PREFACE 



TO THE THIED EDITION 



" intelligent, observant sportsman, 

 whether he be a votary of the gentle 

 craft, or a zealous advocate of the dog 

 and gun, instinctively yes, oftentimes 

 without being in the least conscious 

 of it himself becomes an impassioned 

 admirer of nature and nature's works 

 in her most varied and attractive 

 forms. 



It is not, as many narrow-minded astutes ignorantly sup- 

 pose, the mere slaughter of the timorous partridge which so 

 early calls him forth to the stubble-field; neither is it the 

 coveted possession of the savory woodcock that lures him to 

 the entangled brake ; nor is it the soaring wisps of fickle 

 snipes which alone entice him to the oozy meadows ; nor 

 yet the booming grouse that makes him climb the mountain- 

 side or seek the far-off rolling prairie. 



There are other incentives, other charms, besides these, 

 O ye incredulous, pent-up inhabitants of a crowded city, 

 which impel the sportsman, as with a siren's wand, to hie 

 joyfully away with dog and gun to the fields, to the hills, to 

 the rich autumn-tinted forests. 



Our sportsman has become an admirer of nature ; he has 



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