PREFACE. 
Vll 
Servants were constantly employed loading his guns and tilling 
hampers with the slain ; but, long ere the sun had set, his object 
was accomplished and his bet won. Eive hundred birds at this 
season, be it remembered, may be reckoned equivalent to twice 
or thrice as many, according to the species killed, and to the 
number of young they would respectively have produced. 
Such is an instance of what, on a smaller scale, is being 
commonly enacted. 
