282 
FOREST AND STREAM. | 
The wombat and kangaroo houses were of interest. In 
the latter, the pranks of its inmates amused us exceed- 
ingly. A whole family was assembled in one of the parti- 
tions, and were raised in the Garden; this feature of the 
reproduction of the animals in the gardens having the 
greatest attention paid to it, and in most instances with the 
most flattering success. Part of the “‘fowl-house” was ten- 
anted with several hundred inmates; for this Hamburg 
Fowl House comprises both domesticated and wild birds. 
We halted a moment on our way at the ‘‘beaver house.” 
Here two of the inmates had begun to build their dam as in 
nature—great attention having been given to an exact re- 
production of their natural elements, water and seclusion. 
United with the fowl house is the ‘‘monkey house,” where 
the apes of the Old and New World are plentifully as- 
sembled. Then we passed to the camel and elephant houses 
and the ‘‘ Terrarium” where tortoises, lizards, snakes, 
among which the only poisonous continental snake, the 
Pelias Berus—frogs and salamanders, in hideous assembly do 
congregate. A special plot is given to the agoutis, porcu- 
pines, viscachas, marmots, bobacs, and the like. Suddenly 
a bend in the road brings us-to a truly sylvan scene, the 
lake for the water birds—one of the most attractive features 
of the Garden. Here we find the whole family of ducks, 
geese, swans, and pelicans in seemingly innumerable con- 
gregation. Here the children and the nurses, young and 
old, assemble. From the German opera, the ‘‘Freischititz,” 
the name ‘‘ Wolves’ Den,” has been given to a rocky and 
wild portion of the Garden built of rock; and here we find 
fine specimens of the wolf and the lycaon pictus, ever walk- 
ing to and fro in silent discontent. Past the sheep stable 
we come to the ‘‘ gallery for smaller beasts of prey,” such 
as the civet cats, the jackass, crab wolf, foxes, and corsacs. 
That noble beast, the wild boar, is the most notable speci- 
men in the “‘pig sty.” A beautiful feature of the Garden 
is the ‘‘owl’s castle,” an artificial ruin in which the night 
birds of prey are kept; and which is built upon an artificial 
eminence some one hundred feet in height, with a fine 
tower, having a special staircase, from whose top is a most 
enchanting view of the whole Garden—the rich and popu- 
lous city with its many spires in a long semi-circle closing 
the view. One of the most interesting galleries is the 
‘‘gallery for beasts of prey,” immediately below the 
castle, in which that terrible family of cats, beginniug with 
the lion, is well represented. The Hamburg lion isa native 
of Western Africa, one of the finest animals now existingin 
any collection; his mate is no less distinguished; the three 
cubs born shortly before our visit, all males, were being 
tended with great care by their mother. Tue pair of tigers 
is one of the most celebrated features of the collection. In 
this principal gallery there is a fine puma, a jaguar, a leop- 
ard, andapanther. The ‘ostrich house” is well provided; 
and in the ‘“‘ bear’s den” we found an wrsas arctus, tibetanas, 
and an exceedingly fine Polar bear. Next we visited a 
house for flamingos, ibis, curlews, ruffs, plovers, and rails; 
also special preserves for the cranes—among which was a 
grus antigone and storks. There is a house for the tapirs, 
one for the buffalos, and the otter basin. A very large 
house with extended plat in front, is built for the giraffes, 
gnus, antelopes, elands, gazelles, kevels, and springbocks; a 
special hut is for the yak and zebu. Another lake gives 
free play ground to the seal; near it are housed the lamas, 
the asses, the mouflons; a voléére for all sorts of parrots is 
not wanting. Another artificial mount with a Swiss chalet 
brings us to the ‘‘Chamois Mount,” with very fine speci- 
men of chamois, ibex and angoras, with several other res- 
ervations containing lesser animals. Forty or more differ- 
ent buildings have been required for the five hundred or 
more inmates of this Garden. 
While we were thus visiting the Garden, the writer tak- 
ing a few notes, a merry throng moved to and fro through 
the Garden, where everything which can interest and charm 
both mind and eyes is so happily united. Our survey end- 
ed, we emerged from the shrubberies and intricate walks of 
the large Park to an open place fronted by a very large and 
elegant restaurant, where a band of exceiient musicians 
were playing to an assemblage of thousands of Hamburg 
ladies and gentlemen. The most exemplary order and de- 
corum were universally preserved. ES: 
—_— oo 
Warp-Burton’s MaAGaAzinE Rirte.—We received a 
visit from Mr. Bethel Burton, the inventor of the Ward- 
Burton Rifle. The rifle shown us was a magazine gun 
on the bolt system, shooting eighty grains of powder, 
a perfect beauty, but differs materiallyfrom those of 
other inventors on the same system. The special mark 
of merit, which is claimed by the inventor, is its sim- 
plicity. The rifle is light, strong, serviceable, easily 
handled, fires with rapidity, and with slight recoil. To 
give a mechanical description of a rifle in a newspaper 
article, would be almost impossible; the rifle must be seen, 
handled and used before a decided opinion can be passed 
upon it. If Mr. Burton will make all his sporting rifles 
precisely equal in every respect to the one shown us, we 
predict it will be especially accepts ble to sportsmen. Its 
shooting qualities cannot be gainsayed, as at Creedmoor in 
shooting for a prize, five rounds off hand at 200 yards, it 
made two bull’s eyes, two centres and one outer, and in 
private practice, has made many bull’s eyes in succession, 
at 200 yards. The gun has been tested in Europe, and 
passed through the trying ordeal of the Board of Ordnance 
Officers of tne United States with the greatest merit as a 
most efficient arm. The St. Louis Army Board say “the 
arm is serviceable and cheap, the breech action simple and 
easily understood; the gun has a low trajeetory and slight 
recoil; any cartridge can be used if of the same calibre as 
the rifle; the stock is in one piece, is capable of rapid firing 
without having but seldom to be cleaned. The gun invent- 
ed by Bethel Burton, with its details, satisfies all the re- 
quirements of a military arm. Besides, it is impossible to 
blow out the movable breech, which is suited to any calibre. 
The piece weighs but eight pounds and its penetration is 
great.” Mr. Burton will make any kind of rifle required, 
any size, bore or weight; the magazine can be shortened to 
carry any number of cartridges from two to eight. 
We propose publishing very shortly a very thorough and 
exhaustive series of articles on the breech-loading rifles 
manufactured and in use in the United States. These 
articles will be furnished to us by the makers themselves, 
and will be illustrated with numerous cuts. We will thus 
supply a want, and the subject so treated will undoubtedly 
be of great interest to our numerous readers at home and 
abroad. 
Sporting Alews from Abroad. 

ih our last review of English sports, we may have spoken 
somewhat unreservedly in regard to Her Majesty’s stag- 
hounds, and the peculiar character of this chase. The last 
recorded run by those hounds was, according to our ideas, 
even less worthy of being called sport than the first one. 
This time the stag appears to have been let loose from his 
box in the midst of a mob, his head pointed in the direction 
the huntsmen wanted him to go, and then a rush was made 
for him, and he was finally forced to run, by having missiles 
thrown athim. ‘‘Near the top of a hill some ruffian, (a 
correspondent of the Field is our authority), set a greyhound 
on the stag and drove him into a thick hedge, when another 
ruffian belabored him with a thick stick.” Finally the stag 
took to an out-house, and very wisely stayed there, and so 
the hunt ceased. We affirm that this is not sport. The 
fact of boxing up any animal, and letting him go again, to 
be chased by men, horses and dogs, must ever remain an 
anomalous thing in sport, even though that animal be a 
tiger. To seek the fox in his covert, to beat the gorse to 
track-him in his lair, calls upon both men and dogs to dis- 
play in every way their hunting instincts, but to select a 
stag from a park, where he has been pampered, and let Jim 
loose, to be followed to the death in the woods or ina lady’s 
greenhouse, is an absurdity, no matter whether the start be 
at Salt Hill or at Fontainbleau. Men may ride fifty miles 
after the stag, may break their own necks, or kill their 
horses, when in pursuit of a boxed up stag, but, as a sport, 
it is ridiculous, and here in the United States, most people 
think with us, and in England, conservative as they may 
be, every year we hear of good sport8Smen who decry the 
Royal Stag-hunt. 
—There is an article in one of ourEnglish contemporaries, 
in regard to hunting tigers, which if true, is quite curious. 
A tiger hunter in India begs that ‘‘members of the Civil 
Service be forbidden from killing tigers,” for this reason, 
that the Civil Service men monopolise all the tigers in their 
district, and will not allow any other people but Civil 
officers to shoot them, and that they thus actually preserve 
tigers for the sole purpose of killing them themselves, and 
that in this way the tigers, which could be killed by any 
one and soon be exterminated, were positively allowed to 
increase for the amusement of a priviliged class. It is hard 
to find out the truth of a charge of this character, for 
grumbling is an inherent English taste. 
—Henry IV., of France, who was a gallant hunter, took 
once into his-service the chevalier d’Andrezzi with his pack 
of dogs, and made him his Grand Wolf hunter or Lowvetier. 
That wolves are still found in France is well kuown, In 
the Chasse Illustrée of the 22d of last month, we find the fol- 
lowing :—“ Brittany is a privileged ground for wolves. In 
this department of France, notwithstanding the attention 
paid to wolves by Messieurs the Lieutenants of the wolf- 
exterminators, these animals live, thrive and prosper, and 
bring up a numerous progeny doubtless with much prcfit 
and pleasure to themselves, but certainly to the disadvan. 
tage of the neighboring farmers, who are forced to furnish 
the wolves with their daily repasts. But the time occasion- 
ally does come when the farmers get tired of paying for the 
keep of these hungry rascals. Complaints of depredations 
pour into the Prefect, who transmits his orders to the wolf 
killers and to the agents forrestiers, Battues are arranged, 
which generally conclude rather disadvantageously for the 
wolves. The neighborhood of Chfateaulin is particularly 
infested by wolves, and the peasants, aware of the losses 
they suffer, wage constant war with them. Besides pre- 
serving their sheep when anybody kills a wolf, he receives 
quite a neat amount of money for their destruction, the 
Conscil General of Finistére having decided to augment 
quite largely the reward for wolf killing. Among the most 
conspicuous wolf slayers is Michael Cornec of Kerjean, 
who recently killed five wolves, two of them last week. 
The Marquis de Kerné, an indefatigable hunter, with Lord 
Douglas du Plessis, wage inces:ant warfare with these 
beasts. Nevertheless, they are so abundant, that it seems 
impossible to exterminate the wolves. We trust that more 
efficacious measures will be adopted in order to encompass 
the entire destruction of these animals.” 
—One morning, says the Field, a woodcock alighted at 
the feet of a cabman on the stand facing the Eyre Arms, 
St. John’s-wood, London. The man threw his hat over it 
and caught it, and afterwards sold it to a poulterer in 
Circus-road. It was a very fine bird, in good plumage and 
condition. 
—We notice in La Chasse Illustrée, that in the depart- 
ment of Somme (a portion of the old Picardy) a sportsman 
had killed two Ibis. These birds are rarely found out of 
Egypt, or at the mouth of the Danube. 
—There is every reascn to suppose that the British Gov- 
ernment will. send out this coming spring an Artic Expedi- 
tion. An exhaustive memorandum has already been 
drawn up and submitted to the Council of the Royal 
Society for their approval, each section of which has been 
prepared by the most distinguished authorities in England. 
To the Royal Society the Geographical Society have also 
given their aid in bringing the matter before the Govern- 
ment, and the Dundee Chamber of Commerce, from com- 
mercial reasons have added their influence. Mr. Gladstone 
and Mr. Goschen will be shorly interviewed, and the full 
importance of Artic research will be placed before them. 
It was Mr. Gladstone, who, when he was on the Select 
Committee of the House of Commons on the occasion of 
Sir John Ross’ proposed expedition to the North Pole, 
made use of these remarkable words, which are worth re- 
cording:—‘‘ A public service is rendered to a maritime 
country, especially in times of peace, by deeds of daring, 
enterprise, and patient endurance of hardship, which ex- 
cite the public sympathy and enlist the general feeling in 
favor of maritime adventure.” 
<< >____—_. 
Tue BaLrmore Oyster TRADE.—The panic and the 
depression in all business of late has had an effect on the Bal- 
timove oyster trade.’ There are fifty odd packing houses in 
Baltimore, employing a capital of $6,000,000, who ship an- 
nually fully twenty millions of gallons of oysters. At present 
the oyster business is so slack that none of the houses are 
working on fulltime. The largest house, Kennett & Co.; who 
at this time of the year usually employ fully 500 hands, have 
now hardly 100 people at work. In busy times no less than 
10,000 people open and pack oysters, but to-day 2,500 or 
3,000 is about the total count. It seems then that prosper- 
ity and the bi-valves go hand in hand in America, and not 
poverty and oysters, as Sam Weller once remarked. ; 
Shot Gun and Aifle. 
GAME IN SEASON FOR DECEMBER. 



Moose, Alces Malchis.) Caribou, Tarandus Rangifer.) 
Elk or Wapiti, Cervus Canadensis.) Red Deer, Caricus Virginianus.) 
Rabbits. common Brown and Grey.) Squirrels, Red Black and Gray.) 
Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo.) Quail, Ortyx Virginianus.) ‘ 
Ruffed Grouse, Bonasa umbellus,y Pinnated Grouse, Cupidoria Cupido.) 
All kinds of Wild Fowl. 
pest wins 
| Under the head of ‘Game, and Fisn in Season’’ we can only specety mm 
general terms the several varieties, because the laws of States vary so much 
that were we to attempt to particularize we could do no less than publish 
those entire sections that relate to the kinds of yame in question. This 
would require a great amount of our space. In designating game we are 
guided by the laws of nature, upon which all legislation is founded, and 
our readers would do well io provide themselves with the laws of their re- 
spective States for constant reference. Uiherwise, our attempts to assist them 
will only ereate confusion. | : 
pela Pa, 
—Six black foxes have been caught in Cumberland Co., 
Nova Scotia, this fall. These animals are very rare and 
their skins sell at fabulous prices. 
—QOld Phin: Teeple, of Preston, Wayne county, Pa., is 
seventy years old, though remarkably vigorous and looks 
hardly fifty. Since eleven years of age he has killed 2,985 
deer and 438 bears. His favorite hunting ground isin Potter 
county. 
—Many gentlemen complain of the unserviceableness of 
their decoys. If oneis handy with tools he can make those 
that will give him much better satisfaction than the ones 
he buys at the stores; but if he can’t tell an adze from a 
jacknife he had better not try it, and by abstaining save his 
ineers. Here are some directions that may assist the stool- 
carpenter: Select a clear stick of timber of cedar or pine, 
(cedar is the best) about five by seven inches. Cut it in 
pieces twelve inches long; make a pattern of pasteboard 
the shape of a duck, viewing it from above. Mark out the 
pieces of wood by the pattern, and rough them out with a 
hatchet. Make another pattern of the side view of a duck’s 
head and neck when shortened or drawn in, and mark out 
some heads ona piece of inch and a half board, so the 
eraih of the wood will come lengthwise of the duck’s bill. 
Ifasaw mill is near have them sawed out, but if that can- 
not be done, saw them out by hand with a keyhole saw. 
Cut a square place in the body of the decoy about three 
quarter’s of an inch deep to receive the base of the neck. 
Fit a neck to each body, and bore a hole lengthwise 
through the head and neck into the body; make the joint 
of the neck with glue, and fasten the heads on the decoys 
by driving a pointed tight fitting piece of wire through the 
hole already made: By putting the heads on in this man- 
ner they are uot liable to be easily knocked off. When the 
heads have been fastened, shave them in form with a draw 
knife, rasp them off smooth, put the finishing touch on the 
heads and crook of the.necks with a jack-knife, and sand- 
paper them thoroughly. Buy some white lead, boiled oil, 
and dry colors, and paint them as near as possible like the 
ducks that are to be hunted. Old cedar rails are good ma- 
terial for the bodies of decoys. They may be made to look 
more natural by putting glass eyes in the head, set in holes 
in plaster. The plaster should be mixed in clean water. _ 
When used anchor them from a small staple driven into 
the fore part of the body, so the ducks will always head to 
windward, as live ones are in the habit of doing. 
—We shall print in our next issue an exhaustive article 
on the grouse and quail of North America, from the pen of 
Prof. Robert Ridgeway, of the Smithsonian Institution. 
This paper will be especially valued by those whom local 
names and questions of variety have puzzled from time im- 
memorial. Now, with the species fully determined, the 
nomenclature once fixed ought to be universally adopted 
throughout America, so that we may know when a par- 
tridge is not a quail, and a pheasant not a partridge. 

