406 FOREST AND STREAM September, 1921 
SHOTGUNS AND SALMON. 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
T HE controversy in regard to the 
cross shooting of double guns 
seems to have died out so that a sug- 
gestion which I was too busy to offer 
at the time may not be of interest now. 
However that may be, and regardless 
of the conclusion that may have been 
arrived at, there is one simple little 
experiment that will prove interesting 
to the man who misses his crossing 
birds. 
Lay the barrels of a double gun on 
a table, or other steady support, sight 
over the rib to align them, as in shoot- 
ing, at a post or stake at about maxi- 
mum shooting distance away. The 
muzzle, of course, pointing toward the 
post; then, sighting through, draw 
back two or three feet, so that the 
apparent rings will show the true center 
of the bore, and there will be no fur- 
ther doubt where the barrels point. 
I have tested a number of high grade 
American and English guns and have 
yet to see one that did not completely 
cross the effective, or killing, part of 
its charges a long way this side of 
its maximum killing range. I have put 
this information to good use on long 
straight-away shots that were my bane 
previously; I now hold clear to the 
right or left of such birds — right with 
right barrel and left with left. 
I have the bad habit, rather com- 
mon, I believe, in “snap-shooters,” of 
too quick a use of the second barrel — 
I was long puzzled by the missing of 
the right swings with the right barrel, 
when apparently “on” the bird, and the 
instantaneous killing of that bird with 
the left, without time or effort to get 
any lead. Also the left swings that 
should have been shot behind with the 
right barrel, and those sure misses of 
the quick left when they were misses! 
Does not this explain why there is a 
great many of shooters who “hate the 
right swings”? 
I am greatly indebted to the war of 
barrels that started my investigation. 
As I pass my Forest and Stream on 
to an old sportsman, who otherwise 
would not have that pleasure, I cannot 
look up something that I think I re- 
cently read about fishes not seeing 
color, or all flies looking the same from 
the fishes’ point of view. Along this 
line it would be hard to account for 
the salmon I have killed with “some- 
thing different,” tied on the spot, when 
the fish in that particular pool had 
grown weary of, or were indifferent to, 
all of the many varieties, orthodox or 
“freak,” that my books and boxes con- 
tained. 
Once I stood over a pot hole in the 
LETTERS, 
QUESTIONS 
AND ANSWER, 
big rapid, just above salt water, in the 
River of Ponds. In that hole was one 
salmon. In the course of a half hour 
I offered him eight flies. To seven of 
these he rose, once only and each time 
on the first cast that swung over him. 
One fly he refused to notice. To the 
eighth fly he rose, as before, just be- 
low and behind, evidently inspecting it 
as he had the others, then, like a tiger, 
he struck! 
F. G. Warner, Calfiornia. 
CHESAPEAKE BAY DOG 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
Y OUR issue of July, 1920, contained 
a very excellent article on the 
Chesapeake Bay dog, written by Mr. 
Rodney Random. 
The Olympic Gun Club has some of 
the best Chesapeakes on the coast, which 
are of the third classification mentioned 
in the article, with straight reddish 
brown hair and yellow eyes. We re- 
cently bred our bitch to a champion 
Chesapeake and she gave birth to eight 
puppies with every marking of the 
Chesapeake except they are a pure 
black in pelt and eyes. We would have 
thought some accident had occurred had 
it not been for the fact that a breeder 
of Chesapeakes living on Bainbridge 
Island, near Seattle, where there was 
no opportunity for a misbreed, had the 
same experience with a bitch of his, 
who gave birth to five puppies marked 
exactly as were ours, and perfectly 
black. 
We write to ask if others have had 
a similar experience, and if this could 
possibly be a throw-back in the strain, 
which, according to Mr. Random’s ar- 
ticle, originated from a black bitch 
named “Canton,” and the dog, dingy red 
in color, named “Sailor.’ 
H. S. Frye, Washington. 
TWO FORESTER ITEMS 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
r T " 1 0 the bibliography of Frank For- 
A ester I believe I can add an item 
of interest, and one that seemingly has 
been overlooked. I refer to none other 
than the little volume entitled, “Dog 
and Gun,” from the pen of Johnson J. 
Hooper of Montgomery, Ala. (1856). 
Embodied in this tiny work are two 
sketches from the polished pen of Frank 
Forester entitled, “My First Day’s Part- 
ridge Shooting,” and “The Yorkshire 
Moors.” The pedigrees of the sketches 
in question are simple indeed. For- 
ester contributed them to the pages of 
the “Southern Military Gazette,” but 
alas, they were pigeon-holed and for- 
gotten, owing to the untimely discon- 
tinuance of that publication. 
Samuel Swan, Esq., the editor of the 
Southern Military Gazette, very gra- 
ciously gave them to Mr. Hooper, who 
in turn very wisely and with good taste 
incorporated them in his own work, 
where they found a fitting place. Had 
it not been for this chance discovery 
these two spirited and charming sport- 
ing articles might never have seen the 
light of day. 
Mr. Hooper, himself an editor of no 
mediocre ability, has favored us with 
a criticism we may do well to quote. 
He says: “Mr. Herbert’s descriptions 
have never been excelled ; no living lit- 
erary artist equals him, in my opin- 
ion, in that sort of limning which is 
accomplished by a few dashing strokes. 
In ‘My First Day’s Partridge Shooting,’ 
and ‘The Yorkshire Moors,’ he is fully 
himself.” 
This is an apt criticism and one 
certainly not witout a degi-ee of merit. 
Wildfowl Will. 
THE WOLF AND THE RAVEN 
T o the Editor of Forest and Stream : 
Q UITE recently I met a very inter- 
esting gentleman named Calhoun, 
who had travelled very extensively in 
the unfrequented parts of the world, 
having hunted and explored in South 
America, Africa, Australia and the 
more inaccessible parts of North Amer- 
ica. He is a keen observer and a good 
talker and has much to tell that is well 
worth listening to. We were speaking 
of animals, more especially wild animals 
and their marvelous sagacity when he 
related the following story, which I 
think will interest all nature students: 
He and his two companions were 
hunting in northern Alaska and while 
snow shoeing came near a lake which 
was frozen over, when they observed 
three wolves travelling in an opposite 
dii’ection to themselves. They estimated 
that if they maintained their course 
they would pass as a distance of pei 1 - 
haps forty or fifty yards. Our friends 
wei'e partially hidden from view by 
snow and scrubby brushes. As the 
wolves approached nearer, coming in 
single file, Calhoun noticed a raven cir- 
cling at a short distance above them. 
When the wolves were nearly oppo- 
site them and the men were about to 
fire, they saw the center wolf suddenly 
swerve a little, his body stiffen and his 
