TRAP-SHOOTING. 301 



an improvement in many particulars on the former 

 rules, they are not perfect ; it is probable that they 

 will be further amended, so as, while increasing the 

 difficulty of killing the bird, to place all sportsmen 

 on an equal footing, and to remove as far as possible 

 the influence of accident. 



And now, apologizing to the many sportsmen who 

 are abler shots and have had far greater experience 

 than himself, the author urges in extenuation of his 

 presumption in publishing this book, that as they 

 would not commit their experiences to paper, he felt 

 justified in attempting it ; and as the other sporting 

 writers have utterly neglected this field of labor as 

 beneath their notice, he could not be blamed for 

 entering upon it and doing with it the best of which 

 he was capable. And to those persons who follow 

 in the track of the literary sporting men, and affect 

 to despise the various kinds of water-fowl and bay- 

 shooting, the author would say that he only wishes 

 they may have such days with the geese and ducks, 

 the marlins, yellow-legs, and dowitchers, the rail and 

 the plover, as he has had, in the full confidence that 

 they will be very soon converted. 



