UPLAND SHOUTING. 
135 
in those of the States in which only game is generally protected 
by statute; not as I think it should he. For it is my settled opi¬ 
nion that Spring Snipe shooting and Summer Cock shooting are 
both abominations ; and that both humanity and policy forbid the 
slaughter of these birds of passage, until they have finished rear¬ 
ing their young, and until those young have attained their full 
growth. On this topic I shall enlarge hereafter, under the head 
of u Game Preservationthough I have but slight hopes that 
any steps will be taken, which can avail to preserve all the 
winged game of America from speedy extermination. In like 
manner, I shall defer the observations, which I propose to make 
on the species, management, diseases, etc., of Sporting Dogs, and 
and on the qualities and management of the Fowlingpiece, and 
the art of shooting on the Wing, until I have got through what 1 
have to say on Upland shooting generally. 
And here I will remark, once for all, in reply to a question 
which has already been propounded to me several times, since it 
has transpired that I am engaged on this work—“ Whether any 
portion of it will be set apart especially for the instruction of 
young sportsmen ?”—I am aware of nothing in the science 
of woodcraft more appropriate to be learned by the beginner, 
than another. There is no patent by which skill may be ac¬ 
quired, no formula to be learned, after, which all is plain and 
easy sailing. So soon as any person has acquired the power 
of bringing up his gun correctly on an object, and firing it at 
once without dwelling on his aim, he is fit to take the field; 
and after this, all the difference between the old and young, the 
good and bad, sportsman, natural qualifications which cannot be 
acquired alone excepted, is the amount of practice, and the extent 
of observation. He who most thoroughly understands the natural 
history, the instincts and the habits, both of the animals which he 
pursues and the animals which he uses as assistants in pursuit, 
will necessarily be the best sportsman; and all that the best sport¬ 
ing writer can accomplish is to give a small number of facts on 
which to work; and so to throw out many suggestions, which 
shall lead the sportsman into the habit of thinking for himself, 
