ALBERT R. MANN 
 LIBRARY 
 
 New York State Colleges 
 
 OF 
 
 Agriculture and Home Economics 
 
 AT 
 
 Cornell University 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 WILLARD A. KIGGINS, JR. 
 
 in memory of his father 
 
Cornell University Library 
 SK 33.H53C 1873 
 
 The complete manual for young sportsman 
 
 3 1924 003 424 805 
 
The original of tliis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003424805 
 
THE 
 
 COMPLETE MANUAL 
 
 YOUNG SPORTSMEN: 
 
 WITH DIRECTIONS 
 
 FOE HANDUNG THE 6DN, THE RIFLE, AND THE EOD ; THE ART 
 
 OF SHOOTINa ON THE WING; THE BUEAKING, MANAGEMENT, 
 
 AND HUNTING OF THE DOG; THE VARIETIES AND HABITS 
 
 OF game; EITEB, lake, and sea PISHING, 
 
 ETC., ETC., ETO. 
 
 PEEPARED FOE THE 
 
 INSTRUCTION AND USE OF THE YOUTH OF AMERICA. 
 
 FEANK FORESTER,Lv. 
 
 AFTUOE OF "THE FIELD aPORTS," "FISH AND FISHING," "HORSES AND HOliSV 
 
 MANSHIP OF THE UNITED STATES AND BRITtSH PROVINCES OF 
 
 NORTH AMERICA," ETC., ETC., ETC. 
 
 REVISED EDITION. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 
 
 89 AND 4-1 CHAMBER.S STREET. 
 
St 
 33 
 
 HS3C 
 l^'73 
 
 36G4?S 
 
 "■"^PiT'""'",! Or" '•<"■' 
 
 Entered according to Act of Oongresa, in the year 1873, 
 
 By GEORGE E. WOODWARD, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of CongresB, at Washiugton. 
 
ADVEETISEMENT. 
 
 The object of this volume is neither to super- 
 sede the works which I have formerly put forth on 
 American Field Sports and Fishing, nor yet to sup- 
 ply any omission in their pages. 
 
 In fact, it is neither an abridgment of pages 
 .heretofore written, nor a compendium of facts al- 
 ready published ; nor yet is it entirely an indepen- 
 dent work, on a different branch of the same sub- 
 ject. 
 
 It was found, or believed, to be the case, by the 
 publishers of those works, which, I may be permit- 
 ted to say, have found some favor in the eyes of the 
 sporting world, that a volume of less ambitious style 
 and less expensive form, taking up the subject more 
 rudimentaUy, commencing actually ab initio, deal- 
 ing more with the practice and less with the higher 
 spirit of Field Sports, insisting less on the natural 
 
iv ADVEETISKMENT. 
 
 history and general habits of the various species of 
 game, and aiming more at teaching the tyro in the 
 trade how to enter himself in his apprenticeship, 
 and how to advance until he have raised himself to 
 be a master of his guild, is called for by the rising 
 generation ; and, with that view, they have intrust- 
 ed to me the preparation of this manual. 
 
 My previous works, on this and kindred topics, 
 were intended rather for sportsmen, than for begin- 
 ners ; this will take up the matter ah ovo. 
 
 Much will be found in it, therefore, concerning 
 the use of the various implements of the chase, the 
 art of shooting animals on the wing, or otherwise, 
 at speed, whether with shot or single ball, which 
 were omitted as unnecessary, in foregoing works ; 
 nor, I hope, will this matter, while it is essential to 
 the new beginner, prove either useless or tedious to 
 the mature sportsman ; the rather that it will em- 
 body much new information concerning the im- 
 proved science of projectiles, and several notices of 
 arms not invented at the period when my older lucu- 
 brations saw the light. 
 
 The same observations will apply to what is to 
 be found here written concerning dogs, concerning 
 various species of game, concerning the proper mo- 
 dus operandi. In some respects, I have seen cause 
 to alter my opinions ; in some, the alteration of cir- 
 cumstances has compelled an alteration in the 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. V 
 
 course to be pursued ; for, of field sports, as of most 
 other sublunary matters, it is true, especially in 
 countries comparatively new, where population and 
 cultivation are progressively increasing, and the 
 wild animals of the chase proportionally on the 
 decrease, that, 
 
 Tempora mutantar, uos et mutamTir in illis ; 
 
 and in the space which has elapsed since first I 
 wrote on " the sports of the field," in this country, 
 there has been ample room for change, and change 
 has not failed the occasion. 
 
 To conclude, all that genuinely comes within 
 the scope of the " Sports of the Field," especially as 
 regards novices, wiU be touched upon summarily in 
 'this little work, which may, in some respects, be 
 regarded as introductory, in a few, perhaps, as sup- 
 plemental, to my more thorough and voluminous 
 publications ; but must not be expected in any sort 
 to supersede them, as their greater compass enables 
 them to embrace fully many topics which are not, 
 as indeed they need not to be, so much as men- 
 tioned in the following pages. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 INTEOBUCTION. 
 
 AwnQTriTT and origin of Field Sports. Wanting among the Israelites. In As- 
 syria ; in Persia ; Eoyal Parks, or ParaMaes ; in G-reece ; among the Ko- 
 mans ; the descent of the Koise races ; the chase a northern passion ; un- 
 congenial to the Latin nations ; universal among people of Norse ori^ 
 not notable in provincial Britain ; imported by the early Saxons ; ancient 
 statutes ; increased after the Norman conquest ; cruel game and forest laws 
 their relaxation ; continuance of the taste among the English gentry ; its 
 effect on their character ; New York prejudices; modification of these; un- 
 manliness of young men ; public attention called to the want of relaxation ; 
 true sense of the word re-creation ; present need of re-creation ; influence 
 of field sports in soldiership ; Balaklava and the trenches ; a contrast ; a 
 recommendation ; what I promise to my readers . . . pp. 17-33 
 
 THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 
 
 Shooting with gun or rifle the first of American Field Sports. Hunting, proper, 
 little practised; severity of northern winters; the Washington and Mon- 
 treal fox-hounds ; fox-hunting in Maryland and Virginia ; deer-hunting in 
 the Garolinas and Georgia; bear-hunting in Mississippi and Arkansas; 
 coursing deer in the prairie States; forest game not hunted, but stalked or 
 driven ; stable-stand and dog-draw ; ancient British and modem American 
 hunting nearly identical ; the cross-bow ; shooting, the first qualification 
 of th^ American sportsman ; dog management ; wood-craft ; the crack shot ; 
 felse sportsmen ; the fowling-piece ; the percussion gun ; the old flint and 
 steel; their comparative advantages ; flint and steel every where exploded ; 
 even in armies ; the double gun ; the perfection of shooting ; the single gun ; 
 the latter good for beginners ; its weight ; its comparative effect ; its con- 
 tinned service. The gun must be intrinsically good ; must especially suit 
 its owner. Why one gun suits, and another not; how to try if a gun suits 
 or no. The trigger-pull; how to ascertain its force; the light pull; the 
 heavy pnll ; the true power ; cause of missed shots. The actual quality of 
 guns ; difficult to ascertain ; metal of which made ; the common cLeap gun; 
 how to procure a good gun ; how a bad one ; the flashy, cheap, sham gnn ; 
 how a good judge judges; forged names of gunmakers ; Birmingham, Ger- 
 man, Belgian rubbish; best quality of barrels; various o|>lnions on; my 
 own taste ; why ; London makers ; provincial do. ; wholesale do. ; Ameri- 
 can do. ; which the best ; why so ; comparative price of the best guns of 
 each; recommendations, according to value. Double-barrels; revolving 
 shot-guns ; breech-loading do. ; Lang's patent gun ; Pen7's patent do. ; 
 
Vili TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 good for duck-guDs, Length, weight, and gauge of guns considered ; the 
 old system; the new system; Colonel Hawker's system; the best general 
 gun ; its size and execution ; what it will do ; why I prefer it ; short guns ; 
 where they fail ; double-barrelled duck-guns ; their size and service ; heavy 
 single duck-guns ; what they will do ; what they will cost ; how to choose 
 a gun ; the trials ; close shooting guns ; scattering guns ; cartridges ; charg- 
 ing, and its effects ; tiial of duck-guns ; what is a crack shot . . 34-68 
 
 THE Q-UN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 
 
 The art once obtained, always available; once a master, always a master; with 
 one system, with all systems; improves with improvement;, three heads in 
 the use of the gnn : safety, eifcct, service ; what is meant by safety ; 
 when a loaded gun may be called safe ; always liable to casual discharge ; 
 safety stops ; why not useful ; how to carry a loaded gun safely ; how to carry 
 the locks safely ; on the nipples ; at half-cock ; at full cock ; how to load safely ; 
 powder-flask and shot-pouch ; how to ram home ; how to save a maimed 
 hand; how to cap your piece; wadding; gunpowder; ducking powder; 
 copper caps ; sizes of shot ; a gun, how safe in a carriage ; how safe in a house ; 
 idiotic Occidents with loaded arms. The criminality of such accidents ; the 
 proper penalty for such ; how not to draw one's ramrod ; how not to test its 
 being loaded ; how to blow one's brains out. How to clean a gun ; the effects 
 of foulness on a gun: wkenmostinjurious. When to clean a gun ; whoshould 
 clean it; who not; to wash the barrels; to cleanse the barrels ; to air the 
 barrels; to dry rub the barrels ; to clean externally; when not to clean the 
 locks; why; to polish the stock; to put by the gun for the season. Per- 
 cussion locks. When necessary to remove them. To take them off. Bar 
 and back-action. How to dissect the lock. How to clean It ; how to recon- 
 struct it ; how to preserve barrels when laid by. How to restore. Loon- 
 skin oil. The rifle. The old-school rifle. Its gauge and length. Cause of 
 its adoption and success. Infancy of the art. Its natural defects. Gradual 
 improvements. The short yager rifle. The English double-barrelled sport- 
 ing rifle. American rest and target-shooting. The two-grooved rifle. The 
 Minie rifle. The Enfield rifle. Breech-loading arms. Perry's patent. Re- 
 volvers and breech-loaders useless as shot-guns. Military revolvers ; sport- 
 ing do. ; Colt's patent ; pistols; rifles; Porter's do.; military breech-load- 
 ers; sporting do., rifles; Perry's arm; described; its qualities; its princi- 
 ple; Sharpe's arm; where and why defective; my own choice; single 
 rifles; English double rifles; how to choose a rifle. How far men can be 
 taught to shoot by precept . 84-127 
 
 HOW TO LEAKN TO SHOOT. 
 
 The great difficulty. The Oakleigh shooting code ; how most men miss. Why 
 they do so. Keep the eye low. When a stock fits. The main point. My 
 opinion of this. The art to be acquired. Common error in this country. 
 Shooting too well sitting. What must be unlearned. Not so in Europe. 
 Effect of this cause here. What makes the rifleman miss the flyin* shot. 
 Mastery of the gun. Position for practice. To raise and cock; to lower 
 and return to half cock. To shoot quick. Both eyes open. Practice with 
 caps only — with powder. Candle practice. Practice at a mark without 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX 
 
 shot. With shot. At small birds. To judge of errors. Allowance for mo- 
 tion. Why necessary. How to acquire the trick. Practice for flying shots. 
 For running shots. Physical disabilities. To learn rifle shooting. Disper- 
 sion of a shot-charge. Directness of a ball. Necessity of perfect aim. 
 Steadiness. How to take aim ; rest-firing bad practice. Eifle clubs. Al- 
 lowance for motion of objects. How to allow. For a cross wind— long 
 ranges. Eifle shooting and shooting flying nearly incompatible ; why so; 
 shooting, riding, and to speak truth, must be learned— young . 138-153 
 
 THE DOG. 
 
 His use and qualities ; kind usage of; cruelty to, exploded. House-dogs not 
 good field-dogs ; why. Intelligence ; how cultivated. Punishment; when, 
 and how, needed; in breaking; when broken; the whip — how to be used, 
 kicking dogs— an infamy. Old dogs, when to be flogged ; when to be rated. 
 Dinks and Mayhew. Food and condition. Various breeds of spoi;ting dogs. 
 Sporting authorities — Hutchinson, Scrope, Colquhoun, Hawker, English- 
 broke dogs. English -bred dogs. Eussiaa setters . 154r-164 
 
 THE SETTEE. 
 
 His excellences, style, beauty, and courage. His temper. Compared with the 
 pointer. Craven's opinion. My own opinion. In summer shooting; 
 autumn shooting. Grouse shooting on the hills ; on the prairies. Absurd 
 plan for breeding setters. Pointing, formerly an acquired trick, now an in- 
 stinct. Backing the same. What is a setter ? Classification of dogs. The 
 spaniel; various breeds of— the Clumber — the King Charles — the New- 
 foundland. First mention of setters. First breaking of spaniels to set. 
 Setters, till of late, called spaniels. The English setter; his points, his 
 qualities, his beauty. The Irish setter ; his points, his color, his nose, his 
 temper. The Russian setter ; his points, his docility, his endurance, hia 
 color. Eare in America. " Old Charon." Style and point of Russians. 
 Eange of setters, American dog-breakers— an error. Beating and quarter- 
 ing. Duration of a dog. Dog poisoning in Jersey. Denks on the dog. 
 Pointing vs. setting. Color of English Setters. The Webster setters. The 
 Harewood setters .... . . . 165-18T 
 
 THE POINTER. 
 
 JTot a natural dog. Original type of. The Spanish pointer. The improved 
 English pointer. Two varieties. Best form. Excellences of. Defects 
 of. Best for young sportsmen. Stonehenge. Points of pointers. Col- 
 ors of pointers. French pointers. Double-nosed pointers. Temper of 
 pointers . . .... 188-1 9T 
 
 THE COCKING-SPANIEL. 
 
 Best for woodcock. Preferable for covert-shooting to pointers or 8et*:ers. Why 
 80. For quail shooting. Difliculty of breaking cockers. Little used in Amer- 
 ica. ~The" CarTTOllton breed. The cocker. The sgringer. The Clumber. 
 Their points, colors, and qualities; strongly recommended , 19&-20e 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS, 
 
 THE WATEE-SPANIEI* 
 
 His blood !n setters. Crosses always objectionable. This cross the least sa 
 Two varieties. Points and colors. How to break him. How he should 
 work ; how retrieve. Where to shoot over him — for wild fowl — for snipe — 
 for teal— for ruflfed grouse. On the Canadian rice lakes 209-215 
 
 THE NEWFOUNDLAND EETEIEYER, 
 
 On the Chesapeake. In Great Britain. In Newfoundland. The Labradorean 
 the pure St. Johns ; their unrivalled qualities ; their sagacity 216-221 
 
 THE HOUND. 
 
 The Talbot. The Sleuth hound. Sbakspeare's type. Somerville's typo. In 
 George IIL's time. Stonehenge'a views. The improved English hound. 
 How bred. The southern hound. The American fox-hound. Color of 
 hounds. English stag-hound ; English fox-hoimd ; English harrier ; English 
 beagle ; Scottish deer-hound. How bred , . . 222-284 
 
 Kennel Management. — Absurd dog-laws. Hydrophobia— dog-houses — clean- 
 liness — ^beds — ^food — water— exercise — special remedies —for fleas and vermin 
 — to harden the feet — ^for rheumatism. Lewis — Blaine — Youatt — Mayhew 
 on the dog. The last preferred. Emetics— purgatives— for wQrms— for poi- 
 son—for snake bites— for epileptic fits. Take advice . . 235-243 
 
 SNIPE SHOOTING. 
 
 The English snipe — American do. Their time of arrival — differs in diflferent 
 States, Their seasons— state of the ground. Their habits — ^in mild weather 
 — in wintry weather— in hail storms — when breeding. Drumming of snipe 
 — great flights of snipe — when to look for them in spring—where. Best 
 weather for — in England — here. Peculiarity of snipe— how to boat for; 
 with what dogs ; Col. Hutchinson ; fast dogs ; steady dogs ; the check cord ; 
 dogs racing ; beating at a trot ; the slow pointer ; down wind ; distance of 
 shots ; snipe shooting a knack ; autumn shipe shooting ; in Canada ; cour- 
 tesy ; how to shoot in company ; how to mark ; twenty rules for young 
 sportsmen. The Virginia rail. The pectoral sandpiper , . 244r-2T0 
 
 BAT SHOOTING. 
 
 Wild fowl; none at this season; whither gone; bay snipe. The curlew. 
 The common curlew. The Hudsonian curlew. The Esquimaux curlew. 
 The golden plover ; the black-bellied plover ; the Bartramian sandpiper or 
 upland plover ; the godwits— marliu and ring-tailed marlin. Red-breasted 
 sandpiper ; red-backed sandpiper. The yellow-shanks tattler ; tell-tale tat- 
 tler. The willet. Mode of shooting them. Proper guns for. Anecdotes. 
 End of season 271-281 
 
 WOODCOCK SHOOTING. 
 
 In July — decrease of woodcock ; impropriety of law ; unfitness of season ; the 
 old birds, the yonng do.; sluill dogs flush? to keep dogs steady; spaniel 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI 
 
 ■work; snap sliooting; summer woodcock ; how they fly; how they alight; 
 to mark them ; to shoot them ; dry weather ; wet weather ; in corn ; during 
 their moult. Summer migration . .... 282-295 
 
 GROUSE SHOOTING ON THE PRAIRIES. 
 
 Six varieties of grouse— the raffed grouse; the Canada grouse; the willow 
 grouse ; the geographical range of these three. How to shoot the ruffed 
 grouse ; the Canada grouse and willow grouse rarely shot ; the pinnated 
 grouse or heath hen ; the sharp-tailed grouse. Range of the pinnated grouse ; 
 season for shooting ; size of shot ; shooting in August ; in September ; in 
 October ; pointers the best dogs ; why so ; best way to hunt ; proper gun ; 
 how they fly ; how to kill them ; great sport .... 29ft-505 
 
 BIRDS NOT GAME. 
 
 The upland plover or Bartram's sandpiper; where found; shooting them from 
 chaises at Newport; stalking them; poor sport. Bail shooting. The sora 
 rail ; where found ; when ; their habits ; their flight ; how to kill them ; the 
 proper gun; the proper charge; the landing net; reed birds; teal; galli- 
 nnles; anecdotes of shooting; slaughter, not sport . . . S06-315 
 
 AUTUMN SHOOTING. 
 
 Quail; woodcock; ruffed grouse; large hare; smaller hare; momlug shooting; 
 when to start; how to beat for quail; the best ground; the point; the 
 flush; single birds; the bevy; how and where to shoot; how to mark; 
 how they fly ; where they will alight ; retention of scent ; lurking ; after- 
 noon shooting ; quail a fast flyer ; rises behind. The ruffed grouse ; his 
 whirr on rising ; autumn woodcock ; his different flight now ; his autumn 
 lying grounds ; the smaller hare ; to hunt with beagles ; habits of the hare ; 
 best grounds ; how to get shots ; where to hit him . . , Slfir-SSg 
 
 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
 
 In Chesapeake Bay. The swan ; the canvass-back ; the red head ; the scaup ; 
 the buffel-headed duck^ the South-southerly; the ruddy duck; the wid- 
 geon ; the teal ; English widgeon ; English teal ; J. C. Bell ; Chesapeake Bay 
 shooting ; from the points ; how fowl are missed ; the best guns ; allowance 
 to be made for speed of flight To tole wild fowl ; how to shoot on the 
 water ; paddling up to fo'v^l ; proper powder ; size of shot ; goose shooting ; 
 from, batteries ; unsportsmanlike ; Squam Beach ; Barnegat ; from boats in 
 hassock ; over stools ; calling fowl ; (»>ots ; inland duck shooting ; the mal- 
 lard ; the pin-tail duck ; the green-winged teal ; the blue-winged teal ; the 
 golden eye ; the summer duck ; the dusky duck ; the winter duck ; the 
 trumpeter swan ; the snow goose ; the white-iVonted goose ; shooting on 
 drowned meadows ; by stream edges ; on points of the great lakes ; on the 
 rice lakes ; best guns for this sport. John Mullin's guns . . 888-350 
 
 THE FOREST AND THE PLAINS. 
 
 Moose ; cariboo ; elk ; buffalo ; antelope ; bear ; deer ; turkey. How to follow 
 trail ; not to be learned from books ; driving deer ; chasing oa horseback ; 
 
xii TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 still honting, or stalking ; flrc-hunting, not a sport. " Quid of Quincy ; deer 
 over pointers ; waiting at a stand ; riding to honnds ; still hunting ; moose 
 and cariboo, on snow-shoes; stalking buffalo ; riding to buffalo; shooting 
 from the saddle ; where to plant the ball ; what sized balls ; .sporting rifles; 
 how stocked ; how sighted ; always reload at once ; turkey hunting ; with a 
 call ; over beagles ; true sportsmanship . • S61-S62 
 
 GAME FISH. 
 
 RIVER FISH AJ!JD FISHING. 
 
 Stonehenge''B manual ; American fishes. The salmon ; the sea trout ; the com- 
 mon trout ; the lake trout ; the siskawit ; the maskalonge ; the pickerel ; 
 the chub, roach, and dace ; the carp ; the bass ; the striped bass ; the black 
 baas ; the rock bass ; the growler; the pike-perch ; the porch; thesunfish; 
 the eel. The line, reel, and hook; reel lines; silk and hair; Indian weed; 
 silk ; hair ; reels ; the foot length ; English, Scotch, and Irish books ; floats ; 
 sinkers; swivels . .... 363-379 
 
 TheRod.— The general rod; the fly-rod . . .379 
 
 Nattjeal and Ground Baits.— The earth-worm ; dew-worm ; marsh-worm ; 
 tag-tail ; brandling ; red-worm ; shrimps ; cockchafers ; beetles ; grasshop- 
 pers; moths; ephemera; caddises; humble bees; gentles; salmon roe; 
 shad roe ; smelt roe ; shrimp paste ; bread paste ; ground bait ; fish bait ; 
 dead fish ; spinning ; trolling with the gorge hook ; to keep bait fish. Live 
 bait ' .... . . 379-393 
 
 Abtificial Bait and Flies. — How to tie flies. List of twenty-four trout flies ; 
 salmon flies ; the landing net, gaff, &c., &c 898-405 
 
 Bait Fishing. — For minnows and small flsh ... . 406, 407 
 
 Vauv Fishing. — Best rod, line, &c., &c. ; ground baits; baits; season; 
 method . . . 407-409 
 
 Pekoh Fishing. — For small ones ; hooks ; baits ; large fish ; with the minnow ; 
 roving ; spinning ; the gorge ; the method . . . 409-418 
 
 FiOEEEEL Fishing. — The tackle ; th^ rod ; the reel ; the line ; the baits ; the 
 snap ; the gorge ; to spin ; to bait ; the season ; to throw ; to strike ; to 
 play ; to kill ; to land ; to extract the hooks. The snap-bait ; how to strike 
 with it; the gorge hook; least cruel; tackle for gorge trolling; how to 
 cast; how to strike ; how to remove the bait; the spoon . 418-422 
 
 Bass Fishing, — Various methods of; the striped bass; will take real or artificial 
 squid; artificial salmon fly; may be taken by spinning, trolling, or bottom 
 fishing ; shad roe in spring. Black and rock bass of the lakes. The ibis fly ; 
 trolling; the spoon. The growler and pike perch, taken with the craw 
 flsh , 428 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS* Xlll 
 
 Eel Fishing.— The ledger line; float line; night line; bobbing; trimmers', 
 enisling; eel-speara Live fish or worm baits. How to bait the hooka. 
 Where to fish for eels; how to strike them 434-423 
 
 Bottom Fishing fob Common Teout, Lake Trout, and Sea Trout.— The rod ; 
 the casting line ; the gut bait and tackle. The best baits, and how to bait 
 with them. The minnow ; the devil-bait. The season of trout ; the best 
 water ; how to cast and play the worm ; how to strike ; caterpillars ; 
 grubs ; salmon roe ; how to use dead and live minnows. How to spin ; 
 "Walton's, Stoddart's, and Hawker's theory . . . 428-435 
 
 Troluno for Lake Trout. — Order of description. The rod ; the reel ; the 
 line ; the train of* hooks. The bait and flies ; the bait and kettle ; the boat 
 and oarsman ; how to strike the fish . . . 435-443 
 
 NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 
 
 Where practised ; the difference between the two . . 444, 445 
 
 Apparatus for Dipping and Whipping. — The rod for dipping ; the fly-rod, 
 line, and reel ; the flies ; how to cast ; from the left shoulder ; the figure of 
 8; how to play the fly . . . 445-452 
 
 Teout Fishing. — ^The two-handed rod ; the professed fiy-fisher; the practical 
 fly-fisher ; how to fish any water ; how to throw the flies ; how to strike ; 
 how to play and kill 452-457 
 
 Salmon- Fishing. — The tackle ; the salmon-rod ; the salmon-line ; the flies ; 
 how to cast ; how to choose flies ; where to cast for fish. Cast fi-om the 
 left shoulder, sometimes the reverse. Length of line ; Mr. Stoddart's rule. 
 How to work the fiy on the water. Salmon less scary than trout ; to strike 
 the salmon ; to play the salmon ; one third of fish hooked escape ; size and 
 power of fish; Mr. Stoddart's rule for playing; grilse; baggits; how to use 
 the gafi'; how to kill your fish 457-467 
 
 SEA FISHING. 
 
 List of game sea-flsh. Weak fish; tackle, baits, and places for; king flsh; 
 tackle, baits, and places for; black flsh; tackle, baits, and places for; 
 sheep's-head ; tackle, baits, and places for ; blue flsh ; sailing and squidding. 
 Three tables of instruction for sea fishing. 468-475 
 
 Appendix — Apparatus for artiflcial fly making 479 
 
fist 0f %lMmtms, 
 
 OSIGJSCAL'LY DESIGNED OR ADAPTED AND DRAWN ON WOOD BT 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Faob 
 
 POINTEE AND DEAD QUAIL, . . . Feontibpikok. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED TITLE, ... . . 
 
 QDW AND BASKETS, T 
 
 RED DEEE ANTLEES, IT 
 
 ELK ANTLEES AND DOUBLE GUN, .... 84 
 
 QUAIL SHOOTING, 84 
 
 SHOT POUCH AND ELASK, 92 
 
 PEEEY'S PATENT EIFLE 119 
 
 BEVY OF QUAIL RUNNING, 128 
 
 DEAD QUAIL 158 
 
 GROUP OF DOGS 154 
 
 SETTEE AND PEAIEIE COOK, 165 
 
 THE RUFFED GE0U8E, 18T 
 
 POINTEES— TOHO 1 18S 
 
 P0X-H0UND9 EUNNING 19T 
 
 COCKER AND 'WOODCOCK, 198 
 
 HAEES FEEDING, 208 
 
 WATEE-SPANIEL AND MALLARD, 209 
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND EETEIEVEE AND OAHTASS-BACK, . 216 
 
 QUAIL EUNNING, 221 
 
 DEEE GREYHOUND, . .... 222 
 
 A MAD DOG ON THE AIAECH, 235 
 
 AMERICAN SNIPE, 244 
 
 TIEGINIA RAIL 269 
 
 THE CUELEW 271 
 
 THE GOLDEN PLOVER 274 
 
 SNIPE-PITCHraG 281 
 
XVI 
 
 LIST OF ILLrSTRATIONS. 
 
 WOODCOCK SHOOTING, 
 
 GROUSE ON THE WING, . 
 
 THE GALLIN0LE, 
 
 CANADA HAEE, 
 
 AMERICAN SWAN, 
 
 ENGLISH WIDGEON, 
 
 AMERICAN WILD GOOSE, 
 
 AMERICAN TEAL, . 
 
 AMEEICAN ELK, . 
 
 AMERICAN DEER, . 
 
 PLATE OE TROUT FLIES, 
 
 RIVER SCENE, . 
 
 THE SALMON, 
 
 THE SUNFI8H, . • . 
 
 THE REEL, 
 
 GORGE HOOK AND BAIT, . 
 
 GEEEN DRAKE, TEOUT FLY, 
 
 LONG ISLAND PICKEREL, 
 
 THE CARP, .... 
 
 GROUP OF PEECH, .... 
 
 THE PICKEREL, 
 
 THE EEL, 
 
 TRAIN OF TEOUT-TEOLLING HOOKS, 
 
 THE NEW YORK SHINER, 
 
 ROD, BAIT-KETTLE, AND TROUT, 
 
 STRIKING A TEOUT IN A RAPED, 
 
 THE BROOK TEOUT, 
 
 STRIKING A TROUT IN A POOL, . 
 
 DRYING FISHING-NETS, 
 
 FISHING SLOOP, .... 
 
 296 
 306 
 81S 
 3S3 
 335 
 341 
 34T 
 351 
 
 365 
 873 
 375 
 391 
 405 
 406 
 407 
 409 
 41S 
 424 
 48» 
 440 
 443 
 444 
 453 
 467 
 468 
 473 
 
Uatittal 
 
 mTRODUCTIOlSr. 
 
 It is not known, probably not now to be discovered, at 
 what period in the history of man, the pursuit of wild 
 animals — which was originally undertaken by the semi- 
 barbarous tribes as a means of procuring animal food, or 
 for protection against formidable carnivora, which threat- 
 ened either their own existence or that of their flocks and 
 herds, as they gradually adopted stationary homes and 
 pastoral habits — began to be regarded as a sport. But 
 from a very remote period of antiquity such has undoubt- 
 edly been the case; and so universally diffused in all 
 countries, so generally implanted in all hearts, does this 
 passion now exist, that we may assume it as certain, that 
 
18 MANUAL FOE TOUKG 8P0ETSMEN. 
 
 SO soon as hunting ceased to be a laborious and paiufal 
 necessity, obligatory on the nomadic tribes for the support 
 of life, it came to be followed as a sport, to be the delight 
 of the warrior nobles, and, as game gradually became 
 scarce and rare, to be regarded as the privileged preroga- 
 tive of the crown. 
 
 In the Bible, it is true, there is little mention of hunt- 
 ing, either as a method of procuring meat, or as a pursuit 
 of pleasure. Nimrod, the son of Cush, we are told, indeed, 
 was a mighty hunter before the Lord, but the probability 
 of the case would point to him as a destroyer of savage 
 beasts, like Hercules and Theseus in Hellenic fable, rather 
 than as one, 
 
 With hound and horn his way who took 
 To drive the fallow deer ; 
 
 even if we do not regard him, in the wider light, as a 
 hunter not of quadrupeds but of men, by the chase of 
 whom " he began to be a mighty one in the earth." 
 
 Esau, again, we read of, somewhat as an exception 
 among the pastoral people, over whom he was born a 
 leader — although, partly in consequence of his addiction 
 to this pursuit, which with him clearly must have been a 
 sport rather than an occupation, he lost his hereditary 
 title — in the light, probably, of the first authenticated 
 hunter of the deer. There are, however, many natural 
 reasons, among which not the least is the sterile, rocky 
 and rugged face of the country which they inhabited, why 
 the children of Israel should never have acquired a taste 
 for, or proficiency in, field sports. The horse, whose plia- 
 
INTEODTTCTION. 19 
 
 ble pasterns and delicate hoofs were ill adapted to the 
 craggy hill-sides and rocky roads of Palestine^ was pro- 
 hibited by the great legislator cf the people of the Lord ; 
 and his place was filled by the stiff-jointed, stubborn, long- 
 enduring ass, between whom and the chase there is the 
 least imaginable connection. To the Israelites, as to many 
 oriental peoples, the dog was an unclean animal ; his name 
 a reproach, and himself, instead of the best servant and 
 domestic friend of man, the very outcast and pariah of 
 creation. Lastly, owing to the strictness of the Levitical 
 prohibitions, many of the chief animals of the chase, as the 
 hare, the coney, the wild boar, and not a few of the choi- 
 cest game birds, were forbidden as articles of food to the 
 chosen people. The means, and inducements, to carry on 
 hunting to any profitable or pleasurable extent, seem, there- 
 fore, to have been, alike, wanting to the Israelites ; nor, un- 
 der these circumstances, can it be a matter of surprise 
 that it was little, if at all, practised among them. 
 
 In the other great kingdoms of the East, however, from 
 the earliest ages, hunting and hawking were practised on 
 the largest and most royal style by the monarchs and their 
 chosen nobles. 
 
 The noble sculptures recently disinterred at Khorsa- 
 bad, in the -vicinity of Mosul, and the ruins of Nineveh, 
 contemporaneous with the events described in Holy "Writ, 
 abound in delineations of this regal mimicry of war. The 
 histories of the Median, Persian, and Assyrian empires 
 are filled with allusions to the eager spirit of sportsmanship 
 with which the chase was prosecuted at a time, when, " to 
 speak the truth, to ride, and to shoot " were esteemed the 
 
20 MANUAL FOE YOTJNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 brightest educational gems in a Persian prince's diadem. 
 We learn from Xenophon, soldier, hunter, philosopher, 
 historian, that wherever, on the line of the long march of 
 the Ten-thousand from Sardis up to Babylon, there was 
 found a royal residence, it was accompanied by a great 
 pleasure park and preserve of wild animals, some of them 
 the savage carnivora, which Cyrus, he says, hunted on 
 horseback, when he desired to take exercise. It is remark- 
 able, moreover, that the name TrapdScio-os — by no means 
 a word of common occurrence in the Greek language, nor, 
 so far as I remember, ever used of any enclosed ground 
 within the confines of Greece proper, which is invariably 
 applied to these pleasure parks maintained for hunting 
 purposes — is identical with the word Paradise, otherwise 
 rendered Garden of Eden, in its primary terrestrial signi- 
 fication, which we have transferred to the seat of celestial 
 beatitude and repose hereafter. 
 
 The Greek and Roman writers, both in verse and 
 prose, abound with allusions to this heroic pursuit and 
 passion, which is attributed especially to their most favor- 
 ite and famous demigods. The legends of the Nemean 
 lion, the Caledonian boar, the tragical hunting of Acteon, 
 the tales of Cephalus and Procris, of the wild Thessalian 
 Centaurs, who nursed the martial vigor of the young 
 Achilles on the marrow of hunted bears and lions; of 
 Phoedra, Atalanta, Adonis the beloved of Venus, and above 
 all Diana, the huntress queen, with her attendant train of 
 nymphs, are familiar to all, and point evidently to a period 
 when, in the intervals of war and warlike forays, the chase 
 was the daily delight and occupation of the patriarchal 
 
INTEODDCTION. 21 
 
 hero-kings and their rude aristocracies, who held their 
 ancient sway over the scattered Argive or Ionic tribes, 
 from sandy Pylos and the blue waves of the Mediterranean 
 waters to the broad plains of Thessaly and the far hills, 
 
 That look along Epirus' valleys, 
 "Where freedom still at moments rallies 
 And pays in hlood oppression's ills. 
 
 In like manner, those great world-eonquerors, the Ro-. 
 mans — though, after they had attained to greatness, and 
 become, for the most part, city-dwellers, they were too 
 much occupied in the forum or the field, too busy in the 
 struggle for existence, or in the pursuit of empire, to give 
 much time to mere amusements, however manly or martial 
 in their tendencies — always continued in some degree to 
 hold the sports of the field in esteem and honor ; and no 
 young man was thought much the worse, if he did at times 
 neglect forensic duties and the "long business of his 
 clients," to couch him in the open field " beneath the 
 frigid Jupiter," awaiting the first gleam of the wintry 
 dawn, when he might hope 
 
 " latitantem excipere aprum fmticeto."* 
 
 It was not, however, until the advent of the Northern 
 deluge of invaders, Scythians, Huns, Scandinavians, Teu- 
 tons, Norsemen, that the hunting mania took permanent 
 
 * " To receive upon his spear the lurking wild boar, when it rushes 
 from the thicket." — Ear. 
 
22 MANUAL FOE YOUWG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 possession of the popular heart, in every land which yielded 
 to the sway of those warrior and hunter races. 
 
 And to this day, wherever a drop is to be found of that 
 fierce Northern blood surviving in the people's veins, there 
 you will find, and in no other land, the passion for the 
 chase alive and dominant. 
 
 In southern Europe, in the nations which speak the 
 soft bastard Latin, in Italy, Spain, Portugal, the shores 
 and isles of the Mediterranean, there is no hunter-spirit in 
 the people ; and even where the chase has been attempted, 
 as a regal pastime, by the rulers and the princes of the 
 lands, it has fallen dull and ineffectual, a mere mimicry 
 and simulacrum, of the genuine sport, and no more like 
 the real hunts-up, "than I to Hercules." 
 
 In the Teutonic wolds and woodlands, on the con- 
 trary, on the bleak mountain-tops and misty moors of 
 Scotia, in the deep green morasses of Hibernia, in the re- 
 joicing valleys, over the breezy downs, in the time-honored 
 forests of old England, among the perpetual snows of the 
 frore and frozen Alps, upon the broad and burnt karroos 
 of southern Africa, among Australian gum-trees or Cana- 
 dian pine-woods ; from the ghauts, from the grand peaks 
 of the Himalayas, to the stern flanks of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains and the skirts of the American salt desert, how gen- 
 uinely, how spontaneously burns the hunter ardor of the 
 Norse popidations. 
 
 So long as Britain remained provincial, the inhabitants 
 having become almost entirely Romanized, during four 
 centuries of subjugation, the chase, if it were followed at 
 aU, was but a desultory, casual and unsystematic pastime ; 
 
INTEODUCTION. 23 
 
 but SO soon as the Saxons obtained a foothold on the soil, 
 hunting with well-trained hounds, and the pursuit of fowls, 
 " along the atmosphere," by means of reclaimed falcons, 
 became at once a science, a systematized royal recreation, 
 and in the end^ as it has continued to this day, wherever 
 the Saxon and Norman strains of blood are extant, a popu- 
 lar passion. 
 
 During the reigns of the Saxon monarehs, to such an 
 extent was this sport carried by the nobles, that " the 
 sportsmen in the train of the great were so onerous on 
 lands, as to make the exemption of their visit a valuable 
 privilege ; hence a king liberates some lands from those 
 who carry with them hawks or falcons, horses or dogs." * 
 At the same time, so general had the taste become, that 
 statutes were framed, and even the church interposed its 
 censures, to prevent its abuse or misapplication. " Hunt- 
 ing t was forbidden by Canute on a Sunday. Every man 
 was allowed to hunt in the woods, and in the fields that 
 were his own, but not to interfere with the king's hunting." 
 The increase and prevalence of this recreation may be 
 judged of, by the fact, that the " Saxon Boniface | pro- 
 hibited his monks from hunting in the woods with dogs, 
 and from having hawks and falcons. " Even that weak, 
 impassive, priest-ridden, half-monk king, Edward the Con- 
 fessor, had " one earthly enjoyment in which he chiefly 
 delighted, which was hunting with fleet hounds, whose 
 opening in the woods he used with pleasure to encourage •, 
 and again, with the pouncing of birds, whose nature it is 
 
 » History of the Anglo Saxons. — Sharon Tkmer, 3, 38. 
 t Ibid. 3, 37. X Ibid. 3, 38. 
 
34: MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPOKTSMEN. 
 
 to prey on their kindred species. In these exercises, aftei 
 hearing divine service in the morning, he employed him- 
 self whole days. " * 
 
 Up to this time it would appear that game laws, such 
 as they were, had been enacted only with reference to the 
 maintenance of the liberties of all persons, the conservation 
 of good order and decorum, and the prevention of viola- 
 tions of the Sabbath ; not as yet with any bias to the pre- 
 servation of game, much less to interference with the natu- 
 ral rights of classes. 
 
 With the Norman conquest, however, while the passion 
 for the chase received a vast farther impetus ; while as a 
 science, under the gentle terms of venerie and woodcraft, 
 it was materially advanced ; while in its appliances of all 
 sorts, imported Andalusian coursers, partaking largely of 
 the desert blood, which has since rendered the English 
 horse so famous, imported hounds from Pomerania, Al- 
 bania, Germany, imported falcons from Norway, Iceland, 
 and the Hebrides, it was oarrieji forward to a systematic 
 completeness unheard of before, it was fenced in, as a royal 
 and aristocratic privilege, with forest laws so cruel, so 
 arbitrary and so stringent, as rendered the life of a red-deer, 
 or even the egg of a swan, a heron, a bittern, or a long- 
 winged hawk, more valuable than the blood of a low-born 
 man ; and finally it drove- a large proportion of the rural, 
 Saxon populace, into outlawry and direct rebellion, under 
 chiefs who have acquired immortality, like Eobin Hood 
 and his merrymen, through the medium of those contem- 
 
 * WiUiam of Malmestury'a Chronicle of the Kings of England.— 
 Book n. Chap. 13, p. 247, Bohn's edition. 
 
mTEODTTCTION. 25 
 
 poraneous ballads, ■which sound so truly in unison to the 
 chords of the popular heart. 
 
 Parcelled out, as greater and lesser fiefs, to the high 
 Barons of the realm, and again by them to their knightly 
 vassals, as were all the lands of England, as fast as they 
 were overrun and conquered by the equestrian army of 
 the Norman William and his successors ; the sole right 
 of following and taking game in the field, the forest, the 
 morass, of keeping animals or implements of the chase, was 
 vested firstly in the king, and secondly in the holder of 
 feudal and manorial tenures ; without the smallest refer- 
 ence to the ownership or cultivation of the soil. 
 
 By degrees the stringency and the cruelty of these 
 statutes were remitted ; and it is a curious fact, that the 
 cooperation of the Barons in securing the liberties of the 
 English people, as against the encroachment of the crown, 
 was induced mainly by their desire to abridge the royal pre- 
 rogative in the matter of the forest laws. 
 
 From this period, and the state of things then existing 
 unquestionably, dates the hunting spirit of the English 
 gentleman ; his addiction to field sports, in utter disregard 
 of climate, country, toil, hardship or exposure ; his jealousy 
 concerning manorial rights and the preservation of his 
 game ; qualities and ideas, which he carries with him into 
 whatever quarter of the globe he migrates, whether to the 
 snows of Canada, the unwatered barrens of Australia, the 
 pestilential brakes of Africa, or the tiger-haunted jungles 
 of Hindostan, 
 
 Ccelum non animum mutans^ si trans mare ourrat ; — 
 
 2 
 
26 MANtlAL FOB YOTXSra SPOETSMEN. 
 
 qualities and ideas, to which, though at times, perhaps, 
 pushed to extremes and degenerating into something of 
 license, he yet owes much of his excellence ; and for which 
 his country has a right to be proud and thankful, in that 
 she may rely on him to rough it, as the noble of no .other 
 land can do, in the hour of toil and trouble. 
 
 And this brings me to the gist and bearing of this my 
 introduction. When first it was my fortune to become a 
 dweller on the Atlantic seaboard of the United States, to 
 be a lover of field-sports, was in some sort to be tabooed, 
 as a species of moral and social pariah — the word sports- 
 man was understood to mean, not him who rises with the 
 dawn, to inhale the pure breeze of the uplands or the salt 
 gale of the great south bay, in innocent and invigorating 
 pursuit of the wild-game of the forest or the ocean wave ; 
 but him who by the light of the flaring gas-lamp watches, 
 flushed and feverish, through the livelong night, until the 
 morning star, to pluck his human pigeon over the green- 
 field of the faro table. The well-to-do merchant fweboded 
 no good of the younger man, who borrowed twenty-four 
 hours in a month from business and Walls-treet, for a 
 day's snipe-shooting at Pine Brook, or a day's fowling at 
 Jem Smith's. The lawyer, who, by chance, loved such 
 sports, took them on the sly — packed up his gun and shoot- 
 ing toggery in his carpet-bag, and stole across the Fulton 
 ferry in full court-fig, having the dread before his eyes, 
 of becoming, thenceforth, a briefless barrister, should but 
 one of his clients begin even to suspect that he knew the 
 butt-end of a Manton from its muzzle, much less could 
 
mTEODUCTION. 37 
 
 stop a cock in a July bralic, or land a four-pounder, with- 
 out a gaff, on a single gut. 
 
 It is a fact undeniable, and there be many yet alive, 
 beside myself, who know it, that, when T. Cypress, jun., 
 was inditing those exquisite bits of natural and sporting 
 humorism, his Pire-island-ana, and other similar morsels 
 of unsurpassed simplicity and art, which and which alone 
 have made his name to be remembered ; it was under the 
 strictest seal of secrecy that he communicated his produc- 
 tions to the favored few, who were allowed to introduce 
 them to the world, — it was in fear and trembling, in some 
 sort, that he saw himself in print ; and with a firm con- 
 viction that, if it should be once discovered, that he, a 
 practising counsellor of high standing in New York, was 
 actually guilty of the authorship of genre sketches, on 
 sporting subjects, second, if second only — as I think not 
 second, but superior — ^to Elia Lamb's best Essays, " Othel- 
 lo's occupation'' were done for ever. That to be an author 
 first, and then a lover of field-sports, must be the " deep 
 damnation" of any New York lawyer, though he were a 
 Blackstone himself, and a Coke upon him. 
 
 At that time no man, however fine a scholar, however 
 brilliant an artist, was held altogether reputable as an 
 associate, or entirely right in his mind, if he were not 
 wholly and solely devoted to business; and the only 
 business, which was esteemed business, in the eyes of the 
 wise men of Gotham, was that of making and hoarding 
 money. 
 
 In many respects matters have mended since that 
 time. It has been discovered that there are other uses for 
 
38 MANUAL FOE TOTING SPOETSMEN. 
 
 money besides hoarding it ; that a merchant may be just 
 as much Sir Oracle on Change, and that a lawyer may 
 hold fully as able an argument before a Supreme Court, 
 though he be able to read a French novel, to enjoy 
 an Italian Opera, or to have an opinion of his own con- 
 cerning the merits of Maud or Hiawatha ; that a native 
 poet is not, necessarily, an idle fellow, fit for nothing 
 rational or useful ; nor a profound historian a sad misap- 
 plier of his time and talents ; though still, be it said with 
 all humility, the last-named laborers in the vineyard are 
 far from holding the same place in society here, which 
 they do, and ought to do, every where else. 
 
 Still, while it must be admitted that some species of 
 mental culture and improvement, which were, but a few 
 years since, held to disqualify a man for success and 
 usefulness in life, are now tolerated, and even admitted, 
 if they do not prevent the main end of money-making ; it 
 cannot be denied, that all bodily recreations, all athletic 
 relaxations of the mind by alternation of physical eiforts, 
 all tastes and tendencies toward field-spoi:ts are as much or 
 more discountenanced by the grave men of cities, and less 
 practised by the gay j'oung men of society, than they have 
 been at any time before. 
 
 With the former, it is regarded as pretty much the 
 same, whether the young man, who has his way to make 
 in the world by a trade, an art, or a profession, borrow a 
 few hours or days from the counter, the studio, or the 
 closet, to unbend the overstretched bow of his intellect by 
 that needful exercise of the body, without which the mind 
 cannot be preserved sound ; or to waste them in morning 
 
rNTEODucnoN. 29 
 
 praetisings of polkas with fast girls, or in nocturnal battles 
 against the Tiger with fast men. 
 
 And as to the latter, one need no more than look at 
 the bleared eyes, sallow half-valanced faces, dwindled 
 lim'bs, undeveloped frames, and rickety gait of the rising 
 generation of those, who, by virtue of their natural ad- 
 vantages of wealth and position, ought to be the flower of 
 the land, to see that they are utterly degenerate both in 
 vigor of mind and stamina of body, and to prognosticate 
 them, if they wed — as doubtless they will wed — ^like to 
 like, with the fast, precocious, weedy beauties of the 
 polka-nursery, as 
 
 ^mox daturos 
 
 Progenien vitiosiorem* 
 
 Of late, I have observed with pleasure, that many of 
 the best and clearest intellects in America have perceived 
 the necessity of calling public attention strongly to this 
 peculiar feature of the American character and consti- 
 tution. One of the most eloquent, perhaps, the most 
 finished of American orators, has dwelt impressively on 
 the fact, that the headlong race and struggle, the earnest, 
 life-enduring and life-consuming contest, for advancement, 
 for wealth, for preeminence, for power ; beginning before 
 the gristle of youth is hardened into the bone o^ manhood 
 and ending only in the grave, is, in far too many instances, 
 never relaxed for a moment, to enable the competitor to 
 seek those changes and diversions from unremitting cure 
 and travail, which are as necessary to restore the tone of 
 
 * Soon about to produce a progeny yet more defective. — Hot. 
 
30 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOKTSMEN. 
 
 the mind, as are repose and sustenance to recruit the 
 forces of the body. 
 
 Even from the pulpit, the true sense of the word 
 recreation, which men are wont to use frivolously as 
 equivalent to pleasurable excitement, has been pointed 
 out — much doubtless to the wonderment of those ascetic 
 geniuses, who have set up their witness against all amuse- 
 ment — as if it were at best idle and unprofitable, if not 
 sinful in itself, apart from its consequences. 
 
 Much exercised, one can understand these Pharisees 
 to find themselves in the spirit, on discovering that this 
 re-creation, as they are wont to style it in their nasal self- 
 sanctification, is so called, because it has the acknowledged 
 potency, indeed, to re-ereate ; or make anew from the 
 beginning, and restore to all its pristine elasticity, lost 
 and worn out by overcarefulness concerning the things 
 of to-day, the mind, which has been actually unmade by 
 preternatural tension. 
 
 That relaxation of the overtasked mind is necessary 
 even to the maintenance, much more to the improvement 
 of its powers, has never at any period of the world been 
 doubted or disputed. 
 
 Neque semper arcum 
 Tendit Apollo—* 
 
 has at all times been a proverb with the most Draconian 
 of pedagogues ; and never surely was there a time, when 
 its value is so appreciable, as this age of high pressure 
 
 * Nor does Apollo always bend his bow. — Hor. 
 
INTKODUCTION. 31 
 
 when every thing, — education, business, politics, all that 
 concerns or interests mankind, is forced ahead without 
 stay or stop, whether for consideration or repentance, as if 
 by steam and electricity. 
 
 And if it be admitted, as I think it will not be denied, 
 that never was it more needful for the advantage, moral 
 and physical, of all classes, that some comprehensive plan 
 of rational diversion and relaxation from incessant labor 
 and anxiety should be devised and recommended — it will 
 scarcely, I think, be questioned or disputed, that never 
 was there more need that some measure of manliness 
 should be infused into the amusements of the youth of the 
 so-styled upper classes — the jeunesse doree — of the At- 
 lantic cities, some touch of manhood inoculated into the 
 ingenuous youths themselves. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that whatever faults, whatever 
 weaknesses, follies, deficiencies or vices, may be justly laid 
 to the charge of the English gentry and nobility, want of 
 manliness, of pluck to do or to endure, is not of them. 
 
 Of European armies alone the English is officered, 
 from its< subalterns to its commanders-in-chief, by the 
 gentry. In France, the nobility have long ceased to be 
 the nobility of the sword; the splendid hosts of the 
 French are officered entirely by ih& juste milieu. While 
 all other aristocracies are wholly eifete, effeminate, evi- 
 rated, field sports have preserved the English gentle- 
 man strong, at least, of body, capable to walk, to ride, 
 to endure cold, heat, hunger, weariness, wounds as well- 
 he could not do it better — as the meanest of his fellow- 
 countrymen or fellow-soldiers. 
 
32 MANCAL FOE YOFNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 Lamentable as has been tbe misconduct of the war. 
 disgraceful as the incapacity of the leaders of the war, 
 infamous, I had almost said treasonable, as the apathy and 
 nepotism of the home government, no word of blame has 
 found utterance concerning the pluck, the stamina, the 
 endurance, the devotion of the highly-born, softly-nur- 
 tured, noble subalterns of the English army. 
 
 They died in their stirrups in that appalling charge 
 at Balaclava, avenging themselves by tenfold slaughter 
 of their outnumbering foes — they rotted piecemeal in 
 those charnel trenches — they weltered in mute agony, in 
 that dreadful ditch of the Kedan, compelling their com- 
 rades in anguish to like silence by the wonderful example 
 of their young constancy. 
 
 Heaven knows I wish to draw no invidious distinctions, 
 or to institute odious comparisons, but I must be per- 
 mitted to doubt whether the Schottishing flower of young 
 York, who would shrink dismayed from the verge of 
 snipe-bog, and faint at the idea of a ten hours' July tramp 
 over the Drowned Lands after woodcock, would have shone 
 with much splendor in that hand-to-hand affai», in the 
 Valley of Death, or have come with the vivacity of the 
 Polka out of the semi-liquid, semi-frozen mud isf those dis- 
 astrous trenches. 
 
 Seriously speaking, I believe that over earnestness in 
 the pursuit of gain on the one hand, and over frivolity in 
 the pursuit of pleasure on the other, are two of the beset- 
 ting vices of the age ; and I farther believe, that a little 
 more charity and less austerity on the part of the old 
 and a great deal more manhood and less Miss Nancy- 
 
INTEODUOTION. :>:} 
 
 ishness on the part of the young men of our Atlautic 
 cities, are desiderata much to be desired. 
 
 For both complaints I would seriously recommend, as 
 a physician no less of the mind than of the body, moderate 
 doses of field sports, to be systematically taken, as the dis- 
 ciples of ^sculapius have it, pro re natd. 
 
 As I have, however, little faith in the docility, obe- 
 dience or teachability of the old men, it is principally to 
 the young men, and more especially to the young men of 
 pleasant rural villages, of flourishing inland cities, and of 
 the beautiful free country itself, from the pine forests and 
 clear trout-streams of the farthest East, to the boundless 
 prairies and towering crags of the farthermost West, that 
 I commend this my complete manual of field sports. And 
 this I will promise them, that, if they will follow my pre' 
 cepts in the letter and in the spirit, although I may fail to 
 turn them out very Nimrods and perfect Izaak Waltons, I 
 will at least put them in the way of acquiring what is 
 known, as the mens sana in corpore sano — in other words 
 a good appetite, a good digestion, a good constitution ; the 
 use of flieir limbs for the purposes to which the God of 
 nature intended them, " the slumbers light, that fly the 
 approach or morn;" the consciousness of living innocently 
 before God and manfully among men, and the certainty of 
 dying, when the time of death shall come, as it behooves 
 men to die, not misers or monkeys. 
 
'i.lJRR-C.D.W-H 
 
 THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 
 
 In the United States and British Provinces of North 
 America, as a general rule, shooting with the shot gun or 
 the rifle, must be regarded as the head and front of Field 
 Sports; and not, as is the case in Europe,*Becond, as a 
 tamer and far less exciting pursuit, to the glorious excite- 
 ment of the chase. 
 
 In the northern States of the Union and the British 
 Provinces, the extreme severity of the winters rendering 
 the country too hard to be run over by hounds or ridden 
 over on horses, except during a few weeks in the autumn, 
 and a few more in the first opening of the spring, as well 
 
THE GTTN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT 35 
 
 as the difficulty of the almost unjumpable timber fences, 
 nearly debar the possibility of fox or deer-hunting with 
 complete packs and mounted hunters. Nor, were it other- 
 wise, is it probable that this sport could ever become very 
 general or popular, owing to the dislike of farmers to have 
 their, fields crossed, and their fences broken down, by a 
 rout of hard-riding Nimrods. 
 
 Some years since, indeed, two packs of fox-hounds were 
 regularly kept up in full English sporting style, the one 
 at Washington, in the District of Columbia, by the gentle- 
 men of the British legation, while Sir Richard Vaughan 
 was at the head of it, the other at Montreal by the British 
 residents and the officers of the garrison. They languished, 
 however, in an uncongenial clime, and year by year were 
 less and less strenuously supported, until both have, I be- 
 lieve, fallen into total abeyance. 
 
 f In the southern States, where the seasons are not so un- 
 propitious to the sport, where the properties are much 
 larger, vested in fewer hands, and owned for the most part 
 by the wealthier classes, who themselves constitute the 
 sporting population, as in Maryland and Virginia, fox- 
 hunting is still carried on, to some extent, by the planters ; 
 though with none of that accuracy of detail and complete- 
 ness of appointment which attach to it, and render it so 
 magnificent, both as a spectacle and a sport, in England ; 
 and, it is believed, with decreasing spirit and smaller favor, 
 even in the imperfect manner which there obtains. 
 
 In the Carolinas, Georgia, and some of the south- 
 western States, deer-hunting on horseback with packs of 
 hounds prevails ; but even there the shot gun is the modus 
 
36 MAinJAL FOE YOTJNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 operandi, and the object of the hunter is to get a killing 
 shot, not to ride across the open to a long and slashing 
 run, and to be in at the death, when the quarry is pulled 
 down by the pack at the end of a gallant chase. Bears 
 are also hunted in the same style with packs of blood- 
 hounds in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, but there 
 the rifle does the execution, and the slaughter of the game 
 by that instrument, not the rapture of the pursuit, is the 
 end and aim of the pursuer. 
 
 The only sport which bears any considerable analogy 
 to hunting, as it is practised in Great Britain, is the 
 coursing of the stag or elk with greyhounds, as it is^ 
 within the last few years, beginning to be considerably 
 practised in some of the western prairie States; for in 
 that, as in the English chase, the pursuit of animal by 
 animal, the hunters and the hunted both, for the most 
 part in full view, and the keeping them in sight by the 
 speed of horses and by skill and daring in equestrianism, 
 are the sources of enjoyment and the ultimatum to be 
 obtained. 
 
 Still, this phase of the sport being yet, as it were, in 
 its infancy, few hounds of the peculiar race requisite being 
 thus far introduced, and the pursuit itself rather excep- 
 tional than of common practice, it must be admitted that 
 hunting, in the European, and more particularly British 
 sense of the word, is not an American field sport. The 
 pursuit of the larger animals of game, where they exist, 
 as the deer, the bear, the elk, the moose, the cariboo, and 
 perhaps I may add, the turkey; although it is usually 
 known in common parlance as hunting, is not properly 
 
THE GXm, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 37 
 
 such, but comes under one of three heads, — " stalking," 
 which is here generally termed still-hunting, where the 
 animal is followed by his sign, left on the soil, or on the 
 trees and coppice which he may have frayed, by the aid 
 of the eye and experience in woodcraft and the habits of 
 the quarry alone, without the assistance of hounds — 
 " stable-stand," where the sportsman, taking his station at 
 the intersection of deer-paths, at a haunted salt-lick, or at 
 a well-ascertained watering place, awaits the voluntary 
 advent of the animal, when he shall be impelled to move 
 ."by the solicitation of his own instincts — or, lastly, " dog- 
 draw," where, posting himself, as before, in such place as 
 he judges likely to be passed by the fugitive, the shooter 
 expects its coming when driven by slow hounds, who have 
 drawn for it, and aroused it from its lair, under the 
 guidance of his servants or companions. 
 
 The last terms " dog-draw " and " stable-stand," have 
 long ceased to be sporting words in England, those 
 methods of taking game having long fallen into disuse as 
 sport ; and the latter being practised rarely by the park- 
 .ieeper, only in killing the half-tame fallow deer for the 
 table — an animal, which is no more looked to for sport, or 
 regarded as a beast of chase, than a south-down sheep, or 
 a fatted calf. 
 
 They were, however, common in the olden time, when 
 a large portion of Great Britain was still covered with the 
 natural forest, in which the wild animals roamed nearly 
 unmolested, preserved by rigorous forest statutes, and 
 obtainable only as game for the table, by shooting them, 
 in one of the two methods described, with the cross-bow, 
 
38 MANUAL FOE TOTJNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 which then played, though less effectually, the part of the 
 unerring rifle. 
 
 Shooting is, therefore, as I have said, with one arm or 
 other, the head and front of all American field sports ; 
 since but one species, the fox, and that only in one or two 
 States, and in them but partially and exceptionally, is, 
 pursued and killed for sport, without the use of firearms. 
 While every other animal, which we follow for the excite- 
 ment of the pursuit, or for the sake of its flesh on the 
 table, from the gigantic moose and formidable grizzly bear 
 to the crouching hare, from the heaven-soaring swan or 
 hawnking wUd-goose to the " twiddling " snipe, is brought 
 to bag by means of the rifle, the fowling-piece, or the 
 ducking-gun; and to his thorough acquaintance, and 
 masterly performance, with one or all of these, in his own 
 line, the rank of the sportsman must be mainly attributed, 
 and his claim to preeminence ascribed. 
 
 I say, mainly attributable.-; because, although there 
 are many other qualifications which go to constitute the 
 accomplished sportsman, and without which, though he be 
 the best and surest marksman that ever drew a trigger or 
 squinted over a brown barrel, he has no right to arrogate 
 to himself the title of a true sportsman, it is on this that 
 he must rely. 
 
 These qualifications may be named generally, as the 
 art of breaking dogs, of managing them in sickness or in 
 health, in the kennel or in the field — the perfect acquaint- 
 ance with the habits, food, feeding-grounds, breeding sea- 
 sons, migrations and haunts or habitations of those 
 animals, whether of fur or feather, which are the objects 
 
THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 39 
 
 of his pursuit ; and, beyond these, the possession of gen- 
 eral information as to all the ruses, stratagems, and re- 
 sources adopted in, and adapted to, the life of a hunter, 
 which assist him not only in his first object, the overcom- 
 ing or circumventing the victim on which he is intent, but 
 on providing for the well-being and comfort, the subsist- 
 ing and conditioning, both in and after the chase, in the 
 forest or on the prairie, of himself and his companions, 
 brute or human, quadruped or biped. 
 
 Still, essential as all these things are to the character 
 of the real and thoroughbred forester, they are all of no 
 avail, unless he be skilful, prompt, swift, steady, deliber- 
 ate and sure with the shot-gun or the rifle, at all shots, 
 running, flying, bounding, crossing him to the right or 
 left, going from him, coming toward him, or at rest. 
 
 For of what use shall it be to him, though he have 
 the finest, the most thoroughbred, the best-broken, the 
 stanchest and fleetest dogaif though he bring them into 
 the field in the best condition of stoutness and of nose ; 
 though he be so well acquainted with the propensities and 
 natural history of the game he may be in search of, that 
 he know almost as it were instinctively, at each season of 
 the year, or at each hour of the day, on what ground to 
 look for it, where, almost to a certainty, to find it, how to 
 mark it down, whither to follow it up, how to bring hi.j 
 dogs upon its scent, to the best advantage ; if when it be 
 found, or flushed upon the wing, or started from its 
 covert, he cannot bring it down from its flight, or stop it 
 from its course in full career. 
 
 I have known many men in my life, both on this side 
 
40 MANUAL FOE TOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 and the other of the Atlantic, who have kept dogs which 
 they could not hunt, horses which they could not ride, 
 guns out of which they could not shoot ; lovers, or at 
 least, pretended lovers of a sport, which they assuredly 
 could not pursue to any profit, nor, so far as I can imagine, 
 to any possible pleasure ; who have yet fancied themselves, 
 and even been called by others — who knew even less about 
 it than they did themselves — sportsmen. But, though I 
 may have been willing to give them credit as good fellows 
 and promoters of sport for the benefit of others, I never 
 could be induced to prostitute, by bestowing it on such as 
 they, the noble appellation in which all, who have the 
 right to bear it, rejoice with so legitimate a pride and 
 pleasure. 
 
 This being admitted, therefore, it will necessarily fol- 
 low that the first thing to be done by the person aspiring 
 to be a sportsman is, to provide himself with a good and 
 effective weapon, and next, to obtain proficiency, in the 
 highest degree possible, in its use. 
 
 To both these ends, therefore, I shall devote a few 
 pages of instruction, founded on long experience, and 
 tested to my own satisfaction, at least, by the only sure 
 proof of practice. 
 
 I shall begin by assuming, what it needs no argument 
 to establish, that for game-shooting of smaller animals on 
 the field, there is but one weapon ; the double-barrelled 
 improved shot gun. For the most inveterate supporters 
 of the old flash-in-the-pan, flint-and-steel system have long 
 ago been compelled to abandon their prejudices on the 
 
THE GUN, AND HOW TO CIIOOS75 IT. 41 
 
 subject, and to conform to the progressive improvement of 
 the arm, or to fall behind the genius of the age. 
 
 It cannot be, perhaps, denied that, in point of force 
 and range, the flint and steel had some advantage over 
 the improved fowling-piece ; for the charge being more 
 slowly, vras more thoroughly ignited, so that nearly every 
 grain of powder in the load was burned before the shot 
 was expelled from the barrel ; whereas it is now not by 
 any means uncommon to find — as one may clearly observe 
 by firing a gun over new-fallen snow — at least one half of 
 the quantity driven out of the barrel, unconsumed, and 
 of course useless. 
 
 The other advantages of quickness, certainty of dis- 
 charge, sureness in all weather, in fogs or rain, or at sea, 
 accuracy of aim, absence of smoke from the priming which 
 often, especially in damp days, prevented a second shot, 
 and instantaneousness of explosion, so vastly counterbal- 
 ance the only existing drawback, that no man in his senses 
 would think of using a flint-and-steel gun, when another 
 could be procured. 
 
 Even in military service, where the obstinacy of rou- 
 tine and the economy qf governments always cause im- 
 provements to be most slowly adopted, and old exploded 
 systems to be most pertinaciously upheld, the improved 
 /"system has every where been adopted ; and in view of this 
 and the other improvements, as to range and accuracy, in 
 the new arms, it is not too much to say that any body of 
 men armed with the old soldier's musket, the far-famed 
 brown Bess, of the commencement of the present century, 
 must be annihilated in spite of all advantages of courage, 
 
42 MANUAL FOE YOUNG gPOETSMEN. 
 
 strength or discipline, if opposed to troops armed with 
 percussion and breech-loading minie-ri&es, which do not 
 miss fire once in fifty shots, and carry as many hundreds 
 of yards, with accuracy, as their predecessors did paces. 
 
 No one, again, it is presumed, who can afford the price 
 of a double gun, would be content to shoot with a single, 
 unless for ducking, where weight length and bore of such 
 magnitude are required, as to render two barrels unhandy 
 if not absolutely unmanageable ; since a fair shot will kill 
 at least a third more game in a day's shooting, beside 
 doing it in far more beautiful and artistic style with a 
 double than with a single fowling-piece. 
 
 The prettiest thing in the art of shooting, and that 
 which is the result of the highest skill and practice, so that 
 it may be regarded as nearly the perfection of sportsman- 
 ship, is the killing double-shots accurately, cleaul;y, and in 
 fine dashing style ; and I have never, certainly, seen a per- 
 son, who had any real claim to be considered a crack-shot, 
 or a fine working sportsman, who used a single barrel, 
 after he had attained years of maturity, and had become 
 a master of his craft. 
 
 For boys, just beginning to acquire the art of shooting, 
 single guns are, in some respects, preferable, because they 
 can be manufactured of sufficient strength, bore, and solid- 
 ity, to shoot well at fair distances, yet sufficiently light 
 to be managed by juvenile limbs ; where a double gun not 
 too heavy to be brought up to the shoulder cleverly by a 
 boy, must be either a mere plaything and pop-gun, or, if 
 of sufficient calibre and length to be at all effective, must 
 be so lightly put together and so deficient in metal, as to 
 
THE, &UN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 43 
 
 be absolutely dangerous. It is, moreover, perhaps a trifle 
 more difEicult to learn to take aim over a single barrel, 
 the double hammers tending, in some degree, to guide the 
 eye along the elevation, so that when the young sportsman 
 is promoted to the height of his ambition, the possession 
 of a double-barrel, he will readily come into its use, and 
 find it, apart from its superior weight, the easier of the two 
 to direct rapidly and effectively toward its object. , 
 
 There is, moreover, clearly, less danger of accident, 
 which is a matter calling for much attention from begin- 
 ners, where there is only a single trigger to be drawn and 
 a single explosion to be guarded against. A very effective 
 gun of fourteen gauge and twenty-eight inches, with extra 
 lock, capable of doing its work cleanly and well at forty 
 yards, can be turned out, not to exceed five pounds in 
 weight, at a reasonable price. Whereas a double-barrel 
 of the same weight could not be manufactured of any thing 
 like responsible materials, strength and solidity, of a cali- 
 bre to exceed eighteen or twenty, with a length of two 
 feet ; a very useless and inefficient tool, incapable of oper- 
 ating, with any certainty, beyond twenty-five or thirty 
 yards ; and one necessarily useless for any purpose, after 
 its owner shall have acquired power to wield the weapon 
 of a man ; whereas the single piece of the same weight 
 would always retain its utility, and be a handy and ser- 
 viceable gun for ordinary purposes. 
 
 The first thing desirable, then, for every sportsman, 
 I hold to be, to furnish himself with the best and most 
 available gun, as an instrument, suited to the purpose for 
 which he requires it, at a price suited to his means. 
 
i4 MANUAL FOE TOOTTG SPOETSMBN. 
 
 First, the gun must be a good one in itself, well built, 
 of good materials, strong, sound, and safe by the excel- 
 lence of metal and superiority of finish, which also produce 
 efficient carrying of its charge, rapid firing, and clean 
 killing. 
 
 Secondly, the gun must particularly suit the indi- 
 vidual owner ; for one gun will no more suit all men, than 
 one coat will fit all wearers ; and no man can any more 
 shoot well with a gun that does not come readily to his 
 shoulder and fairly to his eye, than he can be at ease in a 
 coat two sizes under his fit, or wallc a foot-race in boots 
 that pinch him. According to the length of the shooter's 
 arms and neck, must be the length and curvature of the 
 stock, from the heel-plate to the breech ; and that which 
 constitutes a perfect fii, if I may use the word in reference 
 to a gun, is this — that its weight being in due proportion 
 to the size, strength, and comfort of the shooter, when it 
 is raised deliberately to the shoulder, the right hand 
 grasping the gripe, with its fore-finger on the trigger, and 
 the left hand supporting the barrels immediately in front 
 of the trigger guard, it shall come so justly and handily 
 to the face, that, the cheek being naturally lowered, with- 
 out consideration or adjustment, the eye may clear the 
 level of the breech, and at once find the sight at the end 
 of the barrels, precisely on its own level. If the eye, 
 above the breech, find any part of the barrel in view 
 between itself and the sight, the stock is certainly too 
 straight ; and possibly too short also. If the sight appear 
 sunk below th-> breech, and it be necessary to advance the 
 left hand, and so elevate the muzzle, in order to bring it 
 
THE GTIN, XSJ} HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 45 
 
 into the plane of vision, the stock is certainly too crooked, 
 and not improbably too long. If, on the other hand, the 
 eye palpably over-ranges the breech, or fails to reach it 
 when the head is naturally couched to the aim, the stock 
 is, in the first place, manifestly too short, in the second, 
 as much too long. 
 
 An ordinary shot will, by no possibility, shoot decently 
 well with a gun defective on either side. A very crack 
 shot, indeed, perfectly deliberate, and carrying all his ex- 
 perience and practice continually in his mind, will, after a 
 few shots, probably, so adapt his aim, by elevating his line 
 of sight, or by depressing the muzzle of his piece, as to 
 kill his shots; but he will never do so in his usually 
 beautiful, sharp, clean, unhesitating style — for the posture 
 of his head will necessarily be forced and unnatural ; the 
 gun will, as necessarily, not hold its correct natural posi- 
 tion and purchase against the hollow of his shoulders; 
 and, furthermore, the shooter will be obliged constantly to 
 adjust his aim and search about for his object ; instead of 
 finding it precisely in its proper relative position to his 
 eye, as soon as the butt touches his shoulder. 
 
 This fitness of a gun to the shooter, can only be ascer- 
 tained by himself, how little soever he may know about a 
 gun ; and he must not think of selecting a friend, how 
 competent a judge of fire-arms soever, to choose for him, 
 in this particular ; though, in all other regards, he will be 
 unwise, indeed, if he do not obtain and defer to judgment. 
 
 Whether the gun comes truly to his shoulder and eye, 
 he must try himself, and he may easily do it — thus : 
 
 Let him, wearing any easily -fitting coat, accustomed to 
 
46 MANUAL FOE TOTING SPOETSMEN. 
 
 his sliape, and buttoned at the throat, place himself in a 
 natural position, having the left foot advanced about 
 eighteen inches ; let him seize the gripe of the gun, as I 
 have described above, with the right hand, having its fore 
 finger on the trigger ; let him place the left hand edgewise, 
 under the barrel, immediately in front of the trigger guard, 
 with which his palm will be in contact ; and keeping hia 
 muzzle directly in front of him and his butt below his right 
 elbow, hold his right hand close to his hip. Thus, let him 
 raise the piece, steadily and deliberately, so that the heel- 
 plate shall be brought evenly and firmly in contact with 
 the hollow of the shoulder, and bend his head naturally, 
 without any effort or attempt at adjustment, to the cheek- 
 piece of the stock. Then, if the gun suit the holder, the 
 eye will find itself accurately laid on the level of the 
 breech, and the sight will meet its first glance, as if it rose 
 from the base, instead of the muzzle of the gun ; for the 
 whole length of the elevated rib, along which the eye 
 ranges, being exactly on the plane of the breech, howso- 
 ever elevated or depressed, will be as completely unseen 
 as if it had no existence. 
 
 Consequently, when a deliberate point-blank aim is 
 taken at a lifeless or motionless object, all, of which the 
 eye will be conscious, is the breech of the piece, with the 
 metallic sight rising above it, and set off by the substance 
 of the mark aimed at, as if by a background immediately 
 in contact with it. 
 
 If this be not the case, without a second adjustment of 
 
 the aim, after the gun shall be brought to the face — much 
 
 ..ore if it cannot be made to be the case at all, owing to 
 
THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 47 
 
 an incorrigible variance of its build to the formation of the 
 shooter — the gun may be thrown aside ; and farther trials 
 resorted to, uutil a piece be found possessing the necessary 
 length and curvature of the stock. 
 
 In addition to this, the pull on the trigger necessary 
 to the release of the tumbler, should be tested, and ascer- 
 tained to be agreeable to the finger and nerve of the in- 
 tended purchaser. 
 
 The way of ascertaining the exact force requisite to 
 discharge the gun, is to hold it muzzle upward at full cock, 
 when the weight attached to the trigger, which will cause 
 the hammer to fall, is the measure of power needful.. 
 
 This power is very variable. In bad, ill-finished, ill- 
 filed and insufficiently burnished locks, it is ex necessitate 
 great. In coarse military weapons, intended for the use 
 of men with hard, heavy hands, insensitive, nervous systems, 
 and dull natures, as ordinary fighting men, the pull is in- 
 tentionally made heavy ; in order to counteract the occur- 
 rence of accidental discharges. The power required for 
 the drawing the trigger of an old-fashioned soldier's mus- 
 ket varies from fourteen to sixteen pounds. That for the 
 firing of the most highly finished and best London made 
 fowling-piece is from four to four and a half pounds ; that 
 of a hair-trigger about one to one and a half pouuds. 
 
 Common Birmingham, or German guns, are exceed- 
 ingly various in this respect, ranging from two to ten or 
 twelve pounds power. 
 
 Now, it must be remembered, that, while too heavy a 
 pull annoys the firer, frustrates his aim, and, in nine cases 
 out of ten, causes him to overshoot his mark ; too light a 
 
48 MANUAL FOE TOtlNa SPORTSMEN. 
 
 pull is dangerous, since a lock which works so easily as at 
 two pounds pressure, or under, is liable to be put in mo- 
 tion by an unconscious touch, or even by a jar from a 
 touch or fall. In common, low-priced guns, such easiness 
 is invariably owing to weakness and deficiency, and always 
 augurs danger. 
 
 To the beginner, this attention to the pull is compara- 
 tively a matter of indifference ; since his unmade finger 
 readily forms and adapts itself to any pull. Still, it is advi- 
 sable that he should early accustom himself to the true pull, 
 which he must one day adopt. At first, it is well to use 
 rather a hard-going gun, say of four or five pounds pressure, 
 but no higher. It is easy to come down from a heavy to a 
 light pull, but almost impossible to make the other ex- 
 change. 
 
 The best shot, who was ever born, and who had been 
 accustomed for half a life to triggers of four pounds power, 
 would not be able, after daily practice for six months, to 
 shoot, up to his own force, with triggers of eight or ten 
 pounds. Both triggers of a double gun should, moreover, 
 yield to precisely the same pressure ; and, if a man desire 
 to shoot equally and evenly, all his guns, pistols, and rifles 
 should go accurately to the same pull, even his heavy 
 ducking guns — stancheon or punt guns alone excepted, 
 which for reasons hereafter to be stated require a hard and 
 heavy hand : hair-triggers, for all field purposes, I utterly 
 eschew. If a rifleman cannot shoot close enough with a 
 four pound pull, he will not do so with a hair-trigger. 
 
 More shots in the field are missed by too rapid, than 
 by too slow firing. Nervousness and excitement are, nine 
 
THE GUN, AUD HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 49 
 
 times out of ten, the cause of missing; and, whether on 
 the duelling ground, or in the sporting field, the bravest 
 and coolest man will be a shade more hasty and excited, 
 than in the shooting gallery or the target ground. There- 
 fore, no hair-triggers for me ! 
 
 Now, then, it has been shown briefly, and I trust com- 
 prehensively, above, how to choose a gun in reference 
 solely to its peculiar fitness and adaptation of form, length, 
 weight, manageableness, &c., to the individual purchaser, 
 wholly apart from its intrinsic goodness of metal, work- 
 manship, finish or effectiveness. If it be of such weight 
 that he can handle it readily and rapidly, and can carry 
 it without fatigue during a long and hot day's shooting — 
 if it come up truly and quickly to his eye — if its trigger 
 yield to a pull which requires no jerk or effort, in the 
 first instance, the gun may be said to suit the persou. 
 
 Of its intrinsic value much more remains to be said. 
 I do not by any means propose, in this place, to follow 
 the example of many of my predecessors in the composi- 
 tion of works of this order, an example I think " more 
 honored in the breach than the observance," in attempting 
 an elaborate description of the various kinds of metal, the 
 varieties of workmanship, much less the manifold processes 
 used in, or applied to, the manufacture of fowling-pieces ; 
 or in pretending to disclose all the various tricks of the 
 trade, and to show how the latter may be certainly de- 
 tected by the purchaser. 
 
 "Were I to undertake the first, I should, in all proba- 
 bility, show myself incapable of the task ; for few amateurs, 
 even of those the best informed, are competent to describe, 
 B 
 
50 MANUAL FOE TOTTNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 perhaps to comprehend, the materials and mechanism of a 
 first-rate gun ; although they may be perfectly capable of 
 deciding on the quality of the gun when manufactured. 
 If I should succeed in explaining these matters correctly, 
 it is still very certain that the best of such explanations 
 convey but a limited degree of information to readers, and 
 necessarily fail of enabling them to judge for themselves. 
 I know few cases in which the old saying, " that a little 
 knowledge is a dangerous thing," is more justly evinced 
 than this. A little knowledge will probably suflSce to 
 render the possessor of it satisfied of his own ability to 
 choose for himself; and, rejecting the aid of experience, he 
 will probably get cheated for his pains. 
 
 It is, in fact, a very difficult task for any person, from 
 inspection, to detect with absolute certainty the nature of 
 the metal of which the barrels are composed. In old 
 times horseshoe-nails, wrought into wire or ribbon form, 
 and welded together, were the basis of what were then 
 the best barrels, known as stub-twist. The use of horse- 
 nails has latterly decreased, owing to the deterioration of 
 the iron used in their formation ; and old carriage springs 
 of wrought steel, mixed with Wednesbury iron, which is 
 generally used and known in the trade as stub-iron, are 
 now principally adopted for the manufacture of the best 
 ordinary twisted barrels. " Gunmakers themselves," says 
 an accurate and able English writer on field-sports, Stone- 
 henge, in his manual of British Rural Sports, " are often 
 deceived ; and therefore it is reasonable to suppose that 
 no inspection, which an amateur can make, will detect the 
 defect in the quality of the iron or workmanship. No one 
 
THE GUIT, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 51 
 
 should buy a cheap gun, who values his life or limbs ; at 
 all events, he should be careful to have the recommenda- 
 tion of some one who really understands his business, 
 before he trusts to one." 
 
 It is my own opinion, that the only way by which one 
 can be morally certain — physically one can not be certain 
 of the quality of a gun — is by dealing with a house of 
 established character and reputation, who have therefore 
 credit to lose and name to sustain. And by the word 
 house, be it understood, I mean gunsmiths or gunmakers, 
 and not importing-liardware-'man''s house. From the 
 former, if he state frankly the manner of gun he desires, 
 the price to which he means to go, and leave himself to 
 the just dealing of the firm, the purchaser will probably, 
 in nine cases out of ten, be fairly dealt with and well- 
 suited. From the latter, do what he may, he never will, 
 and never can, obtain a safe or decent piece ; because 
 such men do not themselves know any thing about the 
 quality or character of the guns they are selling, merely 
 purchasing them in the lump, by invoice, according to 
 sample, to sell again singly at ten dollars, or at fifty, or at 
 a hundred, each, including all the intermediate prices ; 
 all being guns precisely of the same intrinsic worth, but 
 valued at more or less, according as they are filed down, 
 French varnished, damascened by aid of acids, tricked out 
 with German silver, and fitted up complete with velvet- 
 lined eases and all appurtenances and means to boot, from 
 the wholesale furnishing shops of Birmingham, and its 
 vicinity. 
 
 A good judge of a gun, by careful examination of all 
 
52 MAN TTAT, FOE TOTING SPOBTSMEN. 
 
 its parts ; of its finish, engraving, the filing, buffing, and 
 working of its locks, and by testing its firing, will be 
 able to pronounce, with something nearly approaching 
 to certainty, on the value of a fine gun; and, from 
 its value and its finish, to satisfy himself whether it 
 be or be not turned out of the shop of the builder 
 whose name it professes to bear ; since, be it known, 
 the names of makers of guns are forged much more 
 easily, much more frequently, and with much less risk 
 of detection, or of punishment if detected, than are those 
 of the makers of securities and powers of attorney. 
 
 I have certainly seen many hundreds of guns, un- 
 questionably short of three English pounds sterling value, 
 to this original Birmingham wholesale manufacturer, bear- 
 ing the names of Richards, Lancaster, Moore, and Joe 
 Manton, sold in the United States, and shown by the pur- 
 chasers as authjutic productions of those makers, at prices 
 varying from 50 to 150 dollars ; for no one of which 
 would I have given a ten-dollar bjU — and this in the teeth 
 of the fact, which every one knows, or might know, if he 
 chose to learn, that not one of those makers ever sold a 
 gun at home, for much less than twice the largest sum 
 mentioned. 
 
 Now, having satisfied himself, by examination of the 
 finish, and by fixing the actual value of the gun, that it is 
 the work of such and such a maker — which, if much 
 acquainted with the work of eminent makers, he will do 
 the more readily, that all of these have in some sort a 
 peculiar style and character of their own — an amateur 
 may at once rest content, that the workmanship is not out 
 
THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 53 
 
 of pfoportion to the goodness of the material ; and, in 
 short,' that the weapon is, what it assumes to be, first-rate. 
 
 For instance, an amateur, who is a tolerable judge, can 
 easily recognize a lock of the first and finest quality, and 
 distinguish between it and one even slightly inferior, on a 
 very cursory examination. So he can judge, also, posi- 
 tively of the finish, fitting, and mechanism of every part 
 of the stock, there being nothing in the whole gun where- 
 in the hand of the master more clearly renders itself 
 visible. Now, if the locks and stock be manifestly of 
 first-rate quality and workmanship, if they show in those 
 niceties, for which every judge knows where to look, the 
 skill of the cunning craftsman, the appearance of the 
 barrels outwardly corresponding to the details of the rest, 
 the purchaser need not fear but that there is " that within 
 that passeth show '' — for it is not the habit, nor would it 
 be worth the while of any workman to bestow labor of the 
 most costly description, that which is the best paid, and 
 to be procured with the most difficulty at any terms, on 
 materials intrinsically valueless. 
 
 Again, it is only gunmakers of the superlative class, 
 who can command or furnish such work ; and their charac- 
 ter and interest must alike prohibit them from the practice 
 of low rascality, which must be ultimately, and, to them- 
 selves ruinously, detected. Thus, undoubtedly, many an 
 old sportsman of intelligence and observation, who has had 
 the advantage of long experience of the works of a num- 
 ber of distinguished gunmakers, who has compared them 
 with one another, and contrasted them against the highly- 
 finished pretending shams of the furnishing shops, and the 
 
54r MiNUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEK. 
 
 mere rubbish of the Birmingham, German, and Belgian 
 wholesale manufactories, will readily decide on tha value 
 of a gun in all respects, including the quality of the 
 metal, and the unseen workmanship of the barrels. In 
 the latter respect, however, his opinion will be induced 
 mainly by analogous reasoning, and not by indirect scien- 
 tific judgment ; though, of course, he will, even in this re- 
 spect, fully appreciate the difference between fine, common, 
 and very inferior work. 
 
 As to what is the best quality of modern barrels, the 
 difference of opinion is so great, that it may almost be 
 said that no two sportsmen are of the same mind. Every 
 species of barrel, cast-steel, laminated steel, daraascus- 
 twist, stub-twist, has its admirers and defamers; all of 
 whom are charged by their adversaries with deciding, and 
 many of whom probably do decide in many cases, as much 
 from prejudice, as from sound judgment. Many believe ex- 
 clusively in laminated steel barrels ; others hold them to 
 be utterly valueless and dangerous. Some adhere to the 
 stub-and-twist ; while others, again, admitting that these 
 were of old the best of all, assert that, the stub-nail iron, 
 having lost its original high quality, the new substitutes 
 have outstripped them. In the same manner some persons 
 prefer fine wire-twist, some damascus-twist, and so on. 
 
 I do not pretend to say that I have not my own 
 opinions, though I do not wish to set up for infallibility, 
 or to assert that I have no possible bias, although as- 
 suredly I am not aware of any ; and, for such opinions as 
 I have, I can in some sort assign a reason. 
 
 My own preference is, I confess, for the stub-twist 
 
THE QXm, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 55 
 
 barrels, now as of old, as the strongest, safest, and, above 
 all, tke least easy iu whicli to bo deceived ; and if it be 
 admitted that the modem stub-iron is inferior in toughness 
 to the old horse-nail stuff — which, however, I cannot hold 
 to be sufficiently proved — I still consider it, when of the 
 best quality, to be of superior tenacity, and consequently 
 a safer metal, than even the best laminated steel. I am 
 aware that this opinion of mine is diametrically opposed to 
 that of the advocates of the steel barrels, and that tables 
 and scales of tenacity and endurance, as proved by experi- 
 ment, have been published, leading to a different conclu- 
 sion ; but it is well known that great changes take place 
 in the crystallization of metals and the arrangement of 
 their component particles, long after they have become 
 perfectly cool, and indeed long after they have been in 
 use, which, according to one theory, causes these changes. 
 These changes, it is admitted, when they occur, render the 
 metal vastly more brittle than it was in the first form, and 
 consequently dangerous. 
 
 Now I am not satisfied that the trials, on which the 
 alleged comparative tenacity of laminated steel is assumed, 
 have been carried far enough, in relation to time ; and I 
 am all but entirely convinced, that dangerous cases df 
 bursting have been more frequent, and, when they have 
 occurred, more complete and terrible, in the laminated 
 steel barrels of the highest quality and price, than in any 
 other description of barrels of equal supposed and guar- 
 anteed quality. I am certain it is more difficult to judge 
 by their exterior appearance of what they are made, than 
 it is of any other work. 
 
56 MAITUAL rOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 The latter objectiou, also, militates strongly against 
 the damascene-twist barrels, which may be, and are so 
 exactly imitated by means of etching with acid, and high- 
 finishing afterward, that it will puzzle the best amateur 
 to pronounce positively which is the real and which is the 
 imitated article. 
 
 It is further alleged, that in twisting and re-twisting 
 the metallic threads to the degree necessary to produce 
 the beautiful wavy appearance, which procures for this 
 species of work the name of damascus — as if it were analo- 
 gous to the celebrated method of scymitar-making, now 
 lost, which it is known not to be — the tenacity of the 
 separate fibres is destroyed. This question I leave to the 
 expert, not being suiEciently informed to venture an 
 opinion. The fact, however, that there is an apparently 
 reasonable doubt existing among those best capable of 
 speaking to the book, as to the toughness and tenacity of 
 the component parts of these two species of metal, and as 
 danger is inextricably connected with error, I judge it 
 best to hold to the safe side ; the rather, that no one 
 will deny imposition to be both easier, and of more 
 common occurrence in these, than in any other form of 
 barrels. 
 
 It tells, also, disadvantageously for the damascened 
 twist, that one rarely, if ever, sees one by any of the 
 great London or, even Birmingham houses. I am cer- 
 tain that I have never seen a damascus-twist gun by 
 Purday, Manton, Moore,.Lancaster, or — I think — Westley 
 Richards ; though I will not say that none such exist. 
 Their rarity, however, goes to indicate that they are not 
 
57 
 
 approved by those makers. Laminated steel guns I lia^ c 
 oertainly seen of rare beauty and finish, and of excellent 
 performance, by many makers of high standing and repu- 
 tation ; as Greener, Ellis, Dean and Adams, and others ; 
 still, in truth, I can only say I do not like them — 
 
 timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. 
 
 I have seen Belgian guns, the best, I think, of all the 
 Belgian work I have met, of the damascened twist, which, 
 to a sound and safe appearance, have united good per- 
 formance, and have stood well in service. But I have 
 never seen any foreign European work, which for per- 
 formance in the field and in long endurance can compare 
 with the best English. Le Page, of Paris, turns out, 
 unquestionably, the best French work. I have seen little 
 Belgian, and no German work, I mean on fowling-pieces, 
 not rifles or pistols, which I would care to own. 
 
 In reference to laminated steel and damascus-twist 
 barrels, I will state here one fact, which may be of use 
 to novices, and on the correctness of which they r. ay rely. 
 Exceedingly cheap guns of both these descriptions, are to 
 be found in every hardware and every gunsmith's shop. 
 These are, invariably, shams of the worst and most 
 atrocious kind — infinitely worse than the common rubbish, 
 for the most part, which professes to be little more than 
 rubbish ; since the very catchpenny frippery and fret- 
 work are merely put on to cover flaws and conceal the 
 real fibre of the metal. There never was such a thing 
 made in the world, as a low-priced, damascened twist or 
 3* 
 
58 MA2JUAL FOE YOUNG SPOKTSMBN. 
 
 laminated steel barrel. The labor necessary to produce 
 them reed, causes them of necessity to be dear. There- 
 fore, if a cheap one be offered to the merest tyro, let him 
 instantly reject it, without a second glance ; and as he 
 values his life, let him not fire it off. 
 
 I do not, of course, mean to say that every cheap gun 
 must necessarily burst ; but I do say that, against each 
 one, severally, the odds are heavy that it will, at some 
 time or other, apart from any carelessness of the shooter, 
 fail in some part of its mechanism ; and then, woe to the 
 holder. No length of acquaintance with such a gun, no 
 goodness of its performance — and I have seen some for 
 which I would not have given a dollar, and which I would 
 not have fired for a hundred, shoot more than passably — 
 can justify the slightest confidence in it. On the con- 
 trary, the more times one may have fired it with impunity, 
 so much the greater are the odds against him that he will 
 do so again ; as any one would say of a person who should 
 undertake to draw the fusee of a live shell with his teeth, 
 or to lie down on a railroad track before the engine, in the 
 expectation of being picked up safely by the cow-catcher. 
 
 By the word loiv-priced guns, I mean, as a general rule, 
 in reference to buying a safe and serviceable piece, any- 
 thing like new, with two barrels and the smallest show of 
 exterior ornament, cheaper than fifty dollars. 
 
 Of the mere rubbish of the German, and nameless 
 English wholesale-murder-manufactories, sold at prices 
 varying from three to twenty dollars, it is almost useless 
 to write ; since it is scarcely to be supposed that any one, 
 who reads, ever thinks of buying such. They are mere 
 
THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 59 
 
 cast-iron, in all parts, except the lock-springs, and I should 
 about as soon fire one with a reasonable charge, as I would 
 hold a hand-grenade in my fingers until it should explode. 
 
 My opinion, preference and recommendation, therefore, 
 are decidedly in favor of the best English stub-and-twist 
 barrels that can be obtained for the price the individual 
 sportsman can command ; of which I shall speak anon. It 
 may be presumed, I suppose, that every person who has 
 the taste and means to follow field-sports at all, intends to 
 follow them to the best of his ability, and to fit himself 
 out with the best appliances and outfit his circumstances 
 will command. Not because I take it for granted, with 
 old Izaak Walton and some modern enthusiasts, that a 
 sportsman is of necessity a larger-hearted and freer-handed 
 fellow than his neighbor — for I must acknowledge to 
 having been cognizant, in my day, of some very bitter 
 screws among sportsmen, though, on the whole, I think 
 they may claim to be above average — but because it is 
 manifestly for their interest and their pleasure, for once, 
 in their case synonymous, to be so. 
 
 I shall, therefore, proceed to speak of the work pro- 
 duced by different makers, of different localities ; first, in 
 their relative scale of excellence ; second, in their relative 
 scale of price. Lastly, I shall state my own views as to 
 the comparative ratio of excellence and price combined ; 
 and the method of purchasing suitably to comparative 
 pockets. It must be remembered, that, in all this, I pro- 
 fess only to give my own opinions, not to claim for them 
 infallibility, or even superiority to the opinions of others. 
 I have had some experience, and some opportunities of 
 
60 MATiTTTAT, FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEIsr. 
 
 judging, and according to these, I have formed conclusions 
 which I believe — as most men do of their own conclusions— 
 to be correct and sound. These I proceed to give, some- 
 times with reasons in brief, sometimes, where to reason 
 would be too long, simply as conclusions, for the benefit 
 of those who have either formed no opinions at all, or hold 
 them in abeyance, subject to farther experience. 
 
 I wish to interfere with no man's notions, which are 
 his own peculiar property ; and with no man's legitimate 
 business — the sale of condemned and perilous fire-arms I 
 do not esteem a legitimate business — and this I think it 
 well here to state, because, some years since, I was assailed 
 in a most ungentlemanly and unjust manner by anonymous 
 scribblers, in various journals— most of them directly set 
 on by persons who were interested in the sale of articles 
 to which I did not choose to award jlraise ; some doubtlo. a 
 actuated by mere prejudice in favor of some old gun of 
 their own, and consequently of its maker — for presuming 
 to recommend certain guns, made by a certain maker, all 
 of which, by the way, have given the hig>.est satisfaction, 
 to their purchasers, and for recording my preference of 
 London to provincial English makers. 
 
 This preference, I again beg most distinctly, and if 
 possible, more distinctly than before, to record. And I 
 am fully aware and confident that no sportsman, who ever 
 owned a first-class gun, made by a first-class London ma- 
 ker, ever did or ever will exchange it for any other gun 
 in the world. And that no sportsman, who has examined 
 and tried the two articles, and whose pocket will afford 
 the expense of the London maker's gun, will ever order 
 one from the best provincial. 
 
THE GUN, AlfD HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 61 
 
 The reason of this superiority of the London makers, 
 is easy to be discovered. London concentrates the largest 
 number of the wealthiest men and the best sportsmen and 
 judges, consequently of the largest and best huyers in the 
 kingdom, probably in the world — men who will have noth- 
 ing but what i^the best, and will have the best, whatever 
 it may cost. 
 
 Therefore, the most ambitious, enterprising, intelligent, 
 best, master-gunmakers make London their head-quarters ; 
 they, finding that nothing but the best work will do, and 
 that for it they can realize the best prices, must have the 
 best workmen to execute that work, and, to have the men, 
 must pay the best prices, and do so. 
 
 Hence the most intelligent and best mechanics are con- 
 stantly drawn from the provinces to the metropolis ; and 
 so soon as any one becomes known as a fine craftsman in 
 any division of the work, he is sought for, and knowing that 
 he can command larger wages in London, beside a wider 
 sphere of fame, than he can in his province, at once moves 
 thither ; for it needs not to premise that no man works 
 for small wages, who can command large, for the same 
 amount of labor. 
 
 Hence, London work is necessarily, naturally, and by 
 admission of the most competent judges, the best; and 
 comparatively, that of the highest reputed and highest 
 priced London makers is the best of London work. For, 
 although we may say fashion has much to do with it, very 
 few men of the very richest — unless they chance to be 
 natural fools — ^will prefer giving sixty to forty guineas for 
 any article of purchase, unless they honestly believe the 
 
62 MATJnAT. FOK YOUNG SPOBTSMElf. 
 
 sixty-guinea article to be intrinsically worth its value 
 above that which they can buy for forty. 
 
 Generally, it may be assumed that the sixty-guinea 
 maker pays higher wages than his competitor who sells 
 for forty. It may be answered the price is sustained by 
 the name. Be it so ; the name must have been originally 
 gained by something beyond luck — for luck never made a 
 fowling-piece ; and by that something which gained it, the 
 name must be sustained. That something is superior 
 workmanship — in all such houses the best of material may 
 be assumed — and I believe fully that the workmanship of 
 the highest priced is superior to that of the lower priced 
 London maker, in full proportion to the superiority of his 
 charges ; and I believe the same thing to be yet more 
 clearly the case, as between the London and the provincial 
 maker. 
 
 I perceive that this opinion is not likely to be the 
 popular one, for there are of course fifty men, especially in 
 this country, who will buy a Westley Richards gun for 
 two hundred dollars, where there is one who will buy a 
 London gun for twice that sum. And as every man who 
 owns a gun, believes it, and is prepared to maintain it, to 
 be the best gun in the world ; therefore there are always 
 fifty hest Westley Richards guns, where there is one best 
 London gun. Again, every gunmaker so soon as he ascer- 
 tains that his customer will go as high as the price of a 
 Westley Richards', but cannot be possibly induced to rise 
 to a London value, assures him, in the most positive man- 
 ner, that Westley Richards' guns are in every respect equal 
 to Purday's, or whose you will ; and that the difference is 
 
THE GTTN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 63 
 
 mere fancy and fashion. It is true that, so soon as he has 
 gone out of the shop wi<jh his bit of Birmingham, the seller 
 will laugh at what he has just been saying with the man 
 who happens to be buying copper caps for the London 
 gun, which he imported the other day on his own hook. 
 But then the buyer of the bit of Birmingham does not 
 hear the laugh. 
 
 Therefore, dear reader, I believe the best gun is that 
 which you can buy of the best London maker, for some- 
 thing between fifty and sixty pounds sterling ; from two 
 hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars, including case 
 and appurtenances, made to your own order. 
 
 The London makers, stated by Stonehenge, in the 
 work quoted above, of the present year, 1856, to be repu- 
 ted the first, are, alphabetically placed, Lancaster, Lang, 
 Moore, Purday. The second is somewhat cheaper than 
 the others; but Stonehenge rates his work at cash prices; 
 and it is well known that all makers give a discount for 
 that indispensable article. Purday has, perhaps, the widest 
 reputation. I have my own favorite, as every sportsman 
 naturally has ; but as the preference is, perhaps, more in 
 taste than in stern judgment, — 
 
 " Between two blades, which has the better temper,'' 
 
 it is not desirable to insist on it. From any of the four, 
 there is no doubt that an undeniable piece may be pro- 
 cured. 
 
 Many of the old names, famous in the gun trade, are 
 extinct, or exist as names only ; the present owners of 
 
64: MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOKTSMEN. 
 
 them, having no relationship to the departed worthies, nor 
 has the mantle descended on the pretenders. 
 
 To those who cannot afford the London prices, then I 
 recommend the best provincial makers of England, unless 
 they prefer, as I should, to build a gun in America, under 
 my own eye, at the best provincial price. 
 
 Of the provincial gunmakers, the best, probably, and 
 at all events the most generally known, is Mr. Westley 
 Richards ; for it is idle, although he has a London estab- 
 lishment, with Mr. Bishop at its head, to speak of him as 
 a London gunsmith, since his guns are notoriously made 
 and finished at Birmingham, and sold at Birmingham 
 prices. Mr. Richards' guns are well liked, and, as it is 
 evident from the general favor in which he is held, give 
 satisfaction; I have seen many handsome, well-finished, 
 and strong-shooting guns from his shop, though the tout 
 ensemble of their fitting and finish does not, as in fact it 
 cannot be expected to, come up to the highest priced 
 London guns. 
 
 My greatest objection to his guns is, that I think I 
 have observed them to be soft. I do not mean soft' 
 metalled, for that I regard as a merit, not a defect ; but 
 incapable of enduring hard usage, and liable to yield and 
 give out disproportionately soon, as considered in refer- 
 ence to their price relatively to London guns. So far am 
 I, however, from desiring to disparage his work, that, for 
 persons who cannot afford to pay £50 or upward for a 
 Purday, a Lancaster, or a Moore, or who consider that 
 price enormous and absurd, as I know that some men do, 
 J. have nothing better to recommend, than that they should 
 
THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 65 
 
 send their order, for exactly sucli a piece as they require, 
 accompanied by the precise measure of a stock which suits 
 them, to some reliable maker, when they will probably 
 procure what will satisfy them, as well as the others 
 would satisfy me, at a far lower price. What the exact 
 price of Westley Richards' best guns is at this moment, I 
 do not accurately know ; but I presume that it is from 
 £30 to £35, from 150 to 175 dollars, with case and appur- 
 tenances, not including freight or duties; which would 
 bring his best work here to the price of two hundred dol- 
 lars, more or less. Mr. Lang's best double gun is stated 
 by Stouehenge to be sold, in case complete, for £38, or 
 190 dollars, cash on the spot ; and he further asserts, that 
 " certainly it will be admitted that, for all the essentials 
 desired by the crack shot, Mr. Lang's gun may lay claim 
 to as high a standard as those of any of his rivals." 
 
 Besides Mr. Richards, there are other Birmingham 
 makers, who turn out reputable work to order, and who 
 are not to be confounded with the perpetrators of the 
 detestable rubbish which finds its way into the United 
 States, and is sold at almost every price from one dollar 
 to one hundred. 
 
 Every principal shire-town in England, or nearly so, 
 has some maker of high, at least, local celebrity ; and soine 
 of these, as Parsons of Salisbury, Cartmel of Doncaster, 
 Patrick of Liverpool, and others, whose names I do not 
 remember, have become known and of good repute 
 throughout England. Others have doubtless succeeded to 
 these, since I have been a dweller in America, but little 
 ef their work has been, or is likely to be, imported ; and 
 
66 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 no person is likely to come in contact with their work, un- 
 less he casually visit the spot of their operations, and be 
 tempted of his own choice to purchase. It is needless, 
 therefore, to consider these. 
 
 Below a hundred dollars I would counsel no man to 
 buy an imported gun. There is a sort of gun, manufac- 
 tured even by the best London makers, called a game- 
 keeper's gun, at £15 sterling, or 75 dollars, entirely plain, 
 without engraving or any external finish. The locks are 
 sound, well-working, and perfectly finished, though desti- 
 tute of course of the last exquisite sharpness, smoothness 
 and ring, which at once speak for the first-rate gun. The 
 barrels are stub-twist, and may be relied on for solidity, 
 safety, and excellent performance. I shot with one of 
 these guns, in 1849, during a tour on the Great Lakes, 
 and, though it had not certainly much beauty to brag of 
 it executed beautifully and at long ranges, and was pro- 
 nounced by " Dincks," a very competent judge, the best 
 low-priced gun, and the cheapest gun, he ever saw. At 
 my advice, a small number of these guns was sent out 
 hither, for sale, at the lowest possible price ; that is to say 
 without any importer's profit, commissions or the like ; and 
 those of them which found purchasers, gave the greatest 
 satisfaction. Their unpretending appearance, however, 
 the incompetency of buyers to distinguish their real su- 
 periority to the lacquered trash of the Birmingham hard- 
 waremen, and above all, the interested opposition of the 
 vendors of such trumpery — who caused them to be written 
 down by hireling scribblers, principally in the country 
 presses, though some of their lucubrations found their way 
 
THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 67 
 
 into the Spirit of The Times — prevented the success of the 
 experiment ; and such guns never now, and probably never 
 will, again, find their way into this market, even if or- 
 dered expressly. 
 
 Nevertheless, no gentleman visiting London, and de- 
 siring to procure a cheap, servicable, safe, though plain 
 gun, can possibly do better than call on any one of the 
 makers I have mentioned — Lancaster, Lang, Moore or 
 Purday, and ask for a gamekeeper's gun. If he be a 
 sportsman, and do not get a working tool up to his mark, 
 he will be hard to please; but he must not expect any 
 ornament, or any thing approaching to the high finish, or 
 close and accurate fitting of pieces of four times its value. 
 
 For all guns of one hundred dollars, or under, I would 
 earnestly advise all purchasers to have their own guns made 
 to order in the American Atlantic cities, by American gun- 
 makers of standing reputation. It will be understood, 
 that the locks and barrels are all English made and Eng- 
 lish bored, though neither filed nor finished ; and that they 
 can be, and are, got up in New York, by several perfectly 
 good and trustworthy workmen, in any style,- from fifty to 
 two hundred dollars; and I presume, and indeed under- 
 stand, that the other principal seaboard cities of the Union 
 are not far behind New York in this particular. 
 
 I have seen guns manufactured in the city of "New 
 York by the most noted American manufacturers, for 
 150 dollars, which, in all respects, I would myself have 
 preferred to any one of Westley Richards' at any price ; 
 and I can cheerfully and truthfully say the same for guns 
 of all descriptions, made by several other excellent me- 
 
68 MANUAl FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 chanics, which have done remarkably good work, while 
 I have seen and handled guns at 75 and 50 dollars, made 
 by thoroughly good American workmen, which I would 
 have preferred to any hardware-shop Birmingham gun, 
 by a nameless maker, with all its paraphernalia, at any 
 possible price. 
 
 Good fifty-dollar guns, of 30 inch barrel and 14 gauge, 
 are, in point of. real utility, excellent, serviceable, clioap, 
 and perfectly safe arms. The purchaser can see them if 
 he likes before they are filed or finished, and see of 
 what metal and stuif they are made ; or, if he be at a dis- 
 tance, can commission his friend or agent to do so for him. 
 The gun will not possess the finish, the lock will not work 
 with the same uuimprovable oiliness, soundness and clear- 
 ness, as the lock of a three-hundred-dollar imported gun, 
 nor will its barrels, probably, throw the shot with the 
 same equality and regularity of distribution or force. Its 
 details will not be as accurate, nor its joints and fittings 
 as unimpeachable. But, if held straight, it will kill its 
 game, sure and dead, at thirty-eight or forty yards ; and 
 what is much better, it certainly will not kill its owner — 
 which, be it said, with all deference to Messieurs the im- 
 porter's thereof, cannot be predicated of any gun that ever 
 was imported at any such price. 
 
 Every dollar over 50 and up to 150, will produce a 
 dollar's worth of actual improvement, and intrinsic value 
 in the article ; but when we get beyond the hundred and 
 fifty, the farther advance is for external show. I know 
 nothing beyond that, but if it seem good, to try Eichards' 
 at £35 sterling, with the duties added — though I would 
 
THE GUK, AKD HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 69 
 
 rather have the MuUin — or to go at once to head-quarters 
 and get a London fifty-guinea, on whose shooting you may 
 wager your life, with the certainty of winning, and of the 
 gun shooting as well fifty years hence, as on the day of 
 purchase. As Peter Probasco said to J. Cypress, jr., in 
 the fisher's hut at Fire Islands, " Them's my sentiments, 
 and you knows 'em ! " 
 
 I said in the opening of this subject, that the double- 
 barrelled fowling-piece is the only weapon and ultimatum 
 of art for the sportsman. No greater number of barrels 
 than two can be combined, so as to produce a manageable 
 and efieetive piece ; nor if there could, would the crack 
 shot, once in twenty times, use a third barrel at three 
 different birds, much less fire thrice at one. Than a crack 
 shot, no other possibly could do so — if it be considered, 
 how quickly a bevy of quail, all taking wing simul- 
 taneously, get out of the range of shot, and how rarely, 
 when they do spring all together, even two barrels bring 
 down their two birds clean killed. 
 
 All revolvers for sporting shot guns are out of the 
 question ; for more time is lost in recocking and revolving 
 the chamber, than could be recovered by the quickest shot 
 in time to kill even a second, much less a third or fourth 
 bird ; besides which, the weapons are unpardonably clumsy 
 hideous, and unsportsmanlike, and fail entirely of execu- 
 tion as compared with ordinary chambered guns. Stone- 
 henge gives a cut and description of a new breech-loading 
 double gun, invented by a Frenchman, and improved by 
 Mr. Lang, in which the barrels are raised from their con- 
 nection with the false breech, by the turning of a crank, 
 
70 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 and expose the lower end of their calibre for the reception 
 of a cartridge containing, in itself, the percussion cap, the 
 powder, and the charge of shot, with a small brass pin, 
 impinging on the percussion powder, attached to it, which, 
 when the loaded barrels are again brought into their pro- 
 per position and connection, stands up in a notch between 
 them and the false breech made to receive it, and meeting 
 the blow of the striker, discharges the gun. 
 
 Stonehenge speaks of this gun in terms of strong 
 praise, and states his opinion, that " if as good in practice 
 as it appears to him theoretically perfect, its invention 
 will be almost as great an era in gun making as that of 
 the detonator itself." 
 
 This language and praise are to me alike inexplicable. 
 This gun has no nipple, no possibility of being loaded or 
 2red except with the identical cartridge prepared for it, 
 which is, and can be, only prepared at the shop which 
 supplies the gun. It is true, he says, that the cartridge 
 cases remain in the gun, and on withdrawal can be recapped 
 and recharged many times; but, apart from the incon- 
 venience of lugging about on your person a hundred or 
 two, if you expect a good day's sport, of these cartridges 
 — since the idea of a sportsman sitting down in the middle 
 of a snipe-bog or a cock-brake, to recharge his cartridges 
 out of a powder-and-shot magazine, which he must also 
 carry about with him, is preposterous — what on earth is 
 the shooter to do, if he takes it into his head to visit the 
 Himalayas, or the Rooky Mountains, Canada or the Cape, 
 or any other distant shooting ground (by no means impos- 
 sible to, or unattempted by the British sportsman), where 
 
THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. '!1 
 
 cartridges for Lang's breech-loading double-barrels cer- 
 tainly are not to be found growing on thorn bushes ? Is 
 he to carry with him, in heaven's name, a hundred barrels 
 of cartridges on camel-back, or mule-back, or his own 
 back, with the consciousness that these indispensables, 
 once used up, his double-barrel is of less use even than a 
 broomstick ? 
 
 The want of simplicity is enough to ruin any inven- 
 tion ; and this, it needs no prophet to foretell, must be 
 inoperative, except as a pretty plaything to be used at 
 home. 
 
 The gain, moreover, I should fancy from his drawing, 
 is next to nothing ; and I should judge that a quick smart 
 loader would recharge both his barrels by the muzzle with 
 a good flask and Sykes's patent-lever pouch, and cap them 
 in the ordinary way, while his comrade is turning the crank, 
 withdrawing the old cartridges, replacing the new — which 
 by the way can only be done correctly under the eye, and 
 hardly by touch — and bringing back the barrels to their 
 place. 
 
 The advantage in point of time can be scarcely, then, 
 worthy of notice ; and no gain of time is in truth requi- 
 site, in the case of shot guns. They can be loaded, fired, 
 reloaded and refired, in the ordinary way, quite as rapidly 
 as for ordinary purposes can ever be needed ; and this 
 every one knows, who has ever been present at an English 
 battue, or has been obliged to sit down, as I have, a dozen 
 times at least in my life, in the middle of a snipe-meadow, 
 or of scattered bevies of quail, to let my barrels cool, 
 before I have dared to reload them. 
 
72 MANUAL FOB YOUNG 6P0ETSMEN. 
 
 For rifle-shooting, especially in warfare, or in hunting 
 on horseback, where the loss of time, the labor and incon- 
 venience of forcing a patched ball down a tight, and, per- 
 haps foul, grooved barrel, is great, the case is quite differ- 
 ent. The gain is incredible, and the improvement, in fact, 
 tantamount to the creation of a new weapon. 
 
 But, as applied to shot guns, I know but one case, in 
 which breech-loading is desirable ; namely, in very long, 
 ponderous and unmanageable duck guns, where it is diifi- 
 cult to reach the muzzle and insert, much more drive 
 home, the loading rod ; aud most of all, in the stancheon 
 or punt gun, which is fired like a cannon from a carriage. 
 Here the breech-loading system would work admirably, 
 but it must be on Perry's patent-arm plan, of which I 
 shall have occasion to speak more anon, where the cham- 
 ber can be loaded with loose powder and shot as easily as 
 with the cartridge, and the nipples capped by hand, almost 
 as readily as by the self-priming apparatus connected 
 with it. 
 
 With regard to the weight, length, and calibre of 
 double-barrelled fowling-pieces, there has always been and 
 continues to be much diversity of opinion. 
 
 The sticklers for the old system adhere pertinaciously 
 to the long barrel and small bore, the length to be in- 
 creased as the calibre is enlarged. The upholders of the 
 extreme modern school insist on gauges, such as were 
 never heard of in the olden times, and barrels proportion- 
 ately short; maintaining that they will carry heavier 
 charges with equal execution, and vastly increased handi- 
 ness, especially in covert. 
 
THE GTTN, AND &0W TO CHOOSE IT. 73 
 
 The old rule of proportion was 46 or 48 diameters of 
 the bore to the length of the barrel ; and on this Col. 
 Hawker insists, consistent to the last, in his latest edition- 
 advising that a gun of fourteen gauge should never be less 
 than thirty-four or thirty-six inches in length, and that 
 thirty-two inches is the proportion for a twenty-two guage. 
 I do not doubt that, for the mere carrying of shot, the ex- 
 treme length will keep the charge together longer, and, 
 consequently, that a three-foot barrel will throw its shot 
 more regularly and evenly at sixty yards, than one of two 
 foot eight ; and that a twenty-two gauge gun of thirty-two 
 inches length, will do so in a yet greater degree. 
 
 Therefore, if carrying shot to a great distance, say 60 
 yards, evenly, without reference to the quantity thrown, 
 or any other consideration, be the test, a gun of twenty-two 
 gauge and thirty-two inches would be the best in the 
 world ; but a gun, of twenty-two guage and thirty-two 
 inches, would not be of above 5 lbs. weight, and should 
 not, at the utmost, be loaded with above 1^ drachms of 
 powder and f ounce of shot — which shot ought never to 
 be above No. 6 or 7. In other words, it would be a 
 mere child's plaything and pop-gun. On the other hand, 
 the gun of fourteen gauge, at the same proportion of 
 gauge to length, should be, not as he recommends, three 
 feet, but three feet 7? inches, and would probably weigh 
 about twelve pounds. The colonel's advice, therefore, 
 to use a thirty-four or thirty-six inch barrel with a 
 gauge of fourteen, is, in itself, a compromise, founded on 
 the sacrifice of force to ease of handing; since it would 
 have been clearly preposterous to tell men to go out cock- 
 4 
 
7i MAKUAL FOE TOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 shooting with guns six feet long, weighing twelve or four- 
 teen pounds. 
 
 But a much farther compromise is necessary, and it is 
 now pretty generally conceded that the best and most 
 useful gun, applicable to all kinds of shooting, and service- 
 able in all, is one of fourteen gauge thirty-one inch bar- 
 rel, and 7^ to eight lbs. weight. Such a gun will carry 
 a charge of 1^ ounce of shot to about 3|- drachms of 
 powder, which is in the ratio of measure for measure, or 
 seven to one by weight, and do its work well, regularly, 
 evenly and effectively at forty yards — dispersing its shot, 
 at that distance, over a circle of thirty inches diameter, 
 so evenly that, supposing No. 8 shot to be used, no wood- 
 cock, quail, or single snipe shall be within that circle un- 
 pierced by one or more pellets — or, if larger shot be used, 
 no ruffed grouse, prairie-fowl, or wild duck. 
 
 I do not intend, by any means, to indicate forty yards 
 as the extreme distance at which such a gun will do its 
 work fatally, but only as the distance at which it ought 
 invariably to do it, killing every bird clean, if it be held 
 so straight as to bring the bird aimed at within the circle. 
 Beyond this it will often, I may say constantly, kill some 
 shots at fifty, some fewer at sixty, and now and then one 
 at seventy yards ; moreover, such a gun will carry, when 
 required, an ounce and three-quarters or two ounces of 
 No. 1 or 2 shot, with 3|- drachms of powder, with great 
 force and effect ; it being remembered, that when we 
 estimate by filling a measure of one capacity with pellets 
 of different sizes, the measure of No. 10- shot being almost 
 solid, will weigh at least one- third more than the same 
 
THE liXm, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 75 
 
 measure of No. 1, where the interstices are as numerous 
 as the pellets. So that two ounces, or rather the full of 
 what is called a two ounce measure, in a shooting-pouch, 
 of No. 1, shall not really weigh more than one and a half 
 ounce of No. 10, by the same measure. 
 
 This then constitutes, according to my opinion, the 
 gun above described, the most aivailable for all purposes, 
 and the most useful general shooting gun for all sports- 
 men who can aflFord but one gun for all work, that can be 
 made. 
 
 It is suflSciently short and handy to be easily recover- 
 able, and to shoot with murderous effect in the closest 
 and most tangled brake. It is sufiSciently close-carrying 
 and hard-hitting to do its work, as well as any gim is ever 
 needed to do its work, on the wildest game in the open. 
 It will stop a wild duck going down wind with No. 2 
 shot at 45 to 50 yards, or with a good cartridge at 70 ; 
 and with ten slugs in a wire cartridge, a stag at the same 
 distance will have but a poor chance before it, for it wiK 
 throw the ten slugs into a twenty-four inch diameter. 
 
 I have never myself shot in any covert with a shorter 
 gun, nor did I ever feel that I was giving any odds to 
 those who did. I have never shot in the open with a 
 longer or heavier gun, and I have always felt, that in 
 shooting a hard long day through, I was taking large odds 
 from those who did. 
 
 It must be remembered, which, for the most part it is 
 not, that the great majority of birds killed are recovered 
 dead, within twenty yards of the muzzle ; that not one in 
 fifty, in a day's shooting, is gathered over forty, and that 
 
76 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 none but a very crack shot, and lie but rarely, shoots at a 
 bird which is forty yards oflF when he draws the tiigger, 
 and which, if going away from him, or down wind, will be 
 when killed at least ten yards farther. 
 
 It is safe to assert, that not one bird in a hundred 
 killed is shot at when above forty yards from the trigger, 
 and that birds so shot at, not one in ten is brought to bag. 
 
 By this, one may judge how much avail there is in 
 talking about the necessity of having guns, which shall 
 shoot evenly and strongly at sixty yards. No gun, I had 
 almost said, ever did so; and would be of little avail 
 if it did. 
 
 It cannot be denied that very short guns, so short as 
 26, 28, and even I believe 24 inch barrels, with gauges so 
 large as 10 and 9, having the weight of the 14 gauge and 
 31 inch guns, have been found to shoot far better than had 
 previously been supposed possible, carrying heavy charges, 
 and not appearing so much deficient in range or penetra- 
 tion as to be manifestly inferior to the larger guns. For 
 covert, their powerful load, and the comparatively large 
 space which their shot covers, rendered them exceedingly 
 fatal, and, for a time, they were all the rage with London 
 makers, and some were even exported hither ; but on the 
 moors, and even in wild partridge shooting, in England, 
 they did not tell, and for this country or British Colonial 
 shooting, they never had any wide or general market. If 
 one were rich enough to have a gun for every season of 
 the year, one of these short wide-barrel London guns, by 
 a first-class maker, of about 6^ lbs. weight, would be a very 
 agreeable change for July cock^tehooting, reserving the 
 
THE GUN, AKD HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 7t 
 
 more serviceable 14 gauge for spring and fall snipe-shoot- 
 ing, and for autumn shooting in general. To persons who 
 can afford one only, such a piece would be nearly useless, 
 as it would be two to one against him, the year through, 
 compared with his companion carrying a gun such as I 
 recommend. 
 
 In any event, it is a mere piece of luxury and cox- 
 combry, scarce worthy of a sportsman, to affect a particu- 
 lar gun for every season ; and, what is more, it is not 
 unlikely to detract seriously from his shooting; even if it 
 be built of exactly the same weight, bend and length of 
 Btock, and trigger-pull ; since no two or more guns ever 
 come up, much less shoot, exactly alike ; nor does the 
 same man ever execute equally with two guns. 
 
 Like the proverbial man of one book, the man of 
 one gun is to be bewared. He is likely to prove an ugly 
 customer. 
 
 In one case, I should recommend the adoption of a 
 different gun to the above, or the use of two of different 
 sizes. That is, where the shooter has little or no upland 
 shooting; by which term I mean snipe, woodcock, quail," 
 grouse, prairie-fowl and hare, using it in opposition not to 
 lowland, but to bay shooting, and depends for his sport on 
 the shores, lagoons, creeks, and beaches, or even inland 
 rivers and lakes ; when I would advise, in lieu of the gun 
 I have so often described, one of ten lbs. with two barrels 
 of thirty-six inches, and 8 or 9 gauge. Such a gun is the 
 most effective that can be had for single fowl or for small 
 flocks, and for shore-birds, such as curlews, marlins, wil- 
 Ict, plovers and the like. Where a sportsman is so lucky 
 
'18 MANUAL FOE YOtTNG SPOKTSMEW. 
 
 as to have a combination of the two kinds of sport, in 
 nearly equal proportions, and follows both with nearly 
 equal ardor, I know no plan but that he should have a 
 gun of each description ; for the heavy piece it would be 
 too wearisome to carry over hill and over dale, and the 
 lighter will not tell its tale with effect on sea ducks ; while, 
 if a fine and costly article, it will be seriously damaged by 
 the sea mist and salt air ; and the finer the finish and 
 engraving, the greater the damage. 
 
 Such a gun ought to be, by choice, as plain as it can 
 be made. Every line of engraving is a positive drawback, 
 only serving to hold rust. The maximum price, which I 
 should hold it desirable to pay for a fowl gun of this de- 
 scription, is one hundred dollars, and for that, or even for 
 eighty, any one of the New York makers I have named, 
 will provide one of undoubted excellence. 
 
 Than this, I think no double gun should be made 
 larger. For boat-shooting in the bays or beaches I recom- 
 mend, what I always use, two single guns of fourteen to 
 sixteen pounds weight, four foot barrels, and 5 gauge. 
 They should be made without ramrod or pipes, which 
 only renders them top-heavy, and provided with a solid 
 loading rod having a round knob on the upper end, and a 
 complete set of cleaning apparatus to screw in at the 
 other. 
 
 These guns will carry four ounces of any sized shot 
 from BB down to 4, and an equal measure of powder, and 
 will kill with loose charges at 80 yards ; with green car- 
 tridges at 100, sure. 
 
 They are English made, and imported; and can be 
 
THE GTJN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. T9 
 
 had, the test, for 35 to 40 dollars. If they be top or 
 muzzle-heavy, which they sometimes are, and which is a 
 bad fault, and a great hindrance to quick shooting, the 
 fault may easily be remedied, by taking ofiF the heel-plate, 
 scooping a hole in the butt, and running in a pound or two 
 of lead. The restoration of balance, by means of this 
 counterpoise, will far more than compensate the increase 
 of the total weight ; the rather that guns of this size are 
 only to be used in boat-shooting, not carried in pursuit of 
 game. 
 
 A very little practice will enable a hardy man and 
 quick shot to use two single guns, laying down the one 
 after firing, and snatching up the other ; if not quite so 
 rapidly as one double-barrel, quite rapidly enough to de- 
 molish a flock, by getting in both loads. I have, at this 
 moment, one of the exact character described, so handy, 
 that I can raise and manage it with ease with my left hand 
 on the trigger-guard. For sea-fowling guns, the nipples 
 should be of the inverted fashion, having the orifice like a 
 funnel, large above and tapering to a point below ; as the 
 flame of the cap is thus more forcibly injected, which is 
 needful, as the coarse-grained powder, which is preferable 
 for sea shooting, will not enter the cones. 
 
 As to the makers, qualities, prices, or descriptions of 
 guns needful to the sportsman, I have no word more to 
 say ; but as to the mode of choosing, a few hints may be 
 found serviceable. 
 
 We will suppose a person, having made up his mind to 
 what price he will go, and what description of piece he 
 needs, to have found, by the assistance of competent 
 
80 MANUAL FOE TOUNG SPORTSMEN'. 
 
 judges, several guns the work of reiponsible makers, and 
 in the hands of dealers on whose faith he can rely ; and 
 from among these to have selected some two or three, 
 which he has ascertained, by testing them according to the 
 instructions on pp. 46, 47, to suit him, as to weight, curva- 
 ture of stock and trigger-pull — the last can be altered, if 
 too hard, by the touch of a file. He should now proceed to 
 try them by firing them in the open air, with a full charge 
 of powder and shot, as prescribed before, at a distance of 
 forty yards. The mark should be twenty-four sheets of 
 thick tarred brown paper, large enough to contain an inte- 
 rior circle of thirty inches diameter. 
 
 Into this circle the gun ought to put its whole charge 
 point-blank ; I mean without more elevation than that 
 given by the rib. The shot ought to be dispersed evenly, 
 not strewed hero in clusters of a dozen or more close to- 
 gether, and there with spaces of several inches intervening. 
 A gun doing the first may be depended upon for killing, if 
 held straight. "Vy^ith one planting its charge, as the second, 
 it is hit or miss by luck. If a small part only of the 
 charge is lodged in the mark at that range, and those wide 
 apart and much dispersed, the gun scatters too widely, and 
 consequently shoots weakly ; discard it, therefore, on the 
 instant. 
 
 If, on the contrary — but that will very rarely happen, 
 at forty yards — the charge should be much, though evenly 
 concentrated, in the centre of the mark, especially if it 
 have put a great proportion of all its pellets through all 
 the 24 sheets of paper, the gun is a wonder. 
 
 It is possible it may shoot too closely, that is, may tear 
 
THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 81 
 
 its object to pieces in the hands of a dead-shot, or miss it 
 clean with a novice. This is easily ascertained by trying 
 it at a shorter range, say fifteen or twenty yards ; and if 
 at the former distance it concentrate its charge in the size 
 of a tea-cup, it certainly does carry too close, and should 
 also be laid aside. 
 
 But this I must add, that of all the guns I have ever 
 seen, handled, or shot with, which amount to a pretty con- 
 siderable number, I have never seen one which shot too 
 closely. Nor do I believe that a gun ever did carry too 
 closely, provided that it did not lose force by supereroga- 
 tory friction, for a good shot. For it is the simplest of 
 all things, to a person who is continually making allow- 
 ances on almost every shot that he fires, if he finds that 
 his gun hits too hard and tears its game, when too near at 
 hand, either to give the animal time in the open, and let 
 it get away to a just distance, which is always the better 
 plan, or in thick covert to shoot a little wide, so as to 
 avoid raking it with the body of a charge. 
 
 Generally, if one hear a person say that he prefers a 
 scattering gun, he may be tolerably satisfied that it is be* 
 cause the speaker cannot shoot with a close-carrying piece, 
 or, in other words, cannot cover his object. 
 
 Lastly, in regard of trials, it is not one or two shots 
 that will thoroughly test a piece. Ten' or twelve fires of 
 each barrel, should the result prove satisfactory, and with 
 little variation of effect, the same number of pellets, more 
 or less, being put into the mark and through the last sheet 
 each time, will be a sure proof of the quality of the gun, 
 at the range of forty yards. A few shots may then be 
 4* 
 
82 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOKTSMEN. 
 
 tried as corroboratory at twenty, thirty, fifty, sixty, and, as 
 a matter of curiosity, with increased charges of powder and 
 various elevations, at fancy distances, 70, 80, and upward, 
 till you fail to touch the paper at all. 
 
 If, however, the gun perform thoroughly well, and to 
 admiration, at forty yards, it will do so at all distances, 
 and may be held capable of all that can be asked of wood 
 and iron. 
 
 It must be remembered, lastly, that by increasing the 
 quantity of powder to an equal charge of shot, you in- 
 crease the force and velocity, but detract from the close- 
 ness of the shooting ; and vice versd. A light charge of 
 powder and a heavy one of shot will tell wonderfully for 
 closeness, but not all for strength. 
 
 With wire cartridges, however, the results of charging 
 are precisely the reverse of this. The heavier the charge 
 of powder, the closer the cartridge places its shot, as well 
 as the farther. The reason is obvious. 
 
 The utility of the cartridge arises from its power of 
 keeping its shot together after being propelled from the 
 muzzle, which it leaves as a single ball. According to the 
 stiffness of the cases, this quality endures longer, and the 
 cartridges are graduated and distinguished as blue, red, 
 and green — the latter being fit only for sea-shooting, and 
 often going several hundred yards before they burst, 
 though they ought to open at 70, and deliver their shot, 
 at its best, at 100. Therefore the heavier the charge of 
 powder, the farther the cartridge is sent unbroken, and 
 the closer will the shot be planted at any given distance. 
 
 I should, perhaps, add to this, in order to obviate the 
 
THE GTW, AUD HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 83 
 
 possibility of niistake, that these trials are directed for a 
 general fowling-piece of 31 inches and 14 gauge. For 
 ducking guns of all descriptions, a longer distance will be 
 required correctly to test their properties. 
 
 For the double-barrelled duck guns which I have 
 recommended for river or marsh shooting, of ten lbs. 
 weight, three-foot barrels and 8 or 9 gauge, fifty to fifty- 
 five yards should be the distance with loose shot, and the 
 piece ought to execute at that range with the same effect 
 as the lighter gun at forty. 
 
 The great fowling gun, again, of 16 lbs., four foot bar- 
 rel and 5 gauge, ought to do its work with three or four 
 ounces of shot, at sixty-five yards, as powerfully and with 
 as much penetration as the others at forty and fifty-five. 
 
 Beyond this, I have nothing to say in regard to the 
 choosing a gun. 
 
 If he will follow the instructions laid down above, the 
 merest novice who wishes to buy, may be sure of getting 
 what he asks for, and is willing to pay for. 
 
 The quality of what he gets, must, after all, rest with 
 the amount that he is willing to pay. 
 
 I shall now proceed briefly to teach how to use the gun 
 when it shall be chosen. How to carry ; how to clean ; 
 how to load ; how to learn to shoot it. 
 
 I cannot make a man a crack shot, but I can show 
 him how to be a safe one. " Legere et scribere," says J. 
 Cypress, Jr., " est pcedagogi sed optima coUineare.est dei." 
 Eeading and writing come of schoolmasters, but a crack 
 shot is the work of God. 
 
THE GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 
 
 After becoming possessed of a good gun, in accordance 
 with the means, object and idea of the individual, the one 
 thing essential is to know how to use it. And this know- 
 ledge, once acquired, lasts for ever, yet does not last un- 
 changed, or, like most sublunary things, change only to 
 deteriorate ; for what is at first acquired with difficulty 
 and much painstaking, gradually becomes a habit, ripens 
 into a second nature, and, constantly improved by practice, 
 by experience, by freshly-discovered resources and trials 
 of the power of the weapon, shall be at last, almost, as it 
 were, an innate instinct, acting without deliberation or 
 
 For more recent works on the Gun, Bee "Breechloaders," "Dead Snot' 
 and " Crack Shot." published by Geobge B. Woodwabd, New York. 
 
THEGTJN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 85 
 
 forethought as if on the profoundest calculation, and ac- 
 complishing results, in the twinkling of an eye, to arrive 
 at which scientifically would require the solution of intri- 
 cate problems. 
 
 The master of his gun once, moreover, is master of the 
 art for ever, and of all guns ; and let what improvements or 
 changes soever take place in the science, none will occur, 
 in which he will not immediately participate, and find his 
 ancient superiority still available. 
 
 For all improvements simplify, facilitate, add, in a 
 word, to the power of the weapon, or to the celerity of the 
 performance, or to the convenience of the performer. 
 
 If the change render it more difficult to shoot well, it is 
 a retrograde step, not an improvement. For example, the 
 percussion system is now, in spite of all old-fashioned 
 prejudice and opposition, an admitted improvement on the 
 old flint-and-steel system ; and one, not the least, of its 
 advantages is, that it has so much simplified the art of 
 shooting flying, that there are now ten good shots, where 
 there was one, forty years ago. 
 
 Consequently, the person who had learned with much 
 toil and labor to shoot excellently with the old flint lock, 
 took up the new percussion piece, and found himself at 
 once, with no farther trouble, twice as good a shot as he 
 was before. It was to him as if his old gun had suddenly 
 doubled i1;s celerity and accuracy of aim. It is certain 
 that no good shot, with flint and steel, ever found himself a 
 bad one with percussion, even on the first trial. Equally 
 certain it is, that, take twenty crack shots with the per- 
 cussion, and give them the best and most perfectly finished 
 
86 MAlTUAl FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 Joe Manton flint-and-steel lock, and the first week they 
 will not kill three fair shots out of ten ; in any given time, 
 not one will shoot as well as he did with his copper caps, 
 and probably one half of them will never become respec V 
 able shots at all. 
 
 In the like manner is it, of all other improvementr.; 
 it is comparatively easy to advance from skill in an unim- 
 proved art, with the improvement of the appliances, to 
 excellence. It is almost impossible, excellence being 
 attained with worthy implements, to retain that excel- 
 lence practising an inferior method, which must be re- 
 learned with inferior means. 
 
 Now, in using the gun, there are three principal points 
 to be considered ; so that the art may be properly divided 
 into three heads ; How to use the gun safely — that is, 
 with the least possible danger to yourself and others ; 
 how to use it effectively — that is, with the greatest power 
 of bringing down, under all circumstances, the object at 
 which it is directed ; how to use it serviceably — that is, so 
 that it shall be always ready for service, so that it shall 
 suffer the least from being constantly used, and endure the 
 longest wear and tear without deterioration. 
 
 The maxims for using a gun safely, are few in number, 
 and simple ; but they can never be infringed without seri- 
 ous risk, either to the shooter himself, his companions, or 
 innocent, unconcerned bystanders. No one has a right to 
 incur these risks himself, from mere carelessness, much 
 less to inflict them on others. In my view of the facts, 
 there are extremely few cases of accidents with fire-arms, 
 as they are called, involving loss of life, which do not 
 
AND HOW TO USE IT. 87 
 
 argue the last culpability ; and I wish that, by the law, 
 they were rendered culpable misdemeanors, and punished 
 with fine and imprisonment, instead of being regarded 
 with sympathy and commiseration. 
 
 The first is, never, under any circumstances, whether 
 you know it to be loaded, or believe it to be unloaded, 
 point your gun, or allow it to be pointed, in the act of 
 handling or carrying it, toward any persoi. 
 
 This is the only sure rule of safety, and it is an easy 
 one ; for, like all the rest, after a time it becomes an 
 instinct to carry a gun, so that the carrier, and those 
 around him, shall all be alike safe from the consequence 
 of an accidental discharge. Such discharges, on the con- 
 trary, though care m»,y lessen their frequency, can never 
 be entirely prevented. A thumb will occasionally slip 
 from a striker in the act of cocking the piece ; a brier wUl 
 catch a trigger or hammer ; a foot will miss its stephold, 
 and a fall explode the cap; lastly, the casual failure of a 
 portion of the lock may let off the gun, without the least 
 maladresse, inexpertness, or negligence on the part of the 
 shooter. Unquestionably, no man ever shot constantly for 
 many years, who has not had his gun discharged in his 
 hands inadvertently, without his intentionally pulling the 
 trigger, on some occasion ; although with a careful, ob- 
 servant, and expert person, such occasions will be rare 
 indeed. If such things happen frequently to a person, 
 however safely he may carry his gun, he must be an in- 
 curably inexpert bungler, one of those unfortunates whose 
 fingers are all thumbs ; and "with such persons there is but 
 one course to take — not to shoot with them at all. 
 
88 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 There have been several patent inventions of stops of 
 various kinds for preventing the discharge of a gun, even 
 on pulling the trigger, unless the piece be actually at the 
 shoulder, and the holder intend to fire. 
 
 I utterly disapprove of all these ; first, because they 
 tend to encourage carelessness directly, by making the 
 person trust to the infallible quality of his gun, which can- 
 not go ofi', instead of to his own caution ; secondly, be- 
 cause, however good in theory, I never saw one which was 
 certain in trial ; in proof of which I can say that I have 
 never been so often missed, or so nearly shot, as by some 
 brilliant genius letting his gun go off, in the very act of 
 demonstrating the impossibility of its going off; thirdly, 
 because all the stops I have ever seen, do occasionally 
 prevent the discharge of the gun when the holder wishes 
 to discharge it. Therefore, I uphold care and constant 
 observation, as the only sure gravitating stop. 
 
 First, then, in carrying the gun, it is necessary so to 
 carry it, that, if discharged, its contents shall fly harm- 
 less, as regards yourself or others. 
 
 It will be found necessary, for relief to the muscles, in 
 a long day's shooting, to carry the gun in many various 
 positions ; but in all it may be carried so as to render its 
 casual discharge nearly harmless. If carried on the right 
 forearm, with the butt backward and the trigger guard on 
 the arm, the muzzle should point directly to the ground. 
 If on the right shoulder, with the gripe in the hand and 
 the locks on the shoulder, the muzzle should point directly 
 upward. If on the shoulder, with the butt backward and 
 the barrels grasped in the hand, the muzzle should point 
 
THE GUN, AND HOW TO FSE IT. b9 
 
 directly to the grotiBd. If on the trail, the muzzle should 
 be pointed directly forward ; but the gun should never be 
 so carried, unless when the shooter can see that there is no 
 one in front of him. If in the hollow of the left arm, with 
 the gripe lying in the hand, and the barrels diagonally 
 across the person, the shooter must see that no person is, 
 or can be, in range of it ; so also, when, in walking up 
 to a point, or to game marked down, he' bears his gun with 
 the muzzle diagonally advanced, his hand on the trigger 
 guard and his thumb on the striker ; or, when- he levels the 
 gun, in the act of taking aim, he is bound to see that no 
 one is in the line of fire. 
 
 There is a very safe way of carrying a gun in thick 
 covert, where you expect snap shots, which I have seen 
 little practised — ^it is to gripe the stock with your right so 
 that the forefinger can command the trigger, and the 
 thumb the striker, and, with the left on the barrels imme- 
 diately before the trigger guard, to bear the piece perpen- 
 dicularly, muzzle upwai-d, with the elevated rib toward the 
 body, almost in the attitude of a soldier presenting arms. 
 If a bird rise, a simple and easy movement simultaneously 
 drops the sight to its level and brings the stock to the 
 shoulder; while in forcing his way through coppice, it 
 assists ratl^r than hinders the shooter, by parting the 
 branches before his face. 
 
 I recommend its practice as worthy of attention. 
 
 Than these, I know no other way in which it is allow- 
 able to carry a gun under any circumstancps. 
 
 Next, as to the condition of the locks, in carrying a 
 gun. When a piece is loaded and capped, the strikers 
 
90 majstual foe young spoetsmen. 
 
 must never, under any possible circumstances, be let down, 
 much less carried down, on the caps. This is the more to 
 be observed, because it is bj far the most common, and 
 commonly conceived to be the safest, way of carrying a 
 gun. I do not think I ever saw a countryman carry his 
 gun otherwise, until indoctrinated with much labor into 
 doing so. 
 
 It is infinitely the most dangerous way in which a gun 
 can possibly be carried, for these reasons : First, any 
 blow on the back of the striker, while it is down, will ex- 
 plode the cap and discharge the gun, as may easily happen 
 from a fall on a stone or on hard ground, without either 
 raising the hammer or touching the trigger. Secondly, a 
 branch or brier catching the hook of the striker, drawing 
 it back any where short of the half-cock catch, and then 
 releasing it — as it will do twice out of three times — will 
 infallibly fire the gun. 
 
 At half-cock, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, 
 the same brier or branch will bring the striker to full- 
 cock, and then no harm is done. In the hundredth instance 
 the piece would be fired. 
 
 From personal experience I may say that I have, 
 probably, in the course of my shooting, had my locks full- 
 cocked from half-cock, from fifty to one hundlied times — 
 fired from half-cock never. 
 
 At full-cock, a gun can be discharged only by a branch 
 or brier catching the trigger ; then it must invariably be 
 discharged. No catch of the striker can do any mischief 
 
 Consequently, the comparative safety stands thus ; 
 
 There are two accidents, by which the locks with the 
 
AND HOW TO USE IT. 91 
 
 strikers on the nipples may be discharged, and by either 
 of these they will be discharged nine times out of ten. 
 
 There is one accident, by which the lock on the full- 
 cock may be, and by that it will be, invariably discharged. 
 
 There is only one accident by which the lock at half- 
 cock can be discharged, and by that it will not, ninety 
 times out of a hundred. 
 
 I never, to conclude, object to shooting with persons 
 who shoot with their guns habitually carried at full-cock. 
 Most quick shots always do so ; and some argue, with some 
 show of reason, though I do not agree, that it is safest so 
 to do. I have shot for years with men who do so, and 
 never saw an accident occur ; besides which, they are 
 of necessity careful. With no man, who carries his strik- 
 ers on his caps, would I walk in company ten minutes, 
 much less hunt a day with him. 
 
 To load a gun, which has been recently fired, leave the 
 striker of the barrel just discharged, down upon the cap 
 which it has exploded ; let down the other to half-cock, 
 or, if at half-cock already, let it stand there ; drop the 
 butt, so that the piece shall stand perpendicularly before 
 you, with the trigger guard and ramrod toward your face, 
 at about a foot distant from the body. 
 
 Hold the barrel lightly, at about two inches below the 
 muzzle, between the three first fingers and thumb of the 
 left hand. With the right draw out the powder flask from 
 the pocket in which you carry it ; cover the orifice of the 
 charger with your forefinger ; invert the flask ; turn ofi' the 
 charger spring with the ball of your thumb, giving the 
 flask a slight shake. Let the spring fly back with a sharp 
 
92 
 
 MANTTAL FOR TdUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 click, which will cut off the coinmTiuication, and, if the 
 flask be a good one, will obviate the possibility of an ex- 
 plosion. 
 
 I will here observe that Dixon's patent flask, with the 
 steel spring on the outside of the top, is the only one 
 which ought to be used by any person who regards safety, 
 convenience, and rapidity of loading. 
 
 In the little cut above one of these implements is shown, 
 of the best construction, together with a double patent 
 lever shot-pouch of Sykes's patent, also manufactured by 
 Dixon of Sheffield, and sold by all considerable gunsmiths. 
 I esteem it preferable for convenience and quickness to 
 any belt or contrivance I have ever tried, both for carry- 
 ing shot and loading. The best material for the powder 
 flask I hold to be tin, made in two halves, and soldered 
 along the edges. It not unfrequently happens, where ex- 
 plosions take place in the horn, either from defect in the 
 mechanism, or from carelessness in the loader's pouring 
 the powder into the barrel without cutting oS- the com- 
 
THE GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 93 
 
 munication, that in flasks so constructed the two halves are 
 simply blown asunder, instead of being shattered to atoms, 
 and that the owner escapes with a scorched, instead of a 
 maimed, right hand. 
 
 But to return to the loading. You then toss in the 
 powder as quickly as is consistent with accuracy, return 
 your flask, insert a cut wad in the barrel, draw your ram- 
 rod, drive down the wad sharply and ram it home on the 
 powder ■, remembering not to grasp the rod, much less 
 cover the tip of it with the palm of your hand, in ramming 
 down, but to hold it only between the tips of your fingers 
 and thumb. In case of an explosion, this difference in the 
 mode of holding it will just make the difference of lacer- 
 ated finger tips or a hand blown to shreds. 
 
 For the same reason, never hold your nose over the 
 muzzles, as if you want to look down the barrels ; you can- 
 not see the charge in the chambers, any more than you can 
 find truth at the bottom of a draw well. 
 
 Your powder home, drop the ramrod into the undis- 
 charged barrel, by which you will ascertain whether the 
 load has started on the firing of the first, as it will do 
 sometimes, and create some risk of bursting a barrel, and 
 if it have, will drive it back into its place. Pour your shot 
 into the barrel you are loading, insert another cut wad on 
 the top of it, ram it down sharply, and return the ramrod 
 to its pipes. If, by any accident, a shot have run down 
 into the barrel which contains the ramrod, do not attempt 
 to draw it by force, which will only jam it harder, but in- 
 vert the piece, give it a shake, and out will come both shot 
 and ramrod. 
 
94 MANUAL FOK YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 You are now loaded — recover your piece, briag the 
 look to half-cock, remove the broken cap from the nipple, 
 and see if the powder be up to the mouth of the orifice. 
 If it be not up, there is much danger of the piece missing 
 entirely, or making long fire; rap the lower side of the 
 breech smartly with the hand, holding the nipples down- 
 ward, which will usually bring the powder up. If it fail, 
 try the cones with the pricking needle, and, if needful, 
 pour in a grain or two of powder, put on the copper cap, 
 and press it down tightly with the ball of the thumb, to 
 insure its fitting so closely that it will not readily fall off. 
 
 Nothing is so vexatious as a miss fire, and by these 
 precautions, and the use of good materials, it is rendered 
 all but impossible. 
 
 Cut wadding for a double gun is indispensable ; it is 
 cleaner, more expeditious, safer. Tow and loose paper are 
 both dangerous ; the former from its liability to remain 
 ignited in the barrels, and fire the second load, the latter 
 from its tendency to slip, at the shock of the first fire, and 
 leave a vacuum between the powder and shot, which will 
 often produce a burst. 
 
 Wads can be readily cut at home from pasteboard, 
 cards, old bandboxes, old hats, or the like, with a cutter, 
 which always accompanies a good gun, numbered accord- 
 ing to the calibre, a mallet, and a piece of sheet lead, on 
 which to rest the substance to be cut.. They are, however, 
 to be bought of all sizes, in boxes of 250 each, at all gun- 
 amiths' shops, so cheap as to render it a waste of time 
 and trouble to cut them, unless in an emergency, when tho 
 
THE GUN, AND HO"W TO TTSE IT. 95 
 
 stock is expended, and there is no store at hand whence to 
 replace it. 
 
 There was formerly sold a patent metallic English 
 wad, which I approved, both on account of the small bulk 
 it occupied, and that it kept the gun clean; I have, how- 
 ever, seen none lately, and they seem to have gone out of 
 fashion. A species of medicated or oiled wad is now sold 
 for the same purpose ; and it is recommended to mix a few 
 with the common stock, so that one will be occasionally 
 used, as it is claimed to clean the barrels. These I neither 
 praise nor the reverse. I do not know what medicament 
 is that applied, and some are highly injurious to metal. 
 It is hardly to be expected that any person who is 
 not entirely devoted to field sports will go to the 
 trouble and expense of providing him self with a gun 
 proper for every several kind of game and mode of 
 shooting, as, if he should do so, he can scarce be com- 
 pletely armed without half a dozen pieces at the least. 
 For sportsmen in general, a couple of guns, one for 
 general wort, and the other for fowl shooting, will be 
 sufficient, but it cannot be denied that eveiy kind of 
 game has its peculiar weight and calibre of piece, better 
 adapted than any other to do execution on it. 
 
 Thus for summer Cock shooting, when the woods are 
 in leaf, so that it is rare to fire a shot at above a dozen 
 to twenty paces, a short, light, large-bored gun would 
 be as effective, perhaps more effective than any, and 
 far handier in covert, and less onerous in hot weather ; 
 the same gun would be amply sufiicient for Rail shoot 
 
96 MANTJAI, FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 ing. For any person who could afford it, and would 
 take the trouble of haying different guns for every 
 species of sport, for summer Cock shooting and Rail 
 shooting, I should recommend a gun not to exceed 26 
 inches length of barrel, and 12 gauge, with a weight of 
 six and a half pounds only. But this gun should not 
 be fired with to exceed one ounce, at the utmost, of 
 No. 8 shot. 
 
 For autumn shooting, spring Snipe shooting and the 
 like, the piece I should recommend would be 32 barrel, 
 14 gauge, and from seven and a half to eight pounds 
 weight, and this I believe to be the utmost killing 
 proportion that can be adopted, and by all odds the 
 best gun for general shooting, and therefore the most 
 serviceable and most appropriate for a man who uses 
 btit one piece. 
 
 For Bay Snipe shooting, or inland wild fowl shooting, 
 a heavier piece is requisite, if we would do the greatest 
 possible execution with a given gun, and for these pur- 
 poses I would prefer a length of 32 inches with a weight 
 of ten pounds, and a gauge of 12. I am still speaking 
 of double guns. 
 
 The best rules for safety are these : never get into 
 a wagon without taking off your copper caps, even if it be 
 only for a drive of ten minutes ; and it is well also to 
 wipe or brush the nipples, after removing the caps; for 
 the percussion powder will occasionally adhere about the 
 
THE GUlir, AND HOW TO TTSE IT. 97 
 
 orifice, and will explode under a blow as readily as the 
 cap itself. 
 
 On going into a house, never take off the copper caps. 
 Men often do so, thinking thereby to render them safe in 
 case of their being thrown down by dogs or played with by 
 children. In that case, the only safe plan is to place them 
 where none of either the probable offenders can get at 
 them. 
 
 The danger in reality, is increased tenfold by removing 
 the caps ; for to do so is to represent the loaded gun as 
 unloaded and innocent. Nothing but a very small boy 
 indeed takes up a capped gun, without perceiving it to be 
 loaded ; and it is rarely, if ever, with such pieces, that acci- 
 dents happen. 
 
 With loaded guns left uncapped, scarcely a week pass- 
 es, but we see that some unhanged idiot has had, as it is 
 glibly termed, the misfortune to blow out the brains of 
 his sweetheart, wife, or child, by capping a piece which 
 he supposed to be unloaded, and snapping it at the head 
 of his victim. 
 
 The writer can only say that, should he ever sit on a 
 jury where one of these unfortunate gentlemen shall be 
 tried for such an accident, his misfortune will probably be 
 increased by having to serve out a sentence for manslaugh- 
 ter, or murder in the second degree, in the State prison. 
 
 One would not suppose it necessary to write for the 
 information of sane folk, that it is not altogether safe to 
 put the muzzle of a gun into his mouth, and then for one 
 to pull the trigger with his toe. 
 
 I have, however, w:ithin a month, read of two deaths 
 5 
 
98 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 occurring so nearly in this manner, that I am led to doubt 
 the inutility of the caution. 
 
 One genius, having got the cleaning rod of his rifle 
 jammed, so that he could not -withdraw it, cocked the 
 piece, took the rod in his teeth, pulled might and main, 
 and finding that it still did not come, pulled the trigger 
 with his toe. 
 
 I am sorry to say that it is stated, although I do not 
 altogether believe it, that the cleaning rod and ball both 
 went out at the back of his neck, without doing him much 
 harm. I say I am sorry, for if the story be true, such 
 a fool ought not to live. 
 
 In the other case, the sufferer wished to ascertain if his 
 piece were loaded or not, by trying whether the air would 
 draw through it. To this end he clapped the muzzle into 
 his mouth, and began to suck ; then, remembering that so 
 long as the striker lay down on the nipple, that alone would 
 prevent the ingress of the air, he proceeded to half-cock 
 the lock with his toe. Of course, his toe slipped, and 
 very naturally his brains were blown to the four winds. 
 
 It must not be supposed, that these " modern in- 
 stances " are either jokes or " weak inventions " of the 
 author. The former anecdote appeared in the columns 
 of the National Intelligencer, the latter in the New York 
 Daily Times ; both relations bearing every mark of authen- 
 ticity, the names of the sufferers, the time and place of 
 their exploits, though not the verdict of the coroner, which 
 one might conjecture would run in the old style of " sarved 
 'em right, too." 
 
 Who shall say, after this, that it is unnecessary to 
 
THE Gfmir, ANT) HOW TO USE IT. 99 
 
 state the danger of pulling triggers -witti thie muzzle in the 
 mouth ? 
 
 I shall now, for the sake of continuity, alter the order 
 in which I have heretofore considered the modes of using 
 the gun, under the three heads into which I first divided 
 the subject. 
 
 The learning to shoot, and the various details and de- 
 grees of^shooting, are in themselves an art, and I therefore 
 prefer to treat them separately, postponing them to what is 
 for the most part mechanical, and, however useful, and 
 indeed necessary to be known, easily explicable to and at- 
 tainable by any person, not actually deficient in intelli- 
 gence. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say, that the residuum of the 
 gunpowder exploded, and of the igniting substance of the 
 copper caps, has the effect of producing the worst sort of 
 oxidization of the metal of the barrels, in a greater or less 
 degree, according to the temperature and humidity of the 
 atmosphere. 
 
 The finest barrels are rusted the most easily, and sufier 
 the more detriment by rusting. Of course the fouler the 
 gun, the greater the evil that arises from its being left 
 foul. In hot weather barrels suffer infinitely more than in 
 cold, and in wet than in dry. When dampness and heat 
 are combined, the mischief is yet augnlented ; and, prob- 
 ably, the worst conditions that can be supposed are when 
 to dampness and heat a salt atmosphere is- superadded. 
 
 No man, who owns a fine gun, or any gun which he 
 values, ought ever to put it aside after use, without clean- 
 ing, even if he have fired but a single shot. 
 
100 MAITFAL FOR YOTING SPORTSMEK. 
 
 Again, every man who loves his gun should make it a 
 point to clean it with his own hands. It is all very well 
 in Europe, where the sportsman has a gamekeeper at his 
 elbow who knows how to clean a gun, better than he does 
 himself, and who takes as much pride in having it clean as 
 he, to trust it to his servant. 
 
 I have shot, more or less, twenty -five seasons in Amer- 
 ica, and having body-servants all the time, never had one 
 to whom I would intrust the cleaning of a valuable piece. 
 I have always cleaned my own gun before sleeping, or if 
 I have been too much beaten with work to do so, have in- 
 variably, after seeing it as well done as a man could 
 accomplish at night, given it a thorough and fresh going 
 over, before using it in the morning. 
 
 The mode and process is as follows : 
 
 Bring your locks to half-cock, take the ramrod out of 
 the pipes, and the barrels out of the stock, screw the brass 
 jag into the lower end of a solid cleaning rod^ — not one of 
 the trumpery, jointed ebony or mahogany sticks which 
 come in the gun-case — but a tough, seasoned hickory staff, 
 of nearly half an inch diameter, about four inches longer 
 than the barrels, with a saw-cut handpiece. Wrap the jag 
 as thickly with the finest and cleanest tow, as the bore of 
 the barrels to be cleaned will admit. Moisten this tow, 
 and .insert it into the. muzzle ;^ pliinge the breeches of both 
 bairels into a bucket 9f cold water, some four or. six inches 
 deep. Some persons advise hot water ; not. so I. Hot 
 water cakes and hardens the dirt in the barrels ; cold 
 dissolves and loosens it. Work the rod up and down, 
 like the sucker of, a pump, firstjinone.jjarrel, then in the 
 
THE GTJN, AND HOW TO USE FT. 101 
 
 other, constantly changing both tow and water, until the 
 former comes out of the barrels unsullied ; the latter can 
 be pumped through them pure and limpid. 
 
 Should the barrels be leaded, which all writers say 
 occasionally occurs after, very hard and very rapid shoot- 
 ing, when they become so much heated as to melt the shot 
 in its transit, so that a part adheres to them — though I 
 confess that a leaded barrel is a thing I have yet to see^— 
 a wire brush, or a little fine sand sprinkled on the tow, 
 may be used. If the brush, it should be of brass wire, as 
 softer, and less liable to scratch the polish of the barrels 
 than iron ; if sand, the less the better. I have never used 
 either in my life ; and T have, at times, shot very hard — 
 to the extent, I doubt not, of several thousand shots in 
 several single seasons, and my guns have always been in as 
 good condition as those of my friends and neighbors. 
 
 I have adhered to a practice, however, which I strongly 
 recommend to others, of having the breeches of my gun 
 taken out at the expiration of every shooting season, by 
 an experienced gunsmith, so that the whole interior may 
 be inspected, and the least flaw, morsel of extraneous 
 matter, or rust spot, detected and removed, if judged ne- 
 cessary, by dry reaming. 
 
 The barrels thus cold washed, wipe them dry exter- 
 nally, and pour into the muzzle of each, from the spout of 
 a tea-kettle, nearly boiling hot water, until they run over 
 at the brim. Reverse them and let them drain, standing 
 erect in a corner, in the sunshine, on the hob of the 
 kitchen grate, for fire minutes, or by the register of a hot- 
 air furnace. Wipe the cleaning-rod dry, replenish the jag 
 
102 MANUAL FOE TOTHSTG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 with clean dry tow, as much as you can force into the 
 muzzles, work it up and down as quickly and sharply as 
 you can, constantly changing the tow, until not only no 
 touch of moisture is sensible on the swab, but the barrels 
 are perceptibly heated through by the friction. 
 
 It is not an unlaborious piece of work, I assure my 
 readers ; and if they be, like the royal Dane, in a degree 
 " fat, and scant of breath," they will puff and blow, and 
 their muscles will complain before the task is accom- 
 plished. Nevertheless, the work will be well repaid by 
 the performance. 
 
 The tow may now be moistened, at the most, by two 
 drops of clarified oil, of which anon, and may be run down 
 each barrel. The cavities around the nipples, and all the 
 exterior grooves of the barrels about tlie ramrod-pipes, 
 elevated ribs, &c., should now be rubbed clean with a bit 
 of flannel, or the finger of a kid glove stretched over a 
 slip of pine wood, and then brushed lightly with a proper 
 brush — a soft tooth-brush is as good as any — moistened, 
 as before, with clarified oil, and rubbed with a piece of 
 chamois leather or buckskin until dry; the striker, and 
 above all the cavity of it, which impinges on the nipple, 
 should be cleaned out, and oiled and dried in the same 
 manner. But, unless the gun has been exposed for a long 
 time to small penetrating rain or snow, has been immersed 
 in water, or been thoroughly saturated with salt air, or 
 unless some obstacle or hitch is perceptible in their work- 
 ing, I do not recommend the removal of the locks. 
 
 Every time they are removed and replaced, something 
 is lost of the exquisite finish and fitting, where the wood- 
 
THE OVTS, AND HOW TO USE IT. 108 
 
 work and the metal come together ; which is one of the 
 principal points of superiority in London-made guns to all 
 others ; it seeming impossible in them that the air itself, 
 much less a mote of dust or a drop of dampness, should 
 penetrate the accurate suture. 
 
 The lock-plates externally should be rubbed and oiled, 
 as should the trigger-guard, the heel-plate, and, in fact, all 
 the iron work of the stock. The wood, which in the 
 finest English guns is now put up merely in oil, with no 
 French varnish to be scratched at the first encounter with 
 stock or stone, and thenceforward always to show bruised 
 and ragged, needs only plenty of elbow grease and a little 
 furniture oil to keep it in perfect condition. The ramrod 
 must be oiled, reinserted in its pipes, and the gun is clean, 
 ready to be shot again to-morrow, or to be laid by in its 
 case until once more Wanted in the field. 
 
 If the latter, lay a treble-folded Imen rag, dipped in 
 the clarified oil and pressed dry, between the striker and 
 the nipples ; lay a single fold of the same over each muz- 
 zle, and force it down with a wad inside it, about two 
 inches into the barrel. 
 
 Clarified oil is made by putting a handful of rusty 
 nails, old iron, or shot, into a bottle of the best salad oil. 
 In less than a month all the impurities of the oil will sink 
 and collect about the metals, and the residue, when drawn 
 off carefully, instead of itself promoting, will prevent 
 oxidization. 
 
 " From the peculiar construction of detonating locks," 
 I quote from a clever little English work by " Craven," 
 under a title similar to my own, " they should not be 
 
104 MANUAL FOE TOTHSTG SPOETSMEIT. 
 
 snapped either with or without the copper caps, except ia 
 the act of shooting. When the gun is loaded, the flash of 
 the detonating powder never enters the inside of the bar- 
 rel ; but if snapped upon the caps, when the gun is un- 
 loaded, it drives the detonating gas into the barrels, which 
 creates rust;* and if done without the caps, the works 
 are liable to be injured, by reason of the cocks meeting no 
 resistance in their fall, as in flint looks. 
 
 " The detonating pegs, cones, or nipples, will last a 
 season's hard shooting — " I have known them to last half a 
 dozen — " but should by no means be used after the holes 
 are worn large by repeated firing ; as it will weaken the 
 force of the gua, and damage the locks." 
 
 Should it be found necessary to remove the locks — 
 and this will be necessary whenever the gun shall have 
 been immersed in water, exposed to heavy rain, snow, mist 
 or salt air, and whenever any roughness or rigidity shall 
 be discovered in the working of the locks, and advisable 
 at least so often as at the beginning and end of every 
 season — the mode of doing so is as follows : 
 
 Take out the lock screw, which passes through from 
 the left to the right side immediately in front of the cook ; 
 and with a gentle shake, or a very slight tap on the inner 
 side of the strikers, the locks will be dislodged from their 
 places. On no account, in case of their adhesion, insert 
 any thing between the wood and the metal of the locks ; 
 to do so will invariably bruise the softer substance, injure 
 
 * This gas is far more injurious to the metals than that evolved 
 from the comtustion of gunpowder, or than that arising from the two 
 powders in combination. — H. W. H. 
 
TfHE GUN, Airo HOW TO "(JSE it. 105 
 
 the close fitting of the parts, and make way for the admis- 
 sion of rain or water. 
 
 I will here observe that bar-locks are by far the better. 
 Back-action locks, though they were at one time the rage, 
 do not ordinarily work so smoothly as the others, in con- 
 sequence of the form of the scear-spring, and, unless the 
 stock be made thicker and more clumsy in the gripe, which 
 is in itself both an eyesore and a defect, materially weaken 
 that part of the gun. 
 
 If the lock, when taken off, be bright, clear and dry, 
 nothing will be required but to wipe it off with a bit of 
 dry wash-leather ; woollen stuff is not so good, as bits of 
 the lint or thread are apt to remain behind ; to brush away 
 any dust or old oil which may remain about the joints and 
 screws of the springs from the last cleaning, with a dry 
 feather, and then with the same instrument to apply a 
 very small quantity of oil, clarified as above, to those 
 parts which work one into the other. 
 
 If, however, rust be any where established, or if much 
 dirt and foulness Ibe coagulated in places where it cannot 
 easily be got at, it will be necessary to dissect the locks. 
 
 To do so, the following rules, published on the first 
 introduction of the percussion system by a leading Lon- 
 don gunmaker, are the best and safest to follow : 
 
 " I have found it a good plan, on taking the parts asun- 
 der, to drop the screws, keeping them carefully unmixed, 
 into a dinner-plate, containing clarified oil to the depth of 
 the eighth of an inch, and to wipe them dry with a piece 
 of wash-leather before replacing them. The same thing 
 may be done, advantageously, with the nipples wien -taken 
 5* 
 
106 MANUAL FOK YOUNG SPOKTSMEK. 
 
 out of the breeches, and in this case it will be well to draw 
 through the tubes a needle well charged with floss silk, 
 which will collect and remove any oil which may have en- 
 tered, and which, if suffered to remain, when the gun 
 should be loaded, intervening between the powder and the 
 cap, would, almost certainly, cause a miss, or at least a 
 long fire. 
 
 " Let down the cock. 
 
 " Cramp the main spring sufficiently to remove it," 
 with the small lock-vice which accompanies every com- 
 plete gun-case ; but be careful not to (w«r-cramp, as one 
 may so break or injure the spring. 
 
 " Take off the bridle. 
 
 " Press scear against seear-spring with the forefinger 
 and thumb of the left or right hand, according as the lock 
 may be a left or a right one ; and having, with the fore- 
 finger of the other hand, pushed back the cock as far as it 
 will go, let the scear-spring go back gently, when the pivot 
 of the scear is easily lifted out of the hole, and the scear 
 taken out. 
 
 " Turn out the scear-spring screw, and take out the 
 spring. 
 
 " Unscrew and take out the cock." To do this, by no 
 means wrench it off by forcing a screw-driver between the 
 cock and the plate, but loosen it by gently tapping the in- 
 side of the cock with a bit of soft wood. 
 
 " Take out the tumbler." 
 
 This done, wipe all the parts thoroughly dry, remove 
 the dry rust, if any, by means of a little oil and a bur- 
 nisher, lightly oil the whole machinery, again wipe it dry 
 
THE GUN, AUTD HOW TO USE IT. 107 
 
 with a piece of wash-leather, and it is ready for recon- 
 struction. 
 
 " To put them together again, put in tumbler, and 
 screw on cock, so as to be down. 
 
 " Put cock rather backward, and screw on scear-spring. 
 
 " Push cock back as far as it will go ; put pivot of 
 scear into its proper hole, and then taking hold of scear 
 with the thumb, and of the top of the cock with the fore- 
 finger of the right hand, if a right-hand lock, and vice versd 
 if a left, compress the spring, and move the lock forward 
 and down. 
 
 " Push forward the swivel, so that it may not interfere 
 with the screw, and drawing the cock a little forward, slip 
 the two holes in the bridle upon the heads of the scear 
 and tumbler pivot, and screw on the bridle. 
 
 " Having let down the cock, and pushed forward the 
 swivel as far as it will go, cramp the main-spring, hook 
 the end of it on the swivel, move it up to its place on the 
 lock plate, and unscrew the cramp." 
 
 When a fine gun is to be laid aside for any considerable 
 length of time, during the absence of the owner, or under 
 such circumstances that it cannot be readily examined and 
 overhauled, the following plan will be found admirable for 
 its preservation. 
 
 Stop the orifices of the nipples with small pegs of pine 
 wood, plunge the barrels, breech downward, into hot water, 
 pour into the muzzles melted lard, tallow, or suet, carefully 
 tried out and clear from salt, until the barrels are com- 
 pletely full ; oil them copiously, without, with pure clari- 
 fied neat's-foot oil, or loon-skin oil, which is better ; and if 
 
108 MAirpAL FOE YOUNG . SFOKTSMEIt. 
 
 laid away for half a dozen years, they will be. found, when 
 cleaned, in perfect condition. To clean them, plunge the 
 barrels, as before, into hot water, and stand them near the 
 fire until the grease within, being completely liquefied, can 
 be turned out ; the barrels should be then washed, dried, 
 and cleaned as usual after a day's shooting, the pine pegs 
 removed from the nipples, and they will be ready for any 
 service. 
 
 Loon-skin oil, mentioned above, is thus made. Cut 
 away with a sharp knife all the fat, nearly half an inch in 
 thickness, which comes away, adhering to the inside of the 
 skin, when the bird is flayed ; try it out in an earthen pot 
 or crucible, purify by inserting old nails or shot for ten 
 days, draw off the oil, and bottle. 
 
 It is the sovereignest thing in the world to prevent rust, 
 especially the rust arising from sea-air ; I learned the use 
 of it from observing that the gunners at Barnegat, Egg 
 Harbor, &c., constantly, when out on the bays, keep a piece 
 of loon-skin in the pocket of their pea-jackets, and therewith 
 wipe, from time to time, with the fleshy or fatty side, the 
 metallic parts of their fowling-pieces. Perceiving the 
 efi'ect of this, I improved on the plan, by trying out and 
 bottling the oil, and from long trial can pronounce it the 
 best detergent and preventive of rust. 
 
 A few words on the rifle, that most American of all 
 fire-arms, as adapted to sporting purposes, and to field use 
 as opposed to target practice, and I pass on to more inter- 
 esting, if not more indispensable portions of my subject. 
 
 The ordinary old-fashioned rifle of the American back- 
 woodsman, which did its work of extermination on the 
 
THE GtTN, AND HOW TO USE IT.- 109 
 
 red Indian, and tlie fatal volleys of which told with effect 
 so deadly on the disciplined battalions of England during 
 the wars of the Eevolution and of 1812, has had its day ; 
 it is superseded ; crowded out of its place by newer and 
 more puissant arms ; its mission is ended, whether in the 
 field of the chase or of real warfare. 
 
 It was a ponderous, unwieldy, long, ill-balanced barre]-, 
 of weight so great, as, while it was rendered thereby irk- 
 some to carry, and difficult even for a strong man to fire 
 but from a rest, to prevent all recoil, and to make it as 
 steady almost as a fixture in any hands capable of balancing 
 or aiming it. 
 
 The ball was ludicrously small, varying from 80 to 
 120 to the pound, and the charge of powder in proportion. 
 The object of the hunter was extreme precision at exceed- 
 ingly short ranges, the densely wooded wilderness, which 
 was alike the hunting ground and the battle field, present- 
 ing insuperable obstacles to seeing an object, much more 
 drawing a fine sight on it, at a distance exceeding a hun- 
 dred yards. 
 
 To this must be added, that in the old days of scouting, 
 Indian fighting, and forest hunting in the Atlantic States, 
 both lead and powder were matters to the woodman worth 
 almost their weight in gold — that it was desirable to get 
 as many bullets, as could by any. means be compassed, out 
 of a pound of lead, and that so valuable a thing as a charge 
 was never to be wasted, unless with the certainty of brlu;.- 
 ing down an enemy or sending home a meal. 
 
 In the state of the country then prevailing, a shot 
 was oftener obtained within fifty yards than beyond that 
 
110 MAW ITAT, FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 distance ; and it may be assumed that within one hundred, 
 a ball of one hundred to the pound may be lodged in 
 a stationary mark, by a hand and eye used to such shoot- 
 ing, with such precision as to insure death to the object 
 aimed at. 
 
 At this time the art of gunmaking of all kinds was 
 rude in the extreme, and the commonest of all prevailing 
 errors was the almost universal belief that extreme length 
 of barrel, whether in the rifle or fowling-piece, produced 
 corresponding length of flight to the missile. 
 
 Rifle barrels were not unfrequently made of five feet 
 and upward in length, and the ball was made to take two 
 or more spiral perfect revolutions within the barrel previous 
 to its expulsion. The art was in its infancy ; and as no 
 pieces were made which could outshoot these old-fashioned 
 clumsy implements, while, from certain necessities of his 
 position and habits, certain peculiarities of his character 
 and temperament, the American backwoodsman became 
 perfect in the use of the weapon, the weapon itself came 
 to be regarded as perfect, and itself and the marksman 
 who wielded it, were regarded with mingled apprehension 
 and admiration. 
 
 Still it was never adopted by any other nation, and 
 never has been used, in the true sense, as a sporting 
 weapon — I mean as one used to kill game for a sport and 
 pastime, and not for the value of the game. Its extreme 
 inadaptibility to rapid firing, especially at things in quick 
 motion, its comparatively limited range, the want of weight 
 in its ball, which, unless it hits its object directly in a 
 vital spot, is of little mora effect on large game than a 
 
TITE GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. Ill 
 
 pellet of shot, all combined to render it inefficient and un- 
 popular. 
 
 It was soon found, moreover, that it was the weight 
 and not the length of the barrel that did the work — that 
 a half rotation, or, as some insist, a third, within the barrel, 
 gives all the rotatory motion to the ball which is desirable ; 
 and lastly, that weight in the ball itself is necessary for dis- 
 tant firing correctly, independent of the fact that an ounce 
 bullet, inflicting a wound not of necessity mortal, will disable 
 a man or animal, where one of 120 to the pound will be 
 carried off, harmlessly for the time, in the very vitals. 
 
 With this came the first change. The short ounce-ball 
 yager rifle was adopted generally on the prairies against 
 large quadrupeds, and was found to outrange tha small 
 piece inflnitely, and, with equally good shooting, to plant 
 its balls as accurately. 
 
 For a long time the double-barrelled English London- 
 made sporting rifles were the ne plus vMra of the weapon, 
 placing both their ponderous balls with extraordinary 
 powers of penetration in the same spot at three hundred 
 yards, and doing their work fatally at twice that dis- 
 tance. 
 
 During the period of European improvements in this 
 arm, science made no advance in America, save in what 
 may be called the frivolities and fripperies of the art. 
 Target-shooting from rests, with telescope sights, patent- 
 loading muzzles, and other niceties, very neat, and doubt- 
 less telling also in the practice-ground, but wholly useless 
 and ineffective in the field, came into vogue with all the 
 rifle-clubs and companies of nearly all the original thirteen 
 
lis MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 'States, owing partly to the disappearance- of those species 
 of game against which it was employed. 
 
 In the European armies the soldier's rifle, though 
 effective at long ranges, was ill-finished, clumsy, and not by 
 any means a weapon with which to allow men, much less to 
 teach them, to become first-rate shots. The first move in 
 the right direction was the heavy British two-grooved 
 military rifle with the belted ball. Its range was found to 
 be what was then thought immense, its precision great, 
 and it was an available, manageable, telling, and killing 
 weapon. 
 
 As a sporting piece, it still to a certain degree holds 
 its own, though it has one bad fault — a fatal one for troops 
 in active warfare — that it clogs in rapid firing, and soon 
 becomes so foul as to render it impossible to load. 
 
 This in turn was superseded by the Minie rifle, used 
 by the French chasseurs de Vincennes, the principle of 
 which is duplex. First, it contains a hollow projection, 
 sharp-pointed, running from the base of the breech per- 
 pendicularly into the chamber, which bursts the cartridge 
 when it is driven into it, and through which the igniting 
 power of the cap is carried directly into the centre of the 
 charge. Secondly, the ball is so contrived as to expand, 
 after the impulse is conveyed to it, fill the grooves of the 
 barrel, and cut its way out, instead of merely holding its 
 way out by means of the cuts made in it, as it was forced 
 down in loading. 
 
 This weapon has made a complete revolution in the 
 art of war. The Minie rifle executes with such precision 
 at such ranges as to render all other fire-arms useless. A 
 
THE QUK,: Al^D HOW TO USE TJ. 113 
 
 good shot can, and does not uufrpqnently, bring down his 
 object at 1000, and even at 1500 yards. Artillery have 
 been silenced with it before they could^ come into grape- 
 range ; and such is its appalling force and penetration, 
 that at the bloody battle of Inkerman, the Minie bullets, 
 falling into the serried columns of the Russian foot, were 
 found, in many instances, after the fight was ended, to have 
 pierced three and four men in succession, inflicting ghastly 
 and fatal wounds on all. 
 
 To this otherwise formidable weapon, a breech-loading 
 principle has been adapted in Europe ; but it is as yet 
 slow, incomplete, and in one, which seems hitherto to be 
 admitted as the best weapon of the kind, the Enfield rifle, 
 liable to clog after firing, so as to render it difficult or 
 impossible to load. 
 
 We now come to the various American patent arms,* 
 recently invented ; and one of these I consider as, beyond 
 all doubt, the best rifle ever invented, and destined to 
 supersede all others, both for the chase and for actual 
 warfare. — I mean Perry's breech-loading rifle. 
 
 I have already had occasion to speak of the revolving 
 and breech-loading principle, as applied to fowling-pieces, 
 and have given my conviction that no advantage is to be 
 gained by the adoption of either. On coming to consider 
 the same principle, as applied to the rifle, we must dis- 
 tinguish between that weapon as required for military and 
 for sporting purposes ; the qualifications of the two being 
 widely different. 
 
 For the former purpose, it is often necessary to fire a 
 maximum number of shots, at a vast range, in a continu- 
 * See "BreecUoaders," by " Gloan," 1874. PubUslied by Geo. E. Wood- 
 WABP, New York. 
 
114 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 ous stream, with great successive rapidity, almost in a 
 minimum space of time. 
 
 For the latter, to fire two or three shots almost instan- 
 taneously, either at one animal constantly in motion, and 
 increasing its distance from the firer, or at two, or possibly 
 at three animals starting before him, simultaneously, and 
 going from him at great velocity, is the ne plus ultra. 
 Of revolvers, there are several kinds recently introduced, 
 two of which are noticeable. Colt's and Porter's patent 
 revolving arms — the former, on account of its celebrity 
 and excellence, as a pistol, for use in brief, rapid encoun- 
 ters ; the latter, on account of its utter worthlessness for 
 any purpose. As applied to a military rifle, Colt's revolv- 
 ing chamber fails, for several reasons. First, it cannot 
 be made of sufficient calibre to carry any ball of telling 
 weight, at long range, without being monstrously unsym- 
 metrical and unwieldy. Secondly, after four or six shots 
 have been discharged, the cylinder must be removed and 
 reloaded by a slow and complex operation, during which 
 the bearer is virtually unarmed, and liable to be ridden 
 over by horse or charged with the bayonet, while unablo 
 to offer any resistance. Thirdly, it is difficult to be 
 cleaned. Fourthly, it cannot be loaded, at all, but by 
 means of its own peculiar apparatus — which lost, it is all 
 but useless. Lastly, if injured, or out of order, it cannot 
 be repaired by any ordinary armorer or gunsmith. 
 
 As a military weapon, therefore, it may be pronounced 
 useless — this objection not being understood as applying 
 to cavalry or boarding pistols, to be used only during 
 close, rapid combats of a few seconds or miuutes'daratioD/ 
 
THE GXTS, AND HO"W TO USE IT. 115 
 
 ■without continuous firing. For these are of admitted ex- 
 cellence. 
 
 For sporting purposes, though the rapidity and number 
 of its discharges are all-sufficient, the difficulty of loading, 
 the want of sufficient calibre, and the consequent failure 
 at long ranges, are conclusive against it. 
 
 Moreover, it is clumsy in the haqd, and singularly un- 
 sightly — nor are these slight or trivial objections ; for of 
 two guns, the one symmetrical and the other the reverse, 
 the former must needs, cmteris paribus, shoot the better ; 
 as being the more handy and manageable in taking aim. 
 Porter's rifle has a perpendicularly revolving cylinder, 
 loading on the outer edge ; and if any flaw should occur in 
 the metal, causing an internal communication between the 
 chambers, so that a discharge should ensue, four or five 
 of the balls would take efiect on the person of the firer, 
 and the whole fabric would be burst and blown to atoms. 
 
 Add to this, it has all the faults ascribable to Colt's 
 arm, with this in addition to them : that aim is taken 
 not along the barrel, or over the axis of the ball, but 
 along a sort of outrigger, divergent at the base and con- 
 vergent toward the muzzle of the piece. By an arrange- 
 ment of screws, it can be so adapted, that these two con- 
 vergent lines, the one made by the sight of the shooter and 
 the other by the flight of the ball, shall meet at any given 
 distance ; beyond which they will necessarily intersect. 
 But, when once regulated for one distance, if fired at an 
 object much nearer, the lines will not meet by some inches 
 or feet ; at one much farther, the lines will cross, with the 
 same effect of missing the object, however true the aim. 
 
116 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 It is therefore, at best, a weapon which can only be used 
 effectively at one, known and given, distance ; and is 
 utterly useless at any other range, until the difference 
 shall have been calculated, and the machinery rearranged 
 — an operation requiring time, and, of course, utterly in- 
 consistent with field service. 
 
 Of breech-loading pieces, we will say that they are the 
 great desideratum of military gunnery ; that the superior- 
 ity of them to muzzle-loading arms is greater than that 
 of percussion to flint-and-steel locks ; perhaps as great as 
 that of musketry to archery. 
 
 For sporting, however, the gain is not so great. No 
 breech-loading rifle has probably ever been made, with 
 which the best and most rapid marksman onrl 1 fire two 
 shots, loading for the second, at one animal running at 
 speed away from him, or across hlm~ unless it were, once 
 in a thousand times, on a perfectly open and level plain, at 
 a very large object — much less could bring down two 
 animals in quick succession, leaping up and taking flight 
 at the same moment. 
 
 In point of rapidity of firing, therefore, for sporting 
 purposes, no breech-loading rifle can ever equal, much less 
 BurjDass, a finely made, accurately-sighted, double-barrelled 
 hunting rifle, such as are turned out by the most cele- 
 brated London makers. 
 
 The "obstacles to the success of all former breech-load- 
 ing arms have been — First, the difficulty of so arranging 
 the juncture of the chamber with the barrel, as to prevent 
 the escape of the gaseous ignited fluid, at the moment of 
 discharge. If this subtle fluid escape, it will speedily eat 
 
THE GTm,- AST> HOW TO USE IT. IIT 
 
 away the metallic faces at their point of junction, so as to 
 render the arm useless ; independent of the fact, that if, as 
 niust necessarily be the case, the escape vent be contiguous 
 to any portion of the shooter's person, this fluid will 
 seriously scorch him, and may set his raiment on fire. 
 Secondly, the liability of the movable portionof the arm,* 
 and the crank which turns it, to become clogged by foul- 
 ness, after repeated and rapid firing, so as to be bound, 
 stiff, and, at last, wholly immovable. Thirdly, the com- 
 plicity of their workmanship, the difficulty of cleaning 
 them, their liability to get out of order, and their incapa- 
 bility of ordinary repair. Fourthly, inadaptability to any 
 but their own peculiar ammunition ; and lastly — their 
 want of symmetry, and consequent unfitness for fine, rapid, 
 accurate and workmanlike shooting. 
 
 To two of these faults, and two of the most serious of 
 these, Sharpe's rifle, which at one time acquired so much 
 Kansas notoriety, is with justice held liable. The gaseous 
 fluid does escape dangerously, where the two metallic facei 
 slide one against the other ■, so much so, that I have seen a 
 person seriously scorched, in firing a few shots rapidly ; 
 nor can I doubt that, after a few hundred shots, the eflS- 
 ciency of the weapon would be seriously aifected by the 
 burning away or melting of the metal ; as occurs in the 
 vents of cannon and the touch-holes of flint-and-steel 
 guns, after much rapid firing. The other fault is. its ex-- 
 treme clumsiness and want of symmetry. 
 
 * For a full Illustrated description of the best breechloaaing guns, em- 
 bracing all ImproTements to 1874, see " Breechloaders," by " Gloan." 
 Published by Geo. E. Woodwaed, New York. 
 
118 MANUAL FOK TOTING SFOKTSMEN. 
 
 I speak positively, on conviction founded on long use, 
 frequent experiment, and most accurate examination. 
 
 I have a rifle of this plan, carrying a ball of 80 to the 
 lb. if round, of about double that weight, if acorn-shaped — 
 which I have fired several hundred times, with my bare 
 hand exactly under the point of junction, and never have 
 been sensible of the least escape of gas ; nor are either of 
 the metallic faces in the slightest degree burnt, corroded, 
 or altered in appearance, by the sharp firing to which they 
 have been subjected. 
 
 From forty to fifty shots have been fired in succession, 
 with cartridges made from very infwior gunpowder, 
 and, though the operation of opening and xeclosing the 
 breech was, in a slight degree, checked, it was not seri- 
 ously impeded. With cartridges filled with good sporting 
 powder, I have fired thirty shots a day three days in suc- 
 cession, without cleaning, for the purpose of testing its 
 operation, and have found no difficulty with the arm. 
 
 The military pieces, both carbines and pistols, have 
 the loading-breeches arranged to play somewhat more 
 easily than those of finer fabric ; and I prefer the former, 
 as equally free from the escape of the gas, and as more 
 convenient in service. 
 
 The weapons are — as will be seen at once from the fol- 
 lowing sketch, displaying, first, the rifle closed and ready for 
 firing ; second, the rifle with the trigger and 'trigger-guard 
 turned forward, and the orifice of the chamber thrown 
 upward, to receive the charge ; and third, the loading- 
 breech, taken out for the purpose of cleaning — singularly 
 symmetrical, handy, and even elegant of form. 
 
THE GTJK, AND HOW TO USE IT. 
 
 119 
 
 Ten slots can easily be fired, to hit the mark, by a 
 practised hand, within the minute ; and I have never 
 taken in my hand any gun, which it is easier to bring to 
 the shoulder and eye, on which it is more ready to take a 
 swift and sure aim, or which shoots more truly or at a 
 better range. 
 
 It is extremely simple, the commonest smith being able 
 to repair every part. No gun can be cleaned with greater 
 facility, since, on the removal of the breech by the with- 
 drawal of two pivots and a guide-screw, the light is ad- 
 mitted to the interior of thfr barrel, at the base, so that 
 the smallest speck of dust or oxidization can be at once 
 detected and removed. 
 
 The base of the loading chamber, which receives the 
 charge, is furnished with a hollow thorn, or tige, as it is 
 
120 MAJSrUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEJST. 
 
 termed in the Minie rifle, which tears the cartridge, and, 
 being inserted by a screw, is itself removable, so as to 
 render the chamber also pervious to light, air, and water, 
 for purposes of cleanliness. No ordinary gun can be 
 cleaned so rapidly and thoroughly ; nor can it be ascer- 
 tained of any other, so surely, whether it is clean or not, 
 before laying it aside. 
 
 To this may be added, that it is the safest of all arms ; 
 since, while loading, the trigger is removed from the lock 
 on which it operates, and the cone with the copper-cap 
 subtracted from the hammer, not returning into position 
 so as to be subject to discharge, until the chamber is again 
 locked into its place as conjoined with the barrel. 
 
 The ordinary load is a cartridge, containing the powder 
 and ball, or slug, which is merely thrust into the chamber, 
 when it is torn as described above ; and so soon as the 
 guard is drawn back to its proper place, the arm is ready 
 for firing, inasmuch .as, if desired, it is a self-primer. 
 
 The stock contains a long hollow tube or reed of brass, 
 enclosing a spiral spring, which, when filled with thirty 
 copper caps, is inserted at th« butt, and at every return 
 of the breech to its place after the cartridge is received, 
 the old cap falling off as it is deflected, fits a fresh one on 
 the nipple. 
 
 A peculiarity however, and a most important ope, of 
 this arm is, that, should the supply of proper cartridges 
 run out, it can be loaded quite as readily, though not quite 
 so fast, with a common horn and patched bullet, as with its 
 appropriate charge ; or, that if by any chance the breech 
 diould become, fixed, it can be charged like any other piece 
 
THE GTJN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 121 
 
 from the muzzle with a ramrod;, and that, either when 
 thus or otherwise loaded, it can be capped by the hand, 
 precisely after the manner of any other variety of the 
 firelock. 
 
 With the cartridge, hand-capped, it can be fired delib- 
 erately five or six times in the minute ; and I should think, 
 though I have never tried it, three or four times, if not 
 more, with loose ammunition. 
 
 If these, however, were the only recommendations of 
 this arm, it would have been needless to waste words 
 upon it, as applicable to sporting purposes. But it has 
 another unrivalled superiority to any fire-arm I have ever 
 seen — its range and power of penetration. 
 
 The small-calibre gun, of which I have spoken, does its 
 work telhngly and killingly at ranges which used to be 
 considered impossible, three and four hundred yards' dis- 
 tance. But the short cavalry carbines of 22 or 24-ineh 
 barrel carry a round ball of ^ oz. and an acorn-shaped 
 one of twice the weight, which does fearful execution at 
 500 paces. I have seen a round ball, from one of theae 
 short pieces, pierce two three-inch wet oak planks, at a 
 foot distance asunder, and then bury itself, eight inches 
 deep, in the body of a tulip tree. 
 
 The military rifle of the same pattern with a ball of 
 about I oz. round, ^ oz. conical, has been proved capable 
 ^f striking the size of a horse at the enormous distance of 
 1400 yards, and with a force as fatal as its range and 
 accuTaey are tremendous. 
 
 Tried before a military board in Canada, against the 
 Jijiaie riflej it beat that queen of weapons, as it has beea 
 6 
 
122 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 styled, out of sight, in all the three great desiderata — ac- 
 curacy, range, and force of execution. 
 
 All these points being taken into consideration, I am 
 inclined to prefer Perry's breech-loading rifle, even as a 
 sporting weapon, to any gun ever yet invented ; adopting, 
 for that purpose, a very simple modification of its ordinary 
 form. For use in close covert, and still more on horse- 
 back, in which condition, whoever has tried it knows that 
 it is almost an impossibility to load a rifle, its superiority 
 is inconceivably pre-eminent ; and, even in common vise, 
 the saving of the actual labor of forcing the patched ball 
 down a foul barrel, is a matter of no inconsiderable 
 moment. 
 
 A good rider might load, fire, reload and fire again, a 
 carbine of this construction, while sitting in his saddle, 
 with his horse at full speed, almost as readily as he could 
 do so on foot. 
 
 For buffalo-hunting, in the great plains, no weapon 
 could by any means compete with this ; and were I about 
 to stake my life on the continuous and unvarying perform- 
 ance of any fire-arm I have yet tried, this is that on which 
 I should determine the risk. 
 
 The cause of its superior carriage is simple and easily 
 explained, and is due to its peculiar construction ; pro- 
 ducing by a different mode the same effect as is obtained 
 by the expansive bullet which forms the peculiarity- of the 
 Minie rifle. In the ordinary rifled-barrel the ball is 
 driven down through an arrangement of sharp-edged spiral 
 grooves, which cut it into ridges and furrows in its descent. 
 On its' projection, it passes out, retained .in -its positi&Q 
 
THE GTtN, AND HOW TO USE IT. '123 
 
 within those grooves by the ridges previously cut in it ; 
 which mode of exit communicates to it the rotary motion, 
 whence its efficacy. 
 
 In the Minie rifle, the hollow conical ball is made to 
 expand by a wedgelike appendage, forced into it by the 
 explosion of the powder, and so fills the grooves, which 
 had not previously acted on it, and cuts its way out, gain- 
 ing its motion by its exit, not by a form impressed on it in 
 its descent. In Perry's arm, the chamber, and the ball 
 inserted into it, are both larger than the grooved barrel, 
 through which the latter is to be propelled ; and the pro- 
 jectile, which enters the barrel, for the first time on the 
 discharge of the piece, a perfect sphere, is found, after its 
 emission, to be cut into an irregular cylinder, deeply 
 grooved and ribbed. The effect of this in the attainment 
 of accuracy is self-evident. 
 
 Why the excess of friction does not, as theoretically it 
 should, diminish the velocity and force of the projectile, I 
 cannot explain. It would seem that so far from doing so, 
 it increases both. 
 
 At all events, the matter is not one of theory, but of 
 practised and established proof. 
 
 These guns can be made to order, at the factory in 
 any style, and of any dimensions, calibre, form, weight, 
 and finish requisite. If, happily, the manufacture had 
 been set on foot anywhere else, in the United States, tire 
 arms would, undoubtedly, have long ago attained the re- 
 pute they deserve, and would have been in general use. 
 
 But, according to the wont of the inefficient, unenter- 
 prising, pennywise and poundfoolish system of business 
 
124: MANUAL FOE YpimG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 of the twopenny community among which it is located, 
 after being brought to perfection and proved satisfactorily, 
 at some considerable expense, the small farther advance 
 needed to set it in operation before the public, is not 
 forthcoming ; and, in consequence, the best weapon in the 
 world remains comparatively unknown, while half a dozen 
 mere pretenders are reaping golden premiums. 
 
 This arm can be, and is, made double-barrelled quite 
 as effectively as single, and can be finished and orna- 
 mented up to any desired limit. 
 
 I should choose, for my own use, a double barrel to 
 carry a conical ball of precisely one ounce weight, the 
 round bullet being proportionably lighter, of from 28 to 
 30-inoh barrel — the shorter length, if to be used principally, 
 or much on horseback — with a weight of not to exceed 
 ten pounds. It should have a plain fowling-piece stock 
 for quick shooting, and rather an open V shaped back- 
 sight to facilitate rapidity of taking aim, though it might 
 be furnished, also, with a telescope back-sight, and thread- 
 and-ball end-sight, for target practice and rest firing. 
 
 For off-hand shooting and real work in the field, such 
 gimcrackeries are useless and ridiculous. 
 
 I should prefer the gun to be finished in plain blue 
 steel, without any ornament or engraving, as easier to keep 
 clean, less likely to absorb rust, and on the whole more 
 sportsmanlike. Such a weapon can, I presume, be fur- 
 nished of the best quality for about one hundred dollars, 
 and I will insure it to shoot to the builder's satisfaction, 
 and to kill deer, horse or man, if held fairly on its mark, 
 at any distance from 500 to 1000 yards. 
 
THE GUN, AXT1 TTOW TO USE TT. 125 
 
 The mode of selecting a rifle to suit the shooter, is 
 identical with that of choosing a shot gun. The way to 
 ascertain its operation, is for the buyer to have it tried in 
 his own presence, at arm's length and at rest, at long and 
 short ranges, with the wind, against the wind, and across 
 the wind — which last, if it be blowing any thing like a 
 respectable breeze, is the hardest test of all — ^by some one 
 in whose shooting, if he be not confident of hia own, he 
 may have perfect reliance. If it execute quickly, surely 
 and forcibly, he may be sure he has got what he requires. 
 But, by all means, let him insist on trying it, or seeing it 
 tried, in the open. No testing in a gallery of fifteen or 
 thirty paces is worth sixpence, as a real proof, either of 
 the weapon or of the shooter ; and none but a tyro would 
 dream of purchasing on such a childish assay. Distance 
 and penetration are the only true tests. At twenty feet 
 a schoolboy's steel cross-bow, with a deal bolt, will snuff 
 a candle ; at a hundred yards it will hardly hit a house. 
 
 If, notwithstanding all that I have written, the hunter 
 lean to the old single rifle, let him select one of not less 
 than a f ounce round ball, seven or eight pounds' weight, 
 and 33 to 36-inch barrels, by any American maker, and 
 he can scarce go wrong. 
 
 If he want a supereminent double, let liim pay the best 
 manufacturei s of London fifty guineas tirr their last and 
 best turn-out, and he will not be disappointed ; but in luy 
 mind, if he prefer a double, he will do wall if he " cause 
 each barrel to be separately sighted at the breech and on 
 the end, instead of in the ordinary method, which sights 
 both intermediately along the dividing elevation. 
 
126 MAJJTTAL FOK TOTJNG SPOETSMEN; 
 
 What is lost of elegance in appearance, in this mode, 
 will be more than overbalanced, whatever the gunmakers 
 may say to the contrary, in precision of fire. 
 
 And with these brief remarks on the rifle, and the 
 mode of choosing it, I shall pass, with no farther pause, 
 to the consideration of the modus operandi — the how to 
 use the gun of whatever kind in the field ; how to learn 
 to shoot deliberately, accurately and correctly as to prin- 
 ciples ; how to kill on the wing, or at full speed, with loose 
 shot, and how at rest, or in rapid motion with the single 
 ball. 
 
 This, after all, is the whole that I can attempt by pre- 
 cept. Some men take to shooting almost by instinct, as a 
 thoroughbred setter does to pointing and backing, de race, 
 as the French have it, by the accident of birth ; others 
 cannot by any toil of practice or amount of indoctrination 
 be tutored into acquiring it. The eye, the finger, the 
 nerve, the temper, have all something, more or less, to do 
 with it ; and, no more than a poet, do I believe that a 
 crack shot can be made, save by the special ordinance of 
 nature. 
 
 Still if one cannot be made a poet, he can at least be 
 taught the difference between blank verse and rhyme, 
 between Milton's Lycidas and Christy's " Old Uncle 
 Ned;" and, if he can never be brought to cut down bis 
 twenty consecutive shots, clean and quick in close covert, 
 with the sangfroid of an artist, he can, at least, be taught 
 to fire his gun off without killing himself, his neighbor, or 
 his dog; and, unless he be the clumsiest and slowest of 
 the human kind, to kill a fair proportion of his shots 
 
THE GTJH, AND HOW TO USE IT. 127 
 
 decently and creditably, if not brilliantly or like an artist. 
 It may be a consolation to beginners to know that a strong 
 inclination toward field-sports and shooting ra;rely occurs, 
 where practice, if persevered in, will not ultimately insure 
 proficiency. In a lifetime, I remember but two instances 
 of men, passionately fond of shooting, who never could 
 compass even the humblest mediocrity, but continued to 
 the end blazing at every thing, slap-dash, hit or miss, and 
 seemingly as well content to make a noise, as to kill game 
 like a Lord Kennedy or a Captain Scott. 
 
 In conclusion, no one need despair. The introduction 
 of percussion locks has so simplified the art or science, call 
 it which you may, of shooting on the wing, that it is much 
 rarer now to find a dismally bad performer than a crack 
 shot. 
 
 The latter was in my boyish days, rara avis in terris ; 
 nowadays, every second man is a fair shot, and every 
 sixth, of those I mean who hold to the gun at all, an 
 artist. In the mean time, 
 
 ^qnam memento rebus in ardoia * 
 Servare mentem, 
 
 and be " deliberate promptitude " your motto and the mark 
 for your attainment. 
 
 * Remember in difficulty to preserve an equal mind. 
 
HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT, 
 
 ON THE WING, EtTNNING, OE AT BEST, WITH LOOSE 
 SHOT, OE SINGLE BALL. 
 
 The next thing, after becoming the owner of a gun, or 
 before it, as may be, is to learn the rudiments of the 
 art of shooting, and this is only to be done by constant 
 and careful practice. 
 
 The great point of difficulty, and the method of avoid- 
 ing it, are well described in the following sentences, which 
 I quote from the " Oakleigh Shooting Code," a work oif 
 decided merit, though not free from, what I must esteem, 
 heresies. 
 
 " We think," says the author, and herein I fully agree 
 with him, " that the generality of shooters use a gun prop- 
 erly, as regards throwing the end of it upon the object 
 aimed at and drawing the trigger, and that any inaccuracy 
 
HOW TO LEABN TO SHOOT. 129 
 
 of aim must be attributed to tho eye not being in the proper 
 place when the aim is taken. 
 
 " The habit of missing seldom arises from inability to 
 throw the end of the gun straight upon the bird ; but from 
 the eye not being directly behind the breech, which it 
 Necessarily must be for good shooting. 
 
 " If there were a sight at each end' of the barrel," as 
 there is in the rifle, " it would be requisite to keep shifting 
 the gun, until both sights were in a line between the eye 
 and the mark ; that, however, with a gun not well mounted 
 to the eye and shoulder, would be too complex an opera- 
 tion ; for, before it could be accomplished, a swift bird 
 would be out of reach ; it follows, then, that the shooter's 
 attention should be directed only to the sight at the top 
 of the barrel, and the breech end should come up mechan- 
 ically to the proper level. 
 
 " If the sportsman will take aim alternately at objects 
 on his right, on his left, on the ground, and in the air, 
 without moving his body or taking his gun from his shoul- 
 der, he will at once see the difficulty of keeping the ^ye 
 directly behind the breech. To be a proficient in shoot- 
 ing, he must in some way be able to do that meohanically ; 
 for, -nhen aiming at a moving object, his attention can only 
 be paid to placing the end of the gun on that object. 
 When bringing up a gun to the shoulder in a gunmaker's 
 shop, it is easy to bend down the head to the exact spot 
 for looking along the sight-plate ; but it is a very diiFeront 
 thing when shooting at birds on the wing. The best way 
 to prove whether a stock suits, or, in other words, whether 
 the user of it can bring it up, as it were, nieehanically, and 
 6* 
 
130 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 ■without an effort, to the proper place, is to fire hastily, on 
 a dark night, at a lighted candle placed against a wall, at 
 about forty paces distant." 
 
 This, it may be observed, is very well for one who is 
 already " a shot," to try a gun ; but it gives no clue to the 
 attainment of the skill which enables the gunner to cover 
 his object quickly and correctly. What follows is ex- 
 cellent. 
 
 " When a person is nervous, or afraid of recoil, he 
 naturally raises his head, and consequently shoots above 
 the mark ; on firing he unconsciously throws his head back, 
 and then, seeing the bird above the end of the gun, he 
 fancies he shot under it, when the reverse is the fact. 
 
 " We may also observe, that if the shooter do not keep 
 his head down to the stock, he will probably draw it aside, 
 so that his aim will be as if taken from the left hammer, 
 which would of course throw the charge as much to the 
 left of the mark, as raising the head would above it. 
 
 " The main point, then, in taking aim is io keep the 
 head down to the stock and the eye low behind the hreech. 
 The sportsman, who can from habit or practice, invariably 
 bring his eye down to the same place and keep it steadily 
 there, so that he always begins the race from the same 
 starting point, will distance all competitors." 
 
 This is indisputably true, and all old sportsmen, who 
 shoot sufficiently well to reason on, and account for the 
 causes of their shooting ill, on some, one or other, day, 
 whether from being physically or mentally out of order, 
 long out of practice, or other accidents, are aware of this 
 habit of throwing up the head, when unsteady, at the 
 
HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT. 131 
 
 moment of firing. The same malpractice will be frequent- 
 ly produced, even when a person is steady, by the trigger, 
 which is expected to yield to the accustomed pressure, not 
 giving way without a jerking pull ; and still more so by 
 the cap, after giving the inefifectual click of a miss-fire not 
 followed by a report, suddenly exploding a second too 
 late. The head is nearly certain to go up, and the shot 
 to be wasted above the mark. 
 
 The writer, doubtless, does not intend to be understood 
 as asserting that, after keeping his eye low down behind 
 the breech, the practised shooter takes aim at a flying bird, 
 or running animal, as he would do with a rifle at a mark, 
 along the barrel. The beginner must do so in a degree, 
 but so soon as the facility of so doing is acquired, the 
 practice must be laid aside ; or the learner will never rise 
 to any thing above mediocrity, but must always continue a 
 poking shot. 
 
 This is the cause which renders it so extremely dif&- 
 cult for a person, who has become by long practice a first- 
 rate rifle shot, and has grown by use perfectly one with 
 that weapon, ever to become a crack shot on the wing. 
 
 He dwells too long on his aim, and follows or pokes — 
 as it is technically called — after his bird, and rarely 
 attains the art of cutting it down, sharp and sure, at a 
 snap shot, as it flashes across an opening in a brier brake, 
 or twists among thickset saplings. 
 
 The art to be acquired is this : to bring up the gun 
 with its sight on the object, or so much above, below, or 
 before it, as you intend to fire, of which more anon, hav- 
 
132 MAUFAL FOE XOCTNG SPOKTSMEN. 
 
 ing the eye, the breech, the poiat of the gun and the mark 
 in the same plane of elevation or depression. 
 
 One other thing I believe to be equally indispensable, 
 which I have never seen mentioned in any written instruc- 
 tions on the subject of shooting; that the top of the 
 barrels should lie, when the piece is at the shoulder and 
 the aim taken, flat and spare across the eye, so that a 
 level rested upon them should be in the exact plane of 
 the horizon. 
 
 Unless this be the case, the lines of sight along the 
 patent elevation and of the projected shot will not be iden- 
 tical, much less the lines of fire of the two barrels, and 
 consequently the aim will be faulty. 
 
 The following precepts will be found, I think, to 
 embody the best method of acquiring the mastery of this ; 
 and here I would beg to caution my young readers, 
 that these indoctrinations are not merely intended for the 
 use of those who do not shoot at all ; but for all those — • 
 whether they shoot well at the mark, off-hand or at rest, 
 whether they are dead sure of a robin on an apple bough, 
 or a high-holder on the summit of a dry, dead tree, or not — 
 who do not shoot well on the wing. 
 
 I believe it to be a common error with young shooters 
 in America, where every boy, who lives in the country, 
 has more or less use of the gun early in his teens, to con- 
 tinue too long content to shoot sitting, to learn to shoot 
 too well sitting, and to acquire a habit of taking such an 
 aim, even when using shot, as would insure killing the 
 object with ball. 
 
 Such a habit, once acquired, has to be unlearned, before 
 
JJOW TO LBAEN TO SHOOT. 133 
 
 great proficiency can he hoped for on the wing, or at 
 running objects ; and I would undertake, with far more 
 confidence of turning him out a crack shot, a young man, 
 who had never fired a gun in his life, than one who was 
 sure death to a chipping bird on a rail, or a ground squir- 
 rel on a stone wall, at forty yards. 
 
 This is not the case in Europe, where the children of 
 the wealthy, of landowners especially, are taught to ride 
 and shoot, from their youth upward, as regularly as to 
 read and write; the latter especially, if ^)ot solely, with a 
 view to shooting on the wing«^and where the children of 
 the poor, unless, unhappily for them, their parents chance 
 to be either poachers or gamekeepers, do not shoot at all. 
 
 But in America, it is generally and undoubtedly the 
 ease. It is the fact, which renders the rural and even 
 urban population so easily convertible into soldiers ; and 
 which, when they are converted into soldiers, renders 
 their fire so deadly. 
 
 There are in every community hundreds on hundreds 
 of men and boys, who never had a rifle in their hands, 
 yet who on first taking one up will shoot with considerable 
 accuracy, and in a week's practice will be marksmen. 
 They have been all their lives learning, with the fowling- 
 piece, to be bad shots with that weapon, and capital shots 
 with a weapon of which, perhaps, they have never heard. 
 
 This is precisely what they have got to unlearn, ab 
 initio, before they can become good shots at game ; but 
 their acquired skill will yet do yeoman service, when they 
 need it, with the rifle, which is more than can be said on 
 the oUi^ slide of the question; since it is hard, indeed, 
 
134 MANUAt FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 for the crack Cying-shocter to become a great rifleman. 
 In fact, excellence in the two branches of the art is so 
 rare as to be thought, by many, incompatible. Such is 
 not, however, the case. There are some persons so con- 
 stituted, that all fire-arms seem equally familiar to them, 
 and that what is the fruit to others of patience and prac- 
 tice, is to them an instinct, as it were, rather than an 
 acquirement. 
 
 To learn to shoot from the beginning, then, with most 
 persons, is a matter of time and patience; and the first 
 steps, as is the case with almost every new pursuit, are 
 slow, tedious and unamusing. 
 
 " Before attempting to use the loaded gun, the shoot- 
 er, whether young or old, should always make himself 
 thoroughly master of it. Many of the accidents, which 
 so constantly occur, arise solely from a neglect of this 
 precaution ; but if the sportsman be early drilled into the 
 notion that he has a dangerous yet useful weapon in his 
 hand, he will seldom forget the importance of the precept. 
 One or two points should be most sedulously impressed, 
 the most important one being never to point the gun, at 
 any time, by design or otherwise, at any thing, but the 
 mark intended to be shot at. It is astonishing how often 
 this is neglected. Guns are often pointed at females with 
 a desire to frighten them, or at dogs, cows, or other objects 
 in mere wantonness ; or again, whilst carrying the gun, its 
 muzzle is held so as to point to every part of the visible 
 horizon. All this is unsportsmanlike, unsafe, and worse 
 than useless. With this proviso kept steadily in view, 
 even at full cock, the gun is perfectly safe except from 
 
HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT. 135 
 
 bursting." The above quotation, as well as several which 
 follow, is from Stonehenge's " Manual of British Rural 
 Sports," and is well worthy of attention, as are the remarks 
 ensuing on the first lesson of shooting. 
 
 Previous, however, to using the plan hereafter indi- 
 cated, I would recommend that the learner should be 
 placed in position, that is to say, with the left foot 
 advanced, the knee slightly bent, about eighteen inches in 
 front of the right, on which the weight of his body should 
 rest ; holding the gun at the level of his hip, with the 
 butt below his right elbow, his left hand grasping the front 
 of the trigger-guard, perpendicularly to the barrel, the 
 gun being at lialf-cock. The thumb of his right hand 
 should be on the striker, and the finger nail of the fore- 
 finger touching the inside of the trigger-guard, before the 
 trigger. 
 
 In front of him there should be a whitewashed wall, with 
 a black mark, the size of half a dollar, at about the level of 
 his eye. On this mark he should steadily rivet his sight, 
 and raise the gun to his shoulder, cocking it with his thumb, 
 while in the act of bringing it up, and then lower his 
 cheek to the stock. 
 
 It will not as yet be necessary to attempt to take any 
 aim at the object, or to rectify the first direction. The 
 lesson to be acquired is, first, to attain the knack of cock- 
 ing the gun quickly, yet deliberately, while it is in mo- 
 tion from the hip to the shoulder ; and secondly, to gain 
 the habit of instiuctively throwing the point toward the 
 object to be aimed at. 
 
 The gun should not be snapped, or the trigger drawn ; 
 
136 MANUAL FOE YOUITG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 and when, by a few hours' practice in these motions, the 
 pupil can perform them readily, handily and surely, it is 
 wonderful how much is already gained. 
 
 Nothing is so much to he guarded against as dwelling 
 on the sight, poking about to get the aim, or keeping the 
 gun long to the shoulder. This facility acquired, the next 
 step is to learn to bring with equal quickness, ease and 
 deliberation, the look back from the full-cock to half-cock, 
 while in the act of lowering it from the shoulder, without 
 making any pause or separate motion. This is done by 
 placing the ball of the thumb on the striker, as if in the 
 act of cocking the piece, and holding it gently in check 
 while the trigger is drawn with the forefinger, yielding^ to 
 it, nevertheless, and letting it descend slowly, until it 
 almost touches the nipple. Then by drawing it back until 
 it ticks, the sound showing that the cock is safely secured. 
 
 When considerable facility has been acquired in these 
 motions, the faces of the strikers may be lined with a thick 
 piece of cork or felt, so as to preserve the cones from the 
 effects of the blow, and the pupil may be directed to pull 
 his trigger, the moment the gun is at his shoulder and his 
 cheek down to the stock, still without attempting to take 
 or correct his aim, more than he has already done by fix- 
 ing his eye on the mark, without removing it thence, until 
 after the trigger is pulled. The instant it is pulled, the 
 muzzle must be lowered and the butt withdrawn from the 
 shoulder. 
 
 This practice should be persisted in, under the super- 
 vision of a careful, kind, and steady instructor, half an 
 hour at a time for many days ; care being had, never to 
 
HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT. 187 
 
 hurry or agitate the learner, either by impatience, or by 
 rebuking any clumsiness or oversight. Encouragement is 
 needed, not rebuke ; and practice can alone make perfect. 
 
 It is, also, advisable not to persevere, at any one time, 
 so long as to weary the pupil ; who will soon begin to feel 
 proud, as he acquires handiness, in perceiving his aptitude 
 with the piece and his quick control of the mechanism ; and 
 will take more and more interest in the lessons, as he finds, 
 even at the quick practice I have described, that he 
 catches occasionally sights of the mark over his barrel. 
 
 All this should be done invariably with both eyes 
 open. 
 
 The next lessons are merely for the acquisition of 
 steadiness. They are first to snap the lacks, cooking and 
 lineocking the piece, as before, with caps only on the gun. 
 In this case, a good wad of well greased rag should be 
 rammed into the breech of both barrels, and it will be 
 better, also, to pour a drop of oil into the orifice of the 
 nipples, as the explosion of the percussion powder is most 
 detrimental to the gun, which should be cleaned at once, 
 when the lesson is ended. 
 
 This lesson should be practised, as before, while pitch- 
 ing up the gun at a mark, and may be varied by occasion- 
 ally, ntunaertain intervals, loading the gun with extremely 
 light charges of powder, the pupil not knowing when the 
 powder is inserted, and when he shoots with the caps only. 
 This will give him confidence and steadiness, and will 
 effectually prevent him from flinching, unconsciously, in 
 anticipation of the flash and report. 
 
 Observe, that nothing is so much to be avoided as the 
 
138 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 startling him, at first, by a broad flasb and loud report, to 
 which he must gradually and imperceptibly be habituated ; 
 or, afterwards, by an orerloaded and kicking gun. 
 
 When this has been all steadily gone through, for some 
 time, and both quickness and fearlessness have been ac- 
 quired, I would proceed to the lesson which Stonehenge 
 recommends as the first; but even this I would modify. 
 
 " Provide gun-caps, &c.," says he, " in a good-sized 
 room at night, then get a lighted tallow candle, and place 
 it at about two yards' distance on an ordinary table. 
 Raise the gun to the shoulder," from this time with the 
 left eye closed, and, still without seeking to take deliber- 
 ate aim, — Stonehenge says, " with deliberate aim — pull the 
 trigger. If the aim be good, and the bore of the gun 
 about 16, at that distance the candle will be extinguished, 
 or, at least, its flame will be visibly affected." If the 
 first, proceed again and again as before ; but if not, and 
 if the flame be but little agitated, the learner will now 
 begin to rectify his aim, by sighting the lighted wick as 
 quickly as possible, until he finds himself able to blow out 
 the flame, with moderate rapidity, twice or thrice out of 
 five times. 
 
 The next step, when this has been mastered, is to fix 
 a black mark of the size of an ordinary playing card, on 
 a white wall or fence, at about twenty paces distance ; or 
 a white mark on a black wall, and then to practise at it, 
 as before, firing powder only, bringing the gun up quickly, 
 cocking it while raising, and bringing it down the moment 
 it is discharged ; still taking care not to pause or dwell 
 upon the aim, but to fire on the first catching sight, cvcj 
 
HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT. 139 
 
 if the sight appear to be an inch or two wide of the mark, 
 at the time of drawing the trigger. 
 
 The knack of bringing the sight up, and the eye down, 
 correctly to the true level, will gradually be improved with 
 practice ; and precision will be obtained imperceptibly 
 and by degrees, far more rapidly than one would expect. 
 But the habit of dwelling on the aim, and poking about 
 with the muzzle in the hope of at length fixing the sight 
 point-blank, if once acquired, is so difficult to be shaken 
 off that I may almost say it is impossible. After a while, 
 still loading with an exceeding light charge of powder, it 
 will be advisable occasionally, and when the shooter does 
 not expect it, to put in about half an oz. of small shot, 
 irnd let him, as before, fire at the mark on first sight. 
 
 If be be aware that the gun is loaded, he will be ner- 
 vous with endeavor to aim more steadily ; and without 
 doing so a whit, will do so far more slowly. Not knowing 
 when to expect shot, and when mere blank cartridge, he 
 will blaze away just as unconcernedly as ever, and speed- 
 ily finding that he comes, as he very shortly will, to plant 
 his shot in and all round his mark, firing as soon as the 
 heel-plate is at his shoulder, he will quickly acquire perfect 
 confidence in himself, and that unconscious equanimity, 
 which is the cause, as it is the invariable cqnsequence or 
 accompaniment of being a good shot. 
 
 After this habit is well acquired, and the sitting or 
 stationary mark can be hit almost to a certainty, it is won- 
 derful how nearly the pupil has arrived to being a good 
 flying shot, even before he has attempted to shaot on the 
 wing. 
 
140 MANUAL FOB TOUNG 8P0ETSMEN. 
 
 Let him now commence at small, short-winged birds, 
 as they rise slowly from the grass, or flit across open 
 spaces from tree to tree, still keeping his eyes riveted on 
 the object while bringing up his piece, and firing instantly. 
 
 If the former lessons have been perfectly acquired, 
 and he be nearly sure of striking his stationary mark at 
 snap shots, he is certain ultimately of becoming a quick 
 and sure shot on the wing, and he will not fail to bring 
 down his object, now and then, even from the first. 
 
 Practice and coolness will do all the rest ; and it is 
 necessary now to guard against one malpractice only — 
 never to take down the gun from the shoulder, when it 
 once has been levelled, without firing, from th« idea that 
 it is not correctly aimed, and from the fear of missing, ia 
 a positive and invariable rule. 
 
 To do so, is to become undecided, unsteady, and to fal- 
 ter more and more, until he have lost all nerve and ability 
 to judge how the aim is taken, or what he is about at all. 
 
 To shoot at all risks, with deliberate rashness or reck- 
 lessness, if I may so express myself, is the only true 
 maxim. If the shot tell — ^well and good. All is done 
 that is desired, and the chance of doing so is doubled by 
 the careless confidence with which it is done. 
 
 If the aim be falsely taken, the distance, speed or mo- 
 tion of the object miscalculated, if cool, the shooter will 
 easily come to judge where the error lay, and to see at 
 opce why he missed ; whether he over or under-shot, 
 whether he fired before or behind, to right or to left of 
 his object ; and this point once gained, wonderfully easily 
 will he correct the errors and improve. 
 
HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT. 141 
 
 After this, almost every thing is acquired that is 
 needed. Constant practice, and careful attention and 
 observation, must make every one, who has got thus far, 
 one day or other a good shot. 
 
 He must know from his teacher, and learn from his 
 own observation, that in order to hit objects rapidly cross- 
 ing him, going from him, or coming toward him, he must 
 shoot in advance of them in order to hit — above them, if 
 they be ascending, below them, if they be falling. 
 
 The allowance to be made will vary in proportion to 
 the distance of the object from the shooter, and the veloc- 
 ity at which it is travelling, when he fires. For it must 
 be remembered that the shot, which is propelled from his 
 barrel the fraction of a second after he pulls the trigger, 
 has to travel a considerable distance, from twenty to fifty 
 yards or upward, before it can reach the object, which, 
 unless it be progressing before it in a direct line, will have 
 changed its position, and will be some inches more or less 
 in advance of the place at which it seemed to be statio.:- 
 ary, when the sight was taken. 
 
 What this change may be, is uncertain ; for calculat- 
 ing it, no rule can be given. According to the velocity of 
 the object, the force and liiTection of the wind, and twenty 
 other chance circumstances, it will vary, so that hardly in 
 two instances will the variation coincide. Yet habit, 
 practice, and deliberate observatioQ will so iax conquer all 
 difficuldes,. that a erack shot, with a, bird, or birds cross- 
 ing him at any distance from fifteen to fifty paces, with 
 or against a positive gale, will instinctively and without a 
 pause calculate the allowance to be made, pitch up his 
 
142 MANHAL FOR TOTTNG SPOKTSMEN. 
 
 piece and cut down the objects, one after the other, as if 
 they were hanging motionless in a dead calm. 
 
 The best practice for this purpose, not merely for the 
 novice, but for the old hand who by any accidental cir- 
 cumstances has got out of use, and one which cannot fail to 
 produce its effect, is to shoot at large-sized turnips pitched 
 into the air with the utmost force and vigor of a power- 
 ful arm, in all possible directions, diagonally, across, and 
 toward, or away from, the shooter, by a clever and practised 
 assistant. 
 
 With a tyro, the lesson should commence by tossing 
 the turnip directly before him, slowly upward ; and as he 
 improves and attains certainty in hitting it, increasing its 
 velocity and altering its direction. 
 
 The learner, after a few trials, should avoid shooting at 
 the turnip when at its maximum elevation, for while in that 
 position, it hangs for a moment in the air virtually motion- 
 less, and then presents a stationary shot. He should, 
 therefore, as soon as he is tolerably sure of it, when at its 
 height, begin firing as it rises or descends, by which 
 means he will easily learn what allowance is to be made 
 for speed and distance. When he is master of this, let it 
 be first tossed, then hurled, as I have said above, diagon- 
 ally across him, away from, or toward him ; and by the 
 same degrees, imperceptibly he will come to such skill, 
 that • he willnever, or scarcely ever, miss it. So soon as 
 he can aeeoniplish this (and I have seen scores of boys 
 who have done so, and could do so in a great measure 
 myself, before I had ever thought in my most sanguine 
 dreams of firing at game), he can^ — my word upon it-^kill 
 
HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT. 143 
 
 any bird that flies under any circumstances, except it be 
 in very dense covert, which requires practice arranged 
 in the same manner, among bushes and shrubbery of 
 greater or less intricacy. 
 
 By causing the assistant instead of throwing the turnip 
 into the air, to bowl it along the surface of the ground, in 
 all different angles and directions, up hill, down hill, over 
 the level, across knobby, hillocky ground, which will cause 
 it to bounce and bound into the air, between large trees or 
 among brushwood, the pupil will learn to hit it thus as 
 easily as when in the air, and will then be as certain on 
 running as on flying game. 
 
 Beyond this, in the art of shooting, there is nothing to 
 be learned beyond coolness, steadiness, the immovable 
 nerve, the self-possession which nothing can disturb, the 
 inventive and instinctive resource, which can always 
 devise a mode of action to meet any emergency; which 
 comes, and can come, only from long use, and that habitua- 
 tion which becomes, in time, a second nature. 
 
 It is certain, however, that any youth who has good 
 eyes, quick faculties, who is apt with his hands, not having, 
 as the ordinary saying is, all his fingers thumbs ; who 
 observes, thinks, and can control his nerves in a reasonable 
 degree, can — if he will consent to be patient, to practise 
 precisely according to the rules which I have prescribed, 
 not trying to jump, to . conclusions before -he has taken in 
 the rudiments — and will become more than an ordinarily- 
 good shot. 
 
 That, if he be neither irrecoverably nervous and rash, 
 nor irretrjevably slow and timid, if he have ordinarily 
 
14i MAKUAL FOE YOITNGf SPOETSSfEN. 
 
 quick eyesight, quick wits, and quick hands, he inust be, 
 if he obey orders, beyond the possibility of failure. 
 
 If he be uBusually stout of nerve, cool of teinper, 
 rapid of sight, sure of observatioti, and apt of hand, he 
 will probably become as successful as a marksman aiid a 
 shot, as he would at any thing else to which he should 
 turn his superior faculties. 
 
 If, however, he be purblind, a blinker, clumsy and 
 helpless with his hands, dull-witted, weak-nerved, timid 
 and a dolt; I should strongly urge it on him and his 
 friends, that he should let the gun alone, for he is never 
 like to do much with it, unless it be to shOot his friend, 
 his sweetheart, or himself— none of which are the legiti- 
 mate, though I am Sorry tc say they are but too frequently 
 the casual, ends of amateur gunnery. 
 
 For learning to shoot with the rifle, a mode of prac- 
 tice must be adopted almost diametrically opposite to 
 that prescribed above. 
 
 The charge of a shot gun, expanding in width in pro- 
 portion as it increases its distance frem the muzzle of the 
 piece when it is charged, will cover, at forty paces from a 
 strong, well-shooting gun, a circle of a yard in diameter, 
 with its pellets so regularly distributed, that any bird 
 found within that circle must receive two or three missiles, 
 ^nd sent so strongly that any one of these mu»t break a 
 pinicra. bone. At sixty paces the Gircumfereiic& of tbi&.shot 
 will be greatly enlarged and the force nearly as greatly 
 diminished ; still a good gun ought to kill a bird to a cer- 
 tainty in the centre of the circle, and generally any where 
 within it. 
 
HOW TO LK4.BN TO SHOOT. 145 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that with a shot guaat medium 
 distances, the aim need not be taken with exact precision 
 on the object. It must be a considerable divergence cf 
 the line of aim from the line of flight of an animal going 
 directly from the shooter, probably an inch or so at the 
 muzzle, which should produce a clear miss at forty yards. 
 In some cases, when the animal shot at is close at hand, it 
 is necessary to shoot wide of it, in order to prevent its 
 being shattered to pieces by the sbot ; which, for a few 
 yards, goes together in a compact mass. 
 
 I remember once striking a woodcock going directly 
 before me so squarely with the whole body of the charge, 
 at some ten or twelve yards from the muzzle, that all we 
 ever found of it was the extremities of the two wings 
 below the pinion joints. 
 
 The result was, of course, unintentional, but the shot, 
 for a shot gun, was a bad one — for a rifle it would have 
 been perfection, as the ball would have struck the bird 
 centrally at whatever reasonable distance. 
 
 The farther distant' the object is from the shot gun, 
 the more is close-aiming needed, since at long distances it 
 is only in the centre of the circle of their distribution, 
 that the pellets of shot fly close enough to hit, or strong 
 enough to pierce and bring down the game. 
 
 "With a rifle the operation is wholly different. The 
 missile is a single one, of inconsiderable size, and has no 
 divergence whatever to right or left of its flight, if the 
 barrel be itself true, and truly sighted. It is of course 
 liable to fall lower than a direct horizontal line from the 
 muzzle, since all projectiles descend in a parabola,' and 
 7 
 
146 MANtlAL FOE YOUNG BPOETSMEW. 
 
 that liability we guard against by elevated sights. What 
 is called a point-blank shot, for there really exists no such 
 thing, is merely a shot which we fire from the ordinary 
 elevation of our piece, without extra allowance made, at 
 the centre of the mark. 
 
 It is clear, therefore, that in aiming with a rifle, abso- 
 lute precision of aim is positively requisite. There is no 
 space for chance or good fortune even in a minimum, 
 degree. The ball must be sped exactly to the identical 
 spot which it must hit, and the divergence of a hair's 
 breadth at the muzzle will grow into inches or even feet 
 as the range increases. 
 
 Therefore the aim must be taken with the utmost 
 deliberation and certainty, and must be maintained per- 
 fect, which can only be done by great steadiness of nerve, 
 perfect coolness of temper, and sufficient muscular power, 
 until not merely the trigger is drawn, but the ball is dis- 
 missed from the barrel. 
 
 I am satisfied that in rifle-shooting, the more misses 
 by far occur in consequence of the shooter disturbing a 
 correct aim, and diverting his barrel never so little from 
 the true line, by the act of pulling the trigger, or by 
 flinching from the flash or report, than of his taking a false 
 direction in the flrst instance. 
 
 If, therefore, nerve be valuable to any shooter, to the 
 rifleman it is indispensable. The slightest tremor, even 
 the motion communicated by the act of breathing labori- 
 ously to the muscles of tjie arm and shoulder, is sufficient 
 to disturb the truest aim and spoil the finest shot. 
 
 It is impossible, therefore, for one half at least,, if not. 
 
HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT. 147 
 
 more of mankind, to become even fair rifle shots, with any- 
 possible amount of practice, but to all men, who have good 
 eyes, iron nerves, sufficient physical strength and phleg- 
 matic tempers, it is a certainty, beyond calculation, that 
 they can become first-rate rifle shots with sufficient prac- 
 tice. 
 
 It is far easier to become a tolerable shot even on the 
 wing with a shot gun, than a passable marksman with the 
 rifle. But of those who shoot at all with the rifle, there 
 are a hundred splendid marksmen, where of those who affect 
 to use the shot gun there is one really crack shot. 
 
 In learning to shoot with the rifle, therefore, the first 
 requisite is to see the end sight through the orifice of the 
 back sight exactly on the mark — the second, to keep it 
 there steadily for a length of time, a second or two at 
 least — the third, to pull the trigger exactly when the 
 sights are most centrically and steadily on the mark, and 
 never to pull it otherwise — the fourth, to pull the trigger 
 and endure the little shock of the discharge, without 
 the smallest jerk, start, or trepidation. 
 
 To teach how this is to be done is impracticable, 
 beyond saying that it is to be done. Practice and cool- 
 ness can alone effect the ability to do it, even with those 
 constituted by temper, physical and moral, to obtain the 
 power. One thing may be. premised, that- it is well, if not 
 actually necessary, to hold the breath from the moment the 
 sight is taken until the ball is fairly diS&harged. 
 
 One eye must, of course, be closed in rifle shooting ; 
 but, as I have said before concerning the shot gun, the 
 other eye should be riveted on the mark before the rifle is 
 
148 MANUAL FOE TOTTNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 brought to the shoulder, and while it is rising, by which 
 means it will find the sights in opposition the most easily, 
 and often almost without an effort. Though it is neces- 
 sary to get a sure aim before firing, it is not necessary 
 to dwell on it before doing so. Every second between the 
 having taken true sight and the giving fire is a second lost, 
 or worse than lost ; for the longer the rifle is held to the 
 face the greater the tension of the muscles and the nerves, 
 and the likelier are both to shake and give way. The 
 first true sight is always, with all fire-arms, the best sight, 
 and a quick shot has as much, or more, the advantage over 
 a slow shot, with the rifle as with any other weapon. 
 
 It is perfectly easy to be at the same time a quick and 
 a deliberate shot with a rifle, just as it is with any other 
 weapon, and the union is of course invaluable. 
 
 In learning to shoot with the rifle, therefore, celerity 
 of taking aim and the habit of giving fire instantane- 
 ously when the aim is taken, are the points to be prac- 
 tised most diligently — the latter more especially, since on 
 the simultaneous action of eye and finger every thing 
 depends. 
 
 I particularly advise and caution beginners against the 
 habit of firing the rifle from a rest, and I advise them as 
 early as possible to practise at objects in motion. A per- 
 son may have acquired perfect precision and certainty in 
 shooting with rests and telescope sights at the smallest 
 objects^ and at long ranges, and yet may be totally inca- 
 pable of taking a steady aim, where he can obtain no 
 extraneous support, even at a large mark. 
 
 In field shooting at game, it is not once in fifty times 
 
HOW TO. LEAEN TO SHOOT. 149 
 
 that it is practicable to shoot with a rest, other than such 
 as may be obtained from his own person by the shooter. 
 And as target-shooting is only the practice by which he 
 proposes to fit himself for the end, not the end itself, it is 
 as such that the shooter is to regard it. 
 
 In the Middle States, where there is but little game to 
 be shot with the rifle, the rifle-clubs are, in my opinion, 
 taking a wrong direction, as both the style and character 
 of their weapons, and the manner of their shooting, are 
 utterly unsuited either for the chase or the field. Their 
 best and most lauded marksmen would, from what I have 
 seen, read, and heard of their performance, make very poor 
 work in field or forest-shooting with " the deer before the 
 hounds." 
 
 Again, it is highly advisable to practise at long ranges, 
 at least two and three hundred yards, for on the prairies, 
 where now only game exists of the species to be followed 
 with the rifle, in sufficient numbers to render the sport of 
 gi-eat moment, a majority of the shots fired will lie within 
 those distances. 
 
 In speaking of the necessity of taking a direct and 
 exact aim at one small point, when shooting with single 
 ball, I do not, of course, mean to say that the small point 
 to be aimed at is always identical with the small spot to be 
 hit, and that no allowance is to be made for velocity of 
 motion or distance of the object. 
 
 Far from it. Allowance must be made when an animal 
 is crossing at speed, even greater with the rifle than with 
 shot gun, unless the shooter have the knack — which, if he 
 haveit, is perhaps the best — of keeping his hand and muzzle 
 
150 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 continually moving, so as to have his aim continually cov- 
 ered, even after the trigger is drawn and the shot fired. 
 Where the motion of the animal shot at is steady, such is 
 the better plan, but where it bounds, or rises and falls in 
 sweeps and curves, an absolute allowance in advance will 
 perhaps on the whole succeed better. 
 
 If a ball be aimed directly behind the bend of the 
 shoulder in a deer — which is the proper place where to 
 strike the heart — taking the animal to be crossing the 
 shooter at 75 or 100 yards, the deer will have moved so 
 far, while the shot is discharging, and the bullet travers- 
 ing the space, that the latter will take effect far back in 
 the ribs, and therefore fail to inflict a deadly wound. In 
 such a shot, therefore, the aim should be taken at the for- 
 ward point of the shoulder, or the edge of the chest in 
 advance of it, and that aim will probably plant the missile 
 in the exact spot desired. 
 
 At a longer range, yet a greater allowance must be 
 made in advance ; but to do this the shooter must calculate 
 exactly how much he means to give, and then aim directly 
 on a spot at the level he wishes to cover, precisely so far 
 in advance of his mark. 
 
 The better way, I think, of doing this is, first to cover 
 the exact spot which it is desirable to strike, and then, 
 carefully keeping the sights in line, to sweep the muzzle 
 forward six inches, a foot, or more, as it may be judged 
 necessary. At a deer crossing at speed at two hundred 
 yards' distance, an allowance of one yard in advance of 
 the point of the chest, and above ot below it accordingly 
 
HOW TO LEATJN TO SHOOT. 151 
 
 as the animal is ascending, descending, or running on the 
 level, will not be an inch too much. 
 
 On level ground it is well to shoot a little low of the 
 object, as it is better to take the deer on alighting from his 
 bounds, especially if he be in bushy covert or underwood. 
 
 All allowances of distance, as also for the force of a 
 cross wind, however, are matters of judgment and calcula- 
 tion, as are the ranges at which the shooter is actually 
 firing ; and practice is the only true way to obtain correct- 
 ness of judgment, and of eye- calculation. 
 
 It must always be remembered, however, that every 
 one who has acquired the skill to shoot off-hand, necessa- 
 rily possesses that which enables him to shoot with a rest ; 
 and that he who can surely strike an object in motion can 
 strike one at rest with tenfold certainty. 
 
 To conclude, I advise no person who desires to become 
 a proficient with both weapons, by any means to touch the 
 rifle until he has made himself a perfect master of shoot- 
 ing on the wing ; and then never to practise with single 
 ball at a mark for any length of time, without diversifying 
 his practice by shooting at turnips, bowled or tossed, as 
 described before. 
 
 If he do, he will lose one skill, as he acquires the 
 other, even though he may be an old craftsman and a cap- 
 ital shot. 
 
 The habit of waiting and following for an exact aim, 
 with the sights in line, will stick to him, and incline him 
 to dwell and follow his birds on the wing, in a manner 
 which, as it has been shown, is destructive to quickness, 
 style and handsomeness of killing. 
 
152 MANUAL -FOR -TOUXG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 No one, however good a shot, has ever returned, after 
 a campaign with the rifle against deer, or what you will, 
 to the snipe-meadow, without finding that he requires some 
 days' practice before he can cut down the long bill so soon 
 as he tops the rushes, with the precision and instinctive 
 swiftness he had before he visited the prairie or the forest. 
 
 For the person who desires, above all things, to be a 
 first-rate performer with the shot gun on the wing, who is 
 so, and who only cares about rifle-shooting as a superfluous 
 accomplishment, for which he expects to find little occa- 
 sion and less exercise on its legitimate game in the field, 
 I advise that the rifle be let alone in ioio. So nearly do 
 I hold the two accomplishments incompatible in their 
 perfection. 
 
 I do not mean that a first-rate flying shot may not 
 shoot enough with the rifle not to be a complete bungler, not 
 to miss a deer or a man standing at a hundred yards ; but 
 I do mean that if he be ambitious, and onee get so far with 
 his rifle, he will be apt to proceed, until he succeeds to 
 the utmost, and then — good-bye ! to his lightning-like dash 
 and swiftness on the wing. 
 
 The same is, more or less, the case, vice versa ; but as 
 it is, I believe, quite impossible that a person, who has 
 become by years of patient practice a perfect and uner' 
 ring rifle shot, without any early knowledge of the shot 
 gun — as is the case with hundreds on hundreds of foresters 
 and woodmen in the West and East — can ever, by any 
 amount of practice, at a late day in life, become a crack 
 shot on the wing, so will the attempted practice of it 
 interfere the less with his old acquired habits. 
 
HOW TO LBAEN TO SHOOT. 
 
 153 
 
 If" there bo two things on earth, which, to be done 
 well, must be done young, they are to shoot on the wing, 
 and to ride across-country. They cannot be learned old, 
 more than it can " to speak the truth." 
 
 ^tsa'Ii?^^;^ 
 
THE DOG. 
 
 After the gun or rifle, the great essential, as to the 
 mere killing of game,- is his dog . to . the sportsman ; but 
 when we regard him as the living, the intelligent, the 
 more than half-reasoning companion, the docile, obedient, 
 enduring, uncomplaining servant, the faithful, grateful, 
 submissive, affectionate friend, and not unseldom the last 
 mourner of the dead master, unmourned by all beside, 
 " when men have shrunk from the ignoble task of watch- 
 ing him who led them;" we must think of him ^as some- 
 thing widely different from the tool of wood and iron 
 which we fashion, how perfectly soever, merely to be the 
 senseless and unconscious instrument of our skill. 
 
 The wonderful tractableness of the dog, his facil- 
 
THE DOG. 166 
 
 ity of acquiring and power of retaining what is taught 
 him, the delight which he evidently takes in performing 
 his duties well, his sensibility to applause or censure, 
 entirely apart from reward or punishment, his singular 
 semi-human comprehension of our words and meanings, 
 his gratitude for kindness, his patience of injustice and 
 cruelty, his wonderful instinctive powers, and yet more 
 wonderful gropings and stragglings in the dark — so easily 
 perceived by those who are observant of his character and 
 actions — after something clearer and more spiritual than 
 mere instinct, entitle him to be regarded and treated by 
 his master, as something far beyond the mere brute ; and 
 so to treat him will full well repay the master both in sat- 
 isfaction and in service. 
 
 It used to be held a maxim, in my youth, that the dog 
 of chase should be retained as much as possible a mere 
 brute — that to cultivate his intelligence, nurture his 
 affections, accustom him to understand your wishes and 
 share your pleasures, was to unfit him for field service ; 
 and that, when a dog came to love his master, the only 
 thing was to hang him. 
 
 Happily, like many other brutal and barbarous errors 
 of our immediate ancestors of the eighteenth century, who 
 always appear to me to have taken a retrograde step 
 in true civilization and refinement, and to have been the 
 rudest and most boorish of mankind, these maxims con- 
 cerning dog management are all found to be based on 
 error, and have all consequently fallen into disrepute and 
 disuse. With the exception of the admitted fact that a 
 house dog can rarely be kept a first-rate field-dog, how- 
 
156 MANUAL rOE- YOUNG, SPOETSMEN. 
 
 ever excellent he may originally have been, it is admitted 
 by all that the more familiar your dog is with your ways 
 and habits, the better he understands your words and 
 signs, the more intuitively he anticipates your thoughts — 
 in a word, the less he foars and the more he loves you — 
 the better he will serve you. 
 
 The exception, in regard to housekeeping, is merely 
 physical, "not mental. The house-dog, being present at all 
 times, is unduly pampered, is fed with improper food and 
 at improper times. He lives too high, sleeps too soft and 
 too warm ; becomes fat and lazy, loses his health, his vigor, 
 his spirits, and, above all, his nose — which, beyond all 
 things, depends on his health and general well-being. 
 
 For the dog, as for the. man, plenty of hearty, whole- 
 some, unstimulating food ; abundance of washing, a con- 
 stant supply of fresh air, and no stint of exercise in sea- 
 son, are the grand requisites for being in perfect health 
 and perfect condition. 
 
 These conditions complied with, it may be taken for 
 granted that the more either dog or man is under the in- 
 fluence of, and in constant communication with, intellects 
 superior to his own, the more will his own intellect expand, 
 and his own powers of acquisition increase. 
 
 It is marvellous to those who have not observed it, 
 how perfect will come to be the mutual understanding 
 between a dog and his master, when the master has the 
 faculty and inclination to teach his servant, and to talk to 
 him, as friend to friend, and when the servant is aware 
 that he must obey his master, and that resistance is use- 
 
" ■ ' THE DOG-. 15? 
 
 less and brings punishment, yet, knowing this, obeys from 
 love not from fear. 
 
 Happily, cruelty toward animals, which in the last 
 century was common even among men of high station in 
 the world, is now limited to the rude, the brutal and un- 
 educated, and rare even among them, because they are 
 aware of the disgust it awakens in their superiors. 
 
 Nowadays, a gentleman, known to be habitually guilty 
 of cruelty to his dogs or horses, could scarcely more retain 
 his repute and standing, than if he were convicted in the 
 public mind of ill-treatment of his wife or children. 
 
 Consequently, cruelty is no longer, as it once was, part 
 and parcel of the system of sportsmanship, so far at least 
 as dog and horsebreaking and management are concerned. 
 
 It has been proved, moreover, that cruel breaking is 
 not only inhuman and brutal, but unwise, injudicious, 
 and ineffective. Severity is necessary sometimes, in the 
 beginning, with dogs, as it is with children. Both must 
 be compelled to obey ; and .the greater the obduracy of 
 child or dog, the greater must be the mildness, the temper, 
 the steadiness and the firmness of the teacher. 
 
 It must be remembered, that it is not the severity of 
 the pain, but the invariableness of its attendance on thp 
 recurrence of given offences, that impresses the conviction 
 on the memory, that the pain is the consequence of the 
 fault. 
 
 When that conviction is gained, future offences arise 
 from forgetfulness, rashness, wantonness, rarely from stub- 
 bornness. In no case should they avoid punishment, but, 
 in the first instance, a slight flogging with a great deal of 
 
158 MAlrtJAi FOB TOCTTG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 talk, remonstrance and scolding, has much more effedt 
 than a savage, passionate beating. 
 
 When obdurate stubbornness is evinced and persisted 
 in, chastisement proportionate must follow, until victory 
 remains with the authority and the right. But, where a 
 dog is so incorrigibly obstinate and vicious a brute — for 
 vicious, and wicked dogs do occur, just as much, though 
 not nearly. so often, as vicious and wicked men, and both 
 are equally conscious of their own wickedness and vice — 
 it is by far better to get rid of, him at once, than for one 
 to sour his own temper, harden his own heart, disturb his 
 friends' nerves and equanimity, and torture the worthless 
 cur by incessant fustigation, in the hope of bringing him 
 into subjection. 
 
 To my mind, no excellence of nose, of ranging quali- 
 ties, of speed, endurance, or stanohness, can compensate 
 for such inherent defects of temper in the animal,, as re- 
 quire continual chastisement. 
 
 • - It is as easy to ascertain whether a dogis docile, reason- 
 ably mindful and good-tempered, as whether he has a good 
 nose, sufficient speed, and enough intellect to be worth 
 breaking. If he have not the former qualities , I would 
 reject him as quickly as for the lack of the latter. 
 
 But it may be set down for certain, that not one 
 highly-bred and highly-spirited dog in a hundred but can 
 be broke, thoroughly and to perfection, by steady, firm 
 and temperate management, without, I will not say, pun- 
 ishment or occasional severity, but any thing in the least 
 degree approaching to cruelty. 
 
 When a dog is once thoroughly broke, it is Ma mastep's 
 
THE DOG. 159 
 
 fault, and — be it added— rh'.s master's disgrace, if. ke ever 
 lose his teachings, or if he ever require severe or crai^l 
 punishment to maintain it. 
 
 Nine dogs are cowed, ruined and rendered irretriev- 
 ably worthless, by cruel flogging for small causes, or for 
 no cause at all, where one is spoiled for want of it ; and, 
 even in early breaking, the constant resort to the whip 
 must be regarded as a proof that the breaker is inoompe^ 
 tent to his business by milder and more legitimate means. 
 
 Still, the whip, I do not mean to deny it, must be used 
 in the commencement; the animal must be made ac- 
 quainted with its power, and taught to know that it is the 
 ultimate consequence of refractory conduct or obstinacy. 
 
 The great point to be gained is to make a dog awarj 
 that he has done vfrongly, before he is punished; the 
 great point to be avoided, the punishing him, so far as he 
 knows, for no offence ; that is, when he is ignorant of any 
 wrong-doing. 
 
 When punishment is to be inflicted, it should be 
 done with a sharp, tough, slender whip, capable of inflict- 
 ing stinging, painful strokes, but incapable of cutting, as 
 a cowhide ; or bruising, as the heavy thongs one often .sees 
 used for the purpose. A' stick should never be laid to a 
 dog, unless it be a slender birchen twig, or the like, for it 
 almost invariably bruises. The ears should on no account 
 ever be pulled so as to give pain, for to do so is aljaost 
 sure to produce deafness ; , though it is very well to pinch 
 them gently as a sign of rebuke, and perhaps to box them 
 slightly with the fingers, while rating and scolding the ani- 
 mal. Whea iatel%6nt, and kindly treated,, it ia remark- 
 
160 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 able how sensitive dogs are to reprimand, and how in- 
 tensely they dislike to he held gently, hut forcibly, down, 
 and rated and reproached for several minutes together by 
 their master. 
 
 I have a Newfoundland dog in my possession, certainly 
 a most singularly intelligent and attached animal, which, 
 after haviug committed any escapade and returned to fol- 
 low at heel, if one turn round the head to look at him and 
 merely say — " Ain't you ashamed, sir ? " — ^will dodge from 
 side to side, still keeping close to heel, in order to avoid 
 the reproachful look, so as to render it impossible to catch 
 his eye, and will follow, with his stern lowered between his 
 legs, looking ludicrously disconsolate and unhappy, till 
 he is forgiven and again admitted to favor. 
 
 la conclusion, I would say, that to kick a dog under 
 any circumstances is an act of utter and unpardonable 
 brutality — a bone may be broken in an instant, and a valu- 
 able animal destroyed, when no such result is thought of,' 
 much less intended by the human brute, who practices the 
 savagism. 
 
 I once took all my dogs out of the hands of an other- 
 wise undeniable dog-breaker, to whom I had determined 
 to intrust three or four puppies, for no other reason, than 
 that I saw him once punish a young pointer on the siiipe 
 meadows, where no rod or switch was at hand, by kicking 
 him. 
 
 Once a kicker ! — I said to myself, a kicker always ! 
 and as I had no desire to have one of my fine young dog's 
 ribs broken, and then be told that he had unluckily died 
 of fits or of the distemper, I removed him from the strong 
 
THE DOG. 161 
 
 probabilities of that fate ; as I advise all my readers to 
 do, under the like circumstances. 
 
 Before I have done with this part of my subject, in 
 order to avoid being misunderstood, I will add, that when 
 correction is needed, it should be given, in kindness to the 
 sufferer, in earnest, and once for all; so that he shaU 
 remember the infliction, and need no repetition. One 
 ■sound flagellation, when really deserved, will do twenty 
 times the good, morally, and not inflict half the sufliering, 
 physically, of twenty, or twenty times twenty, insufficient, 
 teasing corrections, which keep the dog in constant agita- 
 tion and irritation, without making him once really care 
 about it, or remember it. 
 
 A dog, when he has once learned what a whipping is, 
 will be sufficiently warned by the mere sight of • the 
 instrument of flagellation, shown menacingly, with a word 
 or two of objurgation. The menace must not, however, 
 be repeated in vain, or it will be a short time only ere 
 it lose its effect, from the offender perceiving that no exe- 
 cution follows. 
 
 In such cases, with old knowing dogs, who are as much 
 aware as their rnaster that they are doing wrong, if they 
 neglect warning and take no heed of threats, two or three 
 smart cuts, with a long rating, is as good in its effect as 
 half an hour's flagellation. Where the offence is very 
 grave, such as rushing in on a fallen bird, breaking point 
 from jealousy of another dog, chasing violently heedless 
 of the call, paying no attention to the call or whistle, 
 refusing to come to heel or down charge ; where the fault 
 evidently arises from wilfulness, and not from accident or 
 
162 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 the casual wantonness of high spirits, as when a dog has 
 been long confined without being shot over — then indeed 
 chastisement must not hide his head. 
 
 The sportsman should, however, always have a careful 
 heed to causes, and to the actuating motives of his dogs, 
 before he punishes. I have seen good, careful, true-nosed 
 dogs flogged for flushing birds ; when it was evident to me, 
 from their coming to the point instantly, and looking 
 around with a deprecatory glance, that the fault was acci- 
 dental, or, in fact, no fault at all, but the consequence of 
 existing circumstances ; perhaps the failure of scent owing 
 to the state of the ground, or of the atmosphere. Again, 
 I have seen a martinet punish dogs, what I call cruelly, for 
 not sitting down to charge, on snipe ground, where the 
 water was three inches deep and as cold as ice ; when the 
 poor brutes were standing to charge, perfectly passive, 
 with ears and sterns lowered, and only failed to squat, on 
 account of the state of the ground. 
 
 But it is needless to multiply instances. In the former 
 case, all that is desirable is a gentle " Have a care. Sir ! 
 Have a ca-are, Don ! " in the latter, when a shot should 
 be again fired on good dry ground, to insist on the charge 
 being made in the most perfect style, with the paws ex- 
 tended and the nose down between them. 
 
 By the way ! if a dog be at all unsteady, the only 
 sure plan is to make him charge, whenever a bird rises, 
 whether shot at or not. In fiiot, it is better always to 
 make him do so, steady or not ; and, if a retriever, never 
 to allow him to gather a dead bird until he have pointed it. 
 
 Thus much as to general rules, for dogs in general. 
 
THE DOG. 163 
 
 When we come to the several varieties, I shall speak some- 
 what more largely ; but as this work is intended chiefly 
 for young sportsmen and beginners, I shall not enter into 
 dog breaking, of which they are not supposed to be capa- 
 ble, even if in positions and circumstances where they 
 might attempt it. Neither my subject nor my limits will 
 permit. 
 
 In like manner, diseases, remedies, except the very com- 
 monest and most simple, do not come within my subject or 
 sphere; in such cases, the best thing to take is advice. 
 Young beginners, who seek to cure by dosing and drugging, 
 are pretty sure to kill. Those who wish to learn what is 
 necessary of such things for accomplished sportsmen, will 
 find what they want in " Dinks and Mayhew on the dog ; " 
 the former excellent authority on breaking, the latter on 
 medicine ; in my own " Field Sports ; " and in " Blaine's 
 Canine Pathology," and " Youatt on the Dog." 
 
 Dogs should be warmly but airily housed ; heartily, 
 but not heatingly, fed — old Indian meal, mixed with oat- 
 meal, suppawn, is the best general food, with a small 
 quantity of salt, which is a preventive against worms — 
 occasionally some vegetables may be added, and once or 
 twice a week, sheep's-head broth, the water in which meat 
 is boiled for the house, or greasy slops of any kind ; milk 
 and buttermilk, whenever they can be sparisd, are excel- 
 lent additions — they should have abundance of water, 
 abundance of exercise, be kept scrupulously clean and 
 dry, and their condition and efficiency will well repay the 
 care. 
 
 The dogs most used by sportsmen in this country are, 
 
164 MANUAL FOE TOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 or ought to be — " The Setter ; the Pointer ; the Cocker ; 
 the Water-dog ; the Newfoundland ; the Deerhound ; the 
 Foxhound; and the Beag\e." To each of these I shall 
 devote a few remarks, as to their characters, qualifications, 
 points and uses ; to the services and localities for which 
 they are the best fitted ; how to get them good ; how to 
 keep them so ; and how to use them to the best advan- 
 tage. 
 
 I shall not go into minutise of breeding or natural 
 history — such disquisitions will be found elsewhere, in the 
 works I have named above, and in many English books, 
 which cannot be too highly recommended ; I would par- 
 ticularly specify Colonel Hutchinson, on Dog breaking; 
 Scrope, on Deer stalking ; Colquhoun, on the Moor and 
 the Loch; and Hawker, on Seafowl shooting; who are 
 the best authorities on their several respective specialities. 
 
 I may here add, that the field for wild-sports, and the 
 market for sporting dogs, like the course of Empire, 
 " westward take their way." The failure of game in the 
 Eastern and Middle States renders it yearly more and 
 more difficult to break dogs on the Atlantic seaJboard, or 
 to obtain well broke dogs thereon. 
 
 English broke dogs do not succeed any where in 
 America, owing to the difference of the ground, the game, 
 and the mode of hunting it. English bred dogs, how- 
 ever, of all kinds, with the single exception of the Rus- 
 sian setter, are the best for all purposes, indeed, the only 
 dogs worth having. 
 
lajsaa'j 
 
 THE SETTEE. 
 
 First in the list of sporting dogs, without a moment's 
 hesitation, I place the Setter. 
 
 For — although the pointer possesses many excellen- 
 cies, among others greater docility, or rather, perhaps, 
 greater retention of what he has learned, with less inclina- 
 tion to run riot and require partial rebreaking, after he 
 has long lain idle, than the setter — which qualities cer- 
 tainly render him preferable for verj young shooters, or 
 for residents of cities who sb-oot but a. few days in the 
 
166 MAJSrUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 year — I must agree with that agreeable sporting English 
 writ-er, " Craven," that " the first place among shooting 
 dogs must be awarded to the setter. 
 
 " In style and dash of ranging, in courage and capa- 
 city of covering ground ; in beauty of form and grace of 
 attitude; in variety of color and elegance of clothing; 
 no animal of his species will at all bear comparison with 
 him." 
 
 I will add that, in endurance of extreme fatigue ; in 
 supporting cold and wet; in facing thorny brakes and 
 tangled covert ; in travelling with uninjured feet over 
 stony mountain ledges, across plains bristling with spiked 
 sword-grass, or over burnt coppices ragged with jags and 
 stubbs ; and generally in working, day in and day out, for 
 weeks, or through a season together, the setter distances 
 the bravest pointers I have ever seen. 
 
 His temper too is usually milder, he is a more afiec- 
 tionate and friendly dog — this praise is not, however, due 
 to the Irish variety, which is apt 1 1 be savage — and is, in 
 my opinion, also a wiser and more intelligent and saga- 
 cious animal; although he is so much more frolicsome, 
 larking and high-spirited, that it is, undeniably, more diffi- 
 cult to keep him in command, and more necessary to rule 
 him with a strict hand and observant eye, than the pointer. 
 
 Eor the made and complete sportsman, therefore, I 
 without a moment's doubt advise the adoption of the set- 
 ter, especially for America, wh«re, or at least in the greater 
 part of which, almost all the shooting is either covert- 
 shooting or marsh-shooting ; for both of which branches 
 of sport I consider cue setter as equal, for the quantity 
 
THE SETTEE. 167 
 
 of sertixje , to be got out of him, to two pointers, and for 
 the satisfactory style of doing the work, and the cheerful 
 endurance of the toil without suffering, yet more superior. 
 
 On this subject, I shall quote the brief opinion of " a 
 gentleman, a large breeder of sporting dogs," from a work 
 of " Craven's," which I feel myself the more justified in 
 doing that he often, and on-ce in this very work, borrows 
 from me, not only not rendering credit where it is due, but 
 inventing a " Mrs. Harris" in the shape of an American 
 correspondent, to bear the weight of my offendinga. 
 
 " I have tried all sorts," says he, " and at last fixed on 
 a well-bred setter as the most useful. I say well-bred, for 
 not many of the dogs with feathered sterns, which one 
 sees nowadays, are worthy of the name of setter. Pointer 
 fanciers object to setters on account of their requiring 
 more water, but there are generally sufficient springs and 
 peat-holes on the moors for them, and even in the early 
 part of September a horsepond or ditch is to be met with 
 often enough. For covert or snipe-shooting the setter is 
 far superior ; facing the thorns in the covert, and the wet 
 in the bogs, without coming to heel shivering like a pig 
 with the ague. I have always found, too, that setters, 
 when well broke, are finer tempered, and not so easily 
 cowed as pointers. Should they get an unlucky unde- 
 serv.ed kick, Don, the setter, wags his. tail, and forgets 
 it much sooner than Carlo, the pointer. My shooting, 
 lying near the moors, takes in every description of coun- 
 try, and I always find, that after a good, rough day, the 
 setter will out-tire the pointer, though, perhaps, not start 
 quite BO. flash in the.moming. 
 
168 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 " I always teach one, at least, of my dogs to bring his 
 game, which saves a world of trouble, both in covert and 
 out of it, but never allow him to stir for the birds until 
 after loading." 
 
 The writer is an Englishman, which accounts for the 
 allusion to the moors and the early part of September^ 
 which are not applicable to this country, but I preferred 
 to let it stand and comment on it at leisure. 
 
 Our summer shooting, in the hottest part of the year, 
 from July through August, is only for woodcock, and lies 
 invariably in wet ground, and almost invariably in covert ; 
 in no case, therefore, at this season is the setter likely to 
 suffer from thirst, and so to prove inferior to the pointer, 
 which really has the advantage over him in supporting 
 extreme dry. heat. Where the shooting is in thick coverts, 
 the setter has the best of it. 
 
 Again, in the autumn shooting, which does not com- 
 mence until the end of October, there is much more of 
 cold than of heat to be endured, and, the springs and 
 rivers being ordinarily full, there is never any difficulty 
 of procuring enough water for the thirstiest of dogs. 
 
 On the grouse-mountains in Pennsylvania, and among 
 scrub oaks and burnt woodlands, I have found the well- 
 feathered legs and full toe-tufts of setters to give them 
 great advantage over the barefooted pointers, which I 
 have frequently seen the necessity of hunting in buckskin 
 boots. 
 
 In the southern country where quail-shooting, or par- 
 tridge-shooting, as it is there termed, is followed in sultry 
 weather, the lands are so irriguous and so well watered as 
 
THE SETTEE. 169 
 
 a general thing, that the setter need not suffer, while the 
 great preponderance of snipe and marsh-shooting gives him 
 the preference. 
 
 The only portion of the United States, in which I 
 should consider the pointer preferable, is the dry prairies 
 of the West, where it is frequently indispensable to carry 
 out water for the dogs in grouse-shooting, which takes 
 place in the intolerably hot weather, on those treeless 
 plains, of August and the earlier part of September. 
 
 A prodigious quantity of nonsense has been written 
 under the- pretext of ascertaining or deriving the original 
 breed and stock of the setter — aome writers insisting that 
 he is a treble or quadruple mongrel, part setter, part 
 pointer, and some add, part Newfoundland and part fox- 
 hound. 
 
 One sporting writer — ^wonders will never cease ! — and 
 he a man of some repute both as a sportsman and an 
 authority, has actually given a receipt in one of his works, 
 for manufacturing a setter. He desires the aspirant for 
 the possession of a perfect dog of this breed, of which he 
 records his own opinion, that it is the best in the world, to 
 cross a foxhound with a pointer, and to recross the pro- 
 geoy with the low small Newfoundland of St. Johns. The 
 offspring of this last cross is to be the given setter. 
 
 And this, as if there were not half a dozen pure and 
 distinct families of setters reproducing themselves to the 
 smallest distinctive mark of shape, coat and color, genera- 
 tion after generation, in England alone, without taking into 
 consideration the Russian and Irish varieties. 
 
 He had precisely as well, in order to raise a London 
 8 
 
170 MANTTAL FOE TOUN& SPOETSMEN. 
 
 dray-horse, have desired the breeder to cross a jenny ass 
 with an elephant to give size, and then to recross the pro- 
 geny with a bear in order to gain courage and a hairy coat. 
 
 The truth, and it is now generally admitted — certainly 
 admitted by all physiologists and natural historians— is, that 
 except the spaniel, the setter is the oldest and purest of 
 all the sporting breeds. In fact it is, itself, neither more 
 nor less than a spaniel of the largest size, cultivated by 
 the selection of the best types for parents, by superior 
 food, good housing, and judicious crossing, not with dif- 
 erent varieties of the dog, but with various families of its 
 own distinct variety, until it has been brought nearly to 
 perfection. 
 
 The habit of setting or pointing its game, which is now 
 an instinctive and natural qualification of its race, was 
 originally an acquired trick, taught by diligent breaking. 
 Centuries of tuition have rendered that acquired trick an 
 hereditary gift, so much so, that no good judge of animals 
 would now think a young setter worthy of being put into 
 the breaker's hands, if he did not point naturally and 
 without instruction. 
 
 This conversion of foreign and acquired tricks into 
 hereditary and congenital powers, transmitted from sire J;o 
 son, is extraordinary ; but this is by no means its most 
 extraordinary phase. Every sportsman, who has kept and 
 reared families of pointer puppies — in which variety, as I 
 have said before, this retention o: acquired habits is even 
 more common than in the setter — must often have observed 
 the whelps, under four months of age, when no instruction 
 has ever been given them, nor have they acquired any 
 
THE SETTEE. 171" 
 
 apprchension of men, not only pointing the chickens and 
 pigeons, in the stable yard or in the street, but backing 
 one another in their points. 
 
 Now backing is entirely, and from the beginning, a bit 
 of tuition. There is no movement resembling it in the 
 natural action of a dog, nor, if there were, could it be of 
 any service to him in a state of nature, but rather the 
 reverse. 
 
 It is assumed, no one can say with how much plausi • 
 bility or truth, that the assumption and retention of a 
 stationary attitude, on coming upon a hot scent, is merely 
 an adaptation to our uses, by the breaker, of a natural 
 peculiarity of the dog intended by nature for his own 
 behoof. 
 
 On scenting his game and crawling up as he still does, 
 almost on his belly, and elbows, to the immediate prox- 
 imity of it, the animal naturally, it is said, paused, in 
 some instances couched — as does the cat or leopard — 
 in order to collect its energies aud contract its muscles for 
 the fatal spring. This pause, it is added, man has seized ; 
 taught the animal to prolong it ; and so adapted it to his 
 own purpose. It surely can be no native instinct implanted 
 by the Creator in the dog from the beginning ; since no 
 animal possesses an instinct, which to possess would be 
 useless, much more injurious to itself. 
 
 How a dog standing stock still, as if in a half catalep- 
 tic state, with eyes glaring, lips slavering, tail rigid, back 
 bristling, and limbs quivering with excitement, motion- 
 less and attempting to eflFect nothing for ten minutes, or 
 half an hour, until the bevy of birds takes to its wings and 
 
172 MANUAL FOE YOUITG BPOETSMEN. 
 
 away, should help him in a state of nature to get his supper, 
 is inconceivable ; but that because one dog on scenting 
 game assumes this strange position, his friend who is hunt- 
 ing in company with him, instead— as one naturally would 
 suppose him likely to do — of rushing to share the fun and 
 partake of the spoils, should do the like, is far more won- 
 derful ; as, where it does not naturally exist, it is infinitely 
 more difiScult to teach. 
 
 Naturalists have classified dogs under three principal, 
 general divisions ; veloces, the swift ; feroces, the savage ; 
 and sagaces, the intelligent; of which the greyhound, the 
 bull-dog, and the spaniel are respectively the types. To 
 the latter species belong all the dogs which hunt by nose, 
 having as their anatomical character, according to Blaine, 
 " the head very moderately elongated ; parietal bones not 
 approaching each other above the temples, but diverging 
 and swelling out, so as to enlarge the forehead, and the 
 cerebral cavity. This group includes some of the most 
 useful and intelligent dogs.'' 
 
 The anatomical distinction first named is probably the 
 cause, as well as the sign, of the superiority of this variety 
 of dogs, as it gives room for the capacity of brain, which, 
 whether in man or the inferior animal, invariably indicate? 
 and produces superiority of intellect. 
 
 In all the spaniels proper, the eye is full, liquid, and 
 speaking; the nose well developed, with large and open 
 nostrils ; the coat silky, soft, and in some cases much waved, 
 and almost curly. The colors of the various families of 
 this variety are almost innumerable, varying from pure 
 black, white and yellow, tan, liver and orange, to ring- 
 
THE SETTEE. 173 
 
 Btreaked, spotted and speckled, with all these tints two by 
 two, and sometimes three by three ; as black and white, 
 with tan spots about the eyes and muzzle, and tan feet. 
 The ears are generally long and pendulous, and are the 
 most curly part of the body. The legs, belly, and stern 
 are deeply flawed or feathered with a long fringe of soft, 
 silky hair, and the feet are protected with tufts about the 
 ancles and between the toes, which afford much defence to 
 these delicate portions of the body. 
 
 Of this family, the setter of pure English blood is the 
 largest variety, perhaps improved by culture — I say, per- 
 haps, for I do not find any real reason for believing that 
 it has been enlarged in the process of time, and there is 
 certainly less distinction between it and some of the large 
 varieties of what are called true Spaniels, and which are 
 in appearance pony-built setters, than between some of 
 those varieties themselves, as the clumber breed and the 
 King Charles. 
 
 The only permanent structural distinction if it can be 
 called so, is the size of the ear, which is smaller, and looks 
 as if it had been rounded by art. This peculitirity is, 
 however, shared by the Newfoundland dog, who is admit- 
 ted to be spaniel. 
 
 The coat also is somewhat coarser, though still in the 
 best families excessively soft, silky, and beautiful, and 
 waves rather than curls as in the proper smaller spaniels. 
 Especially about the ears is this texture of the coat observ- 
 able. Setters, however, differ in this respect, and I have 
 seen dogs, and once owned one — and he was, perhaps, the 
 very best I ever did own, a liver aud white dog called 
 
174 MAHUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 Chance-^whieh was as curly about the ears and poll as 
 aa ordinary water-spaniel. 
 
 I do not know the pedigree of this animal, and it is 
 possible, though barely so, that he might have a cross of 
 water-spaniel in his blood. It is not, however, probable, 
 for the water spaniel is an exceedingly rare dog in the 
 United States, so much so that in a residence of five and 
 twenty years, I have not seen half a dozen of the race. 
 His character and conduct showed nothing of the spaniel, 
 which is the most riotous and hard to break of all sporting 
 dogs, for he was singularly docile, cool-headed, and, though 
 the best retriever I ever saw, was almost, if not quite, the 
 stanohest setter, both at the point, and the down charge. 
 
 The chief cause of the question which has arisen con- 
 cerning the origin of this beautiful and sagacious animal, 
 it appears to me, is simply the new name, which with the 
 improvement of field-sports, the subdivisions which have 
 been introduced, and the nicer distinctions which have 
 been of consequence required, has come into use, it would 
 seem, within the last century. 
 
 I find it variously stated, that the spaniel was first 
 taught to set in the reign of Edward II., and that he is 
 mentioned in a MS. treatise by the grand huntsman of 
 that monarch, so long ago as 1307 — and, again, that 
 Dudley, Duke of Northumberland in 1335, first systemati- 
 cally broke in setting dogs. 
 
 One objection, and a very material one, to the lattc;- 
 version, being the fact that Eobert Dudley was not Earl, 
 much less Duke, of Northumberland in 1335, but Henry 
 Percy. 
 
THE SETTEE. 175 
 
 A curious document, which is probably the earliest 
 legal instrument of this nature on record, is in existence, 
 having been preserved by Mr. Daniel in his Rural Sports, 
 proving that in the seventeenth century setter breaking 
 was an ujiderstood and regularly managed branch of 
 business. 
 
 Singularly enough, this, document is a contract between 
 a Worcestershire farmer and a namesake, and doubtless a 
 collateral ancestor, of my own — since a branch of my 
 family were early settled in that county — which would 
 seem to show that I come honestly by my love of field- 
 sports, as a matter of inheritance from past generations. 
 
 "RiBBESFORD, Oct. 7, 1685. 
 
 " I, John Harris of Willdon, in the parish of Hastle- 
 bury, in the county of Worcester, yeoman, for and in 
 consideration of ten shillings of lawful English money this 
 day received of Henry Herbert of Ribbes£ord in the said 
 countj', Esq., and of thirty shillings more of like money 
 by him promised to be hereafter payed me, do hereby 
 covenant and promise to the said Henry Herbert, his 
 ex'ors and adm'ors, that I will from the day of the date 
 hereof, until the first day of March next, well and suffi- 
 ciently maintain and keep a Spanile bitch, named Quand, 
 this day delivered into my custody by the said Henry 
 Herbert, and will before the first day of March next, fully 
 and efiectually traine up and teach the said Bitch to set 
 Partridges, Pheasants and other game as well and exactly 
 as the best sitting doggers usually set the same. And the 
 said Bitch so trained and taught shall and will deliver to 
 
176 MAUTJAI, FOE TOTING SPOETSMEN. 
 
 the said Henry Herbert, or whom he shall appoint to 
 receive her, at his house in Ribbesford aforesaid, on the 
 first day of March next. And if at any time the said 
 Bitch shall for want of use and practice or o'rwise forget to 
 sett game as aforesaid, I will at my cost and charges, 
 maintain her for a month or longer as needs may require, 
 to traine up and teach her to sett game as aforesaid, and 
 shall and will fully and effectually teach her to sett game 
 as well and exactly as is above mentioned. 
 
 " Witness my hand and seal the day and year first 
 above written. 
 
 " JOHN HAREIS his X mark. 
 
 " Sealed and delivered in presence of 
 
 " H. PAYNE his X mark." 
 
 The fowling-piece not being at that time invented, nor 
 indeed brought to any perfection a century later, the 
 object of breaking the spaniel to set was the netting of 
 birds, which is now regarded as rank poaching. The 
 training was, however, identical; and stanchness was, if 
 possible, more necessary, inasmuch as drawing the net over 
 the covey requires longer time than merely to walk up to 
 the game, then than now. The price, as the value of 
 money then stood, is very large. At all events, the pas- 
 sage proves the antiquity of this mode of training, and 
 further shows, at that day, that the identity of the setting 
 spaniel with the other breeds of the same dog, was not 
 questioned. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that the term setter is very 
 recent ; the animal, when all its present habits and char- 
 
THE SETTEE. IT? 
 
 acteristics were fully developed, retaining the name of 
 spaniel. Gay calls him the " creeping spaniel," and 
 Thomson, that accurate observer and close describer of 
 nature, thus writes of him, in terms that leave no question 
 as to what manner of dog he alludes to : — 
 
 "How, in his mid-career, the spaniel struck 
 Stiff by the tainted gale, with open nose 
 Outstretched," &c. 
 
 It is stated by Mr. Blaine, that the setter is still called 
 in Ireland the English spaniel. If it be so, it would go 
 far to disprove the generally received idea that the Irish 
 setter is an original family, if not, as some suppose, the 
 original stock. I doubt, however, both the fact, and the 
 deduction. 
 
 In my " Field Sports " (vol. i. p. 32.'>), I surmised that 
 " the Irish dog is undoubtedly the original type of the set- 
 ter in Great Britain." 
 
 I have, since writing this, seen reason entirely to alter 
 my opinion ; which was induced by the large admixture of 
 Irish blood which has been introduced into many of the 
 choicest English families, those especially which run to 
 orange and white with black noses and muzzles ; one 
 family, in particular, with which I had most acquaint- 
 ance. The races are, however, I think, now, where not 
 intentionally interbred, entirely distinct. 
 
 The English dog is distinguished by his inferior bone 
 and stoutness ; superior grace and delicacy ; the greater 
 length, silkiness,^ and curl of his coat ;- his' blandness, 
 affection, good-uatore aod docility; in all which points he 
 
178 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 much more closely adheres to what we now call the 
 spaniel, than does his Irish cousin. 
 
 I am inclined to think that black, black and white, 
 pale lemon-colored and white, and perhaps — though I 
 speak this doubtfully — liver and white, are the true and 
 distinctive colors of the English setting spaniel. I some- 
 what doubt the liver-colored, because I observe, first, that 
 it is distinctively the water-spaniel color ; and secondly, 
 that where that color prevails, one is apt also to find a 
 greater tendency to curl — another water-spaniel sign — in 
 the hair. 
 
 I also believe, that wherever orange or deep red is 
 found in the English breeds, especially coupled with the 
 black nose and palate, there is an Irish strain. 
 
 Sure I am that, as a rule, though of course there are 
 exceptions, the red or red and white dogs are the wildest 
 and the most diincult to break. 
 
 In choosing an English setter, the first thing to 
 examine is the head ; it should be broad and expansive 
 between the eyes and across the brow, with a high bony 
 process extending upward from the base of the skull to the 
 ridge of the occiput. The nose should be rather long 
 than broad, the nostrils well opened, soft and moist — the 
 latter condition being a proof of good health and a sine 
 qua non to the possession of great scenting powers. The 
 eye should be large, soft, and bland, and the whole expres- 
 sion of the face amiable and gentle. 
 
 In this last point of physiognomy I put much faith — 
 I never saw a good dog with a had face; nor a thoroughly 
 bad one, with an intelligent, open expression of counte- 
 nance. 
 
THE SETTER. 179 
 
 There is as much difference in dogs' faces as there is 
 in that of men ; and I should as much expect to find th« 
 qualities of a Walter Scott, a Napoleon, or a Washington, 
 in a being with the face of Hogarth's bad apprentice or 
 of a Jew prize fighter, as I should think to find a dog, 
 with a cross, spiteful expression, a curt nose,^ thick jaws, 
 and a narrow brow with a deep cleft between the eyes, a 
 first-rate animal for intellect, memory and affection. 
 
 For the rest, a pendulous jowl and hanging lip are a 
 defect in a setter, as they are the reverse in a pointer. 
 Medium-sized dogs are the best, both for endurance of 
 work and for convenience of transportation ; besides which, 
 I consider great size and heavy bone, especially if coupled 
 with harsh coat, a symptom of coarse blood. 
 
 A setter should be high and thin in the withers, snaky 
 in the neck, roomy in the chest, long in the arms and 
 quarters, short in the lower legs, round and cat-like in the 
 feet, well fringed or feathered on belly and legs, and well 
 furnished with pad and toe-tufts. The bone of his tail 
 should be slender ; however well, and it cannot be too well, 
 feathered ; his coat cannot be too soft and silky, nor can 
 he, in all respects, be too beautiful. 
 
 His beauty is a sign of the purity of his race ; and in 
 some sort — which I fear is rarely or never the case with 
 us men — an indication of superior intellectual qualifica- 
 tions ; but then it must be remembered that, although 
 every dog is, at one period of his existence, a puppy, one 
 never has heard of a canine fop, or, except in the old 
 fable, of one who used a looking-glass. 
 
 The points of the Irish setter are a more bony, angular 
 
180 MANUAL FOE YOUNG -SPOETSMEil. 
 
 and wiry frame, a longer head, a less silky and straighter 
 coat, than those of the English breed. His color ought 
 to he a deep orange-red, or orange-red and white ; a com- 
 mon mark is a strip of white between the eyes, a white 
 ring round the neck, white stockings, and a white tag to 
 the tail ; all the rest deep red. 
 
 Unless the nose, palate, and lips are black, they are 
 not in Ireland esteemed pure ; and I consider the point a 
 test of blood and a proof of hardiness in all breeds ; I 
 doubt a liver-colored, and detest a flesh-colored, muzzle. 
 
 The characteristics of the thorough Irish setter are, 
 often savage ferocity of temper, always extreme courage, 
 high spirit and indomitable pluck. They are naturally 
 wild, and given to riot to the verge of indocility, require 
 much breaking, I had almost said continual breaking, a 
 jealous eye, a resolute will, and a tight hand over them. 
 With these, they are of undeniable excellence. 
 
 They are not, however, by any means the right kind 
 for young sportsmen, or for any sportsmen but those who 
 are constantly in the field whenever game is in season ; for 
 such, their hardihood and pluck renders them invaluable. 
 
 They cross well with the English setter, if it can be 
 called a cross, when it is but an intermarriage of cousins, 
 and the progeny lose something of the temper and gain 
 something of hardness. 
 
 The only remaining pure variety of setter to be 
 noticed is the Russian, which is rarely or never met with 
 in this country. 
 
 Jt 13 an admirable creature, docile, good and gentle, to 
 a charm. Enduring, beyond any other race, of ooid and 
 
THE SETTEE. 181 
 
 wet, and dauntless beyond any other in covert, but moro 
 susceptible of beat and tbirst than the others of his race. 
 
 He is,, I think, rather taller than the English or Irish 
 dog, muscular and bony ; his head is shorter and rounder 
 than that of his family, and, like the rest of his body, is 
 so completely covered with long, woolly, matted locks, 
 tangled and curly like those of the water-poodle, only 
 ten times more so, that he can hardly see out of his 
 eyes. 
 
 His color is black, black and white, or pale lemon and 
 white. I never saw one of any other color. I never. have 
 seen a pure one,- though I once owned a half breed — a 
 most superior animal — in America, nor are they common 
 or easily attainable in England. 
 
 I learned to shoot over one in England, which I was 
 permitted to take out alone, because it was well known 
 that " Henry could not spoil Charon ; " and almost every 
 thing that I know of shooting that old Russian taught nie. 
 He would not drop to shot, if a bird were killed, but dashed 
 Tight in to fetch ; yet I never saw him flush a bird of a 
 scattered covey in my life; for if the fresh birds' lay 
 between him and those killed, he would set them all one 
 by one. In the same way, if a hare were wounded, which 
 he knew by the eye by some indescribable sign which no 
 man could descry, he always chased and never failed to 
 retrieve him. If he were missed or went away without a 
 shot, he would charge steadily enough ; but if two or 
 three shots were missed in succession, particularly in the 
 first of the morning, home he went in disgust, in spite of 
 aU threats or coaxing. 
 
182 jrANUAi. For. vorxG froirrsMKX. 
 
 Russian setters have what is called more point, they 
 ooueh lower, and steal in more silently on their game than 
 any other dog, consequently they are the best in the 
 world over which to shoot game, when it is wild. Could 
 they be procured, I think of all sporting dogs they are the 
 most adapted for ordinary American shooting, and the 
 best of all for beginners. They have less style, and do 
 not range so high as the English or Irish dogs, but that 
 is no disadvantage for America, where there is so much 
 covert shooting. 
 
 Setters should range wide and swiftly, with the head 
 well up ; dogs which puzzle on the ground except on bad 
 scenting days, or in emergency on the cold trail of a 
 wounded animal, have generally bad noses ; they should, 
 if hun+ing two together, cross each other regularly on 
 their beat, if singly, quarter the ground evenly in front of 
 the shooter ; they should, at each turn, invariably cast 
 forward so as not to come on old ground, and never cross 
 backward, behind the shooter. This is a very bad fault, 
 causing much delay and loss of time, and it is hard to 
 cure when once acquired. 
 
 The habit of quartering ground well is little under- 
 stood, or taught, even by professed breakers in America, 
 though it is of first importance. Most dog breakers are 
 content, when a dog stands stanchly on his game, backs 
 his comrade, drops to charge at the word, and retrieves 
 cleverly, to let him run about the ground as he will at his 
 own pleasure. 
 
 There is no greater error. A dog, which does so, will 
 beat muda of his ground twice or thrice over, and leave 
 
THE SETTEK. 183 
 
 much altogether untried, so that not only will much time 
 be lost, but much game will be passed over. 
 
 The man who shoots over dogs or a dog broken to 
 quarter and beat his ground truly, will get twice as many 
 shots on the same ground, and in the same time, with 
 another hunting animals which meander at their own 
 sweet will. 
 
 If I must shoot over a dog unsteady at his points and 
 unsteady at his charge, but a good ranger and quartered 
 of his ground, or over one as stanch as a rock, who ruA 
 about after his own pleasure, and were shooting a match, 
 I would take the former, confident that I could make up 
 by the quantity of game found for the other defects. 
 
 These are the points which the young shooter ought 
 to regard in choosing his dog, though, if he be wise, he will 
 take some experienced friend to counsel. 
 
 Let him remember, that it costs no more to keep a 
 good dog than a bad one ; that a dog properly kept, hav- 
 ing been well bought at a proper age, lasts probably, apart 
 from accidents, five or six years, or more ; — unless he be so 
 unhappy as to live in Newark, New Jersey, where the in- 
 habitants throw strychnine, the deadliest of all poisons, 
 broadcast, in the streets, without the interference, if not 
 by the direct encouragement, of the city government — that 
 it is, therefore, the cheapest plan in the long run, to buy 
 a good dog ; and lastly, that there is no such thing as buy- 
 ing a good dog at a low price. 
 
 A well-bred, well-looking, well-broke setter, or pointer 
 dog, has just as real a market value, apart from any fancy 
 price, which may go to any amount, as any merchandise in 
 
.184 MAinjAL EOE^ YOITNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 the world, and is exactly as sure — almost surer than any 
 — to realize it; since there is always a greater demand 
 than there is supply ; and since gentlemen, as opposed to 
 dealers, are rarely, if ever, tempted by price to part with 
 animals which suit them. Many sportsmen would regard 
 an offer as an affront, akin to that of proposing to pur- 
 chase his family plate or his family pictures. 
 
 The best rule for teaching a dog to quarter his ground, 
 and, when taught, to keep him at it, will be found in 
 " Dinks on the Dog," as on breaking generally. 
 
 The above precepts for choosing a dog by his action 
 are equally referable to the setter and the pointer, although 
 the latter is something slower, steadier, and closer in his 
 ranging. Otherwise, there, is no difference in their style 
 of finding or pointing game. For it is a singular thing 
 that in America, for some reason which I cannot compre- 
 hend or conceive, and for which I never heard so much as 
 a plausible conjecture, the pointer and setter lose the dis- 
 tinctive action whence they derive their distinctive names. 
 
 In England the pointer invariably stands his game, 
 and almost invariably ^omifs it, by raising sometimes' a 
 fore leg, sometimes a hind leg. 
 
 There the setter, if not invariably, at least nine times 
 out of ten sets his game, falling prostrate as if shot, and 
 lying so close as often to show only the tip of his erected 
 flag above the stubble or turnips, I have often had a 
 brace of setters go down so suddenly, when shooting in 
 high turnips or potatoe ridges, the eye being casually off 
 them at the moment, that it required some trouble to find 
 then!. When very close on their game good setters never 
 
THE SETTEE. . 185 
 
 fail to do this, and it is unusual for them to point except 
 at hedgerows, or on running game. 
 
 In America, wherever I have shot. East or West, in 
 Canada or in the States, I have but twice in five and 
 twenty years seen a setter set, and then it was accidental ; 
 so far as this, that the dog usually stood. It is worthy of 
 remark also, that, on my first arrival in this country, I 
 shot over a dog which was bred in my own family and 
 which I broke myself in England. I do not think I ever 
 saw him point in his old country ; I know I never saw him 
 set in his new. After I lost him, I for many years im- 
 ported dogs of the same family, which traced back to 
 Lord Clare's red Irish breed and Colonel Thornton's cele- 
 brated black dog ■" Death," and always with the same re- 
 sult — ^not one of them ever set. 
 
 I should like vastly to arrive at something, concerning 
 this strange point in natural history, but it defies conjec- 
 ture. 
 
 I omitted above to say that in my own opinion, for 
 choice, perhaps I should rather say for fancy, the best 
 colors for English setters are pure black; pure white — 
 the latter very rare — red and white, or lemon and white, 
 with black noses; black and white, or black and tan. 
 Eoan, or fleabitten dogs, whether red and white speckle, 
 called strawberry, or black and white speckle, called blue, 
 are unobjectionable. 
 
 But I have something of a prejudice against liver or 
 liver and white setters ; as I regard the colors as belong- 
 ing, of right, to the water-spaniel, or to the pointer, and 
 therefore indicating ' the suspicion of a cross. In the 
 
186 MANtTAi;, FOE TOTTNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 same way I always suspect red and white, or blact and 
 white, in a pointer, for the converse reason. I may here 
 add that I regard the cross of the setter and pointer, com- 
 monly known as the dopper, as an abominable mongrel. 
 
 There is a breed of black and white and tan getters in 
 the United States, known as the " Webster setters," the 
 original stock having been imported by that great states- 
 man, from, I believe, Lord Derby's kennel. It has not 
 generally turned out well, the blood generally showing 
 softness and timidity in the field. To this I have heard 
 of but one exception. I deem the color altogether doubt- 
 ful and suspicious. Still it remains to be said that the 
 old saying of horses stands good of dogs — that good ones 
 are always of good colors, and that there is no absolute 
 rule in these, more than in men, 
 
 " To trace the mind's complexion in the face." 
 
 Before concluding my notice of this dog, I will add 
 that I see lately a much lauded and advertised strain of 
 blood quoted as the " Harewood Setters." Of the merits 
 or alleged origin of these dogs I know nothing. But if 
 they are attributed to the noble Yorkshire family of that 
 title, I fancy there is either some error, or that the strain 
 is very recent. I have known the late and the present 
 Earls of Harewood from my childhood ; I lived within six 
 miles of their seat of the same name, and hunted regularly 
 for many seasons with the late Earl's foxhounds ; I can, 
 therefore, assert without the possibility of error, that up to 
 my leaving England they had no distinctive strain of set- 
 ter blood, but often used our Irish strain, of which I have 
 
THE SETTEE. 
 
 187 
 
 spoken. They may, within the last twenty years, have 
 gotten up a distinct family, but the time is short wherein 
 for a breed to win a celebrated name — and as Lord Eldon 
 said — " I doubt." 
 
THE POINTEK. 
 
 This dog, which it may be admitted, whatever its intrin- 
 sic or comparative merits, is the most suitable, for many 
 reasons, to the use of the young sportsman, is not, at least 
 in its present form, an original or natural animal. 
 
 This is the more worthy of remark, because many 
 modern writers, those more particularly who are opposed 
 to the setter, have endeavored to discredit the latter by 
 overlauding its rival, as if the pointer were the type, and 
 the setter an offshoot produced from it, by some process 
 
 of crossing. 
 
 So far, however, is this from being true, that the 
 pointer is itself a manufactured subvariety, although now 
 so well established, that it appears capable of reproduction, 
 like for like, even to the peculiar characteristics of indi- 
 
THE POmTEB. 189 
 
 vidual families, almost ad infinitum ; whereas, as we hare 
 seen above, the setter, so far as can be ascertained by any 
 investigation, is the natural, aboriginal, spaniel stock im- 
 proved by care and culture, but not by inter-breeding. 
 
 The type of this dog is unquestionably, in the British 
 isles, and the countries which have been thence supplied, 
 the Spanish pointer; but how that variety of the genus 
 arose, by what crossing it was produced, or when it was 
 first known, is now beyond ascertaining. 
 
 It was first introduced into England when the art of 
 shooting on the wing began to be general, replacing the 
 old sport of netting birds, for which the mute spaniel, 
 taught to set, since that time improved into the modern 
 setter, had been used. Its erect position while in the act 
 of pointing, and its lower and more careful style of rang- 
 ing, as well as its superior steadiness, were the qualities 
 which, on its first introduction, caused the preference to bo 
 given to it for open shooting; and such are, with justice, 
 the superior excellencies still attributed to it, by those 
 who prefer it to its rival, the setter. 
 
 In form, structure and general appearance, the pointer 
 would appear to be an intermediate link between the 
 spaniel, the smooth-haired hound, and perhaps the fero- 
 cious dog of the bull type — the structure of the hcau, t".c 
 cerebral development, and the olfactory apparatus clearly 
 connecting him with the former species, his coat, his general 
 shape, and his fine stern pointing to the gase-hounds, and 
 his heavy jowl, pendulous lips, broad chest, and crookc 1 
 fore legs, assimilating him to the pugnacious varieties. 
 
 The old Spanish pointer is now almost extinct in Eng- 
 
190 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 land and America, and deservedly so ; for, although his 
 admirable powers of scent, not surpassed by those of any 
 animal, and his great tractability, are undeniable points in 
 his favor, he is an ungainly, misshapen creature, a slow- 
 traveller, an awkward mover; and, though large-limbed, 
 strongly-boned, and to an unpractised eye powerfully made, 
 is for the most part so ill put together and slackly coupled, 
 that he is incapable of long and severe work, except at a 
 foot's pace. 
 
 The improved English pointer, which is the dog gen- 
 erally in use under the name of pointer, is a cross of the 
 original Spanish dog with the fox-hound, or the greyhound, 
 or both — the union of the two affording probably the best 
 existing form. There are now numerous subvarieties, in 
 the shape of distinct families, raised and maintained by 
 different amateurs in the British Islands and elsewhere, 
 recognized apart by particular characteristics of form, 
 color, and style ; which characteristic peculiarities they 
 transmit with the blood, all springing from some cross of 
 the Spanish dog with some of the other strains indicated 
 above, yet sufficiently remote from the original stock to 
 allow of inter-breeding, without any danger of deteriora- 
 tion from in-breeding, as it is termed, or incestuous breed- 
 ing, so as to obviate all necessity of farther intermixture 
 of foreign blood, as of the various hounds mentioned above. 
 
 Of these English varieties, some are nearly as coarse, 
 heavy-shouldered, and slow as the old Spanish pointers ; 
 some are almost as slender, thin-flanked, and whip-sterned 
 as the greyhound ; and some with deeply feathered sterns 
 and rfiarp noses, showing a strong cross of the fox-hound. 
 
THE POINTEE. 191 
 
 The first of these varieties is faulty,, for the same 
 reason as the old Spanish dog ; they do not get over the 
 ground with sufficient rapidity to allow of a reasonable 
 bag being made in reasonable time ; they are apt to knock 
 up, owing to their weight and faulty structure, and they 
 are painfully ugly to behold. 
 
 The second fails from the natural consequences of ov«r 
 delicacy ; his coat is too fine, he cannot endure cold or wet, 
 he cannot face the lightest covert, he cannot do half a 
 day's work in proper form. If hunted alone, he will find 
 little or no game, if in company with other dogs, he will do 
 the backing to their pointing, but no more. He is a suffi- 
 ciently worthless dog any where, but in America particu- 
 larly worthless, because particularly unfit for those very 
 specialities of work which he should be particularly fitted 
 to perform — covert-shooting and snipe-shooting. For the 
 former of these purposes the pointer is, I may say, never 
 used in the British Isles; for the latter, when old and 
 steady, he is generally preferred. 
 
 The third variety is liable to two objections; he is apt 
 to stoop too much, and puzzle for his scent on the ground, 
 hound-fashion, instead of drawing handsomely with his head 
 high ; and he is inclined to run in and chase, especially 
 on hares and rabbits, from which vice it is frequently very 
 difficult to break him. 
 
 The best form of the pointer is the medium between 
 the first two varieties ; and a dog of this kind, of the 
 proper shape and style, well bred, well broken, and well 
 hunted, will be found to do his work for courage, stout- 
 ness, scent, and endurance of heat and thirst, as well a«, if 
 
192 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 not better than, any other variety of dog that is used in 
 the field. 
 
 For docility, traotability, and tenacity of memory, 
 never forgetting what has been once thoroughly taught 
 ^him, he is undoubtedly superior to all dogs ; and, on this 
 account, he is to be recommended for all beginners, for all 
 occasional shooters, who have small opportunity for keep- 
 ing their dogs in constant practice, and for all persons, in 
 general, who are averse to extra trouble, and who, for the 
 sake of having every thing to go on smoothly and in even 
 tenor, are willing to sacrifice something of dash, spirit, 
 style and show. 
 
 The weak points of this dog, I have touched upon 
 before ; they are — want of endurance of cold and wet ; 
 which may be set off against their greater endurance of 
 heat and thirst ; inferior dash, impetus and ability — not 
 courage — to face severe, thorny covert ; which may be set 
 off against superior docility, traotability and steadiness ; 
 and, lastly, somewhat inferior speed and stoutness, and 
 decidedly inferior beauty, sociability, and affection to the 
 individual who, hunts them. 
 
 For the young shooter, however, this latter inferiority 
 is, perhaps, in some sort an advantage. 
 
 The pointer is more apt to hunt willingly for anybody 
 who carries a gun, whether he know him, or not; and 
 hunts more after his own fashion, with less interference 
 from, or reference to, the shooter ; nor is he so apt to take 
 offence at the failure of his companion to kill the game 
 which he has found for him, a habit which setters, espe- 
 
THE POINTER. 193 
 
 cially such as have been mucli shot over by sure killers, 
 often acquire and carry to a ludicrous extent. 
 
 The true form of the very best kind of English 
 pointer is so well laid down by " Stonehenge " in his 
 " British Rural Sports," that I cannot do better than to 
 quote the passage entire. 
 
 " The points by which these dogs are generally chosen, 
 are — First, the form of the head, which should be wide, 
 yet flat and square, with a broad nose, pendulous lip and 
 a square tip ; the pointed tip indicating too great a cross 
 of the foxhound or greyhound. Secondly, a good set of 
 legs and feet, the former strait and bony, and well set on 
 at the shoulder, and the latter round and the pads hard 
 and horny. Thirdly, a strong loin and good general ("cvel- 
 opment, with sloping shoulder;?. Fourthly, a fine stern, 
 small in the bone and sharp at the point, like the sting of 
 a wasp, and not curved upward. This form of stern, with 
 a vigorous lashing of it from side to side, marks the true- 
 bred pointer as much as any sign can do ; and its absence 
 distinguishes the foxhound cross, which gives a very hairy 
 stern, with a strong curve upward and carried over the 
 back ; or the too great amount of greyhound blood, 
 marked by a small stern also, but by one whose diminution 
 commences from the very root ; while the genuine pointer's 
 is nearly of the same size, till within a few inches of the 
 point, when it suddenly tapers off. Great injury has often 
 been done by breeding in-and-in for many generations of 
 pointers. A sportsman begins life by obtaining a brace 
 which do their work to perfection, and he is the admiration 
 and envy of all his sporting friends as long as they last, 
 9 
 
194 MAIfTTJAL FOE TOtTNO SPOETSMEH-. 
 
 whicli may be, perh^s, five or six years. From these he 
 treads others, which also maintain his fame ; and he ex- 
 pects to he able to continue the same plan with the same 
 blood for fifty, or in some cases, sixty years. He is so 
 wedded to it that he fears any admixture, and for two or 
 three litters he does not require it ; but at last he finds 
 that though his puppies are easily broken to back and 
 stand, they are small, delicate, and easily knocked up, and 
 are mere playthings in the field." 
 
 Than these remarks, as to the points and formation of 
 the pointer, I can add nothing. As I have before ob- 
 served of the setter, of this dog also the medium size is 
 preferable. It is more easily conveyed from place to 
 place, whether in wagon, boat, or raiboad car, and, if 
 strongly built and well put together, will stand more work 
 than a heavy, oversized Animal. 
 
 As to setters, again, and horses, so of pomters, it may 
 be said that good animals are always of good colors ; still 
 there is a choice, and for reasons apart from real fancy or 
 love of beauty. 
 
 Colors more or less indicate races, and the prevalence 
 of some colors, therefore, indicate more or less admix- 
 tures of blood to be avoided, or sought after, as it may be. 
 
 The pure original pointer colors, as drawn from the 
 original Spanish stock, are plain unmixed liver color, and 
 deep tawny, darker across the shoulders than elsewhere. 
 
 Both of these, therefore, going with the thorough 
 pointer shape, are undeniable. 
 
 To liver and white, with a liver-colored nose, there is 
 no ppssible objection as to genuineness, while the light 
 
THE POmTEE. 19S 
 
 tint IS favorable as far more easily seen in thick autumnal 
 covert, than the self-color, which greatly assimilates to 
 the dead leaf. 
 
 Lemon and white, orange and white, tawny and white, 
 particularly if coupled with a black nose and lips, are, in 
 my judgnient, highly objectionable, as indicating a cross of 
 setter, which I abominate in the pointer. 
 
 Pure "white is rare, but unobjectionable; plain jet- 
 black is also faultless ; but where the black and white are 
 joined, I suspect foxhound blood ; and if to these be added 
 the smallest dash of tan, whether in the shape of eye- 
 spots, muzzles, or feet, I am sure of it. 
 
 Tan eye-spots are sometimes seen in plain black dogs ; 
 and there is a famous but rare English family so charac- 
 terized; and if there be no white whatever, I should re- 
 joice in the possession of a pointer so colored. 
 
 So also in liver, and liver and white dogs, are tan eye- 
 spots found and regarded as beauties, rather than defects. 
 Lord Derby's excellent kennel turns out admirable liver 
 and white dogs, so characterized, and of a stamp well 
 adapted to American shooting, as possessing perfectly pure 
 blood, and quite sufficiently high and fine a strain, with- 
 out over delicacy of coat, and with sufficient stoutness for 
 rough work. 
 
 There is little more to note in reference to the pointer; 
 but there obtains a common error or prejudice in relation 
 to one of his occasional characteristics, which it may be 
 as well to refute. 
 
 One of the marks,- so common as to be almost an in- 
 variable cbaracteristie, of the old Spanish pointer, is what 
 
196 MAlfUAL FOE YOUN& SPORTSMEN. 
 
 is commonly known as a double nose ; and, in my opin- 
 ion, and that, I believe, of most real judges of the ani- 
 mal, an exceedingly ugly characteristic, amounting nearly 
 to a deformity. This double nose consists in a deep cut 
 or furrow between the nostrils, causing them to a casual 
 observer, and on a slight inspection, to appear disunited. 
 
 In the French pointers, which are for the most part 
 coarsely-bred, ill-made and worthless animals, this mark, 
 owing to the superabundance in them of Spanish blood, is 
 general ; and it is surprising to me that Blr. Youatt should 
 describe it as " materially interfering with their acuteness 
 of smell." 
 
 This, however, is not the error which I propose here 
 to correct, but the converse of this ; which I have found, 
 in all countries, particularly among uneducated or partially 
 educated sportsmen, iq be a prevalent idea — that this 
 double nose is an indication of, and as it were a guarantee 
 for, the existence of an unusually good nose in the animal 
 so marked. This external furrow can, I conceive — and I 
 am borne out in my opinion by the judgment of Dr. Lewis 
 of Philadelphia, celebrated alike for his medical and 
 sportsmanly abilities — have no effect or influence one way 
 or other on the scenting capabilities of the animal, being 
 wholly unconnected with the internal olfactory apparatus. 
 
 How the idea should have originated, it is simple 
 enough to see — the old Spanish pointer is, beyond dispute, 
 an animal of superior powers of scent, and he is often 
 double-nosed. Hence came the superstition that the supe- 
 rior scent is due to the ugly furrow between the nostrils, 
 though it might have been as well ascribed to the slack 
 
THE POINTEB. 
 
 197- 
 
 loin, or thick club tail, which are equally qharacteristic of 
 the breed. 
 
 So well established is this creed in my part of the 
 country, that a neighbor of mine told me the other day, 
 with great glee and exultation, that he had got a double- 
 nosed setter, the only one of that kind he had ever seei^ 
 though he had seen many pointers such. 
 
 ■He was urgent to know whether I had ever seen a 
 double-nosed setter, and was not a little astonished when I 
 replied that I never had, and. sincerely hoped I never 
 should ; for that, while in a pointer it is simply a deform- 
 ity, of no actual consequence, in a setter it is a certain 
 indication of a cross of Spanish pointer blood ; about the 
 worst cross imaginable. 
 
 It may be added, that the Spanish pointer is not 
 unfrequently ill-tempered and surly. 
 
 Of the action of pointers in the field, whereby to judge 
 of them, I shall speak hereafter, under the head of Field 
 Management. 
 
THE COCKING SPANIEL. 
 
 The best of all dogs, beyond a question, for woodcock 
 shooting exclusively, particularly in the summer season, 
 or even for autumn shooting in covert, is the spaniel. It 
 is little known as yet in this country ; and it is extremely 
 difficult to procure them, either purely bred or thoroughly 
 broken, and unless they be both, no animal is more worth- 
 less 
 
 In England, they are used entirely for all covert 
 shooting, where dogs are employed at all, which is not the 
 
THE COOKnSTG SPAHTEL. 199 
 
 ease in battues; the game, in these, as I must consider 
 them, unsportsmanlike butcheries, being driven up by 
 beaters. The reason of this preference of the spaniel is 
 twofold. First, he does the work better than the pointer 
 or setter can do it ; secondly, it is an injury to the latter 
 species to inure them to this sort of work, which is not 
 suited to their habits, instincts, or style of hunting. 
 
 Those dogs are naturally endowed with ^reat range 
 and speed of foot, and ought, if high bred and endowed 
 with good noses, to stand their birds steadily at long 
 distances. 
 
 These are the points and excellences of fine setters or 
 pointers; the proper stage for which is, in England, the 
 moors, or the open partridge stubbles and turnip fields ; 
 here the prairies, for grouse, the open stubbles for quail, 
 and the snipe marshes. 
 
 If they be duly qualified to hunt these grounds in style, 
 and to find their game fast and well in such situations, 
 they will, in covert, range entirely out of shot, wUl proba- 
 bly overrun and put up many birds, quite beyond the 
 shooter's range, or, coming to a dead point, at a quarter of 
 a mile's distance, with heaven knows how much brush and 
 brier intervening, will be missing half of the time, or will 
 have, instead of themselves hunting, to be painfully hunted 
 up by their owner. 
 
 Over and above this, being used to hunt under the 
 constant supervision of the sportsman's eye, where the 
 least error is observed and the least fault rated, finding 
 themselves under less restraint in covert, they arc apt to 
 become careless and to run riot. To this habit they are 
 
200 KAN0AL FOK YOUNG SPOETSMEM'. 
 
 more particularly led by two causes, both of which must 
 often occur in shooting in heavy coverts, especially in sum- 
 mer, when the leaf is full— first, that frequently coming on 
 points unobserved by the shooter, who has lost and cannot 
 find them, they are kept standing such a weary time, on 
 the game, that they become impatient, flush it wilfully, and 
 come away unchidden, because unremarked. 
 
 Second, that the shooter himself, instead of himself, 
 walking or beating up his game over the point, as he ought 
 to do, too often, for the sake of securing a shot which, 
 from the badness of ground or thickness of the brake, he 
 would otherwise be apt to lose, hies the dog on, and 
 encourages him to flush, at one moment, probably punish- 
 ing him for doing the very same thing, some twenty 
 minutes later. 
 
 Thus it is clear that pointers or setters, when in the 
 very best possible training and condition for open shooting, 
 which is their natural work as well as their forte, are not 
 suited for covert shooting. 
 
 It is also clear that covert-shooting is likely to be 
 disadvantageous to their steadiness, and to render them, 
 unless carefully and judiciously hunted, wild and riotous. 
 
 If, on the contrary, they are thoroughly broken and 
 inured to covert shooting, they get into a slow, pottering 
 style of work, lose their range, their speed of foot, and in 
 a great measure their dashing style and carriage. 
 
 Once or twice in a lifetime, one may find a brace of 
 dors so perfect, so steady, and so well up to all kinds of 
 work, t'.iat they will range the opens at full speed, heads 
 up and sterns down, and again when brought into covert 
 
THE COCKING SPANIEL. 201 
 
 beat every inch of a ground at a trot, and never stir out 
 of gunshot of the sportsman ; but it is, as I have said, but 
 once or twice in a lifetime. 
 
 These are the just reasons, why pointers and Betters 
 are in England, rarely, if ever, used in woodlands. 
 
 Here the case is altered, since with the exception of 
 snipe-shooting on the marshes and grouse-shooting on the 
 prairies, there is in America no distinctly open shooting. 
 In the Northern States and provinces, especially, where 
 autumn shooting is and must ever be the principal and 
 choicest pursuit of the true sportsman, open shooting and 
 covert shooting are so inseparably combined, from the 
 habits of the birds pursued, that no line of distinction 
 can be drawn.. 
 
 The quail, which is the principal object of pursuit, 
 must be found and roused on his feeding grounds, in the 
 stubbles, orchards or meadows, and, when once scattered, 
 followed up and killed in the densest and heaviest brakes 
 and coverts. 
 
 To find them, the greatest speed and the widest range 
 is necessary ; to finish up the scattered bevies in good style, 
 the closest and most accurate, inch by inch ground, or foot, 
 hunting. 
 
 The perfection of the thing, if means permitted, would 
 be of course to drive the open grounds with setters or 
 pointers, and then, when the game should be driven into 
 covert, to couple up these, and let loose spaniels wherewith 
 to beat the brakes and thickets. 
 
 This, however, would require such a number of dogs 
 and servants to be kept, so large an expense and so sys- 
 9* 
 
202 MANUAL FOE "^TDUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 tematic a pursuit of the sport, with consequent expenditure 
 of time and attention, as few or no American sportsmen 
 are willing or able to bestow on what is, to most men, but 
 an occasional and rare pastime. 
 
 For the most part, then, we must rest content with our 
 setters or pointers, and must satisfy ourselves with over- 
 coming to the best of our abilities the difficulties which 
 we must encounter. 
 
 Nevertheless, I would strongly recommend it to such 
 sportsmen as have the means, the leisure, and the oppor- 
 tunity, to procure a brace of good and well broke cocking 
 spaniels, at least fur summer cock-shooting. It is not 
 only the true method, but it is far more exhilarating and 
 exciting, it is less fatiguing, and, as it gives .the sportsman 
 far more opportunity of choosing his own position for 
 shooting in the paths, runways and glades, instead of being 
 forced to blunder into thickets in order to drive up his 
 game, it is by far the most killing mode. 
 
 The spaniel naturally gives tongue on his scent the 
 moment he strikes it, hunts it up with the rapidity of 
 light, and springs his bird or starts his hare with a rush. 
 
 By education he is made to hunt mute, or at most to 
 express his delight at finding the hot scent streaming up to 
 his nostrils by a suppressed whimper, to track the game 
 foot by foot, pausing to note the vicinity and whereabojit 
 of the shooter, and to give tongue only when it is flushed. 
 
 This, steadiness and closeness of range and of dropping 
 to charge the instant the shot is fired, and lying hard 
 until ordered to ", hie on ! " is all that is required of the 
 spaniel ; but that ail is not a little ; - for the spirit in the 
 
THE COCKING SPANIEL. 203 
 
 small bodies of these active and indefatigable little ani- 
 mals is of the most indomitable, and it requires steadiness, 
 patience, firmness, equability of temper in the highest 
 degree, and at times severity, to break th^m into disci- 
 pline, and to keep them in it when broken. But this once 
 accomplished, they are all but perfection. 
 
 " There can scarcely be a prettier object," says Mr. 
 Youatt in his admirable work on the dog, " than this little 
 creature, full of activity, and bustling in every direction, 
 with his tail erect ; and the moment he scents the bird 
 expressing his delight by the quivering of every limb, and 
 the low eager whimpering which the best breaking cannot 
 always subdue. Presently the bird springs, and then he 
 shrieks out his ecstasy, startling even the sportsman with 
 his sharp, shrill, and strangely expressive bark. 
 
 " The most serious objection to the use of the cocker 
 is the difficulty of teaching him to distinguish his game 
 and confine himself within bounds ; for he will too often 
 flush every thing that comes within his reach. It is often 
 the practice to attach bells to his collar, that the sports- 
 man may know where he is ; " — this precaution is far more 
 necessary with the pointer in covert — " but there is an in- 
 convenience connected with this, that the noise of the bells 
 will often disturb and spring the galne before the dog 
 comes fairly upon it. 
 
 " Patience and perseverance, with a due mixtm-e of 
 kindness and correction, will, however, accomplish a 
 great deal in the tuition of the well-bred spaniel. He 
 may at first hunt about after every bird that presents 
 itself, or chase the interdicted game ; if he be immediate- 
 
204 MANUAi FOE TOTING SPOETSMEN. 
 
 ly called in and rated, or perhaps corrected, but not too 
 severely, he will learn his proper lesson, and recognize the 
 game to which alone his attention must be directed. The 
 grand secret in breaking these dogs is mildness, mingled 
 with perseverance, the lessons being enforced, and practi- 
 cally illustrated by the example of an old and steady 
 dog." 
 
 " This beautiful and interesting dog — " adds Dr. Lewis, 
 f;poakii)g of the cocker, in his American Edition of Youatt 
 — ■' so called from his peculiar suitableness for woodcock 
 sLooting, is but little known among us, except as a boudoir 
 companion for ladies. He is, nevertheless, extensively 
 used in England by sportsmen for finding this bird, as also 
 the pheasant ; and no doubt, if introduced into our coun- 
 try, would prove equally, if not more serviceable, in put- 
 ting up game concealed in the thickets and marshy hollows 
 of our uncleared ground." 
 
 There is no doubt that such is the case. An excellent 
 and accomplished English sportsman, Mr. Joseph Tarret, 
 who shot for many years in New Jersey with great effect 
 and success, used these dogs exclusively, and few, if any 
 sportsmen of the day could beat his bag. 
 
 Dr. Lewis states in another passage that the larger 
 variety of spaniel, known as the springer, is owned in the 
 greatest purity in the CarroUton family, and is also in 
 possession of Mr. Keyworth. 
 
 Captain Peel of the Royals, late of H. M. R. Cana- 
 dian rifles, better known to the sporting world as "" Dinks " 
 of Amherstburg, who has been recently serving in the 
 Crimea, but may be shortly expected to return, has a fine 
 
THE COOKIITG SPANIEL. 206 
 
 strain of this blood, wliich I can earnestly recommend 
 from my own knowledge and experience. 
 
 Tlie three varieties of spaniel principally used in pur- 
 suit of game are. the " cocker," the " springer,'' and the 
 " Clumber spaniel," which is, on the whole, the best in 
 all respects as a sporting animal. 
 
 The cocker, a likeness of which, adapted from a mag- 
 nificent engraving by Ansdell, is prefixed to this paper, is 
 the smallest of the three varieties. 
 
 He is seldom above twenty pounds in weight, has a short 
 blunt nose, an excedingly full, soft, liquid eye, and bears a 
 strong resemblance to the King Charles, and Blenheim 
 breeds, with both of which he is, probably, more or less 
 connected. His color is usually dark orange and white, 
 or lemon and white ; sometimes black, white, and tan, or 
 plain black and white, and yet more rarely black and tan. 
 This last color is ascribed by Mr. Youatt to an admixture 
 of terrier blood ; but I think incorrectly. I would attri- 
 bute it wholly to the King Charles blood, with which the 
 cocke.r shows much connection, and the most when he is 
 of this color. The snub nOse and large soft melting eye 
 of the cocking spaniel is as remote as possible from the 
 elongated, sharp muzzle, and keen quick visual organs of 
 the terrier. 
 
 "These dogs,'' says Stonehenge, "have very delicate 
 noses, and work well in covert for a short time, but are soon 
 knocked up, and cannot compete in endurance with either 
 the springer, or the old English spaniel." 
 
 They are the liveliest, the prettiest, and the most active 
 of the whole family. 
 
206 MANUAL FOE yOITNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 The springer is somewhat larger, " has a smaller eye," 
 I quote from the Manual of Rural Sports, " and a more 
 pointed nose, and with a more impetuous nature than the 
 cocker, requiring more coercion than he, and far more than 
 the Clumber spaniel. He is generally of about thirty 
 pounds weight, with a party-colored coat of liver and 
 white, yellow and white, or black and white." 
 
 All the varieties should be hung " with ears that sweep 
 away the morning dew," should have coats long, soft, 
 waving — not curled, except about the ears — and glistering 
 as floss silk. Their tails should be short, stout, and, like 
 their legs, deeply and densely feathered. 
 
 The Clumber spaniel is a stouter, shorter-legged, 
 rougher-coated dog, with a broad nose. " In him," con- 
 tinues Stonehenge, " there is the full development of brain 
 and of the cavities of the nose, which gives the power of 
 smelling with the greatest nicety, and also that of dis- 
 criminating scents ; thus the true Clumber spaniel wiU 
 distinguish readily the foot-scent of the pheasant from the 
 cock, and will throw his tongue differently ; and they may 
 readily be kept to either, or allowed to hunt both, accord- 
 ing to the fancy of their masters. In size these dogs are 
 about thirty-five or forty pounds — ^generally of a liver 
 color, with very large heads, long ears, and broad noses ; 
 bodies low, long and strong, covered with long hair, not 
 very curly but with a strong wave, legs very straight and 
 strong, with good feet. They also have great powers of 
 endurance, but are not fast, and are on that account well 
 suited to covert-shooting. Their note is deep and musical, 
 and they are under very good command, when well broken. 
 
THE COCKING SPAI^IEL. 207 
 
 Numberless breeds, somewhat resembling the Clumber, are 
 met with throughout England, and of all colors and almost 
 all forms, commonly called old English spaniels. Most 
 of them have nearly the same kind of developments, 
 though few come up to him in all the qualities here enu- 
 merated ; there is generally too fast a style of hunting, ot 
 too little courage, or a want of steadiness, or some defi- 
 ciency or other.'' 
 
 In another part of the same volume, this able and dis- 
 criminating writer says of this dog — " The Clumber span, 
 iel is the best I have ever seen, being hardy and capable 
 of braving wet with impunity. His nose is also wonder- 
 fully good, which its full development in point of size 
 would lead one to expect. They are bred so much for 
 hunting cock that they own the scent very readily, and 
 seem to delight and revel in it, giving generally a very 
 joyous note on touching upon their trail. The true 
 Clumber may be easily kept to feather, and though they 
 will readily hunt fur when nothing else is to be had, they 
 do not prefer it, as most other dogs do." 
 
 The Clumber breed is that, which I have mentioned 
 above, as owned in great purity by Captain Peel, and is 
 the dog which I would especially recommend to all 
 sportsmen, young or old, for July cock-shooting. 
 
 I am well satisfied that over two or three of these un- 
 wearied and dauntless dogs, which, where water is plenty, 
 would work willingly from dawn till sunset of a July 
 day, a good shot could double his bag with one half the 
 walking and labor he would be obliged to exert over 
 setters or pointers. 
 
208 MANFAT, FOE TOTmG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 It is true, that they require constant attentio:"^, firm- 
 ness, steadiness and temper ; but so do all dogs. These, 
 I think, not more than most others, excepting always the 
 steady pointer, certainly less than the headstrong and 
 fierce Irish setter. 
 
 Moreover, the attention of the sportsman is at all 
 events required to fewer points. To hunt close and mute, 
 and to drop to shot is all that he has to ask, and, if asked 
 becomingly, he will not be disappointed. 
 
 To conclude, no one, I believe, who has ever shot cock 
 in a wet July brake of alders, or what is worse, in the 
 ravine of a Maryland branch, over Clumber spaniels, will 
 ever voluntarily return to the setter or the pointer, how- 
 ever pre-eminently superior at their own work, and over 
 their own line of country. 
 
THE WATEE-SPANIEL. 
 
 This beautiful, sagacious, and useful species, like the 
 varieties last described, is not so general in this country, 
 as he deserves to be, the rather that many districts inland, 
 to the westward and southward more especially, are singu- 
 larly adapted to his use. 
 
 A portion of his blood is not unfrequently to be 
 found in imperfectly bred setters, and although it unques- 
 tionably detracts from the value of the animal as a pure- 
 
210 MANUAL FOH TOtTNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 bred species, it is the least objectionable of all the 
 crosses. It does not produce obstinacy and inferior saga- 
 city, as is, I think, usually the case with the pointer cross ; 
 nor headstrong wildnes^, evincing itself in an uncontrol- 
 lable desire to chase fur, which is the consequence of a 
 foxhound admixture. It generally sJiows itself in an in- 
 creased degree of ourliness in the hair, particularly about 
 the poll and ears, the latter being also larger, longer, and 
 far more fleecily covered in the pure setter. The quali- 
 ties which this variety seems to give, are great readiness 
 and facility in retrieving, and superior fondness for the 
 water. Neither of which points are detrimental, but 
 rather the reverse, to the setter. The very best setter I 
 ever owned, whose pedigree I do not know, showed strong 
 indications of a remote water-spaniel cross in his hair and 
 color, though in iorm and habits he was a perfect setter. 
 I never saw so good a retriever, nor a steadier or stancher 
 dog, though I have seen hundreds fleeter. One thing is 
 certain ; water-spaniel blood does not produce riot, since 
 the dog is eminently docile. 
 
 I approve of no cross-breeding in dogs of established 
 races ; yet if I had a family of fine setters, which in the 
 course of years had become too nearly connected from 
 want of intermixture of some other pure but distinct set- 
 ter blood, and none such were attainable, I would not 
 hesitate to use one cross of water-spaniel, and should not 
 doubt of improving the stock in the second generation 
 from the admixture. 
 
 " Of this breed," says Mr. Youatt, " there are two 
 varieties, a larger and a smaller, both useful according to 
 
THE WATER SPAIUEL. 211 
 
 the degree of range or the work required; the smaller, 
 however, being ordinarily preferable." — In this point I do 
 not agree with Mr. Youatt, The larger dog is, to my 
 taste; the purer bred, the lesser being often interbred 
 with the land-spaniel, and for American shooting in par- 
 ticular, far superior. " Whatever be his general size, 
 strength and compactness of form are requisite. His 
 head is long, his face smooth, and his limbs, more devel- 
 oped than those of the springer, should be muscular, his 
 carcass round, and his hair long and closely curled." 
 
 In the best and purest breeds, while the face itself is 
 perfectly smooth, the poll, the ears, and the sides of the 
 neck are clothed so densely with long, soft, silky, curled 
 hair, that the countenance appears to be set in an Eliza- 
 bethan ruff, and the ears are absolutely ringUiied. The 
 only true colors of this dog are liver or liver and white. 
 Any others indicate mixtures of foreign blood. 
 
 " Good breaking," Mr. Youatt continues, " is more 
 necessary here than even with the land-spaniel, and for- 
 tunately it is more easily accomplished ; for the water- 
 spaniel, although a stouter, is a more docile animal than 
 the land one. 
 
 " Docility and affection are stamped on his counte- 
 nance, and he rivals every other breed in his attachment 
 to his master. His work is double ; first, to find when 
 ordered to do so, and to back behind the sportsman when 
 the game will be more advantageously trodden up. In 
 both he must be taught to be perfectly obedient to the 
 voice," or dogcaM, " that he maybe kept within range, and 
 may not unnecessarily disturb the birds. A more impor- 
 
212 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 tant part of his duty, however, is to find and bring the 
 game that has dropped. To teach him tu find is easy 
 enough, for a young water-spaniel will as readily take to 
 the water, as a pointer puppy will stop ; but to bring his 
 game without tearing it, is a more ilifficult lesson, and the 
 most difficult of all is to make him suspend the pursuit of 
 the wounded game while the sportsman reloads." 
 
 He must, in a few words, be taught invariably to beat 
 his ground, crossing and recrossiug it in endless intersect- 
 ing semicircles, never beyond twenty paces distant from 
 his master, and to hunt mute. The latter being far easier 
 than with the cocker, springer, or even the Clumber dog, 
 since the water-spaniel does not give tongue sO' fiercely or 
 so instinctively as his land congener. 
 
 Secondly, he must drop to shot, at the report of the 
 gun, and lie steadily at charge, until he be ordered to go 
 on, when he will recover wounded birds with inconceivable 
 cleverness, following them foot by foot through tussocky 
 bogs, thick flag tufts, and the most closely tangled marsh 
 grasses, or diving after them in deep waters, till they 
 shall give out in their own element, from mere weariness. 
 
 For wild fowl shooting in large inland lakes he is in- 
 valuable, merely as a retriever, particularly , where there 
 is much reed, wild rice or marsh grass, among which crip- 
 ples will skulk so cunningly as to defy the most accurate 
 marker; but their great forte is where teal, mallard, 
 wood-duck, pintails, and the other fresh- water varieties fre- 
 quent large flat grassy meadows, intersected by small la- 
 goons, creeks or rivulets in which they feed ; or still more, 
 where a slow winding stream, bordered with willows and 
 
THE WATEK SPANIEL, 213 
 
 alder brakes, creeps deviously between swampy banks 
 thickset with flags and sword-grass, furnishing the finest 
 and favorite feeding grounds and breeding grounds for all 
 the varieties of inland wild fowl. 
 
 Whej the young ducks, flappers as they are techni- 
 cally named, about three parts grown, are able to make 
 short flights only, with their legs hanging down so as just 
 to bend the tops of the marsh grass, or to dimple the sur- 
 face of the water, immense sport may be had in proper 
 localities, which occur every where abundantly from the 
 western parts of the State of New York, through all the 
 Western States to the head- waters of the Mississippi, and 
 the northern extremities of Lake Superior. 
 
 Nor are the Southern States, with their unfrozen 
 springheads, tepid streams and vast verdurous lagoons, in 
 this respect inferior. What could be done in the Ever- 
 glades of Florida by a large party of good sportsmen, not 
 afraid of roughing it, and duly supplied with a, proper 
 force of water-spaniels, both in the killing of game and 
 the discovering of new species, is yet to be proved. 
 
 Should snipe or woodcock be found lying in the same 
 localities, as is often the case, they will not escape the 
 infallible nose and unwearied activity of the water-spaniel, 
 nor will his long yellow legs and broadly flapping vans 
 secure the hermit heron, nor his clanking cry of defiance 
 or his sharp-pointed bUl, fiercely and fearlessly plied, save 
 the brown bittern from the mortal shot-shower. 
 
 In beating such a stream as I have described, the 
 shooter should walk some ten or fifteen paces wide of the 
 ipargin, not following its sinuosity, but proceeding in a 
 
214 MANTJAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 direct line from bend to bend, while his spaniels should 
 follow the windings, working out every bush and brake, 
 rummaging all the grass between the shooter and the 
 stream, and — contrary to what is required in every other 
 kind of shooting — hunting behind and not before, or quite 
 abreast of, the gun. By this method the fowl, being 
 flushed quietly by the dog, which they seem often to mis- 
 take for a fox or some other animal of prey, and not hav- 
 ing seen or suspected the vicinity of man, rise gently, and 
 for the most part fly forward up or down the course of the 
 stream, as it may be, presenting a fair cross shot to the 
 gun. Should they, by an unusual and unlikely chance, 
 rise wild so as not to aflbrd a shot, it is more than proba- 
 ble that they will again dron within a reasonable distance, 
 when being marked down, they may be, in most instances, 
 stalked, so as to insure the getting a close and deadly 
 shot. 
 
 With the green-winged teal this result is the most 
 likely to occur, as that bird, if flushed by a brookside, 
 without discovering its arch-enemy, almost always flies 
 quick and strong for some distance up or down the water, 
 and then darts down, like a sharp-flying woodcock, most 
 generally in a sudden bend or angle of the stream, where 
 there is covert, either of trees shadowing the stream, or of 
 bushes thick on the banks. 
 
 Jn this case it is almost certain that he will lie hard 
 the second time, and allow of an easy shot. 
 
 Water-STpaaiels, though, as their name indicates, they 
 shine in pursuit of aquatic fowl, may be broke to hunt for 
 the foot of the various species of American wood-grouse, 
 
THE WATEE SPiJNTEL. 215 
 
 as the ruffed grouse, the spotted or spruce grouse of 
 Canada, the red-necked or willow grouse of Vermont, 
 Maine, the British Provinces and Labrador, in the vast 
 wooded wildernesses where they abound, and to chase them 
 when flushed to the tree, in which they besiege them; 
 keeping them motionless by their sharp barking, by which 
 also they inform the shooter of their whereabout, until he 
 can come up, and knock them off their perch by a felon 
 shot. 
 
 For this work, I cannot call it sport, nor those who 
 pursue it sportsmen, the smaller water-spaniel is the animal 
 best adapted. I have seen a brace so thoroughly broke, 
 and so steady, that they were the best dogs I ever shot over 
 for autumn snipe-shooting, but this is rarely the case. 
 
 Where, however, much inland duck-shooting is to be 
 had on ground where snipe and perhaps woodcock also 
 feed — and there is much ground of that nature in Amer- 
 ica — no dogs can compete them, as they combine great 
 powerc of finding game, with vast endurance, steadiness 
 sufficient to enable them to be shot over satisfactorily — 
 though not that of the perfect pointer or setter — accompa- 
 nied by an ability to recover wounded wild fowl to a degree 
 possessed by no other animal, and without which it is use- 
 less to think of making a bag of wild fowl on inland 
 waters. 
 
V\ ;^<7^ -..— -^Q 'Si'i 
 
 THE NEWFOUNDLAND EETEIEVER. 
 
 The last dog with which we had to do, is the last of those 
 which are to be mentioned as employed for the finding 
 their game alive, and recovering it when killed, but which 
 have no share in pursuing or killing it. 
 
 These are the dogs principally used by the shooter, 
 and on them he relies, in a degree second only to his use 
 of the gun, for all his sport in the field and the upland as 
 against winged game. 
 
THE NEWFOUNDLAIID EETEIEVEE. 217 
 
 Those which remain worthy of note, are the retriever 
 proper, which fetches in the dead or crippled game, having 
 had no share in finding him, and the various species of 
 hounds, which are employed in the finding, taking, and 
 killing of large game such as deer, elk, bear, and, perhaps, 
 one or two casual species, not often encountered even in 
 the wildest parts of the country, and which may be held 
 to belong to hunting, as distinct from shooting, in the 
 proper sense of the terms ; though, as I have observed 
 before, the distinction is much narrowed in America 
 between the two sports, owing to the association of the 
 shot gun or rifle with the horse and hound. 
 
 In America the retriever proper is used only in one 
 part of the country, the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay and 
 the rivers of that region, which constitute the shooting 
 grounds of the canvas-back. 
 
 In the British isles pointers and setters are not usually 
 broke to fetch, as it is supposed to detract from their 
 steadiness, and render them likely to break in. For the 
 moors, therefore, and for pheasant-shooting in covert, re- 
 trievers are employed, especially broken to the purpose, 
 which take no notice of live game, make no efibrt to hunt 
 or flush it, but, so soon as it falls — and notice is given to 
 them to go on and find — will follow the foot of the identi- 
 cal wounded or wing-broken bird, through a preserve 
 overflowing with unwounded game of the same species, 
 without troubling or disturbing any of them ; and will 
 ultimately recover and bring him to bag, while the 
 sportsman is in pursuit of other victims, far away with his 
 pointers or his beaters. 
 10 
 
318 MANUAL FOK YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 Of this species of dog, or way of using it, there is no 
 trace on the uplands of America, or elsewhere, save on 
 the salt waters of the estuaries and tide rivers, whose half- 
 frozen waters swarm in winter with myriads of the choicest 
 wild fowl, the canvas-back, the red-head, the scaup, or 
 broadbill, as it is commonly called by American gunners, 
 and the widgeon, or baldpate, not to enumerate wild geese, 
 brant, and the king of waterfowl, the superb, incomparable 
 swan. 
 
 The usual, and among gentlemen sportsmen, who shoot 
 for pleasure, not for base profit, the only legitimate way of 
 shooting these delicious wild-fowl, is by lying in ambush 
 for them behind screens or blinds of rushes made for the 
 purpose, on points of islands, headlands, river mouths and 
 the like, over which the fowl fly, in going to or returning 
 from their feeding grounds, when they may be shot, by 
 clever gunners, with heavy pieces and large shot, at great 
 ranges and with great sport. 
 
 To shoot from batteries moored on their feeding 
 grounds, and still more to sail in upon them when feed- 
 ing, is properly discountenanced and esteemed unsports- 
 manlike and infamous, since it causes the birds, which will 
 not endure to be disturbed and slaughtered while on their 
 feed, to collect into great flocks, soar up into the air, and 
 entirely abandon the places where they are thus perse- 
 cuted. 
 
 The flocks of ducks are, it is true, at times idled in, 
 as it is called, by the assistance of small curs, trained to 
 play, running to and fro along the margin of the rivers, 
 where the ducks are swimming or feeding, when, strange 
 
THE NEWFOTINDLAKD EETKIEVEE. 219 
 
 to say, the wild-fowl are instigated by some sort of insane 
 curiosity to sail up close to the hidden fowler, and, after 
 being shot at again and again, still to rush on their fate, 
 without aim or object, in pursuit of the cur or mongrel 
 water-spaniel which is trained thus to inveigle them. 
 
 This animal, however, is a mere cur, and the extent of 
 his discipline and training is limited to running back- 
 ward and forward after sticks or stones, cast from behind 
 the blind, without appearing to take any notice of the 
 ducks, which, if he pause to look at them, will often swim 
 away or take wing on the instant. 
 
 For the recovery of the crippled birds, however, the 
 Newfoundland dog is used, of the truest and purest type ; 
 faot the huge woolly Labradorean, but the short, small- 
 eared, compact, vigorous dog of St. Johns, easily recog- 
 nized by his long, stout, waving coat, never curled or knot- 
 ted like the water-spaniel's or poodle's, by his neat, delicate, 
 rounded ear, and his stern never curled up over his back, 
 but carried pendulous, or stretched out at length when 
 he is in chase, like the brush of a fox, or the flag of a 
 setter. 
 
 This dog is a pure spaniel of the largest existing spe- 
 cies. He is, perhaps, the most powerful, enduring and 
 dauntless of all dogs. Certainly, and beyond dispute, he 
 is the most sagacious, the most faithful, the most easily 
 taught, and the most retentive of what he has learned of 
 all varieties of his race. When much accustomed to one 
 master, who is fond of them, and who has the knack of 
 teaching and making himself beloved at the same time, 
 th6y become so intelligent as to understand every word 
 
220 MANTJAI- FOE.TOinS-G SPOETSMEK. 
 
 that is said to them, and to act as if in obedience to reason 
 and induction. 
 
 They are, in their purest shape, jet black or dingy red ; 
 any intermixture of white, beyond a slight frill on the 
 breast, is indicative of Labrador blood. This breed obtains 
 in great excellence on the eastern shore of Maryland, 
 through Patapsco Neck, on the Gunpowder, and up the 
 Chesapeake Bay, where they are considered of unrivalled 
 excellence among the duck-shooters. 
 
 These dogs are the descendants of a dog and bitch, the 
 former red, the latter black, which were obtained by Mr. 
 Law, of Baltimore, from an English vessel bound from 
 Newfoundland to Poole in England. They were stated 
 to be a pair of pups procured for the owner of the vessel, 
 of the most approved Newfoundland breed, but of differ- 
 ent families, and were obtained by the sailors from the 
 English captain as a matter of favor. Their progeny 
 retains the original color, particularly the red hue of the 
 dog, and all the characteristic excellences of the breed. 
 
 " Their patience and endurance," says Dr. Lewis in 
 his edition of Youatt, " are very great when pursuing 
 wounded ducks through the floating ice, and when fatigued 
 from extraordinary exertions, are known to rest themselves 
 iipon broken portions of ice, till sufficiently recovered again 
 to commence the chase. We have seen some of the de- 
 scendants of these sagacious animals on the Chesapeake, 
 engaged not only in bringing the ducks from the water 
 when shot, but also toling them into shore within range 
 of the murderous batteries concealed behind the blind." 
 
 The points by which they may be known are, the long, 
 
THE NEWFOtTNDLAND BETEIEVEE. 
 
 221 
 
 pointed head, small, smooth ears, medium height, compact 
 shape, muscular, short limbs, ■wavy, long, glossy coat of 
 black or red, not curled, and the wonderful activity, 
 strength, and even speed for which the race is famous. 
 
 When they are of the pure breed, they require little 
 breaking and no severity. The water, in the most bitter 
 storm or the severest cold, seems to be native to them. 
 They literally delight and revel in deep snow, wallowing 
 in it as if for pleasure. As to education, they require only 
 to be shown a few times what they are desired to do, 
 beforfe they will acquire, and once acquired, never forget 
 it more ; and as friends and companions, they are better 
 even than as servants to man ; their gratitude, love, inde- 
 fatigable desire to please, cannot be surpassed by that of 
 any living being, brute or human ; and their fidelity, 
 attachment, truth and devotion, alone of any I have ever 
 seen or proved, defies time and change, is unaltered by 
 unkindness, and survives even the grave. 
 
-^ 
 
 ./ 9 I* ■ 
 
 ^f .'i^fr---''^^ 
 
 
 THE HOUND. 
 
 All the different varieties of the hound, which finds 
 and follows his game by nose, seem to be derived origi- 
 nally from the old English bloodhound, sleuth hound, Tal- 
 bot or Southern hound, all of which were modifications of 
 one animal, the same as that described by Shakspeare in 
 those immortal lines of Midsummer Night's Dream, which, 
 familiar as household words to all lovers of poetry, deserve 
 to be as well known to all sportsmen, for the admirable 
 description they convey of the old English hound of the 
 Elizabethan era, undoubtedly the parent of all the modern 
 families from the stately staghound down to the minute 
 beagle. 
 
THE HOUND, 223 
 
 " My homids are bred out of the Spartan kind, 
 So flewed, so sanded ; and their heads are hung 
 "With ears that sweep away the morning dew ; 
 Crook-kneed and dewlapped like Thessalian halls, 
 Slow in pursuit, but matched in mouth like bells, 
 Each under each, a cry more tunable 
 Was never hallo'ed to, nor cheered with horn. 
 In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly." 
 
 It is not wortli the while to inquire whether the La- 
 conian and Thessalian hounds, so often alludied to by 
 Horace, Ovid and other classical writers, were in truth of 
 the bloodhound type, or if they were not rather of the 
 large, shaggy, half mastiff, half sheep-dog type, peculiar 
 still to Albania and Epirus, and adapted to the hunting of 
 the bear or boar, for which purpose they seem to have 
 been principally used. 
 
 The first improvement in this old stock was, it would 
 seem, the old improved foxhound of Somerville's and 
 Beekford's stamp, and admirably described by the latter 
 writer in the following passage. 
 
 " Let his legs' be straight as arrows, his feet round and 
 not too large ; his shoulders back ; his breast rather wide 
 than narrow ; his chest deep ; his back broad ; his head 
 small ; his neck thin ; his tail thick and bushy — if he carry 
 it well, so much the better ; . . a small head, however, as 
 relative to beauty only, for as to goodness,'! believe large- 
 headed hounds are in no wise inferior." 
 
 This is the stamp of dog after which our forefathers used 
 to ride from the days of Queen Anne to the latter half of 
 the reign of George the Third ; and not very different were 
 
224 MANUAL FOE TOTJNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 those which the mighty Nimrods of the day, Mr. Meynell, 
 old Lord Forester, and their contemporaneous worthies 
 followed within these sixty years over the classic ground 
 of Melton Mowbray. 
 
 The ordinary time of throwing off in those days was at 
 daybreak ; the fox was trailed by his cold scent from the 
 pheasant preserve or farm-yard which he had been plun- 
 dering, to the wood where he had laid up, and was run 
 down after a chase of from ten to thirty miles, accomplished 
 in a space of time varying from two to half a dozen hours, 
 the hunters following them at a hard gallop on stout threes 
 part-bred horses, which we should now condemn as too 
 coarsely bred for the carriage, with ample time afforded 
 them to pick the easy places in fences, to ride round by- 
 lanes, and to nick in somehow or other in season for the kill. 
 
 What is the cross, or whether there is any, by which 
 the modern foxhound has been brought to his present per- 
 fection, cannot be easily ascertained, as the secret has been 
 well kept by the breeders. Stonehenge believes that there 
 has been a cross of the greyhound; and perhaps of the 
 bull-dog. 
 
 Of the former I am not prepared to speak positively, 
 beyond this, that if there be any cross of greyhound blood, 
 it is infinitesimally small, and has left no trace of its 
 existence in form, in coat, in color, or in any thing unless 
 it be speed. It is an error to believe that the greyhound 
 has naturally no power of scenting, the true state of the 
 case being that he is regularly restrained from hunting by 
 nose, discouraged from attempting it, and destroyed, as 
 worthless, if he persist in doing it. 
 
THTS HOUND. 225 
 
 The cross, therefore, would not necessarily be destruc- 
 tive of all scenting capacities, and it is notorious that the 
 new high-bred racing foxhound has deteriorated greatly 
 from the old Southern hound, and somewhat from the old 
 English foxhound, in nose. He is less capable of picking 
 out a cold scent foot by foot on a bad scenting day, but on 
 the other hand he comes away with his fox, on finding, with 
 such a dash, and keeps up so wonderful a stroke of speed, 
 with such endurance and pluck, tiat, in any tolerable 
 weather, the scent has no chance to grow cold, and that, on 
 a good hunting day, no fox that was ever unkennelled can 
 live before him an hour, or any ordinary one half that 
 time. 
 
 No horse but one thoroughbred, or, if not tracing 
 directly to Barb blood on both sides, with at least seven 
 or eight crosses of pure blood, can by any chance live 
 through a run of an hour with fourteen stone on his back 
 within sight or hearing of them, and no horse not the son 
 of a thoroughbred sire, at least, could stay one mile at 
 their pace. 
 
 They are truly wonderful animals, with speed equal to 
 that of a slow greyhound, dash and courage equal to any 
 thing, and scent amply suflScient to sustain their other 
 powers. 
 
 There may be, as I have said, and probably is, a very 
 remote, perhaps ten or fifteen times removed cross of grey- 
 hound blood in them, but I am satisfied that there is no 
 bull-dog, unless what may have come through the grey- 
 hound, ^hich we know has an infusion of that strain intro' 
 duced by Lord Or-ford. 
 10* 
 
226 MANUAL FOK TOTING SPOBTSMEN. 
 
 The first cross of foxhound and greyhound, which ia 
 used on the horders of England and Scotland for fox 
 coursing on the fells, and in the Highlands for pursuing 
 wounded deer, when the true Scottish deerhound is not 
 obtainable, and which is called by the borderers " The 
 Streaker," is familiar to me, and from my knowledge of it, 
 I am satisfied that it would require very many crosses 
 backward into the pure foxhound before we should arrive 
 from it at such animals as Mr. Osbaldiston's, or Sir 
 Eiohard Sutton's, or the Duke of Beaufort's, Northampton- 
 shire, or Melton Mowbray, or Vale of Blaokmoor, fliers. 
 
 The color of the original bloodhound was blaqk, 
 black and tan, or tawny, with very little white, and the 
 pure black breed of St. Hubert was the most highly 
 prized of all. The Talbots varied but little from the 
 general coloring of the bloodhound, but the yellow and 
 black pie was their general color. " The head," says 
 Stonehenge, " is very handsome; ears large, soft and pen- 
 duVous ; jowl square and well developed ; nose broad, soft 
 and moist ; and eyes lustrous and beautifully soft when in 
 an unexcited state." 
 
 The Southern hound, though somewhat lighter framed 
 and not much, has the same general characteristics, but is 
 often, if not generally, blue mottled with patches of 
 black and tan. 
 
 The new improved racing foxhound and the modern 
 staghound, differing' .from the former only in superior 
 height and power, though with equal fleetness, dash, and 
 spiry highTbred dafriagej vary from the old strains, not 
 only in their lighter forms, straight limbs, long let-down 
 
THE HOUND. 227 
 
 quarters, slender heads, small ears, and greater celerity of 
 motion with a shriller and less musical note ; but in the 
 great prevalence of white, which, more or less pied and 
 spotted with black and tan or yellow pie, is decidedly the 
 prevalent color, at present, of all the favoi-ite families even 
 of the fast modern harrier, which is now little more than 
 a small foxhound, though, perhaps, one shade less removed 
 from the Southern hound. 
 
 I am myself inclined to the belief that all the improved 
 modern dogs have been produced rather by the careful 
 selection, generation after generation, of the lightest, best 
 formed, handsomest, and fleetest parents on both sides, 
 than by crossing with dogs of different races and varie- 
 ties. We know that such has been the case mainly with 
 our improved breed of cattle and sheep, and I do not see 
 why such should be overlooked, as a palpable method of 
 improving families of dogs. 
 
 We know that, by constantly, year after year, breed- 
 ing from the tallest 26-inch foxhounds out of 25 or 24- 
 inch bitches, we have established a permanent family, 
 known as staghounds or buckhounds, of which her Majes- 
 ty's pack at Windsor are the finest type. These must not 
 be confounded with the Highland deerhound, which is a 
 totally distinct animal, of which I shall treat hereafter. 
 
 We know also that by raising stock in the same manner 
 from the smallest and lightest foxhounds, which are draft- 
 ed from regular packs owing to their want of symmetrical 
 size, and physical endurance, we have built up a self- 
 reproducing family of improved harriers. In the like 
 manner — since the formation, slowness, depth of voice, color, 
 
228 MAITOAL FOE TOUIfG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 and, in a word, all the peculiarities of the Southera hounds 
 and Talbots were comparative — it is easy to conceive, that, 
 when in process of time the clearing up of the forests and 
 other causes rendered a swifter hound desirable, those ani- 
 mals should be chosen from which to raise stock, possess- 
 ing the points of speed, lightness, and activity, rather 
 than those of strength, endurance, and even of pre-eminent 
 scent. There were undoubtedly also white Talbots and 
 even white bloodhounds, though these were rare, and it is 
 possible that the prevalence of that color in the fleet 
 modern hounds, may arise from a casual coincidence of 
 color and fleetness in some pure ancestral strain. 
 
 I confess, however, that I think it probable that there 
 is a distant cross somewhere— perhaps through the North- 
 ern hound, which Stonehenge states, as if with authority, 
 to have been decidedly a cross of the Southern hound 
 with the Scottish deerhound — of some slighter and faster 
 strain, which may have imparted color as well as speed. 
 
 The harrier — although it also has of late years under- 
 gone much the same process of improvement, so that it 
 has become in many instances little more than a dwarf 
 foxhound, increase of speed having been sought at the 
 expense of strength, to the overmatching of the hare and 
 the deterioration of the sport — still retains more of the 
 Southern hound, and shows the blood, both by its colors, 
 the black and yellow pie and the blue mottle, and by its 
 deep melodious challenge. 
 
 The beagle, the smallest of the species, now used in Eng- 
 land only to hunt rabbits, is a charming and beautiful little 
 animal, being in fact a mere pocket edition of the South- 
 
THE HOUND. 229 
 
 em hound, ■wMch it exactly resembles in almost every 
 particular, unless it be the crooklegs, the dewlap, and the 
 pendulous jaws. 
 
 It has the color, the soft lustrous eye, the long soft 
 drooping ears, " that sweep away the morning dew," and 
 the cry, though small as compared with that of the great 
 hound, yet tunable, sonorous, deep, and matched like bells. 
 
 There is no prettier sport in the world, on a small 
 scale, than to hunt rabbits where they are abundant, with 
 these industrious, active and indefatigable little dogs, and 
 few more interesting sights than a pack of the merry little 
 pigmies in full cry, running literally so that a table-cloth 
 may cover them, and following the devious mazes of their 
 timorous quarry with undeviating instinct through fern, 
 bush, brake and coppice. 
 
 Of the improved English foxhound I have never seen 
 any in America, the animals here used partaking largely 
 of the Talbot blood, color and note, and having his 
 qualities of excellent nose, great endurance, indefatigable 
 industry, and the habit of sticking to their scent, day in 
 and day out, until the fox is worn out rather than run 
 down. 
 
 The American foxhound as used in pursuit of the fox 
 in Maryland, Virginia, and other Southern States, and of 
 the deer in the Carolinas, Georgia, and wherever deer-hunt- 
 ing on horseback or by driving is practised, is in fact actually 
 the hound, unaltered and identical, of Beckford and Som- 
 erville. I am of opinion, moreover, that he is the best 
 adapted hound for this country, where so much of the 
 hunting is in difficult, intricate, entangled woodlands. 
 
230 MANTJAL FOE TOUXG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 marshy brakes and deep forests, where perfection of scent 
 is the most desirable of qualities, and where great speed is 
 not attainable, owing to the nature of the ground, and not 
 desirable, owing to the extreme difficulty of following the 
 hunt, which must be kept in hearing rather than in sight 
 by the sportsman. 
 
 I should advise persons choosing this animal to seliect 
 him exactly for the points laid down, by Beckford, as 
 quoted above on page 223 ; and to be contented with his 
 great scenting powers, industry, and deep resounding 
 voice, which makes wonderfully stirring and sonorous music 
 under the solemn arches of the grand re-echoing forest. 
 
 The best colors are black and yellow pied, or blue 
 mottle with black and tan ears, eyepatches and saddles ; 
 and a medium-sized dog, strong, muscular, and compactly 
 built, with long back ribs, which, as in the horse, should 
 be well developed and firmly fixed to the hips by strong 
 muscles, long thighs and good strong " stifles" — all of which, 
 as Nimrod properly insists, are essential points — not to 
 exceed from 22 to 24 inches in height; is preferable to a 
 larger dog. 
 
 The English staghound, which is never seen in this 
 country, and of which there are but two or three packs 
 kept in England, is from 26 to 28 and even thirty 
 inches, and is a beautiful spiry animal closely resembling 
 the improved foxhound, or in fact identical with him in all 
 points, except that he is exaggerated in size. 
 
 The English foxhound ranges from 23 to 25 inches for 
 the dogs, from 22 to 23 for the bitches ; but uniforjuitj 
 
THE Homsro. 231 
 
 both of size and speed is especially studied, and the 
 medium height of 24 inches is probably the standard. 
 
 The proper height of the old English harrier is from 
 16 to 18 i-nches, but the improved or dwarf foxhound 
 harrier often runs to 21. The old harrier is much in use 
 in the northern States, where he is a good deal interbred 
 ■with the old foxhound, so that he is scarcely distinguish- 
 uble from him, and is used both for hunting the fox, and for 
 fihooting the small American hare. When large, he is 
 often called a foxhound, when small a beagle — the latt^ 
 animal, in a perfectly pure state, being very rare and 
 indeed almost unknown in America. 
 
 When pure they should never exceed 15 inches, and 
 may run as low as 10. 12 is perhaps the most perfect 
 size, and their ears should hang down as far almost as to 
 the elbow. 
 
 Of all hounds this beautiful little animal is the best qualf 
 ified for-the pursuit of the small American hare, which is 
 also far better adapted to this sport than the English rab- 
 bit, which he much resembles in size, color, and some of his 
 habits, so that he is often mistaken for him by old country- 
 men, and generally miscalled after him even by Ameri- 
 cans. He is, however, not a rabbit, producing young but 
 twice a year, whereas the other breeds monthly ; and sit- 
 ting in a form on the surface of the earth, among thorns, 
 briers or long grass, instead of burrowing under it. 
 
 This latter habit it is, which renders its pursuit so far 
 preferable to that of the English rabbit, which, where bur- 
 rows are near and frequent, goes to earth so quickly, as to 
 ppoil the sport, and frustrate alike the pursuers and the gun. 
 
^32 MANUAL FOll' YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 There rests only to be named the great Scottish deer- 
 hound, perhaps the noblest of all dogs, and one, though 
 rare as yet in America, yet rapidly coming into demand 
 and use in the Western States, for which he is singularly 
 adapted ; as coursing the stag, and even the glorious elk 
 over the boundless prairies on fleet horses, or running down 
 the gaunt and grisly wolf, are the noblest, the most exciting, 
 and the most truly sporting of all American field-sports. 
 
 The Scottish deerhound, in bis true state, is a gigantic 
 greyhound, with hair as rough and wiry as that of an Isle 
 of Sky terrier. It is doubtful whether he is a distinct 
 and aboriginal dog, or merely a carefully improved family 
 of the ordinary, rough Scotch greyhound, which does not 
 exceed the smooth English hound in size and is inferior to 
 it in speed. 
 
 Stonehenge believes it to be merely the common rough 
 dog, improved and increased in size by careful breeding ; 
 but I lean to the opinion that it is of an ancient' original 
 British breed, identical with the famous Alans of the 
 early Norman kings, so celebrated in metrical romance, 
 and not improbably indigenous to Cambria, as the equally 
 noble and gigantic Irish wolf-dog, which was a smooth 
 greyhound of vast size and dauntless courage, was indige- 
 nous to old legendary Erin, although both are now unfor- 
 tunately nearly extinct. 
 
 These dogs, the Scottish deerhound I mean, not unfre- 
 quently stand 86 and even 39 inches in height, and have 
 been known to measure 71 inches in girth around the 
 chest. Probably 36 inches height and 57 circumfer- 
 ence may be held the average size. They have great 
 
THE HOUND. ■ 233 
 
 speed, very considerable powers of scent, dauntless cour- 
 age, and often actual ferocity. They always run at the 
 head like the bull-dog, and one of them is a match for a 
 red-deer or a wolf, while a brace are said to be able to 
 pull down a bull, and would doubtless show their prowess 
 successfully against that noblest of the cervine family, 
 the great American elk, wapiti deer or we-waskish of the 
 plains. 
 
 This splendid specimen of the dog is so nearly extinct 
 in its true form, and so nearly impossible of attainment 
 even in Scotland, that, being absolutely necessary in that 
 country for the pursuit of the wounded harts in the 
 boundless, open^heathclad deer-forests of the highland hills, 
 on which bloodhounds or foxhounds cannot be used, since 
 their baying would banish all the stags from the land. Art 
 has been called in aid of Nature, and by scientific and 
 judicious crossing an animal is obtained closely resembling 
 the original breed, his equal in size and power, and as woU 
 adapted for the uses to which he is applied. This animj,!, 
 now, is for the most part known as the Highland de-jr- 
 hound. It is said that they are now so nearly established 
 as a distinct family, that they are reproduced like for like, 
 for generations. 
 
 The usual cross is the Scotch wire-haired colly, the fox- 
 hound, and the greyhound. Sir Walter Scott's celebrated 
 and now classical dog " Maida," was the progeny of a 
 Pyrenean sheep-dog and a greyhound bitch ; and I have 
 no doubt that a cross of great excellence might be got 
 from the great Albanian or Epirotic mastiff, the tranis 
 molossus of the ancients, and the greyhound \ and should 
 
234 MANUAL FOE TOTHTS SfOETSMEN. 
 
 I be successful in a scheme I have long meditated, and am 
 now about to put into execution, upon procuring the ani- 
 mals necessary for originating the cross I contemplate, 
 I shall, before many years, have it in my power to supply 
 all my friends, and all such true sportsmen as shall care to 
 possess them, with a fine type of this noblest cross of the 
 whole dog race. 
 
 My method is to put a magnificent jet black St. John's 
 Newfoundland dog, now in my possession, to an equally fine 
 jet black English greyhound bitch; to cross the female 
 progeny of these parents with the large black and tan 
 foxhound, and the female pups of these, in the second 
 generation, again with the smooth greyhounds. The male 
 pups of the first cross I shall put to smooth greyhound 
 bitches, and the pups of these to foxhounds male or female, 
 as the case may require. 
 
 I am convinced that by this method I shall procure 
 size, rough hair, scent, courage, and intelligence, equal to 
 that of any conceivable dog, natural or artificial ; and 
 four or five years will prove my success or failure. 
 
 The first specimen of this breed of dogs I have seen 
 in this country, was a dark brindled gray wire-haired dog, 
 of which I got a sight in Philadelphia in the year 1850, 
 the property of a British oflScer on his way to California. 
 He stood above 36 inches in height. There are, or recently 
 were, a brace of very fine dogs in New York, in the pos- 
 session of Mr. Moore the dog fancier, who can be heard 
 of at the Spirit of the Times. They were valued at $500i 
 and were cheap at that. 
 
EENiraa. MANAGEMENT OF" POGS- 23S 
 
 KENNEL MANAGEMENT OF DOGS. 
 
 Before passing to the field, it will be necessary to lay 
 before the beginner a few instructions for the care of his 
 dogs at home ; the feeding, lodging, exercising them, and 
 getting them into or keeping them in condition, without 
 which all is labor lost. 
 
 Residents in cities have much difficulty both in lodg- 
 ing and exercising their dogs suitably, especially in sum- 
 mer, when the prevalence of the absurd, useless, brutal 
 and demoralizing dog laws are in operation, making it 
 almost impossible to take a dog beyond the precincts of 
 his own guarded yard. 
 
 I call these laws " absurd and useless," because it is a 
 notorious fact and an established medical truth, that dogs 
 are not in any degree more liable to canine rabies in July 
 than in January, perhaps less so. Whatever other causes 
 do produce it, heat and thirst do not. Canine rabies is 
 unknown in Grand Cairo and Constantinople, but common 
 in Quebec with the thermometer at 40 below Zero. 
 
 Besides this, twenty men die every year of kicks from 
 
336 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 horses, or other accidents arising from riding or driving, 
 and two hundred from firing guns at little birds and can- 
 non at political meetings, for one that dies of the bite of a 
 rabid dog. Cruel of course those laws are, which enjoin 
 the promiscuous slaughter of the most intelligent, faithful, 
 industrious, affectionate, and almost reasoning friend of man. 
 Demoralizing any laws must be, which authorize the pay- 
 ment to wretched street boys, and vagrants, and homeless 
 men, for the cold-blooded massacre of unresisting animals. 
 But it is of course useless to address any argument to the 
 common sense, or any appeal to the humanity of city 
 governments. De non apparentihus et non existentibus 
 eadem est ratio.* 
 
 All that remains to do, therefore, for the town dwell- 
 er, is to make the best of it, and provide for his dogs as 
 much space, as much air, as much exercise and as much 
 water as may be. 
 
 Cleanliness is not only a cardinal virtue, but a cardinal 
 preservative of health and condition. Every dog should 
 have his separate lodging ; nothing is better than the ordi- 
 nary old-fashioned, double, gable-ended dog-house. 
 
 It should not have a bottom attached to it, but should 
 be movable, for facilitating cleanliness, and should stand 
 on a board platform. If whitewashed within and without 
 once or twice a year, so much the better. The process will 
 keep down the growth of vermin. 
 
 The best bed that can be given to dogs, is carpenters' 
 
 * Concerning things which do not appear, and things which do 
 not exist, the reasoning is the same. 
 
KENNEL MANAGEMENT OF DOGS. 237 
 
 pine-shavings. AH other beds, . straw especially, promote 
 vermin ; this seems to prevent them. 
 
 The best food for dogs is old Indian meal stirred, with 
 a handful of salt, into water while it is boiling, till it is 
 quite thick, and allowed to become cold ; when it should be 
 served with broth, buttermilk, or milk, where it can be 
 obtained. Occasionally, if the dogs are low in condition, 
 a complete blow-out of flesh may be given to them ; it acts 
 as a purgative, and they are the better after it. It should, 
 not, however, be given above once or twice a year, a few 
 weeks before the opening and close of the shooting season. 
 While at work, dogs should never have flesh, except 
 cooked ; and of that the less the better. Broth is all that 
 is requisite, and where milk can be obtained it is prefer- 
 able to broth. Four sheep's heads a week, will be amply 
 sufficient to make broth for a kennel of three dogs. The 
 bones should never be given. They are constant causes 
 of contention, where there are two or more dogs together ; 
 they engender filth and disease, and they are seriously 
 injurious to the^teeth. 
 
 Dogs much accustomed to flesh are attacked far more 
 severely than others by the special catarrh — the disease 
 known as distemper — suffer from it far more acutely, and 
 are more difficult of cure, since exceedingly low diet is, 
 perhaps, the most efficacious mode of treatment; and when 
 dogs are entirely or principally kept on animal food, it is 
 with great difficulty that they can be induced to take any 
 other. 
 
 The water supplied to kennels or single dogs cannot be 
 too fresh, too pure, or too frequently changed. Naturally, 
 
238 MiNTtAL FOK YOtJNe SPOKTSMEN. 
 
 dogs are extremely fastidious as to Trhat they drink, far 
 more so than as to what they eat, and although thirst will 
 compel them to drink from any puddle, they suffer much 
 from doing so both in comfort and condition. 
 
 Frequent bathing in hot weather is of inestimable utility 
 and comfort to these hot-blooded creatures, and the way in 
 which even those short-coated varieties, whicb are supposed 
 to be the least addicted to it, enjoy a swim, and continue 
 half immersed for hours in succession, proves the necessity 
 of it more than could be done by volumes of writing. 
 
 No less than pure air and pure water, superadded to 
 wholesome food, exercise is needful to dogs. 
 
 For those who live in the country, where space is of 
 little consequence, it is decidedly advisable to let the dogs 
 run at large in a court of twenty to forty feet square, in 
 which are their respective houses, in lieu of chaining each 
 to his several kennel, and where this can be done the ani- 
 mals can get along with less road work. 
 
 Nevertheless, dogs are vastly the better in any case 
 for an hour or two of exercise daily on the road. Before 
 the shooting season commences, if they be, as they ought, 
 full in flesh and somewhat high in condition, they are 
 greatly improved by a fast run, after horses or a wagon, 
 of five, ten, or as they improve in wind and hardness, 
 twenty miles. 
 
 Such work, particularly on hard, roads, hardens their 
 feet, and renders them capable of threefold endurance; 
 expands and invigorates their breathing apparatus, hard- 
 ens their flesh, and enables them to go through double the 
 amount of labor, without the annoyance or suffering, which 
 
KENNEL MAN^AGEMENT OF DOGS. 239 
 
 dogs otVierwise Handled would feel in the -beginning of a 
 campaign. When dogs are by any accident much infested 
 by fleas, or other vermin, the best way to deal with them 
 is to rub them or smear them over thoroughly in every 
 part, from the tip of the nose to the shoulder of the tail, 
 with soft soap, to let it harden on them, and prevent them! 
 from licking it off, by the use of the muzzle. Let it remain 
 caked and crusted all over them for the space of twenty-four 
 hours, and then, washing it off, the vermin will be washed 
 off with it. 
 
 For this purpose, tobacco water has been recommended 
 by high authorities, but it is to be used, if at all, with the 
 greatest caution, as it is a deadly poison, even by external 
 application, if an overdose be used. 
 
 The feet may be hardened, when not in use, by bath- 
 ing them^constantly in strong brine ; but when they are 
 sore, and blistered after work, all applications of this sort 
 should be avoided like poison ; emollient applications of 
 lard, or any unctuous substance devoid of salt, are the 
 proper remedies in this condition. 
 
 Dogs are extremely subject to cold and rheumatism, 
 both acute and chronic, and they suffer greatly, and are 
 much disabled for work and endurance by the latter form. 
 
 Where it is possible, after a hard day's winter shooting, 
 especially in wet ground or in snow, a warm bath is of 
 vast utility and comfort, and on the next morning the 
 dogs will come out " like giants refreshed by slumber," 
 ready for double service. After the bath, or without the 
 bath, in these circumstances, a good, deep bed of clean 
 wheaten straw is a sine qua nan. They will roll them- 
 
240 MANUAL FOK tOUNG SPOBTSMEH; 
 
 selves, dry, clean and warm in it, and coil themselves up 
 cosily, to come out new creatures in the morning. 
 
 I do not profess in this volume to treat of the medi- 
 cal treatment of dogs at large, or for special disorders. 
 Instructions for such cases will be found elsewhere, in my 
 own larger work, in that of Dr. Lewis, in Blaine and 
 Youatt's Canine Pathologies, and above all in Mayhew on 
 the Dog — which, as the latest, is by far the best treatise on 
 the subject. 
 
 Even with any or all of these aids, a young sportsman 
 should be very careful of attempting to treat a dog for any 
 serious case without veterinary advice of an experienced 
 person. He will be apt to err in his diagnosis, to mistake 
 symptoms, and perhaps to apply, as remedies, what are really 
 stimulants to the disease. For trifling and casual ailments 
 or disorders, rest, cool or warm q^uarters, as the symptoms 
 point to fever or to chilly affections, and plain, wholesome 
 diet, without flesh, will do much. 
 
 Emetics, especially violent ones — and that most com- 
 monly exhibited by amateurs and quacks, table salt in 
 large quantities, is the most violent, and is often excruci- 
 atingly severe in its operation — are generally to be avoided. 
 
 Where they seem absolutely necessary, the dog suffer- 
 ing intensely from tumefaction, heat, and tenseness of the 
 abdomen, the best speedy emetic I have been used to 
 esteem tartarized antimony and calomel, in doses varying, 
 according to the size of the dog, from ^ gr. to one grain, 
 given at intervals of half an hour until vomiting is pro- 
 duced. But Mayhew prefers antimonial wine, from a half 
 teaspoonful to a desert spoonful. 
 
KENKEL MAJTAGBMENT OF DOGS. 241 
 
 Mild doses of Epsom salts is as good a purgative for 
 ordinary cases as can be used ; though I find that Mayhew 
 recommends castor oil, 2 drachms, olive oil, 2 drachms — 
 flavored with oil of aniseed and powdered sugar. 
 
 A useful formula for a general pill is — 
 
 Ext. Colocynth, half a scruple. 
 Pulv. Colohic. six grains. 
 Mass. Hydrarg. five grains. 
 
 This is the dose for a dog of 6 or 7 lbs. ; a Newfound- 
 land dog will require thrice the quantity. This is not a 
 rapid medicine, and it is as much alterative as laxative. 
 The dog will be much nauseated, and will refuse food 
 during twelve hours or upward, at the end of which he 
 will be relieved by not very copious but bilious evacua- 
 tions. Absolute rest is required during the exhibition 
 of this medicine. 
 
 For worms, which often trouble dogs beyond measure, 
 the symptoms being extreme leanness, staring of the 
 coat, ravenous appetite, hot dry nose, and constant irrita- 
 tion of the anus, the best and least dangerous recipe is — 
 
 R Cowhage — Dolichos Pruriens, i dr. 
 Tin filings, very fine, 4 drs. 
 
 Make it to 4 or 6 pills according to the size of the dog— .» 
 give one daily, and a few hours afterward the, purgative 
 of castor oil, as given above. 
 
 Two doses should be sufficient, unless in extreme cases. 
 
 For common mange, give 1 oz. of Epsom salts, and 
 apply this ointment, which must be well and thoroughly 
 11 
 
242- MANUAL FOE TOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 rubbed into the skin, at three diflFerent applications. It 
 must be rubbed in for at least an hour on each applica- 
 tion. 
 
 Train oil one quart, spirits of turpentine a wine-glass 
 full, sulphur sufficient to make it so thick, that it will 
 barely drip from a stick. Let it remain on the dog a 
 fortnight, then wash off with soap and warm water. 
 
 For internal poison, large draughts of soap and water, 
 mustard emetic or olive oil, are the best immediate anti- 
 dotes. For Strychnia, it has been recently dicovered that 
 large quantities of liquefied lard are a sure preventive, if 
 given in time ; but as it is rarely known that this poison 
 has been administered until it is too late, I fear the dis- 
 covery is of small effect. 
 
 To extract thorns, nothing is preferable to a strong 
 pitch plaster, bound upon the spot, and followed by a 
 poultice. 
 
 For a snake bite, olive oil well rubbed into the part 
 before a hot fire, and a copious drench given internally, is 
 probably the best application, to which may be add«d a 
 cataplasm of leaves of the broad-leaved plaintain, bruised 
 with salt and bound upon the orifice of the wound. This 
 is the Indian recipe for the bite of the rattlesnake. 
 
 For epileptic fits. Do nothing ! neither bleed nor 
 drench with cold water. Wait till the fit ceases, prevent 
 the animal from running wildly away, convey it quietly 
 home, and give injections of 1, 2, or 3 drachms of sul- 
 phuric ether — 2, 4 or 6 scruples of laudanum, to IJ, 3 or 
 4^ ounces of the very coldest spring water that can be 
 obtained. The animal is to be left alone in absolute 
 
KENNEL MANAGEMENT OF DOGS. 243 
 
 silence for one hour, and at the expiration of that time 
 the dose is to be repeated. This treatment is to be 
 repeated ad infinitum, until the creature coils itself up 
 and prepares to go to sleep, when one more injection is to be 
 given, and the animal left to itself to recover at its leisure. 
 
 This treatment Mr. Mayhew declares to be absolute 
 and almost unfailing, and although I have never tried it, I 
 have no doubt of its merit. 
 
 With this I shall pass from the kennel to the field 
 management of dogs, and the various species of game, in 
 pursuit of which they are employed, only advising all 
 persons of mature experience, who determine, or who are 
 compelled by necessity to act as veterinarians to their own 
 dogs, to use Mayhew in preference to all other authorities. 
 He is clearly the most scientific, the mildest and the most 
 simple in his treatment, of all who have written on the 
 subject. All those, who are not maturely experienced, I 
 recommend to take the best advice they can get, as medi- 
 cal men say pro renata; and above all things to avoid 
 bleeding, and dabbling in energetic remedies and specific 
 nostrums, recommended by grooms, dogbreakers, and old, 
 knowing hands, which in ninety-nine cases out of the hun- 
 dred will but make bad worse, and will probably kill ten 
 where they will cure one patient. 
 
THE FIELD. 
 
 SNIPE- SHOOTING, 
 
 Op the different kinds of field shooting, as opposed to 
 river, lake, sea, or forest stooting, I propose to treat in 
 reference to the season of the year with which each sport 
 commences, beginning with the early spring-time, and con- 
 tinuing until the commencement of close-time, in those 
 States, where any game laws, whatever, prevail ; which, 
 unfortunately, is the case only in a few of the Atlantic 
 States, and in the British Provinces, to a certain ex- 
 tent ; nor in these even are they, where they exist, ob- 
 served as they ought to be, even by those who profess to 
 be sportsmen. 
 
 The first species of upland, or rather field game, which 
 comes into season in the Northern and Western States — in 
 the Southern States it is a winter resident — is the bird 
 
THE FIELD. SNIP]:-SHOOTING. 245 
 
 commonly, though not correctly, known as the English 
 snipe ; this species being distinctly, though only slightly 
 various from the European fowl of which it bears the 
 name. The distinction was first recorded by Wilson, and 
 consists in a permanent difference of number in the tail 
 feathers, and of some discrepancies in cry and habits. 
 Still the similarity is so great that I was at first inclined 
 to believe the two varieties identical, until longer acquaint- 
 ance with the habits of the American bird has assured 
 me of its decided difference from its transatlantic cour 
 gener. 
 
 This little wader is so generally known to all persons, 
 in all parts of the country, and every where by the same 
 name, that it needs no description ; nor do I profess in 
 this work to enter into details of natural history, which 
 will be more fitly sought in works especially devoted to 
 that subject, or to some more extended sporting books ; as 
 my own. Dr. Lewis's, and the American edition of Col. 
 Hawker's instructive volumes. 
 
 Here I limit myself to explaining briefly to the young 
 sportsman how to hunt-for, find, and kill the game in ques- 
 tion in fair and sportsmanlike style. 
 
 In no two States of the Union does the snipe come 
 into season exactly at the same time, as he is every where 
 a migratory bird, shifting his quarters as the facility of 
 obtaining food, which he can only procure in unfrozen 
 marshy grounds, and the necessity of rearing his young, 
 which he can only do in certain northern temperatures 
 and latitudes, and in wild marshy solitudes, induce or 
 compel him to do. 
 
246 MANUAL FOE YOTJNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 Every where, however, to the northward and west- 
 ward, or northward and eastward of the Carolinas, he is, 
 probably, more or less entirely an occasional spring and 
 autumnal visitor ; coming the earlier in spring, and re- 
 turning the later in autumn, the farther south and west 
 the land lies, until he becomes a mere winter resident, 
 departing so soon as the spring sunshine, becoming too 
 warm, gives token of the approaching breeding season, and 
 remaining absent until the freezing of his feeding places drive 
 him southward still, whither he finds waters which are never 
 congealed, morasses never impervious to his sensitive and 
 busy bill. 
 
 The seasons of the appearance of snipe in the mead- 
 ows and salt marshes, where the spring and tide waters 
 meet, which are for the most part the scenes of their first 
 appearance, are to be recognized by the simultaneous 
 appearance of the blue-birds in the vicinity of buildings, 
 of the shad in the river estuaries, by the croaking of the 
 awakened frogs in the pools and quagmires, and by the 
 bursting of the willow buds ; all of which indications of 
 the spring occur nearly at the same moment in every 
 various locality from the banks of the Potomac to those 
 of the St. Lawrence. 
 
 The frost must be entirely out of the ground, especial- 
 ly in the wet, cold lowlands and meadow-swamps, which 
 are the favorite feeding grounds of this bird, and the 
 spring grass should have come up tender, succulent, and 
 green ; the close of winter should have been distinguished 
 by the raw north-eastern equinoctial gale, an-i this should 
 have been succeeded by warm, genial weather, with an 
 
THE FIELD, SNIPE-SHOOTING. 247 
 
 intermixture of soft southerly or south-westerly breezes, 
 and tepid rain showers with April gusts and sunshine ; 
 the meadows should not be overflowed with water, nor 
 yet, by any means, be dry or arid, but should be equally 
 divided, or nearly so, between grassy dry tracts, from 
 which the spring rains have long enough subsided to 
 allow the herbage to grow sufficiently tall to yield a dry 
 and comfortable covert, and shallow muddy pools, slanks 
 and runnels, in which abound the aquatic insects on which 
 the snipe breed. 
 
 When tha meadows are in this condition, early, and 
 the weather is settled, fine and genial, the snipe make up 
 their minds, as it would seem, to make a long halt, and 
 refresh themselves fairly, before they again take wing for 
 their northern breeding-places ; and, in this case, they 
 attach themselves to the ground, grow fat, tame and lazy ; 
 and will sometimes, where they are not harassed by inces- 
 sant persecution and pot-shooting, lie so hard to the dog, 
 that they can with difficulty be got to rise on the wing. 
 
 This occurs, however, only when the birds come on 
 the ground early, and when the weather is fine during the 
 whole, or, at least, the greater part of their stay. On 
 their first coming they are always wild, constantly in motion, 
 restless and capricious, often deserting favorite grounds 
 and shifting to others in no wise superior, without any 
 imaginable reason. If the meadows be in good order, 
 and the weather follows mild and warm, they settle them- 
 selves down, often pairing, and sometimes even breeding 
 in the country. I have myself never seen a nest of young 
 snipe, as I have the young woodcock repeatedly, while 
 
348 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 unfledged and incapable of taking wing ; but in July cock- 
 shooting, in Orange County, I have more than once shot 
 young birds of the season, -with the pin-feathers not yet 
 fully grown, which must have been bred on the ground. 
 
 In wild, windy weather, particularly on their first 
 coming, and when the season is uncertain with interrupted 
 night frosts and hail showers, snipe often rise in whisps, 
 as it is termed, or little knots of ten or twenty birds, 
 when they invariably fly wild and high, and often leave 
 the ground entirely, soaring up and going away directly 
 out of sight. 
 
 At a later period, when the weather is hot, and when 
 the breeding season is at hand, the birds have a trick of 
 rising perpendicularly into the air, and then letting them- 
 selves drop a hundred feet plumb down through the air, 
 with the quills of their wings set edgewise, making a 
 strange sound, which once heard cannot be mistaken, and 
 is known as drumming. This is, beyond doubt, an amor- 
 ous manifestation, like the strutting and cooing of pigeons, 
 the shuifling and wing-fluttering of game-cocks, and the 
 tail-displaying of peacocks and turkeys ; nor do I know a 
 sound of worse omen to the sportsman ; since, at these 
 moments, the birds are inconceivably wild, calling one 
 another up, until all in the neighborhood, or within sound, 
 are wheeling and gyrating in the air like tumbler pigeons, 
 and playing all sorts of fantastic tricks such as well-disposed 
 snipe would never dream of at any other season, sometimes 
 alighting on rail-fences or tall trees, and chattiering like 
 hens which have laid an egg. 
 
 At such times, there is little or no hope for it, except 
 
THE FIELD.— SNIPE-SHOOTDfG. 249 
 
 to wait patiently until the mood be passed or the weather 
 change, lor unless something of the sort occur, sport under 
 the circumstances is hopeless. 
 
 Perseverance, however, is always a merit, and is some- 
 times rewarded. I once remember, after wholly despair- 
 ing of sport, getting one of the best afternoon's shooting I 
 ever had, when the snipe, after playing about in the man- 
 ner above described for hours, until a hundred or two 
 were in the air at once in full sight, came in a great flight, 
 sixty or seventy yards high, directly overhead. I chanced 
 to have one barrel loaded with duck shot, and at once let 
 drive at them. Whether the shot struck their wings, or 
 whether, as I think more probable, they mistook the 
 whistling of the charge for the sound of a hawk's pin- 
 ions,* they instantly pitched, scattered over all the coun- 
 try, and lay so well that I made, eventually, a good bag. 
 
 When one lives near the snipe grounds it is possible to 
 calculate, with some certainty, on the likelihood of sport, 
 from the nature of the ground, as described above, and 
 that of the weather, after birds are known to have arrived ; 
 in addition to which, their cry, as they fly to and fro from 
 feeding ground to feeding ground, or as they come in from 
 the south or north respectively in spring or autumn, on 
 misty, moonlight nights, gives proof of their scarcity or 
 abundance in the meadows. 
 
 To persons, living in towns, and visiting the snipe 
 
 * That birds frequently do so is eertain. If a bullet be fired at a 
 heron, and pass any where near enough that he can hear it whistle, he 
 instantly throws himself on his back, with his bill pointed upward, 
 exactly as he does when preparing to liepeT the sw6oj> of '» falcon. 
 11* 
 
250 MANETAl, FOE TOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 grounds only for a few days at intervals, sport or no sport 
 is little more than a throw of the dice, or a matter of 
 guess-work, so capricious and erratic are the habits of the 
 bird. 
 
 The best indications I know of a probability of good 
 sport, when the markets show that snipe are in season — 
 and they alone do show it beyond the possibility of error — 
 are the clearing up of a cold north-east storm into soft 
 genial weather, the commencement of south-westerly 
 breezes, and the subsidence of the waters, if they have 
 been out over the lowlands, the frost being, of course, 
 entirely out of the ground. 
 
 Such a combination of circumstances exactly at the 
 nick of time gives good promise of sport ; but if it happen 
 too late, it will be of no avail, for the birds will have gone 
 onward, or if it fall early, and be immediately succeeded 
 and interchanged with wild or frosty weather, the snipe 
 will become tricky, and the shooting more than ever casual 
 and beyond calculation. 
 
 At times, in the spring, they will lie by day scattered 
 singly all over the high, dry uplands, in fallow fields, bare 
 pastures, even in wood-sides, descending only at night to 
 feed on the marshes, where next morning the sportsman 
 will find the droppings and borings of an innumerable 
 host, but not a feather. When such is the case, pursuit is 
 useless. There is nothing for it but to go home. 
 
 Again, in cold blowy weather, with snow squalls, they 
 will lie in bushy covert, among briers and alder brakes, 
 where there are springs of water and muddy pools, or 
 vlies, as they are called by the Dutch settlers; and on 
 
THE FIELD. SNIPE-SHOOTING. 251 
 
 more tian one occasion, I have had tolerable sport, under 
 evil auspices, in easterly wind and pelting sleet or snow 
 squalls, among high wood, on what, at a different season, 
 would be famous summer cock ground. 
 
 I mention all these circumstances, as showing where a 
 man should look for his game according to any variation 
 of weather. 
 
 No one, of course, in his senses, who lives in near 
 vicinity of the ground, would dream of going out snipe- 
 shooting in such weather as I have named, or of persevering, 
 if the day should change to the bad, or the birds take to 
 drumming. He would, as a matter of course, jog "home, 
 give " Dash " and " Don " their messes, hang up his Man- 
 ton or his Mullin, and say, with Peter Simple, " better 
 luck next time." 
 
 Still less would any resident of a city select such 
 weather, or such circumstances, "for visiting the country on 
 a snipe-shooting expedition. But with him the matter is 
 widely different ; he has come, perhaps, twenty, fifty, a 
 hundred miles from his " domus et placens uxor," * for a 
 week or ten days, difficultly spared from business by an 
 effort not this season to be repeated. Therefore, " blow 
 high, blow low," he must make the best of it; and, by 
 knowing in what out-of-the-way, unlikely nooks and cor- 
 ners birds are to be found, if they are to be found any 
 where, in such unpromising weather, he may make a decent 
 bag, when equally good shots and as persevering workmen, 
 not being up to the dodge, will go home empty-handed. 
 
 • " Home and pretty wife."— HoR. 
 
252 MAinJAl FOE TOTING SPOETSMEN. 
 
 The best day for snipe-shootnig, spring or fall, in 
 spite of all that English authorities say — who, writing 
 what is true for one country and climate err not, though 
 they are frequently blamed for error, because readers 
 apply their sayings to another — is next a dark, windy, driz- 
 zling day. A dark day is neyer favorable for any shooting 
 on the upland, least of all for the shooting of snipe, which 
 are so exactly similar in the coloring of their streaked 
 plumage to the withered grass and sedges among which 
 they live, and over which they fly in such days unusually 
 low and near the ground — that they can hardly be distin- 
 guished except by the glimpses of their white bellies, 
 which they show when they twist. 
 
 Drizzly days are never good for any shooting, unless it 
 is some kind of wild-fowl shooting ; for no ground bird — 
 this rule is invariable and without exception — will squat 
 (without doing which, it never can lie well to the dog), 
 unless the grotmd or herbage is dry and warm to its 
 breast. 
 
 Windy weather, provided that the wind is from the 
 west or south, and not too high, is advantageous for this 
 sport, for reasons to be given hereafter. 
 
 A mild, sunshiny, soft, and even hot day, with a gentle 
 southerly wind is, then, of all days, the day for the snipe 
 bogs ; and I have invariably found that the hotter the 
 day, if it be humid, with a good deal of gentle air, the 
 closer lie the birds. I have seen the time when they 
 could hardly be iieked up under the dog's nose ; nor is 
 this all; for every old sportsman knows that in such 
 weather the flight of the birds themselves is wholly altered, 
 
THE FIELD. SNIPE-SHOOTING. 253 
 
 and that, instead of jumping lip breast high at one jerk, 
 and then zigzagging away like a flash of lightning, they 
 ■will flop lazily along, like half-awakened owls in daylight, 
 and, if they have been undisturbed and have long haunted 
 the ground, will often drop again within twenty yards of 
 the dog that has flushed them. 
 
 When they do thus, there is no easier bird, even for 
 a tyro ; all that has to be done is to let them go away a 
 fair distance, so as to allow for the spread of your shot, 
 to be cool, and to cover your bird before you pull the 
 trigger. 
 
 There is one peculiarity in the snipe, that it invari- 
 ably rises up wind, and • goes away as nearly up wind as 
 possible. The consequence is that a mode of beating for 
 him is proper, is indeed the only proper mode, which 
 would be decidedly wrong in trying for any other kind 
 of game. 
 
 One must invariably beat down wind for him. If 
 possible, and where there is a long narrow range of 
 meadow, I would make a great circuit, and lose a couple of 
 hours in doing so, since it is by far the better way to enter 
 the ground from the windward, instead of, as one should do 
 in every other sort of shooting, from the leeward end. If 
 not, the whole tract must be worked diagonally, never 
 fully up-wind, and wherever an unusually likely piece of 
 lying ground, soft oozy tender grass, outspread in patches 
 between high dry reed beds or burnt grounds, in which 
 snipe never lie, or rusty half evaporated slanks and pools, 
 or tussocky spring bogs, a circuit must be made to get the 
 wind. If the dog points, the shooter must, in every cas 
 
254 MANUAL FOE TOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 make a semicircle, so as to get the bird down wind of him, 
 and for this cause, and for others, of which anon,' in no 
 kind of shooting is an extremely steady dog more neces- 
 sary than in this. 
 
 Many writers, for this reason, recommend as the best 
 dog, for this sport, a very slow, old pointer — as if slow 
 dogs must needs always be steady, or fast dogs unsteady. 
 Neither of the two is the truth. 
 
 For young sportsmen, for general shooting, I do, most 
 assuredly, recommend the pointer in preference to the set- 
 ter, and most of all for snipe-shooting, though for myself I 
 choose, and to all old and thorough workmen I advise, the 
 setter. 
 
 Young sportsmen cannot be expected to break their 
 dogs, and all shooting over setters is in some sort dog- 
 breaking ; nor even to keep their well-broken dogs, by 
 their own conduct, well broken. A good pointer keeps 
 himself broken. 
 
 I am well pleased to find that my preference for, or 
 prejudice in favor of — I care not which it is called — the 
 setter, is fully shared by that great authority Colonel 
 Hutchinson, whose work on dog-breaking is incomparably 
 the best in existence ; and for precisely the same reasons, 
 which I have often previously given, although, until I 
 have had this volume in preparation, I have never had 
 the opportunity of consulting him. He likewise draws the 
 same distinction with myself between steadiness and slow- 
 ness. 
 
 If birds be in abundance, it matters not a straw how 
 slow a dog may be, nor much whether one have a dog at all. 
 
THE FIELD. — SNIPE-SHOOTHiTG. 255 
 
 One may walk the birds up without any dog, and with 
 this advantage, that they will lie better to a man than 
 to a man and a dog, as also to a man with one dog, than 
 to one or two men with two, three or four dogs. But if 
 the range be very extensive, and the birds very scarce, 
 lying, perhaps, scattered wide apart, two or three or half a 
 dozen to the square mile, where is the slow man and the 
 slow old pointer ? 
 
 Now a fast dog may and should be both ■very steady, 
 and thoroughly cautious. By steady, I mean that he must 
 be stanch as steel, and immovable on his point. For 
 snipe-shooting, above all things, he must not crawl in, or 
 attempt to decrease his distance from his game, but must 
 stand stiff, the instant he is sure that his game is before 
 him. Snipe rarely run under any circumstances, and still 
 more rarely will endure the crawling up of a timid and 
 tender-nosed dog. Secondly, he must remain motionless 
 and unexeited, though the shooter, instead of coming up 
 to flush the bird over his point, should he chance to point 
 up wind or across wind, turn his back upon his tail, make 
 a long circuit, and come down in his face. 
 
 He must also, if possible, though few dogs will do so, 
 advance to meet the gun on a silent beckon of the hand, 
 without call or whistle. He must, when whistled in, be 
 willing to follow steadily at heel, without an endeavor to 
 beat until ordered to go on, which is a point of the great- 
 est consequence in snipe-shooting ; for a bird which is 
 marked down will often allow a man to walk close in upon 
 it, which would flush wide of a dog ; and, as the snipe never 
 runs above a few feet from the spot into which he is 
 
256 MA-N TTAT. FOB YOTJNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 marked, he can, in nine cases out of ten, be found without 
 aid of the pointer. 
 
 Of course, no dog is steady, or, indeed, worthy to be 
 called a dog at all, which will not instantly stop, or drop, 
 to the motion of the hand or the report of the gun, with- 
 out a word spoken ; much less one which will rush in and 
 flush his bird from the point, from over eagerness, or 
 break in, instead of down-charging, when a bird falls to 
 the gun. 
 
 So much for steadiness, necessary for all shooting, most 
 indispensable for snipe-shooting. 
 
 By caution, I understand care not to flush game by 
 either of two errors ; by the coming upon it. unexpected, 
 with such speed as to be unable to recover, so as to point 
 before the bird shall be alarmed ; or after scenting it, and 
 displaying consciousness of its vicinity, by the drawing in 
 too closely upon it, in order to make assurance doubly sure. 
 
 But these points of caution are attainable by all good- 
 nosed and practised dogs, and both are compatible with 
 the highest degree of dash, speed and. courage. The neg- 
 lect of either is a grave error. 
 
 The latter can be taught by any, should be taught by 
 every breaker before the dog is allowed to go out as thor- 
 oughly broken. It is taught by use of the check cord, by 
 which the dog is jerked forcibly back from his point so 
 soon as he exhibit the least inclination to run in ; by cau- 
 tioning him with word " toho ! " and by punishing him 
 for disobedience. 
 
 The former cannot be taught except by long practice, 
 although some dogs sp«m to possess it, as if by nature. 
 
THE FIELD. SNIPE-SHOOTING. 25T 
 
 It is a far more rare quality than the other, and to its 
 rarity is attributable the idea entertained by so many, 
 that speed is dangerous in a dog used in pursuit of wild 
 and easily scared birds, and that slowness is the only 
 guarantee for sureness. Such is not the case. All good 
 dogs, long used to sport and experienced in finding game, 
 know as well, often better than their owners, what is and 
 ■what is not likely ground on which to find it. Some, as I 
 said before, appear to possess this knowledge by heredi- 
 tary instinct, as they do that of standing and backing, natu- 
 rally and without instruction. 
 
 These dogs while racing, as they should, at a gallop, 
 whether pointers or setters, over their general range, the 
 instant they come upon ground which their instinct or 
 experience tells them to be likely for their game, will fall 
 into a trot, beat it inch by inch, whipping their sides with 
 their sterns, and if they find the much-wished scent, will 
 point stiff as statues ; if not, having beat it out to the end, 
 will go off again, heads up and sterns down, at racing pace, 
 until they come to another likely spot, when they will 
 repeat the same operation, ad infinitum. 
 
 It follows, as a matter of course, that a person hunting 
 with one such dog will get over two or three times as much 
 ground, with not an iota more danger of flushing a hard- 
 lying bird, as one hunting the much-belauded and recom- 
 mended of authorities, old, slow pointer ; and, therefore; 
 other things being equal, will have twice or thrice the 
 chance of finding game. Again, a person shooting over a 
 brace of such dogs, will necessarily double his chance of 
 filling his bag. 
 
258 MANTJAL FOE TOUI^G SPOETSMEN. 
 
 Having entered his ground then to windward, the 
 young sportsman will continue to beat as much as possible 
 down wind. He will himself walk, and encourage his dog 
 to hunt, as fast as possible, over what seems unlikely 
 ground. But if the dog seems bent on hunting any par- 
 ticular spot slowly, ho should not cross him — probably the 
 dog has his reasons, and is the better judge. Where the 
 ground looks likely, or where he knows there are birds, he 
 cannot hunt too slowly. 
 
 If the dog seem inclined to point, feathering and 
 Jrawing carefully, it is well to step up toward him gently, 
 paying in a low guarded voice, " Steady ! Steady ! " or, 
 " Have a care ! " When he points, let the sportsman get 
 to windward of his point, come down on him carefully, 
 holding the gun as described at page 135, and be as cool 
 as he can. When the snipe springs, let him shoot it, if 
 he can. 
 
 The reason why it is recommended to come down wind 
 on the snipe, is this; that he always rises up wind, and 
 goes away at sharp, short zigzags, tack and tack in the 
 teeth of it, and the harder it blows, the faster he flies and 
 the more he tacks. 
 
 By going down wind on him, the shooter forces him to 
 rise in his face, and to go off either to the right or to the 
 left hand, affording him a cross shot, which is always the 
 easiest shot. 
 
 The snipe always hangs, when first rising, for a second 
 on the wing before he gets under way, and for that second 
 he is almost motionless. This I consider, unless he be 
 decidedly too near, so that the shot must tear him, or like 
 
THE HELD. SNIPE-SHOOTING. 259 
 
 a single ball, miss him clean, the best time to take him. 
 The old notion of waiting till he has done twisting, and 
 then downing him, is — like that other notion of pulling out 
 your box and taking a pinch of snuff, after the bird rises, 
 and before raising your gun at him — ^very good to talk 
 about. In nine cases out of ten, to wait until a wild, 
 gharp-flying snipe on a windy day has done twisting, is to 
 wait until he is out of shot. 
 
 If he rise above fifteen yards from the shooter, and he 
 will seldom rise closer, he cannot in my opinion be shot 
 too quickly. But it is worthy to be remembered, that 
 with No. 8 shot, the right size, the distance at which the 
 charge covers the greatest circle within which the bird 
 must be hit, is thirty yards. 
 
 The snipe is a very quick-flying bird except at the instant 
 I have mentioned, or in the case of his being tame and lazy 
 on hot days ; it will be necessary, therefore, when he is once 
 under way, to make allowance for him. At fifteen or twen- 
 ty yards, if he be crossing at speed, the gun should be 
 levelled at least one foot ahead of him ; at forty — a full 
 yard. If he be going straight away, the aim should be 
 taken something over him, probably about half the allow- 
 ance given above ; and if he be zigzagging, nearly the 
 same allowance must be made, on whichever tack he may 
 be, as for a cross shot ; but to kill, the aim must be taken 
 and the gun fired, almost with the speed of light. 
 
 Snipe-shooting, by those who cannot do it, is sometimes 
 called a knack. It is so — for it is emphatically the 
 knack of shooting well. In no other respect is it a 
 knack; for it has nothing in it peculiar to itself, nor any 
 
260 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 thing which disqualifies him who excels in it from killing 
 any other sort of game that flies fast and strong. 
 
 Most men who shoot much, have some game on which 
 they most excel, probably, because at some period in their 
 lives they have had more continuous practice on it. To 
 many persons the snipe is a very hard bird ; to myself it 
 is the easiest of all ; undoubtedly, because, when I first 
 began to learn to shoot as a schoolboy, I used to have a 
 few shots at snipe almost every day of the season, and 
 could knock a long-bill over pi-etty cleverly before I had 
 ever been allowed to fire at the much slower and easier 
 bird — to the general — the partridge ; the snipe in Eng- 
 land not being game by law, nor as such prohibited to the 
 unlicensed shooter. 
 
 Between snipe-shooting in the spring and fall of the 
 year, so far as the mode of hunting, there is no difierence, 
 nor is there much in the habits of the birds, except that 
 they never perform the antics described above at page 248, 
 nor are they usually so wild, or so whimsical as to their 
 choice and changes of ground. 
 
 They return from the north, where they breed, in dif- 
 ferent localities, graduating from the noi^th southward, 
 from July until cold weather sets in, not wholly deserting 
 the Northern States and Canada until ice is thick and the 
 marshes impenetrable to their bills. 
 
 I have killed them myself in Canada West, so late as 
 the end of November, and have known them shot by a 
 friend and fellow-sportsman, now, alas ! no more, on the 
 edges of a perennial streamlet as far into December as the 
 20th, when all the country round was thick with ice. In 
 
THE FIELD. — SNIPE-SHOOTmO. 261 
 
 Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas, they swarm in the 
 marshes and rice grounds, throughout all the winter, and 
 afford unlimited sport to the country gentlemen, and bon- 
 nes bouches to the epicures of those States, until the 
 advent of spring. 
 
 In regard to snipe'shooting, as a distinct branch of 
 sport, there remains no more to be said ; but a few rules 
 for general deportment in the field, and for dog-manage- 
 ment, may be, perhaps, better stated here than elsewhere ; 
 as they are applicable to all shooting, especially all open 
 shooting, and may be laid down once for all. 
 
 In the first place, when shooting in company — and 
 here, I will observe, that unless in battue shooting, which 
 is never practised in the United States, every person above 
 two is one too many, unless where two parties, each of 
 two persons, can shoot advantageously, not together, but 
 in concert, as on opposite sides of a river, so as to drive 
 the game backward and forward, from one to the other — it 
 is well that the young shooter should accustom himself to 
 beat the ground, and shoot, on either hand of his com- 
 panion ; as persons are often found who cannot,' or will not, 
 shoot on the right hand ; to whom, if older men and older 
 sportsmen, our "beginner must yield the ^as. , 
 
 The cause of this preference is this ; that, of cross 
 shots, the bird which flies to the left is by far the easiest, 
 that to the right, the most dif&cult, of all shots ; and as it 
 is the invariable rule never to shoot at birds, when two are 
 shooting in company, which fly toward the companion, the 
 left-hand beater has the chance of the fairest shots. 
 
 In the second place, never, under any circumstances, 
 
262 MAlftJAL FOE TOTH^G SPOETSMEN. 
 
 fire across the face of your companion ; or at a bird, which, 
 rising between you, or even before yourself, flies so that it 
 must cross him. When shooting, two persons together, in 
 the open, every animal which crosses to the right belongs 
 to the right-hand shooter, and vice versa, ; and the other has 
 no more right to fire at such, until he to whom it belongs 
 has missed it with both his barrels, than to fire at it when 
 falling or after it is down. 
 
 There is no greater breach of courtesy and decorum 
 possible, than the violation of this rule. If it arise from 
 ignorance, carelessness, or the over-eagerness and excitement 
 of youth, it may be pardoned ; but the person who commits 
 it is likely to be avoided as a most undesirable companion. 
 
 He who errs, as many do, wilfully in this respect, from 
 a nasty, selfish jealousy, and the desire of bagging more 
 birds in the course of a day's shooting than his friend, and 
 bragging of it afterward, as is the usual habit of such 
 characters, may be set down at once, so far as sportsman- 
 ship is concerned, however estimable ho may be in other 
 respects, as no gentleman. Such a partner is to be avoided 
 with as much care on a sporting excursion, as is a gentle- 
 man outaneously afflicted, more Scotico, for a bedfellow. 
 
 Shots which fly straight away before the face of both 
 sjiooters must be taken alternately ; and it is well to 
 remember that it is always graceful to give the shot, espe- 
 cially to a senior. 
 
 When a bevy of quail, several snipe in a whisp, or 
 more birds than one of any species, rise in front of two 
 shooters, each man should invariably fire at the outside 
 birds on his own side. 
 
THE PIELD. SNIPE-SHOOTmO. 263 
 
 These absolute rules are not, as it would at first seem, 
 mere maxims of courtesy and good-breeding. They are 
 necessary to prevent confusion ; to prevent, what will other- 
 wise constantly occur, both men from firing both barrels 
 at the same birds, and consequently getting but two birds, 
 however well they may be shooting, instead of four, for 
 four shots. I have seen this very-thing happen fifty times 
 with two jealous men blazing away, all eagerness to outdo 
 each other, at the first birds that take wing ; and also have 
 seen half a dozen more birds spring one by one, and go 
 away unharmed, with all the barrels unloaded, after one of 
 these inefiectual/sMa; dejoie ; and I believe that the odds 
 are as five to one in favor of a couple of shooters' making 
 a bag, who adhere strictly to the rules, against a couple 
 who shoot hap-hazard, without regard to any decencies of 
 deportment, at every thing which rises. 
 
 If each man shoot over his own dog, as is for the most 
 part the case in America, and one have all the luck of the 
 day, for luck will at times run in iavor of one gun and 
 his dog get all the -points, it is but courteous to call up 
 the other and ofier him the shot. 
 
 In covert shooting, especially when birds are scarce, it 
 is always proper to signify to the second party that there 
 is a point, by calling him up in a low tone, exclaiming 
 also " Toho ! " which answers the double purpose of cau- 
 tioning the dog to be steady, and of warning the other 
 gun. 
 
 "When a bird rises, always, before firing, cry, " Mark, 
 right ! " or " Mark, left ! " as it may be. By observing 
 the two latter points, many birds will be brought to bag 
 
264 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 which would otherwise get off, either being missed, or 
 affording no chance of a shot to the man who finds them. 
 
 Always endeasor to mark down a dead bird or a 
 missed bird. The former by noting exactly some branch, 
 leaf, stone or tuft of grass which you have seen it toucih 
 in falling, and then bringing that mark into bearing with 
 some other point, which will fill your memory and enable 
 you to identify the place, when you bring back your eye, 
 after diverting it for the purpose of loading. 
 
 This precaution is particularly necessary in snipe- 
 shooting, where every tuft of rushes has so many fac- 
 similes, that unless you have made it safe by bringing itinto 
 line with some post, stump, tree or roof, or other distant 
 object on the horizon, you will certainly be at fault to 
 recover it. 
 
 Even when using the best retrievers, this point is 
 worthy of observation, and attention to it will reward the 
 pains. Much time will be saved by the shooter being able 
 to put his dog exactly on the spot ; and, what is more, the 
 fresh ground will not be disturbed, as it otherwise would 
 be, by the dogs trashing it over and over, in seeking dead. 
 
 In marking live birds, let the young sportsman beware 
 of supposing that the birds have alighted, because he has 
 lost sight of them, which he may easily do from any one 
 of half a dozen causes ; from their passing behind interven- 
 ing obstacles, or into or through undistinguishable hollows 
 and swells of the ground ; from their flying actually out 
 of sight, or, what is, I think, the most common of all, when 
 the birds are flying low over a background of nearly the 
 same color with themselves, from the marker's eye becom- 
 
THE. FIELD. SNIPE-SHOOTING. 265 
 
 ing weary, losing them for a second,,and never being again 
 able to recover tbem. 
 
 Few niceties of sportsmansbip are less understood, yet 
 on few does more depend, than on this art of marking. I 
 never, in my life, either in this or any other country, saw 
 an untrained person or a countryman, who was not himself 
 a game shot, who had a conception of marking birds 
 down ; yet I never saw one who was not confident that he 
 could always do so to a yard. 
 
 Every bird has its particular method of alighting, 
 which will be noticed under each head, and the motion 
 which it makes, in order to accomplish this, is so clear, 
 that it cannot by any accident be mistaken by a practised 
 eye. This motion once seen, the marker may be certain 
 that the bird has not merely flown out of sight but has 
 really gone down, and he has only to note the spot, to 
 which this motion has brought the bird. 
 
 In the case of the snipe, the peculiarity of action can- 
 not be mistaken. High or low, leisurely or swiftly, as he 
 may be flying, as if he suddenly caught sight of a spot 
 which suited his fancy, and made up his mind on the 
 instant, he makes a short pitch from the direction of his 
 previous flight, with his bill pointing earthward, half closes 
 his wings, and darts to the place he has selected as swiftly 
 and as straight as thought. 
 
 In regard to hunting your dogs — observe these rules : 
 
 1st. Never do that yourself for which you would 
 
 punish, or from which you wish to restrain them. If you 
 
 become eager, and run on to retrieve a winged bird when 
 
 it is running, you encourage them to do likewise, and do 
 
 12 
 
266 MANUAL FOE TOTJNG SPOETSMElsr. 
 
 more injury ttan weeks of breaking and flogging will 
 repair. 
 
 2d. Never permit or encourage them at one time to do 
 that for which you rate or punish them at another. Many 
 persons do this ; particularly in hieing them after running 
 birds, without considering the mischief they are doing. 
 
 3d. Never shoot with any person who will not shoot 
 to rule, as to walking steadily and stopping to load, &c. ; 
 much moi^e, never hunt your dogs in company with riotous 
 brutes, which will neither back, stand, nor down charge. 
 Example is notoriously far more effective than precept, 
 and nothing is unlearned so easily as discipline, or learned 
 so easily as riot. 
 
 4th. Never run or hurry up to your dogs when point- 
 ing. You increase their rashness and eagerness by doing 
 so tenfold, and tempt them to rush. If the birds are run- 
 ning before them, and they are reading too fast, by hurry- 
 ing after them you not only excite them yet farther, but 
 run much risk of flushing the birds by the noise you make. 
 Keep your usual pace, or even retard it, advancing so that 
 the dogs can see your motions, with your right hand 
 raised, reiterating the words " Care ! Care ! " or " Steady ! 
 Steady ! " in a calm, slow tone, always using the same and 
 but one word of command, for each case. 
 
 5th. When the birds rise, whether you fire or not, in- 
 variably make your dogs " down ! " or " drop ! " for a 
 second, or two. It tends to make them steady ; it gives 
 you time to mark ; and if there be a last hard-lying bird 
 or pair of birds, it increases your chance of a shot. 
 
 6th. If your dog rush in and chase a hare, or even 
 
THE FIKLD. SNIFE-SHOOTING. 267 
 
 deTour a fallen bird, do not run after him. You cannot 
 catch him, and 'will only excite him and yourself, and 
 make matters worse. Holloa at him ! rate him ! whistle 
 to him ! but keep your place, till he return from chasing, 
 or become ashamed of tearing the game — ^he must do so 
 at last. Then make him " drop ! " go up to him quietly, 
 put your check-cord on his collar, if he have chased, drag 
 him back to the spot whence he started, flogging him all 
 the way and rating him, and make him lie down in posi- 
 tion, and retain him there by the cord for several minutes. 
 If he have broken in from his charge and torn the bird, do 
 the same thing, leaving the fragments of the bird where 
 he left them, and then make him draw gently up to them, 
 and point them, checking him with the cord, and flogging 
 him every time he attempts to touch them. 
 
 7th. When you buy a dog, endeavor to learn the exact 
 mode of hunting and words of command used by his 
 former owner, and as far as possible conform to them. If 
 possible, see him hunted by his old master. 
 
 8th. Never punish a dog, unless you are certain that 
 he cannot fail to understand for what he is punished. 
 
 9th. Never undertake to make a dog do any thing, 
 however trivial, and allow him to get the better of you, for 
 fear of losing time or losing birds. Better to lose a day, 
 and a bag full, than to let your dog discover that he is a 
 master. 
 
 10th. Never pass a fault uncorrected. I mean by 
 rating, threatening with the whip, and iaaking the culprit 
 pause and recognize his fault. 
 
 11th. Punish with the whip as seldom as possible; but 
 
268 MANUAi FOK YOUNG SPOKTSMEN. 
 
 when it is indispensable, use it so that it will be remem- 
 bered. 
 
 12th. In hunting dogs, make as little noise as possible. 
 When it is necessary to call a dog by name, or whistle 
 him up, use exactly the power of voice or sound which will 
 reach his ears, and no more. Dogs, which are always 
 shouted at, come at length to the point that they will turn 
 for nothing but a shout. When it is necessary to turn 
 them, whistle, and wave the hand in the direction you 
 would have them move. The perfection of dogs is to 
 work entirely to the hand, requiring scarcely a minimum 
 of voice. 
 
 13th. Make friends with your dog, without absolutely 
 caressing him, so soon as you have done punishing him, 
 and before allowing him to rise. 
 
 1-tth. When he is at point, never allow him to flush 
 his game without your ordering him " On ! " — and then 
 instantly " Drop.'' 
 
 15th. When he is down, never allow him to rise till 
 you have ordered him " Up ! " 
 
 16th. When a bird is killed, signify it to him by note 
 of the whistle and the word " Dead ! " at which he should 
 come to you. Then give him the word " Seek," or 
 " Find "-—when he must draw up and point the dead bird. 
 
 17th. When he is pointing dead, never allow him to 
 recover or mouth the dead bird, until you desire him to 
 " Fetch." 
 
 18th. When he has retrieved dead, accustom him to 
 deliver dead into your own hand. If he only lay down 
 his birds, he will sometimes do so on the farther side of 
 
THE FIELD.— SNIPE-SHOOTING. 
 
 269 
 
 oreeks or' impenetrable morasses, and sometimes he will 
 lay down a winged bird, which will instantly run off again 
 and give double trouble. 
 
 19th. Never break a sporting rule, in order to recover 
 a wounded bird or get a shot at a live one. 
 
 20th. Never lose your temper ! 
 
 If you can keep the last of these rules, you can 
 without doubt keep them all ; and if you do so, though 
 it will be painful and difficult at first, it will gradually 
 become habit and grow into a. second nature ; and when 
 this degree of excellence is acquired, you will have really 
 become a steady and good sportsman, so far as the field- 
 work of dogs, and may even undertake at a pinch to break 
 a brace for yourself. 
 
 And here, before proceeding in its turn to the sport 
 of the next season, though I might, perhaps, have better men- 
 tioned it above, I will state, as the most befitting place, 
 that during spring snipe-shooting, the Virginia rail — Ballus 
 
270 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 Virginianus, of whicli the preceding is a splendid and 
 correct sketch — a distinct variety from the sora, easily 
 recognized by its long recurved bill, and closely assimilat- 
 ing to the English water-rail^s often shot, together 
 with the pectoral sandpiper, which latter is known in some 
 parts of the country as the jacksnipe. 
 
 The Virginia rail lies very hard, and creeps among the 
 grass and rushes like a mouse, to the great discomfiture of 
 the dogs, which can hardly force it up. 
 
 When flushed it flies, like the sora, with its legs hang- 
 ing down, but even more slowly. It is easily brought 
 down, carrying little shot, and is delicious eating. 
 
 The pectoral sandpiper is a somewhat smaller bird 
 than the English snipe, light brown on the upper parts, 
 speckled with black and olive, and pure white below. It 
 has a short bill of perhaps three-quarters of an inch^ 
 slightly curved downward ; feeds in small flocks, but for 
 the most part rises singly with a feeble whistle, lying well 
 to the dog, which points it stanchly, and affording at times 
 excellent sport, on springy upland meadows. It is not in 
 the least degree fishy, and is admirable on the table. I 
 was once, before I knew what was the bird I was shooting, 
 so fortunate as to kill eighteen couple of these capital 
 little birds, with nearly the same number of English snipe, 
 on the Big Piece, as it is called, on the Passaic river, in 
 New Jersey. But that was before birds were persecuted, 
 as they now are, on their feeding grounds, and before 
 shooting for the market had become a branch of market 
 gardening and railroad-business. 
 
.QKR-Cu.UA 
 
 ■•JSt; 
 
 BAT-SHOOTESTG. 
 
 ^S: 
 
 At the time when spring snipe-shooting has fully come to 
 an end, winter wild fowl has terminated, also, for several 
 months ; indeed, it has ceased to be an object to any save 
 the professional gunner ; for, unless in cold and windy 
 weather, it is rare that birds will fly thickly enough, or 
 visit the siooh with sufficient frequency, to render their 
 pursuit much pleasure — a chilly and laborious pleasure at 
 the best, and one which he must be an ardent and indefati- 
 gable sportsman, who follows regularly, unless a dweller on 
 the coast. 
 
 It is true, that when the great swarms of geese, have 
 soared sky-high, and long gone hawnking away to the north- 
 
272 MANCAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 ward, to their breeding-places beyond Symsonia and Labra- 
 dor, that a few brant linger yet about the Long Island 
 bays and New Jersey beaches, and are then deemed by 
 gastronomes to be in the very height of their culinary 
 excellence, " a dainty to set before a king ; " but their 
 appearance is so rare, and any thing like a day's sport so 
 unattainable, that they are abandoned exclusively to the 
 Eaynors, the Smiths, and the Veritys of Long Island, and, 
 as they are, whether justly or unjustly, called, it is not for 
 me, who am in some sort a Jerseyman, to say, the pirates 
 of Barnegat. 
 
 Just at the moment, however, when all shooting ap- 
 pears to be over, suddenly " from the tepid waters of 
 Florida, the great bay of Mobile, the sea-lakes of Borgne 
 and Ponchartrain, the lagoons, and muddy flats, and allu- 
 vial shoals of the lower Mississippi, where they have con- 
 gregated in countless myriads, while the ice was thick even 
 in the sea-bays of the Chesapeake and Delaware, and while 
 all the gushing streams and vocal rivulets of the Northern 
 and Middle States were bound in voiceless silence," arrive 
 the numerous families of waders, who, their proper name 
 being legion, are indiscriminately and improperly known 
 as bay snipe. 
 
 These, like the geese and ducks which have preceded 
 them, farther to the northward than even the intrepid Kane 
 has forced his adventurous keel, are bound Labrador-wise, 
 to lay eggs and hatch countless young in due season, and 
 eveiy where along our shores they follow onward, host 
 impelling host, and pause awhile to recreate themselves — 
 the baymen, and such city or country sportsmen as care 
 
BAY-SHOOTING. 273 
 
 for the sport, taking a chance at them from Egg Harbor 
 skiflfs, with heavy guns and quantum, sufficit of No. 4 or 
 No. 5 shot, in spite of hot suns and innumerable mosquitoes. 
 
 I said that these birds were improperly called bay- 
 snipe, and they are so ; for the only bird which is nearly 
 connected with the true snipes, is the first or almost the 
 first which arrives among us, the red-breasted snipe, Sco- 
 lopax Noveboraccusis, better, though barbarously known 
 as the " dowitcher," the "quail snipe," and the "brown 
 back," according to the various places in which he chances 
 to be shot. Even this bird, however, is not a genuine 
 snipe, but comes properly under the genus Macrorhampus, 
 and has no name of his own in the vernacular. 
 
 The other species, generally included under the com- 
 prehensive name of bay-snipe, comprise the curlews, 
 three kinds of which visit us in the spring, and return 
 again early in the autumn. The great or long-billed cur- 
 lew, Numenius longirostris, whose portrait is prefixed ; 
 the short-billed, or Hudsonian curlew, Numenius Mudso- 
 nicus, nearly resembling the former, but smaller in size, 
 and, as his name indicates, shorter i' the neb than his con- 
 gener ; and lastly, the Esquimaux curlew, Numenius 
 Borealis, who is commonly known, heaven knows why, as 
 the jutes and the doe-bird ;' and who, feeding often on 
 the upland in company with the golden plover, a likeness 
 of whom is annexed, is a bird delicate, succulent, and 
 well flavored on the table, which may not be said of most 
 of the breed, which, to speak truth, are for the most part 
 intolerably rank and sedgy ; though there be exceptions, 
 which shall be named with honor. 
 12* 
 
2U 
 
 HANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEK. 
 
 The golden plover, Gharadius marmoratus, and his 
 brother the black-bellied plover, Gharadius Selveticus, 
 whom the gunners call the bull-headed, follow. Both of 
 these birds are killed on the bays, but are of far superior 
 quality when killed inland, on high sheepwalks and pas- 
 tures ; they must not, however, be confounded with the 
 Bartramian sandpiper, or tattler, the most delicious of aU 
 American birds, not even excepting the canvas-back, which 
 goes generally by the name of the " upland plover,'' while 
 the golden plover figures as the " frost bird." 
 
 Two species of godwits are among these wading visit- 
 ors : the great marbled godwit, Limosa Fedea — a regular 
 though rare and shy guest on the sea-shores ; and the 
 Hudsonian godwit, Limosa Hudsonica, smaller and yet 
 
BAT-SHOOTING. 275- 
 
 rarer than the preceding. These are respectively known 
 to the gunners, as the " marlin," and thov " ring-tailed 
 marlin," and are famous for their watchfulness, which will 
 scarce admit of approach, unless one, by chance, be 
 brought down wounded, when the flock will circle around 
 him, plaintively screaming, and will even allow several 
 shots to be fired into them in succession. 
 
 It is singular, that while every bird of all the tribe Las 
 its own peculiar name among the baymen and gunners, 
 who make confusion worse confounded by their nomencla- 
 tive barbarisms, not one by any accident stumbles'on its 
 true denomination. 
 
 Thus the red-breasted sandpiper, Tringa Islandica, 
 which is one of the most numerous and best of these birds, 
 and a general favorite with the gunners, as being easily 
 whistled to the stools, and consequently affording great 
 sport, becomes the '' robin snipe," owing to its resem- 
 blance to the migratory thrush, or common robin of this 
 country. In winter, the plumage of this bird turns gray 
 above and pure white below, when he becomes the " white 
 robin snipe." 
 
 In like manner, the red-backed sandpiper, Tringa 
 Alpina, becomes the " black-breasted plover," and when 
 his plumage is changed in cold weather, the " winter snipe." 
 He flies quickly in crowded flocks, and wheels frequently 
 as if by a signal, when great numbers are often killed at a 
 shot. 
 
 This confusion of names is very troublesome to the 
 young sportsman, who has any turn for natural history — 
 for the furtherance of which beautiful study alone, I think 
 
276 MANUAL FOE YOTING SPORTSMEN. 
 
 bay snipe-shooting worth the pains — and who is naturally 
 nonplussed at finding sandpipers called, as it may happen, 
 snipes or plovers, and other species, which he may indis- 
 tinctly remember to hare seen otherwise described, passing 
 under some barbarous cognomen, defying the skill of 
 CEdipus to decipher its sense from the sound. 
 
 The next considerable family are the tattlers, three of 
 which are numerous on all the sea bays in their season — 
 the yellow-shanks tattler, ■ or lesser yellow legs, Totanus 
 Flavipes, easily decoyed, and affording great sport when 
 numerous ; the tell-tale tattler, Totanus Vociferus, a 
 far larger and more suspicious bird, detested by the fowler, 
 who never spares him, on account of his habit, whence 
 his name, of alarming all the marshes and hassocks with 
 his shrill shrieks; and lastly, the semipalmated tattler, 
 Totanus semipalmatus, better known as the " willet," 
 which name is given to him in imitation of his cry, which 
 is said to resemble the words " pill-will-willet,'' quickly 
 repeated, though, for my own part, I have never been able 
 to trace much similarity between the sound of written 
 words and the piercing whistles of these aerial wanderers. 
 
 The willet is one of the best of these birds, and its 
 eggs, much resembling those of the English peewit, or 
 field plover, are really delicious. This is a shy and wary 
 bird in open and exposed situations, but is easily allured 
 to the decoys. 
 
 There are many other varieties and families of these 
 birds, turnstones, sanderlings, dunlins — usually known 
 as ox-birds, delicious little fellows, like flying pats of 
 butter, wheeling in countless flocks over the summits of 
 
BAT-SHOOTHTG. 
 
 277 
 
 the curling waves, or feeding along the pebbled shores on 
 which the surges burst, and running back, scarcely in 
 time, as it would seem, to escape the deluge of the spray 
 when it breaks and rolls up the shingle in crisp and foamy 
 ripples — knots, dottrels, avosets, and others. But those 
 I have named above are of the most consideration. 
 
 The mode of shooting these birds, is to lie concealed in 
 boats, masked with seatrash and covered by reeds, on the 
 edges of the hassocks where the snipe feed, in the small 
 pools left among the grass by the receding tide. On the 
 margin of these, the stools or decoys, admirable represen- 
 tations of the different species, carved in pine wood and 
 painted so as to have deceived the unsuspicious eye of 
 many a deluded greenhorn, are set up, and to them the 
 passing flocks are whistled down by the surpassing skill of 
 the baymen, whose unerring sight instantly recognizes 
 every species, by the motion of its wings and the mannef 
 of its flight, when the birds are mere air-drawn speck? 
 against the d'osky, dawning sky; and whose imitative 
 powers' call it down by so perfect a simulation of its cry, 
 that it rarely fails to answer and descend to the wily 
 cheats which tempt it to destruction. 
 
 To these decoys are added the killed birds as fast as 
 they are gathered, which are propped up with sticks, after 
 a manner peculiar to the amphibious human natives, sff 
 as to complete the mystification and delusion of the sur- 
 vivors. 
 
 To me, I confess the sport is a dull one, weary, stale, 
 unprofitable ; and the only things that could reconcile me 
 to it, are the chance of obtaining rare and curious ornitho- 
 
378 MANTAL FOR YOUNG SrORTSMEN. 
 
 logical specimens, and admiration for the skill and imitaj- 
 tive talents of the baymen. 
 
 Sport, to me, in it there is little. If the birds are 
 scarce, shy, and avoid the stools, the reek of the mud- 
 banks and stagnant waters, interspersed with savory odors 
 of departed king-crabs, and such like, the blazing sunshine 
 of an American May or June, reflected from the smooth 
 heaving waters, and, above all, the torturing sting of the 
 mosquitos, are hardly compensated by a few scattering 
 shots, and the " converse high " of my friends, as aforesaid, 
 the Raynors, Smiths or Veritys. 
 
 If, on the contrary, the flocks come, as they do some- 
 times, countless in numbers and in quick succession, there 
 is too much of it. It becomes butchery, not sport. 
 
 Sportsmanship proper cannot be said to belong to it, 
 unless — which few persons do except the professionals — one 
 make and set his own stools, paddle his own canoe, and 
 whistle his own birds. Then, it must be admitted, there 
 is a high degree of science and of skill exhibited; and 
 where the success is dependent entirely on the science, skill 
 and performance of the performer, it cannot be . denied 
 that there is sportsmanship, and the achievement of 
 sportsmanship is of necessity sport. 
 
 Beyond this, although there is more or less excitement 
 in watching, expecting, hoping for the passing flights, and 
 triumph more or less in planting a successful volley, the 
 cramped position, the constrained absence of motion, and 
 above all, the want of dogs, greatly detract from the 
 pleasure. 
 
 This sport occurs, however, at a time when there is no 
 
BAY-SHOOTING. 279 
 
 other ; and if one be a resident on the barren, sea-beaten 
 shores, or be wearied to death of the city, and desirous of 
 change at the risk of tedium, why, it is well to try the bay 
 snipe. 
 
 The proper weapon for shooting of this kind is a double- 
 barrelled gun of ten or twelve pounds weight, and corres- 
 ponding gauge, which will do the best execution at flocks. 
 With such a piece, coarse large-grained powder of the 
 diamond grain, from Pigou and Wilke's Dartford mills, 
 and No. 4 or 5 shot, should be used. 
 
 Such a gun, however, not being in the armory, an 
 ordinary fowling-piece of 14 gauge will do its work, killing 
 its single shots quite as faar, though not telling such a tale 
 with flocks, as the heavier gun. In this case, however. 
 No. 5 is the largest shot that must be used, since the load 
 which such a piece will advantageously carry, will not 
 number pellets enough of a larger size to cover a circle 
 large enough to insure success. 
 
 When these birds are flying singly, they often shoot 
 along at a great rate, and it is necessary either to make 
 great allowance, shooting, for the most part, nearly a yard 
 .ahead of them, or to keep the gun continually moving in 
 the direction of the bird's flight, even after the trigger is 
 drawn, until the charge has actually left the ba,rrel. 
 
 The latter is the old style, and is still practised by the 
 baymen, and by all old-school sportsmen. With flint-and- 
 steel locks it was indispensable, and though the necessity 
 is superseded by the rapidity of fire in the percussion gun, 
 , it is by many considered the most telling style for bay 
 ' snipe and wild-fow] shooting. 
 
3S0 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 I am not prepared to say that it is not so ; but it is a, 
 serious objection that, when once acquired, this style of 
 shooting is not easily shaken off, but is carried to the 
 upland, where it is of infinite detriment and disservice. 
 It entails a slow, poking, pottering method, utterly in- 
 compatible with quick, dashing, clean shooting, and there- 
 fore, if therefore only, I would eschew it altogether. 
 
 Prodigious slaughter is recorded as having been occa- 
 sionally done upon these migratory tribes : — " a noted 
 gunner," says Mr. Geraud, in his admirable work on the 
 birds of Long Island, " residing in the vicinity of Bellport, 
 informed me that he killed one hundred and six yellow- 
 legs, by discharging both barrels of his gun into a flock, 
 while they were sitting along the beach. This is a higher 
 number than I should have hit upon, had I been asked* to 
 venture an opinion on the result of a very unusually suc- 
 cessful shot. Still it is entitled to credit. Wilson speaks 
 of eighty-five red-breasted snipe being killed at one dis- 
 charge of a musket. Audubon mentions that he was 
 present, when one hundred and twenty-seven were killed 
 by discharging three barrels. Mr. Brasher, during the 
 month of May of last year, at Egg Harbor, killed thirty- 
 three red-breasted snipe, by discharging both barrels into 
 a flock as they were passing him. This number, although 
 small in comparison with those mentioned above, is large, 
 and exceeds any exploit of my own, either with this or the 
 former species — the yellow-leg — of both of which I have 
 killed a goodly number, but do not think it important to 
 tax my memory with the number shot on any one occasion, to 
 illustrate further the gregarious habits of this familiar bird." 
 
BAY-SHOOTIN&. 
 
 2S1 
 
 These examples, of course, must be regarded as chance 
 occurrences, and are not to be looked for as likely to befall 
 the sportsman of to-day. Still, if he try the spori in the 
 right seasouj wind and weather favoring, he will not be 
 unusually fortunate if he fill a bushel basket with the pro- 
 ceeds of a day's shooting in the bays and on the beaches. 
 
 The bulk of these birds have left the seaboard of the 
 United States by the end of June at the latest ; in the 
 month of August they return from their Northern breeding 
 places, and remain with us until late in November ; being 
 like the English snipe, much tamer and more settled in 
 their habits than in the spring, and consequently affording 
 far more sport to their pursuer. They axe, however, for 
 the most part, less troubled at this season than in spring 
 by legitimate sportsmen, owing to the fact, that the real 
 shooting season has commenced, and that game more 
 genuine and more attractive is to be had on all sides. 
 
WOODOOCK-SHOOTma 
 
 In every part of the North American States and Provinces 
 where the American woodcock, lately classed as scolopax 
 minor, but more recently erected by naturalists into a 
 distinct family as microptera Americana, breeds and 
 rears its young, law, and custom where there are no specific 
 laws on the subject, have authorized the killing it on the 
 first or fourth of July. 
 
 There is probably not a single sportsman in the coun- 
 try, who does not deprecate the practice, and desire to see 
 it abolished ; but, in the first place, it appears to be impossi- 
 ble to get legislative assemblies to look upon game laws 
 in any other light than that of class legislation, statutes 
 intended to guard the amusements of the few against the 
 rights of the many, than which no idea can be more erro- 
 
WOODCOCK-SHOOTING. 283 
 
 neous — and no less impossible to command respect or 
 obedience to any law passed on the subject, by the masses. 
 
 The fiat of wanton destruction has gone forth against 
 all the wid inhabitants of the woods, the fields, the 
 marshes, and the waters, as irrevocably as that against the 
 Bed Indian. For profit, for pleasure, for mere recklessness 
 and the love of useless slaughter, the work of extermina- 
 tion is going on eastward, and westward, from the salmon 
 rivers and trout streams of New Brunswick and Nova 
 Scotia, to the prairies and plains at the foot of the Rocky 
 Mountains. 
 
 Many 3-ears will not elapse before no species of game, 
 whether bird, beast, or fish, perhaps, no wild animal, not 
 so much even as a thrush or a blue-bird will be left to 
 enliven the field or the forest ; and then, too late, when the 
 healthful toil of the sportsman has no longer an object, 
 and the table of the luxurious epicure is deprived of its 
 choicest dainties, America will bewail its shortsightedness, 
 neither more nor less than that of the clown who slew the 
 goose with the eggs of gold. 
 
 In the earliest and most favorable seasons, summer 
 woodcocks are at best but half grown, feeble on the wing, 
 slow in flight, easy to be knocked over by the merest 
 novice with any sort of gun and any sort of ammunition, 
 over any dog, or no dog at all. 
 
 In late seasons, or those wherein June floods have 
 deluged the lowlands and drowned the first broods, the 
 parent birds are busy in July either actually hatching or 
 tending the second brood, so that in this case they are 
 actually slaughtered in the breeding season. 
 
284: MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 Now woodcock invariably return year after year,, if 
 unmolested, to the same wood to breed, as do salmon to 
 the same river. Thf^rsfore it follows, that if, year after 
 year, nine tenths of all the birds, old and young, are shot 
 off, as they invariably are in the present system of sum- 
 mer shooting, the breeding stock must in the end be 
 wholly cut off, and the race must become extinct. 
 
 Nor is this theory ; for it is proved too true by experi- 
 ence ; and over vast tracts of country, where woodcock 
 swarmed some twenty years since, an ostrich is now a 
 scarce less likely bird, to encountei-. 
 
 Moreover, the extreme heat of the season, and the 
 extraordinary difficulty of preserving the birds when killed, 
 in fit condition for the table, renders July shooting not 
 only irksomely laborious, but jiseless. 
 
 The only reason that can be adduced for persevering in 
 this destructive and foolish law, is the plea, that, if wood- 
 cock shooting in July were abolished, there would be no 
 July shooting of any kind. Be it so ! we can conceive it 
 possible for the most ardent of sportsmen to exist one 
 month in the year, or say two, for February is almost 
 equally barred out with July, without shooting, especially 
 as beating low, swampy woodlands reeking with moist heat 
 and swarming with mosquitoes under a sun at ninety 
 degrees in the shade, is not altogether what it is cracked 
 up to be ; though very young men may rejoice in it, and 
 very strong men battle through it, day after day, from 
 sunrise unto sunset. 
 
 As it stands, however, law and custom sanctioning it, 
 
WOODCOCK -SHOOTING. 285 
 
 ■woodcock-shooting in July will probably prevail, while 
 woodcock can be found to shoot. 
 
 The early morning and the latter afternoon, are, so far 
 as comfort both of dog and man prescribes, the preferable 
 time of day for pursuing this sport ; though in other 
 respects, as the woodcock, unlike the quail and ruffed 
 grouse, feeds and lies up for rest on the same ground, and 
 in moist shadowy woodlands is more or less on the move, 
 and to be found all day long, it is a matter of no conse- 
 quence at what hour they arc hunted. 
 
 Than a July woodcock, when he is first flushed over 
 dogs, there is no easier bird in the world to kill, the only 
 possible difliculty arising from the thick coverts in which 
 he often lies, and the fulness of the summer verdure. 
 
 The old birds flap up lazily, hovering their half-grown 
 broods, and, unwilling to desert them, will often drop again 
 within twenty feet of the muzzle of a gun which has just 
 been discharged at them ; and the young rise like owls, 
 often fly almost into the shooter's face, so that they might 
 be knocked down with the gun, and from pure inabilto to 
 sustain a long flight, generally can be found again if missed 
 within thirty yards. It is not once in twenty times that 
 they will quit the covert in which they are bred, and fly 
 across the open to a neighboring woodland. 
 
 When they lie in thick covert, it is well, as soon as the 
 dog points, that one of the shooters should select an open 
 spot or glade, where he can command the bird when he 
 rises ; as it is more than probable that he, whose point it is, 
 will hardly get a shot at the bird, unless he be a very 
 quick workman indeed in thick covert. There will be no 
 
286 MANHAT, FOE YOUNG SPOKTSJEEST. 
 
 great difficulty in this, as woodcock, early in the season, lie 
 extremely hard, and will not ordinarily take wing until 
 they are actually forced to do so. 
 
 Colonel Hutchinson, in his admirable work on dog- 
 breaking, recommends that every dog should be tra,ined to 
 advance towards his master and flush his bird, on, k signal 
 given him by a beckon, or inward wafture of the' hand, 
 and instances the great advantage to be derived from 
 such a habit, both in wild snipe-shooting in the open, and 
 in American cock-shooting in heavy covert. 
 
 I have only to say, that I have never seen a dog broken 
 to this movement. I will not say that it cannot be done, 
 for I am well aware that, by a patient, persevering, clever, 
 steady breaker, there is scarcely any thing, short of speak- 
 ing, which an intelligent and good-tempered dog may not 
 be brought to do ; and there is no doubt, but that, by 
 implicitly following the Colonel's directions, this is one of 
 the things that can be taught; but there can be little 
 question that it is one of the most difficult points to 
 which properly to educate an animal, since, when he is 
 once accustomed to be so waved onward, he will uncon- 
 sciously become so impatient, that he will be sorely tempt- 
 ed to anticipate the signal, and rush in. 
 
 For my own part, looking above all to the paramount 
 necessity of keeping the dog steady and stanch, I have 
 leaned to the habit of never allowing my dogs themselves 
 to flush their game, under any circumstances. 
 
 When at point, I have always gone in, or gone up to 
 them, and then made them road on foot by foot, myself 
 
■WOODCOCK-SHOOTING. 287 
 
 keeping Step with ttem, until the bird has sprung, seeing 
 to it that they then instantly " drop ! " 
 
 This course has its disadvantages. One certainly loses 
 some shots hy it, and has to take others just as they come ; 
 whereas otherwise one may select his own grotmd, so as 
 always to be sure of a fair shot. But on the other hand, 
 one avoids the great danger of leading his dog, step by 
 step, into error, and teaching him to commit a fault. 
 
 The moment a dog, as it seems to me, comes to expect 
 that he shall flu&h the bird himself, and to regard flush- 
 ing as the ultimate end, I fear he will speedily become so 
 over-eager in this respect, as to shorten his point, and per- 
 haps at last neglect it altogether, when his master's eye is 
 not on him. 
 
 Every one knows that the best and steadiest dogs, 
 when by chance they get out of range of the gun in large 
 woodlands, and come on the point, where they are not 
 seen, become so impatient after standing awhile, that, 
 when the gun does not come to their relief, they will 
 flush their game, and go on hunting as if nothing had hap- 
 pened. This is one of the drawbacks to hunting pointers 
 and setters in covert, for every time they get out of sight 
 and do this thing, as they must do it, or stand at point 
 half the day until by chance discovered, they are rendered 
 so much more likely to do it again ; and they often come at 
 length to such a degree of cunning, as invariably to flush 
 every bird, running over it without taking the slightest 
 notice, when not in sight of the master ; though, when 
 under his eye, they will point every thing, none more 
 stanchly. 
 
288 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 For this reason, also, I consider it the duty of the gun 
 always to be up with the dogs, and never to allow them to 
 hunt wide or independent. 
 
 I have seen men pride themselves on being able to sit 
 down on a post of the fence, while their dogs were beating 
 a fifty-acre cornfield, in the idea that, if they should point, 
 it would be easy to get up to them before the game should 
 rise. I have also seen dogs hied in, like foxhounds, to 
 beat heavy coppice or covert, while the shooter walks 
 quietly along the bank, on the look-out to shoot the wood- 
 cock as they top the bushes. This, I submit, is .legiti- 
 mate, and beautiful spaniel work, but is utterly ruinous 
 to pointers and setters. 
 
 A friend of mine, and otherwise a good sportsman, 
 once told me with exultation that his setters would beat 
 the heaviest and most impenetrable woodcock cripple, 
 flushing and driving out every bird to him, as he walked 
 along the outside, like spaniels, and yet would hunt stead- 
 ily and point stanchly in the open. He was much aston- 
 ished at my telling him that I did not hold such dogs 
 worth the rope that should hang them. Yet such is my 
 deliberate opinion. 
 
 I do not consider that to bag the most game any how, 
 is the greatest sport, or the object ; but doing it in beauti- 
 ful style, with the animals showing their qualities and per- 
 formance in the highest possible degree ; and to get them 
 to do this, one must occasionally sacrifice a broken-winged 
 bird and lose a fair shot. 
 
 The great injury which accrues to dogs from getting 
 off into the woods alone, and hunting on their own account 
 
•WOODCOCK-SHOOTrCTG. 289 
 
 — as some old dogs are exceedingly fond of doing, never 
 missing an opportunity to steal away when they can do so 
 unobserved — arises from this fact ; that after they have 
 found and pointed their bird, they must of necessity flush 
 it themselves, and go on hunting, without dropping to 
 charge, until they find another, when the same process is 
 repeated. 
 
 Nothing can prevent the best dog from being in the 
 end irretrievably ruined by this practice; and I confess it 
 to be my own opinion, even in contradiction to so distin- 
 guished an authority as Col. Hutchinson, that no dog 
 should ever be allowed or encouraged to flush or to hunt 
 where his master is not close up with him, and able to 
 overlook his every movement, and shoot at every bird he 
 points, or which rises wild of him. 
 
 Some persons recommend that no bird shall ever be 
 fired at, but shall be allowed to go away, which the dog 
 carelessly or wantonly flushes ; which is only a corollary 
 from my axiom, as tending farther to impress on the dog 
 the culpability of flushing. I do not consider this extreme 
 measure necessary, but I think it corroborates my view of 
 the subject. "" 
 
 There is no doubt that, as a dog can be broke to point 
 " dead," and then " fetch" when ordered to do so, so can 
 he be broke to point live game, and " flush " at word of 
 command. In one respect, however, the analogy fails 
 here. For when the game is killed and pointed " dead," 
 it is nine times out of ten immediately under the eye and 
 control of the shooter, whereas the cases of finding the 
 live bird in sight are exceptional. 
 13 
 
290 MAKTPAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 I therefore advise all young shooters, who desire to 
 become good shots and good sportsmen, always to go into 
 covert, even the worst covert, with their dogs ; to keep as 
 close to their dogs, and make the dogs keep as close to 
 them, as possible ; never to allow their dogs to flush, but 
 always to put up their game for themselves ; never to let 
 their dogs do wrongly, without rebuke ; and above all, never 
 to do wrongly themselves, for the sake of bagging a bird 
 or two the more. 
 
 For every easy shot that the beginner will lose, he will 
 be the gainer by so much as he learns to kill a difficult 
 shot ; and as the American woodcock, in the open, flushed 
 over dogs, is as easy a shot as any that flies, so even 
 thick covert cannot make him a very difficult shot. 
 
 The only advantage that I can perceive in summer 
 woodcock-shooting is, that it does unquestionably teach one 
 how to kill snap shots, and to bring down birds, firing at 
 them unseen, by calculation, in a style which can hardly 
 be acquired in any other school. 
 
 Summer woodcock almost invariably fly straight, rising 
 gradually till they have topped the bushes, if in close 
 covert, and then go away nearly in a horizontal line, until 
 they choose to alight. Their method of doing this is 
 peculiar ; they never gradually decline, lowering and lower- 
 ing their flight as they near the earth, like the quail, nor 
 pitch down at an acuter angle from their original line of 
 flight, like the snipe; but invariably make a short, quick 
 zigzag turn to right or left, and then dart downward iu an 
 instant, and run ofi" swiftly five or six yards, before thoy 
 settle either to feeding or to lie up. 
 
^ WOODCOCK-SHOOTING. ' ' 29l 
 
 The knowledge of ttis trick is essential to marking 
 correctly, and to fiBdirig thfi bird when marked in. 
 
 In thick coverts, always east: the eye forward to the 
 next weak or open spot in the direction of the bird's flight, 
 and higher or lower, as he is declining or rising, whether 
 to get a snap shot at a live bird, io mark one supposed to 
 be hit and falling; or to follow up one which ha& gone away 
 unhurt. , 
 
 I have recovered many dead birds, which my companions 
 have asserted not to be killed, by satisfying myself that 
 they did not cross some weak open place immediately 
 ahead of their course when last seen ; and I have killed 
 taany, by waiting until they should cross some such open- 
 ing, in otherwise impervious covert, and then letting them 
 have it, just in the nick of time. 
 
 In summer, birds fly so slowly, and the ground is so 
 close in which one ordinarily shoots, which renders it im- 
 possible ever to make long shots, that to give much allow- 
 ance for flight is unnecessary ; an inch or two in snap 
 cross shots is the utmost that can be given. It is, how- 
 ever, sometimes^ advisable to avoid tearing the birds all to 
 pieces with the shot, to lay the muzzle a little .wide of 
 them, so that they shall be on the edge rather than in the 
 centre of the circle of missiles. A very small blow brings 
 down ar summer woodeo<!k,~^nd it is rare indeed that one 
 rises a second time after being- woanded. . 
 
 As to choice of ground, much depends oh the country, 
 and much on the season. 
 
 In the southern part of New Jersey, in Salem and 
 Gloucester Counties, where there iano autumn shooting of 
 
292 MANTTAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMElir. 
 
 any consequence, the birds lie in the wide open meadows 
 among rushes, bogs, waterfiags, and the plant commonly 
 known as skunk-cabbage, where there is not a bush or 
 brake within miles, and are rarely found in the woods. In 
 some districts, especially in dry weather, one must look for 
 them in the thickest, deepest, and most tangled brakes of 
 alder and even briers, where there is a muddy bottom ; in 
 others, they will be found in moist grassy meadow sides, 
 where there are springs and rivulets, and patches of wil- 
 low, alder, and other water-loving shrubs, and this is the 
 prettiest ground in which to find them. Of this nature 
 was the finest portion of my favorite old shooting grounds 
 in Orange County, New York, and Sussex County, New 
 Jersey, although that magnificent range contained lying 
 of all sorts and feeding until late in winter. 
 
 Again, in mountainous districts they love the swales 
 aud little valleys, both at the base of the hills along the 
 water-courses, and those smaller hollows through which the 
 little upland rills percolate through stones and gravel, 
 leaving a rich alluvial deposit of black vegetable mould, 
 rich with ferns and water plants. 
 
 Lastly in level countries, near large rivers, as on the 
 banks of the Wall Kyll in Orange County, and of the 
 Passaic in the Big Piece, and at Chatham, they haunt wide 
 open woodlands, where the great pin oak or maple trees 
 stand fifty feet apart, and all the rich alluvial soil is free 
 from underwood, but covered with succulent short grass. 
 
 In very wet seasons, when all the low woodlands have 
 been submerged and drowned with water, woodcock will 
 be found on hill-sides among second growth and saplings, 
 
WOODCOCK-SHOOTING. 293 
 
 especially I think of chestnuts, contiguous to wet bottoms 
 and swampy feeding ground. Thick maple swamps in flat 
 lands adjacent to wide meadows, and large, slow-flowing 
 streams are always favorable ; and I have found them in 
 impracticable white cedar swamps, among underwood of 
 rhododendrons and calmias, which the multitude call 
 sheep-laurels. 
 
 Hot, dry weather, is the most favorable for July shoot- 
 ing, as it forces the birds to congregate in numbers in all 
 the wet, shady places, so that they are easily and surely 
 found. 
 
 Wet weather is the worst, as they can live and feed 
 every where, in highlands, in lowlands, in ploughed fields 
 or pastures, in any and every, likely or unlikely, place 
 equally well ; so that they can only be found few in number 
 and dispersed over large tracts of land, making the search 
 for them an absolute toil, in lieu of a pleasure. In hot, 
 dry weather, when they abound, they will often run out, 
 especially in the middle of the day and toward afternoon, 
 late in the season, into njoist low-lying cornfields by the 
 woodsides, in which, when found, they are the most 
 diflScult shooting in the world, as they always fly down 
 the rows without topping the corn. 
 
 Many persons believe that when the woodcock dis- 
 appear, as they always do in August at the moulting 
 season, not reappearing in numbers until the cold season 
 commences in October, they merely retreat to the corn- 
 fields. I am satisfied that this is not so ; a few may linger 
 in such places, but of the great mass there is unquestion- 
 ably a .short summer migration ; and, although I have 
 
29i TvrANTTAT. FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 heard tall stories of great sport had in cornfields, I have 
 yet got to see it. 
 
 For the rest, when woodcock are not to be found in 
 one sort of ground, they must be looked for in another, 
 and are sometimes found, most plentiful in what we should 
 probably, at first sight, pronounce the most unlikely. 
 
 Patience and perseverance are the only sure means of 
 obtaining ultimate success, and after all the best teaching 
 in the world, a few grains of hard-earned experience are 
 worth the whole of it. This is the great charm and 
 delight of field-sports, that the longer one pursues them, 
 the more he learns of their theory as well as their practice ; 
 and that the more he learns, the more he finds that he has 
 yet to learn. 
 
 Each new fact discovered points some new principle to 
 be investigated, and .paves the way to some yet newer dis- 
 covery ; so that of them it may be truly said, with but a 
 . little variation, what Enobarbus said of Cleopatra, 
 
 " Age cannot wither them, nor custom stale 
 Their infinite variety." 
 
 In proof of which it only needs here to say, that when 
 we again come to speak of the woodcock in the maturity of 
 his birdhood, in the lusty days of autumn, we shall speak 
 of a different biped alogether, and one who, instead of 
 being an easy victim to every owner of a five-dollar pop- 
 gun, will give work to a nimble finger, a sure eye, and a 
 trusty gun, and confer lustre on the sportsman who can 
 bring him to bag unerringly, in style. 
 
 All the rules given above in regard to decorum, and 
 
WOODCOCK-SHOOTING. 295 
 
 deliberation in stooting, and avoidance of danger through 
 rashness and unsteadiness, hold good here ; and in no shoot- 
 ing is it more necessary to hold straight than it is in 
 summer cock-shooting, when your mark is there but for a 
 second, and then gone. 
 
 It has been and probably will always continue a matter 
 of doubt and dispute among sportsmen, what becomes of 
 the woodcock at the period of his moult, which occurs— 
 happily for the continuance of the breed, since otherwise 
 they would be exterminated within a single year — imme- 
 diately after the first month of summer shooting ; say 
 early in August ; after which they vanish from their usuai 
 haunts, and are to be found neither in upland nor in low- 
 land, until the early frosts bring them back full grown and 
 full feathered in time for autumn shooting. 
 
 My opinion remains unchanged on this subject, since 
 first I wrote on it, above twenty years ago, that there is 
 an actual migration of the birds yet farther northward. 
 That some few birds linger in wet spots and in moist corn- 
 fields is true ; but to maintain that all the thousands of 
 cock, which are found here in the fall, remain all the sea- 
 son under our noses in the maize fields, is simply absurd. 
 Those who desire to investigate the subject may look to 
 my Field Sports, vol. 1, p. 191, 
 
GKOUSE-SHOOTESfG OlST THE PKAIRIES. 
 
 Op Grouse, there are six distinct varieties in the United 
 States and British Provinces, although but three of these 
 are ordinarily shot by sportsmen, or brought into the mar- 
 ket. They are the ruffed grouse, commonly known east of 
 the Delaware Kiver as the partridge, and south of it as the 
 pheasant ; the spotted, or Canada grouse, known as the 
 spruce partridge ; and the willow grouse, known as the 
 red-necked partridge. These three birds are all wood- 
 haunters, and the two latter species are found only in the 
 northern parts of Maine, the wilderness of the eastern 
 British Provinces, and northward so far as to Labrador. 
 The first, or ruffed grouse, has a wide geographical range, 
 being found in all the wooded regions of North America, 
 
GEOUSE-SHOOTING ON THE PEAIEIES. 29T 
 
 from Lake Superior and Texas to the Bay of Fundy. It is 
 a fine bird on the table, but rarely affords much sport over 
 setters and pointers, as it is a wild, shy, rambling species, 
 and has a knack of running far ahead of the dogs, 
 ■when pointed, and of rising entirely .out of shot. It 
 flies strongly and swiftly, taking wing when disturbed with 
 an impetuous whirring rush, that is apt to disturb the 
 nerves of a novice ; and, as it for the most part takes to 
 the tree, on being roused, it cannot generally be found a 
 second time. The method of shooting it, usually prac- 
 tised by the inhabitants of districts where it abounds, is 
 to flush it with curs or spaniels, which chase it, yelping in 
 pursuit, until it takes the tree, and then bay at the trunk, 
 until the gunner comes up and shoots it sitting. No 
 sportsman, of course, condescends to such butchery ; for 
 which the only excuse is, that in thick cedar and tamarisk 
 swamps, where it frequents, it can hardly be shot fairly. 
 Occasionally, where underwood is heavy and the country 
 level, they will lie to the point ; and in ravines, by hunting 
 with three guns, two of which keep well in advance of 
 the dogs on the ridges, while the third hunts along the 
 hollows, shots may be got. I have never, however, found 
 it pay to hunt for them exclusively, as they are the most 
 rambling of all birds, not adhering, like quail, to the 
 fields and feeding grounds in the vicinity of which they 
 are hatched, but wandering over leagues of wood and 
 mountain, so that the pack which is seen to-day at sunset, 
 may be twenty miles off at noon to-morrow. The erro- 
 neous legislation on the subject of this species, still farther 
 diminishes the possibility of sport. By the .twentieth of 
 13* 
 
298 MANUAL FOK TCTUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 August the young broods are fully feathered, above three 
 parts grown, and in all respects as fit for the gun as young 
 quail two months later. At this time they are found in 
 coveys, under care of the old birds, and where they lie in 
 open hanging woods on hill-sides, with an undergrowth of 
 cranberries, fern and winter-green, a kind of ground to 
 which they are much attached, they might afford fine sport. 
 The law, however, in the Northern States, prohibits the 
 killing of them until the first of November, when they have 
 dispersed themselves, and are only to be found singly, and 
 as wild as hawks. 
 
 It is needless to comment on the childish incongruity 
 of game-laws which allow woodcock, a weak bird, which 
 requires the utmost protection, to be shot half-fledged in 
 July, and will not permit the ruffed grouse, a strong wild 
 bird, admirably able to protect itself, to be killed, until it 
 is almost impossible to kill it at all. 
 
 To hunt it with any chance of success, exceedingly 
 stanch dogs are requisite, which will point dead the in- 
 stant they strike the scent ; for if they attempt to road 
 up to the game, it is certain to run, and rise out of dis- 
 tance. 
 
 In general autumn shooting. No. 8 shot, which is that 
 most recommended for all game, will bring it down from a 
 close-carrying, hard-hitting gun at 40 yards ; but where no 
 other game is expected, I should advise No. 6, or Eley's 
 blue cartridges. 
 
 Few birds get on the wing more rapidly, or fly more 
 awiftly than the ruffed grouse ; and when they have got 
 fall headway, aud^ having been put up at a distance, come 
 
GBOUSE-SHOOTIlirG ON THE PRAHMES. 299 
 
 sadling past the shooter, very much allowance must be 
 giveB, or the shot will surely fall behind them. 
 
 The best ground on which to look for them is the 
 skirts of upland woods on the edge of grain and buck- 
 wheat stubbles, or crags and knolls of red cedars, which 
 are to be found interspersed amid cultivated fields. 
 
 On mountain sides, and in pine woods or laurel brakes, 
 I regard it nearly lost time to look for them. It is much 
 like seeking a needle in a hay-mow, and, if found, it is 
 heavy odds against killing. 
 
 The spruce partridge, and red-necked partridge, are 
 out of the question ; as they afford no sport. 
 
 The other three varieties are now purely Western 
 birds ; for, although the first species did formerly exist 
 abundantly on the brush plains of Long Island, in the 
 pines on the seashore of New Jersey, and on the scrub- 
 oak mountains of North-eastern Pennsylvania, where per- 
 haps a few scattered broods may still exist, they have be- 
 come, to all intents and purposes, as a bird for sporting 
 ends, extinct. 
 
 These species are, the pinnated grouse, or prairie 
 hen, which is identical with the heath hen, as it was 
 called on the barren lands of Long Island, and the grouse 
 of the Pennsylvania mountains and New Jersey pines; 
 the sharp-tailed grouse, found nearly on the same line of 
 country as the preceding variety, but somewhat farther to 
 the West; and the great sage grouse, or cook of the 
 plains, which is only found in the regions of the Arte- 
 misia, in the neighborhood of the Kooky Mountains, and 
 on the verge of the American Salt Desert. 
 
300 MANTTAr FOE ¥011^0 BPOKTSMEN. 
 
 The pinnated grouse is that best known — that which 
 affords the best sport and the best eating; the sharp- 
 tailed grouse, however, is shot with it to the westward of 
 Lake Michigan, though not, I believe, to the eastward of 
 that noble sheet of water, and is scarcely inferior to it. 
 
 The great sage grouse is not shot at all as a sport, and 
 is only killed rarely by the voyageurs who cross the dreary 
 wastes, in which alone it has its abode, and the adventur- 
 ous hunting parties, who from time to time invade its wild 
 fastnesses. 
 
 The pinnated grouse abhors wooded country ; is rarely, 
 if ever, found in tall timber ; carefully eschews low, wet 
 lands ; and haunts in preference, high, dry, rolling prairies, 
 where there is little water. Indeed, it is believed that this 
 bird never drinks, but takes all the liquid which it uses 
 by picking the dew or rain, drop by drop, from the herbage 
 or bushes on which it has fallen. This curious fact was 
 first discovered by a gentleman, who kept a hen bird for 
 some considerable time in a cage, and observed that she 
 would never take water from a cup, though if any were 
 spilled over the bars of her cage she would eagerly pick it 
 off. 
 
 This is a beautiful and noble species, the full-grown 
 male weighing nearly two pounds, and being proportiona- 
 bly vigorous, bold, and strong on the wing. It is decidedly 
 the finest gallinaceous game, if it may be so called, of 
 America, and affords the greatest sport to those who are 
 80 fortunate as to reside where it abounds. 
 
 In the barrens of Kentucky and the prairie regions of 
 Ohio, it begins first to be fQund in numbers, increasing as 
 
GEOUSE-SHOOTmG ON THE PEAIEIES. 301 
 
 one proceeds westward, wherever there is open country, 
 throughout Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Wis- 
 consin, Minnesota, Upper Louisiana, and Texas, and far 
 away to the wild regions of the Columbia River; 
 
 About the 20th of August, these birds are ready for 
 the gun. By that time they are nearly full grown, and 
 are not easily distinguished from the adult birds by their 
 plumage, or even by* their weight, although by their power 
 of wing and length of flight they may easily be distin- 
 guished. 
 
 During this month they lie hard, although, at times, 
 when the weather is hot and dry, with little or no wind, 
 they are so wild as to task a good gun. 
 
 The excessive heat of the weather, however, on those 
 treeless plains, which is almoi^t insufferable, and is often 
 fatal to dogs, during the summer, i-enders the shooting a 
 toil rather than a pleasure. 
 
 Early in September, however, the heats begin to 
 moderate, and the sport becomes fine. At times it will 
 happen, that early in this month there are sharp cold and 
 strong winds accompanying it on the prairies, and in such 
 weather the birds will rise for many days together entirely 
 out of range. " 
 
 They never should be fired at with smaller shot than 
 No. 6 — ^when they can be brought down with No. 7 or 8, it 
 is proof positive that they are too young to be shot at all — 
 and after September, No. 5 is the proper size, and a car- 
 tridge in the second barrel is advisable. 
 
 The finest shooting of the year, is in the latter part 
 of the month of September and the beginning of October, 
 
302 MANUAL FOE TOUKG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 when the mornings are cold and frosty, and the middle of 
 the days mild and warm. The birds will then lie suffi- 
 ciently well to afford great sport. They will not, it is 
 true, allow dogs to draw or road close up to them, but 
 their scent is so strong that a good pointer will stand firm 
 at twenty yards' distance. And firmly and stanchly 
 he must be taught to stand, if one would have sport. 
 The slow, poking dog, that roads on till he is close in with 
 his game, will not do a moment for this work. One rtmst 
 have fleet, high-couraged, wide-ranging dogs, that will 
 point as stiffly as rocks the instant they strike the scent. 
 Setters would doubtless be better than pointers for this 
 sport, and Russian setters the best of all, as their speed, 
 courage, endurance, and dauntless perseverance, as well as 
 their hardness of foot, give them vastly the superiority, 
 but for one fatal deficiency — their inability to exist, much 
 less hunt without water. 
 
 In many of the best grouse districts it is even neces- 
 sary, as it is in the vicinity of St. Louis, to carry out 
 water in wagons for the use of the dogs. This no setters 
 could- endure. Their sufferings are painful to behold, 
 when they cannot both drink and bathe at least every half 
 hour in hot weather* and if they be unable to do so, 
 they speedily lose their powers of scenting, and if un- 
 relieved, would soon die. 
 
 For dry prairie lands, therefore, during that part of the 
 season in which grouse can be shot to the dog at all — ^for 
 after November, when the cold weather fairly sets in, they 
 cannot ordinarily be approached within rifle range — ^high- 
 
geotjSE-shooting on the peaieies. 303 
 
 bred, swift pointers of the new improved stamp, are the 
 best dogs for the sportsman's use. 
 
 The best way of hunting these birds, is to begin on the 
 stubbles and cornfield edges in the morning, while the 
 coveys are on the feed, and to drive them out and mark 
 them on the open prairie, where they will scatter widely, 
 often allowing themselves to be pointed singly, and rarely 
 rising above two or three together. They flush strongly 
 on a sharp pinion, and get under way in an instant, bvct 
 they fly as straight as a bee-line, whether crossing or going 
 away from the gun. The majority of the shots at birds 
 ,in September are within thirty yards, and it is rarely that 
 one is required to try a shot at above forty. At either of 
 these distances No. 5 will stop nineteen shots out of twenty 
 out of a really good close-shooting gun, if it be held 
 straight. If not, the fault of the shooter, and not the 
 wildness of the game, is blamable. 
 
 In October, the grouse becomes wilder, yet there are 
 still many calm, warm days, with a light and pleasant breeze, 
 •when the birds will still lie and afford sport ; though at 
 this time of the season cartridges in both barrels are 
 decidedly commendable, and even these will sometimes 
 fail to stop an old cock grouse, when he gets under way 
 at fifty yards, and- goes away before the wind with a crow 
 of defiance, as who should say, " Catch.me, if you can." 
 
 Many persons use ten-pound guns of 9 or 10 gauge for 
 grouse-shooting ; but, unless th^y are men of great size, 
 strength and endurance, I by no means advise the adop- 
 tion of so formidable a weapon. An ordinary sized piece 
 of 14 gauge, 30 to 31 inch barrels, and 7^ to 8 Vbe. weight, 
 
304 mjlnuax foe young sportsmen. 
 
 with H oz. of No. 5, will stop any thing short of a tearing 
 old cock bird at any distance short of fifty yards, or at 
 that, if it be an out-and-out good London gun, and beyond 
 that there is no certainty with any gun. 
 
 Such a gun, I can safely assure any one, even if he be 
 a strong man, and a stout, enduring walker, in addition to 
 the other traps, ammunition, and the like, which he will 
 have to carry, even if he be provided with an attendant to 
 take charge of the game — which, by the way, is indispen- 
 sable,, since it would be something of a puzzler for one to 
 find himself weighed down with a back load of thirty or 
 forty brace of two lb. prairie-fowl — ^will be found quite as, 
 much weight as it will be either profitable or pleasant to 
 carry during an all-day tramp over a rolling prairie in the 
 month of August, or even on a warm Indian Summer day 
 of brown September. 
 
 The instructions for hunting pointers in the open, as 
 given before, are all especially applicable here. You can 
 hardly get them to range too high or wide, as they are 
 constantly in full sight, provided they wiU stand stiff and 
 firm, until you can get up to them, and that they back in 
 first-rate style, without the necessity of shouting, rating, or 
 whistling to them. 
 
 Grouse are a shy, wild bird, at best ; and in no bird of 
 sport do finely broken dogs, that will beat their ground 
 silently and steadily as you wish them, at a wave of the 
 hand, drop, stop, or come to heel, at a motion without a 
 word or whistle, tell more effectual a tale than on the 
 prairie. 
 
 If your dogs be perfect and thoroughly trained, there 
 
GE0D8E-BH00TING ON THE PEAIEIES. 305 
 
 is no objection to using two, or even three brace together, 
 ■where there is range enough ; but I should myself prefer, 
 howerer strong my kennel, to use a single brace in the fore- 
 noon, and after luncheon, when the first dogs were becoming 
 dull, if not tired, to start fresh with a second team. In the 
 afternoon, the birds will be found again on the feeding 
 grounds, whence they were driven in the morning; and 
 where there are pea-fields, great sport may be looked for 
 with confidence until nearly sunset. 
 
 The. sportsman must remember that he has to deal 
 with a strong, hardy bird — though he is said less frequently 
 to carry away his death-wound than any member of his 
 family, some of which, the quail especially, will fly off for 
 a mile or more on an unflagging pinion, and literally die in 
 mid air — and one which springs and is off like a flash of 
 lightning. He must shoot, therefore, on the first sight, 
 and thorti a sharp and quick one, yet coolly. For if he 
 hope to kill, the muzzle must be laid so straight, that the 
 object at thirty yards shall be exactly in the centre of the 
 scattering charge. The dispersed pellets of the outer cir- 
 cumference will but sting him ineffectually. If he be 
 crossing you, a yard's allowance in advance of him will 
 not be too much at forty paces, and if you fetch him so, a 
 beautiful sight it is to see him skate down at a long 
 tangent, and rebound stone-d*ead from the dry earth of 
 the prairie. 
 
BIRDS NOT TEUE GAME. 
 
 THE UPLAND PLOVER : THE RAIL : THE GALLINULE. 
 
 So soon as summer ■woodcock-shooting and bay snipe- 
 shooting are at an end in the Northern and Middle States, 
 and just about the time when grouse-shooting is beginning 
 in the West, two other kinds of sport come into season, 
 ■which, though they can scarcely be called, in the strictest 
 sense, game-shooting, have yet many votaries, and afford 
 much amusement, beside supplying the table with two 
 of the choicest delicacies known to America, 
 
 The upland plover, as it.is'generally called, not being a 
 plover at all, but a tattler, of the same species with the 
 yello^w-leg, the willet, and some others, was first classified 
 by Wilson, who gave it the name of his venerable friend 
 Mr. Bartram, who has conferred much benefit on the 
 science of natural history in America, and well merits the 
 
BIRDS NOT TEXJE GAME. 307 
 
 distinction. The Bartram's sandpiper, Tatanus Bar- 
 tramius, unlike most of its relatives, is rarely, if ever, 
 found on the seat-shore, frequenting upland downs, sheep- 
 walks, and large short-graSsed pastures in the interior, 
 feeding on grasshoppers, and other small insects, snails, 
 •worms, grass seeds, and many wild fruits and berries, and 
 becoming excessively fat, tender, and succulent. 
 
 It is often found in company with the golden plover, 
 which is frequently confounded with it under the name of 
 the frost bird, and which, in those feeding grounds, becomes 
 greatly improved in flesh and condition. 
 
 The upland plover is, in the opinion of judges with 
 whom I fully agree, the most delicate and delicious of all 
 wild birds. It is often so fat that the breast bursts open 
 on its striking the ground when shot, and the meat is the 
 richest and most succulent that can be imagined. .■ Its 
 peculiar excellences are, that it never clogs ; it is never 
 greasy, nor has that rank, half-oily, half-fishy flavor, which 
 is common, more or less, to all birds which feed on the salt 
 marshes, and which is not entirely absent from the golden 
 plover, even when he feeds on the upland. 
 
 The Bartram's sandpiper is about the size of the 
 common pigeon, though fer more gracefully and slenderly 
 made, with extremely long pointed wings, and a slight re- 
 curved bill. It is a shy, wary bird, and can hardly be 
 approached on the open plains or downs which it frequents, 
 within gunshot, unless under cover of some artifice or 
 quaint device. I have occasionally walked up to it, near 
 enough to kill a few by aid of Eley's green wild-fowl 
 cartridges, on the large open pastures in the vicinity of 
 
308 MANTJAl FOE TOtTNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 Bristol, Pennsylvania, known as Livingston's manor ; but 
 this was regarded as tintisual good fortune, and the experi- 
 ment is scarce likely to be rewarded with success. 
 
 This bird has a soft, plaintive call or whistle of two 
 notes, which have something of a ventriloquial character, 
 and possess this peculiarity, that when uttered close to the 
 ear, they appear to come from a distance, and, when the 
 bird is really two or three fields distant, sound as if near 
 at hand. 
 
 They are found more or less abundantly on Hempstead 
 Heath, as it is called, although not a sprig of heather ever 
 grew on its bare and grassy surface, and on all the open, 
 down-like hills of Long Island. In the neighborhood of 
 Newport, Rhode Island, it is very frequent, and perhaps 
 in that region, more than elsewhere, is pursued by the 
 sportsmen, who visit that pleasant watering-place in 
 summer. 
 
 It is usually shot from chaises, as the easy, twor 
 wheeled gigs of that part of the country are called ; and 
 there is much art in driving up to them, much more, in- 
 deed, than in bringing them down when once within shot.: 
 
 The shooter sits in the bottom of the gig, with his left 
 leg advanced on the step, ready to spring out and fire the 
 instant the chaise stops and the bird rises — the two move- 
 ments being simultaneous. 
 
 The driver, as soon as he perceives the bird, which 
 looms up large on the bare pasture, drives rapidly round 
 him in gradually decreasing circles, keeping his eye stead- 
 ily on him, and watching every motion, so as to calculate 
 how close he can get before he will be alarmed and take 
 
BIRDS NOT TEUB GAME. 309 
 
 ■wing. In this is the great tact and skill of the whole 
 performance. A good driver will land his gun to a cer- 
 tainty within ten or fifteen paces of the sandpiper, and 
 pull up his horse, describing a sort of short semicurve 
 away from the bird, which allows the shooter to spring 
 out on his right foot clear of the wheel, with his back to 
 the horse's tail, and to get a fair shot as the bird takes 
 wing. 
 
 This sandpiper, as is the case with most of his family, 
 rises at first with a slow unfolding of his wings and a sort 
 of momentary hover, during which it is easy to bring him 
 down ; but the next instant he is off like a bullet, and it 
 requires a quick eye and a sure judgment to stop him, 
 whether crossing the gun or going from it, when he is once 
 Tinder full way. 
 
 Another mode is to stalk him with a pony, trained" to 
 feed gradually up to him, while the shooter stands con- 
 cealed by his forelegs and shoulder in a crouching position, 
 ready to shoot when within distance. Other persons, 
 market shooters principally, and those who kill for gain 
 as contrasted with sport, are content to build bough-houses 
 in the pastures which they haunt, and to lie perdu awaiting 
 their approach, while their confederates, in two or more 
 parties, keep continually moving to and fro, so as to put 
 them up, and keep them in motion, hoping that they wiU 
 fly over or alight within gunshot of their concealed enemy. 
 
 I have never heard any one who could call the Bar- 
 tram's sandpiper, and I have been informed that it cannot 
 be done ; nevertheless, I cannot understand the wherefore, 
 nor do I see why, when the bough-house method of ambush. 
 
310 MANtTAl FOE YOUNG SPOBTSMEN. 
 
 ment is adopted, siooZs or decoys should not be adopted 
 as for the shore birds of the- same family. I think it 
 would succeed. 
 
 The chaise-method, however, is regarded as the genuine 
 and correct manner of the sport, and is the only one which 
 the genuine plover-shooter deigns- to adopt. After all, it 
 appears to me to be rather a cockney sort of shooting, not 
 ■worthy to be looked on as a field sport, though it may 
 answer to while away the monotony of a watering-place 
 day, and drown the deep disgust which must rise in every 
 sober breast, at sight of the doleful doings of the young 
 Americans and Americanesses in their diurnal polka ball- 
 rooms. It is but a knack, at best ; and were it not for the 
 surpassing excellence of the plover on the table, he would, I 
 fancy, be generally suffered to go free in the field, and his 
 pursuit would be held " tolerable, and not to be endured." 
 
 Almost simultaneously with plover-shooting on the 
 upland, commences rail-shooting on the reedy flats of the 
 rivers on which this curious and delicate little bird 
 breeds to the northward. 
 
 The sora rail — Ballus CaroZmensis— winters far to 
 the southward,_and on the breaking of the spring comes 
 on to make its nest wherever there are flats and marshes 
 on the margins of tide rivers,- alternately submerged and 
 left bare by the rise or subsidence of, the waters. In 
 such places it rears its young in vast multitudes, and is 
 ready for the gun early in August, before which period 
 they are rarely to be seen, although long -anterior to it 
 they can be heard clucking over all the marshy meadows, 
 and- among the reed beds in which they abound. Their 
 
EAIL-SHOOTING. 311' 
 
 favorite taunts are the wild rice flats on the borders of 
 many of the tide rivers of the Atlantic seaboard, as the 
 James River in Virginia, the Susquehanna and Dela- 
 ware, and their tributaries, the Raritan, the Passaic, the 
 Haokensack, and some other streams of New Jersey, on 
 which they literally swarm during the season, feeding- in 
 company with the reed-birds and marsh blackbirds in 
 countless swarms, and becoming so fat that they can hard- 
 ly fly, on the seeds of the aquatic rice, or oat, as it is other- 
 wise termed. 
 
 The rail is singular in habits ; it can run like a mouse 
 among the stalks of the wild rice, and although it has a 
 strong scent, which dogs will readily own and eagerly fol- 
 low, it cannot be forced by them to take wing, with all 
 their exertions ; so much so that, when the flats are dry 
 and the tide out, one, may beat with the best setters or 
 pointers in the world until he is weary, and that, too, where 
 there are birds in millions, without raising half a dozen in 
 a day. 
 
 They fly very slowly and heavily, when they do rise, with 
 their legs hanging down, and rarely go above twenty, or 
 five-and-twenty yards before they drop, affording the easiest 
 shots that can be imagined. So exceedingly slow, indeed, 
 and heavy is their flight, that if one have been much used 
 to shoot sharp-flying birds, snipe more especially,' he- is 
 not unlikely to miss them- at first by shooting: before them, 
 or over theih when risingj instead of behind or below them, 
 as he is apt to do with any' sharp-flying game. 
 
 The only method of killing rail, with' any success, is 
 from boats, djiven over the flats ^nd ihrougL ;tlie leeda 
 
312 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 while the tide is rising, as fast as the power and skill of 
 the man who pushes the sportsman with a long punt pole 
 can accomplish. The higher the water, and the greater 
 the speed at which the skiff is propelled, the more the 
 sport. The birds will only take wing when the tide is 
 rising, and then only when the boat is forced upon them 
 with such rapidity that they can neither- run nor swim 
 away from it. When they have no other choice, they flap 
 up just as the gunwale is run over them, fly awkwardly 
 and lazily away for ten or twenty yards, and then drop 
 again, if not knocked over, which can be done with the 
 merest touch of the shot. 
 
 Unless they are killed dead, however, they are rarely re- 
 covered, as when wounded they dive to the bottom, and hold 
 on to the weeds and water-grass till life actually leaves them. 
 All the skill in this sport lies in the pusher, and with him, 
 in fact, it depends whether the gunner has sport or no ; 
 for he has not only to push the boat, on which depends half 
 the battle, but to mark the birds which go down, whether 
 dead or without a shot, to a yard's distance, and if killed, 
 to retrieve them. 
 
 All that the shooter has in fact got to do, is to stand 
 firmly in the boat as it runs over the smooth, moist weeds, 
 which is a knack easly acquired with a little practice, and 
 to shoot as slowly and as coolly as he can. 
 
 The birds get up so close to him and fly so slowly, that 
 he cannot, if he were to try, be too slow or deliberate 
 with them. The further they get away, the surer he is 
 not only not to miss, but to bring them to bag without 
 smashing or disfiguring them. As to missing them, after 
 
EAIL-SHOOTmO. 313 
 
 the shooter has once learned to stand up in a Delaware 
 skiff, and has got his sea legs on board, it is impossible ; at 
 least for any man who can, under any circumstances, kill 
 any thing. 
 
 The only things to do are to stand steady, shoot slowly, 
 and load quickly ; by observing these three rules, the 
 merest beginner, if he have a good poleman, can rival the 
 best and oldest sportsman in the land. 
 
 The right gun is the lightest you have, and that which 
 scatters most. If any one were to think of having a 
 piece built on purpose, it should be one of 26 or 28 inches 
 barrels and 11 or 12 gauge, and one should use out of it 
 about 1^ drachm of powder and f oz. of mustard-seed 
 shot. The handiest way to load, which cannot be done 
 too fast, as the birds often keep rising in a constant 
 stream, is to have the shot loose in a wooden box or bowl, 
 with a charger lying in it placed on a thwart in front of you, 
 with powder-horn and cut wadding beside it, and a loading 
 rod at hand to save the trouble of drawing and returning 
 the ramroJ. A small light landing-net is convenient, 
 fixed on a long handle, for retrieving the dead birds which 
 have fallen in the water, without altering the course of 
 the boat. 
 
 It is well to have a larger gun in the boat, either a 
 common fowling-piece or a double duck gun, of 10 or 12 
 lbs., as , well for shooting at the vast flocks of reed-birds 
 which frequently cross the boat, as for picking up chance 
 shots at green or blue- winged teal ; at both of which birds, 
 as well as at the gallinule, or common water-hen — a bird 
 of a closely allied^amily, which is frequent in the South, 
 14 
 
31i MANUAL FOE TOtTNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 and a cut of which is prefixed to this paper, though it is 
 less common to the northward and eastward — the rail 
 shooter frequently gets a chance. 
 
 Prodigious bags of these easily killed and dull flying 
 little birds are frequently made, particularly on the Dela- 
 ware River, in the vicinity of Chester, and about the mouth 
 of the Schuylkill River, in which localities as many as 175, 
 and even 200 birds, have been killed by a single gun, and 
 during a single tide, which does not, at most, give above 
 two and a half or three hours' shooting. 
 
 Still, notwithstanding all this, and despite the admitted 
 excellence of both rail and reed-bird on the table, I 
 think the pastime but a poor one ; and if it were not that 
 there is little else to do at that season of the year, and 
 that it does serve to keep the hand in, one which would 
 be, to the full, as much honored in the breach as in the 
 observance. 
 
 All sorts of absurd stories used to prevail about this little 
 bird, whose slow flight and lazy habits appear to render it 
 impossible for it to make long over sea migrations. It was 
 sapiently held, and I believe still is, by the James River 
 negroes, in Virginia, and the longshore Jerseymen of 
 Gloucester and Salem counties, that it turns into a frog in 
 the winter, and sleeps till spring in the mud. It is, how- 
 ever, clearly proved that it is a regular bird of passage, 
 often boarding ships at sea under stress of weather. 
 
AUTUMN SHOOTING. 
 
 With the latter days of October or the beginning of No- 
 vember, quail-shooting, as it is termed^ erery where to the 
 eastward, and partridge-shooting every where to the west- 
 ward, of the Delaware, commences. 
 
 Woodcock are still abundant on the proper grounds, 
 particularly among hanging woods of second growth, of 
 chestnut interspersed with evergreens, on the hill-sides, 
 adjacent to water, and in low level maple swamps and 
 alder thickets. 
 
 On different ground, but still on the same ranges, on 
 the higher slopes, where there is a mixture of crags and 
 cedar brakes, with deciduous trees and cultivated buck- 
 wheat fields and corn stubbles, the ruffed grouse is fre- 
 quently to be found. 
 
316 MANUAL FOE TOTTNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 The smaller hare, or rabbit, as it is usually and falsely 
 called, at this season lies in the same beats, making his 
 form sometimes among the brambles and weeds near the 
 side of the boundary stone-wall of some wheat or rye 
 stubble, sometimes among the pumpkin leaves and bar3 
 stalks of a maizefield, oftener among brush-heaps where 
 underwood has been trimmed up and piled, constantly in 
 dry brushy coppices, and never — where an English sports- 
 man would first look for him — among the ridges and- fur- 
 rows of a fallow field. 
 
 The larger hare, which turns white in winter, is becom- 
 ing rare, and is now found in but few localities. In the 
 Eastern States, about the Catskill Mountains, and in 
 Canada, it is plentiful. It is, however, but little pursued 
 or shot by sportsmen, though it would afibrd excellent 
 sport before beagles, and is killed principally for its culi- 
 nary value, which is great — whether it be converted into 
 LOup, or confectioned into ragouts ; for roasted, it is dry 
 and unsavory, even currant-jelly and herb-stuffing being 
 added in the estimate. 
 
 When all these species of game, the latter alone 
 excepted, are found together, as is often the case in good 
 ground during the autumn, the shooting is the finest that 
 can be imagined ; the uncertainty what animal is about to 
 show itself before the point, and diversity of practice re- 
 quired for stopping whatever it may be in the finest style, 
 adding infinite variety and excitement to the sport. 
 
 Of autumn shooting, however, quail may be regarded 
 as the most legitimate object, the other varieties coming 
 in incidentally, and being killed as they come, the rufied 
 
AUTUMN SIIOfiTTJTG. 317 
 
 grouse and hare more particularly, without being, as a 
 general thing, directly sought for of set purpose. It is 
 not exactly so with woodcock, though it is not advisable 
 to endeavor to find these early in the day, in autumn 
 shooting, for, if one do so, he is likely to miss the quail 
 ■while they are on the feed, and when that is the case, his 
 chance of making a bag will be a poor one. 
 
 On starting out in the morning, which it is unnecessary 
 to do so early as many persons imagine, unless one has a 
 long distance to drive or walk before reaching his ground, 
 the first thing is to know the ground, and then to consider 
 how to beat. 
 
 I should consider eight o'clock in the morning to be 
 quite sufficiently early to begin beating for quail, especially 
 as the season advances. It is not well to disturb birds in 
 their roosting-plaees, before they have moved, as in that 
 case they are apt to go away in a body without dispersing, 
 and to lay up for the day, thoroughly alarmed, in some 
 cunning, out-of-the-way nook, in which it is a hundred to 
 one against finding them. 
 
 Until the dew is sufficiently exhaled to allow the birds 
 to squat without wetting the plumage on their breasts, it 
 is useless to expect them to lie to the dog ; and if there 
 have been a white frost, while that is in process of ex- 
 halation there is not a chance of the scent lying. 
 
 It is not, however, on this account desirable to wait 
 until the grass is dry, or the hoar-frost all completely ex- 
 haled ; for, were that the rule, on some days in November 
 one would have to wait until to-morrow. As soon, there- 
 fore, as, judging from the morning, quail are likely to be 
 
318 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 on the move, it is high time to be after them, since, if they 
 fail to lie at first so as to afford a shot, they can probably 
 be marked down, if not exactly to the spot, at least so 
 nearly as to render it almost certain that they can be found 
 again. 
 
 The first thing in beating ground for quail, is, if it be 
 by any means possible, to begin driving the whole range 
 of country, which you desire to shoot, from the leeward 
 extremity up wind, so as to give the dogs the advantage 
 of having the air in their noses, which at least triply 
 facilitates their finding and pointing the birds in good 
 style ; and also to increase the chance of getting a fair 
 shot, since quail usually prefer flying down wind to facing 
 it, especially if it be blowing a strong breeze. 
 
 Where, from the direction of the wind, and the distance 
 of the extreme part of the intended beat, it is not prac- 
 ticable to drive the whole range from the leeward, it will 
 still be advisable to enter all such fields as seem likely to 
 hold game, and invariably all spots, whether high timber, 
 coppice, low brake, or bog meadow, into which game has 
 been marked down, in such a manner as to let the wind 
 face the dogs, even if it be necessary to make a circuit in 
 order to do so. 
 
 The likeliest ground on which to find quail in the 
 morning, while on the feed, is wheat stubbles, buckwheat 
 stubbles, and cornfields, in which the maize has been 
 topped in order to admit the ripening of the grain, and 
 particularly such fields as lie adjacent to dry bog meadows, 
 beds of bulrushes or cat-tails, as they are commonly 
 called, from which the water has been drained or exhaled, 
 
AUTTIMN SHOOTING. 819 
 
 and low spots full of rank grass with briers, low bushes, 
 and wintergreens or cranberries, such being the places in 
 which they love to roost. 
 
 The edges of the fields, along the hedgerows, in the 
 angles of the snake-fences, or by the wall-sides, where 
 sumachs and coarse weeds grow rank and tall, if the 
 farmer be a careless one, and on the bushy verges of large 
 woodlands, the bevies will generally be found. These places 
 should, therefore, be the first beat, and then the middle of 
 the fields, in which the birds comparatively seldom lie. 
 
 When the dogs find their game, it is easy for a good 
 sportsman to judge by the attitude and action of the 
 animal, what game -it is, whether wild or tame, stationary 
 or on the move. If the pointer stands like a statue, with 
 his stern outstretched and rigid, his whole frame quivering 
 with nervous excitement, his eye glaring and his lip slaver- 
 ing, the game is close before him. If he waver, wag 
 his stern wistfully, and look back at his master, he is 
 doubtful whether the game have not gone, or is not far 
 away. If he crouch low, and show an eager and almost 
 uncontrollable desire to crawl forward on his belly, there 
 is surely a running bevy before him. 
 
 In the first case, all that is necessary is to take such a di- 
 rection in coming up to him, as will enable you to command 
 a fair shot as the birds rise, and as will probably drive 
 them in the direction of the ground which you propose to 
 beat hereafter, and in which you would prefer to have 
 them. That is, of course, covert of some kind — the easiest 
 you can select, or brakes which you know or shrewdly 
 suspect. to contain woodcock „ ^ . 
 
320 MANUAi FOE YOUNG 8P0ETSMEN. 
 
 On getting abreast of the pointer, if the birds do not 
 rise, encourage him by a gentle chirrup, and the word 
 " On," in a low whisper ; when he should lead you step by 
 step, you keeping exact pace with him, your forward foot 
 parallel with his shoulder, never heeding him until he 
 has brought you to the very tuft, brake, or bush in which 
 one of the birds — that which he first scented — lies. 
 
 If the bird do not then spring — he probably will do 
 so, however, even before this time, on the first disturbance 
 before the bevy has been broken, although in the heat of 
 the day, after being shot at, they will often squat until 
 literally trodden upon — the dog should not be prei^sed or 
 urged to jump in upon the birds, but the shooter should 
 kick the brake with his foot, or stir it with the muzzle of 
 his gun. If he have an assistant with him to carry the 
 game-bag and spare ammunition, it is his duty to throw a 
 stone or beat the bushes with his stick, and instantly to 
 crouch to the earth, when he hears the birds rise, other- 
 wise he will often be in the way of the gun, and deprive 
 it of a fair shot. 
 
 If a single bird rise, the sportsman's work is clear 
 enough — ^particularly if it be, as it generally is, the old 
 cock, who leads the bevy. Kill him at all hazards, if you 
 can. The other birds will alight three fields sooner, if he 
 is not there to lead them over the tree-tops far away. If, 
 by good fortune, a clever double shot brings down both 
 parents, the old cock and the old hen, the rest of the bevy 
 may be counted on as dead sure. 
 
 If the whole bevy rise at once, on no account shoot at 
 the bulk of it, or at a central bird. To do so, is pro- 
 
ATTTtTMN SHOOTING. 821 
 
 bably to wound and cripple half a dozen, and bring down 
 none. 
 
 Coolly select the outside birds on your own hand, 
 those that go to the right, if you are standing to the right, 
 and vice versd, leaving the balance to the skill of your 
 companion ; if they rise very close at hand, let the first 
 bird go fifteen yards before you raise your gun, then cover 
 him, pull your trigger, cover another, and fire as quickly 
 as you possibly can. If you have held straight, your brace 
 of birds will be dead at about twenty and thirty yards' 
 distance ; at which range the No. 8 shot will have had 
 space to spread fully, without losing force, and will kill its 
 object clean without any risk of tearing it to pieces. The 
 next thing is to mark the birds carefully ; to do this, fix 
 the eye on them steadily as they skate away, gradually 
 lowering their flight — never take the eye off them for a 
 moment ; if they sink into a dip or hollow of the ground, 
 cast your eye forward in the line of their previous flight, 
 and if they reappear beyond it, you will catch them again. 
 If not, yoii may beat for them in that vicinity, judging by 
 their elevation above the ground when you last saw them 
 how much farther they will have gone. If the wind be 
 high, and they are flying with it, make plenty of allowance 
 for that. They will often skate before it across two or 
 three fields, and over as many fences, especially if they lie 
 down hill, and if there be good lying ground beyond. 
 
 If they enter a wood, they are almost sure not to leave 
 
 it on the other side, and you can guess with some 'accuracy 
 
 how far they have gone into it, by the height at which 
 
 they enter it, though something will depend on the nature 
 
 ' 14* 
 
322 WATTTTAT. FOK YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 of the lying' on the inside. If there be a verge of tall 
 grove-like timber trees, with no underwood, for some dis- 
 tance, and then heavy coppice, they will probably have 
 alighted close within the edge of the bushes, and run a few 
 yards forward before squatting. 
 
 If the wind be high, and they have entered the wood 
 before it, they will often fly quite on to the extreme lee- 
 ward side, particularly if it be the thickest portion, or if 
 it have a bushy skirt running out into meadow land or 
 stubbles, or again, if it have an old dry brush fence. 
 
 Indeed, if at any part of the wood there be such a 
 fence, or if there be fallen trees with large prostrate tops, 
 these should always be looked to with much pains or cau- 
 tion. A low-flying bevy will often drop to them ; a run- 
 ning bevy will almost invariably stop in them ; and if 
 there be either ruffed grouse or hares ia the wood, it 
 will be in such places. 
 
 I must again here caution the young sportsman 
 against imagining that he has marked a bevy of quail, 
 because he has lost sight of them. All that he can do in 
 that case, is, judging by their flight, the state of the wind, 
 and the nature of the neighboring ground, to approximate 
 the spot for which they have made, and, by the aid of his 
 dogs, in due season to discover it. 
 
 If he see them drop, that is another thing. Their 
 Edode of doing so is unmistakable. Quail never dart 
 abruptly down, and very rarely, if ever, wheel round before 
 they alight, but gradually lower their flight until they are 
 close to the ground, when they throw themselves up with a 
 paiticukr motion, bringing their feet and tails down first, 
 
AtTTimN SHOOTING. 323 
 
 and clap their wiEgs over their backs. When they are 
 seen to do this, they are down — and no mistake ! 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that for some time after quail 
 have dropped and squatted, they yield no scent whatever, 
 and cannot be pointed even by the most excellent dogs on 
 the best scenting days. It is a question, though it matters 
 not to the sportsman, the fact being once established, 
 whether this retention of the scent is voluntary on the 
 part of the bird, or a peculiarity of which it is uncon- 
 scious. I am, however, well satisfied that the former is 
 the case ; for at such times as it gives out no scent, the 
 quail will not take; wing at all, however narrowly the 
 thicket or covert, of whatever sort it may chance to be, is 
 -beaten by dogs and men. 
 
 This peculiarity is especially to be noted ; for to follow 
 birds immediately to the new hiding-place, is worse than 
 time thrown away. They will not be found until at the 
 end of half an hour or upward, when they shall have begun 
 to run, and if at all scattered, to call; and while the 
 sportsman is fruitlessly toiling after these, such other birds 
 as are feeding in the vicinity, having got through their 
 morning meal, will have betaken themselves to the small 
 isolated spots in which they bask and lay up during the 
 heat of the day, and in which, unless stumbled on by acci- 
 dent, the best dogs will fail to find them. 
 
 The proper method, therefore, by which to have great 
 sport in the afternoon, is to persist in beating the stubbles, 
 feeding grounds and wood-edges, so long as the birds are 
 on the ramble and the feed, and to take such shots as one 
 may get, in the mean time, until the scattered birds shall 
 
324 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 begin to call, and there seem no more fresh bevies to be 
 found. Then follow up those which have beep flushed 
 during the morning, either to the precise spots into which 
 they have been marked, or as nearly as can be judged to 
 the place, and proceed to beat for them with the utmost 
 care and patience, picking up bird after bird, and never 
 sparing to turn and return, if it were a dozen times, until 
 every quail has been accounted for. 
 
 In this part of the sport, if the country be well stocked, 
 it will be hard fortune, indeed, if one do not fall in with 
 fresh bevies ; which, for the most part, lie up during the 
 basking time of the day in precisely the same ground to 
 which they fly for shelter when disturbed ; and if this be, 
 as it almost invariably will in rolling country, where the 
 bevies are found on the upland slopes and hill-sides, in the 
 swamps and hollows, it will be bad luck, indeed, if a good 
 sprinkling of woodcock and a few ruifed grouse, do not 
 come in to swell the bag. 
 
 The quail is, probably, the hardest bird in the world 
 to kill quickly, certainly and 'cleanly. He gets under way 
 with the speed of light ; before the wind he goes, like a 
 bullet from a rifle, when he has once fairly got on his 
 wings ; he flies as fast in the thickest covert, which he 
 afiects, as he. does out of it; he takes a heavy blow, and 
 that planted exactly in the right place, to bring him down ; 
 and, above all, he has a habit of carrying away his death- 
 wound, flying as if unhurt, until his life leaves him in mid 
 air. 
 
 He has another knack, which disappoints the sportsman 
 of many a snap shot, when not pointed, of lying close 
 
AtrrUMN SHOOTING. 325 
 
 while one is passing him, until the back is fairly turned on 
 him, and then off and away, with a stai'tling whirr of his 
 pinions, leaving nothing by which to judge of his direc- 
 tion, when the shooter has wheeled in great trepidation 
 and anxiety, but a few sprays of the underwood still 
 shaking, in the breathless calm of the woodland, where 
 his rapid flight has stirred them. 
 
 With reference to the hunting of dogs on quail, I have 
 no other instructions to give than those laid down before 
 in reference to snipe, except that in covert it is necessary 
 to keep a doubly watchful eye on all their movements, 
 to be constantly on the guard that they shall not steal 
 away, out of range, which if they do, they will unquestion- 
 ably run riot ; and, if one desire to have good sport at 
 present, and to preserve his dogs good for the future, to 
 work well up to them with the gun. and by no means to 
 lag behind, however hot the afternoon, however thick the 
 covert, however hard the work. 
 
 The right charge is l-j oz. of No. 8 shot, with a 
 cartridge of the same weight and number in the second 
 barrel, and this will tell a tale on the hares and ruffed 
 grouse which one may chance to encounter. 
 
 ^\ ith regard to the latter bird, the difficulty of bagging 
 him, if not much exaggerated, is entirely mis-stated, and 
 attributed to false causes. It is true, he is amazingly fleet 
 and powerful on his pinions, when he is once fully under 
 ■way, and shooting down wind with his wingsset and motion- 
 less. At such times one must aim a full yard ahead of 
 him, at thirty-five or forty paces, and then if your gun be 
 
326 MANCAT, FOR TOfXPr RVORTSMEN. 
 
 not a close carrier and a hard hitter, he will laugh you and 
 your shot to scorn. 
 
 It is true that he rises with so prodigious a flutter and 
 rush, that he shakes the nerves of young shooters, and nine 
 times out of ten gets away unharmed. It is true, that 
 when flushed once, he mostly takes to the tree and cannot 
 be found again ; and, to conclude, it is true, that he is the 
 wildest and shyest of all wood-hunting game, and that his 
 habit of running three or four hundred yards away, aa 
 fast as he can ply his legs, from the spot where he is 
 pointed, and then flying off at a bee-line, renders it diffi- 
 cult indeed to get a shot at him. 
 
 But therein is the difficulty ; not in shooting him, when 
 one has the chance of a shot. For when he rises within 
 range, although he does so with a fearful fuss and flutter, 
 if one keep cool, and be not flurried, he hangs heavily at 
 first on the air, displays a wide mark of rustling loose 
 feathers to the aim, and is far from requiring an unusually 
 hard blow to bring him. When he comes, great is the 
 fall of him, and great the rejoicing over him in the 
 dining-room and the kitchen ; for if he be hung till he be 
 thoroughly tender, quickly and discreetly roasted, and 
 eaten off hot plates with bread sauce and fried bread 
 crumbs, his tout ensemble is undeniable, and tYidfumet of 
 his thighs and back-bone a thing worthy the knowledge 
 of Apicius. For marking the ruffed grouse, the same rule 
 holds good as of the qiiail ; but, in all my experience, I 
 have not seen this bird marked a dozen times, so wildly 
 does it fly. 
 
 The woodcock, moreover, is now in full vigor, in full 
 
AUTUMN SHOOTING. 327 
 
 plainage, in prime condition, a large, plump bird, with a 
 ruffed neck, a fair gray forehead, and pink legs, weighing 
 from eight to nine and a half ounces on an average, and 
 sometimes exceeding the latter weight by one or even two 
 ounces. 
 
 He is, also, as different a bird to shoot now, from what 
 he was in July, as if he were of another race. Even be- 
 fore setters, instead of flapping up lazily like a half-awak- 
 ened owl by daylight, he springs sharply with a clear ring- 
 ing whistle, darts upward through the tree-tops, and often 
 makes two or three quick zigzags like a wild-flushed snipe, 
 before settling on his flight. Among saplings I have seen 
 autumn cock twist worse, and have found them more 
 difficult to kill, than the wildest spring snipe I have ever 
 shot, especially if they have been raised by a beater, or7by 
 spaniels, when they will dart hither and thither like bullets 
 through the leafless trees. It is only quick and slashing 
 snap shots that will fetch them, and sometimes the very 
 best shots will unavoidably miss, from the bird dropping 
 suddenly three or four feet with a jerking twist at the very 
 point of time when the trigger is drawn ; so that, no matter 
 how true the aim, the charge must go over him. 
 
 In marking him, the same rules are to be observed now 
 as in summer shooting ; but whereas he then rarely flew 
 fifty yards, or went out of sight, he will now soar away 
 half a mile, leave the wood he is flushed in, and perhap3 
 fly across a valley or a dozen open fields, and drop on a 
 ferny hill-side, or in a single willow bush by some lonely 
 spring. 
 
 Nothing can be said, with certainty, I believe, con- 
 
328 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 cerning the lying of woodcock in autumn, except that thej 
 are never, so far as I am aware, found, as they are in some 
 districts during the summer, in perfectly open meadow- 
 land. Generally they seem to frequent drier and higher 
 woodlands on the hill-sides and slopes in autumn, among 
 second growth and saplings, or what the country people 
 usually call sprouts. Still, I think, on the whole, the finest 
 autumn woodcock shooting I have ever had, has been in 
 maple swamps, and wet brakes adjacent to bog meadows, 
 identical in fact with their summer feeding ground. I 
 should say, that the only sure rule is to beat every various 
 sort of ground until you do find them ; the later in the 
 season the more they affect warm, well-sheltered coverts, 
 where there are living springs and streamlets which never 
 freeze. In such places they frequently linger till sharp 
 frosts set in, and in these I have found them, on more than 
 one occasion, in countless swarms, evidently congregated 
 for the purpose of emigration. I have observed that this 
 was always near the full of the moon, and that, on the day 
 following the occurrence of these assemblages, there was 
 not a bird left in the country. 
 
 Hare-shooting with regular sportsmen, is little regarded 
 as a separate sport, though it well deserves to be so ; it is 
 in fact, for the most part, shot by such only, when it is now 
 and then kicked up out of a brier bush over a dead point, 
 in the course of a day's autumn shooting. 
 
 In many parts of the country, however, where either 
 of the varieties, the little American hare or rabbit, and 
 the great northern hare, which turns white in winter, are 
 abundant, the farmers are in the habit of turning out in 
 
AUTUMN SHOOTING. 329 
 
 large parties with hounds, toward Christmas, and driving 
 the woods as in European battues, when at times much 
 sport is to be had. 
 
 Wlierever hares are plentiful, it would well repay the 
 ardent sportsman to keep a couple or two of small beagles 
 on purpose for this sport, which is much prettier and more 
 advantageously pursued than the famous English rabbit- 
 shooting, which it much resembles ; inasmuch as the hare 
 never, like the rabbit, frustrates both dog and gun by 
 taking to the earth, since it burrows only in the breeding 
 season, and even then, I believe, rather uses some natural 
 cavity in the ground, under a stone or in a hollow stump, 
 than excavates a hiding-place for its own use. 
 
 There is not much art in hucting these timid little 
 animals ; one has only to be out bctinies with the busy little 
 beagles along the wood edges, which abut on meadows or 
 grain stubbles, while the dew is on the herbage ; qi in the 
 green woodpaths among the coverts which they love, such 
 as bushy barrens, with bare spaces intervening among 
 scrub oaks, dwarf pines and laurels — to find their trail as 
 they come in from feeding. 
 
 The merry little hounds will soon push them up, and 
 will stick to them stanchly, following them through all 
 their mazes with unerring industry, and making the low 
 woods vocal with their small but sonorous melody. 
 
 One may easily keep up with them if he pleases, for 
 their speed through the covert does not exceed a man's 
 fair jog-trot, and it is beautiful to see them work and cast 
 themselves, and feather to the scent, and spring to their 
 companions when one opens on his game ; but the way to. 
 
330 MANUAL' FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 kill the most hares is to stand still, pretty well concealed 
 by some pine bush or stump, keeping every limb perfectly 
 motionless, with as many open glades around you and 
 under your eye as you can command, nearly in the spot 
 from which the game was first started. He is perfectly 
 certain to return, once and again ; for it is his nature ever 
 to run in small rings, endeavoring to deceive his pursuers 
 by foiling his own track, rather than to outstrip them by 
 speed. I never knew an instance of either variety going 
 straight away, or of the beagles being above a quarter of 
 an hour out of hearing. Indeed, they are rarely so long 
 absent. Their cheery cry at the return will tell the 
 sportsman when and in which direction to look for his 
 game ; but he must look sharp, or he will be apt to find, to 
 his astonishment, by seeing the hounds carry the sceut 
 past his face within ten paces, that the small gray rascal 
 has stolen before his eyes unobserved, under cover of— it is 
 wonderful how — little brush or low herbage, or jumped 
 across an opening while his eyes were momentarily averted. 
 Again, if he do not keep himself perfectly motionless, 
 his time is thrown away. A hare before hounds, and 
 sometimes even a deer, if the wind be not fairly, in his 
 nostrils from the enemy, will run straight up to a man, 
 standing in full, view in the open, if he move not hand, 
 head nor foot, as if he were a post, perhaps mistaking him 
 for such. But let him wink but an eyelid perceptibly, and 
 it will be off at a tangent, like lightning. It is singular, 
 indeed ; but his voice not only has less effect in deterring 
 the animal or increasing its speed, than the show of any 
 movement, but actually causes it to stop and .listen. 
 
AUTUMN SHOOTING. 331 
 
 A sharp whistle, or the simulated bleat of a fawn, will 
 cause either the one or the other of these wary animals to 
 stop short in full career, within point blank range of the 
 gun ; and the hare, at such an interruption, will sit up on 
 end, with one ear cocked forward and the other backward 
 to catch the smallest sound. 
 
 The hare has the power and the habit, it seems, in a 
 great degree, of turning its large and prominent eyeballs so 
 as to turn its range of vision, when pursued, as it does its 
 ears, almost directly backward ; and it must be something 
 very abrupt and decided in the way of sound or sight, 
 directly in front of it, which shall attract its attention. 
 
 This does not appear to me to extend to such a length 
 in the American as in the European hare ; which latter, 
 when flying in terror from sounds behind it, as in a 
 battue, seems to be wholly blind to every thing in front of 
 it, and has been known to run actually into the mouth of a 
 dog, and to break its neck by coming into collision with 
 one of its fellows flying in similar consternation, along 
 some winding woodpath. 
 
 Though it is, however, easy enough to get shots at the 
 hare running before hounds in covert, it is by no means so 
 easy to shoot him ;■ and many men, who can follow a wild 
 duck cutting the air at the rate of ninety miles an hour — 
 which, by the way, is -his ordinary measured speed — with a 
 heavy duck-gun, and bring him down to a certain, will be 
 puzzled and foiled completely by a hare dodging in a 
 brake, or glancing across a wood road, seen for a second, 
 and lost as soon as seen. Here no following is possible, 
 and the man who expects to kill his hare by shooting at 
 
333 MAJSrUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 him, might as well shoot at the moon, in the hope of bring- 
 ing it down with a charge of a double B. To kill him the 
 instant he shows his nose out of the brake on one side of 
 the footpath, up with your gun and blaze away, like 
 lightning, at the edge of the bushes on the opposite side. 
 If you take your level at the right height — that is to say, 
 low enough — when he has disappeared across the path in 
 the shrubbery beyond, and you have reloaded and recapped 
 your gun, you will find him dead, shot in the forepart, 
 lying just where he fell, having turned one summersault 
 after the shot struck him. 
 
 A single couple of beagles is all that is absolutely 
 necessary for this pretty and enlivening pastime ; but it is 
 needless to say, that the more there are in the field the 
 merrier is the cry and the greater the sport. 
 
 Wherever there are extensive ranges of scrub-oak 
 barrens, pine barrens, or any tracts of low bushy under- 
 wood, there is little doubt of finding the smaller hare in 
 abundance. 
 
 He is plentiful in the woodlands of southern New Jer- 
 sey, and in the old fields and worn-out lands of Maryland, 
 Delaware, and Virginia. 
 
 In the pine forests of Maine the larger hare is abun- 
 dant, and with two guns and ten couple of the right sort 
 of hounds, I could desire no better sport than to hunt him 
 on some fine bright September morning. 
 
WILD FOWL SHOOTIlsra 
 
 Wild fowl shooting in America may properly be distin- 
 guished into three classes : the Chesapeake Bay shooting, to 
 which, as the finest of all, both in the quality of the game 
 killed and the greatness of the sport, the palm must be 
 assigned ; sea-shooting, over decoys, which, though tedious, 
 and requiring much exposure to wild wintry weather, is 
 a favorite amusement with enthusiastic sportsmen; and 
 lastly inland duck-shooting, which, in the places where it 
 is to be had in perfection, is a most exciting and delightful 
 pursuit. 
 
 The game killed, in these three different kinds of 
 sport, are as different as the modes adopted of bringing 
 them, to bag. 
 
334 MANOAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 In the Chesapeake Bay shooting, in which I include, of 
 course, all the rivers which debouch into that fine sheet of 
 water, all more or less frequented in winter by innumer- 
 able legions of wild fowl, the birds most commonly met 
 with and most eagerly pursued, are the wild swan, Gycnus 
 Americanus — a species peculiar to the American Conti- 
 nent ; the canvas-back duck, fuligula valisneria, so named 
 from the wild celery, which is its favorite food, whence it 
 derives its delicious flavor ; the Tei-hea,d, fuligula ferina, 
 next in excellence to the canvas-back, and little inferior to 
 it when killed in the region of wild rice and wild celery ; 
 the American widgeon or bald-pate, anas Americana, and 
 the scaup, broad-bill, blue-bill, or black-head, as it is 
 variously denominated in various localities, the latter 
 being its Chesapeake alias, anas Marila; these being 
 considered the choicest, and those which improve most by 
 the food of that region. 
 
 These birds, with the ordinary wild goose, anas Cana- 
 densis, do not generally appear in these waters until the 
 middle of November, when the cold has already been 
 severe at the north, and ice is beginning to make even in 
 those warmer regions. 
 
 The smaller ducks, such as the buffel-headed duck, 
 anas albeola, the ruddy duck, anas rubida, and the long- 
 tailed duck or south-southerly, anas glaciaiis, make their 
 appearance somewhat earlier in the season ; but they arc 
 little regarded, and seldom pursued by sportsmen. 
 
 Of the larger ducks, all of which feed on the same 
 grasses, and acquire so nearly the same flavor that they are 
 not easily distinguishable even by epicures, the canvas- 
 
-: WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 335 
 
 back is the first, the red-head, or, according to some, the 
 widgeon is the secofad^ and the scaup, or black-head, the 
 least deserving of the lot. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that within the last few years 
 the English widgeon, and the English green-winged teal, 
 anas Penelope, and anas Grecca, both of which are dis- 
 tinct varieties from the American kinds, distinguishable 
 by small though plain and immutable marks, are becoming 
 frequent among us, working their way, as it would seem, 
 from the north-east south-westerly, having been, until 
 within the last twenty-five years, unknown on this continent. 
 
 The annexed cut represents the English widgeon, the 
 principal difference between which and the American bird 
 is, -that the former has the whole of the wing-coverts pure 
 white, tipped with black, whereas in the latter the pri- 
 mary coverts are brown and the secondaries only white. 
 This distinction is well preserved in the cut, as also the 
 variation iu the shape and coloring of the head and bill. 
 
336 MANUAL FOR TOtTNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 The English widgeon was first noticed by Mr. J. N. 
 Lawrence in Fulton market, having been shot on Long 
 Island, and the discovery was communicated by him to 
 Mr. Giraud, who has embodied it in his admirable work on 
 the birds of Long Island. Since that period, however, it 
 has been killed so frequently as to merit a place among 
 the birds of America. 
 
 The existence on this continent of the English green- 
 winged teal, which waats the peculiar lunated bar of white, 
 bifurcated at the inferior extremity, crossing the scapulars, 
 which is so conspicuous in the males of the American 
 species, I was myself, I believe, the first to establish ; 
 having remarked the fact — which had induced me, in the 
 first instance, to suppose the distinctive bar a mere casual 
 variation, not a specific distinction — that I had unques- 
 tionably shot many birds in this country, without that 
 mark, to Mr. J. 0. Bell, the distinguished naturalist and 
 taxidermist of New York, who had then no knowledge of 
 the bird as belonging to this country, but who informed 
 me only the other day, that recently many specimens have 
 been brought to him. It was previously known to exist 
 in Nova Scotia. 
 
 It is worthy of remark here, that many varieties of 
 wild fowl, formerly confined to extreme northern and 
 southern latitudes, are, of late, greatly extending their 
 ranges, and meeting, as it were, midway between their 
 natural abodes. Several Arctic fowls, which were former- 
 ly never seen westward of Cape Cod, and others of which 
 the farthest eastern limit was the Cape of Florida, now 
 
WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 337 
 
 meetj as it were, on the neutral ground of the Jersey bays 
 and the Long Island shore. 
 
 The method of shooting wild fowl on Chesapeake Bay, 
 is to wait for them as they fly up and down, in proportion 
 as the flats on which they feed are submerged too deeply 
 for their use by the rise of the spring tides, behind screens 
 erected for the purpose on the points and islands over 
 which they must necessarily pass, and thence shoot them 
 on the wing. 
 
 The sport often had by parties at these points, which 
 are for the most part rented by clubs of sportsmen or by 
 individuals, and very jealously preserved, is magnificent. 
 The shooting, however, is peculiar, and exceedingly diflS- 
 cult to those unused to it, who are apt to miss all sorts of 
 fair shots, though good marksmen on the upland at other 
 game. This is owing to the fact, that many of the shots 
 have to be fired almost perpendicularly in the air at flocks 
 passing directly over the sportsman's head — a difficult shot 
 at the best to kill, and one in which it is doubly difficult 
 to make a large allowance for the distance and the speed 
 at which the fowl are flying. This is, moreover, very 
 deceptive. Duck of all kinds, although their flight appears 
 slow and lumbering with a vast expenditure of flapping, 
 fly infinitely fastei; than is commonly supposed, as is evi- 
 dent from their having been minuted by telegraph whilo 
 passing points and promontories on the sea-coast, and 
 found to travel, when on their ordinary comings and goings, 
 at the rate of ninety miles an hour. Of all the missed 
 shots at ducks flying past or over the gun, nineteert-twen- 
 tieths fall far behind the object. 
 15 
 
338 MANTJAL FOE TOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 Another point worthy of notice is this, that the hreast 
 of all wild fowl is nearly impenetrably cuirassed against 
 shot by the dense cushion of down which envelopes it, and 
 that a blow behind is rarely on the instant effective to 
 bring down the fowl. So that unless the charge take 
 effect in the head and neck, well before the wing, or a 
 pinion be broken, the shot is generally thrown away. It 
 is, therefore, scarcely possible to fire too far in advance of 
 a single bird, crossing or passing over the gun at from 
 forty to sixty yards' distance. 
 
 The guns most generally used are double-barrels of 
 twelve or fourteen pounds' weight, and about 8 calibre ; I 
 greatly advise, however, the use of two single guns, each 
 of fourteen lbs. and 5 gauge, which will carry a quarter of 
 a lb. of shot with ease from the shoulder, will chamber BB 
 as easily as the others will No. 2 — will recoil less, and will 
 do their work at flocks far more effectively at long or short 
 ranges. 
 
 These guns, moreover, are infinitely safer, and are 
 handled as readily, if lightened toward the muzzle by 
 removing the ramrod and ramrod pipes, using a detached 
 loading-rod instead, and if needful, improving the balance 
 of the piece by loading the butt with lead. A little prac- 
 tice will soon enable a sportsman to use two of these guns 
 quickly enough to discharge both into the same flock, and 
 if he succeed in doing so, great will be the havoc he will 
 make. 
 
 Another method, much employed in this paradise of 
 duck shooters, is to idle the ducks, as it is called, while 
 they are feeding along shore, quite out of range, into 
 
•WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 339 
 
 shooting distance of the ambushed fowler, by means of a 
 dog • trained to gambol to and fro along the margin of the 
 stream, in such a manner as to attract the attention of the 
 fowl, which are so easily excited to a sort of insane curiosity 
 by his movements, that the same flock have been known to 
 swim in half a dozen successive times, each time receiving 
 a murderous volley, and leaving the waters strewed with 
 their dead and wounded, without appearing to take per- 
 manent alarm. The black-head is, of all the ducks which 
 frequent those waters, that which is toled the most readily, 
 and the bald-pate the shyest. 
 
 The shots obtained in this manner are, of course, sit- 
 ting shots, the birds sailing in from forty to seventy yards' 
 distance from the shore ; and it is necessary to remember, 
 that nothing is so deceptive as shooting over water; that as 
 the gunner lies in ambush, he is almost precisely on the 
 level of his object, and that it is the natural effect of these 
 causes to produce an overshooting of his mark. If the 
 piece be levelled directly, as it seems, at the middle of the 
 flock, the whole charge will almost surely pass far above 
 them. The correct way to aim is to see the whole of the 
 nearest duck in full relief above the sight ; this level wUl 
 in all probability rake the entire breadth of the mass of 
 ducks, and even if the charge strike on the near side of 
 them, the ricochet will be far more fatal than a plunging 
 shot. 
 
 Paddling up to the birds in canoes on the feeding 
 grounds, sailing into" them, or firing with heavy swivels 
 
 * The action of the dog is described ahove, under the head of 
 EetrieveiB, at p. 218. 
 
340 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 from punts, are strictly prohibited, as they cause the fowl 
 wholly to desert places where such practices obtain, and are 
 esteemed — and that deservedly — unsportsmanlike, and un- 
 worthy of gentlemen. 
 
 For all fowl shooting on salt water, where the saline 
 particles of the atmosphere disorganize the gunpowder 
 from their affinity with the saltpetre, large coarse-grained 
 cannon powder is preferable to the iiner article, and the 
 best of all is Hawker's ducking powder, prepared by Cur- 
 tis and Harvey. This, with the best of Starkey's central 
 fire-caps, will insure the discharge of the gun even in a 
 sea-mist. 
 
 For the rest, I think fowl shooters almost invariably 
 overcharge with powder, and use shot of too coarse a 
 grain. The shot is amply large, which will break the pin- 
 ion of the game at which it is fired, at seventy yards. All 
 extra weight is thrown away, with a positive loss in the 
 number of shot lodged in the same space. 
 
 SS in green cartridges are all very well for wild swan 
 shooting, and in 4 oz. cartridges for a gun of 5 calibre, it 
 will be difficult to say how far they will not carry, and 
 kill. I should dislike marvellously to be in the fair range 
 of one at half a mile. BB is proper for geese or brant, 
 but for all other fowl, for the largest shoulder-guns 1 or 2 
 is amply large for any range ; and from guns not exceeding 
 10 gauge, No 3 or 4 will do more execution. Equal meas- 
 ures, not weights, of shot and powder, are, in my judg- 
 ment, the best proportions for all guns. 
 
 Sea-shooting of wild fowl, as it is practised on all the 
 bays as they are improperly called, being in truth shallow, 
 
WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
 
 341 
 
 land-locked sheets of water or lagoons, lying along the 
 greater part of the Atlantic seaboard of the United States, 
 from Elorida so far north as to the eastern extremity of 
 Long Island, between an outer beach or sea-bank of sand 
 or shingle, thrown up by the action of the surf and under- 
 tow, and the main land, is for the most part of one char- 
 acter. 
 
 rvWi.' 
 
 It is prosecuted either from boats, concealed in nooks 
 cut out of the sedgy points or islands of sedge and hassock, 
 with which these waters abound, and partially covered 
 with reeds, sea-weed, salt meadow hay, and other trash ; 
 or from what are technically called batteries, narrow, 
 shallow, coflBn-like boxes of wood, just large enough to 
 contain one person lying flat on his back, provided with a 
 margin of boards nearly horizontal, but slightly inclined 
 upward at the outer edge like the brim of a soup-plate, 
 which, resting on the surface of the water, support the box 
 
342 MAHTJAL FOK YOUNG- SPOETSMEN. 
 
 itself, SO that it cannot absolutely sink, but is submerged 
 by the weight of the concealed shooter until its edges are 
 level with the sea on which it rests. The flat boards or 
 margins above described, are covered with sand, pebbleSj 
 small shells, and sea-weeds, so that it resembles a little 
 shoal peering above the water, or a lot -of floating wrack 
 and trash, and is not suspected by the fowl. 
 
 This treacherous contrivance is moored exactly on the 
 flats where the fowl feed, the gunner is conveyed to it in a 
 boat by a partner, who, as soon as he is perfectly ensconced 
 and invisible, with his heavy guns and ammunition, and 
 provided with his fleet of decoys of all kinds and sizes, 
 exactly representing all the varieties of fowl which he may 
 expect, riding at anchor around him, within half gunshot, 
 rows off to a distance, and plies busily about the bays, 
 disturbing all the flocks he can discover on the feed, in 
 the hope that, as they fly over, they may descry the decoys 
 and fly to them. 
 
 When the roar of his confederate's gun informs him 
 that execution has been done, he rows to the spot, gathers 
 up the cripples, and withdraws again as before to beat up 
 the neighboring flats and shallows for fresh teams of 
 victims. 
 
 The slaughter committed from these batteries is often 
 prodigious ; but.so irksome, if not actually painful is the 
 cramped position in which the sportsman is compelled to 
 lie, that, to my thinking, it scarcely can be called sport. 
 
 Unsportsmanlike, in one sense, it certainly is to the 
 last degree, that it harasses the birds to such an extent, by 
 the very fact that they are slain unseen and unsuspecting 
 
WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 343 
 
 on their very feeding grounds, where most they desire to 
 be quiet and unmolested, as in the end, if long persisted 
 in, to make them entirely abandon the flats on which it is 
 practised, and betake themselves to other and safer local- 
 ities. 
 
 For this reason the use of these batteries has been 
 generally prohibited by law ; but on Long Island, as all 
 other statutory provisions for the protection of game, this 
 salutary enactment is utterly disregarded, and the birds 
 are decimated daily throughout the season, where they 
 ought to bo the most protected, and are accordingly be- 
 coming annually fewer, wilder, and less easy of access. 
 
 On the Jersey waters of Squam Beach, Barnegat, 
 greater and lesser Egg Harbor, and other places of equal 
 resort by wild fowl, the use of these destructive machines 
 is proscribed by public opinion of the gunners themselves ; 
 and these men being a bold, hardy, lawless, and some say, 
 half-piratical race, half-fowlers, half-fishermen, and more 
 than half-wreckers, who are apt to enforce the laws of their 
 own enactment by the strong hand and with the aid of their 
 Queen Anne's muskets and a handful of heavy shot ; the 
 prohibition of batteries, as also of sail-boats provided with 
 swivels, is on the whole enforced with tolerable regularity. 
 
 On the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, the law again 
 provides against the use of batteries, as also of sail-boats, 
 and punts with swivels ; but here also it is the strong hand 
 of the lawful and sportsmanlike gunners which alone carries 
 out and vindicates the operation of the law ; and it is not 
 without desperate, and at times even bloody affrays, that the 
 poachers are prevented from carrying on their ruinous trade. 
 
344 MAKTTAl FOE TO0NG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 In those waters, however, the shores for the most part 
 belonging to comparatively few and wealthy proprietors, 
 the points and islands being, as I have observed, ordinarily 
 rented by clubs of sportsmen, and the excellence and 
 actual value of the game being of sufficient importance to 
 render its protection an object, the laws are rigidly en- 
 forced, preservation is effected, and notwithstanding the 
 countless multitudes which are yearly destroyed, they do 
 not appear very materially to decrease in number. 
 
 The other mode, described above, of shooting from 
 boats moored among the hassocks in the bays, is not liable 
 to this objection, as the birds are shot, not while in the 
 act of feeding, but always on the wing, as they are passing 
 up and down from one flat to another, accordingly as this 
 is submerged too deeply, or that left wholly bare, by the 
 rising or falling of the tide. 
 
 This, it seems, does not molest or disturb them to such 
 a degree as to cause their abandonment of the neighbor- 
 hood, and only operates so far as to render them shy 
 and fearful of the points whence they are peppered, 
 causing them to fly down the middle of the bays and 
 channels, without passing over the land, if they can 
 avoid it. 
 
 This it is which gives scope to' all the gunner's ingenu- 
 ity, both in the selection of bis points in reference to the 
 wind which may be blowing, and his knowledge of the 
 feeding grounds, in order that the fowl, as they are driven 
 up from the outer beaches by the rising tides to the inner 
 marshes, may be jammed down by stress of weather upon 
 the station which he has chosen ; and in imitating the 
 
WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 345 
 
 call of the various species of which he is'iu pursuit, by 
 ■which he often succeeds in seducing them down from their 
 secure elevation, to seek company with his painted wooden 
 decoys, and find a speedy death. 
 
 The birds which are most easily called down are the 
 Canadian wild geese, the noblest and best of all the tribes 
 taken in this fashion, whose loud and sonorous hawnking is 
 admirably simulated by many of the amphibious natives of 
 the dack-haunted bays, and not a few amateurs. 
 
 The most impracticable of them all is the brant, the 
 gabble of which, somewhat resembling the distant clamor 
 of a pack of hounds in full cry, is generally said to be 
 inimitable to any useful end. 
 
 The skill to be acquired in shooting these birds — for 
 getting shots at them, the amateur gunner is compelled to 
 rely on the skill and cleverness of his guide or boatman — 
 consists only in shooting sufficiently in advance of the 
 passing flocks, or in keeping the gun in such continuous 
 motion, following up their flight, that the shot shall not 
 fall behind them. 
 
 No retriever or dog of any kind is required for this 
 sport in the other sea bays, but in the Chesapeake the best 
 Newfoundland dogs are used, and are, indeed, imperatively 
 necessary. 
 
 In regard to guns, ammunition, and the mode of charg- 
 ing, especially in the avoidance of overloading and the use 
 of too large shot, the rules prescribed heretofore will be 
 found applicable. 
 
 The species of fowl usually killed and most prized, in 
 the Atlantic bays and lagoons, are the wild goose, anas 
 15* 
 
346 MANUAL FOE TOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 Canadensis ; the brant, anas hernicla ; the scaup or broad- 
 bill, of two kinds, greater and smaller, anas marila ; the 
 dusky duck, anas obscura ; the red-head, fuligula ferina ; 
 occasionally the canvas-back, fuligula valisneria, which 
 is but a third-rate fowl where it cannot obtain the wild 
 celery, and inferior to both the varieties last mentioned ; 
 and the ring-necked duck, fuligula rufitorques. In 
 addition to these, the coarse and fishy sea-ducks, known as 
 coots, namely, the scoter, the velvet-duck, and the surf- 
 duck, and sometimes the harlequin-duck, the pied-duck, 
 the ring-duck, and even the eider-duck, are visitants to our 
 bays and beaches. Their flesh is, however, worthless, and 
 unless for specimens, or, in the case of the last named, for 
 its down, they are literally not worth the powder. The 
 mergansers, commonly known as shelldrakes, fall under the 
 same category, as do also the south-southerlies, which, 
 however, for the most part, take far too good care of them- 
 selves to venture near enough to the stools to tempt the 
 gunner's forbearance. 
 
 The little dippers, or buffet-headed ducks, are held in 
 small estimation from their inferior size, and on salt water 
 they are neither so fat nor so succulent as when killed on 
 inland ponds and streams, where they are highly and 
 deservedly esteemed ; and the same is the case with the 
 blue-winged teal, when it is found on the bays, as it is 
 at some seasons. 
 
 The winter is the best season for the prosecution of 
 this sport, and the severer the frost, and the rougher the 
 winds and waters, the better the chance of success. It is, 
 therefore, no holiday work, no light matter to be under- 
 
WILB FOWL SHOOTING. 
 
 347 
 
 taken as a frolic, by rheumatic or otherwise delicate folk, 
 ■who are apt to catch cold if they sit in a thorough draft, 
 and shiver at a strong breeze through a key-hole. It is 
 hard, earnest, downright work. It requires a man, who 
 not only can rough it, but who loves to rough it, for its 
 own sake — who can endure cold, wet, fatigue, and the 
 weariness of long waiting, not only with patience but 
 with pleasure, and at last feel himself well rewarded if he 
 make a good bag, and not altogether unrewarded, if he 
 make a bad one. If he cannot bring himself to this, he 
 would far- better stay at home by his cosy fireside, and 
 pretty wife or pleasant friend ; and, if he be past forty- 
 five years old, I do not know but he were wiser to do 
 80, whether or no. 
 
 The third and last variety of fowl shooting is inland 
 duck-shooting, whether on the large fresh water lakes and 
 rivers of the interior, on the vast half saline, half fresh 
 
348 MAOTTAL FOE TOTJNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 meadows, where the tide waters meet the springs and 
 rivulets which drain the uplands, along the margin of 
 meadow-watering brooklets, or on wide, marshy, and at 
 times submerged tracts, such as the drowned lands of 
 Orange County, New York, the snipe meadows of New 
 Jersey, the saline districts of Western New York, and 
 thousands and tens of thousands of similar regions, north, 
 west, east and south, throughout the United States and 
 British Provinces. 
 
 In all these localities in the autumn and the spring, 
 there is to be had immense sport ; the varieties of duck 
 generally killed, all of which are excellent, especially 
 where there are wild rice lakes, as in Canada and the 
 Western States, are the mallard and duck, Anas Bosc- 
 bas ; the pin-tailed duck. Anas acuta ; the blue-winged 
 teal. Anas discors ; the green-winged teal, Anas Garoli- 
 nensis, a likeness of which adorns the last page, showing 
 the lunated bar across the scapulars, which distinguishes 
 him from his European cousin-german ; the golden eye. 
 Anas clangula, which is abundant on Lake Champlain ; 
 the summer duck, Dendronessa sponsa ; the buifet-headed 
 duck,"'^nas alheola ; and the dusky duck. Anas ohscura; 
 which last must be added, although properly it is a marine 
 rather than a fresh-water duck. The canvas-back, red- 
 head, scaup, widgeon, and ring-necked duck, all properly 
 and chiefly sea-ducks, are found on the western rivers, the 
 great lakes, and the head waters of the Mississippi and 
 Missouri, where also wild geese, wild swans, and a second 
 variety of that noble bird, unknown elsewhere, the great 
 trumpeter swan, Gycnus Buccinator, with an alar extent 
 
WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 349 
 
 of no less ttan ten feet, abound on the waters and morasses. 
 There is also a variety of brant, known as Hutcbins' 
 brant, and a large winter duck, nondescript I believe, until 
 I described it myself after a visit to the great Georgian 
 bay of Lake Huron in 1849, found in great numbers in the 
 same regions of which the snow goose, Anas hyperboreus, 
 and the white-fronted goose. Anas crythriopus, are occa- 
 sional autumnal visitants. 
 
 The methods of hunting wild ducks and wild geese on 
 inland streams and marshes are threefold : First, to beat 
 the marshes and reed lands along the margins of slow- 
 running, sedgy streams, with one or more well broke, mute 
 water-spaniels, trained to hunt close and to retrieve. 
 This is a beautiful and scientific sport, the best mode of 
 pursuing which, as well as of breaking dogs for it, is 
 described at length under the head of water-spaniels and 
 retrievers, at pages 213 and 214. 
 
 The second method, one much practised on the streams 
 flowing through woodlands into the great northern lakes, 
 is to take a stand at nightfall, or daybreak, at some spot 
 over which they fly, near the river's mouth,^iDg out to 
 the open lake or returning to their roosting-plp,ces in the 
 inland morasses. The flights last not above an hour, or a 
 little over, morning and evening ; but during that space 
 of time two or three guns may occupy themselves in- 
 cessantly, and their bearers will probably return well 
 loaded. 
 
 The third and last method, is to paddle slowly and 
 silently in a bark canoe, through the shallow rice lakes of 
 Canada and the "West, with or without a brace or two of 
 
350 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 water-spaniels swimming constantly about the barque, to 
 flush the living and retrieve the dead. 
 
 The presence of the spaniels will add much to the in- 
 terest and perfection of the sport; but except as to retrieving 
 the cripples, many of which will otherwise escape, I know 
 not that they will add much to the amount of the bag ; for 
 in those places, at the proper season, the name of the ducks 
 is absolutely legion, and they rise in such clouds before the 
 canoe out of the thickly set wild rice, that the worst shot 
 can scarcely fail to fill his vessel. The first thing to be ac- 
 quired for this kind of shooting, is the ability to move and 
 shoot out of a birch canoe, without upsetting it, a thing by 
 no means easy to be done, and to be gained only by practice. 
 
 For shooting them, no other instructions are required 
 than those already given in regard to wild fowl in gen- 
 eral — to fire quickly on the first sight, and to allow well 
 for the speed of cross shots, or rising shots, although going 
 straight from you. 
 
 The best gun for inland duck-shooting is the kind 
 described above, and of which John Mulliris, of New York, 
 is strongly recommended as a maker, of about 10 lbs. 
 weight, 10 gauge and thirty-four inch barrels, bar locks, and 
 plain case-hardened steel mountings ; such a piece will 
 throw 3 oz. of No. 2 shot, if required — ^but in nine cases 
 out of ten 4, or 3 at most, will be amply sufficient — with 
 telling force over an ample area, so as to kill surely at 
 sixty yards. In the Appendix, I annex a letter from this 
 responsible maker, containing the scale of his rates for 
 guns of different classes and calibres, which may be found 
 useful to distant readers. 
 
THE FOKEST AND THE PLAINS. 
 
 Op all those grander wild sports of the extreme North and 
 West, the moose and cariboo hunting of the British pro- 
 vincial forests, and of the hyperborean regions of Maine ; 
 the elk, buffalo, and antelope hunting of the western 
 plains and prairies ; the bear hunting of Arkansas and the 
 Southwest ; nay, even of the deer and turkey hunting of 
 the regions wherein those animals are still to be found, 
 
352 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 survivors of the ftinumerable multitudes which formerly 
 roamed unmolested from ocean to ocean ; there are no 
 rules, positive, which can be laid down, no instructions 
 which can be of much use to the young sportsman. 
 Where the rifle, or the double gun with buck-shot is 
 the implement, beyond the mere directions how to take 
 aim, load, and fire to the best advantage, nothing can be 
 taught. 
 
 Of all things wholly unteachable by writing or oral 
 instruction, unless upon the spot, with practice and exam- 
 ple to illustrate precept, the most impracticable is wood- 
 craft. 
 
 How to find or follow the trail of an animal, itself not 
 discernible to the sharpest unpractised eyes, in the seem- 
 ingly untrodden grass, or on the leaf-strewn surface of the 
 pathless soil of the wilderness, cannot be taught by words 
 written or spoken. 
 
 How to judge by the foot-prints, half seen, of bear or 
 deer, as a woodman will do at a glance, whether the ani- 
 mal which left the sign was young or old, fat or lean, going 
 to or returning from his lair, how long he has gone by, and 
 whether it avails to follow him or not, can only be learned 
 by long experience, attentive observation, and a course of 
 pupilage, on the ground, under thorough and competent 
 teachers. 
 
 In the same way it is evident that one cannot give 
 directions how one shall steal up, unseen and unheard, 
 within rifle shot of a herd of deer, a gang of elk, or a 
 watchful moose or cariboo. This may be told, and this 
 is about all, that you must invariably advance on all wild 
 
THE FOREST AND THE PLAINS. 353 
 
 animals which it is desirable to stalk, up wind. If you 
 attempt to go down wind on them, their unerring scent 
 will frustrate your every endeavor, and render it impossi- 
 ble to approach within half a mile, much less within gun- 
 shot of the quarry. It is wise also to stalk game so far 
 as it is possible, owing to the state of the wind, with the 
 sun on your back and in their eyes. 
 
 Wild fowl on the water are more easily stalked, where 
 the ground will allow it, from below upward, and mountain- 
 dwelling animals from above downward, owing to the fact 
 that these are apt to be expectant, under ordinary circum- 
 stances, of enemies coming upon them from higher, those 
 from lower ground. 
 
 Deer are killed by three diflFerent methods : driving 
 .with hounds to guns posted at such passes as the hunted 
 animals are likely to make for when afoot before dogs ; 
 pursuing on horseback, across country, with packs of 
 hounds, having it in view to shoot them with buck-shot, 
 whenever the rider can approach them nearly enough to 
 do so ; and still-hunting, or stalking them in the forest, or 
 on the plains, without the aid of dogs, relying on the eye 
 and intelligence of the sportsman alone. 
 
 Fire-hunting from canoes by night, and lying in am- 
 bush at some solitary drinking-place or salt-lick, I cannot 
 regard as legitimate sporting, though both are undenia- 
 ble ways of getting venison, when one happens to be in 
 want of it ; because I conceive there is no sport, where 
 there is no skill exhibited, no doubt of success, and no 
 chance of escape left to the quarry either by flight or 
 resistance. 
 
354 MAJfUAI- FOB YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 Neither do I dwell upon shooting deer over pointers — 
 for not ■ describing which, I have seen myself recently 
 grossly and abusively commented upon by a vulgar, illiter- 
 ate, anonymous western clown, writing under the signature 
 of " Quid," from Quincy, Illinois, in the columns of the 
 New York Spirit of the Times, who neither spells correct- 
 ly nor writes grammatically, and who resorts to the con- 
 temptible meanness of making false quotations from my 
 works in order to magnify himself and make a case against 
 me. Of course, both I, and — as I presume — my friend 
 Dr. Lewis, who comes in likewise for a share of this name- 
 less slanderer's abuse — ^must feel highly gratified to learn 
 that our writings are read by such fellows as " Quid " with 
 " disgust and loathing." Mine, at least, are only intended 
 for men who feel like gentlemen and act like sportsmen. 
 
 But to return from this brief digression, I have not 
 described deer-shooting over pointers — not because it is 
 any thing new or unknown that a pointer or setter will 
 stand upon deer if he get a chance, or that, if he get a 
 chance point at one, a sportsman would and could shoot 
 him with buck-shot — but simply because the places where 
 such things can be done systematically, if any where, are 
 so rare as to be out of all rule of example ; because, 
 neither I, nor, I will venture to say, one in ten thousand 
 of all the deer hunters in America ever dreamed of going 
 out, of set purpose, to beat for deer with setters ; and 
 because, if there be any place where this can be done, there 
 are other modes which would afford five times the sport. 
 
 In a word, however, I utterly disbelieve that Mr. Quid, 
 either at Quincy, Illinois, or any where else, ever got fif- 
 
THE rOEEST AND THE PLAINS. 355 
 
 teen points at deer, and killed half the number, as he 
 implies, in a morning. This is, however, but the ignoble 
 ■worb of breaking a butterfly on the wheel ! Let Mr. 
 Quid go ! 
 
 In these three kinds of deer hunting, all ■ that the 
 beginner has to do, is, if placed at a stand, to hold himself 
 perfectly silent, perfectly motionless, perfectly observant 
 and attentive, neither to smoke cigars, nor go to sleep ; 
 neither to fire his gun at any thing but the deer, nor to 
 let the deer go past without firing at him. In a word, let 
 him keep his mouth shut, his eyes open, and his head 
 clear, trust in Providence, and be patient. 
 
 If he be riding to hounds, let him choose out the best 
 rider, and the person best acquainted with the country 
 whom to follow, let him stick upon his horse as well as he 
 can, hold him hard by the head with the snaffle, keep his 
 spurs out of his sides, put his head straight at whatever 
 fence he means to take, refuse no necessary, and ride at no 
 unnecessary, leap, and when he fires, grip the horse firmly 
 with the knees, and bear his weight on the stirrup of the 
 side toward which he fires, rather than on the other, 
 since, if the horse swerve, it will be away from the shot, 
 not toward it. If he be riding at speed on parallel lines 
 with the game at which he shoots, little allowance will be 
 necessary, as the gun and its object advance at nearly 
 equal rates. 
 
 In still-hunting, which no one, a novice, of course, 
 dreams of doing, except in company with an experienced 
 guide, the only thing to do is to follow silently in his 
 wakSj imitate all his motions, observe all that he observes, 
 
356 MANUAL FOR TOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 and ■whatever else one may ; ask for explanations, not at 
 the time, but hy the camp fire, when the hunt is over ; keep 
 cool, and when the critical moment come, if come it may, 
 take as good an aim and shoot as quickly and as straight 
 as he can. 
 
 Elk and moose hunting, and yet more, cariboo hunting, 
 partake all of the character of still-hunting — except the 
 pursuit of the former when it is made with greyhounds or 
 deer hounds on the prairies — with the addition of diinculty 
 and hardship of running many miles on snow-shoes in pur- 
 suit of the vast and cumbrous animals over the frozen snow 
 crust of the wintry wilderness, and camping out many nights 
 in succession, under the inclement sky of the high northern 
 latitudes, with the thermometer at 40 degrees, or more, 
 below zero. 
 
 Buffalo are sometimes stalked, but more usually ridden 
 down by mere speed of horses without the aid of hounds, 
 and shot in full career with carbine or rifle, by the hunter 
 galloping side by side with them. The horsemanship is 
 the great art to be attained, and skill is needful both to 
 gallop at speed safely over the broken and interrupted 
 surface of the wild plains, and to sit firmly and securely, 
 when the horse swerves or sheers off, as he is taught to do, 
 the instant the shot is fired, to avoid the sudden charge of 
 the infuriate beast. 
 
 The best place at which to fire in any large animal in 
 motion, is immediately behind the bend of the shoulder, 
 where the fore-arm is articulated with the shoulder-blade, 
 at about two thirds the distance from the withers, measured 
 downward to the elbow. If the ball, or charge of. buck- 
 
THE FOEKST AND IHK PLAINS. rfu I 
 
 stot be lodged here, it will infallibly strike the heart. 
 The head should never be aimed at unless in a standing 
 shot, by a certain and steady marksman with a ball in his 
 gun. 
 
 For large game shooting, the rifle should not carry a 
 smaller ball than 32, and I greatly prefer 16 to the lb. A 
 deer which will carry off a bullet of 60 or less to the 
 pound, apparently unharmed, and die of it in a week after- 
 ward in misery, and unprofitably in the lonely wilderness, 
 will either fall to the shot with broken bones, or bleed 
 to death in a few leaps, more or less, from the large wound 
 inflicted by an ounce ball. 
 
 For buffalo hunting on hojseback, the new breech-load- 
 ing carbine, described at page 121, is the implement of all 
 others, for ease of loading, quickness of firing, and the 
 tremendous penetration of its large acorn-shaped ball. 
 
 All sporting rifles should be fitted with fowling-piece 
 stocks, and back-sights moderately open at the top, for 
 catching rapid aim in snap shots, though at the bottom 
 they should be filed into mere hair-line clefts, for the 
 purpose of drawing a fine bead, when desirable. 
 
 Remember, after firing, the first thing to be done is 
 always to reload. No pi-actice is so bad as to go up to a 
 beast, when it has fallen, with an unloaded weapon. If 
 the animal be of a dangerous nature, it is doubly perilous 
 so to approach him, even if he appear to be dead. The 
 first infliction of a wound often produces a stunning sensa- 
 tion, and a sort of stupefaction, which passes away on the 
 fear or rage produced by the sudden advance of an enemy. 
 I have more than once seen deer spring up, go away, as if 
 
358 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 unhurt, and effect their ultimate escape, in this manner, 
 after lying for some seconds as if killed outright ; and the 
 stories of accidents incurred from wounded carriivora 
 through the like want of caution are innumerable. 
 
 Turkey shooting, which alone remains, can, I must 
 maintain it, in spite of the prejudices of my western 
 friends, hardly ever be had under circumstances which 
 constitute it a sport ; for the bird will rarely either lie to 
 setters, or flush to spaniels within shot ; and to lie under 
 shelter of a covering log, and call it up by imitating the 
 yelp of the hen bird, and then shoot it with a rifle, is, for 
 the reasons I have given above, though an effective way 
 of procuring an admirable species of game, no genuine 
 sport. 
 
 I have heard of this bird being hunted with beagles 
 by sportsmen mounted on slow, active ponies, through the 
 fine open forests of Canada East, where the ground is un- 
 encumbered with brushwood and coppice, and where the 
 giant trees stand so wide apart that one might manoeuvre 
 a regiment of cavalry among them ; and by this means, it 
 is said, they are forced to take wing, and afford fair flying 
 shots to their pursuers, or are driven to tree after a short 
 and exciting gallop, when they can either be. shot sitting 
 on the branches, or driven out to, the gun, aecojrdingly as 
 the sportsman inclines to fill his bag at all hazards, or to 
 give the game a chance for its life. 
 
 In my belief, it is not in sportsmanship, as it is said to 
 be in love and war, where all that wins is reputed fair. 
 It is not in the mere killing of numbers, much less in the 
 mere killing at all ; it is not in the value of the things 
 
THIi FORKST AND THE PLAINS. 359 
 
 killed, though it is not sportsmanship, but butchery and 
 wanton cruelty, to kill animals which are valueless and out 
 of season; it is not in the inevitable certainty of success — 
 for certainty destroys the excitement, which is the soul of 
 sport — but it is in the vigor, science, and manhood displayed 
 — in the difficulties to be overcome, in the pleasurable anx- 
 iety for success, and the uncertainty of it, and lastly in the 
 true spirit, the style, the dash, the handsome way of doing 
 what is to be done, and, above all, in the unalterable love 
 of fair play, that first thought of the genuine sportsman, 
 that true sportsmanship consists. 
 
 And that it never may be degraded into aught else, is 
 the ardent wish, as it shall ever be the teaching, of Frank 
 Forester. 
 
 
 '^■'iJf^^^^-'^^ 
 
GAME FISH, 
 
 THE BEST MODES OF FISHING THEM. 
 
 km^ Bpttmm, 
 
KIVEK FISH AND FISHmG. 
 
 Of tlije following pages, wliicli will, I think, be found to 
 contain all that is needful, both in theory and practice for 
 the instruction of the young angler, much of that which 
 relates to tackle, implements, the most approved baits 
 and the precepts for their use, — most, indeed, which is not 
 connected entirely with the varieties of fish peculiar to 
 this continent, — is selected from that excellent and most 
 practical little work, Stonehenge's Manual of British Rural 
 Sports. I have no hesitation in using these extracts, since 
 although the trout, the pickerel, the perch, and indeed 
 all the fish of America, with the exception of the carp, which 
 is a direct importation, difier from the similar and similarly 
 named fish of Europe, still the method of taking them is 
 
364 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 identical. Trolling is trolling, and flj'-fisliing fly-fishing the 
 world over ; nor have I ever any where else met instructions 
 for both, so practical, so plain, and so replete with all that 
 can be taught by precept, and may be matured by experi- 
 ence into perfect science, as in extracts which I here sub- 
 mit, partially altered, it is true, and adapted, where altera- 
 tion and adaptation were necessary, to the state of the art 
 piscatorial in America, but still in the naain attributable 
 to the clever writer and compiler, whose norm, de plume is 
 so well known as an authority on English sporting mat- 
 ters. 
 
 The brief description of the leading American fishes, 
 which are of interest to the angler, are arranged according 
 to the best authorities, and the instructions for such modes 
 of angling as are peculiar to our waters are original, and 
 will, I hope, be found useful and authentic. 
 
 It will be observed that I have not, in this volume, 
 entered largely into ichthyological questions, or discussions 
 concerning the natural history and breeding of fish, which 
 subjects will be found treated at large in my work on the 
 fish and fishing of the United States and British Prov- 
 inces of North America, and in other books devoted 
 wholly to the topics of natural history, and the fauna of 
 the continent. The paper on trolling for lake trout, 
 which is quoted from the pages of my work above referred 
 to, is from the pen of an excellent fisherman, who is much 
 accustomed to the sport and the waters which he describes, 
 and who kindly prepared it for the Appendix to the second 
 edition of my volume. 
 
EITEE TISH AND FISHING. 
 
 366 
 
 The Common Salmon, Salmo Solar, Stands at the head 
 of American fish, as affording the best sport to the angler, 
 and the greatest treat to the gourmand ; its flesh being 
 rich in flavor, and of a beautiful red color. It is a fish 
 of large size, sometimes attaining to the weight of 50 or 
 even 60 pounds, and of beautiful proportions. The head 
 is small,; upper jaw longer than the lower ; vomer fur- 
 nished with teeth ; body slightly arched on the back, 
 which ought to be broad and muscular, and gradually 
 tapering to the tail, which is broad, and ends in a crescen- 
 tic curve. The color of the salmon when in season, is a 
 purplish-black on the back, softening into a silvery-gray 
 on the sides, and ending in a pure white on the belly. 
 When out of season, these colors are represented by a 
 dull brown on the back, reddish or pale-brown on the 
 sides, and reddish-white on the belly. The male has 
 several small, irregular, and copper-colored spots on his 
 sides. These in the feniale are larger, darker, and gener- 
 ally round or lunated. The male is also more slender. 
 The scales are middle-sized, and are easily detached. The 
 
366 MAKUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 average length is from two and a half to three feet. 
 Salmon feed freely on fish and mollusca, but digest their 
 food so rapidly, that when opened their stomachs are gen- 
 erally found empty. Their growth is proportionate to the 
 quantity of food which they can procure ; and hence when 
 they reach the sea they increase in size in a marvellous 
 manner, during a very short period. The successive 
 stages of development of this fish are now supposed to be 
 as follows : — the fry are hatched chiefly in the spring and 
 early summer, and grow very slowly till they are about a 
 year old, up to which time they are called salmon fry, 
 and have several transverse bars on their sides. When 
 these disappear, and the fish becomes uniformly silvery in 
 color, it is about to commence its first migration to the 
 sea, and is called a smoH. After the smolt has re- 
 mained in the sea a few months, it returns to its native 
 river, if possible, and is then greatly increased in size, 
 generally weighing two or three pounds, or even consider- 
 ably more. They are now called grilse; and after a 
 second time descending to the sea, where they again 
 rapidly add to their size and weight, they attain the full 
 dignity and name of salmon. The female salmon deposits 
 her ova in the gravelly beds of mountain streams, where 
 she ploughs a groove with her tail, and is assisted by 
 the male in the whole operation. The size of the salmon 
 does not entirely depend upon the age, but on the nature 
 of the river in which it is bred ; some rivers never pro- 
 duce large salmon, whilst others are remarkable for fish 
 of great size. The salmon was originally found in all 
 North American rivers eastward of the Delaware. . It 
 
EITEE FISH AND FISHING. 367 
 
 now hardly exists west of the Kennebec and Penobscot, 
 and even there is becoming yearly more scarce. In the 
 British Provinces, and in California and Oregon, it still 
 abounds. 
 
 Sea Trout, Salmo Trutta. — According to Mr. Yar- 
 rel, this fish is distinguished from the common salmon by 
 the gill-cover, which differs in the following points : — The 
 line of union of the operculum with the sub-operculum and 
 the inferior margin of the sub-operculum, is oblique, forming 
 a considerable angle with the axis of the body of the first. 
 The posterior edge of the pre-operculum is rounded, not 
 sinuous. The teeth are also more slender and numerous. 
 The flesh of this fish is very similar in flavor and color 
 to that of the common salmon, with which it is very gen- 
 erally confounded ; and the two are sold indiscriminately 
 by the fishmongers as ordinary salmon. In habits, haunts, 
 &c., they are also alike. It is common in the St. Law- 
 rence, and the rivers of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 
 
 The Common Tkout, Salmo Fontinalis, is distinguished 
 by the length of the lower jaw being greater than that of 
 the upper. It weighs from half a pound to four or five, or 
 even, in rare cases, up to eight pounds ; and its ordinary 
 length is from 10 to 18 or 20 inches. In shape it is not 
 quite so elegant as the salmon, but it is, nevertheless, a 
 very beautiful fish. The snout is more blunt, and the 
 jaws are thickly supplied with teeth inclining inwards, and 
 very sharp. In color it is dark brown, mottled with yel- 
 low on the back, pink on the sides, in season, and silver- 
 white below. It is marked on the sides with several dis- 
 tinct round spots of a bright red color, each surrounded 
 
368 MAKUAL FOE TOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 by a halo of pale gray ; its fins are trioolored, bright red, 
 bordered with black ; and an anterior margin of pure white. 
 Trout vary so much in different rivers, that no one descrip- 
 tion will minutely apply to all, but the above will give the 
 general characteristics of the species. The trout feeds 
 like the salmon, and in habits resembles that fish in all 
 respects but the migration to the sea. He is generally 
 found in swift and gravelly streams, and rejects those of 
 an opposite character, though he is occasionally to be met 
 with there in consequence of the artificial arid compulsory 
 interference of man. The spawn is deposited in the same 
 way as that of the salmon ; but as the young do not 
 migrate, their successive changes and growth cannot be so 
 clearly made out. The spawning time begins in Septem- 
 ber, in some few cases,, but it is not commonly in full 
 operation till October or November, after which it may be 
 said to be completed. The trout is in fall season from 
 March to July, but the time varies in different rivers so 
 much, that it is impossible to lay down any decided rule. 
 When in high perfection its spots are peculiarly brilliant 
 and distinct ; the head is small, the body being plump 
 and thick, and the belly silvery. Of Lake Trout there 
 are several species, the great lake trout of Superior and 
 Huron, Salmo Ameihystus ; the Siskawit, and the com- 
 mon lake trout, Salmo confinis, besides other, perhaps 
 casual varieties. 
 
 The Masoalonge and Pickerel. — Of these voracious 
 fish there are many varieties, in almost all the lakes and 
 rivers of North America. The former species is confined 
 to the waters of the St. Lawrence ; the latter is common 
 
EIVEE FISH AND FISHING. 369 
 
 to all the lakes and fresh rivers of the Eastern, Middle, 
 and North-western States. It is closely allied to the 
 English pike, and is a very ugly-looking fish, the head 
 being large, the jaws long and savage-looking, and armed 
 with several hundred teeth ; the tail is lunated ; the color 
 is a pale olive-gray, becoming deeper on the back, and 
 marked on the sides with several yellowish spots or 
 patches. Sometimes the pickerel reaches an enormous size, 
 instances having been known in which it was taken more 
 than three feet- in length. The food of the pickerel con- 
 sists of fish, frogs, rats, the young of water-fowl, or, in 
 fact, any thing in the shape of animal food. They spawn 
 in March and April, among the weeds of their favorite 
 haunts. 
 
 The Chub, Roach and Dace are common in all Amer- 
 ican streams, but are little fished for except by boys, and 
 are worthless on the table. 
 
 The Common Carp, Cyprinus Carpio, is the type of 
 a family which have all a small mouth without teeth, but 
 possessing a bony apparatus in the throat as a substitute. 
 They have only one dorsal fin. The common carp is not 
 a native of Great Britain, but was introduced by the 
 monks to serve the purposes of the table during their 
 fasts. In length it is usually from one foot to one foot 
 six inches. The back is arched and thick ; color yellow- 
 ish, ' approaching to brown over the back, and to white 
 under the belly. The mouth has a short beard on each 
 side, both above and below ; on the sides are some black- 
 ish specks; fins, brown;, tail, brown, and forked. Carp 
 feed on worms and insects, and are very prolific, living 
 16* 
 
370 MANTTAL FOE TOTING SPOETSMEN. 
 
 also to a great age. They are a very wary and cautious 
 fish, and very uncertain in appetite, being sometimes ready 
 to take a bait, and at others obstinately refusing every 
 temptation. The carp is now common in the Hudson, 
 having escaped. from the store ponds of Captain Robinson, 
 who imported it from Holland, and having been protected 
 by law until it became abundant. 
 
 The Bass.- — Of this fine family there are four species 
 peculiar to the waters of the rivers, lakes, and sea bays 
 of North America, besides a purely salt-water species taken 
 on the outer sea-banks, known as the sea bass, Centro- 
 pristes Nigricans. These three are the striped bass, 
 Labrax Kneaius, a noble migratory fish, varying according 
 to age and condition from half a pound to seventy pounds 
 weight, and frequenting all the waters of the Middle and 
 Eastern States, from those of the Chesapeake to Boston 
 Bay. He runs up the fresh rivers from the sea in pursuit 
 of the shoals of shad and smelt, on the roe of which he 
 feeds greedily, and frequents the fresh waters until late in 
 the autumn, when he retires to the sea bays and inlets, 
 where he remains imbedded in the mud of those calm and 
 brackish lagoons until the return of warm weather. 
 
 He is a handsome, active fish, bluish brown above and 
 silvery white on the sides and belly, marked with seven or 
 nine longitudinal stripes of chocolate brown, those above 
 the medial line terminating at the tail, those below it 
 fading away and disappearing above the anal fin. Like 
 the perch he has two dorsal fins, the anterior one having 
 nine sharp-pointed splrous rays. He is a gallant fish and 
 bold biter. 
 
ETVEE FISH AND FTSHING. 371 
 
 The two next species, the Black Bass of the Lakes, 
 Gristes Nigricans, and the Rock Bass, centrarchus wneus, 
 are originally peculiar to the basin of the St. Lawrence, 
 though they have been purposely introduced into many 
 other waters, and have introduced themselves, via the 
 canals, into the Hudson and other rivers connected with 
 those great Canadian waters. 
 
 The black bass is taken from half a pound to eight or 
 nine pounds weight, though its ordinary run does not 
 exceed, if it reaches, three or four pounds. It has a 
 double dorsal, like the preceding species, the former with 
 nine sharp spines, the latter with one spine and fourteen 
 soft i-ays. It is of a bluish black color above with bronzed 
 reflections, and below of a bluish white. It loves clear 
 cold limpid lakes and swift rivers ; it is a delicious fish and 
 a bold biter. It abounds in Seneca, Cayuga, and Crooked 
 Lakes of New York, and in all the great northern lakes, 
 though it is- not found to the north of these. 
 
 The Rock Bass, centrarchus ceneus, peculiar to the 
 same waters, is a smaller fish, rarely exceeding a pound or 
 a pound and a half weight. 
 
 Its color is dark coppery bronze above, with green 
 metallic reflections, the sides coppery golden, with several 
 rows of dark oblong spots. 
 
 Its dorsal fin has eleven spines and twelve soft rays. 
 It is abundant in the lakes, in the Hudson river, and 
 in many adjoining lakes and rivers into which he has been 
 casually or intentionally introduced. 
 
 The Growler, Gristes Salmoneids. — This fish consid- 
 erably resembles the black bass, and arrives at nearly the 
 
373 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN, 
 
 same size. It is of a deep greenish brown colorj and has 
 ten spines in the first dorsal and fourteen rays in the sec- 
 ond dorsal fin. This fish is known as the salmon in the 
 Susquehanna, which river is not visited by the true salmon, 
 as the white salmon in Virginia, and as the Welch-man in 
 the inland waters of North Carolina. It has been taken 
 in the waters of Western New York, though not frequent 
 in them, but abounds in many of the Western States. 
 
 The Pike Peech or Sandra, Lucioperca Americana, 
 deserves mention as an admirable fish on the table, and a 
 favorite with the angler, both for its beauty, strength, and 
 boldness of biting. It is a true perch, and has nothing 
 of the pike but its elongated snout, whence it derives its 
 name. It has thirteen spines in the first dorsal, and one 
 spine and twenty-one soft rays in the second. Its general 
 color is yeUow, beautifully mottled with purplish brown, 
 zigzag lines above, and pure silver below. It rises to 
 nine pounds weight, is a fish of the western waters, lov- 
 ing quiet pools under mill-dams or at the foot of rapids, 
 and retires in the summer into the depths of the clear cold 
 lakes, or quiet shadowy places in rivers, amid water grasses 
 and weeds. 
 
 There are many other varieties of fish, of greater or 
 less value to the angler, found in all the waters of the con- 
 tinent, from the abominable and gigantic catfish down to 
 the diminutive breams, shiners and killy fish, which afford 
 so much sport to boy fishermen, but with the exception of 
 the perch and eel, there are none others which require 
 especial notice. 
 
 The Perch, Perca Americana, is a very handsome 
 
EIVER FISH AND FISHING. 373 
 
 fish of medium size. Body deep, with high-arched back ; 
 head small, with sharp teeth in the jaws and the roof of 
 the mouth. The edges of the gill-covers are serrated, with 
 a spine on the lower part. Colors as follows : — Back, 
 deep olive-green, with broad black bars, gradually becom- 
 ing white towards the belly. It has, however, many varie- 
 ties and shades of color, sometimes being found, especially 
 in the large clear spring lakes of the inland country, of a 
 rich golden yellow, barred with dusky bands. There is a 
 
 
 
 small variety known as the " sunfish," or " pumkin seed," 
 mottled with various colors, and a great favorite with boy 
 anglers. The dorsal fin is furnished with spinous pro- 
 longations, so sharp that it can scarcely be handled with 
 impunity by the angler. It thrives best in large tidal 
 rivers, where it seeks the point at which the water is usu- 
 ally brackish, and grows there to an extent never seen 
 elsewhere. It is a slow-growing fish, requiring many years 
 to arrive at its full size. The perch spawns in the 
 months of March and April. It is a gregarious fish, and 
 is very tenacious of life. 
 
374 MANUAI, FOR TOUNR SPORTSMEN. 
 
 , The Eel, Anguilla communis. — Of this fish there 
 are several varieties, but they differ so little as to require 
 no particular mention. They do not exist above the Falls 
 of Niagara, which they cannot ascend, being migratory fish 
 descending to the sea, where they grow to a vast size, and 
 ascending annually to spring waters. In length they are 
 from 1 to 3 feet ; color, on the back sometimes a dark olive 
 brown, at others light brown ; belly, always white and sil- 
 very, especially in the silver eel, a variety peculiar to some 
 rivers. Head flat, and jaws more or less oblongated, but 
 the lower jaw always the longer ; eyes very near the 
 mouth, and small, with a reddish iris ; gill-opening set 
 far back, and close to the temporal fin. The eel is now 
 ascertained to spawn in tl^e sea, for which purpose it de- 
 scends from its usual haunts and visits the ocean. It has 
 the power of overcoming all obstacles, because it can leave 
 the water, and by its serpent-like, form, travel over or 
 round any flood-gate, or mill-dam, in its course, whether 
 up or down stream. It generally chooses dark stormy 
 nights for this purpose ; and its migration downward takes 
 place ia the months of August, September, and October, 
 during which time eels are taken in large numbers by the 
 millers throughout the country, who set their pots at the 
 chief water-couraes. Eels are generally considered to be 
 viviparous, but they seem, like many other animals, some- 
 times to produce their ova already hatched, and at others 
 to eject them with their contents still in an embryo state. 
 The young first appear on the coasts in March and April, 
 and are then seen in enormous quantities. They soon 
 ascend the rivers, and by various devices they surmount 
 
EIVEE FISH AND FISHING.. 375 
 
 the flood-gatQS, &c. , which impede the progress of other fish ; 
 sometimes the English millers put straw ropes for this 
 purpbse, up which the young eels swarm in myriads. While 
 ascending the larger rivers they may be seen in a double 
 column, one close to each bank, swimming with great 
 {)ower and speed. These young eels are from half an inch 
 to an inch in length. The eel is a very voracious fish, 
 and will feed upon all kinds of garbage, and upon small 
 fish, frogs, rats, &c ; it may be said to be the great scav- 
 enger of our rivers. Eels feed chiefly by night, and they 
 lie chiefly by day in the deep pools of rivers, or under 
 stones or stumps of trees, or among the weeds or other 
 impediments to the current of water, which they seem in 
 all cases to dislike. 
 
 
 THE LINE, KEEL, AND HOOK. 
 
 This, which is the essential part of all fishing-tackle, 
 consists of a reel-line, varying in length, strength, and 
 size, according to the nature of the fish which is sought 
 after; of a reel to wind this upon, also varying in accord- 
 ance with the line; and of a smaller and finer foot-length 
 
31^6 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 attached to the line, which is usually composed of silk- 
 worm gut, hair or gimp, and is armed with one or more 
 hooks, variously baited. 
 
 Reel-lines are made of horse-hair, from the tail, of 
 silk, or silk and hair mixed, of Indian-weed, and of silk- 
 worm gut. It is usual for the amateur fisherman to pur- 
 chase these lines, which are made by a small machine, but 
 sometimes the angler prefers making them himself, and 
 if at all handy, he may do this with great advantage by 
 an easily acquired method, which is much superior to the 
 twisting-machine, because it admits of the introduction of 
 fresh hair with much greater facility. 
 
 Silk and hair-mixed lines are those usually sold, 
 and they are the best for general purposes, because they 
 wind so well on the reel, and are strong and durable. 
 They are made of all lengths, and may be purchased at 
 any of the tackle-makers. Indian-.weed or grass lines 
 are also sometimes used, but they do not stand sudden 
 jars, being inclined to snap. A plaited silk line is 
 now made without hair, and is very generally adopted. 
 It is much more free from kinking or ravelling than the 
 other lines. 
 
 The reel is generally used by the angler, partly for 
 the convenience of carrying the line safely, but chiefly in 
 order to allow of rapid extension or drawing in of Ihe line 
 which' is wound upon it. Multiplying-reels, in which, by 
 the introduction of machinery, the barrel is made to travel 
 several times to the single revolution of the handle, were 
 formerly much used, but they are now in great measure 
 replaced by the more simple plan of having a large barrel 
 
EIVEE FISH AOT5 FISHING. 377 
 
 or drum on whicli to wind the line, instead of a sm^ll cen- 
 tral spindle. By the use of this large drum even a salmon 
 • line may be taken in as rapidly as can be desired, and the 
 line lies much more evenly and free from any kind of 
 hitch, with the great advantage that it will give off the 
 line readily to the end. 
 
 The foot-length, or the extreme portion of the line, 
 is composed of finer materials than the reel-line, in order 
 to escape the eye of the fish. It is generally made of 
 pieces of gut, knotted together, and altogether comprising 
 a length of from three to eight feet. Sometimes it is of 
 single gut throughout, but generally of two or three thick- 
 nesses of twisted gut at the end next the line, then of two, 
 and finally of one piece of gut. This material is the pro- 
 duce of the silkworm, and is the unspun substance iatend- 
 ed for silk, but made into gut instead by the art of man. 
 The silkworm, just before spinning, is broken in two by 
 the hand of the gut-maker, who, by drawing the pieces 
 apart, obtains gut of any firmness, according to the length 
 to which he pulls it. Considerable knack is required to 
 make it uniformly round and free from weak places, which 
 should be searched for carefully in selecting gut for the 
 single lengths. Horse-hair is sometimes used for this 
 purpose, and in some instances gimp, consisting of silk 
 protected by wire. All these various sorts "will be treated 
 of under the respective kinds of fishing in which they are 
 employed. 
 
 Hooks are pieces of bent steel wire, barbed at the 
 point, and of various sizes and forms. They are made 
 according to the respective patterns which are fancied by 
 
378 MANUAL FOE YOUNG- SPOETSMEN. 
 
 the English, Scotch, and Irish makers. The round bend 
 hook, is that which is most used in England, the Limerick 
 pattern being chiefly in vogue in Ireland, and the Scotch 
 anglers using, some of them the former and others the lat- 
 ter : while many Scotchmen use what is called the sneck- 
 bend, differing slightly from both of the above, in lieing 
 made of a more square shape. The round bend hook is 
 numbered from 1, the largest salmon size, to 14, the small- 
 est midge. The best Irish hooks, made by Philips of 
 Dublin, are classed in a different way : F E is intended 
 for the smallest trouting-fly ; P, the next ; then P F ; then, 
 again, F F F. After this come C and C C ; then B and 
 B B. The C's and B's have intermediate or half-num- 
 bers, and above B B the hooks for salmon are known by 
 numbers, beginning with B B, which corresponds with 9, 
 and going on regularly up to No. 1. 
 
 Various articles are required for uniting these portions 
 of the line — viz., silk of different degrees of strength, cob- 
 bler's wax, spirit varnish, and small scissors, &c. 
 
 The joints used are — first, whipping ; second, knot- 
 ting. Whipping consists in drawing successive circles of 
 silk, well waxed, tightly around the two objects laid in 
 apposition ; as, for instance, two portions of the line, or the 
 line and hook. This is finished off by slipping the end of 
 the silk through the last circle and drawing tight, and, if 
 necessary, repeating the operation again and again ; this is 
 called the half-hitch. Knotting is effected by several 
 modes, the most common of which is the water-knot, "which 
 is managed as follows : — Lay the two pieces of gut or hair 
 together, one overlapping the othor three inches or more, 
 
EIVEE FISH AND FISHING. 379 
 
 then hold one end in the left hand and form a simple slip- 
 knot upon it, turn the other end to the right and do the 
 same thing, then draw the two together, and the knot is 
 complete ; by whipping with fine waxed silk this knot is 
 made still more firm. The advantage of this knot is that 
 it will neyer give way to a direct pull, and yet may always 
 be undone without difficulty. 
 
 The accessories to the line are the float, and the 
 shot or 'leads. These are used in bottom-fishing only, 
 and are intended to keep the hook at a certain distance 
 from the bottom. The float is either of quill or cork, and 
 is fixed upon the line by a ring at one end and a sliding- 
 quill at the other. The shot are partially split and then 
 brought together again upon the line. In this way, by 
 plumbing the depth of the water, and adjusting the float 
 so as to keep the bait at a certain depth, the object of the 
 bottom-fisher is attained. 
 
 Box-swivels and hook-swivels may be readily un- 
 derstood from their name, and are used in spinning tackle, 
 in order to prevent the line from twisting. 
 
 Gimp is composed of silk or other material strong 
 enough to resist any straining force applied to it, and pro- 
 tected from the teeth of the fish, or from sharp stones, by 
 fine brass wire neatly wound round. It is made of va- 
 rious sizes and strength. 
 
 THE ROD. 
 
 The rod is the machine with which the line is con- 
 veyed to the place where the fish is the most likely to take 
 
380 MAlSrUAL FOE TOUNO SPOETSMEN. 
 
 it, and with whicli the various manoeuvres prior to his 
 capture are effected. It is made of , several pieces united 
 by joints, and these are of varying size, length, and mate- 
 rials, according to the kind of fishing to which it is to be 
 applied. It Is also sold to suit all purposes in one, by 
 changing the top joints, and it is then called a general 
 rod ; but though this may suit the pedestrian tourist who 
 wishes to avoid carrying more than one rod, yet it inter- 
 feres a good deal with the efiicienoy of both, and especially 
 does it fail as a fly-rod. It is, however, well enough suit- 
 ed to the beginner. The extra pieces are contained in 
 the butt, which is hollowed out to receive them. The 
 specific varieties of rods will come under consideration in 
 each section devoted to the particular sport for which 
 they are intended, but I may enumerate them here as the 
 general rod, the trolling rod, the trout fly-fishing rod, and 
 the salmon fly-fishing rod. The materials of which these 
 are composed are ash, hickory, lancewood, and cane, which 
 are united together by brass ferules. Whalebone is also 
 sometimes used in the top joints of fly-rods, but these are 
 made so much better by the tackle-maker than by the am- 
 ateur, that it is useless to go into the description of their 
 manufacture. 
 
 NATURAL AND GROUND BAITS. 
 
 The earth-worm is the most primitive and simple of 
 all baits, and is that which is generally first used by the 
 juvenile angler, because it is easily obtained, and. applied 
 without difficulty. There are several varieties of these 
 
EIVEE FISH AUD FISHING. 381 
 
 worms, known to anglers as the dew-worm, lob-worm or the 
 marsh-worm, the tugiail, the brandling, and the red-worm. 
 
 The dew-worm, or large garden 'worm, is of consider- 
 able size, varying from 6 to 12 inches in length when ex- 
 tended. The tail tapers somewhat, but in the squirrel- 
 tailed variety it is flattened. In color this worm is of a 
 dull brick-red, approaching to a crimson towards the head. 
 These worms are obtained either by digging, or by search- 
 ing for them quietly at night with a candle and lantern on 
 the lawns or paths of the garden. In dry weather they 
 are always out when the dew is falling. 
 
 The marsh-worm, or blue-head, is found in moist 
 and undrained localities, where they may be obtained with 
 a candle and lantern in large numbers during the fine 
 summer nights. In color they are of a light -dirty or 
 brownish purple. These worms should be kept in damp 
 moss with a little earth mixed with it. A variety of this 
 worm, found in land only partially marshy, is called in 
 Scotland the black-head or button-worm, and is more 
 tough, and therefore better calculated for standing the 
 rough treatment which it must undergo in swift and wide 
 streams. It is an excellent bait for trout. 
 
 The tagtail is common in good strong clays, which 
 are well manured for turnips, mangel-wurzel, &c. It is 
 a small worm of about 2 or 3 inches in length. Head 
 larger, and of a deeper blue than the body, which is a 
 dingy red ; tail, yellowish. 
 
 The brandling is a small worm found in artificial 
 composts, and in rotten tan, or other decaying vegetable 
 matter, of a dirty red color, approaching to brown. 
 
383 - MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 The red-worm is about the same size as the brand- 
 ling, which it resembles in all respects but color, that 
 being in the red-worm exactly what its name implies. It 
 is found in the banks of ditches and sewers. The gilt-tail 
 is a variety of this worm, but larger, and of a paler color 
 towards the tail. 
 
 All these worms should be scoured, — a process which 
 consists in starving them, by placing them in damp moss, 
 neither too wet nor too dry. The worms here are not 
 only deprived of their usual food, but in their efforts to 
 escape they mechanically compress their bodies between 
 tke fibres of the moss, and in that way completely empty 
 themselves of their faecal contents. Before putting them 
 in the moss, Mr. Stoddart recommends that worms should 
 be placed in water for a few minutes, after which they should 
 be suffered to crawl over a dry board, in order still further 
 to cleanse their skins. They may then be transferred to 
 the moss, as described above. The worms should be 
 examined from day to day, and those which are unhealthy 
 or injured should be removed. When the worms are quite 
 sufficiently scoured, they should be stored for use. Three 
 or four days is the average time required for scouring. 
 
 Worms are preserved in the following, manner : — 
 Procure some fresh mutton, suet, cut it fine, and boil it in 
 a quart of water till dissolved ; then dip in this two or 
 three pieces of coarse new wrapper large enough to supply 
 each variety of worm, which should not be mixed together. 
 When these are cold, put them into separate earthen jara, 
 with some damp earth and the worms which are to be 
 kept, and tie over all a piece of open and coarse muslin. 
 
EIVEE FISH^ AWD FISHHTG/ ' 
 
 Shrimps aro much used for angling in tide ■waters, and 
 are good baits for perch, if used- alive. 
 
 The cockchafer is a common bait, but is not of much 
 value in angling, except for chub. 
 
 Dung beetles, ^of various kinds, are also employed, 
 and some anglers use them after removing their wing-cases. 
 They should be placed crosswise on the hook. 
 
 Grasshoppers form good baits for some fish, and are 
 much used for chub in particular. They are met with 
 after tho beginning of June till the end of September. 
 The greener and larger they are, the better they take. 
 
 Butterflies and moths are also sometimes efficient 
 baits, but their artificial representations are more common' 
 ly used. 
 
 The ephemera, or natural May-fly, is used as a 
 bait during the period when it comes forth in countless 
 myriads. By baiting with this fly in May and June suc- 
 cess is often attained, putting two flies on the hook at the 
 same time.- 
 
 Caddis-flies are also used in the same way as the 
 ephemera. 
 
 Humble! bees, blue-bottle flies, gnats, and ant-flies are 
 held in estimation by many anglers, as well as the hari-y- 
 long-legs, and the common house-fly. 
 
 Many larvae or grubs are used in bottom-fishing, 
 and are of great service^ in that department. Of these 
 the principal are— i-lstj Jlesh maggots ; 2d, beetla larvw; 
 3d, caddies; and 4th, caterpillars. 
 
 Flesh maggots, or gentles, are, obtained and scoured 
 in the following . manner : — Procure any kind of flesh, or 
 
384 MANtlAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEH. 
 
 the body of any small animal. If there is any difficulty 
 about this, the liver of a horse or cow answers remarkably 
 well. With a knife cut some deep gashes in the substance 
 of the liver or flesh, and hang it up in a shady place, but 
 near the haunts of the blow-fly. In a few days the mag- 
 gots will attain a lively state of existence; but they 
 require about a week to reach their full development to 
 the green or soft state, and another week to reach their 
 maturity, when they are large and fat, with black heads. 
 The various stages are adapted for diiferent fish. Blow- 
 flies are abroad from May to the end of November, or 
 even to the middle of December in mild seasons. The 
 scouring of these gentles is effected by placing them for a 
 few days in a mixture of bran and fine sand, slightly 
 damp. By this process they are emptied of their con- 
 tents, and rendered tough in their skins. When the 
 object is to preserve them in this state for many days, 
 they must be kept in a very cool place, such as a cellar, 
 or they even should be buried in the earth. Without 
 attention to this precaution they are almost sure to assume 
 the chrysalis condition, in which stage they are useless as 
 baits. A low temperature and exclusion froni air and 
 light retard this development ; and by burying the carcass 
 of a small animal after the larvaa are a day old in a cool 
 place, and confined in a box containing a mixture of dry 
 cow-dung and fine earth, the gentles may be preserved in 
 their larva state during the whole winter. The place 
 selected should be protected from severe frosts, which 
 would kill the gentles, and therefore an outhouse is well 
 
EIVEE FISH AND FISHING. 385 
 
 suited for this purpose, or any space in the garden well 
 sheltered by a thick shrub, such as the sheep laurel. . 
 
 The larvse of the various beetles are called by anglers, 
 the white worm grub, the cow-dung grub, the cabbage 
 grub, and the meal worm,. The first is the larva of the 
 cockchafer, and is found in loose loamy soils, especially 
 near the horse-chestnut. It may be easily found by fol- 
 lowing the plough. The second, as its name implies, is 
 found in cow-dung, and is the larva of several of the 
 beetle tribe. The third is found in the stalks of old cab- 
 bages, and often about their roots, and is the larva of 
 two or three varieties of the beetle. The last is found in 
 the meal-tub, is much smaller than the thi-ee first-men- 
 tioned varieties of grubs, and is not so good for angling 
 purposes as the gentle. 
 
 These grubs may all be preserved by simply placing 
 them with some of the earth in which they are found, in 
 any receptacle, keeping them afterwards in a cool situa- 
 tion. 
 
 Caddies are the larvas of the ephemera, or May -fly; 
 as well as the stone-fly and the caddis-fly. They are easi- 
 ly found beneath the stones, weeds, i&c., of shallow brooks, 
 and may be stored by putting them in water, with some 
 sand, in a cool place. By placing them in a perforated 
 box, they may be suffered to remain in a running stream, 
 where they continue to grow and thrive as well as in their 
 native haunts. They are not, however, much prized as 
 angling baits. 
 
 Caterpillars, or the larvae of the butterfly, are either 
 smooth or rough. The former are not much used, and the 
 17 
 
386 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOKTSMEN. 
 
 latter are so thoroughly imitated by the artificial fly called 
 the palmer, that they are scarcely ever employed. There 
 is no doubt that in angling patural products arc bettor 
 than, artificial, if they are equally capable of enduring the 
 rough usage required to drag them through the water. 
 In this respect it is that the artificial palmer beats the 
 hairy caterpillar, its original ; and hence the latter is 
 almost wholly driven out of the angler's list of baits. 
 
 Salmon-roe is a very favorite and killing bait for trout, 
 and is found to be so destructive that its use is often con- 
 sidered to be a species of poaching. I cannot understand 
 on what principle this odious stigma should be cast upon 
 its adoption, because it may be employed, like any other 
 bait, in open day ; arid the only objection to it which can 
 be urged is its very great success. No one would call an 
 unerring shot a poacher, simply because he kills more than 
 his neighbors ; then why should the bait which is more 
 successful than any other labor under this imputation ? 
 It appears to me that every one is straining to eiFect a 
 certain purpose, viz., the killing of the greatest number 
 of fish, and yet when a certain mode of attaining this 
 object is at hand, its adoption is forbidden because it will 
 insure what all are aiming at, and by open means too. 
 However, as I cannot discover any real foundation for 
 this crusade against the salmon-roe, I shall include it in 
 the list of baits, and describe its preparation and mode of 
 application to the hook. The roe itself should be collect- 
 ed as near the time of spawning as possible, and should 
 either be preserved whole, or be made into a paste at once. 
 If the former, the best way is to keep it in a jar, with 
 
EIVEE FISH AND FISHING. 
 
 gST 
 
 alternate layers of wool. The roe should be carefully 
 separated from its enveloping membrane, and should be 
 sprinkled with salt, as also should the wool. When the 
 jar is filled, it should be tied down with a bladder, and 
 kept in a cool and rather moist place, such as a cellar. 
 
 Salmon-roe paste is made by boiling the roe without its 
 envelope for 20 minutes, then bruising it in a marble mor- 
 tar until it forms a uniform mass. After this add to each 
 pound of the roe one ounce of common salt and a quarter 
 of an ounce of saltpetre ; beat them all up together, and 
 keep in a jar tied down with bladder. 
 
 Paste may be made in the same way of shad and 
 smelt roe, and arc very killing bait for bass. 
 
 Shrimp paste is made exactly in the same way, after 
 removing the shells. 
 
 Bread paste is also used as a means of taking fish, and 
 is made from new bread, well kneaded, and with or with- 
 out the addition of honey. It is either used in the white 
 state, or it is colored with vermillion, lake, or turmeric. 
 Sometimes stale bread is used, but it requires more kneading, 
 and the addition of gum water, or soaked greaves, or some 
 more adhesive material. It is often flavored with the roe 
 of salmon, or other fish ; the size of the portion used must 
 vary with the fish angled for. Cheese is also sometimes 
 made the foundation of paste, either by itself or mixed 
 with bread ; by constant kneading it becomes perfectly 
 tough, and withstands the action of the water for a long 
 time. A peculiar kind of paste called patent paste, is 
 madeby washing away all but the pure gluten. A paste 
 of flour is fitst to be made in the usual way, then by sue- 
 
388 MAI^PAL ¥0E TOtJUG SPOETSMEIT. 
 
 cessive washings in cold water, by degrees the process ia 
 completed, care being taken not to dissolve the gluten 
 itself by mixing it up with the water ; and to avoid this, 
 after each successive washing, let the paste drain for a few 
 minutes. This paste will keep for any length of time, if 
 protected from the action of the air by wrapping it in 
 sheet-lead. 
 
 Ground-Bait. — The object of this very general acces- 
 sory to the angler's art is to collect an unusual number of 
 fish to a given spot, and at the same time to do this by offer- 
 ing them a quantity of bait of the same kind as that which 
 is afterwards to be used on the hook, but of an inferior 
 quality to it. Thus, if intending to fish with earth-worms, 
 bait with unsecured worms, and fish with them well scoured. 
 Worms in clay-balls are a good ground bait, because they 
 are not all at once presented to the fish, but appear gradu- 
 ally as the clay dissolves. Mr. Salter, who is a; good 
 authority in bottom-fishing, recommends the crumb of a 
 quartern loaf to be cut in slices two inches thick, and soaked 
 in water till thoroughly saturated, then squeeze it tolera- 
 bly dry, and add bran and pollard, kneading all together till 
 a firm mass is the result as tough as clay. Soaked greaves, 
 which are commonly known in the United States as craps, 
 being the refuse of flesh used in sausage-making, mixed with 
 tenacious clay, are a very useful ground-bait ; and may be 
 made into large masses, and thrown into the water in 
 lumps of two or three pounds weight. Gentles mixed 
 with sand are also used, but they should be unsecured, and 
 coarse old carrion gentles for this purpose are the best, as 
 
EIVEE FISH AND FISHING. 889 
 
 the fish will be attracted by them, but will take the scoured 
 gentle on the hook in preference. 
 
 Dead fish as baits are usually so arranged on the hooks 
 as to spin or rotate on their axis Tapidly, by the action 
 of the current, or by drawing them through the water. 
 This is an unnatural motion, and unlike any movement of 
 any known inhabitant of the river ; nevertheless, it takes 
 well with many fish ; and, judged by that unerring crite- 
 rion, may safely be approved of and adopted. Minnows, 
 trout-tails, bream, shiners, and other small fish, are 
 thus used ; but the preference is always given to the two 
 first when they can be procured. There are various modes 
 of baiting with minnows and these small fish, and almost 
 every fisherman has his particular whims and oddities here 
 as well as in other matters connected with fishing. ■ Noth- 
 ing could more completely disprove the necessity for the 
 adoption of any peculiar mode of baiting than the immense 
 variety in the plans of the most successful anglers. Some 
 use one hook, some two, some three, and others even four. 
 Some — as for instance, Mr. Stoddart — ^bait tail foremost 
 after removing the head ; others always take care to pre- 
 sent the head to the trout or pike. The great thing to be 
 attended to is to make the bait spin well, which can only 
 be done by producing a slight curve in its body, and by 
 making the line draw it on one side more than the other. 
 In this way, with one or two swivels, which prevent the 
 line throwing any impediment in the way, the bait rotates 
 rapidly if well applied, and the fish is deceived to his ruin. 
 When two hooks only are used, the extreme one is larger 
 than the other — usually Nos. 3 and 5, English sizes — ^and 
 
390 MANUAL FOR TOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 they are ■whipped on the same piece of gut or gimp, at an 
 interval of about half an inch clear between them. A bait- 
 ing needle is required for most of these hooks, but here it is 
 not necessary, as the larger hook is passed through the 
 mouth and out at the root of the tail, so as to leave the 
 barb free. When this has been done nicely, the minnow 
 assumes a bent form, corresponding with that of the hook, 
 and if properly put on, it will spin or rotate when rapidly 
 drawn through the water. But for this purpose its mouth 
 must be closed mechanically, and this is effected either by 
 a leaden cap which slips down over the line, or by the sec- 
 ond hook being passed through both lips, and thus holding 
 them shut; or sometimes, in addition, by a few stitches 
 with a fine needle and thread. Colonel Hawker recom- 
 mends a hook or two to be allowed to float loosely and 
 openly by the side on a stout piece of gut, but I cannot 
 advise their adoption. The usual mode of employing the 
 third hook is to whip it on to a piece of gut about an inch 
 locg, and then to include this gut in the whipping of the 
 second or smaller hook, which it should also match in size. 
 This third hook then, lies closely adapted to the side of 
 the bait, but not floating loosely, as advised by Colonel 
 Hawker. The two first are applied exactly in the same 
 way as when two hooks only are used, when the third will 
 lie flat against the side of the bait, and retains its position 
 there by the stiffness of the gut or gimp. This last form 
 is used for the application of the celebrated parr-tail as a 
 bait, which is much used in Scotland; and is strongly 
 recommended by Mr. Stoddart, one of the highest author- 
 ities on the subject. He advises all the fins and tails to 
 
EIVEE FISH AND FISHING. 
 
 391 
 
 be out off, and the head and shoulders to bo then obliquely 
 sliced off with a sharp knife. When this is done, the tail- 
 end is to be used forward — that is, nearest the rod, and is 
 then made to appear as the head of a fish. In this mode 
 the shiner, bream, or other small fish may be prepared, when 
 the parr is not to be found ; and they answer weU. for 
 large trout or pike. But nothing takes so completely and 
 generally as a good minnow of the proper size, requiring 
 no paring, and fitting the hooks exactly, so as to allow the 
 one to project slightly through the tail, while the other 
 close? the mouth. Some other modes are described as 
 useful variations in adapting dead fish-baits, but I believe 
 the double or treble hook, as above, will suit all purposes 
 where the bait is required to spin rapidly, whether it be 
 the entire fish, or part, as already mentioned. The 
 shiner, bream, or roach may be divided in the same way as 
 the parr, and will spin remarkably well when used as he 
 recommends that little fish to be employed ; as will also 
 the perch itself when deprived of its back fin, or any of 
 the smaller fish which are attractive to the pike. All 
 these various hooks require swivel-traces, single or double, 
 which will be found described under the head of pike- 
 fishing. 
 
392 MAinTAL FOE TOTJNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 Minnows are also mounted on gorge-hooks : see wood- 
 cut, in which a represents the hook itself, and b the fish and 
 hook ready for use. Gorge-hooks are either single or double, 
 the latter being represented in the annexed woodcut. In 
 baiting this hook, after it has been whipped to a piece of 
 strong gut looped at the other end, take a needle used for 
 the purpose, and by its means draw the gut and hook 
 through the mouth and body of the fish, bringing the 
 needle out at the root of the tail, and leaving the hook 
 buried in the body of the minnow, with the bend and barb 
 of the hook on each side of its mouth. After the needle 
 has been brought out, re-enter it on the other side, so as 
 to include a piece of the flesh of the tail in a loop of the 
 gut. If this is neatly done it will be found, after drawing 
 the gut tight, that there is no disposition in the fish to slip 
 off the hook, unless very flabby ; in which case a single 
 turn of light silk tied tightly round the root of the tail, is 
 sure to make all safe. Besides these modes some others 
 are used in pickerel-fishing, but as they are peculiar to that 
 department, they will be treated of under the head of 
 Pickerel-Fishing. 
 
 Dead bait-fish may be preserved for use, as well as other 
 small baits, by keeping them in salt and water, or pyrolig- 
 neous acid and water ; but the latter, I believe, gives them 
 a flavor which fish do not like. Sugar also will answer the 
 purpose, or any kind of spirit, as whiskey or gin ; but by 
 far the best material is oil, which will keep them sweet, 
 and also stiff, for a great length of time, if they are just 
 raised to the boiling temperature, by immersing the vessel 
 containing the oil and fish in boiling water for a few min- 
 
EITEE FISH AND FISHING. 393 
 
 utes. More than this renders them tender, and liable to 
 breali. All fish bait should be killed by a blow on the 
 head as soon as taken. 
 
 Live fish form a very common lure for the larger 
 kinds of fish, and they are used by inserting the hook in 
 some part of the body not necessarily vital. This is called 
 roving, and is practised with any of the smaller fish, such 
 as minnows, shiners and the like, in capturing trout, perch, 
 pickerel, &c. The hook is merely entered in the back close 
 to the fin, and the barb is suffered to protrude above that 
 appendage and with the point of the hook directed towards 
 the tail of the fish. The line must be shotted so as to sink 
 the fish to the required depth, and it may be used with or 
 without a float. Some other methods of fixing the hooks 
 have been recommended, by which the hook is entered in 
 one part, then made to traverse the fish under the skin, 
 and finally brought out at the mouth ; but they are so 
 abominably cruel that I must decline having any thing to 
 do with their description. All field-sports are too much 
 mixed up with an undercurrent of cruelty ; but where 
 there is a choice, no man of any ordinary feeling will hesi- 
 tate in selecting the least severe modes of taking game. 
 
 Frogs may be used exactly in the same way as the 
 minnow, by passing the hook through the skin of the back. 
 They must be well shotted, to keep them down, and must 
 be raised to the surface every four or five minutes, to 
 allow them to respire. 
 
 Bait-fish are procured for the purpose of using them 
 as baits, either by angling for them,' and carefully remov- 
 ing them from the hookj and then-placing them at once in 
 17* 
 
394 MAiniAL -FOE TOUNG 6P0ETSMEN. 
 
 a vessel of water, or by taking them with a large hoop-net 
 or fine casting-net. The last plan is that usually adopted, 
 but it requires some little practice for its use, and nothing 
 but an ocular demonstration will give any idea of the 
 mode of employment. Any fisherman will, however, ini- 
 tiate the tyro for a trifling consideration. With the hoop- 
 net they may be taken, by sinking it by means of weights 
 to the bottom of the brook; then, after enticing the min- 
 nows by means of small pieces of worms dropped over it, 
 the string is suddenly raised, and the minnows are caught 
 in its meshes. 
 
 Bait-fish may be preserved alive by placing them in a 
 perforated tin or wooden case, and sinking them in any 
 running stream, in which mode they retain their health 
 and liveliness for an indefinite period. They may also be 
 kept alive for a long time in any clean vessel by changing 
 their water frequently ; but in this way they are not so 
 healthy as in the above plan. When wanted for use, a 
 small bait-kettle is used with a perforated lid, and capable 
 of containing from one to two quarts of water. This 
 should be kept under the shade of a tree or hedge while 
 the fishing is going on, as the heat of the sun soon raises 
 the temperature of the water to such a height as to de- 
 stroy the life of the fish, or so nearly so as to cause their 
 death soon after putting them on the hook. 
 
 AETiriCIAL BAITS AND FLIES. 
 
 Minnows are now manufactured so as closely to resem- 
 ble the real fish in appearance, but most of them fail in 
 
EIVEE FISH AUD FISHING. 895 
 
 imitating the consistence and softness of the original, and 
 consequently do not take nearly so well as their appear- 
 ance would lead one to expect. The Archimedian minnow 
 spins beautifully, and so do some others constructed on 
 similar principles, and all will take good fish, but certainly 
 not so well as the real minnow. In many localities, how- 
 ever, these are very scarce, and there the substitute is 
 certainly useful. Mr. Flinn's flexible minnows are far 
 the best, as they are soft and yielding to the grasp of 
 the fish; they are made of gutta percha, painted very 
 closely in imitation of the minnow, gudgeon, &c., and are 
 of sizes suited to all fish, from the trout to the salmon. 
 The Archimedian, on the other hand, is hard and inflexi- 
 ble, and though it spins well, and is to the eye all that can 
 be desired, yet from its hardness to the touch it is very 
 apt to deter fish from a close approach, and is not so suc- 
 cessful as Mr. Flinn's imitation. Mr. Blacker, also, has 
 recently introduced a modification of the " devil-bait," 
 with the addition of a pair of Archimedian fins ; this is 
 said to spin well, and to take good fish, but I know noth- 
 ing personally of its properties. 
 
 Artificial flies are so numerous, and their importance 
 is so great, that a great part of the angler's time is gener- 
 ally occupied in mastering a knowledge of their various 
 forms, and the mode of tying them. AU of them are 
 composed of three essential parts : first, the hook ; second, 
 the gut or loop to attach the hook to the line ; and third, 
 the various articles tied on the hook for the' purpose of 
 imitating the natural fly. The angler will have no diffi- 
 culty in. procuring his hooks and gut, both of which, how- 
 
396 MATfTTAT. FOK YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 ever, lie ought to select with great care ; but he will expe- 
 rience some little vexation and disappointment when he 
 attempts to tie an artificial fly, especially without the prac- 
 tical instruction of some older craftsman. 
 
 Hackles and Palmers — The mode of tying the 
 peacock-hackle, fig. 1, which ia one of the simplest of 
 all flies, is as follows : — Begin by whipping the hook ou 
 the gut, leaving a loose end of the sUi hanging from the 
 shoulder where the whipping is to be commenced. When 
 the whipping has proceeded to within two or three turns 
 of the bend, include within its folds the ends of two 
 or three peacock-herls, which are to be left projecting 
 beyond the bend, and after making these turns fasten oflF. 
 Then take a red cock's hackle, and smooth the fibres of it 
 well ; with a pair of scissors trim these off at the point, 
 leaving the shank bare for about an eighth of an inch ; 
 next include this within two or three turns of the silk 
 left at the shoulder, directing the hackle towards the gut 
 and fastening off the silk. Then, taking the bend of the 
 hook between the finger and thumb of the left hand, lay 
 hold of the herls with the right, and wind them carefully 
 round the shank of the hook up to the point where the 
 hackle is tied, where they are to be included in the silk 
 which is still left there and then cut off. The body is now 
 complete, but the legs are still to be imitated by the 
 hackle, which should be carefully wound round the hook 
 above the herl ; arranging the fibres, as it is wound, by 
 means of the picker, and fastening off at last by means of 
 the silk which is still projecting, and left for the purpose. 
 Now cut off the silk at both ends, lay on. carefully a very 
 
EIVEE FISH AKD FISHING. S9l 
 
 little varnish at each end, and the fly is complete. All 
 palmers and hackles, Jigs. 2, 3, and 4, are made on this 
 principle, substituting ' various feathers for the cock's 
 hackle, and various dubbings for the peacock-herl. 
 
 Simple Winged-Flies. — Sometimes a pair of wings 
 are tied on at the same time as the hackle-point, and after- 
 wards the hackle is wound round the shank, and thus 
 serves to keep the wings from lying flat against the hook 
 when in the water. (See the black gnat, hare-lug,' yellow 
 sally, oak-fly, caperer, &c.) 
 
 The Black Gnat, Jig. 5, is tied in the same way as 
 the peacock hackle, using a smaller hook. No. 13, an(^ 
 fine black silk. A small black ostrich-herl forms the body, 
 and a piece of the starling's wing-feather the wings. A 
 very fine black cock's hackle is used for the legs. 
 
 The^ Hake-lug, Jig. 6, is composed of a body consist- 
 ing of a dubbing from the back of the hare's ear, making 
 it thin and neat towards the tail, and pretty stout near 
 the shoulder. The hook is of the same size as in the black 
 gnat, and the wings are the same. After these are tied, 
 pick out a little of the dubbing to make the legs. 
 
 The Yellow Sally, fig. 7, is tied exactly like the 
 hare-lug, with the substitution of yellow or bufi' mohair or 
 fur for that of the hare, and thi9 addition of a fine yellow 
 cock's hackle for legs; wings from a feather from the 
 inside of the thrush's wing. Hook No. 12. 
 
 The Oak-Fly, Jig. 8. — The body is made of brown 
 mohair and a little hare's ear-fur towards the tail. Legs of 
 a bittern's hackle, or partridge feathel:, or a filrnaCe-cocFs 
 hackle'; 'wings of a woodock's wing-feathfer. HoOk No. 8. 
 
398 MAS^rAL FOB TOTOTG SPOETSIJEIT, 
 
 The Caperer, fig. 9, is made up as follows : — Body of 
 ricli brown floss-silk ; legs of a fine red or brown hackle ; 
 wings of a woodcock's feather. Hook No. 9. 
 
 The Winged-Palmer, fig. 10, a good common autumn 
 fly, is made on the same plan as the peacock-hackle, but 
 of a smaller size, and with the addition of a pair of wings 
 made from the outside- feather of the thrush's wing. The 
 end of the body is finished with a few turns of orange sUk. 
 Hook No. 9 or 10. It is the cock-y-bondhu of Wales. 
 
 Winged and Tailed-Flies. — These are made like the 
 last set of flies, except that at the time of whipping on the 
 hook the fibres are included which are to constitute the 
 tail. The body is then formed by the dubbing, floss-silk, 
 or herl, and the wings tied as before. This set includes, 
 among a vast variety of flies, the May-fly, green drake, 
 stone-fly, March-brown, red spinner, &c. 
 
 The Green Drake or May Fly, fig. 11. — Body 
 made of yellow floss-silk or mohair, dyed a pale yellowish 
 green, and ribbed with bright yellow silk; tail of two or 
 three hairs of the sable or fitohet, or of fine horse-hair from 
 the mane ; legs of a gray cock's hackle, dyed the same color 
 as the mohair, or of a ginger pile undyed ; wings from 
 the mallard's back-feather, dyed of the same yellowish 
 green. Hook No. 6 or 7. 
 
 The Gray Drake, fig. 12, is made as follows : — Body 
 of pale dun-colored mohair ; tail of two fibres from the 
 feather of the mallard's back ; legs of a brown or ginger 
 cock's hackle ; wings from the gray feather of the mal- 
 lard's back, undyed. Hook No. 6. 
 
 The Sione-Fly, fig. 13. — Body of red mohair, ribbed 
 
ErVEE FISH AND FISHINO. 399 
 
 With gold or yellow silk ; tail of two long fibres from a 
 coarse red cock's hackle ; legs a red cock's hackle, carried 
 down over all the body ; wings of the hen-pheasant's tail- 
 feather, or of the gray goose wing-feather. Hook No. 6. 
 
 The March-Brown, jig. 14. — This fly is made of two 
 sizes; one on hook No. 7, the other on No. 11 or 12. 
 The body is of brown floss-silk ; tail of two long fibres of 
 the red cock's hackle ; legs of brown cock's hackle ; wings 
 of a woodcock's feather. 
 
 The Ebd Spinner, fig. 15, is tied on hook No. 7. 
 Body of red mohair, sometimes ribbed with gold ; tail of 
 two fibres of a red cock's hackle ; legs of the same hackle ; 
 wings of a brown mallard's feather. 
 
 The Winqeb-Larva of Mr. Blacker, fig. 16, resem- 
 bles the green drake in all but the body, which is pro- 
 longed separately from the hook by means of a couple of 
 hog's bristles, which are tied in with it and the tail-hairs, 
 and extend about a quarter of an inch beyond the bend. 
 The silk or dubbing is then carried from the shank to the 
 bristles ; and thus the fly has the appearance of a long 
 body. The legs are often made with a dyed feather of tie 
 mallard's back, used as a hackle. 
 
 Extra Trout-Flies. — Those given in the preceding 
 paragraphs will suffice for all common purposes; but they 
 may be varied ad •mfinitum. by the angler to suit particu- 
 lar localities. If, however, he makes himself perfect in 
 the manufacture and use of these, and has the stock 
 of materials necessary for fly-making, it will be at all 
 times easy for him to extend his list, either by imitating 
 the prevalent natural fly, or that which is successfully 
 
400 ATAm TAT. FOE YOTTNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 employed by the anglers familiar with the district. Mr. 
 Stoddart is of opinion that, for the trout, the red, 
 brown, and black hackles, with or without wings, and the 
 hare-lug, are sufficient for all ordinary purposes. This 
 is perhaps carrying simplicity to an extreme length ; but 
 there can be no doubt that the young angler is often over- 
 whelmed with useless flies, as well as other complicated 
 forms of fishing-tackle, in order to suit the trading pro- 
 pensities of the tackle-makers. No doubt in Mr. Stod- 
 dart's case the above flies would be more successful than 
 others attached to the line of a beginner ; but even the 
 above celebrated pisoator does not maintain that no others 
 will be more successful at times than the three he has 
 selected, but that there is no absolute necessity for them. 
 This certainly is in accordance with my own experience, 
 as I have known a very successful angler, who never pos- 
 sessed any fly but the red and black palmer and the black 
 gnat. Still I have no doubt that at least as great a 
 variety as I have enumerated will at certain times be use- 
 ful, though some of them will only suit particular months. 
 The following list will perhaps be some little aid to the 
 young angler who is anxious to try a greater variety. 
 
 The Wren's Tail. — Body of sable-fur and gold- 
 colored mohair mixed. No wings ; legs of a wren's tail- 
 feather, used as a hackle. Hook No. 8. 
 
 The Groiise-Hackle. — Body of gold-colored mohair 
 mixed with the dark fur from the hare's ear. No wings ; 
 legs made with a reddish-brown grouse feather, used as a 
 hackle. Hook No. 7. 
 
 The Dark Claket. — Body of claret mohair, fine 
 
EIVEE FISH AND FISHING. 401 
 
 towards the tail, and full towards the shank. Wings four, 
 two below from the starling's wing, and the upper two 
 from the partridge's tail. 
 
 The Spidek-Fly. — Body of lead-colored floss-silk; 
 legs of a small black cock's hackle below and above, with a 
 hackle made from the woodcock's feather, taken from near 
 the butt-end of the wing. Hook No. 7. 
 
 The Little Ikon-Blue. — Body of slate-colored mo- 
 hair ; tail of two fine hairs from a dark sable ; legs of a 
 fine dun cock's hackle ; wings of the coot's or starling's 
 wing-feather. Hook No. 9 or 10. 
 
 The Blue-Blow. — Body of mole's fur ; wings of 
 the tomtit's tail-feather. Hook No. 14. 
 
 The Hare's Ear and Yellow. — Body the dark fur 
 of a hare's ear, mixed with a little yellow mohair"; wings 
 of a starling's feather. Hook No. 8. 
 
 The Ant-Flibs are of four kinds-^the large and small 
 red, and the large and small black. The red are tied on 
 Nos. 7 and 12. Body of amber mohair, made large 
 towards the tail ; legs of a red cock's hackle ; wings of a 
 starling's feather. The black have a body of black ostrich 
 herl, with a black hackle for legs; wings of the blue 
 feather of the jay's wing. 
 
 The Mealy-White Night-Fly. — Body white rabbit- 
 fur, made fully as large as a straw on a No. 5 hook ; legs 
 of a downy white hackle ; wings of the soft mealy feathers 
 of the white-owl. 
 
 The Mealy-Brown Night-Fly. — Body of the same 
 size as the preceding, made of the fur of a tabby-rabtit ; 
 
402 MANUAL FOE TOtHSTG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 legs of a bittern's hackle, or a gray cook's; wings the 
 brown feathers of a white owl. Hook No. 5 or 6. 
 
 Salmon-flies are made on the same principle as the 
 trout-flies, but as they are larger, so they are capable of 
 being tied with greater exactness and finish. They are 
 generally of much more gaudy materials than the trout- 
 flies, and in this respect they haye latterly been used still 
 more richly colored than was formerly the case, even in 
 Ireland. Until lately, very sober salmon-flies were ordi- 
 narily used in Scotland, the prevailing colors being gray, 
 brown, buff, and brick-dust ; but now it is found that a 
 much more brilliant set of colors will answer far better, 
 and the Irish favorites, viz., scarlet, bright yellow, blue, 
 and green, are the fashion, united with less bright top- 
 pings — as, for instance, the tail-feather of the pheasant, 
 or the back or breast of the bittern or turkey. In Wales 
 more sober flies are still in vogue ; straw colors, natural 
 mottles and pheasant or turkey feathers being considered 
 the most killing. Tinsels are however approved of in all 
 three localities, and are used more or less in almost every 
 salmon-fly. In nearly all cases this fly consists of a body, 
 a head, legs, and tail, and wings of a very compound 
 nature ; but the mode of tying is very similar to that 
 adopted in trout fly-making. Most salmon-flies are tied 
 with a small loop of gut attached to the shank, instead 
 of, as in the trout-fly, a full length of that material ; some- 
 times a bristle or a piece of wire is bent for the purpose, 
 and again in some cases the gut, either plain or twisted, ig 
 tifed on as in the trout-fly. Whichever mode is adopted, 
 the end or ends of the gut or bristle must be shaved oflF, 
 
EIVEE FISH AND FISHINe. 403 
 
 and moulded with the teeth into slight ridges, so as neither 
 to present an abrupt and unsightly edge where they leave 
 off, nor to be so smooth as to be liable to slip from the 
 hook. This eye or length of gut is to be first whipped on 
 to the hook in the usual way with strong waxed silk, which 
 is then to be fastened off and removed ; and for the sub- 
 sequent tying, a finer and generally a bright-colored silk 
 adapted to the particular fly, is to be employed. For 
 American fishing, the gaudy flies seem generally to find 
 the most favor ; and the fish are so bold and little used to 
 the angler's tricks, that coarser tackle and less finely 
 finished flies will be found to succeed with them. 
 
 Sea trout-flies may be made of sizes and colors inter- 
 mediate between the trout and salmon-flies. They are 
 tied of all colors, and with or without the addition of a 
 gaudy tail of golden pheasant fibres, and tinsel wound 
 round the body. The following size and form, however, 
 will suit the trout in lakes, and the average size of the 
 sea-trout when ascending from the sea. The body is of 
 brown mohair ; legs of a black cock's hackle ; wings of a 
 brown mallard's feather ; head of plain waxed silk. Hook 
 No. 5 or 6. A good variation consists in using purple or 
 scarlet dubbing for the body ; red or lilac-dyed hackle, 
 and the green-dyed feather generally used for the May-fly 
 for the wings; with a tail of a few fibres of the common 
 pheasant's tail-feather. Numberless variations of these 
 flies arc made and sold, but the whole of them are fanciful 
 creations of the maker's brain, and not imitations of any 
 living insect. The fisherman, therefore, may please his 
 own fancy, and try his skill in any way that strikes him, 
 
4:0f MANUAL FOE TOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 and perhaps the more novel the fly, the better it may suc- 
 ceed, though there is still a considerable section of good 
 anglers who adhere to the old-fashioned flies called the 
 butcher, the doctor, &c. ; but I fully believe that any 
 slight variation or alteration from the annexed models, 
 according to the contents of the angler's stock of mate- 
 rials, will be just as likely to succeed as the celebrated 
 " ondine " of Ephemera, or the new " spirit-flies " of Mr. 
 Blacker. These flies are serviceable for large brook trout 
 in the larger American streams and lakes. ' 
 
 THE LAjSTDING-NET, GAFF, BASKET, &c. 
 
 The landing-net is merely a hoop with a handle to it, 
 and armed with a net for the purpose of taking the hooked 
 fish out of the water, without danger to the tackle or of 
 losing the flsh. It is generally now made with a hollow 
 handle, to take the top joints of the rod, and this handle 
 screws off the ring, which is also jointed, for the conve- 
 nience of carriage. 
 
 The gaff and landing-hook are constructed for the same 
 purpose. The simple hook now used, attached to a firm 
 handle, inflicts the least severe wound, and is more man- 
 ageable than the gaff. 
 
 The basket or creel is slung over the shoulder by a 
 belt, and is made of various sizes, to suit the probable 
 amount or weight of fish expected by the angler. 
 
 Fish-bait kettles are made of tin, with a perforated lid, 
 and a handle to carry them by. 
 
 The drag-hook is a long line of strong whipcord wound 
 
KIVEE FISH Airo FISHINO. 405 
 
 on a thumb-reel, and armed with a three-hooked blunt drag 
 weighted with lead, so that when a hook is caught in 
 weeds or other impediment, the drag may be thrown on to 
 the same spot, and the weed dragged away with the hook, 
 or at all events the greater portion of the line may be 
 saved. 
 
 The clearing-ring is intended for the same purpose, 
 and is a jointed ring of heavy metal which opens and closes 
 again with a catch. It is attached to a long line like the 
 last, and is passed .upon the end of the rod open, and when 
 closed is slipped down the reel-line as low as possible, and 
 then drawn to land, bringing sometimes the hook and 
 obstacle with it, but generally breaking the casting-line 
 near the hook or about the shot. This does not act so 
 ■well as the drag-hook when a float is used. 
 
 The bait-box is merely a flat box perforated with small 
 holes in the lid, for containing worms, or gentles, or dead 
 minnows, in bran. 
 
 The disgorger is an instrument for removing the hook 
 from the throat of those fish which swallow their bait, and 
 is made of various forms. One end should be forked, and 
 the other perforated with a hole, and ending with a sharp- 
 cutting, round surface, like a spatula. 
 
BAIT FISHING. 
 
 THE FISH ANGLED FOR IN THIS WAY. 
 
 Every fish enumerated in the first section may be taken 
 by this mode of angling; even the noble salmon and 
 the wary trout may thus be captured. But almost all 
 require some slight modification of the apparatus or bait 
 employed, and of the mode of using them ; and therefore 
 each must form a subject to be studied by itself. Com- 
 mencing with the smaller varieties of fish, and those most 
 easily caught, I shall take all in the order of their usual 
 presentation to the young angler. With each variety it 
 will be my purpose to specify — first, the kind of rod, hook 
 and line, to be used ; secondly, the best bait ; thirdly, the 
 time and place best suited for each kind of fish ; and 
 fourthly, the mode of fishing. 
 
 FISHING FOR MINNOWS, ANB SIMILAR SMALL FISH. 
 
 The rod, line, and hooks for the minnow should all be 
 fine and delicate, especially the laat, which must be of the 
 
BAIT-FISHING. 
 
 40T 
 
 smallest size. Three or four hooks should be whipped on 
 fiae gut or strong horse-hair, and attached to a short line 
 of horse-hair or silk, leaving the hooks each about three or 
 four inches longer than the one next above it. A crow- 
 quill float, and any light but stiff rod, will complete the 
 angling requisites for this fish. 
 
 The bait should be of very small red worms, or pieces 
 of them. 
 
 The lowest hook and bait should be sufiered to float 
 tolerably near the ground, and the highest at mid-water, 
 above which these fish seldom feed. At the slightest indi- 
 cation of a bite the rod should be rapidly raised, as by this 
 means many minnows which would otherwise be lost will 
 be taken, while the worm is only partially in the mouth. 
 
 CARP-FISHING. 
 
 The tackle for these fish should be as follows : — Rod, 
 an ordiimr J bottom-rod — ^the general one described at 
 
408 MAKfTTAT, FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 page S80, will suffice ; line of plaited silk or twisted hair, 
 with a good length of stout gut ; float of cork or swan- 
 quill; hook, No. 6 or 7. A plummet will always be 
 required. Sometimes, as in fishing for chub, sinking and 
 drawing are practised exactly as they are described. 
 
 Ground-baiting over night is always to be practised 
 for carp or tench if the boat is to be used ; and if the 
 angler fishes from the bank, he should cast in a little of 
 this useful accessory every few minutes. 
 
 The best baits are a couple of red worms or gentles ; 
 sometimes one of each will take the fancy of the carp, 
 which is a very fickle and cautious fish, and very difficult 
 to bring to hand. Taylor advocates green peas, whch are 
 said by him to be very efficacious ; but all sorts of baits 
 succee4 at times and fail at others. The angler, therefore, 
 who is anxious to take carp, may try caddies, bees, grass- 
 hoppers, and in fact the whole range of baits described at 
 pages 380-1-2-3. 
 
 Carp are in season from February to September. They 
 take a bait better after rain than at any other time. The 
 deepest and, stillest parts of the river or pond are those 
 where these fish are the most likely to be found, but in 
 summer they are very fond of basking near the surface, 
 among the weeds, and it is then extremely difficult to per- 
 suade them to take any bait. 
 
 In fishing for carp, great care must be taken by the 
 angler to keep well out of sight, as they are so cautious as 
 to refuse all baits when alarmed by the sight of man. 
 The line must also be very carefully and lightly dropped 
 into the water, and not even the shadow of the rod allowed 
 
BAIT-FISHING. 
 
 409 
 
 to fall over their haunts. For the carp, two or three rods 
 may be used, as the bait must be left for a long time quiet- 
 ly in one spot, where the carp will often watch it most 
 jealously for some time, and then, when perfectly satisfied 
 of its freedom from guile, he will at last take it. Even 
 with half a dozen rods there is no danger of the angler 
 being overdone with more than one fish at a time. The 
 bait should be suspended about a foot from the bottom. 
 
 
 — . -j>^ 
 
 PERCH-FISHING. 
 
 For small perch, such as are most commonly met with, 
 a " general rod " will suffice ; and the common line with 
 good-sized gut, and a No. 4 or 5 hook, baited with lob- 
 worms, or almost any other worm, or with the caddis, eater- 
 pillar, or wasp-grub. These baits must be varied till 
 18 
 
410 MAUUAi FOE YOtnSTG SPOBTSMEN. 
 
 some one is successful ; or if it is known beforehand what 
 bait suits the particular locality, that one should be select- 
 ed. The paternoster-line, armed with various baits, may 
 be used if the angler is not in possession of the above kind 
 of information ; and as the perch swims and feeds at all 
 depths, it is the best kind of tackle in deep water. la 
 rivers where many weeds exist, or where there are piles, 
 or roots, or trees, this tackle is not so manageable, and 
 the sinking and drawing plan must be adopted. 
 
 For large perch, the minnow, either dead or alive, is 
 the best bait ; and both may be used at discretion. For 
 open and clear water, or in running streams, the dead 
 minnow, with the spinning-tackle as described at page 390, 
 is the most killing bait ; or the shiner may be used according 
 to the plan described in the same page, with the parr-tail ■ 
 and which, with the perch, I have known a most efficient 
 lure ; shrimp is also an undeniable bait, especially in tide 
 streams. The gorge-hook is also successful, and is partic- 
 ularly serviceable in awkward and weedy rivers where the 
 spinning-tackle can scarcely be used. 
 
 The season for perch is from March till December, 
 during which long period they bite with varying degrees of 
 readiness, and almost at all hours of the day. It is gene- 
 rally supposed that windy weather is the most likely to 
 tempt these fish, or at all events, that they are as free to 
 take the bait then as at other times. Such, however, is 
 not the result of my own experience, as I have always 
 found a marked diflference in perch, as well as other fish, 
 in connection with strong winds, and also with the time 
 
BAIT-FISHING. 411 
 
 of day. Young anglers, therefore, should take this dictum 
 with some caution. 
 
 Little difference in the mode of using the bait need he 
 made from those recommended for other river fish, if the 
 perch sought for are small ; but in localities where large 
 perch may be expected, and where the live or dead fish- 
 bait is used, some considerable variation must be practised. 
 Hitherto I have not had occasion to describe the mode of 
 using the live and dead fish-baits ; but as we now are con- 
 sidering their adoption in taking perch, it will be proper 
 here to enter upon the subject. I have already alluded 
 to the mode of applying the live minnow to the hook, or 
 rather of inserting the latter in the back of the fish close 
 to its fin. When this has been done, and the gut is prop- 
 erly shotted with about two or three No. 1 shot, quietly 
 enter the fish at some distance from the shore, and let it 
 take its own course, swimming where it chooses. A float 
 is only a hindrance to the live bait ; and as it is dragged 
 about on the surface of the water, it serves to attract the 
 attention of the perch, and is very apt to scare them away. 
 As soon as the perch is seen or felt to take the bait, strike 
 pretty firmly, though not with much force. Live frogs 
 may be used in the same way, as well as newts. 
 
 Spinning for perch is practised as follows : — The bait 
 being applied according to either of the methods described 
 on page 391, the angler should use the general rod with 
 the short top ; a reel and reel-line of plaited-silk or twist- 
 ed hair and silk will be necessary, and a good length of 
 strong gut, or, when pike are likely to be met with, of 
 gimp, armed with one or two box-swivels. With this 
 
412 MANUAL FOE TOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 apparatus the angler proceeds as follows : — He first casts 
 or throws the minnow down the stream, if there is any, 
 or, if in still water, as far out as he can; then, pulling the 
 bait gently yet firmly to him for a yard or so, it revolves 
 rapidly on its axis, and must be allowed to sink for a few 
 inches at the end of that distance by his ceasing to draw 
 in. The angler then repeats the operation till he brings 
 the bait out of the water, when a cast in a fresh direction 
 must be made, but exactly as before in principle. It is 
 obvious, that for this purpose a long rod is required to 
 command a greater extent of water, and a more numerous 
 series of spins, and that running water materially assists 
 the spinning ; still, in dead water a well mounted minnow 
 or shiner may be spun with great effect, and will kill 
 there in preference to any other bait, except perhaps a 
 live one of the same species. 
 
 The gorge-hook is used with the full-sized trolling-rod 
 and a long line, a yard or two of which is pulled out in 
 a loop clear of the reel, and held loose in the left hand. 
 Cast as gently as possible the minnow from you down- 
 stream, or out into the water, if it is still. In thus cast- 
 ing, the loose portion of the line is expended, and the bait 
 is thrown considerably further than it otherwise would be. 
 Then begin to wind up a little at a time, stop, and wind 
 again ; thus imitating the actions of the living small fish 
 represented by the dead bait. When the length of the 
 line is reduced to a manageable amount, the action may 
 be varied a little, and the fish may be eased downward or 
 upward, or among piles or other likely places ; but in all 
 cases proceeding by slight jerks, and at the same time not 
 
BAIT-FISHIK&. 
 
 413 
 
 too rapidly. When the bait is thus brought to hand again, 
 repeat as before, and try all likely spots — ^first casting and 
 drawing over and through the nearest places, and then 
 extending the reach to the most distant ones. The expert 
 angler will always study the actions of living fish, and 
 endeavor to imitate them, which example is far better than 
 any precept that can be given in print. 
 
 „ ,-^ 
 
 PICKEREL-FISHING. ^ 
 
 As these fish are strong, and often of good size, and 
 are furnished with sharp teeth, the tackle must be in pro- 
 portion. The rod is necessarily longer and stronger than 
 that known as the " general rod," and must be of the kind 
 known as the "trolling rod," which may be described as fol- 
 lows : — It should be here mentioned that pickerel are taken 
 with the minnow or shiner, in three different ways — first, 
 
"414 MANUAL FOB TOTTNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 with live bait, secondly, witli dead bait, in a way called 
 " snap-fishing ; " and thirdly, with the gorge-hook, on prin- 
 ciples similar to those already described. The first and 
 last of these modes require a long and tolerably stiff rod, 
 while snap-fishing must be practised with the top-joints of 
 the rod reduced in length, and of greater stiffness. This 
 will serve to make the following account more intelligible. 
 The angler who is very exigeant in his desires for the 
 most perfect implements of his craft, will perhaps require 
 two separate rods of varying sizes for each purpose, so as 
 to suit broad and narrow rivers, as well as large and small 
 fish ; but the more easily satisfied fisherman will make one 
 rod of the following dimensions serve every purpose. A 
 bamboo rod is the lightest, and is yet strong and stiff 
 enough for any practised fisherman ; it will not, however, 
 bear very rough usage, and for very large pickerel the butt 
 and second joint should be of some light yet tough wood, 
 such as holly, which may be bored for the sake of dimin- 
 ishing its weight, and also to accommodate within its cavity, 
 as in a place of security, the small top joints. Of these 
 it should have three — one short and stiff, and two others 
 similar to one another, longer and more elastic than the 
 first. The short one is made entirely of whalebone, and 
 is not more than 12 or 18 inches long; the longer tops are 
 made two thirds of hickory or lancewood, and the remain- 
 der of whalebone. These rods are generally made in five 
 joints of nearly equal length ; the first, second, and last 
 as above described, and the intermediate two joints of 
 bamboo. They are united by the ordinary brass ferules 
 in the usual way, but sometimes other methods are prac- 
 
BAIT-FISHTNG. 415 
 
 tised ; but there is so little occasion for any alteration, 
 that it is unnecessary to take up the reader's time by any 
 further description of them. Almost all trolling-rods used 
 generally are furnished with rings, which are made to 
 stand up from the rod, in order to allow the line to tra- 
 verse their opening with greater facility. These are usually 
 made of broad brass ferules encircling the rod, and having 
 lesser rings of wire riveted into them ; but a much lighter 
 and cheaj)er plan answers perfectly well, and may be 
 described as follows : — Take a piece of wire of sufficient 
 strength, and bend it into a ring of the usual size, leaving 
 a short tail on each side ; turn these tails to a right angle 
 each way, and flatten the ends so that they will lie along 
 the side of the rod, when they may be whipped in the 
 usual way. They thus form stand-up rings, easily remov- 
 able by cutting the whipping-silk, and very capable of 
 being restored, if by any accident they are injured. One 
 of these to the head of each joint, and a second to the 
 middle of the last, are about the proper number. Some 
 anglers, including that high authority, Mr. Stoddart, ap- 
 prove of the same kind of ring as is used in ordinary rods, 
 but I confess that, though I have the highest opinion of 
 Mr. Stoddart's judgment in general, yet in this instance 
 I cannot agree with him, as there can be no doubt in 
 my mind that the fixed and upright ring, allows the line 
 to run more freely than the ordinary one. But the best 
 of all are the new patent railroad guides, which is sta- 
 tionary and flat to the rod. A large reel is wanted, 
 capable of holding from 35 to 70 yards of line, according 
 to the nature of the fish and extent of water intended 
 
416 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 to be fished. This reel should have a simple large barrel 
 without multipliers. Floats may or may not be used, 
 they are by no means required. The reeUine must be 
 strong, and the plaited silk is that form now usually 
 adopted, as it is found to be more free from " kink- 
 ing " than any other. An essential accessory to pickerel- 
 fishing is the swivel, which may be either the box-swivel 
 or the hook-swivel; the latter differing from the former 
 only in having a small hook at one end. These are attached 
 to lengths of gui, or more usually gimp, forming with their 
 help what are called double or single swivel-traces. 
 
 The single swivel-trace consists of about 12 inches of 
 gut cr gimp, with a hook-swivel at one end, and a loop 
 of its own substance at the other, which attaches it to the 
 reel-line by the usual' draw bow-knot. The double swivel- 
 trace has, in addition, an extra length of gut or gimp, 
 ending also in a loop, and between the two a box-swivel, 
 by which the tendency to twist in spinning is still further 
 diminished. In both oases the hook-swivel receives the 
 loop of the hook- length of gut or gimp after it is baited ; 
 and in both instances, also, swan-shot or lead, in some form, 
 is required to sink the bait ; and it is attached in greater 
 or less weight, according to circumstances, to the gimp 
 close to the hook-swivel. 
 
 The hooks "will be more particularly described under 
 each mode of fishing ; and for their application to the bait 
 a needle, called a baiting-needle, is required. 
 
 A landing-net or hook will be required, as pickerel are 
 sometimes of such a size as to demand their assistance. 
 The former is merely a circle of iron, either plain or 
 
BAIT-FISHESTG. 417 
 
 jointed, -with a tandle which may be made to take on and 
 off for the sake of convenience ; and armed with a deep 
 net, which receives the fish. The hook is intended to 
 supply the place of the net, but is a clumsy substitute. 
 
 The baits used for pickerel are exceedingly various, reach- 
 ing from the common lob-worm and ordinary hook — which 
 will often take the small-sized fish ' — through all the 
 degrees of live minnows and other fish, as well as frogs 
 and newts, dead minnows and shiners, artificial minnows 
 and shiners, and even the artificial fly. These various 
 baits are used also in almost as many different ways, of 
 which three have been already described in the list of 
 baits, under the heads of " The live Minnow-bait," " The 
 Spinning- minnow," and the "Gorge-hook bait." But be- 
 sides these, the snap-hook bait is employed at those times 
 when pickerel are shy of gorging, and inclined to eject the 
 bait, or ilcnju it out, as the angler denominates this act. The 
 snap-hook is either the plain or the spring snap-hook, and 
 they are both used for live, as well as dead fish baits ; 
 though the spring snap-hook is very apt to destroy the 
 life of the fish very rapidly, and is a very cruel mode of 
 baiting. The plain snap is made in several ways as 
 follows : — First plan — two hooks, No. 4, should be tied back 
 to back, then to these tie another smaller hook. No. 8, 
 together with a piece of wire ending in an eye. To the 
 eye is whipped a piece of gimp, and the other end of this 
 has a loop by which it is attached to the hook-swivel in 
 the usual way. In fixing on the bait proceed as follows ; 
 Take a good sized shiner, or small roach, or a perch 
 with the back fin removed, arm the gimp with a baiting- 
 18* 
 
418 MAlTtTAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 needle and insert it behind the back fin, bringing it out 
 again at the mouth and drawing the gimp after it, so that 
 the short hook stands with the point rising out of the back, 
 and the others are one on each side the belly ; this bait 
 ought to spin well. Second plan — exactly similar to the 
 mode recommended by Mr. Stoddart of applying three 
 hooks to the parr-tail, only that in England it is used with 
 a whole fish, and the hooks point towards the head. Mr. 
 Stoddart's plan is no doubt the best, and with a tail of 
 the roach, dace, or perch, is admirably adapted to pickerel- 
 fishing. Third plan — in this mode four hooks are used, 
 which are separately whipped on to two pieces of gimp, 
 looped at the other ends ; one about three quarters of an 
 inch in length, the other about three times as long. After 
 arming them with the baiting-needle, they are each passed 
 through the fish, the short one at the shoulder, the other 
 near the tail, and both the loops being brought out at the 
 mouth are attached to a hook-swivel, after which the mouth 
 is sewn up and the bait is finished and ready for use, though 
 sometimes, in addition, a leaden weight is sewn up in the 
 mouth to sink the bait. The spring-snap bait is a more 
 complicated machine, and is composed of a case which 
 connects and keeps in place the shanks of the hooks, which, 
 when in the case, resemble the common snap-hook, but 
 which, when drawn out, expand by their own elasticity, 
 and strike the fish in the act of so doing. This is 
 sometimes applied to a live fish, but usually to a dead 
 roach or shiner, or to a small bream. The bait should 
 be about six ounces in weight, for a smaller one will not 
 .effectually conceal the Hooks. In baiting the hooks, insert 
 
BAIT-PISHING. 419 
 
 the small hook in the back of the fish, near the back fin, 
 taking a good hold of the fiesh, and allowing the point to 
 project a little way out of the skin, and the other two 
 hooks to lie one on each side of the belly. The mode in 
 which this acts is as follows : As soon as the pickerel seizes 
 the fish in its mouth, he pulls slightly on the line, which 
 causes the angler to strike, and this action draws the case 
 from the shanks of the hooks and allows them to expand 
 themselves, and thus prevent the pickerel from blowing the 
 bait out of his mouth. 
 
 Pickerel .are in season from May to February, but the 
 best time for the sport of taking them with the hook is the 
 period immediately before the weeds shoot, and again in 
 October when they have rotted. The latter is the true 
 pickerel season, as they are then firm and fleshy, and also 
 voracious, so as to afford good sport. This fish is usually 
 taken of good size in artificial waters, or in deep alluvial 
 rivers. In these situations there are almost always great 
 quantities of weeds, and when they exist in full vigor, it 
 is almost impossible to land large pickerel, even if they are 
 hooked. The bait also can scarcely, at such times and 
 situations, be properly manoeuvred; and hence, it is by 
 common consent considered that pickerel, though perfectly 
 edible, should not be angled for till after Michaelmas, from 
 ■which time till February the water is in good order for 
 their capture. This rule applies only to weedy streams. 
 
 The mode of fishing for pickerel varies with the particu- 
 lar hook and bait employed. If the live bait is used with the 
 ordinary hook, it can only be successful at times when the 
 fish are voracious and ready for any bait, which, indeed, 
 
4:20 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 they often are. If this happens to be the case, the bait 
 must be gently passed into the water, and will be more 
 easily managed with a float, as with the length of line re- 
 quired in pickerel-fishing it is impossible otherwise to main- 
 tain a proper depth for the bait, which should, as far as 
 possible, be made to swim at mid-water. This is effected 
 by the float keeping the bait up, and the shotted line pre- 
 venting its rising to the surface. If the bait seeks the 
 weeds or other shelter it must be stopped, and if dull and 
 sluggish, it must be stimulated by a gentle shaking of the 
 rod. When removing the bait for a fresh throw, great 
 care should be taken to do this gently, as a very little 
 extra force will make a great difference in the duration of 
 the life of the fish ; and not only so, but the gentle mode 
 will give the bait less pain than any other. The use of 
 live baits is always more or less cruel, and surely every 
 unnecessary degree of pain should be avoided. When the 
 bait is seized by the pickerel, which may be known by the 
 float disappearing under the water, be very careful to allow 
 him to carry it off without restraint, and for this purpose 
 draw off the line with the hand, and let it run loosely 
 through the rings. If the slightest impediment occurs he 
 will be sure to blow it out, and your hopes are blasted. 
 After a short time, during which he has been quietly 
 gorging the bait, he will again move off, and then is the 
 time to strike, which you may do sharply, but not roughly. 
 If this is cleverly done, the fish is firmly attached to the 
 line, which, if of good materials and the hooks equally 
 efficient, will land jour fish for you with the aid of a little 
 skilful management. Pickerel may be played with great 
 
BAIT-FISHINQ. 421 
 
 advantage, and a considerable increase to the interest of 
 the sport. The principle consists in yielding to him for a 
 time, by letting out the line as far as is prudent, and the 
 absence of weeds, &c., will allow ; and when otherwise, 
 making the elastic power of the rod withstand his progress 
 by advancing the butt. In this way he will at last be 
 tired out, and may then be landed with safety by means 
 of the landing-net. 
 
 The snap-bait is employed only when the fish are wary 
 and inclined to eject the ordinary kind, and it is used as 
 follows : — I have already (on pages 417-18) described the 
 mode of arming the hook with the bait, and also the pecii- 
 liarly short and stiff top to the rod which is required. 
 This last is necessary in order to give increased quickness 
 to the stroke. The chief difference in this mode from 
 that last described consists in the striking, which should 
 be done the moment the pickerel seizes the bait, when, if 
 successful, he may be landed or played according to circum- 
 stances, as before described, or if not too large, pulled out 
 at once over the shoulder. Trolling, however, by means 
 of the gorge-hook, is the most common mode of taking 
 pickerel, and is also the most sportsmanlike, inasmuch as it 
 is deprived of the stain of cruelty which attends upon live- 
 bait fishing. It requires, as I have already observed, the 
 full-sized trolling-rod, with long and strong line, a good- 
 sized reel, free from multipliers, and all the apparatus 
 peculiar to the gorge-hook — viz., cork-float, swivel- traces, 
 gorge-hooks, and bait. When these are all artistically 
 adjusted, the bait must be manoeuvred in the manner 
 already described for perch, and it will generally be 
 
422 MANUAL FOE TOUNG SPOETSMEK. 
 
 successful where good fish abound, and the fishing for 
 them is attempted at the proper season. The butt of the 
 rod should be rested against the thigh or groin, and it 
 should be grasped by the hand about 18 inches higher up, 
 which will give the angler great power over his rod, and 
 also leave the left hand at liberty to manage the line, a 
 loop or two of which should be held in that hand, ready to 
 " pay out," as the sailors say, when the bait is cast. When 
 a pickerel has seized the bait, wait patiently, as already 
 recommended, and the average time necessary for this 
 exercise of patience will be about six minutes ; then strike, 
 and play, or not, as before mentioned. 
 
 • In removing the bait from the mouth of the pickerel 
 after landing him, be careful of his jaws and teeth, which 
 sometimes inflict severe wounds. The first thing to be done 
 is to knock him on the head, which will enable you to 
 recover your hooks and gimp at your leisure, whereas by 
 attempting, by means of the disgorger, to remove them 
 while he is alive, great risk is incurred not only to them, 
 but to your own fingers. After he is quite dead, open the 
 mouth, and if the bait is still there, after propping the 
 mouth open, liberate the hooks with the knife, and remove 
 the bait ; but if -this has been swallowed, make an incision 
 into the stomach, and remove them through it. Very 
 often the process is a delicate and tedious one, and many 
 fish will require to be slit open from the mouth to the 
 stomach before the hooks can be removed. An implement 
 called the spoon is sold at all tackle shops, which super- 
 sedes the use of bait, but it is so deadly that it is held by 
 sportsmen mere poaching to use it. 
 
BAIT-FI8HIN&. 423 
 
 BASS-FISHING. 
 
 All the varieties of bass may be taken either by fly- 
 fishing, or trolling, and also by bottom-fishing with live 
 bait, dead bait, or various pastes. 
 
 The striped bass in sea-ways is ordinarily taken, 
 either by squidding with a bright piece of bone ivory or 
 tin provided with hooks, or with the real squid on a drop- 
 line. 
 
 He wUl rise freely in swift clear rivers above the influ- 
 ence of tide to a large gaudy salmon-fly, and must be 
 fished for, precisely as the salmon, with a two-headed rod 
 and salmon tackle. Being a bold strong fish, he fights 
 hard, and requires skill and patience to land him 
 
 He may also be trolled for successfully with dead bait, 
 or spinning tackle, as the pickerel, or taken at the bottom 
 with crab or shrimp. In the spring, and in rivers where 
 shad run, there is no more killing bait than shad roe, pre- 
 pared as described above. 
 
 The black bass and rock bass of the lakes will rise 
 freely and afibrd-good sport to a large fly made of scarlet 
 ibis and silver pheasant feathers, four wings, two of each, 
 with a body of scarlet chenil. They can also be trolled 
 for successfully, as described above, or taken with a live 
 bait on roving tackle, or with the deadly spoon. For the 
 rock bass, the growler, and the pike perch, which two 
 latter-named fish are taken precisely in the same manner, 
 except that they will not rise to the fly, the common craw- 
 fish of the western waters, Astacus Bartoni, is a favorite 
 and killing bait. 
 
424 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 EEL-FISHING. 
 
 The apparatus which is used for taking eels is exceed- 
 ingly various, inasmuch as almost every kind of hook is 
 occasionally adopted. Some of the different modes and 
 tackle have been already described, such as the ledger-line, 
 the common drop-line, the ordinary float-angling, &c. 
 These may be used with eel-hooks and strong tackle ; and 
 the eel should be landed as quickly as possible after he ia 
 hooked, for the reason that he is otherwise sure to coil 
 himself round some weed or pile, or other fixed object, and 
 so set at defiance the efforts of the angler. Usually, how- 
 ever, these fish are taken at night, and the ledger-line 
 answers very well for that purpose, the hook being mount- 
 ed on strong whipcord or on gimp. The regular night 
 line consists of a long and tolerably stout cord, to each 
 end of which a brick or stone is attached weighing three 
 or four pounds. At intervals of two or three feet a piece 
 of whipcord or gimp 18 inches long should bo firmly tied, 
 and armed with an ordinary eel-hook. When all are 
 baited, drop one brick or stone gently into the water, then, 
 
BAIT-FISHING. 425 
 
 witt a long pole or a boat, drop the other at the full length 
 of the line, and leave the whole apparatus sunk till the 
 next morning, when at early dawn they may be taken up 
 again with a boat-hook, and the eels, if caught, removed. 
 They should be set the last thing at night, that the bait 
 may be fresh, and taken up at very early dawn. 
 
 Bobbing for eels is practised with a common darning- 
 needle and worsted, several lengths of which are strung 
 with worms, and then, after being gathered into loops, 
 they are united by a strong line to a piece of lead weigh- 
 ing nearly a pound, and pierced with a hole for the pur- 
 pose of attachment to the line. The eels are taken by 
 their teeth catching in the worsted. 
 
 Trimmers are set for eels exactly as for pickerel, ex- 
 cept that the hooks should be eel-hooks. 
 
 Sniggling is another mode of taking eels, which is car- 
 ried on during the day, and the apparatus consists in a 
 strong needle about two inches long, a stout whipcord- 
 line, which is whipped to the needle from the eye to the 
 middle, from which part it is suspended, and a short rod 
 with a notch at the end, and capable of being set at any 
 angle or curve, for which purpose it is either made of 
 flexible wire or with hinged joints. The needle is baited 
 with the worm, which is drawn over both needle and line, 
 and when the angler strikes, he fixes the needle across the 
 eel's throat. 
 
 The eel-spear is the most common of all the implements 
 used in taking eels ; but as it requires very little art, it is 
 scarcely fitted for the sportsman's use, and is solely intend- 
 ed to be employed by those who take fish for profit. But 
 
42C MANUAL FOE TOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 the great bulk of the eels caught in this country are taken 
 in traps set in the weirs of the rivers, when they run in. 
 the floods which are so constantly occurring. 
 
 The best baits for eels are either live fish or lob- 
 worms. Dead bait are not so readily taken, as there is no 
 means during the night of simulating the motions of the 
 living fish, as can be done with perch, trout, and pickerel, 
 which take their food by day. Lob-worms, therefore, as 
 being the most readily procured, and remaining alive on 
 the hook for a considerable time, are the most common 
 bait. The lampern is used in those rivers where it is met 
 with, and is a very deadly bait. It requires care in its 
 application not to injure the nine-eyes or gills, for if they 
 are destroyed, the fish soon dies, and lies motionless and 
 unattractive. The hook, therefore, should be entered 
 below them, leaving the head and these openings hanging 
 free. It is too large a bait for any but full-sized eels, as 
 the small ones pull off the pendant portions without hook- 
 ing themselves. 
 
 Eels may be taken during the spring, summer, and 
 autumn. They haunt the recesses of the banks, or lie in 
 the mud and weeds during the day, leaving these places 
 only at night for food. Ponds, canals, and .alluvial rivers 
 are the chief localities for this fish, but few rivers are 
 totally free from them. In some, however, they abso- 
 lutely swarm, and even in small brooks they may be taken 
 in quantities amounting to many hundredweight during 
 their runs or migrations. 
 
 The modes of taking these fish vary with the apparatus 
 employed. During the day, sniggling, bobbing, or ledger- 
 
BAIT-FISHING. 427 
 
 line fishing will be the most successful. The first is prac- 
 tised as follows : — Take the needle, armed and suspended 
 as already described, and draw on it a large lob-worm in 
 the following manner. Enter the eye of the needle at the 
 head of the worln, and run it down till the whole needle is 
 covered except the point, which is inserted in the notch 
 or slit - at the end of the rod, leaving the worm free. In 
 this way the head of the worm is presented to the eel, and 
 is conducted into his hole or haunt by the bent end of the 
 rod. As this end can be set at any angle, it may be guid- 
 ed round stumps or stones, and when it is gently insinuat- 
 ed as far as it will go, it is quietly left there. The line 
 attached to the hook is held in the left hand, and as soon 
 as the fish seizes the bait and has drawn it out of the cleft 
 stick, slacken the line, and gently withdraw the stick ; 
 give a little time for the eel to swallow the bait, and then 
 strike, when the needle will cross his throat, and hold him 
 securely. Do not attempt at once to draw him out, but 
 let him tire himself first, and when he is exhausted, pull 
 him out. Bobbing is practised with the worms strung on 
 worsted, as already described, and gathered up in links, 
 which are to be attached to a line of whipcord about two 
 yards long, having a knot on it eight or ten inches from 
 the worms, and the lead slipped down to that point. 
 When the eels bite, their teeth stick in the worsted, and 
 they may be gently pulled out before they disentangle 
 .them. This mode I have never seen practised, and I 
 have great doubts of its efiiciency with any but small eels. 
 Boys, however, there is no doubt do thus succeed in taking 
 large numbers of these. For the purpose of taking eels by 
 
428 MANUAL FOE YOUN& SPORTSMEN. 
 
 night, the trimmers may be set as for pickerel, or the night- 
 line as described above. 
 
 BOTTOM FISHING FOR COMMON TROUT, LAKE TROUT, 
 AND SEA TROUT. 
 
 The bottom-rod for trouting should be at least 17 feet 
 long, and should be, in fact, similar to that described above 
 as the trolling-rod for pickerel. An ordinary trouting- 
 reel and reel line are sufficient for the purpose ; and the 
 casting line should have six lengths of good single gut, 
 slightly stained with brown or brownish green by means 
 of common black or green tea. No silk should be used at 
 the knots, but the simple angler's knot should be employed. 
 The hook for trout best adapted for the worm is No. 3 or 
 4, and for the minnow, according to the kind of fishing 
 adopted. When the hook is intended for the worm, it 
 ought to be whipped on to the gut with crimson silk, as the 
 dark silk usually employed alters the color of the trans- 
 parent worm, and deters the trout from taking the bait. 
 Shot, or lead in some form, is required, in order to sink 
 the bait, and its weight should depend upon the strength 
 of the current. Swan-shot answers best for this purpose, 
 and, more or less, must be applied at the discretion of the 
 angler, when by the water-side he ascertains the rate of 
 the current. A float will sometimes, though not always, 
 be needful, ^nd may be either of cork or swan-quill, the 
 latter being to be preferred. The hooks for spinning- 
 tackle are similar to those described at page 390, and the 
 gorge-hook will be found treated of at page 392. 
 
BAIT-FISHING-., 420 
 
 The baits for trout used in bottom-fishing are chiefly 
 worms and minnows, the latter either natural or artificial. 
 Caddises, however, and caterpillars, with gentles and 
 salmon-roe, are in some localities much prized. The 
 worms which are the best for trout-fishing are the marsh- 
 worm, the button-worm, and the brandling ; the last being 
 chiefly adapted to the smaller sizes of fish. They should 
 be well scoured, and applied as follows : — Six or eight 
 dozen worms will in all probability be required in a good 
 day's fishing, and should be carried in some damp moss in 
 an appropriate bait-box, or canvas bag. In putting the 
 worms on the hook, take the latter in the right hand, 
 between the finger and thumb, then taking a worm in 
 the left finger and thumb, insert the point of the hook 
 near the head of the worm, and run it along its body 
 until the whole of the hook is concealed, and also a very 
 short portion of the gut ; in doing this, great care should 
 be taken not to expose any part of the hook, and espe- 
 cially the barb, which should not on any account penetrate 
 the side of the worm. If the worm is too small to con- 
 ceal this quantity of the hook and line, and also to leave 
 a portion, at least an inch long, hanging free from the end, 
 two may be applied ; and if, on the other hand, it is too long, 
 the barbed end may be brought through and re-entered an 
 inch or so lower down, so as to pucker up a coil of the 
 worm's length, which adds to its allurement, and at the 
 same time prevents too long a free portion from hanging 
 from the end. The worm is thus injured as little as possi- 
 ble, and will live a considerable time if not roughly used 
 in the water. It should be examined every now and 
 
430 MANUAL FOE YOUKG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 then to see that it is not broken. Grubs, caterpillars, and 
 gentles applied two or three at a time on the hooks — first 
 one lengthwise, then one obliquely, so as to leave each end 
 free, and finally one lengthwise to conceal the barb. The 
 mode of applying the dead minnow and parr-tail has been 
 described under the head of " Baits," as well as the other 
 ordinary methods of baiting the gorge-hook and the live 
 minnow-tackle. 
 
 The artificial minnow, in all its varieties, may be tried, 
 and in some rivers and states of water will do great execu- 
 tion. In none, however, will it take equally well with a good 
 and well-baited real minnow ; and if these can be obtained, 
 it is useless to attempt to take fish with an inferior article. 
 The devil-bait is also sometimes successful ; indeed trout 
 are so capricious, that it is difficult at all times to say 
 beforehand what they will take, and what refuse. I have 
 already mentioned and described Mr. Slacker's modifica- 
 tion of this bait. 
 
 The common trout is found in almost all the clear, gra- 
 velly, and quick running streams throughout the Northern 
 and Middle States, and sometimes, though not in the same 
 perfection, in streams of an opposite charater. They spawn 
 in the autumn, the exact time varying in different localities ; 
 and they come into season in the spring, when, also, their 
 time of perfection will be early or late, in accordance with 
 the nature of their habitat. A low temperature seems 
 rather to accelerate than retard their condition. After 
 August, trout are not fit for the sport, being full of roe, or 
 else spent from the operation of spawning. For bottom- 
 fishing, the deeper and stiller parts of the stream answer 
 
BAIT-FISHING. 431 
 
 better than the very rough freshes, though even for this 
 kmd of fishing perfectly still water is not so well calcu- 
 lated as that rate of stream, which will move the bait 
 without destroying its form or texture. 
 
 The various modes of taking trout will be now entered 
 upon. First, fishing with the worm is practised by 
 obtaining all the apparatus and" bait described above ; the 
 angler then, with his wading-boots on, if he uses them, 
 quietly wades into a part of the river which will command 
 an extensive sweep of likely water; or, if preferring 
 terra firma, he keeps as much as possible out of sight of 
 the fish upon a part of the bank suitable for his purpose, 
 and below the water to be fished. It must be known, 
 that the worm should in all cases be cast up stream, and 
 suffered to float down again, for reasons which will be 
 clear enough when explained, as follows : — first, the trout 
 always lie head up stream, and therefore do not see the 
 angler so well below them as above ; secondly, the bait 
 floats gently down without injury, which must be done to 
 it if dragged against stream ; thirdly, in hooking the fish, 
 the barb is much more likely to lay hold in this way than 
 if he is struck in the line of the axis of his body ; and 
 fourthly, the water is not disturbed by the wader till it 
 has been already fished. The angler swings or casts his 
 worm gently as far up-stream as he can, using as long a 
 line as he can easily manage, and no more, and suffering 
 it to float down with the stream till within a short distance 
 of the place were he is standing, when it should be lifted 
 and re-cast. When a fish is felt to bite or lay hold of the 
 worm, wait a few seconds till he has done nibbling, and 
 
432 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 the moment he is running off with it strike it smartly but 
 tenderly with the wrist, not with the whole power of the 
 arm, and proceed to land your fish with as little delay as 
 possible. 
 
 Grrub, caterpillars, gentles, &c., are all used in the same 
 way, and will serve the angler well in many localities, but 
 as a general bait for trout they are not equal to the worm. 
 Fishing with the salmon-roe will be found more particularly 
 described at the end of this section. 
 
 In using the live bait, the hook, of size No. 3, should 
 be entered at the back-fin, and the barb should stand up 
 a little above the surface ; the line then being shotted, 
 and a swan-quill fioat applied at about three feet from the 
 hook, the bait is suffered to swim about in any direction 
 but that of weeds, or other dangerous spots in the bed of 
 the river. As, however, trout are chiefiy found in strong 
 running streams, and as in such situations some force must 
 be exerted upon the minnow in keeping it from running 
 with the stream, its life is soon destroyed, and therefore 
 the live minnow is not so well adapted for trout-fishing as 
 for perch or pickerel. 
 
 The dead minnow used with spinning-tackle, according 
 to one or other of the modes recommended at page 389, is 
 most suited for taking large trout ; and the precise style 
 of fishing with these baits is as follows : — but the angler 
 should understand that the principle on which he conducts 
 his operations is not that of a slavish imitation of the mo- 
 tions of the natural live minnow, such as will answer; to a 
 certain extent, with the pickerel and perch, which are less 
 wary than the trout, but rather to produce such a quick and 
 
BAIT-FISHING. 433 
 
 constant spin of the bait as shall conceal the hooks from 
 the fish to be caught. The principal point, therefore, is 
 to fix the bait on the hooks so as to spin well, and to last 
 in this state a long time ; and thus to avoid as much as 
 possible the renewing of the bait, by which time is lost, 
 and generally just at the most valuable period of the day. 
 No bait comes so near perfection in these several points as 
 the parr-tail, and it will, I am persuaded, as far as a limited 
 trial will allow of an opinion, be found to be better 
 suited than any other to spinning for trout, in all streams 
 where the current is strong. I have already remarked 
 that shiners, or other fish of the same size, in the absence 
 of the parr, will be large enough for this purpose. When 
 the bait is properly applied, according to the mode recom- 
 mended at page 891, the line should be cast as gently as pos- 
 sible by means of the troUing-rod, taking care not to injure 
 the texture of the fish-bait by jerking it violently, and 
 therefore avoiding too long a line and too forcible a throw. 
 Underhand casting does less damage than when the bait 
 is thrown overhand, and by its adoption the splash in its 
 fall into the water is also much .less considerable. In 
 working the bait, every thing depends upon the strength of 
 the stream ; but the rule always is to make the minnow 
 spin as fast as possible without injury to its texture. 
 Thus, when it is drawn against the stream, it may be 
 steadily brought towards the hand and made to revolve 
 chiefly by the action of the current. If, however, it is 
 drawn down stream, a series of jerks must be given, or it 
 will not spin sufficiently fast ; and yet, if the pull is main- 
 Uined bo as to keep. up the spinning at. the same rate 
 19 
 
434 MAXUAL FOE TOTJlSrG SPOETSMBN. 
 
 throughout, the casting-line itself makes a very prominent 
 ripple, and by the overdoing of the attempt serves to scare 
 away the fish. The line should always be well shotted, as 
 the minnow will otherwise rise too near the surface, and 
 no float will be required, inasmuch as the bait is always at 
 the end of a " taut" line. Mr. Stoddart also recommends 
 the adoption of a plain hook, baited with a minnow as 
 when using a worm, running it in at the tail and bringing 
 it out at the mouth ; after which he hitches the gut over 
 the tail to suit the bait in its proper position. With this 
 he fishes as with a worm in low and clear states of the 
 water ; but as I have never seen this bait used, I cannot 
 speak as to its efficiency. It is exactly the reverse of Izaak 
 Walton's mode of entering the hook, and, according to 
 Mr. Stoddart's practice and theory, is much to be pre- 
 ferred to it. Colonel Hawker's mode of baiting the hook, 
 with the addition of side hooks, is used in the same way 
 as ordinary spinning-tackle, and the minnow baited as he 
 recommends will be found tolerably serviceable. It is 
 merely the addition of the side hooks to Izaak Walton's 
 method of applying the hook, which has the objection of 
 offering the wrong end to the trout, having the barb at 
 the tail instead of the head. It is, therefore, no wonder 
 that trout so often are missed when rushing at it, since 
 they almost invariably endeavor to seize the head. This 
 is the case with most predacious animals, which are 
 instinctively made aware that this part is the most vital 
 organ, and they almost always begin by eating the brain 
 where such an organ exists. When fishing with the min- 
 now well leaded and in deep water, the angler seldom sees 
 
BAIT-FISHHTG. 435 
 
 the trout rush at his bait, but is warned by the sense of 
 touch, rather than by his eyes, that the trout is at it. 
 At this moment the angler slackens his line gently for a 
 couple of seconds, and then strikes with his wrist, using 
 only a slight jerk. The trout is now either hooked or 
 alarmed, but generally the former is the case, unless he is 
 a very shy, wary old fox ; in which case he is not likely to 
 be again tempted on that day. If, however, the trout is 
 seen approaching the minnow, the angler ought to en- 
 deavor, as far as his nerves will allow him, to continue the 
 precise kind of motion which attracted the fish, until he 
 not only sees him at the bait, hut feels his pull, when he 
 should proceed exactly as if all was out of sight. This, 
 however, is a difficult task, and few young fishermen have 
 sufficient command over themselves to avoid the mistake 
 to which their attention is here directed. Every one who 
 has hooked fish of any size with fine tackle, must be aware 
 how difficult it is, when commencing trout-fishing, to carry 
 out in pactice the theory which he has been endeavoring to 
 realize for some time past ; and each, in his turn, must 
 have been made painfully conscious of the danger not only 
 of striking too soon and too hard, but of attempting to 
 land a large fish with fine gut before he is tired. 
 
 TROLLING FOR LAKE TROUT. 
 
 The following instructions on fishing for the great lake 
 trout were furnished for my work on Fish and Fishing, by 
 an old and experienced angler, of high repute for science 
 and skill, and much accustomed to the lakes. They are 
 
436 MANUAL FOE TOTJNG StOETSMEN. 
 
 admitted to be tlie best ever published, and I have there- 
 fore no hesitation in quoting them here from my larger 
 work. 
 
 I propose, in this connection, to treat of this fine and 
 exciting sport, describing 
 
 1st, The rod; 
 
 2d, The reel; 
 
 3d, The line ; 
 
 4th, The leader, and train of hooks ; 
 
 5th, The bait and flies ; 
 
 6th, The bait-kettle ; 
 
 7th, The boat and oarsman, or guide ; 
 
 8th, The manner of striking the fish, when the bait is 
 taken ; 
 
 And lastly, 9th, How to play, and gaff the fish. 
 
 1st. The Rod. — A mutual friend, who writes occasion- 
 ally for the " Spirit," and who is a most skilful troller, 
 wrote an article which appeared in the " Spirit " in the 
 fall of 1848, signed *' M., Maspeth, Long Island," in which 
 he gave a capital description on most of the above heads. 
 
 The trolling-rod spoken of above, on page 380, vs'ill 
 answer all purposes. But the gentleman mentioned had 
 two of the most perfect trolling- rods I have sQen; they 
 were made by Ben. Welch, of Cherry street, and are all 
 bamboo cane. . I had one made by George Karr, of Grand 
 street, which I like very much ; and I will describe it the 
 best way I can, although it is no easy matter to. describe 
 on paper a rod of any kind : — Length from eleven to thir- 
 teen feet ; butt of ash, thoroughly seasoned, about one and 
 a.jquarter inches in diameter, or about as thick as an 
 
BAIT-FISHTPrO, A37 
 
 Ordinary bass-rod. The butt sbould be hollow, to contain 
 spare tips. The second, third and fourth joints should be 
 bamboo, so that when the rod is put together, it will be 
 about twelve feet. 
 
 The rod should have two spare tips; one should be 
 stronger and shorter than the other, to vary the fishing 
 according to the state of the weather, and circumstances. 
 
 The fourth, or last joint tip, should be about three feet, 
 thinner, and more pliant than the spare tops which fit in 
 the bored butt. The first spare tip should be two feet 
 long, stifier and stronger than the original top. The 
 second spare tip should be about fourteen inches long, 
 strong and stiff; and in heavy weather, this strong, stiff 
 tip will be the one to use. 
 
 Eod-making has been brought to such perfection, it 
 would be a waste of time to give further instructions ; 
 but still I only know two men in this city who can make a 
 true troUing-rod, viz. : — Ben. Welch, of Cherry street, 
 and George Karr, of Grand street near Broadway. 
 
 Rings should never be used on rods of this character. 
 The " railroad " through which the line travels, consti- 
 tutes one of the peculiarities of this rod. Rings interfere 
 with, arid impede the line, and should not be used. The 
 guides used by Welch are the only true ones — they are 
 neat, light, with a thin.flat shank, about one fourth of an 
 inch in length, which is firmly secured on the different 
 joints. There should be very few guides on the rod — five 
 I consider sufficient, exclusive of the metal case at the top 
 of each tip. This metal case should have a rounded sur- 
 
438 MATi rnAT. FOE TOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 face, perfectly smooth, and sufficiently large to allow the 
 line to run without the slightest obstruction or friction. 
 
 Let me give one hint before I take leave of the rod. 
 I recommend that all trolling-rods should have guides on 
 both sides — that is, a guide on the opposite side of the 
 other : not on the butt, but on all joints from the butt to 
 the end ; and why ? In this kind of fishing there is 
 powerful pressure on the rod ; and the very best will, from 
 hard work, become bent, and remain bent, and thus lose 
 its elasticity. To obviate this, turn round the joints, slip 
 the line through the spare guides, and in a few hours the 
 rod is " all straight." 
 
 2d. The Keel. — To give an explanation of this 
 would be absurd. I will simply say, that No. 3 is 
 about the proper size for a trolling-rod, without stop, click, 
 or multiplier. The line cannot run off too free. According 
 to my opinion, John Conroy can make the best reel in the 
 world. 
 
 3d. The Line. — One hundred yards is abundant. 
 Twisted silk is the best line for trolling. I know they 
 kink, when new; but very little _ use will put an end to 
 it — id est, knock the kink out of it. 
 
 Plaited lines are very good and cheap, and do not 
 kink; but they absorb the water, and do not run free 
 from the rod. 
 
 A mixture of hair in lines is my abomination. It is 
 the most dangerous and uncertain stuff a man can use. 
 You can never depend on it ; the hairs will give way with 
 but little strain ; and when you hook the heaviest fish, the 
 greater danger is to be apprehended. I hate them. 
 
BAIT-FISHING. 439'' 
 
 4th. The Leader and Teain of Hooks. — This word 
 " leader " goes against my grain. The old familiar 
 English-Irish sound of " casting-line," has a charm for my 
 ear, equalled only by the still silent noise of 
 
 " Ballynahinch or Costello's flowing waters." 
 
 But let leader go for trolling. 
 
 Most trollers use twisted gut for a leader, with a small 
 swivel attached to one end. The other end is fastened to 
 the reel-line, either by loop or knot, but a knot is by far 
 preferable. The leader should be two yards long — some 
 good and old hands use three yards. I never use twisted 
 gut. I prefer a leader of good round salmon-gut. 
 
 The train of hooks is attached to the eye of the 
 swivel, at the end of the leader. The train is made of five 
 hooks, and made on the very best and most perfect gut, 
 single. The strand upon which the hooks are tied, is 
 fastened by a knot to another equally strong and perfect 
 strand, which is fastened by a loop to a swivel at the end 
 of the leader. Thus you have the rod, reel, line, leader, 
 and train of hooks. Perhaps a sketch of the train of 
 hooks will be better than an explanation. Here it is : 
 
 This train, it will be seen, is made of five hooks. 
 The lip-hook should be a size or two smaller than the tail- 
 hooks — say No. 5 for the tail, No. 6 for the middle, and 
 No. 7 for the lip. These hooks are joined shank to shank, 
 
440 MANUAL FOE YOtTNG SPOETSMBN. 
 
 witJi the gut between them, and then firmly tied with 
 waxed silk. But I procured from Ireland a set of hooks 
 wedded or united together, and they are far superior to 
 single hooks joined by tying together, for they frequently 
 double up, and become very troublesome. George Karr, 
 before named, can rig this kind of train better than any 
 man in the city, as far ae my experience -goes. 
 
 5th. The Bait and Plies. — The proper bait is the 
 shiner, which can be plentifully procured in all the lakes of 
 Hamilton County. They are taken with the smallest kind 
 of hook, Na 12, with worm bait ; and when secured, are 
 put into the bait-kettle, and preserved until used. The 
 mode of putting the shiner on the train is simple : put the 
 lip or single hook through the lip, the middle hook in the 
 belly, the end hook in the tail. 
 
 Unlike trout-fishing proper, I loop on my flies when 
 trolling. About thirty-six inches from the shiner I loop 
 on the leader — a large fly ; and thirty inches from that 
 fly I loop a smaller-sized one, and then I am rigged to 
 "throw out." 
 
BAIT-FISHING. Ml 
 
 6th. The Bait-Kettle. — -This is a most indispensable 
 article f6r the troUer-^he can't geit along without it. It 
 should be made of strong tin, painted green outside and 
 white inside. The bottom should be wider than the top, 
 but sloping gradually. Conroy has now in his store some 
 very good and complete ; but there is one great improve- 
 ment, to have the handle lie or fall inside the lid. I 
 recommend a small gauze ladle, with a short handle, to 
 take the bait from the kettle when required ; it will save 
 much trouble, and injury, if not death, to the " dear little 
 creatures." 
 
 The kettle should be replenished with water every 
 hour ; and one unerring sign that the shiner needs fresn 
 water, is when he pokes his nose to the surface. When the 
 fishing is over, sink the kettle in the shoal water, and 
 secure it, so that it cannot be tossed about by " wind or 
 weather." 
 
 7th. The Boat and Oaksman, or GtUidb. — Here you 
 must trust to luck — "first come, first served." But any 
 person going to the house of John C. Holmes, at Lake 
 Pleasant, will -find good accommodation, and " honest 
 John " will secure a good guide and a good boat; and 
 from experience I can safely recommend Cowles, Batch- 
 ellor, and Morrell, of Lake Pleasant^ as faithful, honest, 
 persevering, safe and skilful guides and oarsmen. Trolling 
 is solely done from the boat. The troller with his ' face 
 to the stem ; the oarsman in the middle, or rather near 
 the bow, and rows slowly and gently along the lake ; about 
 one and a half or two miles an hour is the proper speed. 
 
 8th. The Manner of Stkiking the Fish when the 
 19* 
 
442 MANnAT. FOE TOtTNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 Bait is Taken. — Should there be much wind, thirty-five 
 yards of line is sufficient to run out — if calm, say forty-five 
 or fifty. When a fish is felt, the tip of the rod should be 
 eased off, or given to the fish, in order that he have time to 
 take hold ; then give a good surge of the rod, and you will 
 rarely miss striking him. Should you be fishing with two 
 rods, which is almost always the case, pass the other rod to 
 the oarsman. Never give the fish an inch, unless by actual 
 compulsion; invariably keep him in hand — feel him at a 
 distance, but still be kind and gentle, not rude or rough. 
 Do not show the gaff until you know that the fish is " used 
 up ; * if a small fish, run the net under him ; and if the 
 fish is spent or exhausted, he will fall into it ; but if he 
 shows life, draw him over the net. If a large fish, use the 
 gaff, which pass under him, with the point downwards ; 
 then turn it up inside, and strike as near the shoulder as 
 possible. I say shoulder instead of tail. 
 
 I believe that I have now done with this branch; but 
 let me say, that no good troller uses lead or sinker of any 
 kind. I have seen it used, but used to the destruction of 
 sport and tackle. Sinkers carry the hooks to the bottom, 
 and there you stick either to root or rock. 
 
 When trolling, you take, on the average, more fine 
 brook trout than lake trout. I think that two to one 
 is correct. 
 
 One word as to the sporting quality of the lake 
 trout. The nine pound and a quarter trout, before 
 mentioned, may perhaps be an exception ; but I do affirm, 
 that the lake trout is a fish of game, spirit, and en^ 
 ■durance. 
 
BAIT-FISHING. 443 
 
 I have killed them from one to sixteen and a half 
 pounds. The sixteen and a half pound lake trout was 
 hooked by me, on a single gut leader ; from the time I 
 struck him, till his capture, was one hour and forty-five 
 minutes. During the first half hour, he showed great bad 
 temper, and kept the perspiration flowing off my head; 
 he did sulk for half an hour, but it was a moving and a 
 dragging sulk, unlike the salmon ; and during this sulk 
 he took me along the lake for about a mile ; 1 became 
 fatigued, and bore so heavy on him that I got him near 
 the surface, and from that time until his death was one 
 continued run and fight. He had not the vivacity of the 
 nine and a quarter pound fish, but still I had " my hands 
 full," and was effectually " used up " when he was gaffed 
 by Cowles, my guide. 
 
NATUEAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLY- 
 FISHING. 
 
 In the chapter on bottom-fishing, I have remarked that 
 all fish may be taken by that mode ; but now it must be 
 explained, that the circle from which the victims of the fly- 
 fisher's art are to be selected, is much more limited. He 
 may, however, flatter himself that all, or nearly so, of the 
 most prized varieties are included in his list, and this is 
 the case not only in America and the British islands, but 
 in almost all countries. In India, fly-fishing is practised 
 
NATUEAIi -AND ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 44:5 
 
 to a great extent, and, indeed, wlierever the salmonidm are 
 found, it may be freely indulged in. 
 
 Natural fly-fishing consists in the use of the various 
 living flies, grasshoppers, &e., which are found on the banks 
 of rivers and lakes. It is practised by a process which is 
 called dipping, but chiefly in such situations as are so 
 much overhung with bushes as to preclude the use of the 
 artificial fly. In these spots the water is generally still, 
 and there is no possibility of offering the lure in any other 
 position than a state of almost entire quiescence. Hence 
 all imitations are easily discoverable ; and the real fly and 
 grasshopper, &c., are the only surface-baits whicb the fish 
 will take. 
 
 Artificial fly-fishing, on the other hand, consists in the 
 use of imitations of these files, and also of other fancy flies, 
 by means of an elastic rod and fine tackle, and by a proc.;ss 
 which is called whipping. All fish which will take the one 
 will take the other kind of lure, but not always with an 
 equal degree of avidity, as we shall hereafter find ; but as 
 the principle is the same in both eases, they are better 
 treated of together, rather than to go oyer the same ground 
 a second time. 
 
 THE APPARATUS REQUIKED IN DIPPmG AND WHIPPING. 
 
 The tackle for dipping is much more simple than that 
 employed in whipping, and it consists of a moderately 
 short and stiff rod ; the spinning or trolling-rod, minus its 
 butt joint, answers this purpose well, — of a short but 
 strong reel-line of hand-twisted hair — of a single length — 
 
i46 MANTJAL FOB TOmf& BPOETSMBK. 
 
 or two at most of gut — and a tine hook suited in size to 
 the bait and fish. la dipping, it is usual to lengthen or 
 shorten the line, which is used from a foot in length to 
 two or three yards, by coiling it round the end of the top 
 joint, and uncoiling it as the line is wished to be extend- 
 ed, and after the rod has been insinuated through the trees 
 or bushes growing on the banks. Some anglers use a reel 
 fixed upon the lower part of the second joint, and with a 
 hair-line it acts pretty well ; but with a plaited one, it is 
 difficult to protrude the line from the end of the rod with- 
 out so great a degree of disturbance as to alarm the fish. 
 The uncoiling from the end of the rod is not unattended 
 with this disadvantage ; but it is less objectionable than 
 doing so entirely from the reel ; though I think, for the 
 sake of convenience, that appendage may be added, taking 
 care to have the lowest joint free, so as to be able to 
 shorten the rod by that amount at pleasure. 
 
 For whipping, or fly-fishing as it is generally called — 
 that is, for the use of the artificial fly — a rod, either single 
 or two-handed, according to circumstances, is required, 
 with a fine reel-line and large-barrelled reel ; and also 
 a long casting-line, with one, two, or three droppers, each 
 armed with a fly. 
 
 The fly-rod is either a single-handed one, or, when 
 used for the larger varieties of the trout, or for salmon, 
 the two-handed rod. Both of these rods are usually made 
 of the same materials, and they differ only in size, the 
 single-handed varying from 11 to 13 feet in length, while 
 the two-handed extends from 14 to 20 feet. They are 
 both usually made in four or five lengths, but in Scotland 
 
NATUEAI. AKD ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 447 
 
 they are, I believe,, seldom in more than three pieces. 
 The butt-end is generally an ash-sapling, sometimes solid, 
 and at others hollowed out to receive the small joints. 
 The middle joints are almost always made of hickory, and 
 the top joint either of lancewood alone, or of that wood, 
 spliced with the bamboo and strengthened with silk. 
 Many of the best and lightest fly-rods are now made, ex- 
 cept the butt-end, from rent and glued bamboo ; and none 
 are more beautiful and efficient than these if properly used ; 
 but they are very fragile in careless hands, and therefore 
 scarcely fitted for the young angler. The reel is either 
 simple, with a large drum or central barrel, or otherwise. 
 The multiplier is made with a series of wheels, which are 
 intended to give out and take in the line more rapidly than 
 the simple machine. In this desirable point, I am satisfied 
 that the object is attained much more completely by the 
 simple large drum ; for though the multiplier is very 
 pretty in theory, yet in practice it is constantly failing in 
 its powers when tested by a strong fish.- Besides this, the 
 large drum actually gives out line much faster than the 
 multiplier, and has therefore that point in its favor ; while 
 in taking it in, he must be a bungler indeed who cannot 
 wind the winch or handle rapidly enough to do all which 
 he wishes to effect ; and it is quite certain, that what is 
 done is better and more smoothly done in this way than 
 by the aid of wheels and cogs, which are liable to jerks 
 and interruptions. Upon this reel is wound from 30 
 to 80 yards of line, varying with the rod and the fish, 
 for which it is to be used. Thus the smaller fish, includ- 
 ing the ordinary run of common trout and the gray- 
 
448 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPOETPMItN. 
 
 ling, will require only 30 or 35 yards, -while the larger 
 varieties of trout and the salmon should always have 
 from 60 to 80 yards ready for their capture. The hair- 
 line should be regularly tapered, and should vary in 
 strength from 24 hairs down to 14 for salmon, and from 
 18 down to 10 or 12 for trout. The tapering portion, 
 however, should only extend in the trout line as far as it 
 is clear of the reel, which may be estimated at about half 
 the length of the line ; and in the salmon line only for 
 about 20 yards from the end. Plaited silk lines are now 
 much used, especially for salmon, but I confess I have 
 never seen any line which could be thrown with as much 
 certainty as the hand-made horse-hair line. It has just 
 sufficient stiffness to carry itself smoothly through the air, 
 with pliancy enough to adapt itself to all the varying evo- 
 lutions of the angler's wrists and arms. The casting-line 
 is composed of two, and sometimes of three portions; the 
 first, or extreme portion consisting, in all cases, of several 
 lengths of single gut carefully knotted together, with or 
 without silk " lapping ; " the next portion is usually of 
 treble gut, twisted by the machine, or by quills and bobbins. 
 To these some anglers add a third portion of twisted hair, 
 which, however, is unnecessary if the reel-line is properly 
 tapered, and is of hair also. The great principle to be 
 carried out is to taper the line from the point of the rod 
 to the end, so that in working it through the air it shall 
 play smoothly, and obey the hand to the greatest nicety. 
 In this respect it should imitate the four-in-hand whip, 
 which is so graduated that it tapers all the way, and is 
 hence capable of taking a fly off the leader's ear. The 
 
NATtTEAL AND AETIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 449. 
 
 gut varies in strength and size, from that required for the 
 salmon, to the finer sizes used in grayling or small trout- 
 fishing. The single gut portion is generally about two 
 yards long, and terminates in a fly, which is called the 
 stretcher, and which is either dressed on a length of gut, 
 or has a fine loop left at its head, by which it may be 
 attached to any fresh length of gut. About three or four 
 feet from this stretcher another fly, called a dropper, is 
 attached by means of a short length of gut, usually about 
 three or four inches long ; and at the junction of the single- 
 gut with the twisted portion there is another dropper, with 
 a somewhat longer length of gut. If more than two 
 droppers are used, the single-gut length is increased to 
 eight feet, and the third dTopper is then introduced mid- 
 way between the two already, described, with. a length of 
 gut of about six inches, while that of the highest is 
 increased to eight ; by which gradual increase of length 
 the stretcher and the droppers all ought to touch the 
 water at the same time, while the foot length of the 
 casting-line extends in a gentle sweep from the stretcher 
 to the point of the rod. The mode of attaching these 
 droppers to the casting- line is by opening the water-knots, 
 and then introducing the dropper^gut between their two 
 portions, after having previously knotted its end. This 
 should be done as neatly as possible, to avoid making an 
 unsightly projection. Most anglers whip .the ends of the 
 water-knots with white silk waxed with white wax, and 
 also take a few turns round the, dropper-gut to make all 
 secure. The artificial flies have been already fully de- 
 scribed above. 
 
450 -MATi rnAT. FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 Whipping for small fish, as the dace, roach, or chub, 
 where they exist, forms the best introduction to the use 
 of the fly-rod, especially as these little fish may be met 
 with in almost all our streams and rivers, and often in 
 situations where there are no trees to interfere with the 
 use of the line. Almost any small midge or gnat will 
 take them ; and the tackle throughout should be of the 
 finest description, with a light single-handed rod of about 
 11 or 12 feet in length. The young angler should now 
 take as much pains in throwing his fly as if he were intent 
 upon the capture of the finest salmon. In watching the 
 evolutions of the general run of fishermen, it is common 
 enough to see two or three feet of line touching the water 
 before the fly, whereas the contrary ought to be the case ; 
 .and the fly should alight on the water as airily and gently 
 as its natural prototype, with scarcely any portion of the 
 line following its example by coming into contact with the 
 water at all. If the angler will only endeavor to avoid 
 jerking his line, and will coax his fly rather than force it 
 forwards, he will soon see the difference. The cast or 
 throw is effected as follows, when the rod is light and there 
 is plenty of elbow-room. I am now supposing that the 
 angler has a rod of 11 feet in length, and a line, altogether, 
 of about 18, with either a single stretcher, or in addition 
 one or two droppers, all very minute ; he takes the casting- 
 line in his left hand, at such a distance from the fly that it 
 is quite clear of the ground, and with the rod pointing 
 forward and to the left ; then, at the moment when he 
 looses the line, he, with a half-side, and half-backward 
 movement of the arm, sweeps the line in a gentle curve tiU 
 
NATUEAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLT-FISHING. 451 
 
 It is well behind and above him. It is at this point that 
 the first mistake is likely to occur, as here the awkward 
 hand generally jerks his fly, which is sometimes even 
 whipped off with a snap, and after this jerk he can never 
 regain that even and smooth flow which would otherwise 
 follow its operation from the backward to the forward 
 direction. When this movement is elegantly and effect- 
 ively carried out, the line, without any abrupt change, is 
 brought round the head from the backward to the forward 
 movement without passing directly overhead, but in a line 
 considerably above the level of the head of the angler ; 
 when it has passed before the body, it is thrown forwards 
 at the full length of the arm, and, without the slightest 
 hurry, to the point which it is intended the fly shall alight 
 «upon. If this is badly executed, and with any jerk, the 
 line is doubled upon itself, and the loop thus made touches 
 the water, whilst the fly is two or three feet from its des- 
 tination, and finally descends with a whole series of con- 
 volutions of gut or hair, enough to alarm all fish within 
 sight. This is called throwing from the left shoulder, from 
 which mode throwing from, the right shoulder, or back- 
 casting, differs in bringing the rod and arm, after they have 
 achieved the backward movement, forward again by the 
 side of the head, delivering the fly over the right shoulder, 
 without making the complete circular sweep behind the 
 body. Sometimes, when it is desirable to throw the fly 
 with great delicacy, it is tried by waving the line from 
 right to left over the head, in the form of a figure 8; 
 but this can only be effectively done with a single fly, as 
 the droppers interfere with the manoeuvre too much to 
 
453 MAITUAL FOE TOtTTTG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 allow of its being tried when they are used. The young 
 angler should practise both methods, and should never 
 consider that he has mastered the first great difficulty, 
 until he has acquired the power of dropping his fly upon 
 the water tolerably near a given spot by both the above 
 methods, and without its being preceded by any portion of 
 the line, or followed by more than a few inches of it. As 
 soon as he has thus dropped his. fly he begins to. draw it 
 more or less directly to him, and with a series of jerks, 
 varying a good deal according to the fly and the fish to be 
 taken. In whipping for small fry, very little more need be 
 done than to bring the fly gently and steadily towards the 
 bank, and then repeat the cast in a fresh direction. When 
 hooked, they may be landed at once, even with a single 
 hair-line. Dipping may be practised with the small fry,, 
 using the natural house-fly, or in fact any small fly ; but it 
 requires very little art, and I shall therefore postpone the 
 description of this species of fishing until the paragraph 
 treating of Chub-fishing. 
 
 Almost every species of fish, at some time or other, 
 rises to fly in clear river waters ; but the sea-trout is the 
 only one which is ever known to take it in the open sea. 
 This fish, however, affords great sport in the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence, even out of sight of land, with a large scarlet 
 ibis fly, in a mackerel breeae. The pickerel, the bass, 
 sometimes the perch, the smelt, and even the shad will rise 
 to the fly, and all the small fry in the pools will take a 
 midge on the smallest sized hook. Indeed, there is no 
 prettier practice for a young hand, than whipping for smelt 
 with the red fly, in large clear rivets. 
 
NATUEAI, AND AETIFICIAL FLT-BTSHING. 
 
 453 
 
 TEOUT-FISHING. 
 
 TJnlike the mere whipping for small fish, ■which I have 
 dilated upon as forming an excellent introduction to trout- 
 fishing, the latter requires great caution not to scare the 
 fish, either by the too near presence of the angler, or by 
 the awkward manipulation of his line and flies. The man- 
 agement of the two-handed rod will more properly come 
 under salmon and lake-trout fishing, for, although it is 
 sometimes employed in fishing for common trout in large 
 and wide rivers, yet it can scarcely even then be needed, 
 and it certainly loses in delicacy of manipulation much 
 more than it gaids in its power of controlling a larger 
 extent of water. Different men adopt various plans of 
 throwing the fly, but it is of little consequence which 
 mode of many is followed, so that the angler has only 
 entire command of his rod and line, and can do what he 
 likes with his flies. When this perfection of casting is 
 arrived at, the angler may choose whether he will fish up- 
 
454 MAinrAL foe to0Ng sportsmen. 
 
 stream or down, but he will soon find out by experience 
 that the wind in his back is advantageous to him, and that 
 he will scarcely succeed in any case in casting his fly in 
 the face of a strong breeze. Beyond this, no rule will in 
 all cases apply, and the fly-fisher must use his own discre- 
 tion, founded in great measure upon practical observation, 
 as to the precise mode in which he will reach and fish 
 particular parts of the water that he believes to be the 
 resort of good trout. Indeed, it is useless to attempt 
 instructing the tyro by theoretical lessons in the details of 
 an art in which it is certain that nothing but practice can 
 give any degree of proficiency. This is constantly shown 
 even in the professed fly-fisher of two or three seasons' ex- 
 perience, who throws his fly with all the most approved 
 motions, and is beforehand fully convinced that he is 
 the equal of any angler, from Maine to Mississippi ; 
 but, when he sees fish after flsh hooked and landed 
 by some older hand following in his wake, and using the 
 very same fly, with perhaps an inferior rod, he is obliged 
 to confess that theory must succumb to delicacy of hand- 
 ling, and that fly-fishing is a practical art, rather than a 
 science attainable in the closet. The various degrees of 
 success mark the difierenee between the master and the 
 scholar, and show that a lifetime may be spent in acquir- 
 ing the power of deceiving this wary flsh, and yet there 
 may be ' room for improvement ; hence it is that so many 
 men of talent have been devotees to the fly-rod, and while 
 they have enjoyed the beauties of nature displayed to 
 them during the prosecution of their sport, they have 
 navertheless'been much more deeply engaged ia acquiring 
 
NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 455 
 
 the art of fascinating a fish seldom of more than 20 ounces 
 in weight. No one of these men would care for taking 
 trout in any way unaccompanied by difficulty, and attain- 
 able without dexterity ; but when it is found that by long 
 practice, and careful observation, a feat can be accom- 
 plished which no other means will give, then the man who 
 has mastered the power congratulates himself upon its 
 possession, and is not unnaturally pleased in being enabled 
 to display it, by showing what may be done after another's 
 failure. Rivalry is the great zest in sport of all kinds, 
 and the trout taken by an artist, in water which has been 
 well flogged by his inferiors, are thought much more of 
 than those landed where they rise to any bungler's throw. 
 But to proceed to such a general description as may be of 
 some little use to the tyro, I must first observe, that he 
 should confine himself to a single-handed rod with a mod- 
 erately long line — say, of from 15 to 18 feet, which he 
 should at once draw off the reel, and of which he should 
 hold the gut in his hand near the fly. With this he may 
 proceed to fish the river which is the seat of his intended 
 sport, and may walk quietly along its bank, throwing 
 successively over every yard of likely water ; but always 
 fishing first the water nearest to him, and lengthening or 
 shortening his line according to circumstances, such as the 
 breadth of water, thi freedom from trees, &c. He will 
 find that he must not throw straight across the river, 
 neither must he allow the fly or flies to be drawn too near 
 his own bank, or he will not be able to lift them cleverly 
 from the water, so as to get such a clear sweep as will 
 enable him to re-east them with precision and delicacy. 
 
436 MANTTAT, FOE YODKG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 Heixce, instead of fishing the water under his feet, he will 
 throw his flies so as to take the edge next his own bank at 
 the length of his line; and- will thus successively throw 
 over aU on his side long before his person is seen ; and 
 when he brings his flies up to within 10 or 12 feet of 
 where he is standing, he may lift them, because he has 
 already well tried that portion of the water. But besides 
 the excellence- in throwing the fly, there is also a great art 
 ia striking and hooking the fish exactly at the right time, 
 and with the proper degree of force. When the trout 
 rises at the fly, which may always be seen by the angler, 
 the rod should be raised with a motion upwards of the 
 wrist only, avoiding, as far as the excitement of the mo- 
 ment will permit, all shoulder or elbow-work, and using 
 just such a degree of wrist-action as may be judged will 
 fasten so sharp an implement as the hook in so soft a sub- 
 stance as the mouth of the trout. Theoretically this may 
 easily be estimated, but practically it will be found that 
 the tyro generally jerks hard enough to strike a blunt 
 hook deep into the jaws of a shark or dolphin. The object 
 of striking at all, is to prevent the fish from having time to 
 discover his mistake, the natural consequence of which 
 would be to " blow out " the fly from his mouth. The fly- 
 fisher, therefore, waits till the moment when the fly is 
 actually within the lips of his victim, and then, with a 
 gentle, yet rapid wrist-action, he fixes the hook there. 
 This is much more easily done with a light single-handed 
 rod than with one used by both hands, and hence it is 
 advisable, for this reason, as well as on account of the 
 greater facilities in casting with it, to limit the young 
 
NATUEAX AND ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 457 
 
 trout-fisher to its use. In playing trout when hooked, 
 nrnch depends upon their size ; if small, they may be land- 
 ed immediately ; but if above half or three-quarters of a 
 pound, according to the fineness of the tackle, and the 
 gameness of the fish of that locality, it is necessary to 
 yield to his powers for a time, and to give him line for 
 running; always taking care not to give him so much lib- 
 erty as to enable him to reach adjacent weeds, or to 
 rub his nose against the ground, and thus, in either way, 
 get rid of his hook. When tolerably exhausted, by 
 advancing the butt of the rod, and so using its flexibility 
 as a safety-spring, the reel may be gradually wound up 
 until the fish is brought near enough to be dropped quietly 
 into the landing-net, after which it may be considered 
 secure. But whoever has charge of the net, must keep 
 well out of sight of the hooked fish until he is effectually 
 exhausted, or he will be sure to make fresh struggles, and 
 often to such an extent as to cause his loss. The fly may 
 easily be cut out of the lip with a penknife, and is gener- 
 ally none the worse for the service it has performed. 
 
 Sea and lake-trout, when they take the fly, are io be 
 managed in the same way as salmon, whose size and 
 strength they approach much more nearly than those of 
 the common trout. 
 
 SALMON-FISHING. 
 
 For the salmon, tackle must be employed of a descrip- 
 tion much stronger than that used for trout; in principle, 
 however, it is nearly similar ; and a salmon-rod with ita 
 20 
 
458 MAITUAL FOR TOUKG SPORTSMEN. 
 
 line may be compared, in all respects, to a trout-rod mag- 
 nified with a slight power of the microscope. 
 
 The salmon-rod should be from 14 to 20 feet in length, 
 and should be made of three or 'four lengths, at the discre- 
 tion of the fisher. The butt is always of ash, the middle 
 piece or pieces of hickory, perfectly free from flaw, and 
 the top-piece of the best bamboo, either rent and glued up 
 or spliced in lengths, which of course only extend from 
 joint to joint ; this is better than lance-wood, which is apt 
 to make the rod top-heavy. Anglers of note differ as to 
 the nature of the joints, which are sometimes made to 
 screw together ; at others, with the bare wood of one joint 
 dropping into the brazed ferule terminating its next neigh- 
 bor ; and at others again, by having both ends brazed so 
 as to oppose brass to brass. In both the latter cases the 
 double pin, or bent wire and silk fastening are used, 
 in order to prevent their becoming loose and unat- 
 tached in the ardor of fishing. The rod should bal- 
 ance pretty evenly at the part where the upper hand 
 grasps it above the reel, which is usually fixed at 18 or 
 20 inches from the butt-end. These essential character- 
 istics will sufiice for the description of the salmon-rod. The 
 reel-line has also been there described, and is of 80 to 100 
 yards in length, with the last 20 only tapered down to 
 little more than half its regular size. To this is appended 
 a casting-line made on the same plan as the trout-line, but 
 one third longer in all its parts, and entirely of gut, which 
 should be of the size called salmon-gut. The flies for sal- 
 mon are described at page 402. When a dropper is used, 
 it is generally appended at about four feet from the end. 
 
NATTJEAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 459 
 
 These implements are used on a scale very different to 
 trout-fishing and, generally speaking, with less delicacy in 
 proportion to the increase of sweep, and the coarseness of the 
 tackle ; but in salmon-fishing, so much depends upon the 
 extent of water covered in throwing the fly, that no pains 
 should be spared to acquire this power as fully as possible. 
 It must be remembered that in salmon-fishing, unlike 
 trout-fishing, the river is often too broad for any line to 
 reach nearly over all the good casts, and success is here 
 often obtained solely by the power which some men have 
 of sending their fly into parts which their weaker or less 
 expert rivals cannot possibly cover. With the young 
 angler, the first thing to be done is to secure the assistance 
 of some resident guide well acquainted with the haunts of 
 the fish, who will give him confidence, if he does nothing 
 else. Without his aid the angler, if unsuccessful, will 
 wander from point to point, and will be unable to do jus- 
 tice to himself, because he has no confidence that there are 
 fish where he is trying for them. Indeed, even the experi- 
 enced salmon-fisher is all the better for this assistance, if 
 he is on strange water, as, though he may give a shrewd 
 general guess as to the most probable casts for fish, he will 
 often pass over good ones, and select those which are much 
 inferior to his rejected localities. He will also get some 
 information as to the probability of his flies suiting the 
 particular river and time, and generally as to the fitness of 
 his arrangements for that precise spot. This knowledge, 
 once obtained, will serve as long as the river continues in 
 the same state; but if rain, or the reverse, should alter the 
 condition of the water, making it either much lower or 
 
460 MANUAL FOE YOtJlTG SPOETSMEH. 
 
 much higher than before,-the tyro will require additional 
 aid from his quondam friend. This is known to all 
 salmon-fishers, inasmuch as these fish frequent very differ- 
 ent parts of the same river in a low, and again, in a high 
 stage of the water ; and the flies also will require considei'- 
 able modification, according to these changing elements. 
 There are, however, some general rules which may be of 
 service, though they by no means apply in all cases. 
 Thus, large rivers usually require larger flies than small 
 streams, which latter will more often be successfully fished 
 with a gaudy but comparatively small fly — that is, if the 
 water is not too clear. The fish, generally lying at the 
 bottom, will scarcely be attracted from the depth of a 
 large river by a small fly, whilst if it is too gaudy, they 
 are scared by its colors when they rise near the surface. 
 Again, in small streams salmon seldom take any fly, 
 except when the water is rather discolored, and in that 
 state a dusky or dull olie is not sufficiently attractive ; and 
 when the same condition of water exists in the large rivers 
 a gaudy color will also be preferred. ■ The size of the fly 
 is of course an index to that of the hook, whioh- is its 
 foundation. Beyond these imperfect hints little aid can 
 be given to the tyro, and he must learn by experience in 
 his own person, or from that of others, the peculiar rules 
 applicable to each locality. 
 
 The casting is generally from the left shoulder, back- 
 wards ; after which the line is steadily and rather slowly 
 brought over the right shoulder, with the rod held in both 
 hands, and its point directed upwards and backwards. It 
 is then brought forwards with an increase in speed ahd 
 
NAT0SA1 AJSD AETIFICIAL FLT-FISHING. 461 
 
 farce, when, still accelerating "the speed, the angler delivers 
 his fly at the spot upon which he wishes it to alight. This 
 throwing from the left shoulder is chiefly useful where 
 there are low bushes, or other impediments near the 
 ground behind the angler, under which circumstances the 
 fly must be kept aloft ; but sometimes the reverse is the 
 case, and with impending trees and a bare background, the 
 right shoulder or back-casting will avail much better than 
 the rival mode aboye alluded to ; but it is not so manage- 
 able with the two-handed rod as with the light single- 
 handed trout-rod, which may be used wifS as much cer- 
 tainty and facility as the four-in-hand whip. Mr. Stoddart 
 lays it down as a rule that no man can manage properly, 
 without the aid of the wind, a line more than four times 
 the length of his lod, measuring from the fly to its point, 
 and not including* that part within the rings. This is 
 certainly much within what is generally considered the 
 extreme length of the salmon-line, and many professed 
 fishers maintain that they can throw nearly twice as far as 
 that length will command. But there is a vast difierence 
 between simply throwing a fly, and .throwing, it cleverly 
 and efiectually ; still I cannot help thinking that Mr. 
 Stoddart has a little underrated the power of the salmon- 
 rod and line in good hands, when he limits the range to 
 35 yards from the spot where the angler stands. This I 
 siiould say is about the average length of good, fly-fishers, 
 but I should think that some, few tall and muscular . men, 
 who are also adepts, can command nearly 10 yards more, 
 when the air is perfectly still, and the situation is favorable 
 to the display of their j)Ower and skill. Much must 
 
462 MAITOAL rOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 depend upon the tackle, which should be very nicely 
 graduated, and if the cast is intended to be very extensive, 
 one fly only should be used ; indeed in salmon-fishing it is 
 seldom that much good is derived from a dropper in ad- 
 dition to the stretcher. When the fly is to be thrown 
 in a wide river, of rather sluggish current, it may be 
 directed nearly straight across, especially if the opposite 
 bank can be reached ; and the fly, after it has touched the 
 water, may be brought back with a circular sweep, keep- 
 ing the rod low until it is absolutely necessary to raise it 
 in order to bring home the fly, and working it by gentle 
 fits and starts so as to imitate the movements of a living 
 insect. When, however, there is a considerable stream, 
 the fly may be thrown obliquely downwards, as in trout- 
 fishing, and is then brought back against the stream, and 
 often without that attempt at jerking wkich must be made 
 in comparatively still water. In all cases, the salmon- 
 fisher should keep as much as possible out of sight ; and 
 when he has recourse to wading, he should only enter the 
 water which he has already efiectually tried ; and when 
 there, he should make as little disturbance in it as he can 
 possibly avoid. In this respect, however, salmon are 
 duller and less wary than common trout, or even than sea- 
 trout ; but still they are easily scared, and no one should 
 incautiously run risks which are not absolutely required. 
 The fly is worked very differently to the trout-fly, which 
 must always be on the top of the water to be efifectual; 
 whereas the salmon-fly should always be sufficiently under 
 the water to avoid making any ripple as it is drawn towards 
 the thrower^ and yet not so deep as to be wholly out of 
 
NATURAL AND AETIFICIAL FLY-FISHmG. 463 
 
 sight. The young angler should not, however, follow his 
 lure too closely with his eye, or he will be apt to strike 
 when the fish rises at it ; whereas, he should always depend 
 upon the sense of touch before he raises his rod, which is 
 the only motion to be adopted. Sharp striking, as in 
 trout-fishing,- is wholly reprehensible ; and all that is 
 required is the instinctive stand which it is impossible to 
 avoid making against the fish as he seizes the fly, to run 
 away with it. Sometimes, however, it is found difficult, 
 or even, impossible, to tempt the salmon into actually 
 seizing the fly ; they will rise at it again and again, but 
 from some cause or other refuse to take it into their jaws. 
 In this case it must be changed until one is found to suit 
 their fancy, but the change need not be made until the 
 same fly has been tried two or three times unsuccessfully. 
 Patience and perseverance, with skill and science, will here 
 be required, and will always be served in the long run. 
 
 In playing the salmon, greater art is required than in 
 the corresponding department , of trout-fishing ; and, in 
 consequence, nearly one third of all the fish hooked escape 
 before they are landed. This arises generally from imper- 
 fect hooking, but often also from defect in the tackle, 
 which has escaped the notice of the angler. Besides 
 these causes of danger, there are others depending upon 
 the direction taken by the fish, which cannot always be 
 followed by the angler, either from the depth of the water 
 in large rivers, or from mechanical causes in the shape of 
 rocks, woods, &c., where the stream is smaller. "When 
 hooked, the first thing to be done is to raise the point of 
 the rod, commonly called " giving the fish the butt," which 
 
464 MAmjAL FOE TOIOTG SPOETSMEfT. 
 
 motion must be carried out with as much power as the 
 fisher considers his tackle will bear ; always remembering 
 to give way by releasing the line, when the strain is too 
 great for it to bear, and when the fish is resolutely bent 
 upon running. But this exact calculation as to restrain- 
 ing or giving way is sometimes very difficult, especially as 
 the size of the fish is no certain index to his power ; nor 
 can the size always be correctly estimated at the first 
 commencement of the struggle, especially by the tyro at 
 this kind of sport. A lively and fresh-run fish will appear 
 twice as big as he really is, whilst a large but dull one will 
 sometimes deceive his pursuer into the belief that he is 
 weak and powerless, and then, in a fit of desperation, he 
 will show his real size and capabilities by breaking away 
 with a long line towing astern. Mr. Stoddart's directions 
 for playing the salmon are so good, that I am tempted to 
 quote them in his own words : — " Always in running a 
 fish, keep well up to, or, if possible, at right angles with 
 its head. In the event of its taking across the current, 
 instead of stemming or descending it, give the butt with- 
 out reserve. In the case of a plunge or somerset, slacken 
 line as quickly as possible, but lose no time in recovering 
 it when the danger is over. When fisk are plentiful, and 
 in the humor to take the fly, it is better to risk the loss 
 of an indifferent-sized individual which you happen to have 
 hooked, than to allow a long range of unfished water to 
 become disturbed through its capricious movements. In 
 this case stint the line and hold on obdurately, but not 
 beyond the presumed strength oi your tackle. During 
 the grilse season there are many portions of water, on 
 
NATTJEAL AlfD ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 465 
 
 Tweed especially, where it would be absolute folly in 
 the angler were he to humor the fish to its heart's con- 
 tent. A lively nervous grilse may occasion more alarm 
 among its kind than one is aware of, especially if the 
 water be of the transparent hue it generally bears during 
 the summer and autumnal months. In event, however, of 
 the salmon being few or rising shyly, I would advise that 
 some degree of care and ceremony be taken with what 
 fortune brings to the hook ; and that on such occasions 
 more regard be paid to the management of the fish under 
 control than to the non-disturbance of a few yards of 
 stream, where the chances of adding to one's success are, 
 at the least, extremely doubtful. In these circumstances 
 avoid using undue violence. Should the fish escape, the 
 consciousness of your having done so will only add to the 
 disappointment. There is one precaution particularly to 
 be attended to in respect to a newly run fish, and that is, 
 immediately on hooking it to use a moderate degree of 
 pressure. The salmon will then brave or stem the cur- 
 rent, and direct its course upwards ; wherfeas, on tighten- 
 ing the reins, it will frequently do the reverse, and thus 
 not only may a portion of the water in prospect become 
 disturbed, but there is considerable chance, and in some 
 places an absolute certainty, of the fish, if a large one, 
 making its escape." Baggits generally descend the stream 
 as a rule, when hooked, and no management will make 
 them leave the current; but' as they fight sluggishly, and 
 as their loss is of little conseqiiert'ce, provided they do not 
 run away with a good line, the butt may bfr shown them 
 pretty early, and witha'considerable degrfed of powei^-' 
 20* 
 
466 MA-N TTTAT. FOE TOTING SPORTSMEN. 
 
 The gaff is to be used in the following manner : — 
 When the salmon has been thoroughly exhausted by his 
 efforts to free himself from the hook, in which he has been 
 opposed by the elastic resistance offered by the rod, he is 
 brought near the bank, still keeping the butt-end of the 
 rod well advanced ; and the assistant then proceeds to 
 strike the gaff into the shoulder of the fish, or if he uses 
 the single hook, to insert it into the gill-cover. The latter 
 plan is the least injurious to the beauty of the fish, and in 
 skilful hands will answer every purpose. In all cases, 
 however, the assistant should keep out of sight until the 
 angler is satisfied, by the yielding of the fish, that it is safe 
 for him to approach, for a neglect of this precaution leads 
 to the loss of many a fish. The assistant attempting to 
 strike him before he is spent only makes him desperate ; 
 and the efforts to escape, which before this were within 
 bounds, and under the control of the angler, are now 
 rendered madly violent. This tries even good tackle too 
 far, and either the hook itself or the gut gives way, or else 
 the hold on the fish actually tears away. Tact and experi- 
 ence are the only safe guides in this delicate point, and 
 without them apparent victory often ends in defeat. 
 Instead of the gaff or hook, the landing-net is much used ; 
 and in the South," as well as in Wales, is perhaps more in 
 vogue than the gaff. The only objection is its size ; but as 
 both must be carried by an assistant, since neither can be 
 well managed by the angler himself, this is really of little 
 consequence. If, however, the angler is either unable or 
 unwilling to obtain an assistant, the hook with sliding 
 stick is the best instrument for the purpose ; but even 
 
NATUEAL AJID AETIFICIAL FLTtFISHING. 
 
 467 
 
 with its aid he must wait until the fish is nearly spent, and 
 must then draw near a low and shelving shore before he 
 can venture to hook him under the gills. Most rivers, 
 however, present these convenient spots at intervals, and 
 the angler should play his fish until he reaches one, let 
 the distance be what it may, if he wishes to run no un- 
 necessary risk. In all cases when landed, the salmon 
 should at once be knocked on the head, and the hook 
 carefully removed with a penknife. 
 
 [ 
 
 
SEA FISHING. 
 
 Without descending to deep sea-fisliing, with a drop-line 
 and sinker of any given weiglit in many-fathom water, 
 there is pretty fair sport to be had in the bays, and on 
 most of the Atlantic sea-ooasts in the spring, summer and 
 autumn, with several varieties of fish, which are also ex- 
 cellent on the table. 
 
 The chief favorites are the following : — 
 
 The striped bass, Lahrax Lineatus. 
 
 The king fish, Umbrina Nebulosa. 
 
 The weak fish, Otolithus Begalis. A variety of this 
 fish, Otolithus Carolinensis, is frequent in the Southern 
 rivers, and is known, improperly, as " the Trout.'' 
 
 The black fish, or Tautog, Tautoga Americana. 
 
 The sea bass, Centropristes Nigricans. 
 
 The sheep's head, Sargus Ovis. 
 
 The porgee, Pagrus Argyrops. 
 
 The sea perch, Corvina Argyroleuca. 
 
 The blue fish, Temnodon Saltator. 
 
SEA-FISHING. 4:69 
 
 It cannot be said, that there is any great skill or 
 science in the taking of these fish ; as there is, for instance, 
 in fly-fishing, trolling or spinning with the dead bait ; but 
 it cannot be denied that there is much amusement, a good 
 deal of excitement, and that this sort of fishing is, with an 
 agreeable party, a pleasant way of passing a hot summer 
 or sultry autumn day. 
 
 The best varieties of fish taken in the bays and estua- 
 ries of our rivers, are, of those above named especially ; 
 the weak fish, the king fish, the black fish, and the sheep's- 
 head ; the latter being the American epicure's prime boast, 
 and the rival of the European turbot. 
 
 The weak fish is abundant in the vicinity of New 
 York, and is angled for with much success in the inner 
 bay. It is said to derive its name from the weakness of 
 its mouth, which is so soft that it is often torn by the 
 hook, so that tbe fish escapes. I have my doubts, how- 
 ever, whether this is not a misnomer for wheat fish, by 
 which also it is known. It pulls fairly upon the hook, and, 
 when struck of a considerable size, gives considerable play 
 to the angler before it can be secured. 
 
 The best rod is a moderately stiff general fishing rod, 
 with a r6el, and from one hundred to one hundred and 
 fifty yards of flax or hemp liiie ; a No. 1 Kirby hook will 
 probably be found, on the whole, the most successful ; and 
 the most killing baits are shrimp, shedder crabs, or clams. 
 The weak fish occasionally runs up to eight or nine 
 pounds, but the general average does not probably exceed 
 two. When fresh out of the water, it is a good fish, 
 somewhat resembling the trout in flavor, but it soon 
 
i70 MANUAL FOE YOITNG SPOKTSMEN, 
 
 becomes soft and flaccid. It is not nearly so game a fish 
 as the striped bass, or the king fish, yet it is not without 
 its advocates and admirers. 
 
 Immediately around the Battery, and even from Castle 
 Garden bridge, or the flats oflf Communipaw, in Butter- 
 milk Channel, at Bergen Point, Elizabethtown Point, in 
 the Kills, and in Newark bay, this fish frequently affords 
 considerable sport. 
 
 The barb, or king fish, is a far superior fish to the last 
 both in sporting qualities and in culinary excellence. He 
 is to be caught with the same tackle described under the 
 head of the weak fish, but he requires a smaller hook, as 
 he has but a little mouth, and he takes the shedder crab 
 more freely than any other bait. It is said that in 1827, 
 a man and a boy in Jamaica bay, off Rockaway, killed four 
 hundred and twenty-two king fish in six hours ; but this, 
 if it ever were done, is never like to be done again, as, the 
 king fish is said to be becoming very rare, some say in con- 
 sequence of the persecution of the blue fish, which has re- 
 cently become, in proportion as the barb has waxed scarce, 
 largely abundant. 
 
 The king fish is a bold, sharp biter, and fights hard 
 when he is first hooked. He is not, however, a heavy 
 customer, running only from ^ a lb. to 2 lbs. at the 
 utmost, a maximum which he rarely attains. 
 
 In New York harbor, the flats from Bergea Point to 
 Jersey City, in the neighborhood of the rock known as 
 Black Tom, and opposite Communipaw, are the best waters 
 in this vicinity for the king fish ; but they are also taken 
 in the Passaic bay and the bays of Long Island, 
 
SEA-riSHTNO. 471 
 
 The tautog, or black fish, is an ugly, leather-mouthed, 
 spine-backed fish, but excellent in a barbecue, and a toler- 
 ably game fish on the hook. 
 
 He comes into season early in spring, and it is said 
 that the flowering of the dogwoods may be regarded as a 
 sign that he is in condition. 
 
 His favorite grounds are the vicinity of submerged 
 rocks, piles, or sunken wrecks, where there are strong 
 whirls and eddies. He is always taken on the bottom. 
 
 A stout trolling-rod, with a strong flaxen line, a reel, 
 and two black-fish hooks of size to suit the angler's pleasure, 
 each armed on foot lengths of trebly twisted gut, the one 
 of twelve, the other of fifteen inches length, attached to a 
 ring which is appended to the line below the sinker, con- 
 stitute the best tackle. 
 
 The most killing bait is the little fiddler, or soldier 
 crab ; but the black fish also bites freely at the large finny 
 worm of the salt-water beaches. Nereis, when baited on the 
 proper hook. 
 
 He bites slowly, and likes to suck at the bait before 
 swallowing it, but, when struck, he puUs well and fights 
 hard, running for the most part downward. He runs in 
 weight from one to ten or twelve pounds, and is famous 
 for his tenacity of life. 
 
 The sheep's-head is usually taken with drop-lines of 
 two hundred yards, a pound sinker, and a stout black-fish 
 hook ; but this is but a pull-baker, pull-devil kind of sport, 
 and the only real way to fish for him is with a capital stiflF 
 trolling-rod, a large click reel, and a couple of hundred 
 yards of stout flaxen line. The hook, a large sized one 
 
4?2 
 
 MANTJAL FOE TOITNG SPOETSMEN. 
 
 of the black-fish pattern, armed on gimp, should be buried 
 to the arming in the neck of a whole, unbroken clam, 
 which this ravenous and strong fish cracks shell and all, 
 as his favorite bon bouche. 
 
 It is great joy to the angler who hooks one, great 
 proof of skill and immense glory if he land him. For he 
 is the king of salt-water game fish. 
 
 The blue fish is taken by squidding in swift tideways 
 from a boat under sail in a stiffish breeze ; and when one 
 has the luck to come across a good shoal in the humor to 
 bite, it is, beyond a doubt, great fun. 
 
 The following tables of time, tide, bait, depth, and 
 tackle contain, it is believed, all that can be imparted by 
 printed instruction to the learner. Patience, perseverance, , 
 good temper, and good luck must do the rest. 
 
 All of which, though' it be not in the province to 
 bestow, it is in the power earnestly to wish, for all his 
 friends and readers, of their humble servant to command, 
 
 FEANK FORESTER. 
 
AMKRICAIT FISHES. 
 
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APPENDIX. 
 
 Materials required for making artificial flies. 
 
 A complete fly-fisher will make his own flies, and will find mnch 
 amusement in the practice of this delicate art. It will be necessary 
 that he should provide himself with the following materials to enable 
 him to imitate the flies described hereinbefore : 
 
 London, Kirby-sneck, and Limerick hooks, of all sizes. Of these 
 the Limerick hook is in the greatest general estimation ; but in the 
 north of England, the Kirby-sneck hook is preferred for smaJl hackle 
 flies. 
 
 FEATHERS. 
 
 Feathers of the grouse, snipe, bittern, woodcock, partridge, land- 
 rail, golden plover, starling, and jay ; hackles from cocks and pea- 
 cocks f furs of all colors, from the skins of squirrels, moles and water- 
 rats ; camel's hair ; hare's ear and for from its neck, and the yellow 
 fur from the skin of the martin ; mohairs of various shades, and 
 camlets; black horse-hair ; hog's down died vaiious colors ; gold ajid 
 silver twist ; and sewing silk of various colors and thicknesses. 
 
 Silk twist, cobblers' and bees'-wax. 
 
 A pair of pliers, a pair of fine-pointed scissors, a small hand slide' 
 vice, and a fine-pointed strong dubbing-needle. 
 
APPENDIX. 4-7T 
 
 Silkworm gut, from the finest to the strongest, and Salmon gut, 
 single and twisted. 
 
 Lengths of the white and sorrel hairs of stallions' tails. 
 
 There are other fancy materials, as monkey's fur ; parrof s, king- 
 fisher's, macaw's, gold and silver pheasant feathers, and, above all, the 
 scarlet ibis. 
 
 Fancy flies often kill when no others will — witness the far-famed 
 scarlet ibis wings, with gold twist body ; no fly kills like it, year in 
 and year out, on Long Island, and it is sure death to sea-trout in the 
 gulf of St. Lawrence, and everywhere to smelt, which rise at it readily. 
 
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