16 fkan:^ fouester s field sports. 



V ' 



very distinct and remarkable instances of this fact, which have 

 come under my own observation ; one with regard to the in- 

 crease and spread of Quail, the others of Woodcock, into loca- 

 lities where they were previously unknown. Some seventeen 

 years ago, I visited Niagara Falls for the first time, and travelled 

 westward so far as the upper waters of the Thames and 

 the Chenail Ecart^ in Canada West, shooting a little when oc- 

 casion offered, and making many enquiries concerning the va- 

 rieties of game, and the habits of those to be found in the prov- 

 ince. At that time, I enjoyed some extremely good Snipe 

 shooting, close to the village of Niagara, at the embouchure 

 of the river into Lake Ontario ; and, in fact, I saw more birds, 

 and those tamer, than in any other place where I have ever shot 

 them. I had no dog with me, and was completely ignorant of 

 the country ; but in such multitudes were the Snipe feeding in 

 every fallow-field and maize stubble — it was in the spring, 

 immediately on the breaking of the frost — that I made a very 

 large bag, in the course of a very few hours. At that period, 

 the Woodcock was just becoming known on the frontier ; and 

 a few birds were killed in the season ; they were, however, still 

 extremely rare, and had been known, comparatively speaking, 

 but a short time. Quail were utterly unknown, both in the 

 Province and on the American side of the river. I had not 

 journeyed many miles, ere I had outstripped the Woodcock ; 

 and I could gain no tidings of his existence beyond the Ouse, 

 or Grand River of the Mohawks. At this moment, probably, 

 the best Woodcock shooting on the continent is to be obtained 

 in the islands situate at the western end of Lake Erie, in the 

 Detroit River, and in Lake St. Clair. Quail are also becom.ing 

 exceedingly plentiful throughout that region. 



In the same manner, in the Eastern States, until within the 

 last six years, the Woodcock has been unknown on the Penob- 

 scot River, although abundant in the vicinity of Portland and 

 Casco Bay, and in the older settlements on the Kennebec. What 

 renders it more evident, in the latter case, that it is the absence 

 of civilization and not the severity of the climate, which 



