X PREFACE. 



riant Nature, the strangeness of the facts, the ad- 

 mixture of the marvellous into the story, seem to 

 me likely to render my book interesting to the 

 reader, and the kindness with which the public has 

 already accepted some of the chapters in this volume 

 which have appeared in certain Magazines and 

 Journals leads me to hope that now that I have 

 collected them they will be received with equal 

 favour. I will quote a well-known saying, by way 

 of excusing (if that be necessary) the eccentricities 

 of my book : 



" Scrihitur ad narrandum, non ad •pro'bandum" 



which I take to mean, when freely translated, — 



"Sportsmen's stories are not Gospel truth," 



After this preamble, I address myself to my task. 



There is no country in the world where sport has 

 so many attractions as America, especially to us 

 Europeans who are compelled, before we can gratify 

 ourselves in this way at home, to obtain a licence 

 to carry arms, take out licences and undergo a 

 variety of other legal formalities, to avoid becoming 

 amenable to the police or the gamekeepers. In the 

 United States, the right to sport is free everywhere. 

 Provide yourself with a gun and ammunition, a 

 game-bag and a dog, and you may walk out north, 



