INTKODUOTION. 



■ ForiuVl ou the Sainiau scliool, ov those of Iiul, 

 There are who think these pastimes scarce humane ; 

 Yet, iu my mind (and not relentless I), 

 His life is f)ure that weai's no fouler stain." 



Akmstko.ng. 



Among the various counti-y s])orts and recreations of the English 

 gentleman, there is one which, singailarly, has liitherto remained in a 

 state of neg-lected and unexplained obscurity, so far as reg-arded in 

 a literary point of view ; whilst every other sport — from fox-hunting- 

 down to hoxing- — has formed the subject of a separate treatise, 

 wherein is practically and theoretically explained and illustrated the 

 particular recreation of Avhich it treats. 



A volume upon wild-fowling, with its instructive and pleasing" 

 varieties, justly demands a place in our libraries, by the side of works 

 devoted exclusively to other sporting pursuits, neither more nor less 

 exciting and amusing'. 



Colonel Hawker's ^' Instructions to Young Sportsmen," first pub- 

 lished in the year 1824, is almost the only one which treats of the 

 subject: and that work is well known among practical wild-fowl- 

 shooters as one which cannot be relied on ; but, on the contrary, 

 many of that author's views have proved erroneous, and some of his 

 inventions impracticable. 



c 



