

5 



INTRODUCTION. 



A glance at the presentation page will reveal the fact that the pub- 

 lisher has not issued this volume for revenue only, nor for protection, but 

 principally for the good of the fraternity. Close inspection of the tints 

 and texts of the turning leaves, which have been pressed into use for better 

 preservation, may prove most pleasant and profitable to the reader; pleasant 

 because the artistic illustrations bring to mind pictures of free out-door 

 I'ecreation, and profitable because business may be increased by adopting 

 the suggestions made so plain that "even he who runs may read." 



It was one of the modern philosophers who asserted that " nothing 

 succeeds like success," and judged by this standard the publisher and pre- 

 senter of the present volume is truly a successful man. He flourishes a 

 Blade more popular and powerful than the ancient " blade of Damascus," 

 and no publisher of the present dav can show a brighter or better Ledger 

 than the one which comes from his ofiice. Mr. Boyce might not be 

 willing to stand forth and make this just claim in his own behalf, but the 

 editor of this work merelv admits a well-known fact and violates no con- 

 fidence in disclosing this open secret to all the world and the rest of 

 mankind. 



Having given credit to whom credit is due m this respect, the writer 

 hastens to acknowledge his obligations to several of the standard authorities 

 on American field sports and fishing for material aid in preparing this vol- 

 ume. To Isaac McLellan, the poet-sportsman, due credit should be given 

 for most of the stanzas introducing the various descriptive sketches of the 

 game fishes, animals and \>irds of the United States. These poetical selec- 

 tions are, for the most part, taken from McLellan's excellent " Poems of 

 the Rod and Gun," a book of rare interest to anglers and sportsmen. 



The well-known treatise, entitled " American Game Fishes," and the 

 practical book, " Fishes of the East Atlantic Coast," by Messrs. Louis O. 

 Van Doren and Samuel C. Clarke, veteran anglers, have likewise fur- 

 nished valuable matter, for which proper acknowledgment has been made 

 elsewhere under the several heads or chapters where the writers above 

 named are quoted. 



