columns some months 
ago, has a sound, excellent article on the subject in your 
issue of Feb. 10, which will bear reading and rereading 
for the clear-cut grasp of the subject he displays, and 
the recognition he advances of what is right for all, rather 
than what voices the selfishness of a class against the 
rights of all men, as is set forth in the article on the 
"Sportsman and Farmer," subjoined to the communica- 
tion of Mr. Schenck and written by C. F. B., of Dan- 
bury, Conn. With the ideas presented by the latter I 
will more particularly deal. 
His premises are so entirely irrational that all con- 
sideration of property rights, as they concern the farmer, 
are lost. 
Supposing that the farmers do combine, and charge 
$2 a day for shooting on their grounds, have they not 
a perfect right to do so? I do not know what business 
C. F. B. is engaged in, but I warrant that, if a farmer, a 
stranger to him, were to call at his place of business and 
were to ask a privilege worth $2 a day, with the picking 
up of unconsidered trifles therewith, C. F. B. would feel 
that he had a subject for a lunacy commission. If the 
farmer further were to manifest signs that he expected to 
be invited to dinner, he probably would receive a fiery 
exposition of the rights of man. defining in terse terms 
the diiference between mine and thine. Yet the rights 
of the property owner in the city are not a whit more 
legal or worthy of respect than are the property rights of 
the farmer. Because the latter has generally permitted his 
property rights to lie dormant in the past, so far as 
shooters are concerned, this conferred no rights on them 
present or future. 
Shooters have not on this point even a tenable ground 
for a complaint. Rather they should be thankful for 
the favors which they have enjoyed so lavishly for raany 
years, than to be ill-spoken and ill-mannered for the 
same favors refused. 
A farmer has quite as good a right as any one else to 
make his property as productive as possible. If some 
man will pay him for the privilege of shooting on his 
land, would he show a proper consideration for him- 
self, his family, his business rights, or even the esteem 
of his fellows, if he were to spurn the payment offered, and 
reply: "No, sir! This is a free country, and I run my 
farm to illustrate principles of anarchistic freedom, and 
not as a business institution. My money comes by in- 
cessant toil, early and late. I have to deprive myself and 
family of all the luxuries of life. My wife toils as I do, 
and she cannot even take a needed rest on a holiday. A 
new dress to her is an event of the first order. My 
children can be spared but a few weeks in winter, to 
study in the common school ; toil at all other times en- 
gages them too. We are all workers. I cannot even 
afford to buy a gun. But here comes a man with a gun 
and ammimition and money for carfare and an idle day. 
He can afford all these things. I cannot. But he be- 
lieves that he should take all the privileges, with my 
land, needful to his pleasure. He bought his gun, his am- 
munition, his dog. his clothes and paid his car fare; all 
these things he bought because he needed them, and he 
had not been led by many years of free clothes, free prms, 
free ammunition, free travel, etc., to believe that those 
things belonged to him by right. My farm has a com- 
mercial value now as a shooting ground, but because this 
man comes with the belief that the acts of courtesy of past 
years are personal rights in the present, I must let him 
do as he lists. He alleges that he is poor, and cannot 
afford to pay. Nevertheless, he can afford to buy a gun 
and take a holiday. He can thus do what I cannot. I 
am poorer than he is. If he cannot afford to pay, why 
does he beg ? There is, mendicancy in this kind of plea, as 
there is in a plea for food and lodging in forma pauperis. 
Still, it is against the traditions of our free land to debar a 
man of the privileges of shooting. It is true that times 
have changed. When one or two shooters roamed over 
my land in years now past, I did not mind it much. There 
was an abundance of game then for all, and after the 
shooters had cofne and gone, they had not depleted my 
game supply to an appreciable extent. But now the game 
is much scarcer and the hunters come in hordes. If I 
wrere to let them all shoot on my property, my game 
birds would be exterminated, my stock constantly dis- 
turbed, and myself subjected to considerable annoyance. 
Still, it is a free country." 
What he would say would probably be : "Yet, on 
second thought, it is as free to one to enjoy the privileges 
and profits of my own property, as is his to him who 
owns a factory, a store, a bank, or what not. I believe 
I will take the $2 a day from a man who recommends 
himself thereby as a respecter of property rights, and who, 
I am sure, will not hurt my cattle, nor break down my 
fences, nor annoy me unnecessarily in any way. I learn 
that he has a $200 gun, but that is no sign that he is an 
oppressor. Rather is it a sign that he is a benefactor if 
he pays me for the material advantages he obtains from 
me. If the man whose gun costs $20 has thereby a just 
right to denounce the man whose gun cost $200, then have 
I, who own no gun at all, a just right to denounce the 
man with cheap $20 gun as being in oppressive affluence. 
But as an honest man, it seems to me that, because some 
man owns a fine yacht, or a stable of fine horses, or a 
kennel of fine dogs, or a collection of fine guns, he is not 
thereby deserving of any censure. Rather is he deserving 
of all praise, for his yacht gave employment to many 
men to build it, and gives employment to many men to 
man it ; to obtain his horses required an outlay of money 
and an additional constant outlay to maintain them; and 
so with dogs and guns and what not. Now, if this wealthy 
man, and many more of his fellows throughout this great 
land, were to give thousands and thousands of dollars 
every year to the hard-worked class called farmers, which 
would be the greatest benefactors to mankind — they 01 
the men who plead poverty and prescriptive rights to 
shoot as they list because a free flag floats over diem, a 
flag which denotes freedom' but not license." 
And if the farmer would so speak, he would speak well. 
If the shooting privileges, once so free, are becoming too 
costly for the poor man's indulgence, it does not follow 
that the world is wrong because his pleasure is marred. 
If he attempts to visit the opera house and has not the 
$3 or $10, his plea of poverty avails naught. If he wishes 
to visit Europe for pleasure, the steamship company will 
exact payment, the hotels will show a friendly interest 
in his purse; and though his bosom may swell with the 
impulse of the greatest personal pleasure, in the eye of 
those of whom he asks something natural," the matter is 
purely one of business between them. To argue other- 
wise betrays a primitive knowledge of the world's man- 
ner of doing business, with a natural mental vision not 
properly adjusted as to meum et tuum. The pleasures and 
luxuries of life are the costliest features of living. 
As to men with $200 guns and money to secure a 
game preserve, they are entitled to use their money as 
pleases them best. The man whose wealth is but $1, has 
no more rights than the man who has $10, or nothing. 
All alike have the right to build up a fortune, and to enjoy 
it after it is obtained; but if any one should not have the 
business ability or the industry or the patience to amass 
wealth, then he should recognize the cause as it pertains 
to himself. If some men inherit wealth, let us rejoice 
thereat, and regret that our forebears were not equally 
considerate of us. Let us not confound envy with 
freedom. Lucius Andrews Childress. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST 
Guinea Fowl as Game. 
Editor Forest and Stream: " 
Having seen several articles in your paper referring to 
the value of guinea fowls as game birds, I am tempted to 
write you on the subject. The guinea fowl has always 
been found in a wild state all over this island, in greatef 
or less quantities, but during the recent war their num- 
bers have been greatly increased, owing to the abandon- 
ment of so many farms, where flocks of these birds were 
kept, and which flocks took to the manigna (bush). 
I do not care for shooting them for sport, as they are so 
easy to hit on account of size and slow flight. The method 
of hunting them here is by the use of a cur dog, that will 
chase them into the trees, where it is but pot-hunting 
skill to bring them down. They do not lie well to 
dogs, and it is not considered sportsmanlike to shoot them, 
and the man who brings in guineas from a hunting trip 
does so solely for the eating, and generally has to stand 
the gibes of his friends of the shooting fraternity. 
When I say that the guinea fowl has always been 
found, I do not mean to say that they are native, but that 
for many years they have been found in a perfectly wild 
state. In terminating, it may be said that the wild 
guinea is most delicious when well cooked with wine 
sauce. V. 
Havana, Cuba. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
CALENDAR. 
The Forest and Stream's little calendar 
gfoes wherever asked for. One will come 
to you if you wish it* ^ ,^ 
i 
Among Western Sportsmen, 
Chicago, III., Feb. 17. — Several of our Western folk 
have this month betaken themselves to the Sunny South 
for a season of rest, relaxation and recuperation. We 
live a very fast gait out here in the Northwest, and ought by 
right to have eight or ten months of the year for the above 
pleasant occupations. It does not appear, however, that 
those who went South this last week or so were altogether 
pleased with the reception given them by the Southern 
weather man. A hard, cold spell followed a season of 
rain over a large area of the South the past week, and 
unless this sort of thing is stopped the Northern men will 
forswear Mardi Gras. A Mardi Gras pageant with ear 
muffs as a part of the grand tenue is hardly the correct 
thing. 
Mr. W. W. MacFarland this afternoon returned from 
Mississippi, where he has spent a month in the neighbor- 
hood of Jackson, for the most part shooting quail and 
snipe, and eating four meals a day. Mr. MacFarland is 
one of the best known duck shots we have here in Chicago, 
and has long been president of the famous Hennepin shoot- 
ing club on the Illinois River. He, however, says that much 
as he has shot game of all sorts, he can not get used to 
the buzz of a big bevy of close-bunched quail, and he 
found the singles easier meat for him and his choke bore. 
He fired 500 shells away during the month, and reports a 
splendid time. Like every one else who visits the South, 
he is enchanted with the place and the people, and 
wants to go again. 
Billy Griggs, long time recognized as the king of the 
market-hunters, did not make any hunt this last fall, 
thoitgh the season preceding he went out into Dakota. 
Billy is now running a market fishing plant down near 
Greenville, Miss., having something like a thousand dol- 
lars invested in nets, etc. Billy Griggs is one of the few 
market-hunters who have saved their money and become 
fairly well fixed financially. 
Mr. Chas. Cristadoro, of St. Paul, Minn., is stopping 
at the Auditorium Hotel in Chicago for a few days this 
week, and he is full as ever of enthusiasm for the Minne- 
sota National Park, attention to which was called in last 
week's Forest and Stream. Mr. Cristadoro says that 
they are making a great fight for the park out in St. Paul. 
Senator Nelson is against the idea, and is working hand 
in glove with the lumber interests, which are after the 
reservation timber. The sportsmen of America should by 
no means lose sight of this park enterprise, nor allow it to 
relapse into the "We do earnestly resolve" stage which 
so often is the last of any sportsmen's movements. It 
needs only a knowledge of that magnificent region to be 
inspired with the determination to do something more 
than merely earnestly resolve. The action in Congress this 
winter ought to be something more than perfunctory, and 
the members of Congress who were with the Congres- 
sional expedition last October should be able to give of 
their information and enthusiasm to their fellow mem- 
bers. Mr. Cristadoro has done yeoman service in this 
park movement, and should be remembered if the project 
shall succeed, as it is to be hoped it ultimately will. 
The desolation wrought by lumbering operations is 
something inconceivable to any person who has not seen 
the timber lands both before and after the destruction. 
This desolation is not confined to the Northern pine re- 
gions alone, but is going on, to an extent not fully recog- 
nized by all, in the Southern pine and hardwood forests. 
This week I was down in Mississippi, and though I did 
not get a chance for a hunt with him, I saw for a short 
time Capt. R. E. Bobo. the king of all bear hunters, who««~ 
story has been partly told in the columns of the ForeSx 
AND Stream. Capt. Bobo says that it is well nigh past 
belief, the destruction that has gone on in his old bear 
country since the timber cutters have gone in there with 
the railroads and commenced their work upon the big 
forests. Bobo is heart broken over this, for it puts out of 
his power the best of that sport of which he was always so 
fond. He says there is but little of the old Delta wilder- 
ness left, though he opines he might perhaps get a 
bear, if he had to. Resourceful as are all the Americans, 
Bobo has turned his attention from bears to farms, and 
from deer to cotton. It may perhaps surprise some 
readers of Forest and Stream who think of Bobo chiefly 
as a woodsman, to learn that he is really a very wealthy 
man, and wealthy by reason of his own exertions in the 
middle of the best bear country on earth. Who says that 
sport does not pay? 
Dick Merrill this week came up to San Antonio from 
Rockport way. on the Texas Gulf coast, where he has spent 
the winter. He is reported to look like "a patos cabesa 
Colorado," and he has had grand sport. 
Now comes Capt. Oscar Guessaz, of San Antonio, Tex., 
also, and reports himself present or accounted for. He 
has been trying to tnake all the money there is, since the 
Cuban war, and has not had time for shooting more than 
every other day. 
Tom Divine is another of the faithful of the Southern 
cohorts. I saw Tom at Memphis this week, and he is 
the same Tom, full of business, full of fun, and short of 
time. He was down at Burnside, La., last Saturday, at a 
little live-bird event gotten up by Dr. W. W. Miles, of 
that city, and it is one of the regrets of my \Msit that I 
did not get a line on Burnside in time to meet Du Bray, 
Parker, Divine and a lot of other friends on that very 
wet day of wet weather. 
At Memphis I met Irby Bennett. Southern representa- 
tive of the Winchester Company, and Irby was smiling all 
over his smiling face. He has just been over to Wau- 
ponaca Club and killed the limit of fifty ducks, accom- 
panied by Mr. Edrington. of Memphis. Irby says they 
have mnre duck at Wauponaca than they ever did. and he 
thinks; the club will always have well-stocked waters there, 
so admirably are its plans carried out. When Mr. Ben- 
nett went up to New Haven to live, a few vears aero, he 
parted with his membershin in Wauponaca Club, and now 
regrets it very much, for shares are nnt to be had. even at 
the approximate price of $2,000. So much for good man- 
agement of a eood club. 
Mr. W. I. Snears. of Ingram's Mill. Mis?., returned on 
Tuesday of this week from a three days' visit at Hickory 
Flat, Tenn., where he joined the "onen luncheon hunt" 
which is given there each year on the preserves of Mr. 
H. Duryea. Mr. Whitney (son of eqic-Secretary Whitney). 
