4 PREFACE. 



In the accuracy of the descriptions of the different 

 species of wildfowl every confidence is felt, for they have 

 passed under the eye of Mr. Robert Ridgway, the former 

 President of the American Ornithologists Union, whose 

 eminence in his chosen field of life work is so well 

 known. I owe him cordial thanks for his kindness in 

 this matter, as well as for various suggestio?is, looking 

 toward making more complete the technical portion of 

 the book. 



The book covers — as it should — a wide range of terri- 

 tory; for a volume on wildfowl shooting, if limited to 

 the experiences of a single individual, mould furnish 

 but an inadequate presentation of the subject for the 

 whole continent. In the endeavor to make the volume 

 justify its title, assistance has been asked from gun- 

 ners whose experience has been longer than mine, or has 

 extended over shooting grounds with which I am not 

 familiar. 



My friends, Messrs. Wm. Trotter and C. R. Pnrdy, 

 both duck shooters of lo7ig experience, have kindly aided 

 me on different points, and my acknowledgments are 

 due to them. 



The portraits of wildfozvl by Mr. Edwin Sheppard, 



