xvi INTRODUCTION. 



Only a very small portion of that work is devoted to wild-fowling", 

 and that, too, chiefly as regards the ordinary means of wild-fowl 

 shooting; whilst the more interesting* subjects of the decoy, and 

 means of capturing wild-fowl alive ; the flight-pond, and its notable 

 concomitants; with various other remarkable methods of fowling, 

 both ancient and modern, occupy no place in his pages. And, as if 

 conscious of the brevity with which he had treated wild-fowling, the 

 worthy Colonel remarks, that an octavo volume might be rapidly 

 filled upon the subject. 



Notwithstanding the Colonel's hint, as well as scores of others, 

 which have been echoed from time to time through every sporting 

 periodical, and the strange blank which has so long existed, the want 

 still subsists. One might have supposed that the avidity with which 

 the sport is followed in some places, would have offered sufficient 

 inducement for a more extended discussion of the subject. 



If we look to foreign countries, we find wild-fowl abounding in 

 every land ; and, from the beautiful valley of the Bhine, where they are 

 sometimes seen in countless numbers, to the more distant lakes of 

 both Americas, where they are far more numerous, the sportsman 

 may follow up the pursuit to his heart's content ; and yet, with all 

 these facts daily before him, the young wild-fowler has long looked, 

 and looked in vain, for something like an introduction to the sport, 

 and explanation of the various means of pursuing it. 



There are so many different species of wild-fowl, each with its 

 peculiar habits, and therefore requiring different methods of capture, 

 that to give a faithful history of the sport, and its varieties, other- 

 wise than in a volume devoted expressly to the purpose, must 

 necessarily be abortive and unsatisfactory. The more, therefore, we 

 consider the energy of English sportsmen at the present day, and 

 their aspirations to literary fame in the department relating to their 

 favourite pursuits, the more we feel astonished that no one has yet 

 taken up the subject of wild-fowling as a distinct branch of sport, 

 and challenged the wide field of elucidation which lay before him 

 hitherto only half trodden and half explored. 



