187a. 
75 
i 
iETTiHS PBOM S'PORTSMEW, 
Sights. 
Fkewsburo» N. T., April 15. 
Editor Rod and Gun: 
Variety seems to display itself no less in the sightlnsT of guns, 
than in the manner of their construction. The veteran Rocky 
Mountain hunter and those of the Pac fic slope, I notice, according 
to a recent article by Snap-Shot, prefer the old fashloned-way of 
sighting, with a tolerable high silver or horn s^rhf'forward. The 
hunters of the plains says Buck of Feb. 6th, “are all disgusted and 
wish to know why the makers of breech-loaders don't make decent 
sights, substituting low for high, etc. In No. 13, for March, Mr. A. 
M. Kibling of N. H., informs us that he has put ten consecutive 
shots,” off band, into a card 2 1-4x3 3-4 inches, at 125 yards, with a 
Frank Wesson, and can do it every day, dot s not admit of altering 
the sights. Whilst our lamented friend Abraham Eiucoln, with a 
Spencer cnrhine, in No. 27 for March, docs a fair thing off hand with 
that arm. as it came from the shop, and beats his own record with 
the same implement after substituting a piece of wood for a for- 
ward sight. Now I never te-^ted the merits of a wooden sight, but 
judging of the proficiency made after the above change. T should 
say there might be more truth than fiction in the notion western 
hunters have of resighting many of their guns that come from the 
East. Still I am at a loss to comprehend how any person on the 
plains of Western Kansas for instance, can make headway with his 
ride sighted with common open sights, like unto tho^e described by 
Buck or Snap-Shot. Let him start ont and take the first shot at 
one or two hundred yards, and the second perhaps at six or eight 
hundred yards. Where is he to hold unless the bnekhom sight is 
capable of adjustment to suit the distance. It may do for the East 
or even for the Pacific slope where the brush are thick and game at 
short range. But for an Antelope or Coyote placed four or five 
hundred yards distant on an open plain, I should judge it much 
easier to capture either, with a rifle sighted similar to those used at 
Creedmoor, than with a stationary buck-horn, rear sight, and 
either an oblong, high or low, silver, horn or even a wooden for- 
ward sight. Cap Lock. 
P. S. The forests in this section, owing to the great quantity of 
mast last fall, seem to be well-stocked at present, with ruffl'd grouse, 
black and grey squirrels, etc. Pigeons are plenty, and I understand 
they are making preparation for nesting in the southern part of Cat- 
tarangns Co. N. Y. 
Winding Up The Season- 
Memphis, Tenn., April 9. 
Editor Rod and Gdn: 
March is the last month in which qnail, woodcock and snipe may 
be shot hereaway, and Saturday I have retained as a holiday ever 
since the rod and the gun were so near and one so dear to me under 
the reign of the oirch-mastcr. The buoyant joy with which I then 
welcomed my escape from “pi” and xsq; from cosigns and cube 
roots and Greek roots, necessarily imposed by my Alma Mater, has 
tinged that holiday ever since with an irresistible coleurde rwe; and 
long ere the sun had thrown his golden mantle o'er the land and 
kissed the dimpling sea, I whistled a shrill reveille on the fifth of 
March for “Addie,” “Guy,” and the princely Russian setter 
“Mark.” Their demonstrations of delight were oppressive, they in- 
sisting it was the proper thing to inform all my slumbering neigh- 
bors by nervous barks and impatient whining we w ere intent on the 
blood of the brown and bnff and gray game-birds, for in February 
and March tern abounds in mixed shooting, woodcock, quail, snipe 
and rail, not to mention fun. 
Leaving the train at Whitehaven, eight miles sonth of Memphis. I 
cast off the bold, rangy, hisrh headed brace. “Guy” and “Mart,” 
who sped right and left, while the red setter bitch “Addie” quartered 
her ground evenly and surely, content to draw on the solitary wood- 
cock or stray cockbird, or feather on a wisp of snipe, perdu, and 
preserving as much freshness for to-morrow as to-day. bolder 
sweep and wider swaths would have been hers too, but that two 
months ago she became a lady-mother and lias not the liardcned tis- 
sue and springsteel nerve that spurns distance. Nine times one or 
the other of the trio pointed a covey, sometimes feathering, draw- 
ing siowly as a couchant animal of prey, the dilating eye and slaver- 
ing lip giving sure promise of one or a double shot, and joy to come 
mayhap on the tingle birds; while the posturings of the pointing 
dog and his backers tingle expectancy, and surpass in vivid beauty 
the qniet loveliness of nature. Twenty-two quail and four wood- 
cock were bagged the first day, nineteen qnail and live woodcock 
the second; fifty in ail. I have the candor to say, to my own dis- 
credit, my dogs are eager to retrieve immediately the bird fails, and 
as breechloaders arc not aids to the exacting downcharge, I couple 
the two covey dogs together when approaching the scattered birds, 
and hunt only witli “Addie” then, who is in her element, pointing 
if the bird is several yards away, setting if run upon suddenly, 
downwind. Recently 1 had a pli-asant day’s shooting at Moscow, 
Tenn., killing 24 quail and one woodcock, interrupted at the outset, 
however, by my companion, John L., firing a sqnib from his muzzle- 
loader to clear It out on starting, when he was politely tapped on 
on the shoulder by the town marshal and required to pay a fine for 
shooting within the limits of the city. From any given point a wad 
cohld be fired over tlie corporate line, and for the balance of the day 
we dare not shoot near any shop or barn until inquiring if it were 
embosomed in a Magna Oharta. The last shoot of the season I had 
on March .SI, bagging by 2 o'clock, seven brace of qnail and a couple 
of snipe. “Gny” pointed a covey along a fence (the “worms" of 
which were grown tip in scuge) and as they rose irregularly 1 had 
the pleasure of seeing six fluttering at once on the ground and later 
saw '* Addie” and a kingly black and white setter “Don,” each 
bringing in a bird, quickly yet gently. Robert MeWade's “Snyder” 
is a beautiful liver and while ticked seiter whose intelligence guar- 
antees perfect acting. And my good frieuil Jlynhcer \'un Bismarck 
Scheibler has a “birder” “he shiist have the no mistake color of the 
valerland ptarmigandogbccansc Ue is spotted.” It is a great pleas- 
ure to see “Don” draw on birds, nicsmerically walking straight to 
bis upstanding point, “by faith, not sight,” his plumy flag rigid, 
save when the breeze playfivlly sways his feather. Let the loversof 
shapely beauty and strong service, examine “Don’s” measure- 
wenls; height 25 inches, around chest, 28>i inches; length of bead, 
9X inclies; nose 4 inches; around muzzle, 9X ; end ol nose to root 
of tail, 39>i inches; tail 15 inches. lie has the heart to go, is full of 
mettle and quality, and is a marking retriever. Dr. O. M. B., of 
Greenville. Miss., is his fortunate owner. Perhaps it was providen- 
tial, to reconcile me to give up the season gracefully, like the last 
sigli of the Moor, that almost a water-spout burst upon me and my 
three dogs just as we had salted down a very fine covey in the sedge 
on lion. Hugh D. Greer’s premises. Tam O’Shanter saw no worse 
weather, and my sure, good snipe ground was just ahead untouched, 
bat ail fiiither shooting was sheerly impossible, and four miles of 
norther to face, to reach my hunting wagon. The only comfort left 
me was to know I would have a grand ’‘opening” at that demesne 
after the fir- 1 frosts of October, and also to know I could not be de- 
prived of the quiet yet real pleasure already enjoyed. Memory 
would have one more golden milestone whereon to rest the dusty 
march of life and labor. 
The thoroughly “live” President of the Tennessee State Sports- 
men’s Association has liberated on the spacious field trial grounds 
about 30 pairs of quail, and already there was a fair breeding-stock 
for the plantation has been posted for years and the crops there 
have been small grain and grapes. Hence we confidently expect all 
entries to have the best of opportunities. Good huntsmen all, meet 
us in October. Guido. 
Iowa Sport- 
A LG ON A, Ia., April 8. 
Editor Rod and Gcn: 
The first number with the new name Is at hand, and here's “suc- 
cess to it!” which of course, under your management, it is bound to 
have. All sportsmen should read it and profit by its teachings. 
Sprint^ is here, and the honking geese and quacking ducks are seen 
in areal numbers My brother and myself killed eiaht acese last 
Saturday morning, b«*fore 7 o'clock, shooting four drachms powder 
and IKoz. 0 shot in Lever breech loaders, our experience leading us 
to use rather heavier shot with geese than most writers advise. 
Winter has been ver}* severe with us, but prairie chickens have never 
been so numerous in the spring with us as now. We thought the 
severe storms in February had killed all the quail, but we see a fair 
number around; plover and snipe are not here yet. but they are so 
small game for this country that we shoot but little on them. The 
prospects for shooting the coming season are very fine indeed, com- 
mencing with woodcock in July and running through the list of 
prairie chickens, ducks, brant and geese, all of which are here in 
their season. We think we have the best chicken shooting to be 
found in the west; the big bag mentioned in your paper three years 
ago, made by John G. Smith, shows it, and they are much plentier 
now than then. This place is the terminus of the Iowa «fc Dakota 
division of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. Fare from here to 
Chicago Or Milwaukee about $14. Lews. 
Old Friends in New Dress- 
Cleveland, April 10. 
Editor Rod and Gun: 
Why not give us a volume of your valuable articles. At our club 
meeting last nbht, which represents the practical naturalists ol 
Ohio, the conversation turned on the Rod and Gun, of which a 
copy had just come in, and it was the general opinion that a very 
interesting book of 300 or 400 pages could be made oi the venerable 
Linceciiin’s papers in the Sportsman, together with Ridgway's 
“ Big Trees,” Couea’ profound yet lively papers, and many others. 
You have all the material ready to your hand and such a volume 
would make a capital addition to the library of not only sportsman 
or naturalist but geueral reader. Excuse the suggestion, 
E. Sterling. 
“Wahkonza” to Boone-” 
Fort Dodge, Iowa, April 8. 
Editor Rod and Gun: 
I am plea.sed with yourehanged name as distinctive of your pur- 
pose. The term sport has been sadly diverted from its original 
meaning. For instance, your contemporary the Field has already 
become an im-tation of Spirit, interesting, perhaps, to city 
idlers, or gentlemen of business, etc., but no value to followers of 
the rod and gun. We are too far north here for .spring duck shoot- 
ing, The birds are mostly paired on t' eir arrival, and from lack of 
cover are hard to approach; and being fed on snails and other 
aquatic reptiles are fishy and worthier. The gec.-^e make scarcely 
any pause on their hurried way to their far northern home. A few 
have paid tribute. But snipe {Scolopax minor) and black-breasted 
plover, called here Prairie Pigeons, will soon appear, and generally 
furnish a week to ten days excellent sport; and with curlew, marlin, 
willei, and other migratory waders, make some diversified and 
abundant bags. 
Friend “ Boone,” I like yonr style. Courtesy well becomes your 
name of historic memories, and how much more becoming than the 
acrimony and arrogance indulged in by many of our confreres. 
Those who “ know it all” have generally much to learn, and vio- 
lent reformers usually need a heap of reformation themselves. We 
write for mutual profit ; they only "et mad at each other. We all 
arc inspired by a uniform zeal to advance ihc noble arts of angling 
and gunning, enjoyed alike by rich and poor; ever elevating, never 
degrading; fruitful sources of health and joyousness, especially to 
myself, whose only opportunities of relaxation are thus snatched 
from tbe ceaseless requirements of a busy professional life. We all 
believe our dogs and guns to be first class, but I notice we are con- 
stantly striving to improve them, and verily there is plenty of im- 
provement made room for in this age of j)rogre88; and generous 
emulation rather than quarrelling is the liksliest way to utilize our 
combined efforts. 
I shall be hapoy to accept your cbnllenge, but not for August 2* 
For. although our Grange legislature have deprived us of a game 
law, the birds at that date are too young, feeble and trifling, to 
merit our attention. I herewith euclofe a stamp to the editor for 
your address, and when obtained will write you in person, when un- 
doubtedly wo can arrange for a sati»factory hunt at a suitable time. 
Unluckily luy bliu*-si blood will all be too young for a fair show this 
coming season, but 1 have others sufficiently blue for all practical 
purposes, unless death or some other unlucky contingency inter- 
venes. 
Now 9 ftbout blood, wbetbejr applied (o borgei, pattle, dogs, 
or poultry, etc.; in brief, it means being able to control the copu- 
lation of any of these animals for a series of years, so as to produce 
distinct strains of special shape, size, color, or quality, which, w’ben 
thus established, are found by experience to be transmitted to their 
offspring with a tolerable degree of certainty; thereby diminishing 
the constant tendency to deteriorate or breed back, which would 
soon reduce the best dog to something like a coyote, and the Mor- 
gan horse to the shapeless mustang or zebra 
A dropper means a cross between a thoroughbred setter and 
pointer, so that if this anomaly be preferred, it is all the more es- 
sential to have the parents tme to their respective kinds; and 
by this circumlocution process a good animal is frequently pro- 
dneed, whose good qualities terminate with itself; for farther breed- 
ing results in chaos. 
It will be a surprise, and. perhaps, comfort to yon to know that 
one of my very best dogs was a dropper. “ Old Hoop,” w'ell known 
through all this section, has recently succumbed to age and toil, 
full of canine honors; and ever to be remembered for his extreme 
sagarity and general utility; good alike on snipe, ducks, and 
chickens. He guarded a baby, luncheon, or predatory cow, with 
equal fidelity; but be was the only one in that litter who repaid tbe 
raising, and after a hundred trials never begot a pup worth tbe am- 
munition that destroyed it. 
I am no crack shot, “ Boone;” limited time furnishes scanty prac- 
tice, but 1 am none the less enthusiastic. When increasing years 
dull our sensations, and pall the pleasures of youth, until hope- 
lessly crippled we retain our tastes for field sports and gastronomy. 
And though no glutton myself, I can still start on a day's shooting 
or fishing with all tbe glee and abandon of sweet sixteen. Au revoir. 
W’ahkonza. 
The Extinct Monster- 
Hudson, Mich., April 18. 
Editor Rod and Gun: 
In looking over back numbers of the Sportsman, I noticed an ar- 
ticle in No. 4, Vol. 5, page 57, from the pen of Mr. E. Hallenbeck, 
of Canandaigua, N. Y. It is titled “ Another Extinct Monster,” 
As there has been no contradiction of Mr, Hallenbeck's statements, 
the people believing as he had visited the ground, iqade meas- 
urements, weights, and inspected this wonder thoroughly, that his 
statement must be correct, therefore are swindled into the belief 
that this monster must have had horns, that when properly set w'ould 
measure twenty feet across, and his height fifteen feet, and length, 
independent of horns, twenty feet, more or less, and this he says is 
perfectly reliable ; much of it is, especially the finding of and digging 
these bones; which consist of one dorsal vertebra with the spinal 
process attached, part of several ribs, the tibia and fibula, and the 
tarsal bones of one leg, the shoulder blade, a portion of the skull, 
and a few fragments, but no horns; two tusks were taken out 
which measure between eight and nine feet in length, they weigh 
about 170 pounds each. Now, then, had Mr. Hallenbeck been any- 
thing of a geologist or even a passable scient’st, he could not have 
made such statements as he did. He says that a large number of 
professors and doctors from Adrian and Hilldale colleges, pro- 
nounced them horns and not tusks; I don't doubt it, for we have in 
both colleges professors and doctors that know just as little about 
such things as Mr. H — does. Again be says, the remains of the 
mastodon are quite common in this state, he mast be well posted, 
this Is the first thing that has been unearthed In Michigan that had 
tusks, except a part of a tusk from a wild boar, eleven years ago* 
which I have in my collection. There have, however, been some 
fragments of teeth and other parts picked up throughout the south- 
ern portion of the state, that w'e pronounce as remains of the mas- 
todon. But nothing larger than tbe ox of the present day, has left 
any horns in the Wolverine Stale, and very few of them, as the 
New York men pay too good a price to allow them to be buried in 
Michigan. As to this mastodon, as it surely was, we shall endeavor 
to unearth other parts of bis bones this spring. There were some 
smaller bones found with these larger ones, which I have no doubt, 
are of an animal, now extinct, allied to the tapir. Prof. Marsh and 
Dr. Hayden have found them quite common in Nebraska and the 
west, and generally with or near those of the mastodon. I desire to 
express my thanks to C. E. of Colorado Springs, Col . , for tbe infor- 
mation regarding snow birds. Mr. Ridgeway gave me a good his- 
tory of them, for which I thank him, but he did not tell me what I 
wanted to know, viz: what the scientific name was for the snowbirds 
used at trap shooting, whieb O.E. did. Friend Boone, could you 
have spent Friday with us, I with my brother sportsman “Field,’* 
would have given you a half day's fag. at snipe. A stiff northwest 
wind made the birds lay well, and without a dog, we bagged ten 
brace in sixty minutes, and no ammunition wasted. “Field” is after 
them tc-day, 
And with an eye as keen os does tbe bird 
Himself, by hunger's strongest law compelled, 
Explore each sheltered drain or hollow ditch.” 
It gives me pleasure indeed, to welcome the Rod and Gun: and 
now brother sportsmen, let us gra»p the rod with a firmer hand, and 
bring the gun to bear only upon legitimate game, aud then only in 
its season, and like my friend “ Mac ” of ^^auge^tlC8, N Y., stir up 
the country to the fact that without good game laws and staunch 
promulgators, our noble birds will soon be like the “ extinct mon- 
ster,” a thing of tlie past, and no horns to dig up . ^VoL^'ERINE. 
American Cuckoo- 
Boston, April 15. 
Editor Rod and Gun: 
I see a slight mistake in Genio C. Scott’s “Birds and Fishes" in 
thit week’s issue that I should like to correct. It is about the 
American Cuckoo. Speaking of it he says; ’’Itismuch prettier 
thau the European specimen, and it ha, the same habit of laying 
its eggs in other birds’ nests and never sitting." Now 1 think there 
is a slight mistake in his statement there, for. the American bird in 
exact opposition to its European cousin builds a nest of its own and 
hatches its own eggs, for 1 have frightened them off their nests and 
found specimens of eggs in some neatly batched, fresh laid, and 
young birds. I wish to correct G. C. S., because I looked up tne 
subject two years ago and made a study of the bird's habits in nest- 
ing. I think if Jie wW stud/ the subject A little closer, he will find 
I Am right, Pabtoa, 
