PREFACE 



TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



HE lovers of the dog and gun are 

 under many and great obligations to 

 Henry William Herbert, Esq., for his 

 most excellent works on Sporting, 

 which speak for themselves and need 

 no commendation from our pen. They 

 abound in information and research 

 which few have had so great opportu- 

 nities of collecting or so much talent to put together. We also 

 owe much to William T. Porter, Esq., for his valuable and 

 beautiful edition of "Hawker;" and we should not forget to 

 thank J. S. Skinner, Esq.,* for his many contributions to the 

 same branch of literature. The general favor which the pro- 

 ductions of these gentlemen have met with from the public 

 has the more emboldened us to venture forth with this unpre- 

 tending volume, trusting, however, far more to the well-known 

 generosity of "the craft" for its kind reception than to any 

 great merit of its own. 



We shall not, in a short preface like this, attempt to ofter, 

 for the consideration of our readers, any thing like an eulo- 



* Since writing the above, Mr. Skinner has been gathered to his fathers, ripe 

 in years and full of .honors. His contributions to the cause of agriculture, rural 

 sports, and other kindred subjects, were numerous, and insured for him a wide- 

 extended and well-deserved reputation throughout our country 



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