July 8, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
43 
'WILDFOWL SHOOTING IN SICILY. 
The gunners in Malta turn out in force on 
Nov. 25, St. Catherine’s Day, in quest of the 
passing woodcock, though in most years with 
questionable result. The birds drop in on their 
way across the Malta Channel en route to 
Albania and other favored coverts on the coasts 
of Greece, and their flight, being largely con¬ 
trolled by the prevailing weather, occasional 
good bags are made. Quail during the spring 
migration offer a few days’ sport, if the shooter 
knows his ground on this confined little island, 
overrun as it is by local chasseurs. But beyond 
a day or two at quail on Gozo Island, a winter 
season at Malta possesses few attractions to 
those fond of shooting, and a study of the map 
shows only one or two alternatives where leave 
is limited. 
We put into Tunis for a ten days’ expedition 
after rough game, but hearing from several quar¬ 
ters a poor account of the snipe shooting, and 
that red-legged partridges were only to be got 
on the hills some distance inland, we altered 
our course and headed for Sicily. 
The Gleneagles ran us speedily across to Syra¬ 
cuse in eight and a half hours, a party of three, 
with eleven days’ leave ahead of us. Arriving 
about 10:30 p. M v we were subjected by the 
boatmen to instant extortion, and at once marked 
down as fit subjects for fleecing by every Sicilian 
brigand we had the misfortune to have dealings 
with. We spent an exasperatingly long time try¬ 
ing to recover our guns, cartridge cases and 
tinned soups from the douanier brigade—all 
robbers of the first water—and they weighed 
our ammunition and charged us for its weight 
in brass, because the head of each cartridge was 
composed of that form of metal. After great 
efforts on the part of the British Consul on our 
behalf, we were allowed our goods for 73fr., 
and the custom house porters then demanded 
I5fr. for wheeling them to the hotel. All this 
in the dead of night! 
We lost a whole day before a permis de chasse 
could be obtained from the lazy procrastinating 
officials, and, what is more sad, we lost our 
tempers also. Eventually we placed ourselves 
in charge of an old and experienced guide, whose 
repertoire of sporting anecdotes anent “them dux 
in de mash” at the Pontana, kept us in roars 
of laughter whenever he favored us with past 
experiences, extending over thirty years. “Don 
Felice Valerio” was on his card, “Interpreter, 
Factotum and Guide.” At cooking waterhens 
or coots, smoking our tobacco, or expressing a 
doubtful though oft-repeated taste for our 
whiskey, he certainly was hard to beat. 
Wc found on arrival the whole country inun¬ 
dated for miles, and the snipe all driven out of 
their favorite feeding grounds. We took a room 
at the Pontana Farm, i2y 2 ir. per diem, with 
every possible item extra, and thanks to a strong 
constitution several changes of gear, and Don 
Felice’s entertaining babble, with extracts from 
the guide books thrown in gratis, apropos or 
otherwise-—the latter quite immaterial to Felice 
—we survived five days’ experience of most in¬ 
ferior sport. Shooting from a punt poled 
through the long reeds is a novel sensation, or 
it was so to us. Standing up in a narrow built 
boat, balancing oneself as the bows are forced 
through the rushes, trying to preserve one’s equi¬ 
librium and shoot, is a quite a trick, and requires 
patient practice. Meanwhile the Italian boatman, 
excellent at his own work, wrings his hands, 
shouts at you to “Fire strongly,” and uses strong 
language if the bird is not knocked down at any 
distance up to 200 yards. 
Salvatoro was the man recommended to us, 
a sulky, ill-conditioned ruffian, wearing a greasy, 
black fur cap on his frowsy head. His knowl¬ 
edge of fowl was marvelous; the quick sense 
of sight and sound he was blessed with made 
11s feel unite incapable alongside him, but the 
heartrending contortions he had studied, and the 
wearisome monotony of his theatricals, solely 
assumed to blackmail his passengers, nearly 
caused us more than once to knock him over¬ 
board with the butt end of the gun. We re¬ 
frained, partly because we did not shoot well 
at first and were annoyed in consequence, and 
chiefly because we should never have found our 
Every lover of the woods, camp, fishing, or outdoor life 
should wear 
Sporting Clothing for Men and 
Women 
duck’s back 
Sheds water like a 
The only Hunting Garment 
made in the United 
States by the 
Priestley 
insuring its rain-proof qualities. 
'Thefabric, although rain-proof, i 
gives plenty of ventilation, and ’ 
is soft,smooth and entirely odor¬ 
less. Made in all styles and prices. 
Ask your dealer or write mentioning 
your dealer’s name. 
. a lighter fabric 
• m not cravenett- 
Mamp-it f s - t %TtX e et d r 
and color. Par¬ 
ticularly suited to women for summer 
and the warmer climates. 
Send for illustrated booklet, showing 
full line, samples of materials and col¬ 
ors, together with order and meas¬ 
urement blank, FREE. 
BIRD, JONES 
& KENYON, 
3 Hickory St., __^ 
Utica, N. Y. ’ fCjji 
i : f '* ■ ' 
::: 
The “Game Laws in Brief” gives all 
the fish and game laws of the United 
States and Canada. It is complete 
and so accurate that the editor can 
afford to pay a reward for an error 
found in it. “If the Brief says so, you 
may depend on it.” Sold by all 
dealers. Price, twenty-five cents. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
SAM LOVEL’S BOY 
Sam Level’s Boy is the fifth of the series of Danvis 
books. No one has pictured the New Englander with 
so much insight as has Mr. Robinson. Sam Lovel and 
Huldah are two of the characters of the earlier books 
"in the series, and the boy is young Sam, their son, 
who grows up under the tuition of the coterie of 
friends that we know so well, becomes a man just at 
the time of the Civil War, and carries a musket in 
defense of what he balieves to be the right. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBUSHING COMPANY 
UNCLE LISHA’S SHOP 
Life in a Corner of Yankeeland. By Rowland E. 
Robinson. Cloth. 187 pages. Price, $1.25. 
The shop itself, the place of business of Uncle Lisha 
Peggs, bootmaker and repairer, was a sort of sports¬ 
man’s exchange, where, as one of the fraternity ex¬ 
pressed it, the hunters and fishermen of the widely 
scattered neighborhood used to meet of evenings and 
dull outdoor days “to swap lies.” 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBUSHING COMPANY 
