Nov. 3, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Virginia Field Trials Association. 
Richmond, Va., Oct. 20. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: We herewith inclose entry blank, rules, 
and invitation to the' Virginia Field Trials Asso¬ 
ciation’s fifth annual trials. We expect to have 
this year the largest and best meeting in our 
history. The judges who have been selected are 
of national reputation, Mr. W. J. Baughn and 
Mr. Simon C. Bradley. The place of holding 
the meeting is Spray, North Carolina, just on the 
line between Virginia and North Carolina. There 
will be an abundance of birds and splendid hotel 
accommodations. 
I have mailed entry blanks to all of the handlers 
whose address I have, but I will be glad to for¬ 
ward others upon application. Our closing date 
is Nov. 6, twenty days previous to the trials'. 
None but members will be allowed to partici¬ 
pate in the members’ stakes, but anybody will 
be allowed to handle dogs in the free-for-all, in 
which the nomination fee is $5. We will not 
run an open Derby this year, but will possibly 
do so next season. It is a right difficult matter 
to run four stakes during one week, and it has 
always been the object of the Virginia associa¬ 
tion to keep up interest among our local sports¬ 
men. There is one thing sure, any person who 
attends the Virginia field trials this year will 
have a delightful time. A banquet will be held 
at the Colonnade Hotel on Thursday night. 
Chas. B. Cooke, ' Secretary. 
New England Field Trials. 
Middletown, Conn.—The first annual trial of 
the Field Trial Club of New England will be 
held on Sperry’s preserve, at Hampton, Conn., 
beginning Tuesday morning, Nov. 6. 
The club holds its annual meeting at Whitaker’s 
Hotel, Hampton, Conn., at 8 o’clock, on Monday 
evening, Nov. 5. 
Entries close and the drawing of dogs for each 
stake will take place, at the time of the annual 
meeting. The starting fee must be paid at time 
of drawing. 
Two stakes will be run, viz.: All-age and 
Derby. Setters or pointers whelped on or sub¬ 
sequent to Jan. 1, are eligible to the Derby. 
It requires only $2 to enter a dog in either 
class, and $3 to start. The stakes will be 40, 30, 
20 and 10 per cent, of the entrance money. 
The judges have been selected for their ex¬ 
perience with dogs and field trials, and will give 
each entry a fair test. 
The club has for its object the development of 
the highest type of New England field dogs, and 
invites the aid of every breeder, handler and 
sportsman in its efforts. Help the club along 
either by joining or by sending an entry, or both. 
A smoker will be given on Tuesday evening, 
to which all members are invited. 
Membership fee, $2; annual duds, $1. Mem¬ 
bership and entry blanks may be had of G. H. 
Parkinson. Sec. and Treas., Field Trial Club of 
New England, Middletown, Conn. 
G. H. Parkinson, Secretary. 
Gifts of Venison. 
In London, according to a custom established 
800 years ago, at the opening of the deer shoot¬ 
ing season, the first commissioner of works sends 
“the carcasses of four fat bucks to the lord 
mayor of the ci y, three e^clf'to the sheriffs, and 
one each to the chamberlain, recorder, town clerk, 
common sergeant and remembrancer—this venison 
first being obtained in Richmond Park, not 
through the medium of a cLthyard shaft, as of 
old, however. Again, in December, an equal 
number of deer find their way into the homes of 
these functionaries. No doubt few of the re¬ 
cipients know where the custom still prevails, 
but it is not likely they will ever move to abolish 
it. Indeed, our own custom .of sharing bag or 
creel with friends is an equally agreeable one 
for all concerned. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
THE TOP RAIL. 
It is curious how custom rules in our selection 
of words. Take, for example, a summary of the 
wild game to be found in a certain place. One 
will read that ducks, quail, rabbits, grouse, squir¬ 
rels, deer or moose are to be found, and perhaps 
wild turkeys and wild geese. Why the term 
“wild” as applied to geese and turkeys, but not 
to other game? Custom is responsible. Wild 
ducks are often mentioned, and there was a rea¬ 
son, if there is no good one now, why geese, 
turkeys and ducks should be designated as wild 
or tame. Still, there are wild and tame deer, 
rabbits, etc., but one seldom hears these words 
prefixed by “wild.” 
Another thing one will notice while returning 
home from hunting on the trolley car or train, 
with nothing to do but look out the window and 
reply to the inquiries of “What did you kill?” 
On the front of nearly every saloon the sign 
reads “Ales and beer.” Why not ale and beer 
or ales and beers? Give it up. These and other 
curious signs, and the regularity with which the 
time marked on clocks in shops passed varies, all 
help the tired sportsman to while away a half- 
hour that would otherwise be monotonous. 
ft 
It was while waiting for a parcel to be wrap¬ 
ped and change made in one of the large shops 
uptown that I noticed a commotion on the side¬ 
walk. Men and women suddenly made a break 
for the open doors of the shop, led by a very 
small and by no means light weight old lady in 
glasses, who astonished me mightily by spring¬ 
ing up on a counter, where she sat with her feet 
hanging over the while she screeched lustily. 
Other women and men deposited themselves on 
or hid behind neighboring counters and a few 
made for the elevators. On the skirts of the 
crowd came a very small yellow dog with up¬ 
standing ears and a “yap. yap” that seemed to 
say someone had stepped on his. toes and he 
was hunting for a sympathizing friend. This 
person thereupon appeared—a policeman—and 
despite agonized appeals not to go near the mad 
dog,” cornered the latter, and taking it under his 
arm, walked out. Whereupon the old lady, with 
the help of the manager, who had returned from 
his hiding place behind some fixtures, got down 
with difficulty from her lofty perch, and resum¬ 
ing her air of dignity, forgotten for the moment, 
limped out the door, to hide her blushes in the 
crowd. 
ft 
Shade of Nessmuk! Here’s a writer who, des¬ 
cribing a camping outfit, says: 
“One load could be reserved for such luxuries' 
as glassware, crockery, etc., which could be 
packed in some tablecloths and napkins; but 
enameled ware should also be taken in case of 
accidents.” 
I should think so; and tinware in case the 
overloaded packers happen to fall on the enameled 
ware and smash it, too. Tablecloths and napkins 
for camp ! That sounds nic6. I wonder how they 
could be used when one spreads his few dishes 
in a half-circle on the grass, and taking his seat, 
tailor-fashion, so that everything is within reach, 
wades into his meal regardless of the absence of 
linen and cut glass. Perhaps the tablecloths and 
napkins, folded, would serve as a cushion. 
ft 
The same writer referred to says of big game 
69 7 
in Africa that “no game should be shot without 
the meat can be used, unless (and I think this 
is the only saving clause) it appears to be an 
exceptionally fine head.” 
It seems to me that this exception, which is 
taken by not a few English sportsmen, is re¬ 
sponsible for the scarcity of game in several parts 
of South Africa where game was most abund¬ 
ant when Cumming trekked up and down the 
country. Too many fine animals are shot merely 
because they have good heads or antlers, and in 
a warm country, where the meat can be preserved 
only by the tedious process of drying it, the waste 
is often shameful. In a casual glance over an 
English sportsman’s paper I note that the bag 
of a party of four men in Griqualand consisted of 
ten inkonkas, weighing 100 pounds or less, “and 
other bucks of smaller species,” on opening day. 
ft 
Did you notice the press dispatch which all the 
dailies published last week, setting forth how 
Charles G. Gates and Melville Martin filled a 
grizzly bear full of lead and took it into camp 
after it had chewed up five dogs? They said 
it weighed “about 1,700 pounds,” and Coloradans 
familiar with bears and being charitably inclined, 
admitted this to be about as heavy as Colorado 
grizzlies grow. The young men astonished the 
residents of- Maher, in Montrose county, by the 
size and value of the outfit they took into the 
mountains with them, but the greatest surprise 
was that they actually killed a grizzly, although 
it was admitted that the dogs brought it to a 
stand in a box canon, a cul de sac from which it 
could not find free egress. If high power rifles 
were used it is unlikely that bullets would re¬ 
main in the carcass; but the young men did not 
say “1,700 pounds, inclusive of bullets fired into 
it,” and if that was the weight the bullets were 
included. 
If the figures shrink one-half I, for one, will 
not be surprised, and the grizzly that weighs an 
even 1,000 is too fat to catch me; of that I am 
certain, for I have a record in this line. One 
night a cinnamon bear, which seemed twelve feet 
tall and to weigh scarcely anything, so light on 
his feet was he, chased me into tall timber, and 
my friends said his speed was like unto that of 
.an ice wagon compared with mine. If I have to 
be in another race of this sort I want a 1,700- 
pounder to waddle along behind while I am select¬ 
ing a nice straight tree with limbs enough to 
make the climbing easy. 
ft 
What a little thing can change one's plans now 
and then ! In the old days, when I hunted squir¬ 
rels with a muzzle-loading rifle, it was not at 
all unusual for a hunter to- forget the capbox, or 
what was equally aggravating, find that he had 
neglected to replenish his supply in time, and ex¬ 
haust it while s'ill far from home and oppor¬ 
tunities for shots presenting themselves with 
startling frequency. 
The other day a salt-water angler described 
how he had lost a sinker on his first cast into 
the tide. Presently he lost another one, and as 
if fate were against him, a third, though he had 
not previously noticed that his line was growing 
unreliable. Then he searched through his tackle- 
book and found it as bare of lead as a vacant 
house after the junk thieves have paid it a visit. 
The most aggravating feature in connection 
with disappointments of this sort is that they 
usually occur after one has' searched his outfit 
to make sure nothing has been overlooked. 
