FOWL SHOOTING. 127 



No stop, no drop of ocean hrine, near stool, nor blue light tory. 

 Our travelling watchword is, ' our mates, our goslings, and our glory /' 

 Symsonia and Labrador for us are crowned with flowers. 

 And not a breast on wave shall rest, until that heaven la ours. 



Hawnk ! hawnk ! E— e hawnk !" 



And here I was about to follow the above with a description of 

 my own, of battery shooting, as practised in the Long Island 

 ba) s, but especially in the neighborhood of the Fire-Islands ; 

 but in hunting up the spirited versicles quoted above, in an old 

 number of the Turf Register, I hit, by accident, on an extract 

 so strikingly correct and graphic, that I have not been able to 

 refrain from quoting it, although I cannot give the name of the 

 author, who has rejoiced to subscribe himself by the euphonious 

 title of a sockdolager. 



" Reader — gentle we will not term you, as the epithet is so 

 completely identified in our mind with the idea of a spruce 

 young gentleman, his locks redolent of Oil Maccassar, and his 

 digits invested in primrose-colored kid, that we will not insult 

 you by applying it — reader, then, have you, in your various 

 wanderings over this habitable globe, ever enjoyed one of the 

 most exciting of all amusements — a good day's wild-fowl shoot- 

 ing 1 If such has been your fortune, does not the sight of the 

 engraving at the commencement of the present number recall at 

 once to your recollection many an excellent day's sport 1 Can 

 you not fancy yourself once more at Jem Smith's, on Fire-Island, 

 lying in your boat, your finger on the trigger, and waiting with 

 a beating heart for the approaching flock to decrease the dis- 

 tance by a few yards mo.e, before you open into their close 

 column a raking fire from your heavy double-barrel, . We know 

 thh.t you can, and therefore shall leave you to fight your battles 

 o'er again, and plan future campaigns against the unsuspecting 

 Ducks, while we charitably proceed to enlighten the under- 

 standing of your less gifted fellow-student with a few remarks 

 on the science of wild-fowl shooting. 



'* The principal place for the enjoyment of this sport in the 

 neighborhood of New-York, is Long Island ; and from Montauk 

 to Jamaica, the southeni coast being deeply indented by bays 



