INTRODUCTION. Xi 



there is scarcely a bush animal, save the half- wild pig, 

 and no game-birds except ducks and pigeons, Australia 

 offers less attractions to the Gordon-Gumming school of 

 sportsmen than any foreign country; and to all who 

 have read his diary of African slaughter, or Capt. 

 M. Eeid's Hunter's Feast, where American forest 

 life is so graphically portrayed, I fear the perusal 

 of the following pages will appear dull and devoid of 

 interest. 



I can tell of no hair-breadth escapes, no moving inci- 

 dents by flood or field ; and, in regard to adventure, it 

 has been my lot, during the whole of my sporting career, 

 to fall in with fewer than is the usual luck of travellers. 

 But this is not my fault, and the man who writes for the 

 amusement or instruction of his brother sportsmen, can 

 do no more than give a true account of the sporting life 

 of that country in which he chances to be thrown. Vic- 

 toria, at the present day, occupies no mean position 

 among the British colonies, and doubtless there are 

 many sportsmen at home who will like to know what are 

 the chief pursuits of the field out here, for scarcely a 

 family in England now but has some member or friend 

 knocking about in Australia. These are the men for 

 whose amusement this little treatise is particularly 

 written, and, however imperfect it may be, it has at 

 least the truth to recommend it. I must, therefore, beg 

 of them to take it for what it is worth. 



There is no large game out here to tempt a man to 

 wander so far for the sake of the chase alone, let hi 



