192 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



clear conscience, when done in a sportsmanlike manner, and 

 when I can utilize the same. 



I assure the reader that the scrap of conversation given 

 above is a mild sample of what I actually heard that even- 

 ing. Some boasted of killing even more Bass than the in- 

 dividual mentioned, but I believe they added lying to their 

 other accomplishments. 



Then there were grouse and deer killed out of season 

 does still in milk, and grouse-hens with half-grown broods 

 but enough ; these men were what they seemed, mere pre- 

 tenders to the name of angler or sportsman, such as one is 

 apt to meet at any summer hotel where there is fishing or 

 shooting; men who under the guise of innocent sport in- 

 dulge their thirst for blood and murder;. men who are set 

 and confirmed in their ways, and for whom there is no hope 

 of improvement or reform. 



But there are a few new hands who do these things 

 thoughtlessly, and by the force of bad example ; and it is 

 for their benefit that I have written what .might otherwise 

 be deemed out of place, here. 



