---

{02} 

{3} 

FLORIDA
AND THE
GAME WATER-BIRDS

OF THE

ATLANTIC COAST AND THE LAKES OF THE UNITED STATES,

WITH

A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE SPORTING ALONG OUR SEASHORES
AND INLAND WATERS, AND REMARKS ON
BREECH-LOADERS AND HAMMERLESS GUNS.

BY
ROBERT BARNWELL ROOSEVELT,
AUTHOR OF “THE GAME-FISH OF NORTH AMERICA,” “SUPERIOR FISHING,”
“FIVE ACRES TOO MUCH,” “ISMS,” “POLYANTHUS,” ETC., ETC.


ILLUSTRATED.



NEW YORK:
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
751 BROADWAY.
1884.{4}

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by the
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

{5}

PREFACE.

In preparing this work, after I had written the account of Florida,which, as a sporting country, had never been fully described, and was tooccupy the principal part of my attention, and when I came to the seconddivision, that relating to the game-birds of our waters and coastsgenerally, I found so much in a book on a kindred subject, which I hadwritten years ago, that I concluded I could do no better than quote fromit freely. The directions therein given are as correct now as then, theinformation as well founded, and I hope the reader will find the storiesof sporting excursions as interesting.

My main purpose is to call the attention of my brother sportsmen to thatparadise of the devotee of the rod and gun, the Southern Peninsula ofour Atlantic States. Game is disappearing from our home country;woodcock and ruffed grouse have almost been exterminated; ducks are lessplentiful; bay snipe now make many of their flights directly at seawithout passing over the land; and if we are to obtain satisfactoryshooting, we must go some distance for it. Many persons who are fond ofoutdoor life cannot stand exposure to cold weather, and still more, tokeep up their interest, must have the chance of making a larger bag thanthey can count on at the North. Yachtsmen are in the habit of{6} laying uptheir craft during the best season of the year for the enjoyment ofsailing. They have looked upon the South either as an uninteresting or adangerous country, a land merely of alligators or of hurricanes. Theywill be as surprised as pleased to learn that there is no better sailingground, and that the Southern waters in winter are as safe as Northernwaters in summer; so much so that small vessels and open boats havebraved their terrors, while their sporting advantages are not to besurpassed, if they are to be equalled, by any in the world.

While not absolutely the pioneer in this exploration, I happen to benearly so, for no completed work or continued record has been publishedwhich covers the ground described, or conveys the information containedin these pages. No more delightful excursion can be c

BU KİTABI OKUMAK İÇİN ÜYE OLUN VEYA GİRİŞ YAPIN!

Sitemize Üyelik ÜCRETSİZDİR!