&

5POKT

EffANK FORESTE

r t

THE

COMPLETE MANUAL

YOUNG SPORTSMEN:

WITH DIRECTIONS

FOR HANDLING THE GUN, THE RIFLE, AND THE ROD; THE ART

OF SHOOTING ON THE WING ; THE BREAKING, MANAGEMENT,

AND HUNTING OF THE DOG; THE VARIETIES AND HABITS

OF GAME; BIVER, LAKE, AND SEA FISHING,

ETC., ETC., ETC.

PREPARED FOR THE

INSTRUCTION AND USE OF THE YOUTH OF AMERICA.

BY

FRANK FORESTER,

AUTHOR OF "THE FIELD SPORTS," "FISH AND FISIIIXG," ''HORSES AND HOUSE

MANSllIP OF THE CNITED STATES AND BRITISH PROVINCES OF

NORTH AMERICA,'' ETC., ETC., ETC.

NEW YORK :

STRINGER & TOWtfSEND, 222 BROADWAY.
1856.

ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 18.V>,

Br'STKINQEK & TOWNSEND,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern
District of New York.

JOHN F. TROW.

Printer and Stereotyper. No«. 31" A 319 Broadway,
(•irxtr of Wkxe ttrta.

ADVERTISEMENT.

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
rudimentally, commencing actually ab initio, deal-
ing more with the practice and less with the higher
spirit of Field Sports, insisting less on the natural

2203945

IV ADVERTISEMENT.

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 ab 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 mutantur, nos et mutamur 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, will 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.

THE CEDARS, 1856.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

ANTIQUITY and origin of Field Sports. Wanting among the Israelites. In As-
syria; in Persia; Royal Parks, or Paradises ; in Greece; among the Ro-
mans ; the descent of the Norse races ; the chase a northern passion ; un-
congenial to the Latin nations ; universal among people of Norse origin ;
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 Carolina* 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 modern American
hunting nearly identical ; the cross-bow ; shooting, the first qualification
of the American sportsman ; dog management ; wood-craft ; the crack shot ;
false sportsmen ; the fowling-piece ; the percussion gun ; the old flint and
steel; their comparative advantages; flint and steel everywhere 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-
tinued 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 pull ; the true power ; cause of missed shots. The actual quality of
guns ; difficult to ascertain ; metal of which made ; the common cheap gun;
how to procure a good gun ; how a bad one ; the flashy, cheap, sham gun ;
how a good judge judges; forged names of gunmakers ; Birmingham, Ger-
man, Belgian rubbish; best quality of barrels; various opinions 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 ; Perry's patent do. ;

Vlii TABLE OF CONTENTS.

good for duck-guns. Length, weight, and gauge of guns considered ; the
old system; the new system ; Colonel Hawkers system; the best general
gun ; its size and execution ; what it will do ; why I prefer it ; short guns ;
where they foil ; 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 ; trial of duck-guns ; what is a crack shot . . 84-83

THE GUN, 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 gun: safety, effect, service; what is meant by safety;
when a loaded gun may bo 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 ; when most inj urious. "When to clean a gun ; who should
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 Enfleld 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 LEARN 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 BO in Europe.
Effect of this cause here. What makes the rifleman miss the flying 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. Rifle 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 . 128-153

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 boused,
kicking dogs — an infamy. Old dogs, when to be flogged ; when to be rated.
Dinks and Mayhew. Food and condition. Various breeds of sporting dogs.
Sporting authorities — Hutchinson, Scropo, Colquhoun, Hawker. English-
broke dogs. English -bred dogs. Russian setters . . . 154-164

THE SETTER.

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, his
color. Rare in America. " Old Charon." Style and point of Russians.
Range 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 165-187

THE POINTER.

Not 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 188-197

THE COOKING-SPANIEL.

Best for woodcock. Preferable for covert-shooting to pointers or setters. Why
so. For quail shooting. Difficulty of breaking cockers. Little used in Amer-
ica. The Carrollton breed. The cocker. The springer. The Clumber.
Their points, colors, and qualities ; strongly recommended . 198-208

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

THE WATER-SPANIEL.

His blood in setters. Crosses always objectionable. This cross the least so.
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 ruffed grouse. On the Canadian rice lakes . . 209-215

THE NEWFOUNDLAND EETEIEVEE.

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. Shakspeare's type. Somerville's type. In
George III.'s time. Stonehenge's views. The improved English hound.
How bred. The southern hound. The American fox-hound. Color of
hounds. English stag-hound ; English fox-hound ; English harrier ; English
beagle ; Scottish deer-hound. How bred 222-234

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 worms— for poi-
son— for snake bites — for epileptic fits. Take advice . . . 236-243

SNIPE SHOOTING.

The English snipe — American do. Their time of arrival— differs in different
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 beat 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 . . 244-2TO

BAY 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 — marlin and ring-tailed marlin. Eed-breasted
sandpiper ; red-backed sandpiper. The yellow-shanks tattler ; tell-tale tit-
tier. 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; unfltness of season; the
old birds , the young do. ; shall dogs flush ? to keep dogs steady ; spaniel

TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI

work ; snap shooting ; 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 282-21)5

GROUSE SHOOTING ON THE PEAIEIES.

Six varieties of grouse— the ruffed 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 .... 296-305

BIRDS NOT GAME.

The upland plover or Bartram's sandpiper; where found; shooting them from
chaises at Newport; stalking them; poor sport. Rail 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-
nuleo ; anecdotes of shooting ; slaughter, not sport . . . 306-315

AUTUMN SHOOTING.

Quail; woodcock; ruffed grouse; large hare; smaller hare; morning 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 beagle* ; habits of the hare ;
best grounds; how to get shots; where to hit him . . . 316-332

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 fowl ; proper powder ; size of shot ; goose shooting ;
from batteries ; unsportsmanlike; Squam Beach ; Barnegat; from boats in
hassock; over stools; calling fowl ; coots; 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-fronted 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 . . 333-350

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 on horseback :

Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS.

still hunting, or stalking ; fire-hunting, not a sport. Quid of Quincy ; deer
over pointers ; waiting at a stand ; riding to hounds ; 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 361-362

GAME FISH.

EITEE FISH AND FISHING.

Stonehenge's manual ; American fishes. The salmon ; the sea trout ; the com-
mon trout ; the lake trout ; the siskawit ; the maskalonge ; the picken-1 ;
the chub, roach, and dace ; the carp ; the bass ; the striped bass ; the black
bass; the rock bass; the growler; the pike-perch; the perch; the suiiti.-h ;
the eel The line, reel, and hook ; reel lines ; silk and hair ; Indian weed ;
silk; hair; reels; the foot length ; English, Scotch, and Irish hooks ; floats;
sinkers; swivels 863-879

THE ROD.— The general rod ; the fly-rod 879

NATHRAL 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 879-398

ARTIFICIAL BAIT AND FLIES. — How to tie flies. List of twenty-four trout flies ;
salmon flies ; the landing net, gaff, &c., &c 893-405

BAIT FISHING. — For minnows and small fish 406, 407

CARP FISHING. — Best rod, line, &c., &c. ; ground baits ; baits ; season ;
method 407-409

PKRCH FISHING. — For small ones ; hooks ; baits ; large fish ; with the minnow ;
roving ; spinning ; the gorge ; the method 409-418

PICKEREL FISHING. — The tackle ; the 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 . . 413-422

BASS FISHTNG. — 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
fish . 428

TABLE OF CONTENTS. Xlll

EEL FISHING. — The ledger line; float line; night line; bobbing; trimmers;
sniggling; eel-spears. Live fish or worm baits. How to bait the hooks.
Where to flsh for eels; how to strike them 424-428

BOTTOM FISHING FOR COMMON TROUT, 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 42S-435

TROLLING 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 445-45'2

TROUT FISHING. — The two-handed rod ; the professed fly-fisher ; the practical
fly-fisher; how to fish any water; how to throw the flies; how to strike;
how to play and kill 452^157

SALMON FISHING. — The tackle ; the salmon-rod ; the salmon-line ; the flics ;
how to cast ; how to choose flies ; where to cast for fish. Cast from the
left shoulder, sometimes the reverse. Length of line ; Mr. Stoddart's rule.
How to work the fly on the water. Salmon less scary than trout; to strike
the salmon ; to play the salmon ; one third of flsh hooked escape ; size and
power of flsh ; Mr. Stoddart's rule for playing ; grilse ; baggits ; how to use
the gaff; how to kill your fish 457-467

SEA FISHING.

List of game sea-fish. Weak flsh; 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 A. — Mullin's New York fowling pieces and prices ; table of strength
of gun metals 476

APPENDIX B. — Trimble's imported duck guns, Baltimore. . . . 478
APPENDIX C. — Apparatus for artificial fly making 479

fist ai

ORIGINALLY DESIGNED OR ADAPTED AND DRAWN ON WOOD BY
THE AUTHOR.

PAG*

POINTER AND DEAD QUAIL, .... FEONTISPIECE.

ILLUSTRATED TITLE,

GUN AND BASKETS, 7

RED DEER ANTLERS, 17

ELK ANTLERS AND DOUBLE GUN, .... 84

QUAIL SHOOTING, 84

SHOT POUCH AND FLASK, ..... 92

PERRY'S PATENT RIFLE, 119

BEVY OF QUAIL RUNNING, 128

DEAD QUAIL, 153

GROUP OF DOGS, 154

SETTER AND PRAIRIE COCK, 165

THE RUFFED GROUSE, 187

POINTERS— TOHO ! 188

FOX-HOUNDS RUNNING, 197

COCKER AND WOODCOCK, 198

HARES FEEDING, 208

WATER-SPANIEL AND MALLARD, ..... 209

NEWFOUNDLAND RETRIEVER AND CANVASS-BACK, . 216

QUAIL RUNNING, 221

DEER GREYHOUND, 222

A MAD DOG ON THE MARCH, ... .235

AMERICAN SNIPE, 244

VIRGINIA RAIL, 269

THE CURLEW, 271

THE GOLDEN PLOVER, 274

SNIPE-PITCHING, 281

XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PA««

WOODCOCK SHOOTING, 282

GROUSE ON THE WING, 29«

THE GALLINULE, 806

CANADA HARE, \ . .^ .'{j. 815

AMERICAN SWAN, 333

ENGLISH WIDGEON, 885

AMERICAN WILD GOOSE, 841

AMERICAN TEAL, ....... 34T

AMERICAN ELK, . , 851

AMERICAN DEER, 859

PLATE OF TROUT FLIES, 860

RIVER SCENE, 868

THE SALMON, . . . . . 865

THE SUNFISH, 878

THE REEL, ' V 8T5

GORGE HOOK AND BAIT, . . . . „ • . • • . 891

GREEN DRAKE, TROUT FLY, . . . '•* . 405

LONG ISLAND PICKEREL, . . . . - 406

THE CARP, . 40T

GROUP OF PERCH, . 409

THE PICKEREL, .... fft#J%t"f . . 413

THE EEL, 424

TRAIN OF TROUT-TROLLING HOOKS, . . . . 489

THE NEW YORK SHINER, . '. . ' - . ' -. 440

ROD, BAIT-KETTLE, AND TROUT, 443

STRIKING A TROUT IN A RAPID, * ' v . . t 444

THE BROOK TROUT, . . . .... 45S

STRIKING A TROUT IN A POOL, . . •. '. . ! . 46T

DRYING FISHING-NETS, . . .. ; •. " ,- . ' 463

FISHING SLOOP, ....... 4T3

INTKODUCTIOtf.

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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

so soon as hunting ceased to be a laborious and paiuful
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 Gush, 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-

INTRODUCTION. 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.

Ill 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 MANTTAl, FOR YOUNG 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 TrapaSeicros — 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

INTRODUCTION. 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 blood oppression's ills.

In like manner, those great world-conquerors, 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 fruticeto."*

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." — Hor.

22 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 populations.

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
all, was but a desultory, casual and unsystematic pastime •,

INTRODUCTION. 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 monarchs, 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 Avith 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 f 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 J 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 Turner, 3, 38.
t Ibid. 3, 37. I Ibid. 3, 38.

24 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

to prey on their kindred species. In these exercises, after
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 carried 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 Robin Hood
and his merrymen, through the medium of those contem-

* William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England. —
Book II. Chap. 13, p. 247, Bonn's edition.

INTRODUCTION. 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 Hmdostan,

Coelum non animum mutans si trans mare currat ; —

2

26 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 foreboded
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

INTRODUCTION. 27

stop a cock in a July brake, 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 Fire-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 npt
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

28 MANUAL FOR YOTINO SPORTSMEN.

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-sports are as much or
more discountenanced by the grave men of cities, and less
practised by the gay young men of society, than they Jiave
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 morniug

INTRODUCTION. 29

practisings 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
limbs, 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 of 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 care
and travail, which are as necessary to restore the tone of

* Soon about to produce a progeny yet more defective. — Hor.

30 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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-create ; 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 arcnm
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.

INTRODUCTION. 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 ike juste milieu. While
all other aristocracies are wholly effete, 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

Lamentable as has been the 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 Redan, 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 affair, in the
Valley of Death, or have come with the vivacity of the
Polka out of the semi-liquid, semi-frozen mud of 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-

INTRODUCTION. 33

ishness on the part of the young men of our Atlantic
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 jEsculapius have it, pro re nata.

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 their limbs for the purposes to which the God of
nature intended them, " the slumbers light, that fly the
approach of 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.

— ' ^ 'r

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, second, 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 GUN, 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.

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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 GUN, 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-
keeper, 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 YOUNG 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 wild-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 dogs ; 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 his
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, FOB YOUNG 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
percussion 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 CHOOSE 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 percussion fowling-piece ; for the charge being more
slowly, was 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 of governments always cause im-
provements to be most slowly adopted, and old exploded
systems to be most pertinaciously upheld, the percussion
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 SPORTSMEN.

strength or discipline, if opposed to troops armed with
percussion and breech-loading ramie-rifles, 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, cleanly, 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 bad 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 GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 4:3

be absolutely dangerous. It is, moreover, perhaps a trifle
more difficult 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 a bar
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.

M MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 walk 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 Jit, 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 the breech, and it be necessary to advance the
left hand, and so elevate the muzzle, in order to bring it

THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOORK 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 YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

his shape, 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 his
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 tfie
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
more if it cannot be made to be the case at all, owing to

THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 4:7

an incorrigible variance of its build to the formation of the
shooter — the gun may be thrown aside ; and farther trials
resorted to, until 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 pounds.

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 FOR YCHNO 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 sis 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, AND 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 person.

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 amateur?,
even of those the best informed, are competent to describe,
3

50 MATSTTTAT. FOK YOUNG 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 suffice 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. " Grunmakers 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 iu the quality of the iron or workmanship. No one

THE GUN, 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 -hardware-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 iu 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 cases 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 the 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 authentic productions of those makers, at prices
varying from 50 to 150 dollars; for no one of which
would I have given a ten-dollar bill — 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 proportion 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. Xow, 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

54: MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN!.

mere rubbish of the Birmingham, German, and Belgian
wholesale manufactories, will readily decide on the 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, damascus-
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 GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 55

barrels, now as of old, as the strongest, safest, and, above
all, the least easy in which to be deceived ; and if it be
admitted that the modern 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 of
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 anv other work.

56 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

The latter objection, 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 sufficiently 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
Punday, 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

THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 57

approved by those makers. Laminated steel guns I have
certainly 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 n.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 iJiing
made in the world, as a low-priced, damascened twist or
3*

58 MANUAL FOR YOTTNG SPORTSMEN.

laminated steel barrel. The labor necessary to produce
them real, 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, iu the
expectation of being picked up safely by the cow-catcher.

By the word loio-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.
1 have had some experience, and some opportunities of

60 MANUAL FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 praise; some doubtless
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'iest 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, AND 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 buyers in the
kingdom, probably in the world — men who will have noth-
ing but what is 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 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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

H

be the best gun in the world ; therefore there are always
fifty best 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 GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 63

mere fancy and fashion. It is true that, so soon as he has
gone out of the shop with 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, arc
extinct, or exist as names only ; the present owners of

64 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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,
I have nothing better to recommend, than that they should

THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 65

send their order, for exactly such a piece as they require,
accompanied by the precise measure of a stock which suits
them, to Mr. Bishop of Bond Street, when they will pro-
bably procure what will satisfy them, as well as the others
would satisfy me, at a far lower price. What the exact
price of Westley Kichards' 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 Stonehenge 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 some
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
of their work has been, or is likely to be, imported ; and

66 MANUAL FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 by Henry Tomes & Co.
and by Henry T. Cooper, while he was in business, 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 either of those excellent me-

68 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPOBTSMEN.

chanics, John and Patrick Mullin of New York, while I
have seen and handled guns at 75 and 50 dollars, by the
former of the two makers last named, which I would have
preferred to any hardware-shop Birmingham gun, by a
nameless maker, with all its paraphernalia, at any possible
price.

His fifty-dollar guns, of 30 inch barrel and 14 gauge,
are, in point of real utility, excellent, serviceable, cheap,
and perfectly safe arms. The purchaser can see them in
the rough, before they are filed or finished, and see of
what metal and stuff 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 unimprovable 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-

x

porters 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 Richards1
at £35 sterling, with the duties added — though I would

THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 69

rather have the Mullin — 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 effective 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 FOR 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 arfd 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
fired 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 Rocky 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. 71

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 retired, 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 dim-
cult to reach the muzzle and insert, much more drive
home, the loading rod ; and 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 HOW 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 Ibs. 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

74: MANUAL FOR YOUNG 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 Ibs. 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 GUN, 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 available for all purposes,
and the most useful general shooting gun for all sports-
men who can afford but one gun for all work, that can be
made.

It is sufficiently short and handy to be easily recover-
able, and to shoot with murderous effect in the closest
and most tangled brake. It is sufficiently close-carrying
and hard-hitting to do its work, as well as any gun 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 an Eley's 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 will
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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

none but a very crack shot, and he but rarely, shoots at a
bird which is forty yards off when he draws the trigger,
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£ Ibs. weight, would be a very
agreeable change for July cock-shooting, reserving the

THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 77

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
stock, 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 Ibs. 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-
let, plovers and the like. Where a sportsman is so lucky

78 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

as to have a combination of the two kinda 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 GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 79

had, the best, 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 off 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 YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

judges, several guns the work of responsible 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 here 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. With 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
i*

82 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 versa. 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 GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 83

possibility of mistake, 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 Ibs.
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 Ibs., 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 scriberc" says J.
Cypress, Jr., " est pcedagogi sed optima collincare est del.''1
Reading 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

THE GUN, 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 its 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 MANUAL 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 respect-
able shots at all.

In the like manner is it, of all other improvements;
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

THE GUN, 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 persou.

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 may 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 will
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
nuiuy 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 FOR 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 off, 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 USE IT. 89

directly to the ground. 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 upward, 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 rather 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 circumstances.

Next, as to the condition of the locks, in carrying a
gun. When a piece is loaded and capped, the strikers

90 MANUAL 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 by 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 ftill-
cocked from half-cock, from fifty to one hundred 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

THE GUN, 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 off the
charger spring with the ball of your thumb, giving the
flask a slight shake. Let the spring fly back with a sharp

92 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

click, which will cut off the communication, 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 off 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 FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

You are now loaded — recover your piece, bring the
lock 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-
smiths' shops, so cheap as to render it a waste of time
and trouble to cut them, unless in an emergency, when the

THE GUN, AND HOW TO TJSE 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.

The best gunpowder for upland shooting, by many de-
grees, in my opinion, is Curtis and Harvey's diamond
grain, No. 2 ; next to that, Pigou and Wilkes', and of late
years, an admirable Scotch powder — I believe the Rosliu
mills. But I consider Curtis and Harvey's the cleanest,
quickest, strongest, best, that I have ever tried. Dupont's
American powder is undoubtedly strong — perhaps stronger,
if strength alone were the test, than any other — but it is
so irremediably filthy, that I abominate the sight or men-
tion of it. It were not too much to say, that ten shots
fired with Dupont's powder foul a gun more than five and
twenty with any of the reputable English or Scotch
powders.

I consider the best powder that ever was invented for
large guns, especially for sea shooting, where the salt air
decomposes the ordinary qualities, to be Hawker's duck-
ing powder, manufactured by the same makers I have
named, with preference, above.

96 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

Any of the anticorrosive English copper caps are good ;
I think Walker's the least so, and Starkey's central fire
water-proof the best. I have kept these a week in a tum-
bler of water, and known them to go off without a single
miss or long fire. Eley, celebrated for his famous car-
tridges, has invented a cap lined with India rubber, which
is said to be superlative, and to answer for punt guns,
over which the spray is continually falling so as to render
extra expedients necessary to secure sure firing; these,
however, I have never seen. All the good London makers
now manufacture their own caps, which to furnish to their
customers, and I have never used better than some from
the house of Moore & Gray, Edgeware Road.

With regard to the sizes of shot, there is much differ-
ence of opinion. I consider No. 8 sufficiently heavy,
unless in case of birds being unusually wild, when I would
use No. 7, or what I greatly prefer, Eley's cartridges of
No. 8, for all upland game, all the year through.

Even at fowl, I am convinced that most men err both
in loading too heavily and in firing too large shot. No. 4
is, in my judgment, as large shot as any fowling-piece can
ordinarily carry. No. 2 is large enough for any thing
except geese, out of any gun, but for them one may use
BB, or Eley's green cartridges with SSG.

The farther 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 GUN, AND HOW TO USE 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 aa
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, within a month, read of two deaths
5

98 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 columas
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 GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 99

state the danger of pulling triggers with the 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 suffer
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 augmented ; 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 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 bo*e of
the barrels to be cleaned will admit. Moisten this tow,
and insert it into the muzzle ; plunge the breeches of both
barrels into a bucket of 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, first in one barrel, then in the

THE GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 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 I 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 five minutes, or by the register of a hot-
air furnace. Wipe the cleaning-rod dry, replenish the jag

102 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 the 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 GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 103

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 linen 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,"
[ quote from a clever little English work by " Craven,"
under a title similar to my own, " they should not be

104 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

snapped either with or without the copper caps, except in
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 locks.

" 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 gun, 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 cock ;
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 combustion of gunpowder, or than that arising from the two
powders in combination. — H. W. H.

THE GUN, AND HOW TO USE 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 be 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 when taken
5*

106 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEK.

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 over-cramp, as one
may so break or injure the spring.

" Take off the bridle.

" Press scear against scear-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, AND 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 versa
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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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
effect 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 GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 109

red Indian, and the fatal volleys of which told with effect
so deadly on the disciplined battalions of England during
the wars of the Revolution 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 barrel,
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 bring-
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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 gunrnaking 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 more effect on large game than a

THE 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 the small
piece infinitely, and, with equally good shooting, to plant
its balls as accurately.

For a long time the double-barrelled English London-
made sporting rules were the ne plus ultra 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

112 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 113

good shot can, and does not unfrequently, bring down bis
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 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-

114 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 unable
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 minutes' duration,

THE GTJN, AND HOW 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 hand, 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, ccsteris 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 effect 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 SPORTSMEN.

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 could fire two
shots, loading for the second, at one animal running at
speed away from him, or across him — 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
surpass, a finely made, accurately-sighted, double-barrelled
hunting rifle, such as are turned out by Purday, Lang,
Moore and Gray, and other 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 GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 117

away the metallic faces at their point of junction, so as to
render the arm useless ; independent of the fact, that if, as
must 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 portion of 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 has of late acquired so much
Kansas notoriety, is with justice held liable. The gaseous
fluid does escape dangerously, where the two metallic faces
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 effi-
ciency of the weapon would be seriously affected 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.

Perry's arm, which I have mentioned above, and of
which a sketch is inserted below, is liable to no one of
these charges.

118 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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
Ib. 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 Dupont's filthy gunpowder,
and, though the operation of opening and reclosing 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 GTJN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 119

Ten shots 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 the 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 the 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 pne on
the nipple.

A peculiarity however, and a most important one, of
this arm is, that, should the supply of proper cartridges
run out, it can be loaded quite as readily, though not quite
BO fast, with a common horn and patched bullet, as with its
appropriate charge ; or, that if by any chance the breech
should become fixed, it can be charged like any other piece

THE GUN, 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 tellingly 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-inch
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 these
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 ^ oz. round, £ oz. conical, has been proved capable
of striking the size of a horse at the enormous distance of
1400 yards, and with a force as fatal as its range and
accuracy are tremendous.

Tried before a military board in Canada, against the
Minie rifle, it beat that queen of weapons, as it has been
6

122 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 use,
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 position

THE GUN, 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
Newark, N. J., of any dimensions, calibre, form, weight,
and finish requisite. If, happily, the manufacture had
been set on foot anywhere else, in the United States, the
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 MANTTAT. FOR YOUNG 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-inch 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, AND HOW TO USE IT. 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 his 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 £ 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 him pay Purday,
Moore or Lang, of London, fifty guineas for his last and
best turn-out, and he will not be disappointed ; but in my
mind, if he prefer a double, he will do well 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 his
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 GUN, 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 rarely 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,

jEquam memento rebus in arduis *
Servare mentem,

and be " deliberate promptitude " your motto and the mark
for your attainment.

* liemember in difficulty to preserve an equal mind.

HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT,

ON THE WING, RUNNING, OK AT REST, WITH LOOSE
SHOT, OR 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 of
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 LEAKN TO SHOOT. 129

of aim must be attributed to the 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 eye
directly behind the breech. To be a proficient in shoot-
ing, he must in some way be able to do that mechanically ;
for, when aiming at a moving object, his attention can only
be paid to placing the end of the gun on that object.
AVhen bringing up a gun to the shoulder in a gunniakers
shop, it is easy to bend down the head to the exact spot
for looking along the sight-plate ; but it is a very different
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, mechanically, and
6*

130 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 to keep the
head down to the stock and the eye low behind the breech.
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 sportsmeu, 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 ineffectual 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 diffi-
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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

ing the eye, the breech, the point 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 square 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 ivell 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 &n
aim, even when using shot, as would insure killing the
object with ball.

Such a habit, once acquired, has to be unlearned, before

HOW TO LEARN TO SHOOT. 133

great proficiency can be 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 not 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
case. 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 other side of the question ; since it is hard, indeed,

134 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

for the crack flying-shooter 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 LEABN 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 half-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 hi mo-
tion from the hip to the shoulder ; and secondly, to gain
the habit of instinctively throwing the point toward the
object to be aimed at.

The gun should not be snapped, or the trigger drawn ;

136 MANUAL FOR YOUNG 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 be 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 lock 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 LEARN TO SHOOT. 137

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 locks, cocking and
uncocking 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, at uncertain 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 FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

startling him, at first, by a broad flash and loud report, to
which he must gradually and imperceptibly be habituated ;
or, afterwards, by an overloaded 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, even

HOW TO LEAKN 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,
and let him, as before, fire at the mark on first sight.

If he 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 consequence 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 shoot on the
wing.

140 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 the idea that
it is not correctly aimed, and from the fear of missing, is
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
once 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 LEAKN TO SHOOT. 141

After this, almost every tiling 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 station-
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 direction 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 observation will so far conquer all
difficulties, that a crack 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 MANTTAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMKN.

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 will never, or scarcely ever, miss it. So soon as
he can accomplish 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 ""an — my word upon it — kill

HOW TO LEARN 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 irretrievably slow and timid, if he have ordinarily

144 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

quick eyesight, quick wits, and quick hands, he must be,
if he obey orders, beyond the possibility of failure.

If he be unusually stout of nerve, cool of temper,
rapid of sight, sure of observation, and apt of hand, he
will probably become as successful as a marksman and 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 to 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 from 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,
and sent so strongly that any one of these must break a
pinion bone. At sixty paces the circumference of the 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 LEARN 1X3 SHOOT. 145

It is evident, therefore, that with a shot gun at medium
distances, the aim need not be taken with exact precision
on the object. It must be a considerable divergence of
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 shot ; 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 MANUAL FOR YOFNG SPORTSMEN.

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 aYalse
direction in the first 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 the 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 discharged.

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 FOR VOTING 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 LEARN TO SHOOT.

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
great 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
have it, is perhaps the best — of keeping his hand and muzzle

150 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 or below it accordingly

HOW TO LKAEN 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 YOUNG 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 toto. 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 once 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 LEAKN TO SHOOT.

153

If there be two things on earth, which, to be done
tvell, 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."

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. 155

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 strugglings 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 hia
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-
corning 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 FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 fears 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. 157

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 the
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 MANtTAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

talk, remonstrance and scolding, has much more effect
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 stanchness, can compensate
for such inherent defects of temper in the animal, as re-
quire continual chastisement.

It is as easy to ascertain whether a dog is 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 cau
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 his master's

THE DOG. 159

fault, and — be it added — his master's disgrace, if he ever
lose his teachings, or if he ever require severe or cruel
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 incompe-
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 aware
that he has done wrongly, 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 almost
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. When intelligent, and kindly treated, it is remark-

160 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

able how sensitive dogs are to reprimand, and how in-
tensely they dislike to be held gently, but 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 having 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.

In 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 practises 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 snipe
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 shall
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 suffering,
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 master 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 wilfuluess, and not from accident or

162 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 fact, 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 " Elaine'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 spared, 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,

104 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

or ought to be — " The Setter; the Pointer ; the Cocker;
the Water-dog ; the Newfoundland ; the Deerhound ; the
Foxhound; and the Beagle." 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 minutiae 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 seaboard, 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.

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 very young shooters, or
for residents of cities who shoot but a few days in the

166 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

year — I must agree with that agreeable sporting English
writer, " Craven," that " the first place among shooting
dogs must be awarded to the setter.

o

" 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 aflec-
tionate and friendly dog — this praise is not, however, due
to the Irish variety, which is apt t ) 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.

For the made and complete sportsman, therefore, I
without a moment's doubt advise the adoption of the set-
ter, especially for America, where, 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 one setter as equal, for the quantity

THE SETTER. 167

of service 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 suifering, 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 oirce 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 offendings.

" 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-
served 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 so flash in the morning.

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 — some 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-
geny 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

170 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 >to
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 of 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 SETTER. 171

apprehension 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 and 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 effect nothing for ten minutes, or
half an hour, until the bevy of birds takes to its wings and

172 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMKN.

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 difficult 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 indicates
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 SETTER. 173

streaked, 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 flewed 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 peculiarity 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 and white dog called

174 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

Chance — which was as curly about the ears and poll as
an 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
stanchest 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 latter
version, being the fact that Robert Dudley was not Earl,
much less Duke, of Northumberland in 1335, but Henry
Percy.

THE SETTER. 1 I .)

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 understood 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 Ribbesford in the said
county, 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 effectually 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 MANUAL FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 HARRIS 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. 177

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. Elaine, that the setter is still called
iu 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. 32o), 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-nature and docility ; in all which points he

178 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 difficult 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
qud 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 bad 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 the
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 FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

and wiry frame, a longer head, a less silky and straighter
coat, than those of the English breed. His color ought
to be 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 Kussian, which is rarely or never met with
in this country.

It is an admirable creature, docile, good and gentle, to
a charm. Enduring, beyond any other race, of cold and

THE 8ETTEK. 181

wet, and dauntless beyond any other in covert, but more
susceptible of heat and thirst 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 me.
He would not drop to shot, if a bird were killed, but dashed
right 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
all threats or coaxing.

182 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

Russian setters have what is called more point, they
couch 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 hunting 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 much of his ground twice or thrice over, and leave

THE SETTER. 188

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 quarterer
of his ground, or over one as stanch as a rock, who ran
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 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 points 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 hi
high turnips or potatoe ridges, the eye being casually off
them at the moment, that it required some trouble to find
them. When very close on their game good setters never

THE SETTER. 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, hi
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.
Roan, 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 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

same way I always suspect red and white, or black 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 setters 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 SETTER.

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 POINTER.

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 POINTER. 189

vidual families, almost ad infinitum / whereas, as we have
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 be
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 head, the
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 gaze-hounds, and
his heavy jowl, pendulous lips, broad chest, and crooked
fore legs, assimilating him to the pugnacious varieties.

The old Spanish pointer is now almost extinct in Eng-

190 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 sharp noses, showing a strong cross of the fox-hound.

THE POINTER. 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 over
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 as, if

192 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

not better than, any other variety of dog that is used in
the field.

For docility, tractability, 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, tractability 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 much 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 Up / the pointed tip indicating too great a cross
of the foxhound or greyhound. Secondly, a good set of
logs 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 devel-
opment, with sloping shoulders. 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 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

which may be, perhaps, five or six years. From these he
breeds others, which also maintain his fame ; and he ex-
pects to be 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 railroad 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 pointers, 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 possible objection as to genuineness, while the light

THE POINTER. 195

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 judgment, highly objectionable, a.s 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 characteristic, of the old Spanish pointer, is what

196 MANUAL FOR TOTING 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 Mr. 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, to 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 POINTER. 197

loin, or thick club tail, which are equally characteristic 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 seen,
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 woodcpck
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 COCKING SPANIEL. 199

case 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 great 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, will 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 are apt to
become careless and to run riot. To this habit they are

200 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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
dogs so perfect, so steady, and so well up to all kinds of
work, that 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 setters
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 YOUNG 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 for 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 whereabout
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 all 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 them 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 game before the dog
comes fairly upon it.

" Patience and perseverance, with a due mixture 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 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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,
speaking of the cocker, in his American Edition of Youatt
— " so called from his peculiar suitableness for woodcock
shooting, 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 Carrollton family, and is also in
possession of Mr. Key worth of Washington City.

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 COCKING SPANIEL. 205

strain of this blood, which I can earnestly recommend
from my own knowledge and experience.

The 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
cocker 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 will
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 SPANIEL. 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, or-
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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

It is true, that they require constant attention, 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 WATEK-SPAKIEL.

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 FOE YOTJNG SPORTSMEN.

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 wildness, evincing itself in an uncontrol-
lable desire to chase fur, which is the consequence of a
foxhound admixture. It generally shows itself in an in-
creased degree of curliness 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 form 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 SPANIEL. 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 ringletted. 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 dog call, " that he maybe kept within range, and
may not unnecessarily disturb the birds. A more impor-

212 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

tant part of his duty, however, is to find and bring the
game that has dropped. To teach him to 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 difficult 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 recrossing 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 WATER 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.

When 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 bill, 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
margin, not following its sinuosity, but proceeding in a

214 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 afford a shot, it is more than proba-
ble that they will again drop 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.

In this case it is almost certain that he will lie hard
the second time, and allow of an easy shot.

Wafer-spaniels, 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 WATER SPANIEL. 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
powers 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«js use-
less to think of making a bag of wild fowl on inland
waters.

THE NEWFOUNDLAND KETRIEVER.

THE hist 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 NEWFOUNDLAND KETEIEVER. 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 effort 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

218 MANUAL FOR TOTING SPOKTSMEN.

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 iheir
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 toled. 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 th§ ducks are swimming or feeding, when, strange

THE NEWFOUNDLAND EETKIEVER. 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 ;
not 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,
they become so intelligent as to understand every word

220 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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
upon 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 NEWFOUNDLAND RETRIEVER.

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,
before 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.

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 hounds 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 hulls,
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 worth the while to inquire whether the La-
conian and Thessalian hounds, so often alluded 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
Beckford'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, I 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 FOB YOUNG 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 rua
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 three-
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.

THE 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, that, 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 sufficient 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, which we know has an infusion of that strain intro-
duced by Lord Orford.
10*

MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

The first cross of foxhound and greyhound, which is
used on the borders 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
Kichard Sutton's, or the Duke of Beaufort's, Northampton-
shire, or Melton Mowbray, or Vale of Blackmoor, fliers.

The color of the original bloodhound was black,
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-
dulous ; 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 high-bred carriage, 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 favorite 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

and, in a word, all the peculiarities of the Southern 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
auiiual, being in fact a mere pocket edition of the South-

THE HOUND. 229

ern hound, which 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-
crville. 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 MANUAL FOB YOUNG 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 select
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 p'acks
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 uniformity

THE HOUND. 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 inches, 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-
able from him, and is used both for hunting the fox, and for
shooting the small American hare. When large, he is
often called a foxhound, when small a beagle — the latter
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 qual-
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
spoil the sport, and frustrate alike the pursuers and the gun.

232 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 his 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 36 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 ia 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 well
adapted for the uses to which he is applied. This animal,
now, is for the most part known as the Highland deer-
hound. It is snid 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 canis
molossus of the ancients, and the greyhound ; and should

234 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 officer 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 $500,
and were cheap at that.

KENNEL MANAGEMENT OF DOGS. 235

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

236 MANUAL FOB YOUNG 8POKTSMEN.

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 apparentibus 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. All 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 MANTJAL FOR TOUXG SPORTSMEN.

dogs are extremely fastidious as to what 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, which 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 MANAGEMENT OF DOGS. 239

dogs otherwise 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 non. They will roll them-

240 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPOKTSMEK.

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 quarters, 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.

KENNEL MANAGEMENT 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. Colchic. six grains.
Mass. Hydrarg. five grains.

This is the dose for a dog of 6 or 7 Ibs. ; 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 —

B Cowhage — Dolichos Pruriens, ^ 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

24:2 MANUAL FOR TOTING SPORTSMEN.

rubbed into the skin, at three different 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 added 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 1^, 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 DOG. 243

silence for one hour, and at tBe 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 re nata; 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.

OF the different kinds of field shooting, as opposed to
river, lake, sea, or forest shooting, 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 Atfantic
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. SNIPE-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 con-
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 YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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, airl this should
have been succeeded by warm, genial weather, with au

THE FIELD. SNIPE-SHOOTING. 24:7

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 the 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
iii the country. I have myself never seen a nest of young
snipe, as I have the young woodcock repeatedly, while

248 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 shuffling 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 chattering like
hens which have laid an egg.

At such times, there is little or no hope for it, except

THE FIELD. — SNIPE-SHOOTING. 24:9

to wait patiently until the mood be passed or the weather
change, for 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 certain. 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 repel the swoop of a falcon.
11*

250 MANUAL FOB YOUNG 8POKT8MEN.

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 than 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." — HOK.

252 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

The best day for snipe-shooting, 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 not a dark, windy, driz-
zling day. A dark day is never 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 ground 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 kicked 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.

and that, instead of jumping up 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 iu every case

254 MANUAL FOR YOUNG 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-SHOOTING. 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 unexcited, 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG 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 seem to possess it, as if by nature.

THE FIELD. SNIPE-SHOOTING. 257

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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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, he 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
drawing carefully, it is well to step up toward him gently,
saying 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 FIELD. 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,
sharp-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 FOB 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 pretty 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 difference,
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 north 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-SHOOTING. 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 pas.

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 difficult, 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 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 he 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 cutaneously afflicted, more Scotico, for a bedfellow.

Shots which fly straight away before the face o'f both
shooters 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 FIELD. SNIPE-SHOOTING. 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 ineffectual y<mo; 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 favor of one gun and
his dog get all the points, it is but courteous to call up
the other and offer 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

which would otherwise get off, either being missed, or
affording no chance of a shot to the man who finds them.

Always endeavor 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 touch
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 it into
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 Tie 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 them.

Few niceties of sportsmanship 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

26fi MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMTCN.

more injury than 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 more, 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 " £5teady !
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 iii aiid chase a hare, or even

THE FIKLT). SNIPE-SHOOTING. 267

/

devour 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 unconnected. I mean by
rating, threatening with the whip, and making the culprit
pause and recognize his fault.

llth. Punish with the whip as seldom as possible; but

268 MANUAL FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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.

14th. 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

creeks 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 — Eallus

270 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

Virginianus, of which 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 — is 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.

BAY-SHOOTING.

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 stools 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 MANUAL FOB YOUNQ. 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
Raynors, 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
every 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
skiffs, 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 Hudso-
nicus, nearly resembling the former, but smaller in size,
and, as his name indicates, shorter V 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*

274 MANUAL Foij YOUNG SPOKTSMEN.

The golden plover, Gharadius marmoratus, and his
brother the black-bellied plover, Charadius Helveticus,
whom the gunners call the butt-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 delicious8 of all
American birds, not even excepting the canvas-back, which
goes ge'nerally by the name of the u 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

BAY-SHOOTING. 275

rarer than the preceding. These are respectively known
to the gunners, as the " marliu," and the " 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 has
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 FOB YOUNG 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 have seen otherwise described, passing
under some barbarous cognomen, defying the skill of
(Edipus 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

BAY-SHOOTING.

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 manner
of its flight, when the birds are mere air-drawn specks
against the dusky, 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, so
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-

278 MANUAL FOIl YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

logical specimens, and admiration for the skill and imita-
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-
tunes, 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 far, 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 barrel.

The latter is the old style, and is still practised by the
baymcn, and by all old-school sportsmen. With fliut-aud-
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 aud wild-fowl shooting.

280 MANUAL FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 anyone occasion, to
illustrate further the gregarious habits of this familiar bird."

BAY-SHOOTING.

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 sport in the
right season, 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 are, 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.

WOODCOCK-SHOOTING.

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-SlKX)TI>sG. 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
Red 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 years 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. Therefore 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 encounter.

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 useless.

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 are 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 difficulty 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 inability 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 trained to
advance towards his master and flush his bird, on a 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 them, until the bird has sprung, seeing
to it that they then instantly " drop ! "

This course has its disadvantages. One certainly loses
some shots by it, and has to take others just as they come ;
whereas otherwise one may select his own ground, 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 flush 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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-SHOOTING. 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 te ach 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 in an
instant, and run off swiftly five or six yards, before they
settle either to feeding or to lie up.

WOODCOCK-SHOOTING. 291

The knowledge of this trick is essential to marking
correctly, arid to finding the bird when marked in.

Iii thick coverts, always cast 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, to mark one supposed to
be hit and falling, or to follow up one which has 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
many, 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 a summer woodcock, and it is rare indeed that one
rises a second time after being wounded.

As to choice of ground, much depends on the country,
and much on the season.

In the southern part of New Jersey, in Salem and
Gloucester Counties, where there is no autumn shooting of

292 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

any consequence, the birds lie in the wide open meadows
among rushes, bogs, waterflags, 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
and 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 moist low-lying cornfields by the
woodsides, in which, when found, they are the most
difficult 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

294 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

heard tatt 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

WOODCOOK-S HOOTIN G . 295

deliberation in shooting, 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 usual
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.

GROUSE-SHOOTING ON THE PRAIRIES.

OF 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 River 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,

GROUSE-SHOOTING ON THE PBAIKIES. 297

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 coursc? 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 YOUNG 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 they 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-hit! ing 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
full headway, and, having been put up at a distance, come

GROUSE-SHOOTING ON THE PRAIRIES. 299

sailing past the shooter, very much allowance must be
given, 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 iu 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 cock of the
plains, which is only found in the regions of the Arte-
misia, in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains, and
on the verge of the American Salt Desert.

300 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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-gpown
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
so fortunate as to reside where it abounds.

In the barrens of Kentucky and the prairie regions of
Ohio, it begins first to be found in numbers, increasing as

GROUSE-SHOOTING- ON THE PRAIRIES. 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 almost insufferable, and is often
fatal to dogs, during the summer, renders 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 FOR YOUNG 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 must
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 db 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-r-for
after November, when the cold weather fairly sets in, they
cannot ordinarily be approached within rifle range — high-

GROUSE-SHOOTING ON THK PRAIRIES. 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, but
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- shoo ting ; but, unless they 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 Ibs. weight,

304 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

with 1£ 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 Ib. 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 will 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. , f ,.

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

GROUSE-SHOOTING ON THE PRAIRIES. 305

is no objection to using two, or even three brace together,
where there is range enough ; but I should myself prefer,
however 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 that 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-dead from the dry earth of
the prairie.

BIEDS 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 witb 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
yellow-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

BIKDS NOT TBTTE GAME. 307

distinction. The Bartram's sandpiper, Totanus Bar-
tramius, unlike most of its relatives, is rarely, if ever,
found on the sea-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 far 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

Bristol, Pennsylvania, known as Livingston's manor ; but
this was regarded as unusual 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, two-
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 caii get before he will be alarmed and take

BIRDS NOT TRUE 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
under 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 will
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 MANUAL FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

ment is adopted, stools 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 — Rallus Carolinensis — winters far to
the southward, and on the breaking of the spring comes
on to make its nest wherever there are flats and maVshes
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
tliey are rarely to be seen, although long anterior to it
they can be heard clucking over all the marshy meadows,
4*nd among the reed beds in which they abound. Their

KAIL-SHOOTING. 311

favorite haunts 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
Ilackensack, 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 them when rising, 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, driven over the flats and through the reeds

312 MANUAL FOB 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

BAIL-SHOOTING. 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 ramrod. 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
Ibs., 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 family, which is frequent in the South,
14

314 MANUAL FOE TOTING SPORTSMEN.

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 every 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.

Ou 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 barj
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 afford excellent
sport before beagles, and is killed principally for its culi-
nary value, which is great — whether it be converted into
soup, 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 ruffed

AUTUMN SHOOTING. 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-places, 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 caii 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,

AUTUMN SHOOTING. 319

and low spots full of rank grass with briers, low bushes,
and wiutergreens 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 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 pressed 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-

AUTUMN SHOOTING. 321

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 versa, 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, you 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 in 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
mode 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
particular motion, bringing their feet and tails down first,

AUTUMN SHOOTING. 323

and clap their wings over tbeir 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 SPORTSMEN.

begin to call, and there seem no more fresh bevies to be
found. Then follow up those which have been 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 ruffed 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, whifch he
affects, 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

AUTUMN SHOOTING. 325

while one is passing him, until the back is fairly turned on
him, and then off and away, with a startling 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 1^ 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.

With 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 wings set 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 MANUAL FOR YOfXU SPORTSMEN.

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, as
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 bfead
crumbs, his tout ensemble is undeniable, and the fumet 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 quail ; 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

plumage, in prime condition, a large, plump bird, with a
ruffed ueok, 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, or by
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 perhaps
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 the)
are never, so far as I ani 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.

Wherever 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 hunting these timid little
animals ; one has only to be out betimes with the busy little
beagles along the wood edges, which abut on meadows or
grain stubbles, while the dew is on the herbage ; or 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 keej> 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 tl.e scent, and spring to their
companions when one opens on his game ; but the way to

330 MANUAL FOR YO17NG SPORTSMEN.

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 scent
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.

AT7TFMN 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
A'ery 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

332 MANUAL FOB 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 SHOOTING.

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 MANUAL 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, Cycnus
Americanus — a species peculiar to the American Conti-
nent; the canvas-back &\ick,fuligula valisneria, so named
from the wild celery, which is its favorite food, whence it
derives its delicious flavor ; the red-head, 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 bufiel-headed 'duck,
anas albida, the ruddy duck, anas rubida, and the long-
tailed duck or south-southerly, anas glacialis, make their
appearance somewhat earlier in the season ; but they are
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 second, 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,
atias Penelope, and anas Crecca, 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 in the shape and coloring of the head and bill.

336 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 wants 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. C. 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

meet, as it were, on the neutral ground of the Jersey bays
arid 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 diffi-
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 diflicult shot
at the best to kill, and one in which it is doubly diflicult
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 faster than is commonly supposed, as is evi-
dent from their having been minuted by telegraph while
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, nineteen- twen-
tieths fall far behind the object.
15

338 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

Another point worthy of notice is this, that the breast
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 Ibs. and 5 gauge, which will carry a quarter of
a Ib. 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 iole 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 mean^ 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 will
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 above, under the head of
Retrievers, at p. 218.

3-iO MANUAL FOR 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 finer 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 Florida 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.

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, coffin-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 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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, pebbles,
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 be 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG 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 his 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. 34:5

call of the various species of which he is in 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 duck-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 FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

Canadensis ; the brant, anas bernicla ; 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 rufttorques. 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-

WILD FOWL SHOOTING.

34:7

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
so, whether or no.

The third and last variety of fowl shooting is inland
duck-shooting, whether on the large fresh water lakes and
rhiTs of the interior, on the vast half saline, half fresh

348 MANUAL FOB YOUNG 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 Caroli-
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 buffet-headed
duck, Anas albeola / and the dusky duck, Anas obscura;
which last must be added, although properly it is a msfrine
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, Cycnus Buccinator, with an alar extent

WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 349

of no less than ten feet, abound on the waters and morasses.
There is also a variety of brant, known as Hutchins'
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, going out to
the open lake or returning to their roosting-places 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 hikes of
Canada and the West, with or without a brace or two of

350 MANUAL FOB 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 Mullins, of New York,
is strongly recommended as a maker, of about 10 Ibs.
weight, 10 gauge and thirty-four inch barrels, barlocks, 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 FOREST ATsTD THE PLAIN'S.

OF 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 FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

survivors of the innumerable 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 FOBEST AND THE PLAINS. 353

animals which it is desirable to stalk, up ivind. 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 different 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 MANUAL FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 FOREST 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
work 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
wake, imitate all his motions, observe all that he observes,

356 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

and whatever else one may ; ask for explanations, not at
the time, but by 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 difficulty
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 FOREST AND THE PLAINS. do <

shot 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 hia
gun.

For large game shooting, the rifle should not carry a
smaller ball than 32, and I greatly prefer 16 to the Ib. 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 horseback, 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 practice 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 carnivora
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, accordingly 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

THE FOKEST 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.

GAME FISH,

THE BEST MODES OF FISHING THEM.

f 0:tmg Sprtsm

KIYEK FISH AKD FISHIXG.

OF the following pages, which 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

identical. Trolling is trolling, and fly-fishing 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 main attributable
to the clever writer and compiler, whose nom 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, aud
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,

KIVEK FISH AND FISHING. 365

The COMMON SALMON, Salmo Salar, 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 female 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 MANUAL FOB 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 smolt. 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

KIVER 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 TKOTJT, 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 TROUT, 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

by a halo of pale gray ; its fins are tricolored, 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 and 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 full 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 Amethystus ; the Siskawit, and the com-
mon lake trout, Salmo confinis, besides other, perhaps
casual varieties.

The MASCALONGE 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

RIVER 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 lineatus, 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 spirous rays. He is a gallant fish and
bold biter.

RIVER FISH AND FISHING. 371

The two next species, the BLACK BASS of the Lakes,
Gristes Nigricans, and the ROCK BASS, centrarchus ceneus,
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 rays. 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

372 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

same size. It is of a deep greenish brown color, 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 Welchman 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 PERCH or Sandre, 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 yellow, 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

RIVER 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 " suufish," 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, and1
is very tenacious of life.

374: MANUAL FOE YOUNG 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 the 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 in 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-courses. 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

EIVEK FISH AND FISHING. 375

the flood-gates, &c., which impede the progress of other fish;
sometimes the English millers put straw ropes for this
purpose, 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
power 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, REEL, 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

376 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 the line
which is wound upon it. Multiplying-reels, in which, by
the introduction of machinery, the barrel is made to trayel
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

EIVEK FISH AND FISHING. 377

or drum on which to wind the line, instead of a small 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 intend-
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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 being
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 ; F, the next ; then F 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 other three inches or more,

KIVEB 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 never 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 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

it, and with which 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 efficiency 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

RIVER FISH AND FISHING. 381

worms, known to anglers as the dew-worm, lob-worm or the
marsh-worm, the tagtail, 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.

MANUAL FOR YOL'XO P1'ORT?MEN.

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
the 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 jars,
with some damp earth and the worms which are to be
kept, and tie over all a piece of open and coarse muslin.

RIVER FISH AND FISHING. 383

Shrimps are 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 the 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 harry-
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 — 1st, flesh maggots ; 2d, beetle larvce;
3d, caddies,' and 4th, caterpillars.

Flesh maggots, or gentles, are obtained and scoured
in the following manner : — Procure any kind of flesh, or

384 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 different 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 from air and
light retard this development ; and by burying the carcass
of a small animal after the larvae 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

RIVER 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 larvae of the various beetles are called by anglers,
the white worm grub, the cow-dung grub, the cabbage
yrub, 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 three 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 larvae 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, &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 larvaa of the butterfly, are either
smooth or rough. The former are not much used, and the
17

386 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 natural products are better
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 ; and 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 effect 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

RIVER FISH AND FISHING. 387

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 are 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
made by washing away all but the pure gluten. A paste
of flour is first to be made in the usual way, then by sue-

388 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

cessive washings in cold water, by degrees the process is
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.

GROTJND-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 cf'aps,
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

RIVER FISH AND FISHING. 389

the fish will be attracted by them, but will take the scoured
gentle on the hook iu preference.

Dead fish as baits are usually so arranged on the hooks
as to spin or rotate on their axis rapidly, 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, Avhich 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, FOB TOTHSTG SPORTSMEN,

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
long, 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

RIVER FISH AND FISHING.

391

be cut off, and the head and shoulders to be 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 well 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
closes 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 MANUAL FOE YOUNG 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-

RIVER FISH AXD FISHING. 393

utes. More than this renders them tender, and liable to
break. 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 hook, and then placing them at once in
17*

394 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 ; Ihen, 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.

ARTIFICIAL BAITS AND FLIES.

Minnows are now manufactured so as closely to resem-
ble the real fish in appearance, but most of them fail in

RIVER FISH AND FISHING. 395

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. All 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPOKTSMEN.

ever, he 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, jig. 1, which is one of the simplest of
all flies, is as follows : — Begin by whipping the hook on
the gut, leaving a loose end of the silk 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 off.
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

RIVER FISH AND FISHING. 397

little varnish at each end, and the fly is complete. All
palmers and hackles, figs. 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, fig. 5, is tied in the same way as
the peacock hackle, using a smaller hook, No. 13, and
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 HARE-LUG, fig. 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 buff mohair or
fur for that of the hare, and the 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, fig. 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 feather, or a furnace-cock's
hackle ; wings of a woodock's wing-feather. Hook No. 8.

398 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

THE CAPERKR, jig. 9, is made up as follows : — Body of
rich 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 silk.
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 fitchet, 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 STONE-FLY, fig. 13. — Body of red mohair, ribbed

EIVER FISH AND FISHING. 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, -fig. 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 RED 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 WINGED-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 the
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 infinitum 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG 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 piscator 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 GROUSE-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 CLARET. — Body of claret mohair, fine

RIVER 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 SPIDER-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 IRON-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-FLIES 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-rabbit ;

402 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

legs of a bittern's hackle, or a gray cock'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 have 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 purpqse,
and again in some cases the gut, either plain or twisted, is
tied on as in the trout-fly. Whichever mode is adopted,
the end or ends of the gut or bristle must be shaved off,

RIVER FISH AND FISHING. 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 are 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,

404 MANUAL FOR YOUNG 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 LANDING-NET, GAFF, BASKET, &c.

V

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 fish. 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

EIVER FISH AND FISHING. 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, AND SIMILAR SMALL FISH.

The rod, line, and hooks for the minnow should all be
fine and delicate, especially the last, which must be of the

BAIT-FISHING.

407

smallest size. Three or four hooks should be whipped on
fine 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 suffered 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 ordinary bottom-rod — the general one described at

408 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

page oSO 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
succeed 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.

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, cater-
pillar, or wasp-grub. These baits must be varied till
18

410 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 iuformation ; and as the perch swims and feeds at all
depths, it is the best kind of tackle in deep water. lu
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 difference 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 be
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 FOR YOUNG 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
againj 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-FISHING.

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 YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

with live bait, secondly, with dead bait, in a way called
" snap-fishing ; " and thirdly, Avith 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-FISHING. 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 cheaper 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 FOR 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 reel-line 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 gut, 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 or 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 cases 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-FISHING. 417

jointed, with a handle 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 blow 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, Xo. 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 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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-FISHING. 419

the small hook in the back of the fish, near the back fin,
taking a good hold of the flesh, 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,

420 MANUAL FOB 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 your fish for you with the aid of a little
skilful management. Pickerel may be played with great

BAIT-FISHING. 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 pecu-
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 mano3uvred in the manner
already described for perch, and it will generally be

4:22 MANUAL, FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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-FISHING. 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 will 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 afford 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 £artoni, is a favorite
and killing bait.

424: MANUAL FOB YOUNG 6POKTSMEN.

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 is
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 be 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

with 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

426 MANUAL FOR YOUNG 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 worm, 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 efficiency 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 FOR YOUNG 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, and 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. 429

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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

then to see that it is not broken. Grubs, caterpillars, and
gentles applied two or three at a time on the hooks — tir.<t
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 5 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. Blacker'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.

better than the very rough freshes, though even for this
kiiid of fishiug 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 Jirma, 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
Hue 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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.

Grub, 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 float 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 chiefly 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 391, the line should be cast as gently as pos-
sible by means of the trolling-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-
tained so as to keep up the spinning at the same rate
19

434 MANUAL FOB TOTING SPORTSMEN.

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-FISHING. 4:35

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, but 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 FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

admitted to be the best ever published, and I have there-
fore no hesitation in quoting them here for 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, will
answer all purposes. But the gentleman mentioned had
two of the most perfect trolling- rods I have seen; :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. .quarter inches in diameter, or about as thick as an

BAIT-FISHINO. 437"

ordinary bass-rod. The butt should 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, stiffer 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.

Rod-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 trolling-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, and 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 MANUAL FOB YOUNG 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 REEL. — 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 TRAIN or 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 tram 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 FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

with 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 as my experience goes.

5th. THE BAIT AND FLTES. — 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.

6th. THE BAIT-KETTLE. — This is a most indispensable
article for the troller — he can't get 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 fresh
water, is wheq 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 OARSMAN, OR GUIDE. — 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 stern ; 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 STRIKING THE FISH WHEN THE
19*

442 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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.

NATUKAL 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

NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 445

to a great extent, and, indeed, wherever the salmonidce are
found, it may be freely indulged in.

Natural fly-fishing consists in the use of the various
living flies, grasshoppers, &c., which are found on the banka
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 which the fish
will take.

Artificial fly-fishing, on the other hand, consists in the
use of imitations of these flies, and also of other fancy flies,
by means of an elastic rod and fine tackle, and by a procjss
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 cases, they are better
treated of together, rather than to go over the same ground
a second time.

THE APPARATUS REQUIRED IN DIPPING 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 —

446 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

or two at most of gut — and a fine hook suited in size to
the hait and fish. In 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 Scotlai i

NATURAL AND 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 arc 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 BPOKTSMEN.

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

NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL 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, hy 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 dropper 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 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 coining 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 till

NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLY-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

452 MANUAL FOB YOUNG 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 east 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 breeze. 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 rivers.

NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 453

TROUT-FISHING.

Unlike 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 gains 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
tikes toith his flies. When this perfection of casting is
arrived at, the angler may choose whether he will fish up-

4:54 MANUAL FOR YOUNG 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 fish 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 difference between the master and the
scholar, and show that a lifetime may be spent in acquir-
ing the power of deceiving this wary fish, 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
nevertheless been much more deeply engaged in 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, the 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-cast them with precision aud delicacy.

456 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

Hence, 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 all 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
in 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

NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 457

trout-fisher to its use. In playing trout when hooked,
much 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 to 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 its
20

458 MANUAL FOB YOUNG 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 suffice 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.

: /

NATURAL 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 YOUNG 6PORTSMEK.

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 consider-
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 one 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, which 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 and

NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 461

force, 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 above 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 wit^i 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 rod, 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 difference
between simply throwing a fly, and throwing it cleverly
and effectually ; 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
should 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 power and skill. Much must

462 MANUAL FOE YOITNG SPORTSMEN.

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 which 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 effectually 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 effectual ;
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 ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 fish 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 of your tackle. During
the grilse season there are many portions of water, on

NATURAL AND 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 ; whereas, 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 consequence, provided they do not
run away with a good line, the butt may be shown them
pretty early, and with a considerable degree of power.
20*

466 MANUAL FOR YOUNG 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 tlie 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 eveu

NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLYFISHING.

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-fishing, with a drop-line
and sinker of any given weight in many-fathom water,
there is pretty fair sport to be had in the bays, and on
most of the Atlantic sea-coasts 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, Labrax Lineatus.

The king fish, Umbrina Nebulosa.

The weak fish, Otolithus Eegalis. 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. 469

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 the 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 reel, and from one hundred to one hundred and
fifty yards of flax or hemp line ; 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

4:70 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 off 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 Ib. to 2 Ibs. at the
utmost, a maximum which he rarely attains.

In New York harbor, the flats from Bergen 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-FISHING. 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 pulls 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 stiff
trolling-rod, a large click reel, and a couple of hundred
yards of stout flaxen line. The hook, a large sized one

472 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN.

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 stimsh 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 hia
friends and readers, of their humble servant to command,

FRANK FORESTER.

THE CEDAKS, June 30, 1856.

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APPENDIX.— A.

HENRY W. HERBERT, Esq.

DEAR SIR : —

As you wished me to make out a list of the prices
of my guns, I take the liberty of sending you this statement, as fol-
lows : —

Prices of Guns in General.

First quality of fine laminated steel barrels, with superfine
bar-locks, steel case-hardened furniture, gold name
plate, pure platina vents, with spare nipples, and
wrench, and bore to order ; with cover, only . . $ 150 00

Second quality, same material, not so fine, . . . 125 00

If mahogany case, and finest implements, and leather
over-case suitable to first-mentioned gun be added,
cost $25 00, or for all 175 00

Second class case for 2d class gun, with outfit as required,

from $15 00 to 20 00

Also double-barrel guns, a good article, of half and half,
steel and iron, barrels. They shoot strong and keep
clean ; cost, according to finish, from $60 00, to . 100 00

The steel and twist guns, of various bores and lengths,

such as you described ; according to fineness, from $ 65 to 80 00

Plainer, from $40 00 to 50 00

All of which I will warrant to shoot strong, and regular in dispersion

APPENDIX. A.

of shot ; or I will alter them to suit purchaser, free of charge, if re-
quired after trial.

Of whatever price the gun is, I will have it shoot well, when it
leaves me, but the finer stuff holds out the longer, resisting the affinity
of lead to the barrels, as well as the corrosive qualities of gunpowder ;
hence my preference to steel barrels, or next to them, the steel mix-
ture.

I have recently got word of a fellow in San Francisco, CaL, who
has actually sold guns there, to friends of mine, as though they came
from me, he pretending to act as my agent. I may here state to you,
I have no agent, nor is any new gun, having my name on it, genuine,
unless purchased of myself.

I have put the fellow in the hands of an attorney to settle with
him, the same attorney being one of the men imposed on, by a sham
gun, purporting to have come from me.

I herein send you a table of the comparative strength of gun-
barrels, of various kinds of metals, as fully authenticated by experi-
ments in proof.

You will perceive the laminated steel barrels stand first for
strength, and stub and steel mixture next, and perceive their cleanli-
ness.

Equal to a

Pressure of

Surplus

pressure of

proof charge.

strength.

Laminated steel,

6022 Ibs.

1700 Ibs.

4322 Ibs.

Best stub and steel mixture,

5555

1700

3855

Wire twist,

501 9. V

1700

3319J

Stub twist,

4818

1700

3118

Charcoal iron,

4526

1700

2826

Threepenny skelp iron,

3841

1700

2141

Damascus iron,

3292

1700

1592

Twopenny skelp iron,

2840

1700

1140

I am, dear sir, yours respectfully,

JOHN MULLIK.
No. 16 Ann st., New York.

APPENDIX.— B.

I have just learned that D. B. Trimble, Sportsman's Warehouse,
No. 200 Baltimore St., Baltimore, has a lot of fine ducking guns of
Westley Richards' best, made to order, of the Carroll's Island Club
pattern, nearly similar in all respects to the guns recommended by me
at p. 78.

These guns are of the best laminated steel.

Barrels 45 inch — 6 gauge, will chamber 22 BB shot,
weight of barrels, . . 8 Ib.
" stock, . 7|

" entire gun, . . 15£
Platina vents. Bar-locks 5J inches, nipples military size,

jointed loading-rod, spare nipples and cover, but no

case. Price complete, $112 00

Mr. Trimble has guns of the same style by other makers, at 75 00

I have no hesitation in recommending the 112 dollar Westley
Richards pieces as the best style of shoulder-duck-guns in the world,
and very cheap at the price.

Guns of this fashion, and nearly of this size, were recommended
by me. in 1850, to some gentlemen of Baltimore, to whom I showed
one of the same kind, but somewhat larger, previous to which time
they had not, I believe, been used in that section of the country.

APPENDIX.— C.

Materials required for making artificial flies.

A complete fly-fisher will make his own flies, and will find much
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 small hackle
flies.

FEATHERS.

Feathers of the grouse, snipe, bittern, woodcock, partridge, land-
rail, golden plover, starling, and jay ; hackles from cocks and pea-
cocks ; furs of all colors, from the skins of squirrels, moles and water-
rats ; camel's hair ; hare's ear and fur 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 various colors ; gold and
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.

480 APPENDIX. C.

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 ; parrot'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.

AR1

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