INTRODUCTION. 



BY JOHN DEAN CATON, 

 Autlwr of "T7ie Antelope and Deer of America; " "A Summer in Noncay," etc. 



AM requested to write an introduction to Mr. Shields' 

 book, "The Big Game of North America," and it 

 affords me great pleasure to comply with this request. 

 Yet, the first question I asked myself when I read the 

 editor's letter was, " Why introduce such men as these to 

 American readers? ' ' 



What need is there to commend, to reading sportsmen or 

 to naturalists, a book written by such able, conscientious, 

 indefatigable workers in the interests of natural history, 

 field sports, game protection, and sportsmen's literature as 

 the men whose names appear as contributors to this work? 

 Why should I write in behalf of the noble, the pathetic, 

 the conscientious "Shoshone;" the careful, painstaking 

 " Roxey Newton;" the eloquent, the enthusiastic, the 

 poetic "Algonquin;" the gallant champion of the hounds, 

 Doctor Ellzey; the venerable lover of Nature, Colonel 

 Alexander; the genial, big-hearted "Uncle Fuller;" the 

 nature-loving " Sibyllene;" tfye careful naturalist, But- 

 ler, or the ever fresh and interesting old hunter, ' ' Sanga- 

 mon?" Their numerous and fascinating contributions to 

 the sportsmen's press have made their names household 

 words throughout the land. 



Why should I introduce the sturdy, cautious Van 

 Dyke; the eloquent, the beloved "Boone;" the flowery 

 "Sillalicum;" the earnest, enthusiastic "Gaucho," or the 

 arduous mountaineer, "Coquina?" I need not; I will not 

 presume to do so. They are known throughout the Eng- 

 lish-speaking world; and the man who has not yet read 

 "The Still Hunter," "Cruisings in the Cascades," and 



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