iki 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
137 

and devote themselves simply to the most practical phases 
of the question. 
Such names as Horatio Seymour, Patrick H. Again, Wil- 
liam B. Taylor, George Raynor, William A. Wheeler, Ver- 
planck Colvin, and Franklin B. Hough, all recommending 
and deeming it advisable that these wild lands now owned 
and held by the State shall be retained, until the question 
is decided of whether it shall become a State Park or not, 
render the subject one most worthy of our consideration. 
ep ot 
DEER STALKING. 
‘ ea SES 
aly HE time is fast approaching when the magnificently 
antlered buck, and the more lady-like and beautiful 
doe will be in their prime, for venison isa meat that is 
generally relished, and the taste easily acquired, even by 
the most fastidious of game gourmands. 
The sportsman should never attempt deer stalking unless 
he has nerves of steel, is strong, active, and an untiring 
walker. Not only the greatest walking powers are re- 
quired in stalking the deer, but it becomes a tiresome gait, 
as stooping and not unfrequently crawling on the ground 
for along distance is necessary in order to reach a particu- 
lar spot, unseen by the deer. Deer stalking is simply man 
vs. brute; and requires all the strength, craft and coolness 
of the man, before hecan lay low the deer, who is pos- 
sessed of ‘a much keener sense of smell, immense speea, 
excessive nervous organization, andis ever on the alert to 
-circumvent its human foe. 
The deer has by no means a quick sight, but his hearing 
and nose are of the most refined order. The garments of 
sportsmen should assimilate as nearly as possible with the 
autumn foilage of the forest; the boots to be worn should 
bea kind of moccasin with a not too thick, but flexible 
sole without nails of any kind, as nails coming in contact 
with stones and rocks, alarm the animal before the hunter 
can get within range. In walking lift the feet well off the 
ground, and let the ball of the foot touch the earth first; 
step high, and in fact imitate the Indian’s peculiar gait. 
In shooting never aim at the head of the deer, unless you 
are a dead shot, as the heart is as large as the brain, and if 
the ball misses the brain, the deer continues on his way, 
apparently as well as ever, or even if the ball has lodged 
in the face or muscles of the neck, you will still have great 
difficulty in finding your deer unless accompanied by a dog. 
This is where the deer hound isso useful, saving the sports- 
man an all day’s tramp aftera wounded animal. The Scotch 
plan is to keep the dogsin leash until the deer is shot, and 
if only wounded, to slip the dogs, and in’a short time the 
deer will be brought to bay. Many sportsmen and good 
ones too, take great exception to still hunting, and some- 
are ‘‘down” on the man who silently and carefully watches 
through the forest up wind for hours and hours, ultimately 
coming across a deer track, following it up again for hours 
and hours, finally creeps up to within 100 or 250 yards 
of the deer and kills it, and lastly by a short cut finds himself 
fifteen miles away from home or camp, with every likeli- 
hood of having to sleep in the forest all night. We ask, is 
not this sportsman by all the laws laid down, even by the 
most fastidious of men, entitled to his game? We an- 
swer, ‘‘the hard earned labor is worthy of the quarry.” 
These objections to still hunting or stalking deer remind 
one of the common expression—‘‘ You silly goose.” If 
the goose is silly, (we are speaking of the wild goose) we 
should much like to see the animal, bird of fish that has 
half the perceptive facultites in case of danger that the 
goose has, or the sportsman that can get nearer to a flock of 
-wild geese than two hundred yards, without seeing the 
gander stretch his neck and look round. It would be just 
as possible to kill by firing in the air, as attempting to 
shoot at the geese after the alarm has been given by the 
gander. To stalk the deer and creep on wild geese is the 
most arduous and unrequited labor that the much abused 
sportsman has to encounter. 
se 
. FRENCH SPORTING MATTERS. 
—_—_>—— 
NCONGRUOUS, vexed, and disturbing are the French 
game laws. If the preservation of game is one thing in 
France, exactly to whom a bird does belong when it is shot 
is quite a mooted point. You may shoot a hare running 
through a furrow, and he may take his death tumble in a 
neighbor’s field, but beware about bagging him, for you lay 
yourself open to untold litigation. Now should you be the 
owner of the particular clos where the hare has fallen— 
should you pick it, up you may be hauled up yourself be- 
fore some little maire de village for obtaining game you had 
no right to. What is called déllt de chasse, or contraven- 
tions of the hunting laws, are apparently so complicated 
that no amount of good judgment can ever get the hunter 
out of all kinds of scrapes. You may not be at fault your- 
self, but your dogs may be. If the Frenchman of the larger 
cities is not litigious the peasant is, and so the disputes and 
the quarrels are incessant. 
To procure a gun license in France is quite an arduous 
task, and you are passed from bureau to bureau before the 
right to carry arms is granted you. M. Thiers raised the 
price of the permit de chasse to forty-five francs, almost twice 
what it was before the Prussian war, but popular clamor 
and a diminution in the revenue forced the government to 
bring it back to old figures. 
In some respects the French are a peculiar people. They 
seem to derive more true gratification and excitement in the 
preparation for anything than in the accomplishment of it. 
Le chant du départ is typical of a great many phases of 
French Jife. It is the getting ready which delights this 
chivalrous people, whether it be for war, love or the chase. 
Long before the hunting season commences the Parisian 

ready-made tailoring establishments exhibit dummies, gun 
in hand, with stuffed dogs at their sides—all more natural 
than life—the lay figures being clothed in the most delirious 
sporting costumes. Such peculiarity of stuffs, such com- 
plexity of pockets, such affluence of buttons, show the in- 
spiration of the cutter. They are charming bits of cos- 
tume, colored with a happy Renaissance feeling, and recall 
the dress of hunting lovers in the Opera Comique, who 
come to the footlights and sing ‘“‘the delights of the chase” 
in the purest tenor voices. Something that must strike a 
person familiar with the ins and outs of Paris is the quan- 
tity of hunting horns, such as are used in stag hunting, 
which are exposed on all sides for sale. One would think 
that it was the natural propensity of all Frenchmen, and 
especially of students in the Quarter Latin, to follow the 
stag as a daily amusement. The shops of the drocanteurs, 
or second-hand dealers, abound with these horns, and you 
can see them of all sorts and ages, from fresh ones to those 
in the most battered condition, festooning the walls, flanked 
by an aimost equal number of couteaus de chasse, those short 
swords used to despatch the deer or wild boar. Innumer- 
able Frenchmen, who never saw a branching antler, save as 
a hat rack, can sound the ‘‘view,” the ‘‘call,” and the 
“death” of the stag with all the joyous intonations and re- 
verberations, just as did Jacques de Fouilloux three centu- 
ries and more ago, only instead of coming soft and mellow 
from a wooded forest, the sounds will echo from some gar- 
ret in a sixth story looking on a narrow street. Jt seems to 
us that this use of the cor de chasse must be one of the hunt- 
ing traditions of the people. If a little inclined to be some 
what amused at the peculiarities of this remarkable people, 
as far as hunting goes, as marksmen they are exceedingly 
good ones. We have seen many examples of their prow- 
éss, nor are they wanting in endurance, and though dattues 
near Paris sometimes partake of the character of an indis- 
criminate slaughter, when you get into the Vosge and the 
Ardennes there is splendid sport and a race of sportsmen 
worthy of all respect. 
In regard to their weapons, almost all sportsmen of other 
countries are inclined through utter ignorance to decry 
French fowling pieces. Mr. Greener, in his *book of mod- 
ern breech-loaders, states ‘“To M. Lefaucheux is due the 
honor of inventing the modern breech-loading gun.” In 
fact, Frenchmen had been using breech-loaders for fully 
twenty years before English sportsmen could be made to 
look at them. The writer remembers to have shot with a 
Lefaucheux in France as far back as 1849, and to have 
found it a most serviceable weapon. All breech loaders, 
no matter how peculiar their mechanism, may be regarded 
as only variations of this first Lefaucheux gun. Paper and 
metal cartridges, adapted to these guns, are also of French 
origin. It is therefore quite a mistake to deprecate French 
arms. As to material they are excellent; as to finish they 
are superb—no work of art could be more perfect. There 
may be some slight redundency of ornament, some devia- 
tion as to form of stock from our own conventional shapes, 
but they are as good guns as they are handsome, and, as to 
price, much more reasonable than English arms. Their 
best gun makers are peculiarly skillful in making neat ad- 
justments, such as having in a single case one stock, with a 
series of interchanging barrels of different calibres, some 
rifled, all of which fit into the stock with the most wonder- 
ful accuracy. Of good sportsmen in New York, some of 
the best are Frenchmen, and in San Francisco, where they 
have a colony rather more distinct than in our larger cities, 
some of the keenest huntsmen are Frenchmen. 
Oo 
DEATH OF SIR EDWIN LANDSEER. 

E have to record the death of Sir Edwin Landseer, 
perhaps the best known of animal painters. Born 
in 1803, his father being Jobn Landseer, an associate en- 
graver to the Royal Academy, an artistic tendency seems to 
have been the prevalent trait of the family, as both Sir 
Edwin Landseer’s brothers, one as an engraver the other as 
a painter, have held creditable positions in English art. 
Landseer’s works are excedingly well known in the United 
States, engravings of his most popular paintings gracing 
many of our walls. Perhaps the best appreciated of his 
works with us, are the two pictures ‘‘ High and Low Lif .” 
His studies were principally horses, stags and deer, and 
sheep, and though he painted horses, delineations of this” 
animal, executed by him in later years are comparatively 
rare. His truthfulness, accuracy of drawing, and faith- 
fulness as to detail were worthy of praise. To critical 
eyes accustomed to the somewhat warmer tones of the 
German and French schools, Landseer’s color, especially in 
the last ten years, was apparently cold, and slightly thin 
in character, though the drawing was always strong and 
nervy. The fault found in his human figures, we think was 
often unjust, as may be proved by some of his Highland 
pictures of stalking game, where the characters are all 
admirably worked up, and quite on a par with the rest of 
his pictures. Nothing can be finer, more startling in effect, 
than certain of his deer pictures, as ‘‘the Combat” and 
‘* Victor of the Glen.” One picture especially of his, ‘‘ The 
Challenge”—and another, where a stag, on the brink of the 
sea, looks far out across the water, an Aurora Borealis ting- 
_ing the sky, and throwing the animal deep in the shade— 
are masterpieces. Comparisons between Rosa Bonheur and 
Landseer are invidious; though both of them are admi- 
rable painters of the first merit, their style and method of 
treatment were as far apart as the poles. Rosa Bonheur’s 
scope is perhaps more vast than that possessed by Land- 
seer, but her knowledge of art no greater than that which 
made Landseer so illustrious. We think there are but three 

works of Landseer’s in the United States. Landseer dead, 
England loses her most distinguished artist—one whose 
popul arity was only equalled by David Wilkie. 
—> oe = 
A GOAT PARADISE. 


Be aR 
.APPY California! Land of the grape and olive, of 
wheat and barley, of gold and quicksilver, of fast 
horses, and last, but not least, of the Angora Goat. Coun- 
try of vast ideas where, taking example from its colossal 
trees, its lofty Sierras, and its dizzy waterfalls, her people 
imitate nature by prospecting and carrying out gigantic en- 
terprises. 
There is an island in that warm, quiet Pacific Ocean, ly- 
ing somewhere off Lower California,unknown to fame, but 
called Guadaloupe. Its inhabitants, so far, have been sparse, 
nothing more than a few sorry goats of the most vulgar 
breeds. In fact, there are quite a number of striking re- 
semblances between Gaudaloupe and the romantic Isle of 
Monte Christo discovered by Alexander Dumas. Now, the 
Angora Goat is known to make itself quite as much at home 
in California asin Asia Minor. From this Goat is grown 
that rich, lustrous, pliant fleece from which the most val- 
uable fabrics are made. Destroy the Angora Goat, and 
beautiful women, the Queens of fashion, could no longer 
drape their elegant forms in the folds of the Cashmere 
shawl. Multiply the Angora Goat, reduce the price of the 
raw material, and Cashmere shawls at moderate figures will 
be at the command of the female worldin general. A com- 
pany propose purchasing Guadaloupe, killing off the com- 
mon Goat and restocking the isle with the pure Angora. In 
fact, always bearing in mind Monte Christo, the gold, dia- 
monds and precious stones of the Italian Cardinal hidden 
there, are to be simply insignificant as to value, when com- 
pared (according to the prospectus) with the unknown 
treasures the Angora Goat will produce. Following the 
well-known rule of arithmetical progression employed by 
those who have sought for fortunes in rabbit breeding, the 
directors count that in ten years, commenciug with 100 
bucks, they would in the decade have in Goats and fleece, 
a capital representing the neat amount of $2,270,990. 40. 
(The modesty of the forty cents we trust will be appre- 
ciated. ) 
That the Angora Goat can be profitably raised in Califor- 
nia, admits of no doubt, but the specious character of 
this Guadaloupe enterprise, as deduced from the ingeni- 
ously worded programme we have before us, precludes 
us from entertaining any other idea about it, but that it is 
a delirious romance of Goat raising. 
<0 
SIETUE enV Vile lel) aris OEE Ler ye 

a ae 
IME was. when this ‘‘most delicious, as it is the 
largest and noblest, of all gallinaceous game, 
might have been taken in almost any State east of the 
Rocky Mountains; but now, the would-be Wild Turkey hun- 
ter must seek his gamein the southern and western portions 
of our Union. In the Southern States, especially Florida, any 
one, even the veriest pot-hunter, may secure his bird provided 
he has money enough. The sudden appearance of a flock 
of Wild Turkeys upon the banks of the St. Johns, as the 
steamer founds some wooded point, is not of uncommon 
occurrence. 
Their relative abundance in any particular locality de- 
pends upon the supply of their favorite mast-nuts, acorns, 
etc., and the seed of the palmetto, wherever found. Their 
presence is indicated to the experienced hunter by their 
‘“ scratching places,” and he can tell by the freshness of 
them, and the character of the surrounding forest, where 
to look forthem. In October, the males have ina great 
measure recovered their strength and plumpness, the fe- 
males their good condition, and the young are able to take 
care of themselves, and, withal, are tender and juicy. 
Then according to Audubon, the males and females hunt in 
separate parties. At this time the gobblers may be en- 
ticed within shot by the hunter lying concealed and imita- 
ting the clucking sound of the hen. Of the various methods 
employed, probably this is the most successful, though 
even this may be better used in spring., Old hunters are 
adepts in the art of calling, and their peculiar inimitable 
call is something the gobbler is hardly proof against, pro- 
vided the hunter lies close. Sometimes, however, he will 
answer the call without putting in an appearance, thus de- 
priving the worthy hunter of his meal. The best call, by 
the way, is made from the wing-bone of the turkey itself; 
though -tolerably good ones may be obtained from deal- 
ers in sporting goods. , 
The old st yle of trapping the bird in pens, is, of course, 
out of the question, except to residents in a good turkey 
country. 
Shooting by moonlight, also, is only to be indulged in 
by the occupants of turkey-haunted sections; though those 
favored beings whose lives are cast in such places, may de- 
populate an entire neighborhood in a short time. 
Probably the most sportsman-like method of procedure 
would be to hunt with dogs, though, even then, the sport 
savors of pot-hunting, as itis rarely a wing shot can be 
procured, for the turkey soon takes to tree, and must be 
sought out, like the ruffed grouse when in similar position. 
Like the grouse, too, it remains perfectly immovable, and 
is overlooked. ; 
It isin early spring, and early in the morning, when the 
gobblers are saluting each other from the different tree-tops, 
that a good hunter may expect sport. Then his success 
depends upon his skill in threading the tangled thicket 
without noise, and in nearing the wary bird unperceived. 
of he wishes to bring that bird to bay, he must move with 
