274 SUGGESTIONS TO SPORTSMEN. 



Death before the muzzle of a gun, in the hands of 

 an experienced marksman, when the body of the 

 charge striking the object terminates life instantly — 

 and even when, in the hands of a bungler, the wounded 

 bird is not put out of his pain till he is retrieved — is 

 far more merciful than after capture in a trap, accom- 

 panied with agonies of apprehension and perhaps 

 days of starvation, till the thoughtless boy shall 

 remember his snare and awkwardly end life. The 

 birds of the air and beasts of the field are given for 

 man's use and advantage, whether domesticatec , 

 or wild as they once all were ; and if they serve to 

 supply him with food or healthful exercise, and espe- 

 cially if they do both, they have answered their pur- 

 pose. It is certainly no more brutalizing to shoot 

 them on the wing or in the open field, when they 

 have a reasonable chance to escape, than to wring 

 their necks in the barn-yard, or knock them on the 

 head with an axe. 



To become a sportsman, the first thing to acquire 

 — provided nature has kindly furnished the pro- 

 per groundwork of heart and body, without which 

 little can be done — is the art of shooting. A few, 

 very few men become, through fortuitous circum- 

 stances of nature and practice, splendid shots ; many 

 shoot well, and some canncJt shoot at all. The 

 author of this work has handled a gun from his 

 twelfth year, and been out with thousands of sports- 

 men, but he never yet saw a dead shot — one who 

 can kill every time. 



Crack shots, however, are numerous ; and include, 



