INTRODUCTION. 



" Form'd on the Samian school, or those of Ind, 

 There are who think these pastimes scarce humane ; 

 Yet, in my mind (and not relentless I), 

 His life is pure that wears no fouler stain." 



ARMSTRONG. 



AMONG the various country sports and recreations of the English 

 gentleman, there is one which, singularly, has hitherto remained in a 

 state of neglected and unexplained obscurity, so far as regarded in 

 a literary point of view ; whilst every other sport from fox-hunting 

 down to boxing has formed the subject of a separate treatise, 

 wherein is practically and theoretically explained and illustrated, the 

 particular recreation of which it treats. 



A volume upon wild-fowling, with its instructive and pleasing 

 varieties, justly demands a place in our libraries, by the side of works 

 devoted exclusively to other sporting pursuits, neither more nor less 

 exciting and amusing. 



Colonel Hawker's " Instructions to Young' Sportsmen," first pub- 

 lished in the year 1824, is almost the only one which treats of the 

 subject : and that work is well known among practical wild-fowl- 

 shooters as one which cannot be relied on ; but, on the contrary, 

 many of that author's views have proved erroneous, and some of his 

 inventions impracticable. 



