July 31, 1875. 
2(U 
Pnblishsd by the Rod and the Gnu Association. 
WIL -lAM HUMPHREYS Editor. 
T. C. BANKS, Busixkss Maxageb. 
S. H. TURRILL, Chicago Maxager. 
THE ONLY JOURNAL IN THE UNITED STATES 
DEVOTED EICLrsrVBLY TO 
SHOOTING, FISHING, NATURAL HISTORY. FISH CULT! RE 
AND THE PROTECTION OF FISH AND GAME. 
TERMS OF SL'BSCEIPIION; $4.00 A YEAR IN ABVANCE. 
Thb Rod axd the Grx can be obtained from all News Dealers, 
The Postage on this paper Is pre paid to subscribers In the United 
States. 
Persons sending money to this office, by means of Money Orders 
should invariably make the same payable to The Rod axd Got, 
New York P. O. 
All communications must be accompanlad by the fall name of the 
writer, and address to 
THE ROD ANTD THE GUX, 
31 Park Row. New York. 
We earnestly request all onr contributors to adopt tbe plan in 
regard to tbe use of scientific names which some of them have already 
adodpted. viz. : to PRINT all such names legibly in the manoscripi, 
as this will prevent error by giving the compositor plain copy to fol- 
low. Above all things, we say, do not venture opon the use of scien- 
tific names at all unless certain of thair accuracy. 
SATURDAY, JULA’ 31, 1875. 
coisrxEisrTS. 
Page. Paee. 
Rifle — International Match. . . 256 Letters from Sportamen 266 
to 264 Gun Bores, J. W. Long 264 
Caution 'n the Field 2»>4 Leading "Royal”. ^ 267 
The Riflemen in England 264 Library Table 267 
Velocity of Shot 261 t^neries and Answers 265 
Correspondents are requested to note change of 
address — The Rod and Gen, 31 Park Row, N. Y. 
CAUTION IN THE FIELD. 
With each returning season we feel called upon to 
caution our readers against certain practices that every 
year cause numerous sad or fatal accidents in the field. 
Men grow careless as they become familiarized with 
firearms, and forget that they are literally carrying their 
lives in their hands, hence in some unguarded moment 
an explosion takes place by which they or their com- 
panions are hurled into eternity, and sorrow is brought 
upon families and friends. 
There are certain rules which, if observed, wiU do 
away with a great part of the danger attending the use 
of guns, rules easy of observance, and some of them 
conducive to the attainment of great skill in shooting. 
A man has no right to be careless, since he is by no 
means always the suflerer for his carelessness, and if 
through any neglect of his a friend’s life is cut short, he 
is morally a murderer, even though the law may hold 
him guiltless. 
■\Ye need not say to any sane man never point a gun, 
whether loaded or unloaded, at any person. It is true 
many persons are killed in this wa}% and save in the 
case of children, who really do not know better, the 
chief regret is that in each instance the gun does not 
kill the holder rather than his victim. If the fools who 
every year blow out their sister’s or their friend’s brains 
would only kill themselves,', the world would be bene- 
fitted rather than bereft. Yet while sportsmen would 
not be guilt}' of any such folly, they too frequently run 
risks almost as great and dangerous. Every man should 
accustom himself to take care when alone, and thus 
form habits which will involuntarily cause him to be 
careful when in company. He should never forget that 
his gun carries a human life in its silent muzzle, and 
learn to hold and handle the weapon in such a manner 
that he reduces its chances of accident to the minimum. 
One bad habit — a very common one — is that of carry- 
ing the gun at full cock upon the pretence of being 
always ready for a shot. A very little practice will 
accustom the shooter to cock his gun as he raises it to 
his shoulder, thus involving no loss of time, while the 
necessity for the act will require coolness and prompt 
action, which, once acquired, will serve well in making 
the aim more sure and deadly than if the shot is fired 
in the .flurry, which loo frequently comes over the 
always ready sportsman upon the unexpected rise of a 
bird. A gun on half-cock is as positively safe as possi- 
ble; no twig catching the trigger or hammer can explode 
it, and save in the seldom-occurring case of a fall break- 
ing down the hammer, the gun is harmless. We know I 
of several splendid shots who always carry their guns at 
half-cock. One of these gentlemen to'd us it took him 
a full season to acquire the knack of cocking his gun 
after the bird rose, and during that time he scarcely 
killed a bird, but he added it has doubled my score ever 
since. 
It is a very common thing for sportsmen when they 
meet in the field to examine each others guns, and 
equally common for the guns to pass from hand to hand 
loaded, and even cocked. There is no excuse for such 
folly in these days of breech-loaders, as it is but an 
instant’s work to extract the shells before passing the 
gun, and in the case of muzzle-loaders the caps cun be 
removed and the hammers placed at half cock. On 
entering a house, or sitting down to lunch the shells 
should be withdrawn. In crossing a brook, or climb- 
ing a fence, riding in a waggon, or before stooping for a 
drink this same simple precaution will often save life. 
It is no excuse to say you have never done this yet, but 
met with no accident. There must he a first time, and 
regrets are vain and of no avail when the evil hour 
comes. 
Careless shooting is another frequent source of injury 
to persons and property. In the excitement of the shot 
tbe sportsman forgets to look ahead, and so, perhaps, 
kills his companion, or wounds cattle, and thus incurs 
the wrath of the fanuer upon whose land he shoots, 
causing him henceforth to denounce the whole sporting 
fraternity, and to post his ground against trespassers. 
Coolness is^all that is needed'here, a quick glance in the 
direction of the shot to see if the coast is clear before the 
trigger is pulled, and a careful avoidance of all risks 
will prevent any accident. It is far better to allow the 
bird to escape than to take a doubtful shot when there is 
a possibility of doing an injury. The bird may be 
started again, but the shots when once sent on their 
course cannot be arrested no matter what the con- 
sequence may be. 
If we were to go over all the chances for accidents 
which should ever be avoided, we would exhaust the 
patience of our readers. We can, therefore, only ap- 
peal to their common sense to guard carefully against 
any practice tending to make them careless in handling 
their guns, and, in conclusion, urge the opposite. An 
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and a 
little care may save a life-long and bitter regret, or pre- 
serve the shooter himself from a violent death. 
THE RIFLEMEN IN ENGLAND. 
The brilliant victories achieved by our riflemen, both 
individual!}' and collectively, have called out the warm- 
est expressions of respect and admiration from the peo- 
ple of England. Royalty, nobility, gentry, and the 
great unwa.^hed, have all given vent to their hearty 
sympathies, each after their kind. The guerdon of 
honor has been presented by the fair hands of a prin- 
cess of the blood, while the highest dignitaries of State 
have been prodigal of official and personal courtesies to 
the worthy sons of the great republic. Amid so much 
unqualified praise, we have met with nothing un- 
generous or depreciatory, and although one or two of 
the newspapers endeavor to excuse their countiymen 
by talking about American aptitude with the rifle, as if 
we all walked about the streets with rifles instead of 
umbrellas, we can afford to smile at the statement of 
writers who evidently know more of frontier fiction 
than they do of American city life. Indeed, it is pre- 
cisely to the point of a better acquaintance with 
gunnery and rifle practice that the international con- 
test tends. In reality, the rifle, whatever it might have 
been in the old Indian war and pioneer times, is not an 
arm cultivated by the people at large. Even our mili- 
tary companies were satisfied until the outbreak of our 
own civil war [with a poor model of the old Brown 
Bess, while Europeans were reorganizing their weapon, 
and every arsenal had its experimental corps — mouarchs 
and generals-in-chief making improvement in small 
arms a matter of particular attention and personal in- 
quiry. 
Creedmoor, before the arrival of the Irish team last 
year, had very little interest for the public. Xew 
Yorkers, indeed, glanced at the reports in the daily 
papers, hut the nation at large knew less of Creedmoor 
than they did of Wimbledon or Vincennes. Creedmoor 
was and is essentially a New York institution, and even 
at that, favored only by a few and not by the bulk of 
the New Yorkers. The National Guard, even, have 
come slowly to a sense of its peculiar fitness for the 
completion of a soldier’s training, and the biographies 
of the successful team show that they were private gen- 
tlemen with a taste for the practice, and, as riflemen, 
sustained no national or civic character. 
The effect of these world-famous contests ought to be 
the formation of rifle clubs in every city and county of 
the United States, for the encouragement of target shoot- 
ing and the practical utilization of the American theory 
of freedom, which justifies every freeman in the bearing 
of arms, and inculcates a knowledge of their use. Be 
it here remembered that, although the victories of 
Creedmoor, Doliymount and Wimbledon were won by 
splendid skill and perfect mastery in the use of the arm, 
such skill was attained at the cost of great patience and 
long practice, and a faithful observance of the manly 
virtues. Rifle practice, in real earnest, carries with it 
self-denial, sobriety and iron nerve, and had not our ^ 
men excelled in these qualities, they could not have won 
the crown. A sound mind in a sound body is the pre- 
quisite of success in rtfle shooting. i 
The late snow storms last Spring must have killed 
the eggs of woodcock in the Eastern States, as nearly 
all the birds shot were old ones. 
A BITCH belonging to Wm. Ives, of Durliam, Conn., 
sired by Mr. Strong’s prize winner, “Pete,” recently 
whelped thirteen dogs and two sluts, and the owner had 
to kill five of them. 
The acclimatization of trout in Tasmania is assured. 
In 1873 a total distribution of 4,050 trout ova was made 
from the rivers of that island to the neighboring colo- 
nies; 800 of these ova were sea trout, the rest brown 
trout. 
Mr. Bavwens, a correspondent in the Belgique Horti- 
cole, has an aquarium in which the sea water has not 
been changed for ten years. All that he does is to add 
fresh water as the salt water evaporates, thus maintain- 
ing the same degree of saltness. Various species of 
.small sea-weeds and several molluscs thrive without 
further care, but some species of Actinia, raised in the 
same medium, were starved to death during the owner’s 
absence. It is his practice to feed them with a little 
mould, worms, or even raw meat. 
CARD FROM ARNOLD BURGES. 
M.4YSVTLLE, Kentucky, July 12, 1875. 
Editor Rod and Gun : 
The person who sent you the report of the 3Iineol.a 
show displayed more of petty spite for me than of 
respect for the good sense and justice of the public 
when he lugged in a comparison of my Rufus with !Mr. 
Jenkins’ Ranger. As my dog did not compete at 
Mineola, in fact had no more connection with the show 
than any dog in San Francisco, tlie question naturally 
arises, What had he to do with the report? The only 
answer to this is, that the comparison was the work of 
a man personally inimical to me, and seeking to do me 
an injury by di.sparaging my dog — an act which will he 
appreciated" at its proper worth by all sportsmen and 
gentlemen. If the report had been accompanied by tlie 
name of its author, 1 should not have noticed it, a,s 
those who know him hold his opinions of too little con- 
sequence to be influenced by them, and those of your 
readers who do not know him, would have regarded 
the matter as all gentlemen regard anonymous slurs. 
An undue weight has, however, been given to the re- 
marks by their insertion upon your editorial page, thus 
making a new contributor assume the authoritative 
guise of your regular reporter. Arnold Burges. 
The success of the International Team has already 
borne fruits in the stimulus given to the rifle and gun 
trade. Enquiries are already made in New York for 
our American rifles, from every capital in Europe, and 
target-shooting threateius to become fashionable. 

Hunting, Fishing and Pleasure Excursions to 
Colorado. — The St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern 
Railway has just published a new and illustrated Guide 
to Colorado (season of 1875); giving a brief description 
of the famous Resorts in the Rocky ^Mountain Regions, 
also rates of fare. This Guide contains valuable infor- 
mation for Sportsmen and Invalids. Free. Send for a 
Copy. Address C. K. Lord, Gen. Pass. -Vgent, St. Louis, 
Mo. This is a magnificent sporting region, unsurpassed 
in the L*nion. The officials are accommodating, the 
cars are clean, comfortable and punctual. We speak by 
experience. 
