FOREST AND STREAM t£>Ec. 14, 1901 
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Fixtares. 
March 5-19, 1902.— Eighth Annual Show of the National Sports- 
men's Association at Madison Square Garden, New York. 
Stubble Rhymes — III. 
Plainsmen praise the prairie chicken, 
(In August he's delicious pickin') 
The eastern Nimrods all declare 
Ruffed grouse the game beyond compare: 
Our southern brother without fail 
Will laud the graces oi the guail; 
The marshman tunes his little pipe 
And plays a peean to the snipe. 
Here's to Philohela minor, 
Joy to sportsmen, likewise diner! 
When Phoebus at the gates of dawn 
Wreathes a smile, Major wreathes a yawn, 
Asks of the day, or fair or foul, 
To make a sportsman smile or growl? 
The Colonel, rousing from embrace 
Of Morpheus, just turns his face 
To wall for answer, burrows deep 
In downy couch for further sleep; 
Counting tlie feathers in the bed 
More worth than wings that ever sped 
O'er fallow field or stubble brown 
Within ten miles of Alma town. 
As lightly as the summer rain 
Falls pattering on the window pane. 
Fair Ladj' B. taps at his door 
And punctuates his maiden snore; 
Then sings, "Awake! o'er moor and fe- 
To wooded hill and darkling gkn 
The fields are smiling in the sun 
And promise much to dog and gun " 
As billows tossing in the storm 
The blankets heave; the Colonel's form 
Like Neptune rising from the sea. 
Emerges in his robe de nuit. 
And quickly dons his shootirg tog-, 
Orders horses, gun, lunch and dogs; 
Then all the campaign of the day 
Discuss with rolls, cafe au lait. 
Stalwart BilHe takes reins and whip 
And westward drives at merry clip; 
The Kodak fiend by him doth ride. 
"The dog a statue; by his side 
The man a moment petrified." 
A David by Goliah's side: 
A pointer and a setter fleet 
Repose beneath the carriage seat 
On which recline two ladies fair 
Just going out to take the air. 
The Major and the Colonel cinch 
The back seat, filling every inch; 
Four hundred pounds that end spring bore 
And creaked as never creaked before. 
But broke not. Then said Lady G. 
"A dog on point I'd like to see. 
And then to note the crack of gun, 
The quarry fall, know how it's done." 
"Here, too," chimed Lady B., "you know 
What leagues we've come to see the show." 
The whip draws rein at alder copse, 
To terra firma the Major hops; 
Colonel follows — with muffled sound 
He cracks the springs and breaks the ground; 
Cap leaps the rails and points in sight; 
(The ladies mark him with 'delight.) 
Over the fence the Colonel goes, * 
His movements indicate repose; 
His martial dignity and state 
(Or weight) make him deliberate. 
"Whoa, Cap, steady!" the sportsman warns. 
(Such dog as Cap such warning scorns.) 
"Whoa, Cap, steady! A cock or two 
May soon take wing and we will do 
A thing or two to please the fair." 
Indeed it was a picture rare — 
Sky deepest blue, air crisp and clear, 
The woodlands far, the coverts near. 
And just between, the golden corn 
In serried ranks the fields adorn: 
The dog a statue, by his side 
The man a moment petrified. 
Head forward bent; the trusty gun 
A line of light reflects the sun. 
A breathless pause: the magic spell 
Is broken bv the quarry's knell: 
The woodcock springs; up, tubes of steel! 
The echoes wake, the strong wings reel; 
The ladies chime "His race is run, 
Knight of the trigger, bravely done." 
Then Major's voice, blithe as a lark, 
Rings from the 'COvert, "Mark, there, mark!" 
As o'er the copse on fitful wings 
Another cock in full flight swings, 
And as the bird sometimes will do, 
Swerved in his course and dropped in view- 
"Come this way" (voice soprano, clear), 
"Come to the road, the woodcock's here." 
Then down the dusty thoro'fare 
The Major strode with eager air, 
"Where's the bird? Did you mark hmi well? 
"Thought I hit him, but cannot tell." 
"Yes, by the fence — bill outstreched, pressed 
Close to the earth; he seems at rest, 
So motionless, perhaps he's hurt, 
"Ciap leaps the fence and points on sight." 
But that bright eye shows he's alert." • 
The ready gun then forward drew 
(Touched safety bolt) a step or two: 
Like arrow's flight the quarry sprang, 
Flashed over the alders, when Bang! 
The Greener gun staccato spoke 
And all the forest echoes woke: 
The bird pitched up, then downward came 
'Mid salvos of applause. The game 
Of philohela and the man 
Was fairly won, catch as catch can. 
And slowly drifting on the breeze 
Like rufous flecks on azure seas, 
Downy feathers, gay little motes 
Which oft the sportsman's triumph notes. 
The bird retrieved, all rest their eyes 
With satisfaction on the prize. 
What game bird wings the frosty air 
That with the woodcock can compare? 
What music in those whistling wings 
As from the fragrant ferns he springs 
And darts athwart the light and shade 
Of poplar hill and alder glade! 
What lambent light lurks in his eye 
So large and lustrous, dark and shy! 
The sunset lingers on his breast, 
The midnight slumbers on his crest. 
The grey of dawn, the ruddy morn. 
And shades of eve his back adorn; 
And blending soft, gray, shade and flush 
Touch with despair the artist's brush. 
He takes in autumn garb bedight, 
Through moonlit space his southern flight; 
Where forests flame and coverts glow, 
He charms the sportsman, high and low; 
And when to dog and gun exposed 
His weird career is quickly closed, 
Larded, buttered, browned and basted, 
Better morsel ne'er was tasted. 
The epicure in glad surprise 
Recites short grace with open eyes, 
Lifts the cover — "Hail, palate lure! 
From Lilliput a turkey, sure!" 
Adds as each tidbit slides to rest 
Down the red lane behind the vest, 
"In covert or under cover 
Never lack you ardent lover; 
Sprite of woodlands, elf of the dell, 
Joy of sportsmen, farewell, farewell!" 
Alma. 
Fifty-Nine D«cks at a Shot* 
Wide publicity has been given to the report sent out 
from Richmond, Va., Dec. 3 : "Mr. R. W, Jolly, of this 
city, killed fifty-nine mallard ducks at one shot Saturday 
at his marsh on Turkey Island, about thirty miles down 
the James River. Mr. Jolly came up from the island last 
night on the steamer Pocahontas. He has been on the 
island several weeks, and has made shipments to the city 
every week of several hundred. He uses an improved 
duck gun. A load for his gun is iS drachms of powder 
and 6 ounces of No. 6 shot. He has a number of times 
brought down as many as thirty birds at one shot, but 
fifty-nine is the best he has ever made. These ducks 
retail here for about $1 each." If the statement is true it 
is manifest that the gun is of a size forbidden by the 
statute, and its use should be suppressed by the author- 
ities. 
American Duck Shooting,* 
It is a curious and interesting thing that, although' 
wildfowl shooting has been practiced in this country 
for many 'years and by many people, no book has ever 
been published treating of the sport for the country as 
a whole. Long's little book and Leffingwell's more sub- 
stantial volume were both excellent in their way, but' 
each covered a limited field, and dealt chiefly or alto- 
gether with the shooting which the authors had had 
and with nothing beyond this. Lewis', "American 
Sportsman" touched only incidentally on wildfowl 
shooting, and what is said in other volumes is hardly 
worth speaking of. On the other hand, we have two or 
three admirable works treating of North American ducks 
or some of them. Such are Mr. D. G. Elliot's admir- 
able work on "Wild Fowl of the United States and 
British Possessions." This volume deals with the habits 
and range of the wildfowl, and gives descriptions of the 
species and keys by which they may be identified. In- 
cidentally it has something to say about sport, but sport 
is really beside the main purpose of the book. Then 
there is Mr. Gurdon Trumbull's charming and extremely 
valuable "Names and Portraits of Birds which Interest 
Gunners," but here again a special side of the duck 
group is treated, and the sport of wildfowl shooting 
is not considered. 
"American Duck Shooting," by George Bird Grinnell, 
just issued by the Forest and Stream Publishing Com- 
pany, is what its title implies, and in its more than 
600 pages gives the fullest treatment of the fascinating 
sport that it has ever had. The volume is systematic in 
arrangement, full in treatment and beautiful in decora- 
tion and manufacture Moreover, it cove-'s the sport 
for the whole count-y, taking in the North American 
Continent from near the Arctic circle to the southern 
boundary line, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
Thus, the American reader of the book will .find in it 
not only the forms of duck and goose shooting with 
which he is familiar, but also all other forms wherever 
practiced in this country. 
Before duck shooting can be discussed, however, the 
ducks must be considered, and in the present volume, 
after an interesting chapter on the duck family, are 
described in plain and simple language every species of 
swan, goose, and duck commonly found in North 
America. Besides these plain descriptions of the birds, 
there is a brief account of the range and habits of each 
species, and each is preceded by a cfirefully drawn por- 
trait o!E the species in question. This section of the 
book, therefore, not only tells the gunner where each 
species is to be found, but also enables him, by means 
"Then Major's voice, 'Mark, there! Markl'" 
of portraits and descriptions, to identify without trouble 
the birds that he kills. 
. This section of the volume comprises about one-third 
its bulk. 
The second division of the book is devoted to Wild 
Fowl Shooting. Swan shooting is nowhere system- 
atically practiced as a sport, and fs therefore dismissed 
in a few pages, but the different forms of goose shoot- 
ing are fully treated, while a special chapter is devoted 
to brant shooting. Nattirally, duck shooting takes up 
the bulk of this section of the volume. Among the 
subjects treated are pass shooting, point shooting, river 
shooting, cornfield shooting, shooting in the overflow, 
in the wild rice fields, sea shooting on the Atlantic, 
and shooting from a houseboat. There are no less than 
17 sub-chapters under the general head of duck shoot- 
ing. 
Mr. Grinnell has not confined himself to telling merely 
what he himself has seen of wildfowl shooting. In a 
paragraph of his preface, he says: 
"The book covers — as it should — a wide range of ter- 
ritory; for a volume .on wildfowl shooting, if limited to 
the experiences of a single individual, would furnish 
but an inadequate presentation of the subject for the 
whole continent. In the endeavor to make the volume 
justify its title, assistance has been asked from 
gunners whose experience has been longer than mine, or 
has extended over shooting grounds with which I am 
not familiar." 
Following out this purpose, the author has quoted 
freely from some of our best writers on the sport, and 
has thus added much to the completeness of the volume. 
The different sketches are not dry directions as to how 
*American Duck Shooting. By George Bird Grinnell. Author of 
Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales, Blackfoot Lodge Tales, The 
Story of the Indian, The_ Indians of Today, etc. With fifty-eight 
Portraits of North American Swans, Geese and Ducks by Edwin 
Sheppard, and numerous vignettes in the text by Wilmot Town- 
send. New York: Forest and Stream Publishing Company. 
Price. ;3.fi0. 
