8 INTRODUCTION. 



that when we are gone those that come after us may wander where 

 we have wandered, may camp where we have camped, and use the 

 gun or the rod as well or better than we have used it, knowing that 

 the}' will go back to tlieir fellows and the cares of life better in mind 

 and body for the experience. 



As Isaac Walton tells us, it was one of the qualifications that 

 Xenophon bestowed on Cyrus, " that he was a hunter of wild beasts," 

 and the love of the chase seems to be as strong with many of us 

 now as then. As we grow older, however, most of us lose some- 

 thing of our desire to kill game. Our hjve for the woods seems to 

 increase rather than diminish and we see many new and beautiful 

 things in the wilderness which we did not see when we were younger ; 

 but we shrink from killing a bird or mammal unless we actually need 

 it for food or study. 



Man}' a flock of quail or ducks I have watched feeding without 

 disturbing them, and many a deer I have stalked, and perhaps photo- 

 graphed, and then watched it from my concealment until, discover- 

 ing my presence, it bounded away unharmed. It should be a rule 

 with every true sportsman never to kill more game than can be 

 properly used. Of course, with a number of men in camp, what 

 appears to be a large bag is often not more than is actually needed 

 for food. On several occasions I have made large bags when some 

 of the men in camp were going to spend a holiday with their families 

 and wished to take home some birds ; but the wanton and useless 

 slaughter of game cannot be too strongh^ condemned. 



