GENERAL INTRODUCTION. xi 



and terrible work tbat may fall in his way; but if be belong to a family in wliicb order 

 regularity, gentleness, and good moral dispositions prevail, lie is seldom other thau an 

 animal of <;ri at kindness ami sociability, lie becomes so tractable and docile that ho 

 really sometimes seems to know the character of the conversation which is being carried 

 vu ; and by the silent attention with which he lies and listens, with open eyes, to conver- 

 sation, one would almost believe that ho understood the whole meaning of wliat was 

 being said. We have had dogs by the score ; and the last one we had possessed the 

 peculiarity of frequently sitting before us, and, when we were reading, scannm"- our 

 countenance for a quarter of an hour at a time, with a curiosity and an interest which no 

 disciple of Lavater ever surpassed. He sometimes literally gazed us out of counte- 

 nance, and must have profited wonderfully by his study, as he was a rare physio"-nomist ; 

 which, however, we think all sagacious dogs, more or less, are. The docility and 

 intelligence of the dog, however, are in no situation witnessed to such a remarkable 

 extent as when he has been thoroughly broken-in for the purposes of the sportsman in 

 ^be field. Here ho may be said to be, not only the companion, but the leader or 

 director of his master; in every sense of the word, a real pointer, that, by his action 

 and motions, indicates not only the direction, but points to the very spot where the 

 game shall be found. The possession of the qualities requisite for a service of this 

 kind naturally brings him into intimate relationship with our rural sports, more parti- 

 cularly those in which the gun takes a prominent part. This being the case, he has 

 been, when opportunity occurred, introduced in the following pages, in the division 

 assigned to Shooting ; where, also, is introduced a condensed account of such birds and 

 beasts as come under the denomination of game, which, in this country, confers upon 

 them the privilege of legislative protection. In this division, a brief history of the 

 gun is also given, down to such weapons as were exhibited in the International Exhibi- 

 tion of 1862 ; and, in order to complete this portion of the work, a description of the 

 needle-gun— which may yet become a sporting instrument— so fatal to the Austrians in 

 the late war, has also been given. 



" He to whom an abode in the city lies close at heart, has no need of a country 

 estate," is one of the maxims of Mago ; but he may, for all that, take a lively interest in 

 witnessing, in the field, the massive development of our bovine breeds. Accordingly 

 a large division has been, in the following work, devoted to the description of such of 

 our breeds of black cattle as have been brought to the highest state of perfection. 

 The ancient Carthaginian just quoted made the form of the ox a study, and wrote upon 

 the best means of preserving it in health. "Upon the health of black cattle," says 

 Varro, "I have borrowed a good deal from the books of Mago, which I make my 

 herdsmen carefully read." We like this. All agriculturists should follow the plan of 

 Varro, and make their herdsmen peruse the best works on the management of cattle, 

 sheep, and such animals as form the stock of a farm, and come more directly under their 

 care and management. It may interest our readers to peruse the directions of Ma^o 

 for buying oxen for the plough. The translation is from a minutely critical article In 

 the Quarterly lievieiv. « The young oxen which we buy should be square in their form ; 

 large limbed; with strong, lofty, and dark-coloured horns; broad and curly fronts; 

 rough ears; black eyes and lips; prominent and expanded nostrils; long and brawny 

 neck; ample dewlaps, pendant nearly to the knees; a wide chest, and large shoulders; 

 roomy-bellied, with well-boned ribs; broad on the loin, with a straight, level, or even 

 slightly depressed back; round buttocks; straight and firm legs, by no means weak in 



