y^im-TTrdl ^m^: -,^ r^^. mmi ^-^fm. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 http://archive.org/details/completemanualfoOOforerich ^QmfUTc BANK rORESTEl • • • THE COMPLETE MANUAL YOUNG SPORTSMEN: WITH DIRECTIONS FOR HANDLING THE GUN, THE EIFLE, AND THE ROD; THE AKT OF SHOOTING ON THE WING; THE BREAKING, MANAGEMENT, AND HUNTING OF THE DOG; THE VARIETIES AND HABITS OF game; river, lake, AND SEA FISHING. ETC., ETC., ETC. PBEPARED FOE THE INSTRUCTION AND USE OF THE YOUTH OF AMERICA. BY •FKAJ^JK FORESTER, ▲uxnoK OF "the field SPORTS,'' "fish axd fishing," "horses and horse UANBUIP op THE PNITED STATES AND BRITISH PBOVINOES OP NOBTH AMERICA," ETC., ETC., Eia NEW YORK: W. A. TOWNSEND & ADAMS, 1868. t^.' 4 Entbrkd, according to Act of Congress, In the year 1856, By STKINGER &. TOWNSEND, the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Soathern District of New York. 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 ah initio, deal- ing more with the practice and less with the higher spirit of Field Sports, insisting less on the natural 615670 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 ah ovo. Much will be found in it, therefore, concerning the use of the various implements of the chase, the art of shooting animals on the wing, or otherwise, at speed, whether with shot or single ball, which were omitted as unnecessary, in foregoing works ; nor, I hope, will this matter, while it is essential to the new beginner, prove either useless or tedious to the mature sportsman ; the rather that it will em- body much new information concerning the im- proved science of projectiles, and several notices of arms not invented at the period when my older lucu- brations saw the light. The same observations will apply to what is to be found here written concerning dogs, concerning various species of game, concerning the proper mo- dus operandi. In some respects, I have seen cause to alter my opinions ; in some, the alteration of cir- cumstances has compelled an alteration in the ADVERTISEMENT. V course to be pursued ; for, of field sports, as of most other sublunary matters, it is true, especially in countries comparatively new, where population and cultivation are progressively increasing, and the wild animals of the chase proportionally on the decrease, that, Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamnr in Ulis ; 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, mrPvODucTiON. Antiquttt 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 Carolinao 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 ; fialse sportsmen ; the fowling-piece ; the percussion gun ; the old fiint 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 cleap gun; how to procure a good gun ; how a bad one ; the flashy, cheap, sham gun ; how a good judge judges ; forged narnes 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.; nil TABLE OF CONTENTS. good for duck-guns. Length, weight, and gauge of guns considered ; the old system ; the new system ; Colonel Hawker's system ; the best general gun ; its size and execution ; what it will do ; why I prefer it; short guns ; where they fail ; double-barrelled duck-guns ; their size and service ; heavy single duck-guns ; what they will do ; what they will cost ; how to choose a gun ; the trials ; close shooting guns ; scattering guns ; cartridges ; charg- ing, and its effects ; 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 be called safe ; always liable to casual discharge ; safety stopS"; why not useful ; how to carry a loaded gun safely ; how to carry the locks safely ; on the nipples ; at half-cock ; at full cock ; Low to load safely ; powder-flask and shot-pouch ; how to ram home ; how to sa\c 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 accidents 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 injurious. 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 Minio rifle. The Enfield rifle. Breech-loading arms. Perry's^atent. Ee- volvcTs 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 LEAPvN TO SHOOT. The great difficulty. The Oakleigh shooting code ; how most men miss. Why they do so. Keep the eye low. When a stock fits. The main point. My opinion of this. The art to be acquired. Common error in this country. Shooting too well sitting. What must be unlearned. Not so in Europe. Effect of this cause here. What makes the rifleman miss the 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 Bhot. With sliot. At small birds. To judge of errors. Allowance for mo- tion. Why necessary. How to acquire the trick. Practice for flying shots. For running shots. Physical disabilities. To learn rifle shooting. Disper- sion of a shot-charge. Directness of a ball. Necessity of perfect aim. Steadiness. How to take aim ; rest-firing bad practice. Eifle clubs. Al- lowance for motion of objects. How to allow. For a cross wind — long ranges, liifle 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 be used, kicking dogs— an infamy. Old dogs, when to be flogged ; when to be rated. Dinks and Mayhew. Food and condition. Various breeds of sporting dogs. Sporting authorities — Hutchinson, Scrope, Colquhoun, Hawker. English- broke dogs. English -bred dogs. Russian setters . . . 154-164 THE SETTEE. His excellences, style, beauty, and courage. His temper. Compared with the pointer. Craven's opinion. My own opinion. In summer shooting; autumn shooting. Grouse shooting on the hills ; on the prairies. Absurd plan for breeding setters. Pointing, formerly an acquired trick, now an in- stinct. Backing the same. What is a setter? Cla.ssification 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 joints, his color, his nose, hia temper. The Russian setter ; his points, his docility, his endurance, hia 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 ofl Best for young sportsmen. Stonehenge. Points of pointers. Col- ors of pointers. French pointers. Double-nosed pointers. Temper of pointers 188-197 THE COCKING-SPANIEL. Best for woodcock. Preferable for covert-shooting to pointers or sef^^ers. Why 60. For quail shooting. DiflSculty of breaking cockers. Little used in Amer- ica. The Carrollton breed. The cocker. The springer. The Clumber. Their points, colors, and qualities; strongly recommended . 198-20^ TABLE OF CONTENTS. THE "WATEE-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 ruflfed 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. Stonchenge'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 . . . 235-243 SNIPE SHOOTING. The English snipe — American do. Their time of arrival — differs in difTerent 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 . . 244-270 BAY SHOOTING. Wild fowl; none at this season; whither gone; bay snipe. The curlew. The common curlew. The Iludsonian curlew. The Esquimaux curlew. The golden plover ; the black-bellied plover ; the Bartramian sandpiper or upland plover ; the godwits — marlin and ring-tailed marlin. Red-breasted sandpiper ; red-backed sandpiper. The yellow-shanks tattler ; tell-tale tat- tler. The willet. Mode of shooting them. Proper guns for. Anecdotes. End of season 271-281 WOODCOCK SHOOTING. In July — decrease of woodcock; impropriety of law; unfitness of season; the old birds, the young do.; shall dogs flush? to keep dogs steady; spaniel TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI work; snapshooting; 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 282-29.") GE0U8E SHOOTING ON THE PEAIEIES. Six varieties of grouse— the raffed grouse; the Canada grouse; the willow grouse ; the geographical range of these three. How to shoot the ruffed grouse ; the Canada grouse and willow grouse rarely shot ; the pinnated grouse or heath hen ; the sharp-tailed grouse. Range of the pinnated grouse ; season for shooting ; size of shot ; shooting in August ; in September ; in October ; pointers the best dogs ; why so ; best way to hunt ; proper gun ; how they fly; how to kill them; great sport .... 296-506 BIEDS NOT GAME. The upland plover or Bartram's sandpiper ; where found ; shooting them from chaises at Newport; stalking them; poor sport. Eail 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- nules; anecdotes of shooting; slaughter, not sport . . . 806-315 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 beagles ; habits of the hare ; best grounds ; how to get shots; where to hit him . . . 816-332 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 MuUin's guns . . 338-350 THE FOEEST 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 : X13 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Btill hunting, or stalking ; fire-hunting, not & 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 361-862 GAME FISH. EIVEE FISH AND FISHING. Stonehenge's mannal ; American fishes. The salmon ; the sea trout ; the com- mon trout; the lake trout; the siskawit; the maskalonge; the pickerel; the chub, roach, and dace ; the carp ; the bass ; the striped bass ; the black bass ; the rock bass; the growler ; the pike-perch ; the perch ; the sunfish; 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 363-379 TheEod.— The general rod; the fly -rod 879 ■Vattral and Ground Baits. — The earth-worm ; dew-worm ; marsh-worm ; tag-tail; brandling; red-worm; shrimps; cockchafers; beetles; grasshop- pers; moths; ephemera; caddises; humble bees; gentles; salmon roe; shad roe ; smelt roe ; shrimp paste ; bread paste ; ground bait ; fish bait ; dead fish ; spinning ; trolling with the gorge hook ; to keep bait fish. Live bait 379-893 Abtificial 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 Perch Fishing. — For small ones ; hooks ; baits ; large fish ; with the minnow ; roving ; spinning ; the gorge ; the method 409-413 Pickerel Fishing. — The tackle; the rod; the reel; the line; the baits; the snap ; the gorge ; to yjin ; 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 Fishing. — ^Various methods of; the striped bass ; will take real or artificial squid ; artificial salmon fly ; may be taken by spinning, trolling, or bottom fishing ; shad roe in spring. Black and rock bass of the lakes. The ibis fly ; trolling; the spoon. The growler and pike perch, taken with the craw fish 428 TABLE OF CONTENTS, XlU Eel FiSmiTO. — ^The ledger line; float line; night line; bobbing; trimmers; sniggling; eel-spears. Live fish or worm baits. How to bait the hoolis. Where to fish for eels; how to strike them 424-423 Bottom Fishing for CoMiMON Tkoitt, Lake Teoitt, and Sea Teout. — 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 Tbollino fob 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 NATUEAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. Where practised; the diflPerence between the two .... 444,445 Apparatus fob 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-^2 Teout FisniNG.— 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 452-457 Salmon Fishing. — The tackle ; the salmon-rod ; the salmon-line ; the flies ; how to cast ; how to choose flies ; where to cast for fish. Cast 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 fish hooked escape ; size and power of fish ; Mr. Stoddart's rule for playing ; grilse ; baggits ; how to use the gaff; bow to kill your fish 45T-467 SEA FISHING. List of game sea-fish. Weak fish; tackle, baits, and places for; king fllsh; tackle, baits, and places for; black fish; tackle, baits, and places for; sheep's-head; tackle, baits, and places for ; blue fish; 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 470 Appendix B. — Trimble's imported duck guns, Baltinio/ . , . , 473 Appendix C. — Apparatus for artificial fly making 479 Appendix D. — Ballard's breech-loading sporting rifle and army carbine . 481 fist flf %\Muixm. OmGTSALLY DESIGNED OR ADAPTED AND DRAWN ON WOOD BT THE AUTHOR. Paob POINTER AND DEAD QUAIL, .... Feontbpiece. ILLUSTEATED 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, ........ 158 GROUP OF DOGS, . 154 SETTER AND PRAIRIE COCK, 165 THE RUFFED GROUSE, ...... 187 POINTERS— TOHO 1 188 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, 285 AMERICAN SNIPE, 244 VIRGINIA RAIL, 269 THE CURLEW, 271 THE GOLDEN PLOVER, 274 SNIPE-PITCilING, 281 XVi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Pa6B WOODCOCK SHOOTING, 282 GROUSE ON THE WING, 296 THE GALLINULE, 806 CANADA HAEE, 315 AMERICAN SWAN, 333 ENGLISH WIDGEON, 335 AMEPwICAN WILD GOOSE, 341 AMERICAN TEAL, . 347 AMERICAN ELK, 351 AMERICAN DEER, 359 PLATE OF TROUT FLIES, 360 RIVER SCENE, 363 THE SALMON, 365 THE SUNFISH, 3T3 THE REEL, 875 GORGE HOOK AND BAIT, 391 GREEN DRAKE, TROUT FLY, 405 LONG ISLAND PICKEREL, ... . 406 THE CARP, 407 GROUP OF PERCH, * . 409 THE PICKEREL, 418 THE EEL, 424 TRAIN OF TROUT-TROLLING HOOKS 439 THE NEW YORK SHINER, 440 ROD, BAIT-KETTLE, AND TROUT, 443 STRIKING A TROUT IN A RAPID, .... 444 THE BROOK TROUT, 453 STRIKING A TROUT IN A POOL, 467 DRYING FISHING-NETS, ... . . 468 FISHING SLOOP, 473 Manual ii.lli .^^^ .c*- ESTTEODUCTIOK 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 difiused 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 painful necessity, obligatory on the nomadic tribes for the support of life, it came to be followed as a sport, to be the delight of the warrior nobles, and, as game gradually became scarce and rare, to be regarded as the privileged preroga- tive of the crown. In the Bible, it is true, there is little mention of hunt- ing, either as a method of procuring meat, or as a pursuit of pleasure. Nimrod, the son of Cush, we are told, indeed, was a mighty hunter before the Lord, but the probability of the case would point to him as a destroyer of savage beasts, like Hercules and Theseus in Hellenic fable, rather than as one, «. With hound and horn his way who took To drive the fallow deer ; even if we do not regard him, in the wider light, as ft 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- INTEODITCTION. 19 ble pasterns and delicate hoofs were ill adapted to tlie craggy hill-sides and rocky roads of Palestine^ was pro- hibited by the great legislator ( f the people of the Lord ; and his place was filled by the stiff-jointed, stubborn, long- enduring ass, between whom and the chase there is the least imaginable connection. To the Israelites, as to many oriental peoples, the dog was an unclean animal ; his name a reproach, and himself, instead of the best servant and domestic friend of man, the very outcast and pariah of creation. Lastly, owing to the strictness of the Levitical prohibitions, many of the chief animals of the chase, as the hare, the coney, the wild boar, and not a few of the choi- cest game birds, were forbidden as articles of food to the chosen people. The means, and inducements, to carry on hunting to any profitable or pleasurable extent, seem, there- fore, to have been, alike, wanting to the Israelites ; nor, un- der these circumstances, can it be a matter of surprise that it was little, if at all, practised among them. In the other great kingdoms of the East, however, from the earliest ages, hunting and hawking w6re practised on the largest and most royal style by the monarchs and their chosen nobles. The noble sculptures recently disinterred at Khorsa- bad, in the vicinity of Mosul, and the ruins of Nineveh, contemporaneous with the events described in Holy Writ, abound in delineations of this regal mimicry of war. The histories of the Median, Persian, and Assyrian empires are filled with allusions to the eager spirit of sportsmanship with which the chase was prosecuted at a time, when, " to speak the truth, to ride, and to shoot " were esteemed the 20 MANUAL 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 TrapdBeia-os — by no means a word of common occurrence in the Greek language, nor, so far as I remember, ever used of any enclosed ground within the confines of Greece proper, which is invariably applied to these pleasure parks maintained for hunting purposes — is identical with the word Paradise, otherwise rendered Garden of Eden, in its primary terrestrial signi- fication, which we have transferred to the seat of celestial beatitude and repose hereafter. The Greek and Roman writers, both in verse and prose, abound with allusions to this heroic pursuit and passion, which is attributed especially to their most favor- ite and famous demigods. The legends of the Nemean lion, the Caledonian boar, the tragical hunting of Acteon, the tales of Cephalus and Procris, of the wild Thessalian Centaurs, who nursed the martial vigor of the young Achilles on the marrow of hunted bears and lions; of Phcedra, 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 INTEODUCnON. 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 friiticeto."* 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 speax the larking wild hoax, when it rushes from the thicket" — Ear, 22 MANUAL FOE 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 \ INTEODUCTION. 23 but SO soon as the Saxons obtained a foothold on the soil, hunting with well-trained hounds, and the pursuit of fowls, *' along the atmosphere," by means of reclaimed falcons, became at once a science, a systematized royal recreation, and in the end, as it has continued to this day, wherever the Saxon and Norman strains of blood are extant, a popu- lar passion. During the reigns of the Saxon 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 with them hawks or falcons, horses or dogs." * At the same time, so general had the taste become, that statutes were framed, and even the church interposed its censures, to prevent its abuse or misapplication. " Hunt- ing t was forbidden by Canute on a Sunday. Every man was allowed to hunt in the woods, and in the fields that were his own, but not to interfere with the king's hunting." The increase and prevalence of this recreation may be judged of, by the fact, that the " Saxon Boniface 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 tlie Anglo Saxons. — Sharon Turner, 3, 38. t Ibid. 3, 37. X Ibid. 3, 38. 24 MANUAL FOB 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 n. Chap. 13, p. 247, Bohn's edition. ' INTRODUCTION. 25 poraneous ballads, which sound so truly in unison lo the chords of the popular heart. Parcelled out, as greater and lesser fiefs, to the high Barons of the realm, and again by them to their knightly vassals, as were all the lands of England, as fast as they were overrun and conquered by the equestrian army of the Norman William and his successors; the sole right of following and taking game in the field, the forest, the morass, of keeping animals or implements of the chase, was vested firstly in the king, and secondly in the holder of feudal and manorial tenures • without the smallest refer- ence to the ownership or cultivation of the soil. By degrees the stringency and the cruelty of these statutes were remitted ; and it is a curious fact, that the cooperation of the Barons in securing the liberties of the English people, as against the encroachment of the crown, was induced mainly by their desire to abridge the royal pre- rogative in the matter of the forest laws. From this period, and the state of things then existing unquestionably, dates the hunting spirit of the English gentleman ; his addiction to field sports, in utter disregard of climate, country, toil, hardship or exposure ; his jealousy concerning manorial rights and the preservation of his game ; qualities and ideas, which he carries with him into whatever quarter of the globe he migrates, whether to the snows of Canada, the unwatered barrens of Australia, the pestilential brakes of Africa, or the tiger-haunted jungles of Hindostan, Coelum non animum mutans si trans mare currat ; — 2 26 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. qualities and ideas, to whicb, tliough 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 itj 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 INTEODUCnON. 27 stop a cock in a July brake, or laud 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- tion- to the favored few, who were allowed to introduce them to the world, — it was in fear and trembling, in some sort, that he saw himself in print ; and with a firm con- viction that, if it should be once discovered, that he, a practising counsellor of high standing in New York, was actually guilty of the authorship of genre sketches, on sporting subjects, second, if second only — as I think not second, but superior — to Elia Lamb's best Essays, " Othel- lo's occupation" were done for ever. That to be an author first, and then a lover of field-sports, must be the " deep damnation'-' of any New York lawyer, though he were a Blackstone himself, and a Coke upon him. At that time no man, however fine a scholar, however brilliant an artist, was held altogether reputable as an associate, or entirely right in his mind, if he were not wholly and solely devoted to business; and the only business, which was esteemed business, in the eyes of the wise men of Gotham, was that of making and hoarding money. In many respects matters have mended since that time. It has been discovered that there are other uses for 28 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. money besides hoardiug 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 efi'orts, 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 have been at any time before. With the former, it is regarded as pretty much the same, whether the young man, who has his way to make in the world by a trade, an art, or a profession, borrow a few hours or days from the counter, the studio, or the closet, to unbend the overstretched bow of his intellect by that needful exercise of the body, without which the mind cannot be preserved sound ; or to waste them in morning INTEODUCnON. 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- iiition. 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. — Ear. 30 MANUAL FOK 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 arcum Tendit Apollo—* has at all times been a proverb with the most Draconian of pedagogues ; and never surely was there a time, when its value is so appreciable, as this age of high pressure * Nor does Apollo always bend his bow. — Ilor, 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 i\iQ juste milieu. While all other aristocracies are wholly efi'ete, efieminate, 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, avenghig themselves by tenfold slaughter of their outnumberhig 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 natd. As I have, however, little faith in the docility, obe- dience or teachability of the old men, it is principally to the young men, and more especially to the young men of pleasant rural villages, of flourishing inland cities, and of the beautiful free country itself, from the pine forests and clear trout-streams of the farthest East, to the boundless prairies and towering crags of the farthermost "West, that I commend this my complete manual of field sports. And this I will promise them, that, if they will follow my pre- cepts in the letter and in the spirit, although I may fail to turn them out very Nimrods and perfect Izaak Waltons, I will at least put them in the way of acquiring what is known, as the ^nens 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. THE gu:n", 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 Yaughan 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. lu 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 witli 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 " arid " 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 FOR 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 onpjgpecies, 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 btanchest 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 b j found, or flushed upon the wing, or started from its covert, he cannot bring it down from its flight, or stop it from its course in full career. I have known many men in my life, both on this side 40 MANUAL FOE 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 uro 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 wculd 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 bo 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. strength or discipline, if opposed to troops armed with percussion and breech-loading mime-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 afi'ord 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 had attained years of maturity, and had become a master of his craft. For boys, just beginning to acquire the art of shooting, single guns are, in some respects, preferable, because they can be manufactured of sufiicient 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. 43 be absolutely dangerous. It is, moreover, |)erhaps a trifle more difficult to learu 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 tlie purpose for which he requires it, at a price suited to his means. 44 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. First, the ^un 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 efl&cient 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 ^^, 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 btraight ; 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 CHOOSE IT. 45 into tliG 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 FOR YOUNG SrORTSMEN. Ins 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 hia muzzle directly in front of him and his butt below his right elbow, hold his right hand close to his hip. Thus, let him raise the piece, steadily and deliberately, so that the heel- plate shall be brought evenly and firmly in contact with the hollow of the shoulder, and bend his head naturallv, without any effort or attempt at adjustment, to the cheek- piece of the stock. Then, if the gun suit the holder, the eye will find itself accurately laid on the level of the breech, and the sight will meet its first glance, as if it rose from the base, instead of the muzzle of the gun ; for the whole length of the elevated rib, along which the eye ranges, being exactly on the plane of the breech, howso- ever elevated or depressed, will be as completely unseen as if it had no existence. Consequently, when a deliberate point-blank aim is taken at a lifeless or motionless object, all, of which the eye will be conscious, is the breech of the piece, with the metallic sight rising above it, and set off by the substance of the m£itk 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. 47 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- liled 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 MAXUAT. FOR YOIJNa SPORTSMEN. 23iill is dangerous, since a lock which works so easily as afc two pounds pressure, or under, is liable to be put in mo- tion by an unconscious touch, or even by a jar from a touch or fall. In common, low-priced guns, such easiness is invariably owing to weakness and deficiency, and always augurs danger. To the beginner, this attention to the pull is compara- tively a matter of indifference ; since his unmade finger readily forms and adapts itself to any pull. Still, it is advi- sable that he should early accustom himself to the true pull, which he must one day adopt. At first, it is well to use rather a hard-going gun, say of four or five pounds pressure, but no higher. It is easy to come down from a heavy to a light pull, but almost impossible to make the other ex- change. The best shot, who was ever born, and who had been accustomed for half a life to triggers of four pounds power, would not be able, after daily practice for six months, to shoot, up to his own force, with triggers of eight or ten pounds. Both triggers of a double gun should, moreover, yield to precisely the same pressure ; and, if a man desire to shoot equally and evenly, all his guns, pistols, and rifles should go accurately to the same pull, even his heavy ducking guns — stancheon or punt guns alone excepted, which for reasons hereafter to be stated require a hard and heavy hand : hair-triggers, for all field purposes, I utterly eschew. If a rifleman cannot shoot close enough with a four pound pull, he will not do so with a hair-trigger. More shots in the field are missed by too rapid, than by too slow firing. Nervousness and excitement are, nine 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 eff'ectiveness. 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 efibrt, 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 amateurs, even of those the best informed, are competent to describe, 3 50 MANUAL FOR YOTTNG SPORTSMAN. 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 £^e 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. " Gunraakers 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 n# inspection, which an amateur can make, will detect the defect in the quality of the iron or workmanship. No one THE GUN, AND IIOW TO CHOOSE IT. 51 should buy a cheap guD, who values his life or limbs; at all events, he should be careful to have the recommepda- 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 in the lump, by invoice, according to sample, to sell again singly at ten dollars, or at fifty, or at a hundred, each, including all the intermediate prices ; all being guns precisely of the same intrinsic worth, but valued at more or less, according as they are filed down, French varnished, damascened by aid of acids, tricked out with German silver, and fitted up complete with velvet- lined 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 YOUTiTG BPORTSMEN. its parts ; of its fini^^, en^avicg, 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 GTJN, 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. Now, if the locks and stock be manifestly of first-rate quality and workmanship, if they show in those niceties, for which every judge knows where to look, the skill of the cunning craftsman, the appearance of the barrels outwardly corresponding to the details of the rest, the purchaser need not fear but that there is " that within that passeth show " — for it is not the habit, nor would it be worth the while of any workman to bestow labor of the most costly description, that which is the best paid, and to be procured with the most difficulty at any terms, on materials intrinsically valueless. Again, it is only gunmakers of the superlative class, who can command or furnish such work ; and their charac- ter and interest must alike prohibit them from the practice of low rascality, which must be ultimately, and, to them- selves ruinously, detected. Thus, undoubtedly, many an old sportsman of intelligence and observation, who has had the advantage of long experience of the works of a num- ber of distiDguished gunmakers, who has compared them with one another, and contrasted them against the highly- finished pretending shams of the furnishing shops, and the 54: MANL^AL FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN. mere rubbish of the Birmingham, Grerman, 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 tha stub-twist THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 65 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 MANTAL FOR YOUNG SPOKTSMEN. 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 knovjn not io he — 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 Purday, Manton, Moore, Lancaster, or — I think — ^Westley Richards; though I will not say that none such exist. Their rarity, however, goes to indicate that they are not THE GUN", AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 67 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 ii 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 ihing made in the world, as a low-priced, damascened twist or 3* 68 MANUAL FOE YOUNG 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, in 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, iu all this, I pro- fess only to give my own opinions, not to claim for them infallibility, or even superiority to the opinions of others. I have had some experience, and some opportunities of 60 MANUAL FOB 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 Ginsr, 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, bes^.j 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 FOR YOUNG SPOKTSMEN. 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 inan who owns a gun, believes it, and is prepared to maintain it, to be the best gun in the world ; therefore there are always fifty 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 difi'erence is THE GUN", AKD 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, are extinct, or exist as names only; the present owners of 64 MANUAL FOE 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 Kichards ; 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 G5 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 Richards' best guns is at this moment, I do not accurately know ; but I presume that it is from £30 to £35, from 150 to 175 dollars, with case and appur- tenances, not including freight or duties; which would bring his best work here to the price of two hundred dol- lars, more or less. Mr. Lang's best double gun is stated by 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 throuo-hout 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 bb MANUAL FOR 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, iind 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 AVestley 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 FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. chanics, John and Patrick Mullin of New York, while 1 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- porters thereof, cannot be predicated of any guu 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 Richards' 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 and the false breech made to receive it, and meeting the blow of the striker, discharges the gun. Stonehenge speaks of this gun in terms of strong praise, and states his opinion, that " if as good in practice as it appears to him theoretically perfect, its invention will be almost as great an era in gun making as that of the detonator itself." This language and praise are to me alike inexplicable. This gun has no nipple, no possibility of being loaded or 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 GTJX, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. Tl 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 legs 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 gui;s. They can be loaded, fired, reloaded and refired, in the ordinary way, quite as rapidly as for ordinary purposes can ever be needed ; and this every one knows, who has ever been present at an English battue, or has been obliged to sit down, as I have, a dozen times at least in my life, in the middle of a snipe-meadow, or of scattered bevies of quail, to let my barrels cool, before I have dared to reload them. 72 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. For rifle-shooting, especially in warfare, or in liunting on horseback, wliere 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 improvexent, 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 diffi- 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, Isngth, 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. TirE GTTISr, 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 lbs. weight, and should not, at the utmost, be loaded with above 1^ drachms of powder and f ounce of shot — which shot ought never to be above No. 6 or 7. In other words, it would be a mere child's plaything and pop-gun. On the other hand, the gun of fourteen gauge, at the same proportion of gauge to length, should be, not as he recommends, three feet, but three feet 7? inches, and would probably weigh about twelve pounds. The colonel's advice, therefore, to use a thirty-four or thirty-six inch barrel with a gauge of fourteen, is, in itself, a compromise, founded on the sacrifice of force to ease of handing; since it would have been clearly preposterous to tell men to go out cock- 4 losions 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. 03 munication, that in flasks so constructed the two halves are simply blown asunder, instead of being sliattered 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 tlie 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 difi'erence in the mode of holding it will just make the difi'erence 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 homo, 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 FOR 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 GIJN, AND HOW TO TSE 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 Roslin 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 FOE TOUIs^G SPOKTSIMEN. 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 GOs, AND HOW TO USi: IT. 97 orifice, and will explode under a blow as readily as t'le cap itself. On going into a house, never take off the copper caps. Men often do so, thinking thereby to render them safe in case of their being thrown down by dogs or played with by children. In that case, the only safe plan is to place them where none of either the probable offenders can get at them. The danger in reality, is increased tenfold by removing the caps ; for to do so is to represent the loaded gun as unloaded and innocent. Nothing but a very small boy indeed takes up a capped gun, without perceiving it to be loaded ; and it is rarely, if ever, with such pieces, that acci- dents happen. With loaded guns left uncapped, scarcely a week pass- es, but we see that some unhanged idiot has had, as it is glibly termed, the misfortune to blow out the brains of his sweetheart, wife, or child, by capping a piece which he supposed to be unloaded, and snapping it at the head of his victim. The writer can only say that, should he ever sit on a jury where one of these unfortunate gentlemen shall be tried for such an accident, his misfortune will probably be increased by having to serve out a sentence for manslaugh- ter, or murder in the second degree, in the State prison. One would not suppose it necessary to write for the information of sane folk, that it is not altogether safe to put the muzzle of a gun into his mouth, and then for one to pull the trigger with his toe. I have, however, 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 columns of the National Intelligencer, the latter in the New York Daily Times ; both relations bearing every mark of authen- ticity, the names of the sufferers, the time and place of their exploits, though not the verdict of the coroner, which one might conjecture would run in the old style of " sarved 'em right, too." Who shall say, after this, that it is unnecessary to THE GIJN, AND HOW TO TJSE IT. ' ' ' 99 state the danger of pulling triggsrs 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 usinjr 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 MANUAJL FOR YOrNG SPORTSMFJN. Again, .every man who loves his gun should make it a point to clean it with his own hands. It is all very well in Europe, where the sportsman has a gamekeeper at his elbow who knows how to clean a gun, better than he does himself, and who takes as much pride in having it clean as he, to trust it to his servant. I have shot, more or less, twenty -five seasons in Amer- ica, and having body-servants all the time, never had one to whom I would intrust the cleaning of a valuable piece. I have always cleaned my own gun before sleeping, or if I have been too much beaten with work to do so, have in- variably, after seeing it as well done as a man could accomplish at night, given it a thorough and fresh going over, before using it in the morning. The mode and process is as follows : Bring your locks to half-cock, take the ramrod out of the pipes, and the barrels out of the stock, screw the brass jag into the lower end of a solid cleaning rod — not one of the trumpery, jointed ebony or mahogany sticks which come in the gun-case — ^but a tough, seasoned hickory staff, of nearly half an inch diameter, about four inches longer than the barrels, with a saw-cut handpiece. Wrap the jag as thickly with the finest and cleanest tow, as the bore of the barrels to be cleaned will admit. Moisten this tow, and insert it into the muzzle ; 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 G\m, AND HOW TO USE IT. lOl other, constantly changing both tow and water, until the former comes out of the barrels unsullied ; the latter can be pumped through them pure and limpid. Should the barrels be leaded, which all writers say occasionally occurs after very hard and very rapid shoot- ing, when they become so much heated as to melt the shot in its transit, so that a part adheres to them — though I confess that a leaded barrel is a thing I have yet to see — a wire brush, or a little fine sand sprinkled on the tow, may be used. If the brush, it should be of brass wire, as softer, and less liable to scratch the polish of the barrels than iron ; if sand, the less the better. I have never used either in my life ; and T have, at times, shot very hard — to the extent, I doubt not, of several thousand shots ia 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. with clean dry tow, as mucli as you can force into the muzzles, work it up and down as quickly and sharply as you can, constantly changing the tow, until not only no touch of moisture is sensible on the swab, but the barrels are perceptibly heated through by the friction. It is not an unlaborious piece of work, I assure my readers ; and if they be, like the royal Dane, in a degree " fat, and scant of breath," they will puff and blow, and their muscles will complain before the task is accom- plished. Nevertheless, the work will be well repaid by the performance. The tow may now be moistened, at the most, by two drops of clarified oil, of which anon, and may be run down each barrel. The cavities around the nipples, and all the exterior grooves of the barrels about tlie ramrod-pipes, elevated ribs, &c., should now be rubbed clean with a bit of flannel, or the finger of a kid glove stretched over a slip of pine wood, and then brushed lightly with a proper brush — a soft tooth-brush is as good as any — moistened, as before, with clarified oil, and rubbed with a piece of chamois leather or buckskin until dry ; the striker, and above all the cavity of it, which impinges on the nipple, should be cleaned out, and oiled and dried in the same manner. But, unless the gun has been exposed for a long time to small penetrating rain or snow, has been immersed in water, or been thoroughly saturated with salt air, or unless some obstacle or hitch is perceptible in their work- ing, I do not recommend the removal of the locks. Every time they are removed and replaced, something is lost of the exquisite finish and fitting, where the wood- THE 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 Imen rag, dipped in the clarified oil and pressed dry, between the striker and the nipples ; lay a single fold of the same over each muz- zle, and force it down with a wad ins.de it, about two inches into the barrel. Clarified oil is made by putting a handful of rusty nails, old iron, or shot, into a bottle of the best salad oil. In less than a month all the impurities of the oil will sink and collect about the metals, and the residue, when drawn off carefully, instead of itself promoting, will prevent oxidization. " From the peculiar construction of detonating locks," I quote from a clever little English work by ^' Craven," under a title similar to my own, " they should not be 104 MANUAL 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 shooticg — " I have known them to last half a dozen — " but should by no means be used after the holes are worn large by repeated firing ; as it will weaken the force of the gua, and damage the locks." Should it be found necessary to remove the locks — and this will be necessary whenever the gun shall have been immersed in water, exposed to heavy rain, snow, mist or salt air, and whenever any roughness or rigidity shall be discovered in the working of the locks, and advisable at least so often as at the beginning and end of every season — the mode of doing so is as follows : Take out the lock screw, which passes through from the left to the right side immediately in front of the 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 arisii^ from the two powders in combination. — H. W. H. THE GJm, 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 106 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOKTSMEN. 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. lOT with a piece of wash-leather, and it is ready for recon- struction. " To put them together again, put in tumbler, and screw on cock, so as to be down. " Put cock rather backward, and screw on scear-spring. " Push cock back as far as it will go ; put pivot of scear into its proper hole, and then taking hold of scear with the thumb, and of the top of the cock with the fore- finger of the right hand, if a right-hand lock, and vice versd if a left, compress the spring, and move the lock forward and down. " Push forward the swivel, so that it may not interfere with the screw, and drawing the cock a little forward, slip the two holes in the bridle ' upon the heads of the scear and tumbler pivot, and screw on the bridle. " Having let down the cock, and pushed forward the swivel as far as it will go, cramp the main-spring, hook the end of it on the swivel, move it up to its place on the lock plate, and unscrew the cramp."' When a fine gun is to be laid aside for any considerable length of time, during the absence of the owner, or under such circumstances that it cannot be readily examined and overhauled, the following plan will be found admirable for its preservation. Stop the orifices of the nipples with small pegs of pine wood, plunge the barrels, breech downward, into hot water, pour into the muzzles melted lard, tallow, or suet, carefully tried out and clear from salt, until the barrels are com- pletely full ; oil them copiously, without, with pure clari- fied neat's-foot oil, or loon-skin oil, which is better ; and if 108 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. LiIJ 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 sovcreignest 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, ana 'therewith wipe, from tine 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 tlie fatal volleys of which told with effect 60 deadly on the disciplined battalions of England during the wars of the Be volution 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 iill 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, presisnt- 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 gunmaking of all kinds was rude in the extreme, and the commonest of all prevailing errors was the almost universal belief that extreme length of barrel, whether in the rifle or fowling-piece, produced corresponding length of flight to the missile. Rifle barrels were not unfrequently made of five feet and upward in le-igth, 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 woapon 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 morv* effect ou large game than a Ill pellet of shot, all combined to render it inefficient and un- popular. It was soon found, moreover, that it was the weight and not the length of the barrel that did the work — that a half rotation, or, as some insist, a third, within the barrel, gives all the rotatory motion to the ball which is desirable ; and lastly, that weight in the ball itself is necessary for dis- tant firing correctly, independent of the fact that an ounce bullet, inflicting a wound not of necessity mortal, will disable a man or animal, where one of 120 to the pound will be carried off, harmlessly for the time, in the very vitals. With this came the first change. The short ounce-ball yager rifle was adopted generally on the prairies against large quadrupeds, and was found to outrange tha small piece infinitely, and, with equally good shooting, to plant its balls as accurately. For a long time the double-barrelled English London- made sporting rifles were the ne plus 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 vogae with all the rifle-clubs and companies of nearly all the original thirteen 112 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SP0ETS:MEN. 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 teacli 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 fiure-arms useless. A THE GUN", ANT> HOW TO USE IT. 113 good shot can, and does not unfrequently, bring down bis object at 1000, and even at 1500 yards, i^-rtillery 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 difl&cult 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, tl;c best rifle ever invented, and destined to supersede :ill others, both for the chase and for actual warfare. — I mean Perry's breech-loading rifle. I have already had occasion to speak of the revolving and breech-loading principle, as applied to fowling-pieces, and have given my conviction that no advantage is to be gained by the adoption of either. On coming to consider the same principle, as applied to the rifle, we must dis- tinguish between that weapon as required for military and for sporting purposes ; the qualifications of the two being widely difierent. For the former purpose, it is often necessary to fire a maximum number of shots, at a vast range, in a continu- 114 MANUAL FOR 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 sufiicient 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, cceteris 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 eff"ect 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 eflfect of missing the object, however true the aim. 116 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SP0RTS3kIEN. 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 fhall have been calculated, and the machinery rearranged — an operation requiring time, and, of course, utterly in- co:i.^ictent 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 riHe has probably ever been made, with which the best and most rapid marksman o-^^^\ 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 GTTN, AND HOW TO TSE 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 face* 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 FOR TOrNO 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 lb. if round, of about double that weight, if acorn-shaped — which I have fired several hundred times, with my bare hand exactly under the point of junction, and never have been sensible of the least escape of gas ; nor are either of the metallic faces in the slightest degree burnt, corroded, or altered in appearance, by the sharp firing to which they have been subjected. From forty to fifty shots have been fired in succession, with cartridges made from 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 GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 119 Ten shots can easily be fired, to hit the mark, by a practised hand, within the minute ; and 1 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 thalu 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 13 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 one 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 so 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 wQuld 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 j-ards' 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 600 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 f oz. round, ^ oz. conical, has been proved capable of striking the size of a horse at the enormous distance of 1400 yards, and wdth 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 FOR TOIJNG 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 buflalo-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 GUK, AXD 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 ejficacy. 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 efi'ect 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 inefl&cient, unenter- prising, pennywise and poundfoolish system of business 124 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. of the twopenny community among which it is located, after being brought to perfection and proved satisfactorilj-, at some considerable expense, the small farther advance needed to set it in operation before the public, is not forthcoming ; and, in consequence, ^he 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 Y 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 TOTT TO TSE IT. 125 The mode of selecting a rlile 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 tlie 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 snuif 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 ri'fle, 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 loam 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 b}' 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 difi'erence 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 conclusioii, 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, vara 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, ^quam memento rebus in arduis * Servare mentem, and be " deliberate promptitude " your motto and the mark for your attainment. Note. — See Appendix D for description of Ballard's breech-load- ing sporting rifle, patented in 1862. The above was written 1856. * Bemember in difficulty to preserve an equal mimi. HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT, ON THE WING, RUNNING, OR AT REST, WITH LOOSE SHOT, OR SIj:iGLE 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 poirit 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 mer.it, though not free from, what I must esteem, heresies. " yVe 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 aim'ad at and drawing the trigger, and that any inaccuracy HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT. 129 of aim must be attributed to the eye not being in the proper place wlien 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. When bringing up a gun to the shoulder in a gunmaker's shop, it is easy to bend down the head to the exact spot for looking along the sight-plate ; but it is a very 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 tofire 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 sportsmen, who shoot sufficiently well to reason on, and account for the causes of their shooting ill, on some, one or other, day, whether from being physically or mentally out of order, long out of practice, or other accidents, are aware of this habit of throwing up the head, when unsteady, at the HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT. 131 moment of firing. The same malpractice will be frequent- ly produced, even when a person is steady, by the trigger, which is expected to yield to the accustomed pressure, not giving way without a jerking pull ; and still more so by the cap, after giving the 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 TOTTNG 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 spare across the eye, so that a level rested upon them should be in the exact plane of the horizon. Unless this be tho case, the lines of sight along the patent elevation and of the projected shot will not be iden- tical, much less the lines of fire of the two barrels, and consequently the aim will be faulty. The following precepts will be found, I think, to embody the best method of acquiring the mastery of this ; and here I would beg to caution my young readers, that these indoctrinations are not merely intended for the use of those who do not shoot at all ; but for all those — whether they shoot well at the mark, off-hand or at rest, whether they are dead sure of a robin on an apple bough, or a high-holder on the summit of a dry, dead tree, or not — who do not shoot _well on the wing. I believe it to be a common error with young shooters in America, where every boy, who lives in the country, has more or less use of the gun early in his teens, to con- tinue too long content to shoot sitting, to learn to shoot too well sitting, and to acquire a habit of taking such an aim, even when using shot, as would insure killing the object with ball. Such a habit, once acquired, has to be unlearned, before HOW TO LEAEN 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, ^vllo 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 oil 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, ah 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 YOUXG SPORTSMEN. for the crack £}iiig-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 hia 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, hy design or otherwise, at any thing, hut the mark intended to he 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 too well sitixeld so as to point to every part of the visible aim, even wxJJ this is unsportsmanlike, unsafe, and worse object with ball. '^ this proviso kept steadily in view, Such a habit, once acqui> ig perfectly safe except from HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT. 135 bursting." The above quotation, as well as several which follow, is from Stonehenge's " Manual of British Rural Sports," and is well worthy of attention, as are the remarks ensuing on the first lesson of shooting. Previous, however, to using the plan hereafter indi- cated, I would recommend that the learner should be placed in position, that is to say, with the left foot advanced, the knee slightly bent, about eighteen inches in front of the right, on which the weight of his body should rest ; holding the gun at the level of his hip, with the butt below his right elbow, his left hand grasping the front of the trigger-guard, perpendicularly to the barrel, the gun being at lialf-cock. The thumb of his right hand should be on the striker, and the finger nail of the fore- finger touching the inside of the trigger-guard, before the trigger. In front of him there should be a whitewashed wall, with a black mark, the size of half a dollar, at about the level of his eye. On this mark he should steadily rivet his sight, and raise the gun to his shoulder, cocking it with his thumb, while in the act of bringing it up, and then lower his cheek to the stock! It will not as yet be necessary to attempt to take any aim at the object, or to rectify the first direction. The lesson to be acquired is, first, to attain the knack of cock- ing the gun quickly, yet deliberately, while it is in mo- tion from the hip to the shoulder; and secondly, to gain the habit of 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 fron\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 LEAJIN TO SHOOT. 137 Lurry 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, 80 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 tincertain 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. startling him, at first, by a broad flasb and loud report, tj which he must gradually and imperceptibly be habituated ; or, aftierwards, 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 aifected." 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 ihc first catching sight, even HOW TO LEAEN TO SHOOT. 139 if the sight appear to be an inch or two wide of the mark, at the time of drawing the trigger. The knack of bringing the sight up, and the eje 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 (lying 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 LEARN 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 statio; - ary, when the sight was taken. What this change may be, is uncertain ; for calculat- ing it, no rule can be given. According to the velocity of the object, the force and 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 difiiculties, 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 MANT7AX FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 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 oat 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 motioii- 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 can — my word upon it — kill now 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 MANUAI. FOR YOUNO SPOKTS^SIKX. quick eyesight, quick "w^its, and quick liands, ho 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 LEAEN TO 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 anitnal 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 yard s^ 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 YOITNG SPORTSMEN. that liability wc guard against by elevated sights. What is called a point-blank shot, for there really exists no such thing, is merely a shot which we fire from the ordinary elevation of our piece, without extra allowance made, at the centre of the mark. It is clear, therefore, that in aiming with a rifle, abso- lute precision of aim is positively requisite. There is no space for chance or good fortune even in a minimum degree. The ball must be sped exactly to the identical spot which it must hit, and the divergence of a hair's breadth at the muzzle will grow into inches or even feet as the range increases. Therefore the aim must be taken with the utmost deliberation and certainty, and must be maintained per- fect, which can only be done by great steadiness of nerve, perfect coolness of temper, and sufficient muscular power, until not merely the trigger is drawn, but the ball is dis- missed from the barrel. I am satisfied that in rifle-shooting, the more misses by far occur in consequence of the shooter disturbing a correct aim, and diverting his barrel never so little from the true line, by the act of pulling the trigger, or by flinching from the flash or report, than of his taking a false direction in the 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 LEAKN 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, sufl&cient 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 YOUNG SPORTSMKN. 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. 149 that it is practicable to shoot with a rest, other than such as may be obtained from his own person by the shooter. And as target-shooting is only the practice by which he proposes to fit himself for the end, not the end itself, it is as such that the shooter is to regard it. In the Middle States, where there is but little game to be shot with the rifle, the rifle-clubs are, in my opinion, taking a wrong direction, as both the style and character of their weapons, and the manner of their shooting, are utterly unsuited either for the chase or the field. Their best and most lauded marksmen would, from what I have seen, read, and heard of their performance, make very poor work in field or forest-shooting with " the deer before the hounds." Again, it is highly advisable to practise at long ranges, at least two and three hundred yards, for on the prairies, where now only game exists of the species to be followed with the rifle, ia sufficient numbers to render the sport of gi'eat moment, a majority of the shots fired will lie within those distances. In speaking of the necessity of taking a direct and exact aim at one small point, when shooting with single ball, I do not, of course, mean to say that the small point to be aimed at is always identical with the small spot to be hit, and that no allowance is to be made for velocity of motion or distance of the object. Far from it. Allowance must be made when an animal is crossing at speed, even greater with the rifle than with shot gun, unless the shooter have the knack — which, if he have it, is perhaps the best — of keeping his hand and muzzle 150 MANUAL FOp 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 tlie 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 ill 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 LEARN 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 exdct 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 MAIS^UAL 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 BO, 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 LEABN TO SHOOT. 153 If there bo two things on earth, which, to be done well, must be done young, they are to shoot on the wing, and to ride across-country. They cannot be learned old, more than it can " to speak the truth." 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 Doa. 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 his affections, accustom him to understand your wishes and share your pleasures, was to unfit him for field service ; and that, when a dog came to love his master, the only thing was to hang him. Happily, like many other brutal and barbarous errors of our immediate ancestors of the eighteenth century, who always appear to me"* to have taken a retrograde step in true civilization and refinement, and to have been the rudest and most boorish of mankind, these maxims con- cerning dog management are all found to be based on error, and have all consequently fallen into disrepute and disuse. With the exception of the admitted fact that a house dog can rarely be kept a first-rate field-dog, how- 156 MANUAL FOK 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- FOD, 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. 15T less and brings punishment, yet, knowing this, obeys from love not from fear. Happily, cruelty toward animals, whicli in the last century was con:mon 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 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. talk, remonstrance and scolding, has much more eflfect 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 can be broke, thoroughly and to perfection, by steady, firm and temperate management, without, I will not say, pun- ishment or occasional severity, but any thiiig in the least degree approaching to cruelty. Wlien a dog is once thoroughly broke, it is his master's THE DOG. 159 fault, and — ^be it added — h'.s master's disgrace, if lie 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 awai > 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 the:n slightly with the fingers, while rating and scolding the ani- mal. When intelligent, and kindly treated, it is remark- 160 MANUAL FOK YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 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 haviug committed any escapade and returned to fol- low at heel, if one turn round the head to look at him and merely say — " Ain't you ashamed, sir ? " — ^will dodge from side to side, still keeping close to heel, in order to avoid the reproachful look, so as to render it impossible to catch his eye, and will follow, with his stern lowered between his legs, looking ludicrously disconsolate and unhappy, till he u 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 1 lbs 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 wilfulness, and not from accident or 162 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. the casual wautoaness of liigh spirits, as when a dog has been lojig 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 cars 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 " Blaine's Canine Pathology," and " Youatt on the Dog." Dogs should be warmly but airily housed ; heartily, but not heatingly, fed — old Indian meal, mixed with oat- meal, suppawn, is the best general food, with a small quantity of salt, which is a preventive against worms — occasionally some vegetables may be added, and once or twice a week, sheep's-head broth, the water in which meat is boiled for the house, or greasy slops of any kind ; milk and buttermilk, whenever they can be 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, 164 MANUAL FOK 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 difi'erence 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, FiK-ST in the list of sporting dogs, without a moment's hesitation, I place the Setter. I^or — 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- tainlv 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. " 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 affec- 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 difl&- 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 SETTEE. 167 of servrce to be got out of Hm, to two pointers, and for the satisfactory style of doing the work, and the cheerful endurance of the toil without suffering, yet more superior. On this subject, I shall quote the brief opinion of " a gentleman, a large breeder of sporting dogs," from a work of " Craven's," which I feel myself the more justified in doing that he often, and once 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 tliirst, 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- lii'j-jce 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 SETTEK. 169 a general thing, that the setter need not sufiFer, 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 — jome 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 8 170 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. dray-horse, have desired the breeder to cross a jeuny 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 SETTEE. 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 a ad 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 FOK YOUNG SPOKTSMEN. 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 indicate? and produces superiority of intellect. In all the spaniels proper, the eye is full, liquid, and speaking ; the nose well developed, with large and open nostrils ; the coat silky, soft, and in some cases much waved, and almost curly. The colors of the various families of this variety are almost innumerable, varying from pure black, white and yellow, tan, liver and orange, to ring- THE SETTER. ' 1Y3 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 stem 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. Chance — which was as curly about the ears and poll as ail 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. 175 A curious document, which is probably the earliest legal instrument of this nature on record, is in existence, having been preserved by Mr. Daniel in his Rural Sports, proving that in the seventeenth century setter breaking was an 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 MAKUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. the said Henry Herbert, or whom he shall appoint to receive her, at his house iu 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 ejGfectually 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-piec3 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 otlier 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 SETTER. 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. Blaine, that the setter is still called in Ireland the English spaniel. If it be so, it would go far to disprove the generally received idea that the Irish setter is an original family, if not, as some suppose, the original stock. I doubt, however, both the fact, and the deduction. In my " Field Sports " (vol. i. p. 32.^), I surmised that " the Irish dog is undoubtedly the original type of the set- ter in Great Britain." I have, since writing this, seen reason entirely to alter my opinion ; which was induced by the large admixture of Irish blood which has been introduced into many of the choicest English families, those especially which run to orange and white with black noses and muzzles ; one family, in particular, with which I had most acquaint- ance. The races are, however, I think, now, where not intentionally interbred, entirely distinct. The English dog is distinguished by his inferior bone and stoutness ; superior grace and delicacy ; the greater length, silkiness, and curl of his coat ; his blandness, affection, good-nature and docility ; in all which points Le 178 MANUAL FOR TOUNG SPORTSMEN. much more closelj 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 qua non to the possession of great scenting powers. The eye should be large, soft, and bland, and the whole expres- sion of the face amiable and gentle. In this last point of physiognomy I put much faith — I never saw a good dog with a had face; nor a thoroughly bad one, with an intelligent, open expression of countc- Bance. THE SETTEE. 179 There is as much difference in dogs' faces as there is in that of men ; and I should as much expect to find thf qualities of a Walter Scott, a Napoleon, or a Washiugton, in a being with the face of Hogarth's had 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 ISO MANUAL FOB TOTJNG SPORTSMKM. 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 arc, often savage ferocity of temper, always extreme courage, high spirit and indomitable pluck. They are naturally wild, and ^iven to riot to the verge of indocility, require much breaking, I had almost said continual breaking, a jealous eye, a resolute will, and a tight hand over them. With these, they are of undeniable excellence. They are not, however, by any means the right kind for young sportsmen, or for any sportsmen but those who are constantly in the field whenever game is in season ; for such, their hardihood and pluck renders them invaluable. They cross well with the English setter, if it can be called a cross, when it is but an intermarriage of cousins, and the progeny lose something of the temper and gain something of hardness. The only remaining pure variety of setter to be noticed is the Russian, which is rarely or never met with in this country. It is an admirable creature, docile, good and gentle, to a charm. Enduring, beyond any other race, of cold and THE SETTEE. 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 liead 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 mc. 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 fir-jt of the morning, home he went in disgust, in spite of all threats or coaxing. 182 MANUAL FOR 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 foi* 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 ecenting 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 SETTEE. 183 much altogether untried, so that not only will much time be lost, but much game will be passed over. The man who shoots over dogs or a dog broken to quarter and beat his ground truly, will get twice as many shots on the same ground, and in the same time, with another hunting animals which meander at their own sweet will. If I must shoot over a dog unsteady at his points and unsteady at his charge, but a good ranger and quarterer of his ground, or over one as stanch as a rock, who ran tibout 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 YOIJNG 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 a^ a plausible conjecture, the pointer and setter lose the dl;> tinctive action whence they derive their distinctive name . 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, av:d lying so close as often to show only the tip of his erected flag above the stubble or turnips. I have often had a brace of setters go down so suddenly, when shooting in high turnips or potatoe ridges, the eye being casually off them at the moment, that it required some trouble to find 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, in Canada or in the States, I have but twice in five and twenty years seen a setter set^ and then it was accidental ; so far as this, that the dog usually stood. It is worthy of remark also, that, on my first arrival in this country, I shot over a dog which was bred in my own family and which I broke myself in England. I do not think I ever saw him point in his old country ; I know I never saw hira 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 FOU TOTTXG- 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 SETTEK. 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." "«^» «»».-«.«. •5» THE poi:n'ter Tnis 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 ill 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 POENTEE. ISO vidual families, almost ad infinUum • whereas, as wo haA'G seen above, the setter, so fur 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 CxO,>:sing it was produced, or when it was first known, is now beyond ascertaining. It was first introduced into England when the art of shooting on the wing began to be general, replacing the old sport of netting birds, for which the mute spaniel, taught to set, since that time improved into the modern setter, had been used. Its erect position while in the act of pointing, and its lower and more careful style of rang- ing, as well as its superior steadiness, were the qualities which, on its first introduction, caused the preference to bo given to it for open shooting; and such are, with justice, the superior excellencies still attributed to it, by those who prefer it to its rival, the setter. In form, structure and general appearance, the pointer would appear to be an intermediate link between the spaniel, the smooth-haired hound, and perhaps the fero- cious dog of the bull type — the structure of the 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 FOR 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-sLouldered, 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 ofi" against their greater endurance of heat and thirst ; inferior dash, impetus and ability — not courage — to face severe, thorny covert ; which may be set ofi' against superior docility, tractability and steadiness; and, lastly, somewhat inferior speed and stoutness, and decidedly inferior beauty, sociability, and aff^ection 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 off"ence at the failure of his companion to kill the game which he has found for him, a habit which setters, espe- THE POINTEK. 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 " Stonehengc " in his " British Rural Sports," that I cannot do better than to quote the passage entire. " The points by which these dogs are generally chosen, are — First, the form of the head, which should be wide, yet flat and square, with a broad nose, pendulous lip and a square tip ; the pointed tip indicating too great a cross of the foxhound or greyhound. Secondly, a good set of l;jgs 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. Grreat 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. which may be, perhaps, five or six years. From these he hreeds 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 pomters, it may be said that good animals are always of good colors ; still there is a choice, and for reasons apart from real fancy or love of beauty. Colors more or less indicate races, and the prevalence of some colors, therefore, indicate more or less admix- tures of blood to be avoided, or sought after, as it may be. The pure original pointer colors, as drawn from the original Spanish stock, are plain unmixed liver color, and deep tawny, darker across the shoulders than elsewhere. Both of these, therefore, going with the thorough pointer shape, are undeniable. To liver and white, with a liver-colored nose, there is no 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, as indicating a cross of setter, which I abominate in the pointer. Pure white is rare, but unobjectionable; plain jet- black is also faultless ; but where the black and white arc 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 YOUNG 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 T 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 COCKIKG SPAKIEL. The best of all dogs, beyond a question, for woodcock shooting exclusively, particularly in the summer season, or even for autumn shooting in covert, is the spaniel. It is little knowti 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- In England, they are used entirely for all covert shooting, where dogs are employed at all, which is not the THE COCKTN^G SPAItOEL. 199 ease in battues ; the game, in these, as I must consider them, unsportsmanlike butcheries, being driven up by beaters. The reason of this preference of the spaniel is twofold. First, he does the work better than the pointer or setter can do it ; secondly, it is an injury to the latter species to inure them to this sort of work, which is not suited to their habits, instincts, or style of hunting. Those dogs are naturally endowed with 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 arc apt to become careless and to run riot. To this habit tliev are 200 MAKIJAI. FOR YOIJNG 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 stems 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 FOR 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 fur summer cock-shooting. It is not only the true method, but it is far more exhilarating and exciting, it is less fatiguing, and, as it gives the sportsman far more opportunity of choosing his own position for shooting in the paths, runways and glades, instead of being forced to blunder into thickets in order to drive up his game, it is by far the most killing mode. The spaniel naturally gives tongue on his scent the moment he strikes it, hunts it up with the rapidity of light, and springs his bird or starts his hare with ^ 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 " ^ie 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 FOR 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 those 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, ia 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. Keyworth 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. 200 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 the}- 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, ot too little courage, or a want of steadiness, or some defi- ciency or other." In another part of the same volume, this able and dis. criminating writer says of this dog — " The Clumber span- iel is the best I have ever seen, being hardy and capable of braving wet with impunity. His nose is also wonder- fully good, which its full development in point of size would lead one to expect. They are bred so much for hunting cock that they own the scent very readily, and seem to delight and revel in it, giving generally a very joyous note on touching upon their trail. The true Clumber may be easily kept to feather, and though they will readily hunt fur when nothing else is to be had, they do not prefer it, as most other dogs do," The Clumber breed is that, which I have mentioned abova, 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 w^ll 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 WATEE-SPANIEL. This beautiful, sagacious, and useful species, like the varieties last described, is not so general in this country, as he deserves to be, the rather that many districts inland, to the westward and southward more especially, are singu- larly adapted to his use. A portion of his blood is not unfrequently to be found in imperfectly bred setters, and although it unques- tionably detracts from the value of the animal as a pure- 210 MANUAL FOR YOTTNG 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 ringleited. The only true colors of this dog are liver or liver and white. Any others indicate mixtures of foreign blood. " Grood 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 countc- 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 may be 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 tUffieult 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 s,till 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. Whoa 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 FOR 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- iDg seen or suspected the vicinity of man, rise gently, and for the most part fly forward up or down the course of the fitream, 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 uriord a shot, it is more than proba- ble that they will again dron within a reasonable distance, when being marked down, they may be, in most instances, stalked, so as to insure the getticg a close aad 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. TTa/er-spaniels, though, as iheir 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 ia much ground of that nature in Amer- ica — no dogs can compete them, as they combine great powerc of finding game, with vast endurance, steadiness sufficient to enable them to be shot over satisfactorily — though not that of the perfect pointer or setter — accompa- nied by an ability to recover wounded wild fowl to a degree possessed by no other animal, and without which it is use- less to think of making a bag of wild fowl on inland waters. THE IS^EWFOUI^DLAND EETKIEYEK. The last dog with which we had to do, is the last of those which are to be mentioned as employed for the finding their game alive, and recovering it when killed, but which have no share in pursuing or killing it. These are the dogs principally used by the shooter, and on them he relies, in a degree second only to his use of the gun, for all his sport in the field and the upland as ajainst winged game. THE NEWFOUNDLAND EETKIEVER. 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 YOUNG SPORTSMEN. Of this species of dog, or way of using itj there is no trace on the uplands of America, or elsewhere, save on the salt waters of the estuaries and tide rivers, whose half ■ frozen waters swarm in winter with myriads of the choicest wild fowl, the canvas-back, the red-head, the scaup, or broadbill, as it is commonly called by American gunners, and the widgeon, or baldpate, not to enumerate wild geese, brant, and the king of waterfowl, the superb, incomparable swan. The usual, and among gentlemen sportsmen, who shoot for pleasure, not for base profit, the only legitimate way of shooting these delicious wild-fowl, is by lying in ambush for them behind screens or blinds of rushes made for the purpose, on points of islands, headlands, river mouths and the like, over which the fowl fly, in going to or returning from their feeding grounds, when they may be shot, by clever gunners, with heavy pieces and large shot, at great ranges and with great sport. To shoot from batteries moored on their feeding grounds, and still more to sail in upon them when feed- ing, is properly discountenanced and esteemed unsports- manlike and infamous, since it causes the birds, which will not endure to be disturbed and slaughtered while on their feed, to collect into great flocks, soar up into the air, and entirely abandon the places where they are thus perse- cuted. The flocks of ducks are, it is true, at times 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 the ducks are swimming or feeding, when, strange THE NEWFOUNDLAND RETRIEYEB. 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 FOB TOTTNG 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 bead, 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 hate ever seen or proved, defies time and change, is unaltered by uukindness, and survives even the grave. THE HOUIS^D 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 hotinds 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 bulls, 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 heauty 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 FOR 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 run down after a chase of from ten to thirty miles, accomplished in a space of time varying from two to half a dozen hours, the hunters following them at a hard gallop on stout 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 sufl&cient 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* 226 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. Osbaldistou's, or Sir Richard 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 lio-hter 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 thoir lighter forms, straight limbs, long let-down THE Homn>. 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, Av^hen in process of time the clearing up of the forests and other causes rendered a swifter hound desirable, those ani- mals should be chosen from which to raise stock, possess- ing the points of speed, lightness, and activity, rather than those of strength, endurance, and even of pre-eminent scent. There were undoubtedly also white Talbots and even white bloodhounds, though these were rare, and it is possible that the prevalence of that color in the fleet modern hounds, may arise from a casual coincidence of color and fleetness in some pure ancestral strain. I confess, however, that I think it probable that there is a distant cross somewhere — perhaps through the North- ern hound, which Stonehenge states, as if with authority, to have been decidedly a cross of the Southern hound with the Scottish deerhound — of some slighter and faster strain, which may have imparted color as well as speed. The harrier — although it also has of late years under- gone much the same process of improvement, so that it has become in many instances little more than a dwarf foxhound, increase of speed having been sought at the expense of strength, to the overmatching of the hare and the deterioration of the sport — ^still retains more of the Southern hound, and shows the blood, both by its colors, the black and yellow pie and the blue mottle, and by its deep melodious challenge. The beagle, the smallest of the species, now used in Eng- land only to hunt rabbits, is a charming and beautiful little animal, being in fact a mere pocket edition of the South- THE HOUND. 220 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 un deviating instinct through fern, bush, brake and coppice. Of the improved English foxhound I have never seen any in America, the animals here used partaking largely of the Talbot blood, color and note, and having his qualities of excellent nose, great endurance, indefatigable industry, and the habit of sticking to their scent, day in and day out, until the fox is worn out rather than run down. The American foxhound as used in pursuit of the fox in Maryland, Virginia, and other Southern States, and of the deer in the Carolinas, Georgia, and wherever deer-hunt- ing on horseback or by driving is practised, is in fact actually the hound, unaltered and identical, of Beckford and Som- erville. I am of opinion, moreover, that he is the best adapted hound for this country, where so much of ths hunting is in dif&cult, intricate, entangled woodlands, 230 MANUAL FOR 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 packs kept in England, is from 26 to 28 and even thirty inches, and is a beautiful spiry animal closely resembling the improved foxhound, or in fact identical with him in all points, except that he is exaggerated in size. The English foxhound ranges from 23 to 25 inches for the dogs, from 22 to 23 for the bitches ; but 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 FOE 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 HOinSTD. 233 speed, very considerable powers of scent, dauntless cour- age, and often actual ferocity. They always run at the head like the bull-dog, and one of them is a match for a red-deer or a wolf, while a brace are said to be able to pull down a bull, and would doubtless show their prowess successfully against that noblest of the cervine family, the great American elk, wapiti deer or we-waskish of the plains. This splendid specimen of the dog is so nearly extinct in its true form, and so nearly impossible of attainment even in Scotland, that, being absolutely necessary in that country for the pursuit of the wounded harts in the boundless, open, heathclad deer-forests of the highland hills, on which bloodhounds or foxhounds cannot be used, since their baying would banish all the stags from the land. Art has been called in aid of Nature, and by scientific and judicious crossing an animal is obtained closely resembling the original breed, his equal in size and power, and as 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 said that they are now so nearly established as a distinct family, that they are reproduced like for like, for generations. The usual cross is the Scotch wire-haired colly, the fox- hound, and the greyhound. Sir Walter Scott's celebrated and now classical dog " Maida," was the progeny of a Pyrenean sheep-dog and a greyhound bitch ; and I have no doubt that a cross of great excellence might be got from the great Albanian or Epirotic mastifi", the canis molossus of the ancients, and the greyhound ; and should 234 MANUAL FOE YOITNa 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 jjt 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 FO-R YOU]Sra SPORTSMEK. horses, or other accidents arising from riding or driving, and two hundred from firing guns at little birds and can- non at political meetings, for one that dies of the bite of a rabid dog. Cruel of course those laws are, which enjoin the promiscuous slaughter of the most intelligent, faithful, industrious, affectionate, and almost reasoning friend of man. Demoralizing any laws must be, which authorize the pay- ment to wretched street boys, and vagrants, and homeless men, for the cold-blooded massacre of unresisting animals. But it is of course useless to address any argument to the common sense, or any appeal to the humanity of city governments. De non apparentihus et non existentibus eadem est ratio* All that remains to do, therefore, for the town dwell- er, is to make the best of it, and provide for his dogs as much space, as much air, as much exercise and as much water as may be. Cleanliness is not only a cardinal virtue, but a cardinal preservative of health and condition. Every dog should have his separate lodging ; nothing is better than the ordi- nary old-fashioned, double, gable-ended dog-house. It should not have a bottom attached to it, but should be movable, for facilitating cleanliness, and should stand on a board platform. If whitewashed within and without once or twice a year, so much the better. The process will keep down the growth of vermin. The best bed that can be given to dogs, is carpenters' * Concerning things which do not appear, and things which do not exist, the reasoning is the same. JKENNEL MAISTAGEMENT OF DOGS. 23 T 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 — suff'er from it far more aqutely, 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 MANUAL FOR YOTJNa 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 KENIOJL 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEK. fcelves, dry, clean and warm in it, and coil themselves up cosily, to come out new creatures in the morning. I do not profess in this volume to treat of the medi- cal treatment of dogs at large, or for special disorders. Instructions for such cases will be found elsewhere, in my own larger work, in that of Dr. Lewis, in Blaine and Youatt's Canine Pathologies, and above all in Mayhew on the Dog — which, as the latest, is by far the best treatise on the subject. Even with any or all of these aids, a young sportsman should be very careful of attempting to treat a dog for any serious case without veterinary advice of an experienced person. He will be apt to err in his diagnosis, to mistake symptoms, and perhaps to apply, as remedies, what are really stimulants to the disease. For trifling and casual ailments or disorders, rest, cool or warm q^uarters, as the symptoms point to fever or to chilly affections, and plain, wholesome diet, without flesh, will do much. Emetics, especially violent ones — and that most com- monly exhibited by amateurs and quacks, table salt in large quantities, is the most violent, and is often excruci- atingly severe in its operation — are generally to be avoided. Where they seem absolutely necessary, the dog suffer- ing intensely from tumefaction, heat, and tenseness of the abdomen, the best speedy emetic I have been used to esteem tartarized antimony and calomel, in doses varying, according to the size of the dog, from |- gr. to one grain, given at intervals of half an hour until vomiting is pro- duced. But Mayhew prefers antimonial wine, from a half teaspoonful to a desert spoonful. 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 lbs. ; a Newfound- land dog will require thrice the quantity. This is not a rapid medicine, and it is as much alterative as laxative. The dog will be much nauseated, and will refuse food during twelve hours or upward, at the end of which he will be relieved by not very copious but bilious evacua- tions. Absolute rest is required during the exhibition of this medicine. For worms, which often trouble dogs beyond measure, the symptoms being extreme leanness, staring of the coat, ravenous appetite, hot dry nose, and constant irrita- tion of the anus, the best and least dangerous recipe is — R Cowhage — Dolichos Pruriens, ^ dr. Tin filings, very fine^ 4 drs. Make it to 4 or 6 pills according to the size of the dog — - give one daily, and a few hours afterward the purgative of castor oil, as given above. Two doses should be sufficient, unless in extreme cases. For common mange, give 1 oz. of Epsom salts, and apply this ointment, which must be well and thoroughly 11 242 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SrORTSMEN. 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 8 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 DOGS. 243 silence for one hour, and at the expiration of that time the dose is to be repeated. This treatment is to be repeated ad infinitum, until the creature coils itself up and prepares to go to sleep, when one more injection is to be given, and the animal left to itself to recover at its leisure. This treatment Mr. Mayhew declares to be absolute and almost unfailing, and although I have never tried it, I have no doubt of its merit. With this I shall pass from the kennel to the field management of dogs, and the various species of game, in pursuit of which they are employed, only advising all persons of mature experience, who determine, or who are compelled by necessity to act as veterinarians to their own dogs, to use Mayhew in preference to all other authorities. He is clearly the most scientific, the mildest and the most simple in his treatment, of all who have written on the subject. All those, who are not maturely experienced, I recommend to take the best advice they can get, as medi- cal men saj pio renatd; and above all things to avoid bleeding, and dabbling in energetic remedies and specific nostrums, recommended by grooms, dogbreakers, and old, knowing hands, which in ninety-nine cases out of the hun- dred will but make bad worse, and will probably kill ten where they will cure one patient. THE FIELD. SNIPE-SHOOTING. Op the different kinds of field shooting, as opposed to river, lake, »ea, 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 Atlantic States, and in the British Provinces, to a certain ex- tent ; nor in these even are they, where they exist, ob- served as they ought to be, even by those who profess to be sportsmen. The first species of upland, or rather field game, which comes into season in the Northern and Western States — in the Southern States it is a winter resident — is the bird THE FIELD. SKIPE-SHOOTINa. 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 fitl}-^ 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 ho 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 FOR 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 tc those of the St. Lawrence. The frost must be entirely out of the ground, especial- ly in the wet, cold lowlands and meadow-swamps, which are the favorite feeding grounds of this bird, and the spring grass should have come up tender, succulent, and green ; the close of winter should have been distinguished by the raw north-eastern equinoctial gale, an'il this should have been succeeded by warm, genial weather, with an THE FIELD. SNIPE-SHOOTING. 24T 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 in the country. I have myself never seen a nest of young snipe, as I have the young woodcock repeatedly, while 24:8 MANUAL FOE YOIJNa 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 wlien the season is uncertain with interrupted night frosts and hail showers, snipe often rise in whispSj 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. 249 to wait patiently until the mood be passed or the weather change, ror unless something of the sort occur, sport under the circumstances is hopeless. Petseverance, 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 ttrows 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 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." — Hor. 252 MANUAL FOR TOTJNG 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 to 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 groimd 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-SHOOTTN-G. 253 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 in every cas 254 MANUAL FOR TOIJNG 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 yctj 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 FOE 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, w as to point before the bird shall be alarmed ; or after scenting it, and displaying consciousness of its vicinity, by the drawing in too closely upon it, in order to make assurance doubly sure. But these points of caution are attainable by all good- nosed and practised dogs, and both are compatible with the highest degree of dash, speed and courage. The neg- lect of either is a grave error. The latter can be taught by any, should be taught by every breaker before the dog is allowed to go out as thor- oughly broken. It is taught by use of the check cord, by which the dog is jerked forcibly back from his point so soon as he exhibit the least inclination to run in ; by cau- tioning him with word " toho ! " and by punishing him for disobedience. The former cannot be taught except by long practice, although some dogs sp -the best authorities, and the instructions for such modes of angling as are peculiar to our waters are original, and will, I hope, be found useful and authentic. It will be observed that I have not, in this volume, entered largely into ichthyological questions, or discussions concerning the natural history and breeding of fish, which subjects will be found treated at large in my work on the fish and fishing of the United States and British Prov- inces of North America, and in other books devoted wholly to the topics of natural history, and the fauna of the continent. The paper on trolling for lake trout, which is quoted from the pages of my work above referred to, is from the pen of an excellent fisherman, who is much accustomed to the sport and the waters which he describes, and who kindly prepared it for the Appendix to the second edition of my volume. RIVEK FISH AND FISHING. 865 The Common Salmon, Salmo Salar, stands at the head of American fish, as aflfording 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 hia sides. These in the female are larger, darker, and gener- ally round or lunated. The male is also jnore slender. The scales are middle-sized, and are easily detached. The 366 MANUAL FOR 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 EIVER FISH AND FISHING. 367 now hardly exists west of the Kennebec and Penobscot, and even there is becoming yearly more scarce. In the British Provinces, and in California and Oregon, it still abounds. Sea Trout, Salmo Trutta. — According to Mr. Yar- rel, this fish is distinguished from the common salmon by the gill-cover, which difiers 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 EIVER 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 Grreat 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 YOIJNO SPORTSMEN. also to a great age. They are a very wary and cautions 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, Lahrax 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 FTSTI AND FTSHINa. 8Tl The two next species, the Black Bass of the Lakes,; Gristes Nigricans, and the Rock Bass, centrarchus ceneusj 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 cBneus, peculiar to the Bame 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. Xt is abundant in the lakes, in the Hudson river, and in many adjoining lakes and rivers into which he has been casually or intentionally introduced. The Growler, Gristes Salmoneids. — This fish consid- erably resembles the black bass, and arrives at nearly the 373 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. same size. It is of a deep greenish brown color, and ha3 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 80 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 hack ; 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 wS«s^ MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPOIiTSIWCEX. 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 NATUEAL 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-nSHING. 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 MANTJAL FOE TOTJNG 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 diff'er 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 AKD 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 FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 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 ^e 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 wifh 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 FOR YOUNG 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 eff'ectually 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 SPOBTSMEN'. 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 indifi'erent-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 NATTTEAL AOT) 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, J)rovided 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* 4:66 MANTJAL FOR TOXTNG SPORTSMEN. The gaff is to be used in the following manner :— When the salmon has been thoroughly exhausted by his efforts to free himself from the hook, in which he has been opposed by the elastic resistance offered by the rod, he is brought near the bank, still keeping the butt-end of the rod well advanced ; and the assistant then proceeds to strike the gaff into the shoulder of the fish, or if he uses the single hook, to insert it into the gill-cover. The latter plan is the least injurious to the beauty of the fish, and in skilful hands will answer every purpose. In all cases, however, the assistant should keep out of sight until the angler is satisfied, by the yielding of the fish, that it is safe for him to approach, for a neglect of this precaution leads to the loss of many a fish. The assistant attempting to strike him before he is spent only makes him desperate ; and the efforts to escape, which before this were within bounds, and under the control of the angler, are now rendered madly violent. This tries even good tackle too far, and either the hook itself or the gut gives way, or else the hold on the fish actually tears away. Tact and experi- ence are the only safe guides in this delicate point, and without them apparent victory often ends in defeat. Instead of the gaff or hook, the landing-net is much used ; and in the South, as well as in Wales, is perhaps more in vogue than the gaff. The only objection is its size ; but as both must be carried by an assistant, since neither can be well managed by the angler himself, this is really of little consequence. If, hdwever, the angler is either unable or unwilling to obtain an assistant, the hook with sliding stick is the best instrument for the purpose j but even NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLTIFISHING. 467 with its aid he must wait until the fish is nearly spent, and must then draw near a low and shelving shore before he can venture to hook him under the gills. Most rivers, however, present these convenient spots at intervals, and the angler should play his fish until he reaches one, let the distance be what it may, if he wishes to run no un- necessary risk. Ill all cases when landed, the salmon should at once be knocked on the head, and the hook carefully removed with a penknife. SEA FISHIKG. Without descending to deep sea-fishing, witli 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 antumn, with several varieties of fish, which are also ex- cellent on the table. The chief favorites are the following : — The striped bass, Lahrax Lineatus. The king fish, Umhrina Nehulosa. The weak fish, Otolithus Regalis. A variety of this fish, Otolithus Carolinensisy 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, Pagrvs 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 docs 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 MANUAI. FOR YOUNQ 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 rarv»,' some say in con- sequence of the persecution of the blue fish, which has re- cently become, in proportion as the barb has waxed scarce, largely abundant. The king fish is a bold, sharp biter, and fights hard when he is first hooked. He is not, however, a heavy customer, running only from ^ a lb. to 2 lbs. at the utmost, a maximum which he rarely attains. In New York harbor, the flats from Bergen Point to Jersey City, in the neighborhood of the rock known as Black Tom, and opposite Communipaw, are the best waters in this vicmity for the king fish ; but they are also taken in the Passaic bay and the bays of Long Island. SEA-FisHma. 4Y1 The tantog, 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 eaid 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 stiffish breeze ; and when one has the luck to come across a good shoal in the humor to bite, it is, beyond a doubt, great fun. The following tables of time, tide, bait, depth, and tackle contain, it is believed, all that can be imparted by printed instruction to the learner. Patience, perseverance, good temper, and good luck must do the rest. All of which, though it be not in the province to bestow, it is in the power earnestly to wish, for all his friends and readers, of their humble servant to command^ FRANK FORESTER. The Cedabs, June 30, 1856. AMERICAN FISHES. 473 S CO li ^ ^ 3 . eS .s Cm , '2 •I| t| •i a 5 §2 Is I a a ^ sl §*^ § ^ > *5b g-s la ^ S f2 "a a 3 Oh .^ © HH *c w 1 n:3 125 g i 2J> >» 1 t a g <1 3 '3 •3 '3 3 gjs* Ih '3 1 cr" CT" a* cr" er- g » 1'^ cr" ^ 'S 1 'B p!4 1 •5 »-< CO zn CO CO CO 1^ )-] CO p^ H H <; OQ n t^-g o II ^ 1 b f & §■ f H CO ^.•$ g g g .2 • ^ b»- *-M '•♦3 •43 *-C •43 '■♦3 § ^ ;; ^^^ S -S S -g ^ S 1 s O ^ CO CO CO CO w CO CO S w o 1=5 S- ftt S M SEA AITS; o 1 1 1. 03 S o ocM ■4-i 1 +j - § 1 1H i # e s 1 CO g <1 ■< S S o ^^- ^ 2 2 2 B ft ^ tH o r*J.g «M IN o O O SEA Fis: E, AN d d 3 * d d d d d "A Jz; ^ Jz; ^ :z; ^ ^z; c s ^* ^ W o ^ H i 1 1 ^ j| 1" J§ o 1 PR o ■TS ' n3 ns TS fc (iT T3 P^ 1 § § § § -1 O 1^ -rod, reel, line, or s ithout rod, 1 2 11 'of 11 1 Cl4 mp drop-li] rod, hemp teL 1 ;i3 a> C it 11- P3 © it 1 tout he stout and re i if o^-^ o ^ 2-^ 2-^ g o § H H H H W CQ Q Q n3 M f 1 "t 1 •1 1 § e3 P4 I P •< 55 VI ^ W « CO 1 AMERICAN FISHES. 475 1 • ;,- « .±£ J^ a> si,^ 00 . sons pre turns o es ; som low slac I thin •S a^ ^ •■I 1 a a P o w )me per fer the the tid high or water. there js except the pro of wate 1 P 1— 1 c^ eiieve good ut all r fan- O I h is as sr. B ethei a 00 O K ally, time lotht .hav »— 1 P Person one asai men cies. 1 < V. • '^t ^O ^ ^ * ^ 1 1* t "9. 'u 1 a'§ m '^ 1 •c 9 c3 • ^ DhCQ ^ o ,i3 a CJ ' .s _c ^ o < ■i4 " 5 ao <5 2 CO P CAiO COW 1 t-H P4 < P n hedder Crab. Crab, Iddlers. •s •c ^ ?3 rnp, SI i, Soft Shrim Crab Clam, [np, Fi ^ ^ CO eg- ^-f <1 g .2 .s .S .S fe il o -a coco 00 <1 CO 00 <«5 » MO II S __«_ irt^ of the Times. "This splendid work, in its typographical and artistic execution, is everything that co!ild be desired. The paper is sumptuous, the printing faultless, the engravings ex- quisite, and the contents not unworthy of the beautiful dress in which it appears. The author may, in fact, be said to have exhausted a subject which has hitherto been neg- lected ; for no work on the American Horse, at all approaching this in comprehensive- ness and ability, has yet been produced. It must become at once a standard authority on the sulyect."— JV^ew England Farmer. "This work, in fullness of matter, in methodical arrangment, in facilities of reference, surpasses any publication of a similar character which has yet been brought out. The subscription for the work has been unprecedentedly large, 2,500 copies having been dis- posed of before publication. It fully realizes the anticipations forined of it, and will for the future be the Standard book of reference on all matters connected with the American turf." — J^ero York Herald. '•More than fifty different authorities have been consulted and used in the prepara- tion of the work, and the author has gone thoroughly into every detail connected with the American Horse, his history, progress, uses, and triumphs. Nothing comparable to the work on the Horse of America has ever been issued ; and, in point of elaboration, at- tention to details, and general thoroughness, it is said to surpass anything of a similar kind ever produced in Europe." — The Boston Post. Embossed cloth, gilt back and side, 2 vols, imperial Svo $20 00 Extra Philadel[»hia sheep, library style, marble edges and linings, . . . 25 00 Half calf, or half turkey, gilt back, extra, or antique, 80 00 Mailed by the Publishers free of Postage, and for sale by all Booksellers. PUBLISHED BY W. A. TOWNSENT) & ADAMS. 3 OF TnE UNITED STATES AJS^D BRITISH PROVINCES OF XORTH AMERICA. NEW EDITION, ENLARGED, CORRECTED, AND REVISED. WITH ENGRAVINGS OF EVERT SPECIES OP GAME, DRAWN FROM NATURE BY THE AUTHOR. By BKiniY WILLIAM HERBEET. This edition has been thoroughly revised since the death of Mr. Herbert, containing corrections and additions, with a brief Memoir of the Author. With numerous Illustrations on wood of every species Of Game, drawn from Nature by the Author. Printed on highly-finished toned paper, and elegantly bound. Opinions of Leading Journals. " The readers of the 'Spirit ' know him well — in the science of woodcraft, he is there.'''' — Wra. T. Pointer, in Spirit of the Times. "Every man, who either has or intends to shoulder a fowling-piece or rifle, should at once sret hold of this instructor, that he may know how, where, and when to bag his game." — Albany Evening Journal. "Since the days of Old Walton, or even Joanna Berner's book upon the 'Mysteries of Fishing with an Ande,' no more delightful book has appeared than 'Frank Forester's Field Sports.' ""—Philadelphia Daily N'ews. " The work embodies the natural history of the principal game birds and animals of this region, with accounts of the season, manner, and places of taking each respectively. Prairie-hunting, forest-hunting, upland, bay, and lowland shooting are fully described, as well as the treatment of dogs fn sickness and in health, their training, uses, «Ssc. To those following the exercise, we deem this book indispensable." — 2^. Y. Tribune. " Here we have all the learning touching the game of the country happily compressed, with the fruits of the observation of an enthusiastic sportsman." — N^. 0. Picayune. "In material and execution the work is truly admirable. To the sportsman it is, of course, of peculiar value, but not to him alone : to the naturalist and general reader, it is full of interesC— Southern Literary Gazette. " He goes through the whole catalogue of game ; describes the character, haunts, and peculiarities of each; assumes the tone of a companion and instructor; and, in a hun- dred ways, keeps the reader upon the scent as keenly as the best-trained setter." — 2/'. Y. Courier. " Mr. Herbert may have drawn from stuffed specimens, but he has given us living copies." — M Y. Ai'bian. " It is worthy, by its binding, typography, and illustrations, to occupy a place on a lady's center-tabl.', as by its intrinsic worth it deserves a nook on the student's shelf." — Democratic Review. Two vols., crown 4to, tinted [taper, cloth, gilt back and sides, |)p. 7S3, . . . $7 50 " "■ " half calf; antique, or e.Ktra gilt, . . .1100 " " " half morocco, gilt tops, . . • 10 50 Mailed by the Publitshers free of Postage, and for sale by all Booksellers. LIST OF STANDARD BOOKS A. GIiE:^T AVORIv FOR II0I1SE]ME:]N". irOW READY FOR SUBSCRIBERS. Being a com[»ilation of the Pedigrees of American and Imported Blood Horses, from the earliest records, with an Appendix of all named animals without Extended Pedigrees prior to the year 184Q. And a SUPPLEMENT, Containing a history of all Horses and Mares that have trotted in public from the earliest trotting-races till the close of 1866. BY J. H. WALLACE. Illustrated with twenty original Portraits, finely engraved on Steel, from paintings and drawings by distinguished artists, of the following celebrated Runners and Trotters: — SiK Archy, Ambbican Eclipse, Fashion, Lady Palmer & Flatbttsh Maee, Dexter, Hamblktonian, Boston, Pocahontas, Glencoe, Black Maria, Young Morrill, Lady Suffolk, Ethan Allen, Flora Temple, Black Hawk, Bashaw, Lantern, Whalebone, Stella, Alice Gray. jQ^ To he sold exclusively by subscription, .^ The publishers ofiFer this valuable historical work on the thorough-bred and trotting- horse of America as the most complete publication of the kind in the world. The author — a true lover of the horse— stands pre-eminent for his ability, experience, reliability, and research on the interesting subject on which it treats. The best half of his life has been bestowed in collecting material, and he has received the support and assistance in his task of many of the first and most famous turfmen and breeders in the country. No pains havo been spared to render it correct and entirely reliable as an indispensable authentic Stcd- Eegister. Wallace's American Stud-Book will be found COMPLETE IN" ITSELF, as no book outside of it is necessary to trace the pedigree of any given animnl through nil its various ramiJcations, until you reach its utmost bounds or the British Stud-Book. From the admirable system upon which the book is constructed, this completeness becomes an inevitable fact. From Wilkes'' Spirit of the Times. " We are very glad to be able to annotincc to the horsemen of this country that a good, reliable stuli,shers free of Postage, and for sale hy all Booksellers. LIST OF STAJS^DARD BOOKS |r;inlv imsttx's €m\i^ltU '^uul for fattug Sportsnun OF FOWLING, FISHING, AND FIELD SPORTS. 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 i the Varieties and Hahits of 6-ame ; River, Laie, and Sea Fishing, etc., etc. Illustrated with numerous Engravings on Wood. Prepared for the Instruction and Use of tie Youtk of America. By HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT. New Edition, enlarged in size to crown octavo, beautifully printed on fligbly finished toned paper of the very best quality, and elegantly bound in iieavy beveled boards. From the Auffior's Introduction. " The object of this volume is neither to supercede the works which I have formerly put forth on American Field Sports and Fishing, nor yet to supply any omission in their pages, " It was believed that a volume ofless ambitious style and less expensive form, taking up the subject more rudimentally, commencing actually a& initw, dealing more with the practice and less with the higher spirit of Field Sports, insisting less on the natural history and general habits of the yarious species of game,* and aiming more at teaching the tyro in the trade how to ent«r himself in his apprenticeship, and how to advance until he have raised him- self to be a master. " My previous works, on this and kindred topics, were intended rather for sportsmen than for beginners ; this will take up the matter ah ovo." Opinions of the Leading Journals. "Mr. Herbert is an enthusiast in the manly pastime on which he has written. He takes hold on the subject not merely as one Intimately acquainted with his theme, bnt like a man whose heart is in his work. Every young man who either has or intends to handle a fowling-piece, rifle, or rod, should at once get hold of this instructor, that he may know how, where, and when to bag his game." — Albany Evening Journal. "We know of no author comparable to Mr. Henry William Herbert in dealing Mith subjects of this sort. He combines — a rare combination — a thorough personal acquaint- ance with the matter in hand, an enthusi.ism which takes hold of one's sympathies, if they be at all accessible on this point, and a nervous style altogether beyond the reach of ordinary pens." — Tlie N. Y. Albion. One vol. crown 8vo, tinted paper, beveled boards, green and scarlet clotb, gilt back and sides, pp. 4S0 $3 00 Full gilt sides and edges 400 Half calf, extra, or antique 5 00 Mailed by the Publishers free of Postage, and for sale by all Booksellers. PUBLISHED BY W. A. TOWNSEND & ADAMS. ^i^t iflfi. By DINKS, MAYHEW, and HUTCHINSON. COMPILED, ILLUSTRATED, AND EDITED BY FRANK FORESTER. ^rofnsclg lllustrattb foit^ Original giabings. Embracing the Sportsman's Vade-Mecum, by " Dinks" ; contain- ing full instructions in all that relates to the Breeding, Bearino-, Breaking, Kenneling, and Conditioning of L)ogs ; with Remarks on Guns — their Loading and Carriage. Dogs: their Manage- ment ; being a new plan of treating the animal, based upon a consideration of his natural temperament, by Edward Mayhew, And Dog-Breaking : the most expeditious, easy, and certain method, by Col. W. N. Hutchinson. This Edition of this popular work has been enlarged to the crown octavo form, uniform w'r'a the Complete Manual. Beautifully printed on superfine toned paper of the best quality, and substantially bound in heavy beveled boards. From Mr. Herbert's Preface. " In offering to the American public a new edition of Dinks and Mayhew on the Dog, which, I am happy to find, is largely called for, I have been in- duced to make a further addition by including the last admirable work of Col. Hutchinson on Dog-Brealhrase, 'a dead shot.' " — BeWa Life. "Marksman's volume is worth the study of sportsmen, whether young or old. We particularly recommend to the former the attitui6w. 1 vol., 12mo, laid and tinted paper, beveled boards, extra vellum cloth, gilt back anl sides $1 75 Half calf, extra, or antique .... 2 75 Mailed hy the Publishers free <>/ Puntitge, and for sale hy all Booksellers. PUBLISHED BY W. A. TOWXSEND & ADAMS. 9 fljt Crack ^Ijol; OE, YOUNG RIFLEMAN'S COMPLETE GUIDE. BEING A TBEATISE ON THE USE OF THE EIFLE, WITH KUDIMENTAET AND FINISHING LESSONS ; DIRECTIONS FOE HUNTING TIIB BUFFALO, ELK, DEEP., AND ALL KINDHED GAME FOUND IN THE UNITED STATES AND BKITISII PEOVINCES, WITH TItEIR VAKIKTIES AND HABITS; THE BREEDING, BREAKING, AND MANAGEMENT OF THE DEERHOUND, ETC., ETC. INCIL.XJ3DIN-G}- J^N ESS^Y ON THE LATEST IMPROVED BEEECH-LOADING WEAPONS, WITH RULES AND KEGDLATIONS FOR TARGET PRACTICE; BY EDWAKD C. BARBER. " The Crack Shot " will supply a -want long felt in the eporting world ; the author is a practical sportsman and accomplished writer ; he possesses a thorough knowledge of the subject, and has produced a Treatise on the science of Rifle-Shootiug, that must become of permanent interest and value. This companion volume of The Dead Shot, will take its place with that favorite work, as a standard guide to both the young and matured sportsman. From the Author's Preface. "No "Work has been published since the recent great improvements in breech-loading arms, and moreover, the books of Cleveland, Chapman, "VVilcox, and others, are standard works, containing a vast deal of useful and valuable information, yut it has been felt that they are too purely scientific to meet the desired end. At the suggestion of a sporting friend of credit and renown, I undertook the preparation of a work designed to aid and instruct the young idea how to shoot ? I have acquitted myself to the best of my humble ability, and trust it may prove useful and interesting to those for whose use it was specially prepared — the young riflemen of America. I do not claim any great originality, nor do I profess to have propounded any peculiar theories ; my object being to complete, in brief and readable style, the views and opinions of those who, from time to time, have written upon this object." One volume tinted paper beveled boards, illustrated with numerous engravings from original drawings, uniform with " The Dead Shot." Price, S2 00 10 LIST OF STANDARD BOOKS JUST PUBLISHED. BREEDING, REARING, AND TRAINING TROTTEIS. PREPARATION FOR RACES; MANAGEMENT IN THE STABLE; ON THE TRACK; HORSE LIFE, &c., &c. Containing a fine life-like Portrait of Dexter, the King of the Turf, with an Appendix containing the history of his performances. Bt JOSEPH CAIRN SIMPSON. From the Auihor^s Introduction, "This book has been written in the hours intervening between the morning's drive and the evening's walk; and, when the rigors of winter put an end to active training, the labor of composition, and care of the horses, about equally divided the time. The practice recommended to be followed in these pages, in order that a horse may acquire condition and learn to trot fast, I offer with confidence. The treatment advised is no pet theory, but the result of years of practice, when the effects of any change in the work was anxiously watched for and carefully noticed. The system, as here exemplified, I have found the best that has come under my observation, and I do not hesitate to rest my name as a horseman on the award of those who will give it a faithful trial." Opinion of James Oakes, Esq., (" Acorn." ) "The 'Horse Portraitures' are spirited and life-like pictures, evidently sketched by the hand of an artist. They are written with marked discrimin- ation, taste, and judgment, and cannot fail to command the attention of breed- ers, amateurs, turfmen, and admirers of the horse generally. The sketches abound with valuable knowledge, practical hints, and useful suggestions ; while the pictures are faithful to nature, the light and shade of their color- ing reveals tlie taste and genius of the author. They possess much literary merit, and will be a valuable acquisition to every gentleman's library who takes an interest in breeding, or in matters any way relating to the horse, his treatment or management." One crown 8vo volume, tmted paper, beveled boards, green and scarlet clolh, gilt back and sides. Uniform with "Complete Manual for Young Sportsmen." Price, $3 00 PUBLISHED BY W. A. TOWNSEXD & ADAMS. 11 The Jfoiiders of t/ie ITumaii Mi7id. Pan aiti Jiis nidations; ILLUSTRATING THE INFLUENCE OF THE lyillSrD ON THE BODY; The Relations of the Faculties to the Organs, and to the Elements, Objects, and Phenomena of the External World. By PKOF. S. B. BEITTAN, M. D. third edition revised. This original and valuable work has attracted much attention on the part of reflective and learned minds on both sides of the Atlantic. It has become a standard work upon the subjects on which it treats, and is constantly- growing in popular favor. Opinions of the Leading Journals. " We rpgard Professor Brittan as a man of superior intellect, an original thinker and profound student. . . . Our aiitlior has placed before us a mass of facts which can not be contemplated without wonder, however much we may differ from him as to the nature of those facts." — National Quarterly lievieiv. " It is seldom that the idea of the relation, as to cause and effect, of the inner world of spirit with the outer or phenomenal universe of matter, has been so plausibly ex- plained. . . . Dr. Brittan's work contains a sufficient account of well-authenticated statements and fairly-drawn inferences to make it very suggestive. . . . Several passages of great truth and beauty might have been quoted." — London Athenceum. " For a repository of evidence as to that twilight-region of human experience which Tve know Jis 'ftvscination,' 'spectral illusions,' 'ghostly apparitions.' 'premonition,' 'clairvoyance,' and the like, its value is unrivaled and peculiar." — Christian Ennaminer. " It is emphatically a work to be studied. In it are many vital truths which have never before been presented so fully or so well ; truths, indeed, which may be said never to have been propounded before in any work on the human mind and its relations." — Hartford Daily Times. "... A comprehensive philosophy and a work of art, . . . As a whole, we deem It one of the noblest works in elucidation of Spiritual Philosophy, and the true nature of the constitution of man and its relations, with which we are acquainted." — IlowitVa Magazine. " It is impossible to give in a small space any idea of this elaborate and carefully pre- pared work. Dr. Brittan has for many 3'ears been an attentive student of physiological phenomena, and, apart from the theory they illustrate, his work has great value and curi- osity as a collection of remarkable cases in which the influence of mind on matter, and the preponderance of the spiritual over bodily power and force, are wonderfully a^em- \i\i&inV—New York Daily Times. One elegant volume 8vo., on fine tinted paper, extra vellum cloth, heavy beveled boards, gilt back and side, with portrait of the author engraved on steel expressly for this work, pp. 584, $4 00 12 LIST OF STANDARD BOOKS mt 0f Mas|iitgt0n AND ITS ASSOCIATIOiiS, MISTOmCAZf BIOGJlAPniCAL, AND JPI C TOItlAJL. By BENSON J. LOSSING, Author of "-Field Book of the Revolution.;' " Ilistonj of the United States,'^ etc., etc. Illustrated ■svith nearly 150 Engravings, mainly from Original Drawings by the Author, embracing numenuis Views of Mount Vernon, various Interesting Objects upon tlie Grounds, copies of Famous Pictures, Portraits of Washington and other Members of the Family, as well as Distinguished Pcrsouages of his time, etc This new edition of tliis popular work has been carefully corrected, and very interesting additional matter, with new engravings, uitroduced. It contains much very valuable information, first published in this volume, re- lating to the "Washington Family ; and is acknowledged to be one of the most important contributions to our historical literature, presenting a com- plete memorial of the private and domestic life of the Father of his Countrj'. It is printed on superfine paper, delicately tinted, aud elegantly bound in heavy beveled boards. Opinions of the Leading Journals. "It is in every respect a unique volume, for tliere is no other one •which covers the same grounn, the sculptor, on tiie liviuir face of Washington. The engravins is from a photograph of the orisinai, in possession of Mr. J. K. Snowdon, of this city. This volume is well adapted as a gift-book, being at once historical and artistic. — Philadeljihia Press. "'The Home of Wasliinarton' deserves the appellation given to it. of a 'superb National Gift-book.' The neat revised edition just issued is a unique tribute to the Father of his Country. It is a book whose value must necessarily increase with the lapse of years."'— yeio York Times. " We do not believe there ever was presented to the rending public a book so noble .•IS ' Lossing's Home of Wasliinirton.' which lias just been ]>ubli.emorandum-book or diary. Physicians will find this little work a means of saving both time and money, and ft correct and ready counselor at the bedside of the sick. Opinions of Distinguished Processors in the Medical Colleges of New York. Opinion of Valentine Mott. M.D. " I regard it as a very valuable work for fhysicians, and the best thing of the kind have seen." Opinion of Horace Green, M.D. "I reeard this as decidedly prefer.nble to anything of the kind that 1 have ev