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 SHOOTING, YACHTING, 
 AND SEA-FISHING TRIPS. 
 
 SECOND SERIES.
 
 SHOOTING, YACHTING, 
 AND SEA-FISHING TRIPS, 
 
 AT HOME AND ON THE CONTINENT. 
 
 SECOND SERIES. 
 
 BY 
 
 " WILD FOWLER," " SNAPSHOT. 
 
 En 2Tfa0 Fofamos. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 CHAPMAN & HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 
 1877.
 
 CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS. 
 CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 MY former books, " Shooting and Fishing Trips in England, 
 France, Alsace, Belgium, Holland, and Bavaria," having met 
 with a most flattering reception at the hands of the Press 
 and of the Sporting Public, and many correspondents 
 having written to ask for the continuation of my trips, I 
 am most happy to comply with their wishes. 
 
 The contents of the present work first appeared, 
 in the form of articles, in the following journals, viz. : 
 Bell's Life in London, The Country, The Sporting 
 Gazette, The Irish Sportsman, The Live Stock Journal 
 and Fanciers* Gazette ; and whilst thus acknowledging the 
 channels through which I originally introduced my lucu- 
 brations to the Public, it behoves me and is, to me, 
 a sincere pleasure to tender my heartiest thanks to the 
 Proprietors and to the Editors of those papers for their 
 great kindness to me. 
 
 1059595
 
 vi Introduction. 
 
 In conclusion, I trust my readers will extend to this 
 new series the patronage they have so liberally bestowed 
 on the first ; and I hope the Reviewers, who have unani- 
 mously treated my " Shooting and Fishing Trips " so good- 
 naturedly, will look upon the present new volumes with 
 equal favour. I have to thank them for, and have taken 
 heed of, their wholesome criticisms, in the hope that they 
 may now find still more praise to bestow on my new 
 venture than they did on the last and they were most 
 gracious to me then. 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 SHOOTING EXCURSIONS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGB 
 
 I. "GLORIOUS TWELFTH," 1876 . . . . ' . . 3 
 
 II. SNIPE-SHOOTING IN IRELAND . . . . . .12 
 
 III. THE "FIRST" . . , i ..... 21 
 
 IV. RABBITING IN DOWNS . . . . . .- -31 
 
 V. REDLEG-SHOOTING IN NORFOLK ..... 41 
 
 VI. SHORE-SHOOTING FROM PURFLEET TO TILBURY . . 52 
 VII. PHEASANT-SHOOTING IN SURREY ..... 62 
 
 VIII. THE WESTERN SHORE OF CANVEY ISLAND ... 72 
 IX. THE EASTERN SHORE OF CANVEY ISLAND ... 79 
 X. SEASONABLE SPORT AFTER "THE SEASON" ... 88 
 XI. A BY-DAY AT THE NORE ....... 100 
 
 XII. A WILDFOWL-SHOOTING EXPEDITION NEAR SOUTHEND . 108 
 
 HINTS AND REMARKS ON SHOOTING. 
 
 XIII. FACTS ABOUT PIGEON-SHOOTING ..... 117 
 
 XIV. SHOOTING AT RANDOM ....... 128 
 
 XV. THE BROTHERHOOD OF SPORT ...... 138 
 
 XVI. IN A STALKING-HORSE ....... 143
 
 viii Table of Contents. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 XVII. GROUSE-DRIVING AS A SPORT 147 
 
 XVIII. BOG-TROTTING 153 
 
 XIX. DOGS FOR BOG-TROTTING 160 
 
 XX. A WORD ABOUT RETRIEVERS 166 
 
 XXI. NEW SYSTEM FOR JUDGING AT FIELD-TRIALS . .174 
 
 XXII. VERMIN VERSUS GAME 182 
 
 XXIII. REDLEGS 187 
 
 XXIV. PRACTICAL HINTS ON SHOOTING 192 
 
 XXV. ,, Continued . . .201 
 
 XXVI. 208 
 
 XXVII. THE PHILOSOPHY OF SHOOTING . . . .215 
 
 XXVIII. SPORTSMEN WE ALL HAVE KNOWN 223 
 
 XXIX. Continued . . .231 
 
 SHOOTING ON THE CONTINENT. 
 
 XXX. CONTINENTAL SPORTSMEN, BREAKERS, AND POACHERS . 241 
 XXXI. ,, ,, Continued 251 
 
 XXXII. P'REE SHOOTINGS ON THE CONTINENT . . . . 262 
 
 XXXIII. Continued . . 271 
 
 XXXIV. DUCK-DECOYING IN FRANCE . . .... 285 
 
 XXXV. SHOOTING IN FRANCE . . ... . .289
 
 SHOOTING EXCURSIONS. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 SHOOTING EXCURSIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 "GLORIOUS TWELFTH," 1876. 
 
 IT is rather earlier than I like, when the knock comes 
 at my bedroom door, and when, in answer to my startled 
 "All right!" comes the information that "the master is 
 up and getting ready, and breakfast is waiting." 
 
 " Surely," I dreamily reason to myself, " it cannot 
 possibly be time to rise ; " but I get up and go to the 
 nearest window, and I see that the heavens are already 
 getting of a very pale blue overhead, and in the east 
 a faint light seems to radiate through the morning mist 
 at the horizon. 
 
 This settles the question, and mental visions of lots 
 of birds, literally swarming among the heather, reconcile 
 me thoroughly with the absolute necessity of leaving 
 my cosy bed for the day's sport. 
 
 Presently, whilst I am in the tub, I hear a neighbour- 
 ing bedroom door being noisily opened, and young Ken, 
 forthwith, is vehemently calling out my name. So I open 
 
 B 2
 
 4 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 my door, and look out to see what he wants, and I find 
 him grinning with delight from ear to ear. 
 
 "Is not it a beautiful morning, ah, old boy?" he ex- 
 claims ; " we will have a glorious day of it, mark my 
 words." 
 
 Yes, everything promised well, but I said I dreaded the 
 heat, which we were sure to experience over the moor, 
 with no shelter of any sort until we retraced our foot- 
 steps towards the glen. And thus we are exchanging 
 our remarks, standing in the passage, almost naked, and 
 violently towelling our respective bodies, when someone 
 else turns up from upstairs ; and as it turns out to be the 
 old housekeeper, we did not wish to shock sa vertu, and, 
 accordingly, we precipitately retreated to our respective 
 " nests," where we hastily donned our shooting gear and 
 then went together downstairs. 
 
 We met the Squire in the yard ; he was bareheaded, and 
 was discussing with Sam, the keeper, the probabilities of 
 our sport. 
 
 " By Jove !" said he to me, "we will have it hot to-day, I 
 can tell you. I don't remember having experienced such 
 hot weather as we did yesterday and the three preceding 
 days since the year 1840 'something or other ;' and Sam, 
 who is a regular weather-prophet, says that to day will be 
 as bad as anything we have as yet experienced." 
 
 " Well," I rejoined, " we are in for it, and since one must 
 ' suffer to be happy,' let us make up our minds to be well 
 roasted to-day, that's all." 
 
 And we went in to breakfast. Mrs. Ashton, the house- 
 keeper, had prepared everything right royally for our spread, 
 and we did honour to it. Whilst thus engaged Sam came 
 in to say that the men had just arrived, and the Squire 
 forthwith ordered something to be sent them.
 
 ''Glorious Twelfth" 1876. 5 
 
 Finally, just when the heavens were getting radiantly 
 illumined by the already ardent beams of the sun, we 
 marched off, Ken and I leading the way with our guns 
 already loaded, eager for the fray. The Squire came next, 
 with Sam, who was carrying his master's gun, and we 
 crossed the primitive bridge over the stream and began the 
 ascent. As we were beginning the climbing, the thought 
 struck me that we might find a rabbit or two on our way, 
 and that would considerably enliven the process, and I did, 
 indeed, fire once at a bunny ; but the light had not yet got 
 well into the glen, and I therefore missed him in the most 
 delightful manner. 
 
 At last we stood on the brow, and there we stopped and 
 waited for the rear. 
 
 " Now, Sam," said the Squire, " there is but little wind 
 blowing, and that comes seawards, and therefore pretty right 
 for us as we now stand ; I think we may begin here." 
 
 Sam then gave him up the gun, into which my host 
 deliberately shoved the two first cartridges of the season, 
 and, at a signal from him, the brace of pointers were let go, 
 much to the discomfiture of the setters, who struggled 
 desperately to be let loose too, and who started together 
 with such startling unanimity as to almost pull the lad that 
 was holding, them down on his face. 
 
 Meanwhile the old dog, Bang, had taken his sweep to 
 the left, and had gone almost out of sight. Ken thereupon 
 inquired of Sam if it would not be desirable to keep him a 
 little more steady ; but Sam, with conscious pride, remarked 
 that Bang could be trusted, and this my host confirmed 
 with a knowing nod. 
 
 " Jess is on point, at any rate," quoth Ken, who had 
 the right wing. 
 
 " And so is Bang," I rejoined.
 
 6 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 "Well, you both go to the points," said my host, 
 "and I will take my chance where I may happen to be 
 walking." 
 
 But we would not hear of it, and insisted upon his 
 coming too. 
 
 " Well, you see," he went on, " I am not so young as I 
 once was, and I know you are both impatiently longing to 
 have a crack, so it would be better for you to go on ' your 
 own hook,' rather than wait for my slow progression." 
 
 But this was all nonsense. The "old man," as Ken 
 somewhat irreverently, but with great fondness, calls his 
 father, got on as well as we did, and we got to Bang's point 
 with very little delay, Bang was in a half-circle, his chest 
 heaving tremendously, and his great brown eyes turning 
 slowly from us to the point where his nose told him that the 
 birds were. He never moved, and as Sam trains his dogs 
 to remain on point, and does not induce them to go on when 
 the guns come up to them, we had to pass him. The 
 moment we did so, he turned himself straight, and became 
 as rigid as a marble statue, and up went the lot nine, all 
 told. The "old 'un," as Sam called the cock, went on 
 a port tack, and I sent him a Schultze dose that pitched him 
 toes over head, like a heap of rags, into a tuft of heather. 
 With my second I settled a " towerer," who meant going to 
 the moon seemingly ; and the Squire thereupon remarked 
 that we had begun well. He had a brace to his account, 
 and Ken had had a clean kill with his first, and had origi- 
 nally hit the towerer with his second. 
 
 The Squire then took one of the birds he had shot, and r 
 calling Bang, placed the grouse near his muzzle. The old 
 dog was as pleased as Punch, licked the bird carefully, 
 buried his nose once or twice in its warm feathers, and 
 looked unutterably grateful things.
 
 " Glorious Twelfth" 1876. 7 
 
 This done, at a. move of the governor's hand, he went 
 on again, and we stalked towards the bitch. 
 
 Bang, however, was hardly started on his journey when, 
 going up a knoll, he caught sight of his mate, and down 
 he went, a most beautiful back at some hundred yards' 
 range. 
 
 A lovely thing it was to see performed, and I felt I 
 could have hugged the old dog round the neck, for the 
 treat he had given us. The pack over Jess proved to be 
 smaller than the first by one bird, and we again got five 
 birds out of it. This time the odd bird belonged to me. 
 I had fired at it as soon as it had risen, and the short range 
 had proved a tickler for my Tolley modified choke-bore, for 
 I missed as clean as could be. Fortunately, however, I had 
 no smoke bothering me, as the Schultze powder produces but 
 very little, so that I was enabled, at once, to place efficiently 
 my second barrel. Now grouse are flying uncommonly fast 
 and strong this year, so that, although the interval between 
 the two shots was necessarily of a very short nature, yet 
 my escaping bird was fully sixty odd yards off when I cut it 
 down. This was my first long shot, and immediately after 
 I had occasion for a second, as a single cock rose a long 
 way off, just as I was closing the gun, and the Squire's 
 words were still on his lips : 
 
 " Don't fire. Too far ! " when I pulled trigger, and, to 
 my immense satisfaction, and to the Squire's astonishment, 
 I floored the bird. 
 
 " You are still good at that sort of game, then ? Your 
 hand," said he, " though so much at work with the pen, has 
 lost none of its cunning with the gun." 
 
 " Give praise where it is due," I rejoined, laughing ; 
 " the gun is a good one, and the cartridges kill well ; the 
 rest is merely habit."
 
 8 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 " True, true," said he ; " but let me try one or two of 
 those loads of yours." 
 
 I handed him a dozen, remarking that one or two would 
 be no criterion of any cartridges, as at first starting one 
 might miss, and then lay the blame on them. 
 
 Subsequently he appreciated them so very highly that 
 he declared his intention to use no other. 
 
 At this stage of our proceedings, although it was 
 only 7.30 or 8 A.M., the heat began to be felt by 
 all of us. The cool air of the night had vanished. The 
 mists of the valley were gone, and the heather already 
 began to steam i.e. above it, for a foot or two, a thick 
 cloud of hot air seemed to dance all over the moor and 
 that promised badly for scent and for subsequent sport. 
 Indeed, we managed tolerably well as regards the latter, 
 but the former, in due time, became wofully deficient, and 
 the dogs, setters, and pointers by noon were quite done, 
 both in limb and in nose, in spite of water being given 
 them to drink, and some being thrown over them. In fact, 
 I do not remember ever having experienced such heat on 
 the moors on any " twelfth " within my recollection, and 
 that extends to some fourteen or fifteen years. It was 
 simply awful. We took off every part of our clothing that 
 could possibly be dispensed with, and yet we were literally 
 melting. 
 
 As for dry walking, why, this was quite a new feature 
 after last year's floods. 
 
 Why, the previous year, before we had been a quarter of 
 an hour on the moor, our waterproof boots were thoroughly 
 filled with water, and all day we went on as though snipe- 
 shooting rather than grouse-shooting. But, now, what 
 a change had come over the scene ! It was like walking 
 on a thick and well-matted carpet, and very pleasant it
 
 "Glorious Twelfth" 1876. 9 
 
 would have been but for the hot weather. Howbeit the 
 bloom on the heather would have done any artist's heart 
 good to behold, and the ever-changing aspect of the light 
 thrown thereon, as the sun by turns brightened some places, 
 and then threw them into comparative gloom by hiding his 
 blazing face behind a fleeting cloud, was something to be 
 beheld in order to be appreciated. 
 
 Our men, however, cared but little for that sort of thing, 
 and, really, one could not help pitying them. There they 
 were, four of them, literally groaning under the weight of 
 our game and the heat of the sun, and yet they looked 
 vastly interested whenever game turned up. Now, it is an 
 astonishing thing what a difference it makes in a game- 
 bearer's countenance and step when the shooters are 
 tramping on, nothing being on the tapis for the time being, 
 and when, all of a sudden, either a shot turns up, or else 
 the dogs are seen to fall on point. The game-bearers 
 trudge along, in the first case, as though they fully realised 
 that they " shall earn their daily bread " by the sweat of 
 their brows, and did not relish the process ; but the moment 
 a point is enthusiastically pointed out, they put up their 
 heads, their eyes sparkle, their blood is up, and fifty grouse 
 on each of their backs could not prevent them from walking 
 boldly upright, as though proud of their burdens. 
 
 Yes, there is a something in the gun which acts like a 
 magic wand with all sporting natures, and beaters, keepers, 
 game-bearers, and shooters all feel bound together, for the 
 time being, in the pursuit of sport, because they share alike 
 in its exciting incidents. We had, as usual, a few " sensa- 
 tions " during the day. First an unlucky rabbit (possessed 
 of an evil spirit, surely) chooses to run the gauntlet of the 
 three of us, and, mirabile dictu ! he escaped. How he did 
 it is to us a mystery, but he did. And it happened in this
 
 io Shooting Excursions. 
 
 wise : Bunny started from Ken's right, and came past 
 him. Bang ! Bang ! 
 
 " Oh, Ken ! " exclaimed the father, " what a duffer you 
 must be ! " and he also bang-banged with the same result. 
 
 " The devil ! " he exclaimed ruefully, whilst the rabbit 
 came my way, and, to be candid, it was an easy shot, but I 
 was laughing so immoderately at the queer faces of my 
 two friends, that I fired almost without attempting to kill, 
 and of course missed him too. Sam's face was a study 
 then. The next bit of fun .was at golden plovers. We 
 were walking on in a line, and the setters then were at work, 
 when I saw a small gray cloud rapidly flying over the moor, 
 and I called out, " Plovers !" when we all stopped, and they 
 passed right over us. Our six barrels floored about a score, 
 and two wounded ones were followed and picked up by the 
 under-keeper. 
 
 The heat was then so terrific that it was impossible to 
 remain walking any longer, unless we had wished to court 
 a sunstroke, or something equally unpleasant. We there- 
 fore turned to the right-about, and leisurely came back to 
 the house. After luncheon, I went to my bedroom, lay on 
 the bed, and went off to sleep. 
 
 At 3 o'clock we started anew, but the heat, if anything, 
 had increased, and it will therefore be readily imagined 
 that the "fagging" was of a most delightful kind. 
 
 Howbeit, when we stopped work, somewhere near 8 
 o'clock, we were a tremendous long way from the house, 
 and, owing to the scent having considerably improved 
 within the last two or three hours, we had bagged in 
 regal style right throughout. Our bag for the day, over 
 four dogs, was ninety-three brace of grouse, besides a 
 score of rabbits, the plovers I have mentioned, a hare, and
 
 ''Glorious Twelfth" 1876. n 
 
 half-a-dozen snipe, which latter we picked up from sundry 
 marshy hollows. 
 
 By-the-way, snipe were uncommonly scarce, but the 
 continued drought accounts for it. 
 
 As regards the grouse, I do not believe we shot more 
 than a dozen, without the dogs had pointed them, and 
 therefore the numerous points we had in the course of the 
 day, may readily be reckoned and estimated. It was a 
 glorious treat, indeed, and may dogs again, for ever, be 
 used in the pursuit of sport ! That is my sincerest wish. 
 
 Altogether, then, "glorious twelfth" was indeed a 
 glorious day. Throughout the length and breadth of the 
 moors, in England and Scotland, there came nothing but 
 congratulations to be heard on all sides, as to the magnifi- 
 cent show of birds and the rare sport experienced. This, 
 then, made ample compensation for the bothers which 
 assailed grouse-shooters on account of the disease within 
 the previous four years ; and let us trust that, practically, 
 we have seen the last of that unbounded nuisance. It exists 
 still in some parts, I am told, but then it ought to be circum- 
 scribed, and stamped out at once if possible ; and surely it 
 is within the powers of moor-owners and lessees to get it 
 done, even if the whole of their stock had to be extermi- 
 nated. 
 
 In conclusion, I beg to tender my thanks to the friends 
 with whom I spent such a " glorious twelfth." I could not 
 stop longer much against their entreaties, and much 
 against my own wishes but hoped soon again to have 
 another turn over the moor.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SNIPE-SHOOTING IN IRELAND. 
 
 " WILL you come and have a shy over one of the best bits 
 of snipe ground in our part of the country ?" said an Irish 
 friend to me at an hotel in Dublin, where I had just 
 arrived. 
 
 I accepted the proposal with enthusiasm ; and need I 
 add that, as I had no time to lose, we made up our minds 
 to go on at once ? and a forty-mile ride by train, and a 
 ten-mile drive in my companion's jaunting car, brought 
 us to his " roosting-place." It was about 12.30 P.M., 
 and I was glad to turn in, without delay. A glass of 
 whisky, with the very smallest amount of water, sent me 
 off to sleep like a top, and I dreamt of snipe rising 
 around me, all " tchicking " me well-nigh to madness. 
 
 "We must be in the marsh the very moment daylight 
 begins to be strong," said my friend, " for the birds are 
 mostly ready to depart when the sun gets rather high and 
 hot." 
 
 We breakfasted by candlelight, and soon despatched 
 our meal. 
 
 We then repaired to the yard, where we found Patrick 
 (my friend's factotum coachman, groom, valet, and game- 
 keeper, all rolled up into one jovial sort of body) seated on
 
 Snipe-Shooting in Ireland. 13 
 
 the box of the car ; and he gathered up the reins when he 
 saw us emerging from the house. 
 
 It was still dark, and the way the fellow drove us down 
 into the valley, turning sharp corners with a swish, and 
 never slackening speed any way, whether going up or 
 down, was a treat. Nevertheless, he nearly landed us, in 
 turns, on the roadside, but we arrived with whole skins 
 near a gate, whereat our driver pulled up, and we dis- 
 mounted. A man was waiting there to take the car home, 
 and Patrick slinging the game-bag on his back, and two 
 cartridge-bags well filled, on either shoulder, we loaded our 
 guns, flung our legs over the gate, and entered into the 
 sport on hand just when the sun was rising. 
 
 The morning was lovely, and the breeze somewhat 
 keen a feature that I have always noticed belongs to the 
 atmosphere of the " Emerald Oisle." 
 
 We had two setters, and they began by pointing 
 near the road, in a brambly bush about a cubic foot in 
 size. 
 
 "A hare!" quoth Pat. 
 
 And it was. It proved to be a tolerably difficult shot, 
 as those beggars, in that part of the world, are always 
 more or less on the run, most of the peasants owning 
 lurchers and half-bred greyhounds that do nothing all the 
 day, and part of the night, but prowl about to pick up 
 whatever they can find. This makes hares tolerably wary, 
 and the way this one cut about to the right, to the left, and 
 in all sorts of ways, was a teazer to the gun. I missed her 
 with my first barrel, and my friend with both his, but my 
 last hit puss, and we got her after all. 
 
 Those shooters who assert that hare-shooting is very 
 easy, ought to be " entered " on Irish hares, bred under the 
 aforementioned circumstances, and then they would find
 
 14 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 out that a fair percentage of the runners would give them 
 the slip. 
 
 The hare bagged, one of the dogs found a covey of 
 partridges, all pretty forward ; but, of course, we did not 
 molest them. (This was taking place in August.) There 
 were sixteen young ones and the two parents, and that 
 looked well for September sport. 
 
 Beyond the meadow was the bog, and for miles it 
 extended right and left In front it went as far as the 
 mountain, and we had therefore plenty of ground to 
 quarter, if we felt inclined to quarter it all. 
 
 The walking altered somewhat suddenly. From the 
 dry, springy ground of the meadow we entered upon a 
 soft bog, at times very wet ; in some places bare, in others 
 pretty thickly covered over with reeds and grass, yet damp 
 with the morning dew in consequence whereof, in five 
 minutes, my legs, up to my thighs, were as thoroughly wet 
 as if I had stepped into a ditch. 
 
 The dogs began their quartering without delay, and 
 both found, almost simultaneously, and near each other. 
 
 "That is a whisp," said my companion ; "there will be 
 five or six birds there. Let us both go, and keep our eyes 
 open ; we ought to get two couples out of that lot." 
 
 We did not, though, for I missed my first shot in a 
 shameful manner ; and, only by a fluke, did I succeed in 
 wounding the twisty bird with my second. My friend 
 grassed both his birds in a workmanlike manner, and he 
 could not help looking at Patrick, as much as to say : 
 
 " We will show him " (meaning me) " how snipe-shooting 
 ought to be carried on." 
 
 This naturally put me on my mettle, and I resolved to 
 do my very best, making up my mind to fire in my usual 
 snap-shooting fashion, and not to delay on any considera-
 
 Snipe-Shooting in Ireland. 15 
 
 tion, taking it for granted that, if I missed the first shot, I 
 should have time to place the second ; and if I scored with 
 the first, well, I could " help " another bird to a dose, too, 
 if one happened to get up then. 
 
 But I found my intended programme very deficient, 
 from reasons over which I had no control, and the 
 stumbling-block proved to be my ordinary cartridges, for 
 these, joined to the tight-carrying properties of my modified 
 choke-bore, simply nonplussed me. I could not hit the 
 birds. By that I do not mean that I did not kill any at all ; 
 I did certainly knock over two or three, but I missed half- 
 a-dozen shots almost running, owing to the birds springing 
 up at such a short range that I either clean missed with 
 my tight loads, or else I smashed the bird but the former 
 was the rule. 
 
 " I tell you what it is," I then remarked, " it is not 
 of the slightest use for me to throw away my ammunition 
 in that style ; I must stop and alter my cartridges." 
 
 Out of the game-bag came the corkscrew we intended 
 using for our drinks, and I sat down on a dry bank, with 
 Pat in attendance. I emptied the shot out of about forty 
 of my cartridges, and withdrew from them about a fifth 
 part of the Schultze powder. I then replaced the wads, 
 filled the shells with the small shot, placed the top wad on, 
 creased the cases over anyhow with the handle of the 
 corkscrew, and then I felt satisfied. 
 
 The next point proved to be on a single bird, and I 
 grassed it before it had got up more than a couple of yards 
 above ground. It was not more than twenty yards from 
 me when it got up, so that the cartridges were then just 
 what they should be. I shall give a hint to that effect 
 when ordering a fresh batch of cartridges, whenever I need 
 any, for shooting snipe at close quarters. As regards the
 
 1 6 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 birds that were a good way from the gun, the original 
 cartridges I had were simply marvellous in their effects. 
 Distance did not seem to matter; and as the birds are 
 pretty tender, the cartridges were tolerably sure to be 
 certain death to the majority. So far I had then nothing 
 to disturb me, and with the right barrel loaded with a 
 " doctored " cartridge, and the left one with an ordinary 
 one, I got on first-rate, and my companion began to look 
 sharp after his laurels, for I am a pretty good hand on 
 snipe when my ammunition is right, and the birds not too 
 wild. Ours were not, at least until eleven o'clock, when 
 they began to be uncommonly fidgety. Moreover, there 
 were not so many as usual at least so my friend told me, 
 for I had never been there before. 
 
 " Last year," he said, " I shot twenty couple in this 
 very marsh in two hours' time, and I don't call that bad 
 fun, by any means." 
 
 I quite agreed with him there. Snipe-shooting, when 
 the birds are tolerably abundant, is simply right regal 
 sport, and there is a certain charm in it which one does 
 not meet in ordinary field-shooting. True, the walking 
 is damp ; but then, if boots and socks are changed as 
 soon as shooting is over, there is no danger to dread, 
 and this is not a very troublesome precaution to take. 
 Moreover, some people like mud-larking I do. I like 
 floundering in a bog, and don't feel the wet as long as 
 birds are to be seen ; and splashing about in quagmires, 
 when sporting, simply delighteth my soul. Truly, we 
 are queerly constituted. When we are out for a walk, 
 we pick out a cleanly-swept crossing when wishing to 
 go over the street, if it has been raining ever so little. 
 When out shooting we go through anything, as a matter 
 of course. When we stopped for luncheon, we agreed
 
 Snipe- Shooting in Ireland. 1 7 
 
 that two hard-working sewer-cleaners would have been 
 a match for us in cleanliness, at that time at any rate. 
 But we were very happy. Two or three lapwings, with 
 their prettily-coloured tufts and plumage, half-a-dozen 
 plovers, a sandpiper, twenty-seven snipe and jacksnipe, 
 besides a hare, spread on the bank, looked very well, 
 and we drank health and prosperity to all the game 
 tribes with an enthusiasm that will be easily understood 
 by gunners who read this. 
 
 Whilst at luncheon, we discussed the theory about 
 snipe lifting themselves up on their bills when they intend 
 rising, which theory created such a commotion in the 
 snipe-shooting world some seasons ago. If snipe perform 
 that sort of thing, no man can detect anything of the sort ; 
 it would be too quick work for any- human eyes to per- 
 ceive. That snipe lower their heads when going to spring 
 is a necessary and unconscious action, which all living 
 things must necessarily perform under the same circum- 
 stances. No man can jump, even a foot high, without 
 lowering his head, and probably if he were a quadruped 
 or a bird, and had a long snout or bill, the said snout or 
 bill would pretty well touch the ground when he would be 
 in the act of jumping ; but anyhow, whether snipe do or 
 do not use their bills when rising is a matter of the very 
 smallest consequence. I should think knocking them over 
 is the main point. 
 
 Our luncheon over, we had a quiet smoke, which was 
 interrupted by both the dogs flushing a landrail and chas- 
 ing it, much to our amusement. They were, however, 
 sternly reproved, and dropped when called upon to do 
 so, and t we went in search of the long-legged customer. 
 He ran, "you may bet your bottom dollar on it," as the 
 Yankees say, but we ran the harder ; and, finally, between 
 VOL. i. c
 
 1 8 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 the three of us and the two dogs, he was compelled to- 
 rise, and I blew my nose ostentatiously before firing and 
 killing it. 
 
 The dogs then went back to the stream, near a row 
 of willow trees, and kept running up and down the bank,, 
 under the roots of an old willow. We went there to see 
 what it was, and for a long time could not make it out. 
 In fact, we had given it up, and were returning to the bog 
 and to snipes, when Pat, who had remained behind, poking 
 his stick under the roots, suddenly called out : 
 
 " There goes a maar-hen !" 
 
 And my companion, turning round in time, fetched the 
 moorhen such a whack that its feathers went flying "all 
 over the shop." The dogs were awfully tickled at seeing 
 the black customer 'thus brought to book at last, and 
 their little indulgence over, we resumed our bona fide 
 sport, and they went on ranging. 
 
 We were exchanging remarks on the forthcoming 
 partridge season, and finishing our cigars, when an excla- 
 mation from my friend made me look up, and, behold ! 
 a teal was rising majestically out of the stream. We 
 stopped with a jerk, as well may be imagined ; Pat down- 
 charged the dogs a not very necessary proceeding, as 
 they were almost hidden in the thick grass and rushes ; 
 but still it kept them quiet, and that was something and 
 we kept our eyes on the teal. He got up very steadily, 
 and evidently of his own accord, for after a half circle over 
 the marsh, he turned back for a bend of the stream, and 
 dropped there. We started at once at full trot for him. 
 We went round behind a reed bed, and, at last, when we 
 were right in front of the spot where we had seen the bird 
 drop : 
 
 " Now," whispered my companion, " he is there ! "
 
 Snipe-Shooting in Ireland. 19 
 
 "No," I said, "he will be higher up. He is sure to 
 have swum against the stream, especially after having 
 seen us." 
 
 "Well," he sturdily maintained, "I say he is here. Bet 
 you a crown ! " 
 
 "Done !" I replied, "but as I do not wish to lose him, 
 whatever our bet comes to, you stop where you are until I 
 get a little higher up, and then we will advance together 
 towards the water." 
 
 "All right," he nodded ; and I went, running lightly 
 and stooping. 
 
 When about eighty yards from my friend, I stop, turn 
 to the left, lift up my hand as a signal, and we both 
 advance. He clutches his gun so nervously that I laugh. 
 But, Jerusalem ! when I lift up my head, my breath is 
 taken away, for there are, not one, but five teal in front 
 of me, and they are all getting up, and look then as 
 though there were fifty of them instead of five. However, 
 I stop and blaze away deliberately, as teal are easy shots. 
 I kill one with my first barrel, and perceiving that the rest 
 (now fairly on their wings) are going to crowd, and are, in 
 fact, crowding together, I bide my chance, and when two 
 are actually one behind the other, I shoulder and fire at 
 the same moment, and forthwith knock both into their 
 happy feeding-ground. 
 
 " Bravo ! " shouts my companion, who had seen it all, 
 and Pat looks at me with far more respect than he had 
 done until then, and he scratches his ears, and then his 
 nose, and looks very suggestively at his master. 
 
 " That was not only a good shot," my friend remarks, 
 " but a well-calculated one ; " then, taking off his hat, and 
 inclining his head respectfully; " I bow to my master in the 
 art ; you have taught me a lesson !" 
 
 c 2
 
 2O Shooting Excursions. 
 
 Of course I felt tremendously conceited, and, to put 
 down my conceit, we had a quiet drain there and then. 
 
 Oh that good fellowship among sportsmen ! How 
 one's heart yearns for those companions who have with 
 us perambulated moor, marsh, or covert ! One of the 
 most enthusiastic shooters it has ever been my luck to 
 meet with (and that was through Bell's Life, be it men- 
 tioned) is now in San Francisco, and I often wish he were 
 back, just to feel his hand once more in mine, and to hear 
 hi.s cheery 
 
 " Well, what sport, my boy ?" 
 
 My Irish companion is just a fellow of the " same 
 kidney," and when we parted at night he wrung my hand 
 with genuine brotherly love. 
 
 "When you come to Ireland, come to me," said he. 
 And I said I would, from the innermost recesses of my 
 heart.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE "FIRST." 
 
 WE went down to the farm overnight, on Thursday, 
 August 3 1st, and what a tribe of shooters and dogs encum- 
 bered the London Bridge platform ! In our compartment 
 were three more shooters ; the nettings overhead were 
 piled threateningly high ; the spare seats were encumbered 
 up to the ceiling with overcoats, game-bags, and cartridge 
 bags ; and, underneath the seats, sundry gun-boxes were 
 lying " promiscuous like." 
 
 One of the subjects of discussion amongst us was that 
 respecting the restrictions brought to bear on the carriage 
 of gunpowder by the Non-Explosives Act. It cannot be 
 denied that the Act is uncommonly hard on sportsmen, and 
 it may be argued that there was but little ground for inflict- 
 ing such expenses and restrictions on a class of men, who, 
 as a rule, are mighty careful with their arms and ammuni- 
 tion. I have never heard of any railway or carriage 
 mishap happening through cartridges actually in transit, 
 by train or otherwise, having accidentally exploded ; and I 
 humbly venture to think that it is a mistake to put any 
 restrictions on such transit. Cartridges cannot explode 
 spontaneously, and it is, therefore, absurd to class them
 
 22 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 with dynamite and other stuffs of the "same kidney," 
 which may explode of their own accord or on the slightest 
 shock. 
 
 In the midst of our conversation, one of our companions 
 left us, I believe, at Blackheath, and we wondered thereat. 
 But one of the two remaining strangers informed us that in 
 the neighbourhood there were some fair, though small 
 farms, where nice sport, for the extent of ground, could 
 be obtained, and no doubt our quondam friend was 
 bound for one of these. The speaker himself left us at 
 Gravesend, and we arrived at our destination somewhere 
 near 9 o'clock. 
 
 " Hallo, keeper," cried the captain, my host, to a stalwart 
 bearded man, with corduroy breeches, gaiters, and velveteen 
 coat, who was standing near one of the exit gates, " here we 
 are ; see about the lot in this compartment. It's all ours." 
 
 And whilst the man and his under-keeper, helped by a 
 couple of porters, conveyed our traps and dogs to the cart, 
 we went to an hotel close by, and had some refreshment, 
 during which the captain explained that he had rented a 
 rather large bit of ground, twelve miles away, and that 
 rooms, four in number, would be at our disposal at the 
 farmhouse. ! 
 
 We then found the dog-cart at the door, and forthwith 
 embarked. We had a heavy load, but the horse, a strapping 
 big gray, put his shoulder to his collar with a will, and we 
 arrived at 10.30 P.M. at the farm-gate. Of course our 
 arrival had been watched for. There was an urchin 
 munching the handle of a small whip hard by, that I could 
 swear had been the first to herald our approach, for no one 
 but he, amongst those who stood about, could have uttered 
 the, " they be a-coming, master," in the shrill voice we had 
 heard, when we were yet near the old hop ground.
 
 The <( FirsC' 23 
 
 The old farmer was delighted, his family enchanted, the 
 little cowherd astounded, the farm dogs beyond themselves ; 
 and, altogether, ours was a stupendous reception. 
 
 We were conducted to our rooms (all on the ground 
 floor hurrah !) and forthwith we prepared for supper. 
 
 We spent a most delightful evening ; the captain pro- 
 posed a song ; this led to a dance, which was improvised 
 then and there, he taking the piano in turns with the 
 eldest daughter of the family, and at 12.30 we were 
 still up. The keeper and his man had left for the fields as 
 soon as we had been safely landed in the yard. They had 
 gone their final rounds to see if the watchers were at their 
 posts, and, nothing unusual occurring, it was with unmixed 
 satisfaction that we saw velveteens in the morning, and 
 heard from his lips that the birds had not been disturbed. 
 His next communication, however, caused a commotion at 
 the breakfast table. 
 
 " There be a few drops o' rain a-falling," said he. 
 
 " What ! now ? " we exclaimed, simultaneously, with 
 horror, and our knives and folks held up in dismay. 
 
 " Yes," he nodded, " now ; but it won't be much, I am 
 thinking." 
 
 We all bolted on to the lawn to have a look, and we 
 scanned the horizon with very lively interest. 
 
 Quoth the farmer: " It won't be much, gentlemen, and I 
 don't think it will disturb your shooting. However, let us 
 see what the barometer says." 
 
 The oracle was inclined to turn fair. 
 
 "But then," argued the captain, sotto voce, "these country 
 oracles are always out of order. Let us hope this one is 
 all right." 
 
 And eventually it turned out that it was. A rare bless- 
 ing this, as partridge-shooting in rainy weather is anything
 
 24 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 but a treat. However, we had about three hours of it ; then 
 it cleared up, and the afternoon was simply delightful, as, 
 although the weather kept dry, the sun did not shine too 
 much, there was a nice little breeze blowing, and we there- 
 fore enjoyed the tramping very much indeed, it being 
 neither hot nor cold, but just the sort of weather to walk 
 thirty miles in without feeling distressed. 
 
 We began at 8.30 A.M., and our party numbered seven 
 viz. the farmer, whom Captain B. had asked to join 
 us, the captain himself, his brother, myself, the keeper 
 and his under-keeper, and a farm hand to help to carry our 
 ammunition. 
 
 " If you would like to walk through the orchard," said 
 the captain to me, " whilst we go round by the road, I dare- 
 say you will find a hare." 
 
 The farm hand volunteered to guide me, and we went. 
 
 Said he : " They always keeps near the hedge here, 
 amongst the nettles and brambles ; if you walk out here, 
 sir, I'll go through the rubbish and beat it for you." 
 
 I loaded with two No. 6 Schultze cartridges, and he 
 began : 
 
 " B-r-r-r ! B-r-r-r ! " and knocking about with his stick. 
 I kept some twenty yards away, walking in a parallel line 
 with the hedge. We traversed the whole length and found 
 nothing. 
 
 Quoth the man : " Well, sir, I'm astonished ! I've seen 
 a big 'un in this very lot every morning for the last three 
 weeks. . . ." 
 
 Then he stopped suddenly, open-mouthed, and pointed 
 at a few yards from him. 
 
 " I'm blessed," said he, in a whisper, " I'm blessed if she 
 is not there ! " 
 
 And he flung his stick at a small bush, out of which
 
 The "First." 25 
 
 sprang a whacking good hare. Bang ! and I see the shot 
 making a hole, with a thud in the turf, whilst the hare, at 
 full speed, makes for the opposite hedge, and dives over the 
 ditch, but bang went the second Schultze cartridge. Just 
 in time, by Jove ! and there was puss, kicking convulsively. 
 
 " I thought you would have let her go altogether," said 
 the farm labourer ; " but better late than never, mister " 
 (this very patronisingly) " and here she is ! " 
 
 And he stooped into the hedge and pulled her out. 
 
 "What is it?" called out my friend's voice, quite close 
 by ; and, indeed, it turned out that we were walking then 
 along the road where my companions were making their 
 way. 
 
 " A hare," I replied. 
 
 " Ah! told you you'd find one there, my boy! " exclaimed 
 the captain. " Now, if you will come out and join us, we 
 will do this clover here. It is a fine field, and there will be 
 a covey or two for certain." 
 
 Nothing loath, we made our way to the gate just as it 
 began to rain again. I was putting down my hat over my 
 eyes, when up went fifteen birds, all in a lump, from the 
 orchard over the hedge. Bang, bang ! I go at the lot, and 
 got two. My friends on the other side fire away like fun, 
 and we got seven birds. 
 
 " You seem to have everything your own way," they tell 
 me, laughingly, when I rejoin them. And we entered the 
 clover. 
 
 Two pointers, father and son, are slipped, and they start 
 at such a rate that the drops of rain on the clover fly about 
 in the air like millions of pearls. Crack ! down goes the 
 old dog, and slap ! down goes the young one, backing 
 his " da." We went towards the point. Seventeen birds 
 rose, according to my account eighteen according to the
 
 26 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 farmer's. He bagged one, I bagged one, the captain cleared 
 his brace, and his brother nailed one as dead as a tile, and 
 wounded another which flew over the hedge, and we gave 
 it up as a lost bird. 
 
 Thereupon the farmer complained of his powder. He 
 ought to have bagged his first bird. I said nothing, but 
 like Pat's parrot, I thought a good deal. The fact was I 
 hurried myself too much, and, besides, four guns on a covey 
 are one or two guns too many. Just when you fire someone 
 else does the same, and it gives a start to your birds, or 
 else you give a start to someone else's. So I made a mem 
 not to crowd too much with my friends, and I found the 
 recipe a perfect cure. 
 
 On our firing, the young dog got up, pounced on one of 
 the dead birds, and made his lunch on it. The keeper there- 
 upon called him " a beauty and a nice doggy," patted his 
 own knee until he had laid hold of him, and then gave him a 
 licking, of which the youngster stood much in need. While 
 this little training was going on, the old dog slunk behind 
 the keeper, and remained there until the process was over, 
 evidently " making notes on it." The licking at an end, the 
 youngster shook himself vehemently, and appeared to have 
 the partridge heavy on his conscience, but when sent on he 
 forgot all his troubles, and the ranging began anew. They 
 found another covey on the other side of the field, and Avhen 
 we closed on them I stretched out to the left, and had the 
 pleasure of doing a splendid right and left on the old cock 
 and a young bird. Whilst we were all reloading, a hare 
 got up, and ran along the border of the crop, as though 
 someone had set fire to her tail. The young pointer 
 thought this another opportunity not to be lost sight of, and 
 put on all steam to chase. Fortunately I stopped the hare, 
 but it was a "shave" for the dog, as he was pouncing so
 
 The "First;' 27 
 
 quickly on the hare that the shot had hardly reached it 
 when he tumbled on deceased. This brilliant performance 
 got the unlucky wight another tanning. It was tiresome, 
 but it was to be done ; most young dogs are too eager, 
 when brought on to^ sport in earnest, and a few lessons of 
 that sort soon let them know what they are to do and not 
 to do. This one, in particular, was like wildfire ; he ranged 
 somewhat wildly, and ran always jealous of his leader ; but 
 he had a wonderfully good nose, and he pinned us half-a- 
 dozen coveys at something like eighty yards when going 
 express, and his 'points were so sudden as to almost knock 
 him " in a heap " in the stubble? So that he really was 
 worth traming and perfecting in his training. 
 
 Until eleven o'clock the drizzling rain bothered us, and, 
 no doubt, it also bothered the birds, who evidently did not 
 know where to go for shelter. We found two coveys on a 
 road, and one in a lane. Two were flushed from a pit, and 
 we found the turnips pretty well empty. The mess we were 
 in may be imagined, and, in fact, we were uncomfortably 
 wet. It cleared up, however, just then, and I remarked 
 that a change of bopts, socks, and clothes would be a very 
 pleasant diversion, so we made tracks for the house and 
 our lunch. We had twenty-three brace of birds, five hares, 
 and two rabbits. 
 
 As concerned the latter, we had not been as yet in their 
 favourite haunts, and were bound to kill our fill of them in 
 the course of the afternoon, if we went near the coverts, 
 which we did ; but of this more anon. 
 
 During luncheon time the heavy black clouds cleared 
 up, and sailed away, much to our satisfaction, and when we 
 stalked forth, after our meal, the weather was clear and 
 bracing, and we felt like giants refreshed. We had not 
 another drop of rain the whole of the two days we stayed.
 
 28 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 We went, this time, with a fresh brace of dogs, and began 
 at the back of the house, in a fine turnip-field. Three 
 coveys in this, for certain, we agreed ; but, through slipping 
 the dogs with the wind, instead of waiting until we had 
 gone round, the under-keeper lost us two good shots, as the 
 new dogs, in their eagerness, went so wild and without 
 scent, that they flushed two coveys before we could get them 
 down-charged. This done, however, the man was sharply 
 ordered to secure them, and we went round by the lane. 
 Then we went over the gate, and began grandly, as both 
 dogs found almost as soon as they were let go. 
 
 The captain then made a very remarkable double shot. 
 Just as the birds were rising, a wood-pigeon happened to 
 be passing over head at a goodish range, and Captain B. 
 floored him quite behind us, and turned round in time to 
 fetch a bird down as well. I like that sort of quick, clever 
 work immensely, and though the pigeon was not worth a 
 partridge, the shot was none the less meritorious. In fact, 
 it was splendidly done, as the pigeon was going at a tre- 
 mendous rate, and quite in an opposite direction to the 
 covey. 
 
 We were only three shooting during the afternoon, our 
 old farmer friend declaring that he had enjoyed himself 
 thoroughly in the morning, and had had enough for the 
 day. When we reached the covert, near which a rare bit of 
 clover lay, the keeper took us to a lane, each side of which 
 had rabbit-holes, and, securing the pointers, the men began 
 to belabour the hedges with their sticks. 
 
 " Rabbit going down, sir ! " 
 
 " Rabbit your way, captain ! " 
 
 " Here is another ! " 
 
 " There he goes ! " 
 
 And the fusillade \vas a treat.
 
 The "First." 29 
 
 Say what we like, rabbits have always given rise to a 
 good deal of fun, and probably always will. We laughed 
 more over their tricks to escape than we had done all day 
 during our orthodox sport, and it does one's heart good to 
 join in a dcroutc of that sort. 
 
 I have always had a weakness for rabbit-shooting, which 
 is, nevertheless, by excellence, the sport where one ought to 
 be exceedingly cautious. None but men thoroughly cool- 
 headed should join in it, for it is a sort of sport that 
 necessarily entails very quick shooting, and a quick decision 
 as to when, how, and where to shoot. Thus we had a 
 rabbit that positively ran the gauntlet of all of us. Nobody 
 fired, and that was as it should have been. But, had any 
 tyro been with us, he would have risked it, and would pro- 
 bably have succeeded in laming one of us. I was once, 
 in Derbyshire, at a rabbit -shooting party, on a young 
 squire's land, and this youthful sportsman fired a barrel 
 between my legs at a dodging rabbit. He missed me, and 
 missed the bunny, but I " felt the wind of the shot," and 
 that was rather coldish to one's feelings. Such men ought 
 to shoot alone, for there is no enjoyment in a party of 
 shooters when one is known to be a reckless firer. We all 
 have met with such men, and we all know what a wide 
 berth is given them by everybody. 
 
 To return to our " first," we found the jolly afternoon 
 most congenial to ourselves and to the birds, and made a 
 superb bag. At about 3.30 P.M. we had splendid sport, 
 the birds having gone into turnips and clover and other 
 heavy covert ; and the coveys by that time being pretty 
 well scared, we got the birds by ones, twos, and threes ; 
 and, of course, in such cases they had but few chances 
 to escape three practised shooters. It was absolutely 
 royal sport.
 
 30 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 We saw, during the afternoon, about a score of shooters 
 on the neighbouring lands ; and afterwards heard from the 
 keepers that everywhere sport had been excellent. In fact, 
 for years there had not been such an abundance of winged 
 and ground game. 
 
 The " first " then, in its way, proved fully equal to 
 " glorious twelfth," and I thank my stars that it has been 
 given me to enjoy both, for they mark a brilliant epoch in 
 my sporting career. 
 
 We stopped work as soon as the birds began to " call 
 for the night," as we did not consider it sportsman-like 
 to pursue birds when they tell you where they are pre- 
 paring to jug. 
 
 Great were the rejoicings that night and the yarns at 
 the farmhouse. Nevertheless we retired to rest in pretty 
 good time ; and the next day we were again at the birds 
 until 4 P.M., when we came back to town. We had over 
 sixty brace for our two days' sport. 
 
 I tender my heartiest thanks to my gallant friend for 
 his very kind invitation ; and must say that never in all my 
 life have I enjoyed better sport, better generalship; and as 
 for good fellowship, why, all the sportsmen are nice fellows 
 and jolly companions. There is therefore no need to 
 dwell upon that in this particular case.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 RABBITING IN DOWNS. 
 
 " WEATHER permitting," wrote their owner to me, " I will 
 have two days in the downs. Will you join me ? If so, 
 come to-morrow." 
 
 I replied, laconically, " Coming," and packed up. 
 
 The downs are situated on the south-east coast. They 
 extend for several miles along the sea-shore, and I knew 
 them to be regular " teasers " for rabbit-shooting, inasmuch 
 as they are in places thickly covered over with prickly 
 brambles, long grass, withered reecls, &c. &c., and in two 
 or three spots they have some sort of short covert, made 
 up of bushes as thickly studded with thorns and briers as 
 the back of a hedgehog is with bristles. 
 
 Previous to taking my departure I set myself to work 
 on my cartridges, and reduced the' powder, in about a 
 hundred of them, by a good third in quantity. I replaced 
 the thin powder wads and the thick padded wads, filled 
 the cases with shot No. 6, and felt satisfied that, at the 
 short ranges I had to expect, these cartridges would do 
 their duty. In this I was not disappointed ; but had I 
 allowed the ordinary amount of powder and shot to remain 
 undisturbed, it would have been almost useless trying to
 
 32 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 shoot with them at distances varying between ten and 
 twenty yards. 
 
 These ranges are usually to be reckoned upon ; and it 
 is, indeed, rare to have a long shot in the downs, unless 
 when scrambling up to the top of a sand-hill one chances, 
 when there, to spy a rabbit on an opposite sand-hill, mak- 
 ing his way somewhere to his burrow, across a bit of open 
 sand ; but such opportunities are few and far between. 
 The vast majority of shots occur close to the shooter, as 
 the rabbits, being disturbed, make their way swiftly under 
 and through the rank grass and prickly shrubs. Snap 
 shooting and " shooting on spec " must, therefore, be 
 resorted to, and such styles must be practised quickly, 
 otherwise the rabbit " turns up a corner," and there you 
 are, without a shot. 
 
 For that sort of work a short gun is a very handy tool 
 to sport with. For those living near the spot that is the 
 sort of weapon to use ; but those who have to go a long 
 way for sport cannot carry two guns, and as birds as well 
 as rabbits may turn up to be shot at, one likes to have an 
 ordinary gun to shoot Avith, so as to be master of the situa- 
 tion at any time. Hence my going with my ordinary gun, 
 whereas my host sported his short rabbit breechloader, 
 besides which, for long shots at standing rabbits, the keeper 
 carried his master's rabbit rifle a very accurate and handy 
 instrument, by-the-way, much to my astonishment, for I 
 have found that very many so-called rook and rabbit 
 rifles are so indifferently bored, and so carelessly sighted, 
 that unless one undertakes, by a series of trials, to find 
 out the idiosyncrasies of the weapons, and aims accord- 
 ingly, it is almost useless trying to sport with them. 
 
 I remember buying one in a hurry years ago, and find- 
 ing on trial that I had to aim point-blank a foot to the left
 
 Rabbiting in Downs. 33 
 
 of any point I wanted to hit. I therefore had to hammer 
 the fore-sight to the right until it almost reached the right 
 side, and aim with it then, when I was tolerably successful ; 
 but this awkward position of the said sight was always an 
 eyesore to me. 
 
 Well, we started from the house a little after 9 o'clock, 
 and walked leisurely to the downs, about a mile across 
 the meadows and pastures. The keeper had a brace 
 of ferrets ready muzzled in his pockets, and he led three 
 rabbit dogs two were beagles, and the other a spaniel. 
 The downs stretching along the shore, like a belt, some 
 hundred yards wide at the narrowest part, and half a 
 mile, perhaps, at the widest, we had plenty of ground 
 to practise upon, and began near the salt marsh, where a 
 pretty thick covert lines the first half-dozen hills and 
 hollows. I knew I should have no long shot there, and 
 prepared to load with two of my doctored Schultze cart- 
 ridges ; but my host hinting that we might find a covey of 
 partridges or two, I was fain to be content with an ordinary 
 cartridge in the left barrel and a doctored one in the right, 
 and we began. I took the left, my host took the right 
 wing, the keeper walking in the middle, and beating the 
 covert as we went. 
 
 My first steps in the brambles sprang a bunny. I saw 
 him spring away, but no more, and therefore could not fire. 
 Whilst trying to make him out, one of the beagles sounded 
 the alarm, and broke back in chase. The rabbit, closely 
 pursued, left the covert for the open path on the hill, and I 
 got him there. Before he had time to know what was 
 going on, the beagle laid hold of him, and number one was 
 bagged. 
 
 On the other side of the sandhill I heard bang, bang ! 
 and as my host's voice was heard calling out to the spaniel 
 VOL. i. D
 
 34 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 "Bring it here!" I concluded that he, too, had made a 
 nailer. 
 
 Turning back again, I saw three rabbits about a 
 hundred yards away, going into a hole half way up a sand- 
 hill. I marked the spot carefully, promising the bunnies a 
 ferret visit when I got there, and went on. 
 
 " There he goes, sir ! " calls out the man, pointing, in 
 zigzag fashion, somewhere about the grass before his feet. 
 I stopped, watching the front, and when the rabbit showed 
 himself within ten yards of me, I just caught him in time. 
 The noise sprang two more, one on my right, and one in 
 front. I fired at the latter, but my ordinary cartridge was 
 too strong, did not scatter the shot at the range, and I 
 missed clean. I reloaded quickly, and a bang, and a call, 
 " Look out, forward !" from my friend, attracting my atten- 
 tion, I caught sight of his bunny, wounded, trying to get 
 into the hollow where, presumably, his abode was situated, 
 and to prevent him from tumbling therein I polished him 
 off at a goodish range with my left barrel. 
 
 I was then quite close to the sea-shore, and hearing 
 some " calls " I peeped over the sandhills and saw a com- 
 pany of sandpipers and ox-birds feeding by the rising tide, 
 but yet a very long way from the downs ; too far, by a 
 good deal, for a shot from a smooth-bore loaded with shot ; 
 but, for the fun of the thing, I called the keeper, and asked 
 him for the rabbit rifle, when, aiming in the midst of the 
 company, I let fly, and the bullet actually went through 
 their midst and killed one. The others must have been 
 scared considerably, judging from the way in which they 
 flew off, something like the sparks from a catherine-wheel. 
 The spaniel was sent to pick up the bird, and we found 
 that the bullet had laid the bird's back open, so that death 
 must have been instantaneous.
 
 Rabbiting in Downs. 35 
 
 But what a fluke this was ! I have frequently fired 
 bullets for practice, when at sea, at flocks of ducks, 
 widgeons, teal, geese, and swan, when they were over 
 shallow flats where we could not sail ; but to the best of 
 my knowledge I never hit one, although they offered a 
 great deal more surface to hit than the sandpipers I had 
 fired at. Of course it was just a matter of luck. 
 
 We then resumed our rabbiting, and as we were near 
 the hole where I had seen three bunnies taking refuge, 
 I thought that the ferrets' turn had now come, and the 
 keeper calling up and securing the dogs (in this he ex- 
 perienced no small difficulty, as they were intent on enjoy- 
 ing themselves, and would hardly listen to him for awhile), 
 he placed a ferret at the hole, and we watched the exodus 
 with very lively interest. Hardly had the ferret been in 
 than out jumped a rabbit Bang, bang ! bang, bang ! and he 
 is gone. 
 
 We reload. Another rabbit, no doubt astonished 
 at the row we had just kicked up, is at the mouth of the 
 burrow, and seems disinclined to come out ; but the ferret 
 evidently is close behind him, for bunny suddenly gives a 
 start and away he darts. This time I send him sprawling 
 down the sandhill. Then out came the third rabbit, but 
 after a short run he begins zigzagging, and we fire to his 
 left, to his right, in front of him, and at his back, much to 
 our amusement and to his consternation. 
 
 " Missed, by Jove ! " I exclaimed'; but he all at once 
 collapses, kicks, and expires under a bush. 
 
 " Well," I remarked, " the three rabbits I saw going into 
 that hole we can now account for, but there must be some 
 more, since the ferret does not come out ;" and we stopped 
 watching for at least five minutes. 
 
 " There must be something wrong," we then argue, and
 
 36 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 the keeper sets to work to find out the truant's whereabout. 
 He lies down and pokes his arm in the hole. 
 
 " There are two roads," says he ; then he stops, feels 
 with his hand ; " I have got her," he adds. Then he 
 exclaims, " No ! it is a rabbit," and he pulls it out alive 
 and well, but with its back badly scratched, and the ferret 
 comes out at the mouth, and is instantly collared by the 
 man. " Shall I let the rabbit go, sir ? " asks the keeper. 
 
 " By all means," we rejoin, " that is, if he is all right 
 and fit to run." 
 
 Well, yes, he was fit to run, seeing that he nearly evaded 
 our shot, through each of us delaying firing, thinking that the 
 other fellow would kill it. Of course my friend with his short 
 gun could do nothing when once the rabbit was over twenty 
 yards off, but I, with my modified choke-bore and long- 
 range Schultze cartridge, feared nothing, as long as a fair 
 sight could be had ; and when I found that my host did 
 not fire, I hastily put up the gun, and luckily stopped the 
 runaway*. 
 
 The dogs were then slipped once more, and for an hour 
 or two we continued our sport, then sat down in a hollow, 
 well sheltered from the wind, and proceeded to discuss our 
 lunch. 
 
 What appetites we had to be sure ! And how pretty 
 the sea-panorama before us did look, with its scores of large 
 and small craft under full sail in all the directions of the 
 compass ! 
 
 The sun shone on the scene, and made the grass around 
 us very green, the sea very blue, and the sky lovely, being 
 tinted pink and gold on the clouds, and sky-blue in the 
 open. The air was mild and pleasant, owing to the mode- 
 rately strong breeze which tempered the otherwise rather 
 too ardent rays of the sun.
 
 Rabbiting in Downs. 37 
 
 Whilst we were at luncheon my friend's attention was 
 attracted by his keeper, and without more ado he picked 
 up the Holland rifle and joined the man. The latter pointed 
 out in the distance ; I saw my host raising the " sight," 
 levelling the rifle ; a small puff of smoke issued from the 
 barrel, the crack reached my ears, and the man got up and 
 went to pick up the rabbit. 
 
 " A hundred yards, if an inch," then said my companion, 
 as he reseated himself by my side, " and the rabbit rolled 
 over dead. Do you call that good shooting or not ? " 
 
 Of course I assented at once, and the keeper returning 
 with the unlucky bunny, we examined it, and found that 
 the bullet had gone clean through both sides. A fairer 
 and better shot could not have been made. 
 
 " I should like to have a try myself with the rifle," I 
 then hinted. 
 
 " All right, sir," said the man ; " within a quarter of an 
 hour, or less, there will be some rabbits out again, and I 
 will call you then;" and he resumed his watch from the top 
 of our sandhill, hiding his head behind a large belt of 
 coarse grass, which grew all over the top. 
 
 Presently, in the midst of a libation, and whilst my 
 nose was in a glass of sherry, the man lifts up his hand, 
 and I nearly choke myself in my hurry to obey the motion. 
 I clamber near him, and my friend joins us. The man 
 silently points to the mouth of a burrow, and we perceive 
 a rabbit at the entrance, sitting up, and evidently listening, 
 in order to make sure that everything is peaceful before 
 venturing out any farther. 
 
 " A fine shot," whispers my friend in my ear ; " eighty 
 yards, if so much, and presenting a full front ; aim under 
 his jaw," adds he ; and he places the rifle in my hands. 
 
 " If he is not killed on the spot we shall lose him," I
 
 38 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 remark, " because he is sure to tumble into his hole in his 
 dying moments." 
 
 " You can't help killing him on the spot/ 3 he rejoins, 
 " if you hit him at all. Now for it." 
 
 I bring up the rifle very quietly. Meanwhile the rabbit, 
 satisfied that no one was near, I suppose, trots out a yard, 
 then sits up again, and he repeatedly passes both his paws 
 over his nose, pretty well like a kitten making its toilet. I 
 aim point-blank at his jaw, and crack goes the bullet. 
 
 " Well done," says my friend, tumbling down back to 
 our bottles] 
 
 I look up and see the bunny on his back, quite motion- 
 less, and then rejoin my companion, whilst the man goes to 
 gather the rabbit. I of course declared I was very much 
 amused by this accurate shooting, and my host, kindly 
 placing the rifle at my disposal, I made some very good 
 practice with it at rabbits during my two days' stay. 
 
 My friend himself was remarkably clever with it, 
 knocking off a cork from the top of a bottle at an extra- 
 ordinary' range, and killing rabbits at all distances when- 
 ever he could clearly see them. Of course this was only 
 practicable when we chanced to spy them unaware of our 
 presence ; and by waiting until they were still we generally 
 had a shot. 
 
 As regards our ordinary shooting, we had our fill of it, 
 and I found my cartridges everything I could wish. The 
 dogs did their duty well and unsparingly. The two ferrets 
 worked the holes in a business-like manner; and altogether 
 we had two charming days' sport in the downs. 
 
 At the close of the second day we had a diversion in 
 the shape of seven herons gravely settling down on the 
 sands of the shore, and beginning feeding. I saw them
 
 Rabbiting- in Downs. 39 
 
 when they were flying over the downs, watched them 
 settling, and then told my friend. 
 
 " We can easily stalk them," quoth he, " if we keep in 
 the downs, and take care to remain behind the sand- 
 hills." 
 
 I had carefully marked; the sandhill near which they 
 had settled, and we reached the spot without any mishap, 
 the birds never suspecting that we were so near them. 
 When therefore we popped up close to them, their dismay 
 was immense, and the way in which they threw themselves 
 on their pinions was very extraordinary. As a matter of 
 fact, however, they could not rise without running a few 
 steps, and under such circumstances it need not be 
 wondered at that our barrels told very plainly on them. I 
 had loaded with two ordinary Schultze, and grassed my 
 first bird stone dead. By that time the others were some 
 distance off, but I brought another down badly wounded. 
 My friend's first shot had wounded one, and he finished it 
 off with his second barrel. The dogs ran to the birds, but 
 the wounded one kept them at bay very successfully. 
 
 " Give him a bullet," urged my companion. 
 
 " No," I said ; " I am all in a flutter, like a young miss ; 
 give it him yourself." 
 
 The dogs were called back, and when he did fire, the 
 long-necked bird went down like a castle of cards ; and this 
 ended our excursion. It was getting dark, and we had 
 walked all day up and down the sandhills, and trudging 
 in the more or less soft sand is a very tiring sort of 
 tramping, as those who have tried it will readily and 
 feelingly testify. We were, however, very pleased and 
 happy, notwithstanding our fatigue, and the concluding 
 scene had not a little contributed to enliven our sport. It
 
 4O Shooting Excursions. 
 
 was therefore with feelings of gratitude, not unmixed with 
 regret, that I thanked my pleasant host when we parted 
 at the railway station, and I shall for a long time cherish 
 the remembrance of my two days spent with him "rabbiting 
 in the downs."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 REDLEG SHOOTING IN NORFOLK. 
 
 IT was towards the end of August, when passers-by (had 
 there been any) might have observed " Wildfowler " sitting 
 disconsolately on the bank of the river Yare. 
 
 "Wildfowler" was disgusted. He had been trudging 
 six or seven miles with his gun, under a broiling August 
 sun, and had only bagged two sandpipers. 
 
 My heart was broken, figuratively speaking; and when I 
 came to think of the trudge back, over the awful seven 
 miles again, no wonder I sat down, mopped my damp brow, 
 and groaned. 
 
 In the midst of my meditations a stout farmer turned 
 up, arrayed in leggings, and accompanied by his collie. 
 He went to inspect some horned cattle in the marsh, then 
 sent his dog for a spin to rouse a sleepy sheep, and next 
 caught sight of me. No doubt he thought I was up to no 
 good, all alone in that most lonely of places ; but when he 
 drew nearer, and perceived my bag and gun, and saw that 
 my dog was a spaniel, his countenance broke into a smile, 
 and as he flung his legs over the gate, he broke silence by 
 shouting : 
 
 " Good-morning to you, sir ! Be you having any sport ?" 
 
 " Oh, ah ! yes ; lovely sport, to be sure," I rejoined, with
 
 42 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 a groan, as I held my two pipers by the legs at arm's 
 length for his inspection. " That is all I have been able to 
 see since I left Yarmouth this morning at some unearthly 
 hour." 
 
 The worthy man was much amused by the energy with 
 which I expressed my feelings, and after grinning at the 
 two wretched birds, he took off his hat, rubbed his ear, and 
 then said : 
 
 " I think I could show you a little better sport than that, 
 if you would like to come round with me." 
 
 " Where to ? " I asked, jumping up with alacrity. 
 
 " Oh ! over my marsh. You will find, I daresay, a few 
 snipe here and there, perhaps a heron or two, and maybe 
 a teal. Be you coming ? " 
 
 What a question to ask me ! 
 
 Why, I could have thrown my arms around his neck, 
 and hugged him, and sworn him eternal friendship. He 
 swung my bag on his arm, I picked up the gun, and off we 
 went. 
 
 " Dog a good 'un, mister ? " said he, as we went on. 
 
 " Yes," I said, " he is good at finding the birds, and 
 keeps well within range, but he won't retrieve, worse luck ! " 
 
 " Oh, that don't matter here ! " he rejoined ; " the ditches 
 ain't wide." 
 
 " Still," I remarked, " I wish he would retrieve. It is 
 handy, you know, at all times ; but that dog taught me a 
 lesson. I thought all dogs could be trained, but this one's 
 tactics beat me altogether. The moment he sees that the 
 lesson is going to begin, he turns sulky, lies down, and will 
 not stir. What can I do with him ? " 
 
 This was a fact then, but matters have altered since with 
 that spaniel. 
 
 Well, the first ditch we came to yielded no birds, but
 
 Redleg Shooting in Norfolk. 43 
 
 the second had a full snipe ; and, altogether, I bagged three 
 snipe and a lapwing in the worthy grazier's marsh. 
 
 Then we went towards the village, where the farm 
 buildings appeared amidst a lot of fine trees ; and when we 
 reached my host's abode we sat down, conversing on sport- 
 ing topics. 
 
 There was fair coursing to be had, I was told, and most 
 of the graziers and farmers kept greyhounds. Then, again, 
 the prospects for the shooting season, then so very near at 
 hand, were good. Redlegs were abundant, and at this news 
 I became all attention. 
 
 " Now," I said, " I have not shot redlegs since I went to 
 stay for a month with a friend in one of the warm provinces 
 of France ; I should like to try it here, and would not mind 
 giving a trifle for the privilege. Could I get anything of 
 the sort ? " 
 
 My host smiled, and said he had no doubt I could have 
 a try, at any rate. 
 
 " You will find homely fare," he went on, " and we will 
 do our best to show you sport ; but as to payment, and all 
 that sort of thing, it is quite out of the question alto- 
 gether." 
 
 " But " I was going to remark. 
 
 " No, no," he said, holding up his hand ; "we could not 
 hear of it. Here is to you, sir ; " and he drained his glass 
 with the look of a man who had definitively settled a 
 question. 
 
 The first of September was the next day but one. 
 This gave us time to arrange things. I was to come down 
 to the farm the next afternoon, sleep there, and we would 
 start early the next morning in my host's dog-cart for our 
 ten-mile drive to his brother's farm. 
 
 This settled, I prepared for a start, but had to stop for
 
 44 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 luncheon, after which we had more sporting talk ; so that I 
 did not set off until the sun was sinking behind the woody 
 little hills in the west. 
 
 " I will see you to the river bank," quoth my host. 
 " John, bring up my gun. I should like you to shoot a 
 duck," said my newly-made friend ; " there has been a 
 couple of them for the last two or three evenings at the 
 pond. I intended having a shy at them myself, but since 
 you are here, you may as well have the fun." 
 
 The pond was large, and its banks thickly covered with 
 reeds. On each side a wide ditch led into and from it, each 
 almost choked with reeds. 
 
 When we came near the pond I caught sight of a little 
 train of loose feathers, straw, &c., gliding along on the 
 surface of the water, towards the opposite reed beds. I 
 glanced at my companion. He, too, had seen it, and he 
 nodded towards the other bank. 
 
 " They are paddling amongst the reeds," he whispered. 
 " Do you send your dog round as soon as I am facing you, 
 .and we will have them." 
 
 He moved some twenty yards farther, and when he 
 turned towards me I motioned to the dog to go on to the 
 right. He started at full speed, and we soon lost sight of 
 him. Presently we see the two birds come out paddling, 
 evidently not uneasy at all ; but, on catching sight of us, a 
 panic seizes them ; they flap back ; but the dog comes 
 down into the reeds with such a splash that the birds, with- 
 out any further hesitation, take to their wings, and they rise 
 grandly. The duck comes our way, and I nail her forth- 
 with ; but the drake had swept back, and the consequence 
 was he was too far to offer a satisfactory shot, so we did 
 not fire at him. 
 
 Our duck bagged, we walked towards the bank of the
 
 Redleg Shooting in Norfolk. 45 
 
 river, and whilst doing so I perceived the top of the white 
 sails of a yacht coming up the river. 
 
 " It looks uncommonly like my friend's boat," I said ; 
 and the moment we reached the wall, I recognised her at 
 once, and my friends on board perceiving me, brought her 
 to and dropped anchor. Charlie and the two other fellows 
 came ashore in a punt they had hired at the bridge, as the 
 dingey would have been useless on the river Yare, and our 
 greetings were very noisy indeed. I introduced my new 
 friend, and we all went aboard, and spent a very pleasant 
 couple of hours together. We arranged at first to remain 
 at anchor where we were, as I thought we would have very 
 good fun at dusk, and in the early morning, with the flocks 
 of shore birds ; but our two university fellows were too wild 
 to accept the notion kindly. So they soon remonstrated 
 with me. 
 
 " Oh, hang it ! " said one, " what is the good of sticking 
 here amidst all these mud flats, with nothing to do and 
 nobody to see ? Let us go back to Yarmouth. Lots of 
 fun there, at any rate ! Then we will sail back to-morrow, 
 if you like." 
 
 This being agreed to, we rowed the farmer ashore, and 
 in an hour or so we were moored near the bridge. 
 
 Next day we sailed back, and were all asked ashore to 
 dine at the farmhouse. Neither of my yachting friends 
 cared for shooting, so they sailed back in the evening, but 
 I slept at the farm, and the next morning, at 8 o'clock, we 
 were entering the farmyard of my worthy friend's brother. 
 
 " The major and his party," said the latter, "have been 
 at it for the last hour. I daresay a good many of their 
 birds will be driven on to the big wuzzle field ; we will go 
 there to begin with." 
 
 Three of the farm hands accompanied us, and we had,
 
 46 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 including Rover (my spaniel), four dogs two pointers and 
 two spaniels. 
 
 Now Rover had never seen partridges, except when 
 one or two had been occasionally flushed in the marsh, as 
 his specialty was snipe. I therefore kept him to heel to 
 begin with, and eventually he turned out very handy ; but 
 of this more anon. 
 
 We crossed the road and entered an immense stubble, 
 where there was no difficulty in performing the beating 
 satisfactorily, as the field was very level, and there was just 
 enough stubble to give covert to the birds. I was given the 
 middle place, and in a line with our men we crossed the 
 field, then turned back by the hedge, as it was too large to 
 trust to one turn to do the work well. The pointers, dog 
 and bitch, had been slipped at the gate, and they ranged in 
 good style. On our turning to the left a hare was sprung, 
 and the bitch chased it for some fifty yards a rather ex- 
 cusable performance, it being the first day of the season. 
 Orj being sternly called upon to desist by her master she 
 crouched to the ground, wistfully looking towards the spot 
 where the hare had broken through the hedge. Meanwhile, 
 the dog was winding near a cart, and finally he came to a 
 point. We walked on, and when nearing the road, several 
 birds rose some sixty yards from me, and my companion 
 on my right being near them bagged two in first-rate style. 
 On the report, a hare spurted from her form, just before the 
 pointer, and I shot her. Then our men called out that 
 birds were coming our way, and about a dozen redlegs 
 passed over us like grouse at a drive. I got two of them, 
 and my left companion bagged one. 
 
 We then perceived another shooting-party on the hill. 
 They had evidently flushed the covey and sent it our way. 
 
 We then went to the " wuzzle," and several times the
 
 Redleg Shooting in Norfolk. 47 
 
 dogs exhibited unmistakable signs that birds \vere about, so 
 much so that we began walking very slowly and carefully, 
 with our fingers on the triggers, ready at a moment's notice 
 to blaze away at the game. The birds trotted on first-rate, 
 as usual, under the shelter afforded them by the crop, and 
 I thought it high time to try a dodge I had seen practised 
 on the Continent. I signed to my companions to stand 
 still ; then I left them, and ran round with two of the farm 
 lads as fast and as quietly as we could. 
 
 When we reached the corner towards which we had 
 beaten the field, we awaited the approach of my friends ; 
 and when they were within sixty yards of us we went in, 
 beating about, and calling out noisily. What I had ex- 
 pected took place. Astounded at such a row, part of the 
 lot rose, and we bagged five. Then we sent the dogs in the 
 space between us, and three more birds were found. They 
 had evidently squatted, cowed by the reports of the guns, 
 and were easily bagged. Then Rover went on a trail on 
 his own hook, and as he seemed quite ready once or twice 
 to mouth something, I started ahead of him, then bore 
 towards him, and, calling out suddenly, I started another 
 bird out of its wits, and it rose beautifully only to fall 
 almost in the very spot from which it had risen. 
 
 I confess I like shooting redlegs, and in fact prefer it 
 to the orthodox gray partridge-shooting. Why, it is simply 
 because (singular as it may appear) there is such a deal of 
 bother about springing redlegs. And then, is not a red 
 partridge by far more handsome than the old gray customer ? 
 Why, the red one is about as good as a pheasant for colour 
 and brilliancy of plumage. Then again, look at its size 
 and weight ! When a man has shot fairly a dozen redlegs 
 in a day, I say he has done well, and enjoyed himself far 
 more when getting them than he would have done had he
 
 48 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 shot fifty grays. Of course redlegs are not fashionable. 
 They are such stupid birds, you see ; they won't lie still and 
 give no trouble. They will try every dodge they know of 
 before allowing themselves to be seen. It is awfully hard 
 on the sportsman that is, on some sportsmen, who would 
 like to drill their birds in the following manner : Scene, a 
 turnip-field ; weather magnificent ; scent splendid. Enter 
 a sportsman with two or three well-broken dogs, pointers 
 or setters. He signs to his dogs, they go on ranging, and 
 presently fall on point ; sportsman thereupon makes some 
 remarks to his attendant, blows his nose, walks very 
 leisurely to each dog, and bags the birds. These stupid 
 things await their turn with praiseworthy patience, in most 
 cases, and forthwith grays are extolled to the skies. When 
 any of them decline to await the sportsman's leisure they 
 are called sneaks, or else something has startled them. 
 
 Well, unfortunately, or fortunately, the red partridge is 
 a wary customer, with good legs as well as good wings, who 
 keeps watch on everything, and uses every available wile in 
 order to escape. This being so, is it not more meritorious 
 in a sportsman to circumvent them cleverly than to shoot 
 any amount of those other foolish birds that are so easily 
 bagged ? To give an idea of the extent to which preju- 
 diced men may carry their feelings, I give an extract from 
 a shooting-book, published not many years ago by an 
 eminent London firm. The author, whoever he was, when 
 treating of redlegs, states that " they are not at all good 
 sport in the sense of ordinary partridge-shooting, as they 
 will not meet you in a straightforward manner." 
 
 That is just it ; nothing could express better the feelings 
 of the writer, who, because he could not bag the birds 
 straightway, proceeded to abuse them. No case ; abuse the 
 plaintiff's counsel.
 
 Rcdlcg Shooting in Norfolk. 49 
 
 The writer goes on as follows : " As soon as they are 
 disturbed they commence running, to the annoyance of 
 yourself and the prejudice of your dog, and will not rise till 
 they are out of reach." 
 
 And pray, do not gray partridges do the same occa 
 sionally ? 
 
 Then we get the cream of it in the following : " They 
 afford much the best sport in snowy weather when their 
 running is impeded, so they soon get dead beat, and are 
 easily bagged." 
 
 Well, that may be sport in the writer's estimation, but I 
 cannot see any sport in pursuing birds in snowy weather, 
 and running them to a standstill ! 
 
 Then driving the birds is extolled, and is recommended 
 as an easy way of bagging the birds. So it is, too easy, and 
 I don't call it sport. 
 
 But the richest part of the chapter is contained in the 
 concluding sentence : " The birds are not at all bad eating, 
 and they afford plenty of amusement and sport when the 
 other shooting is virtually over, so that they should not, on 
 the \vhole, be so much despised as they appear to be." 
 
 I believe nobody ever detested these birds more than the 
 writer himself, to judge from what fell from his pen; there- 
 fore his friendly advice comes rather queerly upon his readers. 
 
 Now I say that redlegs give more sport in every way 
 than grays. First of all, then, there is not a particle of 
 sameness in shooting them, whereas there is a deal of it in 
 shooting grays. He who is capable of walking without any 
 extra beating of his heart to the stand of his dogs on gray 
 partridges, will bag fifty brace of them, if he has the chance, 
 in almost the same manner. He walks up to the dogs. 
 Birr ! Vises the covey. Bang ! Bang ! there you are ! It is 
 always and ever the same thing. 
 
 VOL. i. E
 
 50 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 But with redlegs comes a change. You are staring at 
 some Roman remains of fortifications. Crack ! up gets a 
 redleg, almost under your nose, and dives into a hollow of 
 the lane, before you have had time to recollect yourself. 
 
 Or, you are trudging along a bit of copse where you do 
 not expect to meet a bird, as everything seems as bare as a 
 billiard-table, and lo ! from around your very gaiters a lot of 
 reds get up, and get away too, scaring you almost out of 
 your boots. 
 
 I have seen a red partridge deliberately entering an old 
 quarry, diving into it, like Captain Webb taking his header 
 for his trip. across the Channel. I have seen others going 
 straight up into the air, as though they meant trying Jules 
 Verne's celebrated " Voyage a la Lunei" 
 
 In fact, even in the field, when they rise in the orthodox 
 way, you do not bag two redlegs in the same manner. One 
 will fly towards you, and pass over you too, in spite of every 
 effort of your beaters to drive it " t'other way." Others will 
 fly across and can't they fly too ! As for those which 
 make up their mind to go right away, it takes good powder, 
 and a good man behind the gun, to reach them in time, for 
 their steam is soon up, and they always go " express." 
 
 Bless the birds ! I like them precisely for these vagaries 
 of theirs. 
 
 As, to the actual bagging, one does, in sober truth, quite 
 as much with one sort of partridge as with the other in this 
 wise, that when you flush a covey of grays, they nearly 
 invariably all rise together, when you can only decently 
 expect to bag a brace, barring such flukes as will bring a 
 couple down at one shot when birds are crossing one 
 another's line of flight just as you fire. A brace, as a rule r 
 is all a man can depend on, if he can manage that much. 
 With red partridges, on the other hand, it not uncommonly 
 happens that if you turn up suddenly amidst a lot of them
 
 Redleg Shooting in Norfolk. 51 
 
 you may, for aught you know, fire seven or eight shots 
 running at as many birds. They rise occasionally one after 
 the other. Sometimes one brace get up together, then a 
 single one follows, and maybe your dog or yourself will 
 have to flush the rest one by one. I once shot ten birds in 
 eleven shots without going more than ten yards either way 
 for each bird. Ask the enthusiastic Norfolk and Suffolk 
 sportsmen what they think of it, and they will tell you that 
 they have quite as good sport with their red birds as other 
 sportsmen in other counties have with their gray ones. 
 
 On the day I am writing about the pointers pinned 
 several birds at least a quarter of a mile from us, owing to 
 their having broken fence in pursuit of the scent. They, 
 however, never moved, and we went very peacefully and 
 leisurely towards them, when our six barrels grassed rive 
 birds handsomely. 
 
 We found several coveys of chirpers, quite young, 
 and had our work cut out to prevent the dogs from 
 destroying them. 
 
 We saw about ten coveys of gray partridges, and 
 bagged about a score all told ; but I can safely assert that 
 we had a great deal more sport with the reds. We had 
 seven or eight hares besides; so that when evening drew 
 near, when the air grew colder, and the sun began to get 
 near the horizon, our beaters were literally groaning under 
 the weight of the good things our guns had brought to bear 
 on their shoulders. 
 
 We came back well knocked up, and at 10 o'clock went 
 to bed, and the whole of the next day we again devoted to 
 a thorough scouring of the fields. . 
 
 Finally, I returned by train to Yarmouth, and had I 
 accepted the lots of game my two Norfolk friends wished to 
 load me with, I have no doubt I could have supplied the 
 hotel table for a week with reds, grays, and hares.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SHORE-SHOOTING FROM PURFLEET TO TILBURY. 
 
 MY earliest recollections of Purfleet were by no means 
 likely to induce me to try that part of the river Thames as 
 a likely spot whereon to enjoy a few hours' sport with the 
 gun, for I well remembered a time when the river bank, from 
 Purfleet to Tilbury, &c., was dotted with gunners, and when 
 the peppering at anything that flew by was of the most 
 unmerciful description. 
 
 That was before the Gun Licence Act was passed. But 
 now as regards Purfleet at least there is a very con- 
 siderable improvement in the general aspect of things, and 
 to those of my readers who may wish to spend a rough 
 day by the \vater-side, and have some little shooting withal, 
 to keep their minds and bodies occupied, I will say, read 
 the subjoined narrative of my own experience of fun there, 
 then go and try it yourself, and may you meet there with 
 as much success as we experienced ourselves. 
 
 Anyone travelling from Fenchurch Street station to 
 Tilbury must have been struck, as he was being whirled 
 along, with the numerous marshes that abound near the 
 line and along the river. These marshes are private pro- 
 perty, and as such are, it is to be presumed, reserved. They 
 of course afford shelter and food to many birds of different
 
 Shore-Shooting from Purfleet to Tilbury. 53 
 
 species, and of these birds the shore gunners may occa- 
 sionally glean a good bag, for most of the birds must, at 
 some time or other, pass over the banks, on their way from 
 shore to shore ; and in winter time I daresay it must be a 
 very good spot indeed, judging from what a summer day 
 brought forth to our guns. Now, friendly reader, I will tell 
 you what we did, and with that I will leave you to judge 
 whether a trip to Purfleet might prove, or not, an amusing 
 one to yourself. 
 
 A friend of mine, whilst sailing his yacht back to her 
 moorings at Erith, had repeatedly noticed many birds along 
 the shore and over the bank from Tilbury to Purfleet, and 
 higher up the river. Thereupon, " Some fine day, when 
 you have nothing to do/' he said to me, " you ought to 
 come down with a gun, just for the fun of the thing." 
 
 I at once ascertained the hours of departure of the 
 trains, and he agreed to meet me near the Purfleet training- 
 ship, at 9 A.M., on a certain day in August. Punctual to 
 the minute, I arrived with a mutual friend (a good shot 
 too), and two minutes' walk brought us to the shore. 
 
 Our friend's dingey was there, safe enough, but no one 
 was in it or near it. A boy, however, soon enlightened us 
 on that point. 
 
 " The man as was in the boat," he remarked to us, " has 
 just gone to the tap-room at the hotel, and," looking round, 
 " there he is, coming back now." 
 
 Then Cook made his appearance, pulled his forelock 
 with a broad grin, wished us good-morning, and said he 
 was to take us to Erith on board to breakfast with his 
 master. We then all got into the boat, dog and all, sailed 
 over, had our meal comfortably, and came back at about 
 10.30, ready for any amount of exertion. 
 
 The day was lovely in the extreme. There was a
 
 54 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 dazzling sun, lighting here and there the pretty Essex and 
 Kent landscapes with its floods and rays of light ; the 
 wind was dead on shore, but was not rough, so that so far 
 things were in our favour ; the tide was flowing fast, and 
 would be high in an hour or so. We were therefore bound 
 to see the best of the bank, as regarded sheltering shore 
 birds anyhow. 
 
 We began operations very soon after landing. About 
 a couple of hundred yards from the training ship, on. our 
 way towards Grays, as we were trudging along under the 
 lee of the bank, enjoying mightily the warmth and the 
 sunshine and the thick grass under our feet, so different 
 from the hard London pavements, what should we see but 
 three wood-pigeons coming down our way from over the 
 hill. Quoth my friend : 
 
 " Let's squat ; we may have a chance." 
 
 I signed to Rover. He dropped quietly where he was, 
 and we knelt in the rank grass without daring so much as 
 to wink, for fear of frightening away the birds. The said 
 birds were very high, and circled broad ; finally they flew 
 over the Thames, and we climbed the bank quietly, and 
 peeped over, to keep a watch over their evolutions. 
 Presently : . 
 
 " They are coming back, by Jove ! " we simultaneously 
 exclaimed, and we slid back down the sea wall and got 
 ready. The first bird passed close enough, about fifty yards 
 on my left. I fired, missed ; fired again, hit him ; but he 
 flew on and on, and finally fell near the railway line. 
 
 Meanwhile the two others had swerved on the reports, 
 and, though they were both fired at by my friend, not one 
 of them thought fit to remain with us. 
 
 I left my gun on the bank, and went a long round to find 
 some means of crossing the wide ditch that separated me
 
 Shore-Shooting from Purfleet to Tilbury. 55 
 
 from the field where my wood-pigeon had settled, and by 
 good luck I discovered a pole in the grass. Over I went, 
 and when I reached the spot where I had marked the bird 
 I found it there with a broken wing. He wanted to go a 
 little farther and give me a run ; but Rover did not see it 
 in the same light, and, twisting its neck, I put an end to its 
 troubles. I came back the same way, but the dog went 
 sniffing a little everywhere, according to the wont of those 
 little busy-body spaniels, and lo ! out of a ditch came a teal. 
 I had no gun, and at first I looked on in regret ; but when 
 I saw the teal, by good chance, going towards the bank, I 
 called out vociferously ; my friend turned back just in the 
 nick of time, took in the case at a glance, and bundled the 
 teal clean over on the mud on the other side of the sea wall. 
 
 " Hit him ?" I called out, when I saw that he did not 
 fire again. 
 
 " Yes," said he, evidently very pleased with himself. 
 
 " That is all right ! " and I felt as happy as if I had shot 
 it myself. After all, there is quite as much charm in seeing 
 someone shoot as if you were shooting yourself. 
 
 We picked up the teal and went on. After about a 
 quarter of an hour's walk I heard some ox-birds whistling. 
 I looked over to watch their flight, and presently I saw them 
 all settle on a piece of soft mud, near a bend of the bank. 
 
 " Come along!" I signed to my friend ; and, with an angry 
 gesture to the dog to keep him to heel, we all started at a 
 run, under the friendly shelter of the wall. Presently we 
 reach the spot. 
 
 " They are over there ! " I point silently to my com- 
 panion ; and as we thrust our hats down on our heads we 
 laugh, and a pleased light dances in our eyes. We then go 
 up slowly, and when we reach the top the birds are 
 nowhere to be seen.
 
 56 Sheafing, Excursions, 
 
 " They have gone ! " exclaims my friend, despondingly, 
 when whistle, whistle three of the birds seemed to spring 
 forth from the bowels of the earth, and they start at three 
 different tangents. For a moment it looked, for all the 
 world, as if there were thirty of them, they multiplied them- 
 selves in so incredible a fashion ; being here, there, and 
 everywhere at the same time seemingly. Under such 
 circumstances it takes luck to kill, and " Only one " was the 
 verdict, when the smoke of our four barrels had been blown 
 away and allowed us to see what had taken place. Well, 
 there was our bird drifting up with the tide, and the dog 
 barking at it ; but, as usual, he would not go into the water 
 to retrieve it. It was therefore fortunate, so far, that we 
 had retained Cook's services. That worthy, who kept 
 cruising about in sight of us in the small boat, soon saw 
 that his help was needed, and he was on the bird in a jiffey. 
 He took it up and went off again, keeping well away from 
 our shore, so as not to interfere with our shooting. By that 
 time we were pretty nearly halfway to the Point; and when 
 we came to the salt marsh there,, we agreed that it would 
 be well for one of us at least to walk over it, as ox-birds or 
 a sandpiper or two might have been thereabouts. I under- 
 took the job, and went down. There was a small space of 
 green sward (about ten yards square) that had been removed, 
 by spadefuls, as far as I could judge, close to the wall. 
 "What it had been cut away for I do not know ; but it had 
 left a sort of rectangular shallow hole, where, in the deepest 
 parts, was some water. Of course the whole was soft and 
 muddy ; and over it several small birds, wagtails particu- 
 larly, were disporting themselves, much to my amusement ; 
 for these birds look very pretty, and they are so quick and 
 so sharp in their evolutions. Well, I was there, with my 
 gun on my arm, looking on, and my friend on the wall was.
 
 Shore-Shooting from Piirfleet to Tilbury. 57 
 
 exchanging remarks with me, so that we were talking quite 
 loudly, when suddenly from the mud rose a sandpiper 
 whose presence I had not observed, but who evidently must 
 have noticed us and not minded our presence. We were so 
 astonished that ere we could bring our guns to shoulder he 
 had popped over the wall and was gone. 
 
 " Did you ever ? " exclaimed my friend, with blank 
 astonishment. 
 
 " Yes, I have," I retorted laughing. " I have had the 
 same trick played me over and over again. I cannot for 
 the life of me understand how such shy birds, as ox-birds 
 and sandpipers generally are, will occasionally allow some- 
 one to get quite close to them in the open, and with 
 nothing whatsoever to hide you from them. It passes my 
 comprehension." 
 
 " Well," he said, " I could not have believed it had I not 
 seen it. Anyhow, we have lost him, have we not ? And 
 oh we did look so foolish ! " 
 
 I daresay we did. 
 
 Close to where we were some men were at work 
 building a landing stage against the wall. These men, or 
 at least one of them, owned a large black retriever, which 
 gave us quite a turn, for, as we were quietly discussing 
 matters, the infernal brute rushed towards us, open mouthed 
 and furiously showing its teeth, and I believe would have 
 worried us had we not had our guns. We kept it at arms' 
 length with the barrels for a moment or so, but as it would 
 not desist and the affair might have ended seriously, I had 
 made up my mind to blow its head off at its next rush at 
 me, when at last its master called it away. I think that 
 people who own such ferocious brutes ought to keep them 
 chained, and, if not, anyone whom they attack ought to be 
 empowered to destroy them.
 
 58 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 When the dog had gone back we ventured to go our 
 way. My friend soon after missed a bird with both barrels, 
 and thereupon he laid the blame of the mishap on the 
 upset of his nerves which the retriever's attack had brought 
 about. However, we laughed it over ; and, seeing that 
 Rover was very busy in the ditch, we kept our eyes on him 
 from time to time, and when we arrived at the sluice, 
 near Grays, he flushed near the bridge a small bird, which 
 we at once recognised. It was a sandpiper. I fired, and 
 shot it. On the report, a second sandpiper rose. I fired 
 my second barrel and my friend fired his first. We missed, 
 but his second brought it down, at a goodish range. 
 
 A little farther, close to the little quaint church at 
 Grays, a jack-snipe was flushed by the dog, and we both 
 fired and missed, but it was fully sixty yards from us ; and 
 so there was nothing extraordinary in not hitting such a 
 small bird at that distance, with the wind dead on the shot, 
 and the numerous gyrations of the bird to contend against. 
 
 When the jack had disappeared somewhere in "the 
 clouds, after his startling adventure, we sat down on the 
 wall to enjoy the panorama which was there before us, and 
 I have rarely seen a prettier picture anywhere. What an 
 amount of traffic ! W r hat industry ! If ever anyone wishes 
 to drive away all thoughts of idleness from his mind, he 
 ought to watch the river when a favourable wind and tide 
 bring up all the weather-bounds from below towards the 
 port of London ; and the sight of all this earnest hurry 
 and steady work will shame his idleness away from him. 
 If it does not, it ought to, and that amounts to the same. 
 
 At Grays we tried to get some refreshments, but none 
 were to be had, except bread and cheese and beer. We 
 then went along the road until we had passed Grays, 
 and resumed sport on the wall towards Tilbury. We
 
 Shore-Shooting from Purfleet to Tilbury. 59 
 
 saw about fifty shore birds ; ox-birds by twos and threes 
 and fours, or more ; sandpipers singly ; starlings in shoals ; 
 seagulls in tribes ; wood-pigeons came by the score, but 
 were very shy, and we did not shoot any more of them. 
 
 Opposite Rosherville I shot a ringplover, and when we 
 came back on our footsteps we had about thirty birds of all 
 sorts. We walked back very leisurely, the tide was then 
 going down fast, and the shore birds increased in number 
 as the mud flats increased in extent. Howbeit, so far we 
 had shot but two or three presentable birds, I mean in 
 size ; but of course we had not expected anything better. 
 Everybody knows that on a river bank, where anyone 
 with a gun licence can shoot, it is not likely that one 
 would meet with plenty of large birds. We were aware 
 of that, and had made t;he most of our outing sur sesproprcs 
 m'erites and, taken all in all, we had enjoyed ourselves 
 so thoroughly that we agreed to come again some other 
 day. Well, we had stopped behind the wall to enjoy 
 the afternoon sun and watch for birds, about half a 
 mile from the Purfleet training ship, when, whilst talking 
 with my companion, I saw two ducks a mile away coming 
 towards us, from Grays. I thought I had made a mistake 
 at first," but a squint through my Dollond convinced me 
 that there was no deception about it. I hurriedly got 
 down the wall, and my friend followed suit when he had 
 caught sight of the new comers. We stopped at the ditch 
 and crouched behind two bushes, about two or three yards 
 apart, keeping the dog well down all the while. The two 
 ducks came straight along the wall and passed exactly over 
 our heads. Four barrels fired, and the second duck is evi- 
 dently going down. The first one thereupon turns towards 
 it, and when the wounded bird breaks his fall with out- 
 stretched wings, and flops on the water, the " leader "
 
 60 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 settles, too, near it. Of course we have rushed up the bank 
 to see how the wounded bird would get on and what he 
 would do, and we have seen the whole affair. Cook has 
 also seen it, and is rowing desperately towards the two 
 birds, who are now heading the tide some two hundred 
 yards from us. But when the man gets about a hundred 
 yards from the ducks the leader thinks it is high time to 
 shift his quarters, and he gets up, then looks back, and is 
 evidently surprised at his companion remaining there, for 
 he at first flies in a semicircle, and actually passes within 
 thirty yards of Cook in his boat, so that if Cook had had 
 a gun, or one of us had been with him, that " leader " 
 would have stood a good chance of coming into the bag. 
 However, after a short circle, he headed for Kent, and we 
 lost sight of him. Of course, if we had allowed the other 
 duck to remain on the water there was every probability 
 that he would have come again to it; but I did not fancy the 
 idea of leaving a wounded bird there to suffer, on the 
 chance of the other one turning up to keep it company, so 
 I signed to Cook to pick it up ; but that worthy, though he 
 tried hard, could not do it. The duck dived and evaded 
 him repeatedly. I then called him ashore, we jumped in 
 the dingey with him, and he rowed us towards the bird, when 
 a well-directed shot from my friend settled it for ever. 
 
 Whilst we were in the boat five herons passed in a line, 
 about fifty yards over the bank, towards Rainham. A man 
 who was in ambush there fired, and I believe got one. We, 
 however, were getting somewhat tired, and did not care 
 about landing any more. We went to Erith, had a glass 
 there with the owner of the yacht, gave Cook half-a-crown 
 for his civility and attention, and went back to the station 
 at Purfleet, where we arrived just in time for a train to town.
 
 Shore-Shooting from Purjlcct to Tilbury. 61 
 
 Cheinin faisant, when about half way over the river, we shot 
 a gray plover, and that concluded our trip. 
 
 Now, I do not pretend for a moment that our trip was 
 anything that would please a man blast in matters of sport ; 
 but what I certainly claim for it is the novelty of the thing, 
 the variety of the fun, and the rough-and-ready fashion in 
 which it must be conducted. These were not without their 
 charm, and if any of my readers think from my narrative 
 that they would enjoy a similar trip, let them by all means 
 try it. The expenses are small, the fun varied, and a plea- 
 sant day may be spent at Purfleet. 
 
 (P.S. Since the above was written, " a change has come 
 over the scene." Some limeworks and a tramway have 
 made their appearance between Purfleet and Grays, and 
 thus a good bit of the shore is now entirely ruined for 
 shooters.)
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PHEASANT-SHOOTING IN SURREY. 
 
 Two of us, by appointment, met at Waterloo, and travelled 
 together to meet the party. At the country station a 
 porter, evidently on the look-out for us, asked us if we 
 were going to the woods, and on our answering in the 
 affirmative, he told us that the dog-cart was waiting for us 
 outside. He then assisted us with our gun-boxes, &c., and 
 we were soon under weigh. 
 
 When on the railway bridge, going up the hill, we 
 looked about us from our exalted positions, and it was with 
 dismay we perceived that some of the coverts in the dis- 
 tance were as yet wearing their summer garb. 
 
 Quoth the major, biting his moustache : " Leaves con- 
 foundedly thick, my boy, eh ?" 
 
 " Awful ! " I replied with a groan ; and certainly we felt 
 very doubtful as to our ultimate success in sport, and our 
 remarks on the point were anything but lively. However, 
 I always put on a cheerful countenance, and I tried to make 
 my companion see things a little more couleur de rose. 
 
 At the keeper's we were received with enthusiasm by 
 our host, his brother, and a Cambridge undergraduate. 
 The fact was they were at breakfast, and the good things 
 spread before them had exhilarated their spirits ; and we
 
 Pheasant- Shoo ting in Sitrrey. 63 
 
 fell to, ditto, with a will. Our early start from town, our 
 railway journey, and last but not least, our five or six- 
 mile drive from the station to the woods, had singularly 
 sharpened our appetites, and we did honour to the feed. 
 
 At 10 o'clock we got ready, and the head-keeper 
 marshalled our beaters in the lane by his cottage. The 
 spaniels, four in number, were led by the under-keeper, 
 and we went down the lane to the next copse ; that round 
 the keeper's house being somewhat tabooed, as he feeds his 
 birds there. 
 
 At the lower gate we assumed our positions ; our host 
 taking the left wing, with Jones the head-keeper on his 
 left-hand side, and a beater on his right. I came next, 
 and another beater intervened between the major and me. 
 Finally a beater, the undergraduate, another beater, our 
 host's brother, and the under-keeper completed the array 
 about a dozen men all told, and four dogs, good ones. 
 It certainly looked long odds on the woods being well 
 scoured. 
 
 " Ready ? " inquired the owner. " Right ! then let us 
 go on." 
 
 And we went on, the dogs were slipped, the beaters 
 began belabouring the bushes and under-coverts, and, with 
 our guns ready, the fray began. The leaves, be it said, 
 were still thick, as we had indeed feared, but not quite so 
 thick as we had been led to expect. The ground, however, 
 was literally covered with ferns in some places, and then 
 rabbits were rather safer there than we liked. " Mark 
 pheasant ! " called out Jones. The bird rose grandly between 
 my host and me, and he brought it to book by a splendid 
 shot. 
 
 " First blood ! " said he, in great glee. 
 
 " Rabbit to you, sir," said my right-hand beater. I
 
 64 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 turned round, lost sight of bunny, looked ahead, could not 
 see him. " There he goes ! " shouts my left-hand man. I 
 fire miss. The rabbit turns at a right angle down the 
 path, and there my Schultze cartridge settles him, a long- 
 shot. 
 
 Meanwhile the major had been firing too, and the 
 captain (our host's brother) had joined him on a brace of 
 pheasants, both of which came to grief, the undergraduate 
 explaining that he could not see them hence his not 
 firing. As we advance the birds are picked up, and one of 
 my men collars my rabbit. 
 
 " Be you ready, sir ? " he then asks me. 
 
 " Rather," I said emphatically. 
 
 And he brings down his cudgel like a flail on a small 
 brambly bush, out of which rise a magnificent cock and 
 hen. 
 
 " Spare the hen, please," shouts the owner. " Of course," 
 I return mentally ; and bang ! The cock shuts off steam, 
 folds his wings, drops his legs, and comes down head first ; 
 the poor hen hurrying on, like fun, to get out of any pos- 
 sible danger to herself. We were then in a bright bit of 
 clear ground, where the rabbits were easily followed, and 
 we bundled over about half a dozen within a hundred yards. 
 The dogs were extremely well broken. Not one of them 
 ever " said a word " to either bird or bunny, and none of 
 them chased. A rare treat this. 
 
 We went down the brook to seek for any woodcocks 
 that might have been about ; but the season, methinks, was 
 too early for those long-billed individuals, for we did not 
 see one. En revanche, we were amply repaid by meeting 
 over a dozen long-tails, which the dogs cleverly set about 
 unrooting. The sun was shining through the tree-tops on 
 to the yellow and green mossy carpet below, and its rays
 
 Pheasant- Shooting in Surrey. 65 
 
 through the briers and brambles which partly covered the 
 brook looked, when they reached the water, like so many 
 bars of silver and gold and blue. Out of this mixture, 
 imagine pheasant after pheasant rising in their glory, with 
 their emerald-red-blue heads and necks and their motley 
 garbs, and you will acknowledge that the sight was very 
 pretty. There is nothing more grand to my mind than 
 such scenes under covert ; and whilst shooting the birds I 
 thought it almost a pity to kill such handsome things. 
 There were also a few rabbits lying along the high banks 
 of the brook ; but the vast majority of them escaped scot 
 free, as the covert was very thick. When we neared the 
 end of the wood, and when we were as yet fully a hundred 
 and fifty yards from the corner, it was deemed advisable 
 that the guns should go outside and take their stand there, 
 whilst the men would thoroughly beat the intervening bit 
 of covert. We accordingly stopped the beaters, and told 
 them to wait where they were until we gave them a signal 
 to proceed. We then-went back and took to the road. At 
 the corner we arranged ourselves in such a way as to clip 
 anything that would come out of the wood, and forthwith 
 the keeper called to the men to come forward and to let go 
 the spaniels. Meanwhile a couple of traps that happened 
 to be driving by at the time were stopped on the road, in 
 order to allow their occupants to see the fun ; moreover 
 several farm labourers also congregated from the neighbour- 
 ing fields, and we had quite a "gallery" when the fun began. 
 
 The beaters, under covert, had scarcely received the 
 order to proceed than several of them called out to " mark 
 pheasant," and "rabbit forward." 
 
 The captain, whose face I could just catch at the bend, 
 suddenly stepped back, and signed to me, calling out mean- 
 while :
 
 66 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 " Look out ! there is a bird running along the hedge 
 towards you." 
 
 I looked and saw him coming. He ran along the fence 
 with a tremendous " waddle," like a fat old woman, and his 
 tail was gingerly kept up out of the way of brambles, &c. 
 
 " Now, my fine fellow," I thought, " what are you going 
 to do, I should like to know ? " He seemed quite as much 
 at a loss to decide as I was to guess ; but the beaters just 
 then shouting all together, he got up within ten yards of 
 me, swept out of the fence, and went over my left in full 
 sail an easy shot which I could not have missed had I 
 tried. On turning round I saw another bird coming towards 
 me amongst the trees ; and, waiting until he was well up 
 for fear of hitting any of the men, I gave him my second 
 barrel as a bonne bouche, and he came crashing through the 
 branches and leaves to the ground quite dead. 
 
 The men were then in the thickest part of the covert, 
 and quite close to us, and the firing was quite exhilarating. 
 The Cambridge man greatly distinguished himself there, 
 and for a time the major himself gave up grumbling, fired 
 away, and, when all was over, wished " a thousand birds had 
 been there." Well, I did not quite agree with him there, 
 and I am sure that, had he had a thousand shots to fire 
 without moving from his place, he would very speedily 
 have got sick of the affair. There is no charm in any con- 
 tinuous firing. As shooting practice it may be accepted, 
 but there would be no sport in it. In fact, seeking for 
 game constitutes the sport of shooting ; and although one 
 may occasionally enjoy firing several shots without moving 
 as when a bit of covert, impenetrable to the shooters, is 
 driven by the beaters in order to get the birds out yet I 
 contend that if all covert-shooting were to be carried on in 
 the same manner, I, for one, would fail to perceive where
 
 PJicasant- Shooting in Surrey. 67 
 
 was the sport of the thing. It is at first excellent fun, and 
 where the guns cannot possibly shoot it is perfectly admis- 
 sible, especially when the neighbouring lands are tabooed, as 
 they were in our case. In fact, it was quite intoxicating in 
 its way. The hurry of the thing, the noise, the unexpected 
 shots that turned up, were, for the time being, very enter- 
 taining. 
 
 When the men came out we had eight pheasants and 
 five rabbits to pick up ; not bad, in point of numbers, this, 
 for five minutes' work. The first pheasant I had shot had 
 dropped on the other side of the road, and the keeper went 
 there with his retriever an animal in which he seemed to 
 place great confidence, but the greatest muff I have ever 
 seen, even amongst retrievers proper. This sporting (?) 
 dog was black (of course), and he was fifteen yards long, 
 more or less, or at least appeared so when he took his 
 uncouth canters. He had, moreover, as much nose as a 
 coal-scuttle, and seemingly would not have scented an 
 qtrich if it had been on the other side of the hedge. 
 However, he galloped for a quarter of a mile or so about 
 the field, and the keeper thereupon declared that my bird 
 miist have been a runner, and must have gone. 
 
 " A runner ! " I exclaimed, disgusted. " Do you think 
 I don't know a dead bird when I see one coming down ? 
 The bird, I bet, is within ten yards of the hedge. Get your 
 hippopotamus out of the way and see how quickly the 
 spaniels will find out my bird." 
 
 In short it was quite amusing, for no sooner were the 
 little dogs brought on than the four of them went at once 
 to the bird and stood round it, sniffing it. After that, 
 hippopotamus's laurels looked anything but green ; but 
 really I have no patience with such nonsense. The idea 
 of training a certain set of dogs, which by nature were 
 
 F 2
 
 68 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 intended, perhaps, to pick up firewood or draw a sledge, 
 into sporting dogs, has something in it which invariably 
 makes me wonder, with, I consider, very excellent ground 
 for wondering. Hippopotamus, for one, would make an 
 excellent night cab-horse ; but no amount of tuition and 
 lickings will give him what he needs i.e. a sporting nose. 
 
 At luncheon -time the question of covert-shooting as 
 practised now and as it was carried on by our ancestors was 
 mooted around our table, and we discussed with warmth 
 the advantages and disadvantages of working with "mute" 
 or " babbling " dogs. I confess I like a spaniel to give 
 some sort of warning when he springs his quarry, although 
 I should have no wish to see it carried to the extent to 
 which the poet speaks in his lines : 
 
 See how with emulative zeal they strive, 
 
 Thread the loose sedge, and through the thicket drive ! 
 
 No babbling voice the bosom falsely warms, 
 
 Or swells the panting heart with vain alarms ; 
 
 Till all at once their choral tongues proclaim 
 
 The secret refuge of the lurking game. 
 
 A wood-spaniel now that babbles is considered " bad 
 .form." Certainly those that give tongue to such an extent 
 as to make their "choral tongues proclaim the secret refuge 
 of the lurking game " are inadmissible, and yet in thick 
 covert some vocal sound indicating finding is very desirable. 
 Howbeit, in the aforesaid poet's times, evidently, covert- 
 shooting was bird-hunting on a small scale, for does he not 
 add: 
 
 Soon as the ready dogs their quarry spring, 
 And swift he spreads his variegated wing, 
 Ceased is their cry ? 
 
 Therefore the dogs gave tongue on the birds' tracks until 
 they sprang them ; and no doubt it must have been an 
 exciting way of pursuing the sport. But, tels temps, telles
 
 Pheasant-Shooting in Surrey. 69 
 
 mceurs, we have changed all that ; and now most people, 
 when they beat their coverts, display just as much excite- 
 ment as when taking tea. It is " bad form " to get excited 
 now, and when a dog " the sportsman's bosom warms, and 
 swells his panting heart with alarms," that dog is voted 
 forthwith a confounded nuisance and a bother, for nobody 
 now likes to have his blood coursing through his veins at a 
 greater rate than the orthodox sixty pulsations per minute ; 
 and as to getting excited in any way, some sportsmen's 
 faces nowadays are perfectly impenetrable masks of stolid- 
 ness. They neither smile nor laugh, but go on their way 
 with the precision and inscrutability of a mowing-machine; 
 but that is no improvement. I like a man to be a man 
 at least in sport ; and shooting a covert is not exactly as 
 serious an undertaking as settling the Eastern Question ; 
 therefore why look so solemn ? Ay, why ? No, taken all 
 in all, I think our ancestors were by far better sportsmen 
 than we are, inasmuch that they appreciated to the full alt 
 the incidental pleasures of shooting, whereas we seem to be 
 growing ashamed of them. 
 
 After luncheon we went to another wood, about a 
 quarter of a mile from the lodge. The weather was not so 
 bright as it had been all the morning, and now and then a 
 few drops of rain fell ; but we had done so well already 
 that a little rain was not likely to daunt us, and it was 
 with renewed spirit that we entered the new covert. 
 
 Our beaters did not work well for a time. They had 
 indulged, I strongly suspect, in some potations deep and 
 strong during the interval of our luncheon, and the con- 
 sequence was that half of them were " heavy." Howbeit 
 a good blow-up directed to one of them made the lot look 
 alive, and soon they resumed their wonted energies. 
 
 Now I have very frequently observed that when rain is
 
 7O Shooting Exciirsions. 
 
 about to fall the pheasants do not remain scattered, as they 
 are apt to do when the weather is fine and warm ; on the 
 contrary, they assemble, as a rule, in little knots in sporting 
 parlance denominated' " nides." Now on the day of which 
 I am speaking, we found, from the dogs' behaviour, that the 
 birds had done a good deal of tramping, for repeatedly the 
 spaniels took up lines and followed them. Moreover, we 
 were several times at least a quarter of an hour beating 
 about without finding a single bird. Plenty of rabbits, 
 however, made a diversion to the sport. 
 
 " Where, in the name of all that is good, Jones, are the 
 birds ?" at last queried my host. 
 
 " Dunno, sir," said the keeper, somewhat crestfallen at 
 the jeers of the major, who for the last ten minutes had 
 been bothering everybody, purposely, with his queries as to 
 when he would have another shot at a long-tail. 
 
 I said nothing, but guessed we would have warm work 
 in store when nearing the fence, as evidently we were driving 
 the birds before us ; and this indeed turned out to be the 
 case. We had only half-a-dozen birds clear during that 
 beat ; but when we pitched our tents in the lane, and the 
 intervening space was beaten, great was the slaughter, as 
 the birds were flushed by threes and fours at a time. Some 
 of these, however, broke back, and flew over the beaters 
 towards the ground we had left, but the majority took heart 
 of grace, and faced our fire grandly. I performed two 
 doubles in the midst of the deroute\ the captain killed five 
 birds and a rabbit ; the major had three birds and two 
 rabbits ; the owner a brace of each ; and the Cambridge 
 man rattled away cleverly at two birds and surely five or 
 six rabbits. 
 
 By-the-way, "Hippopotamus" was excellent on rabbits 
 he retrieved them all, and killed one or two under covert
 
 Pheasant- Shooting in Surrey. Ji 
 
 that had not been shot at. The strong scent of the 
 vermin suited his hippopotamusship, I suppose ; and I 
 have no doubt that when old Jones wants a couple of 
 rabbits for his dinner he has but to take a short walk into 
 the woods with his long-legged and long-bodied nigger, and 
 the said nigger will soon nab the requisite number of 
 bunnies, without a single shot being needed ; and that is 
 very handy. 
 
 Well, we went on bravely at it until 4.30 P.M., when 
 we really could do no more, and, wearily enough, we 
 retraced our footsteps towards the lodge. 
 
 We were but little short of a hundred pheasants, and of 
 rabbits we had about a cartload. We had therefore ex- 
 perienced very fair sport, notwithstanding the early season. 
 We saw only very few backward birds, although the keeper 
 asserted that several lots he knew of were about. As for 
 rabbits, I have never known them to be more numerous, 
 and when a few frosts will have cleared the undergrowth of 
 fern leaves and other such rubbish, great will be the fun at 
 the bunnies in the woods. Three of us used the Schultze 
 powder, to our utmost satisfaction ; and there is no doubt 
 that for shooting under covert it has a very great advantage 
 over the black powders, inasmuch that it only produces a 
 thin smoke which does not hang before one's eyes, thus 
 enabling the shooter to place his second barrel, whenever 
 needed, without any impediment in the way.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE WESTERN SHORE OF CANVEY ISLAND. 
 
 CANVEY Island, as most people know, is situated on the 
 Essex shore of the river Thames ; but what most people do 
 not know is that there is excellent shore-shooting to be 
 had there. 
 
 There are some folks who assert that shore-shooting, 
 being a sport amongst sea-birds, and not calculated to fill 
 the game-bag with dainties, ought not to be considered as 
 sport, and they turn up their noses at it and at its votaries. 
 I suppose such men cannot have any soul for fox-hunting 
 then since there is nothing to take home to eat when the 
 fox is killed. Such a style of reasoning is absurd. I contend 
 that shore-shooting is a most pleasant sport, taking the 
 shooter to queer, wild, out-of-the-way spots, and putting 
 him to all sorts of shifts and expedients ; and then it is 
 available to all, and that is more than can be said of game- 
 shooting. I spent one of the most charming days I ever 
 enjoyed with the gun, on the western shore of Canvey 
 Island. I fired about eighty shots, brought home twenty- 
 one fine birds, had all sorts of pleasurable incidents to enliven 
 the time, and would not have changed my venue for the 
 " warmest corner " in the three kingdoms. Let any sports- 
 man at heart read the following, and if he does not agree
 
 The Western Shore of Canvey Island. 73 
 
 with me that mine was a most enjoyable sport I shall be 
 disappointed. 
 
 When the train lands its passengers at Benfleet, in front 
 of the station may be observed what, at first sight, seems 
 to be wholly a marsh, extending for many miles until it 
 reaches the shore of the Thames. Within a stone's-throw 
 of the railway line, a broad sheet of water at high tide or a 
 narrow one, lined with mud, at low tide separates the 
 mainland from the marshy-looking island. It is not wholly 
 a marsh though ; and in some parts of the island several 
 comfortable-looking homesteads and a few stacks are to be 
 seen above the sea-banks. On the mud, in the creek, sit 
 two or three old smacks and a barge or two, and below, in 
 stormy weather, some shrimpers usually run in for shelter, 
 making the creek rather lively. 
 
 There are two ways of doing justice to the shore-shooting 
 round the island. One consists in sailing or rowing up the 
 creeks with the tide, and dropping out with it, when some 
 excellent bags can be made ; the shooter has only to sit 
 forward, gun in hand, ready to fire at the shortest notice. 
 He must, however, take care to provide himself with mud- 
 pattens, so as to land at any time. At high tide, a suitable 
 spot can always be picked out, and if the boat be run in- 
 shore, one has only to step overboard on the green sward. 
 A stranger to the island will do \vell to secure the services 
 of a boatman who knows the place, as, when the tide has 
 sufficiently risen to cover the saltings, it is not easy to keep 
 the boat in mid-channel, and there is nothing to show where 
 it is when the whole is being overflowed. 
 
 The second way consists simply in tramping by the sea- 
 walls. 
 
 The sea-wall on the western shore zigzags in an ex- 
 traordinary manner, so much so that sometimes after
 
 74 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 walking a quarter of a mile you find yourself opposite the 
 very place where you had previously had a shot. Nothing 
 could be better devised in order to insure good sport. Were 
 the sea-wall perfectly straight it would be almost impossible 
 to overreach the birds without severe tramping, because if 
 the sportsman could see the birds a long way off the same 
 would hold good for the birds seeing the sportsman ; 
 whereas with these short cuts one has always a chance of 
 popping on some birds totally unaware of your presence, 
 and behind each new bend something may be expected to 
 turn up. 
 
 The first thing to be done in beating a salt-marsh of this 
 sort is to observe from which quarter the wind blows, and 
 to try to keep under the wind, -for it is astonishing how 
 restless the birds become if a man gives them the benefit of 
 his scent, however far away he may be. On the day of 
 my excursion, as I stood on the railway platform facing 
 the island, the breeze came from the left, i.e. eastwards ; 
 therefore my best plan was to take the right bank, and I 
 made my way round by the church and then under the 
 railway bridge. I then loaded my gun and went ahead, 
 getting my field-glass ready, and my man following leisurely 
 with the game-bag and the rest of my ammunition. 
 
 Never walk with your bag-bearer when out shore- 
 shooting. Talking is sure to follow, and few things disturb 
 a shore more than the human voice. For the same reason 
 a dog, unless he obeys signs, is a nuisance. As regards 
 retrieving the birds when they fall in the water, nothing is 
 more simple if one has started down wind, as it will be sure 
 to blow the birds ashore, and a little waiting will secure 
 them. 
 
 When we stood on the sea-wall ready to begin, the tide 
 was coming up still, and had about an hour more to run
 
 The Western Shore of Canvey Island. 75 
 
 just the right time for sport, as of course at high tide the 
 birds must perforce settle near the walls, and thereby give 
 a chance to the gunners. My first shots were at lapwings. 
 There was a flock of them in the ploughed field between 
 the railway line and the creek. I crept behind the wall 
 when they rose, my man stopped motionless where he was, 
 and the birds began their many evolutions, passing and 
 repassing over the line and tumbling about in a lively 
 style. Presently they wheeled my way, and passed over- 
 head at a great height Two or three stragglers, however, 
 were bringing up the rear, and one of these coming lower 
 with his tumbling I fired, hit him, redoubled the dose, and 
 he tumbled down for good. The others turned back, and, 
 giving me no chance, returned inland, and I went on, soon 
 afterwards passing some magazines dug up in the hill- 
 side. 
 
 About a quarter of a mile farther, a covey of partridges 
 got up from a field on the right of the bank. I was looking 
 at them when I heard some shanks whistling. I cautiously 
 peeped over, but could see nothing, so walked nearer to 
 the bend and got up again, when two redshanks rose. 
 Fired at one, missed him ; fired again and winged him. 
 He fell in the creek, and the wind brought him ashore. A 
 moment after I saw a heron rising from the fields about 
 half a mile away ; he flew majestically towards the bank, 
 and disappeared behind it. I reconnoitred with my Dollond, 
 but the bends of the wall were so numerous that I could 
 not note the exact spot where he had settled. I went 
 down, then, loaded with two hard-driving cartridges, marked 
 the spot where I had seen the bird go over by the remains 
 of a stile sticking up in the wall, and I went towards the 
 spot as quick as my legs could carry me, without running 
 though, for I have, ere this, found out that running and
 
 76 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 shooting are not compatible. Reaching the spot, I go up 
 quietly, and there is my bird on the other side, too far, 
 being fully a hundred yards away. I am deliberating 
 whether a long shot might not be tried, when to my 
 astonishment five herons get up from my side within five 
 yards of me. Bang, bang ! The first thrusts out his head, 
 neck, and legs, and comes down flop ; the second hangs his 
 legs and lifts up his head, fluttering energetically, but 
 comes down gradually, and finally lands on the salting, 
 within sixty yards, when he begins to run. This, however, 
 availed him nothing, the wall preventing him from seeing 
 me and from thwarting my approach, when I settled him 
 with another shot. Both birds were in superb plumage. 
 The last one was a very old bird, and nearly twice as long 
 as the other, who seemed one of the year's breed. Both 
 will do well for my collection, for I have had for a long 
 time a desire to secure every shore bird in the islands, and 
 I hope shortly to produce such a collection as will amuse 
 and entertain the public. 
 
 We packed up both birds carefully, and my man was 
 just slinging the bag on his shoulders when a whacking 
 hare got up from our very feet and ran into the fields. We 
 followed her by sight, and in her run she disturbed another 
 hare, so that fur seems to be pretty plentiful about 
 there. 
 
 We walked on about a mile without any further incident, 
 when, at a bare " soft," we perceived a curlew feeding with 
 several ring-plovers. Now, I have read somewhere that 
 shooting seven curlews is considered very fair work for a 
 sportsman's lifetime. Why, I am at a loss to understand, 
 as I have shot hundreds myself, and this one was added to 
 the list. Some people affect to despise curlews, but then 
 their cooks are to blame for it. A curlew, properly prepared,
 
 The Western Shore of Canvey Island. 77 
 
 makes a delicious dish, and our ancestors knew that full 
 well : 
 
 A curlew, be she white or be she black, 
 She carries twelvepence on her back. 
 
 Now twelve pence in olden times were worth a great deal 
 more than our modern shilling, and therefore the bird must 
 have been held in very high esteem. The one I had spied 
 was a very good one in more ways than one. He allowed 
 me to get within twenty yards of him, and then came down 
 as quickly as he got up. With my second barrel I missed 
 one of the ring-plovers. We then stopped for refreshments. 
 
 The weather was beautiful, but fearfully hot, in spite of 
 the welcome breeze, and a more lovely day for an excursion 
 could not have been had. The tide was on the turn, and 
 some of the saltings began to reappear, when thousands 
 upon thousands of starlings turned up to feed on them. 
 
 During our meal a flock of gray plovers passed over the 
 marsh, and many turned across the creek, when I got two. 
 
 Our lunch at an end, we resumed our tramp. I got on 
 the wall with my field-glass and scanned the shores as far 
 as I could. There were two herons about a mile off, by 
 the stream, and that was all I could see. 
 
 We started towards them, when I heard a curlew 
 calling. Looking up I saw two flying over the creek about 
 seventy yards away from us. I fired, and one of them 
 dropped one of his legs. I redoubled the dose, but without 
 apparent effect, as the birds went on. 
 
 " Very queer, that ! " I thought ; but the mystery was 
 solved soon after, for we came up again with the wounded 
 bird, and a rattling shot settled him. 
 
 Meanwhile at my first shot, as might have been ex- 
 pected, the herons had gone ; but what disgusted me most 
 was that, at the very next bend past the spot where I had
 
 78 S /tooting Excursions. 
 
 originally fired, were three more herons, which of course I 
 had not seen, as they were behind the bank. We were 
 then walking past one of the farmhouses, and the tide 
 receding very fast most of the marsh was bare, and the 
 birds once more masters of the situation. The channel 
 became lower and farther away from the wall, and long- 
 range now became the order of the day. There were, 
 however, only small shore birds about, and these were not 
 worth shooting when they were over the creek, on account 
 of the "softs," which precluded any attempt at picking 
 them up when shot. 
 
 When evening drew near the concerts of " calls " and 
 "whistles" were something worth hearing. Plovers, oxbirds, 
 sandpipers, curlews, herons, peewits, were all over the marsh ; 
 and we found that as the darkness increased they became a 
 great deal more reckless, thus enabling me to reach over a 
 score of birds for the day's sport. 
 
 I was delighted to find that such excellent sport was to 
 be had so near town, and heartily recommend the same 
 trip to any intending shore-shooter.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE EASTERN SHORE OF CANVEY ISLAND. 
 
 UP at 7 A.M. Wind N.E. Weather "beastly" cold. 
 Previous day's reports in the papers had announced snow 
 in the provinces. For a shore -shooting trip, therefore, 
 nothing could be better ; and I accordingly donned my 
 shooting toggery, got the dog up, sent for a cab, and at 
 7.50 we were in the train, bound for the Essex marshes. 
 
 By the time we reached Rainham we found the fields 
 quite clothed in their winter garb, and the farther we went 
 the thicker appeared the white covering. A friend had 
 met me at Fenchurch Street station, and we both rubbed 
 our hands in ecstasy at the prospect before us. We in- 
 tended inspecting the eastern shore of Canvey Island ; 
 and I may premise that that shore of the island is by far 
 the best as regards beating creeks, &c., because the saltings 
 are there very wide indeed in some places they are half 
 a mile or more; and it stands to reason that birds will pitch 
 in the creeks in the midst of such a vast extent of ground 
 with a feeling of security which they cannot experience on 
 the narrow western shore. 
 
 In short, on the latter you have nothing to do but to 
 keep walking behind the bank and popping occasionally 
 over the wall whenever you have happened to mark birds
 
 So S /looting Excursions. 
 
 settling down. On the western shore, remaining behind the 
 bank would be perfectly useless, as the creeks are far 
 away from the sea-banks ; and therefore the birds, to be 
 had, must be sought for, with a deal of tramping, creek- 
 crossing, &c. 
 
 I prefer the latter style, as a good deal of " unexpected " 
 springs up occasionally ; and the style of shooting, as 
 regards the tramping, is exactly like snipe-shooting in an 
 ordinary marsh, until one reaches the creeks, when the dog 
 must be got to heel, so that a thorough inspection may be 
 made of the bare flats. 
 
 We used choke-bored guns and Schultze cartridges, with 
 No. 2 shot in the left barrel, and No. 6 in the right. 
 
 By-the-way it is astonishing what a tremendous range 
 one obtains with a choke-bore loaded with large shot. I 
 had, of course, tried these loads before, but I had never seen 
 their effects so distinctly as I did on that day, simply 
 because over the mud one sees the range of the charge so 
 clearly that there can be no mistake. 
 
 On our arrival we found the Benfleet creek pretty full 
 as yet, and when we wended our way to the ferry (some 
 hundred and twenty yards or so from the little station) the 
 prospect was far from cheering to any ordinary eyes. The 
 hills on the left were snow-clad, and the tops of the sea- 
 walls were ditto " chalked." Many small birds, already 
 pinched by the cold, were flying about in search of soft places 
 along the banks ; and in the marsh itself we could see several 
 companies on the wing, and sundry curlew and shank calls 
 left no doubt in our minds as to the result of our trip to 
 Benfleet. 
 
 We were ferried over, and landed on the muddy road 
 that leads to the homestead. We then clambered up the 
 sea-wall and loaded.
 
 The Eastern Shore of Canvey Island. 81 
 
 The creek on the left of the wall being as yet impass- 
 able, we took matters coolly, and went along at a moderate 
 pace, so as to give the tide, time to recede. 
 
 Our man, who had gone to one of the inns for some 
 purchase or other, then turned up and followed. We passed 
 the farmhouse, and there being then a tolerably clean bit of 
 salting, we went down with the dog. Whilst we were talk- 
 ing of the possibility of getting a snipe or two, we heard 
 one very high above us, and soon picked it out and stopped 
 to watch it. It flew two or three times up and down, in the 
 face of the bitter cold wind, so that tears ran down our 
 respective faces as we kept our eyes on it. Then we lost 
 sight of it, and became aware that another one was also on 
 the wing, and evidently following the first. The latter we 
 kept in view, and it settled in the marsh a very long way 
 off. 
 
 When we reached the whereabouts (we had loaded with 
 snipe-shot whilst on our way thither), I signed to Rover 
 to proceed, and he went here, and there, and everywhere, 
 always keeping an eye on us so as not to be too far from 
 shot, much to my friend's astonishment and pleasure. The 
 spot was partly saltings and partly old withered salt -reeds, 
 with little bits of open soft mud every foot or so, and water 
 a little everywhere. A nicer spot for a snipe to get a 
 breakfast in there was not anywhere near. 
 
 " Your little spaniel," said my companion, " works most 
 admirably ; and if the birds really did pitch here he is 
 bound to turn them up." 
 
 The words were scarcely out of his mouth when the dog 
 caught scent ; he turned to the right, faced the wind, and 
 looked at us. 
 
 " Look out ! " I whispered to my friend ; and dash went 
 the dog, and up went the snipes. 
 
 VOL. i. G
 
 82 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 We both fired at the same, and killed it in a desperate 
 manner. I wounded the second, and my friend missed it 
 with his left ; but we saw the bird was touched, and made 
 sure to have it. It kept going, however, until it cleared the 
 wall, and we lost sight of it. 
 
 " It will be in the ditch," I opined ; and we went to look 
 for it. 
 
 When we reached the wall I went some twenty yards 
 ahead. My companion remained where he was. Then we 
 got on the wall and sent the dog down. He at once 
 acknowledged the presence of the bird, and kept passing 
 up and down the same spot, sniffing desperately. As the 
 bird would not rise, we went to look for it, and found it in 
 the water, dipping its beak and drowning itself. The water 
 had taken away its scent, so that the dog had been non- 
 plussed for tracking it. 
 
 We picked it up, and found both birds in prime fettle 
 and condition, but the first had been smashed by our two 
 barrels. 
 
 Well, such things will happen occasionally, especially 
 when snipe-shooting ; as there is no knowing to which of 
 the shooters the snipe will go when it rises between two 
 men. 
 
 We returned to the marsh, and the spaniel worked every 
 inch of it with wonderful attention. In fact that little dog 
 was quite A I. 
 
 When we had crossed a minor creek we were facing the 
 large one getting somewhat empty then and hearing 
 some calls of birds, we reconnoitred with the Dollond. 
 They were at the point between two creeks on our right, 
 and we held a council of war. 
 
 " One of us, Tom," I stated, " must remain here, and 
 the other must go round and scare the birds. If you stop,
 
 The Eastern Shore of Canvey Island. 83 
 
 I will go. Remain here as close to the creek as you can, 
 because the birds are sure, in their flight, to follow the 
 water." 
 
 " All right," he said ; and he ensconced himself in a 
 hole. 
 
 I went to the right and sought a passage, but found it 
 blocked. Had to come back on my footsteps and pick out 
 a smaller creek, which I crossed. The birds were feeding 
 still, as we had not heard them call. When I arrived, how- 
 ever, as near to them as I could, so as to have them between 
 my friend and myself, I found that fully a hundred and fifty 
 yards of mud separated me from them. I tried to cross, 
 but the " soft " was decidedly " too soft," and I was deliber- 
 ating whether I should fire a barrel in the air on the off- 
 chance of the birds bolting in the right direction, when a 
 wood-pigeon coming by settled the case. I fired and 
 killed him, and on the report the birds got up and began 
 flying over the creek. Now for a piece of strategy. I 
 kept my eye on them, and when they swerved and wheeled 
 round to go to sea I fired in their direction, although, 
 mind, they were virtually out of range, but simply to drive 
 them the other way. The shot rattled harmlessly enough 
 on the water, but the desired effect was produced, and the 
 birds passed my friend, who, however, got none he fired 
 too low. From where I stood I saw the whole perform- 
 ance admirably. Had he held his gun's muzzle just half 
 an inch higher, I verily believe he would have killed four 
 or five birds with each barrel, as the company kept so 
 close together. 
 
 " You did your best to help me," said he, when he 
 rejoined me, " and I am very much obliged to you for that 
 shot of yours : but you see the Fates had decreed that those 
 shanks should not as yet come into my bag. But, oh ! I 
 
 G 2
 
 84 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 say ! Did not they fly fast ? There they were, and up they 
 came like a flash of lightning !" 
 
 We had to go back to the wall in order to pursue our 
 way, as a large, impassable mud-creek barred our intended 
 road ; then we went down again in the marsh, beating well 
 the ground for snipe. 
 
 On our way a flock of gray plovers were descried by 
 our man, who shrilly whistled to call our attention. We 
 stopped and stooped, and when the birds passed us at 
 about seventy yards' range, we gave them our four barrels, 
 and got thirteen birds. Had we not had the dog, however, 
 we should certainly have lost at least half of them in the 
 reeds, but he set himself diligently to work, and although 
 he does not bring them to hand, he finds them quickly, 
 and mouths them, so that we always know when he has 
 found anything. 
 
 When the plovers were picked up, John, who had come 
 to us on seeing them fall, put them in the game-bag, 
 together with my wood-pigeon and the two snipe, and we 
 then sent him back to the wall, where the walking was 
 fine, and where he could watch for anything coming our 
 way. 
 
 About a quarter of a mile off we saw several curlews 
 dropping into a creek, and this time Tom went ahead and 
 a long way round to frighten them towards me ; and right 
 well he did it too ; but the tramping was severe, and he 
 was fairly beaten afterwards. He got well above the birds, 
 and they did not wait for him to scare them, rising when 
 he was fully a couple of hundred yards from them. They 
 came sailing along quietly enough, but settled again before 
 reaching me. Poor Tom, however, made up his mind to 
 continue his tactics, and this time he was successful. Five 
 curlews and about a dozen greenshanks, together with
 
 The Eastern Shore of Canvey Island. 85 
 
 a score of oxbirds, took the alarm, and got up amidst a 
 concert of indignant whistles. I crouch in my hole, and 
 only my eyes are above the level of the grass, so as to 
 see what goes on. Two redshanks come close to me, and 
 settle. The oxbirds, nothing loath, settle also ; the curlews, 
 seeing all apparently peaceful, make up their minds to do 
 the same; but I get the gun in a line with one of them, and 
 pull. He is quite smashed, and with the second shot I 
 wing another. The dog thereupon chases him. The 
 bird two or three times doubles like a hare, then strikes 
 out with his bill, and utters " calls " in a desperate fashion. 
 I have reloaded quickly with two No. 2 shot cartridges, 
 for I know full well that the other birds may come again, 
 and they do ; but they keep too far away, as they swoop 
 close to their comrade, and I could only get one more. 
 Tom, in the distance, then jumps up, dances a hornpipe on 
 the wet sward, and waves his hat frantically. 
 
 It is wonderful how a successful shot enlivens matters. 
 Seldom, to our minds, had the sun been more brilliant, the 
 grass more green, and life altogether pleasanter than when 
 we had the three curlews in our hands. 
 
 On referring to our watches we found that "the 
 enemy " was getting on apace. It was 12.30 P.M., and very 
 nearly low tide. We sat down on the bank and had a 
 snack and a pull at the sherry-flask, and then resumed our 
 tramp. 
 
 The birds had increased wonderfully, but that was 
 nothing as compared with the numbers that turned up 
 when evening drew near, and the tide, rising, drew them 
 up higher, nearer the sea-wall. 
 
 We found only one more snipe in the course of the 
 afternoon. The dog flushed it within twenty yards of us, 
 and we both missed it, as we were talking at the time and
 
 86 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 not ready. We marked it down, but could not get to it, 
 on account of a large creek barring the way in a disgusting 
 manner. 
 
 We saw several herons (but could not mark one any- 
 where near a bank) and about a hundred and fifty curlews, 
 with innumerable sandpipers. Of the latter we bagged 
 over a dozen (whilst walking back towards the ferry), and 
 amongst these were two redshanks and a greenshank. 
 Oxbirds were in shoals. 
 
 This abundance of birds of course was the result of 
 the cold weather. I had been at the same place a week 
 before for an afternoon's sport, and had had very meagre 
 success indeed, the weather being then by far too mild for 
 any business, unless at high tide and by keeping behind 
 the sea-walls, when one may pop on birds unawares. But 
 as it turned out, by some mistake in a tide-table, I had got 
 to Benfleet just when the tide had turned and it was so 
 hot that the birds were feeding everywhere away from the 
 marsh mostly. 
 
 We had a rare bag on our return to Benfleet, at dark, 
 and as we found that we had to wait some two hours or so 
 before a train could take us back to town, we resolved to 
 go on to Pitsea, and did so, getting there in very ample 
 time for the train. At Pitsea we met a shooter who had 
 been about the marsh there with a dog, and he had a very 
 good bag too. He had seen, he said, a lot of coots on one 
 of the ponds, and, as an acquaintance of mine has the right 
 of shooting over some of the Pitsea Marsh, I intend, one of 
 these days, to go with him, and give the coots a dusting 
 with my 4-bore. I had received several queries concerning 
 the shooting at Canvey Island, and the present chapter 
 will supply much of the information wanted. 
 
 My opinion is that the eastern shore, for fair tramping
 
 The Eastern Shore of Canvey Island. 87 
 
 sport, is far better than the western one. As regards the 
 many inquiries I received about the Thames creeks, &c., 
 may I refer my correspondents to my first two books, 
 Shooting and Fishing Trips ; they will find therein many 
 narratives of excursions to the best spots, not only on the 
 Thames, but all round the south and east coasts ; and 
 these narratives will supply the information applied for. 
 Should, however, further explanations be needed, I am 
 always ready to supply them as far as my own knowledge 
 serves me, and all letters sent to me are duly replied to.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SEASONABLE SPORT AFTER "THE SEASON." 
 
 IT was in March. I was moodily looking at my paraphernalia 
 of guns and rods, thinking with unmitigated disgust that 
 the season for sport was practically over, and that perforce I 
 would have to remain idle for some months to come, when 
 the postman brought me a note from one of my Kentish 
 friends, a man as gun-struck as ever any sportsman need be. 
 
 "Since the ist of February," his epistle ran on, "we 
 have not been about the big wood. Will you come down 
 to-night ? We will beat the outskirts to-morrow for rabbits 
 and go in for wood-pigeons. It will be good fun ! " 
 
 " The very thing for this child ! " I exclaimed ; and I 
 went. 
 
 Now the said big wood has the most infernal under- 
 covert I have ever had to deal with. The bramble branches 
 are therein so long, so strong, and so thickly studded with 
 briars and thorns that a man has to lift up his feet about the 
 height of his head, more or less, at each step he takes ; and 
 that style of walking both tires the muscles and ruffles the 
 temper. Just when a rabbit is sprung from the side of one 
 of the innumerable drains, you find your sleeves and legs 
 held, as in a vice, by half-a-dozen wiry creeping branches 
 that reach all sorts of altitudes, and in your endeavours to
 
 Seasonable Sport after "the Season ." 89 
 
 pepper bunny you destroy your tailor's works of art, and 
 prick your own precious self to untold depths. 
 
 Still it is good fun, and I always return to that wood 
 with ever-renewed enthusiasm. The reason for this is that 
 that wood is a " good 'un," as the head-keeper, Thomas, 
 expresses it. 
 
 Well, we met Thomas with his two under-keepers and 
 the rabbit beagles at the gate somewhere near 9 o'clock the 
 following morning, and made a move across a large bare 
 field, where a lot of hop-poles, stacked at regular intervals, 
 pointed out the nature of the crops that had been raised 
 there. 
 
 Of course, as concerned rabbits, we were tolerably- 
 certain of bringing home a cargo of them, the beagles being 
 good ones and the vermin teeming ; but as regards birds 
 wood-pigeons, and such like it was a different thing. As 
 we were walking on, we saw about a score of these fellows 
 going towards the east side of the wood, and they settled 
 there amongst the trees. I told my friend that if we went 
 quietly near the corner of the covert, and ambushed our- 
 selves there, we might have a chance to score, provided the 
 men went round and scared the birds by going through the 
 farmyard into the wood. He agreed that we might as well 
 try; and Thomas taking the hint, went away with the other 
 fellows. 
 
 " When you see the birds gone, Thomas," my friend 
 called out to him, "you may uncouple the beagles, and 
 walk them on towards us." 
 
 And they went. There was a bitter cold wind blowing, 
 and whilst the keepers were going round we sheltered our- 
 selves somewhat behind a stack of hop-poles. In about five 
 minutes the men had evidently entered the wood, for the 
 pigeons began to get on the wing by twos and threes. We
 
 go Shooting Excursions. 
 
 then separated and took up our positions. The first lots 
 passed much too far on my right ; but at last three came 
 together, skimming over the tops of the trees, and as we 
 kept perfectly quiet the first notice they had of our presence 
 was from a shot out of my friend's gun, which grassed one 
 of the lot. The two others were scared considerably and 
 came my way, when I brought down one and crippled the 
 other with my left barrel. 
 
 He -turned back, and I saw him settling on a tree. 
 
 " Got him ? " called out my friend. 
 
 " No. But I know where he is." 
 
 And as there was no likelihood that the other pigeons, 
 if any were behind, would come our way just then, I went 
 into covert to knock the fellow off his perch. When I 
 reached the tree he was nowhere to be seen. I looked, and 
 looked, and looked, and nearly dislocated my neck in my 
 attempts at discovering his whereabouts, and then, after I 
 had gone two or three times round the tree with my nose 
 in the air, I placed my foot on something soft, which turned 
 out to be the bird, quite dead. 
 
 I picked him up, and the beagles giving tongue just 
 then close by, I bolted out of covert and resumed my watch 
 outside. Suddenly my companion shoulders and fires; 
 then he nods at me in a satisfied manner, whence I conclude 
 that one bunny at any rate has gone to the happy feeding- 
 grounds. He reloads, and then I see him snap his gun 
 hurriedly. He again shoulders, and whilst I mentally 
 exclaim, " Drat his impudence ! Is he going to have all the 
 fun ? " bang ! goes his gun, and I see a white tip of tail 
 going heels over head through the intervening hedge. 
 
 Then, " Yap ! yap ! yap ! " I turn round, and just 
 catch a glimpse of the old bitch vigorously pushing under 
 the brambles. I clutch the gun ; whist ! a rabbit darts out
 
 Seasonable Sport after "the Season" 91 
 
 and scampers along the fence, and I nail him in a satisfac- 
 tory manner. Then Rattler comes out with his mother and 
 seizes the defunct by the head. She takes hold of the loins, 
 and then " Pull devil, pull baker ! " If I don't run they will 
 skin him after their fashion, for both are thoroughly in 
 earnest, and they growl at each other desperately. I go up 
 and turn them off. Thomas calls out, " Rout them out, 
 good little 'uns ! Rout them out ! " They both cock up 
 their long ears in their way, and after a moment's hesita- 
 tion they are off to the well-known voice. 
 
 " Cack ! cack-cack-cack-cack ! " A cock pheasant ! 
 He rises majestically, sweeps round a tree, and turns towards 
 me in full swing. I aim at him for the fun of the thing, 
 and think, "If it were not that the season is closed, 
 methinks I could send you an ounce or so of 6-shot out of 
 a Schultze cartridge, and that would put an end to all your 
 cack-cack-cacks for ever, my fine fellow ! " And he goes 
 over me, and sails away brilliantly. 
 
 My friend, who has seen my pantomime, grins. 
 
 " I really thought at first you were going to nail him," 
 he says ; " you did seem longing to have a crack at him 
 somehow." 
 
 I daresay I did. 
 
 Whilst he was speaking, " Mark cock ! " calls out 
 Thomas in a stentorian voice. 
 
 " Mark cock ! " re-echoes his son's voice ; and you may 
 readily believe, kind reader, that we opened our eyes 
 precious wide, but we did not catch a glimpse of his 
 cockship. 
 
 Thomas then calls out : 
 
 " Will you please come this way, gentlemen ; he has 
 settled near the ride I saw him." 
 
 We hurry on, and walk quickly down the ride, leaving
 
 92 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 the beagles to take care of themselves. The men then 
 form themselves in a line with us Thomas between us, his 
 son on my right, and the other keeper on the left of my 
 friend. 
 
 In this wise we beat the thick under-covert, the men 
 tick-tocking with their sticks to the best of their power ; but 
 we quarter thus about a hundred yards of the wood with- 
 out finding any signs of the bird. 
 
 We then turn back and hold a consultation. Thomas, 
 sen., asserts that he has positively seen the bird land about 
 the place where we have been, and we agree to re-beat it. 
 Meanwhile two of the beagles turn up, and we enlist them 
 forthwith in the search. 
 
 " Rout 'em out ! " begins again, together with the usual 
 tick ! tock ! whack ! of the sticks on the bushes. 
 
 Up goes a rabbit. I fire, knock him on his nose, and 
 simultaneously rises the 
 
 " Mark cock ! " of our excited beaters. 
 
 Now, thanks to the smokeless Schultze powder, I was 
 enabled to place my second barrel at once, and just as the 
 woodcock was reaching the top branches of a large tree, I 
 was lucky enough to kill him, and he came down head first 
 like a brick. Now I am convinced that if my gun had 
 been loaded with ordinary black powder it would have been 
 an impossibility to kill that bird. There would have been 
 a cloud of thick heavy smoke about my eyes just in the 
 nick of time, and a second's delay would have lost me that 
 shot. 
 
 Well, the bird picked up, we made tracks for the north 
 side of the covert, where the underwood is about the 
 thickest in the whole covert ; and as there was a pool there 
 close to the thicket, we conjectured that another woodcock,, 
 or perhaps a brace of them, might possibly be there, besides
 
 Seasonable Sport after "the Season." 93 
 
 the usual run of bunnies, on the high and dry part of the 
 ground. As we did not wish to disturb the pheasants we 
 did not walk through the wood to our destination, but 
 passed outside, whilst the men kept within, along the 
 border, and hustled the rabbits with the dogs. We thus 
 bagged about a dozen more, and when we reached the 
 corner we took up good positions for firing. My com- 
 panion planted himself in the ride, and I stood at the gate, 
 from whence I commanded two sides of the wood. The 
 hedge was somewhat thick, and was, moreover, supple- 
 mented by a dry, narrow ditch, running along the covert. 
 This dry ditch, however, being on the right side, almost 
 filled with brambles, was a nuisance and a bother, as it gave 
 shelter to the rabbits on the run. I could just catch a 
 glimpse of them, and that was all, as they would dive into 
 that hollow sort of tunnel, and were there out of sight. 
 On the left, however, for some reason or other, the ground 
 and ditch had been pretty well cleared of under-covert, and 
 I therefore made up my mind to get the rabbits driven that 
 way if possible. 
 
 " Bear up to your left, beaters !" I shouted, "and try to 
 bring the beagles to the fence. There are five or six 
 rabbits in the ditch." 
 
 Thomas, jun., thereupon made a wide circuit, and came 
 out to stop the runaways from going too far. 
 
 Meanwhile we had about ten shots, and bagged eight 
 rabbits. Then the beagles picked up the scent at the 
 fence, and one after the other they went into the ditch. 
 My friend and I ran at once to the rescue. I stood near 
 young Thomas, my friend stopped at the place I had 
 originally occupied, and the stampede began. 
 
 Five rabbits took to the open, and were all bagged. Two 
 or three rushed back to covert and to earth. Moreover, we
 
 94 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 discovered, through the vehement scratching and whining of 
 an enthusiastic puppy, that another earth had recently been 
 excavated at the drains, and Thomas, putting his hand into 
 one of the burrows, actually pulled out a bunny, alive and 
 well. This concluded our morning's sport, and for the first 
 time I accompanied my friend to luncheon at the keeper's 
 house close by. Now some articles of mine, it appears, 
 had given very great satisfaction to the whole family of 
 the Thomases, so much so that the deference shown to me 
 by everybody at the keeper's was positively alarming to 
 my modesty. I suppose they thought that a man who 
 writes for Nunquam Dormio always "keeps an eye" on 
 those whom he dislikes, for they fairly outvied with one 
 another to make " Wildfowler's " stay under their roof as 
 comfortable as circumstances would admit. 
 
 Luncheon over, we went forth once more. Thomas, jun., 
 had left with the cart for the station, where my friend 
 expected a new beagle by the mid-day train, so his father 
 had recruited one of the farm hands to accompany us as 
 beater. This new fellow, evidently green in all matters 
 pertaining to shooting, but not at some other things, soon 
 edified us as to his views on the point at issue. He collared 
 a long stout cudgel, and entered into his duties with the 
 look of a shrewd loafer who has the run of a bit of copse 
 on the sly. At any rate he could see rabbits anywhere, 
 and almost scent them. 
 
 He began rather queerly : 
 
 "There be one, mister!" said he to my friend, and he 
 thereupon fetched the rabbit such a crack on the head as 
 to send him to the other side of the Styx. 
 
 Quoth my friend with anger and astonishment : " What 
 the deuce do you mean, my man ? We don't want you to 
 kill the rabbits !"
 
 Seasonable Sport after " the Season" 95 
 
 " Noa ? " inquired the rustic, with innocence. 
 
 " Of course not, you fool !" roared Thomas. "Just you 
 spring them, that is all." 
 
 " Oh, be that it ?" rejoined the clodhopper. " I thought 
 that as the gentlemen were killing rabbits they wanted me 
 to lend them a hand." 
 
 And there was a twinkle in his eyes. 
 
 "You are not such a fool as you would like us to 
 believe," I thought ; but I said nothing. 
 
 But of all beaters commend me to that fellow. I was 
 almost horrified at the sort of uncanny instinct with which 
 he found the rabbits. 
 
 " There be anuther, sir," he would say, pointing with 
 his stick into a thick lot of brambles, where, for the life of 
 me, I could not think where the bunny could be. It was 
 almost marvellous to see him ; and considering how cleverly 
 he had handled his cudgel just before, I have no doubt that, 
 provided he had free scope given him to range over a well- 
 tenanted wood, he would not experience much difficulty in 
 filling up a sack with rabbits. I believe old Thomas rather 
 made a note of the man's cleverness, and henceforth pro- 
 bably he will be pretty well looked after every evening 
 when the farm work is over. Keepers do not like such 
 clever men in the neighbourhood of their beats. 
 
 At about 4 o'clock the wood-pigeons began to re- 
 appear ; their roosting-time was drawing near at hand, 
 and a few of them passed over our heads on their usual 
 tours of inspection. We had only flushed one from a 
 tree during the day, and he of course had escaped scot free. 
 Now we thought it would not be a bad plan if we sent 
 the beagles home, and devoted the remainder of the day 
 to the birds. They had three favourite roosting-places 
 in the large wood, and we accordingly separated. My
 
 96 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 friend went his way, accompanied by our poaching beater, 
 who was to carry his ammunition and his birds. Thomas 
 remained with me for the same purpose, and the under- 
 keeper coupled and took the beagles home. 
 
 Thomas led me to a cluster of enormous trees, behind 
 one of which we ensconced ourselves, and there we kept 
 quite still, waiting for events. We were listening intently, 
 and after ten minutes had been thus spent without any- 
 thing turning up to relieve the monotony of our watch, 
 my thoughts were wandering away to some other subject, 
 when old Thomas signed to me, and pointed over his 
 shoulder without moving. I heard then the rustling of 
 heavy wings, and half-a-dozen shadows flitted swiftly 
 above our heads amidst the tree -tops. Bang and bang ! 
 I fire, though I can scarcely discern the birds. We 
 listen, and a heavy thud, accompanied by a crackling 
 of dead branches rattled down by the bird as it fell, 
 tells us that one at least has come to grief. 
 
 " That was a lucky shot, sir," says Thomas, with a 
 smile ; and I agree with him. 
 
 He then makes his way to the spot where the pigeon 
 is fluttering, kills it, and returns to me. 
 
 " There will be some more birds presently," he 
 whispers ; " of an evening, one may see fifty of them at 
 the very spot we are at now." 
 
 In a few minutes two birds make their appearance, 
 but I fancy they did not belong to the place, as they 
 passed high, and their line of flight was as straight as 
 could be, judging from which we conjectured that they 
 were bound probably to the spot where my friend had 
 taken his stand, some half mile farther down, near the 
 hop-field. 
 
 " They are going to him," I said to Thomas ; and
 
 Seasonable Sport after " tlie Season" 97 
 
 within two minutes we heard the distant bang-bang of 
 his gun in the valley. 
 
 Meanwhile, we heard some noise behind us. I peeped 
 round carefully, and discovered, on a branch, two doves 
 pecking at each other half-cooing, half-angry. They 
 looked so very nice that I had not the heart to kill 
 them. And they, unaware of our presence, carried on 
 their little game with great spirit. 
 
 "Can't you see them, sir?" whispered Thomas. 
 
 " Oh yes," I rejoined ; " but I would not kill them 
 for worlds. They are too pretty to kill." 
 
 " Yes," said Thomas, " they are very handsome little 
 things ; and they cooo so lovely in the spring-time all 
 over these woods that it makes the place quite romantic. 
 I have seen visitors stopping to listen to them ; and I 
 once caught a couple of lovers crying on each other's 
 shoulder because the doves were cooing ! " 
 
 And the worthy old man shrugged his shoulders in 
 deprecation of such nonsensical proceedings. But then 
 his cooing-time is over, and he forgets now that he was 
 young and foolish once. 
 
 Well, the doves went their way a moment afterwards ; 
 then some wood-pigeons turned up, and I bagged alto- 
 gether three more. It was getting dark then, and we 
 heard my friend's whistle sounding from the road. 
 
 " That is a signal for us to join him, Thomas. Let 
 us go now." 
 
 He picked up our birds, and we made tracks across 
 the underwood straight for the lane, where, to our astonish- 
 ment, we found my friend, finger on trigger, watching the 
 hedge, which his beater was, from the inside, thrashing 
 like steam. 
 
 " What is it ? " I inquired. 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 6 * hooting Excursions. 
 
 "Hush!" said he, "it is a polecat. Thomas, do you 
 run home and bring the terriers. I saw the polecat 
 crossing the lane, but too late to fire. He is in the 
 hedge, or in a hole in the bank for certain ; and any- 
 how the dogs will soon get him out if they come in 
 time." 
 
 Thomas thought that before he could be back the 
 vermin would have made good its escape, and that was 
 likely enough, when, as fate would have it, a cart 
 came up behind us, and in -it was his son with the new 
 beagle. 
 
 "Put him on," I urged. 
 
 He slipped him and brought him to the polecat's 
 road, which he seemed to acknowledge at once and to 
 relish greatly, for he dived immediately below the thick- 
 matting of underwood, and, whining desperately, climbed 
 the bank and there began to scratch furiously. The 
 men went to look, and young Thomas, suddenly stooping, 
 seized the vermin by the head, and, with a sudden stretch 
 and twist, " did " for it. 
 
 " How did you manage that ? " I inquired. 
 
 "Why, he put his head out of the hole to stare at us," 
 said the young fellow, " so I collared him." 
 
 And, saying these words, he held the vermin at arm's 
 length, brushing its hair carefully down along the back. 
 
 " Shot spoils them," he explained. " It is much better 
 to settle them so." 
 
 " Yes, but then he might have bitten you ? " 
 
 " Of course, sir, he would if he could ; but I did not 
 give him the chance." 
 
 And he laughed, whilst the clever beater stared at him,, 
 open mouthed. " I would not have cared to have touched 
 him myself," that worthy at last remarked to the keeper
 
 Seasonable Sport after "the Season." 99 
 
 as we were walking home ; " the way he snapped at' my 
 stick was enough for me." 
 
 And he shook his head knowingly. 
 
 Our bag was heavy and, including our last acquisition, 
 was somewhat varied. 
 
 Taken all in all, that day was with us very pleasantly 
 employed, and when game is protected by the close season 
 I think a little seasonable sport of that sort is not to be 
 despised. At any rate I liked it, and thought the whole 
 affair exceedingly good fun. 
 
 H 2
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A BY-DAY AT THE NORE. 
 
 THE foremost amongst the duck tribes had come: They 
 had made their first noticeable appearance a few days 
 before, although a few birds had been seen previously about 
 the mouth of the river, but these were very few and very far 
 between ; so much so that a friend of mine who does a 
 deal of yacht-gunning, had been out for a two days' sail, 
 and had only managed to get two birds home, and of these 
 two one only was a duck proper. His second bird was a 
 black duck. 
 
 Since then, however, Tom had called on me, and said 
 that our friend had come up to town for some 4-bore 
 cartridges, which he could not get at Southend, and that he 
 (Tom) intended going back with him to the yacht. Would 
 I join them ? If so, no time was to be lost, and we would all 
 travel together, spend the night on board, and set sail before 
 daybreak for a turn at the ducks, which our intended host 
 had declared to have increased amazingly. 
 
 This was too tempting an offer to be resisted, and I 
 packed up an old 4-bore and my double lo-bore, together 
 with a hundred cartridges for the latter and twenty-five 
 for the former. 
 
 As some correspondents may be induced to try 4-bore
 
 A By-Day at the Nore. lor 
 
 guns certainly the most killing and handy tools for 
 wild-duck shooting at sea I will give the official loading 
 for my own cartridges : viz. 140 grains of Schultze and 
 3 ounces of No. 2 shot. The effect of these loads is 
 prodigious. 
 
 When Tom and I arrived at Fenchurch Street to meet 
 our friend, we found him there with a bulky man, who was 
 smoking a porcelain pipe about the size, more or less, of a 
 yacht-stove. 
 
 " Hallo ! " quoth Tom, " Cock-chafer is going to join us, 
 it seems." 
 
 The Cock-chafer alluded to was indeed going to be a 
 companion of ours for the trip ; and I may mention that he 
 is a German sportsman, so nicknamed by some friends 
 because they found his real name a difficult one to pro- 
 nounce ; and as it was Schaeffer they jumped to Cockchafer 
 as a solution readily. We got into a smoking compart- 
 ment, which was soon thoroughly warmed by the monstrous 
 pipe, and by holding one's hands towards its bowl one 
 could get the heat at a good distance. At least so we told 
 the " Chafer," who laughed at our jokes ; and he is really a nice 
 fellow, although his i6-bore pin-fire breechloader may be 
 safely held guiltless of the "fowl " murders we subsequently 
 committed. 
 
 We arrived at 9.30 P.M. at Southend, and being loaded 
 with hampers, guns, and ammunition, went in two cabs to 
 the shore. 
 
 When we got there it began to drizzle, and our row to 
 the yacht (which was anchored off the jetty in sufficiently 
 deep water to keep her afloat at low tide) was anything but 
 cheerful, as the night was pitch-dark, and the pitter-patter 
 of the heavy drops of rain as they whacked the water was 
 not exactly a soul-inspiriting sound.
 
 iO2 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 We went below to supper, after which we turned in, and 
 a very " tight fit " this " turning in " proved to be. Four 
 fellows in a cabin twelve feet by ten. feet are necessarily 
 " cribbed " in all senses of the word. 
 
 We got up at a very early hour, when all without was 
 still dark. The tide was coming up, and the yacht's stern 
 had swung round with it, and the wind coming up with the 
 tide made things very lively. 
 
 Extensive breakfast preparations were then got under 
 weigh forward, the partition between the cabin and fo'c'sle 
 was slid back, and the man and boy began to set the table 
 whilst we outside performed our ablutions. Tom, more- 
 over, went overboard, and I would have done the same as 
 in olden times ; but now I am somewhat subject to cramps, 
 and, as I was nearly drowned twice last year, I wisely 
 abstained from joining my friend, although I envied him 
 his treat. 
 
 We then got our breakfast, prepared the dingey for 
 cripple service i.e. placed an ammunition-box ready under 
 the stern, put on the rowlocks, and slipped in the sculls ; 
 got the mast and sail in, although they probably would not 
 be needed ; and, about twenty minutes before daybreak we 
 purchased our anchor and set sail. 
 
 A cheerless morning, dull sky, dull sea, a rumbling wind, 
 a heavy tide, and a few drops of rain still hovering about. 
 I donned a suit of oilskins, sou'wester and all, so as to be 
 ready for anything, and sat with the other fellows, smoking 
 in the cabin until we had enough light to see about shoot- 
 ing. I had placed the 4-bore in the fo'c'sle, as I intended 
 popping out there at the hatchway and firing therefrom. 
 The owner of the yacht had ranged his artillery .in the 
 cockpit, and reserved unto himself and the other fellows 
 that very comfortable spot ; and thus we sailed on until the
 
 A By-Day at the Nore. 103 
 
 light at the cabin windows made our lamp look rather 
 foolish, when we extinguished it and went on deck to look 
 out. 
 
 The rain was still coming down, and it soon drove Tom 
 and Chafer below, as they had no oilskins ; but the owner 
 and I stuck comfortably to our posts, with a strong injunc- 
 tion laid upon us by our companions to let them know when 
 anything was stirring. 
 
 " The birds will fly low on account of the rain when 
 they come over to settle for the day, so we must keep a 
 sharp watch along the surface of the sea," I remarked to my 
 host; "we may then spy some of the companies in their 
 flight, and mark them down perhaps." 
 
 " Bird astern, sir," said the helmsman. 
 
 We both turned round, and Tom and the other fellow 
 came out too, quietly, and I wished I had been with them, 
 as, from my post, I could not possibly fire astern. 
 
 As it turned out, however, I got that shot after all. It 
 was still rather dark, but I caught sight readily enough of 
 the new comer, although I could not tell what it was. It 
 was moving at a great rate ; so I popped the muzzle of the 
 4-bore forward, and pitched it a good yard or two ahead of 
 the bird, then pulled, and down he dropped, quite dead. 
 Tom jumped into the dingey with the lad, and went to it, 
 whilst we turned her head to the wind. It was a large 
 diver. 
 
 Tom then said he would squat on deck near the fo'c'sle 
 hatchway, by my side, so as to have some fun too, and a 
 coil of rope did for a seat for him. I stood up with the 
 Dollond and scanned the horizon. There were several small 
 companies on the wing near the mud-flats of the Isle of 
 Sheppey, and I saw two popping down, but where it was 
 impossible to tell, as when they flew low they could not be
 
 IO4 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 picked out from the waves. I was about to put down the 
 glass when I caught sight of some necks about five hundred 
 yards from us, and when the waves chased each other, I 
 counted four birds "on the squat." They were just in a line 
 between the Nore lightship and our own craft. 
 
 " Keep her steady to sail astern the lightship," I in- 
 structed the man at the tiller, and we prepared ourselves 
 for action, and went on under easy sail. 
 
 When we got within a hundred and fifty yaro\s of 
 them I kept the gun at them, having fully made up my 
 mind to fire the moment they meant going, no matter 
 at what range under that distance. The yacht rolls, 
 shakes her wings, rights herself, and forges ahead, rising- 
 over a huge wave, and we are twenty yards nearer. 
 Another lurch, another heave, another push forward, and 
 we are about a hundred yards off, when we felt pretty 
 sure of one or two birds. Then suddenly the yacht 
 sinks into a hollow, and when she rises again a sudden 
 gust of wind bends her under, and she goes like an 
 arrow under the lee of the birds. Now or never ! We 
 are within seventy yards of them, and are leaving them, 
 when one of them gets up, the others flap their wings, 
 and the two 4-bores are fired. Two birds are killed, one 
 is crippled, and the last gets away unharmed, although 
 Tom and Chafer fire at it with their field-guns. 
 
 " The same old game," sings out Tom, as he jumps into 
 the dingey to pick up the birds ; and he finds the cripple a 
 " tartar," and we enjoy seeing him in chase. The bird 
 dives like a professional before the shot reaches him. Tom, 
 however, orders the lad to row round, and thus drives his 
 wily customer towards the yacht, when we offer Chafer the 
 opportunity of settling it. He, much pleased, adjusted his 
 spectacles carefully, then looked under them, and finally
 
 A By-Day at the Norc. 105 
 
 aimed deliberately at the bird. The latter did not expect 
 anything of the sort from our quarter, and forgetting to 
 dive in time he got it so hot that he turned on his back, 
 and went forthwith to the happy feeding-grounds. He was 
 an enormous mallard, and a beautiful bird to boot. 
 
 When Tom came back we baptised our first " bag " in 
 a glass of sherry, and were very merry over it. 
 
 It was getting broad daylight then, and the weather 
 cleared up somewhat, but it became again overcast during 
 the afternoon. 
 
 We had our next " company " about two miles west of 
 the lightship. There were seven birds this time, all widgeon, 
 and we agreed on our plan of attack. I was to fire first as 
 a signal, and also in order that our loads of shot might 
 reach different birds instead of hitting the identical ones, 
 as had been probably the case in our first shot. 
 
 These widgeons were a little more wary than the ducks, 
 and they faced the wind, and looked " scared " a long time 
 before we were within range. That made us feel rather 
 doubtful as to our ultimate success, and. in this we were 
 right; for before we could get up to them they obeyed 
 their leader when he rose, and all flew away. 
 
 We kept on the same tack until opposite Warden, when 
 a file of curlews passing within a hundred yards, we gave 
 them both big guns, and got two. 
 
 On our next tack we fell in with about fifteen widgeon 
 and teal. Again the widgeon baffled us, and they nearly 
 induced all the teal to go also. Fortunately two of the 
 latter dropped again within sight, and we went in chase of 
 them, and I killed both with my double Tolley lo-bore. 
 
 On our way back a duck passed at a tremendous height 
 over us ; we both fired, and missed. 
 
 Reloaded, and saw six more ducks a little lower, but
 
 io6 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 also going the same way and at the same rate. We fired 
 together, and one came down a cripple. I do not think I 
 had hit it, as the boat lurched when I was going to pull the 
 trigger ; the boom got in my way, and I had to wait a 
 second before firing, and this waiting I think put me out. 
 We sailed up to the cripple, and picked him up with the 
 landing-net. 
 
 At ii o'clock we ran in-shore in order to enjoy our 
 lunch in peace ; and the sea and wind having dropped, we 
 found our new quarters as peaceful and steady as terra 
 firma itself. The consequence thereof was a tremendous 
 appetite on the part of all hands, and we made a regular 
 clearance of a lot of good things we had brought with us 
 from town. 
 
 After lunch we prepared to sail back, but kept tacking, 
 of course, so as to clip any bird on our way. Tom nailed 
 another large diver, and our host with his 4-bore killed a 
 small grebe, at a range of about a hundred yards, as it settled 
 on the sea. Then we saw a single duck, and thinking it was 
 badly crippled, we took to our small-bore guns, and the con- 
 sequence was he escaped our eight barrels, the range being 
 too great. He went away a long distance, but I kept him 
 in sight ; and seeing him settle again we went after him 
 about a mile, and our host bagged him with his big gun 
 and one of my cartridges at fully a hundred yards. 
 
 The afternoon was then getting advanced, and we 
 turned her head Southend-bound. We had three more 
 shots at flying birds all widgeons ; gpt one at last ; and 
 when we reached the shore once more we had, for the day's 
 bag, five ducks, one widgeon, two curlews, two divers, two 
 teal, one grebe. Thus ended our by-day at the Nore. 
 
 That the flocks had not come yet everyone was bound 
 to expect, as the weather was still too open ; but that there
 
 A By-Day at the Nore. 107 
 
 was some sport not to be sneezed at to be had by sailing 
 over the Estuary was pretty evident ; and I am convinced 
 that a three days' trip would have got us a score of ducks 
 at the very least, besides other birds. 
 
 By-the-way, since writing this, I have had a new single 
 4-bore, built on the full-choke principle by Messrs. Tolley 
 of Birmingham, and this gun proved eventually a caution 
 to birds. 
 
 I have also some news for wildfowl shooters who patro- 
 nise the " flats." I have invented a pair of waders and 
 boots combined, which will be completely waterproof, ex- 
 tremely light, thoroughly ventilated, and rigged in such a 
 manner that the wading-breeches or leggings might be 
 removed easily in a moment, whenever needed, leaving a 
 pair of ordinary boots on the shooter's feet. But I will see 
 a firm of waterproofers on the subject, and will then inform 
 my readers where to obtain these devoutly-wished-for 
 implements.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 
 
 A WILDFOWL-SHOOTING EXPEDITION NEAR SOUTHEND. 
 
 IT was towards the end of the frosty weather we experi- 
 enced in December, 1875, that I went with a friend of mine 
 in his 5-ton yacht on that expedition. 
 
 I had just come back to town from a trip on the Black- 
 water and on the Colne in the 12-tonner Fairy, when/ as I 
 was having a clearance of my game-bag, ore., my friend 
 Tom and his brother turned up. The collars of their 
 ulsters were right up to their ears, and as they stood 
 stamping their feet on the mat in the hall, Tom declared 
 that "this was just the sort of weather to hatch white 
 bears in." 
 
 " Been out ? " asked he ; and when he saw my 
 ducks, &c., on the table : " Oh, oh ! that is a good bag 
 this time. Where did you get them ? " 
 
 I explained the whole affair, and asked him where his 
 boat was. 
 
 " At Gravesend," he said. 
 
 " Then why don't you sail down the river ? " I went on ;. 
 "lots of duck at the Nore. Don't you two like duck- 
 shooting ? " 
 
 " Dead nuts on it, we are," he said ; "but don't know 
 how to proceed. If you will come with us we will go."
 
 Wildfowl-Shooting Expedition near Southend. 1 09 
 
 We went there and then to Gravesend, where we at 
 once provisioned the yacht with fuel, drinkables, and eat- 
 ables, and at seven the next morning we set sail for the 
 field of action. 
 
 The Aveather was, as Tom feelingly expressed it, 
 " beastly cold," and the landscape was clothed in its white 
 garb, which made the Thames water (at no time very clear) 
 look for the time being remarkably yellow and muddy. 
 
 Of course, as it was freezing hard, birds of all kinds 
 were hungry, and I have rarely heard such a lot of firing as 
 we heard then on our way. It seemed as if everybody who 
 could buy, borrow, or steal a gun had come out with it, 
 and with the firm intention of using it, for from eveiy 
 quarter as we sailed down the estuary there came multi- 
 tudes of detonations, varying in tone and intensity from 
 the mere crack of the popgun of the youthful amateur up 
 to the heavy boom of the swivel-gun of the professional. 
 
 " If every shot tells," said Tom's brother, " we will just 
 be too late for the fun ; these fellows will have shot every- 
 thing." 
 
 Along the Tilbury sea-wall were eight or nine shooters. 
 Opposite from the " Ship and Lobster " public-house up to 
 the Shorn Marshes we counted over thirty. Besides these 
 there were at least twenty boats out with gunners ; and 
 over land and over sea the firing was something to be 
 heard to be believed in. 
 
 When we reached the Lower Hope Point, however, we 
 lost sight of the shore-shooters ; for as the tide was getting 
 low we had accordingly to keep in mid-channel, in order 
 to avoid the mud-banks which from thence line both shores. 
 
 The first sight we had of ducks was off the Hole Haven, 
 where a " file " were on the wing, and we at once got our 
 guns out.
 
 no Shooting Excursions. 
 
 We had two double central-fire lo-bores, one double 
 ditto 12-bore, and a single 4-bore on the Snider principle. 
 This last gun was a stunner ; its barrel was fully five feet 
 long, and I am certain the whole of the instrument must 
 have weighed pretty nearly 15 Ib. It was Tom's property 
 a new purchase; he had never fired it yet, and, to be candid, 
 I rather think he funked the job. I looked over the gun, 
 and as it appeared to me as good a piece as money could 
 buy, I had no hesitation in accepting the office of gunner, 
 much to Tom's gratification. 
 
 " You go forward with it," said he ; " the lad will clear 
 up the fo'c'sle for your feet, and you can stand in the hatch- 
 way and be very comfortable." 
 
 Well, I went with my pipe, and we kept our eyes 
 skinned wide. 
 
 Along Canvey Island, near the Chapman Light, we fell 
 in with our first batch about twenty-five ducks and 
 widgeons, all mixed. We tried to get near enough to the 
 lot for a shot ; but they were wild, and got up when we- 
 tacked. So we resumed our journey, and as the estuary 
 was there some three miles wide, we thought it best to cut 
 across it in two or three tacks, so as to beat it well, rather 
 than sail straight down and perhaps leave birds behind us. 
 
 Our first tack from Canvey Point to the Kent shore 
 took place in sight of the Southend Pier, which loomed on 
 our port side some two miles away. When about half 
 way across, where the sea was somewhat rough, we sighted 
 another company. I took up the long gun, Tom's brother 
 came by my side with the two double lo-bores, and 
 Tom himself collared the 12-bore and hid in the cockpit, 
 the lad being at the tiller, with strict injunctions to 
 keep his eyes on my hands, as we could not call out 
 orders. Well, I signalled him port twice, and perceiving
 
 Wildfowl- Shooting Expedition near Southend, 1 1 1 
 
 no" answering motion of the boat, I turned round to see 
 what our steersman was up to, and found that he had seen 
 the birds and thought he would take upon himself to take 
 us to them ; but as he was sailing her right into the lot, 
 that would never do, and I accordingly told him not to 
 mind the birds but to mind me. When we got to about 
 a hundred and fifty yards two or three of the ducks rose, 
 and by the time we had covered thirty more yards the 
 whole lot got up. I fired in desperation. Tom fired, and 
 his brother fired, but all the birds went their way, as if 
 nothing had happened. Of course it was the lad's fault. 
 
 Tom then took the tiller, and sent the lad to see below 
 "if we were there," and we took a tack back towards 
 Southend. There was a puntsman then crawling along 
 the mud-banks, evidently going home, and we sailed 
 towards him to inquire about birds. 
 
 " There be none on this 'ere side," he shouted ; " but 
 past the Nore Light vessel, near the Isle of Sheppey, 
 there be several companies on 'em ! I seeM 'em ! " 
 
 This with an emphatic motion of the head. We thanked 
 him heartily, and shaped our course E. by S. ; passed the 
 Nore vessel ; met there with a cross sea and a heavy tide, 
 so that plunging became the order of the day. Indeed 
 but it was so rough that it became doubtful whether a gun 
 could be held tolerably straight under the circumstances. 
 However, in the midst of the turmoil we discovered another 
 bunch, consisting of about a dozen members. 
 
 " Now let us see if we cannot manage this lot," said 
 Tom, as he thrust his sou'wester down on his head ; and 
 easing her a bit she flew under the lee of the birds. When 
 we passed them at a range of about eighty yards they all 
 rose in a lump. I fired the big gun, and six birds fell, the 
 others steaming away like fun. Of the six birds down
 
 ii2 Shooting Excursions. 
 
 three were quite dead, but the others were wonderfully 
 lively, though well crippled. I jumped into the dingey 
 with Tom's brother, and the lad pulled away with a will, 
 whilst the yacht's head was turned to the wind to await our 
 return. 
 
 The first bird fell an easy prey to our first barrels, but 
 the second and third led us a deuce of a dance. We could 
 not fire with certainty the sea was so rough that a wave 
 was sure to crop up just when one of us was pulling trigger ; 
 and the bird would then dive on the report, and then it was 
 another wild-goose chase for it amidst the billows. On the 
 other hand, if the sea was a bother to us, it was none the 
 less a nuisance to the birds it tired them ; and eventually 
 we were enabled to bag the lot. We found that it con- 
 sisted of five ducks and one widgeon. These were the 
 birds I mentioned in a note to The Country as the result 
 of one shot with a 4-bore gun off Southend. 
 
 Well, when we had done with our birds we turned 
 round to look for the yacht, and lo ! it had gone, and was 
 scudding away, miles away, towards Southend. Here was 
 a go ! We conjectured, and rightly too, that Tom had 
 been unable, being single-handed, to keep her steady to 
 the wind during our absence, and had therefore gone on 
 a tack, intending to pick us up on his next. This, however, 
 appeared to us somewhat problematical, as a heavy fall of 
 snow made up its mind just then to come down in blinding 
 sheets, and we began to feel somewhat scared at the pros- 
 pect of an unlimited row, without bearings, in our small 
 boat over the unruly Sea Reach. Howbeit we put on our 
 best countenances and pulled with all our might towards 
 where we thought the pier ought to be. We shipped 
 meanwhile two or three stern-waves, being heavily laden ? 
 and were glad at last to see the yacht looming in the snow
 
 Wildfowl- Shooting Expedition near Southend. 113 
 
 and coming back towards us. Tom hove to, and we rowed 
 aboard, where we found the roaring .fire in the cabin a 
 most acceptable comfort, after our exposure in the open 
 dingey. 
 
 We then kept on sailing here and there and everywhere 
 over the Reach until about 3 P.M., when, finding no more 
 birds and being unable to stay any longer owing to some 
 engagements in town, we turned her head home, and 
 arrived at her moorings about 1 1 P.M., all very tired, but 
 very happy. 
 
 Thus ended our trip to Southend. Our bag was nothing 
 very wonderful, it is true, but the sport nevertheless had 
 been to us extremely interesting and fascinating. 
 
 In ordinary weather there are only a few birds to be 
 found in the estuary, but when the snow covers the ground 
 and the frost is lasting, there are always some companies 
 to be met with at the mouth of the Thames. The neigh- 
 bourhood of Southend is then tolerably fair for shooting ; 
 it is especially so when there is no official artillery practice 
 taking place at Shoeburyness. 
 
 VOL. i.
 
 HINTS AND REMARKS 
 ON SHOOTING. 
 
 I 2
 
 HINTS AND REMARKS ON 
 SHOOTING. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FACTS ABOUT PIGEON-SHOOTING. 
 
 PIGEONS arc hard to hit and harder to kill, and it is no 
 small criterion of a man's coolness and skill, arid of the 
 killing powers of his gun, to bring the birds down with 
 anything like tolerable certainty ; hence the dubious 
 honour conferred on pigeons by their being chosen for 
 shooting-matches. A healthy and strong blue rock's jump 
 out of the trap, and his subsequent dashing flight, are 
 " cautions " certainly ; but all these difficulties notwith- 
 standing, I have some uneasy notions about me that the 
 sport is not altogether free from cruelty. However, since 
 it is carried on, and putting sentiment aside, there is a 
 good deal to be said about the skill required in order to 
 successfully compete with the bird's peculiar ways of flight. 
 The knack is indeed a peculiar one, and, as a rule, closely 
 resembles snap-shooting. Almost all our pigeon cracks, if
 
 n8 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 not all, fire at their birds the very instant they jump out of 
 the trap for their flight. The reason for this snap-shooting 
 is obvious. As the birds, to be counted as killed, must fall 
 within certain limits, it is of the utmost importance that 
 they should be hit as soon as possible, so as to allow of the 
 second barrel being fired at them, if necessary, before they 
 have time to get too far, and contrive to escape out of 
 bounds. There are some clubs, however, mostly Conti- 
 nental ones, which surround each trap with a wickerwork 
 enclosure, encircling several square yards of space, beyond 
 which the bird must be before it is fired at. If the bird 
 should be killed in the usual snap-shooting way, and should 
 fall within that enclosure, the- pigeon is counted as " a 
 miss," so that the shooters in such cases have to take good 
 care before they fire to let their birds get on the wing with- 
 out hindrance, and wait until they are quite clear of the 
 little enclosure. This arrangement might prove a great 
 check to the slaughter were the distances from the shooters 
 to the birds the same as in England, but they are not. I 
 have seen some public matches on the Continent where the 
 shooters stood at fifteen yards ! This, virtually, places the 
 birds at the mercy of any moderate shooter, the little 
 enclosure notwithstanding. On the other hand, it must be 
 borne in mind that in such matches only one barrel is to 
 be fired, so that nervous shooters are, as a rule, "put 
 out " at the very first round, whilst professionals never 
 miss. Whilst on this point let me inform all " innocent "' 
 amateurs that when they try to compete with professional 
 pigeon-shots they are wasting their time and their money, 
 for no amateur has a chance of winning, except on suffer- 
 ance, a match or a pool where " professors of the art " are 
 admitted as competitors. These men have lots of practice 
 to begin with, and that is more than has the strictly bond
 
 Facts about Pigeon-Shooting. 1 1 9 
 
 fide amateur (i.e. one whose time is occupied in some 
 profession or business). This is, in itself, a good deal in 
 favour of those " pigeon artists ;" but that is not all. The 
 strongest point in their favour is that they invariably, one 
 and all, resort to roguery and unfairness in some way or 
 other. Some have preconceived signals with the puller, 
 whereby they make known to him which trap he is to pull 
 to them when their turn comes: Others cheat in the load- 
 ing. Those who employ muzzle-loaders always insert 
 therein double or treble charges, and this materially 
 increases their chances of success. True, there is among 
 the rules set for pigeon-shooting a clause which provides 
 for such a contingency, in the following manner i.e. any- 
 one suspecting a 'shooter of overloading may ask the 
 alleged offender to withdraw his loads, and submit them to 
 the referee's examination. This provision might be sup- 
 posed to prevent altogether any fraud in that line ; but, 
 practically, such a rule might have been left out of the 
 programme altogether, for I am not aware that it has ever 
 been applied to any professional ; and yet there are such 
 offending professionals at all, or very nearly all, the pigeon- 
 matches, high or low, that take place nowadays in the 
 British kingdom. You see, it is not pleasant for anyone to 
 have to step up to a man and politely hint to him that 
 he is a rogue and a swindler, by asking to inspect the 
 contents of his gun. The referees ought to perform this 
 unpleasant task ; but referees do not much relish that part 
 of their duties. 
 
 The fact of the matter is this no one likes to interfere 
 in such a delicate "irregularity." 
 
 At a match at which I quite accidentally assisted, there 
 were two such individuals, who enlivened the proceedings 
 by outrageously loading their muzzle-loaders. Not only
 
 12O Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 this, but their guns were larger than those officially allowed 
 for the match ; one was certainly a 9-bore, the other was a 
 lo-bore. Into these abysses the two fellows piled three 
 fair loads of powder and two of shot in each barrel, of 
 course. The consequence was, first, an explosion like that 
 of a "Woolwich infant ;" and, secondly, all their birds were 
 literally cut into shreds. 
 
 Well, I noticed these little irregularities the very first 
 time these benighted knights-of-the-trigger came " to the 
 scratch." I, consequently, entered into conversation with 
 one of them. 
 
 " That gun of yours," I said to him, " must be a good 
 gun, for it kills well." 
 
 " Yes, it is not a bad gun," said he. 
 
 " You load it well, too," I stated. 
 
 " As usual," he replied. 
 
 And as he was loading then, I had an opportunity of 
 seeing that his " usual " doses consisted of at least seven or 
 eight drachms of best Curtis and Harvey's, and three 
 ounces odd of No. 6 shot. Now I call that a "caution " to 
 pigeons, and no mistake. 
 
 Of course that gentleman (?) won the sweepstakes. 
 This, however, had the effect of making two or three 
 amateurs grumble about the little irregularities, which were 
 evidently by that time too glaring to be unnoticed, and one 
 of the discontented ones said to me that he thought they were 
 to be limited to 1*4 oz. of shot and to 12-bore guns. 
 
 "So I understand. What of it?" I replied, highly 
 amused. 
 
 " Why ! this man here shoots with a cannon loaded 
 with a hatful of shot !" 
 
 "Well, why don't you complain to the referee ?" 
 
 My interlocutor scratched his ear, and turning uneasily
 
 Facts about Pigeon-Shooting. 121 
 
 about, said at last : " Well, it is very awkward, you know, 
 very ! /should not like to do it !" 
 
 And there remains the whole thing. The roguery is 
 patent to all, but no one likes to run the gauntlet of the 
 professionals by exposing their fraud, and as no one 
 finds fault openly with them the evil goes on increasing 
 and the professionals prosper. Only the Manchester 
 rules, as ri*ow applied, have put a decided stop to such 
 nefarious practices, simply by getting the cartridges used 
 by the shooters made all alike by the gunsmiths to the 
 clubs, so that all the shooters must, perforce, use breech- 
 loaders of the same calibre, and fire with cartridges loaded 
 as nearly alike as possible. That is a step in the right 
 direction, according to my opinion. I need not say, 
 though, that it meets with considerable censure at the 
 hands of those men whose unfair practices would be 
 virtually put to an end, were these rules to gain favour 
 generally, and be enforced everywhere. Thieves don't like 
 police arrangements, and rogues don't like awkward rules 
 that interfere with their plans, cela va dc sot. 
 
 As regards the preconcerted arrangement of some 
 shooters with the puller, this could easily be prevented by 
 appointing a gentleman to stand by the man ; the gentle- 
 man to make known to the puller by a signal, or by a 
 number, which trap he is to pull. Such suggestions, I 
 know perfectly well, will be pooh-poohed by the thought- 
 less and those who are conscious of not being quite 
 guiltless ; but we all know that such things are done, and 
 I think it is high time someone should be found bold 
 enough to denounce them and expose their perpetrators. 
 Such gentry are the very first, at a meeting, when the 
 question of the pulling comes on the tapis, to exclaim, "Oh, 
 leave it to the man. He will do it well enough ! "
 
 122 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 And so he does, to their satisfaction, in a good many 
 cases. 
 
 Now, it is no small advantage to know beforehand from 
 which trap one's bird will rise. Anyone may soon convince 
 himself of that truth if he will, for practice, shoot from one 
 trap only. He will soon get into the knack of killing his 
 birds. But then let him have five traps, and not know 
 which is to be pulled, and his average, I undertake to say, 
 will be greatly inferior to the preceding one. 
 
 That is easily understood. In fact, this ignorance of 
 the particular trap just going to be pulled constitutes the 
 difficulty of match-shooting. Therefore, if anyone removes 
 that difficulty, that is making pigeon-shooting easy with a 
 vengeance. There is but one way to prevent such a thing, 
 and that is, as I have hinted above, merely by putting the 
 choice of the traps out of the puller's control altogether. 
 
 There is, again, another of the Manchester rules which 
 deserves mention. It is to the effect that the gun is to be 
 held below the elbow until the bird is fairly on the wing. 
 This puts a stop to the ludicrous exhibitions one may see 
 at times at some matches where the rule is not enforced, 
 viz. men who shoulder their weapons before saying " Pull," 
 or, when a trap has been pulled and the bird won't rise, 
 the shooter is aiming at the bird all the time, in great 
 trepidation at its unwillingness to get up and be shot. 
 Indeed this trepidation reaches such a pitch sometimes that 
 the shooter refuses the bird, point-blank.- 
 
 Moreover, I think the rule a very fair one, because, since 
 pigeon-shooting is extolled by some people as being fair 
 practice for actual shooting in the field, and since in the 
 field a sportsman never shoulders his weapon until his game 
 is fairly started, it follows that a shooter should not do so
 
 Facts about Pigeon-Shooting. 123. 
 
 'when at practice. It is not sportsmanlike, and is neither 
 fair to the bird nor to the shooter's adversaries. 
 
 The only thing one may wonder at is that such clever 
 rules have been left to the Manchester pigeon-shooters to 
 devise. The London fraternity, who rather pride themselves 
 on being A I in all points, are this time left in the lurch, 
 and a provincial town has fairly beaten the head-quarters. 
 
 And now a word about the pigeons themselves. Some 
 I think too sentimental writers have said something about 
 the mental agony of the birds previous to their being shot. 
 Expectation of danger is agony we all know that is as far 
 as we are concerned ; but there is nothing to show that the 
 birds are aware that they are in any danger whatsoever. 
 In fact, judging from what everyone may witness at any 
 pigeon-match, the birds seem placidly indifferent, some 
 even cooing to their heart's content, until their turn comes 
 to be slipped into their traps. Therefore the idea that the 
 birds know what awaits them may be dismissed from our 
 thoughts. The rest is bad enough. 
 
 The bird is confined in his little receptacle. Meanwhile 
 a shooter has been taking his stand ; he has carefully aimed 
 point-blank at each trap in turn, then he pulls himself 
 together and says, " Are you ready ? " 
 
 " Yes, my lord," answers the puller. 
 
 "Pull!" 
 
 The man pulls, open flys the trap, up jumps the bird. 
 Bang! He is hit, and hangs in mid-air; then musters his. 
 courage, advances a yard or so, when bang ! goes the second 
 barrel, and down comes the pigeon, dead. His lordship has 
 scored one. 
 
 In all this the bird has hardly had time to suffer, so to 
 speak. Before he can realise what is happening to him
 
 124 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 he is " a dead bird." Therefore, if anything, he suffers less 
 than he would suffer if his throat had been cut at the farm- 
 house previous to his being sent along with a lot of his 
 confreres to market. 
 
 So far so good. But all the pigeons shot at are not thus 
 killed clean. Most birds are badly wounded. These, 
 however, are quickly picked up and despatched. But some, 
 though hit, manage to escape out of bonds, and die a 
 lingering death; and among these "escapers" a few fly back 
 to their homes. Of the latter but few die. The greater 
 number recover, only, however, to be sent again in the next 
 hamper, and try their luck once more. 
 
 Now in so far as the wounded birds are concerned, I 
 call the whole transaction simply preventible cruelty, inas- 
 much as it arises from blundering arrangements. Nothing 
 would be easier than to prevent any of the pigeons, flown 
 under the guns' fire, from enduring any unnecessary 
 sufferings. 
 
 It may seem paradoxical, but in order to prevent any 
 among them from experiencing such pain, I would have the 
 whole lot killed, and I would not let those who escaped out 
 of bonds escape altogether. I would manage it in the 
 following manner : Immediately beyond and against the 
 boundaries of the ground, I would have a high wall built of 
 bricks, at least eight feet high, behind which I would station 
 a cordon of scouts, on the look-out for escaping birds, and 
 ready to settle them. The wall being so high would afford 
 the men ample security against the gentlemen-shooters' 
 shot, and also protect the latter from being, in return, 
 peppered by the scouts, inasmuch as the latter could not 
 possibly shoot horizontally towards the former ; the height 
 of the wall precluding any such attempt. 
 
 At the same time very, very few birds would escape the
 
 Facts about Pigeon-Shooting. 125 
 
 scouts (oftener none than any), for it is vastly more easy 
 to bag a bird that you see coming than one that will rise, 
 goodness and the puller only know from which trap. By 
 this arrangement all the birds, with very few occasional ex- 
 ceptions, would be accounted for, and there would be no 
 chance of seeing occasionally in the papers accounts of 
 pigeons coming back minus a leg, or with a "peppered" 
 wing, to their lofts. Such things are barbarous, and, as I 
 have shown, they could easily be remedied. The expense 
 of building the wall would, I think, be soon repaid by the 
 picking up of escapcrs, especially where many matches take 
 place during the season. Howbeit, I throw the hint; 
 whether it be an acceptable one or not, time will prove. 
 Above all things, scouting, as carried on at some low 
 meetings, ought to be discountenanced and repressed by 
 every means in their power by all the committees under 
 whose &gis the matches take place, for these amateur scouts 
 are perfectly reckless in their endeavours to bag their birds, 
 and they will blaze away in the midst of the meeting, if 
 occasion offers itself, with a nonchalance and an indifference 
 that are positively astounding. 
 
 In conclusion, I must state that all the tricks and 
 rogueries practised at pigeon-matches arise simply from the 
 professional betting in connection therewith. To begin 
 with, if the sport is really a sport, it ought not to require 
 the enticement of betting to make it palatable ; and if 
 gentlemen shot only for the sport of the thing, no pro- 
 fessional would think of gaining admission among them, 
 and then resort to trickery in order to win the day ; but, of 
 course, where sums of money are at stake, these men will 
 come in ; and, as they are gentlemen of very easy consciences 
 and very loose principles, we cannot expect from them- any 
 but shady proceedings.
 
 126 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 Again, if betting were entirely suppressed by the gentle- 
 men themselves at least, as far as betting with the betting 
 fraternity is concerned the shooters would soon find 
 themselves rid of a lot of parasites who live and fatten on 
 their substance, and they would be all the better for it. 
 
 I cannot conceive what pleasure there can be for a 
 gentleman in entering into any transaction, of whatever 
 sort, with a man whom he knows to be what is emphatically 
 denominated a blackguard and a blackleg. True, the man 
 may pay when he loses I will admit that many do ; but I 
 would not, for one, touch the man's dirty money if he were 
 to offer it to me ; therefore far less would I offer to bet 
 with him, or accept his offer to bet with me. 
 
 No, it is not nice to see gentlemen mixing with vaga- 
 bonds, from whatever motive ; and if our gentlemen pigeon- 
 shooters of the period would just weed their meetings from 
 all such disreputable individuals, they would find that their 
 sport would not look quite so black as it looks just now in 
 the eyes of outsiders, and that many other gentlemen would 
 be glad to join their ranks for the fun of the thing who 
 now hold back on account of the society to be met with 
 thereat. 
 
 As to trying to put down betting by law, it is, I humbly 
 think, a mistake. No one likes to be dictated to, and out 
 of a spirit of reaction against interference, people will bet 
 more than ever. No, this must be brought about by the 
 shooters themselves, as regards pigeon-matches. 
 
 Mind, I do not deprecate betting (mild betting, cela 
 sentend} between gentlemen, just for amusement, if they 
 must have it, but I should certainly, first, discountenance 
 all doubtful amateurs ; and, secondly, I should keep the 
 betting fraternity where it ought to be i.e. outside. I
 
 Facts aboiit Pigeon- Shooting. 127 
 
 would not allow a single one of its members to gain ad- 
 mittance to the ground ; and if any of them managed to do 
 so, I would have them turned out as soon as ever they would 
 show their true colours. Where there would be neither 
 suspicious shooters nor professional betting-men, all fripon- 
 ncries, cheatings, and rogueries would quickly disappear, 
 because they would no longer have a raison d'etre.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SHOOTING AT RANDOM. 
 
 THERE is nothing more reprehensible, and nothing more 
 thoroughly heartless and cruel, than the habit of shooting 
 at random indulged in by some thoughtless or too eager 
 shooters. . 
 
 Everyone knows Landseer's picture of " The Random 
 Shot." It ought to be in every sportsman's household, as 
 a memento of what an amount of untold suffering a moment 
 of thoughtlessness, or of over-eagerness, on his part, may 
 entail upon the animals or birds he pursues. 
 
 We all know how such things come to pass. A man 
 has been baffled repeatedly in his attempts to get a fair 
 shot at his game. Foiled, he grows sour, and sourly he 
 resolves to fire anyhow, with the hope of a stray shot hitting 
 somehow. By-and-by a covey rises, really too far off for 
 any sensible man even to think of shouldering his weapon ; 
 but our sportsman is desperate, and he blazes away with 
 both barrels in " the brown," i.e. the thick of the covey. 
 Perchance a bird falls, and our man exults exceedingly 
 thereat ; but he may also have wounded one or more birds 
 among those that flew away ; and these, although they 
 have so far managed .to escape, are doomed to die a most 
 horrible death a death of starvation and suffering com-
 
 Shooting at Random. 129 
 
 bined. All this for the sake of one bird, and oftener none. 
 It is, therefore; not only great foolishness, but a downright 
 shame and gratuitous cruelty to act thus. 
 
 Young sportsmen are very apt to commit that kind of 
 " sporting crime." 
 
 The spirit of emulation, however worthy of commenda- 
 tion in itself, in their case overreaches the mark, and makes 
 them forget the very first rule of honour in the field of sport, 
 i.e. never to fire in the brown. But they are so zealous in 
 their new avocation, and withal so anxious to emulate the 
 deeds of those who are more experienced than they, that 
 they are apt to overlook the conditions of that trial of skill, 
 and they hope to, at least, equal in numbers the game killed 
 by their companions. But young shooters must not forget 
 that game is not to be got anyhow ; it is to be shot fairly 
 and in a sportsmanlike manner ; and random shooting 
 being cruel is, de facto, unsportsmanlike ; therefore, honestly, 
 birds bagged in that wise ought not merely to count as no 
 birds, but also entail disqualification from further competi- 
 tion until due apology and amends have been made by the 
 party so offending. 
 
 If, young man, when you went to any competitive 
 examination you were caught " prigging " (which I very 
 much doubt, as you would not be guilty of such a base pro- 
 ceeding), you would be not only turned out of the room, 
 but also disqualified. Well, when you secure a bird by 
 wounding a lot more, or by running the risk of wounding 
 a lot more, you are guilty there also of taking an unfair 
 advantage over your companions ; in fact, you would be 
 doing worse than mere "prigging," you would be laying your- 
 self open to be considered a cheat and this a lad of honour 
 would avoid, as well in sport as in other affairs without 
 mentioning the cruelty of the proceeding to the poor birds. 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 It is bad enough for them to have to be killed, without 
 being indiscriminately wounded, and nobody being either 
 the wiser or better off for it. Therefore, young sportsmen, 
 avoid shooting at more than one bird at a time, and do not 
 think you will be the losers by it ; quite the reverse. 
 
 I met once, at a shooting-party, a young fellow whose 
 conduct every sporting lad of spirit ought to imitate. He 
 happened to walk right in the midst of a large covey of 
 partridges as we were beating a turnip-field, and, as it will 
 sometimes happen, the birds would not separate, and they 
 flew away together in a lump until they were about sixty 
 yards off, when they swept over the hedge and disappeared. 
 Our young fellow stood stock still, " on the ready," keenly 
 watching for a chance, but he let them go quietly. 
 
 " Well, John," some one of our party called out, " why 
 did you not fire ? " 
 
 " Why, uncle, I could not pick out one single bird ! " 
 Such a reply won for the lad the esteem of every 
 sportsman present. 
 
 It is not everybody that could readily make, a V impromptu, 
 such a sensible reply ; but everyone can act as this lad did, 
 and that is enough for the purpose. 
 
 There are, however, some men who cannot (or rather, I 
 should say, will not) resist the temptation. Lamentable 
 consequences of such conduct I could give by the score, for 
 I have had an extensive and varied experience both of sports- 
 men and of sporting incidents, accidents, and adventures. 
 
 The most startling among these, however, in connection 
 with random shooting, happened in Alsace some years ago 
 whilst I was there on a visit to a friend. We were coming 
 home one evening after a hard day's shooting, and the dogs 
 had been left at a keeper's, when on crossing a short fern 
 common, a roebuck feeding under covert, startled by our
 
 Shooting at Random. 131 
 
 voices, bolted straight down the path in front of us, at some 
 sixty or seventy yards' distance. Before we had time to 
 interfere, even by a word, one of our companions fired both 
 barrels of his shot-gun at the roebuck, and then turning 
 round towards us he burst out laughing, saying : 
 
 " That will make it run, I know." 
 
 And in truth it did, for the buck was lost to view in 
 a minute. 
 
 We never gave the incident more than a moment's 
 reflection, and I merely remarked that it was a waste of 
 powder and shot, for I never thought that the pellets at the 
 distance they had been fired could have inflicted even a 
 slight wound on the animal. On the next day, however, as 
 we were having the hounds in a wood in the neighbourhood 
 of the fern common where the roebuck had been fired at, I 
 became aware from the post I had taken outside the covert 
 that something was going on inside it which needed some 
 investigation ; for, the hounds, which were merrily " pro- 
 claiming " but a moment before, had stopped suddenly, and 
 I could hear the " worry " beginning. 
 
 " Some wounded hare they have got hold of/' I thought ; 
 and I dived into the wood instantly to pick it up. 
 
 It was some time before I could reach the place, the 
 covert being very thick, brambly, and thorny, but at last I 
 got near enough to perceive what was the matter. The 
 hounds had set upon a wounded roebuck, and pulled it 
 down, and it was just giving up its last breath when I turned 
 up. I drove the dogs away, not without trouble, for I was 
 a comparative stranger to them, and, in fact, they would not 
 be denied, and they " charged " so persistently that I had 
 to put my gun down, and breaking up a strong branch, I 
 had to lay it about me as hard as I could before they would 
 let the now dead animal alone. 
 
 K 2
 
 132 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 By that time my friends, attracted to the spot by the 
 noise, had come up ; we dragged out the roebuck, and then 
 we examined him. One of its forelegs was shattered com- 
 pletely below the knee, and this had evidently been done 
 partly by the shot fired the night before, and then the 
 animal must have himself completed the mischief when 
 running away or whilst jumping. 
 
 Howbeit, there it was plain that the " random shot" had 
 told but too well, and it was a mere chance that we had 
 found the roebuck again. Had he had strength enough 
 to run to the next wood, where he would have been unmo- 
 lested, he would have died therein of mortification to a 
 certainty. As it was, he had been at least eighteen hours 
 suffering from his wounds ; and I consider that a very- 
 thoughtless, cruel, and unseemly thing for a shooter to 
 bring about. 
 
 Some men do not think about such consequences, and 
 the recklessness I have seen occasionally displayed by some 
 few (very few, thank goodness !) men who dubbed them- 
 selves sportsmen was perfectly astounding. It is that sort 
 of thing that brings shooting into disrepute, and the adver- 
 saries to this most manly sport are but too glad of such 
 occasions to revile and deride our pursuit. 
 
 The animals that mostly suffer from this recklessness 
 are particularly hares. If hares were suffering from hydro- 
 phobia there could not possibly be a stronger animus dis- 
 played against them. It does not matter how far they 
 pass before the guns, there is sure to be some foolish fellow 
 who, in the exuberance of his animal spirits, will "let fly" at 
 puss, and exult thereat as though he had done something 
 remarkable ! Now I have always advocated leaving hares 
 altogether for the greyhounds, but in those countries where 
 greyhounds are not allowed to be used I should not think
 
 Shooting at Random. 133 
 
 of firing at a hare when past forty or fifty yards; for 
 although I have in my days of experimental foolishness 
 shot some at sixty yards and even farther, I consider such 
 shots unlikely enough to succeed, and therefore I would 
 discountenance the experiments in toto. 
 
 The same might be said about coursing with weak 
 greyhounds that are palpably unfit to perform their duty 
 creditably and well. 
 
 Who has not seen such things happening in the course 
 of his sporting experience ? I have, several times. 
 
 Once a friend of mine came to me with a new purchase 
 in the shape of a young fawn greyhound bitch, and begged 
 of me to try her. I agreed to do so readily ; but I directed 
 my keeper to bring along with us a clever black of my own, 
 much to the disgust of my friend. 
 
 "You might leave your dog behind," said he, "and give 
 my little beauty here a chance." 
 
 " Yes," I said, " I might ; and what if she let go her 
 hare ? " 
 
 " Oh, but the man I bought her from said she was a 
 sure killer! " 
 
 " Every greyhound dealer will tell you the same. In 
 my opinion she is not strong enough yet awhile for her 
 work ; but be easy we will give her a good chance. The 
 black will not be slipped unless the bitch positively and 
 palpably cannot do her part single-handed. Will that please 
 you ?" 
 
 " Oh yes, that will just do nicely, thanks ! I knew you 
 would do the thing handsomely," &c. &c. (Blarney ad 
 libitum?) 
 
 Meanwhile we had left the house and entered the 
 meadows, where the ground was perfectly bare and open, 
 each meadow being of a good size and surrounded by
 
 134 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 wide ditches. I was the first " discoverer." In a tuft of 
 rank grass, by the side of a mole-hill, was a hare a beauty 
 in her form. 
 
 "Are you ready ? " I said to my friend ; " here is one." 
 
 " All right ; go on," said he. 
 
 So I kicked pussy out of its snug home, and off it went 
 like a bolt from a catapult, across the meadow, down the 
 bank, and up the other side of the ditch, in a twinkling, 
 with the bitch after her and evidently meaning business. 
 She however was, as might have been expected, inex- 
 perienced : she blundered at the ditch, landed on the. oppo- 
 site side before the hare, then turned round and floundered 
 in. But concerning this, at present, I need not enter into 
 any details ; suffice it to say that about a hundred yards 
 farther the bitch had her first wrench, and a good one, too ; 
 but the hare was wide awake and strong, and she subse- 
 quently led the bitch such a dance within fifty or sixty 
 yards that they appeared like playing at shuttlecock. The 
 hare, however, had evidently suffered serious damage in the 
 first onset, for it did not attempt boldly to run for it until 
 it had completely pumped the young bitch, who, with open 
 jaws and gasping breath, finally stood still. 
 
 "There ! you see now," I said to my companion; "what 
 had I told you ? " 
 
 Meanwhile the black had been watching the perform- 
 aace with summersaults innumerable at the end of his 
 slips, and it was all the man could do to hold him ; at last 
 he had been pacified, and, with his eyes starting out of 
 their sockets and his jaws firmly clenched he watched the 
 hare now fairly bolting. 
 
 " Let him go now ! " I called out. 
 
 And away he bounded. It was a treat to see the pro- 
 fessional way with which he entered upon the business on
 
 Shooting at Random. 135 
 
 hand. Clearing the ditches and racing av/ay, he soon got 
 within reach, and with his usual clever dodge he dashed his 
 head under the hare, sent puss flying up in the air, and 
 before she had time to recover her legs it was all u p with 
 her. 
 
 Now had we not had the dog of course we should have 
 lost the hare ; but that was a minor consideration. Far 
 more important was it not to let the wounded animal get 
 away and die a lingering death. Had we trusted to the 
 bitch alone we, too, then would have been guilty of " a 
 random shot." 
 
 And now to come to shooting once more. I do not 
 believe in long-range cartridges, because they are uncertain 
 in their action. Sometimes they will kill at unheard-of 
 distances, but in the vast majority of cases they do not 
 bag. However, they have a great reputation, and the com- 
 placent manner which a man assumes when he slips two 
 long-range cartridges in his gun, tells plainly that he thinks 
 he will do grand things with them, and believes in them 
 implicitly. He does certainly blaze them away with right 
 .good will so long as his stock will last, and he attributes his 
 want of success to his want of skill. I don't. I think it 
 is a downright waste of powder and shot. Of course, it is 
 good for trade, therefore inclinons-nous before the Dieu du 
 commerce ; but nevertheless such trumpery affairs induce 
 41 random shooting," and ought therefore to be discarded by 
 every right-minded sportsman. If you cannot come near 
 enough to your game to kill it at those distances which 
 by experience you know your gun commands well, abstain 
 altogether from firing that is the best course to pursue. 
 
 By almost every shooter long-range cartridges have 
 been, for tradition's sake, tried for wild-fowl shooting. Now 
 here again I have had plenty of experience, and my expe-
 
 136 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 rience goes against the use of those trade inventions. I 
 should always advise an intending wildfowler to use a 
 strong gun of large bore and corresponding breech, capable 
 of carrying handsomely a good dose of shot, and I would 
 have him eschew any light gun, with the hope that by 
 loading it with long-range cartridges he would succeed 
 with the fowl. It is a mistake. As the birds are tough, 
 and generally pass rather far from the shooter, it is of 
 course a sine qua non that the shot should be able to bundle 
 them over where they are ; this a large-bore gun loaded 
 well will do, with a certainty of execution quite as regular 
 as the ordinary guns when brought to bear in the turnips 
 on partridges ; but should you be induced to fire away 
 wire concerns and the like, you will do well to provide 
 them wholesale, for the average is not much more than 
 one telling shot to twenty wasted ones. 
 
 These cartridges are, besides being so useless, extremely 
 dangerous to employ, on account of their remaining whole 
 occasionally, and acting like bullets, when they may go a 
 very long way, and then hit a man maybe a hundred yards 
 or more away. I have seen such cases, and have expe- 
 rienced some myself. Now it is pleasant enough to watch 
 a fellow shooting at a duck and missing it handsomely 
 with both barrels, but when the fellow's shot comes rattling 
 down like hail on your face or on your back, it is rather 
 apt to make you shift your quarters. Therefore I hold 
 that such inventions are not only practically useless but 
 highly dangerous, and they ought never to be v employed 
 but when and where the ground is open and perfectly clear 
 from other parties. So much for the long-range cartridges 
 sold by the trade. They have been the cause of more 
 mischief amongst game than any other devices, and that is 
 all the credit they can lay a claim to. I do not mean to
 
 Shooting at Random. 137 
 
 say that they do not occasionally kill I have acknow- 
 ledged that they sometimes do ; but what I contend is that 
 one bird bagged for perhaps half-a-dozen wounded ones 
 that will not be bagged is a bird dearly purchased ; or when 
 the birds are wisely fired at singly, I contend that to fire at 
 twenty consecutive birds before one is brought to hand is, 
 to say the least, an unseemly waste of ammunition. 
 
 There is more random shooting practised against wild- 
 fowl than against any other kind of living birds or animals ; 
 but then for this the wildfowl are themselves to blame. As 
 they will travel in flocks it is sometimes hard to pick out a 
 bird, and often its immediate neighbours come in for their 
 share of the peppering. That cannot always be helped, 
 and as they will often obstinately keep very far from the 
 guns, it occasionally happens that half the "company" 
 being covered by the " spread," feel more or less the effect 
 of the fusillade the more the pity for humanity's sake, but 
 the more the merrier, will the puntsmen say on their own 
 behalf ; so that there again self-interest and tender feelings 
 are at variance. 
 
 Such mercenary considerations, however, ought to have 
 no weight with those who sport for the love of the thing. 
 A gentleman and a sportsman never fires but when he has 
 a good chance of bagging, and when game birds are in a 
 lump he lets them go and bides his time, for not only doe.s 
 he discard random shooting himself as far as he is per- 
 sonally concerned, but a professed " random " shooter is an 
 abomination in his estimation.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE BROTHERHOOD OF SPORT. 
 
 IT is " strange but true " that a sportsman, and particularly 
 a shooter, needs often no other introduction than his own 
 particular love of sport in order to find favour in other 
 shooters' eyes, even though he may be in other respects 
 a complete stranger to the latter. Thus it is that in my 
 own case, owing to my passion for the gun, I have been 
 often asked to shooting-parties by gentlemen whose very 
 names were unknown to me previously to their very kind 
 invitations. 
 
 This brotherhood among sportsmen is indeed the more 
 remarkable, inasmuch as the skill of one member of the 
 company not unfrequently " riles " his companions ; but all 
 goes off, nevertheless, in good-humour, and foolish would 
 be the man who should bear a grudge towards another 
 because the latter might have repeatedly " wiped his eye." 
 
 As a rule, Continental sportsmen are more readily 
 hospitable towards strangers than Britishers, and it is 
 quite true to say that, in this respect, they "do these 
 things differently in France," and elsewhere on the Conti- 
 nent. In proof of this, I may relate what occurred 
 to myself during my stay in Belgium. I was taking a 
 stroll along the sea-shore there, when I met with a con-
 
 The Brotherhood of Sport. 139 
 
 genial spirit in the shape of a burly French gentleman, 
 who, with gun and dog, was also trying to circumvent 
 sea-fowl. 
 
 To tell the truth, when I first spied him in the distance, 
 and ascertained beyond a doubt that he also had a gun, 
 I wished with all my heart that he could have been 
 somewhere else. However, as on drawing near to him I 
 perceived that in years he was by far my senior, I grew 
 more sociable, and we had a " confab." 
 
 "// riy a pas beaucoup d'oiseaux" said he. 
 
 Now, considering that we were scarcely half a mile 
 from Ostend, and that there is a pretty smart traffic 
 going on there on the sands between the town and the 
 next village, it was not very wonderful that birds did 
 not choose this particular spot as a resting-ground ; and 
 so I remarked to my new friend, who thereupon looked 
 upon me evidently as a very clever fellow. 
 
 " Ah ! I should never have thought of that," said he, 
 " yet it is plain enough ; so you think that farther on we 
 will find some birds ? " 
 
 " Certainly," I replied. 
 
 And accordingly we put our " best feet foremost," and 
 made a flying start. I shall not delay to talk about the 
 sport. We came back at night very tired, very hungry, 
 and very thirsty ; my good friend and I dined together, 
 we exchanged cards, and we parted more friendly than 
 ever. 
 
 So far so good. 
 
 Well, time went on, and I had almost forgotten my 
 sleek companion, when, a fortnight later, I received from 
 him a letter inviting me to pay him a visit at his residence 
 near Dunkerque. 
 
 " We have shoals of wildfowl here ; we shoot ducks
 
 140 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 by the score ; and if you are at liberty to come, you will 
 oblige me." Thus said his note. 
 
 I resolved to go, and wrote to notify my acceptance of 
 the invitation. 
 
 Dunkerque is, as the crow flies, but thirty miles or so 
 from Ostend, so I roughly estimated that by rail the 
 journey, at the utmost, could not possibly take me more 
 than two hours to perform. I never was more mistaken 
 in my life. I had reckoned without the railway companies. 
 The peculiar circular system of the railway lines lengthened 
 out the thirty miles to seventy at least; and ultimately, 
 after a journey of seven-and-a-half hours, I reached my 
 destination. 
 
 My host was awaiting the arrival of the train, and we 
 drove to his house together. Whilst dinner was taking- 
 place, he told me that the fowl were more abundant than 
 ever, and if I did not feel too tired after my journey we 
 should go to the "hut" after dinner. I was extremely 
 knocked up on my arrival, but whether the satisfaction 
 of having at last arrived safely to port had restored my 
 equanimity (which had been sorely ruffled during the day), 
 or whether the show of sport tempted me and made me 
 forget my sufferings, I cannot decide ; but I really felt equal 
 to any emergency, and stated my firm resolution to remain 
 up all night at the hut if necessary. 
 
 Accordingly, after a last cigar, we departed. The night 
 was clear and frosty, the moon shone brilliantly, and every- 
 thing looked as fit (for the kind of sport we were going to 
 enjoy) as could be. We crossed some downs, and finally 
 reached the hut in safety. 
 
 This hut, by-the-way, is about the best and most com- 
 fortable it has ever been my lot to shoot from. It is sub- 
 stantially built of bricks ; and the comforts of the interior
 
 The Brotherhood of Sport. 141 
 
 are fully equal to that of any house, with the exception 
 that there was no fire, but there being double doors we 
 were enabled to have a light, to smoke, to chat in a low 
 tone, to read, &c., while the keeper, warmly wrapped up in 
 some horse-rugs, was between the double doors, keeping 
 watch over the pond. 
 
 The decoy-birds had been placed beforehand, and my 
 friend assured me that we could trust the man implicitly. 
 
 " This fellow," said he, " has shot I may say thousands 
 of ducks, teals, geese, and other fowl, in his life. He used 
 to have a straw hut of his own in which you would not 
 have put a dog, but in which he nevertheless spent twenty 
 hard winters watching for the flights. Somehow he had 
 such good birds for decoys, or managed them so cunningly, 
 that he always shot by himself more than all the other 
 decoy-men and amateurs put together. But it is only fair 
 to inform you that old Simon's gun is a ' caution ; ' it is of 
 such large bore that you can drop a penny into the barrel 
 easily. Where he picked it up I do not know, but there is 
 one thing certain, and that is that he never would part with 
 it on any terms whatever. I have known it to kill fifteen 
 ducks at one shot. It is, in fact, a regular business tool ; 
 and when we used to hear the flights ' whistling ' their way 
 towards Simon's, and when we heard his call-ducks getting 
 excited, and then stopping their ' calling/ we knew that a 
 flock had settled near his hut, and after the boom of the 
 fellow's weapon very little share remained to us." 
 
 Just then the keeper rapped quietly on our door. We 
 took up our guns and went noiselessly to the outside door, 
 whose shooting slides, carefully greased, had been shoved 
 back ; and after some few seconds spent in getting our 
 eyes accustomed to the comparative darkness without, 
 we saw five wild ducks pluming and shaking themselves on
 
 142 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 the water near the decoys. The wild birds were not 
 together in a lump, so I signed to my companion that if he 
 would take charge of the three that were on his side I 
 would settle my two. He nodded assent, and we quietly 
 passed our gun-barrels through the apertures and took aim. 
 Then at his whistle we fired, and all the birds remained 
 quite dead on the water. 
 
 Old Simon then went out with a long bamboo pole 
 fitted at one end with a strong landing-net, and fished up 
 the game. This done he came in again to resume his 
 watching, and by-and-by we again heard his signal, came 
 forward as before, and again fired with success. Then, 
 the night being far spent, and no more birds favouring us 
 with their visit, we beat a retreat. 
 
 I remained three days with my French friend, and we 
 killed a tremendous lot of birds at the hut. Nor were we 
 singular in that respect, for all the neighbouring "hutters " 
 shot loads too, and the neighbouring markets got literally 
 glutted. A couple of ducks could be had in the shops for 
 eighteenpence, or thereabouts. Subsequently I heard that 
 the whole of the marshes in the north of France had been 
 swarming with wildfowl, so that I consider I was lucky 
 indeed in having been invited to take my share of the fun, 
 and this I may reasonably attribute to the subject of this 
 article viz. the kindly feelings engendered among sports- 
 men by a similarity of tastes in the matter of sport.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 IN A STALKING-HORSE. 
 
 THE passion for sports of all kinds was in my family for 
 many generations, and, true to the blood, I took to sports 
 from my earliest infancy as naturally as a duckling takes 
 to water. Even when a child I was allowed to do pretty 
 nearly as I liked, and my parents and connections, being 
 rather proud of my youthful tendencies, encouraged them 
 to their utmost and refused me nothing that was reasonable. 
 
 When a very little boy my knowledge of sporting 
 affairs was already very extensive, and I could tell a good 
 dog the moment he entered a field, to the great admiration 
 of John, one of our keepers. Of course during my youth 
 he, having been detailed to my special charge, resorted to 
 all sorts of dodges and devices in order to procure me 
 plenty of practice with the gun, and some of these devices 
 were amusing enough ; but our stalking-horse was the most 
 delightful and most entertaining piece of business I ever 
 had a hand in. 
 
 The idea originated by my having seen in an old book 
 a print of a so-called stalking-horse. There was an old 
 jade, hardly able to walk seemingly, going towards a flock 
 of curlews and other wildfowl, whilst a man, keeping on 
 the off-side of the horse, was getting his gun ready for a
 
 144 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 shot. I pondered over this picture for a long while, and I 
 wished we had had an old screw to try the dodge with. 
 
 Once I took our gardener's donkey, under the pretence 
 of a ride, and I then, when out of sight, tried what he could 
 do for a stalking animal. All went well for some time, he 
 rather preferring being led than ridden, the lazy brute ! 
 But when, by-and-by, I came to fire a shot at an unsus- 
 pecting magpie, the donkey struck out and bolted so 
 unexpectedly, that had the reins been twisted round my 
 arm instead of merely resting upon it, I would infallibly 
 have been dragged to the ground, and at any rate I would 
 certainly have been maimed, if not actually killed. As it 
 was I was pulled down on my face. I never tried stalking 
 after that with a live coadjutor. But I thought that if I could 
 make some imitation, however rough, of a horse, it would 
 serve my purpose as well, and I resolved to try. How I 
 was to do it I had no idea, and I was therefore sadly 
 puzzled as to how I was to carry my plan into execution, 
 when one of my uncles with his son happened to pay us a 
 visit. 
 
 Now my cousin was, if anything, still more " shooting- 
 struck " than I was, and when I opened my mind to him 
 on the subject of my new stratagem, he forthwith declared 
 that the thing should be done " just for a lark, if nothing 
 more." We took John into the secret. This worthy shook 
 his head incredulously, and stated that " them things were 
 rum ones to deal with, and that he had not much faith in 
 them ; but of course, if we wished to try, why he was 
 agreeable, and would do all he could." 
 
 This being 'settled, we collected all our pocket-money, 
 and, unknown to anyone but the keeper, we invested i in 
 buying a horse's skin from a knacker. John then proceeded 
 to fit it with some wickerwork inside, so as to give it as
 
 In a Stalking Horse. 145 
 
 nearly as possible the appearance and outline of a horse 
 pasturing. On the left side, according to our suggestions, 
 he cut two openings for us to fire through. 
 
 When it was all ready, there being just then a large 
 number of curlews in the meadows, my cousin got into the 
 hind legs, I took the front legs, and we had a rehearsal in 
 the yard. 
 
 My first impression was that it was very unpleasant 
 to be confined in a horse's skin even temporarily, and, 
 moreover, it was not easy to manage the " working " of the 
 stratagem without some practice, for if one of the bearers 
 went too fast he nearly knocked the other off his feet, and 
 vice vcrs&. 
 
 Meanwhile the affair had got bruited about the house- 
 hold, and we were greeted with roars of laughter when- 
 ever any false manoeuvre nearly brought us* to mother 
 earth. 
 
 Howbeit after this, our preliminary canter, we took our 
 guns inside with us, and we set out in earnest, and in a 
 business-like manner. 
 
 At first, as we were going along pretty smoothly, I 
 ventured to hint that we were getting on wonderfully well. 
 I had scarcely expressed this opinion than, as we were 
 turning out of the lawn into the open, a terrific gust of 
 wind laid hold of the stalking concern broadside, and, what 
 with the fear of our guns going off and the difficulty of 
 seeing our way clear before us, we were driven, in spite of 
 all our efforts, into a ditch, wherein I tumbled first, and of 
 course dragged my companion. 
 
 When we felt the cold water we at once let go, and off 
 went our artificial decoy, tumbling, and jumping, and 
 rolling all over the meadows, until it stuck headforemost 
 into a ditch, and there remained, with its hind part sticking 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 up in the air and waving to and fro as the gusts of wind 
 swept over it. 
 
 Meanwhile we had managed to scramble out of our 
 drain, and with consternation we looked from afar at our 
 unruly steed ; then we took a survey of each other's habili- 
 ments and appearance, and finally we burst out laughing. 
 My confrere in his fall had managed to stick his face into 
 the soft mud, and his countenance was a picture. I was in 
 a sad mess too myself, and our guns' barrels were full of 
 mud up to the breech. 
 
 Since then, I have never been in another horse's 
 skin to be used as an artificial stalking-horse, and, more- 
 over, I have no wish whatever to try to circumvent wild- 
 fowl by means of such an unwieldy, heavy, and foul- 
 smelling apparatus, but we, afterwards, got a rare concern 
 made up, of which concern I will speak anon.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 GROUSE-DRIVING AS A SPORT. 
 
 IT is perfectly true that, owing to the wily nature of grouse, 
 " driving " must occasionally be resorted to in order to bag 
 them ; but that " driving " (a mere expedient after all) 
 should be enthusiastically denominated " the sport " par 
 excellence, must be simply a joke. 
 
 Sport, as we have been taught to understand it, consists : 
 
 1st. In seeking game on its own ground, and, in so 
 doing, giving it free scope to use its wits for eluding our 
 approach (this first condition is a sine qua non, and con- 
 stitutes, in fact, nine-tenths of the sport). 
 
 2ndly. When we have succeeded in getting within range,, 
 we must be clever enough to kill our game in whatever 
 manner and direction it chooses to try to escape our guns. 
 
 Now in " driving," the first of these conditions is entirely 
 discarded, and the second is only partly fulfilled, inasmuch 
 as speed alone, and that in one direction only, i.e. towards 
 the shaoters, is sought to be allowed to the birds as a means 
 of escape ; therefore driving cannot be classed as sports- 
 manlike. 
 
 If we enter into each condition separately, we will see 
 that to succeed in reaching game on its own ground, as 
 described above, k requires in the sportsman a personal
 
 148 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 knowledge of the haunts and habits of his game. Now the 
 " driver " of our day need not know where his grouse live, 
 neither does he need to know their habits, their tricks, and 
 how to thwart them. The birds' wiles are driven away, so 
 to speak, by the irresistible cordon of beaters ; consequently 
 a successful killer of grouse (under the system of "driving") 
 may be a good shot ; but if we adhere strictly to the letter 
 of the definition he cannot be called per se a sportsman, 
 however successfully he may knock over his birds when 
 they are driven to him. What constitutes in fact the 
 sportsmanship of shooting grouse ? The very difficulty one 
 experiences almost invariably in getting within range of the 
 wary birds. Remove then this difficulty of getting Avithin 
 range of grouse, and all the merit of the thing is done away 
 with. You might as well shoot domestic fowl or turkeys 
 driven over your battery. 
 
 That a preserver, who cannot or will not remain a 
 sufficiently long time on his estate to enjoy shooting as 
 an every-day luxury, should kill all his game wholesale 
 in a few days by every means in his power is admissible, 
 on the ground of the gentleman's right to take his own 
 property when he can best do it and as he thinks best ; 
 but that this destruction, by means unfair to the game, 
 should be considered as the ne phis ultra of sport every 
 sportsman will deny, and it is inadmissible. 
 
 " Driving " is simply an expedient, necessary in some 
 cases, but that is no reason why it should be classified as 
 sport, no more than wiring rabbits. 
 
 "But 'driving' is fashionable!" exclaim the new school. 
 To this I reply that if some gentlemen are obliged to kill 
 all their grouse in a few days, because they are unable or 
 unwilling to spend more time for the purpose, that is no 
 reason why those who live on their estates should imitate
 
 Grouse-Driving as a Sport. 149 
 
 them and kill everything in the first week. It would be, 
 indeed, manger son bien en herbc. What would become of 
 those country sportsmen then during the remainder of the 
 season ? 
 
 The partisans of "driving" urge that the old birds 
 cannot be got rid of except by "driving" them. Granted. 
 But then they don't pick out the old birds and kill these 
 only. They shoot indiscriminately all that come to their 
 guns. This, it strikes me, is a Very queer way of getting rid 
 of the nuisance. 
 
 Again, they say that the more birds they kill the more 
 are found the next season. But if such be the case, why, 
 after very successful drive, are the moors restocked from 
 live grouse bought from poachers in other counties ? 
 
 A great deal has been said also in praise of the shooters, 
 about the good generalship which must be displayed to 
 ensure that the drive should be a successful one. I don't 
 see at all that the shooters deserve any praise as far as 
 that particular generalship is concerned. Many of them 
 are guests who perhaps have never in their lives set their 
 foot on the ground before ; and as for the owners, they as 
 a rule don't trouble about that sort of thing. The head- 
 keeper does it all ; therefore if^ there be any credit, to him, 
 and him alone, is it due. 
 
 The difficulty experienced by the shooters to hit driven 
 grouse has been amply enlarged upon, and has been made 
 almost an excuse for "driving;" but considering that the 
 great speed attained by the birds constitutes the only diffi- 
 culty against which the shooters have to contend, surely 
 they cannot decently find fault with that. The poor birds 
 have no other chance whatever to escape. They must all, 
 with very few exceptions, pass within range, and their only 
 chance of safety lies in their speed and the unskilfulness of
 
 150 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 the shooters. Surely this only chance ought not to be- 
 grudged them at any rate. 
 
 Now as to the system itself I cannot bring my mind to* 
 consider it fair in any way whatever. Hiding behind a 
 battery, and firing from behind a mantlet at an unsuspecting 
 and " driven " bird, cannot surely be called sport. 
 
 By a singular process of reasoning, the number of birds 
 killed thus is urged as a proof of the " sport " of the thing. 
 I cannot understand such a sophism. If it be unfair to kill 
 one bird from an ambush, it must be a thousand times 
 worse to kill a thousand birds. 
 
 As to the cruelty of the sport, if a " driver " of the 
 period were to be told that a certain sportsman of the old 
 school, whilst shooting over his setters or pointers, makes it 
 a point to leave all his birds, dead or wounded, where they 
 fall, until he (the sportsman) has beaten and shot over all 
 his ground, would he (the driver) not be the first to cry 
 "shame" on this man for cruelly allowing his wretched 
 wounded birds to die a lingering death, exposed to the 
 ardent rays of the sun, or with a downpour of rain and sleet 
 falling upon their mangled bodies for hours together 
 before they are picked up, and their sufferings put to an 
 end ? Would he call this man a sportsman ? 
 
 Yet fashionable shooters do all this every time they 
 " drive," and they call it sport ! 
 
 With regard to the success, in point of numbers, which 
 some men attain when shooting driven grouse, the number 
 of birds killed does not prove per se the skill of the shooter, 
 because nothing is known of the number of shots that have 
 been fired for comparison with the number of heads of 
 game that have been killed. 
 
 A sportsman who in the open, over Don and Ponto, 
 shoots ten birds with a dozen barrels is far more clever than
 
 Grouse-Driving as a Sport. 151 
 
 the "driver" who kills five hundred grouse in a thousand 
 shots or more from behind a wall. There the whole dis- 
 tinction remains one is a sportsman, the other is simply a 
 shooter, more or less skilled. 
 
 Commercially speaking, " driving," when carried to 
 excess, as it has been occasionally, like all other abuses, 
 carries its own punishment along with it. Such enormous 
 quantities of grouse make their simultaneous appearance in 
 the market that it gets quite glutted, and even the vry poor 
 may then eat grouse. So far so good. As far as the public 
 is concerned this is but a cause for congratulation ; but the 
 game preservers must make a very wry face over it when a 
 consignment of game fetches say but ^30 or ^40, instead 
 of 2 50. 
 
 Howbeit, were my game to be killed in no other way, I 
 would hang up my guns for good, and commission my 
 keeper to perform the unpleasant task, for shooting would 
 be no longer a pleasure ; it would become a positive labour, 
 and therefore no relaxation. I would no more think of 
 firing a thousand shots in one day by way of amusement 
 than I would dream of racing on foot with a horseman by 
 way of refreshing myself. 
 
 In the ciscussion of the actual performance of "driving," 
 some shooters have been looked upon by some admiring 
 writers as models of strength, perseverance, skill, and 
 endurance, for (sic) not having got their fingers or their 
 shoulders hurt, and for standing the explosions of so many 
 hundreds of shots without being driven crazy by the noise ! 
 That the shooters' fingers did not get abrased only proves 
 that the fowling-pieces they used were good guns, whose 
 triggers did not shake as some Brummagem concerns would 
 have done. That their shoulders did not get sore proves 
 that the guns were no kickers, or that they were properly
 
 152 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 loaded, or both ; for all that sort of thing, the shooters 
 deserve not the slightest credit. And as for the brain nerve 
 that can endure the " din " of so many shots, I sincerely 
 congratulate, not the shooters, but their attendants, who 
 had to bear the " din," and who proved that they could 
 stand it without going mad. As for the shooters them- 
 selves, I warrant that if they were fully intent upon their 
 work that was before them, they noticed but little the 
 reports -of their own guns. A sportsman only sees his 
 game fall or escape ; he is perfectly unconscious, generally 
 speaking, of the " din " of his gun. At any rate, though I 
 have fired guns many many thousands of times, I have 
 never noticed their report. Some town writers may think 
 this very strange, but should they inquire on the subject 
 from any practical sportsmen they will find my statement 
 confirmed by every one of them.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 BOG-TROTTING. 
 
 FROM the very moment that I was first entrusted with a 
 gun I experienced a fondness for marsh-shooting, and 
 my weakness for snipe in due time amounted nearly to a 
 passion. 
 
 How is it that all young shooters delight in " bog- 
 trotting?" Is it because they can there get very muddy, 
 and therefore look altogether business-like, and up to any 
 amount of hardship ? or is it simply because the greatest 
 diiffer must eventually succeed in bagging something in a 
 marsh that is fairly stocked with water-fowl ? 
 
 This assertion may appear strange to the inexperienced, 
 but it is a fact (well known to all marsh-shooters) that 
 water-fowl are either very hard or very easy to bag. The 
 state of things depends in a great measure on the weather. 
 Sometimes the birds will lie like stones and rise like hay- 
 stacks ; at other times they will be so shy that it will 
 require all the shooter's cunning to manage to come within 
 range of them, and then, when he has succeeded in doing 
 so, they will oppose all their wily dodges to his skill. A 
 " fresh " snipe, on a moderately stormy day, is by no means 
 easy to bag ; whereas a " tired " bird, on a quiet day, is as 
 easy to shoot as a barn-door fowl ; therefore, as such days
 
 154 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 and such birds are bound to turn up in the course of every 
 marsh season, the merest tyro must occasionally succeed. 
 
 Success in shooting, as in everything else, is a great 
 incentive to perfecting oneself; and very often a snipe, 
 successfully and judiciously knocked over by an apprentice 
 hand, has made of the boy an enthusiastic sportsman at 
 heart. 
 
 Now a gentleman who, at a great expense, preserves 
 his nranor for his own and his friends 5 enjoyment, would 
 hardly like to let his own boys or his nephews scamper 
 about all over his fields and coverts for the sake of their 
 learning how to shoot. But if there be a small marsh 
 handy, depend upon it you will see the youngsters potter- 
 ing amongst its reeds and floundering in its ditches as soon 
 as ever " the powers that be " grant them the use of a gun ; 
 in fact, marshes may be fairly termed the nurseries of our 
 sportsmen. 
 
 A boy who is taken out partridge-shooting, and who 
 has had no previous experience of it, as a rule gets 
 thoroughly sick and disheartened; for this sport to him 
 is but a hollow mockery, and very tiring to boot. He is 
 worn out with fatigue by following the coveys ; then, when 
 he sees the dogs on point he experiences a singular op- 
 pression of the chest and a trembling of the hands that 
 are by no means calculated to improve his shooting, even 
 if we admit that he would be able to shoot straight. Then 
 the birds rise with a whirr that makes the youngster's heart 
 jump into his mouth ! Mayhap he will be so knocked all 
 of a heap that he will not even think of firing his gun ; 
 but should he have enough mechanical instinct left to 
 think of delivering his two barrels, rest assured that he will 
 not hit anything, and if he does it will be a mere fluke 
 or an accident, and in nine cases out of ten nothing
 
 Bog- Trotting. 155 
 
 will fall ; this, occurring repeatedly, will disgust the young 
 learner. 
 
 Now place the same young fellow in a fair marsh, and 
 note how different things will look. First of all, as the 
 shooter must see where he steps, he does not notice so 
 much the distances he walks ; then, as he expects every 
 moment that some bird will jump up, he does not expe- 
 rience that anxiousness to get quickly forward that a 
 youngster often feels when walking up to coveys of 
 partridges ; in short, in the marsh, he must needs walk 
 deliberately, and, among the many birds that he will 
 eventually flush, he must bag some. The consequence of 
 this naturally is that, when he comes home the boy feels 
 proud, and emphatically declares that he never enjoyed 
 himself so much in his life, whereas he would as likely 
 vote partridge-shooting a bore. 
 
 The great variety of birds to be met with in marshes is 
 another great incentive to pursuing this sport ; a teal, a duck, 
 a moorhen, and a couple of snipe look nicer than five 
 partridges. Of the teal, the duck, the moorhen, and the 
 two snipe there are different tales to be related by the 
 shooter to account for their presence in his bag, whereas 
 the five partridges would have got there in the usual tame 
 way. 
 
 When I began bog-trotting, snipe puzzled me. I tried 
 to follow them with my gun, but when I fired they invari- 
 ably answered the bang-bang of my gun by a shrill call, 
 amounting pretty much to a sneering laugh, and which to 
 my uninitiated ear sounded pretty like stigmatising my 
 weak and unsuccessful attempt as " cheek." There was one 
 in our marsh that I had the pleasure of firing at every 
 morning for a week. This daily performance was fast 
 growing upon me as a habit. I punctually made my ap-
 
 156 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 pearance at nine, called at her pool, found her at home ; 
 she rose regularly with a dash to the east, one to the west, 
 a. couple to the north, and the rest anywhere. Now, as I 
 had been told impressively that I was not to shoot where 
 she was, but where she was going, it was not easy to guess 
 where that particular point, at a particular time, might be ; 
 so that I was fairly bothered, and I believe I shot in turns 
 towards all points of the compass. Of course at each shot 
 she laughed, and cried out, " Cheek ! " I was growing 
 desperate when, one fortunate day, she met with her end. 
 It was no fault of mine, I am certain ; and in fact the 
 keeper who accompanied me in my rambles, and to whom 
 this daily incident was most entertaining, told me respect- 
 fully that I was not to blame that it was the snipe's own 
 fault. 
 
 " She flew," he said, " right in your shot." 
 Since this memorable event a good many snipe " have 
 flown into my shot," for I soon discovered the knack of 
 knocking them over. 
 
 In this sport the art of loading one's gun properly goes a 
 long way towards making a good bag. My want of success 
 at first was attributable, not only to my want of experi- 
 ence in the actual shooting of the birds, but also to my gun 
 not being loaded in such a manner as to make the business 
 easier. The fowling-piece given me was (very properly) 
 chosen of a very light weight, calculated not to break 
 down my youthful strength ; it was a 2o-bore gun, with 
 .an ordinary length of barrels. Now, this gun, with an 
 ordinary cartridge, carried very fairly up to forty yards, 
 and it kept the shot very tight, i.e. it did not scatter more 
 than a square yard or so. This was all very well for 
 ordinary shooting ; but when I blazed away at a snipe 
 just rising fifteen yards from me, of course I either cut it
 
 Bog- Trotting. 1 5 7 
 
 into shreds or else I missed it clean, on account of the shot 
 being, at that distance, almost like a bullet ; and I had not 
 the nerve to wait till the bird was far enough to give me 
 the full benefit of the ." spread " of my charges of shot in 
 a word, I had taken to snap-shooting, and I meant to 
 stick to it. Evidently there was something in my gunning 
 affairs that wanted looking to. I revolved the matter in 
 my youthful mind, and forthwith I instituted experiments 
 with sundry cartridges. I found, then, that up to twenty 
 yards one-third of the cartridge (in volume) filled with 
 powder, and the remaining two-thirds filled with No. 10 
 shot, answered beautifully with my gun, as the " spread " 
 of the shot was, at that distance, about equal to that of my 
 ordinary cartridges at forty yards. I sallied forth then, 
 and I became a noted snipe-shot. A couple of years after, 
 and another heavier and larger gun was provided for me, 
 and with it I succeeded still better. 
 
 Now everyone uses 12-bore guns. With cartridges 
 doctored as I have just hinted, anybody ought, with very 
 little practice, to be able to knock over snipe under ordinary 
 circumstances. 
 
 Some shooters use cartridges with more powder than 
 shot, and the result is almost as good as it is by my 
 system. I have tried both. But in heavy weather the 
 smoke occasioned by the greater quantity of powder hangs 
 so thick and so heavy that it materially interferes with the 
 delivery of the second barrel, if it be needed. Since this 
 was written the Schultze powder has been introduced to 
 my notice, and I have shot with it extensively. It is, in 
 my opinion, the coming sporting gunpowder, as it kills 
 as well as, and better than, ordinary powder, does not 
 recoil so much, and produces but little smoke. 
 
 Some shooters say that they shut one eye when aiming at
 
 158 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 a snipe. I tried it, but I could not " follow " the flight 
 of the bird. 
 
 I must say, in truth, that among those sportsmen who 
 told me that they found it beneficial to use only one 
 " peeper," only one or two were really good shots ; so that, 
 on the whole, I strongly suspect that my plan is the best. 
 I keep both eyes open, and if I had three, I would not, by 
 any means, think the third, one too many when having to 
 deal with an erratic, zigzagging snipe. 
 
 Of course there are cases in which a snipe will fly away 
 from you, when you may shoot it in .the one-eye-shut style 
 if you are inclined ; but that is a matter of habit or fancy. 
 
 As a general rule it takes both eyes to make out where 
 a snipe is going, and brains to send the shot there. 
 
 Much has been said on the subject of the accoutrements 
 required for bog-trotting. A good deal of praise has been 
 bestowed on gutta-percha boots, but they are dangerous 
 wares. 
 
 If a man drives to a hut in the marshes, and remains 
 there inactive, he may wear ordinary long waterproof 
 boots with comfort ; but the man who intends beating the 
 said marshes would find long boots troublesome. As far 
 as I am concerned, I go out marsh-shooting with ordinary 
 shooting-boots ; but I take these off, as well as my wet 
 socks or stockings, as soon as I have done walking, and I 
 substitute dry ones in their stead. Thus I am enabled to 
 walk as lightly as if I were in the fields. It is surprising 
 that such heavy, cumbersome contrivances as long boots 
 have been devised and actually used by sportsmen for the 
 very sport which by its nature offers the most troublesome 
 ground to be trodden on. It is bad enough to have to pull 
 out one's feet from sticking, holding mud, without having, 
 moreover, the additional weight of long boots to deal with.
 
 Bog- Trotting. 159 
 
 I have always done without such contrivances; I always 
 used the precaution I have just mentioned of changing my 
 wet feet-coverings ; and, thank heaven, although I have 
 now for a good many years been a " wild fowler," I have 
 always been in good health and spirits, and never felt more 
 tired after a day's snipe-shooting than after a day's par- 
 tridge-shooting, whereas my heavily-booted companions 
 frequently had to give up their day's sport through sheer 
 fatigue when only half the day had gone by.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DOGS FOR BOG-TROTTING. 
 
 IF ever a particular breed of dogs proved its utter useless- 
 ness in any particular circumstance, that of the retrievers 
 proper must carry off the palm when employed in bog- 
 trotting. I state this feelingly, as I have repeatedly ex- 
 perienced a singular longing to pepper with shot the re- 
 trievers which it was my lot to possess or to see used 
 in bog-trotting, on account of their proving such utter 
 lumbering failures. Yet some fanatics will insist on using 
 them, and on recommending their use to others. Be that 
 as it may, no argument will convince me that these men are 
 not, in some way, interested in the breeding or training of 
 these animals. However, let any unprejudiced man like me, 
 totally unconcerned (monetarily speaking) in the matter, 
 who may have had experience on the subject, come forward, 
 and see if he does not state that my unmitigated disgust is 
 well founded. 
 
 Neither am I here speaking of one particular dog. No 
 man can judge of a species by considering one individual 
 only of the breed. I have had half-a-dozen retrievers proper, 
 I have shot over, perhaps, half-a-dozen more belonging to 
 friends of mine, all of which were very fair specimens of 
 their tribe. I was most unprofitably employing skill and
 
 Dogs for Bog-Trotting. 161 
 
 exerting my energies, for, out of what I knocked over I 
 lost a good eighth, owing to the dogs floundering about any- 
 where, too far or too near, but at any rate retrieving very 
 slowly, and, as I have just said, sometimes retrieving nothing 
 at all. This is perfectly sickening. 
 
 In marshes, if a bird is not swiftly " culled " and brought 
 to hand, its scent is rapidly absorbed by the surrounding 
 moisture the more so if the bird chanced to fall in some 
 water when it is virtually a lost bird, unless the dog 
 happens to come quickly to the spot, and scent it before its 
 life is extinct and its last struggles are over. To do this 
 properly I do not believe there is in the world a better 
 breed of dogs than Irish water-spaniels. 
 
 " Oh ! but they are such obstinate animals ! " I hear 
 some fashionable shooter exclaim. 
 
 Well, for the matter of that, we all need to be slightly 
 obstinate, and this in a water-dog, instead of being put down 
 as a vice, ought to be considered as a virtue ; and I hope 
 no one will contradict me when I say that when once an 
 Irish water-spaniel has seen a bird fall, that bird he must 
 find, and he will not come back to you without it That is 
 more than can be said of nine hundred and ninety-nine 
 retrievers out of a thousand. As for having " nose," where, 
 may I ask, is the retriever proper that can compete with an 
 Irish water-spaniel ? In fact, from every point of view, the 
 latter is decidedly " cock of the walk." I speak not from 
 parti pris, I merely say what I have seen; and the very fact 
 of my having deliberately shot over more than a dozen good 
 retrievers, proves that I was more than willing to give them 
 a fair trial, and therefore I think I could not be said to be 
 more partial to one breed than to the other. 
 
 An Irish water-spaniel, besides being a better retriever 
 than the new-fangled dogs whose business is exclusively
 
 1 62 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 that of retrieving, has another great advantage over them 
 viz. he can hunt. A retriever, allowed to hunt, does not do 
 so properly, as it ought to be done ; he flounders, that is all. 
 A water-spaniel who knows what is what, tells you plainly, 
 by means of that bright glance we all know so well, " I say, 
 governor, here is a bird here. Look out ! " He makes half 
 a point, sees you are ready, dashes in, up comes the bird, 
 bang goes the gun, and down comes Mrs. Snipe. That is 
 the way to do it. When a man is young and " brisk " he 
 can have no better dog than a water-spaniel for his bog- 
 trotting expeditions. But of course he must keep well up 
 near the dog, and be ready at the first " stiffening of the tail 
 and cocking of the ears." 
 
 But by-and-by, when years and long tramps, together 
 with perhaps rheumatism, begin to tell on the shooter's 
 constitution, then he begins to find that the spaniels are too 
 lively and too forward for him. Let him then procure a 
 steady marsh setter or pointer, " retrieving preferred," as 
 advertisements set forth, and I guarantee he will enjoy 
 himself. A good marsh (to employ a well-known saying) 
 is a source of joy, not " for ever," but for so long as the 
 season lasts and you are allowed to shoot. Every day 
 some new arrivals visit it, every hour you may beat it you 
 will never come h9me empty-handed ; whereas when you 
 have shot your coveys, farewell to partridges. Here, near 
 this ditch, you always flush snipe ; at the brook, it is rare 
 that you don't find a couple of teal or a duck ; in the bogs, 
 jacksnipe, snipe, plovers, curlews, are to be found wherever 
 you go, you are bound to shoot : it is the sort of shooting 
 where the greatest quantity of powder is burnt, and where 
 one has the greatest pleasure, both with the gun and with 
 the dogs. 
 
 A snipe that allows a dog to " stand her still " (if I may
 
 Dogs for Bog-Trotting. 163 
 
 use such an expression), will stand there till you come. It 
 is a treat in itself to see snipe-pointers or setters. My 
 old pointer puts his nose gradually close to the bird, so that 
 he seems to be lying on his muzzle, whilst his stern remains 
 up, and his tail keeps wagging to and fro very warily and 
 slowly all the while. Now, each time I catch sight of him 
 thus situated I cannot help feeling highly tickled, and as 
 he does it for every blessed snipe in the marsh, why it is 
 perfect happiness for me to go with him. 
 
 Snipe at odd times are flighty ; not only do they not 
 allow the dogs to point, or rather " pin " them down in their 
 momentary rest, but when one rises all the others bolt also. 
 It is at such times that marsh-shooters can see, among all 
 the dogs actually working before them, which are the bad 
 ones and which the good ; and, among the latter, the 
 " sensible " as well as good animals. It is not sufficient for 
 a dog to be well built, to be healthy, to be willing, to be 
 gifted with a good nose, and all that, if he has not sense. 
 He may be a good dog, but he is still an innocent ; and a fool 
 among the lower animals does not succeed better than a fool 
 among men. 
 
 It has been said that it takes a man's life to become an 
 expert wild-fowler. Perhaps it does, and perhaps it does 
 not. But there is one thing certain, and that is that it 
 takes three years of hard work in the marshes to make a 
 dog good all round at bog-trotting. Some dogs take to it 
 more readily than others ; but the breed, provided it be a 
 genuine, natural, not made-up breed, I can assure my readers, 
 is a matter of no consequence whatever. Some pointers 
 will work as well as any setters in the marshes, and the 
 water (contrary to the statements of soi-disant sportsmen) 
 does not in the least frighten them, if they are shown at 
 first that by going into it they will be rewarded by finding
 
 164 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 game. The same may be said of ourselves, and, as an 
 instance of it, I may state that a friend of mine, a most 
 supercilious man in matters of dress and cleanliness, pro- 
 priety, and so forth, who used to tell me frequently that he 
 could not understand my going into the marshes and getting 
 so dirty and muddy for the sake of a few birds, having been 
 prevailed upon once to come down to the river-side, forgot 
 his notions so completely that he eventually waded into 
 the water up to his knees in order to secure a " cripple " in 
 the shape of a teal with a broken wing. 
 
 So it is with us. What we do not actually see we can 
 neither enjoy or understand. Give a man plenty of game 
 and he will take to shooting. Show a pointer birds that lie 
 well, and he won't mind if he has to get well splashed or 
 wet before he can get near them. Again, a pointer in a 
 muddy marsh keeps cleaner than a setter ; but this, on the 
 other hand, is perhaps more than counterbalanced by the 
 natural inclination of all long-haired dogs for water. 
 
 Taken all in all I think both breeds may be used, and 
 that the choice may be left entirely to the shooter's fancy 
 for either breed. I have had scores of dogs, and I cannot 
 say that I saw any perceptible difference in the working of 
 either. Of course, sportsmen will have favourites example 
 the old pointer I have mentioned above ; but what had 
 'made the old fellow so very clever is the fact that he was 
 a more constant companion to me than any other, and that 
 he had sense. But a setter would have turned out as well, 
 if similarly treated ; I have had and known several which 
 were a credit to themselves and to their owners. 
 
 In conclusion, I should advise members of the bog- 
 trotting fraternity never to start for a day's marsh-shooting 
 without, first, rag and cleaning-apparatus or rod ; secondly, 
 plenty of cartridges. The cleaning-rod can be made of iron,
 
 Dogs for Bog-Trotting: 165 
 
 and constructed so as to close together like a fan, in such a. 
 way that it does not weigh much, neither does it take much 
 room when carrying it about ; and it comes very handy, espe- 
 cially in marshes, when the damp of the atmosphere soon 
 clogs the breech and inside of the barrels by acting on the 
 residue of the burnt powder, especially w r hen such firing takes 
 place. I recommend taking a good number of cartridges, 
 because when snipe do come to marshes, they usually come 
 in regular tribes ; and if you are short of ammunition, 
 when meeting plenty of game, you are liable to use strong 
 language, reflecting in no measured terms on your own 
 simplicity ; and a sportsman, worthy of the name, ought to 
 be ready for all emergencies.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A WORD ABOUT RETRIEVERS. 
 
 I HAVE often wondered at our great want of originality. 
 We are perpetually trying to imitate others, just as if we 
 could not choose our line of action ourselves. That we 
 should follow the fashions in dress as they come and 
 disappear is a thing we cannot well avoid ; but that 
 in matters of sport we should" blindly follow anyone's 
 opinions, and act up to them, is deplorably true. For 
 instance, let me ask, what can possibly mean the introduc- 
 tion of the retrievers proper, as they are called in this 
 country ? Our forefathers had no such dogs, and got on 
 wonderfully well without them. They employed their 
 little spaniels when there was any retrieving to be done, 
 and these spaniels very rarely lost a bird, which is far 
 from being the case with our retrievers of the present day. 
 Then why in the name of all that is sensible, since we have 
 still within our reach the breed of spaniels of our ancestors, 
 why have we allowed ourselves to be saddled with the new, 
 heavy, and often useless breed ? Why, because it became 
 fashionable. 
 
 It is astonishing how easily we are led to adopt new 
 notions in spite of evidence against their introduction 
 among ourselves. Some years ago a few dog-fanciers
 
 A Word about Retrievers. 167 
 
 started the new breed of dogs at very high figures. This 
 very fact of offering them on high terms made the dogs 
 quite the " thing " for some of our fashionable shooters. I 
 grant that owing to their large size these dogs look very 
 noble ; I admit that some of them are very sagacious, but 
 so are our spaniels ; and, in fact, I would challenge any 
 retriever in the world to perform his duties more nimbly, 
 more creditably, and more quickly than a good English or 
 Irish retrieving spaniel. These spaniels are gifted with a 
 far more acute power of scent than the Newfoundlanders. 
 To begin with, therefore, they will scent their game far 
 more quickly than their foreign rivals ; then the spaniels 
 are quicker on their legs in fact, they will run over five 
 times as much ground as the retrievers in the same length 
 of time ; consequently they will respectively retrieve five 
 birds against the retriever's one. This has been noticed 
 repeatedly whenever large quantities of game had to be 
 collected, such as at battues and after a grouse " drive." 
 In fact, this has been brought to light so very forcibly of 
 late that many grouse-drivers and battue-mzn have already 
 given up their retrievers altogether, and re-adopted the 
 retrieving spaniels. This is a very sensible step. When 
 we shall allow ourselves to think for ourselves, and when 
 we shall be bold enough to adopt what seems good to us 
 in spite of what others may say against it, then truly shall 
 we be able to consider ourselves sensible and independent 
 men. 
 
 The very fact that spaniels are better in every respect 
 than retrievers ought to make us give up the latter, even if 
 both classes of dogs were of the same market value. But 
 this is not the case. The comparatively inferior retriever 
 is actually sold at five times the price of the retrieving 
 spaniel. What inconsistency ! Fashion, I suppose, must
 
 1 68 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 be paid for ; at any rate, the breeders take good care to 
 keep up the prestige by every means in their power. 
 Writers publish their wonderful narratives illustrating the 
 sagacity of the peculiar breed; but they seem quite to 
 forget that everything these retrievers can do is done 
 better, quicker, and cheaper by the spaniels. There is 
 another point, again, to which I would draw the reader's 
 attention viz. the almost irrepressible hard mouth of the 
 retriever. This defect is sometimes hereditary, and said to 
 be incurable, so much so that some of these dogs are 
 worked with bits ! Has anyone ever heard of a spaniel or 
 any other retrieving dog but a " retriever proper " being 
 worked with a bit in' his mouth ? It is ridiculous. 
 
 Again, breaking a retriever is a very serious affair, if we 
 may credit the statements of those who breed and train 
 them. Spaniels don't give such trouble. Any sensible 
 man can train a spaniel to retrieve in a fortnight, and 
 a hard mouth is never hereditary in a spaniel ; it is a 
 defect rarely, if ever, to be observed in a well-bred one. 
 The sporting com'munity literally follow the dictates of 
 self-approved leaders with such complete obedience and 
 passiveness that actually the very colour of the retrievers 
 proper was imposed upon sportsmen. This is really so 
 bad that it is actually laughable ; the breeders played 
 their cards to perfection when they issued that particular 
 notification of their wishes. 
 
 The word was sent : " Henceforth retrieving dogs must 
 be what we have determined upon calling 'retrievers 
 proper ;' no other dogs can be allowed to retrieve under 
 pain of its owner being considered not up to the standard 
 of gentility ; and, moreover, we decide that the retrievers 
 proper must be wholly black." 
 
 The reason for the last part of the " programme " ib.
 
 A Word about Retrievers. 169 
 
 obvious, for out of every litter of retriever puppies only 
 one or two will be completely black, and these alone are 
 brought up ; all the others, being unfashionable, are 
 drowned, so that the retriever market is thereby prevented 
 from being glutted, and the men who make the breeding 
 and training of retrievers their business have it more in 
 their own hands, and consequently they may ask almost 
 whatever terms they choose from those sportsmen who 
 must be fashionable in their sporting surroundings. As a 
 matter of course these pay more than handsomely for their 
 " whistle." The prices are carried to such a very high 
 figure that many sportsmen who would willingly buy 
 retrievers proper, merely for the sake of doing as others 
 do, must perforce do without them because they cannot 
 afford the sums asked. 
 
 As far as the colour of the retriever is concerned, I 
 cannot see any reason at all why they should be entirely 
 black, barring the one I have mentioned above, which is, 
 after all, but a most clever hedging on the part of the 
 breeders. What would it matter, I ask, if a retriever were 
 black and white, or white, or liver and white, or brown, &c. ? 
 That a small dog used for shooting in covert should be, as 
 much as possible, chosen of as startling a colour as can be 
 found, is a self-evident duty on the part of the shooter ; 
 for, should a cocker be wholly liver coloured, and employed 
 in furze and plantations for shooting rabbits, the chances 
 are that sooner or later one of the guns will floor the 
 unlucky little spaniel, as he is sure to be mistaken for a 
 hare or a rabbit. I have seen scores of such accidents 
 happening to rabbit beagles and spaniels in the course of 
 my shooting experience. Therefore, if such small working 
 dogs be chosen white, or liver and white, or, rather, black 
 and white, so much the better; but a retriever does not
 
 170 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 usually beat for the gun, and if he did his size would 
 protect him against his being mistaken for a hare or a 
 rabbit ; therefore I contend that, even if employed 
 " spanielling " (excuse the idiom), it would not matter if 
 the retriever were liver or brown coloured. But then 
 even this is not usually done ; none but keepers allow their 
 retrievers to spaniel. Therefore the case is inapplicable 
 under any circumstances, and consequently, from a shoot- 
 ing point of view, no harm can possibly happen to a 
 retriever on account of his colour. Then why this extra- 
 ordinary rule, not to be departed from, that all retrievers 
 must be wholly black ? 
 
 Some dogs, used for retrieving, have hard mouths i.e. 
 they crush their birds. Some sportsmen maintain that this 
 vice is incurable, and assert that the dogs must have 
 inherited this proclivity from their parents. So far as 
 our field-dogs are concerned, there never was a more 
 egregious mistake. All dogs are at first more or less 
 inclined to play with the game that they are allowed to 
 pick up, and if this tendency is not checked they will break 
 the birds and lick the blood. If they repeat this practice, 
 it becomes a habit and a nuisance. Let young dogs 
 fumble game with their noses and lips if they like, but not 
 with their teeth. Never allow them to tear a bird of any 
 kind to pieces ; it would serve only to give them a taste for 
 blood. It is proper to let young dogs smell and handle 
 game ; it gives them a zest for hunting, and teaches them 
 what scent they are expected to hunt for ; but under no 
 pretence whatever need you let them bite into game. 
 
 The most extraordinary receipts have been given for 
 the cure of hard mouths in retrieving dogs, among which is 
 the following : To stuff a bird with needles and make the 
 dog fetch it. Of course the needles prick him, that is very
 
 A Word about Retrievers. 1 7 1 
 
 certain ; but mark the result : the dog, hurt and astonished, 
 drops the bird, revolves the matter in his mind, then 
 determines to have another try, pricks himself again, drops 
 the bird (for good this time), and walks away deliberately. 
 The next bird you shoot he won't pick up at all, and you 
 have now to coax him to do it, and perhaps he will decline 
 altogether, especially if the needles have hurt him badly. 
 
 Another method consists in making the dog retrieve 
 young kittens sufficiently strong to scratch. The theory of 
 this plan is very good, but the practice is wofully deficient, 
 as I can personally testify. When the dog is scratched he 
 either drops the kitten or else kills it right out ; it does not 
 in the least influence his more than tight hold on game 
 afterwards. Dogs are not fools ; they know as well as we 
 do the difference between a partridge and a kitten, or a 
 rabbit and a cat. They know perfectly well that a cat will 
 fight, but that the rabbit is harmless. Even when running on 
 the trail they know by the scent what animal is before them 
 without having seen it, and that is more than we can tell. 
 Therefore trying to make a dog retrieve his game more 
 softly by making him carry kittens, is an insult to the 
 dog's good sense, and it is, as I can vouch, an unsuccessful 
 process. 
 
 Now amongst others I have known it tried on a retriever 
 proper a hard-mouthed dog, if ever one lived ; out of six 
 kittens he killed five. He got so whipped though that he 
 actually carried the sixth alive and well. On this the 
 owner congratulated himself greatly, and thought the cure 
 that time was effected. An hour afterwards the dog was 
 taken out shooting. The first shot, which I had the honour 
 to fire, tumbled over a rabbit. On receiving the order to 
 go the dog flew to the spot and mauled the rabbit so that 
 it was not worth while picking up.
 
 172 Hints and Remarks on Shootin 
 
 Again I have known a bitch who was so desperately 
 hard-teethed that when she had hold of a hare, whipping, 
 beating, and shaking her would not make her loose her 
 hold. I have seen her lifted bodily from the ground 
 hanging from a hare ; yet she would carry any of the kittens 
 from the kitchen to the stable without injuring them. 
 
 An authority on the subject says that a hard mouth is 
 incurable in a dog of six months old. 
 
 I grant that it is hard to cure, but it can be done, and 
 requires but patience. I have cured half-a-dozen " in- 
 curables," and this is how I proceeded : I took the dogs 
 one at a time of course into certain fields where I had 
 noticed previously that great numbers of larks were to be 
 found. I kept the dog to heel till the first lark rose, when 
 I gave her a barrel and dropped her. Then putting my 
 gun at half-cock and placing it on the ground, I collared 
 my whip, which till then had been placed in my cartridge- 
 belt, and then I sent the dog to fetch. Of course he would 
 bring the lark in a pulp. I licked the dog there and then 
 in a moderate way not kicking and banging him about 
 and then let him go, picked up the gun, loaded, and began 
 again, whipping the dog each time the larks were spoiled, 
 holding them to his muzzle afterwards and grumbling at him. 
 Grumbling breaks no bones, but after a whipping a dog 
 pays particular attention to you if you happen to grumble. 
 Well, I found that on an average forty larks cured a dog. 
 I chose larks for several reasons. First of all they can 
 almost always be got in abundance ; then they are tender 
 birds, easily spoilt, and therefore a dog has truly a tender 
 mouth when he brings them alive or in a good state to hand ; 
 lastly, but not least, larks have no bad scent as starlings 
 have for instance besides being much more tender than 
 these pests.
 
 A Word about Retrievers. 1 73 
 
 Of course, if after some flogging the dog on another 
 trial has done wrong again, and therefore fearing that he 
 has another whipping in perspective runs away from you, 
 put away your whip and proceed to knock over another 
 lark. The dog will allow you then to collar him ; then 
 secure him to your belt by means of a long cord. Hence- 
 forth he will be at your mercy. If he growls at you, as 
 some dogs will, particularly old dogs, who might think 
 that they had done away with the whip long before, you 
 must instantly resort to powerful means put a spiked 
 collar on the dog, and to the ring in the collar fasten a 
 stick. By holding the stick you keep the dog's teeth at a 
 respectful distance from your own flesh, and he may growl 
 and snarl as much as he likes. 
 
 A snarling dog, as a rule, is an unprofitable customer, 
 who makes you lose your temper, your time, and your 
 money. I have seen some, though, who turned out prime 
 ones after all. I had one, a setter dog, a most magnificent 
 animal, who gave us a tremendous job to break him ; in 
 fact I nearly gave up several times the hope of making 
 anything of him, he was' so dreadfully savage at first ; but 
 he turned out a good, I may say extra-good retrieving 
 setter after all, and strange to say he dropped his evil 
 habit of growling altogether.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 NEW SYSTEM FOR JUDGING FIELD-TRIALS. 
 
 THE preponderance of elements of luck in all affairs of 
 sport is always a disagreeable feature, the more so when 
 the sport in question is a matter of competition, for then 
 the grumbling when the ill-luck proves of a preventible 
 nature is not only terrible but to some extent quite natural, 
 as some cases are decidedly most aggravating. This 
 being so, it is an admitted motto of the authorities that be 
 to try whenever it is possible to remedy the evil. We want 
 bona fide sterling worth to win, and " flukers " ought to be 
 at a discount. Now as regards field-trials, many of the 
 flukes that invariably happen under the present system are 
 ascribable to the patent deficiency of the system itself, and 
 I will prove it. 
 
 To begin with, treating the working of pointers or 
 setters like that of greyhounds is fundamentally wrong, 
 because the objects in view for each class of dogs are so 
 widely different that working both in the same manner is 
 extremely unsatisfactory. 
 
 Two rival greyhounds slipped together at a hare will, 
 from the very fact of being antagonists, do their very best. 
 Two strange pointers or setters slipped together, from the 
 very fact of being antagonists, will do their very worst.
 
 New System for Judging Field-Trials. 175 
 
 This has been proved conclusively and flagrantly over and 
 over again, though it required no proof, as every sportsman 
 knows that much, and every dealer is so well aware of the 
 fact that he will take good care never to " try " a pointer or 
 setter he may have for sale with a strange dog. In fact, 
 whereas in coursing the natural tendency of each of the 
 two greyhounds is to stretch himself to the utmost and go 
 faster than the other if he can, the most desirable feature 
 in coursing and the one that insures the best work done ; 
 with pointers or setters the rivalry engendered by the pre- 
 sence of an antagonist also induces each dog to stretch 
 himself to the utmost, a desirable feature to some extent, 
 but one which, inducing recklessness in a class of dogs that 
 must keep cool and steady, invariably produces bad results. 
 The jealousy which prompts the spirited greyhound to 
 perform brilliantly against his antagonist, induces the 
 spirited pointer to flush his birds, and brings him gradually 
 to some wild and erratic ranging. His eagerness not to 
 be outrun carries him blindly forward, and he ruins his 
 chance by losing his self-control. Therefore running strange 
 pointers or setters together is an egregious mistake, and if 
 the question at issue be to find the real work that each of 
 the dogs can do and will do if a chance is given him of 
 acquittihg himself of his task without any disturbing in- 
 fluences upsetting his equanimity, then I say work the dog 
 singly, and you may then judge of his merits and demerits. 
 Of course this does not apply to the braces, for in that 
 case the dogs are accustomed to one another, and as a rule 
 work admirably together. In fact, the work done by braces 
 is almost invariably the best to be seen at field-trials, vide, 
 for instance, Lord Downe's and Mr. S. Price's pointers. 
 Yet as a proof that my present theory is correct, if you 
 take the dogs belonging to such braces and' work them
 
 176 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 individually with strange dogs you will find again the un- 
 wholesome rivalry springing up, and each of these dogs so 
 perfect with his mate may prove a reckless and wild brute 
 with his new companion. 
 
 In one word, finding birds, pointing and setting, backing, 
 &c., being a pursuit that requires above all things steadiness 
 (for without steadiness, which is the essence of success in 
 the sport, no dog will prove any good), any thing that tends 
 to render the dog desperate and \vild is not conducive to 
 showing the dog at his best, and therefore does not bring 
 forth high-class sport. 
 
 I know that in order to judge comparative speed and 
 style it is alleged that working two dogs together might be 
 thought desirable, but this is not absolutely necessary. A 
 good judge can form a pretty accurate idea of a dog's form 
 if he sees him alone at work for a quarter of an hour, and 
 certainly, as regards finding out the true worth of the dog, 
 nothing could beat the single-dog judging system. Some 
 might think such a system slow and lacking in interest ; 
 and perhaps as regards the latter the objection would not 
 be without some weight ; but I contend that although the 
 sight of two setting dogs being worked against one another 
 is certainly more exciting than a single-handed trial, yet 
 as the finding of a true verdict would be more likely to 
 accrue from the working of each dog separately than from 
 the style now in vogue, the former style would be the best 
 to adopt. In fact even for the judge's work the single-dog 
 system would prove immensely superior, for there again the 
 difference between a field-trial and a course is made very 
 startling. In a course the two dogs, from the very nature 
 of the contest, are always very near one another often too 
 much so in fact ; but at any rate their working in its 
 minutest details may be as a rule very satisfactorily watched
 
 New System for Judging Field-Trials. 177 
 
 and noted by the judge. In a field-trial, on the contrary, 
 both dogs start at a tangent and work independently, and 
 it is only when they happen to cross each other's line in 
 their ranging that their individual working can be reckoned 
 at one and the same time. During the remainder of the 
 running, no man can take at a glance the work done by 
 both dogs. True there are two or three judges provided 
 just because of that contingency ; but how often does it 
 happen that when one of the two competing dogs shows 
 signs of pointing all eyes are on him ? Judges, reporters, 
 public, everybody is looking at that dog, because the very 
 essence of the fun is only to be enjoyed when the dogs 
 show signs of getting scent ; and therefore if you do not 
 watch intently the quick and delicate working which inter- 
 venes between the first scent and the point you miss the 
 treat of the trial. 
 
 This is so irresistible an attraction to all cognoscenti, 
 that it may be safely asserted that when a dog evinces 
 signs of a " coming event," nobody but his breaker, per- 
 haps, is minding much what the other dog is about. There- 
 fore having to watch more than one field-trial dog at a time 
 is, I humbly venture to suggest, a mistake, on the ground 
 that it is impossible to do thorough justice to both dogs. 
 
 Working a dog singly, on the contrary, would enable 
 the judge or judges (and, by-the-way, one judge would be 
 sufficient) to appreciate 'every good and every bad point ; 
 it would give the dogs, individually, a chance to show 
 themselves in their true colours ; it would do away with 
 fluking ; it would greatly please the dogs' owners, because 
 the real worth of their dogs would be then arrived at, and 
 their animals would neither be interfered with by their rival 
 competitors nor bothered by the breakers who may work 
 the latter. It is not very pleasant, when you have taken 
 VOL. i. N
 
 178 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 an immense deal of trouble to break a dog in the most 
 perfect style, to find him matched with an indifferent dog, 
 who perhaps, besides, shows a decided antipathy to the new 
 comer, and whose worker, maybe, is a noisy man who 
 shouts, whistles, &c., and so effectually bothers altogether 
 your dog that he is all at sea, and declines to go on. The 
 plan I now beg to propose, I think, would remove all these 
 inconveniences. 
 
 It is well to keep, as far as possible, on the safe side of 
 things, and I therefore hereby beg to state that I am not 
 aware that anyone has already proposed this style of 
 working field-trials. If anyone has done so' of course it 
 is my duty to apologise for taking mon bieu ou jc le trouve, 
 but, as far as I know, nobody has yet mentioned the subject 
 but myself years ago, in some now forgotten article of mine 
 in a contemporary; at any rate, whatever this idea be 
 worth, I submit it, with due deference, to all field-trialers, 
 and think they will admit that it is a rational and sensible 
 idea. The way in which things ought to be carried on, I 
 take it, ought to be as follows : 
 
 1st. Each dog to be worked singly, for a certain length 
 of time, agreed upon beforehand, and the same for all dogs 
 competing. 
 
 2ndly. Each dog's work being booked, either by points 
 or in shorthand, in the usual style. 
 
 3rdly. A due estimation of the work done by each dog 
 being arrived at, nothing would be easier than to declare 
 the winner at the end of the trials. This would obviate 
 ties, except when two or more dogs would have worked so 
 very much alike that no distinction could be made between 
 their points. Then these might again have each an indi- 
 vidual spin to decide the matter. But this would prove a 
 very rare contingency.
 
 New System for Judging Field-Trials. 179 
 
 In conclusion, I hope some of the field-trialers of weight 
 whom I have the honour to number amongst my friends 
 and acquaintances will take up the matter, and see, say, 
 a small stake run through, just to ascertain how the thing 
 would work. I, for one, would be glad to enter a dog of 
 my own for anything of the sort, and I would soon muster 
 half-a-dozen friends to do the same. This would be satis- 
 factory, because I honestly believe that ive really do not see 
 the best of any pointer or setter by matching him with a strange 
 dog ; therefore, by working him alone we would be enabled 
 to come to a correct estimate of his worth, and that, I take 
 it, is the point at issue. 
 
 Of course, in the single-handed working, backing would 
 have to be judged either separately or not at all. If 
 judging it be considered indispensable, nothing would be 
 easier than slipping any dog purposely to find game, and 
 then trying the competitors individually with him when- 
 ever he comes to a point. There would be no insuperable 
 difficulty there. 
 
 Some time after the above article had been published, 
 the following appeared in Tlie Live Stock Journal and 
 Fanciers' Gazette : 
 
 THE SINGLE-DOG SYSTEM AT TRIALS. 
 
 The CJdcago Field having quoted the letter by " Snap- 
 shot " in our columns, advocating the trials of dogs 
 singly, an American correspondent writes to that journal 
 
 as follows : 
 
 " ' Snapshot's ' letter upon the single-handed working of 
 dogs at field-trials should, I think, have the consideration
 
 i So Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 of the officiary upon field-trial regulations. The object of 
 field-trials is principally to find the best dog, and the best 
 strains of dogs from which to select stock animals and 
 workers. There is a great difference between some of our 
 best strains of dogs, and it is well that there is. The dog 
 which is nearest perfection in my eyes would not suit some 
 sportsmen ; from careless handling he would soon become 
 boss of the job. 
 
 "We want public field-trials to point out this difference, 
 to show us which strain of dogs mature the earliest, and 
 arc the easiest handled, which has the speed and courage 
 to do and to dare, and, if it were possible, which has the 
 greatest endurance. Jealousy is almost a consuming passion 
 with some dogs, and if worked with strange dogs, in order 
 to out-do them, will commit the worst of faults, while they 
 are as steady as a clock when worked alone. This is almost 
 sure to be the case with any high-strung dog, unless he is 
 worked much in company of strange dogs, and by a careful 
 hand. 
 
 " On the other hand, it is necessary that our dogs should 
 be under perfect command of the breaker and of them- 
 selves under all circumstances. There are few sportsmen 
 who do all their hunting without company who do not 
 feel proud of having a better dog than their friends, and to 
 prove it they must be hunted together. 
 
 "At the age puppies are brought out few have had 
 sufficient experience to be perfectly reliable. It is easy to 
 see that the single-handed plan best displays the natiiral 
 qualifications, and it is my opinion that for the puppy 
 stakes (which are principally for breeders) it would better 
 accomplish the object. For all other stakes I am in 
 favour of working together by lots. Like children, some 
 dogs are more capable of being thoroughly educated than
 
 New System for Judging Field- Trials. 1 8 1 
 
 others, and this is the better plan for an examination. 
 Any of us who may have puppies upon which we can 
 depend will have every chance to show all there is in them 
 by running in other than the puppy stakes. 
 
 "M. VON CULIN."
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 VERMIN versus GAME. 
 
 ALL sorts of attacks and, truth compels me to say, very 
 senseless ones sometimes are made by city writers and 
 non-sporting men who know nothing whatever of the 
 subjects they are broaching, against sportsmen and farmers 
 who are practically acquainted with everything pertaining 
 to their pursuits. Thus a wholesale raid is now made by 
 soi-disant naturalists and self-styled men of science against 
 sportsmen, on account of their destroying vermin of every 
 description whenever they are able to do so. One of these 
 enthusiastic vermin protectors mournfully writes that : 
 
 " Notwithstanding all the assertions to the contrary " 
 (made by naturalists), " farmers, sportsmen, and keepers will 
 consider all birds of prey as unnecessary, and, in fact, 
 hurtful to the breeding of game, poultry, and pigeons, and, 
 as a consequence, we need hardly say that the aforesaid 
 birds of prey meet always with a more than warm reception 
 at the hands of these ignorant men." 
 
 Some writers actually tell us that birds of prey are posi- 
 tively beneficial wherever game is to be preserved. If so, I 
 should advise some believers in that peculiar creed to try 
 the following experiment viz. to preserve strictly all birds 
 of prey and vermin (for note that vermin, too, are stated to
 
 Vermin versus Game. 183 
 
 be highly beneficial to preserving), and if these animals 
 should perchance not be numerous enough already on the 
 land, nothing would be easier than to import birds from 
 some other benighted country, where their riddance would 
 be considered as a boon, and I warrant that when once the 
 new comers shall have been fully impressed with the fact 
 that in their new abode they will meet with no molestation 
 whatever on the contrary, that all sorts of care will be duly 
 taken to insure their comfort and welfare and when they 
 find on experiment that the best of everything will be 
 placed at their disposal I am sure, I repeat, that they will 
 never willingly part from such a " happy land ; " and there- 
 fore the trial will proceed under every condition of success. 
 Well, then, this being settled, and the rapacious birds and 
 animals being duly installed and fully acclimatised, let the 
 owner of the land try to organise his game-preserving on 
 whatever scale he chooses. Does he for a moment think 
 that his endeavours in this latter part of his programme 
 will possibly meet with success ? A hawk that can possibly 
 feed on young pheasants,' young partridges, or young 
 rabbits, will never watch for a rat or a mole to come out of 
 his hiding-place. This stands to reason. And the birds 
 themselves know it so well that farm-pigeons fly home at 
 once whenever in their flights they chance to catch a 
 glimpse of a hawk coming towards them. That a hawk, 
 being hard pressed, occasionally pounces on a rat or a 
 mole, and devours it, is likely enough, but that from this 
 the sweeping conclusion should be drawn that hawks live 
 exclusively on rats and other vermin is absurd ; it would, 
 indeed, be too good to be true. It is an acknowledged fact 
 that a weasel was seen once killing a hawk ; but was the 
 attack made directly by the animals on one another, or did 
 the fight arise simply from a contention ? Might not, for
 
 184 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 instance, the weasel have been just proceeding to eat the 
 prey it had just caught when the hawk swooped down upon 
 it, not for the actual wish of killing and eating the weasel, 
 but merely for the sake of stealing the rabbit from it ; and, 
 then might not the weasel, in self-assertion of its right of 
 property, have defended its prey against the new comer, 
 and hence the fight, and the death of the hawk as its con- 
 sequence. Every experienced sportsman must have wit- 
 nessed such things, or things very similar. What makes 
 me think that my explanation is the most natural that can 
 be adduced to explain the fact is, that once I witnessed a 
 case bearing in a certain degree upon the question now at 
 issue. I was coming home from shooting one day, when, 
 passing along a row of tall trees, a partridge flew across 
 me, and gave me a most beautiful shot. I dropped her 
 with one barrel. Instantly, on the report of the gun, a 
 hawk that was, unperceived by me, perched on one of the 
 trees, swooped down, and actually carried away the bird as 
 it reached the ground. Of course I immediately floored 
 the hawk. 
 
 Now had an animal a weasel, for instance been 
 killing the bird, the hawk would evidently have acted 
 just as it did ; and if a quarrel had sprung therefrom 
 between them surely the quarrel could not have been 
 attributed to a supposition that the hawk wanted to fight 
 the weasel no more than it Avould have wished to fight me. 
 I once saw a polecat kill a young rabbit whilst a hawk was 
 swooping, without striking, and then fluttering over the 
 head of the polecat, to the immense disgust and anger of 
 the animal, who bristled and spat frightfully for some time, 
 till the hawk, tired of its useless watching, went and perched 
 itself on a tree hard by, when the polecat, deliberately 
 placing itself so as to keep an eye upon the intruder's
 
 Vermin versus Game. 185 
 
 motions, tried to carry the rabbit away, then thought better 
 of it, and proceeded to suck it over the eye there and then. 
 When satisfied with his meal the polecat went away, and 
 was soon lost to my sight in some furze. Immediately the 
 hawk was down and feeding on the rabbit's carcase. This 
 incident is strongly in favour of my argument to prove that 
 birds of prey do not make their food of their four-footed 
 rivals. Perhaps, on the contrary, these animals occasionally 
 enter into some sort of partnership for the destruction of 
 game ; for who can say but that the hawk by its fluttering 
 may have helped the polecat to catch the rabbit, and, like 
 many other thieves, when the sharing of the spoils was at 
 hand, the two worthies fell out and disagreed ? 
 
 There is a picture called " Disputed Possession," which 
 some time ago was being exhibited in London, and which 
 illustrates fully my argument. The picture represents 
 an osprey attacking an otter in possession of a fresh- 
 caught salmon. The tableau is signed " H. L. Rolfe," and 
 this name alone is a guarantee of the truthfulness of what 
 it purposes to represent. Now if one of our scientific 
 antagonists had to paint such a subject he would, no doubt, 
 merely have represented an osprey fighting with an otter as 
 an illustration of his pet theory ; but fishermen and sports- 
 men know full well that no osprey in its senses will 
 deliberately attack an otter for the mere sake of an- 
 tagonism. Had there been no salmon there would have 
 been no fight, and there the whole argument remains. 
 Therefore I think I have sufficiently demonstrated that 
 if sportsmen and farmers destroy animals of the class 
 described above, they are perfectly right and justified in 
 so doing. 
 
 No doubt an otter may be a very interesting animal to 
 an absolutely poetical lover of nature, but should this
 
 1 86 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 admirer of otters become the owner of a salmon-river he 
 will soon have the otters killed. Again, the swoops of 
 half-a-dozen hawks hovering in the landscape no doubt 
 enliven the view, but should the beholder be at the same 
 time a game-preserver he will tremble for his coveys, and 
 straightway go into a committee of ways and means for the 
 destruction of the " swoopers." 
 
 No argument will suffice to alter the true state of 
 things. When it comes to be a question between " Vermin 
 and Game " it is only natural that the vermin should go to 
 the wall.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 REDLEGS. 
 
 I CANNOT help being amused at the somewhat startling- 
 grumbles one is apt to find in our beloved sporting papers 
 on the subject of the rising of our game-birds. Redlegs, 
 for instance, are almost unanimously condemned, because 
 forsooth they have a way of trying to escape the gun which 
 baffles tyros and riles them exceedingly. These birds are 
 called all sorts of names ("sneaks" being about the mildest 
 epithet that ever was applied to them), and why ? Because 
 these thoroughly wary birds won't " come and get killed." 
 Their style is called unorthodox and their breed is forth- 
 with condemned. Unorthodox forsooth ! It is no fault of 
 theirs. Providence is answerable for their evident want of 
 confidence when men try to approach them. Moreover, the 
 new system of agriculture leaving about as much stubble in 
 the fields as there are hairs on the shell of an egg, the con- 
 sequence naturally enough is that from ever so far the birds 
 can spy you, and this joined to their native shyness makes 
 them bolt miles away from you. Who is to blame ? 
 Certainly not the birds. Blame the want of covert ; blame, 
 if you like, Nature for having made birds that won't wait 
 stupidly, even when they see you, till you spring them ; 
 but above all blame yourselves for not possessing the
 
 1 88 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 talent of making the birds lie well and eventually securing 
 them. 
 
 This last part of the programme is a slow and tedious 
 process, hence its want of followers. We are too fond of 
 making quickly an overflowing bag nowadays, because it 
 flatters our vanity very much indeed ; but a thorough 
 sportsman ought to have no vanity of that kind. A true 
 sportsman wants no praise from anyone. If he has done 
 his duty to the game he has bagged he is satisfied, however 
 few in number may be the heads of game he brings home. 
 
 There is no mistake about it. A well-acquired bird is 
 worth a thousand birds shot in cold blood at least that is 
 my feeling, and I contend that the man who has shot half- 
 a-dozen redlegs fairly in the field has done far more in point 
 of sportsmanship than the shooter who cleverly knocks over 
 five hundred out of five thousand birds driven over and 
 around him, because the latter is merely a more or less skilful 
 shooter, whereas the former must not only be at least equal 
 to him in point of skill, but he must know (and that is the 
 essential part) how to outwit the birds, and he must have 
 the patience necessary for putting this knowledge into 
 execution. 
 
 For me there is far more fun in hunting up my game 
 than in the actual killing of it. This last part of the 
 business, through sheer habit and long practice, I perform 
 without being aware when it is done that I have done it. 
 I do not hear my gun go off. The birds rise. Bang, bang ! 
 I am all attention forward ; but I am not aware that I have 
 fired. All has been done mechanically. My finger, my 
 hands, and my eyes, together with a certain mechanical 
 mental calculation as to where to fire, have done it all ; but 
 I was not with the gun at all, my mind was with the birds. 
 Therefore the actual shooting of the birds has given me
 
 Redlegs. 189 
 
 but little satisfaction, since the act of firing was performed 
 unconsciously. The- same may be said of shooting at drives 
 and battues. The shooters get into the knack of killing, 
 and when once they have acquired that knack, what fun 
 can there be in killing bird after bird with an almost dead 
 certainty ? 
 
 Of course at first the tyro misses and misses again, and 
 he accordingly enjoys the drive as first-rate practice for 
 him ; but a good shot cares little for the fun after he has 
 spent a couple of hours behind the mantlet. I know I was 
 tired of it very soon; and I daresay many shooters who 
 now praise driving and laud it up to the skies, do so merely 
 because it is fashionable to be enthusiastic on the subject, 
 but at heart they do not and cannot think much of it. I 
 think it is but fit for keepers, merely for the sake of pro- 
 viding game for the markets, for there is to my mind no 
 sportsmanship in it at all. 
 
 Much has been said of the talent evinced by those who 
 direct the drives. According to my humble opinion very 
 little praise does it deserve, seeing that it is found out 
 merely by repeatedly driving the birds and noting where 
 they will pass when they are driven. No great genius is 
 required. I should think, to make that out, and generalship 
 (as it is called by the drivers) of that kind is of too tame a 
 nature to deserve any laudatory encomium. No, there is 
 no sport exhibited in drives. These are merely resorted to 
 in order to make monstrous bags, nothing more or less, 
 whatever may be the motives i.e. the vanity of the thing, 
 the fun of the row, or the necessity of killing game by that 
 means in one day when the shooters have not the patience 
 or the time of killing it leisurely day by day, as it might be 
 got at in the usual course of things. This latter, however, 
 to our modern shooters, even when they have ample leisure
 
 i go Hints and Remarks on Shooting, 
 
 time, entails too much trouble. That's where la bat les 
 blesse. 
 
 Too much trouble ! " Bedad !" as the Irishmen say, 
 but that's where the fun is, in my humble opinion. Red- 
 legs are wary ? Be cunning. They are swift ? Be skilful. 
 They choose rum places to lie in ? Be patient, be inde- 
 fatigable, and you will overreach them at last, and well 
 repaid shall you be for your trouble. 
 
 " Our fields are so bare," exclaims one. If so, you will 
 have a little more trouble than you would otherwise have 
 had if your fields had had plenty of stubble ; but still you 
 will succeed, for surely on your ground there is some short 
 covert of some land or another furze, for instance. Well, 
 why don't you systematically push 'your birds into it, and 
 then walk up to them like a man ? 
 
 I have shot redlegs in their own country, and they are 
 got at without having them driven in shoals over your head. 
 
 And as for sport, why there is no bird that gives more 
 sport in the full acceptation of the term than redlegs. 
 Your gray partridges are too tame for me ; they rise too 
 close ; they are got at too easily. But redlegs ah, there is 
 fun with them. You never know where they are ; they may 
 rise out of range ; they may be at your feet. Grays, when 
 in coveys, bolt altogether with a vengeance. Reds some- 
 times do so too, but oftener they may be sprung one by 
 one or in couples. I have repeatedly bagged five and six 
 birds out of the same covey within a minute or two ; and 
 that's what I call sport. 
 
 Of course we had to push the coveys, and to trudge 
 along a good bit ; but then, when finally this glorious set-to 
 at the broken covey took place, who cared for the trouble 
 we had had in breaking it ? There are the birds. Now for 
 skill, for coolness. Up ! whirrzr ! Bang ! That's one
 
 Redlqgs. 1 9 1 
 
 down. Another rises behind our back. We wheel round 
 and grass it in style. One of the dogs is still on point, 
 and the other winding. We reload and go up to Don. 
 We can see the bird two yards from the dog's nose. It 
 rises, and is bundled over before it knows what on earth is 
 the matter with the elements. Then we go up to Ponto, 
 who is transfixed in a furze-field. Now there will be fun. 
 Let us divide the ground, and let us beat towards one 
 another ; for 'redlegs, when they have made up their minds 
 to crawl, will lick landrails into fits in the crawling and 
 sly-running business. You see I was right. One of the 
 birds rose at your feet, fully a hundred yards away from 
 the place where the covey had originally e*ntered the furze. 
 Now we must beat this field carefully, for the birds have 
 been headed ; they must be here and they must be found. 
 Accordingly they are duly found, all of them, beyond one 
 or two who have got away unperceived ; but even these 
 are not lost for ever, we will find them some other day. 
 
 Now, is not this sport ? Then why say that redlegs 
 are a calamity ? They are difficult birds to reach and to 
 kill, but the greater these difficulties the more sportsman- 
 like and praiseworthy is the sport, and the greater therefore 
 is the cause for congratulation when the birds are bagged. 
 
 As far as I am concerned I have enjoyed redleg- 
 shooting in the open more than any other shooting I am 
 acquainted with. On the other hand, I tried what fun 
 there might be at driving them, and I have found it to be 
 too much toujours pcrdrix. It is a regular sickener when 
 once you are up to the mark. Besides, when out shooting 
 I cannot bear standing still for any length of time ; it riles 
 me (to use an Americanism). I must be on the move, and 
 I daresay many of my brother sportsmen are in the same 
 predicament.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS ON SHOOTING. 
 
 THERE is no pursuit in which preliminaries and accessories 
 play so prominent a part, and on the successful issue of 
 which they have such an all-powerful influence, as in the 
 sport of shooting. It is astonishing how one single thing, 
 and perhaps abstractedly a very insignificant thing in ap- 
 pearance too, will seriously interfere with a day's sport. 
 Everybody knows that a damp day will affect the driving 
 power of the powder and augment its smoke in no incon- 
 siderable degree ; whereas a warm and dry day will make 
 the gun ring between your fingers at every shot you fire. 
 But these effects, being brought about by a change of 
 temperature over which we have no control, must be put 
 up with. There are, however, many other things which it 
 lies in our power to organise on a comparatively sure and 
 regular footing, and to these every shooter's attention has, 
 perforce, been drawn at some one time or another. 
 
 Accoutrements, of course, come first in the list to be 
 considered. Of boots there are innumerable varieties ; from 
 the porpoise -skin lace-up to the old india-rubber top-boot. 
 The latter was invariably announced as thoroughly venti- 
 lated, though how this could be done was to me a puzzle. As 
 a rule, I eschew waterproof contrivances for the feet ; they
 
 Practical Hints on Shooting. 193 
 
 arc dangerous and uncomfortable to the man who walks in 
 them. I daresay they answer well enough for anglers who 
 like to paddle in the shallows and then remain stationary 
 when once they have hit on a suitable spot ; but, to the 
 marsh-shooter, they are a snare and a nuisance. This has 
 been for some years proclaimed by almost every public 
 sporting writer; but there are still shooters, especially 
 beginners, who think that it must be very unpleasant to 
 have wet feet, and therefore, per contra, that it must be 
 very comfortable to be warm and dry all day through, even 
 when floundering after snipe in a swampy bog. Of course, 
 it is nice enough to have one's feet dry and cosy, but a 
 sportsman worthy, or anxious of becoming worthy of the 
 name, must be ready to put up with a great deal in the 
 way of discomforts. The sport to him is all and every- 
 thing, and the fitvrc d'action keeps harm away from him. 
 This is no fallacy. It is self-evident that the man who, 
 for instance, watches for ducks night after night in all 
 sorts of weathers, must have something more than a human 
 constitution to resist it ; he has what our Gallic neighbours 
 so graphically denominate le fen sacre, and tJtat nerves him 
 for every emergency, and sustains a strength that would 
 indubitably give way without such an all-powerful ally. 
 It must be clear to every sensible man who will give the 
 case a thought that any individual thus exposed without a 
 strong incentive would eventually succumb, however strong 
 his constitution might naturally have been. I have some- 
 times myself wondered how I could ever have stood such 
 storms as I have had occasionally to weather. Had I had 
 no gun in hand, do you think that I should! have remained 
 out for a moment more than I could have helped in such 
 inclement weather ? not I. 
 
 When out merely for a walk, how careful we are to beat 
 VOL. i. o
 
 194 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 a hasty retreat home at the least sign of an approaching 
 downpour; but if we chance to be at the time on sport 
 intent, what would stop us ? Nothing short of a cataclysm. 
 La fitvre de la chasse has put us all, morally and physically, 
 in a glow, and we care not an atom for the elements so 
 long as we can shoot. Rain never puts me out. Now 
 when it rains, then indeed waterproof boots are a nuisance, 
 for somehow rain is sure to find its way in over the top, 
 if it cannot manage to get in at the seams. 
 
 And again, when marsh-shooting, one either steps in a 
 treacherous hole, full of water, and thereupon fills one's 
 boots up to the brim, or else one succeeds in effecting the 
 same object by jumping into a ditch ; and then oh, then ! 
 the boots prove themselves to be but too thoroughly water- 
 tight. Do what you will, take whatever position you may, 
 the inside cargo declines being removed or dislodged, and 
 you must perforce take a thorough footbath whilst per- 
 ambulating the meadows. Now I know nothing more 
 uncomfortable than such a state of things. That such 
 incidents as I have described will repeatedly happen, every 
 marsh-shooter of experience will testify; therefore what 
 need is there of waterproof contrivances ? He who is really 
 anxious to bag the birds will not mind getting his feet wet 
 when it is a sine qua non of the sport ; and if he has taken 
 the precaution of providing a dry pair of stockings or socks, 
 and puts them on after the sport is over, he will feel none 
 the worse for his occasional duckings. So much, then, for 
 waterproof boots. 
 
 As for waterproof coats, they present a different case 
 altogether. They, unlike boots, may be made ventilated, and 
 when so manufactured they are a positive comfort in a 
 storm. The usual waterproof coats, however, have one 
 notable defect, and that is that the guns' heel plates are apt
 
 Practical Hints on Shooting. 195 
 
 to slide down, more or less, when the gun is fired. This is 
 easily understood. The wet india-rubber is slippery ; the 
 heel-plates, being themselves, as a rule, highly polished and 
 wet too, have no hold on the wet material ; hence the un- 
 satisfactory deflection in the aim of the gun. By-the-way, 
 heel-plates are, by all means, practically useless in this 
 epoch of breechloaders ; wherefore, then, will the gun- 
 makers of the period persist in manufacturing them with 
 these useless metallic appendages ? I have my wild-fowl- 
 guns' heel-plates removed, and in their stead I get the wood 
 where they formerly rested engraved and quadrilated rather 
 sharply, in such a way as to give the guns a sufficient grasp 
 on any cloth or material against which it may happen to be 
 pressed when taking aim. There is, again, another glaring 
 defect in wild-fowling guns and ordinary guns used for 
 winter sport, and that is the extreme length of stock. How 
 can a man shoot as well with the same weapon in August, 
 when it is broiling hot, and the sportsman is consequently 
 but lightly clad, and in hard winter-time, when every coat 
 and great-coat he can put on is put in requisition? It stands 
 to reason that the length of stock which fitted so well in 
 August must be of too extreme a length in winter, when it 
 has all the thickness of the winter clothing to back up the 
 gun's heel-plate, thereby thrusting the gun too much for- 
 ward. To remedy this, I get my winter guns shorter in the 
 stock by at least half an inch than the length of stock that 
 suits me in light shooting costume. By this means, in the 
 hardest weather, and therefore with the thickest of clothing, 
 I am enabled to bring up the gun to shoulder as instanta- 
 neously as usual ; and I can fire with ease and comfort, and 
 as quickly as if partridge-shooting in the prime of the season. 
 To those sportsmen who have but one gun I would give 
 the following hint, which I have put in practice with a 
 
 o 2
 
 196 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 favourite gun of mine, and that is to get a good expert 
 stock-maker to saw off a slice of their gun-stock, half an 
 inch or more in thickness, according to the way in which 
 they intend to clothe themselves during the hard season. 
 This slice to be preserved and prepared so as to be fitted on 
 the stock by means of two easily-worked screws. Thus the 
 slice may be easily taken off and put on at will, as occasion 
 requires. In this way, when I wish to use that old gun of 
 mine, I may shoot with it in all seasons. 
 
 When I first had the gun I found it such a first-class 
 killing weapon that I made it my constant companion. 
 
 Now, up to December it behaved nobly, I may say. 
 Just then, however, a terrible frost set in, and we had to 
 cover ourselves well, when I found that whenever a shot 
 presented itself I experienced an awkwardness in fitting 
 the gun to aim that spoilt my shooting altogether. I am a 
 snap-shooter, i.e. the moment anything is in sight, the gun 
 is aimed and fired almost instantaneously. If therefore 
 there be any difficulty, however slight, in having the gun 
 brought to bear on the game the moment it is in sight, of 
 course I am out altogether. 
 
 Well, miss after miss was the order of the day, and I got 
 riled, you know, as only a sportsman can get riled when he 
 does not bag in fair proportion to all that he has had a 
 chance of bagging. 
 
 I was raving. Bear in mind I had not as yet made out 
 where the hitch was. I felt awkward, but did not know 
 what made me feel so. However, I was struck all of a 
 sudden with the manner in which I had to stretch my arms 
 when taking aim, and then the problem was solved. I 
 straightway gave up shooting for the day. I went home, 
 and from thence to the gunsmith, whom I ordered to make 
 the alteration I have mentioned. Of course the worthy
 
 Practical Hints on Shooting. 197 
 
 man objected, just like a fashionable tailor who will not 
 make your clothes as you wish them to be made, but who 
 will insist upon clothing you like a picture in the fashion- 
 able Parisian Journal des Modes. So my worthy old gun- 
 smith objected, as indeed I had fully expected he would. 
 
 " It will spoil the gun altogether/' he said. 
 
 " How ? " I asked him. 
 
 " Why ? it won't look half so well." 
 
 "As far as that goes, what's the odds ?" I retorted. " I 
 don't want the gun for show, I want it for use, and provided 
 it suits me and kills well, never mind how it looks." 
 
 " Ah well ! if such be the case, of course I have nothing 
 more to say." 
 
 Accordingly the alteration was done, and to my un- 
 bounded satisfaction I found that my idea had been a good 
 one, and that the plan answered marvellously. Therefore, 
 brother sportsmen, doctor your guns if they require it as I 
 doctored mine, and I will answer for it that it will be a com- 
 plete and (as the theatrical advertisements say) a legitimate 
 success. 
 
 The next thing in importance to having a gun properly 
 fitted to the sportsman for all seasons is his getting proper 
 and good cartridges. Some shooters buy their cartridges 
 ready made ; but with all due deference to each and every 
 individual gunmaker who sells them, as a rule such car- 
 tridges cannot be depended upon. Putting aside the ques- 
 tion of wilful and systematic robbery, which we will not 
 entertain, though it is carried on pretty widely, there are in 
 the manufacture of the cartridges so many hands employed, 
 and the said hands' interest being not in the quality and 
 make of each individual cartridge, but in the quantity they 
 can anyhow turn out made, it follows naturally that most 
 of these cartridges must be in some way defective. Indeed,
 
 198 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 almost from any shop but a first-class one where cartridges 
 are manufactured, a large percentage will be found either 
 badly filled i.e. with an insufficient quantity of powder 
 and too much shot or vice versa, or, what is still worse, very 
 little powder and very little shot; the cartridges being 
 mainly filled up with thick wads (this is a fact), or else with 
 the powder-wads put carelessly slanting, so that the powder 
 stands much in the shape of a whistle's mouth-piece or else 
 with the turning-down badly performed. Then mistakes 
 will arise : shot No. 5 may be in reality in cartridges bearing 
 No. 10 stamped on their shot-wads, and vice versa. This 
 question of cartridges is always a vexing one, and when 
 one has been repeatedly missing in the field, and finally 
 determines upon opening with a penknife the remainder of 
 his cartridges, and then finds them for the most part thus 
 unsatisfactorily made, it is not calculated to improve his 
 peace of mind by any means. It is most annoying, to say 
 the least of it. And, moreover, it is in every respect like a 
 complaint against Government there is no redress for it. 
 If you argue the subject with your gunmaker, he shuffles it 
 off upon his clerks, or his boys, or his apprentices, or his 
 work-girls, or anyone else he may think of. Nobody has 
 done it. It is nobody's fault It is a regular red-tape- 
 system, and to put it fairly and honestly it is a snare and a 
 swindle, nothing more or less. Therefore if you can pos- 
 sibly help it, avoid being the victim of such unworthy 
 trickery: make your cartridges yourself, or. see them made 
 at home by your man under your own supervision. Then 
 you may be sure that the full quantities of powder and shot 
 respectively will be placed in the cases, as the man has no 
 interest in reducing the quantities, and it is a great comfort 
 to a shooter to know that what he is going to fire ouglit to 
 kill. I know that, right well. And in shooting, as indeed
 
 Practical Hints on Shooting. 199 
 
 in everything else, confidence is everything. If you doubt 
 the quality of your killing stock-in-trade, you don't shoot 
 half as well as you would if you knew all was right, tight, 
 and above-board. Caesar's wife must be above suspicion, 
 and so ought to be a sportsman's gun and ammunition. 
 
 Now about guns. 
 
 A bad workman has always bad tools, and, vice versa, a 
 good one is always blessed somehow with excellent instru- 
 ments. And so it is in shooting matters. It is all down- 
 right nonsense to say that any particular guns cannot be 
 made to kill. As far as I am concerned, somehow I always 
 manage to make them kill, and as I do not flatter myself 
 that I am a genius or anything of that sort, I conclude 
 therefore that others may do the same. The fact of the 
 matter is, every gun has its individuality. Now, non-practical 
 men will stare at this, but it is nevertheless a fact. Practical 
 shooters, as a rule, do not indulge in theoretical fancies, 
 and what they are brought to acknowledge as an undeniable 
 fact cannot be denied by any theorists. I do not mean to 
 imply that guns have souls (though dogs may have), but I 
 mean that each gun has a certain standard for its loading, 
 which must be accurately determined, and when once found 
 out must be strictly adhered to by the man who uses that gun. 
 That is in fact, I believe, one of the best and most valid 
 reasons why ready-made cartridges turned out in shoals 
 cannot and do not prove as satisfactory as those made in- 
 dividually for each gun. From this I must not be under- 
 stood to imply that ready-made cartridges never do kill. 
 They do, more or less (the latter, however, is the rule), i.e. 
 they do not kill either so neatly, so cleanly, or so far, as 
 the specially-made cartridges. At least that is my ex- 
 perience, and beyond that I cannot speak. 
 
 Now I always make my cartridges myself, and I make
 
 2OO Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 them of two sorts, the first to give the widest possible spread 
 for snap-shooting and short ranges, the others to shoot tight 
 and carry a good distance. There are, however, for the 
 reason above mentioned, distinct rules to be guided by in 
 this loading business. Every shooter who knows his gun 
 has his cartridges made, or makes them accordingly. Some 
 guns take more powder than others, others require more or 
 less shot ; in fact, there is no knowing what doses a gun 
 requires until you have handled it a little while.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS ON SHOOTING Continued. 
 
 AND now I come to the vexed question about dogs ranging 
 dogs and retrieving dogs, proper or otherwise. 
 
 We have heard a good deal of praise sung in favour of 
 the retrievers proper, but unfortunately this praise was 
 mostly sung by those directly and pecuniarily interested in 
 the introduction, breeding, and training of these dogs. 
 
 The outside public, however, always easily led when a 
 few good names head the list of fashion (or fancy), adopted 
 the new breed cheerfully, and paid down their guineas with 
 avidity, in the expectation that they were going to behold 
 extra-wonderful performances. 
 
 They have now repented, and retrievers proper, I am 
 thankful to say, are going out of fashion, at least as far as 
 working in the field is concerned ; and that is a step in the 
 right direction. Of two things, one must be admitted 
 viz. game, when shot, is either to be picked up by the 
 keeper or the shooter himself, or else it must be brought to- 
 hand by a dog. I acknowledge that I prefer the latter 
 course, even though the dead game may stare me in the 
 face. But why have special dogs to do that ? And if we 
 must have special dogs for the retrieving business, why have 
 that enormous, shaggy, shapeless, breedless, foreign animal
 
 2O2 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 imported and trained for that purpose only ? Have our 
 setters so inferior a power of scent that they are to be 
 crossed with Newfoundlands in order to produce the fancy 
 retrievers ? Or do we cross our setters with the foreign 
 animals in order to give the latter what they lack i.e. 
 sporting blood ? If so, why not spare ourselves all that 
 trouble, and stick to our setters and make them retrieve ? 
 
 Personally I have, as yet, never seen a really good and 
 young retriever proper that could be trusted to do his duty, 
 neither more nor less, without a lot of hard words and ill- 
 blood, and the only place where I have seen retrievers 
 proper behaving and performing passably well was at the 
 seaside when sea-fowl shooting. For this reason, I suppose, 
 that as they had merely to go where they saw the bird 
 (when shot) they did not go slowly blundering about, as 
 most of these dogs do when field-shooting if the slightest 
 cover intervenes between their game and their sight. Why 
 retrievers proper are used at all, in fact, for any kind of 
 shooting, I am at a loss to understand. We always have 
 had in the British Kingdom excellently-nosed dogs, quite 
 as powerful as retrievers, though not so heavy ; for 
 example, our field and water spaniels, our setters, &c. Now 
 it is well known that spaniels or setters are very easily 
 trained to retrieve ; they, moreover, are generally endowed 
 with a naturally tender mouth (and that is more than most 
 retrievers can boast of), they are far quicker in their search, 
 more ardent, more cunning, more full of bustle, more under 
 control. Then why, in the name of all that is wonderful, 
 have we allowed ourselves to be saddled with the imported 
 and comparatively useless and lumbering retrievers proper ? 
 
 Our forefathers never saw a retriever proper ; their 
 field-dogs retrieved, and they hardly ever lost a head of 
 .game. Nowadays all our field-dogs are broken to lie
 
 Practical Hints on Shooting. 203 
 
 down' and to remain still just when their services are most 
 required i.e. when you want your wounded game brought 
 to hand ; and that blundering, sooty nuisance, the retriever 
 proper, is let go, and scampers about often with an iron bit 
 in his mouth (!) whilst everyone stares at him in admiration 
 (what for ?), as though it were a marvellous thing that a big 
 dog like him could make such a mess of the affair as he 
 generally does. I have no patience with such nonsense. 
 If our keepers and breakers would devote to a spaniel, a 
 setter, or a pointer, one-fourth of tJie time and patience they 
 bestow on their black Newfoundlanders, they would make 
 of them perfect wonders. And, mind you, it is very 
 encouraging to a breaker to see his pupils improving at 
 every lesson, so to speak, whereas nothing is more dis- 
 heartening than the slow work of teaching a retriever 
 proper. The fact is, retrievers proper are not, have never 
 been, and never will be, strictly speaking, sporting dogs. 
 They were not intended by nature to be so. We have 
 taught them to retrieve (well, badly, or indifferently), and 
 we forthwith have made them retrieve game; but their 
 retrieving ought to be confined to picking up and collecting 
 firewood they would take to it far more kindly. The fact 
 is, the whole affair must be traced to "fancy." Sport has had 
 nothing to do with it. For instance, now, the furore in 
 England is about colleys. We hear nothing now but 
 colleys, colleys, and colleys. Well, I would not mind taking 
 a moderate bet that within five years some new notion will 
 be started, and that colleys will supersede entirely the 
 retrievers of to-day both in the field and out of it. They 
 will be taught to retrieve (for they learn well and quickly, 
 and they have also a better power of scent than the black 
 dogs), they will be taken out shooting, and then they will be 
 the retrievers proper ! What folly all this is. If we had no 
 

 
 204 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 proper sporting dogs dogs whose nature, whose instinct, 
 whose very life have for their object the pursuit of game I 
 should understand our resorting to any other kind of avail- 
 able dogs, but we have, thank goodness, plenty of spaniels 
 and plenty of setters, &c. ; then why not use them, and 
 teach them to do all they can and will do, especially when 
 they are so easily taught ? Why this is not done is to me 
 a mystery. We are, as a rule, very fond of jeering at our 
 French neighbours, but I think they may fairly score there, 
 for they would not be such simpletons as to have their 
 ranging dogs taught to drop, and allow their wounded game 
 to escape and their dead game to be lost. Neither would 
 they saddle themselves with a retriever proper (!) who could 
 not be trusted alone, but must needs have a man to work 
 him exclusively and keep him under control ! The whole 
 affair is absurd ; but then it is fashionable ! Cela excuse 
 tout. 
 
 Well, as I said before this digression, sea-fowl shooting 
 is about the only sport where retrievers proper are not 
 worse than a nuisance (provided they are excellently well 
 trained, of course). In fact, they seem fitted for that sport 
 well enough. Their thick hide protects them from the cold 
 and the storms, and if really plucky they will face the 
 waves readily enough, and their big frames serve them well 
 in the tussle that ensues. I have, however, in the course of 
 my shooting expeditions, met with only one retriever proper 
 that would go anywhere and anyhow, under any circum- 
 stances, and do his work fairly even by the seaside. All 
 the others were soft-hearted ; and when, after a spiritless and 
 futile attempt, they were flung back ashore, they would 
 come to heel very tamely, and let the bird (or birds) take 
 his (or their) chance. I don't call that retrieving. 
 
 The best retrieving dog I ever had was a setter bitch.
 
 Practical Hints on Shooting. 205 
 
 The next best was a pointer dog. At this, some will stare, 
 but it is a fact nevertheless. That pointer dog of mine would 
 face any thicket when covert-shooting, and would not care 
 a straw for a storm when out river or sea shooting. If he 
 saw something come down, that something was bound to 
 come into the bag. In fact, he occasionally overdid the 
 business ; and several times he had narrow escapes from 
 drowning, through searching so hard after wounded ducks, 
 or the like, who were attempting to escape him. 
 
 I readily admit that it seems unusual for a pointer to 
 take so kindly to water, and so forth ; but at the same 
 time I must say that all the pointers I have had have 
 taken to water readily enough. The fact is, show plenty of 
 game to a sporting dog, and he won't care a fig for any- 
 thing, provided he please you ; for, in so doing, he pleases 
 himself. Your passion for sport is the very essence of his 
 own nature, and neither water nor brambles will stop his 
 courage, his high mettle, and his natural inclination. Why 
 are pointers generally so shy of pricking or wetting them- 
 selves ? Simply because they are neither taken to coverts 
 nor to river or sea-shooting. But if you wish your dogs to 
 become good all round, take them with you when young 
 everywhere ; shoot over them loads of game (the more the 
 merrier), and these dogs will go through fire and water, if 
 necessary, in the pursuit of their avocation. And that is 
 how things ought to be. One dog ought to be sufficient 
 for any single sportsman, but that dog must be a good 
 jack-of-all-trades. I am speaking here of the sportsman 
 who has no pretensions to extra gentility, &c. ; one who 
 likes, when the fit takes him, to whistle his dog and wander 
 away with his gun a little everywhere. Those who, 
 favoured by fortune, can boast of their kennels, can well 
 afford to follow the dictates of fashion, and they may act
 
 206 Hints .and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 accordingly ; but for one of these rich shooters there are 
 hundreds, nay thousands, of poorer men, who, though not 
 able to keep two ranging dogs a retriever proper and a 
 man to work the retriever still have their hearts in the right 
 place, and are not less enthusiastic in matters of sport than 
 their richer confreres. It is for these that I am here 
 speaking. 
 
 And, by-the-way, let me here give them a hint. If you 
 have a young dog pointer, setter, or spaniel that you would 
 like to teach to retrieve, don't go wasting your time and 
 your patience in teaching him to retrieve balls of worsted, 
 rabbit-skins, and the like ; for when you have taught him 
 to do so, he will, most likely, decline mouthing any bird 
 or animal, dead or wounded, but still warm, that you may 
 have shot ; and that is very disheartening. I will tell you 
 how I proceed. I go to the seaside in summer weather 
 with my pupil or pupils, and take them out regularly, 
 every day, on the shore. There I knock over everything 
 that passes me ; this has, first, the desirable effect of 
 making the young dogs accustomed to the gun, and gives 
 them a taste for it, too ; and secondly, they will, one and 
 all, soon or late, take to retrieving the birds, in or out of the 
 water. If one is at first rather shy, the example of the 
 others soon encourages him to follow and imitate them. 
 Besides, occasionally, a bird falls close to the shore, in 
 shallow water ; and if no bird should chance to fall so 
 conveniently, you can always make one do so, or pretend 
 that one does so, by merely firing off a barrel, and at the 
 same time throwing one of the birds you have already 
 bagged just where you wish it to have fallen. Well, the 
 fact of the bird being so close to the dog will induce the 
 latter to go up to it and lay hold of it. This is a great 
 step. Repeat the trick again, but throw your bird farther
 
 Practical Hints on S 'hooting. 207 
 
 away still, and so forth, until the dog does not mind where 
 it falls, and goes readily anywhere to take it. When once 
 a dog goes well to sea, he will go anywhere. Of course 
 you must at first choose a sandy shore, sloping easily and 
 gradually, so as not to get your young dog suddenly 
 immersed in a deep hole, which might bring about the 
 undesirable result of making him water-shy afterwards. 
 Choose, also, a very warm day, so that the dog has, in fact, 
 every inducement to face the water, and to like being in it. 
 I advocate the sea-shore for this training for several 
 reasons, among which I will mention the fact that there are 
 always plenty of birds to be got there ; then the birds, being 
 tough, are therefore not easily broken, the dogs do not get 
 a taste of their blood, and do not acquire the consequent 
 habit of tearing them to pieces as they would tenderer 
 birds. Moreover, on the sea-shore, one has plenty of elbow- 
 room, and the ground being open, the dog's motions are 
 always easily controlled ; finally, there are no hares or 
 rabbits likely to jump up and induce your pupils to have 
 " a lark " with them ; so that, altogether, one cannot 
 possibly choose a better place whereon to train one's dogs, 
 at least as far as retrieving is concerned. When once they 
 are perfect there, they may be then safely practised in the 
 field, and on regular game.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS ON SHOOTING Continued. 
 
 IN shooting, as in everything else, practice alone makes 
 a man perfect, or at least as nearly perfect as a man can 
 hope to be. All the reading and all the advice in the 
 world will not make a man kill, with anything like tolerable 
 certainty, if he does not practise much with the gun. True 
 there are some men to whom shooting comes naturally 
 that is to say, these men, with very little practice, reach as 
 high a standard of perfection as those who, less gifted, have 
 had to plod on for some considerable time ; but still, even 
 these gifted individuals must have some not inconsiderable 
 handling of their guns before they can rank themselves as 
 good shots. Therefore the intending sportsman, whether 
 he be naturally clever or not, cannot have too much shooting 
 in either case, and I should advise beginners to practice at 
 everything, flying or running, that passes them. That will 
 make them as good as can be on legitimate game, when 
 they will be brought to cope with it in earnest. The best 
 small birds on which boys or youths should try their hands 
 are larks, and the best way of carrying on the programme 
 is not to get the larks caught, and then let them go one 
 after the other to be fired at, with more or less luck ; but I 
 would have the youthful shooters plod on in the stubbles
 
 Practical Hints on Shooting. 209 
 
 and shoot the larks as they flush them either as soon as 
 the birds get on the wing, in the snap-shooting style, or 
 when the birds are fairly settled in their flight. Anyone 
 who will try this style of practice will, I am convinced, 
 testify that the birds afford every position and style of 
 flight of ordinary game-birds. The lark rises occasionally 
 like a snipe, and flies, when settled in her course, either 
 like a quail, like a partridge, or like a pheasant. True, her 
 small size does not serve the marksman well ; but on the 
 other hand the birds are very tender a pellet, and not a 
 large one either, brings them down ; so that, taken all in all, 
 by loading with small shot, the chances of killing are just 
 as great as if the gun were brought to bear on regular 
 game when loaded with bigger shot. 
 
 Larks are, I think, the only birds that offer such a great 
 similarity of flight to that of game-birds ; and as larks are, 
 as a rule, tolerably abundant almost everywhere, the 
 beginner can always find plenty of them to try his hand on. 
 
 I advocate the plan of making the youngsters beat the 
 fields themselves for several reasons, one of which is that it 
 makes the boys fag a little, it forms their constitutions, and 
 hardens their frames ; the second reason is, that walking up 
 to the birds and flushing them is the only way of bringing 
 about the different modes of flight adopted by each bird as 
 it rises. For instance, one will squat until you are within 
 five or six yards from her ; all the while she has got her 
 eyes on you, and the moment she thinks you are getting 
 rather too close up she starts towards the east, then the 
 west, then a dash to the north, finally she settles for the 
 south. That is the flighty snipe style. Another one, on 
 the contrary, rises a yard or so above the ground, then flies 
 off in front of you, almost in a straight line, parallel to the 
 ground. That is the quail's or the gray partridge's style.
 
 2io Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 Finally, another lark, when flushed, will rise, rise, rise, as 
 well as get away at the same time, just like a red-legged 
 partridge surprised in a furze-field. In fact, then, every 
 mode of flight that a sportsman may have to deal with in 
 the course of his career, larks will offer him on a diminutive 
 scale. I was trained myself on larks, and have often been 
 astonished at the variety of shots that a score of larks 
 would offer me within an hour or so. When a youth fairly 
 floors fifteen larks out of twenty that he has flushed himself, 
 he may be taken on game ; and when he has become accus- 
 tomed to the whirr of the partridges, and to the startling 
 cackle of the pheasant, I undertake to say he will render a 
 fair account of any of those birds that will rise within fair 
 range of his gun. 
 
 Shooting, however, whether carried on against small 
 birds or against bona fide game birds or animals, requires, 
 like everything else, a little brains and common sense. It 
 does not do to blaze away blindly, anyhow or anywhere ; 
 nothing is more detrimental to ultimate progress in that 
 branch of sport than reckless firing. What is the good, 
 for instance, of firing off your gun if you know yourself 
 that the distance that separates you from your quarry be 
 too great. It is an absurd waste of ammunition, to begin 
 with ; but the worst of it is that it accustoms the shooter 
 to fire indiscriminately, and that ought to be discounte- 
 nanced. A shooter's first qualification is to be cool and 
 collected. Now when a man fires at a fresh bird some 
 eighty yards off, he proves de facto that he is neither cool 
 nor collected for the time being, since he fires at a bird 
 which none but a madman or a fool would think of firing 
 at. (I said a " fresh " bird, purposely, for when a bird has 
 been fired at already, and there is evidence or likelihood 
 that it has been hit, then, whether far or near, provided
 
 Practical Plints on Shooting'. 211 
 
 there be a chance, however remote, of hitting it, it is the 
 duty of the sportsman to fire at it, so as to prevent, if 
 possible, a cripple from straying away and being lost.) 
 
 A good deal has been said about the habit which certain 
 shooters have of shutting their left eyes when taking aim. 
 Now there are certain circumstances under which this 
 style of aiming cannot be detrimental to the accuracy of 
 aim ; but I contend that it is not necessary at any time. 
 When, for instance, a bird or a hare flies or runs straight 
 away from you, I daresay one may shut one's left eye, 
 and aim away like an artilleryman previous to letting fly ; 
 but all that could have been dispensed with ; and that is 
 the only case where the one-eye-shut style can be put in 
 practice. In every other circumstance it is detrimental to 
 the accuracy of the aim. How, for instance, when a snipe 
 is zigzagging alternately towards all points of the compass 
 almost simultaneously how, I repeat, can a man follow 
 the bird's flight if he has shut one eye ? It is impossible. 
 For, the question at issue is, not to send your shot wliere the 
 snipe is whilst you aim, but to send it where the snipe will be 
 when your shot can reach it at its distance. And how 
 could a man gness, so to speak, the particular spot where 
 the snipe will be then if he does not keep his eyes wide 
 open and uses his brains as well ? As far as I am con- 
 cerned, I keep, under all circumstances, both my eyes open ; 
 and upon my conscience, had I four eyes, / would not 
 think of shutting one when all are so much needed ; and 
 why some people advocate doing so I am at a loss to 
 understand. No ; in the field one cannot bring too many 
 sound gifts to help one along, and to shut wilfully one eye 
 when competing with the vagaries' of game-birds and game- 
 quadrupeds when they are trying to evade you, is, to say 
 the least, a most senseless proceeding ; in fact, I do not
 
 212 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 believe that it is, in reality, practised by any really good 
 shots, though they may think themselves that they do 
 so. I have watched narrowly several partisans of that 
 system, and I have seen them, certainly, closing somewhat 
 the eyelid of their left eye, but they never closed it altogether ; 
 and that is just what I thought was the case, for I believe 
 that this partial instinctive closing of the eye has for its 
 object to concentrate more powerfully on the retina of the 
 eye the bird's or the animal's motions. Indeed, when we 
 stand at any great distance from some persons or some 
 objects which we cannot well recognise or make out, do we 
 not, naturally and unconsciously, close partially our eyes 
 in order to make out more quickly the nature or identity 
 of the objects or persons who have caught our sight ? Well, 
 that is just what a man does when he partially closes his 
 left eye in aiming at anything. As to closing it altogether, 
 it is not likely that anyone should do so, and those who 
 say they do, think so perhaps, but in reality they do not, 
 though they are not aware of that fact. 
 
 I come now to the subject of carrying game, always an 
 awkward question in shooting affairs. A sportsman who is 
 really on business intent cannot possibly do without an 
 attendant, even if he shoot but little game ; for this reason, 
 that the carrying of a gun on the ready all day long is 
 enough to tax the stamina of any man, without having the 
 further annoyance of a load on one's back, which load 
 increases at every shot, and fairly weighs you down. I 
 know what it is, for many times on the Continent I have 
 been unable to find a man or a youth willing to follow me 
 all day in my perambulations, and with sufficient strength 
 and courage to carry my game-bag without giving in when 
 half the day was hardly over; and consequently I have 
 had to do the drudgery myself more than once. It is not
 
 Practical Hints on Shooting. 213 
 
 pleasant ; yet you would rather do as I did than go without 
 sport, would you not ? Still, all the same, it takes some- 
 thing out of a man, I can assure you, to trudge along under 
 a broiling sun for hours and hours with a couple of hares 
 and a few birds on his back. In this case, however, there 
 are hints which may not be unacceptable ; for there are 
 two ways of carrying heads of game. The first way is to 
 carry them altogether in the bag, and that is terribly 
 awkward ; for, if anything heavy is in it, the bag fairly 
 draws down your shoulder and makes it ache. The second 
 way is more rational, and at any rate it is, I know from 
 experience, less tiring, for I have had to put it in practice 
 many a time, and I am therefore competent to speak about 
 it. I only carry birds in my bag. Rabbits or hares I hang 
 to my belt, with sundry swivel-hooks fixed on the said belt 
 at regular intervals. You will find that if you insert the 
 point of the hook between the tendons of the legs, the hares 
 will hang comfortably there against your thighs, and never 
 bother you. I hook them through both their fore and hind 
 legs, so as not to allow them to dangle about, as they tire 
 you much then. As for rabbits (as they are neither so long 
 nor so heavy as hares are), when hung by their hind legs 
 they do well enough. Now, anyone who may have had a 
 few shots at either hares or rabbits, and no one to carry 
 them for him, will find that this mode of carrying is ex- 
 tremely handy. I need not say that the belt must be rather 
 stout and wide, with a powerful buckle, and that the swivel- 
 hooks must be either secured strongly to it, in settled places, 
 or else be movable at will along the length of the belt. 
 The first case, however, is the best, as you Avill find that a 
 heavy hare, hung fore and aft to two different swivels, if 
 the latter are movable, soon draws them together by its 
 weight ; and the dangling body of the hare, then, is irksome,
 
 214 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 as you are obliged continually to push it back in its place ; 
 and besides, it makes the hare appear to you far heavier than 
 it in reality is. A belt properly prepared allows you to 
 carry three hares and as many rabbits comfortably, besides 
 having any number of birds in your bag or in your pockets. 
 Some men hang their birds outside their bags ; they 
 say that it keeps them fresher. Perhaps it does, but there 
 are many things to be said against the system. First of 
 all, supposing some of the birds have been shot badly in 
 the neck, eventually the strings will cut their heads off, the 
 birds will drop on the ground and be lost. Then again, if 
 your birds are hung outside your bag, you must confine 
 yourself to walk in open ground. Should you go through 
 hedges the chances are that most of your birds would get 
 torn off by the branches, or otherwise spoiled. Again, when 
 it rains, the birds get in a sad condition for the table; 
 or if the weather be very hot, you are followed about where - 
 ever you go by a lot of nasty flies, which settle upon your 
 birds, and bring about their decomposition very quickly. 
 I have tried both ways, and I think that the best plan is, 
 when the weather is very hot, to have the birds carried in 
 a game-basket ; otherwise, in ordinary weather, the net of 
 a capacious game-bag does well enough, especially if there 
 be a flap ready to cover them over in case of rain or snow. 
 In hot weather it is not a bad plan to empty both birds and 
 quadrupeds previous to "hooking" or "bagging" them 
 that is, when they are intended for your own table. If, 
 however, you mean to send them to a market or to a 
 dealer, you had better let them alone, for dealers and 
 market-buyers generally buy by actual weight, and you 
 would be a loser by your wise precaution. So do at Rome 
 as the Romans do, and let your game alone, to take its 
 chance according to the fortune of war.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SHOOTING. 
 
 " GOOD and bad luk, mixt in right proporshuns, giv the 
 best zest to life," at least so says Josh Billings, and the 
 ancient philosopher ought to know. Well, so it is also in 
 shooting matters. A right mixture of good and bad luck 
 makes the most interesting day's sport ; and even a blank 
 day occasionally does give an unusual zest to the fun of the 
 thing when next you re-enter the field on sport intent. Of 
 course those shooters who go in for certain and sure 
 slaughter miss that " right mixture " which constitutes the 
 pleasure of shooting, and no one can pity them, poor fellows, 
 if they yawn desperately between shots. It is not pleasant 
 to be transformed into a gun-firing machine, and well may 
 a profound enmd fill such shooters' hearts, after the first 
 score of shots have been fired, and they must perforce settle 
 into the routine of fashionable slaughter. 
 
 Comparisons, when not applied to individuals, are not 
 odious, and I will, therefore, take another kind of pleasure, 
 to wit, that of billiard-playing, and compare it to the battue 
 system or drive expedient. Now supposing our billiard- 
 players, in order to make sure of all their " shots " at 
 billiards, should get the balls and the very tables made of 
 metal, and get them so supereminently magnetised that
 
 216 Hints and Remarks on Shooting: 
 
 each time one of the balls should be moved it would be 
 bound to run against another, and perhaps against the 
 third as well, and then the two, or the whole three, would 
 be then irresistibly attracted by and drawn into the table- 
 pockets, would not billiard-playing be made very attractive 
 then ? It would be a " scoring game " with a vengeance, 
 and, as such, that style would just suit those fashionable 
 shooters who care for billiards, for then they would be sure 
 to score as in their shooting. 
 
 Someone is laughing, I hear, and says the idea is 
 absurd. My dear sir, when a man deliberately buys up in- 
 numerable pheasants in the, more or less, open market, and 
 gets a fellow, or several fellows, to let them loose by the 
 covert-side, and then gets a lot of men to drive the birds to 
 him, so that he may make sure of having plenty to shoot 
 at that man, I think, has " magnetised his balls and 
 tables," to make sure of his scoring ; but if he likes to call 
 it sport we are not bound to follow in his wake, and to 
 admire his great pluck, talent, and skill as a sportsman. 
 As regards his own pleasure, of course, chacun prend son 
 plaisir ou le trouve ; and therefore every shooter has a 
 right to shoot his own tame ducks on his own pond if he 
 likes and if he thinks it will afford him any. satisfaction ; 
 but that will not stamp him in the eyes of his brother 
 knights-of-the-trigger as a mighty champion of the gun ; 
 and as far as real bonh fide pleasure is concerned, were the 
 truth known, we would find much weariness of heart behind 
 the hollow joys and empty tameness of battue or drive 
 shooting. Why ? Simply because " the lean and the fat 
 are not mixed in right proportions " it is too much of the 
 one to afford relish, and therefore but little pleasure is 
 derived therefrom. 
 
 No ; this " making sure " is not a healthy sign.
 
 The Philosophy of Shooting. 217 
 
 Whether its direct cause be a not by any means praise- 
 worthy wish to outvie one's neighbour in the quantity of 
 game shot if not in sportsmanship, or whether it has, at 
 bottom, sheer idleness and disinclination to any exertion, 
 as some assert, I will leave to wiser heads than mine to 
 decide, but I certainly incline towards the latter. 
 
 We are growing lazy, at least in our sports. We like 
 hunting because the brunt of the exertions is borne by the 
 horse. We like yachting because there is, on an average, 
 " idleness reigning supreme " on board of nine out of every 
 ten yachts. We like driving because it allows us to " do 
 nothing." In fact we like to be languidly idle, affectedly 
 so, in everything we do for pleasure ; and some aversion is 
 almost invariably exhibited towards anything requiring 
 energy and exertion, at least as regards our sports and 
 pastimes. 
 
 Don't tell me to look at the increasing number of 
 athletic meetings as an evidence that my surmises are 
 wrong ; why, it is always the same men who are in those 
 sports, and it suits those men's vanity, or pockets, to be in 
 them ; and the fact that ten thousand visitors attend an 
 athletic meeting does not prove at all that the majority of 
 those spectators would like to join in the sports. Listen to 
 them, and you will soon be undeceived if such a fancy has got 
 into your head. Some are love-making, and the meeting 
 affords them a chance of doing so ; others are betting, and all 
 these care about is " spotting the right man " and pocketing 
 their opponents' cash. As to their taking the athletes' 
 place, it would be to them the height of fun to be proposed 
 such a thing ; and, at 'heart, they think those athletes great 
 donkeys to go and exhaust themselves just for the honour 
 of the thing and a prize which is, sometimes, hardly worth 
 contending for, and for which they (the betting-men) would
 
 218 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 not certainly take the trouble to strip, even supposing they 
 would have previously undergone the training necessary to 
 make them " fit to go." And as for the general public, they 
 look upon such exhibitions with pleasure certainly, but just 
 as they would on any other show or exhibition ; and out of 
 ten thousand spectators who witness a series of athletic 
 sports, there are perhaps only half a score who might fancy 
 going into the sport. As for the rest, they are no more 
 tempted to run or otherwise exert themselves, as the 
 athletes do, than they would, after seeing a "fire-eater" 
 going through his performance, wish to emulate his deeds 
 by swallowing, too, some oakum set on fire. It is un- 
 fortunate that such a tendency to " do nothing " should thus 
 be growing amongst us, but that it is so no one will deny, 
 except the enthusiastic reporters of certain dailies, with 
 whom every British subject man, woman, or child is a 
 hero of pluck, of endurance, of forbearance, and of chivalry. 
 In common parlance, that is all bosh. Now this general 
 tendency to take pleasures without any trouble has affected 
 the genuineness of the sport of shooting. We don't go " to 
 the mountain," we get the mountain i.e. the birds brought 
 to us. The origin of that style is foreign to British soil, it 
 is said. Granted ; but it readily took root in it though. 
 
 Now we were treated some time last winter, by one 
 of the illustrated weeklies, to what purported to be a day's 
 sport for the Kaiser William; and a better farce I have 
 never yet, either before or since, had the luck to see 
 depicted. The Kaiser and his companion-shooters stood, 
 if I remember right, by little tables, and their attendants 
 were handing them their arms loade'd and ready. Mean- 
 while, the ground in front of the shooters was covered with 
 hares running hither and thither, but unable, of course, to 
 break through the cordon of beaters and soldiers (!) who
 
 The Philosophy of Shooting. 2 1 9 
 
 surrounded them. At these hares the Kaiser and his dis- 
 tinguished guests were firing. And that was called sport ! ! ! 
 Ha, ha ! I really must laugh, and I am sure every right- 
 minded sportsman will join me in that laugh. Poor hares! 
 I do pity them. But what sport it must have been, to be 
 sure ! I trust the Kaiser will chance to light upon this 
 " Philosophy of Shooting," and that he will agree with me, 
 and, at any rate, give a trial to my system, when I earnestly 
 address him as follows : " Your Majesty ought to eschew 
 such farces as that in which your attendants inveigle you 
 against your own good sense, I am sure ; and if you should 
 follow the example of the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel, 
 who tramps like a sportsman behind his dogs, and shoots 
 his game as befits a king and a shooter, it would be all the 
 better for your pleasure, for your health, and as an example 
 to all whom it may concern." 
 
 King Victor Emmanuel is the king of shooters, and with 
 him the " right mixture of good and bad luck " is justly 
 prized. If all crowned heads gave as good an example as 
 he does, shooting would soon become again a noble, manly 
 sport, and not a miserable farce, fit only for weak old men 
 and sybarites. For, after all, it is only because fashion has 
 set its stamp on battuing, and it suited our fashionable 
 shooters' natural disinclination to exert themselves, that we 
 have taken to it ; but battuing and driving are ridiculous, 
 and they ought to be stamped out. That such will eventu- 
 ally be the case is clear, if .there is any truth in what Josh 
 Billings says : " For," says he, as Mrs. Partington would 
 say, " thare iz nothing that kan stand the bitterness of 
 ridicule that iz just ; it will make even a mule wince ! " 
 Well, if ever anything has deserved ridicule it is certainly 
 battuing and driving as now provided for our " swell " 
 shooters ; and I certainly trust that the old philosopher's
 
 22O flints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 assertions will turn out right that ridicule will make the 
 battue and drive organisers wince, and that it will eventu- 
 ally stamp those " institutions " out of the country for good 
 and for ever ; for anything more absurdly vain and ridi- 
 culous can hardly be conceived. 
 
 The worst of it is these deplorable tricks are copied at 
 large. Even a small farmer will resort to driving his birds 
 if his neighbour, the Duke, does so ; and it is really laughable 
 to see what miserable attempts these awkward imitations 
 occasionally turn out to be. The worst of them, however, 
 is that they spoil the shooters. It is a fact that when once 
 you have been treated to slaughter you cannot help think- 
 ing the old-fashioned way rather slow, worse luck ! when 
 compared with the new style. The wish to be always firing 
 grows upon one ; and tramping behind dogs for an hour or 
 two without getting a shot makes you feel sour when you 
 have previously been at a successful drive, where you had 
 to blaze away so often and so continually that you had to 
 use a pair of guns to give each time to cool ; and wear a 
 glove on your left hand, at any rate, if you did not wish 
 eventually to get that hand blistered, or made very uncom- 
 fortable at any rate, by the hot barrels. 
 
 Yes, it is astonishing how quickly bad habits do grow 
 upon one, and how astonishingly quick true sporting 
 philosophy flies to the winds. We come to wish for numbers, 
 not for sport ; we hope to get plenty of firing, and wish to 
 be spared the trouble of seeking for our game. Now I put 
 it to all sensible men, is this as it should be ? No. Then 
 why should it be so ? Are we growing " constitutionally 
 tired, " or are we " naturally lazy ? " Either case does not 
 reflect any credit upon us ; and methinks a right mixture 
 of good and bad luck would considerably enliven our 
 sport, which is now decidedly too sybaritic to be enjoyable.
 
 The Philosophy of Shooting. 221 
 
 Even the use of beaters when walking through a covert, 
 I take it, makes the fun too systematic to be thoroughly 
 sporting. 
 
 Surely, when the frosts have nipped off most leaves in 
 the coverts, one could very well sport there, with dogs only 
 for beaters ; and then there would be sport in finding each 
 bird in its turn ; whereas, as things are now carried on, nine- 
 tenths of the pleasure are wasted simply because there is no 
 instinct and no science brought to play in discovering and 
 springing the quarry. The line of sportsmen and beaters 
 advance, and everything before them must get on the move. 
 There is no mixture of good and bad luck there, at least in 
 finding. A thrashing-machine would do the business quite 
 as well, and I daresay some such machines will soon be 
 brought into use for the purpose. The shooters will sit on 
 them in front, whilst long flails will come down by the sides, 
 and whack the covert on either side with such mechanical 
 precision as not to leave a " long-tail " or a bunny behind. 
 Add to this a good trainful of birds, turned loose for the 
 occasion, and then there would be very grand fun indeed 
 but where would be the sport ? 
 
 I went the other day to a covert-shooting party ; we 
 were five shooters, and we had nine or ten beaters in a line 
 with us as we went through each wood. Tick ! tock ! 
 whack ! went the sticks. 
 
 " Rabbit to you, sir ! " calls out one of the men to my 
 neighbour. Bang ! and bunny rolls head over heels into a 
 drain. 
 
 " Pheasant forward ! " someone calls on my left. Bang, 
 bang ! The bird comes my way, still flying, though severely 
 hit, and to spare trouble I knock it over. Then another is 
 knocked up by my right-hand beater, and I shoot it too. 
 
 " Mark cock ! " is suddenly called by someone, and the
 
 222 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 cry is taken up by two or three. The bird evidently is 
 coming round, and he is floored instanter. 
 
 And thus it went on, with only an intermission of an 
 hour for luncheon. Total, eighty pheasants, five woodcocks, 
 and an immense number of rabbits a good bag for only 
 four clear hours' shooting. Rare good fun, too. Very good 
 firing practice. Very sociable entertainment. But where 
 was the sportsmanship ?
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 SPORTSMEN WE ALL HAVE KNOWN. 
 
 A TOUT seigneur, tout Jwnneur; we must begin with the 
 sportsman of tJie old school. He, very reluctantly be it said, 
 has had his flint gun converted into a percussion lock; 
 but to this very day he deplores that mistake, for, accord- 
 ing to his own account, the range formerly possessed by 
 his weapon when it was in its' primitive state was some- 
 thing stupendous, not to be credited but by those who 
 were fortunate enough to be of this world at the time of its 
 glory. Why he ever consented to have it altered he cannot 
 make out, and fairly hints that when he took that foolish 
 step he must have been either in liquor, ill, or labouring 
 under some delusion. 
 
 In opinions the sportsman of the old school expresses 
 unmitigated scorn for battues and drives, and calls them, 
 rightly enough, " butchery unworthy of the name of sport." 
 Moreover, according to him the breechloader is a stupid 
 invention to enable the shooters to destroy in a day as 
 much game as they would have been content in the olden 
 (and golden) time to bag in a week. Therefore the 
 breechloader he holds in utter abhorrence, and whenever 
 he' chances to be of a party where breechloaders are used 
 by his companions, he purposely wastes his time when
 
 224 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 re-loading his own antiquated fowling-piece so as to make 
 his companions of the breechloading creed fume. None 
 who have not witnessed the performance can picture to 
 their minds the fiendish expression that illuminates the 
 old boy's features, as, with a sly twinkle in his cunning old 
 eyes, he keeps on ramming and ramming his stubborn 
 wads, whilst the young bloods of the period are prancing 
 for very despair. This, delights the revengeful old sinner, 
 and the more you beseech him to make haste the more 
 dogged grows the expression of his countenance, and the 
 less haste he makes. Again, when actually in the stubble, 
 he takes an unworthy pleasure in wiping his younger com- 
 panions' eyes ; and to crown his infamy he declares, after 
 committing the deed, that he has not done it, that it was 
 his gun that would kill at all distances. 
 
 The sportsman of the old school has invariably some 
 very excellent dogs. Whatever may be his particular 
 fancy as to the breed, you may be sure that his animals 
 will be some of the best of their kind. Moreover, all his 
 dogs are trained to retrieve, for the old man holds that if 
 one dog can do all he requires there is no necessity what- 
 ever for him to have two, and the sight of a retriever 
 invariably excites his risible faculties to the highest pitch. 
 
 " What do you call that black dog of yours ?" says he. 
 " That's an outlandish invention, I'll bet. What is he good 
 for ? Stay at heel, eh ? Then you must spring your birds 
 yourself, I suppose ? That's very queer. What ? I must 
 have a pointer or two, just as I have now, and moreover I 
 needs must also have a black fellow like this one behind 
 me to go and pick up whatever I shoot. Well, that's very 
 complicated, at any rate, and no doubt very costly too in 
 the bargain ; but I cannot see it at all, and so long as my 
 pointers, setters, and spaniels will retrieve as well as they
 
 Sportsmen we all have Known. 225 
 
 do, and ever have done, none of your so-called ' retrievers 
 proper ' will do for me." 
 
 In conversation the sportsman of the old school invari- 
 ably brings on the tapis what sport was in his time. This 
 is a chief characteristic of the worthy old knight-of-the- 
 trigger, and he boasts with just pride of the number of 
 heads of game he has grassed and brought to bag fairly and 
 in a sportsmanlike manner. 
 
 " None of your tricks with us, young men," he will say. 
 "We never used to hide ourselves behind stone batteries 
 and there wait in ambush for the wretched birds to be 
 driven to us. Neither did we take an army of beaters for 
 covert-shooting and select a warm corner. No, no. We 
 went out by ourselves, and with a keeper behind us to 
 carry our game ; but even he never interfered as far as the 
 finding of the game was concerned. That was our busi- 
 ness and the dogs' ; and we allowed our game the free use 
 and exercise of their wits and wiles to elude our search, to 
 evade our approach, and when once sprung to escape our 
 shot. No unfairness with us. To our diligent, patient, 
 and experienced search the birds opposed their wariness ; 
 to our skill they opposed their speed. All was fair and 
 above-board then, and that is more than you can say with 
 your new-fangled notions of what you call sport." 
 
 Having delivered himself thus, the old boy empties his 
 glass and resumes puffing at his favourite old pipe. 
 
 In sporting costume the old sportsman is all pockets. 
 Caps are to be found in all his waistcoats, and wadding 
 has even found its way between the lining and the cloth of 
 his coats. 
 
 In everything connected with sport the old man is bold 
 bolder than he would be on any other subject. But, as he 
 is well aware that everyone pretends to look upon him and 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 upon his notions as being antiquated and out of place in 
 this fast age, he brings more energy and more " fire " to 
 bear in his arguments than he would otherwise do. It is 
 no uncommon thing for him to get " riled " in such a 
 manner by some innocent double entendre that he forthwith 
 declines any further conversation with the offending party 
 on the subject under discussion. 
 
 Above all things, the sportsman of the old school 
 abhors the sporting s^cvell of the new school, who seems to be 
 his living antithesis. This young spark of the period is a 
 vivid and melancholy example of the extremes of foppery 
 to which a man may attain if he only lays himself out for 
 it. This elegant shooter is elaborately got up in full 
 shooting costume (price three guineas), and invariably 
 possesses the costliest weapon his purse or his credit will 
 allow him to buy, to borrow, or to hire. These high- 
 priced instruments of warfare are not, as a rule, good 
 killers in the hands of the swells. Somehow, it generally 
 happens that the higher the style of the swell the less 
 game he kills. The two are in inverse ratio. 
 
 No swell who has any self-respect will condescend to 
 shoot without gloves ; and if his means will allow him he 
 will certainly have at least a loader, if he cannot also pro- 
 cure a wine and cigar bearer. Such is the spirit of the age 
 among the rising generation of sportsmen. As to sporting 
 dogs, most of these never have had any, and never mean 
 to. To some of them the use of dogs is next to incom- 
 prehensible, and the keeping and training them too great a 
 bore to be endured. This, however, does not prevent them 
 from giving their opinions should any discussion arise as to 
 the merits or demerits of a dog. 
 
 Between the two extremes I have described lies the 
 bulk of ordinary sportsmen, including the sensible part of
 
 Sportsmen we all have Known. 227 
 
 the shooting fraternity ; men who are old enough to know 
 how things are to be done, and unprejudiced enough to 
 adopt those inventions which crop up, year after year, in 
 this century of go-ahead proclivities. 
 
 Even among these, however, there are some amusingly 
 peculiar specimens, which we shooters are bound to fall in 
 with sooner or later, if we have not already done so. 
 
 For instance, who has not met with the stretcher ? I 
 employ this expression purposely, as I do not wish to be 
 rude ; but to those of my readers who may be unacquainted 
 with the expression I will confidentially explain that in 
 shooting circles a " stretcher " is a romancer, not to use the 
 common and more emphatic monosyllable which describes 
 his class. In short, he draws the long bow very freely. 
 After this explanation I will now proceed to describe the 
 characteristics of a " stretcher." The " stretcher's " gun is 
 invariably the strongest, lightest, and best killing gun in 
 the world (according to the "stretcher's" own opinion). 
 
 " This gun of mine, sir," he proceeds to tell you, " has 
 killed a hare at a hundred and fifteen yards and afoot ! We 
 measured the distance with a pocket-yard, which I always 
 carry with me on purpose to be able, whenever any similar 
 cases arise, to measure the distances to an inch." 
 
 The best of the fun is that the " stretcher " repeats the 
 same stories over and over again so often, that eventually he 
 believes them himself ; and then, oh ! then he tells them 
 with such truthful earnestness and sincerity that even when 
 you know the man and his characteristics you are tempted 
 to believe him. 
 
 Another variety of the story-telling shooters are the 
 self-complacent boasters. These shoot with far better 
 accuracy than anyone else, and they can do this and the 
 other, until they are brought to the test, when, as a rule, 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 they are found " not to answer the description." To this 
 faculty of cracking themselves up these men frequently 
 join the usual companion quality of being immensely 
 jealous. 
 
 The constitutionally jealous shooter is not a pleasant 
 companion. If he is lucky enough to fall in with game 
 whilst you don't he is exultantly triumphant, just as if the 
 credit of his luck were due to his own merits. But should 
 you, on the contrary, be lucky enough to shoot whilst he is 
 idle, then you have the unpleasantness of hearing him 
 audibly enough cursing his stars, his luck, his dogs, and his 
 gun ; and wondering why jw/ should have all the luck. 
 
 The deceitful shooter always sends you on the wrong 
 track whenever he has marked game. And, being a sly 
 dog, if he does not succeed in bagging any himself, he will 
 procure some at the first opportunity when he gets to a 
 village ; thereby giving encouragement to poaching. 
 
 Some members of this category often go to the length 
 of securing themselves a bag before they start. They 
 secrete the game in sundry pockets, and when a fit oppor- 
 tunity occurs they transfer them to the game-bag, which 
 they forthwith lose no opportunity of ostentatiously dis- 
 playing. Others make an ostensible show of starting with 
 a definite number of cartridges, which they of course 
 parade purposely for any witness's inspection, and they 
 make the simulance of a thorough determination not to fire 
 any more than that number. But all this is so much 
 humbug, for this " 'cute hand " has perhaps double the 
 number of cartridges hidden about his person, and the 
 great show he makes afterwards of the tremendous skill he 
 must have displayed in bringing home as many head of 
 game as he had (ostensibly) taken cartridges with him, 
 must be looked upon as so much bosh. One of these
 
 Sportsmen we all have Known. 229 
 
 gentry I once took the pleasure of watching-, and although 
 he had openly " declared " twenty shots to fire, I heard him 
 fire nearly forty. Another, who had bought a hare from a 
 poacher without ascertaining the said hare's condition, met 
 with an extraordinary reply from his better-half when he 
 presented her with the animal. Said she : 
 
 " When, my dear, did you shoot this hare ? " 
 
 " This morning, dear." 
 
 " Then it was high time you shot it, for it was beginning 
 to get decomposed." 
 
 Among the enthusiastic shooters of the age must be 
 classified the dog-breaking sportsman. This member of the 
 fraternity has always on hand dogs that require finishing 
 touches, and you hear him shout and probably swear, 
 more or less mildly, from dawn till sunset. That is his 
 pleasure. The slightest mistake he visits on the dogs with 
 strict severity, at least in words if not in blows, and he 
 certainly takes more trouble in this pastime than either the 
 dogs or the game are worth-; but this he does not see. 
 Were he compelled, however, to do what he does, he would 
 straightway consider himself the most ill-used man on the 
 surface of this globe ; but as he does it for the love of the 
 thing, why all is for the best. A man of this stamp, how- 
 ever, is a man whose acquaintance is worth cultivating, as 
 he knows a vast deal of " wrinkles " worth picking up, and 
 is ever ready to impart his knowledge. The way to get 
 into favour with him, without even the superficial and 
 customary formula of an introduction, is merely to fall into 
 ecstasies the first time you meet one of the enthusiastic 
 dogs. Look at the animal with uplifted eyebrows, pursed- 
 up lips, and a solemn countenance, until the dog's owner is 
 close at hand, and then all is plain sailing. The worthy 
 man's heart will yearn towards you. He has been hum-
 
 230 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 bugged, jeered at, and mocked so often about his pets by 
 those unacquainted with the " art of fowling," that he will 
 look upon you as a downright godsend, and he will cer- 
 tainly enter into conversation with you at once, and think 
 aftei* your interview is over that you were about the most 
 sensible man he had met with for a long time. Such is the 
 force of a hobby that I have known a man, inaccessible to 
 anyone on account of his irascibility, become perfectly 
 sociable under the influence and in the company of a man 
 whose tastes were congenial with his own. But with such 
 sportsmen " shop " is the constant talk. You hear of nothing 
 but " how Venus was broken of that bad habit of hers of 
 chasing fur ; " and " how Ponto got a licking once, when he 
 was a puppy, for having killed a chicken," &c. &c., ad libitum 
 and I may add, to those not equally hobby-mad, ad 
 nauseam.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 SPORTSMEN WE ALL HAVE KNOWN Continued. 
 
 THE man, with a temper is also another type that is 
 occasionally met with. As a rule he is invariably made the 
 butt of all the current chaff, on account of his proclivity 
 towards being " nasty." This man, when he misses, curses 
 loud and deep, and everyone is to blame but himself. 
 When his temper reaches its highest pitch the affair gene- 
 rally ends in an unseemly and totally uncalled-for row that 
 spoils the day's sport. Whenever I got acquainted with a 
 man " who had a temper " I forthwith took care ever after- 
 wards to eschew his company ; and to this very day I 
 consider that this is the only plan to have peace, for these 
 men will sooner lose their individuality than forswear their 
 hastiness. 
 
 Then again there is the mild grumbler, who always finds 
 fault with everything, and is never quite content and 
 satisfied. If the weather be fine he complains that it is 
 hot. If it is not actually warm he says he fears it will be 
 so by-and-by. If the weather be unpleasant, he knew it 
 would be so. It is always when he has a day's outing that 
 the weather turns " beastly," as he disgustedly terms it. 
 
 The free-and-easy shooter is. one whom every sportsman 
 knows well, and whom he meets at nearly every shooting-
 
 232 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 party. This fellow borrows from everybody cartridges and 
 ammunition, and of course never returns it. I have known 
 one of that class who never brought any cartridges with 
 him at all ; then, when we were all assembled and ready 
 for -a start, he would negligently ask if anyone in the 
 company would favour him with a few cartridges of shot 
 No. 6, his cartridges being, he used to add, all loaded with 
 shot either too large or too small. He took me in twice ; 
 but the third time I lent a deaf ear to his mensonges, and 
 he plundered someone else. To these "borrowings," our 
 young man joined a perfect disregard for any convention- 
 alities. He would shoot your bird rather than his' own, and 
 revel thereat boisterously. Limits of grounds, game- 
 keepers, and such-like impediments, he held in utter con- 
 tempt ; and if he saw game on his neighbour's land, nothing 
 could prevent him from going boldly in pursuit of the said 
 game. When remonstrated with he would say that restric- 
 tions were made for " blackguards" not for him ; and he 
 usually crowned this triumphant retort by adding that, as 
 a proof of his earnestness, he would do again at any time 
 just what he had done under similar circumstances. This 
 free-and-easy man was also an intrepid shooter, and he in- 
 variably fired at whatever happened to cross his path that 
 flew or ran from a hedge-sparrow to a parrot escaped from 
 its cage, from a kitten to a stray dog anything and 
 everything were destroyed by this clever fellow. To tell 
 the truth, if he did not consider much what other people's 
 opinions, tastes, or habits were, he little consulted his own 
 comfort when shooting anything was at stake, and I have 
 known him to wade into a river up to his armpits in order 
 to retrieve a sandpiper. He also was bold in private life ; 
 and, and if any buxom lassie was to be found at the inn or 
 at the farmhouse, our young man was sure to be found
 
 Sportsmen we all have Known. 233 
 
 within five yards of the rustic beauty at any time when he 
 was not actually seated at the table and eating. 
 
 The opposite type to the one I have just described 
 is that of the nervous sportsman, generally a young man 
 who takes to shooting because it is de bon ton, but who 
 would rather not meddle with it at all. This " character " 
 shoulders his gun with misgivings and fires it at random, 
 and is lucky when he does not hit his neighbours. The 
 rise of a covey, of partridges makes him jump ; a hare that 
 starts from her form sends a thrill through his frame and 
 freezes his very blood. This unhappy being is in a state 
 of continual suspense and excitement, and when the dogs 
 are on point, for two pins he would die ; drops of perspira- 
 tion roll on his brow and along his pale cheeks like great 
 beads, and his haggard look and wobegone countenance 
 betoken a sad state of internal commotion and mental 
 torture. One would think, by looking at him, that he was 
 the party going to be shot ; and if partridges were in 
 the habit of attacking sportsmen with their redoubtable 
 beaks and claws, or if hares were known to be man-eaters, 
 our poor fellow could not be more tremblingly and per- 
 plexingly anxious than he is when, with trembling limbs 
 and throbbing heart, he approaches the game. 
 
 And now we come to the tipplers and the gamesters, 
 for, there are, amongst sportsmen, two such classes, and 
 pretty numerous they seem to be by all accounts. 
 
 The tippler drinks a " drop " after " a miss " as well 
 as after " a hit." To him everything is a fit subject 
 for a visit to his large flask. Does he meet a companion, 
 the first thing is naturally the comparing of the bags, after 
 which the bottle is produced and the silver cup handed 
 round. I once saw two friends of mine meeting acci- 
 dentally thus at the corner of a wood. After the usual
 
 234 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 preliminary talk both, as a matter of course, pulled out 
 pistols from their pockets, and there they stood grinning at 
 each other like two monkeys ! 
 
 The gamester is a scarcer specimen among shooters than 
 any other variety, as naturalists would say ; but still there 
 are some men, unworthy of the honour of carrying a gun, 
 who prefer gambling to shooting, even when in the field ! 
 I know two such " cures" who never meet in their rambles 
 but they must needs seek a sheltered nook or sit down 
 behind a hedge, light a pipe, and, producing a pack of 
 cards, proceed to play a game or two. Nothing disturbs 
 them. The passion of gambling conquers victoriously the 
 passion of shooting, and when once they have begun, they 
 are " in " for it for the rest of the day, or at least until their 
 stomachs proclaim that hunger is being felt there, when 
 luncheon is discussed ; but after luncheon card-playing and 
 gambling are resumed. 
 
 The next variety on my list is that of \h& fussy shooter. 
 This specimen keeps you up late at night making car- 
 tridges to an unlimited number for fear you should run 
 short on the next day, although you may have hundreds 
 of cartridges already. Finally, you get tired, and, giving it 
 up, you retire to bed ; but at I A.M. Fussy pulls you 
 about in your bed and tells you to get up. You start and 
 sit up ; you rub your eyes, look at the clock, then at your 
 watch ; and then, when certain]of the time, you mildly wish 
 to be informed if Fussy is mad. 
 
 " Why get up now ? " you remonstrate. 
 
 " Because we must be ready in time," replies your 
 bothering companion. 
 
 " But we don't start till 5 o'clock." 
 
 " That's just it." 
 
 "But it is only I o'clock! "
 
 Sportsmen we all have Known. 235; 
 
 " I know that. It will give us time to look over our 
 things to see that nothing will be wanted in the course of 
 the day, and to breakfast comfortably." 
 
 " Oh, hang the breakfast ! " you crossly suggest. 
 
 But Fussy will not be denied ; and get up you must 
 and shall, and finally you do. And there you are, shivering 
 in your nightshirt. Fussy, in order to hasten your motions, 
 opens the windows. The damp night air invades the room 
 and chills you to the very bone ; this has the desired effect 
 of hastening you to put on your clothes. Fussy, mean- 
 while, is in his glory; and he forthwith stalks triumphantly, 
 downstairs, there to wait for you and to fuss about some- 
 thing else. But so soon as you are alone you look out 
 of window. All is pitch dark and uninviting ; the night 
 dew is heavily falling ; you shiver and shut the windows. 
 Then you yawn ; you look again at the clock ; you yawn 
 again. Insensibly you get nearer to your bed, and lo ! you 
 turn in again, without knowing yourself how you did it. 
 Not for long though, for you have hardly closed your poor 
 peepers when up comes Fussy again, and this time he 
 does not leave you until you accompany him to the break- 
 fast-table, where lights are lugubriously burning, and a 
 scared servant girl, sleepy and annoyed, upsets everything. 
 Outside, the groom, grumbling at his master's folly, is put- 
 ting the mare in the shafts, there to wait at least two hours 
 before we start. 
 
 We all have known the over-careful shooter he who is 
 continually taking his cartridges out for fear of accidents ; 
 he who dislikes to handle a gun, even when not loaded, for 
 fear it should go off, of its own accord, as a man of that 
 class 'once told me. In the field the over-careful man is 
 perpetually putting his gun at half-cock, and if you are 
 unlucky enough to be his neighbour you hear, all day, the
 
 236 Hints and Remarks on Shooting. 
 
 click ! click ! of his gun-locks. Generally, with his over- 
 carefulness, the man misses his best chances, as the game, 
 almost invariably, springs up from under his very feet 
 when his gun is at half-cock or else unloaded. 
 
 The careless shooter, on the contrary, keeps his gun 
 always loaded, even at home, and even there it is fre- 
 quently not only loaded but at full-cock, and ready to go 
 off at the slightest provocation. In the field this man 
 jumps ditches, scrambles over walls, and crawls through 
 hedges with both hammers "up and ready." If a chance 
 of firing occurs, and you are at his elbow, he does not 
 mind blazing away close to your ear, thereby making you 
 deaf for at least that day, if not longer. He fires at hares 
 when the dogs are nearly upon them, and if remonstrated 
 with, swears that his gun " does not spread," and that there 
 was not the slightest danger for the dogs. Once I saw a 
 careless shooter whose gun's breech, for some reason best 
 known to itself, would not open. The sportsman tried and 
 tried again to open it, all in vain. Finally, he looked into 
 tJie barrels ! Be it borne in mind that both hammers were 
 at full-cock, and the gun was loaded ! This class of men 
 are not only careless of their own safety, but their reckless- 
 ness towards others is next to incredible. Heaven preserve 
 you from having such a neighbour when " doing " a thick 
 covert ; for, rather than miss a woodcock or a pheasant, the 
 man would fire, even at the risk of blowing your brains out ; 
 and if a hare or a rabbit bolts your way, what cares he if a 
 handful of shot gets inserted in your legs ? Such minor 
 considerations would not stop him ; and if anyone grumbles 
 at such rough usage, the reckless sportsman wishes to know 
 why the complaining party does not remain at home. 
 
 And now, reader, I will conclude this series of rough
 
 Sportsmen we all have Known. 237 
 
 sketches by a short description of the most amusing of all 
 the types of shooters I mean the gourmand. The gour- 
 mand is generally a fat man who goes out shooting with a 
 twofold end in view viz. to keep down his corpulence and 
 to bring home tid-bits. This man does not kill much, but 
 whatever he kills, that he duly prizes. He who has not 
 seen a fat gourmand racing with the dogs for fear they 
 should spoil the woodcock he has just grassed, has seen 
 nothing. There he comes, panting and blowing like a 
 steam thrashing-machine, and the very ground trembles 
 under his mighty weight. He picks up the bird, anxiously 
 looks it well over, and triumphantly proclaims that it 'is all 
 right. Then he weighs it carefully in one hand, then in 
 the other, and finally gives it as his opinion that it is within 
 an ounce or so as heavy, or else heavier, than the one he 
 shot previously. Then he launches forth into a -glowing 
 description as to how he will have them both cooked, and 
 his very mouth waters at his own words. He is a happy 
 man, and in that hour of glory he is obliging and open- 
 handed. The fat gourmand, being thus easily satisfied in 
 point of sport, is cherished by his companions-of-the-trigger, 
 not only on that account, but also on account of his great 
 cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirits. The fat gourmand 
 generally sings willingly enough, and has a good stock of 
 jolly songs. He is sociable, and nearly drink-proof, so that 
 it not unfrequently happens that, after a fine dinner, he is 
 the only man who knows what he is about, and to him 
 behoves the care of seeing all the others safely " housed " 
 or " carted." This he attends to with a motherly care, and 
 the grateful tipplers, when reason returns, vote him a 
 brick of the first order. That is the greatest compliment 
 they can pay him, and he becomes eventually to be looked 
 upon by the others as a sort of safety-guard, in whose com-
 
 238 Hints and Remarks on Shooting, 
 
 pany they may freely indulge themselves to their hearts' 
 content. Hence his great popularity ; and there is hardly 
 a sociable shooting-party where the fat gourmand sports- 
 man does not prominently shine.
 
 SHOOTING ON THE CONTINENT.
 
 SHOOTING ON THE CONTINENT. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 CONTINENTAL SPORTSMEN, BREAKERS, AND POACHERS. 
 
 THE most peculiar feature one may notice in connection 
 with sport as carried on on the Continent is the happy-go- 
 lucky and careless way in which the sportsmen set about it 
 when once the season has been fairly entered upon. The 
 opening day, however, is an exception to the rule ; for, days 
 before that memorable event comes to pass, most of the 
 shooters are positively frantic as regards their guns, game- 
 bags, dogs, &c., but after two or three days' sport they relapse 
 into that dolcc-far-niente style that pervades all things con- 
 tinental, business and pleasure alike. On the first day only 
 is there any emulation worth speaking of among the 
 shooters, and they seem to have tacitly agreed that the 
 value of a shooting, and the skill of a shooter, should be 
 reckoned according to the number of heads of game the 
 said shooter can bag over that shooting on the first day. 
 This is queer, but it has a great advantage viz. that of 
 allowing the sportsmen soon to relapse into their quiet, idle 
 VOL. i. R
 
 242 S /tooting' on the Continent. 
 
 ways ; and it also induces them not to pursue their game 
 throughout the season with that ardour and feverish excite- 
 ment which emulation to outvie our neighbours prompts 
 amongst ourselves, to the rapid destruction of our stock. 
 Such a thing never happens abroad. Provided a man who 
 holds a shooting succeeds, fairly or not, in showing off a 
 good bag a I 'ouverturc, he does not fret much about the 
 rest of his game for the remainder of the season ; and when 
 he goes over his ground he smokes his pipe, his cigar, or his 
 cigarette, with a nonchalance that one never, or at least very 
 rarely, sees in our own fields. 
 
 The fact is, whatever a Briton undertakes to do, that he 
 does right well with a vengeance, and sometimes even, as 
 in the case of sport, he carries this spirit, I venture to say,, 
 a little too far. The way three or four British shooters set 
 about beating a field is a caution to the game to be found 
 thereon ; for they mean murder, and no mistake. They go 
 on in a business-like way, and woe to him among them who 
 is inclined to " lark ; " and if a head of game manages to 
 escape the guns, the shooters consider it very little short of 
 a calamity. 
 
 This, I think, is carrying matters a little too far. 
 Shooting, after all, is a pleasure ; and why one should set 
 about pursuing it with a frown upon one's countenance, I 
 do not veiy clearly see. No, we are too systematic and too 
 business-like in that matter. On the other hand, some 
 Continental shooters, I think, are too much the other way. 
 I don't pretend to say that such men are very enthusiastic 
 sportsmen (the reverse is probably the case), but if so, it 
 would be just as well for such to stay at home as to 
 perambulate the fields with their guns slung on their backs 
 and their hands in their pockets ; for precious little do they 
 bag whilst they go on in that way.
 
 Continental Sportsmen and Poachers. 243 
 
 However, it is quite a matter of taste, and therefore 
 cannot be satisfactorily discussed. Even, however, those 
 Continental shooters who pride themselves on being bans 
 chasseurs, exhibit a certain amount of carelessness that is 
 not without its charm. 
 
 One whose acquaintance I made a few years ago in the 
 north of France was the very type of that class. He was 
 a brewer of some standing, and having, besides, some 
 private means of his own, he took matters easy in every 
 respect, both as regarded his business and as concerned his 
 sport. He nevertheless had well-nigh everything that the 
 most fastidious shooter could wish to possess, and he knew 
 how to make use of it too ; but, withal, in a quiet, passion- 
 less manner that was very refreshing. He held some 
 neighbouring downs on lease, and the said downs being 
 very thickly populated with rabbits, he frequently (well, 
 three days on an average in every week) paid them a visit 
 with his ferrets. It was quite a treat to see him make his 
 start, with an old fishing-basket slung on his back over his 
 game-bag, and containing his two ferrets. At his heels 
 trotted an old setter bitch who thoroughly knew her busi- 
 ness ; and off they would go towards the downs, making, 
 however, a stoppage along the road at every one of the 
 three cabarets that offered their refreshments to the weary 
 or thirsty traveller. I never knew him to forget that part 
 of the business ; in fact, his habits were so well known that 
 from ever so far, when anyone belonging to either of the 
 inns saw him coming, they would unhesitatingly shout 
 out: "Here is Monsieur B. ! Apportez sa chope /" And 
 accordingly the glass of beer was brought out ready for 
 him to drink. Why he persistently drank beer, and nothing 
 else, was, I suppose, because he was a brewer himself, 
 and wished to show a good example. Howbeit, when-
 
 244 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 ever I chanced to be with him the above programme was 
 invariably and faithfully carried out to the letter, to the 
 evident satisfaction of all parties concerned ; for I verily 
 believe that if B. had chanced to go by and had neglected 
 to enter his accustomed inns it would have well-nigh 
 broken the hearts of those who kept them, so accustomed 
 were they to see him enter their dwellings. 
 
 Well, at last we would reach the downs, and the old 
 bitch, which had preceded us thither for some little time* 
 would be discovered pointing at a hole. 
 
 " Zere is somesing zere!" B. would say slowly, in his 
 broken English ; and, without looking, he would put his 
 hand in his basket, collar one of the ferrets (it did not 
 matter which they were both good ones), and put him 
 down to the hole, and say to it, "Allans, va /" Then we 
 would stand by, according to our ideas of the way the 
 rabbit or rabbits would bolt, with the bitch behind one of 
 us, ready to start. Out bunny would come, and be floored 
 or missed, according to the fortune of war, without eliciting 
 any comment whatsoever from my companion. 
 
 This apathy was not to be wondered at. When a man 
 has been shooting rabbits for over twenty years the sport 
 may well end by becoming tame. 
 
 There is, however, on the Continent, a class of shooters 
 that we have not on our side of the Channel, and it is that 
 of the professional shooters, men who subsist entirely upon 
 the proceeds of the game they shoot. 
 
 These men are sharp enough, and can vie with any- 
 body for attention to their work on hand. Their ranks 
 are recruited amongst all classes of society, strange as 
 it may appear, and I will by-and-by explain the reason 
 for this. 
 
 I must, however, first point out how it is that these men
 
 Continental Sportsmen and Poachers. 245 
 
 can at all pursue their vocation. In most parts of the 
 Continent the land is so much cut up and divided amongst 
 numerous owners that, virtually, the whole is thrown open 
 to anyone who chooses to take out a licence and shoot 
 over it. In some places the extent of such free ground is 
 rather considerable, and it is over such ground that the 
 professional shooters sport and manage to live. Not that 
 they make a " pot of money " by their calling; but as living 
 is cheap in the villages, one or two heads of game shot 
 every day fetch enough at the market to keep the man 
 going, and that is all he cares for. Generally he under- 
 takes also to train dogs for the bourgeois of the town, and 
 that brings him in contact with a class of gentlemen who, 
 if they are pleased with his services and like his general 
 ways and manners, patronise him to some extent, take him 
 with them occasionally on their preserves, and thus help 
 him to get along comfortably. The majority of these men 
 were formerly workmen, or peasants, or farm labourers, 
 whom the instinct and the passion of sport have induced to 
 give up their hard labour and small pay for an employment 
 far more suited to their tastes and more congenial to their 
 feelings. These men, who, as a rule, were invariably 
 astonishingly idle when employed in the workshop, in the 
 fields, or at the farm, now are most industrious in their 
 calling. They are up before dawn in all weathers, and 
 nothing stops their going out on their rounds, for their 
 hearts are in their work, and some of them would rather 
 commit suicide than give up shooting, so strong is the 
 passion for it in their natures. 
 
 On the other hand, some of these professionals have 
 been in good positions before, and it was that same love of 
 sport, carried to too great an extent, that brought them to 
 so low a standard as compared with their former com-
 
 246 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 parative affluence. Who has not heard of such case's ? I 
 knew, ten years ago, a young farmer who was left, at the 
 age of twenty-one, owner of a good farm in a very good 
 and profitable district. Unfortunately for him, he had the 
 habit of indulging his tastes without brooking restraint or 
 control. He had a passion for shooting, and he gave him- 
 self up to it, body and soul. He soon got the reputation 
 of being the best shot in the dfyartement ; and that tickled 
 his vanity so much that he did not mind people shaking 
 their heads over his proceedings, and saying that he was 
 going to the dogs. In truth he was though. And how 
 could it possibly be otherwise ? It did not matter what 
 urgent business he had on his hands, the moment someone 
 turned up and told him about a covey of birds or a hare 
 near at hand, he would give up at once whatever he was 
 actually doing, take up his gun, whistle his dog, and be off 
 after the game. Of course during his absence all went 
 wrong on the farm. His labourers neglected their work, 
 robbed and plundered him to their hearts' content, in due 
 fulfilment of the saying, " Like master, like man." The 
 consequence of all this was, that the young fellow expe- 
 rienced heavy losses through neglecting his harvest, &c., 
 and he had to sell his land, field after field, in order to keep 
 up his standard of gentility ; for I must add that he had, 
 in his shooting perambulations, become acquainted with 
 some men better off than himself, to imitate whom he 
 fairly drained his own resources. Finally, all was sold ; 
 his ruin was completed within five short years, and he is 
 now a mere professional, living from day to day and from 
 hand to mouth, depending on what his gun will bring 
 down during the season to keep a wife and three or four 
 children. This lamentable case is not the only one that 
 has come to my knowledge ; and other young men of a far
 
 Continental Sportsmen and Poachers. 247 
 
 higher standing than he have been brought, by the same 
 means, to the same end. These, gentlemen by birth, are 
 in a far worse plight than all the others ; for whereas a 
 common labourer's wife may go openly and sell in the 
 market whatever her husband has shot, the ex-swell who is 
 reduced to the same way of getting a living dares not show 
 himself or send anyone related to him to the market-place 
 with his game. His pride revolts against that course of 
 action. He would not like anyone to know decisively his 
 real position, though they may guess at it Selling one's 
 game on the Continent is considered one of the very lowest 
 means of living ; and he could not brook the thought that 
 people would class him amongst the lowest of the low. 
 Yet what is he to do ? "Necessity knows no law;" and 
 he must manage in some way. He arranges, then, privately 
 with somebody, to buy off from him, cheap, all he gets, and 
 thus loses a good part of the value of his game. Besides 
 which, though he may break a dog or two during the 
 season and sell them, he cannot, like his poorer confreres, 
 take in dogs to break for the bourgeois of the town. He 
 considers himself their equal, and would not lower himself 
 in their estimation by undertaking to do for them the work 
 of a menial. And so it comes to pass that he drinks to 
 the very dregs the cup of poverty. Although his standing 
 has remained openly the same, yet his position appears 
 doubtful, suspicious ; and people shake their heads and 
 wonder how he lives, and so forth. His very friends fight 
 shy of him merely because of the honte and ill-flavour that 
 his pursuit carries along with it. In fact, all over the 
 Continent nothing worse can be said of a gentleman than 
 that he sells his game for his living ; " // vend son gibier 
 pour vivre" they say ; and then they look upon him with 
 something uncommonly like contempt and loathing.
 
 248 Shooting on the Continent, 
 
 The number of such men is greater than one would be- 
 tempted to believe. There is hardly a village, a hamlet, or 
 a small country town, where one, or two, or more of them 
 are not to be found. Yet, in spite of the low rank they are 
 brought to occupy in the scale of society, these men do not 
 wish to alter their condition under any circumstances. I 
 have known an instance where one of these gentlemen pro- 
 fessionals refused a good post under Government on the 
 ground that it would take him away from his shooting. 
 
 No, such men will be very grateful to you for an invita- 
 tion to a day's sport ; but they think it the height of impu- 
 dence (!), [not to say unkindness, on your part to propose 
 to them any employment, however gentlemanly and light, 
 that would improve their position, if it should in any 
 way interfere with the gratification of their sporting pro- 
 pensities ! 
 
 Besides professional shooters, there are, on the Con- 
 tinent, wherever there is game to be found, innumerable 
 poachers ; but these, unlike ours, do not resort to driving 
 the hares and shooting the roosting pheasants. Poachers 
 there usually " wire " the hares and net the birds. They 
 do singly and quietly what our poachers do by sheer force 
 and numbers. The French poachers are remarkably clever 
 in setting their snares, astonishingly so indeed. I have 
 been repeatedly astounded at their skill. It does not 
 matter what species of game they have set their hearts 
 upon having, but, by hook or by crook, they will have it ! 
 They have a knack of setting a noose, whether it be a 
 brass wire for hares, or horsehair loops for partridge or 
 snipe, that no hare, or partridge, or snipe, can escape. 
 When such men are made keepers as, indeed, is eventually 
 generally the case and they make up their minds to 
 destroy hawks, weasels, polecats, and the like, within three
 
 Continental Sportsmen and PoacJiers. 249 
 
 months the manor is completely cleared of all vermin. 
 When, however, the lessee or owner of a shooting will 
 persistently ignore them, they soon destroy all his game, in 
 spite of his keeper, who oftener than not is getting drunk 
 on bad beer and worse eau de vie at the nearest cabaret, 
 whilst the lonely wirer is doing his work of destruction. 
 There are also village poachers who employ the gun, but 
 such men do not go boldly on any preserved estate ; they 
 are content with the communal ground, and merely dis- 
 pense with the usual licence. They have, during the day, 
 noticed a hare's run, and they forthwith make up their 
 minds to have a pop at her. A man of that class generally 
 has but a single-barrelled gun oftentimes the 'mousquet or 
 moiisqucton that he had to use when he was a soldier. 
 Well, evening has set in, the Angelus has been rung at the 
 steeple of the village church, the cattle are in their stables, 
 all the rural sounds are dying out one by one ; now is his 
 time. He takes the gun to pieces, and easily hides it 
 under his blouse. He then slips out of his thatched cot- 
 tage, and perhaps calls at a friend's on his way to the 
 fields. He finds'the family at supper ; they ask him to sit 
 down. No, he is in a hurry, and with 'a significant smile 
 and a wink he gives a tap with his knuckle against the gun- 
 barrel. The eldest boy there present opens his eyes, and 
 hints that he would like to go with him. The father's 
 consent is never slow to be given (peasants are always 
 poachers at heart, more or less), and presently the boy and 
 the man get away slyly, through a back lane where no one 
 ever goes when once night has set in. There they are, 
 noiselessly making their way, when suddenly the poacher,, 
 who is walking first, stops, takes the boy by the arm, and 
 pulls him behind an old outhouse, where they remain 
 silent and almost breathless. They hear a footstep. It is
 
 250 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 the garde champetrc coming back again to the village after 
 his last round. He passes by quietly smoking his pipe, 
 and his footsteps die away in the streets of the village. 
 Now the coast is clear, and the man and boy start again, 
 and this time with more confidence. They have left the 
 village behind them, and it has disappeared in the evening 
 mists that rise from the valley ; they walk on and on until 
 they reach the field near the covert where the man intends 
 to wait in ambush. He places the boy comfortably against 
 a hedge, puts his gun together, and loads it carefully. 
 
 " Now," says he, " remain here until I come for thee, 
 boy." 
 
 And away he goes, and his blouse soon grows fainter in 
 the gloom. The boy shivers, partly with cold and partly 
 with fright ; but as the moon rises he is enabled to perceive 
 his companion at the foot of a tree, some sixty yards away, 
 and that cheers him up a bit. He watches and watches, 
 and by-and-by he sees the man getting ready ; he sees 
 him aiming deliberately at a dark spot, and the boom of 
 the gun makes him jump out of his hiding-place, when the 
 man rushes up to him breathlessly. 
 
 " I have got it ! there it is ! " he says proudly, as he 
 holds up for the boy's admiration a fine hare, murdered in 
 cold blood ; and when they get back again to the boy's 
 home they are both congratulated on their pluck, and the 
 poacher goes to bed that night with the consciousness that 
 he is indeed a very brave and a very clever fellow. Very- 
 brave, forsooth ! for having evaded a perhaps one-armed 
 or half-blind garde cliampetre's vigilance ! and very clever, 
 for having shot a hare, sitting on her haunches, within 
 twenty yards of the muzzle of his gun !
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 CONTINENTAL SPORTSMEN, BREAKERS, AND POACHERS 
 Continued. 
 
 THERE is also among Continental shooters an individual 
 taste for particular branches of sport, which our own 
 shooters but rarely exhibit. A British shooter does not 
 mind at all, as a rule, what he is going to shoot, provided 
 he shoots something; but not so with the majority of 
 sportsmen on the Continent. 
 
 Some of these have a strong partiality for hares, and 
 accordingly one sees nothing but beagles or harriers about 
 their places. Others prefer partridge-shooting, and these 
 affect the companionship of spaniels, setters, or pointers, in 
 preference to any other breeds of dogs. Others delight in 
 marshes, and do nothing but flounder in their bogs all the 
 season through. Finally, some have a passion for rabbit- 
 shooting, and these breed terriers and ferrets by the dozen. 
 
 You will find, moreover, that the hare-shooter will look 
 upon the man who is fond of partridge-shooting, or upon 
 the one who is " snipe-struck," or upon the " rabbit- 
 fancier," with a contempt and disgust which is in each case 
 thoroughly reciprocated. 
 
 It is not, however, so much a matter of fanciful taste 
 that is at the bottom of these different fancies, as a matter 
 of locality. There are but few Frenchmen who travel about
 
 252 Shooting on the Continent, 
 
 as we do in search of sport ; the majority remain in their 
 villages, hamlets, or country towns ; and, naturally enough, 
 through having to enjoy the kind of sport that their own 
 ground round about their respective places affords, they 
 take a liking to that kind of sport, and eventually it grows 
 as a strong habit upon them. 
 
 Now such instances of peculiarities cannot be noticed 
 so well in the British Kingdom, on account of the generally 
 unsociable ways of the land. On the Continent there is 
 not one single sportsman, perhaps, who does not frequent 
 some cafe or other, where he meets regularly, and at least 
 once a day, his brother-shooters. It is, then, in these daily 
 reunions that the shooters' respective individualities shine. 
 There never is a row, mind. They are all too well-bred to 
 say anything coarse or rude ; but the good-humoured chaft 
 and satire are all but irresistible. Everyone turns up in 
 the evening at the cafe dn chasseur (or at some cafe devoted 
 to the craft), accompanied by his dog or dogs, no matter 
 how numerous or how unwelcome they may be, for the 
 Continental sportsman is as proud of his animal, or animals, 
 as of himself. He never goes anywhere without them. 
 Even when he goes to the barber for a shave his canine 
 companions are with him ; so that by his very attendants 
 the shooter betrays his favourite sport, and is perfectly 
 satisfied with the fact. 
 
 I was frequently much amused by listening to the 
 general conversation in the cafes when, of an evening, I 
 was there, having a game at billiards (to rest -my legs after 
 a hard day's sport, I presume), or a quiet game at ecartc. 
 Sometimes it would happen that all those present were of 
 the same "sporting creed," when there was no discussion 
 worth speaking of going on, and everyone was intent on 
 playing his game with due care ; but presently the door
 
 Continental Sportsmen and Poachers. 253 
 
 would open, and two or three hare-beagles would enter 
 boldly, preceding their master, who, with two or three hares 
 in his bag and his gun on his shoulder, would make his 
 appearance, and after a friendly nod all round to his friends 
 and acquaintances, he would unburden himself, sit down, 
 empty a glass at a gulp, order another, and then the dis- 
 cussion would begin and be continued with good-humoured 
 rcpartic until one or other of the parties got up to 
 leave. 
 
 As regards the dogs, these animals are far more happy 
 with their Continental masters than they are with us. In 
 spite of many assertions to the contrary, I do not believe 
 that dogs were made to be chained up to, or shut up in, 
 their kennels. Dogs are essentially companionable, and. it 
 seems hard to keep them imprisoned in seclusion, when 
 they are not actually required for sport. In fact, anyone 
 who will take the trouble to notice it, will see that a com- 
 panion dog that has been nicely treated positively looks at 
 you with reproach in his eyes when you offer to chain him 
 up. He seems to wonder what can have brought such a 
 disgrace upon him ; and, in truth, it is a disgrace and 
 a torture. Howbeit, with the great majority of British 
 shooters, a dog is an instrument to be prized, more or less 
 according to his degree of usefulness. Beyond that, nothing 
 more is elicited from the average British owners. Not so 
 with the Continental men. Their dog is for them not only 
 an instrument, but a friend, and it oftentimes happens that 
 the love of the man for the dog as a companion is so great 
 that the defects of the dog, as a sporting- dog, are passed 
 over and unnoticed by its master. Not that he does not 
 perceive them. He is fully aware that his dog ought really 
 to be more stanch than he is that he ought not to chase 
 fur, that he ought not to crunch his game, and so forth.
 
 254 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 But then, since he will do it, let him, says he. Rather 
 than sell or otherwise part with him and get a better one, 
 they prefer keeping their companion because they like him. 
 Now, I think such a way of doing things very nice, very 
 poetical, and all that ; but, nevertheless, that is a little too 
 much the other way to our own. 
 
 Shooting over dogs is a most annoying and vexing 
 sport when the dogs are not perfect ; therefore why submit 
 to having your sport ruined and your temper ruffled for the 
 comfort of a dog ? I don't see it. Consequently, in so far 
 as that goes, I do not agree with my Continental friends ; 
 and I have over and over again remonstrated with them, 
 whenever I saw them deliberately allowing their dogs their 
 own way rather than get rid of them. 
 
 On the other hand, by our system of secluding the dogs 
 from ourselves, we don't get from the dog half the talent 
 and fun that we ought. The dogs are estranged from their 
 masters when shut up or chained up, and when taken out 
 for sport they hunt for themselves, and do not pay much 
 attention to anybody else. If stanch, well and good ; but 
 if inclined to be wild, then woe be to the sport. Taken all 
 in all, we always succeed as well as, and generally better, 
 than our neighbours ; but that is because our breeds of 
 dogs are incomparably better than theirs, not that they are 
 better broken. I have never seen any dogs so well broken 
 as on the Continent. What a French, German, or Belgian 
 dog-breaker will not teach his pupils I do not know. 
 
 I will tell you what I have seen, and that will give you 
 an idea of the perfection to which dog-breaking, for general 
 work, has been brought among our neighbours. 
 
 I had, when abroad, seen an advertisement in one of my 
 English papers, offering a very handsome, but unruly, black- 
 and-tan setter for sale. I wrote about it, and the man who
 
 Continental Sportsmen and Poachers. 255 
 
 had the dog for sale candidly stated that he could do 
 nothing with him, but that he was of good descent, and as 
 such ought to turn out well. 
 
 Now I wanted, at the time, the services of a good 
 pedigree setter as a stud-dog ; therefore, so far, the adver- 
 tised dog suited my requirements. I accordingly bought 
 it, and it was forthwith sent over to me. 
 
 He was a magnificent dog, and I was perfectly satisfied 
 with my bargain. When I had had him some little time I 
 resolved to try him, for the fun of the thing, and I took 
 him out alone. A more wild and disorderly ranger it never ' 
 was my lot to behold, and he showed directly his capa- 
 bilities for mischief. He flushed every bird he could scent, 
 and he had a splendid nose, so that nothing escaped his 
 notice. He coursed a half-grown hare like a greyhound, 
 and killed it. He then came upon a fowl along the road, 
 and twisted its neck ; and goodness only knows what next 
 he would have done if I had not secured him. Now the 
 shooting season being just beginning, I could not think of 
 entertaining the idea of breaking the dog myself just then ; 
 so I invariably afterwards left it at home, and took with 
 me my broken dogs ; but of an evening I generally allowed 
 Don to come with me in town, and wherever he went every- 
 body admired him, he was so handsome. Well, one even- 
 ing, a Belgian gentleman said to me : 
 
 " How old is your dog ? Not more than two years ? 
 If I were you I would get him broken." 
 
 " I intend breaking him myself," I said ; " but he is so 
 wild I must wait until game gets a little scarcer, when I can 
 take him out then and devote all my attention to him ; for 
 you know you can't break a dog and bag game at the same 
 time." 
 
 " True. But," said he, "if I were you I would not take
 
 256 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 the trouble. For ^3 or ^4 you will get your dog beauti- 
 fully broken by a professional." 
 
 " Broken to what ? " 
 
 " To stand and retrieve from land and from water." 
 
 "And how long would it take the man ? " 
 
 " A month or so." 
 
 " I would not mind giving him six weeks, and extra 
 pay too, and have the work well done." 
 
 " Well, we will go and see him now if you like." 
 
 And we went. 
 
 In the suburbs of the town was a small wooden, one- 
 roomed place, built in the sand, among the downs. Before 
 we got to within a hundred yards of the place numerous 
 and loud barks told us that good watch was kept there 
 at any rate ; and soon four or five dogs came running 
 towards us, and fraternised with Don, who, however, did 
 not seem " to see it." The man himself then turned up, and 
 invited us in, when we explained the object of our visit. 
 But what a queer place this professional's abode was ! On 
 the walls were spiked collars, chains, pegs, ordinary collars, 
 coils of string, a whip or two, an old pin breechloader, and 
 a net game-bag much the worse for wear. In a corner was 
 a bed. Opposite was a microscopic stove, under which the 
 dogs were all stretched and roasting themselves. Four 
 wooden chairs and a strong table constituted all the furni- 
 ture. On a shelf were cooking utensils i.e. a plate and a 
 frying-pan ; and that was all. 
 
 What do you think of my chateau ? " asked the man. 
 " Very snug, is it not ? Well, now let us see about business. 
 You say he is two years old," he added, looking at Don. 
 " Hum ! I think he is more. Nevertheless, I will do my 
 best for him, and if he does not turn out well it won't be my 
 fault.! " And he waved his arm like a man who is giving a
 
 Continental Sportsmen and Poachers. 257 
 
 smart cut with the whip, and he winked at us. " I will let 
 you know gradually how he gets on. Yes, five or six weeks 
 won't be too much." 
 
 So saying, he pulled Don to the wall, where a chain was 
 already fixed, hooked him there, placed a pot full of water 
 near the dog, and we went our way. 
 
 Of course when I got up Don sprang up too ; but 
 "moral persuasion" goes a long way, and he resumed his 
 former attitude very speedily. Evidently he was in strict 
 hands, and that impressed me favourably. 
 
 Well, five or six weeks after, true to our agreement, the 
 professional made his appearance at my place with the dog ; 
 for we had agreed that we should officially try him together, 
 and on the principle " No cure, no pay," I was to pay the 
 man $ if the dog were fit, or take him away and only pay 
 ;i for his keep if he were not suitably broken. 
 
 Well, instead of wildly running about and upsetting 
 everything, as he used to do, the dog was soberly keeping 
 at the man's heels. 
 
 " Couche la ! " said the man ; and the dog unhesitatingly 
 laid down. 
 
 I got ready, and we started. 
 
 I knew a good turnip-field within half a mile of the 
 town, where the remnants of a covey were to be found ; and 
 towards that field we accordingly directed our footsteps. 
 On our way the dog ranged beautifully, and found a single 
 bird in a small clover-field. 
 
 " He has a splendid nose, sir," the man said. " I 
 have seen him scenting partridges a hundred yards or 
 more away from him. See, now, how steady he 
 stands." 
 
 He might have said, " See how comfortably he is lying 
 down," for the dog was stretched at full length along the 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 258 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 clover, and but for his eyes, that turned towards us, might 
 have been thought dead. 
 
 Well, I went up, the partridge rose, I floored it, and the 
 dog never moved. 
 
 " Va chercher ! " said the man. 
 
 And up he bounded towards the spot where the par- 
 tridge had fallen, found the bird instantly, turned it over 
 with his nose, took it up by the wing, and brought it 
 to us. 
 
 "Assis ! assist" repeated the man, lifting up his 
 hand. 
 
 And the dog sat doivn before him, to give him the 
 bird. 
 
 I could hardly believe my own eyes. And so this was 
 the Don that was so untractable before. It was wonderful, 
 but it was not extraordinary considering the means employed. 
 In fact the dog was absolute obedience, and a better dog I 
 never had. I shot over him that season and half the next, 
 when, being in England at the time, one of my shooting 
 friends made me a handsome offer for the dog, and I sold 
 it to him. He has got it now. 
 
 The only difficulty at first was the language ; for, as 
 the dog's breaker spoke French, it followed that the dog 
 did not know what we meant when we spoke English ; but 
 after some shooting practice he soon got into the habit of 
 working by signs, and eventually a snap of the fingers and 
 a sweep of the hand were enough to make him understand 
 what he was required to do. Now, this is the acme of per- 
 fection. A dog that is stanch, and requires no speaking 
 to, is invaluable to a shooter. 
 
 The Belgian Baron de K. has four pointers, imported 
 from England, but broken in Continental style, who .work 
 Avithout a word being addressed to them from morning till
 
 Continental Sportsmen and Poachers. 259 
 
 evening. The Baron works them himself in the following 
 manner : He puts his gun over his left arm, and holds a 
 white handkerchief in his right hand. This handkerchief 
 he waves to the right or to the left occasionally, when he 
 wishes the dogs to quarter either side, and you never hear 
 a word spoken all day to the pointers, except for retrieving, 
 when the word " Apporte" is spoken, and that is all. Now, 
 I simply call this superb, and the sight, the first time I was 
 present, fairly took my breath away. 
 
 " You have good dogs in England," said the Baron 
 to me many times, " but good breakers are scarce 
 there." 
 
 And that is but too true. The few good breakers we 
 have waste their time and talents on lumberly and noseless 
 retrievers, to the neglect of our thoroughly sporting pointers, 
 setters, and spaniels. The more the pity. If they would 
 only do by these latter as fairly as they do by the cross- 
 bred Newfoundlanders, they would beat the Continental 
 breakers into fits. But then they won't. 
 
 The same thing, again, happens for coursing-dogs. I 
 don't mean the dogs used for official meetings, but those 
 used by country gentlemen and well-to-do farmers for 
 private coursing i.e. coursing merely for the sport of the 
 thing, and for the table. Well, I don't believe there are 
 six greyhounds in the British Kingdom (except those that 
 belong to professional poachers) that are fit to be used for 
 private coursing. As a rule, the gentleman who loves a 
 morning's coursing now and then for the supply of his 
 larder, has to fight every time with his greyhounds for the 
 possession of their hare when they have killed it, and then 
 finds it torn to pieces or half eaten away; and that is where 
 I think something might be done. Greyhounds. are not so 
 stupid as we give them credit for. Those that are stupid 
 
 S 2
 
 260 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 we have made so by our senseless system of for ever having- 
 them secured, unless actually running. But a greyhound, 
 treated properly, is as sensible as any other dog, and he 
 can be taught, as readily as any other breed, that he is not 
 to destroy his game when he has caught it. That is the 
 first point. The next is to teach him to retrieve it. Then 
 it is a treat and a pleasure to go coursing. But, as things 
 now -stand, it is just the reverse. 
 
 " Run, John, run," shouts the sportsman to his keeper, 
 or attendant ; " they have caught her ! " 
 
 And worthy John has to run as fast as his legs can 
 carry him ; then extemporises a fight with the dogs, for 
 what ? Half a hare and its legs, which the dogs, as a rule, 
 disdain to devour. Whereas, should the greyhounds have 
 been properly taught, one might go, as the Belgian coursers 
 do, with one's hands in one's pockets, smoke a pipe or a 
 cigar, and enjoy thoroughly the fun, without any trouble or 
 annoyance. And again, the Belgian sportsmen's system of 
 making companions of their dogs tells favourably, both 
 when entering the dogs to game and also when making them 
 retrieve, for the following reasons viz. that as the dogs, 
 when puppies, are always free, and, when able to take care 
 of themselves, as they always accompany their masters 
 everywhere, they gradually get accustomed to all the sights 
 of the fields, and farms, and villages, so that they never 
 dream afterwards of chasing sheep, killing fowls, &c., as 
 secluded puppies do when brought out in earnest when of 
 age to begin work; and on the other hand, the very 
 children, when playing with the young puppies, teach them 
 to retrieve things for fun, and this eventually proves a 
 capital accomplishment when the dogs are brought on 
 game, 
 
 To resume, then, I think, as the Baron de K. said, that
 
 Continental Sportsmen and Poachers. 261 
 
 though we have the best and handsomest sporting-dogs in 
 the world, their breaking is now, as a rule, shamefully 
 neglected ; and I honestly think that such ought not to be 
 the case for the sporting-dogs of the most sporting nation 
 -on the face of the earth.
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 FREE SHOOTINGS ON THE CONTINENT. 
 
 THE season 1876 has proved, I was told from many 
 quarters, a most excellent one as regards game ; and on the 
 Continent birds were said to have bred extremely well, and 
 sportsmen who had gone there had therefore enjoyed very 
 good sport. 
 
 For the information of those of my readers who would 
 like to take a trip abroad, I would mention several spots 
 well known to myself, where they would indubitably enjoy 
 themselves, if " our warm corners " of the past seasons have 
 not spoilt them and made them wish for everlasting firing,, 
 to the total exclusion of any " fagging." 
 
 Now in view of the great number of British sportsmen 
 who are year after year deprived of their shootings, on 
 account of the great increase in value of these precious 
 luxuries, I trust a short account of what may be done 
 abroad, within easy distance of England, will prove of some 
 interest to many shooters. 
 
 I have already treated the subject as regards hiring 
 shootings in Belgium,* but now I will extend my information 
 to Holland and France as well, and will confine myself to 
 the sort of sport that a wandering shooter might expect to 
 meet there. By wandering shooter let me not be misunder- 
 
 * See my ' ' Shooting and Fishing Trips in England, France, Alsace, 
 Belgium, Holland, and Bavaria."
 
 Free Shootings on the Continent. 263 
 
 stood. I do not mean that a man may go over the mackerel- 
 ditch, land (say) in Holland, and walk from thence indis- 
 criminately over the lands until he has crossed the North 
 of Holland, of Belgium, and of France. Such a trip might 
 have been undertaken fifty years ago, perhaps, with little 
 or no molestation, but now les temps sont changes ; if you 
 do not know where to go you are likely to be caught fifty 
 times a day, and it is more than probable that the trip 
 would be nipped in its very bud. 
 
 As regards the northern coasts of the Continent, from 
 the River Ems down to the River Loire, shooting there is 
 free to all comers. In fact, in Belgium, shore-shooting is 
 allowed all the year round ; but as concerns marsh-shooting 
 it may be assumed that it begins on the ist of August every 
 year without any change whatever, even if the ist should 
 fall on a Sunday. In the latter case, if it were in England, 
 there would be of course no shooting ; but the Dutch, 
 Belgians, and French look upon Sunday as the day for 
 enjoyment, and therefore do not scruple to shoot then. 
 
 Well then, those British shooters who are fond of snipe 
 and duck shooting, and who have no particular wish to 
 remain in the British Islands, may begin their sport over 
 the water two or three days after this paper will have 
 appeared in Bell's Life, viz. : on the 1st August. 
 
 As regards general shooting, the dates vary for each 
 department, and have to be ascertained. As for sport, it 
 depends very much upon the spot where one pitches ; 
 but I may here premise that a great deal of attention has 
 of late been drawn to shootings everywhere, that as a 
 matter of fact the laws are now very strictly enforced, and 
 that there never was better sport to be obtained than now 
 on the Continent in a moderate way, as I hinted in my 
 preliminary remarks.
 
 264 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 Where to go must now be left to the shooter's decision. 
 Some men prefer snipe-shooting to anything, others are 
 " rabbit struck," whereas wildfowlers care not to fire a shot 
 unless it be at ducks, widgeon, or teal, &c. 
 
 For snipe-shooting I would recommend generally the 
 north of Holland, the northern zone of Belgium, and 
 certain spots in France which I will name separately. In 
 Holland the whole coast is marshy, and snipe abound 
 wherever the draining has not been carried out too strictly, 
 and even then there is always a pretty nice bag to be made ; 
 but wherever there is a wilderness of bogs, there one may 
 expect to enjoy himself to his heart's content. The trouble, 
 however, of shooting there is great, on account of the land 
 being intersected so very frequently by canals, ditches, 
 rivers, &c., so that crossing the streams gets rather tiring 
 and bothering, especially in those wild spots where even 
 plank bridges are unused, and where the peasants never 
 journey abroad without their leaping-poles when business 
 or sport brings them into the marshes. 
 
 As to particular spots, it would be rather invidious to 
 choose amongst such a plethora of good things. I would, 
 however, recommend the shores of the Escaut, as abound- 
 ing with birds, and leave will be readily obtained from the 
 villagers to shoot over their meadows and pastures. 
 
 In fa'ct, with courtesy, a sportsman is mostly everywhere 
 well received, and a hearty dinner given to two or three of 
 the notables will ensure the giver free scope to his ranging. 
 
 In some spots one may shoot alone with tolerable safety 
 and comfort, but as a rule a guide and pole-carrier will be 
 found an absolute necessity. 
 
 Let the shooter provide all his shooting gear in England, 
 as Dutch concerns will not suit his tastes. Powder, how- 
 ever, he cannot bring over; in fact, it is not allowed
 
 Free Shootings on the Continent. 265 
 
 to be landed at any of the seaports ; therefore a " note 
 should be made of it." I had once a provision of cartridges 
 confiscated, and since then I have taken care not to be put 
 to such an inconvenience again. 
 
 As regards duck-shooting, Holland carries the palm by 
 a long way. An experienced shooter, even at the very be- 
 ginning of the season, with an ordinary 12-bore gun, may 
 bag a score of birds, which he will flush from the streams in 
 his perambulations. And, as to flighting, the flocks are 
 always considerable and very large, therefore quite first- 
 class sport may be expected there in that line. 
 
 ' On the Zuyder Zee very good shooting is also to be 
 had. 
 
 In Belgium the best marshes are those situated south- 
 east of Neuport, near Ostend. The walking there is good, 
 and sporting at times admirable. I have myself shot there, 
 when tramping over the marshes, mixed bags of duck, teal, 
 snipe, partridges, hares, quail, curlew, and plover, which 
 could hardly have been surpassed anywhere. The ditches 
 are not always "jumpable;" therefore leaping-poles must 
 of necessity be carried by the attendants. 
 
 The only way of obtaining leave to shoot there is to 
 apply direct to the mayors at the villages, and ask them 
 for information as to what places one may shoot over, and 
 so forth. They will commission the gardes champctre to 
 accompany the shooter, and no difficulty will be expe- 
 rienced if the shooter is inclined to be liberal, says so, and 
 proves it from the first. On the other hand, if the new 
 comer can procure letters of introduction to some of the 
 authorities, it will smooth matters over still more, and he 
 will find that if he has been warmly recommended, un- 
 limited sport and country will be shown him. There are' 
 moreover, several bits of free marshes quite open to every-
 
 266 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 body. These the shooter could not discover by himself 
 unless he resided some little time in the place, when of 
 course eventually he would come to know every bit of land, 
 and would . therefore be enabled to separate the reserved 
 ground from the free. But the best plan is undoubtedly to 
 secure the services of the communal keepers. Two or 
 three francs a day will make any of them extremely officious, 
 and with one as a companion you are safe anywhere. 
 
 This feeling, I need not add, tends considerably to 
 enliven the sport. One never shoots so well as when one 
 knows he is entitled to shoot where he is. Confidence is 
 everything in such matters. If you fancy you are trespass- 
 ing, and if you imagine that every peasant that turns up 
 in the distance is a keeper coming to pounce upon you, it 
 is apt to make you feel fidgety, and you do not enjoy your- 
 self. Some men, however, like that sort of thing. I know 
 one who is never so glad as w r hen he is crossing everybody's 
 land, and sets the whole staff of keepers in chase after 
 him. But then he has a long purse, and when caught does 
 not mind " squaring " it handsomely, so all is for the best, 
 and everybody is pleased ; but it is not every shooter that 
 can act thus, and moreover some owners are apt to resent 
 such liberties, which it must be acknowledged are not alto- 
 gether of a very sportsmanlike type. 
 
 The Belgian revenue is not rich, its inferior officers are 
 very ill-paid, and, as a natural sequence, they are wonder- 
 fully sharp, and are always on the qui vive, and ready to 
 pounce on anyone who is trying to evade paying. This 
 being the case, let the sportsman first of all secure his 
 shooting license, cost forty-two francs, say at the Ostend 
 Revenue Office, where he may take the mail-cart or a trap 
 and go on his way rejoicing, either to Neuport straight (by 
 the former for two francs, I think), or he may stop at any
 
 Free Shootings on the Continent. 267 
 
 of the villages by the roadside, and stay at an inn and see 
 about the shooting to be had. Probably some reticence 
 will at first be shown, but silver will go a long way with 
 people there, and the "almighty dollar" will be found 
 perfectly omnipotent in Belgium. 
 
 I now come to France, and as its extent of northern 
 coast is about fifteen times that of Belgium, the spots 
 where one may shoot are a great deal more numerous, and 
 will therefore need a more lengthened description. 
 
 The country about Dunkerque is flat, and quails, par- 
 tridges, and hares are to be had in the fields and snipe in 
 the ditches. There is, however, but little free shooting to 
 be had there, and that little is overrun by shooters. Every- 
 body owns a gun and a dog of some sort, and there is 
 accordingly no game worth mentioning. 
 
 Below Calais several private marshes, strictly preserved r 
 are to be found, and a visit to two or three of the leading 
 sportsmen in Calais will insure dc facto invitations which 
 the Britisher always repays handsomely, either by some 
 "jolly feeds" at one of the leading hotels or in some other 
 equally acceptable way. Some of the Calais leading 
 sportsmen are gentlemen in the real acceptation of the 
 term, and I found those I met one and all most jolly com- 
 panions and most entertaining fellows. They generally 
 form a sort of company. Five or six share expenses and 
 secure a good shooting-ground for their enjoyment and that 
 of their friends ; they get a good keeper, and get plenty of fun. 
 
 Half-way between Calais and Boulogne there are two 
 or three small marshes where anyone may shoot. There is 
 one such near Cape Griznez lighthouse ; but as the Channel 
 tunnel works have been begun just there, or thereabouts, 
 presumably the workmen will not allow a single bird to 
 settle unmolested.
 
 268 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 The next free marsh and land is that of Slack. The 
 marsh extends for miles along one shore of the river that 
 gives it its name, and would be tolerably good were it not 
 for the huttiers, who bother the fowl all night, and the 
 vagabonds of the neighbouring villages who overrun the 
 marsh early in the morning and late in the evening to pick 
 up any stray birds. Many .of these fellows have no sporting 
 licenses, and it has always been a mystery to me why such 
 a state of things was allowed. There is, however, a part of 
 the marsh, viz. that next to the village of Slack, which is 
 pretty fair. One may sport over the whole land and marsh 
 as much as one likes by paying eight shillings for a shooting 
 ticket at the inn. There are rabbits in the furzy downs 
 and snipe along the stream, together with lapwing, plovers, 
 curlews, ducks, &c. ; and near by is the village of Amble- 
 teuse, with its old harbour, where thousands of seafowl are 
 wont to congregate in suitable weather. 
 
 At Boulogne the communal ground all round the town 
 is free, and so is that at Wimereux. There are several nice 
 streams at the latter village, and I would recommend par- 
 ticularly a small one that runs into the sea opposite an old 
 fort. There are always a couple or two of snipe to be 
 picked up there within two hundred yards of the shore, 
 and the other streams are equally interesting. 
 
 On the other side of Boulogne runs the river Lianne, 
 both shores of which are free for a mile or so. Past that 
 distance the ground is preserved, and boards with chasse 
 reserves will plainly tell the tale to all would-be trespassers. 
 
 Between Boulogne and Etaples there are several places 
 justly renowned for their sporting capabilities. The marsh 
 of Condette, one of these, is justly celebrated. That of 
 Dannes ditto ; but the latter is in the hands of a private 
 gentleman, and the former is shot over now by several
 
 Free Shootings on the Continent. 269 
 
 actionnaires or bondholders. The actions are to be had for 
 a few pounds, and they are well worth the money. 
 
 At Amiens there are two or three small marshes over 
 which leave is readily obtained to sport. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Etaples in winter time there 
 is very fair wildfowl-shooting to be had free. The best plan 
 there is to stop at one of the hotels and ask the landlord 
 for information. He will either go with the sportsman, or 
 send someone with him, or introduce him to some of the 
 town sportsmen. 
 
 The next best spot will be on the river Somme, and in 
 its immediate neighbourhood. The marshes of Abbeville 
 used to be wonderfully good, and for ducks none could 
 beat them. 
 
 From Abbeville to Saint Valery there is a good deal of 
 sport to be had, and La Ferte, midway between the two 
 towns, would probably prove the best spot to put up at. 
 
 Normandy I cannot speak about. 
 
 Brittany, however, for rough sport, is, perhaps, taken all 
 in all, the best part of France. All along the coast in 
 severe winter weather thousands upon thousands of wild- 
 fowl wend their way. In the woods woodcocks abound, 
 and wild boar are to be found as well as wolves. In the 
 fields partridges and hares are pretty numerous, and along 
 the streams plenty of snipe are to be had, with a very fair 
 sprinkling of ducks, teal, &c. Where to go is a pure 
 matter of fancy. I could name twenty places where sports- 
 men might go and enjoy their fill of sport at an extremely 
 moderate cost. The charge at an hotel for a good dinner 
 rarely amounts to more than four shillings, a bottle of good 
 wine included, and at some of the inferior places I daresay 
 that sum would cover wholly one's board and lodging per 
 diem. Many shootings are perfectly free, others merely
 
 270 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 require asking for leave to sport over them, as a matter ot 
 form ; and a good shot, with a good single-handed retrieving 
 dog, either setter or spaniel, will do wonders there. 
 
 Referring to my shooting diary, I find that from Callac 
 to Carhaix, walking along the river, I shot, in one day in 
 September, seven couple and a half of snipe, three ducks, 
 one teal, eight brace of partridges, and three hares, from 
 9 A.M. to 8 P.M. I had a keeper and his son to carry my 
 ammunition and game, and I loaded them both with the 
 latter. I worked two setters, and I can say with perfect 
 truth that I never in all my life enjoyed myself better 
 anywhere. 
 
 At Le Favirt, on another stream, I bagged twenty snipe 
 in three hours in November the following year. 
 
 In fact, turn where you will and go where you like, a 
 shooter is bound to meet with sport ; and if the land and 
 its inhabitants are now as they were when I went to Brittany, 
 all I can say is no one need look for anything better, as 
 regards free sport and comfort ; and I can heartily recom- 
 mend it to those of my readers who may be on the look-out 
 for a spot where to go and spend a long or a short time 
 with their guns and dogs. There is nothing better than 
 Brittany anywhere on the Continent, for free sport, cela 
 scntend ; for it stands to reason that where men spend small 
 fortunes in stocking and preserving their manors, the said 
 men are bound to have more birds to shoot than where no 
 preservation is carried out ; but it is not everybody who 
 can spend a small fortune on sport, and therefore to sports- 
 men with short purses I will say unhesitatingly, go to 
 Brittany. If, however, the distance be too great, then pick 
 out any of those other spots nearer home which I have 
 mentioned in this chapter, and I am convinced you will 
 enjoy yourself there.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 FREE SHOOTINGS ON THE CONTINENT Continued. 
 
 AFTER the publication of the preceding article, I received, 
 in the course of a few days, seven letters of inquiry,' five of 
 which were from England alone ; and as the questions 
 therein propounded might have also arisen in the minds of 
 many other readers, I forthwith proceeded to give such 
 explanations as the afore-mentioned inquiries might suggest. 
 
 " Are there no partridges and no hares in Holland ? " 
 wrote one of my correspondents ; " you did not mention 
 anything about them in your paper. At any rate, if there 
 are any, of course they are too young to shoot yet " (this 
 letter was written during the month of August, 1876), "and, 
 if so, what could I shoot there now ? and when does 
 partridge-shooting begin over there ? " 
 
 Now why I did not mention field-shooting as concerned 
 Holland, was simply because a month at least must have 
 elapsed then before shooters could enter into it. There are 
 plenty of partridges and hares in Holland, but of course, 
 as everywhere else, the sportsman must wait for the official 
 opening of the field-shooting season before they can wage 
 war against them. At the present time (August), one may 
 only carry a gun and shoot along the streams, rivers, pools, 
 or ditches. In short, one must shoot nothing but water
 
 272 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 birds ; and this state of things will last until September. 
 To insure greater immunity to partridges, quails, and hares, 
 the authorities profess to enforce the usual sporting regula- 
 tions on the Continent viz. that the shooters at no time 
 (except when going to pick up a bird) must be more than 
 ten metres (about twelve yards) from a sheet of water, 
 either stagnant or running. When the shooter has to cross 
 any intervening fields, he is, by a pleasant legal fiction, 
 supposed to uncock his gun, and sling it over his back or 
 carry it on his shoulder. This is very rarely attended to, 
 unless rural police-officers are about, when it will behove 
 the sportsman to look very sharp after such things. But, 
 as a rule, nobody does attend to it, and I daresay more 
 quails are bagged in August than in September, and pro- 
 bably not a few very young partridges are also shot by 
 those who are temporarily in the district. I have seen 
 quails, just landed from their long journeys, and therefore 
 very poor and hardly able to fly, shot by some fellows, for 
 the sake of saying that they had secured the first quail. I 
 hope they enjoyed eating them, that is all; for surely they 
 could not have enjoyed killing them. 
 
 As regards shooting partridges, it is not easy to follow 
 in Holland the plan adopted in England towards furthering 
 their being bagged ; because, on account of the fields and 
 meadows being small, and frequently intersected by ditches, 
 it is the very deuce to follow a covey until one has suc- 
 ceeded in breaking it. Still, it may be done when one can 
 quickly jump _ the ditches either with a run or with a pole. 
 It may thus readily be inferred that not a little of the 
 sportsman's success depends upon the cleverness of his pole- 
 carriers. Most of these fellows , however, in years gone 
 by, when shooting was more free and licenses were cheap, 
 used to shoot ; hence their taking in the case at a glance,
 
 Free Shootings on the Continent. 273 
 
 and acting accordingly. Others the young ones, pro- 
 bably never had the chance of handling a gun ; but most 
 likely they have been, season after season, employed to 
 accompany some shooters, and thus they also have got into 
 the knack. Anyhow, sportsmen will find that their pole- 
 carriers, without exception, enter into the sport with a 
 keenness and a relish quite on a par with their own, and 
 that is a very great point. I have seen, scores of times, pole- 
 bearers divesting themselves of their clothes, and swim- 
 ming after dead birds when the pool was too large to allow 
 of waiting until they drifted ashore ; that is, of course, 
 when no retrieving dogs were at hand. When remonstrated 
 with they reply with determination : " The bird is dead, and 
 it shall not be left behind to be wasted." 
 
 That is the proper sort of men to be accompanied by, 
 and I can safely say that better game-bearers do not exist. 
 The best of the fun is that they so thoroughly identify 
 themselves with the sportsman who hires them, that they 
 even quarrel and fight sometimes with their own countrymen 
 if they say anything about you. But nowhere else will you 
 find skill in the handling of firearms better appreciated 
 than by these fellows. If you are a good shot they will 
 stick to you as long as you remain in the district, even if 
 you do not pay them as highly as they expected. But if 
 you are a duffer, woe betide you ; for, the men will not 
 accompany you when once they have become convinced of 
 the fact. 
 
 Hares in Holland are fairly numerous, and as a rule 
 they are good swimmers and very fair water-jumpers. 
 
 To resume my answers to my first correspondent's 
 inquiries, I may therefore say : 
 
 1st. There are both hares and partridges in fair abund- 
 ance in Holland.
 
 274 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 2ndly. You cannot shoot them in August. You must 
 wait until September. 
 
 3rdly. If you go over to Holland in August, you will 
 find rare sport at flappers, teal, snipe, curlews, waterhens, 
 coots, and all the tribes "of waders. 
 
 To this I would add that a tender-mouthed retrieving 
 dog would be a desirable companion, but that he must be 
 extremely well broken to stay at heel, and must retrieve 
 well across water. Mind, not only from water, but across 
 water ; for it frequently happens that a bird falls amidst 
 high grass or reeds on the other side of a stream, and the 
 dog must, therefore, have a very good nose in order to find 
 quickly, and, when once he has found, he must bring to 
 hand straight, no matter how many ditches he may have to 
 swim across or jump over. 
 
 Between you and me, reader, there are very, very few 
 dogs that will do that. 
 
 Another correspondent said : " You mention a free (or 
 about free) marsh and shooting at Slack, near Boulogne. 
 Could you tell me the name of the innkeeper, if there is 
 any ? Does he take boarders ? How far is the place from 
 Boulogne ? Any fishing ? Is the village a large one ? " 
 
 The name of the innkeeper at whose inn I myself stopped 
 several times was Bouclet. He was a shooter himself, but 
 Tie liked to show sport to those who went to his place. 
 There is another inn opposite his, but his is the best; and he 
 is better able to give every information, as he belongs to the 
 municipality of the village. In fact, anyone staying at his 
 house is sure not to be bothered, and if one secures the 
 attendance of the rural keeper, at a fee of three or four 
 francs a day (which will appear perfectly regal pay to the 
 man), plenty of ground will be shown, and fair sport 
 insured. Bouclet has no objection to boarders that I know
 
 Free Shootings on the Continent. 275 
 
 of. He is an honest, straightforward, elderly man, whom I 
 can recommend. Slack is four or five miles from Boulogne. 
 There is good sea-bathing at Ambleteuse, close by. In the 
 river Slack I daresay some fishing might be had ; but I 
 never tried it. The village is very small, consisting of 
 perhaps a score of houses. It is very quiet "and very 
 peaceful. 
 
 N.B. Old Bouclet keeps very excellent old Bordeaux 
 wine, and his daughter is a bit of rustic cordon bleu. Make 
 a note of this. 
 
 The inn is very clean, and you can go in and out with 
 your dogs as much as you like. Nobody finds fault with 
 the mud they bring in, &c., and that is a great comfort- 
 Trie terms are very moderate indeed. For six shillings per 
 diem, a boarder would have the very best of everything, 
 and if for a permanency, I daresay five shillings would be 
 considered a remunerative price. 
 
 How to reach Boulogne is easy enough. Boats go 
 straight from London Bridge, and take dogs, &c., without 
 bother; or else one might go by train to Folkestone, then 
 by steamer to Boulogne. This sea journey takes, in or- 
 dinary weather, little more than one hour and a half to 
 perform. 
 
 From Boulogne to Slack there is no rail communication ; 
 but a fly is easily hired at no very great cost. 
 
 Besides the free shooting at Slack, Bouclet, being an in- 
 fluential sort of fellow, notwithstanding that he looks a very 
 ordinary peasant, can procure to his customers any amount 
 of shooting in the neighbourhood, and that is not to be 
 despised, as game is well looked after all over that part of 
 the country; and therefore very nice bags are to be made 
 there. 
 
 My third correspondent wrote : " I have heard of roe-
 
 276 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 bucks and wild boars being killed in Belgium. Is it free 
 shooting ? I would like to try my rifle there." 
 
 Yes, there are certainly a good many roebucks and 
 wild boars killed annually in Belgium. Wild boars and 
 roebucks, however, do not come to the north of Belgium. 
 The country is too open for them there. Southwards, in 
 the woods and forests which abound there, pretty fair sport 
 is to be had ; but I cannot say from experience that their 
 shooting is free, as what I have had there myself was in 
 preserved forests. There are, of course, parts of the land 
 which are not preserved, and where both roebucks and wild 
 boars may come occasionally, and may therefore be shot 
 without anyone interfering with the shooter ; but such an 
 opportunity might occur but once or twice in a whole 
 season, and therefore it could not be called either roebuck- 
 shooting or boar-shooting. As a rule the forest owners or 
 lessees hunt their woods and wait at the sorties for the 
 bucks, or the boars, or the hares, which the hounds are sure 
 to put up and to drive out. Very often many shooters con- 
 gregate for a day's sport, and surround a wood, into which 
 the hounds are uncoupled. In this manner one of the 
 shooters, at any rate, is pretty sure to score, if he can hold 
 his gun straight. When any such expeditions are being 
 organised, a shooter can always, very readily, obtain leave 
 to join the ranks of the " sporting detachment ; " but it can 
 hardly be considered sport, inasmuch as, generally, the two 
 shooters between whom the game breaks covert fire at it, 
 and for these two who have had the luck to fire, all the 
 others have been kept waiting at their post for nothing, 
 and that is not entertaining. 
 
 It is much better sport, if it can be obtained, to follow 
 slow hounds dachshunds for instance and then cut to the 
 spot where they are driving their quarry.
 
 Free Shootings on the Continent. 277 
 
 As to a rifle being used, of course it is occasionally done, 
 but shot-guns are mostly employed. The right barrel is 
 loaded with buckshot and the left with a bullet. Early in 
 the season, sometimes one barrel contains ordinary No. 5 
 shot and the other buckshot ; and this answers tolerably well 
 with roebuck. In fact, I have seen roebuck killed outright 
 at a forty or fifty yards' range with No. 6 shot. The first 
 I shot myself was with No. 6, and I must say I was rather 
 surprised at finding it knocked over so easily. Howbeit, it 
 is much easier to shoot them with shot than with a bullet. 
 There is no mistake about it ; it takes a deuced clever shot 
 to knock over a running roebuck with a rifle bullet. That 
 it is done I do not doubt, but I have never seen an instance, 
 though I have seen scores of bucks fired at with rifles. I 
 have never tried it myself, feeling that I could not do it. 
 
 As regards wild boars, small shot and pepper would be 
 about on a par as to killing power against them, for their 
 tough hide is "a caution." Therefore nothing short of 
 buckshot at short range, or a bullet if beyond that, will stop 
 them as a very general rule. If, however, a boar breaks 
 covert near you, when you did not expect one at all, and you 
 are loaded with ordinary shot, that is no reason why you 
 should not have a shy at him ; but fire at his forelegs. If you 
 succeed in breaking one, you will eventually secure the fellow, 
 but you must be careful to load again quickly, approach 
 him carefully, for fear of his charging into you, and despatch 
 him as quickly as you can. Otherwise look out for squalls, 
 for, when wounded, a boar is an ugly customer to deal 
 with, and, if he can, he will commit murder with no com- 
 punction whatsoever. As to firing at him when his stern 
 is turned towards you, it is perfectly useless, and a pure 
 waste of ammunition. The Belgians say that " the stern of 
 a boar is a shot-pouch;" and I believe it is, for it does not
 
 278 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 seem to affect his vitality at all when he gets a few ounces 
 there. 
 
 To sum up then, I must state that although there are,, 
 doubtless, free spots where one may occasionally shoot roe- 
 bucks and wild boars, the opportunities for so doing in 
 these free spots are so few and far between that lejeu n'en 
 vautpas la chandelle i.e. it is not worth anyone's while going 
 for it ; but as leave may pretty well be obtained to assist 
 aux battues, a residence in the south of Belgium is sure to 
 produce, more or less, some sport at the big game. 
 
 The next inquiry is about Brittany. "To how much 
 daily did your expenditure amount?" 
 
 About a sovereign per diem. 
 
 It is all very well to imagine that, because a shooting is 
 free, its enjoyment may be had for nothing ; but, practically, 
 such an argument does not hold water. It is true that you 
 have nothing to pay for the pleasure of going over the land ; 
 but there are, nevertheless, incidental expenses which, in 
 the aggregate, make a not-to-be-overlooked amount. For 
 instance, that memorable " opening-day " from Callac to 
 Carhaix, which I mentioned in my last chapter, cost me not. 
 a farthing as concerned the privilege of going along 
 the river and over the fields that border it; but I had, 
 besides my own keep and my dogs' to defray, that of the 
 keeper and of his son who accompanied me, showed me the 
 pet places, and carried my game. That day, probably, cost 
 me, all in all, thirty shillings ; but then look at the sport ! 
 Look at the fun ! Decidedly, had I been so disposed, I 
 could have curtailed my expenses considerably, simply by 
 going alone with my dogs and trying my luck. But could 
 anybody imagine that I would have met with the sport I 
 found ? Certainly not. First of all, although I knew I 
 could go along the river as much as I liked, and therefore.
 
 Free Shootings on the Continent. 279 
 
 it would have made but little difference to my bag, as far as 
 water-birds were concerned, whether I was accompanied or 
 not, it would have proved widely different for my partridges, 
 for I shot them all, or pretty nearly, in certain fields where 
 my attendants led me purposely to look for them, and 
 where they knew I could go. 
 
 Therefore, I say, my investments were a very judicious 
 expenditure. Better spend thirty shillings or two pounds, 
 or even more, and have your fill of fun, than go on a 
 miserable ten-shilling piece, kill yourself with fagging, pass 
 by the best shots, and make no bag worth mentioning. 
 Mine, on that day, was mentioned all over the country, and 
 I daresay to this very day the peasants will remember 
 that fellow with his two setters who brought such a load of 
 game as had not been heard of before. There was, though, 
 an American artist who lived in a village close by, who ran 
 me pretty close. He and his man were loaded, and I verily 
 believe that if his share of the game-carrying process had 
 not worn him out, he would have " licked " me, as he ex- 
 pressed it. As it was, he came to within five heads of my 
 number, and great were our rejoicings at the hotel at 
 Carhaix that night. He could hardly move the next day, 
 partly from his fatigues of the previous day, and partly 
 through having had "the sun so strong in the eyes," as 
 Mr. Swiveller expressed it in his memorable explanation of 
 a "rather tight " fit. 
 
 That the same sport under the same conditions may 
 be had there now (or rather on the forthcoming anni- 
 versary of the day) I have not the slightest shadow of 
 a doubt ; that is with the proviso that the land is not now 
 preserved. In my opinion this is not likely to be the case, 
 because there are so many owners in that part of the world 
 that they cannot agree by any manner of means. Hence
 
 280 Shooting on tJie Continent. 
 
 if some of them choose to preserve their ground, their 
 immediate neighbours make it a rule not to, for the mere 
 sake of aggravation ; and as the land is so much cut up 
 that no single landowner can effectually preserve a vast 
 extent, why, the consequence is that a good deal, of a 
 necessity, remains free to all comers. As a matter of course, 
 after the first week or ten days are over game is much 
 scarcer, and no one need trouble himself with an attendant 
 then, unless as a matter of taste he prefers it, which many 
 do, and quite right too, if they can afford it. Those who 
 cannot, however, indulge in that luxury perambulate about 
 with their game-bags over their own shoulders. It is pretty 
 good fun too, and naturally expenses are thereby much 
 reduced. So much for short purses. In fact, at any of the 
 villages living is extremely cheap wonderfully so. 
 
 By-the-way, if you wish people to be friendly to you, 
 do not enter into religious or political controversies with 
 them. Both would lead you into unexpected bother. I 
 have known a shooter positively ordered away by the 
 authorities for having expressed his sentiments somewhat 
 too freely on the then state of Government affairs ; and I 
 have heard of another who was nearly beaten to death for 
 deriding the Virgin or some saint. In fact, let the stranger 
 strictly mind sport, and he will be all right. The rest is 
 ticklish ground. 
 
 The remainder of the queries were about Belgium and 
 its shore-shooting. 
 
 It is really astonishing to find that shore-shooting has 
 taken such a hold on many sportsmen, when we consider 
 that some years ago nobody seemed to pay any attention 
 to it ; or, at least, very few shooters cared for it, and those 
 who did, kept it all to themselves. Nevertheless it is grand
 
 Free Shootings on the Continent. 281 
 
 sport, and its hardships, I verily believe, make it all the 
 more palatable. 
 
 The accommodation on the Belgian coast is varied. 
 One may spend ten pounds a day easily at the Hdtel de la 
 Plage or at the Hotel de 1' Ocean at Ostend. On the other 
 hand, five shillings per diem, I daresay, would answer quite 
 as well (and perhaps better) at one of the villages between 
 Ostend and Blankenberg on one side, or between Ostend 
 and Neuport on the other. Between ten pounds and five 
 shillings there is a pretty wide margin, to which the shooter 
 may accommodate himself according to his means. 
 
 My opinion, if asked, would be this : Any lengthened 
 stay at the villages will be totally unbearable, unless the 
 shooter has some work or favourite amusement to which he 
 may turn when occasion requires. An artist or a literary 
 man might get on very well, but a man who would have 
 nothing to turn to would soon get tired of it, as there is 
 positively no society and no entertainment of any kind to 
 be had. Take Mariakerque, for instance, as a sample of 
 what to expect. I know a fellow who, in his first fit of 
 enthusiasm, voted a stay in that hole a perfectly glorious 
 treat. I laughed, and let him try. He stayed three days, 
 came back to Ostend, and. called Mariakerque all the names 
 he could think of. Therefore I contend that stopping at 
 Ostend or at Neuport but the former preferred, if for a 
 long stay will be the best plan to adopt. 
 
 As to the sport, it is simply glorious. I have never 
 seen anything like the numbers of birds that are occasion- 
 ally to be seen on the sea-shore, and some of my best days 
 have been spent there. The fact of the matter is, there is 
 hardly any local shooting. The majority of the villagers 
 have no guns ; those few who have cannot afford to buy
 
 282 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 powder and shot ; and if one or two have both guns and 
 ammunition, they prefer keeping them for potting a hare 
 or a partridge to firing it at sea-fowl. This explains how it 
 is that birds are so easily reached ; being undisturbed, they 
 are- not so wild as they are apt to be in other spots where 
 they are much pursued. As regards their great numbers, 
 this is very easily accounted for. At low tide the sands 
 are wide, and afford excellent feeding to the hungry birds ; 
 hence their congregating so readily. In fact, the place 
 seems to be quite a place of rendezvous at certain epochs ; 
 and the most remarkable amongst these is certainly what 
 the inhabitants call le passage d'ete- i.e. the summer passage. 
 This takes place early in August generally, and it is a most 
 extraordinary sight. All the young broods settle on the 
 sands, and for several days there is a continual passing 
 southwards of flocks upon flocks. The shore-waders can 
 then certainly be roughly reckoned by millions. When I 
 state that I saw five miles of the sands past Mariakerque so 
 covered with birds that I fired two hundred shots as fast as I 
 could load, and only gave up then because I had no more 
 ammunition ready, an estimate can be formed of the thick- 
 ness and persistency of the flocks. They passed almost 
 undeviatingly, and every shot ought to have told had I 
 bided my time, but of course I tried, in my enthusiasm, 
 both long and short ranges. At any rate, I never made so 
 great a bag anywhere else, either before or since. When 
 we came back to Ostend not only my man was covered 
 with birds, but I would not care again for another such 
 load as I had to carry. For three days the passage lasted. 
 The sea was black with ducks, and the shore was covered 
 with curlews, plovers, sandpipers, oxbirds, and oyster- 
 catchers.
 
 Free Shootings on the Continent. 283 
 
 The quickest way to reach Ostend is via Dover, per 
 mail steamers, the fastest in the Channel. Many times 
 during my rambles on the shore in stormy weather have I 
 watched them literally cutting their way through the heavy 
 waves of the German Ocean. 
 
 The cheapest method, however, to get to Ostend is per 
 steamer from London direct. To those who are not apt to 
 be sea-sick the trip is very enjoyable. 
 
 The same may be said of the, journey from Southamp- 
 ton to St. Malo for those sportsmen who wish to visit 
 Brittany. From St. Malo one may go by rail in all 
 directions. 
 
 As to St. Valery, there is no quicker way of reaching it 
 than via Boulogne or Calais ; via Rouen per steamer from 
 Southampton it takes longer, on account of the sea-journey. 
 The sport on the river Somme is carried on from flat- 
 bottomed punts, which are shoved along by the boatmen. 
 There used to be very good sport on that river, and the 
 flighting was particularly good. However, the favourite 
 process then consisted in drifting down the river at dawn of 
 day until broad daylight. Amongst the reeds one had 
 always ducks flushed right and left, sometimes by twos and 
 threes, and sometimes in companies. I never saw flocks 
 there, except once in very hard weather. The birds in 
 ordinary weather were too much disturbed to congregate 
 in large numbers. 
 
 Well, I have now given all the hints that were asked 
 me, and I trust the information I have given will be found 
 both comprehensive and acceptable. 
 
 There is not the slightest doubt that, for a man without 
 encumbrance, there can be few things more entertaining 
 than a sporting-trip on the Continent, for he may go here
 
 284 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 and there, and cull the sweets of every place, without any 
 extraordinary expenditure, and with the novelty of queer 
 customs, and costumes, and manners, continually before 
 his eyes. If this is not enjoyment, I should like to know 
 what is.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 DUCK-DECOYING IN FRANCE. 
 
 THE French ignore entirely the art of decoying ducks into 
 snares. All the ducks brought by the fowlers to market 
 have been shot. Those who make it their business to shoot 
 wildfowl in France almost invariably employ live decoy- 
 ducks to attract the wild ones, and the sport is only carried 
 on at night. 
 
 When ducks are abundant the sport is very interesting 
 not as far as the shooting of the game is concerned, for 
 there is not much skill required, the gun being brought to 
 bear point-blank on the birds when they are settled within 
 range ; but it is nevertheless vastly amusing to watch the 
 fowlers and the wildfowl. 
 
 This is how the French proceed : They choose in the 
 marshes a dry spot near some open water (i.e. cleared of 
 weeds), and on that spot they build a hut ; if there is no 
 dry spot at hand they set to work with spades, and soon 
 make a mound of earth sufficiently large for the hut, and a 
 foot or two above the level of the water, so that the hut 
 may be kept as dry as possible. The construction of the 
 hut itself, in most cases, is of an extraordinary simplicity. 
 A dozen or so of strong willow branches are stuck into the 
 ground, then bent again till the other ends reach also the
 
 286 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 ground, when they too are stuck, thus forming a sort of 
 tunnel. This framework is then covered over with straw, 
 and perhaps turf, to prevent its being carried away alto- 
 gether by some strong wind ; but if the place be at all 
 sheltered the turf is dispensed with, and the straw alone 
 covers the devoted sportsmen's heads. A few huts, how- 
 ever, being permanently erected, are built more substantially: 
 the sides are made of brick, securely cemented, and the top 
 is covered with a thick strong thatch, which keeps out 
 effectually rain, snow, and wind ; the interior is also pro- 
 fusely supplied with straw ; and what with this warm abode, 
 their rugs, their great coats, and their pocket-pistols, the 
 sportsmen are far from being unpleasantly situated, as far 
 as bodily comforts are concerned. The only drawback to 
 the fun is that you must neither smoke, nor move, nor talk 
 beyond an occasional whisper, when waiting for the birds, 
 and sometimes you have to wait a long time. The pool facing 
 the hut must not be more than forty yards square in extent. 
 The reason for this is obvious. Were it larger the birds 
 might settle on the water out of range altogether ; or, if of 
 a dark night, they might be out of sight although not 
 virtually out of range. If the sheet of Avater be naturally 
 too large, a small mud wall is erected, enclosing the dimen- 
 sions given, and an outlet is arranged for the rest of the 
 water, so that it cannot interfere with the sport by affording 
 to the wildfowl a place of resort inaccessible to the gun. 
 Well, then, both the pool and the hut being ready, and the 
 game being reported to be on t/ie passage, as it is called (i.e. 
 many flights having been seen about), the fowler resorts to 
 his hut, with his ducks (generally three in number, a drake 
 and two ducks) under his arms, in a basket, or in his game- 
 bag. Arrived at his destination, he places the ducks, at 
 about ten yards from his hut, on the water ; and, to prevent
 
 Duck-Decoying in France. 287 
 
 them from going ashore or removing themselves altogether, 
 he fastens them by the legs to a stone, with a string a yard 
 or so in length. Some fasten only the drake. As for the 
 ducks, a long string, whose end remains in the hut, is 
 tied to one of their legs. This mode of proceeding is 
 by far the best plan, for the fowler has more command over 
 his decoys ; and if the wild ducks are flighty and don't 
 seem to care about settling, he can get up a little domestic 
 broil amongst his own ducks to attract the wild ones' atten- 
 tion. This is how he proceeds : He draws steadily the two 
 ducks to him. The drake, naturally enough, wants to 
 follow them, but he cannot, being secured to a stone ; so h'e 
 is immediately in the sorest distress. He fancies that he is 
 being deserted by his wives ; he thinks that they are un- 
 faithful to him ; and imagining, no doubt, all sorts of 
 dreadful things, he sets up an outcry and vents his indigna- 
 tion in no measured terms. This the wild ducks hear and 
 listen to. The fowler then lets his ducks go back again ; 
 and the drake testifies then, according to his fashion, 
 his unbounded thankfulness at having recovered them. 
 Now all this noise, being quite natural, entices the fowl 
 quite readily. They hear the old fellow and his mates 
 quacking alternately their anxiety and joy, in a language 
 which they perfectly understand ; and as they are not 
 shamming, but playing their part in thorough earnest, no 
 wonder that their rendering of the character is good ; so 
 down come the wild birds to see what it is all about. The 
 fowler then shoots as many as he can, picks them up, 
 reloads, and begins again. 
 
 It is astonishing how readily birds will forget both noise 
 and danger, and come again quickly, especially if the 
 weather is at all rough. I have seen forty ducks shot thus 
 in one night by two men, and rare good fun it was too.
 
 288 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 Now many of our sportsmen who live along the coast 
 might, with advantage and pleasure, try what fun a hut in 
 this style would afford them. Properly managed, just as I 
 have described it, success is inevitable. 
 
 The hut and pool of water must be in an open place, so 
 as to be easily seen by the birds when on the wing. 
 
 To those sportsmen who have no live decoy-ducks, and 
 who do not care to keep any, a duck-call and two or three 
 indiarubber decoys will answer the purpose to some extent, 
 but, of course, not so well as live ducks would ; there are 
 notes in nature which no instrument can imitate. If, how- 
 ever, the wildfowl are in numbers, you may be pretty sure 
 of securing your share. Indiarubber decoy-ducks have also 
 an advantage over the live ones viz. you need not be 
 afraid of shooting them ; and many decoy-ducks are shot 
 every season, by glancing shots, or through their getting 
 accidentally, some dark night, mixed up with the wild 
 ones.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 SHOOTING IN FRANCE. 
 
 FRENCH sportsmen are particularly jealous and irascible ; 
 the best friends will occasionally quarrel over a head of 
 game. I have seen two brothers nearly coming to blows on 
 account of one of them accidentally frightening away some 
 wildfowl, and I have seen repeatedly two French sportsmen 
 quarrelling in the field over a quail or a partridge which 
 both had shot at. The greatest source of quarrels, how- 
 ever, is derived from hare-shooting, on account of hares 
 carrying shot better than feathered game. For instance, 
 who that has shot in France has not seen the following 
 case happen before him when out with French sportsmen ? 
 A hare bolts, one of the gunners fires at puss, hits her, but 
 she manages still to run, when another sportsman, 
 necessarily farther from the hare than the first shooter, fires 
 at her also, and then, according to the French rule, claims 
 her as his. 
 
 There was a man who often played me that trick, but 
 I was once one too many for him, and it cured him for a 
 wonder ! This man (a wealthy farmer, by-the-way) was 
 the greatest duffer it has ever been my lot to fall in with. 
 He never could hit anything, whatever it was whether it 
 rose or started close to him or far from him, it did not 
 VOL. i. ' u
 
 290 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 matter ; he missed invariably, of course, with the usual ex- 
 cuses, that his shot had balled, &c. &c. He found out by 
 experience that I had a knack of placing myself at the 
 likeliest places, and that I fired oftener than others on that 
 account '(for there is a knack in finding the best corners), 
 and also that I generally managed to riddle my game more 
 or less ; so he always posted himself in my neighbourhood, 
 and whenever I fired he fired also, and then, of course, I 
 had to waive my claim on the game. He did me three 
 times, but the fourth he "caught a Tartar." Having fully 
 determined to give him a lesson, I put two friends in my 
 confidence, and we managed to take away the two cartridges 
 that were in his gun, and to substitute in their stead two 
 blank ones. This was during luncheon. Presently the 
 meal ended, and we all rose and directed our steps towards 
 a wood celebrated for hares, where I generally got a shot. 
 I placed myself in my usual corner, and, behold ! my man 
 took his stand about sixty yards from me. So far nothing 
 could be better. I could hardly keep from laughing ; as 
 for the two friends of mine who were in the secret, they 
 fairly puffed fit to kill themselves. 
 
 " What is the matter with them ?" asked he of the blank 
 cartridges. 
 
 " I don't know," I shouted back. " But we had better 
 stop talking, especially in such a high key, or our chance of 
 sport will be decidedly remote." 
 
 " All right," he said. 
 
 Presently, we heard the keepers whistle on the other 
 side of the wood. That meant that the hounds were being- 
 uncoupled. We listened intently, for, very often, the hares 
 broke covert before the hounds were fairly on their track. 
 So there I was watching our border, Mr. Blank-Cartridges 
 watching me. All was silent, beyond the babbling of the
 
 Shooting in France. 291 
 
 hounds, who were hunting but slowly. Suddenly one 
 opened. It was a bitch of mine named " Juno," who never 
 told a falsehood, and presently the whole of our little pack 
 were in full cry. They seemed to go away from us, and Mr. 
 Blank-C. indicated as much to me by signs of utter despair. 
 Just as he was thus engaged telegraphing to me, a fine hare 
 broke covert ten yards from me, and stopped to listen to 
 the (to her) not very agreeable music that was going on. 
 There she was, half raised on her hind legs, her head turned 
 away from me. For a second she stood thus, then her big 
 brown eye caught sight of me, and she bolted. Mr. Blank-C., 
 who had seen me, although he could not, from the nature of 
 the ground, see the hare, had guessed pretty accurately 
 what had been thus riveting my attention, and he stood 
 ready, confronting me, so that the moment I fired, bowling 
 over the hare, he also pulled trigger. I allowed him to run 
 and pick up the hare ; and then, as the dogs had come out 
 of the wood, my friends, I, and the other sportsmen drew 
 round him, as usual in such cases, to examine the hare, to 
 compliment the shooter, &c. &c. Mr. Blank-C. was com- 
 placently holding " puss " by the hind legs. 
 
 "You fired too low," he said to me in a patronising 
 way. 
 
 " Indeed ? " said I. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " I saw your shot strike the ground about 
 a yard from the hare." 
 
 " But," I said, " the hare seems wounded on my side." 
 
 "Oh! but she turned when I fired, don't you remember ?" 
 he answered hastily, colouring somewhat. 
 
 " No ; I don't remember that incident," I said. 
 
 The other sportsmen looked at each other in wonder, 
 whilst I was fairly convulsed with laughter, and so were my 
 friends. 
 
 u 2
 
 292 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 "Well, gentlemen, what are you laughing at?" asked 
 one of the party. 
 
 I turned then to Mr. Blank-Cartridges : " I hope you will 
 excuse the liberty we have taken with your gun," I said, 
 "but we only intended it for a joke." 
 
 " A joke ! excuse the liberty ! what do you mean ?" said 
 the culprit. 
 
 " Well," I said, " the fact is, it is materially impossible 
 that you should have shot this hare." 
 
 " And why not, pray ? " 
 
 " Because you had no shot in your gun." 
 
 " What ! " 
 
 "Open the breech," I said;. "you have fired but one 
 cartridge ; look at the one left in it." 
 
 He did so. 
 
 " A blank cartridge, by all that is wonderful ! " he ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 " Yes," I said, " we placed a couple of such in your gun. 
 Are you convinced now that you did not shoot the hare ?" 
 
 He was confounded, and looked very foolish for a minute 
 or so ; then with the buoyancy of spirits peculiar to his 
 countrymen, he said, " Ah ! that's a very good trick ! " 
 
 Nevertheless, he did not like it. He never claimed any 
 more hares from me after that. 
 
 Now this gives an instance of the rapacity (alas ! too 
 common) amongst French sportsmen. Their jealousy is 
 proverbial. I had a French friend, a worthy fellow in every 
 other respect, but the most abominable companion one 
 could find for a day's shooting. If you happened to fall in 
 with game and he did not, he was very disagreeable directly. 
 I now bring to mind an occasion on which he showed his 
 irritability in rather a queer way. First of all, let me pre- 
 mise that he was really a very good shot, and that he
 
 Shooting in France. 293 
 
 would have scrupled, under ordinary circumstances, to kill 
 a hare in her form. 
 
 Well, on that memorable day, somehow I had been more 
 lucky than he, and accordingly he was " riled," nicely 
 riled ; but Frenchmen are always polite, though wrathful 
 at heart. We were coming home to dinner, and were 
 crossing a field adjoining the house. As we had beaten the 
 said field before, we did not think it worth while to beat it 
 again (very foolish this, by-the-way), so we were then 
 walking and talking together, when suddenly he fired about 
 ten yards ahead on the ground, and, to my utter disgust 
 and astonishment, he picked up a hare which he had 
 murdered in her form. 
 
 " There," he said, " I have got one too ! " This with a 
 triumphant gleam of joy in his eyes. 
 
 " I did not know you were so anxious to have a hare," 
 I said, " else I would have willingly given you one." 
 
 "Oh!" he said, "there is nothing like one killed by 
 one's own gun ! " 
 
 " That is true," I answered ; " but then it ought to be 
 killed in a sportsmanlike manner, otherwise there is no 
 merit in it." 
 
 "That is right enough," he replied. 
 
 "Then why did you not let her bolt, and then shoot 
 her ? That is the way to do it ; and, I think, the way you 
 always did it before." 
 
 " Oh yes," he exclaimed ; " I daresay if I had bolted her 
 you shoot quicker than I do you would have bundled her. 
 Pas si bete" 
 
 " So that it was for fear that I should shoot her that 
 you " 
 
 " Exactly so," he said coolly. 
 
 Now what could I say to that ? Here was a case of
 
 294 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 jealousy carried to a very unsportsmanlike extent. Don't 
 think that these are isolated instances ; they are of everyday 
 occurrence. 
 
 If you meet a party of French shooters after a day's 
 sport, you will find that almost each of them privately has 
 to grumble against the others ; it is most amusing to hear 
 them. 
 
 Now some sportsmen of the old school are quite the 
 reverse of this ; they are so polite that they are positively 
 distressing. Once I was shooting with the Baron de 
 
 M , who is about as fair a specimen of the French 
 
 gentilhomme as could be found in the country. We entered 
 covert together, as per agreement, and soon found game. 
 A beater on the baron's side sprang a pheasant. It rose 
 beautifully before him, so I simply looked at the bird, 
 expecting my host to knock it over. Not hearing the 
 detonation I looked at him : he was looking at me. 
 
 " Po urquoi, monsieur, n'a t-il pas tire?" he said to me, 
 with the most elaborate bow. 
 
 I explained to him that the pheasant rose on his side* 
 and we considered it in England ungentlemanly to shoot 
 across a companion, hence my abstention. 
 
 "Ah!" he said, "the English are a very well-bred 
 nation." 
 
 " But," I said, " may I ask vf\\y you did not fire ?" 
 
 " I fire before my guest ? never ! You first ! " 
 
 " Now, look here, baron," I said, " if we are so polite 
 we won't do any good. Let us knock over whatever we 
 can, and never mind who fires first !" 
 
 Had I not spoken thus, it was evident that my too- 
 polite host would have let me shoot alone. 
 
 There are few men of his stamp left in France now, I 
 warrant you mats revenons a nos chasseurs.
 
 Shooting in France. 295 
 
 The French are proverbially a lively people, and French 
 sportsmen can boast of a fair sprinkle of the lively class 
 amongst their ranks. I have known some French fellows 
 that it was perfectly impossible to go shooting with, at 
 least if they were near you, on account of their irrepressible 
 love of fun, punning, and talking. I knew one who had 
 always a flute in his game-bag. He used to strut about in 
 the fields with us, his gun slung on his back, according to 
 the French fashion, and he favoured us all day through 
 with snatches of all sorts of tunes and songs. Of course 
 he never shot anything, leastways I never saw him even fire. 
 He was, without contradiction, the most amusing indi- 
 vidual I ever met with ; but I am afraid his efforts to 
 amuse us were but poorly rewarded by the curses of the 
 enraged sportsmen whose game he disturbed by his 
 melody. One day we were in a wood, a woodcock rose, 
 and two of us missed it. We were terribly mad, of course ; 
 but who could have refrained from laughing, when, to an 
 inquiry made by our musician, fifty yards off, and conse- 
 quently invisible, whether we had hit or not, and receiving 
 for answer our curses, loud and deep, we heard the tune of 
 the celebrated French song, "J'ai du bon tabac dans ma 
 tabatiere" coming from his flute, in a most lively strain, to 
 soothe our wounded feelings. 
 
 "That fellow will drive me crazy," said my neighbour 
 in English. 
 
 In answer to which the flute stopped, then started 
 again to the tune of " Better days are coming." 
 
 One day, though, our musician fairly dropped his music. 
 He was regaling himself with some tunes, as usual, when a 
 hare started nearly under his feet. He was so shaken that 
 it almost made him ill. 
 
 When I said that I never saw him shoot I was mis-
 
 296 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 taken. I saw him shooting twice on the same day, under 
 the following circumstances : Some of our English fellows, 
 with whom he was an immense favourite, resolved to play 
 him an innocent trick. They placed a stuffed hare's skin 
 in a furrow, and made him shoot at it. At first he 
 declined, like a sensible fellow. 
 
 " I shall miss her if she starts," he said, for of course he 
 was fully convinced that it was a live hare. 
 
 " Well, then, shoot it in its form," said our young 
 scamps. 
 
 " I should not like to. It looks like murder !" 
 
 " Never mind ; for once it does not matter. Go on ; fire 
 away ! Mind you go on tip-toe, otherwise she will bolt !" 
 
 They crammed him with advice, counsels, and recom- 
 mendations, and finally persuaded him to try. He fired, 
 and you may well imagine the laughter that greeted the 
 explosion. He took the joke in good part though, and,, 
 drawing his flute out of his pocket, " Serve me right," said 
 he ; " everybody to his trade, and music is my forte." 
 Nevertheless, two hours after, he was taken in once more, 
 in a very clever way. The same stuffed hare was disposed 
 and arranged in some furze that time. One of the con- 
 federates was suddenly discovered aiming at it, and pre- 
 tending to be trying to fire ; but somehow his gun would 
 not go off (and for a very good reason, too, considering 
 that he had taken care to remove the cartridges). Another 
 confederate, who had remained purposely near the musician, 
 then drew his attention towards their friend. 
 
 " Hallo !" he said, "what is up ? Oh ! here is a lark ! 
 James sees a hare or a rabbit, and his gun won't go off. 
 If I were you I would run and shoot it ; that would be 
 your best revenge for his practical joke on you this 
 morning."
 
 Shooting in France. 297 
 
 As soon said it was done. The musician ran, to 
 James's pretended mortification, blazed away both barrels, 
 and found, after all, that he had been done once more. 
 
 Another class of sportsmen, far more numerous than 
 the musical ones, and less interesting, are the tipplers. 
 This class, in France, increases every year. Have 
 they shot a rabbit, they must have a drop, and must 
 have you to drink one also; that^is the worst. If you 
 decline they think that you are stuck-up, and that you 
 despise them ; if you accept, you soon get muddled, for 
 after every shot you must take a drop. If it rain, they say 
 it will prevent you from getting rheumatism ; if it is 
 cold, it will keep you warm ; if it is warm, it will keep you 
 cool ; if you have missed a fair shot, it will console you ; 
 and if you succeed, it will be your reward ; in one word,, 
 whether it be fine or not, whether you shoot well or not, 
 the tippling sportsman will drink nne goutte, and will be 
 cross if you don't. Bad plan, this very bad plan and a 
 dangerous one, too, for men who are handling firearms. 
 
 The French country sportsmen, as a rule, care little for 
 sporting dresses. Those shooters you see dressed out, and 
 sporting continually English gaiters and cartridge-belts, 
 are, as a rule, but town amateurs, who wish to impress the 
 public with their cleverness in their favourite pursuit. The 
 real sportsmen disdain making a show, but generally take 
 good care of themselves in every other respect. It is not 
 long since that I met a chasseur one very cold winter morn- 
 ing, with a lady's muff hanging from his neck by a string ; 
 and he knew how to use it, too, and no mistake. I can't 
 say that he did much execution in the field, but none the 
 less he looked vastly amusing. Nor is this the only instance 
 on record. Some friends of mine who reside in France at 
 a favourite watering-place, tell me that their town can also
 
 298 Shooting on tlie Continent. 
 
 boast of a muff-carrying sportsman, and that the said 
 sportsman may be seen almost any day in winter with that 
 useful appendage. 
 
 Generally speaking, a day's shooting with French 
 gentlemen is most entertaining. They are always very 
 amiable, pleasant, and chatty, except when positively 
 annoyed, and their witty remarks and jolly humour have 
 always to me been a source of envy. When a bird is shot 
 the most extraordinary remarks are passed, such as, " This 
 bird shall not die of small-pox," &c. &c. Let us also say 
 that the educated classes in France are a jolly set of men, 
 not to be in any case assimilated with the rustics. The 
 latter are the most atrocious beings one may have to deal 
 with. They will let you their shooting, for instance, and 
 poach, or encourage their men to poach ; they cannot even 
 stand seeing you enjoying yourself on their ground, though 
 you pay them for the privilege. That is strange, but 
 it is true. Their dislike is not confined to foreigners. The 
 French peasant hates everyone who is not a peasant, and 
 mistrusts even his own kin sometimes, so that whether you 
 be French or English does not much signify. Note that 
 the peasant has no objection whatever to let his ground to 
 anyone, not the least ; he pockets your money readily 
 enough, and does not much trouble himself to know any 
 more ; but, this part of the bargain being satisfactorily 
 concluded, he straightway begins to feel that it is a pity 
 that such fine hares and rabbits should be killed and eaten 
 by a stranger. From this, to taking a gun (unless he be 
 well looked after), the distance is not great ; but should he 
 be prevented from doing any harm, he thinks himself an 
 ill-used man, and cannot help cursing you sotto voce when 
 he sees you beating his fields. 
 
 Their untrustworthiness is known by their countrymen
 
 Shooting in France. 299 
 
 of course, far better than by us birds of passage. When- 
 ever I was with some French sportsmen and we happened 
 to meet a peasant, " Let us ask him which way the par- 
 tridges are," they used to tell me, " he is sure to tell us just 
 the reverse ; so that by going in the direction opposite to 
 that which he will point out to us we are pretty sure to fall 
 in with the game " (which, by-the-way, was invariably the 
 case). 
 
 " But," I used to say, " why do they always try thus to 
 mislead you ?" 
 
 " Ah ! " they would answer me, " le paysan riaime pas 
 qiion tue son gibier." 
 
 " But it is no longer his, since you pay him for the 
 right of killing it." 
 
 " True ; but nevertheless he is mad to see us shoot it !" 
 
 Now did you ever hear of such ill-favoured dogs ? 
 
 This dislike of the peasants for gentlemen leads to 
 frequent quarrels, and sometimes to ugly scenes. It has 
 been my lot to be witness of such an adventure once, and I 
 am not likely to forget it in a hurry, as it very nearly cost 
 a man's life. I was out with a Yorkshireman, a friend of 
 mine, a very nice fellow, but not endowed with an incal- 
 culable amount of patience, when, somehow or other, we 
 got into a quarrel with three French ploughmen at work in 
 a field. They abused us in the most disgusting manner, 
 knowing well enough that men who have firearms in their 
 hands need keep their tempers, lest they should illuse 
 them. We paid no attention to them, which made them 
 still more wild, and then they threw a stone at us. This 
 was the straw that broke the camel's back. 
 
 " Here," said my friend to me, " hold my gun a couple 
 of minutes." 
 
 "What are you going to do ?"
 
 300 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 Before I could prevent him he sprang over the hedge, 
 planted his fist in one of the men's faces, and sent him 
 flying head over heels under his horse's feet. The man 
 got up with mischief in his eyes, and called out to his com- 
 panions to come to the rescue. But I was on the scene of 
 action then, and presenting my gun to the other fellows, 
 " If one of you stirs a step he is a dead man," I said- 
 Whilst thus speaking, and my back necessarily turned 
 towards my friend, I heard a tremendous crash, followed 
 by a dreadful groan and a fall. " I think he has got more 
 than he bargained for," said my chum. I turned round ; 
 the man was insensible, with an ugly flow of blood from 
 the mouth, nose, and ears. We did all we could ; but it 
 was a long time before he came round, and I was all the 
 while advising and urging my friend to bolt to England 
 before the affair was known, for I knew that, although, of 
 course, if brought before a court, he would have been 
 eventually acquitted, the detention in a prison till the case 
 had been fully investigated and tried would have been 
 anything but pleasant for him. However, all is well that 
 ends well. The fellow's hiding did him good ; he was in 
 bed for a week or so, and, when he got up, he swore he 
 would never interfere any more with any sportsmen, who- 
 ever they might be. In fact, it was most pleasing to meet 
 him ever after. By the rule of progression we might safely 
 conclude that, if all other bad-tempered fellows were to 
 get a beating apiece, sporting in France would be far 
 more pleasurable than it is. 
 
 " Tel pays, tellesmoeurs" says the French; and to no nation 
 is the saying more applicable than to their own, for they are 
 a peculiar race, and their ways are vastly amusing, particu- 
 larly in what relates to shooting. The French, as a rule, 
 are a very gun-loving set of men. Few there are amongst
 
 Shooting in France. 301 
 
 them who are without a gun, especially if they live in the 
 country, and, in justice, I may say few of them know how 
 to use their weapons with fair accuracy. I have seen but 
 very few Frenchmen and I have mixed with a great 
 many of them who were clever shots. To two causes I 
 attribute their perpetual missing: the first is the want of 
 powder behind their shot, and the second the shooter's 
 invariable trepidation and precipitation. I never knew 
 one to keep quite cool when his dogs were on point. 
 One would think, by the way they behave under such 
 circumstances, that they were going to be shot. As for the 
 powder question, the French are almost invariably very 
 sparing in its doses. Whether it is that it is a dear com- 
 modity, and is, therefore, to be economised, or that their 
 guns could not stand the charges of powder one is accus- 
 tomed to use in Great Britain, I cannot tell ; perhaps both 
 reasons influence them ; or, perhaps, they have more con- 
 fidence in a large quantity of shot in proportion to the 
 powder. If such be the case, experience ought, by this 
 time, to have taught them better. 
 
 Whatever may be their motives, there is the- fact, and 
 the consequence is that it is rare to see a bird properly 
 bundled in France when more than thirty yards away from 
 the gun. As for the hares, they run away with half-a- 
 dozen barrels fired at them at that distance. This explains 
 the invariable expressions of astonishment which greet the 
 performances of British sportsmen when in the field with 
 their French confreres ; and well they may be astonished, 
 for a greater contrast is rarely to be met with. In every- 
 thing they differ in dress, in accoutrements, in arms, in 
 dogs, in style, and in execution. 
 
 Shall I give an outline of such a performance ? Well, 
 then, at quail and partridge shooting, for instance, you will
 
 302 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 find that the French give themselves an immense amount 
 of unnecessary trouble. There they are, finger on trigger, 
 ready to fire at a second's notice, following their dogs 
 wherever they go in a regular " stew," trembling lest the 
 game should rise out of range, jabbering away to their 
 dogs, shying stones and clods of earth at them, ordering 
 them to go ahead, and then calling them back to heel 
 immediately they get ten yards away, lest they should 
 flush the birds. The Englishman, on the contrary, goes 
 methodically to work, and trusts entirely to his dog or 
 dogs. This, in some cases, happens to be a mistake ; but 
 at any rate the sportsman is far more dignified and cool in 
 his bearing, and, in the end, can boast of a much better bag 
 after the day's sport. 
 
 There is, however, one thing which cannot escape 
 notice the very first time one shoots in company with 
 French sportsmen, and that is their dogs. There is no 
 medium class of animals with them ; they are either good 
 or bad, broken or unbroken, eminently useful or worse 
 than useless. The latter form the more numerous class, of 
 course. As for the good ones, they are pre-eminently 
 useful, and it is astonishing what they can do. The 
 French have no retrievers proper ; all their pointers, 
 setters, and spaniels are trained to retrieve, and this 
 accomplishment is often the best part of their education. 
 Some of their dogs are truly invaluable, and, what is 
 greatly in their favour, they are within reach of most 
 purses. The man in moderate circumstances in England 
 cannot pretend to procure the dogs which fashion of late 
 decides to be indispensable in aristocratic shooting-circles, 
 viz, the dropping setters, pointers, or spaniels, and the 
 retriever proper, to fetch the game when shot. Two such 
 setters or pointers are worth at least ^40 ; and a retriever,
 
 Shooting in France. 303 
 
 broken to remain at heel under all circumstances, tender- 
 mouthed, good-tempered, and black (in fashionable shoot- 
 ing circles no other colour is admitted) such a dog,' I say, 
 is worth at least ,20 ; so that a man of any pretension 
 must pay away ^"60, and feed and work three dogs ; and 
 then, when the partridge or grouse season is at an end, the 
 pointers and setters are put aside, being useless, and two 
 spaniels, or more, must be got to work covert, furze, 
 marshes, &c. For those whose purses are plentifully sup- 
 plied, it is all very well ; it brings into notice a pleasing 
 variety of animals, and is a very good thing for dog 
 breeders and breakers. So far it is all perfection, but to 
 ardent sportsmen possessing only moderate means, it is 
 perfectly impossible to procure such allies for field-work. 
 What, then, are they to do? They must procure some 
 retrieving dog, good at all game, and be satisfied therewith. 
 That is precisely what the French do, and, as I said before, 
 their dogs are not dear. I have bought some myself at 
 different times, pointers and setters, perfectly broken to 
 retrieve tenderly, at prices varying, according to the time of 
 the year, the age of the animal, his style of working, his 
 appearance, &c., from 12 to ;i8. I don't consider this 
 dear at all. The man who breeds and breaks the dog can- 
 not possibly find it very remunerative. The dog may die 
 of distemper or disease, or meet with an accident, or turn 
 out a worthless dog from many causes. At any rate, the 
 breaker has to put him through all the phases of his educa- 
 tion ; take him into the fields, show him game, and keep 
 him altogether a couple of years at least ; so that, taking 
 everything into consideration, ^15, or thereabouts, is a 
 moderate price. There is one thing, however, to be said 
 against the dogs they are not broken to drop to shot at 
 all ; the moment you fire they run in. I often won-
 
 304 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 dered why the breakers did not see about that. I asked 
 one. 
 
 " Well," he said, " you see, our sportsmen " (meaning 
 the French) " don't care a pin about such an accomplish- 
 ment in fact, I have never heard of it myself. They like 
 their dogs to secure the game the moment it reaches the 
 ground (if a bird), or is stopped in his run (if a hare or a 
 rabbit)." 
 
 " But," I objected, " supposing you had only wounded a 
 hare." 
 
 "Well," he retorted, " in that case the dog will catch it, 
 and bring it to hand." 
 
 " Yes, but this is an enticement for the dogs to ' chase 
 fur ' even when not fired at." 
 
 " Some do," he said, " I daresay ; but then there are 
 good dogs and bad dogs. Our good dogs don't chase unless 
 you have fired ; but as to teaching them to drop to shot, 
 why, were I to have such a dog, I could not sell it. Our 
 sportsmen would not buy him. They would say, ' Here is a 
 fool of a dog ! When I have shot and wounded a hare or 
 rabbit, he stops short and lets them run away; and in the 
 case of a rabbit, gives it time to regain its burrow and 
 disappear.' " 
 
 There was some truth in that remark, and it was in vain 
 that I argued with the man that, in the event of your having 
 missed clean, it was most annoying to have your dog chasing 
 a hare, for instance, for a mile or so, and disturbing all the 
 game in the fields in the immediate vicinity of the sports- 
 men. He shrugged his shoulders and said, with a grin, that 
 " there was not any game at all, perhaps, and therefore it 
 could not do much harm if the fields were scampered 
 over." 
 
 And now as to the breeds. I must say that it is a great
 
 Shooting in France. 305 
 
 pity that the French allow their dogs to run at large when 
 not actually wanted in the field. The consequence of such 
 an irrational proceeding is that the different breeds of dogs 
 mix freely together, and evidently, at no very great period 
 from the present time, if such a course be persevered in, it 
 will be a difficult matter in France to procure a thorough- 
 bred pointer or setter. Too much care cannot be taken to 
 prevent such a mishap ; and yet, as I have just said, you 
 may see any day setter bitches or pointer bitches, all the 
 year round, wandering about in the streets of the villages or 
 country towns. 
 
 There are, however, some very fine dogs in France, and, 
 when well broken, they are truly valuable animals. From 
 having been made constant companions of their breaker, 
 who is a thorough sportsman as a matter of course, the 
 dogs get thoroughly accustomed to all sorts of game, and 
 it is not a slight advantage to their future owners. 
 
 I have seen French setters and pointers used right 
 through the season for all sorts of game quails, partridges, 
 rabbits, hares, pheasants, snipe, duck, woodcock, seafowl, 
 &c. &c. in fact, nothing comes amiss to them. I have 
 seen some who stood perfectly on point at any game, 
 but who would beat a wood equal to a beagle when told, 
 and as to their retrieving qualities, they were perfection. 
 These dogs belonged invariably to the enthusiastic French 
 sportsmen. 
 
 There exists in France a class of men we have not on 
 this side of the water I mean the professional sportsmen, 
 men who live by the sale of their spoils. Of course this is 
 only possible in a country where the land is not wholly pre- 
 served. In the British Islands, barring wildfowl, there is no 
 sport carried on as a trade by professional shooters ; and, by- 
 the-way, there is about this a very curious anomaly. In 
 VOL. i. x
 
 306 Shooting on the Continent. 
 
 those places in the British kingdom where wildfowl love to 
 congregate, these birds are almost exclusively shot by pro- 
 fessionals ; and what is more startling is that those men 
 look upon gentlemen sportsmen as perfect intruders, who 
 have no right whatever to shoot at all at their game. They 
 have been allowed for so many years to carry on their 
 vocation with their punts and swivel-guns, that they have 
 come to consider the sport their own property, and they 
 resent savagely any intrusion, however slight. 
 
 Now, in point of sport, I contend that swivel-guns, used 
 professionally, are disastrous in their effects, inasmuch as 
 the game is destroyed in immense numbers for the benefit 
 of a few men, whilst it might have led, with the legitimate 
 shoulder-guns, or now and then with a swivel, to endless 
 sport to the community of sportsmen in general. And that 
 the professional fowlers should be allowed to molest, disturb, 
 or even frighten a casual gentleman sportsman, who may 
 happen to be in their vicinity and decline mixing with them, 
 and standing drink to the whole congregation, is a thing 
 that shames our system of things. That such is the case I 
 have not the slightest shadow of a doubt ; not that I have 
 ever experienced it myself, but I have heard from reliable 
 friends that such has been the treatment they experienced 
 at the hands of some fowlers their sport had been in- 
 terfered with, and shots even were occasionally directed 
 towards them. When such acts were complained of, the 
 fowlers retorted with great glee, "What business had 
 gentlemen to be there at all ! " 
 
 Now such a state of things ought not to be allowed, 
 and certainly would not be tolerated in France there is 
 not the slightest doubt about that. 
 
 And now, after this little digression, revenons a nos 
 moutons i.e. to the French professional sportsmen. They
 
 Shooting in France. 307 
 
 are, of course, what we should term an enthusiastic body of 
 men what the French call enrages chasseurs. They are at 
 it from the opening of the season to the very last day, from 
 dawn to sunset, and manage to gather a very pretty living 
 in their favourite pursuit. Do not misunderstand me. By 
 a fair living, I mean, of course, for France, where a man 
 may live for a couple of shillings a day very comfortably. 
 As a rule, these men undertake also the breaking of dogs, 
 either on their own account or for some of their richer 
 brethren in St. Hubert. Their terms vary from 2 to 4 
 or 5. For that amount they will work a dog, and teach him 
 his business during a whole season. Some of them work on 
 the principle of " No good result, no pay ; " that is to say, 
 they agree that if the dog at the end of a given time is not 
 up to the requisite mark, the owner can take up his dog 
 without paying the breaker a farthing. But this is a bad 
 plan, because, if the game is abundant, the breaker will 
 rather secure the game for his own immediate disposal than 
 pay all attention to the dog in the hope of a remote retri- 
 bution. The dog, on the contrary, will have all the man's 
 care bestowed on his education, if the terms are good and 
 the pay certain, therefore it is much better to adopt the 
 plan of making a decided bargain, and fixing your terms. 
 In the event of the breaker being unable to train the dog, he 
 will return it to you after a very short trial, if he thinks it 
 is not worth his while to give him his time and attention ; 
 but, generally speaking, they are very clever and painstaking 
 men, and, as they pride themselves on their pupils' training, 
 they generally fulfil their bargains with great credit. 
 
 END OF VOL. I.
 
 CHARLES DICKENS AND EVA1 
 CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.

 
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