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                                  The
                       Celebrated Sporting Works
                                  OF
                         ROBERT B. ROOSEVELT.

                                  I.

                      The Game Fish of the North

                                  II.

                           Superior Fishing.

                                 III.

                     The Game Birds of the North.

              ⁂ _All published uniform with this volume,
                handsomely bound in cloth, price $2.00.
                     Sent free by mail on receipt
                              of price_,

                                  BY

                         Carleton, Publisher,
                               New York.




                                  THE
                              GAME-BIRDS
                                OF THE
                COASTS AND LAKES OF THE NORTHERN STATES
                              OF AMERICA.

          A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE SPORTING ALONG OUR SEASHORES
                 AND INLAND WATERS, WITH A COMPARISON
                    OF THE MERITS OF BREECH-LOADERS
                          AND MUZZLE-LOADERS.

                        BY ROBERT B. ROOSEVELT,
    AUTHOR OF “THE GAME-FISH OF NORTH AMERICA,” “SUPERIOR FISHING,”
                      “COUNTRY LIFE,” ETC., ETC.

                               NEW YORK:
                 _Carleton, Publisher, 413 Broadway._
                             M DCCC LXVI.


      Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by

                           GEO. W. CARLETON,

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the
                    Southern District of New York.

                    THE NEW YORK PRINTING COMPANY,
                    _81, 83, and 85 Centre Street_,
                               NEW YORK.




CONTENTS.


                                                                    PAGE


 CHAPTER I.

 Game of Ancient and Modern Days.--Its Protection and Importance.--The
 proper Shooting Seasons.--The Impolicy of using Batteries and
 Pivot-Guns.                                                           7


 CHAPTER II.

 Guns and Gunnery.--Breech-loaders compared with Muzzle-loaders.--A
 Sharp Review of the “Dead Shot.”--The Field Trial.                   27


 CHAPTER III.

 Bay-snipe Shooting.--The Birds, their Habits, Peculiarities, and
 places of Resort.--Stools and Whistles.--Dress and Implements
 appropriate to their pursuit.--Their Names and Mode of Capture.      66


 CHAPTER IV.

 The New Jersey Coast.--Jersey Girls and their pleasant ways.--The
 peculiarities of Bay-snipe further elucidated.--Mosquitoes
 rampant.--Good Shooting and “Fancy” Sport.--Shipwrecks and
 Ghosts.                                                              98


 CHAPTER V.

 Bay-Birds.--Particular Descriptions and Scientific Characteristics.--A
 Complete Account of each Variety.                140


 CHAPTER VI.

 Montauk Point.--American Golden Plover or Frost-Bird.--A True Story
 of Three Thousand in a Flock.--Lester’s Tavern.--Good Eating, Fine
 Fishing, and Splendid Shooting.--The Nepeague Beach.                178


 CHAPTER VII.

 Rail and Rail-Shooting.--Seasons, Localities, and Incidents of
 Sport.--Use of Breech-loader or Muzzle-loader.--Equipment.          190


 CHAPTER VIII.

 Wild-Fowl Shooting.--General Directions, from Boats, Blinds, or
 Batteries.--Retrievers from Baltimore and Newfoundland.--Western
 Sport.--Equipment.                                                  205


 CHAPTER IX.

 Duck-Shooting on the Inland Lakes.--The Club House.--Practical Views
 of Practical Men.--Moral Tales.--A Day’s Fishing.--The Closing
 Scenes.                                                             219


 CHAPTER X.

 Suggestions to Sportsmen.--A Definition of the Term.--Crack
 Shots.--The Art of Shooting.--The Art of not Shooting.              271


 CHAPTER XI.

 Trap-Shooting.--Its Justification.--The Assistants.--Rules and
 Regulations.--Care of Birds.--Tricks of the Trade.                  288


 APPENDIX.

 Ornithological Descriptions of the Geese and Ducks, with Remarks and
 Suggestions on their Habits.--Rules of Trap-shooting.               303





THE GAME BIRDS OF THE NORTH.




CHAPTER I.

GAME AND ITS PROTECTION.


By the ancient law of 1 and 2 William IV., chap. 32, under the
designation of game, were included “hares, pheasants, partridges,
grouse, heath or moor game, black game, and bustards.”

Hunting and hawking date back to the earliest days of knight-errantry,
when parties of cavaliers and ladies fair, mounted on their mettlesome
steeds caparisoned with all the skill of the cunning artificers of those
days, pursued certain birds of the air with the falcon, and followed the
royal stag through the well preserved and extensive forests with packs
of hounds. The term game, therefore, had an early significance and
positive application, but was confined to the creatures pursued in one
or the other of these two modes.

The gun was first used for the shooting of feathered game in the early
part of the eighteenth century; it soon became