The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-08-29


 pracing situation in grandly timbered park, and the terraced gardens and grounds extending to the River Witham which is well stocked with trout, are of the finest possible description. The av- craze of game killed during the last live years is: Pheasants. 4,OOO; par 5000"
 Ihls summary is what an English es- tate Will furnish in varying total, but mares and rabbits are never good shoot ing from the viewpoint of a crack gun. Even at the best preserves, the bag aft CT a drive will always include some ground game, and the spoil is an incl , dent of the real outing for partridges or pheasants. The American who seeks grouse shooting, however, must be pre- pared for an outlay to which the rental oI the charming grounds on the river Wltham-whatever figure is asked would be mere bagatelle. The cost of a grouse moor will make it look like thirty cents,'' to use the vernaeular. There are grouse in Scotland wherever there is heather, runs the adage, but to lease or buy a shooting on the bleak and rough moors is an undertaking like buying Standard Oil certificates or a diamond mine in South Africa. Ameri- cans have their place in the close band of sportsmen there, however. Some of them are Andrew Carnegie, the Bur dens, Winans and Bradley-M Martins, and 1 one of the best moors in England is hnlH hNr bn 0f T1X c. Whitney, for grouse abound in the northern counties of England and in Derbyshire and in part sof Wales and Ireland. ,. a In Scotch as in American shooting, grouse are sought out with gun and dogs, either pointers or settlers, for the moors are too wild to permit the game, save in occasional holdings, being driv- en to the guns. To walk a moor re- quires that the sportsman be in prime physical condition, for the rough coun- l try is too severe a test on any but trained and hardened muscles. An ag- gregate bag of fifty to seventy brace is regarded as very good for five or six guns in a day on Scotch moor, but on an English moor the same party would account for 250 or 300 brace. The method on an English moor is for the. shooters to be placed in couples with. in shelters, or butts, of turf, which are put at about fifty yards apart, and to which the grouse are driven by the game keepers and their aids.
 | A force of twenty or thirty beaters or f1ankers is employed to drive out the grouse and the flight is a fast and fu- rious one over the butts. There is no shooting more exciting, or that compels Iquicker work with the gun. A loader | has place in each butt and he is kept busy refllling the guns for the shooters. There Is every opportunity for especial- fly fine shots, to check a rocketing bird Tor stop one scudding down the wind, and whoever fails to render a good ac- icount of himself is likely to get some chafffng when the days sport is gone lover that night in the smoking room. i Harry Payne Whitney sailed on the ! last trip of the Baltic to enjoy the grouse shooting, and in his party was Lewis s. Thompson, who is in the first flight of amateur wing shots in this country, if not the very best. He holds we'll earned records at the pigeon traps and with big game in the west, Just before sailing Messrs. Whitney and Thompson bought at q Broadway store a stock for their party of the new au- tomatic loading shotguns, made in Bel gism Each gun may be fired five times without being reloaded.
 | The Americans will also find sport in drive shooting on the partridge and pheasant preserves, but more often the shooters walk forward on a line while the beaters and dogs work the game out of the coverts. Except in Scotland, the only shooting with dog and gun in 1 the American manner is to b chad in the royal forests and old chases. Ill the royal forests the shooting is not re- stricted, or on private grounds, and sport of an especially high order is to be had in the 30,000 acres of the New Forest. Whether an American shoots on his own holdings or on the land of a friend, he must have game license. Prior to 1881 the licenses were only is sued to those who could qualify as es- quires, but now any subject of the king may obtain them from the inland rev. enc office. The cost of a license for a year is three pounds, but the fee is re- duced for shorter periods. A game keeper yays two pounds. Only the holder of a full license may seel the tgame shot on his land, and, in some of the shooting leases, the grantor takes the game in part payment from his American cousin and sends 1t to mar ket. J It is not essential to be subject of the king to use game license on the land for which 1t is issued. There are various expedients under which the American is in no danger of becoming Ian expatriate through his love of good shooting. Oneis to use a double li- cense, which gives a subject the right to invite friend out shooting.-New York Sun. e'