400 SUGGESTIONS TO SPORTSME^r. 



only objects of the sportsman's pursuit are the game 

 birds ; not in the confined sense used in old times by 

 the English, when the very prince of all — the wood- 

 cock — was excluded from the list, but embracing every 

 bird, fit for the table, that is habitually shot on the 

 wing. Many of these, perhaps the finest, gamest, 

 and bravest, are shot over dogs, where the wonderful 

 instinct of the animal aids the intelligence of the 

 human ; but whether followed by the faithful setter, 

 or lured to bobbing decoy ; killed from points where, 

 prone in the reeds, the eager sportsman, insensible to 

 cold or wet, at the grey of dawn or dusk of night, 

 awaits his prey ; or from the convenient blind which 

 the deluded birds approach without suspicion, or 

 pursued with horse and wagon on the open plain — 

 these all are game birds, and he who follows them 

 legitimately is a sportsman. 



Wild birds, like the tame ones, are given for man's 

 use, and the best use that can be made of them is the 

 one that will confer most health, nourishment, and 

 happiness on mankind. Fanatics imagine that 

 although birds may be killed, it must be done only 

 to furnish food ; as if there was nothing beyond eat- 

 ing in this world, and as if contribution to health 

 were not as essential as supplies to the stomach. Tlie 

 •two may and should be combined ; a man who is 

 hungry may kill that he may be satisfied, the man 

 who is sickly may kill that he may recover — neither 

 may kill in excess ; and a third may kill lest he 

 become sick, provided nothing is injured that is not 

 used. 



