OCTOBER, 1917 
FOREST AND STREAM 
463 
the recoil of the twelve gauge and they can 
be used by both men and women who are 
shy of heavier weapons. It is idle to argue 
that the twenty is as powerful as the twelve 
gauge nor can it be made so by any system 
of gun boring or cartridge loading. The 
very reason upon which its adoption is 
recommended is that it is a sportier weapon 
and through its use a higher standard of 
sportsmanship would be attained. 
Within the past year careful experiments 
have been conducted to determine the rela¬ 
tive efficiency of the twenty gauge in com¬ 
parison with the twelve, and it is estimated 
that the use of the twenty gauge will im¬ 
pose a handicap of from 15 to 20 per cent. 
In the field at quail and grouse and other 
upland game birds this handicap will prob¬ 
ably not be as great for the reason that the 
twenty gauge develops its most effective 
pattern at distances that these birds are 
most frequently brought to bag, whereas 
the twelve gauge would make its most kill¬ 
ing pattern at longer distances within which 
fewer field shots are presented. 
In arriving at its present popularity for 
field shooting and in its trend toward re¬ 
placing the twelve gauge at the traps, the 
twenty gauge has suffered much from over 
enthusiasm on the part of its admirers, 
who have made too broad and sweeping 
claims and attempted impossible results 
through the manufacturers of freak guns 
shooting freak loads. Nothing can be 
gained by forcing a twelve gauge load 
through a twenty gauge tube; it results in 
excessive breech pressure, badly jammed 
shot, and irregular patterns. The appeal of 
light weight and ease of handling are lost 
as it is necessary to make these guns as 
heavy or heavier than the average twelve 
gauge to insure a margin of safety and 
take up recoil. 
To all who are interested in the twenty 
gauge and desire to facilitate its popularity 
it may be said: Do not waste any time on 
freak guns of abnormal weight, length of 
barrels, or excessive chamber area. Give 
up the idea of twelve gauge loads in twenty 
gauge chambers. Accept the twenty gauge 
for just what it is, a highly developed and 
most efficient weapon with a standard load, 
whose chief charm lies in its light weight, 
exquisite balance, absence of recoil, and the 
fact that its use requires a higher degree of 
skill and a consequent advance in the stand¬ 
ard of sportsmanship. 
THE STORY OF THE TOLLING DUCK DOG 
THE FOX HAS BEEN KNOWN FOR YEARS TO POSSESS THE 
POWER TO ATTRACT WILD FOWL BY REASON OF HIS COLOR 
From a Manuscript by H. A. P. SMITH 
A Typical Tolling Dog 
T HE passing up of the good 
things we have at home in 
a ceaseless quest for things 
abroad is sometimes referred to 
as a national weakness. Among 
the guilty there are no greater 
offenders than our sportsmen 
and dog breeders. 
The parents of our great fam¬ 
ilies of sporting dogs come 
from abroad, but under the in¬ 
fluences of environment various 
types have changed and through 
intelligent selection and the op* 
eration of the law of “the sur¬ 
vival of the fittest” new charac¬ 
ters evolved. The day that bet¬ 
ter dogs for American sports¬ 
men could be purchased abroad 
has long passed, but the saddest 
part is that with eyes fixed 
across the waters our sportsmen 
and breeders neglect the devel¬ 
opment of the really wonder¬ 
ful breeds that they have on 
this side of the pond. 
For twenty-five years American bird 
dogs have defeated the best setters and 
pointers that Europe could produce with 
a regularity from the standpoint of com¬ 
petition that is simply pitiful. Among 
English field spaniels, the best of their field 
trial winners are not the equal in intel¬ 
ligence and bird sense of the little spaniels 
our Northern guides carry with them on 
their canoe trips. There are more good 
Airedales in this country than in all of 
Europe, but that does not deter our fanci¬ 
ers from sending their money abroad, 
meanwhile, as we have said before, several 
of our noble American breeds are at the 
point of extinction. 
The coast of Maryland developed the 
Chesapeake Bay dog, the greatest retriever 
that has ever lived, and while ambitious 
fanciers search England and our dog shows 
are crowded with thousands of foreign 
dogs, it is only on rare occasions that a 
specimen of these noble dogs are seen. 
In the August issue of Forest and 
Stream, there appeared by Mr. Fisher a 
comprehensive article, “The Florida Catch 
Dog,” written with the hope of saving from 
extinction a breed of wonderful possibili¬ 
ties ; and at this time attention is called to 
another useful breed of dogs once well 
known along our sea coasts and now so 
rare that only a few men have seen, and 
to many the name itself, The Tolling Dog, 
is unknown. One of Forest and Streams 
most valued contributors who has used 
these dogs for many years has written as 
follows: 
“The idea of tolling ducks came from 
the fact that the fox has been known for 
many years to possess the power to attract 
wildfowl by reason of his color and his 
movements along the shore, and many a 
fat duck has paid the penalty of 
his curiosity and furnished a 
meal for foxy old Reynard on 
the shores of our inland lakes. 
It was my delight and privilege 
to see a fox at work on one oc¬ 
casion. We were hunting moose 
near the Boundary Rock in 
Nova Scotia, and as our canoe 
turned a bend in the Coufang 
River, I saw directly ahead of 
us and in plain sight, four black- 
ducks. Wondering why they did 
not fly at sight of us, I glanced 
ahead of them, and there on the 
top of a flat rock which pro¬ 
jected into the water lay a fox 
with his nose between his paws 
Every second or so he would 
raise his brush and give it a flip 
from side to side. The ducks 
were swimming directly toward 
him intently watching that white- 
tipped tail, and not more than 
fifteen yards away from his 
waiting hungry jaws. Just then 
my hunting companion coming down the 
river in the canoe behind us, and catching 
sight of the fox, shot at him. The bullet 
from his Winchester hit the rock beneath 
him and spoiled what otherwise would 
have without a doubt ended in a little 
tragedy, and would have been a sight which 
very few have ever witnessed. 
I have always felt perfectly certain that 
that fox would have carried away with 
him one of those four birds, a victim of 
curiosity. But what a transformation that 
bullet worked! Into the air went fox, 
ducks, and pieces of granite boulder, and 
my hunting companion remarked as he 
lowered his rifle between his knees, “I 
guess that rock was red hot, the way that 
fox took to the air.” 
If you are a dog man, the first time you 
see a Tolling dog, your attention will at 
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