90 THE RIFLE AS A SPORTING WEAPON. 



the feathered tribes collectively as " Wildfowl " for 

 reasons which will appear in due course and we trust 

 that the reader will kindly forgive this departure from 

 the usual practice. 



The use of the rifle as a sporting weapon, from 

 our point of view, is an accomplishment whose value 

 extends far beyond what is generally regarded as its 

 employment as a mere accessory to making a bag of 

 game. While we have no hesitation in asserting that 

 the skilful hunter forms the raw material for the most 

 formidable soldier in the world, space, and the fear of 

 extending these volumes too greatly, induces us to 

 remain silent upon these considerations in the pages of 

 our present work. We shall therefore confine our 

 observations to the rifle as a sporting weapon only; 

 and while endeavouring to explain so far as that may 

 be possible in words, what appear to us to be the 

 leading secrets of the hunter's art, we shall at the same 

 time describe the principal characteristics and habits 

 of the forest animals, etc., because without making 

 himself acquainted with these matters the would-be 

 hunter after \vild game in a great wilderness country 

 would prove deficient in one of the most important 

 qualifications which fit a man to follow the art with 

 fair chances of success. 



So far as our humble experience extends, such 

 shooting as a man gets when invited to a shooting 

 party at home, where the sportsman is attended by pro- 

 fessional gamekeepers who know intimately every yard 

 of the ground, and every circumstance connected with 

 the sport to be had upon it, affords little useful help 

 as to the plan of campaign in a wild country. 



