AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
143 
point will be now 1900 feet to the east. But in its flight, it will 
have made a mathematical angle, from a direct line drawn 
from the point of emission to the centre of the earth, the 
maximum of its altitude being 50 feet west of a perpendi- 
cular, but as in measurable distances this would be inappre- 
ciable, it need not be considered. Let us reverse the case, 
and suppose a body let fall from this point in the air which 
is passing forward at 1000 feet, and it reaches the earth 
which is travelling at 950 feet in the second. Now where 
will the body touch on the surface? Just 50 feet in advance 
of the foot of the tower. 
All this proves, that if the muzzle of the gun be passing 
laterally at the rate of 10 feet in the second, the ball can 
possibly receive but the same momentum, and whether the 
load be one second or the 20th part, in passing to the object, 
the proportion will be the same. 
In addition to all this, the duck-shooters who live at 
Egg-harbour and on the Chesapeake, have always advis- 
ed to give a certain allowance. I have conversed with 
scores of them, and have never heard a variance of senti- 
ment, and in objecting to a short gun, the reason they have 
urged was, that they had to give their aim so much 
advance. At sixty yards, heavy shot will scatter several 
feet when fired from the best gun, and therefore, many 
birds are struck, when the mass of the load may have passed 
far behind the duck. 
In common game, it would be absurd to make any allow- 
ance, from the slowness of flight, and general nearness of 
object, and where the number of pellets is so great, the 
space covered, will be more than sufficient. It is with a 
ball alone, the matter can be determined. 
With respect to the rest of “ Sportsman Rejoinder,” his 
explanation and reasoning are certainly convincing, and 
it gives me much pleasure to acknowledge the cor- 
rectness of his philosophy. That a peculiar sound can 
be heard when ducks are struck, there is no doubt, though 
it is more than probable, the non-entering pellets produce 
it ; although, as I before remarked, a ball that passes 
through a deer can be heard distinctly to strike. My object 
was merely to prove, that sufficient time did elapse, for the 
sound to be heard distinctly by the shooter, and that rarely 
a duck was killed, without some of the shot being heard im- 
pinging, and old duck shooters have informed me they 
could say without hesitation, from the sound alone, what 
part of the bird received the load. I. T. S. 
Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in the Country 
to his Friend in Philadelphia . 
“ There is now in the grove near the house, a cock phea- 
sant which drums every day. Yesterday morning as I 
came out of the east door, which leads from the house to 
the office, a favourite peacock was standing close to it, and 
I heard behind a lilac bush, two or three yards from the 
door, the pheasant’s peculiar clucking noise: as I wished 
not to disturb him, I walked on towards the office; but had 
scarcely passed the bush ere he went off with a whirr, almost 
touching Jack, the peacock, who seemed to mistake the noise 
for that of some missile aimed at him. He took to his wings, 
his long tail, which spreads ten feet, dangling after him, and 
scolding all the way, flew to one of the tall trees on the lake 
shore, where he spent an hour on the highest branch, appa- 
rently in deep reflection as to tlfe cause of his alarm. I saw 
him afterwards with his long neck stretched Out, treading 
most gently on tiptoe, and examining with his keen eyes 
behind the lilac bush. It is not a trifle that will frighten 
Jack. He is very familiar, and comes at a call to take any 
thing from your hand. He possesses great courage, and has 
several battles daily with two superb wild turkey cocks of 
great size and most brilliant plumage, which we have do- 
mesticated. Last year, when they were in their second 
season, he beat them both, but this j 7 ear they overpower 
him with their great weight; and besides, they are now 
joined by a son, a half-blood, which renders the battle very 
unequal. But Jack’s rule is, never to decline a combat of- 
fered by them, and the servants have very frequently to 
use switches to separate the belligerents. Whilst I write, 
I hear Jack’s shout of defiance on the south side of the office, 
answered by the war cry gobble of the turkies on the north, 
and I shall have to ring the bell for some mediator to in- 
terpose between them.” May , 1831. 
Notes of a Naturalist. By Jacob Green, M. D. 
SAGACITY OF A DOG. 
’Tis thought by some, that all animals are surrounded by 
an odoriferous atmosphere, and that each species, and even 
each individual, emits a volatile principle peculiar to itself. 
I knew a person whose sense of smell was so exceedingly 
delicate as to enable him to distinguish his friends by this 
odorous principle alone. From some recent experiments 
of a French chemist, this odour is found in the blood, and 
may be readily produced from it by the addition of a little 
strong sulphuric acid. Every one familiar with rural em- 
ployments knows, that after sheep have been washed or 
shorn, there is great confusion among the flock; the lambs 
and ewes run bleating about, and it is some time before the 
mother and the offspring recognize each other. This embar- 
rassment, is, no doubt, occasioned by the loss or the dimi- 
nution, in intensity, of the volatile odoriferous principle 
peculiar to each. It has been long ago remarked, that the 
brute creation recognize each other more from the smell 
than the sight. The following anecdote may serve still 
