PREFACE 



The design of the Fur, Feather, and Fin Series is 



::;to present monographs, as complete as they can 



possibly be made, on the various Enghsh birds, 



beasts and fishes which are generally included 



■ under the head of Game. 



Books on Natural History cover such a vast 

 number of subjects that their writers necessarily 

 find it impossible to deal with each in a really 

 comprehensive manner ; and it is not within 

 the scope of such works exhaustively to discuss 

 the animals described, in the light of objects of 

 sport. Books on sport, again, seldom treat at 

 length of the Natural History of the creatures 

 which are shot or otherwise taken ; and, so far 

 as the Editor is aware, in no book hitherto 

 published on Natural History or Sport has 

 information been given as to the best methods 

 of turning the contents of the bag to account. 



