ORIGINAL PREFACE. 



SOME explanation may be necessary for obtruding 

 upon the public the private details of a sportsman's 

 life, and particularly when the scene of his exploits 

 is laid within " the four seas of Britain." In the custo- 

 mary course of field adventure, few besides the indi- 

 vidual concerned are much interested in the successes 

 and disappointments he experiences ; and rural sports 

 are, in all their general incidents, so essentially alike 

 as to render their minute description almost invariably 

 a dull and unprofitable record. 



Circumstances, however, may occasionally create an 

 interest which in ordinary cases would be wanting. 

 From local connexions, a field almost untrodden by any 

 but himself was opened to the writer of these sketches. 

 He was thrown into an unfrequented district, with a 

 primitive people to consort with. With some advan- 

 tages to profit from the accident, a remote and semi- 

 civilized region was offered to his observation ; and 

 although within a limited distance of his Majesty's 

 mail-coach, a country was thus disclosed, as little known 

 to the multitude as the interior of Australasia ; and 

 where, excepting some adventurous grouse-shooter, 

 none had viewed its highlands or mingled with its 

 inhabitants. 



That the scenic and personal sketches are faithful, 

 the reader is assured ; some were written on the spot, 

 and others traced from vivid recollection. Those with 

 whom the author shot these wild moors, or fished these 

 waters, will best estimate the fidelity of the descriptions ; 



