230 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



lurking in the breasts of men whom, in our ordinary intercourse 

 with the world, we would fain pronounce amiable, humane, and con- 

 siderate ! We agree with Mr. Skinner when he remarks that " a 

 great fault in sportsmen is the ambition of killing for quantity, 

 which occasions them to protract their hunt until many of the 

 birds are spoiled by the heat and delay. The sportsman should 

 have a spice of chivalry in his composition; he should not be 

 merely a wanton and reckless destroyer. He should always spare 

 the hovering bird, and confine his efforts to others, to the number 

 he can carry in order to his home, for his friends or himself. I have 

 known this pernicious system of shooting for quantity pursued on 

 the grouse, and, to gratify the false pride of killing more than any 

 other party, the time protracted until all the birds killed on the 

 first day were spoiled and had to be thrown away. You should 

 raise your voice against this growing and vicious ambition, and 

 establish it as a rule among sportsmen, that credit should be given 

 only for such game as each returned with in good order. 



" Our Indians look upon this habit of the whites with the utmost 

 horror. 'He kills and wastes,' say they, * without object; and riots 

 over life as if it were a thing of no value. The game vanishes 

 from his desolating path, and the ground is covered by his destroy- 

 ing hand with that which he does not mean to use. The boun- 

 teous gifts of the Great Spirit are the mere objects of his wanton 

 destruction.' We should redeem ourselves from this just reproach, 

 and infuse some prudential consideration and moral feeling in our 

 hours of sport."* 



* We are glad to observe that the supervisors of our public squares are disposed 

 to encourage the presence of squirrels and birds within these enclosures, by afford- 

 ing them the necessary protection from the many thoughtless and inconsiderate 

 youth who frequent these places of resort. They have also very latterly permitted 

 the introduction of some beautiful peacocks, that seem already contented and quite 

 at home in their new quarters. 



The habitual presence of the numberless birds that now build their nests, rear 

 their young, and enliven our parks with their melodious strains, the presence of 

 the ever-welcome, lively, and frolicksome squirrels which will soon abound in these 

 safe retreats, the presence of the elegant, graceful, and gorgeous peacock, as he 

 struts majestically about over the greensward, will have perhaps a far more ex- 



