J.08. FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



less at twenty yards ! Him can no cur-dog flush in gun-shot 

 of pot-hunting poucher. 



No ! gentle reader, him, whether he hes in the tufted fern and 

 wintergreens, or the dry slope of some waiTn, westering hill- 

 side, among second-growth of brown oak and chestnut; whether 

 he wades among the shallow mud-pools, sheltered by fern, 

 dock-leaves, and dark colt's-foot, of some deep maple swamp, 

 it needs the stealthy pace, the slow, cat-like, guarded motion, the 

 instinctive knowledge of the ground, the perfect nose, and 

 absolute docility, which belong only to the thorough dog of the 

 thorough sportsman, to find certainly, and stand staunchly ! 

 Him, whether he flap up, seen for one second only, among the 

 leafless stems, and lost the next among the tufted tops of the 

 yet verdant alders ; whether he soar away, with his sharp 

 whistle, far, far above the red and yellow tree tops ; whether he 

 pitch now here, now there, sharply and suddenly, among the 

 close saplings, it needs the eye of faith, the finger of instinct, 

 the steady nerve, the deliberate celerity, the marking glance, 

 which characterise the sportsman — the crack shot, who — as 

 poor Cypress averred truly — is bom like the poet, not made 

 like the orator — to cut down at his speed ; not wing-tipped or 

 leg-broken, but riddled by the concentrated charge, turned 

 over and over in mid air, arrested mercifully by quick and 

 unerring death, and falling with a heavy thud, which tells good 

 things of ten ounces' weight, on the brown leaves of gorgeous 

 autumn. 



My words are weak to describe the full charm of this noble 

 pastime — noble, when followed as it should be, in the true ani- 

 mus and ardor of the chase — but most ignoble when perverted 

 to base, culinary, carnal, gluttonous, self-seeking pui-poses — 

 weak are they, when compared with the vivid and heart-thril- 

 ling reality — yet even thus, they will have done their duty if they 

 succeed in arousing the attention of the true fiiends of sports- 

 manship throughout the land, to this most interesting subject. 

 Certain it is that the Woodcock returns, whether old or young, to 

 the same place where he was bred and where he has reared his 



