PREFACE 



Each volume of the present Series will, 

 therefore, be devoted to a bird or beast, and 

 will be divided into three parts. The Natural 

 History of the variety will first be given ; it 

 will then be considered from the point of view 

 of sport ; and the writer of the third division 

 will assume that the creature has been carried 

 to the larder, and will proceed to discuss it gas- 

 tronomically. The origin of the animals will 

 be traced, their birth and breeding described, 

 every known method of circumventing and 

 killing them — not omitting the methods em- 

 ployed by the poacher — will be explained with 

 special regard to modern developments, and 

 they will only be left when on the table in 

 the most appetising forms which the delicate 

 science of cookery has discovered. 



It is intended to make the illustrations a 

 prominent feature in the Series. The pictures 

 in the present volume are after drawings by 

 Mr. A. Thorburn, all of which, including the 

 diagrams, have been arranged under the super- 

 vision of Mr. A. J. Stuart- Wortley. 



ALFRED E. T. WATSON. 



