1 2 Preface. 



We shall have attained our object in this book, if the sportsman, as he 

 reads it, feels his lungs expand with the cool, balsam-laden air of the woods ; 

 hears the sudden whir-r-r of the ruffed grouse on the mountain-side, and feels 

 his nerves grow tense as he again stands over his dog and is about to flush 

 the woodcock or snipe ; hears the breakers on the rocky coast, as in imagina- 

 tion he makes a long " cast " into the surf; smells the salt marshes, while 

 he hears the cries of the wild fowl and the whistle of the ducks' wings. By its 

 perusal, also, the younger reader may be led to spend his vacations in the 

 enjoyment of sports which are manly and health-giving, which engender self- 

 reliance and good-fellowship, and develop a love for Nature. 



My connection with this volume was unexpected. Some time ago I sug- 

 gested to the editor of The Century Magazine that the various articles on 

 hunting and angling which had appeared in that periodical should be col- 

 lected into a book. -At the time I made this suggestion, I had no inten- 

 tion or desire to undertake the editing of writings describing the pursuit of 

 game, so varied in habits and haunts that no one person could be expected 

 to have had the requisite experience, and it was only at the solicitation 

 of the publishers that I undertook the task. To make the work complete, 

 several papers have been added, some of which are here printed for the first 

 time. 



In behalf of the publishers, I wish to acknowledge indebtedness to the 

 courtesy of Kegan Paul & Co., of London, for the use of the paper on 

 Moose -Hunting in Canada, by the Earl of Dunraven; to Houghton, Mifflin 

 & Co., for the articles contributed by Charles Dudley Warner and John 

 Burroughs ; to Charles Scribner's Sons, for the paper on Bow-Shooting 

 by Maurice Thompson, and to James R. Osgood & Co., for the poem by the 

 same author. 



ALFRED M. MAYER. 



Maplewood. 



