PREFACE 
Many years have passed since the love of sport 
and natural history influenced my early life ; thank 
God, I cannot yet exclaim, “ The spirit is willing, 
but the flesh is weak,” although increasing years 
have weighted the activity which in youth was the 
charm of a hunter’s being. The only advantage 
which years possess is the long experience of the 
past, as theories which were uncertain have been 
proved by facts. 
When a title is worded “Wild Beasts and their 
Ways,” it may be inferred that the “wild beasts” 
are to be killed, and that we must thoroughly 
understand their “ways” before we can undertake 
the killing; this will involve a practical study of 
natural history in the most interesting form. 
It should be distinctly understood that a vast 
gulf separates the true sportsman from the merciless 
gunner. The former studies nature with keen en¬ 
joyment, and shoots his game with judgment and 
