PEEFACE 



MANY years have passed since the love of sport and natural 

 history influenced my early life; thank God, I cannot yet 

 exclaim, " The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," although 

 increasing years have weighted the activity which in youth 

 was the charm of a hunter's being. The only advantage which 

 years possess is the long experience of the past, as theories 

 which were uncertain have been proved by facts. 



When a title is worded " Wild beasts and their ways," it 

 may be inferred that the " wild beasts " are to be killed, and 

 that we must thoroughly understand their " ways " before we 

 can undertake the killing ; this will involve a practical study 

 of natural history in the most interesting form. 



It should be distinctly understood that a vast gulf separates 

 the true sportsman from the merciless gunner. The former 

 studies nature with keen enjoyment, and shoots his game with 

 judgment and forbearance upon the principles of fair-play, 

 sparing the lives of all females should the animals be harmless; 

 he never seeks the vain glory of a heavy game-list. The 

 gunner is the curse of the nineteenth century ; his one idea is 

 to use his gun, his love is slaughter, indiscriminate and bound- 

 less, to swell the long account which is his boast and pride. 

 Such a man may be expert as a gunner, but he is not a sports- 

 man, and he should be universally condemned. 



In the description of wild animals I shall confine myself to 



