INTRODUCTION. XVll 



The negiect with which the subject has met, creates the greater 

 astonishment, when we consider what a charming 1 sport it is ; em- 

 bracing, as it does, so many distinct branches ; each requiring some 

 peculiar skill and ingenuity ; and, indeed, scientific experience ; the 

 results of which cannot be made appreciable or intelligible, except in 

 a special and distinct treatise. 



I am quite conscious that the undertaking is a bold one ; and if I 

 had not a certain degree of confidence in my own personal expe- 

 riences in this ; for years past one of my favourite recreations; also 

 long since felt the requirements of a work of the kind, I should not 

 venture to attempt to supply the want. But I am induced, though 

 reluctantly, to believe that the reason of this interesting sport being 

 hitherto so overlooked, is because it is, in reality, so little understood : 

 and in this impression I am borne out by the opinion of Colonel 

 Hawker, who says that " many of the greatest field-sportsmen in the 

 kingdom know no more about wild-fowl shooting than children." 



The sportsman will do me the favour to bear in mind, that I do 

 not profess to give any further ornithological delineations or descrip- 

 tions of the various species of wild-fowl, than those which may 

 suggest themselves from personal observation and familiarity with 

 the habits of the birds ; and such as are necessary for explaining the 

 pursuit of wild-fowling $ such being a subject foreign to my pur- 

 pose, and already abundantly treated of by many distinguished 

 authorities. 



To know something of the ingenious methods of taking wild-fowl, 

 must be useful to all men j and more especially those about to reside 

 in foreign countries, who should remember that there are wild-fowl 

 in almost every part of the world ; and perhaps such men may find it 

 highly expedient for them to exercise some of the ingenuities and 

 means of capture which have been employed in this country, with a 

 success almost beyond credulity. 



Wild-fowling, as regards capturing the birds alive, is an art so 

 strictly founded upon the natural principles of instinct, that, when 

 begun, it leads the enquirer on with such absorbing interest that he 



