PEEFACE 



TO THE THIRD EDITION. 



^\^V^^- : 



iN" 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 rolliug 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 



