CONTENTS. 



Intuoductiox, Page xv. — Various brandies of the sport hitherto uuexplained — ■ 

 Colonel Hawker's treatise on guns and shooting — Abundance of wild-fowl in 

 foreign countries — The sport but little understood — Wild-fowling, its importance 

 to emigrants — Success in the art easUy acquired — Tantalizing feeling on be- 

 holding thousands of birds and not knowing how to capture them — The true 

 principles upon which thousands of wild-fowl may be captured — Secrets of the 

 Hight-pond hitherto in total obseuritj' — Bibliothecal researches — Old-fashioned 

 winters — Favou^red localities— Improvements since Colonel Hawker's time — 

 Yvilgar Errors respecting wild-fowl. 



CiiAr. I., Page 1. — FOWLING. — Saxon Diiiloguc upon— Habits of wild-fowl; 

 their subtlety and discipline — Wild-fowl the most attractive, varied, and nume- 

 rous of the feathered creation ; as a dietary article — Ancient aiid modern con- 

 trivances for capturing — Errors of modern sportsmen — Ancient and modern 

 terms applicable to the art of wild-fowling. 



Chap. II., Page 7.— ANCIENT METHODS OF CAPTURING WILD-FOWL. 

 — Greek fowlers — The argumentum — Panthei-a — Curbaculum — Feathered 

 jerkins — Hair-nooses and springes of the Anglo-Saxons — Archerj- — Falconry 

 as formerly practised in the fens — Method of netting wild-fowl ; invention of 

 guns — Singular artifices for capturing wild-ducks and cranes — Flue nets. 



Chap. III., Page 17.— ANCIENT FOWLING fcontinuedj .—Mode of captioring 

 wild-fowl with lime-strings and lime-twigs — Poisonous drugs formerly used for 

 fowling — Destructive system of fowling during the moulting season ; extra- 

 ordinary numbers taken — Legislative interference. 



Chap. IV., Page 25.— EGYPTIAN FOWLING.— Ancient Egyptians ; their de- 

 light in field-sports ; their skill -^xitli bow and arrow ; the " throw-stick ;" dex- 

 terous performances — Aunt Sally — A feline retriever — Egyptian fowling boats, 

 nets and tra]:is. 



Chap. V., Page 30.— THE HISTORY OF DECOYS ; earliest traces of; interest- 

 ing details ; formerly considered the most attractive spoilt in the world — Dutch 

 decoys ; earUest traces of the invention — " Coy-ducks" — Rustic style of ancient 

 decoys — Fowlers of the Netherlands — Erroneous impressions of writers upon 

 the subject. 



Chap, VI., Page 37,— HISTORY OF DECOYS (conUnued) ; extensively em- 

 ployed both at home and abroad — Lincolnshire decoys — Drainage of fens in- 

 jurious to decoys — Immense numbers of wild-fowl formerly captured in Lin- 

 colnshu-e fens and Norfolk broads — Decoy a valuable appurtenant to an estate 

 — Golden days of decoy ; large profits — Modern decoys — Peculiar pleasures 

 attached to decoys. 



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