HUNTING. 91 



HUNTING. 



UNLESS you understand thoroughly the art of search- 

 ing for game, you need not expect to make a heavy 

 bag. You should know something of the ways, 

 haunts, and habits of the game you are in pursuit of, 

 and their haunts, and habits on different days, according to 

 the state of the weather, and at different times in the day, 

 and you should be able to judge from your own knowledge 

 of their habits where to find them after they have been 

 once disturbed. When hunting certain classes of game you 

 should be quiet, and your tread should be as noiseless as 

 possible, especially when approaching close to the where- 

 abouts of the object of your search. Loud talking, whist- 

 ling for your dog, hallooing for your companion, treading 

 upon sticks and bushes, dragging the feet along the ground, 

 instead of raising them up, all have a tendency to frighten 

 the game, and are fatal to any attempts to approach close 

 to them. Young sportsmen should remember that silence, 

 when hunting for some varieties of game, is as essential for 

 the success of the sportsman as stealthiness and cunning 

 are for the fox in pursuing his prey. Some sportsmen get 

 into the habit of talking aloud to their companions, others 

 are constantly bawling after their dogs. The successful 

 sportsman is watchful and silent, his tread is light and noise- 

 less, and there are times when he directs his companion by 

 the motion of the hand, or by a point of the finger, or by 

 a shake or nod of the head ; and the dog is directed in si- 

 lence, by the wave of the hand, or made to stop by squat- 

 ting, or by an angry shake of the head, or by an ugly look, 

 or by the click of the hammer, or by pointing the gun, and 

 other such quiet, noiseless signals. 



