Literature of American Big-Game Hunting 



There have been a few excellent books written 

 by Americans upon the wilderness life and the 

 wilderness game of this continent Elliott's "South 

 Carolina Field Sports" is a very interesting and 

 entirely trustworthy record of the sporting side of 

 existence on the old Southern plantations, and not 

 only commemorates how the planters hunted bear, 

 deer, fox, and wildcat in the cane-brakes, but also 

 gives a unique description of harpooning the devil- 

 fish in the warm Southern waters. General Marcy 

 wrote several volumes upon life on the plains be- 

 fore the civil war, and in them devoted one or 

 two chapters to different kinds of plains game. 

 The best book upon the plains country, however, is 

 Colonel Richard Irving Dodge's " Hunting Grounds 

 of the Great West," which deals with the chase of 

 most kinds of plains game proper. 



Judge Caton, in his " Antelope and Deer of 

 America," gave a full account of not only the 

 habits and appearance, but the methods of chase 

 and life histories of the prongbuck, and of all the 

 different kinds of deer found in the United States. 

 Dr. Allen, in his superb memoir on the bisons of 

 America, and Hornaday, in his book upon the 

 extermination of that species, have rendered similar 

 service for the vast herds of shaggy-maned wild 

 cattle which have vanished with such singular and 

 melancholy rapidity during the lifetime of the 

 present generation. Mr. Van Dyke's " Still-Hunter " 



323 



