UPLAND SHOOTING. 135 



in those of the States in which only game is generally protected 

 by statute ; not as I think it should be. For it is my settled opi- 

 nion that Spring Snipe shooting and Summer Cock shooting are 

 both abominations ; and that both humanity and policy forbid the 

 slaughter of these birds of passage, until they have finished rear- 

 ing their young, and until those young have attained their full 

 growth. On this topic I shall enlarge hereafter, under the head 

 of " Game Preserv^ation ;" though I have but slight hopes that 

 any steps will be taken, which can avail to preserve all the 

 winged game of America from speedy extermination. In like 

 manner, I shall defer the observations, which I propose to make 

 on the species, management, diseases, etc., of Sporting Dogs, and 

 and on the qualities and management of the Fowlingpiece, and 

 the art of shooting on the Wing, until I have got through what I 

 have to say on Upland shooting generally. 



And here I will remark, once for all, in re[)ly to a question 

 which has already been propounded to me several times, since it 

 has transpired that I am engaged on this work — " Whether any 

 portion of it will be set apart especially for the instruction of 

 young sportsmen .?" — I am aware of nothing in the science 

 of woodcraft more appropriate to be learned by the beginner, 

 than another. There is no patent by which skill may be ac- 

 quired, no formula to be learned, after which all is plain and 

 easy sailing. So soon as any person has acquired the power 

 of bringing up his gun correctly on an object, and firing it at 

 once without dwelling on his aim, he is fit to take the field ; 

 and after this, all the difference between the old and young, the 

 good and bad, sportsman, natural qualifications which cannot be 

 acquired alone excepted, is the amount of practice, and the extent 

 of observation. He who most thoroughly understands the natural 

 history, the instincts and the habits, both of the animals which he 

 pursues and the animals which he uses as assistants in pursuit, 

 will necessarily be the best sportsman ; and all that the best sport- 

 ing writer can accomplish is to give a small number of facts on 

 which to work ; and so to throw out many suggestions, which 

 shall lead the sportsman into the habit of thinking for himself, 



