PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.
In the following work, Captain Bogardus has placed before his readers all the knowledge of the haunts and habits of game-birds, and of the art of shooting on the wing, which twenty-five years' almost constant pursuit has enabled him to attain. It is conveyed plainly and briefly, but fully and without the slightest reserve or qualification. It was deemed that this full communication of all he knew on these subjects was due to his readers, when he resolved to appear before the public as the author of a book. Few men have had an experience as varied and as large; none, I verily believe, have attained as much knowledge of game, or as much skill with the gun.
Of late years, at many places where his skill was displayed, he was often urged to embody what he knew of game and of the art of shooting in a book, in order that sportsmen whose other avocations prevented them from paying very great and prolonged attention to those subjects, might reap the benefit of his experience. With a view
to comply with these requests, he came to New York, and proposed to me thal^ 1 should assist him in the necessary composition of the work. Perceiving the vast fund of practical knowledge he had amassed, and knowing that the book would form a most valuable contribution to sporting literature, I gladly acceded to his proposal, and the result of our combined and conscientious labors is now before the public.
I believe this is the first work of the kind that was ever undertaken by a thoroughly practical man, and strictly confined to the knowledge and information derived from his own observation. It would have been very easy to make the book twice as large as it is, by' copying, with or without credit, as is the custom, long extracts and descriptions from the standard authors of natural history in this country, but to what useful end 1 These matters have been copied by one author after another about a dozen times already, and readers have been so provoked by the everlasting repetition of Latin names for familiar birds, that many must have been on the point of pitching the pedantic copy-books into the fire. In this work another method has been followed altogether. Here are the observa-
tions and accumulated knowledge of a man who has been practically engaged in the pursuit of game in a thoroughly sportsmanlike manner for twenty-five years.
For much the greater part of that period, Captain Bogardus has maintained and brought up his respectable and interesting family, almost solely by his gun. From that fact, I concluded that his was the knowledge and experience which would be valuable and instructive to sportsmen, young and old, and interesting to the general public. The former do not want to listen to people who know no more than they know themselves. The latter do not want to peruse the work of a man on any subject if he never rises above mediocrity, while they gladly welcome the book of one who has proved himself a master of his art. J^ecause Captain Bogardus had been able to live for many years solely by his gun, he was of all men best qualified to enlighten old sportsmen, and instruct the young in regard to the habits and haunts of game and the art of shooting.
It has often been said that pinnated grouse could not be killed by the gun in the months of November and December, because they were so
wild, and this alleged fact was made the excuse for the trapping and netting by which the markets of the great cities are mainly supplied with that bird in those months. Hardly one out of twenty then offered for sale has been shot. But Captain Bogardus proves that this is either pure invention of the netters and trappers, or due to the imagination of those whose skill with the gun being small, and whose knowledge of the habits of the game being scanty, have failed to kill any at such times themselves. He tells us how he killed them with the gun, and how you can kill them if you follow his instructions.
It will be seen by this
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