172 lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



Sportsmen, that credit sliould be given only for such game as 

 each returned with in good order. 



" Our Indians look upon this habit of the whites with the ut- 

 most 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 destroying hand, with that which he does not mean to use. 

 The bounteous 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."* 



No one, we think, can expect to derive much real pleasure 

 or benefit from the exposure consequent upon a Cock-shooting 

 expedition, exposed as they are, for hours together, not only to 

 the burning rays of a July sun, but also to the deleterious in- 

 halation of the poisonous gases that are always engendered in 

 these miasmatic situations during the summer months. These 

 two circumstances alone, independent of any other reasons, 

 ought to be sufficient to prevent any sensible Sportsman from 

 entering into this amusement at this season of the year. How- 

 ever, the temptation to go after Woodcock at this time, we must 



* We are glad to observe that the supervisors of our Public Squares are dis- 

 posed to encourage the presence of Squirrels and Birds within these inclosures, 

 by affording them the necessary protection from the many thoughtless and incon- 

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

 permitted the introduction of some beautiful Peacocks, that seem already con- 

 tented 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 that will soon abound in these 

 safe retreats; the presence of the elegant, graceful, and gorgeous Peacock, as lie 

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

 tended, a far more beneficial influence over the community than the City Fathers 

 at tirst supposed or intended. 



May we not confidentially hope that their presence in these places will en- 

 gender in the bosoms of our youth a better appreciation and a more becoming 

 respect for these lowly, but still very interesting objects of Creation; will foster 

 and cultivate the kindlier feelings of the heart; will give rise to, and encourage a 

 love for the beautiful and a taste for the study of Natural History, and perhaps 

 do more than any other plan could towards crushing, as it were, in the very 

 germ, that disposition to kill and destroy, unfortunately so characteristic of 

 American youth. 



