280 AMERICAN GAME. 
the fox, of the hare to the greyhound, of all the animals: 
devoured to all the devourers; and that his frog diet is 
as dear to Ardea Lentiginosa, as his flower dew to the 
humming-bird, or his canvas-backs, in the tea-room, to 
an alderman of Manhattan. 
As for the Bittern starving, eat a fat one in a pie, and 
youll be a better judge of that probability, than any 
Buffon ever bred in France; and as for all the rest—it 
is just French humbug. 
At another opportunity, I may speak of others of this 
interesting tribe. Sportsmen rarely go out especially to 
hunt them, except in boats, as described by Mr. Giraud, 
but in snipe and duck-shooting in the marshes they are 
constantly flushed and shot. 
Pointers and setters will both stand them steadily, and 
cocking spaniels chase them with ardor. Their flight is 
slow and heavy, and their tardy movements and large 
size render them an easy mark even to a novice. They 
are not a hardy bird, as to the bearing off shot ; for the 
loose texture of their feathers is more than ordinarily 
penetrable, and a light charge of No. 8, will usually 
bring them down with certainty. 
When wing-tipped they fight fiercely, striking with 
their long beaks at the eyes of the assailant, whether 
dog or man, and laying aside resistance ohly with their 
lives. 
Early in the autumn is the best time both for shooting 
uim and eating him, and for the latter purpose he is 
