XHIU 



EAIIIL AHB 

 HBEEIE) IBfflSPo 



IN the sportsman's golden days, when every tide- 

 water, marsh, and wet-land of our Atlantic coast 

 attracted its host of the larger waterfowl, little if any 

 attention was paid to the birds now under discus- 

 sion. It is true that the rail was recognized as a 

 delicacy, but more valuable game was so easily 

 procured, and the sport it afforded was so much more 

 attractive, that comparatively few of the old school 

 of sportsmen were disposed to take the rail at all 

 seriously. But it is different to-day. Three-fourths 

 of the ducks and other highly prized species having 

 been either destroyed, or driven to more remote 

 resorts, the humbler quarry has its innings pos- 

 sibly to its sincere regret. While neither rail nor 

 reed bird can rival the waterfowl, grouse, cock, 

 bobwhite, or snipe as objects of the sportsman's 

 pursuit, yet they play no unimportant parts among 

 our latter-day recreations. Ears accustomed to the 

 clatter of the city's busiest quarter are open to the 

 word from the marshes which tells of the movements 

 of the small birds and of the tides which bring the 

 cream of the shooting. 



The sport, humble though it be, has certain attri- 

 butes which entitle it to respect. It comes at a very 

 pleasant season, when the demands of business are 



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