4 
INTRODUCTION. 
His forte lay more in hunting and fowling than in 
fishing,* and in all that relates to deer-stalking (as prac¬ 
tised in his day, when the deer was killed with cross-bow 
or bow and arrow), to deer-hunting with hounds, and to 
coursing, we find him fully informed. 
In the less noble art of bird-catching f he was probably 
no mean adept, while the knowledge which he displays of 
the habits of our wild animals, as the fox, the badger, the 
weasel, and the wild cat, could only have been acquired by 
one accustomed to much observation by flood and field. 
On each of these subjects a chapter might be written, 
but it will suffice for our present purpose to draw attention 
only to some of the more remarkable passages in support 
of the assertions above made. 
Deer-shooting was a favourite sport of both sexes in 
Shakespeare’s day, and to enable the ladies to enjoy it in 
safety, “ stands,” or “ standings,” were erected in many 
parks, and concealed with boughs. From these the 
ladies with bow and arrow, or cross-bow, shot at 
the deer as they were driven past them by the keepers. 
any strange beast there makes a man : when they will not give a doit to relieve a 
lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian !"— Tempest, Act - ii. 
Sc. 2. 
* The author of “ The Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, 1496," makes the 
following quaint remarks on-the superiority of. “Fysshynge” over “ Huntynge” :— 
“For huntynge, as to myn entent, is too laboryous, for the hunter must alwaye 
renne and followe his houndes : traueyllynge and swetynge full sore. He blowyth 
tyll his lyppes blyster. And when he weenyth it be an hare, full oft it is an liegge 
hogge. Thus he chasyth and wote not what.” 
f The subject of Bird-catching will be fully discussed in a subsequent chapter. 
