VI 11 ADVERTISEMENT. 



account of their specific distinctions and characteristics 

 in a zoological point of view ; of their habits, haunts, 

 and migrations ; and of their season in different parts 

 of the vast demesnes owned by the American people ; 

 not what is esteemed the most sportsmanlike and scien- 

 tific mode of pursuing, killing, and when killed, cooking 

 them for the table. 



The leading idea of the plan was to adopt for each 

 month in the year the finest, and most generally, favor- 

 ite species of game, with reference principally, as regards 

 season, to the Northern, Midland, and Northwestern 

 portions of the United States and Canada, though the 

 animals described are common more or less to all sections 

 of the country. 



The somewhat rambling and irregular plan of the 

 series renders any apology for this or that species of 

 game wholly unnecessary, since, in the first place, it 

 never was intended to constitute a perfect natural history 

 of all the game, birds, beasts, and fishes of America, 

 but merely a series of sketchy papers ; and in the 

 second, because the series is yet in progress, and when- 

 ever it may appear desirable, or be called for by public 

 favor, another volume or volumes may be from time to 

 time presented. 



