vi INTRODUCTION. 



say, let such a man hie him to the coast, with its myriads 

 of wary wild birds. There he will be greeted with the 

 scream of the Curlew, the call of the Duck, the clang 

 of the Wild-goose, the trumpet of the Swan, and the 

 mocking laugh of the Great Northern Diver. There his 

 utmost ingenuity will be taxed. Cunning must needs 

 meet cunning, watchfulness, watching ; or the bag will be 

 light. Then look at the surroundings, what a change ! 

 The tides, the sea, wind and weather, all affect him and 

 his sport ; all will interest him as they cheer or mar his 

 hopes of success. What a scene is this compared to the 

 never-varying turnip-field, the leafless, dripping wood ! 

 Should a hare or partridge there run or rise within thirty 

 paces, it is probably killed ; if at forty, it perhaps escapes ; 

 if shot, it is pitched into a bag, " you may depend on't ; " 

 if missed, why, " there's an end on't : " though now and 

 then a little excitement is caused by trying the latest 

 invention in guns, or by a chance at the one Woodcock of 

 the day. I think (perhaps erroneously) that when such 

 shooting follows year after year without variety, as is 

 not unfrequently the case, the pleasure begins to flag, the 

 interest to fade. 



It is evident that many must share these sentiments 

 with regard to British game, or they would not pursue 

 with such ardour in distant lands nobler, wilder, and 

 more wary birds and beasts than hare or pheasant can 

 claim to be. Even a wild day's sport and a mixed bag 

 afford far more satisfaction than many a modern game- 

 preserver will admit, and why ? I believe the change, the 

 uncertainty, has somewhat to say to it not forgetting the 

 dogs with which such a bag is usually contrived. Still a 

 great deal of nonsense, it must be admitted, is to be heard 

 concerning preserved game. For example, a denouncer 

 of modern sport with the gun, not long since, remarked to 



