488 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Sept. 23, 1911. 
Average Form. 
There is more joy and satisfaction to the 
moderate shot in killing three or four doubles 
of snipe, flighting ducks or partridges than the 
same achievement gives to the crack. It has 
fallen to my lot to referee a good many shoot¬ 
ing matches in my time and, more especially at 
clay birds have I seen experts present break bird 
after bird away up in the forties and fifties and 
even higher without a miss. The performers 
showed no signs of exhilaration or pleasure; 
they took it all as a matter of course. Such 
uninterrupted monotony seemed to pall upon 
them in spite of the round after round of ap¬ 
plause from the spectators. Naturally there is 
little excitement associated with a certainty. 
Given the moderate shot on the other hand, and 
anyone can see by the expression of his face 
how keenly he is enjoying his success if he is 
shooting well. After that last double rise so 
neatly taken, his state of mind is written in 
black type right across his smiling visage. 
Average form may be said to be that degree 
of proficiency possessed by about eight out of 
every twelve shooters you come across. Aver¬ 
age form in the field or at the traps introduces 
us to a vast number of shooters. Their name is 
legion. They represent the great bulk of gun¬ 
ners, and the comparatively few expert perform¬ 
ers float above them in an atmosphere of their 
own. Most of those whose names are now 
figuring in the sportsmen's papers as lessees of 
such and such moors in Scotland are merely 
average form men, although the bags they and 
their parties make are enormous. This is just 
where it all comes in; because to miss, say two 
or three shots or more in a day’s shoot will not 
influence the total bag to any great extent, but 
it will put the man who misses them out of the 
running as an expert performer. 
Average form is always likely to remain the 
standard form. Let a man shoot consistently up 
to this standard and he may go anywhere as a 
game or trap shot. He enjoys his sport and 
looks the world in the face. He knows there 
is just the possibility of his missing the very 
next bird or beast that gets up before him, or 
he may miss the next two or three shots that 
offer, and this element of uncertainty gives a 
zest and interest to his pastime that some au¬ 
thorities contend the experts and cracks never 
enj oy. 
Well, if so, all the better, the greatest good 
of the greatest number may be transposed for 
once into the greatest pleasure of the greatest 
number. The happiest evening parties I have 
ever attended have been fireside gatherings after 
hard work on moor or bog, when the day’s do¬ 
ings and adventures came up for discussion. The 
jacksnipe that could not be got on wing the 
second time, the only woodcock seen all day and 
missed by the outside gun, the big flock of 
golden plover that rose just out of shot, and the 
brace of teal that a companion bagged with a 
smart right and left, all are gone over again. 
Such details might not interest cracks, because 
the jacksnipe would not have been seen a second 
time, and the woodcock would not have been 
missed. The plover probably would not appeal 
to cracks either in or out of range, and as for 
the teal, why they were shot in any case. But 
to men of average form all this applies and 
appeals, they enjoy themselves to the full, and 
if all men were like them, sport would be all 
the better for it. W. R. Gilbert. 
Caribou Plentiful. 
St. Johns, N. F., Sept. 14 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: No sooner is the angling over than the 
nimrods begin to arrive in the quest of the lordly 
caribou. There have been more licenses issued 
to date to American sportsmen than for the cor¬ 
responding period last year. The train hands re¬ 
port that caribou are very plentiful near Howley 
and on the Gaff Topsails. They see herds of 
them nearly every day. Hunters this season will 
have no difficulty in getting their number of 
heads, and the weather now is ideal for hunt¬ 
ing and camping. W. J. Carroll. 
Canvasbacks. 
New Orleans, La., Sept. 6. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Game Commissioner Miller denies that 
he ever said canvasback ducks could be raised 
or bred in Louisiana, but that he did say that 
he thought if the proper means are adopted this 
species of ducks could be induced to come to 
Louisiana. He says if foxtail grass and wild 
celery are planted in Cameron parish near Sweet 
Lake and Lake Miserie, he believes the canvas- 
backs will come there. He points out that in 
Plaquemines parish there is a game preserve of 
many thousands of acres, and sedge grass trans¬ 
planted from Cameron to Plaquemines wi.l at¬ 
tract thousands of black mallards, and the fox¬ 
tail and wild celery will tempt the canvasback 
ducks to Cameron parish, which is near the Gulf 
coast. Mr. Miller cited a number of p'aces 
where the canvasbacks breed, but they are not 
indigenous to Louisiana. He has decided to 
plant the seeds around the lakes referred to and 
expects the results to be gratifying. Cameron 
and Plaquemines parishes contain over 500 
square miles of marsh lands, and they are, in 
his opinion, the finest duck ranges in the world, 
and he believes with the proper attention and 
care, more ducks can be attracted there than 
any place in the South. 
The rains and heavy squalls have militated 
against very successful fishing as a rule, and the 
mosquitoes at several of the favorite fishing 
places have been particularly fierce during the 
last fortnight, and these pests drove the fisher¬ 
men home. 
Much interest is being taken in the opening 
.of the hunting season, and many of the lovers 
of the gun are making preparations' for this 
sport. The principal hunting in the vicinity of 
New Orleans is the killing of ducks, although 
many hunters go after deer and wild turkeys 
in the higher sections of the State. A large 
number of deer can be found in the parishes 
within a comparatively short distance from New 
Orleans. The game wardens report a very big 
increase in the numbers of quail and doves in 
the rice sections and the northern and central 
parts of Louisiana. Squirrels are also abundant. 
The best grounds for wild turkeys are from 
Alexandria north, or from the central part of 
the State to the northern portions. There will 
scarcely be any hunting of consequence in Louis¬ 
iana before October on account of the hot 
weather. F. G. G. 
Heavy Penalties. 
Compared with the custom obtaining in this 
country, to fine a transgressor of the game laws 
on one or more counts of several returned, there 
is sharp contrast in a recent judgment in Ire¬ 
land. It seems that a gunner found hunting 
was asked by an officer to show his license. He 
refused and also declined to give his name. He 
resisted arrest but finally gave his name and 
address. He was fined for gunning without a 
license, for refusing name and address, for tres¬ 
pass and for resisting arrest, a total of $550. 
New Publications. 
The Mississippi River and its Wonderful 
Valley, by Julius Chambers. Cloth, 308 
pages, 80 illustrations, $3.50 net. New York, 
G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 
I11 the Putnam series of “American Water¬ 
ways” there is no other volume which appeals 
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the West while supporting on its shores vast 
numbers of people who know no other dividing 
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say why they do; fear it in the season of the 
“June rise.” Its legends and its romance, its 
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days, and its inherent possibilities are very near 
and dear to them. To collect all the data drawn 
on to make this book required an immense 
amount of work, but the result is gratifying. 
Blended with historical and descriptive matter, 
with pictures old and new, are many tales of 
the old days, of the traditions of the Indians, 
the traders, the life on the lower river, and the 
Civil War. 
The American Shotgun, by Charles Askins, 
cloth, illustrated* $2 net. New York, The 
Outing Company. 
Although an interesting book, this is a more 
or less disappointing one, for the title indicates 
that it is a comprehensive treatise of a very 
large subject; a subject that is worthy of care¬ 
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in that it contains very little information that 
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ginners are born every day. 
With Gun and Guide, by Thomas Martindale. 
Decorated cloth, 337 pages, illustrated from 
photographs, $2 net. Philadelphia, George 
W. Jacobs & Co. 
A companion of “Sport Indeed,” Mr. Martin- 
dale’s first book of hunting stories, and like it, 
overflowing with good stories of the woods and 
waters of America, and of the people who live 
there and go there for sport. Every big-game 
hunter should read it. 
