Animal game

“ The players gather around a table or sit in a circle, each one being given the name of an animal; the sport of the game will consist largely in choosing unusual or difficult names, such as yak, gnu, camelopard, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, Brazilian ant-eater, kangaroo, etc. ”

“ Like the eagles—which have long since learned the advantage of hunting in pairs and of scouting for game in single file—the wolves, when hunting deer on the open barrens where it is difficult to conceal their advance, always travel in files, one following close behind the other; so that, seen from in front where the game is watching, two or three wolves will appear like a lone animal trotting across the plain. That alarms the game far less at first; and not until the deer starts away does the second wolf appear, shooting out from behind the leader. ”

“ The person who ascertains the usual pass of the game, or discovers the parts where the animal feeds or lies down during the day, gives intimation to his friends, who then prepare for the chase. The servants start the deer with the hounds, and by good management, generally succeed in making it run the course that will soonest bring it to its death. But, should the deer be cautious, and take another course, the hunters, mounted on swift horses, gallop through the woods to intercept it, guided by the sound of the horns and the cry of the dogs, and frequently succeed in shooting it. ”

“ In this way, instinct teaches them that they will have a better chance of success; since they are more able to head the pursued animal, turn it in different directions, and at length run it to the ground. A curious fact is related of the cunning of these wild dogs. It is stated that when in pursuit of the larger animals—such as stags and large antelopes that inhabit the same district—instead of running them down at once, the dogs manoeuvre so as to guide the game to their breeding place, before giving the final coup to the chase! ”

“ HUNTING OF SMALL GAME.
Lastly, I mention the methods used in catching smaller animals, such as wolves, foxes, and hares. Wolves are only pursued when they become too troublesome. Frequently they linger about the villages in winter, and when everybody is asleep they attack the store rooms or the dogs, which have the greatest fear of this voracious animal; for, although dogs will brave the bear, they do not venture to resist a single wolf. ”

“ They are carried to the place of diversion on horseback behind a rider, and when shewn the game, run at it with great speed, and, jumping on its back, insidiously creep forward, and scratch out the eyes; thus effecting by art what their strength could not achieve, they never openly attack any animal, but such as their superior force can readily overcome. ”

“ Some of them act as beaters, and the animal is driven to a particular spot, where it is caught in a large net already spread, shot, or beaten to death. Animals hunted are hares, porcupines, and wild pigs. The game is always equally divided. Being good marksmen, they take skilful aim at birds, and kill them when flying. ”

“ Of this game we observe that, like several amusements familiar in this State, it is of French origin. [92]
No. 84.
Beast, Bird, or Fish.
A member of the party throws to another a knotted handkerchief, saying one of the above words, and counting up to ten. The catcher must answer in the given time the name of some animal of the kind required, not already cited by some other player.
Whoever fails to reply while the counting is going on, is out of the game. After the names of commoner animals are exhausted, the game becomes a test of quickness and memory. ”

“ The fox the dogs themselves run down and kill, but as a rule in this kind of hunting, when after deer, bear, or even wildcat, the hunters carry guns with them on their horses, and endeavor either to get a shot at the fleeing animal by hard and dexterous riding, or else to kill the cat when treed, or the bear when it comes to bay. Such hunting is great sport.
Killing driven game by lying in wait for it to pass is the very poorest kind of sport that can be called legitimate. This is the way the deer is usually killed with hounds in the East. ”

“ Let us see what they are: two cats, three weasels, two stoats, four jays, two magpies, two kestrils, an owl, and a sparrow-hawk. The keeper has trapped or shot these as enemies to the game, and no doubt, with the exception of the weasels, owl, and kestrils, the other animals often destroy young pheasants or suck their eggs. Still I should not like to see all wild animals destroyed that occasionally harm game preserves. Gamekeepers have strong affection for their hares, partridges, and pheasants, and consider all other wild animals as either enemies or beneath notice. ”

“ Small business indeed and often ludicrous, this playing at grasshopper hunting. So it seems to us; so also, perhaps, to the wise old mother, which knew all the ways of game, from crickets to caribou and from ground sparrows to wild geese. But play is the first great educator,—that is as true of animals as of men,—and to the cubs their rough helter-skelter after hoppers was as exciting as a stag hunt to the pack, as full of surprises as the wild chase through the soft snow after a litter of lynx kittens. ”

“ A determined cat will kill almost anything that a fox might take; but whereas a cat leaves all the feathers of an old bird, and the skin and fur of old furred creatures, the fox swallows feathers, fur, skin, bones, and all but the wings of birds, and the stomach and clawed feet of ground game. Feathers in a circle by a field hedge tell of a hawk's killing. Feet of little pheasants, and bits of downy skin by the coops in the ride, speak of murdering rooks. A dead rabbit is seen, and four tiny holes are discovered beneath the damp, mouthed fur of the pole—a weasel has sucked the life-blood. ”

“ Beasts of chase and park are buck and doe (fallow deer) , fox, marten and roe, or all beasts of venery and hunting.
3. Beasts of (free) warren are roe, hare, rabbit, partridge, pheasant, woodcock, quail, rail and heron.
4. Game, as defined by the Night Poaching Act of 1828 and the Game Act of 1831, is pheasant, partridge, black game, red grouse, bustard and hare. In France game (gibier) includes everything eatable that runs or flies.
5. Wild fowl not in any of the previous lists which are nevertheless prized for sport, e.g. duck, snipe, plovers, &c. ”

“ Marked Birds
A white or a pied bird, whether rook, blackbird, starling, finch, or sparrow, never fails to hold the eye, and may become a character of public interest in a neighbourhood. Its usual fate is to be shot—the fate of any rare wild creature. The sportsman sees- 200 - no special reason for sparing a pied pheasant that has come to his coverts—he shoots it at the first chance for the sake of the few seconds' pleasure given by the curious plumage before it is tossed with the rest on the game-cart. But the keeper silently mourns for the death of the pied bird. ”

“ I’ve a good hunting dog, and as soon as we get things in shape we’ll see what we can do. What sort of game do you prefer?”
“Anything will suit me—elephants, tigers, rhinoceroses, and the like; or, if we can’t do better, I wouldn’t mind a bear or deer.” ”

“ After the children had spent some time in looking at the Hawks and Owls, Nat asked, "What are the 'game birds,' uncle, that those cannibals sometimes eat?"
"That is not an easy question to answer, my boy; but as we are coming to these birds next, you will learn about them separately. Game birds as a whole are those chiefly useful as food, and the hunting of them is the occupation of sportsmen. These birds may belong to the working guilds, and all have habits interesting to bird-lovers; but as regards their value to the world, it is mostly in the shape of food for House People." ”

“ To one not used to the narrow box and constrained position, lying on one’s back does not seem to be the most cheerful manner of killing any species of game. There is everything in habit, and certainly the exhilaration of watching the approach{154} of the birds as they come nearer and nearer, and grow larger and larger, from mere specks on the horizon to the size of broad-bills, canvas-backs, or perhaps brant or geese, is hardly to be surpassed by any kind of sport. ”

“ We can nearly always depend on them for certain things—fish, wild geese, and duck and teal and quail. Of course there are a good many of their delicacies that we don't touch—and we had some difficulty in persuading them that we really prefer game fresh! ”

“ Although the poulterers in London truss all the different animals which they send home, yet, as it often happens, that untrussed game and poultry are sent to private families from the country, it is necessary that the art of trussing should be known by every cook.
[186]
CHAPTER XII.
GAME AND PASTRY.
Game in England is declared to include hares, pheasants, partridges, grouse, heath or moor game, black game, and bustard. Snipe, quail, landrail, woodcock, and conies are not game; but they can only be taken or killed by certificated persons. Game has been always prized amongst us at table ”

“ For instance, when they are set to ferret a bank, what is to prevent them, if the coast is clear, from hiding half a dozen dead rabbits in a burrow? Digging has frequently to be resorted to, and thus they can easily cast earth over and conceal the entrance to a hole. Many a wounded hare and pheasant that falls into the hands of the beaters never makes its appearance at the table of the sportsman; and doubtless they help themselves to the game captured in many a poacher’s wire before giving notice of the discovery to the head man. ”

“ The highest type of big-game hunting is the finding of fine animals in their haunts, photographing them movably and unmovably, and then bidding them go in peace. To be really and truly ignorant of such distinguished American citizens as the moose and musk-ox, caribou, sheep, goat, antelope, deer and Alaskan brown bear, is reprehensible, and should be punishable by a fine. ”

“ The lurchers are tolerably sure of catching a couple—young rabbits are neither so swift nor so quick at doubling as the older ones. Before the farmer and his men, who are carting the summer-ricks in an adjacent field, can quite comprehend what the unusual stir is about yonder, the poachers are off, jogging comfortably along, with their game hidden under an old sack or some straw. ”

“ The game most abundant was deer, hare, rabbits, wild hogs, wolves, foxes, jaguars, or tigers, Mexican lions, coyotes, pigeons, partridges, quails, and many aquatic birds. The usual weapon was the bow 351 and arrow, to the invention of which tradition ascribes the origin of the chase; but spears, snares, and nets were also employed, and the sarbacan, a tube through which pellets or darts were blown, was an effective bird-killer. Game in the royal forests was protected by law, and many hunters were employed in taking animals and birds alive for the king's collections. ”

“ In hunting, unless you hunt the hounds yourself, you have little chance of seeing, and none whatever of controlling, the best part of the game, the working of the hounds. Your main object is to be with them ”

“ Passing now to those forms of play which afford more special preparation for particular forms of after-effort, under which fall such types as hunting-play and fighting-play, we may refer the reader to the copious examples so carefully collected by Professor Groos. The way in which a kitten pats a cork or a ball, making it roll and then pouncing upon it, is a characteristic example of animal play. Valuable as a preparation for dealing successfully with a mouse when occasion shall arise, this is a specialized form of experimentation ”

“ The wild game is an important link to the living of many in the west. In the inhabited sections, however, it grows "less plenty;" and where the hunter could once drop the huge buffalo, the surly bear, the stately elk, the sly beaver, and the proud swan, he can now find difficulty in bringing down the deer, the wolf, the fox, the turkey, the goose, the brandt, the duck, &c. ”

“ Without dogs we killed and carried away twenty hares with nets in an hour, and as many partridges with springes, just like piping goats to a fold, or hens to the roost: so we killed the game that we wanted. ”

“ Wherever a dog barks, you may depend upon finding the game; and this alarm draws both men and dogs that way. If this sport be in the woods, the game, by the time you come near it, is perhaps mounted to the top of an high tree, and then they detach a nimble fellow up after it, who must have a scuffle with the beast before he can throw it down to the dogs; and then the sport increases, to see the vermin encounter those little curs. In this sort of hunting, they also carry their great dogs out with them ”

“ Although despised by the upland sportsman, who regards the use of the dog as essential to the pure exercise of his art; and by the pot-hunter, because they do not generally bring high prices in market;—to the genuine lover of nature and the gun they furnish splendid sport, requiring, if not as high a degree of skill as may be needed to cut down a quail in the dense coverts, at least as many fine qualities in the sportsman, and as thorough a knowledge of their habits as any other bird. ”

“ His Enemies—Birds and Beasts of Prey—Trespassers. There are other enemies of game life besides human poachers whose numbers must be kept within bounds to ensure successful sport. The thirst of the weasel for blood is insatiable, and it is curious to watch the persistency with which he will hunt down the particular rabbit he has singled out for destruction. ”