PTTO A THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID OVER TURF AND STUBBLE BY 'OLD CALABAR' LONDON RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON in rbmarit to Ijcr Utaji 1873 All rights reserved &1 DEDICATION. ANY, .many years have passed over our heads, my dear father (mine has become somewhat mildewed, and yours silvery white ; still the thatch is there, and our "knowledge boxes " do not yet quite resemble a large-sized billiard ball), since you first took me out hedge shooting with you. Plow well I remember trudging at your heels on a snowy day ; with what delight I rushed for- ward to pick up the redwing, or fieldfare as you knocked him over, or a hatfull of sparrows in the rick-yard. Later, how I was initiated into the mysteries of the cricket-field ; how satisfied you were when I played " Dodger Pizzey," the great village bat, for half-a-crown and beat him; and how angryyou were, as you andmy cousin, then ayoung IV DEDICATION. cornet who had just joined the "Greys," appeared one morning and caught me in the midst of my thirteenth round with "Slenderman," old Miller's fighting butcher boy, the terror of the village lads, with about a hundred young rascals around me shouting out " Go in, young cap'n, and win ;" how you came up as I was sitting gasping on " Dauby Todman's" knee, having my bleeding nose sponged by " Nipper Skeat," the washer- woman's quondam son, and whispered in my ear, " This is too bad of you ; if you don't lick him in two rounds more I'll give you the best thrashing you ever had in your life, you young blackguard ;" how the cousin advised me " not to rush, but to wait for him, hit out straight with my left, and polish him off in two rounds ;" how I did hit out and settled him in one. All these, my boyhood memories, can never be forgotten : the day I made over my pony, single gun, and spaniel to my brother, and took to a double barrel ; how I mounted the pink and tops, played in the county eleven, was a dab at pool and billiards, could run my hundred yards in ten seconds, do my mile under five minutes, and never, never can I forget how when DEDICATION. the Baddlestone sparrow club had their annual dinner and pigeon match I won the fat pig, was made chairman at that dinner, proposed your health, and sang with great eclat " The Fine Old English Gentleman ;" how I got screwed, and backed myself to ride "Poppet" over four miles of fair hunting country against Jemmy Alders' "Mad Moll" for ten pounds aside, owners up and catch weights. The agony of my poor mother when she saw the doeskins and tops with the scarlet of the satin racing-jacket peeping over the collar of my great-coat, her pride when her darling boy re- turned victorious, or her misery when " Bogy Butler," the Adonis of the village, in a fit of jealousy told her he had caught me walking in the lanes with " Pretty Jane," the beauty of the place. I believe this is why I learnt "The Bloom is on the Rye," in a maudlin fit of spoon. Such dear old memories I can never forget. Yes, years have passed away ; instead of riding nine stone eight, I pull down the scale at thir- teen seven. Notwithstanding all this, I can yet play a pretty straight bat, swing along with a vi DEDICATION. pack of foxhounds, knock my birds over, take my day's walking, whip a stream, handle my billiard cue, tell my story, sing my song, tool the drag if pushed, run a hundred yards in a certain time, and use my bunch of fives pretty effectively yet. But Time, "Old Father Time," has changed us all : grown grey is the curly-headed boy that used to sit on your knee, with open mouth and fixed eyes, listening to your famous story of the " Baron von Bromenstine," that story that used to send us ah 1 breathless and wondering to bed (A fellow has just come ^in and is interrupt- ing me in one of my finest passages, asking for a light for his infernal pipe there it is, and I may as well light my own at the same time). Yes, time has changed, and yet I see a^ curly- headed little dog sitting on your knee (I've not lost the thread, I'm t coming again, like a famished hunter close at home rushing to his gruel) listening to that self-same story, but who ? my second son tormenting grandpapa to tell him that tale I was so fond of hearing; whilst the eldest is wanting to know all about papa's famous fight, another sturdy little urchin DEDICATION. vii is squaring away at his mother, and bawling out at the top of his voice, " I'm a Young Man from the Country/' and " Slap Bang." A fair-headed little thing is crawling along the floor, their baby sister. I can hardly realise I am a " Benedict/' and that these little brats are mine yet so it is, they are papa's pets (by George ! there's the pet of all arrived, the baby boy ; I'd forgotten him). Now one wants to be told why grandmama died, and where she is gone to. " If grandpapa will burn the bits of the nasty gun that he keeps in his dressing-room that blew poor papa's fingers off." Oh, Time, "Old Father Time," how you change ! but change as you will ; till death claims me, I can never forget my childish days, my boyhood's happy hours, my youthful dreams, or manhood's trials good or bad, happy or un- happy, sad or gay, I remember all. I am not much given to the cacoethes scri- bendi, but I trust this little volume may be useful, and amuse those who read it. A few sketches and experiences of a man who has devoted a life to sporting in all its wild and vm DEDICATION. exciting scenes, far away from home and friends. The little book, must stand or fall on its merits. I do not deserve much Kudos, but such as it is, you must allow me to dedicate it to you, my first master ; and that my sons may become as good men and sportsmen as their grandfather, is the earnest wish of Your affectionate Son, " OLD CALABAR." INTRODUCTION. ANY people have ah idea that trout and salmon fishing in France, more particularly in Lower Brittany, is first-rate ; this is not the case, it is passably good, but nothing more. I have fished over most parts of Brittany, which is amusing enough, and I have sometimes made a good basket of trout. I once caught eighty-six nice fish, herring size, about twelve miles from Quim- per, in Lower Brittany. There are plenty of salmon at this place, but I could never manage to rise one to a fly. Many capital fishermen have essayed over and over again, but it has always been a failure. Every sort of fly has been tried, Scotch, Irish, Welsh, and English. I FL Y FISHING IN FRANCE. 75 have frequently been laughed at by old and crafty hands, who have said, " My dear fellow, how can you expect to rise a salmon in water where the tide comes up every twelve hours ? Try above/' I explained I always did try above, and with always the same result no rise. There was a famous pool about a mile up the river from Quimper, where no salt water could possibly or ever did come in, and although I have seen as many as six and thirty fine salmon taken out by the net in one morning, yet no fish could be tempted to rise at the most luxurious and beautifully-dressed fly. The largest trout I ever caught in France was a five-pounder, but take the run of them they are under herring size. One of the most beau- tiful spots for fishing I ever saw was at the Strangalla, about five miles from Quimper ; it is a splendid little river, full of rocks, shallows, and falls, and is situated between two lofty ranges of hills difficult to get at, but when you are there it amply repays you for your trouble ; it is certainly one of the sweetest spots I ever saw, and boasting some very fair fishing. Many people, too, imagine they can fish or 76 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. shoot where they like in France. There never was a greater mistake. The French are now almost as jealous as we are where any sport is concerned, and that is, I think, equivalent to saying that it is not very easy to get. * Years ago it was different, and a man could roam where he liked. Nous avons change tout cela, but still a little tobacco (cavendish) goes a long way, and if you treat them politely and cour- teously you can get leave by asking for it. At this very Strangalla I have spoken of (which was open to all, though few ever went), I was one day quietly casting my fly when I received a tremendous blow on the back ; I turned round, and found I had been struck with the handle of a large hay fork, which an enraged Breton woman was flourishing about. I was in a great rage, took the fork from her, and threw it in the river ; she then commenced making a peculiar noise something like the loud two-hoo of an owL This is their cry for help. I presently saw three or four men coming down the hill side, all armed with forks. I plainly saw I was in for a row, so produced my revolver, which I always carried with me. What she said to them I know not, FL Y FISHING IN FRANCE. 77 for I am not up in the Bas Bretagne language ; however, they seemed in a great passion, and would no doubt have mobbed me, but the sight of the revolver, together with the hostile atti- tude of my black retriever, who put up her back and showed her teeth in a most unmistakable manner, had the effect of bringing them to a parley. One of^the men spoke French, so there was now no difficulty ; a bit of cavendish tobacco put matters square, and we became great friends, and I was never after interrupted there, on the contrary, they always showed me politeness. The fly to be used in France must not be a gaudy one ; not too much tinsel or gold thread. Red and black palmers, grouse and partridge hackles, hares ear, alder fly, duns, and such like, are the killers, and these must not be too large. " A small fly, a small rod, and above all, fish fine," are the principal maxims to be remem- bered for Lower Brittany. There is a very easy way of getting there now by steamer from Weymouth or Southampton to Jersey, and from thence again by steamer to St. Malo, or you may go from Jersey in one of the fine cutters, some fifty or sixty tons each, to 78 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. Portrieux, which is in Lower Brittany, They will whip you over in about six hours, at the large cost of five francs (4s.) From Portrietix you may easily get to any of the following places, for a few francs, but there are innume- rable little bourgs, or villages, which I cannot remember the names of now : Pontrieu, Pam- pol, Trequer, Lannion, Guingamp, Belle Isle en terre, St. Brieux, Morlaix, Landernau, Quimper,. Quimperle and Carhaix. It would be here quite impossible for me to name all the places, but 1 have given the names of a few towns where all information may be obtained. At Guingamp there is very decent salmon fishing, and the other places are good for trout. I am told they are for salmon, too, but I was so disgusted with the salmon fishing at Quimper, that I never tried any place but Guingamp, and that was before I went to Quimper. You must not belie ye what Frenchmen tell you regarding sport of any kind. I never met a Frenchman in my life returning from fishing but he told me he had been " tres heureux ! plu- sieurs douzaines belles truites, mon cher, sans blague" though perhaps he had not one, or ever FL Y FISHING IN FRANCE. 79 caught half the number he named in his life. I once asked a countryman if there were any sal- mon in a river. He replied " Saumon ? Mon Dieu ! oui, il-y-a un tremblement de poisson" leading you to suppose there was hardly room to cast your fly. The rascal ! Only five fish had been caught for the last ten years. I had once a rather curious fishing event hap- pen to me. I was bottom fishing for trout in a small lake, about six miles from Quimper. On arriving I found a disciple of old Walton there before me. He was an agreeable, good-looking young fellow, and a good fisherman. We caught some very nice red trout that day, and we got on capitally together. I quite liked him, for I found him to be a well informed and very civil person. We put up our rods and walked home together, but about two miles short of Quimper he stopped, and said, " Bon soir, monsieur" "Are you not going on to Quimper?" I asked. " Oui, monsieur, oui" he replied, " but I am not company for a gentleman to be seen with in town." SO EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. " Fiddle-de-dee/' I answered, " come along, man." We trudged on for another mile and a half till we came to the environs of the town, when he resolutely refused to proceed any further with rne. Determined to know what was the matter, I turned into a little inn, called for a, petit verre, and when I saw my friend pass, followed him at a respectable distance. As he came in sight, I saw most of the people cross over to the other side, and give him the trottoir to himself; he presently entered a house, and asking a friend of mine, who happened to pass at the instant, why he and others had so rushed out of his way, he exclaimed in a voice of horror, " Grand Dieu ! Have you been fishing and walking home with that man ? he is the public executioner." CHAPTEE VII. PISHING GOSSIP. FLY FISHING IN FRANCE. " Marry come up and I will trie, In yonder brooke which flows hard bye, Some trout to snare." OLD SONG. AVING in my last chapter given you a short account of the places where you may expect decent fishing, I will now proceed to tell you how you ought to set about it. Never, as a rule, if you are fishing for trout, whip the large streams, the little ones are much better ; small ditches, in fact, those that have a few stones, holes, and undermined banks are the best, and for this reason the larger rivers are always being tormented with would-be anglers. Frenchmen, generally speaking, are not by any means first-rate fly fishers. They 6 82 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. go flogging the water with such flies, how they can expect to rise a fish is, and always has been a wonder to me, and how they ever do take a trout is still a greater marvel. I think if some of our practical fly fishers were only to see the collection of French flies I have by me, they would never forget them, and I believe the British Museum would give a handsome sum to place them amongst their modern curiosities. A year or so ago I bought a splendid card of six flies, which to lure the purchasers had these words printed on the top : " Mouches, et arran- geespour carpes et truites (flies arranged for trout and carp /). I thought some of my friends would have died with laughter when I showed them to them. Fancy whipping a pond with a large brilliant scarlet fly with a black body for carp t Well, Frenchmen may manage to rise a carp with such a fly, but I never did, or with any other, and I must honestly confess, I have not yet been tempted to try. But to return if the angler^ fishes a small stream such as I have mentioned, he has a good chance of making a tolerable basket, but he FL Y FISHING IN FRANCE. 83 must remember to chose those little rivulets that have a sufficient depth of water in them to prevent the fish being taken out by the hand in summer when there is little water, or by a hand net. These small streams have seldom a fly cast on them, because they are too narrow ; they require the practised hand one who can wield his hickory wand to a nicety, and drop his fly just over the weeds which come up pretty plentiful about May. I have begun fishing in Lower Brittany in February with very fair success. A nice mild day should be chosen, and no attempt made to fish a stream in which any snow water comes down, as this is fatal to sport. You may flog a stream for a whole day with- out a single rise when this is the case. The best way of getting sport is to strap a valise on the shoulders containing such change of clothes as may be required, never forgetting the immaculate weed, and start off on a walking tour. This is my idea how to get fishing. The angler comes thus on little streams he would never otherwise hear of; it is, besides, a much more pleasant and in- dependent mode. 62 84 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. I remember, on one occasion, starting for the day with an English acquaintance I had picked up, for a river about twelve miles from Quimper. This I knew to be a good spot, as I had had pretty fair sport there before. It was a beauti- ful day, and all that could be desired by the fisherman, with a nice warm wind blowing from the right quarter. We fished, and fished, and tried fly after fly, but they would not have it, nor did we see a trout on the move. " Odd/' said my friend, " what is the mean- ing of this ? Let us try lower." We did so, but with no better luck ; we fished down the stream towards Quimper, fishing up stream was not the fashion in those days, nor do I think I shall become a convert to the prin- ciple. But under any circumstances we should not have fished up stream, as it would have been taking us from home instead of towards it we always made it a rule to begin at the furthest point, and work our way towards our lodgings. About four miles from Quimper we came on a party of French gentlemen who were return- ing, like ourselves, from a day's fly fishing. As FLY FISHING IN FRANCE. , 8-5 we both spoke French as well as we did English we were not long in finding out that they had been fishing the same stream as ourselves, but with far different luck ; they had,' at least, a hundred fish, and some very good ones amongst them. We thought it rather odd our not being able to take any, more especially as we knew them to be muffs, and armed with such tackle and flies as no one, with any idea of fishing, would have used. They wanted us much to join them at dinner, which they had ordered at a little roadside cabaret, but as we were pressed for time we refused and walked on. We presently overtook one of the most notorious poachers in the place, with nets and poles returning home. " Holloa, Pierre," said I, "at it again ? too bad, upon my soul ; no wonder trout are getting scarce." " Mon Dieu, messieurs" he replied, " I have not been out to-day for myself, I have been fishing for the gentlemen," naming those we had just left. A two franc piece and a promise of secrecy persuaded the fellow to tell us all about it. 86 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. " You see, sir/' said he, pouching the coin, " this is how they do it ; they go to a river with their rods and flies, and I am appointed to meet them at a certain spot with the nets ; we catch all the fish we can in this way, and they take a certain number home, not too many, as it would tell a tale, and I take the rest home to them. This is how they have got the name of Les pecheurs in- trepides" I mentally determined I would " drop on to " these gentlemen some fine day, and so I did ; I caught them in the fact, and taxed them with it. The consequence was that the five gave me a friendly invitation to meet them next morn- ing at a different sort of amusement, for doubt- ing their word, a politeness I was bound to accept. T must, unless an unusual amount of luck had attended me, have come off second best in this affair, but it got to the ears of the authorities, and was put an end to in rather a summary manner, I confess not altogether to my dissatis- faction, as I had no great wish to stand up to be skewered, or potted, with the chances of five FLY FISHING IN FRANCE. 87 to one against me. However, it settled their fishing. They got dreadfully laughed at, and were never seen out with rods, lines, or nets again whilst I was in Quimper. Most of the French are fearful poachers ; they have the love of sport, but they rarely do it in a legitimate manner, either in fishing or shooting. The trout rod for Lower Brittany should be a small one, and tolerably stiff. It is a great fault with many of our English rods that they are too limp, and often nearly useless for throw- ing against the wind. Moreover, there are so many weeds and stumps of old trees in these Breton streams, that unless your rod is pretty stiff and you give the fish the but the instant you have struck, he is gone. Many and many a time on a cold March morning I have had to take a header in the larger streams to clear a friend's line, because he would let his fish run. I was once fishing some thirty miles from Quimper with my English friend. He was a very nervous man, and had had all sorts of ideas drummed into his head as to the savage character of the Bretons. EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. One day we came on a famous stream, and killed not only a good basket of trout but three nice little salmon also. We fished and fished, little thinking of the time, and that we had some nine or ten miles to go back to the cabaret, when night came on us. As we were making the best of our way home, we passed a large farm-house on the edge of a nice-looking mill- stream. Being thirsty, I entered to ask for a glass of cider. The farmer, a good-humoured, pleasant-looking fellow, was most hospitable, and told us that there was first-rate fishing in the stream, and that if we liked to remain he would give us a bed and show us first-rate sport on the morrow. Whether it was that the cider was so good, or that we w r ere tempted to remain by the sight of three very pretty girls, his daughters, I know not, but we remained. These said three girls were really pretty, and as they all talked capital French, we got on famously. Sitting under the curious old-fashioned fire-place, and blowing our clouds, we made ourselves quite happy and at home. At about eleven o'clock we turned into one of the numerous bunks which line the wall. I FLY FISHING IN FRANCE. 89 should premise that one room is the " common room" in most of these farm-houses ; the mas- ter's bed is that nearest the fire-place, and the others all round farm-labourers, &c. We found that only one of these bunks was allotted to us, and that we were expected to sleep together, which is a very common thing in France. As we were tired, and had had a capital supper of fried trout, we made no bones about it. We found the stowage rather close, however, and uncomfortably warm, and after having tried various plans, decided the best one was to make both ends of the bed the head. This answered pretty well as regarded room, but my bed-fellow, who was a restless, long-legged man, would keep kicking me about the shoulders. Notwithstanding all this, however, I fell into a doze, when I was awakened by a tremendous kick, and a whisper of " For Heaven's sake, Jack, look here !" I should mention there was an oil-lamp burn- ing. I sat up and looked in a half-dreamy state at my companion, who was peering out from be- tween the curtains, which we had closed. " What is it?" I whispered. 90 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. " Jack, my dear fellow," he replied, " they are going to murder us !" " Murder be hanged !" I returned ; "go to sleep, man/ 7 " But do look, Jack," he answered, his teeth chattering all the while. So to oblige him I did. "My dear fellow," he said, "just look at the women." Turning my eyes towards the fire-place, I saw the mother and three daughters in deep confab, looking earnestly from time to time to- wards our bed-place. " I think, mother," said one of the girls, after a strict scrutiny of our bunk, " the gentlemen are asleep ; now is the time." " There !" said my timid friend, " I told you so ; we are dead men." "Do not be a fool," I answered, "there are only four women. All the rest are gone to bed and asleep, as you may hear by their snoring. It is a little curious, I own, but nothing more. Hold your row, or they will hear us." They gave another glance towards our bed- place, and then deliberately began to undress. FLY FISHING IN FRANCE. 91 Our situation put me very much in mind of Mr. Pickwick with the " elderly lady in yellow curl- papers." "There, old fellow/' I whispered, "you see they are only going to bed/' " I don't know that, Jack ; it's very odd." " Odd or not odd," I returned, " they are stripped to the waist." (They had only got their heavy blue woollen petticoats on.) The old woman then put her hand into a niche of the wall where they keep the matches, and produced a box, and began rubbing them all over with its contents. " By jingo," cried I, " I have it. All the girls have got the " (mentioning a cuta- neous disease which shall be nameless). " The what !" he screamed out, at which they all rushed into their beds pell-mell, and the light was blown out. The whole room was now in a hubbub. Eventually the lamp was re-lit, but nothing would induce my friend to remain, and away he went at twelve at night : I would not follow him. In for a penny in for a pound, I thought, as I quietly turned in again. On getting home 92 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. next day, about two o'clock, I found my friend in bed, covered with some pungent salve, and swearing lie had got it. His man-servant told me he had been having hot-bath after hot-bath until he was parboiled. As for myself, I went and had a good bathe in the river, and neither of us were any the worse, though it took several days to convince my companion he was all right. Some time after I went up alone to this farm- house again, and the mother told me all the family had generally this particular disorder once a year, and that it was a very common thing in Brittany. CHAPTER VIII. FISHING GOSSIP. PEARL FISHING IN FRANCE. REMEMBER one fine morning, as I was busily engaged in tying a black hackle, my friend rushed into the room in a great state of excitement, shouting " Jack, I have got a coracle." " A what ?" cried I. " You do not mean a Welsh coracle ?" " Just so, my boy, and a clipper too ; will hold us both comfortably, and to-day we go to the Strangalla.' I have sent it on ; I will tell you why I wanted to lose no time. There is a pic-nic up in the valley to-day, and some of the prettiest faces in the department will be there. They are going out pearl fishing." 94 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. Pearl fishing in Lower Brittany may sound somewhat strange to my readers : I will there- fore explain, in a few words, what this said pearl fishing is. In the beautiful river which runs through the Strangalla are countless fresh water mussels, and many of these contain most beautiful pearls. They are of a rose tint ; the larger they are, and the more delicate the rose tint is, the greater their value. The Bretons about Quimper set great store on these, and I have seen many very beautiful ornaments made of them, such as ear-rings, bracelets, brooches, &c. If a lady has found enough good ones to make herself a set of ornaments she is looked on as rather a lucky person, and envied accordingly. The way in which the mussels are taken is very simple. They go in large parties to the Strangalla. The bottom of the river is a beautiful sand, and in some parts gravel, but where these shell fish are taken is in the sand, and they are always near the edge of the stream. The ladies then loop up their gowns (having on their little fancy Turkish trou- sers), and put on a thin pair of slippers some go bare footed they commence treading about the PEARL FISHING IN FRANCE. 95 sand ; feel the shell with their feet, and imme- diately stoop down and pick it up. Thousands and thousands are taken in this way. Each lady or gentleman has his own basket for the fish ; these are sent home, opened, and the pearls looked for. Sometimes you may open hundreds, and not find a pearl ; then again you may come on three or four. The whole thing is very good fun. It was a pearl fishing pic-nic, then, which my friend had determined to join, he had got an invitation for both of us ; so it was settled we should commence fishing the river in the coracle, some seven miles above where this said mussel fishing was to take place, work down the river, and drop on them just about feeding time. I knew as much about a coracle as a rhino- ceros, neither had I much faith in the skill of my companion, but as he assured me that if we only sat still we should be perfectly safe, and as I knew, moreover, that the river was not deep, and we could only get a ducking, I consented to trust myself to his steerage. On arriving at the stipulated place we found our vessel already launched, sitting on the water like a duck. 96 EXPERIENCES OF SPOR7. 11 1 say, Jack/"' said my friend, " she looks rather small, does she not ?" " Small or big/' I replied, " you have brought me seven or eight miles up the river to go fishing in a clothes-basket ; so that is your affair. Here we are, and fishing we must go, so come along." As there was no help for it, my friend got in, but he was no sooner in than the frail bark began turning round and round, and one sweep of his paddle set it spinning about like a top. " I say, Jack," he began to bawl out, "the cursed thing has got the delirium tremens, the St. Vitus's ' when suddenly over he went, the coracle floating and spinning quietly down the river. " It is so infernally crank," he cried, standing up to his waist in water, and looking most dole- fully ; "it was over like a shot." " Of course it was, with such a muff as you in it. Never mind; have another squeeze at the lemon. There she is on shore." This next time he performed a little better, and I was ass enough to trust myself with him. We got on capitally for a time, he doing the PEARL FISHING IN FRANCE. 97 paddling business, and I fishing. Every now and then he dropped the weight, whilst I whip- ped a likely looking bit of water. I caught some very fair trout, and was highly delighted with the success of our nautical trip. After an hour or so's work we got out, and rested ourselves a little, but were soon afloat again. This time we went along in really first- rate style, and gradually working our way down, we came, about four o'clock, on the fishing party. There they were, about forty of them, ladies and gentlemen, dodging about in the water some three hundred yards below us. " Now, old fellow/' said I, " put on the steam, and go down a rattler. Let us show them what a Welsh coracle is." "All right, Jack." And he began paddling away. We proceeded beautifully but, alas! not carefully. The coracle began turning and twisting about, and there was no stopping her, as she had got into the full swing of the stream. My friend lost his paddle, and began using his hands in one direc- tion, I following suit. The effect of this was that she spun round faster and faster. Our 7 98 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. heads grew dizzy with the continual turning round, and just as we got opposite the as- tonished fishing party she hit a sunken root, and sent us both spinning out in the midst of the pecheurs. I shall never forget how crestfallen we were. I stuck to my rod and basket, so luckily the fish were saved ; my friend captured the truant vessel, and we endeavoured to make ourselves as comfortable under the contretemps as we could. There was a small peasant hut not far off, so we had our light clothes dried, and soon forgot our misfortunes ; what with mussel picking, eating, drinking, smoking, and flirting, we did not reach Quimper again till twelve that night. Amongst this party was a lady, who gave us an invitation to fish in a lake of hers about eight miles off. She said it was full of fine trout, and that we must come early, fish all day, and dine with her ; an invitation which we 3,t once accepted. On the appointed morning we were at the house, and she was up to receive us. She told us that a French gentleman from Paris had arrived, that he was un pecheur intrSpide, and PEARL FISHING IN FRANCE. 99 would accompany us. We soon started, our Paris acquaintance with us, and commenced flogging the water. " I say, Jack," began my friend (he always began five out of every six sentences so), "just look at his rod ; dash me if he is not going to spin/ 7 This was the case ; but such a rod, and such tackle ! The rod was big and heavy enough to have held a whale, and the hooks on the false minnow, which, by-the-by, looked as much like a minnow as a dolphin, were quite strong and large enough to have securely held a moderate- sized shark. Then, again, the way in which he threw it in with both hands ! We laughed literally till we cried, but remembering the polite invitation I had had, I kept my merri- ment to myself. " I say, Jack," said my friend, " I cannot stand this any longer ; come along to some other part of the lake, this fellow will kill me with laughter, and he will hook one of us to a certainty within the next two minutes. There he goes got it in a tree again !" Whilst the Parisian was cursing, and extri- 72 100 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. eating his tackle, we moved off. In about an hour we heard him screaming out for us to help him. He had hooked a fish " soixante livres an plus " (60 Ibs. or more). We got up to him as quick as we could, but he had some- how managed to land it before we arrived. " There," he exultingly exclaimed, as we ar- rived breathless, " Voila une belle truite, un poisson magnifique." " Oh Lord, Jack !" said my friend, rushing roaring away, " this is too much. I cannot stand it any more, upon my soul I can't." It was a small jack of about a pound and a half, that he had in some way managed to in- veigle ! There was not a trout in the lake, as it proved, though plenty of pike and other fish^ but it was a long time before he would believe it was un brocket. However, he took it very well, and we passed a very pleasant day and still pleasanter evening. CHAPTER IX. FISHING GOSSIP CONTINUED. WAS daily paddling about in my coracle, but as my companion could not always accompany me, I found it a little too large and heavy, so I had a smaller one made, which answered admir- ably. ' I generally left it at some farm-house, and when I wanted it had a boy to carry it where I wished, which he would do for ten sous. In my rambles I got near Bernaudet, on the coast ; the river Odet, which runs from Quimper, empties itself here. It is a beautiful spot, and admirably adapted for yachting. Although it is a very small, wild place, about six or seven huts, yet there are some most beautiful places round about. 102 EXPERIENCES OF SPOR7. The sea fishing here, as well as for some miles up the river Odet, is splendid, and there is also most capital wild-fowl shooting off the coast. The solan and barnacle goose, besides all kind of ducks, abound here. There are a batch of islands about fifteen miles from Bernaudet called the Glenan. The duck shooting and fishing here is veiy good. One day a friend of mine, a Mr. Gowland, an Englishman, who has a nice estate near Quimper, and a snug little house at Bernaudet, took me out in one of his yachts, a Cowes built boat of fifteen tons. There were three of us fishing. The small boat that was towing behind was literally filled. We were to pass the night at the Glenan Islands, and set the long 'tram- mells. There was only one place we could anchor in, and this was a small deep pool, with beautiful clear water, and a sandy bottom under- neath us. "We took the larger boat, set the nets, dined, and turned in. Coming on the deck in the morning, and looking about, I missed the small boat. I soon found she had sunk from the weight of fish. This is no exag- geration or fisherman's yarn, and will show the FISHING GOSSIP. 103 quantities of fish there are. You can get, or could get, red 'mullet there for a sous (halfpenny) each, and very large ones for three sous apiece. The fish in the boat were nearly that is all the best and largest destroyed by the lobsters, spider crabs, and dogfish. It was two men's work in a day to clear the nets of these latter. They spoil the nets immensely by get- ting in to devour the caught fish. The men first pull off the legs of the crab, and then care- fully break the top shell without cutting the nets. The quantity of lobsters here one would hardly credit ; but alas, the fishing is becoming " smaller by degrees and beautifully less" every year. There is a new company formed at Belle Isle, and you can never now go to the Glenana without seeing a score of green-painted chasse marees at anchor lobster catching, and there are, in addition, several large cutters built expressly (with wells to keep the fish alive) which run from Southampton to Bernaudet for the same purpose. All round the coast is famous for the sardine fishing, which are taken in countless myriads. 104 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. I have diverged from my subject, " Fly fishing/ 7 to show my reader that there is other sport to be had. On some future occasion I shall return to this, and give a fuller descrip- tion of the sea fishing that may be had on the Brittany coast. Some four or five miles up the river Odet I found a beautiful little stream. Getting a lad one fine morning to carry the coracle, I wended my way upwards, and got some ten or twelve miles inland. I whipped a few of the likely- looking pools, and caught some very fair trout in full season. I put up at a farm-house that night, intending to fish the stream dow T n, or a part of it, the following day. I should mention that I always carried my gun with me as well, as I was forming a collection of stuffed birds, The day broke beautifully, just what a fisher- man delights in seeing. Making a good break- fast, and putting half a loaf, some butter, and a litre of cider in the coracle, I was soon afloat with my gun ready at hand for anything that might get up. T never have been particularly fortunate in FISHING GOSSIP. 105 any of my excursions, and this turned out to be the most disastrous of all. It was a beautiful little river I was fish- ing, but I quite forget the name of it, and I have not my map of Brittany by me to refer to. The trout were fine here, and plenty of them. Every now and then I would anchor my frail bark and whip a likely piece of water. Whilst so engaged, I observed a most extraordinary commotion amongst the fish, which were flying out of the water in all directions. I knew what this meant, so placing myself behind, a boulder of rock commanding a good position, I watched patiently for the result. Presently a fine otter made his appearance about sixty yards below me with a trout. He was too far to fire at, so I watched him with the fish, which he soon finished, at least the best parts of it, and then quietly toddled off into the water for another supply. The instant he was down, with a sweep or two of the paddle I placed myself in a much better position. Drawing the cartridge from my breech-loader, I put in a B.B. It was some time before he appeared again, and when 106 . EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. he did it was with a small salmon of three or four pounds weight. On landing he imme- diately found out something was not right, for he laid, down the fish and looked uneasily about ; he scented danger, and was just preparing to skedaddle and make a dive, when I laid him low ; he was a magnificent fellow. Throwing him into the coracle, I shoved myself ashore, and whipped off his jacket, which did not take me long. I was far above where the salt water could come up, so I thought I would have a turn at the salmon, but was unsuccessful. Giving it up, I returned to the trout, which were on the* rise, and took the fly freely. I fished for many hours with good luck, but the fish getting off the feed, I returned to shore, had my dinner, smoked a couple of pipes or so, and fell asleep. I must have been in the arms of Morpheus for some time, for when I awoke it was evening night, and I was damp and cold from the dew ; there was a nasty queer feeling on me which I could not make out. Never mind, I'll get some brandy at the nearest bourg, which will put me all to rights. So- FISHING GOSSIP. 107 entering my coracle, I was soon afloat and making the best of my way downwards. In half an hour I came in sight of a little village, and entering the nearest cabaret, got some in- different brandy, which I was glad of, for not- withstanding my exertions, I was wet, cold, and shivering. " Holloa, my boy," exclaimed a voice just as I was going out. " Holloa, old fellow, just come in time." It was a friend of mine, Captain H., who lived some little distance off. "Just come in the nick of time a jolly wedding ; the whole country are going to have a dance out- side ; you must remain to see it, and have a turn ; but what the deuce is the matter ? you are as pale as a ghost." " I shall be better presently/' I replied. "Here, bourgeoise, encore un petit verre" Swallowing it, I felt a little warmer, and getting close to the fire, for I could not shake off the strange feeling, had another pull at my pipe. Presently my friend returned informing me all was in readiness, and they were just going to begin. 108 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. I followed him, where in a small field close by the wedding party was assembled. The musicians were seated on cider barrels, and blowing away at a sort of bagpipe, which made a most infernal row. " Now old fellow," said H., tapping me on the shoulder, " you must dance. I have brought you the very prettiest girl in the whole country for your partner, and she is very anxious to perform with you." She was indeed a sweetly pretty girl, and beautifully dressed in Breton costume, as indeed were all the rest, both men and women, for it was a superior wedding. Although I was far from well, I could not refuse, so asking Made- moiselle if she would honour me (which she did) took my place in the ring. I can hardly explain the dance, however, it is composed of as many as like to join ; giving each other their hands, they form a ring, and a certain number perform in it, then retire and join the ring, and - make way for others. My pretty partner spoke French as well as she did Breton, so we were soon great friends. I found it was the custom to engage your partner for FISHING GOSSIP. 109 the whole evening, and this I at once did to my great satisfaction. I was now quite jolly, wanned to my work, and danced away right merrily. Presently a huge fellow came up and said something to my partner in the language of the country, which I did not understand. I saw, however, that all were uneasy at the man's presence. H. came up to me at once, and said, " Take care of that Breton ; he is here an uninvited guest ; the greatest bully in the whole country ; most people are afraid of him, and he is always tormenting this girl to marry him ; but she ' will none of him ;* her father looks for something far better." " All right, my boy," I answered, " I will take care ; but he must not bully me. Now, Louise," said I, turning to my pretty partner and speak* ing in French, " what is the matter ?" She told me the fellow would not have her dance with me, and said, " He would eat me if I did ;" but, added she, " I like you very much, and I mean to dance with you, but do not quarrel with this brute, for he is nothing else." Up struck the music again, away we went round and round, but the savage Breton pre- 110 EXPERIENCES Of SPORT. sently confronted me, and said something in his language. " Can any man here speak French ?" I asked. Several stepped forward. " Ask him what he means/' I demanded of one good-looking young fellow. " He says, sir, you must not dance with Louise, that he will prevent you." " Tell him to go to the devil/' I returned, " that I mean to dance with her as much as I like, and that if he lays a hand on me or her, I will knock his teeth down his throat." Away we went again, but on coming round to the place where the fellow stood, he seized me violently by the collar of my coat, and threw me aside. Springing at him I let go my left, took him between the eyes, and knocked him clean off his pins. All was now confusion, and he was set on by several young fellows, who dragged him off and locked him up for the remainder of the night in a cider cellar. We now adjourned to a large room, which was lighted up for the purpose, as the night FISHING GOSSIP. Ill was getting cold, and all went on as "merry as a marriage bell." I became strangely fascinated with my pretty partner, and left about two o'clock in the morn- ing, promising to come and see her the following Sunday. I found out she was a wealthy far- mer's only daughter. Getting in my coracle I was soon down the stream and in the Odet. As the tide was run- ning out ebbing, I should say I determined to go down to Bernaudet, and turn in there for three or four hours, and as soon as the tide set, go up with it to Quimper. My little barque went merrily down, it was a cold morning, and the wind blew fresh. The nasty feeling had returned, my teeth chattered, and I shivered from head to foot. In spite of all this my head nodded and I fell asleep. I dreamt of my pretty partner, then I was in the midst of a terrific combat with the Breton ; then I was on the sea knocking about in my frail boat. This feeling increased. I was being tossed about. I opened my eyes. Great Heaven, it was true, I ivas at sea, and the coracle bound- ing over the waves like a cork. 112 . EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. My paddle was gone, I had dropped it as I dozed off. My gun and other things were at my feet, but I was helpless as to the means of getting to shore, and about four miles from land, with the Glenan Islands right ahead of me. I thought probably the tide might sweep me towards the islands so that I might be seen, or that by firing my gun I might be heard, and get assistance. I soon found out, however, I had no strength to fire or even lift my gun, that I was as helpless as an infant. The cold and shivering was ten times worse than ever, and the truth then flashed across me, I had got what is so common in Brittany, low fever and ague. I took a land-mark to see which way I was going, and found, after an hour's observation, that I had got no distance, that I was a fixture, or nearly so. How was this, what was it pre- vented my going towards land now ? I knew by my watch that the tide had been for two hours on the flow. Looking about as well as my weakness would permit me, I dis- covered the coracle was hitched in a sardine net, which had broken loose. To disengage WISHING GOSSIP. 113 myself from it was impossible. In the first place I had not strength to move ; and in the second, if I had attempted it I should have upset my little barque. I was in despair ; cold, shivering, wet, and miserably ill. I bore it for some time, and at last from sheer exhaustion fainted. How long I may have remained so I know not, but on coming to my senses found myself in a warm bed and comfortable room. " Where am I ?" I faintly exclaimed. " All right," answered a voice, " I am with you. It's EL, your old friend : don't you know me?" It was, indeed, my friend, and with him was my Quimper chum. Both were standing by me. "A very narrow escape indeed," said H. " You have been here insensible for eight days, picked up off the Glenans by a fishing-boat in that infernal coracle of yours. I have heard of fellows going to sea in a cockle-shell, but never in a clothes-basket." It appears I had been found as stated hitched to the sardine net, and carried into Concarneau. 8 114 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. The authorities were not long in finding out my friends, who were soon on the spot, and at the urgent request of the father of my pretty part- ner of the previous evening, who had come to hear about it, was conveyed to his house. It was months before I could get about, and in fact I had no desire to move, for, be it known, I had fallen in love with my host's pretty daughter; and curious as it may seem, I determined to educate this girl and make her my wife that is, if I could induce her to have me. All was soon arranged, and at the end of four months I went abroad to a warmer climate for my health, and Louise to a boarding-school in Paris. She was only seventeen, with a great desire to learn, and a wonderful passion for music. At the end of three years I returned to Eng- land, after many a wild and exciting adventure, bronzed by the sun, in rude health, and a beard half a yard long. I was quickly in " La belle France," and at once found out my two old friends at Quimper, who were enchanted to see me. " Bless me, your beard is of amazing growth," said H. " You lucky dog, she is such a beauty. FISHIAG GOSSIP. 115 Came home three days ago, speaks English like a book, plays the piano and harp like however, you'll judge for yourself; dressed in the latest Parisian fashion up to the nines, such a figure, foot, and ankle. Here is the trap, jump in, we will be there in half an hour." " What the deuce is he talking about ?" you will naturally exclaim. The answer is this, it was my partner of three years ago he had been dilating on. Yes, reader, I had come over expressly to be married, which we were a week afterwards. I have never repented it, and am as happy as mortal man can be. The old farm-house in Brittany is turned into a pretty and comfortable dwelling. Every now and then I and my wife run over to the " old land." I spend my time between the two, hunting, shooting, fishing, and farming. My English acquaintances do not know any- thing of my better half more than that she is French, and if they did I should not care, for I am in no way ashamed of her, quite the con- trary. The old coracle is kept as an heirloom, but 82 11G EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. I have never been in one since. I must now conclude this little episode in my life ; but be- lieve me, reader, I have never repented my trip to France for Fly Fishing. CHAPTER X. KEEPERS. VERMIN CATCHING, ETC., ETC. EEMIN catching and trapping is a most important part, I may say the most important part of a game- keeper's education, but it is very indifferently attended to ; there are but few men who are really good trappers. In many pre- serves they want for nothing traps and poison in abundance but there is a lack of energy, perseverance, or knowledge. Poison has, in a great measure, superseded the use of the gin ; both are used, but I prefer the trap. The best mode of employing strychnine is by placing it in the eye of any bird, rabbit, or leveret you may employ as a bait. Some slit the eye, and so introduce the poison ; I have 118 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. ever found the best way is, to put the powder under the eyelid and leave the eye whole and perfect. The same bait should never be left long in the same place ; if it is not touched in the course of a day or so remove it and substitute another. Some gentlemen are so particular that they properly insist the poison should be removed the first thing in the morning, this of course only applies to ground bait; those in trees, for the crow, jay, magpie, hawk, and others may be left a certain time, but in any case, never too long. This is where a great mistake is made in trapping. Few keepers, as I have said before, are masters of this branch, and their dog-breaking is just as faulty; plenty of whip and noise, shouting and bellowing, but none of the gentle firmness and tact of the well-finished dog- breaker. The lamented John Leech's admir- able picture in " Punch " was a famous cut at the craft who can forget " The Eattue ?" " Swell keeper (to party assembled). Keeper : ' Now I wants a couple o' lords forrard, a VERMIN CATCHING, ETC. 119 couple o' lords on the right, and a couple o' lords on the left.' (Turning to humble com- moner in knickerbocker and Zouave gaiters), ' You try the high stuff with the beaters and take your chance of a hare back.' ' This was no caricature ; I have seen the same style of thing scores and scores of times. In the "Sporting Gazette" of Dec. 21sfc, 1867, I came across the following, which is quite as good a gem in its way, and only wanted our poor friend's pencil to have illustrated it and made it equally famous : " While on the subject of shooting I may remark that last year ' Punch ' took up very successfully the question of the payment of gamekeepers by gentlemen who come to shoot with their masters, and cleverly illustrated their airs and graces. The system itself has been frequently debated, for the honorarium was felt to be absurdly high, and a great tax upon those who, as Sheridan says, are not blessed with affluence. Since the agitation on the subject has commenced the evil has partially abated, but the following anecdote, for the truth of which 120 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. I can vouch, shows that in the South of England, at least, the tax is sought to be levied as- strictly as the income tax in the North of Eng- land. A nobleman a thorough sportsman, who may be said to have shot from ' China to Peru ' left London to shoot with a friend in the south-western district, and returned in the afternoon of the same day he started from Waterloo station. Having shot for three or four hours, on leaving he put a couple of sovereigns in the head-keeper's hand. It might be generally supposed such a gratuity would have been ample for any man in that sphere of life, and he would have been grateful for it ; but, to the astonishment of the donor, the keeper, touching his hat, returned the douceur to him, saying, ' That he begged his pardon, but he never took anything less than paper money !' On hearing this cool avowal his lordship was determined he should not be disappointed, and therefore handed the sovereigns over to the under- keeper, by whom they were thankfully received, as I suppose he had studied Lord Overstone's letter on ' The Currency Question/ and knew the value of ' metallic reserves/ The look the VERMIN CATCHING, ETC. 121 head-keeper gave when he saw how he had been sold, I am assured, could only have been des- cribed by Herr Schultz at the Egyptian Hall. But 'served him right' will be the general judgment of those who have heard the case." For impudence I do not think the above para- graph can be beaten. A swell keeper, that is to say, a swell non- working one, is a useless article. A keeper,, whether he be a flash one or not, should per- fectly understand his business in all its branches, and should not be above his station. I recollect a friend of mine having one of these useless gentlemen, who was far above cleaning a gun, in fact doing anything but smoking a mere sham, as he called it, and which had been given to him by some grandee, or bragging about his " Westley Richards " which he had done a scion of a noble house out of. I got at this fellow's character pretty quickly, found he was no shot, knew little or nothing about dogs, game rearing, or trapping ; in fact, was a humbug. Yet to hear him talk, the way he caught poachers, did this, and 122 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. did that, and coupled with his great science, you would have supposed he was no end of a good and useful man. In fact, he was as chock full of science in his way as Mr. Puffington's swell huntsman Brag was in his. (See ( ' Sponge's Sporting Tour.") I was not long in letting my friend know my opinion of his grand keeper. " My dear fellow^," he replied, " the fact is, every one is against Williams ; I can't imagine how it is he is so much disliked ; he attends to his work, goes his rounds and all that, now what more can I want ?" " Now, my friend," I replied, " I have heard you out patiently, just listen to me. You know nothing whatever of Williams you are seldom here, and when you are, rarely go out ; you do not attend to the thing. You pay his wages, and when you want a brace or two of pheasants or what not, you get them ; but are your battue days good? decidedly not. You are told the breeding season is bad, too wet or too dry, eggs stolen, and so on that is how you are hum- bugged, and yet you have a pretty, I may say very heavy corn bill to pay for feeding. This VERMIN CATCHING, ETC. 123 Williams is not only an ignoramus in his calling, but a thief and an arrant coward into the bar- gain, bullies always are ; your second keeper does all the work, and your lazy first gets all the kudos. Now I will lay you an even fiver I prove it to you if you like in two days." The bet was taken and I had a carte blanche to proceed how I liked. Sending up to Nathan's, I had a nice long black beard and moustache down by the next post. Putting this on, with a different coat and hat from those I usually wore, I walked down to the home cover, about eleven o'clock. The second keeper had been put up to it. I killed a cock pheasant, and then commenced blazing away blank cartridge. Presently the enraged Williams came dashing into cover. "Who the h 1 are you?" he exclaimed. "Drop that game, and come along with I." "Drop that game ?" I replied. " Come, come, my good fellow, do you know who I am ? I will drop into you, and that pretty quickly, if you are not off in a brace of shakes. I'm the Duke of Dorset, now be off." " I don't believe a word of it," he replied, 124 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. softening down a little, " you must come with I." " Now look here," I replied, " I'm no duke, but a quiet country gentleman, fond of sport and a bit of poaching. I do not mean to go with you, but here is a sovereign to keep your mouth shut." " Make it two, sir, and I'm mum," returned the honest guardian of hares and phea- sants. This I gave him and walked off. My friend was astonished at what I told him, but as he had heard the shots, and I produced the pheasant, he was obliged to believe me. " Wait quietly till to-morrow night," I said, " and I will show you a little more." Next evening, I dressed as a labouring man ; it was given out that I had gone away to dine some distance off. My friend was in the habit of sitting under his veranda after dinner to smoke his cigar, that is, as long as the weather was warm enough, and it was yet October. It was decided he should send for Williams, and keep him under some pretext, whilst I got down to the cover. When the firing was heard VERMIN CATCHING, ETC. 125 he was to come down with Williams, and I was to be caught, efa A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 191 I took hold of the reins and put the misera- ble horse along, and in due time reached the rendezvous. Here were assembled such a motley group as I had never seen before, at least not in the hunting field. There were about thirty there, and most of them dressed in the most extraordinary fashion. Nearly to a man they carried a cor de chasse (which to be once heard badly played will never be forgotten), ox skin coats and breeches, large boots, and such cou- teaux de chasse ! small cimeters in fact. They laughed at Our mishap and the valour of our driver, and looked somewhat curiously at our well got up tops and buckskins. " So, sir," said one, " this is your famous horse, Saltfishes ? and yours" (turning to Deben- ham), " Top-sails ? Mon Dieu ! good horses for sport smans." We soon had a good boar up, and not- withstanding the row of the infernal hounds, halloaing, yelling, and heading the unfortu- nate animal, he at last actually broke cover, which they do not often do unless hard pressed. However, our sanglier got a good start. It was far from being a complete pack, griffons, 192 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. harriers, dwarf foxhounds, and staghounds all ensemble, some a quarter of a mile ahead of the others. Still, blowing of horns and going ahead was- the order of the day. Never mind if some un- fortunate dog was ridden over. " N'importe, allons, mes amis! vous n'avez pas de chasse en Angleterre, comme id." The first fence is approached, in the shape of a three and a half foot wall. Debenham and myself take it in our stride side by side, and look back at our Mossoo friends. Three or four are over, but some of their horses are on the taking-off side ; one gentleman is firmly glued between his nag's ears, another is as firmly holding on to his horse's tail, and one very ex- tensively got up " swell/' with a black velvet cap and prodigious horn, is rubbing his nether end, looking after his horse, who is away with the hounds, and no doubt as glad to get rid of his rider as his rider of him. The rest, with the exception of a few, were nowhere. The hounds come to a check on the banks of a small stream, which enables most of our friends to come up, some hatless, with rents in coats, A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 193 and bruises, and many of the horns as flat as a pancake- More trumpet blowing, talk, and smoking, when at length piggy is hit off, and away we go right merrily, some of the French- men standing up in their stirrups about a foot from the saddle, a la mode Anglaise, as they called it, in that peculiar position our lamented friend John Leech portrayed so well. " Comme des jockeys Anglais," others are seated closely to the pigskin, with their elbows up to their ears, and some giving their nags a touch of the Latchfords fore and aft, a la Tommy Lye. The boar is at last seen crossing a bend of the river, about four hundred yards up, and such a yell is given that a red Indian warwhoop is nothing to it. Couteaux de chasse are drawn and fiercely brandished, to the imminent danger of their nearest neighbours, but no one thinks of riding through the two-foot stream. All but ourselves gallop for a bridge about half a mile off, and in the meantime our porker is at bay on the other side, and playing the deuce with the dogs. " Here, Harry/ 7 said Debenham, jumping off his horse, " catch hold of Toprail. Dash my 13 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. tops and breeches, I can't stay here and see the poor dogs knocked about like that; he'll kill them all in about five minutes." Rushing through the stream, with his six chamber revolver in his hand, he quickly put an end to the boar, before he had effected any great amount of damage. He was highly com- plimented on what he had done, and which, without any flattery, was well done. Thus ended our first hunt in la belle France. As I am talking on boar hunting, 1 will close this chapter by an amusing anecdote. I once shot a vieux solitaire that is, an old boar too aged to herd with the others. Two Frenchmen quarrelled on the subject ; I forget now exactly what it was for, but I believe one wished me to have the head stuffed for my museum, and the other wanted it to be stuffed for the table. However, they came to blows about it, and one had all his front teeth knocked down his throat. He did not act with the usual pluck of his race, and call the other out, but came to me after- wards and told me in his broken English, "Mon cher, I do not care von damn for my tooths ; zey was all false/' A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 195 He swallowed his teeth, and the insult at the same time. I kept the boar's head, and before having it stuffed (not for the table) had it weighed, and it turned the scale at forty-four pounds (French weight). 132 CHAPTER XVII. A SPORTING TKIP TO FRANCE . CONTINUED. >ANY Englishmen think it infra dig. to go out partridge-shooting, unless they can make large bags. They must discard such an idea in France, where the bird shooting is amusing enough, but nothing more. I am an old- fashioned fellow, and must confess I do not look on the present style of beating for game in this cold foggy country of ours with a favour- able eye ; in fact, I do not call it legitimate sporting. To me, going out with my brace of well-broken setters, or pointers, who will " back and stand " perfectly, and are " steady before and behind," constitutes the greatest charm in shooting. Give me these, with an intelligent A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 197 and obedient retriever, and I am happy. The present system of driving partridges is to me odious a line of men across a turnip or stubble field, a gun, a beater, a keeper, with his retrie- ver; another gun, beater, and keeper, and so on. What sport or excitement is there in this blazing away, with a loader carrying your second gun ? I say none, but different people have different opinions. How well I remember a famous old song, often sung by a jolly British yeoman of the old school, one Bob Daws, of Bipley, Surrey, one of the finest shots and best cricketers I ever saw. How he used to chirp it forth after dinner " To-morrow's the first of September, Get ready the dog and the gun ; And be sure you don't fail to remember The whiskey flask marked number one. With Juno you'll bring the black setter, Nor leave old friend Ponto behind ; And sportsmen who wish for a better, I wish they a better may find." No ; give me my wild shooting, with no keeper at my heels beating and cursing the dogs, every now and then exclaiming, "I say, 198 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. measter, oil couple up the dogs, there be a fine covey of eighteen in the tornops there." This is no sport for me. A man to make a good bag in France must be a stout walker, not sitting on every gate he comes near, or spending a couple of hours over his luncheon, and turning out so full of chicken and ham, washed down by copious doses of Bass's bitter or doubtful champagne, that he can neither walk nor see, swearing his gun- maker is a muff, that the infernal thing is not properly sighted, is too straight or crooked in the stock, or that Eley is a humbug, and his cartridges not worth a tinker's rap. This, I say, won't do for France ; you must walk, and be content with a moderate bag. To me the great charm of French shooting is its wild- ness, and its perfect independence. You never know what you may have a shot at next a rabbit, a quail, a landrail, or hare ; then whirr goes a covey, and before you have nailed two or three brace of these you may have a dozen shots at other different sorts of game. This is the shooting to give me pleasure. You will find little interruption if you go the right way A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 199 to work ; always call on the mayor of any little bourg where you may be staying ; hire a man of the place who knows the country well to go with you, carry the game, your brandy, and a fair supply of tobacco for the peasants ; be polite and liberal with what you shoot, and you are all right. Debenham and myself got on first rate, meet- ing with uniform kindness and permission to shoot. We generally went by ourselves, going out early and returning late. The way we managed was to put one of the horses in his dog-cart, which he had got from England, pack, up a change of clothes, take two brace of dogs, and one of the servants, and be off for a week, roaming about from place to place, as our fancy dictated. Debenham was a man of inventive genius, and as he did not like the little dirty cabarets we were sometimes obliged to stop at, determined to have a house of his own, which he accom- plished in this way. He sent to England, and bought a two-horse racing van for a " song." This he had fitted up as a complete 'house, the large let-down door was closed up behind, and 200 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. the van parted off. We had our kitchen at the back, with a French charcoal fourneau, and a sliding panel to pass the dishes through. The other part was our sitting, dining, gun and sleeping room. We had a little stove in this ; the beds were so arranged that they could be used as sofas, and there we lay of an evening smoking our pipes, talking over our day's sport, and what we should do on the morrow. The dogs were in a nice tray full of straw, suspended underneath the trap, like those you see in the large French roulages, about a foot from the ground. We had one large enough for eight or ten dogs, should occasion require. All round the van, enclosing the wheels as well, a strong tarpaulin was buttoned and pegged to the ground, so that the dogs lay as warm as possible. From each side the whole length of the van a waterproof tarpaulin un- rolled from the top of the vehicle, and pegged to the ground. The ends were closed in, and it was most snug. One side we used for our stable, and the other for any extra cooking and to feed our doafs in. All this would roll up under a O JL wooden ledge, and could not be seen when we A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 201 were driving along. The front part Lad a lea- ther hood the whole width of the van for the driver, for whom a good stuffed mattress made a capital bed ; and with the waterproof curtains drawn and buttoned tight, he said he had never a more comfortable perch in his life. For the Breton lad we took with us, we contrived a nest under the tent in the stable, but he found his way into the tray with the dogs, one end of which he appropriated to himself, and declared it was " un palais magnifique" The whole concern van, carriage to France, alterations made there, beds, tents, stoves, painting, a set of second-hand strong harness from London, cost us 43. I must say the arrangement was perfect, and no Bohemian gipsy travelled more com- fortably than we did. All our glasses were arranged in holes as in ships ; under the sofas were our cellars, and we had besides a capital stock of soups, oysters, and lobsters, in tins, so that we could open one, warm it up, and have it ready in a few minutes. Obtaining no end of letters of introduction from our French ac- quaintances to their friends in all parts of Lower 202 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. Brittany, fastening the dog-cart behind, harness- ing and putting Saltfish and Toprail in the van, as leaders, and two strong Breton nags as wheelers, we one fine morning, at five o'clock, took our departure from Eennes. " There, my boy," said Debenham, as we emerged from the streets into the open country. " There, my boy," he repeated, lighting his briar- root, " this is what I call prime ; thoroughly free and independent. None of your long hotel bills, and noisy fellows at dinner, but comfort. Here we have six dozen of capital claret, which beats all your Bass, though there is plenty of that for a time, brandy, whiskey, and gin what more can a fellow want ?" We were sitting in front, with his man driving, for there was lots of room for three. I should mention I had sent my servant home, as I had lent him to my brother, who was coming to France for the winter, in his yacht. The horses got along famously in harness, the trap was not too heavy, and we were as jolly as sand-boys. We had permission for a few days' chevreuil (roebuck) hunting or shooting in the Foret de la Hardouhnqy, about thirteen or fourteen lieues A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 203 from Bennes, and there we determined on first going. I had three couple of French hounds that would hunt anything. Two and a half couple I had bought, and one, old Bappido, I had been made a present of. He was a splendid hound, and I shall have to speak of him and his doings presently. The French hound is a useful animal, and is generally used for any thing- boar, wolf, deer, or hare, but a great change, of late years, has taken place. Many noblemen and gentlemen have good packs, which are properly hunted and done well. English hounds are now in great request with Mossoo, as may be seen from the large drafts which annually find their way into France. I have often and often been asked by French gentlemen how it was that if English hounds are so good, his Grace the Duke of Beaufort was not more successful with the wolves some five or six years back ? My answer has always been, because they are too good for the country. The fact is his Grace's hounds are so perfect on fox that they will hunt nothing else, but if his young hounds were entered on wolf, I am quite certain, from what I know of French hounds after many 204 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. years' acquaintance with them, they would never live with our English ones, especially with such a pack as Badminton can turn out, and I confess I should much like the experiment tried. My impression is they would run into their wolf, which few packs have ever been able to accom- plish fairly. I have known them live for days before different meutes, regular relays of dogs brought against them, and then go off as if they had never been hunted at all. Arriving at La Hardouhnay , we found it a large long forest ; the village just above over- looked it, and, as seen from there, was really a fine view. It lay, dark and solemn, be- neath us, and we were charmed at the prospect of the sport we were likely to have. It was a charcoal forest, that is, a forest where the smaller wood is cut and burnt for charcoal. Others are called sabot forests, where larger timber is cut, and made into wooden shoes. The huts in all these forests are miserable, very different from the log huts in the backwoods of America, which are generally comfortable. This forest had plenty of boar, wolf, and chevreuil in it. As the two former were to be A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 205 attacked at some future period, we determined to commence next day with the roebuck, not us the French generally do, hunt and shoot them, but to hunt them legitimately, and try if we could pull one down with three couple of hounds. Our caravan excited immense interest in the village, and much disappointment to the small hotel keeper, or aubergiste, who told us we should find his accommodation perfect, and that another English milord, who had also got leave to hunt, and was waiting to join us, had taken up his quarters there. We, however, declined at once, and entered the little cabaret to see who the English gentleman was. We found he was one of our St. Servan friends, who had obtained permission, and hearing we were com- ing down, had started to join us. We were very glad of his company ; for though Debenham said he knew by the cut of his jib he was no sports- man, still we were delighted that the little doctor had come, and welcomed him most cor- dially. He dined with us that evening, much to the disgust and chagrin of the aubergiste, who politely told our Breton boy we were cochons Anglais, and imbeciles to stay in the 20G EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. forest in our van instead of his house, which all the nobility who hunted there patronised. The little doctor was so timid that nothing could in- duce him to return at night, so we made him up a bed in our kitchen, which was warm and com- fortable. The next morning we sent up the Breton boy for his nag, which he had hired for the occasion, and in a short time he returned with an animal which looked like a cross between a bear and a bull a genuine Breton pony. As the little doctor mounted, and seated himself in the old demi-peaked saddle, with his single gun in hand, he looked, with his long beard and moustache, like a Cossack. We soon made a start, and at half-past eleven commenced drawing the forest for a cJievreuil. We had one of the guards of the forest with us to show us their whereabouts, so we soon started, and settled to a fine brocard (male roebuck). Old Happido was a first-class hound for deer, and led the others out in fine style, and after a rattling run of two hours all through and through the forest, in which they hunted totally unassisted, for we could not lift our hounds, A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 207 which, I opine, is always a bad plan, and not genuine hunting, they pulled him down in an open glade of the forest. The little doctor was enchanted, and declared he had never seen such capital sport in his life before. He wanted to get rid of his gun, but as no one would take it, he was obliged to sling it with a bit of cord at his back. We commenced trying for another, when, coming down one of the rides, what should we see but an old sow, followed by a dozen two months old squeakers (marcassins). The doctor " grew paler and paler," as she came down full tilt towards us. "We quickly pulled aside to let her pass, but the doctor's cob, a rusty, hard-mouthed, sulky brute, refused to budge an inch. In vain we halloaed to him to get out of the way. He was tugging violently at his gun, but it was so fastened he could not undo it. The pony slewed half round, the sow and the pigs ran between its legs, and in. the mdlee pony and rider kissed mother earth. However, there was no damage done, so we soon picked up the bits, and remounted him. A nip of brandy put him to rights, we soon found another brocard, and 208 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. were running him famously, when the doctor's nag took another turn, and finally ran away with him. We ran this roebuck a long time, but night coming on, and as we were some distance from our van, were obliged to whip off. We ex- pected to find the doctor awaiting our return, but there was no sign of him, or had any one seen the little man. Thinking he might have gone back to his inn, we sat down to dinner, and had hardly finished when a peasant came to say that " Monsieur's horse had returned, but not Monsieur." We became really alarmed, and at once started off into the forest, and after an hour's search, we both suddenly halted. " Hark 1" exclaimed Debenham, " I heard a shot." " Well, I thought I did," I replied. " I'm sure of it," said he. " Hang it, there's another. What the deuce is up now ?" After a few seconds there was another. " Come along/' said Debenham, dashing into the forest in the direction of the firing, " there's mischief going on." A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 209 We had not proceeded a hundred paces when we heard another and another. Presently the firing ceased, and we could plainly distinguish cries for help. We made our way as fast as we could through the thick and tangled brushwood, and soon came on the spot where the sounds proceeded from. Ensconced in a tree was our small friend ; he had been thrown from his nag, and had wan- dered about till nightfall, when failing to find his way out of the large forest, and remember- ing the wonderful stories that had been told him, and which, by-the-by, we had not for- gotten to embellish with additions of our own, he had mounted the tree in which we found him, and fired signals of distress till his flask was emptied. We soon had him chez nous, and he attacked the eatables and drinkables in a way wonder- ful to behold. Notwithstanding the unceasing chaff he had to put up with, nothing seemed to bisquer him, for he very contentedly sat down to his grog and his pipe, and said, "If he could only have unslung his gun when that d d 14 210 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. old sow floored him, lie would have killed her raide mort" So ended our first hunt in la Foret de la Hardouhnay. CHAPTEK ^XVIII. A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE CONTINUED. E shot and hunted in and about the Foret de la Hardouhnay for some time. Notwithstanding that the winter had set in with unusual severity, \ve were as happy and comfortable as possible in our van. We were now well in December, and boar, wolf, and roebuck hunting was the order of the day. About this time a capital fellow joined us, an Irishman, whom we will call Langton ; he was a fine sportsman, a splendid rider, and a famous companion. One night, as we were sitting round our little fire after a capital day with the roebuck, he turned round and said " Millard, let us know about that famous old 142 212 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. dog Rappido that always performs so well ; you told me you would, and I should like to buy him of you." " Sell him ?" I returned, " not for a thousand pounds, and when I tell you his history you will see I could not part with him even if I was sa disposed." Rappido had been the property of a French gentleman, but having been attacked by a stroke of paralysis, he gave me the dog, then an old one, on my faithfully promising never to sell or give him away. He knew I was fond of, and a kind master to, all animals, and on presenting him to me said " My dear friend, it is so ordained that I shall never enjoy the cliasse again ; I give you the old dog with pleasure, and when I tell you the history of that pretty chevrette you so much admired yesterday, I am sure old Rappido will be doubly valuable in your eyes. Some two or three years ago I went to the forest de P- to hunt for chevreuil at which old Rappido was, and is, particularly clever. We found a chev- rette at eleven o'clock in the morning, and ran her till three in the afternoon, when, owing to- A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 213 the heat, for it was a bright October day, we were obliged to sound the faire revenir, or rappel. The only hound missing was Happido. We sounded and sounded, but to no purpose, and we were obliged to leave the forest without him, but as the chateau we were staying at was only a mile off, we had no fear of losing him. We dined, and in the evening sent out a piquewr, but he came back without the dog. The next morning a paysan came with a beau- tiful chevrette, the same one as you saw in the paddock, with the old dog baying at his heels. It appeared in passing by a lake some four miles off to take up some night lines at day- light, he saw the poor chevrette in about three feet of water, and the old dog keeping watch, both nearly dead with exhaustion, and the doe was easily taken by him. I gave the pea- sant forty francs, turned the poor creature out in the paddock, and there she is as happy as can be, and as tame as a dog. The most ex- traordinary thing is, that when I walk in the field old Rappido invariably comes, but never offers to molest her, being quite content with .standing and looking wistfully at her, while she 214 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. will approach him quite familiarly and butt at him, and seems to understand she is safe, and that the old dog is of too noble a disposition to touch her in her captivity. I have even seen them chase one another in the prettiest way imaginable. This poor doe must have been at bay in the lake some twelve or fourteen hours, the dog on the watch, but too wary and cautious to approach." This is the history of old Rappido, and I shall never part with him. A large party came down next day, English and French, for boar-hunting. As there were no end of hounds, I left the old dog with the rest of my dogs at the van, and three or four sleepy-headed fellows were left in bed at the village, as we would not wait for them. We found the slot of a boar, came back, let out the hounds of Monsieur M. G n,. whose meute, I should say, are famous at boar, hunted, and killed him. On returning home through the forest about three o'clock, just getting dusk, for it was late in December, I thought I heard dogs giving tongue in the distance. My ear did not deceive me. The music of dogs in full cry was wafted to A SPOUTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 215 us by the breeze. Louder and louder it came. " By Jupiter !" said I to my friends, " there is my old dog Rappido. I know his note amongst a thousand ; who can have been fool enough to let them out ?" The cry of the dogs came nearer and nearer. I spurred on Saltfish, as I felt sure the hounds would cross the riding I was in. In a few moments I saw a beautiful roebuck bound across the path, a hundred and fifty yards ahead of me, and the hounds which I had left at home, close at his haunches. I halloaed in vain. I could not stop them, and their notes were gradually lost in the distance. Whilst I stood debating what I should do, several of my friends came up, and we agreed it would be useless following them, as it was nearly dark, and there were now plenty of wolves in the forest, added to which it began to snow heavily. There was nothing left for it but to make for our van, and when we arrived there, some three quarters of an hour after, the ground was nearly three inches deep. I never remember seeing so heavy a fall of snow in this part of France. We 216 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. went up to dine with the party at the auberge that evening, and we found, by a huge fire, and quite snug and comfortable, the lazy would-be chasseurs. They had turned out at about one p.m., and resolved to have a hunt ; and for that purpose had let out my dogs, and almost im- mediately found a chevreuil, but not being mounted, they could not follow the hounds, and on being blown, and obliged to give up, ex- claimed " Tiens : quelle fortune ! Monsieur Millard will not lose his animals ; he is sure to search the forest through for his old dog, and will no doubt come across the rest." I regularly " opened on them," and they took their weeds out of their mouths in sur- prise, to think I could be guilty of such rude- ness as to let out at them for having a hunt. After dinner, at about eight o'clock, we all turned out to see how the night was ; it was snowing and freezing fearfully. The village on the top of the hill, with the forest, in its vast extent, lying far below us, and extending for miles and miles. Twenty of us turned out, then, on this wild winter's night ; there were r A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 217 some ten or eleven of them who had their cors de chasse with them, which they played most beautifully together. With these gentlemen we went, the rest of us smoking our pipes and cigars, to the brow of the hill, where they commenced playing the Rappel de danger ; we were afraid the wolves would get at the dogs. I never recollect any- thing more beautiful, for they played well. The snow stopped as they began, the moon came out bright and glorious, and the horns sent their echoes far into the extensive forest. In vain did we listen to hear the baying of hounds, no sound reached our attentive ears. Again and again did they play, call after call ravished iny ear (I never, before or since, thought cors de chasse music). The Bien oiler, Halali, and many others were sounded, and died far away into the almost trackless depths of the forest which lay at our feet, yet not one welcome sound did we hear, and though I had been en- chanted and entranced by the beautiful melo- dies, my thoughts were far away in the grand and magnificent scene below me, with the bright moon shining out so calmly, and making the 218 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. scene almost as bright as day ; yet, as the sounds ceased, and I turned to go back, I recol- lected that my favourite hound and faithful friend was lost. All that night, in spite of the most urgent entreaties not to do so, did I wander about the forest, but I could find nor hear nothing of the dogs, and at half-past four came home fagged,, disappointed, almost frozen, and went to bed dead beat.*" I had slept some two or three hours, when I heard the door of the van open, and Mons. J s, one of the best and most active of the chasseurs, came in, and exclaimed " All right, old fellow, Bappido is found." He had sent out piqueurs before break of day, and seven miles off the old dog was found in a cowshed, in a farm-yard on the opposite side of the forest. The prints of three different wolves were tracked close up to the shed door. * The poor animal had evidently run there for shelter. He was found quietly sleeping between the cows- in the morning. * I should mention that we had moved our van up close to the little auberge. We dined with all our friends, but s'ept in onr van. A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 219 I need not tell you how glad I was to see him - r the rooms of our lazy friends were besieged, and they were instantly pulled sans ceremonie out of their beds, a preceding they disliked more than any other, and we all sat down to a jolly breakfast. The rest of the dogs turned up in the course of the morning. I have had many good days with old Rappido since. The next night we dined all together again, and insisted on Langton singing us a song, which was as follows : "By my soul, I'm a broth of a boy. I'm fond of an illi- gant fight. With my sprig of shillalagh I crack a crown daily. Sure a man with his nut cract's an illigant sight. Chorus. Sure a man, &c. " Faith it's fond of the girls that I am, the illigant cratures. so slim. There's Miss Biddy OTowl I give you my sowl, I'd marry her jist for her tin, for her tin. Chorus. I'd marry her, &c. " Oh it's fond now of hunting, I am. What swate music there is with the hound ; And when in their wake, walls and ditches I take, The hills with my cheers they resound, they resound, Chorus. The hills with, &c. " Troth it's fond now of whiskey I am ; there's nought like a sup at the cratur ; And if married I am, my wife won't fill the can, 220 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. Tare and 'ounds with my blackthorn I'll bate her, I'll bate her. Chorus. Tare and 'ounds, &c." "There, my boys," said Langton, "that's the only song I ever knew ; it used to be sung by a drunken groom of mine, who did get married and licked his wife to death, for which trifling offence he was sent across the herring-pond for fteen years. I flatter myself there's no brogue in that." We all laughed heartily, seeing he spoke the broadest Irish. " Now, my lads/' he continued, " here is a little yarn for you, with a moral to it so take a lesson : " One day in the middle of October, 1842, I started off walking with my two red Irish setters on a shooting expedition. On the third day I saw a fine old chateau seated on a most beautiful hill, and surrounded by very extensive woods. I asked to whom it belonged, and was told the name of the proprietor, a French noble- man, and that if I asked permission to shoot, it would most likely be given; so putting my native bashfulness in my pocket, I walked up A SPOTTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 221 to the house and rang the bell. A servant in livery answered it, and I could see at one glance that everything was well kept, in fact I had dis- covered that before I entered, as the beautiful lawn and walks were in perfect order, and the outside of the house presented an appearance far- different from what you generally see in the French chateaux, which are mostly in a tumble- down, ramshackle condition. " I was shown into the count's library ; sitting at a table, reading, was a fine gentle- manly man of about fifty years of age. He in- stantly rose and bowed courteously, and I forthwith explained the object of my visit. He most cheerfully gave me permission, not only to shoot but to fish also if I chose, but he asked me not to shoot at the clievreuil, as there was to be a large hunting party on the morrow, to which he gave me an invitation. He asked me not to go into the woods at all, but to content myself to fields. " Of course I expressed myself most grateful for the permission so kindly accorded, and set out in high spirits to thin the birds. I had been shooting with tolerable success for three- 222 EXPERIENCES OP SPORT. or four hours, and had marked a covey down in some high fern, which I followed up. My two setters were working well before me ; I was looking on admiring them, when I was startled by something close to me. I saw the fern wave, I pulled trigger, and on going up to the spot t>eheld to my horror and consternation a beau- tiful brocard lying struggling in the agonies of death. " I shall never forget my feelings at this mo- ment ; I knew that I had been guilty of a breach of trust, and shot the very game that the kind proprietor had so particularly requested me not to do. I did not know how to act, and felt quite disgusted with myself; at last I resolved to leave the brocard on the spot it lay, and go direct to the chateau and inform the count of what I had done. He did not expect me so soon, and hoped that I had had good sport. I never felt so confused or awkward in my life, but at last I blurted out the catastrophe. I told him how excessively hurt I was with my- self in having unfortunately shot the chevreuil, but that it was in a place I had least expected to find one, and had pulled trigger without A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 223 giving a thought that such an animal might be there. " He looked very grave, and said, ' Sir, we shall see/ and left the room, closing the door behind him. " Well, thought I, this is a pretty state of affairs and finale to my day's sport, and ten to one I shall be presently served with a proces verbal. I remained nearly half-an-hour cogitating and thinking what a fool I had been not to have looked before I shot. "At last the count entered, saying, ' Mon- sieur, will you have the kindness to follow me ?' " I did so, and he presently ushered me into the drawing-room, which was filled with his company, and some devilish pretty girls, I can tell you, en grande tenue. They were all look- ing at me, and were evidently prepared for what was coming. " ' My friends/ said the count, ' this is an English gentleman who came to me this morn- ing, asking permission to shoot over my estate, which permission I gave, expressing at the same time a hope that he would shoot none of the chev- reuil, as I was to hunt them to-morrow, and to 224 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. which chasse I invited him. He was out for some hours, and to judge from the size of his pockets, with very good success. In the open, amongst the fern beyond my large cover, he marked down a covey of partridges, and in going to seek them a brocard got up, and with- out thinking, and in a moment of anxiety, shot it. He came immediately to tell me of the mis- fortune, as he calls it. Now, my friends, as I like candour, and above all an honourable man, it gives me very great pleasure to introduce to you my new acquaintance, Monsieur Langton. " ' Sir/ he continued, coming up to me, and taking my hand, ' do not for a moment let the thought of the chevreuil distress you. I am quite assured it was accidental. You are ever welcome to come here and shoot, or fish, and I trust you will always make my house your home/ " He would have me stop with him, and sent to the village where I had left my little sac de nuit, which I usually strapped across my shoul- ders when walking. " I spent three or four very pleasant days there, and had capital sport ; but, recollect, this A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 225 was in 1842. Things are widely different now. My kind friend has long c passed the way of all flesh/ but I have still leave to shoot over the estate." This French gentleman's behaviour and libe- ral feeling was equal to that of the Duke de Longueville, in " Daniel's Rural Sports." It is thus quoted : " The temper shown by the Duke de Longueville, when it was observed to him that the gentlemen bordering on his estates were continually hunting on them, and that he ought not to suffer it, is worthy of imitation. ( I had much rather/ answered the duke, e have friends than hares.' " 15 CHAPTER XIX. A SPOUTING TRIP TO FRANCE CONTINUED. brother having arrived at St. Servan with his yacht, I put Saltfish in the dog-cart, and drove down in two days. I could not prevail upon Debenham to come ; he hated duck shooting, and would rather be " bored" at La Hardouhnay (could he mean a joke ?) I found the " Manola" anchored at Le Solidore, the entrance of the Ranee, which runs up past Dina-n. It is a most beautiful river. A short distance up is the bay of St. Souliac, which is about three miles across ; here is capital duck shooting. They were at this time in countless myriads, as the weather was unusually hard. " Halloa, old fellow," exclaimed my brother, A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 227 as I stepped into his cabin : "just in time ; such a spree." What the particular spree was I could not at that instant divine, as I stood looking in blank astonishment at some three or four individuals in a most extraordinary state. They were dripping to the shoulders, and all their faces were blackened. " Such a spree," continued my brother, aside. coat, trousers, and waistcoat. It was a bittur cold night, and the fog was thick almost to stifling. I determine! to stand against tlu> tide as long as I could, and then trust to God and my own swimming powers. Just as I beard 232 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. the tide ripple against the bank close by me, a voice screamed out " Mr. Harry, Mr. Harry, where are you ?" It was my brother's old captain in the " Manola's" boat. " Ahoy ! where are you T To wrench my gun from the mud in one hand, snatch up my clothes in the other, was the work of an instant, and one second more saw me safely in the boat. " Give way, men, with a will," said my brother, " we must reach the schooner before she catches the full of it, or we shall be carried miles up the river." They did give way, and in a few minutes were on board. We made her before the full swing of the tide caught her, and just as our feet touched the deck, round she went with a jerk that seemed to snap every link of the chain cable, but the good old boat stood it all. " All right," exclaimed my brother, speaking thick and shortly, and evidently much moved. " D d narrow escape ; hate duck shooting. Let's go below and have some grog ; and, steward, give the men a double allowance to A SPOTTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 233 drink Mr. Harry and all the others' escape, and plenty of baccy." The morning saw us safely anchored at the Soli- dore again. I persuaded my brother to lay up the yacht for the winter in the Government yard, for which I had got permission. He did so, and a, few days after saw us again at our van. The weather having broken up, we got leave to shoot a tolerably large wood, about nine miles from La, Hardouhnay. "We started early, taking my retriever. Di. We were much pleased with the curious old churches and crosses with which the country abounds. They are most beautiful. In the midst of this wood stood a splendid old ruined chateau, which must once have been a princely edifice. Its grandeur was, alas ! departed, and only one or two rooms on the ground floor re- mained habitable. All was in rank decay, and recalled vividly to my memory Hood's beautiful poem " The Haunted House." I had heard that in this chateau there was an immense cellar of wine, so I asked the garde- chasse if it was true. He replied that he did not know for certainty ; that its present owner 234 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. lived far away ; the house was haunted, and no one would go near it ; that it had been' dis- mantled in the time of Robespierre during the Eevolution of 1793 and 1794. As we had not come for the purpose of house exploring but shooting, we started off into the wood, and separated, agreeing, if we lost one another, to meet at the chateau at three p.m. I shot for some time with tolerable success, but I heard my brother and Debenham blazing away right and left, which showed they were having much better sport than myself. My retriever, too, showed an extraordinary desire to leave me and join the others. I presently got to the outside of the wood, and found the other two were shooting along the edge, about a hun- dred or a hundred and fifty yards in. An idea occurred to me that I would have some fun with them. The cover was very thick, and they had no retriever with them. Presently there was bang, bang. Di looked wistfully at me, and on my bidding her " go fetch," she was off like a shot, and in a minute came back with a wood- cock. A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 235- Another short interval, and bang, bang, again. This time the cock fell out of cover, and was immediately nailed by the bitch and brought to me. This went on for some time, and my pockets were rapidly filling. Presently out rushed Debenham, heated and excited, and on seeing me, called out, " I say, old fellow, deuced unlucky ; here have I killed five or six cocks and only got two." I pitied him exceedingly, and seeing he was. really vexed, said, "Just stop a few minutes with me, and I will show you how to bag woodcocks ; I have nine in my pockets, already." The words were hardly out of my mouth when bang, bang. "There goes Bob" (my brother), said Jack ; " and there goes Di," said I, giving the bitch the word. In a minute she was back with the bird. There, my boy," I observed, "what do you think of that? You see the knowing George Debenham is to be walked into occasionally." " I see it," he answered, " you are an infernal nobbier, and I'll give you twenty-five guineas for Di." :236 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. " No, old boy/' I replied, " not for a hundred guineas/' That day we killed seventeen couple of cocks. A little before three it began to snow heavily again, so we sent on the guard to the little bourg where we had put up the trap to tell the man to get the cart ready at once, and bring it down to the chateau. After getting a sort of resin candle from -a farm close by, we started on a house ex- ploring expedition, as we were curious to know about the large cellar of wine reported to be in the old chateau. " Hang it," I exclaimed on entering, " it is clear we cannot go up stairs, seeing there are none, and the rooms above floorless ;" and as there was nothing to be seen we proceeded to the haunted regions below to look for the talked- of cellar. After searching for some time, we came to an old, rusty, padlocked door, and instinct told us this was the looked-for place. The lock was forced secundem artem, and we discovered a very large place with many thousand bottles in it. Some of the bins had broken down A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 237 and their contents lay smashed on the ground. The place was in ruins, and had evidently not been entered for many many years. We tapped bin after bin, and all was as sour as verjuice. " What a shame," remarked Debenham, "to let such a glorious cellar go to decay, and the liquor spoil." We were quitting Ihe place when my brother's attention was drawn to a little bin with some fifteen or sixteen bottles in it. I uncorked one r and from the delicious bouquet knew in an instant we had come on the right thing at last. It was Burgundy, and such Burgundy as I have- never tasted before or since. The cups from our flasks were taken off, and we speedily buzzed bottle No. 1. The rest we filched, and packed them securely away in the cart, along with some four or five bottles of brandy I discovered. We agreed to dine at the auberge close tc* our van the next day, and finish up with the filched wine. The brandy went to our cellar, and we invited a few friends to join us next evening. 238 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. " There," said Debenham, pointing to a lot of bottles arranged on the chimney piece, as we sat down to this said dinner, " I think beside the white wine and champagne, that twenty bottles of claret is a fair allowance amongst eight of us." As we drew round the table after dinner by the side of a blazing yule log, shall I admit it ? the whole of this wine was drunk. How I got to bed I know not, but on coming down the next morning to beg one of the gargons to go down to the van for a few bottles of seltzer water, I found Debenham sleeping with his head in one of the large French stew pans, and the others were in different parts of the room. My brother, with his head amongst , the broken bottles and glasses on the table, and myself with two eyes in mourning, or as Bob, in the language of the P.R., had it, "A mouse in each eye, and my front railings all loose." I am almost ashamed to relate such a story, but the glorious days of our sojourn at the A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 239 Foret de la Hardouhnay can never be for- gotten, and my readers must take these happy- old remembrances of mine as a sufficient excuse. CHAPTER XX. A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE THE OLD COLONEL'S STORY. ;E were one evening more than asto- nished to see my father, an old man over seventy, put in an ap- pearance ; he had come over to see what his hopefuls were at. A famous sportsman he had been in his day. I need hardly say we were more than delighted to see him, and soon arranged for his accommodation. As we sat in our snug little crib, after dinner, " Harry/' said he, " mix me a glass of hot whiskey and water ; not Bob's three-quarter stuff, but a mild one ; and I'll tell you a story." I did so, and, having lit our pipes, composed A SPORTING TRIP 7O PRANCE. 241 ourselves to listen to " Triton," the old colonel's story : "Triton.* The name recalls visions and scenes of long past years, of happy hours when youth, and health, and happiness were with me ; when I gaily bounded over the ground, gun in hand, or, mounted on horseback, almost flew over hill and dale, when but I sit down to tell of my old friend and attached companion, ' Triton/ who was a pure-bred Newfoundland of remark- ably fine growth, stood wide between the legs, and was altogether a very handsome well-formed dog, colour black and white. " I took him to the Cape of Good Hope, in 181-, when he was about eight months old. The transport in which I made my passage to join the Light Dragoons, put into Funchal Bay, Madeira, where we stopped three days. "The weather was beautiful, but very hot, and many of us got into the ship's boats, and plunged into the sea, which was cool and pellu- cid around us. Triton, who had been observing all this from the gangway of the vessel, where I saw him * Son of Neptune, by Amphitrite. 16 242 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. moving about in an anxious manner, after recon- noitring the party, plunged into the sea, and swam towards me, and then endeavoured to take me by the nape of the neck, when I had some difficulty in beating him off, and making him understand his assistance was not required; so, after a little, we swam in a most friendly manner side by side. " This was the first aquatic feat of my young dog, who became greatly attached to me, and always swam near me when I bathed in Table Bay. " Triton soon knew all the men and horses of my troop in the barracks, and when they marched out in watering order, invariably kept with them ; he lived in the barracks, that is, mostly in the stables with the horses, with whom he was on the best possible terms, and it appeared that he attached himself to his own troop most particularly. " At this time an order was issued by the Governor to destroy all dogs loose about the town, and many were put to death, just outside the barrack gates. On one occasion Triton was standing near the gate with me, when a dog A SPORHNG 7RIP JO FRANCE. 243 was killed in our sight by a policeman. Soon afterwards the troop went out for exercise, but nothing would induce Triton to move out of the barrack-yard ; he came to the gate, looked anxiously at the troop leaving him, put his tail between his legs, and quietly retreated to the stables. " I am simply relating facts ; but by what process of reasoning or instinctive powers Triton satisfied himself there was danger outside the barrack gate whilst there was safety within, I cannot undertake to show, or what are the nice distinctions between reason and instinct. The dog made his conclusions in a most logical and >clear-headed manner, and acted upon them for his own protection. I well remember this little anecdote, as it made a very strong impression on my mind at the time, and led me to observe more frequently and more particularly the habits of animals in general, from which I have subsequently derived so much amusement and satisfaction. " It was frequently the custom to bathe the horses and men of the regiment in the sea, when Triton invariably kept with his troop, 162 244 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. but would take good care to keep at a respect- able distance from a horse in the water, although he would overlook these proceedings with a pleased dogified air, and would swim out to sea until he could barely be distinguished. " When I left Cape Town for the interior of the Colony, I took with me a steady pointer, a half-bred dog, who was a very fair retriever, and my noble friend and companion, Triton ; shortly afterwards the retriever died, and there was no possible mode of supplying this loss where I was then quartered. I had been in the habit of taking Triton with me when shooting small game on foot, with a Knox double-barrelled flint gun, pottering about near my station, seeking partridges, hares, quails, snipes, &c. One these occasions I taught Triton to keep close to my heels, and not to chase, but as he seemed to pay great attention to the sport, it. struck me he could be made useful, and with a little trouble I taught him to bring game to me, and when put on the trail of wounded game, his sagacity and wonderful nose was astonishing. It was a beautiful sight to a sportsman to watch the dog puzzle out the scent of a wounded A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 245 quail ; lie knew well the trail of the wounded bird, and never left it until the bird was in his mouth and laid at my feet. " There was a large swamp some little dis- tance from my station, filled with snipes and frequently with wild ducks ; I only took Triton, who was here a complete master of his art, picking his way and walking lightly ; when I fired, his nose was in the air, and very seldom did he rniss bringing me the dead bird. " I have had many valuable dogs in my pos- session since that period, but none with such a fine and delicate nose ; his natural intelligence seemed to teach him all that was required. I never lifted my hand to him except to caress him, and he would look into my face for ap- proval when he laid game at my feet. But for his great size, and frequent desire for water, he would have been an incomparable retriever ; so I never took him far from home ; in fact, he knew well when I was mounted, that his ser- vices were not required for that day. " Triton was a great pet of the men of my regiment, and seemed to understand perfectly .his position. He would follow at my heels when 246 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. examining the men at the troop parade, and the horses and himself were on the most social and friendly terms. He would stop before some of the horses, stand on his hind legs, lick their noses, and both parties seemed to express much pleasure at the meeting ; in fact Triton was a personage of much importance with men and horses, and parade seemed incomplete without his attendance and supervision. " When the regiment was ordered on to the East Indies, I was unwillingly compelled to leave my four-footed friend behind me, giving him to an officer remaining at the Cape of Good Hope. I parted from him with the greatest regret; but knowing the effects of the East Indian climate on a dog of his breed, I was in some measure more reconciled to his loss ; he died, poor fellow, about a year after I left him from a disease common to dogs in hot climates. "Many, many years have rolled over my head since that happy time when, full of youth and vigour, I carried a flint double, shot partridges, hares, quails, and snipes with my old pointer Spot and my noble dog Triton as humble com- panions and friends. My hair is now silver A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE. 247 white, my limbs are weak and stiff with age, my sight failing, my hearing indistinct, yet when I recall those times long past, like an old war-horse I lift my aged head, sniff the battle afar off, cry aha ! aha ! stamp my old gouty feet, and the visions of old are before me but " Well, well time changes every thing around us, and we poor frail creatures of humanity change with it. Let us be content with what is ; youth will continue to enjoy life as I have done, will bring down their birds with a double- barrelled breech-loader, with patent cartridges, and all the other numerous and expensive para- phernalia of a modern sportsman ; but none, none will ever receive more real pleasure from their shooting than I did with my old flint gun, and my noble and excellent four-footed friend Triton." We shot about the forest for the next two months, then sold our van for more than we gave for it, and started for St. Malo with the horses ; shipped them on board one of the South - Western Steam Company's boats, in charge of our servants ; returned to St. Servan ; got the yacht in trim ; and shortly after cast anchor in. the Southampton Waters. CHAPTER XXI. ON REARING AND BREEDING PHEASANTS. >ANY and various are the theories on rearing pheasants ; I opine the best way is the cheapest, that is as long as you have good, strong, and healthy birds. It must not be supposed for one instant that you can breed pheasants at a profit it is "not on the cards." As a rule, hand-reared birds, by the time they are fit to shoot, cost ten shillings a head. This seems a large sum, but you must take into consideration buying eggs, loss of eggs, men's wages, loss of birds, cost of and repairing coops, food, firing to cook it, &c., &c. ; put all these items together, and you will find my estimate is not too high. REARING AND BREEDING PHEASANTS. 249 Aviaries must be well sheltered from the north and west, facing the south, and the soil dry. Do not build them near old houses or sheds, ricks, or covered drains, because rats will soon be tempted to come to the food, and when they once get through, it is almost an impossibility to keep these pests out. Keepers frequently put four, or even five hens to a cock ; but there are quite enough to ensure good and fertile eggs. The pens are often made very much too small, which is a great mistake, as birds in too con- fined a space never thrive well. The proper size pen for three hens and a cock is about twenty or twenty-four yards long, and sixteen or eighteen yards wide. The best way, however, and by far the most economical one, and where a manor has the vermin well kept down, is to enclose a space large enough to hold seventy or eighty hens ; construct this near a favourite cover, and where it is warm, dry, and sheltered ; the wire net which encloses it should be eight feet high, and the mesh one and a half inch ; this will 250 r EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. keep out the smallest rabbit ; the price of such netting per yard, and twenty-four inches wide, is about fourpence farthing, but the price varies ; there is, of course, no covering to this kind of pen, as the wild cocks will come to the hens, night and morning. The pinion feathers must be cut from one wing of the hens to prevent them flying over- do not pull the feathers, or they will grow again directly, and the birds will escape. When they have done laying they may be turned loose, but if you intend to keep them always in confinement, the better way is, with a sharp knife, to take the extreme end off the pinion, which will prevent them ever flying again. Where you keep birds in covered aviaries,, twine netting should be used for it, as it does not injure the birds when they fly against it. Soak this net in boiled oil, and it will last a long time. If your aviary is near burrowing vermin, sink a three quarters of an inch galvanised net about twenty-four inches wide all round your enclo- sure, and carry it up the same height above the REARING AND BREEDING PHEASANTS. 251 ground ; this will effectually stop anything burrowing or getting in. The price of such netting will be about thirteen-pence halfpenny per yard. Pheasants in confinement must be treated pretty much the same way as fowls ; there must be sifted cinders, or a portion of the ground turned up for them to bather in, and some slacked lime or crushed oyster shells- placed about to assist digestion and formation of shell. Laurel, spruce firs, rhododendrons, pampas grass, &c., should be planted for shelter ; but there are many other evergreens I do not know the name of which make capital cover. Supposing you buy from dealers, go to known and respectable men, and choose young birds ; they will give you both good eggs and good birds. There are many dealers who are not to be trusted, and purchasing from such is simply throwing your, money away ; the eggs may have been sat upon, and in buying them you are often getting your own back again. I could give you some amusing instances of this. 252 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. Eggs from plieasantries should be collected every day, and the outlying covers and hedge- rows carefully looked after by your keeper or watchers. Pheasants often lay in curious places, and where you least expect to find nests. I once knew of a nest under one of the sleepers of a railway, and where the trains were hourly going over, but she hatched all off and went away with them. Your setting hens should be small and light game hens crossed with the bantam are the best they set well, are not too heavy, and are good mothers ; there should be no feathers about their legs, if there are they often get wet, and frequently, from the mud and dirt which* -collects on them, drag the eggs off the nest and spoil them. Set your hens a few days on a chalk egg or two to be certain they are thoroughly broody ; when you are sure that such is the case, put fifteen or sixteen good eggs under each hen, carefully noting the day you set them. The greatest attention must be paid when your hens are hatching off; if the chicks do not all come at once, those out first should be taken. REARING AND BREEDING PHEASANTS. 25$ away as soon as they are thoroughly dry, other- wise they may get trampled upon, or the hen may wish to go off with them before all are out; she may leave the weaker ones, or not finish hatching, and desert the rest. If any of the hatches should be small, or weak, distribute the chicks amongst the other hens at night, and set her again. Never set any eggs that are chipped, cracked,, small, or misshapen they are worthless, and will produce no chicks. Your coops should be placed in a dry, warm situation, and well sheltered from the north and west. In clover lays or mowing grass a swarth should be cut for each row of coops to stand in ;. it is also a path for the feeder to walk down, and he can see his birds, but the coops should never be placed where the clover or grass is too thick, or with too heavy a bottom. The coops must not be placed too close together, for if the young birds stray into a wrong one, the strange hen will frequently kill them. I like to see the- coops twenty or thirty paces apart. On no account allow any of your wild bird a 254 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. to hatch near the place where your coops are, for when they hatch off they are sure to come to your rearing ground, and will play old Harry with your tame ones. On dry ground no floor is required for your coops, but when the soil is damp and humid, a bottom is indispensable, otherwise your birds will get the cramp, and many will die. The best way is to have the floor a trifle bigger than your coop, but not nailed to it ; it can then be easily scraped and washed, as the greatest cleanliness is necessary. The floor may be gas-tarred on the side nearest the ground, which will make it last much longer. Many gas-tar their coops outside, which is a good plan ; oil will do nearly as well, as all that is required is to keep damp out. Your coops should be constantly hot lime- washed to destroy the vermin and keep them sweet. The pheasant feeder cannot be too par- ticular in having his coops wholesome and clean. They should be constantly shifted to fresh ground, facing them to the sun, but this can- not always be done, as I consider placing the REARING AND BREEDING PHEASANTS. 255 backs of the coops against the wind of more importance than facing them to the sun. All coops should have outlets, which may be made according to fancy. If gapes or pip appear, move them at once to some other place, and do not use that ground again for five or six years, or your birds will be certain to have it. Every breeder has his own ideas on feeding. Many go very expensively to work, and do no better than those who do not spend half the money. Hard-boiled eggs is a favourite food, but very costly. Ants' eggs another, but they are difficult and troublesome to procure flesh of rabbits, well boiled and chopped fine, is often given, also sheep's liver and live maggots or slightly baked, which they ought to be, as baked they do not scour. The putrid flesh, however, which you are obliged to have about to breed them is a great nuisance. Beef suet is another favourite boiled rice, Indian corn crushed, and groats are all good. In preference to all these give me Chamber- land's food ; give what you may, this condiment 256 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. cannot be beaten. I do not know what the ingredients are, possibly there is a little aniseed and caraway seed in it, or some spices, but at any rate it is excellent. In cold or wet weather, a little cayenne pepper, turpentine, white pepper, or olive oil may be added to their food once a day. Olive- oil must not be given often once a week is enough. If your birds are cold or shivering, a small quantity of spirits of turpentine may be added to it ; but it must be well mixed. My advice is, to use Chamberland's food, be- cause with it gapes and pip do not often appear. If you see the former has made its appearance anoint the body feathers of the hen and the in- side of her wings with turpentine ; it will make the chicks sneeze and do them good it is worms at the root of the tongue which cause them to gape a stiff feather brings them away better than anything else. Insert it into the root of the tongue, and twist it round, this will generally bring nearly all the worms away. I have seen many keepers very clever at this, and cure their birds in a short space of time. REARING AND BREEDING PHEASANTS. 257 Copperas dissolved in water is a good pre- ventive for gapes, so is stone vitriol, but both must be used with caution as they are poisons. In all food it is a good thing to use a little finely- chopped lettuce, but if you cannot get it, nettles. Never give water to healthy chicks, the moisture they get from the grass is quite sufficient. The most difficult time for the breeder is the first fortnight. Get them over that and with attention they are pretty safe. When young, they should be fed at least five times a day, at feeding times ; the slightest whistle or call will bring them to the feeder in scores, but they will come to any call they are accustomed to. I remember one keeper used to bring his birds together by beating an old spoon on the tin which held the food. There is another nasty thing young birds often take, and that is the Tettigonia spumaria. called by many " cuccoo spit," or "frog's spittle." When this is the case a little olive oil must be given, and the birds immediately removed to a drier and more airy situation. Birds that begin to droop and mope are generally those that are stunted in their growth, 17 258 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. and though they may scour a good deal, their crops will be found hard it is almost impossible to say what causes it possibly cold, wet, or indigestion. The latter may be removed by change of food, and given a little softer and moister. Curds, a little oil, or beef suet and egg- The breeder, if not using condiments, should always have plenty of eggs to make their food, and for this French or Irish eggs are the cheapest. The coops must be closed every night to keep them warm and cats and vermin away. On wet mornings they ought never to be let out too early. They should always be fed, shut up, and liberated at the same hour, and a heap of cin- ders, or sand placed near the coops for them to bather in. As the birds grow older there is no occasion to feed five times, you may reduce it by degrees to twice a day ; never give your birds too much at a time, but have them always hungry and eager to come to you. CHAPTER XXII. DOG SHOWS AN ADVENTURE AT THE BACK OF CLERKENWELL SESSION HOUSE. RULY these may be said to be the dog days. Although I am writing this in January, 1873, yet it is a fact. The Birmingham show is over, and numbered amongst the past ; non-successful exhibitors are in a state of rabid excitement ; letters are flying about, and the different sporting journals are publishing them. I have been a judge many times myself, and am fully aware of the great difficulty attending dog-shows, and the onerous duties attached to a judge. I will commence with the judge. He is a 172 260 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. gentleman chosen, in conjunction with several others, to adjudicate on the merits of a certain class of dogs put before them ; they ought not, and are supposed not to know anything of any animal before them. This is simply impossible as at present managed. I will give you an in- stance or two. Look at Kent, now I believe dead, and for- merly the champion black-tan setter; he was a dog without pedigree. No doubt he was a fine animal, but he never got good stock as a rule. I am not prepared to say he was a mon- grel. I merely say he was a dog without pedigree. When such a dog comes before the public as often as he did, and took so many prizes, it was impossible not to know him unless the judges were changed, and then no doubt he would have been immediately recognised by those who were newly appointed. Again there was Byron, the English lemon and white setter ; he was, I believe, also with- out pedigree, yet he secured several prizes in England, besides the gold medal in Paris. This dog I have heard nothing of lately. Both were DOG SHOWS. 261 said to be first class dogs in the field. They might have been ; I know nothing to the con- trary ; but to such dogs, knowing them as I did to be without pedigree, I would never have given a prize, or even look at them, for I con- sidered them very faulty as to shape and make. However, they think differently at Birmingham and elsewhere. Now suppose a judge did not know these dogs as many do ? he would naturally give the palm to the best-looking animal, and very justly so ; what they can do in the field, or how they are bred, is not his business ; he must award as the rules at present stand the prize to the handsomest and most symmetrical animal. How this difficulty is to be got over, I am at a loss to imagine ; it is certainly very annoying and vexing to a man who has been at the trouble and expense of breeding dogs from an old and undeniable strain, to be beaten by those who have no pedigree at all ; but so it is at pre- sent, and will be till some very great alteration is made, but who is to make it ? If a certain number of gentlemen would join together, men who breed and understand it 262 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. well, were to come forward, not under a nom de plume, but by their own proper names, then the public would be interested, and some good would be the result ; but as things are at pre- sent managed, why it must remain in static quo, which I for one am very sorry for, as I am, and have been for the last five-and-twenty years, a large breeder of all sorts of sporting dogs. We have our rules for racing, yachting, cricket, coursing, pigeon-shooting, &c., &c. Why not have new and revised rules for dog-shows ? It only wants to be taken firmly in hand and put forward, as I have before observed, by a com- mittee of influential gentlemen, and then I imagine there would be ho great difficulty ; but men are so diffident now-a-days, that I am almost inclined to give it up in disgust and breed no more ; still I hope that there " is a good time coming," and that good and true men will put their "shoulder to the wheel" and alter the present state of things. If anyone will only give me a hint, I shall only be too glad to bring the matter forward, and work it as far as I am able. Very many fondly imagine they can get a DOG SHOWS. 263 first class, well bred, and well broken field-dog for a five-pound-note; often and often have I received the same kind of letter "Do, there's a good fellow, find me out a tip- top pointer or setter ; I don't mind going as far as five pounds for one/' I should imagine not. I will show you the impossibility of it. Take a pup till he is six months old s. d. at one shilling per week for keep .160 Tax 050 Breaking 2 10 Keep, six months, at two shillings per week . . . . .2120 Physic and sundries . . . 10 7 3_'0 This is the price of a pup only one year old. I have said nothing of the price of the pup if you buy it I suppose it is given to you ; nor have I mentioned the fee, if you are a breeder, of having your bitch warded by a good dog. The breaking, especially, I have put at a very low figure. A very moderate dog cannot possibly be got 264 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. at eighteen months old under ten pounds, and if you go in for one of fashionable blood, I am quite certain that a good pup of six weeks old cannot be had un derive guineas, and then only as a favour. Well do I remember the prices asked by Lon- don dealers. In my younger days I was resolved to have a bulldog, as being the correct thing for a young blood, so I went off to a well-known fancier. I hunted about a long time before I could come on his whereabouts, which was somewhere down by the back of the Clerkenwell Session House. Though I have forgotten the name of the particular filthy and dirty court, I have not forgotten its whereabouts, or the visit in question. On knocking at the door of the bedroom (I had gone up two flights of stairs ; it was only a low two-storied house) I was invited to enter, which I did, and found the redoubtable dog- fancier and prize-fighter in bed with his wife, which bed was on the floor in one corner of the room. If my memory serves me right, there were two or three children in it as well. Running about were some fancy pigeons, and DOG SHOWS. 265 small toy dogs were in cages every here and there. The growling and snarling put me very much in mind of a visit to the Zoological Gar- dens in Regent's Park about feeding- time, and the stench that assailed me was by no means pleasant. After having stated my mission, I was re- quested to return in half-an-hour, when I found every vestige of the bed gone, though, where it had been stowed I knew not. A pretty good-sized fighting and rat pit was placed in readiness in the centre of the room. On each side of the fireplace was a small cupboard, and in them a badger, some rats in a large wire cage, and a game-cock in another held a prominent position. Giving him to understand the particular animal I wanted, he requested me " to step up the ladder into the cock-loft, and look out one." On getting up, such a fearful row ensued, that I thought I should be torn to bits, and the stench was enough to knock me down, so I beat a rather hasty retreat, but had time to see there were about fifty dogs of all kinds, 266 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. with chains certainly not more than two feet long; these were fastened to the floor, and each animal was furnished with a potato basket to sleep in. The only light that was admitted came through the crevices of the old and broken tiles. Turning to his wife, he said, " Go up, missus, and bring the white one and the rnealey-eyed 'un down. I take it the young gent ain't quite used to it." She presently descended, with the two dogs under her arms, and who were struggling to get at each other. They were pitted, set to, his fair wife assist- ing. Not taking my fancy, a brace of brindles, were next substituted, which did not suit, and finally I left, without being a purchaser, the animals not being what I wanted, and the prices exorbitant. In vain did the fancier offer to bait the badgers, and prove to me "his dawgs were the 'ammer." I could not be had ; so giving him a crown for his trouble, took my departure. I shall never forget this visit, though many years ago ; the misery of the place, and dirt, I DOG SHOWS. 267 see it all again in my mind's eye, and I am quite content to view it so. Some three years and a half ago, I went to judge at a show with some well-known sporting gentlemen. I had not been much in England for twenty years, and had forgotten nearly all my youthful acquaintances. The very first person I stumbled against was the ever-to-be-remembered dog-fancier. I knew him on the instant. There he was, as busy as a bee, in shirt sleeves ; a large frill to the said shirt, a dirty-white watered silk waistcoat, and still more dirty and greasy continuations. Yes, there he was, the fancier of bygone days, lord- ing it at a dog-show ; time close quarters bad air hard training drink, and late hours, had not affected him ; he was " as hearty as ever," and from his general appearance I should judge he had yet many days in store for him ; but " revenons a nos moutons." I cannot understand the enormous prices given for toy dogs. " Chacun a son gout" if toy-terriers and others are worth so much, what must be the value of a good field-dog ? I trust the matter of dog-shows will be kept 268 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. before the public, and the existing rules and regulations altered. No one will be more re- joiced than myself to see the true-bred dog win ; and I trust the day is close at hand when none. but faultlessly-bred animals and of unde- niable blood will be allowed to compete at dog- shows. CHAPTER XXIII. JULES FONTAINE AKD HIS FAMOUS DOG " LE BEAU POLYDOKE." 'ANY years ago the following laugh- able incident took place. And to anyone who understands French, and French manners, the picture will not, I think, appear overdrawn. I give it exactly as it happened : I had returned from Lower Brittany, after a month's very so-so sport, and had located my- self at Rennes, thinking where I could next wend my steps. I was sauntering down one of the principal streets one fine evening in October, turning over this knotty point in my brain, when I ran against an acquaintance of mine, one Jules Fontaine, and his famous dog, "Le beau Polydore." Both were returning from la chasse. 270 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. The dog seemed out of sorts, as did his master, who, by-the-by, was got up in the most approved sporting fashion. A black velvet jockey-cap, very high, such as is worn by her Majesty's postilions. A bit of badger-skin was stuck in it by way of ornament, and to show he was a sportsman. A silk neck-tie, bright scarlet and yellow. A blue and yellow velveteen (or stuff to imitate it) waistcoat, with one end of white pearl ; a coat of all sorts of colours, same material as the waistcoat, buttons to match. I fancied this last article was an attempt at Scotch plaid. A car- nassiere, or game-bag, large enough to hold half the hares and partridges in the department, ornamented with a green fringe about a foot deep, dangled at his back. A powder-flask of cow's horn was suspended across his shoulders by a green cord, and on the other side, suspended likewise by a green cord, was his dog-whistle ; a curious instrument which I cannot explain, but which made a sound similar to what our children make with a comb and bit of paper. An immense dog- whip hung at his button- JULES FONTAINE. 271 hole, one that, had Le beau Polydore received a lash well laid on, would have cut him in two ; for he was, in sporting parlance, " high in bone, and low in flesh." His trousers were of cotton oord, " Letoffe Anglaise, mon cher" gaiters to his knees over the continuations, which made his legs look from the knee downwards like two stuffed sacks, or gigantic sausages. They were laced and buttoned in the most intricate fashion, with many little tags and bits left flying about, which put you in mind of a Chinaman's tail, or " Sir Any Scattercash," otherwise named " Sixteen - stringed Jack," (vide " Sponge's Sporting Tour"). A pair of equally curious boots completed his costume. The whole get-up was much like one of the Italian brigands we see on the stage of our metropolitan theatres. As I have said, master and dog seemed down at mouth. "Bon jour, Monsieur Jules," said I, taking my hat off in the most approved fashion. "Good -sport to-day ?" " Comme a," said my French friend, like wise doffing his jockey cap ; " un beau lievre." 272 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. " Vraiment, where is he ?" " Ah, je n'en sais rien," said he. " Ah ! I see you have made a present of him ?" I said, determined to. know all about it. As he saw I was bent on having the whole story, taking me by the arm, he commenced : " Ah, voyez-vous, mon cher, c'etait un lievre de quinze livres au moins, gros comme un veau; je le tiens au i>out de mon fusil, voyez-vous, le coup parti dou, pang 1" (Those two Words were uttered with intense vehemence, and with his left hand stretched out trying to grasp the end of the barrel. I was really afraid he would blow his hancl off.) " Voila mon lievre," he continued, " qui fait la culbute; je cours pour le ramasser, mais sacre nom de Die a ! il reprend sa force et le voila reparti." " Ah," said I, " he went off no doubt to fetch the currant jelly." " De tout, mon cher, de tout." He evidently had not taken my joke, or mis- understood what I said. " Comment de tout ?" I continued, determined on drawing him out. Nothing I could say seemed to put him out, JULES FONTAINE. 273 for he went on still more vehemently and vigor- ously. " J'ai lance" Polydore apres ce sacre lievre, mais je ne 1'ai plus revu."j , " Perhaps your dog caught him," I suggested. "Mais non, mon cher ; mais non," he dole- fully replied. " Then you have shot nothing ?" I continued, determined at getting at the whole of his chasse. This last question seemed to offend him greatly. That an Englishman should for an instant imagine that un vrai chasseur like Mon- sieur Jules Fontaine and his beau chien Polydore could go out and bring nothing back was too much. " Si, mon cher, si," he answered triumphantly. " J'ai tue deux gibiers infe'rieurs, une grive, et un merle, tres bon a manger, vous savez." This was in fact his day's sport, a thrush and a blackbird. To make up for the roasting I had given him, I thought I mk 1 1 as well compliment him on his dog, and remarking what a handsome poin- ter it was, said it was a pity his tail had been 18 274 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. cut ; there was not more than six inches of the stump left. " Mais mon cher, c'est pour donner de la force dans les reins/' continued the imperturbable Frenchman ; but noticing my look of surprise that cutting off the tail should give strength to the loins, resumed " Ne fait pas a chez vous, n'est pas, mon cher ? Mais vous avez tort." I could stand no more, so looking at my watch I pretended I was in a great hurry, and left Jules et le beau Polydore in the streets of Rennes. CHAPTER XXIV. USEFUL RECEIPTS, AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. IN this chapter I shall give a few useful receipts ones that I have tried, and know to be good. I have hundreds, and out of that number more than half are not worth a button. I shall only give those that may be of service to the sports- man. A WASH TO GIVE A DOG A GOOD COAT. To be used once a week. After staying on three days, to be washed off with soft soap (McDougal's Carbolic soft soap is the best) and hot water. But if your dog is properly attended to he will not want this. Lime Water and Linseed Oil equal parts (one quart). One oz. Carbonate of Soda. 182 276 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. RECEIPT FOE WATERPROOF DRESSING FOR BOOTS. One oz. Pitch (Burgundy). Two do. Beeswax. Two do. Spirits of Turpentine. One pint Neats-foot Oil. This is a most excellent dressing for all sorts of leather, harness, &c., &c., which it will render as soft as possible. On old saddles and bridles it is invaluable. FOR DISTEMPER IN DOGS. There are many valuable medicines for this ; " Backhands" is very good ; " M'Callum's Spe- cific" equally so. Both " Backham" and " M'Cal- lum" advertise in " The Field" and other sport- ing papers. I always make my own medicine. And the two following I have found to be very useful. Equal parts of jalap and best Stockholm tar made into balls about the size of a small marble. Give one or two balls, as the case may be, every other day oftener if it does not act freely. USEFUL RECEIPTS. 277 If taken in its early stage, " Norton's Camo- mile Pills" are very effective. My keeper will never use anything else, and I must say he has been most successful. In all cases the dog must be kept very ivarm no draughts, or wet. Meat and high feeding must be avoided. Nice sheep's head broth is the proper thing to give them. A dog to be kept in good health should have proper exercise a warm, dry sleeping house, and a clean and well-drained exercise yard. Such a kennel should be well washed and scrubbed out every morning ; if there are many dogs, oftener. It should be hot lime washed every month. Their beds should never be foul or dirty. If you are tormented with fleas which you will not be if your kennel and dogs are properly looked after let them lie on shavings taken from a good piece of deal, with plenty of turpentine in it. Your dogs, to look well, must have great attention, and be well brushed every morning. Many sportsmen will not do this, or allow it to be done ; but after five-and-twenty years' ex- perience, I am fully persuaded it is the only 278 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. plan of making your dog's coat look bright and healthy. PURGE FOR DOG, HORSE, MAN, OR CHILD. Equal portions of Rhubarb, Gum Giancum, Nitre, and Sulphur. For a dog, one pill or two about the size of a marble. For a horse, a quarter of an ounce. For a man, four pills. For a child, one or more, according to its age and strength. MIXTURE FOR GRIPES IN HORSES. Nitrate Spirits ^Ether, four oz. Tincture of Opium, four oz. Tincture of Ginger, four oz. Give one ounce for a dose in a pint of warm water (beer is better), and repeat in one hour if requisite. This is a very valuable receipt. THE PROPER WAY TO GIVE ARECA NUT FOR WORMS IN DOGS. Get a fresh areca nut, put it in an iron vice USEFUL RECEIPTS. 279 fixed to a bench or table, then with a wood rasp, not too coarse, rasp it down. Get a cap- tain's biscuit, and rasp or pulverise it fine ; mix the two well together, then put it into a soup plate with plenty of milk, and let the dog lap it up. If he will not take it this way, drench him with it. This mixture should be given after the dog has fasted at least twelve hours. Four hours after this give one oz. castor oil. This should be given twice a week for a month, or more if required. A whole nut is not too much for a full-grown pointer or setter. Nothing I have ever tried has been so effec- tual as the areca nut. In giving all medicines, you must, of course, be guided by the constitution of your dog, and a great deal must depend on your own discre- tion, judgment, and observation. FOOT HOT IN FEKKETS. Your ferrets should be kept just as clean as your dogs, and you will then be free of this 280 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. disease. Their hutch should be hot lime washed every month or six weeks. Good and clean wheat straw for their bed, and constantly changed. After using them in damp or wet weather, well clean and dry their claws and/ee. If they show symptoms of rot in the feet or tail, at once scrape off all the affected part with your nail, or blunt penknife. Do not mind its bleeding, it must be got off. Then dip the affected parts in spirits of turpentine. Ferrets should have 2^ en ty f room it is the small confined space that is* generally allotted them which brings on disease. A cat is capital food for them, gives a splen- did coat, and makes them as fat as butter. A hedgehog skinned is equally good. If your ferret is low in condition by over- work, or other causes, the yolk of an egg given twice a day is not to be beaten they will take it greedily. Bread and milk, or milk and oatmeal por- ridge, is capital food, but it should not be given warm ; it is not natural to a ferret to have hot things, and it scours them. USEFUL RECEIPTS. 281 Handle your young ferrets as soon as pos- sible, and they will soon become tame and play about with you. Let the jill have plenty of milk before and after having young, and she will then seldom destroy her young ones. If your ferrets are bitten by polecat, or other vermin, put equal parts of sweet oil and turpen- tine on the wound ; some use burnt butter, or glycerine ; oil and turpentine is far the best. Feed your young ones for some time on bread and milk. FOR THB SWEAT. This is another disease ferrets, especially young ones, are very liable to. Dirt and cold in a great measure bring it on. The only cure is to have a perfectly dry hutch, in a warm place, and free from draught. Fill it full of clean wheaten straw, and this must be changed at least three or four times a day. In concluding my few brief remarks on dogs and ferrets, the greatest cleanliness is not only absolutely necessary, but they must have plenty of room, exercise, dry beds, and free from wet or draughts, and properly and regularly fed. 282 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. In beating your ground for partridges, and where the turnips and potatoes are in drills, never work up the drills because the birds see you much quicker. Your dogs, as a rule, should work up wind, but in this case it is not of much consequence. At the commencement and end of the season, turnips carry but little leaf, and the killing way, when birds are at all inclined to be wild, is to cross the drills and not walk up them. At the commencement of the season, men that are accustomed to it will always pick out the old birds, as they are much larger and stronger; you have then the covey at your mercy. If you can, always commence shooting your outskirts so as to drive the birds into your ground, not out of it. In hot' weather endeavour to drive your birds into heath, potatoes, seed clover, long grass or hedge rows, there they will He like stones. In snipe shooting, always have the wind at your back, the snipe flies up wind not down it, therefore by adopting this plan, you get a much GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 283 nearer shot at them than you would were you to work up-wind. In hard weather, and where the birds are frozen out of their usual feeding grounds, follow the running streams and little brooks, edges of rivers, and so forth ; your retriever is the only dog you will want at this time ; number eight shot is the best size for snipe shooting. In pheasant shooting, if you are working hedge rows, have a gun on each side, and let the hedges and brambles, etc., be well beaten, or if you have a good spanielj or retriever that you can depend on, let them work it for you, but they must always be kept within gun shot. In cover shooting, if you are ahead of the beaters or placed in a hot corner for the bouquet, never smoke, or make the least noise, otherwise you will lose a quantity of shots ; the same may be said when you are working your ferrets for rabbits, never show yourself, and be silent, otherwise they will not bolt, and it often takes an hour or two over one burrow^, whereas if you had been silent and out of sight, you would have worked the burrow in three minutes. It matters not where and at what you are 284 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. shooting, always be quiet, and never allow your friends or keepers to be halloaing and bawling. In duck shooting, and where you are walk- ing, always work up wind ; but if in a punt, down wind, disguising your punt if you possibly can with a bunch of fern or bushes ; these wary birds think something natural is coming down on them with the wind, and no danger. When within shot, give a slight whistle, which will bring their heads up, then let drive with your first barrel a little over them, and take them with your second as they rise, right into the brown of them. In plover shooting, if the birds are on the ground, to get near them you must walk round them in a circle, coming nearer by degrees, this is supposing you are by yourself, if you are two or three, you may work them in another way, and generally manage to drive them to the guns. The most killing way for plovers is of an even- ing to watch by their stands or roosting places ; they then come wheeling about backwards and forwards for more than an hour, and this way you may often have many effective shots. GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 285 Your keeper is a most important personage ; *as a rule they are the most ignorant, presuming, bumptious lot of fellows I know of can break dogs, breed pheasants to any amount, dress flies, etc., etc. There are good men occasionally to be had, but their name is certainly not Legion. I remember many years ago a man came to me for my place. I asked him for his character, and where he had been ; he gave me a good testimonial, and said he had been eleven years in his last place, which he had, but unfortu- nately his late employer, was no sportsman, knew nothing about it, and had only seen this man once a year during the whole time he had been with him. I asked him if he could break dogs. " Lord bless you, sir," he replied, " I've a broken hundreds, and though I say it there ain't a keeper a going as can do it better than I." " And are you a pretty good shot ?" I asked. " Well, sir," he replied with a sort of satisfied triumphant smile, "I ain't a man as is given to brag, but I b'lieve I can shoot above a bit ; 286 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. and as for pheasant rearing I can do any amount, and I never yet see the bird as I couldn't cure of the gapes." On the strength of his testimonial and abili- ties, I engaged this fellow at a pound a week, cottage and coals, rabbits for himself, and a suit at Christmas. Luckily for myself I only took him on a three months' trial, and said nothing to him of my habit of going round occasionally at night, and daytime as well, to see that all was right. He had not been with me a month before I discovered he knew nothing whatever of his calling, was a drunkard, a thief, and a presum- ing scoundrel, and having caught him one night at eleven o'clock in the midst of a heavy carousal with a few choice and kindred spirits, when he ought to have been out watching, gave him his dismissal there and then, and the next morning, Mr. S n took his departure, but not before blackguarding me to his heart's content, and finished by saying, " He was surprised as a gentleman as a ought to 'ave been a gentleman should a come a ferret- ing about his covers," and wound up by assert- GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 287 ing, " that such rubbish warn't worth a tinker's cuss." But my bootmaker becoming acquainted with his tailor, cut short his voluminous speech rather unceremoniously. You cannot be too cautious in engaging a keeper, and however good they may be, always make it a rule to have a look occasionally by daytime even if you will not by night. To me half the charm of shooting consists in looking at my dogs, seeing how they are fed and cleaned, watching my covers, killing vermin, and doing a little trapping. There is no occasion to interfere with your keepers if you see they are doing their work properly, and they will always respect you more if they know you observe their goings on ; they then take a pride in shewing you what they can do, and how they have done it. The same applies to your stables ; how many stud grooms are masters, and their masters men. I recollect an unfortunate friend of mine who kept a nice stud of hunters, never being allowed to ride the horse he wanted. If he said, 288 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. " Williams, I shall ride Jack in the Box to- day," his invaluable servant would .reply, " Jack in the Box, my Lord, not if I knows it ; he's tucked up and coughing like blazes, and I railly thinks he is got the hinfluenza." It mattered not what horse my friend wanted, there was always something wrong with that particular horse, and unfit to ride. At my suggestion he always named two or three he would ride, though in reality he did not want them, by this means he always got the horses he fancied. After being bullied by this fellow for two or three years, he at last plucked up courage and gave him his conge". I am sorry to see since I commenced this book, that with real sportsmen and men who know what dogs are, dog-shows are coming into general disfavour, and the reason is simply this, that men are chosen to adjudicate who are no sportsmen, and who know nothing whatever of the matter. I could name some, but polite- ness forbids my doing so, who have never shot a head of game, and others who have had but GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 289 little experience with the gun, yet you see them figuring as judges, and giving their valuable dictums of what a shooting dog ought to be. Others who have never crossed a horse, or at any rate ridden to hounds, judging this class preposterous ! it is no wonder that many shoot- ing and hunting men deride and laugh at dog- shows. Men should be chosen who are known to be good authorities, and understand their work. I could write some hundreds more pages on hunting, shooting, fishing, and general sporting, but space forbids me entering more fully into it, and I am afraid that my worthy friend and publisher, Mr. Bentley, will be sending me a line saying I have already exceeded the space he allowed, so I must now conclude by saying my task is done, and I trust that these short sketches will not only prove amusing, but instructive. I think perhaps I may have in- dulged in some curious names and expressions. But those who are country bred will under- stand how almost everyone is nicknamed there, and that there is no exaggeration in them. If my experience may be of any service to those 19 290 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. who invest in this little book, and take the trouble to read it, then I shall be more than amply repaid by the time I have devoted to it. THE END. BILLING, "BIN-TEE, OUILDFOBD, 6UKBET. m yc 12129 M314093