276 USE OF THE DOG IN SHOOTING, 



than breathing quietly, and even scarcely winking, he will find 

 the wary and suspicious animal to dart away suddenly, or to steal 

 off unobserved within a few paces under cover of the smallest 

 possible shelter. Sometimes a spoken word, an ejaculation, or 

 a whistle will arrest the fugitive, and give time for an effective 

 shot, almost at point-blank range. With a number of guns in a 

 well furnished covert, and a few couple of beagles, lively sport 

 can be had. The ground best adapted for this sport, and where 

 plenty of game is to be found, is in ranges of scrub oaks, pine 

 barrens, and low bushy thickets, such as occur in many places on 

 Long Island, Southern New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, and the 

 " old fields " of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. 



DEER HUNTING. 



The finest of all American hunting consists, perhaps with- 

 out exception, in taking deer, either on the run followed by 

 hounds, by stalking or still hunting, or by hunting the game 

 with packs of well trained hounds regularly maintained and fol- 

 lowed by fleet high bred hunters, mounted by the keenest sports- 

 men. The first method is that which is mostly followed in the 

 West and Northern States. It is in this way that a welcome ad- 

 dition to the larder of the enterprising settler or backwoodsman is 

 procured, while his instinctive love of hunting is gratified. This kind 

 of sport is considered slow by those who have once enjoyed the 

 hunt^ar excellence in the open fields or free woods of the South, in 

 which horse and hound are pitted against each other in conflict 

 ^ith the game. But it is by no means to be despised, and the 

 hunter who is not able to join the mounted hunt with a regular 

 pack, may well feel satisfied when he bears to his camp the well- 

 earned game, secured after many miles of exciting tramp or patient 

 eager waiting. 



The American deer is found more or less abundantly wherever 

 there are large tracts of woodland, from the central and northern 

 part of New York and Maine, to Texas. The mountains of Centrai 



