SHOOTING.

The pursuit and destruction of wild animals for security, food, clothing, or pastime, have been amongst the occupations of men in all ages, since the primeval brueré overspread the earth,
And wild in woods the noble savage ran.

Before the more refined arts are introduced into any country, the chase is a necessity, and the chief business of life. The stronger and more noxious animals are destroyed for individual safety; the weaker for food. It is not until civilization and her handmaid luxury have seated themselves, that the chase becomes a pastime. It does not appear when the sportsman first sprang into existence. There is no corresponding word in any ancient language, since that could not be called a sport which was a necessity. It is probable that in the earliest ages of society the dog was the sole agent employed by the hunter. Afterwards various weapons, manual, missile, and projectile, as the club, the dart, the arrow, were used by the hunter and fowler. Then would follow springes, traps, nets, and all that class of devices for the capture of beasts and birds ferae naturae, comprehended in the term toils. As dogs were employed to hunt quadrupeds, so, in process of time, hawks were trained to bring down birds for the service of their master. The arbalest, or cross-bow, preceded the matchlock, which, however, could scarcely be called an implement of the chose, but which, in the order of succession, brings us down to the rifle, and original fowling-piece with its long heavy barrel and flint and steel lock; and, lastly, we arrive at the double barrels and detant locks of the modern shooter.

In the days of the Saxon and Norman kings, and long previously, the Britons were famous for their skill in archery, both in war and in the chase. The feats of the bow were often introduced into the songs of the bards of the ancient Britons, and into the ballads of the Troubadours.

Archery is now confined to shooting at the target. Ladies not unfrequently contend for the prize in this elegant amusement. Their bows, however, are not such as were used by the amazons of yore, nor are those of the gentlemen of the archery clubs such as decided the battle of Cressy.

Falconry, coeval with, and subsequent to the decline of archery, occupied that rank in British field sports which is now enjoyed by shooting. Falconry is of high antiquity; but at what time hawks were first trained to the sport does not appear. Aristotle informs us that “there was a district in Thrace, in which the boys used to assemble at a certain time of the year, for the sake of bird-catching; that the spot was much frequented by hawks, which were wont to appear on hearing themselves called, and would drive the little birds into the bushes, where they were caught by children; and that the hawks would even sometimes take the birds and fling them to these young fowlers, who, after finishing their diversion, bestowed on their assistants part of their prey.” Martial has the following epigram on the fate of a hawk:
Praedo fuit volucram, famulas nunc aucupis, idem
Decipit, et captas non sibi, mcerit, aves.

There is no record of trained hawks previous to the timeorEthelred. Under the Welsh laws of Hoel Dha, (a.D.

940), “the falconer has a privilege, the day that the hawk shall bill a bittern, or a heron, or a curlew. Three services shall the king perform for the falconer on such a day; hold his stirrup whilst he dismounts; hold the horse whilst he goes after the birds; and hold his stirrup whilst he mounts again. Three times shall the king that night compliment him at table.” Shakspeare often uses the language of falconry. It is chiefly employed in a scene in the second part of Henry VI., wherein the king, queen, lord protector, and cardinal, are the chief speakers; which goes to prove, that the falconer’s terms were, at one time, household words at the English court.

Hunting and archery, which were then almost synonimous terms, (for the sport was somewhat similar to what deer-stalking now is, the rifle being substituted for the how,) were in high repute with the Danish, Saxon, and Norman kings, whence arose the forest laws. Wolves and boars, which formerly infested the forests, were nearly exterminated in king Edgar’s time, when that monarch prohibited the killing of deer and game in his woods. The punishment depended upon the will of the king, until the celebrated forest laws of Canute, which defined the rights and privileges of the monarch and others; but those laws were little regarded by succeeding kings, whose arbitrary will afterwards regulated the laws of the forest. “Besides other prerogatives of the Saxon kings,” says Selden, “they had a franchise for wild beasts for the chase, which we commonly call forest, being a precinct of ground, neither parcel of the county, nor the diocese, nor the kingdom, but rather appendant thereto.” And these prerogatives, he quaintly observes, were maintained, “that the world might see the happiness of England, where beasts enjoy their liberty as well as men.” Another old writer says, that “the Saxon kings and the Danish king Canute made no new forests, but were contented with the woods that were their own demesnes, and were never granted to, or possessed by the subject; but the kings of the Norman race, not being satisfied with sixty-eight old demesne woods or forests, depopulated well-built towns and villages, to make to themselves places appropriated to their own diversion only. William the Conqueror laid waste thirty-six towns in Hampshire to make a forest, which still retains the name of the New Forest; and his forest officers exercised such arbitrary rule, as to abridge even the great barons of the privileges they enjoyed under the Saxon and Danish kings, not at all regarding the liberties given to the subject by Canute’s forest laws. His son William Rufus is recorded in history for the severity of his proceedings against all that hunted in his forests, inflicting the punishment of death upon such as killed a stag or buck in his forests, without any other law than that of his own will.” The killing of deer was punished with loss of sight by William the Conqueror.^[1. John Selden. ] l William Rufus “did so severely forbid hunting a deer, that it was felony and a hanging matter to have taken a stag or buck.”^[2. William of Malmsbury. ] In Coeur de Lion’s time, the law was very severe against offenders taking the king’s venison; it was even unlawful to carry a bow, or take dogs through a royal forest. “Qui arcus vel sagittas portaverint vel canes duxerint sine copulâ per forestam Regis, et inde attaintus fuerit, erit in miserecordiâ Regis.”^[3. England’s Eponimous, p. 34. ]

The forest laws professed to be for the protection of “vert and venison.” Vert was whatsoever bore green[7:20:301] leaves, and afforded food or cover to the deer; and venison ' signified such beasts of the forest or the chase as were the food of man. When reading old books, it is necessary to keep in mind this acceptation of the word venison.

This state of things continued until by the Charta de Foresta the forest laws were better defined and the penalties mitigated. The vast importance attached to the Forest Charter may be inferred from the fact, that although granted by king John at Runnymede, at the same time as the Great Charter, it was not incorporated in it, but was made the subject of a separate and distinct document. The Forest Charter was likewise confirmed by Henry III., contemporaneously with the Great Charter. On the latter occasion the Forest Charter was counter-signed by sixty-four bishops, abbots, and barons; and sentence of excommunication against all persons who should violate it was, with great ceremony, denounced in Westminster Hall, by the archbishop, in the presence of the king, bishops, and nobles, the bishops being robed and bearing torches.

The oath administered, at twelve years of age, to every young man dwelling within the precincts of a royal forest, was in the following rhymes:
You shall true liege-man be
Unto the King’s Majesty:
Unto the beasts of the Forest you shall no hurt do,
Nor to anything that doth belong thereunto:
The offences of others you shall not conceal.
But to the utmost of your power, you shall them reveal
Unto the Officers of the Forest,
Or to them who may see them redrest:
All these things you shall see done.
So help you God, at his Holy Doom

After the Forest Charter was granted any one was allowed to kill game, except in the royal and other forests, and certain other privileged places,^[4. The places privileged were of four descriptions, viz. a forest, a chase, a park, and a warren. To these may be added a decoy for waterfowl, which had also peculiar privileges. “A forest is a certain territory of woody grounds and fruitful pastures, privileged for wild beasts and fowls of forest, chase, and warren, to rest and abide there in the safe protection of the king for his delight and pleasure; which territory of ground so privileged is meered and bounded with unremoveable marks, meers, and boundaries, and replenished with wild beasts of venery or chase, and with great coverts of vert for the succour of the said beasts there to abide; for the preservation and continuance of which, there are particular officers, laws, and privileges belonging to the same, requisite for that purpose, and proper only to a forest and no other place." Manwood’s Forest Laws, p. 143. “Beasts of forest are properly hart, hind, buck, hare, boar, and wolf, but legally all wild beasts of venery." Coke’s Institutes, vol. i. p∙ 238. “A purlieu is a portion of a forest which was disafforested by the Charta de Foresta.” Manwood, 242. * ’ A chase is a privileged place for receipt of deer and beasts of the forest, and is of a middle nature, betwixt a forest and park. It is commonly less than a forest, and not endowed with so many liberties, as officers, laws, courts, and yet is of a larger compass than a park, having more officers and game than a park. Every forest is a chase, but every chase is not a forest. It differeth from a park in that it is not inclosed.” Manwood, 49, 147. “Beasts of the chase are, the buck, doe, fox, martern, and roe.” Manwood, 144. “A park is a large parcel of ground privileged for wild beasts of chase by the king’s grant, or by prescription. A park must be inclosed.” Read. Game. “The beasts of park properly extend to the buck, doe, fox; but in common and legal sense to all the beasts of the forest." Read. Game. “A free warren is a place privileged by prescription or grant of the king, for the preservation of the beasts and fowl of the warren, vis. hares, conies, partridges, and pheasants.” Manwood , p. 44. “If a pheasant, or other bird of warren, flew into a free warren, the falco ner could not follow it, but it became the property of the owner of the warren." Manwood. A decoy for wild fowl is to this day privileged, in so far as the owner has the exclusive right to the birds frequenting it; and no person is allowed to fire a gun or otherwise make a disturbance within a reasonable distance of it, without permission from the owner. ] until the reign of Richard II., when a landed qualification of forty shillings per annum became necessary to entitle a person to keep “any greyhound, hound, dog, ferret, net, or engine, to destroy deer, hares, conies, or any other gentleman’s game.” The qualification required was increased with the improved value of land, from time to time, until, in Charles the Second’s reign, it was enacted, that persons not having L.100 per annum arising from freehold, or L.150 from leasehold property, or not being of the degree of esquire, or otherwise privileged, should not keep or use “any guns, bows, greyhounds, setting dogs, ferrets, coney-dogs, lurchers, hays, nets, lowbels, hare-pipes, guns, snares, or other engines for taking or killing game.”

It was not until the early part of the reign of Geor III. that killing game was taxed as a luxury, and made a source of revenue to government· A tax of two guineas was first imposed on all persons who should go out in pursuit of game; but the price of the certificate was afterwards raised to three guineas, and subsequently to three and a half guineas. The property qualification is abolished, and now any person who has taken out a certificate and obtained permission from the owner or tenant of the land, in which soever the right at the time may happen to be, is privileged to kill game at all seasonable times. During a long period the sale of game was prohibited, which gave a peculiar value to it, as it was not attainable by any but qualified and certificated persons and their friends, except by indirect means. It is now publicly sold by persons taking out licences for the purpose, and such licenced persons are liable to penalties, and are incapacitated from renewing their licences, should they purchase game from any but duly certificated sportsmen. The licenced dealers are, however, largely supplied by poachers, notwithstanding the penalties to which they subject themselves by trading with uncertificated persons.

Falconry fell into dissuetude in the days of the Georges. It is now scarcely known but by name, although the honorary distinction of hereditary Grand Falconer of England is still extant. As falconry fell into disuse, another kind of sport, which is now considered as disreputable, and practised only by poachers, was pursued by the country gentlemen; the capturing of birds of the game species by means of nets and setting dogs. The dogs were trained to lie down when near to game, and to suffer the net to be drawn over them, so that both dog and birds were entangled in the toil. In this manner partridges are still frequently taken by poachers in the night. A poacher’s dog is sometimes known by his habit of crouching when close upon game, and this circumstance not unfrequently leads to a detection of the practices of his master. Netting was considered as a fair mode of taking game until the fowling-piece came into general use.

On the accession of the house of Hanover to the throne of Great Britain, falconry, netting, and shooting, were contemporary amusements. The number of shooters was very limited, the inferiority of the guns and ammunition being such as not to induce their general adoption; hawking was going out of favour; and, of the three sports, netting was the most commonly practised, until the beginning of the reign of George III., after which time it was no longer deemed the sport of gentlemen. At what time the fowling-piece first came into use is uncertain. We learn from Pope that pheasant shooting was in vogue in Windsor forest during the reign of Anne.

Shooting, as practised with guns to which flint and steel locks were attached, may be said to have risen and fallen with the Georgian era. During the latter part of that period, great improvements were made in all the implements and materials of shooting. Double barrels came into use, horse-nail stubs were employed in the manufacture of[7:20:302] barrels, the patent breech and percussion-cap were invented, and the wire-cartridge has since been introduced. Not the least improvement has been that in the manufacture of gunpowder. The excellence of our guns and dogs has tended much to spread the love of shooting, which has become the most popular and universal of British field sports.

It has been remarked, that England (Great Britain) is peculiarly the land of sportsmen, the very name being unknown in all other countries. The observation is in a great measure true, for, if we look around the globe, we find that wherever wild animals are killed for the sake of sport, it is mostly by the Englishman. In Sweden the Englishman alone kills the bear for sport. The natives kill it for the sake of reward, or to rid themselves of a noxious neighbour. Their method is generally thus: The strength of the country is summoned en masse, and several hundreds of people armed, form a circle many miles in circumference, and march forward until they meet in the centre, by which means great numbers of bears, wolves, and lynxes are destroyed. But this is not done for sport; it is a compulsory matter, and the people engaged in it are paid by the government ; it is a species of feudal duty, which the ablebodied are called upon to perform whenever public safety requires it. In Asia, the only sportsman that encounters the royal tiger is the Englishman; the native shekerrie shoots the tiger for profit. There also the buffalo and the boar are hunted by the Englishman alone. In Africa, it is the Englishman who hunts the lion, the hippopotamus, and the giraffe. And in America, it is the Englishman, or English settler, who hunts the panther, the bison, and the bear, for sport; the natives do so from necessity. Since, then, the Englishman is the universal sportsman, it behoves the officer, the emigrant, and the tourist, to make themselves acquainted not only with what may be called the first principles of sporting, but more especially with the sports peculiar to the countries to which they are proceeding, a theoretical knowledge of which may be gleaned from the volumes which annually proceed from the pens of our adventurous countrymen.

The Rifle. The only fire-arms used by the sportsman are the rifle, the musket, and the fowling-piece; the latter may be classified into the swivel-gun, which is fired from a rest, and the shoulder-gun. A short, wide-bored musket, charged with a round or oval iron ball, was formerly used for the destruction of such animals as the lion, tiger, or bear. In modern times, the musket has been superseded by the rifle, and the iron ball by a leaden one, hardened with tin and weighted with quicksilver. A short piece is said to be pre-lerred to a long one for shooting tigers, bears, and the like, as it may be more readily loaded, and is more easily managed in cases of emergency; indeed we apprehend the shooter should seldom fire, except when the animal is so near to him that if he aim coolly, he can scarcely fail to lodge a ball. We subjoin the method of taking aim at wild beasts from practical sporting writers. Captain Williamson gives the following instructions for shooting tigers:^[5. Oriental Field Sports by Captain Thomas Willamson. London, 1805. ] “If the motion of an animal through the grass be perceived, the nearest elephant should be halted; and its left shoulder being pointed towards the moving object, is the most favourable position for taking a good aim. The hunter should fire without hesitation, observing to proportion his level as far within the space between himself and the tops of the yielding grass as the height of the cover may dictate; by this precaution, equally necessary when shooting fish that are in any degree beneath the surface of the water, the iron ball will, in general, take effect.” Mr. Lloyd says,^[6. Field Sports of the North of Europe, by L. Lloyd. Esq. London, 1828. ] “If a man purposes attacking a bear at close quarters, a double gun is decidedly the best; if it be in the winter season, a detonator is very preferable. Owing to having flint locks, both my barrels, on one occasion, missed fire, which might have been attended with most serious consequences; a large ball is very desirable. The best points to hit a bear, or any other animal, are in the forehead, in the breast, under the ear, or at the back of the shoulder; bullets placed in other parts of the body of an old bear usually have little immediate effect. If the snow be deep, and the bear is crossing a man, he should always aim very low; he must often, indeed, fire into the snow, if he expects to hit the heart of the beast.”

In 1826 it was found necessary to destroy an elephant in Exeter ’Change. A detachment of foot guards were called in, and directed by surgeons where to fire; and 152 bullets were fired before it was disabled. This proves how utterly ineffectual the leaden musket ball would be in the forest. Captain Harris, in his South African tour, in 1837, took with him a double-barrelled rifle, carrying balls two ounces weight, and thus armed, no beast could stand before him. Speaking of the forehead of the elephant, he says,^[7. Wild Spurts of Southern Africa, by Captain william Cornwallis. Harris. London. 1839. ] “A ball hardened with tin or quicksilver readily penetrates to the brain, and proves instantaneously fatal.” He gives instances of his killing large elephants at a single shot, and seems to have had no difficulty with the “king of beasts,” which he has slain “in every stage from whelphood to imbecility.” According to Captain Harris, travelling through countries infested by wild beasts is not so dangerous as it is commonly thought to be. He says, indeed, that during part of his journey, “scarcely a day passed without our seeing two or three lions, but, like the rest of the animal creation, they uniformly retreated when disturbed by the approach of man. However troublesome we found the intrusions of the feline race during the night, they seldom, at any other time, shewed the least disposition to molest us, unless we commenced hostilities.” He, however, does justice to the terrors of the maned monarch when he says, “those who have seen the monarch of the forest in crippling captivity only, immured in a cage barely double his own length, with his sinews relaxed by confinement, have seen but the shadow of that animal which ‘ clears the desert with his rolling eye.’”

Fallow-Deer Shooting. There are only three kinds of deer in Great Britain; the red, the fallow, and the roe. The fallow deer, which was the dun deer of the days of Robin Hood, is the common deer of the parks. The positions of a stag at rest when tired at may be reduced to three, for each of which a different aim should be adopted. First, when presenting his side to the shooter, the aim should be low behind the shoulder. Secondly, when standing obliquely from the shoot-cr, the aim should be just under the ear, which is a vital part; there is too the chance, when this aim is selected, of reaching the brain through the upper or back part of the cheek, or of striking the animal in some other part of the neck, which will generally bring him down or so disable him that he will be readily recovered. It may be observed here, that the quickest mode of dispatching a dog, horse, or any other domestic animal is to shoot them through the neck, just under the ear. Thirdly, when standing or moving directly from the shooter, the aim should be at the back of the head; thus a chance is secured, should the part aimed at not be struck, of lodging a ball in the neck or spine. When a deer is approaching the shooter, or standing with its head towards him, he should wait until he can have a cross, an oblique, or a driving shot. When a deer is wounded, however slightly, one or more dogs should be instantly slipped. The dogs for this purpose should, as far as practicable, com[7:20:303]bine the nose of the bloodhound with the speed of the greyhound. A kind of wiry-haired greyhound is used for this purpose in the Highlands.

Deer Stalking. The red deer, which is larger, and the roe-buck, which is smaller than the fallow deer, are found chiefly in the uncultivated mountainous districts of the North. To destroy the deer of an adversary was once a mode of annoyance. Chevy Chase, it would seem, from the three first stanzas of the famous ballad of that name, was an expedition of this description:
“To drive the deer with hound and horn,
Earl Piercy took his way;
The child may rue that was unborn,
The bunting of that day.
“The stout Earl of Northumberland,
A vow to God did make,
His pleasure in the Scottish woods.
Three summer’s days to take.
With fifteen hundred bowmen bold,
All chosen men of might,
Who knew full well in time of need,
To aim their shafts aright.”

The pursuit of deer with the rifle is termed deer-stalking. To kill the semi-domesticated fallow deer requires little skill beyond that possessed by a good marksman. The skill of the deer-stalker, in pursuit of the red deer, is not only dependant on a good use of the rifle, but is shewn in his ability to find and approach deer; to do which successfully requires the most unwearied perseverance. Many of the Scottish forests wherein the stalking of deer in their wild state is practised, are of immense extent, It is on such tracts of land as the forests of Mar and A thole that the red deer is sought. The forest of Athole alone is said to be more than forty miles long, and in one part eighteen broad, of which about 30,000 imperial acres are devoted to grouse, 50,000 partly togrouse and partly to deer, and there are reserved solely for deer-stalking 52,000 imperial acres. In these vast solitudes, the Highlander stalks the antlered monarchs of the herd, harts which, a century ago, bore the scars of the weapons of his ancestors. An old Celtic rhyme which has been thus Englished, shews the great age to which the deer and the eagle are supposed to arrive.
Thrice the age of a dog is that of a horse;
Thrice the age of a horse is that of a man;
Thrice the age of a man is that of a deer;
Thrice the age of a deer is that of an eagle.

So far as regards the age of the eagle, these lines contain an assertion which can neither be proved nor negatived. It is different as regards deer. There has long existed a custom of marking fauns that have been caught, and as each forester has a distinct mark known us his own, the age of a marked deer can generally be nearly ascertained.

The deer-stalker has recourse to a thousand manoeuvres to approach a herd or solitary stag. The animals are usually descried at a long distance, either by the naked eye, or by the aid of an achromatic telescope, and the mode of approaching them entirely depends upon the situation in which they are discovered. Should it seem impracticable to steal upon them while at rest, the stalkers, armed with rifles, wait in the defiles through which the deer are expected to pass, whilst the attendants make a circuitous movement to get beyond the deer and drive them in the direction required. The deer-stalker, besides being an excellent shot, should have good judgment of ground and a hardy frame, combined with the patience and power to undergo extreme fatigue and privation.

When the red deer is fired at, he is usually at a conside rable distance, and perhaps bounding away at full speed. Behind the shoulder, therefore, is the favourite mark. “In killing deer,”^[8. Wild Sports in the West, by W. H. Maxwell, Esq. London, 1833. ] says Mr. Maxwell, “it is necessary to select the head, or aim directly behind the shoulder. A bodywound may eventually destroy the animal, but the chances are that he will carry off the ball.” Mr. Scrope,^[9. ’ The Art of Deer-Stalking, by William Scrope, Esq., F.L.S. London, 1839. ] whose experience and success in deer-stalking render his remarks valuable, says, “the most perfect shots and celebrated sportsmen never succeed in killing deer without practice; indeed, at first, they are quite sure to miss the fairest running shots. This arises, I think, from their firing at distances to which they have been wholly unaccustomed, and is no reflection upon their skill. It is seldom that you fire at a less distance than a hundred yards, and this is as near as you would wish to get. The usual range will be between this and two hundred yards, beyond which, as a general rule, I never think it prudent to fire, lest I should hit the wrong animal, though deer may be killed at a much greater distance. Now the sportsman who has been accustomed to shot guns, is apt to fire with the same sort of aim that he takes at a grouse or any other common game; thus he invariably fires behind the quarry; for he does not consider that the ball, having three, four, or perhaps five times the distance to travel that his shot has, will not arrive at its destination nearly so soon; consequently, in a cross shot, he must keep his rifle more in advance. The exact degree, as he well knows, will depend upon the pace and remoteness of the object. Deer go much faster than they appear to do, and their pace is not uniform, like the flying of a bird; but they pitch in running, and this pitch must be calculated upon.”

The interest and anxiety attending this sport must be as intense as the pursuit is laborious. After climbing for hours the mountain side, with the torrent thundering down the granite crags above him, and tremendous chasms yawning beneath him, the stalker, with his glass, at length descries in some remote valley, a herd too distant for the naked eye. He now descends into the tremendous glen beneath, fords the stream, wades the morass, and by a circuitous route threads the most intricate ravines to avoid giving the deer the wind. Having arrived near the brow of the hill, on the other side of which he believes them to be, he approaches on hands and knees, or rather vermicularly, and his attendant, with a spare rifle, does the same. A moment of breathless suspense ensues. He may be within shot of the herd, or they may be many miles distant, for he has not had a glimpse of them since he first discovered them an hour ago. A moment, and the antlers appear; another, and the herd is in sight. Resting his rifle on the heather, he takes a cool shot at the finest hart, which falls; the rest bound away; a shot from the spare rifle follows, the “smack” of the ball is heard, and the glass tells that another noble hart must die. The dogs, which had been kept far back, are slipped, and are out of sight in a moment. The sportsman follows; he again climbs a considerable way up the heights; he applies the telescope, but nothing of life can he behold, except his few followers on the knolls around him. With his ear to the ground he listens, and amidst the roar of innumerable torrents, faintly hears the dogs baying the quarry, but sees them not; he moves on from hill to hill towards the sound, and eventually another shot makes the hart his own. The deer is then gralloched, and partially covered with peat; the horns are left upright, and a handkerchief is tied to them to mark the spot, that the attendants may find it at the close of the day. Let the reader imagine how much the interest of all this is enhanced by the majestic scenery of an immense, trackless, trceless forest, to which domesticated life is a stranger, where mountain, corrie, cairn,[7:20:304] and glen, thrown promiscuously together, present the grandest of savage landscapes, which, as the field of wild adventure, cast into shade what Mr. Scrope calls “the tame and hedge-bound country of the south.”

Τηε Fowling-piece. Before making choice of a gun, the shooter should determine what weight he can conveniently carry. The heaviest gun, as regards shooting, will be most effective, but he should recollect that unless he be a very robust person, a light gun will, on the whole, bring him more game, as a few additional pounds in the weight of a gun makes a deal of difference in the distance a person can travel in a day. and, moreover, he cannot shoot as well when fatigued.

The most approved guns under the system which prescribes a heavy charge of powder, and a light one of very small shot, are double barrels, weighing, according to the fancy of the shooter, from six to nine pounds, and bearing the following relative proportions of length to guage: fourteen guage, thirty-four inches long; seventeen guage, thirty-two inches long; twenty guage, thirty inches long. Taking the season throughout, we are convinced, that the most effective gun is a short, wide-bored one, each barrel being charged with rather less than 1 ½ drams avoirdupois weight of powder, and full 2 oz. of No. 2 shot, containing 220 pellets. This is the general charge, but it may be varied according to circumstances. When game is wild, we would charge the reserve barrel, and, on some occasions, both barrels, with 2 1 / 2 drams of powder, and a No. 5 blue cartridge for partridges, and with a No. 4 or 5 red cartridge for grouse shooting. No. 7 shot is best for snipe shooting. Small shot may be used for partridge sh∞ting in September, though we do not see any reason for not adhering to No. 2, except that birds very near the gun are liable to be more disfigured by it.

Barrels twenty-six or twenty-eight inches long, and fourteen or sixteen guage, are of convenient size. We think it will not be questioned that these barrels are as efficient as long narrow-bored ones for short distances, viz. under thirty-five yards, and nine-tenths of game brought to the bag is killed within that distance. And for making long shots, the wire-cartridge has obviated the necessity of using long guns. A most material advantage attending the use of a short gun is, the comparative ease with which it may be carried. A pound additional weight at the breech is not so fatiguing to the arm as half that weight added to the end of the barrel; it is the top-heavy gun that distresses the shooter.

Different proportions of powder and shot are required for different sizes of shot. The following may be the proper proportions for a gun not exceeding eight pounds:
[table]

These proportions cannot be materially deviated from without destroying the effect. If the powder is decreased, the discharge is weakened; if the powder is increased, the shot spreads; if the weight of shot is decreased, there will not be a sufficient number of pellets for effective shooting; if the weight of shot is increased, the discharge is weakened.

The usual objection to large shot is, that after it has travelled thirty yards it becomes dispersed; but let the powder be reduced to less than 1½ dram, and that objection fails. If it is not overcharged with powder, a gun will shoot No. 2 shot close enough to kill at from thirty-five to fifty yards, with more certainty than if charged with small shot, and two or three drams of powder.

It is not so much the velocity as the momentum of a shot that renders it effective. The momentum of a shot increases in a direct ratio with its weight. The momentum of a No. 2 shot much more than compensates for the diminished weight of powder and additional weight of lead that we have recommended. Large shot droops more than small, and sooner comes to the ground, as it is not carried with the same velocity. It is the momentum, and not the velocity, that the shooter must look to.

We do not suppose that feathers or fur of game present any serious obstacle to either large or small shot; but if they did, the fact that large shot is most effective for shooting wild fowl armed with down, at once tells that it must be so for shooting game which is not so protected. Another advantage of large shot is, that when the aim taken is not quite correct, a single outside pellet will often bring down a bird, when it would require many small shots to do so.

The shooting of barrels depends mainly on three things, viz., the metal of which they are made, the boring, and the breeching. The quality of the metal is of much importance. All barrels expand when fired; and those made of inferiormetal expand more than those made of stub-twist. Mr. Greener, in his excellent treatise on the “Gun,”^[10. The Gun, by William Greener. London. 1835 ] says, “that a barrel is a spring on an extended scale, and the more we can make it partake of the nature of a spring, the better. If we must have expansion, let us have it in its most beneficial form; an expansion that will aid the powder in expelling the lead. This cannot be entirely obtained, nor can the quantity of expansion be entirely destroyed, though you were to make your barrels of the weight of a twenty-four pounder. We must, therefore, decrease it, by making our iron as elastic and tenacious as possible. The qualities of elasticity and tenacity can only be obtained by hammer-hardening the iron. Barrels hammer-hardened will shoot as well without any artificial friction, as those whose friction is extreme, yet have not yet been benefited by the process.”

The term friction implies a gradual contraction of the barrel towards the muzzle, which retards the progress of th∣ shot, that more time may be allowed to the powder to burn. “The shooting of all barrels,” says Mr. Greener, “depends on a certain degree of friction. The degree of friction necessary varies according to the nature and substance of the metal. Those metals that requiro least shoot best. The object of the friction is to create a greater force, by detaining the charge longer in the barrel. If, then, there should not be an extra quantity of powder to consume, the friction would be a decided evil." A greater degree of friction is generally allowed to a short barrel than to a long one. A gradual expansion of the barrel towards the muzzle is termed relief. Relief accelerates the progress of shot through the barrels. What is the proper degree of relief or friction for different descriptions of barrels, is a subject fruitful of much controversy; as is also the form of the breech. The best breech is that which will cause the greatest quantity of powder to consume in the barrel.

Mr. Greener would not prevent the barrel expanding when fired, by increasing its thickness, but by improving the quality of the metal. When the barrel expands much, or is held loosely when fired, a loss of strength is induced, as that power which, if possible, should be exerted on the shot, is uselessly expended in a contrary direction, whereas, when the barrel is firmly fixed, and made of metal that only[7:20:305] expands in a trifling degree, or, as Mr. Greener observes, operates as a spring, that portion of the explosive force which strikes in any direction, except against the shot, is forced back, or rebounds upon the shot, and consequently becomes a portion of the available strength of the charge. Much of the force that is thrown on a solid fixed surface is returned, but not that which is expended on an yielding one.

Mr. Greener shews that much loss of strength is induced by barrels not being firmly held when fired; and argues that the mode of proving barrels by allowing them to fly back into sand is defective, as, by reason of the projectiles giving way in one direction and the barrels in the other at the same time, there is not a sufficient strain on the barrels to prove them effectively. On this subject he says, “Let any one take his gun and load it as usual; suspend it by two ropes so as it can fly back; place a quire of brown paper as directly in front of it as possible; fire it, by squeezing the trigger and the back side of the guard together, so as not to displace the gun; examine the impression the shot has made in the paper. If they have stuck in at the distance of forty yards, they have done well. Load again, and fire from the shoulder, and you will find the shots driven through a great number of the sheets. Load again, but first, take the barrels from the stock, lest you should happen to break your stock, as I have seen done by a gentleman placing his gun on a stone wall; while he rested, the gun by accident went off and shivered the stock into many pieces, and severely cut his hand by the splintering. (So severe is the recoil from a gun on being fired, when resisted by a solid, unyielding substance. When fired from the shoulder it is different, as the body yields to the recoil, and thus prevents that which would inevitably be inflicted, if the shoulder were placed against a solid substance.) Secure the barrels on a piece of wood, and behind place anything firm; for instance, a piece of lead sufficiently heavy, and that will not injure the end of the breeches, technically called the buts, when they strike it. Having secured them perfectly, fire the barrel in any way you can, and then examine the force of the shots in the paper, and if you do not find that they have penetrated further than they did when fired from the shoulder, say my doctrine is false. It follows, as a matter of course, from these experiments, that in shooting, the more firmly a gun is held to the shoulder, the better it will shoot.

“It is upon these experiments that I found ray objections to the practice of allowing best barrels, when proved, to. fly back into sand. Such a mode of proof is of no use. Were they fixed like common barrels, the force of the proof would be increased one-half. I doubt whether the present method be any test at all. I am satisfied that the force exerted in this mode of proof on the barrel, is not equal to the pressure of a large sporting charge, when fired from the shoulder.

“The fact that the shooting powers of a gun are increased by its being fixed in an immoveable frame, is proved with the practice of mortars. Mortars op iron beds, and these firmly embedded in the earth, will throw a shell farther when on the ground, than when placed on a platform, or on board a ship. It is for the purpose of destroying the recoil, that mortars for sea-service, though of the same calibre as those intended for land-service, are made three times the weight. Dr. Hutton states, that he found no advantage by retarding the recoil in practice with artillery. He means, that no advantage is gained by stopping at three feet a gun accustomed to recoil to the distance of six. The statement is perfectly true. If he were to allow a gun to recoil only an inch, and then strike against a solid substance, he would gain nothing. For if it recoil ever so little, the shooting force is as much weakened as if it recoiled twice as far.

“To increase that force, a steady fixed resistance is required. The velocity of the projectile depends on the force of the immediate impulse. Before a gun, suffered to recoil, could rebound from striking some solid substance in its recoil, the charge would be gone, and could, therefore, receive no additional impetus from that rebound. The truth of this fact may be illustrated by throwing a hand-ball against any loose body with sufficient force to displace it. However hard or elastic that body might be, the ball would not rebound from it, but would fall perpendicularly down. Fix and secure that same body, and then the ball will rebound with little less force than that with which it was thrown against it. So it is with gunpowder. If it meet with a firm resistance, it will rebound and project the ball or shot with additional force.”

On Charging the Following-piece. It may be premised that all powder, before being put into the barrel, is more or less damp; and most barrels, especially if they have been only imperfectly cleaned, or have been fired and laid by since being cleaned, are also more or. less liable to damp. A portion, therefore, of powder should be flashed off in each barrel immediately before charging, for the triple purpose of expelling damp, proving whether the passage through the pivots on which the caps are to be placed, is open, and warming the barrels, so that any little moisture in the charge of powder may be absorbed. The barrels are then held perpendicularly and the powder poured in, in such manner that the whole charge may reach the bottom; and a wadding is then pressed down upon it. The shot is next poured in and another wadding pressed upon it. The shooter next removes the remains of the caps, and looks whether the powder has found its way to the orifice of the pivots, and if it has, he places fresh caps on. If the powder is not visible at the orifice of the pivots, he removes any obstacle with a pen-knife or pricker, and contrives to push down a few grains of powder.

Wire - Cartridges. The wire-cartridge (fig. 1.) was invented in 1828 by Mr. Jenour. It consists of a cylindrical case or network of wire, the meshes of which are somewhat more than an eighth of an inch square; at the lower end the wire partially, closes; the wire case is then enveloped in fine paper, and at the upper end a cork wadding, cut so as to fit the guage of the gun, is affixed; the case is then filled with shot and bone dust. The first cartridges made, though,, ingenious in construction, were defective in operation. It was a matter of no ordinary difficulty to fabricate them in such a manner that the shot should leave the case at the precise distance required. This at first, could not be done so that they might be trusted in every instance. Every alternate cartridge might fire well; but the rest would fire irregularly, being liable to ball; that is, the shot would not leave the case until fifty or sixty yards from the gun, and such cartridges were, of course, not only useless but dangerous. They have been from time to time improved, and almost every difficulty has been overcome. The sporting cartridges now made never ball; they act with a considerable degree of precision and certainty; and that they may be safely trusted may be inferred from the fact that they are often preferred by persons engaged in pigeon matches. Various materials were used cx-perimentally to fill up the interstices between the pellets, but nothing seems to answer so well as the material now used. Another difficulty in their construction presented itself. It was requisite to accommodate them to the various methods of boring pursued by different gunmakers, and the unequal length of barrels, the object in view being to produce a cartridge that would suit all barrels of the same guage; and this has been, in a great measure, if not wholly, accomplished. The liability to ball which, notwith-[7:20:306] standing various improvements made in them, was not effectually obviated for many years, during which they were tried, and in many instances prematurely condemned, either from real defects, or from the parties not knowing how to use them. They were not brought to perfection until the year 1837.

The wire-cartridges possess two principal advantages over loose shot; they are propelled with greater velocity, and thrown more evenly. A loose charge is always thrown in patches; the shots of a cartridge, as seen on a target, are comparatively equidistant from each other. There are four classes of wire-cartridges, which the patentees have named the battue, the blue, the red, and the green; each intended for a different range. There is some little difference in the construction of each of the three kinds; the meshes of the frame-work are larger in the battue and the blue than in the red, and in the red than in the green, and there are doubtless other differences not perceptible to the uninitiated. The battue and the blue cartridges are intended for general use; the battue for the shortest distance; the blues will kill several yards further than loose shot of the same size, and of the four kinds, are, in our opinion, decidedly to be preferred; each blue cartridge being thrown more nearly alike, they are more certain in their operation than the red and the green, which are intended for longer distances. The red may be serviceable in open places, when game is wild, and the shooter is provided with a gun of not less than fourteen guage, or with a very short barrel, which does not throw its shot very strongly. The green cartridges are intended chiefly for wild-fowl shooting; these should be used in barrels of not less than twelve guage. The red and green cartridges retain the shot in the case longer than the others, and are carried with an astonishing force to an incredible distance, and at the same time very closely. The red may generally be trusted for long distances, especially from barrels of large calibre; but at short distances the smallness of the circle they describe renders them objectionable. The green cartridges should never be used for shooting game. The blue and battue only should be used in barrels of small guage.

The wire-cartridges do not require either a greater or less charge of powder than loose shot, but there is this peculiarity attending them. A heavy charge of powder throws the shot from the cartridge more closely than a small charge, by reason of its allowing more time for the escape of shot from the net-work. This is exactly the reverse of the manner in which the loose charge acts. The greater the charge of powder when loose shot and wadding are used, the more is the shot dispersed, and vice versa. Either loose shot or cartridge shot is projected with greater force and velocity when a heavy charge of powder is used. When birds lie well, we would recommend the shooter who adopts the cartridge to charge lightly with powder, to give the shots time to spread well; when moderately wild, we would charge lightly with powder in the first barrel, and heavily in the reserve barrel; but when birds are very wild, both barrels should be charged with as much powder as the shoulder can conveniently bear, so as to give the charge the greatest possible force, and at the same time the greatest practicable degree of closeness. It is at long distances that the superiority of the cartridge is conspicuous; when the loose charge is used, the increase of force that is obtained by loading heavily only tends to dispersing the shot, thereby rendering the increased momentum of little avail.

Amongst the advantages attending the adoption of wire-cartridges, it may be mentioned, that the recoil is not so severe, and consequently a lighter gun may be used, than with the loose charge, and this is a great relief to the shooter in a heavy country, and especially on the hills in August, when the heat of the sun is frequently overpowering. The cartridges act well when fired from short barrels, perhaps more satisfactorily than when fired from long ones. The increased facility and expedition of loading is another advantage which should not be overlooked.

The main objection to wire-cartridges, and it is a material one to a person who is an indifferent marksman, is, that they do not describe a sufficient circle at short distances. When game is wild they are invaluable for the reserve barrel of a double gun.

The wire-cartridges usually kept on sale contain, for the different guages, the following weight of shot.
[table]

When ordering cartridges, it is necessary to give the guage of the barrel, the weight of the cartridge, the size of shot, and the description·, that is, whether battue, blue, red, or green.

The green cartridges, fired from a common-sized fowling-piece, are not to be depended upon for any distance nearer than fifty yards; and, for that reason, they should only be used for wild-fowl shooting, for which sport they may answer very well when fired from a reserve barrel. We would not recommend their adoption, even for wild-fowl shooting, to a person using a common-sized single gun, since by so doing he would hazard missing when the most favourable opportunities of killing presented themselves. A No. 3 red cartridge would suit better.

The wire-cartridge has been proved to be much superior to the loose charge for the stanchion, and heavy shoulder guns used on the sea-coast and rivers. For the largest shoulder guns, B or B B loose shot, or a No. 1 cartridge is usually adopted. A A loose shot, or a B or No. 1 cartridge will better suit the stanchion gun.

Taking Αιμ. As the manner of taking aim is a matter of primary importance to success in shooting, a few observations on that head may not be misplaced here. When the dog points, or when birds rise near to him, the shooter should immediately draw back both hammers with the right thumb;^[11. Many experienced sportsmen disapprove of the practice of cocking both barrels at the same time. They think that it ought to be a rule never to cock either barrel, until the game be upon the wing, then that the left barrel should be cocked and tired, and thereafter taken from the shoulder. The right barrel should then be cocked and fired if necessary; if not discharged, it should be put back to the half cock, and the left re-loaded. ] * but should the birds rise at a considerable distance, to save time he need only cock one barrel, as in this case, he has only to fire once. He should never be in haste. It is more prudent to let the bird escape than to fire hastily. If on open ground, he should not fire until the bird is at least twenty-five paces distant, by which means he avoids, on the one hand, the hazard of mangling it, and, on the other, a probability of missing; for at the distance of from twenty-five to thirty yards, whether the piece be charged with loose shot or the wire-cartridges, the range of the whole charge will be wide, yet the pellets will be so close together that nothing can escape, if the aim be true, and, what is of no less moment, the finger also obedient to the eye. He should be deliberate in bringing up the piece to his shoulder, and in making it to bear on the object, but the moment he has brought it to bear, the finger should act in co-operation with the eye, the eye being kept open the while, so that[7:20:307] the shooter may see whether the bird falls, or feathers fly from it; for if he does not, he may rely that there is something defective in his system of managing the fowling-piece. A shooter only requires coolness, a very little mechanical knowledge, and a gun properly mounted. Possessing these requisites, he will not be deficient in any other which he will not be easily able to supply. The novice should learn to shoot high enough at winged, and low enough at footed game, and well forward at both. He should seldom shoot directly at the object; but at the wing, if the bird is moving obliquely from him, the head, if the bird is rising, the legs, if descending; but if crossing, or flying obliquely at a considerable angle, he should make an allowance of a few inches according to the distance of the object from him. It is not usual to shoot at any object approaching the shooter. It should be allowed to pass, when he turns round and fires at it as it moves from him.

The Rook. We commence our notice of the different kinds of shooting with the fowling-piece now chiefly practised, with a few observations on those birds, not coming under the denomination of game, which occasionally afford the first lessons to the younger brethren of the trigger, and which therefore may properly take precedence, in description, of the more difficult branches of the art.

Young rooks, in the month of May, are generally shot whilst sitting on the branches, near their nests, on the tops of the loftiest trees, so that it requires a steady aim, and hard-stricken shot to bring them down with certainty; for if only wounded, they will frequently cling to the bough with their claws, and die suspended in that manner. The rook should be fired at with a small charge of rather large shot, and a heavy charge of powder. Rooks are gregarious, and feed on grain, worms, and insects. It is only during the season of incubation, and until the young ones can fly, that they frequent the rookery, which is mostly a small plantation, or clump of old trees, and near to some habitation. When rooks choose any particular cluster of trees, or plantation to build in, the same trees will, if standing, be tenanted again the next year by the same rooks and their offspring, notwithstanding they may have been much fired at, or in some other way disturbed. This opinion is not universal. In some counties there exists a prejudice against the practice of firing at rooks with gunpowder, especially when the rooks are few, and the number of trees limited, lest the rooks should desert the rookery; and, therefore, that as little alarm as possible may be created, they are fired at with balls from the air-gun, and sometimes the young shooter will try his skill with the cross-bow. The old rook is distinguished from the young one by the thick end of either mandible being white; and the beak of the young rook is black to the insertion. They are distinguished from other birds of a somewhat similar appearance, by a slight variation of colour; the rook has a blue, the carrion-crow a brown tinge, the jackdaw is partially grey, the raven is jet black.

After young rooks have been fired at several times, some of the strongest and best-fledged will quit the rookery, and alight on hedges or trees at some distance, where the shooter flushes them, and they afford good sport to the tyro learning to shoot birds on the wing. A warm sunny day is best for rook-shooting. In cold weather, particularly on windy days, young rooks will not quit their nests.

The Wood-pigeon. The wood-pigeon is little regarded by the sportsman. A shot may he obtained by lying in ambush early in the morning, near to some wheat stubble, or field of newly-sown grain, where the birds feed; but the best sport the wood-pigeon affords is at the roosting places, where the shooter ought to take his station an hour before sunset. It is difficult to obtain a shot in any other manner, except when the birds are young, when they are sometimes killed in trees, in the same manner as young rooks.

The shooter in pursuit of game often sees them, but rarely obtains a shot at them. Sometimes, but it is usually when he is not aware of them, they will suffer him to approach close to the tree in which they are perched. The tree is generally a large one, and perhaps in full foliage, and the shooter hears the rustling of the wings of the decamping birds, but seldom secures a shot. Whenever u wood-pigeon leaves a tree, the shooter should prepare for others, since, when there are several in the same tree, they will not leave it simultaneously, but move off in succession. They are large strong birds, and require heavy shot to bring them down.

Shooting tame pigeons is becoming a very common amusement; but it is offener practised to decide a wager, than prove the skill of the parties. The Red House at Battersea, near London, is the scene of the principal matches. The birds are sprung from a trap, which is usually placed twenty-one yards from the gun; the birds of each person are provided by his opponent; blue rocks are the favourites; very heavy guns are used, but the weight of shot is usually limited. The birds must fall within a limited distance from the trap, or they are not counted amongst the successful shots.

The lark, field-fare, lapwing, golden plover, and dottrel. Larks and field-fares are often the object of the young shooter’s pursuit. Field-fares, the blue-backs and red-wings, arrive in October, and remain during winter. They are easily approached during a frost, or when the ground is covered with snow. They will then be found in search of the berries of the mountain-ash, the holly, and the hawthorn, and are killed in great numbers. Like wood-pigeons, field-fares do not leave a tree, or rise from the ground simultaneously, so that when one bird flies off, if the shooter will hasten to the spot, he will, in all probability, meet with a lagger.

The lapwing or pewit is a bird much sought for by the juvenile shooter. Lapwings are commonly found on marshes, or wet land abounding in rushes. Except during the season of incubation, they collect in flocks, and are so very wary as to be difficult of approach. They are often killed for the sake of their toppings, which are useful to the angler. As they wing round the shooter, it is extremely difficult to decide whether they are within range or not; they should be within a moderate distance when fired at, or they will escape in the interstices of the charge, as the size of the body bears a small proportion to the apparent size of the bird when on the wing. It is not uncommon to see several feathers cut out of the wings, and the bird fly away as if unhurt.

All these birds afford amusement chiefly to schoolboys. The sportsman in pursuit of game does not think them worthy attention; but the golden or whistling plover, and the dottrel, which are birds often met with in hilly districts, are generally considered as worth firing at, if they accidentally come in the way, but are not worth the trouble of following.

The Land-rail. The land-rail or corn-crake is a bird of passage. It may be found with pointers or spaniels early in spring, in hedges or long grass. The dogs for this sport should not be staunch; such as will foot the birds are best as it is with great difficulty they can be made to rise. It is only during the first fortnight after their arrival that they may be fairly killed in spring; after that time they begin to pair. In August and September, the sportsman sometimes casually meets with a land-rail, whilst beating for other birds.

Wild-fowl. Wild-fowl shooting is practised in various ways. The method of proceeding depends entirely on the situation in which the shooter expects to find the birds. In some of the inland counties, except during hard frosts, they are not met with anywhere but on large pools and ri[7:20:308] vers, and are only to be approached by having recourse to some stratagem, as waiting in a shed, or on an island, or on the banks of a pool, or stalking behind a horse trained to the purpose. The largest shoulder gun that is at hand may be used charged with the red or green wire-cartridges, the size of shot being regulated by the bore of the piece.

During a severe frost, wild-fowl are compelled to leave the pools, and are then found in small rivers., brooks, or in drains where there are springs of fresh water. The flights being broken, ducks are found singly or only few in number, and are consequently easy of access, and may be shot with a common fowling-piece. The size of shot should be No. 2, or. 3. Wild-fowl are so fortified with down on some parts as to resist any but hard-stricken shot. Their back is the most vulnerable part, and all kinds of wild-fowl present it to the shooter as they rise. They are also easily brought down when they present a cross shot; but when approaching it is not advisable to fire at them. If a dog accompany the shooter, it should follow at heel. As the shooter pursues the course of a river or brook, he should keep out of sight as much as possible, and come suddenly on every turn or winding. When there is a mist during a frost, wild ducks will remain in the brooks and gutters all day. The earlier in the morning the better for this sport. Ducks may also be killed on the wing, on the verge of night, by the shooter lying hid near to fresh water springs. If it be a dark evening, he need only wait about a quarter of an hour, but if moonlight he may wait about an hour. They may also be walked up on a moonlight night, when, if they rise above the horizon, they may be killed almost as easily as in the day time. The objection to night shooting is, that birds knocked down are often lost. These are the principal methods by which ducks are killed by any but professed wild-fowl shooters.

The larger kinds of wild-fowl, such as hoopers (wild swans) and geese, can rarely be brought down by the common fowling-piece, unless, struck on the head or back. Wild-fowl shooting, in creeks and harbours on the sea-coast, is conducted in a very different manner, and on a larger scale-of operations. There are two kinds of guns used for the purpose, the shoulder-gun and the punt-gun; the latter being fired from a rest, or frame, or carriage, either in a boat or some other floating craft. Mr. Greener, to whose work we have already referred, says, “Never make duck guns (shoulder-guns) above seven-eighths in the. bore, if you wish them to kill at a great distance, and not less than fifteen or sixteen pounds weight, and full four feet long.” Colonel Hawker,^[12. Instructions to Young Sportsmen. Eighth edition. London, 1838. ] ’ who has devoted nearly one hundred and fifty pages to the subject of wild-fowl shooting, says, “The barrel of a punt-gun, to be in good proportion, should, I conceive, (including the patent plug, of about six pounds weight, and from two to three inches in length), be about seventy or eighty pounds weight, from seven to nine feet long, and from an inch and a quarter, to an inch and a half bore, according to the one length and weight, or the other. The smaller the bore is, in reason, the further you can kill at a small number of birds; but the larger size of thesetwo shoots the best, and is the most regular pattern. Any thing beyond that size seldom answers.” Both these writers seem to agree that the common punt-gun, though it weigh eighty or one hundred pounds, cannot be charged to the extent of its shooting powers, by reason of the tremendous recoil that would result; but each advises that the additional weight should be gained by using the barrels double. Thus more than a double advantage would be secured, for not only would there be two barrels at command, but the discharge from each barrel would be more effective. The charge of shot for a punt-gun averages from ten to twenty ounces; the shot is much larger than any used for shooting game.

The Colonel, and we apprehend he is the only practical writer on this department of the subject, describes the various kinds of punts (which are flat-bottomed boats or canoes, so constructed as to be manageable either on sands, or in mud, or water,) used in several different counties, and gives the following directions for shooting wild-fowl, from a punt, with a large shoulder-gun. “Sit down on some straw or rushes, with your gun by your side, and take with you a small Newfoundland dog. Row about, till you can see or hear a flock of wild-fowl on the mud. To find them sitting, if by night, look at first Very low, so as to bring the surface of the mud in contrast with the horizon, by which means you will overlook the black edges of the creeks and holes, instead of seeing, and perhaps mistaking them for birds.:

“When you have rowed within two or three gun-shots of the fowl, take in your oars, and reconnoitre the creeks. Having ascertained which is likely to be the best, he down, and push along with the setting pole or gunning spread, and while the mud banks stand above the little channels, you are so completely hid, that you will seldom fail to get a shot, provided there is a creek within reach of the birds, and you do not go directly to windward of them.

“On arriving sufficiently near, should the water be so low that you cannot present your gun at the birds without kneeling or standing up, you must get aground at the side of the creek, or steady your canoe by means of forcing each oar from between the thowls into the mud, otherwise the recoil of the gun will set her rocking, and thus you might probably be tipped out. Having made all fast, rise up and fire. Take care, however, to rise high enough to be well clear of the mud, or not a feather will you touch; and present as follows: By day, or moonlight, if the birds are close, directly at them; or if beyond forty yards, shoot at their heads; unless they are feeding in a concave place, where the tide has left a kind of plash, in which case you must level rather under them, or you will only graze their back feathers. In star-light, take your aim just at the top of the narrow black line, in which birds always appear to one who is low down; and when so dark that you cannot see your gun, present, as you think, about a foot over, or you will most likely shoot above a foot under them.

Should you have been successful, you will, if at night, generally hear your cripples (wounded fowD beating On the and, before you can sufficiently recover your eyes, from being dazzled by the fire, to see them. Your man then puts on his mud-boards, (which are flat square pieces of wood fastened to. the feet, to enable the party to walk Or wade through mud), taking the setting pole to support him, and assist the dog in collecting the killed and wounded; taking care to secure first the outside birds, lest they should escape to a creek. During this time you are left in charge of the punt; and should, if possible, keep a look out, in order to see if any more birds fall dead or wounded from the company, before they have flown out of sight.

“The gunner generally calculates on bringing home the half only of what he shoots, from the difficulty of catching the whole of his winged birds, which he calls cripples, and those that (to use the pigeon phrase) fall out of bounds, which he calls droppers. If the birds fly up, he generally declines firing, knowing that the moment they are on the wing, they become so much more spread·, that he could seldom get more than three or four, for which it would be hardly worth while to disturb the mud; particularly as[7:20:309] widgeon, by night, if not fired at, will, in cold weather, pro- 'bably settle again at no great distance.

“In following wild-fowl, it is easier to get within twenty yards of them by going to leeward, than a hundred and fifty if directly to windward, so very acute is their sense of smelling.

“The best time, therefore, to have sport with a canoe and a shoulder-gun, (provided it be low water, or half ebb, while you are hid in the creeks), is in clear, frosty, moonlight nights, when the wind happens to blow towards you as you face the moon. It is' then impossible for the wildfowl to smell you; and you may, by getting them directly under the light, have the most accurate outline of every bird, and even distinctly see them walking about, at a much greater distance than a gun would do execution. From thus being on the shining mud-banks, they appear quite black, except some of the old cock widgeons, on the wings of which the white is often plainly to be seen.

“It does not follow, however, that nothing can be done without a bright moon. So far from it, that some of the best shoulder-gunners in the kingdom prefer but very little moon even for the mud. Here, by constant habit, they can easily distinguish the black phalanxes of widgeons from the shades on the places they frequent, and particularly if they are feeding among the puddles which have been left by the tide. In this pursuit, and when not favoured by the best of light, there are a few cautions to be given to an inexperienced shooter. First, to ascertain that the black patch to be seen is a flock of birds, which he will do, by observing the occasional change of feature in the outside of it. Secondly, on approaching them, to be careful that their enormous masses and tremendous noise do not deceive him in the distance, and tempt him to fire out of shot. And, thirdly, not to be too eager in getting his dead birds, as it sometimes happens, in hard weather, that the remainder of the flock will again pitch down among them, particularly if he has winged some of the younger birds, which have not the cunning to make off for a creek, like the old ones. In this case, a reserved gun would, probably, more than double the produce of his first shot. It should be understood, that this night shooting is chiefly at the widgeon, as the geese, of late years, (since there have been so many shooters), have seldom ventured much in harbour by night, except sometimes at high spring tides, with a full moon; and the greater part of the ducks, teal, dunbirds, and such like, repair inland to the ponds and fresh springs, unless driven to the salt feeding ground by severe frost.

“A company of widgeons, when first collecting, may be heard at an immense distance, by the whistling of the cocks and purring noise of the hens; but when they are quietly settled, and busy at feed, you sometimes can only hear the motion of their bills, which is similar to that of tame ducks.”,

Geese, ducks, widgeons, hoopers, curlews, and other wildfowl, are killed in this manner; but the most destructive method of killing them is with the heavy stanchion or swivel punt-gun, used by the persons on the coast who make a trade of wild-fowl shooting. When a fair shot can be obtained by this method, from twenty to fifty birds may be killed at one discharge; but it is laborious, wearisome work, and, except for a single occasion, can scarcely be called sport. This kind of shooting is carried on in the night, usually in frosty weather, at which time sailing about on water, or working the canoe through mud, cannot be accompanied with very agreeable sensations.

The size of shot for punt-shooting should, in some measure, be regulated by the size of the birds expected to be met with, and their degree of tameness; yet it is well to be prepared With shot of sufficient size, as hoopers, geese, and other large birds, are sometimes found when least expected The Water-hen,. &c.— There are various kinds of wildfowl, which will dive rather than fly away when disturbed. They are, for the most part, clumsy birds on the wing, and are killed without difficulty when they can be made to rise. When shot at swimming, the shooter takes aim, and fires instantaneously, or they will be under water whilst he is drawing the trigger.

Sporting Dogs. Before noticing the different kinds of game which, are the object pf the shooter’s pursuit, a few observations on sporting dogs may not be irrelevant. The shooter’s dogs are pf four kinds; the pointer, setter, spaniel, and. retriever.

Pointers and Setters. If flogs were, unknown in Europe, and some traveller from a distant part of the southern hemisphere were to. relate that he had seen a new species of quadruped with wonderfully fine olfactory nerves, by the aid of which it was enabled to hunt to death the bare, stag, fox, or jackal, the tale would readily be credited; for the instinct of the hound, as compared with that of other animals, is. not such as to excite surprise. But were the traveller to relate that he had seen a quadruped which, untaught, would stand motionless, as if converted into a statue, on coming in contact with the slightest scent of game, he would not be believed; it would appear incredible, such is the extraordinary instinct of the pointer and setter. We use the term extraordinary advisedly. There are other animals, and indeed other dogs, which possess a degree of instinct more nearly approaching to reason, but none possessing so extraordinary an instinct, an instinct not analogous to that of any other living creature that we are aware of. The pointer seems to be endued with it for the exclusive service of man; whereas the instincts of all other animals are conducive to the supply of their individual wants, and their usefulness to man is secondary thereto. It would be difficult to controvert the argument that this instinct was given to the pointer for the purpose of aiding men to capture or kill game, by means of such engines as nets or guns.. This, we are aware, may be a doubtful position to maintain; but who can say for what other apparent purpose this peculiar faculty was given? It may, indeed, be urged, that the propensity to point, in the pointer, is a means ordained by providence for his subsistence in a wild state, by enabling him to approach within reach of. his prey, and thus to accomplish, by another species of stealth, what the tiger and other animals of the cat tribe effect by ambuscade. Such, an argument, however, is presumptively rebutted by the fact, that all existing races of wild dogs are gregarious, and resort to the chase for food; nor is there any record of the existence of dogs in a state of nature, except those calculated for the chase. It is therefore gratuitous to assert, that the instinct or faculty of pointing was bestowed upon the pointer as a means of subsistence, since he has ever been dependant on man for food.

It is strongly argued, that all dogs have descended from one common stock, and that by difference in food, climate, and training,, they have become what they are at present; nor is. it more improbable that such is the fact, than that the human race are descended from one common parent; for dogs are not more dissimilar than the various tribes of men. who differ not only ip outward form, but morally and intellectually, as much as dogs vary in size, shape, temper, and sagacity. Those animals which can be domesitcated improve by acquaintance with man, as the wild fruits by cultivation. All wild dogs have some qualities in common; but their instincts are somewhat limited, or not called forth. It is only in its domesticated state that we find the various qualities which render the dog so useful a servant to man. Wild dogs are, in comparison with domesticated dogs, w hat savages (for wherever they have been found, savages bear some resemblance to each other, and are engaged in similar pursuits) are to civilized society. It[7:20:310] is inconceivable that the mastiff, terrier, cur, and numberless other dogs besides the pointer, could ever have been in a wild state, as they do not seem to be possessed of any instincts or faculties that could enable them to subsist unattached to the human race.

The long received opinion that the lion, as the king of brutes, is possessed of the highest degree of physical courage, is exploded. The palm of courage is now awarded to the dog. Courage, however, in the common acceptation of the term, is not a characteristic trait of the pointer or setter, which are, perhaps, except the cur, the least courageous of the canine race. The dog is the only brute animal that prefers the society of man to that of its own species; and no dog is more affectionate or faithful to man than the pointer or the setter.

England is not less famous for its horses than for its sporting dogs. Our grey-hounds, fox-hounds, and harriers are unequalled, and that they are so results from the care that has been taken to keep each species distinct. All our pointers are, in some degree, of Spanish extraction; and such of them as have most Spanish blood in their veins are unquestionably the best. The Spanish pointer is about twenty-one inches in height. He has a large head, is heavily made, broad-chested, stout-limbed, with a large dew-lap; his eyes are full, and widely apart, and his nose is broad; his tail is straight, short, and thick, and his ears large, pendulous, and fine; he should have a round, and not a flat foot. When pointing, he stands on three legs, one of the fore legs being raised, and his face and tail are in a line with his back. This is his invariable position when he comes gradually upon the scent; but whenever, by running with the wind, or from any other circumstance, he comes suddenly upon game, he will stand in the most picturesque and sometimes indeed grotesque attitude, frequently with his body almost doubled. A pointer may be sometimes seen standing with all four feet collected together on the surface of a small stone on a wall when the birds are almost under him. A very old dog of this description, when fatigued with ranging and too enfeebled to maintain his point long in the natural position, will sit down on his haunches with his face towards the game, yet ever and anon turning his head wistfully to see whether the gun be approaching. Notwithstanding however the vaunted excellence of British pointers, the generality of them are not such as they ought to be. It is much to be lamented that the same care is not taken in the breeding of pointers and setters as of hounds. Scarcely two pointers are to be seen so much alike that a naturalist would pronounce them to belong to the same class of dogs, inasmuch as they are dissimilar in size, weight, and appearance. There are, properly speaking, but two classes, the Spaniard and the mongrel. Nearly all the pointers we see are, in fact, mongrels, although each may have more or less of the original Spanish blood. Such, however, is the force of nature that a dog having in him very little of the blood of the pointer may prove a very serviceable dog to the shooter. We frequently meet with very good dogs, dogs deemed by their owners first-rate, which bear little resemblance, in point of shape and appearance, to the true pointer. Some have the sharp nose of the fox, others the snubbed nose of the bull-dog; some are slenderly formed; some long-legged, others short-legged; some heavy-bodied, others light; in short, there is every possible diversity.

The attempt to lay down a written rule whereby to distinguish between a good and an indifferent pointer would be futile. How much of the blood of the pointer a dog has in him will be read in his countenance, rather than inferred from his general shape and appearance. There is an indescribable something in the countenance of a thoroughbred or nearly thorough-bred pointer, which a little habit of observation will enable the sportsman to detect with to-

lerable accuracy, so that he may judge of the capabilities of a dog, as a physiognomist will read at a glance a person’s disposition and ability in his countenance. It is to the disciplined eye only that these all but infallible tokens are discernible.

The instinct of pointing, we apprehend, is an inextinguishable and indestructible principle in the blood of the pointer, which, however it may be mingled with inferior blood, will always, in some degree, manifest itself; and on this ground we build our theory that the further any dog is removed from the original Spanish pointer the worse the dog is; and, consequently, that all attempts to cross the pointer with any other blood must necessarily deteriorate the breed. The grey-hound is seldom or never crossed to give him additional fleetness, nor the hound to improve his nose; why then should the pointer be crossed with dogs which, in so far as the sports of the field are concerned, scarcely inherit one quality in common with him? Attempts, however, are constantly made to improve the pointer by a cross with the blood-hound, fox-hound, Newfoundland dog, or mastiff, sometimes with a view of improving his appearance, and bringing him to some fancied standard of perfection; but in reality inducing a deformity. One of these imaginary standards of perfection is, that to one part thorough Spanish blood, the pointer should have in him an eighth of the fox-hound, and a sixteenth of the blood-hound. A cross will sometimes produce dogs which are, to some eyes, the beau idéal of beauty; but however handsome such dogs may be, they will necessarily possess some quality not belonging to the pointer; for instance, a cross with the hound gives the propensity to trace hares, if not to give tongue. A thorough-bred pointer carries his head well up when ranging; he will not give tongue, nor has he much desire to chase footed game. The hound pointer may be sometimes detected by his coarse ears, by his tail being curled upwards, and being carried high, or by his rough coat. An occasional cross with the mastiff or Newfoundland dog is said to increase the fineness of nose, but it is converting the pointer into a mere retriever. The pointer, as we before observed, is naturally cowardly, as compared with other dogs; therefore, whenever a pointer is ferocious or courageous, it may be inferred that the blood of some of the larger or stronger dogs runs in his veins. Another and the main source of the unsightliness of sporting dogs is the allowing an indiscriminate intercourse between pointers and setters. Good dogs may be thus obtained sometimes, but they are invariably misshapen; they have generally the head and brush tail of the setter, with the body of the pointer, and their coats are not sleek, and instead of standing at their point, they will crouch. When the sire is nearly thorough-bred, dogs of a superior description, but certainly not the best dogs, are sometimes produced by the Newfoundland or some other bitch not strictly a pointer. We are not willing to allow that the pointer is improved in any quality that renders him valuable to the sportsman, by a cross with the hound or any other sort of dog; though we cannot deny that the setter is materially improved in appearance by a cross with the Newfoundland dog, but what it gains in appearance, it loses in other respects.

Breeding mongrels, especially crossing with hounds, has given the gamekeepers and dog-breakers an infinity of trouble which might have been avoided by keeping the blood pure. The best pointer is the offspring of a pointerbitch by a pointer-dog; such a dog is nearly broken by nature. The Spanish pointer seldom requires the whip; the hound pointer has never enough of it. One of the main sources of the sportsman’s pleasure is to see the dogs point well. A deal is said about this and that dog being remarkably fine-looking; the only time to appreciate the beauty of a dog is when he is ranging and pointing; then let the sportsman compare the real pointer with the spurious one.[7:20:311] Courage^[13. Courage, as applied to the pointer, signifies a willingness and determination to range; it is an union of the qualities known by the terms mettle and bottom, as applied to horses. ] is another attribute of the pointer; a high-couraged pointer will continue ranging till he has not, as the saying is, a leg to stand upon, even though he should not meet with game.

The usual price paid for breaking a dog is from two to five guineas. The breaker runs the dogs in spring, and again in August, but without the gun; this, followed by a week’s shooting in September, renders their education complete, but unless they have sufficient practice afterwards, the initiatory lessons will soon be forgotten. Young dogs will learn more in six successive days, than in six weeks, if taken out only at the rate of one day per week. The dog-breaker should be a person of discriminating judgment, and possessed of a good temper; and the art of winning, not by brute force, but by judicious management, an ascendancy over the dogs entrusted to his care. Breaking dogs, when many young ones are taken out together, is a very difficult and tiresome task. One or more old staunch dogs are usually allowed to accompany the young ones, to induce them to back. A dog pointing is conscious of the presence of game. A dog which backs another is not aware of the proximity of game at the time, otherwise than by inference. Whenever the dog in advance points, it is the breaker’s duty to make all the rest that acknowledge the scent to point, and all that do not acknowledge the scent should be shewn the dog pointing, and be made to back, which is done by the breaker holding up his hand, and crying, in an under tone, “to-ho.” The dogs are taught to fall the moment the game rises, or on the report of a gun. They should come in on hearing their names or the whistle, and should never be allowed to pass a fence before their master. The efficiency of the training which a dog has received may be conjectured from his manner of quartering his ground. He should range at a short distance in advance of the shooter, alternately to the right and left; and this should be taught rather by the motion of the hand than by the voice. An offence should never be overlooked if the dog seems conscious of it; but the breaker’s knowledge of the disposition of the dog should be his guide in regulating the punishment. Some dogs will not bear the whip, or even rating, but require encouragment and good words on all occasions. When it is necessary to flog a headstrong dog, it should be done severely, the blows falling on the side, from the shoulder to the flank. The lash or switch with which the dog is punished, should not be made to lap round the body, nor should the dog be kicked. When the dog is in fault, and is very eager in pursuing the sport, no punishment that will be longer remembered, can he administered, than making him crouch five or ten minutes. In common with other sports, shooting has a vocabulary of its own. We have elsewhere given a list of some of the words made use of by the breakers and sportsmen to the dogs, which we transcribe, many of them being anything but euphonious to the unaccustomed ear. “To-ho spoken in an under tone, when the dog is ranging, is a warning to him that he is close upon game, and is a direction to him to stand. There is no necessity for using it to a dog that knows his business. Spoken in a peremptory manner, it is used to make the dog crouch when he has flushed game, or been otherwise in fault. Down-charge, or down-to-charge, is used to make the dog, whether it be near or at a distance, to crouch when the shooter charges, that the dog may not flush game when the shooter is unprepared. When the dog will not crouch, but continues beating, the leg-strap may be put on. Take-heed, and be-careful, are used when the dog ranges over ground where it is customary to find birds. Take-heed, is a word of correction; be-careful, of encouragement. The former is used by way of caution or notice to prevent the dog flushing birds by running over the ground too fast; the latter is likewise a caution, but used when the dog beats slowly or carelessly. ’ Ware fence is used to prevent dogs passing a fence before the gun. The dog should never, on any account, leave an enclosure until its master has left it. ’Ware, or beware, is used to rate a dog for giving chase to a hare, birds, or cattle, pointing larks, or approaching too near the heels of a horse. Seck, is a direction to the dog to look for a dead or wounded bird, hare, or rabbit. Dead is used to make a dog relinquish his hold of dead or wounded game. The dog should retain possession of wounded game until it is taken from him; for should he suffer a bird that is only slightly wounded to disengage itself from his grasp, another seek becomes necessary, and the bird is either lost, or despoiled of its plumage by the catching and re-catching. Some dogs are taught to bring the game to their master. The breaker should teach the dog, in all cases, to retain game until it is taken from him, or until he hear the word dead, when he should instantly drop it. The dog should be punished if he break the skin with his teeth.”^[14. The Oakleigh Shooting Code. London, Ridgways. Third Edition. ]

The most useful dogs are those which are best broken. As much depends on the breaking as the breed of a dog. Dogs should be constantly shot over during the season by a successful shot, and exercised during the shooting recess, by some person who understands well the management of them, otherwise they will fall off in value. The half-bred ones will become unmanageable, and even the thorough-bred ones will acquire disorderly habits.

We look upon the setter to be an inferior kind of pointer, perhaps originally a cross between the pointer and the spaniel, or some such dog as the Newfoundland, for it has some qualities in common with each. The pointer has the finer nose, and is more staunch than the setter. Pointers are averse to water; setters delight in it; hence the advantage of the latter on marshes to the snipe shooter. The setter will face briars and gorse bushes better than the pointer, which is in this respect a tender dog; and for this reason the setter is preferred to the pointer for cover shooting. Besides, his being not so staunch as the pointer is an additional advantage in heavy covers. The sportsman who shoots over well-broken pointers, frequently passes game in the woods, while the pointers, which are not seen by him, are at their point; the setter, being more impatient to run in, affords the shooter many shots in cover, which the overstaunch pointer would not. The pointer is always to be preferred on open grounds. In hot weather the pointer will endure more fatigue than the setter.

The Spaniel or Cock Dog. The spaniel is the best dog for beating covers, provided he can be kept near the gun. He is generally expected to give tongue when game is flushed; some spaniels will give notice of game before it springs, which may be very well where wood-cocks only are expected to be found. Wood-cock and pheasant sh∞ting are usually combined; where covers are limited, pheasant shooting cannot be conducted too quietly. Wherever the underwood is so thick that the shooter cannot keep his eye on the dogs, spaniels are to be preferred to pointers or setters, whatever species of game the shooter may be in pursuit of. If spaniels cannot be kept near the shooter, they are the worst dogs he can employ.

Retrievers. The business of the retriever is to find lost birds. Newfoundland dogs are the best for the purpose. They should have a remarkably fine sense of smelling, or they will be of little use in tracing a wounded pheasant, or other game, through a thick cover, where many birds[7:20:312] have been running about. A good retriever will follow the ’bird on whose track he is first put, as a blood-hound will that of a human being or deer. They should be taught to bring their game, or in many instances their finding a wounded bird would be of no advantage to the shooter.

We proceed next to give some description of the art of shooting game, in the course of which we shall endeavour to confine our obseravtions to such of the habits and peculiarities of the birds and quadrupeds under notice, as it is essential the shooter should be made acquainted with, and at the same time to detail the means of proceeding most likely to ensure success in the pursuit of them.

The Partridge. We commence with the partridge, as shooting that bird is generally the young shooter’s first lesson at game, although in the order of the season grouse shooting takes precedence. Partridge shooting commences on the first of September, and ends on the first of February.

The habits of the partridge at different seasons should be closely understood and studied by the shooter, that he may be able, with a tolerable degree of certainty, to find them at any given time. In the early part of the season, they will be found, just before sunrise, running to a brook, a spring, or marsh, to drink; from which place they almost immediately fly to some field where they can find abundance of insects, or else to the nearest corn-field or stubble-field, where they w ill remain, according to the state of the weather, or other circumstances, until nine or ten o’clock, when they go to bask. The basking place is commonly on a sandy bank-side facing the sun, where the whole covey sits huddled together for several hours. About four or five o’clock, they return to the stubbles to feed, and about six or seven they go to their jucking-place, a place of rest for the night, which is mostly in aftermath, or in a rough pasture field, where they remain huddled together until morning. Such are their habits during the early part of the season; but their times of feeding and basking varies much with the length of the days. While the corn is standing, unless the weather be very fine or very wet, partridges will often remain in it all day; when fine, they bask on the outskirts; when wet, they run to some bare place in a sheltered situation, where they will be found crowded together as if basking, for they seldom remain long in corn or grass when It is wet. Birds lie best on a hot day. They are wildest on a damp or boisterous day.

The usual way of proceeding in search of partridges in September is, to try the stubbles first, and next the potato and turnip field. Birds frequently bask amongst potatoes or turnips, especially when those fields are contiguous to a stubble-field. The best partridge shooting is obtained in potato and turnip fields. It not unfrequently happens that' potatoes or turnips are grown on a headland in a corn field; in that case the headland will be a favourite resort of birds.

After the middle of October it is ever uncertain where birds will be found; the stubbles having been pretty well gleaned, birds do not remain in them so long as in the early part of the season. When disturbed at this time they will sometimes take shelter in woods, when they are flushed one by one. The best shots that can be obtained at partridges in winter, are when the birds are driven into woods.

When a covey separates, the shooter will generally be able to kill many bfrds, but late in the season it is seldom that the covey can be broken. In November and December the shooter must not expect to hate his birds pointed, but must remain content with firing at long distances. We transcribe the following observations on dispersing coveys: “In the early part of the season, when the shooter breaks a covey, he should proceed without loss of time in search of the dispersed birds, for the parent birds begin to call ' almost immediately on their alighting, the young ones answer, and in less than half an hour, if not prevented by the presence of the shooter and his dogs, the whole covey will be re-assembled, probably in security in some snug corner, where the shooter least thinks of looking for them. As the season advances birds are longer in re-assembling after being dispersed. It is necessary to beat very closely for dispersed birds, as they do not stir for some time after alighting, on which account dogs cannot wind them until nearly upon them, especially as they resort to the roughest places when dispersed. Birds dispersed afford the primest sport. The pointing is often beautiful, the bird being generally in a patch of rushes, or tuft of grass or fern, and close to the dog. When a bird has been running about some time, dogs easily come upon the scent of it; but when it has not stirred since alighting, and has perhaps crept into a drain, or run into a hedge-bottom, or the sedgy side of a ditch, no dog can wind it until close upon it, and the very best dogs will sometimes flush a single bird. In the month of October, and afterwords, the shooter will find it difficult to approach within gun-shot of a covey, nor can he disperse them, except by firing at them when he chances to come close upon them. Should he then be so fortunate as to disperse a covey, he may follow them leisurly, for they will then lie several hours in their lurking place, which is chosen with much tact, as a patch of rushes, a gorse bush, a holly bush, the bottom of a double bank fence, or a coppice or wood. The length of time that will transpire before a dispersed covey will re-assemble, depends, too, on the time of the day, and state of the weather. In hot weather, they will lie still for several hours. A covey dispersed early in the morning, or late at night, will soon re-assemble. A covey dispersed between the hours of ten and two, will be some time in re-assembling. A covey found in the morning in a stubble field, and dispersed, will next assemble near the basking place. A covey dispersed after two o’clock, will next assemble in the stubble field at feeding time. A covey disturbed and dispersed late in the afternoon, or evening, will next re-assemble near the jucking-place. A covey being disturbed on or near to their jucking-place, will seek a fresh one, perhaps about two fields distant; and if often disturbed at night on their jucking-place, they will seek another stubble field to feed in, and change their quarters altogether. The most certain method of driving partridges from a farm, is to disturb them night after night at their jucking-place, which is usually in a meadow, adjoining to a corn field, where the aftermath is suffered to grow, or in a field rough with rushes, fern, thistles, or heather. When a covey is dispersed on a dry hot day, it is necessary to search much longer, and beat closer, for the dispersed birds, than when the day is cool, and the ground moist. A dog should be only slightly rated for flushing a bird on a hot day.”^[15. ‘ The Oakleigh Shooting Code. ]

The number of birds in a covey varies much, perhaps the average may be from ten to fifteen. In some years, when the coveys are large after a fine hatching season, it is not uncommon to see upwards of twenty birds in a covey; and sometimes after a wet season, ten birds may be deemed a fair covey. Birds are always most numerous after a dry summer. When there are thunder-storms about midsummer, great numbers of young birds are drowned. The young birds have many enemies besides the elements, such as cats, young dogs, hawks, foxes, and vermin of different descriptions. When the eggs are taken, or the young birds destroyed soon after leaving the shell, there will be a second hatch. Sportsmen often meet with second hatches in September, when the old birds rise screaming, and generally alight within fifty yards, as if to induce the young birds to follow. In that case the fair sportsman will not fire at the old birds, but will coll in his dogs and leave[7:20:313] the ground. At such times he should look well after the young dogs, as, when they see the birds running, they are apt to snap up such of them as cannot get out of the way. The very young birds are called cheepers, from their uttering a scream as they rise. Full grown birds never scream as they rise, except when the young ones are helpless, nor do young birds after they are large enough for the table.

The cock partridge is distinguished from the hen by the brown feathers which form a crescent, or horse-shoe, as it is sometimes called, on the breast.

The pointer is decidedly the best dog for partridge shooting. Markers and retrievers will be of much service to the shooter whose object is to kill a great quantity of birds, rather than to enjoy the sport.

The Pheasant. The pheasant is the most splendidly arrayed of undomesticated British birds. It is deservedly in high request amongst sportsmen, and it claims the first attention of the game-preserver. The numberless plantations and coppices which are everywhere springing up, afford yearly additional shelter. The pheasant prefers woods of oak and beech, that it may feed on the acorns and mast. The fine old woods consisting of these trees may perhaps be diminishing, but they are more than replaced by plantations of larch or other quick-growing trees. Pheasants generally choose the larch or sprucefir to roost in, and plantations of this description, if near corn, turnip, or potato fields, afford sufficient cover for them. They are, in many counties, allowed to become so numerous, as to do serious mischief to the labours of husbandry’. ,

During August and the early part of September, pheasants will remain nearly all day in potato and corn fields. Pheasant shooting commences on the first of October, and ends on the first of February. In October, the shooter usually meets with them in potato and turnip fields, deep stubbles and rushy fields near covers, but especially under hedges, holly trees, or in coppices near to covers. In such situations they will suffer the shooter to approach very near to them; they are generally pointed by the dogs, and, a large majority of them being young birds, are easily killed; but in that month the trees are so full of foliage, and the briars and brushwood are so annoying, that it is seldom possible to beat the woods with any degree of pleasure, for not only are they almost impervious, but the pheasants are seldom seen when they rise, or if seen and shot, are very frequently lost, or not found without considerable loss of time. It is in November, when the birds have moulted, and when the leaves have fallen, and the brambles are decaying, and the paths in the woods are beginning to be worn, that pheasant shooting is in perfection. The birds are then full grown, and also better fed than later in the season.

It is not usual to kill the hens wherever pheasants are strictly preserved; but it is necessary to kill the cocks where they are too numerous. Pheasants do not pair, and as it is better that there should be but few cocks, the shooter’s being able to single them out and kill them, tends ultimately to the increase, and not to the diminution of the number of birds in cover. At the commencement of the season the shooter will frequently flush a nide of pheasants, but in the after part of the season he will oftener find solitary birds. Pheasants will occasionally wander a considerable distance from the wood to which they belong, especially during winter, in search of food, and in wet and foggy weather. The pheasant basks at the root of a tree, or under a hedge, in the same manner as the partridge, but each bird nestles itself separately. Pheasants approach nearer to domesticated poultry than any other kind of game. Pheasant shooting is most destructive where the plantations are not more than forty yards wide; when the shooters remain on the outside, while the beaters and dogs rouse the game within. The pheasant shooter does not expect set shots; his object is to cause the birds to rise as near to him as he can. Having no notice of them, he should ever be on the alert for snap shots.

A short double-barrelled fowling-piece, of wide bore, is preferable to a long one. The shot should be large, and it is well to use plenty of it. A close-shooting gun is not to be recommended to the pheasant shooter. The birds should rarely be fired at in cover when more than thirty yards from the gun, or they will escape wounded in the underwood. They are generally brought down within twenty yards from the gun. Pheasants are most plentiful in Norfolk, Suffolk, and some of the adjoining counties. There are some in every county in England, and in most of the counties in Scotland. A perfect bird has a white annular space on the neck, but this mark is often wanting.

The pheasant makes a considerable noise when rising, sufficiently so to unnerve the young and over-anxious shooter. The bird should be allowed to rise clear of the bushes, and to its full height, before the shooter fires at it, or it is probable he will fire too low; and again, the short fan-like feathers on either side of the tail appear, as the bird is rising, to be part of the bird, making the body seem longer and larger than it really is; and this circumstance, together with the rapidity of the movement of the bird when rising, is the cause of the shooter firing too low. The aim should always be at the head, unless the bird is crossing, and then well forward. Firing too soon, lest the bird should be out of reach, is a very common error, particularly with young sportsmen.

For reasons which we have before adverted to, the setter, or cock-dog, is to be preferred to the pointer for pheasant shooting. Pheasants will sometimes lie very close, so that it is with great difficulty they can be made to rise; therefore dogs that will dash into the thicket are most useful. Beaters and retrievers are indispensable to the pheasant shooter.

The Hare. The shooter seldom beats purposely for hares. Birds are mainly the object of his pursuit. He chooses his ground, and regulates the charge of his fowling-piece with reference to the birds he expects to meet with. Hares are started casually, as it were, while he is in quest of birds. Leveret shooting often commences with grouse shooting, on the 12th of August, though it is not uncommon, nor is it considered unfair, to kill leverets during the summer months. Hares are not in season until September. The shooter should desist from killing them in February, but he is not prevented from killing them at any season, by any legislative enactment, if he have taken out a game certificate. It is the prescriptive law of the chase, held sacred by sportsmen, that prevents him.

In September, hares lie close, in hedges, in woods, or in growing com, and are somewhat difficult to be found. They are scared from the woods by the leaves falling in autumn, and they are then found, particularly after stormy weather, in pasture and stubble fields. Dogs will frequently point them. In November and December, they are often seen on their seats, or forms, as they are sometimes called, by the shooter keeping his eyes on the ground about eight or ten[7:20:314] yards from him. It is usual, however, to allow the hare a chance of escape, by starting her before firing at her; it is accounted unsportsmanlike to kill puss on her seat. In January, hares are found on fallows, marshes, or in pastures, or in or near to gardens.

The shooter should fire well forward at a hare, and not too high. He should not fire at a long distance, as the probability of his wounding her would be greater than that of killing her. If running direct from him, a hare should not be fired at, unless within twenty-five paces from the gun, or she will often run off, though severely wounded in the hind-quarters. A beater will render essential service to the shooter in quest of hares, in the early part of the season; the beater walks on the contrary side of the hedge to the shooter, and a few yards in advance, so that the hare, to avoid the former, jumps out on the side of the latter. When beating hedges in the vicinity of covers, the shooter should take care to place himself on that side nearest the covers. When shooting at the edge of a cover, if the hare fired at is not quite deprived of the use of her legs, it would be advisable to fire again immediately, for should she crawl through the hedge, the chances would be against her being retrieved.

The Rabbit. Rabbits are alternately deemed game and vermin. They are sometimes shot for sport, sometimes for profit, and sometimes on account of the mischief they do to trees and other vegetation. They sometimes seat themselves all day long, after the manner of hares, but more frequently they remain the greater portion of the day in their burrows. As they are shy of approach, and run under ground on the least alarm, the shooter frequently finds it expedient to hide himself at a little distance from the warren, and wait until they come out. Where rabbits are numerous, as in most warrens they are, some will be continually playing within a few yards of the entrance of the burrows, and when found in such situations (for they are very tenacious of life), they should be struck very hard, or they will contrive to crawl, or rather roll into their earths, before the shooter can pick them up. It is astonishing what efforts they will make to escape, though three legs be broken, when near to the entrance of a burrow. It is of little use firing at them when they are more than twenty paces distant from the gun. Rabbits afford more what are termed snap-shots than any other game, as they are mostly found in or near to plantations, or amongst brambles, hollies, gorse or deep fern, in places of extreme difficulty. It requires a quick eye and steady hand to stop a rabbit running across furrows, or over uneven ground. Rabbits for sale, or when destroyed as vermin, are oftener taken by means of ferrets and nets, than killed by the gun. A short gun, having a large bore, and charged heavily with powder, and a small quantity of No. 4 shot, is best for rabbit shooting. It would be well that a companion or servant should lead a dog in a slip—a terrier is as good as any—to be loosed the moment the gun is fired; thus many a rabbit will be secured, that would else have run into its hole. When earthed, it frequently happens that a rabbit is not able to crawl more than three or four feet deep from the surface, where it dies, when it may be recovered by thrusting a bramble down the hole, and twisting it so as to entangle the rabbit; but a more certain method, if the rabbit is not too far down, is to screw the worm of the ramrod into its body, and so drag it out, as a cartridge is drawn from the barrel of a gun The best time for rabbit shooting is in the evening, or during sunshine just after a shower, when great numbers of the rabbits venture from their burrows.

The Bustard. The bustard is a rare but valuable acquisition to the game-bag. As it cannot be approached unless the shooter takes advantage of some adventitious circumstances, it is seldom an object of pursuit to the sportsman. Bustard shooting commences on the first of September, and ends on the first of March.

The Snipe. There are three kinds of snipes, viz. the solitary or double snipe, the full or whole snipe, and the jack or half snipe. The last is considered to be scarcely worth powder and shot; it is the full snipe which principally engages the shooter’s attention. We have before given directions for shooting this bird. “The common or full snipe is a shy bird when in company, but when alone will allow the shooter to approach within a dozen paces of it before it springe. When it does spring, however, it moves with a velocity that defies the epithet slow! It is best to shoot as soon as possible. The shooter will bring down a snipe with much less difficulty at from fifteen to twenty paces than at any other distance. The aim is thus taken before the bird begins to make its cross flights, and before it has attained its full speed. The irregularity of its flight is of little consequence during the first and second twirling, before the bird is safely on the wing, since its flight is then comparatively tardy. But let the snipe fly ten yards from whence it sprang,—let it be, for instance, twenty-five paces distant from the gun, it is then at the top of its speed, and in the very midst of its sidelong, elliptical gyrations, and more than a match for the majority of shooters, especially if the day be windy. A snipe killed at fifteen or twenty paces distance, with No. 7 shot, the aim being true, will be struck by twenty or thirty pellets, but the chances are more than twenty to one against the aim being true. The snipe, when struck, is generally three or four inches from the centre of the cone which the shot forms as it flies, which is very different from being in the exact centre. A section of the body of a snipe does not present a surface as large as that of a penny-piece. If any person will fire at a target at fifteen yards distance, he will find that a snipe would not be cut to pieces even at that distance, unless it chanced to be precisely in the centre of the charge as thrown. When speaking of a snipe presenting no larger a surface as a mark than a penny-piece, we of course mean a snipe flying directly from the shooter. It would be imprudent to shoot at a snipe flying across at less than twenty-five paces distance, as it then presents more than double the surface of one going straight from the shooter Thirty paces is the distance we should prefer for a cross or oblique shot. At thirty, or even at twenty-five yards, unless the barrel throws shot remarkably close, there are interstices in the charge as thrown, in which a snipe would escape untouched. Provided the flight of a snipe were equally steady at all distances, and that in every instance the shooter could choose[7:20:315] his own distance, a snipe would have the least chance for its life at twenty yards. But there are two points to be attended to in determining the proper distance—the flight of the bird, and the manner in which the shot is thrown. In snipe-shooting the latter is subservient to the former. The few full snipes occasionally found on heathery and rush-clad hills, as well as in the enclosed grounds, he much more dispersed than the gregarious birds of the marsh. Hence those found on the uplands are easy, and those on the fens difficult of approach. It is, however, the same description of bird that is found in both situations.” When the shooter uses wire cartridges, which, by the bye, are not precisely calculated for snipe-shooting, it would be prudent to allow the bird to move to a considerable distance before firing. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the shot used for snipeshooting should be very small. When several snipes rise together, they are styled a wisp.

The Woodcock. There is a proverb current among sports- men, that to kill a woodcock is to perform a day’s work, which doubtlessly originated in the circumstance of a woodcock being seldom found until a very large extent of wood has been closely beaten by both men and dogs. In the month of November, however, when woodcocks are most abundant, it would not be a difficult task, according to that standard of labour, to do the work of a week in a day, in any noted cover, for every cover frequented by woodcocks, (or cocks as they are called in the sportsman’s nomenclature), acquires a notoriety which it seldom loses, since any wood well frequented with cocks one year, has generally a fair supply the next. But whether the same cocks that frequent a wood this year, return the next, with their offspring, or whether an entirely new set of occupants take possession, we leave the ornithologist to decide. A certain description of woods are seldom known to fail of woodcocks during the winter months; these woods or plantations are such as are swampy, or have a stream of water running through them, or woods abounding in springs, or where, from the nature of the ground, or want of draining, the top water encourages the growth of moss. The woodcock is rarely found where moss is not abundant. During a frost, cocks are found near fresh water springs; at other times, they are most commonly flushed in the open glades of the densest woods, or rather in those parts of the woods not choked up at the bottom with fern, rushes, or brambles, but where they can freely run about, and in those parts where willows, osiers, hazel-trees, or crate-wood is plentiful. In such places it will readily be ascertained whether there are cocks or not, by the borings in the moss or dead leaves, and by the droppings. Should the cock not be brought down, it will not fly far after being fired at; it should, when practicable, be marked down, as by this means several successive shots may be obtained at it when the gun is unsuccessful. It is seldom that the skilful shooter springs a cock which he does not eventually kill. The difficulty of woodcock shooting arises, for the most part, from the birds springing in the thickest part of woods, and contriving to wing their flight through the trees, in such a manner as to baffle the sportsman’s aim. After being fired at in a wood, cocks will frequently alight amongst hedge-rows on the outskirts, especially under a hedge running close to and parallel with a water-course, when they are easily killed, as they will not rise until the shooter is close upon them; and their flight is not difficult to master when there are no trees to obstruct the aim. Woodcocks are found in October on moors, and in covers near the sea. About the last week in October they find their way to the inland covers, where they remain during the early part of the winter, and they are sometimes found there again in March. A sharp frost, or a dense fog, at the end of October or beginning of November, is usually the shooter’s first intimation of the arrival of cocks; and if he is ambitious of the fame of killing them, he must fag hard during the month of November, or it is probable that his return for the season of the numbers bagged will not be satisfactory. November is unquestionably the best month for cock shooting.

The Red Grouse. Grouse shooting commences on the 12th of August. We have already alluded to the vast extent of the northern moors. The number of birds killed on the opening day, on some parts, is very great. It is not uncommon for an experienced and skilful shooter, on the best moors, to bag fifty brace on the 12th of August. What may be termed a good day’s sport, differs much on different moors. On well-preserved moors, the average may be from ten to twenty brace. On subscription moors, the shooter should not be dissatisfied if he has the opportunity of killing from three to five brace per day, during the first week of the season, though this would be deemed a low average for the Scottish moors. After the first week, few sportsmen, except those residing in the immediate neighbourhood of the hills, ever trouble the moor game.

Many causes contribute to the popularity of grouse shooting, amongst which may be enumerated the following. It oommences during the parliamentary recess, and long vacation—the legislator’s, lawyer’s, and collegian’s holiday; and it is no wonder that after being cooped up all summer, these, or any other classes of society, should seek relaxation in the sports of the field. August is the season when every one, from the peer to the shopkeeper, who can afford the indulgence, either rusticates or travels. In that month the casual tourist, the laker, and the angler, are often in the North, when the temptation to draw a trigger is irresistible. Grouse shooting fascinates the young shooter more than any other kind of sport, inasmuch as the season commences with it. The opening day is looked forward to with pleasing anticipation all summer. To the more practised sportsman, grouse shooting recommends itself by reason of the superiority of the sport over every other kind of shooting. Partridge shooting is a comparatively tame and uninteresting amusement. Partridge sh∞ting, as compared with grouse shooting, may be termed domestic sporting. To the majority of sportsmen, a grouse shooting excursion only occurs once a year, and then lasts only a few days. The sport therefore seldom palls; but during the long interval of time that elapses between each, the coming season is ever looked forward to with additional interest. 1 Grouse shooting is, in many respects, a source of greater expenditure to the sportsman: it requires more preparation, and is attended with more difficulties than any other kind of shooting; but these circumstances, whatever some people may imagine to the contrary, so far from detracting from, serve to enhance the enjoyment of the sport; for we are apt to estimate whatever is obtained with difficulty and expense at a higher rate than what is gratuitously afforded us. To the lover of the romantic and the picturesque, grouse shooting has attractions of the highest order. It is the sport of all others peculiarly British: the partridge, the pheasant, the black-cock, are widely dispersed over other countries; but the red grouse is only found in the British Islands.[7:20:316] There are seldom more than a dozen grouse in a brood; rarely indeed so many. Towards the end of autumn, the broods congregate together, and are seldom seen afterwards until pairing time in January or February, except in great numbers. Broods thus associated are termed packs. When it happens that the birds are well grown at the opening of the season, and much fired at in August, they will pack before September. When there is fine weather in August, grouse, until the broods are packed, will suffer the shooter to approach very near to them before they rise. In wet or windy weather they are wild. Very few grouse are killed by the sportsman after August; they are then scarcely approachable. Grouse delight in tall young heather, when there are plenty of bare places or pads or tracks. Hares also, and cocks, and we may perhaps add, pheasants, in their respective covers, delight in those parts where they can run about freely. The brow of a hill is more likely ground than either extreme heights or valleys, or flats. Solitary birds lie better than broods. When birds are wild, the shooter should follow an individual rather than a brood. It is well understood by sportsmen, that the fewer birds there are in a brood, nide, or covey, the better will they lie. Grouse bask on the sunny hill-side, oftentimes under a rock, or in a stone pit, during the middle of the day, at which time the task of ranging for them is toilsome in the extreme. Grouse shooters should be accompanied by a guide and markers. The former is indispensable to a person not intimately acquainted with every turn and knoll, during the mist that nine mornings out of ten envelopes the hills in August. It is inconceivable how completely bewildered a person who fancies he is acquainted with every inch of ground may be when surrounded by the haze. Neither sun, moon, nor stars are visible; nor is there a fence, road, or building to direct him. A stone pit, or mountain rill, are often the only objects that present themselves, except the interminable-heather. The distant hills that would else be his guides, are shut out from his view, which does not extend beyond the range of his fowling-piece. At such times it requires no ordinary precaution to prevent losing young dogs, which can scarcely be prevented running off when a gun is fired in the distance. During the continuance of the mist, which generally disappears about eight o’clock, markers can be of but little use, except that they may be employed in carrying a basket, extra guns and shot, or leading dogs, of which it is well to have a change. No dog can range two days successively for grouse. Pointers, for reasons we have before given, are preferable to setters, or any other kind of dogs, for grouse shooting. Grouse shooters should separate and range singly; they should have no noisy attendants; nor any dogs that require rating. The sport cannot be carried on too quietly. If the shooter throws off before eight o’clock, which it is not prudent to do unless there are many guns on the moors or foul weather is expected in the afternoon, he should run only one dog as long as the heather is wet, afterwards two, and in the afternoon three dogs. In wet weather one dog is quite sufficient. If hot weather, we advise rest from eleven to two. If the shooter have not exhausted himself during the middle of the day he will best fill his bag in the afternoon; he may net, indeed, then find so many, but those he does find will be dispersed birds that will almost lie to be trodden on. An old sh∞ter thus on a dry afternoon following a wet morning will sometimes load himself or his attendant, after the less experienced have left the moor disgusted, with scarcely a bird in their possession. Shooters are generally recommended to carry as heavy a gun as they can conveniently manage on the moors. It should be borne in mind that the heaviest gun will do most execution; but none except those accustomed to such exercise, can carry a heavy gun with comfort all day long, exposed to an autumnal sun. We would therefore not recommend barrels more than thirty inches long, nor of a larger guage than sixteen, on account of the excessive heat of the weather at this season. As the sportsman, in grouse shooting, has ever an opportunity of choosing his own distance when birds rise near to him, he will be more certain of killing if he let the birds fly twenty-five yards from him before he fires the first barrel, when, if he have both barrels cocked, he will have ample time to throw in the reserve barrel while the birds are within reasonable distance. In nothing is the superiority of the detonating over the flint lock more apparent than in its allowing the shooter to fire the second so soon after the first barrel. We suspect that the habit of taking the gun from the shoulder after the first barrel was fired, originated in the necessity of waiting until the smoke from the pan was blown away, which nuisance no longer exists. A person who is a decidedly bad shot should not use the cartridge in the first barrel, as the loose charge gives a larger circle at a short distance, and consequently increases the chance of killing.

The Blackcock. Black game shooting commences on the 20th of August, and ends, with red grouse shooting, on the 10th of December. Black game frequent moors covered with heather, but they are as often found in rushy fields, or even in stubbles adjoining to moors. They are not met with at any great altitude, but confine themselves chiefly to the lower hills, or the base of the loftier mountains. They are seldom found, except where there are plantations or forests of fir trees. Black game do not frequent the central parts of large wastes so much as those parts bordering on inclosed lands. Red grouse recede where civilization progresses; and they are consequently in a fair way, at no very distant period, of being banished from England. As a vast extent of heath-land is not requisite for black game, there is no room to fear their extinction for some centuries to come. Although not so numerous as red grouse, they are more widely scattered over England. Even in the south of England there is cover congenial to them. Should both black and red game become extinct in England, the hills of Scotland will long afford shelter to each. With the exception of the pheasant, black game is the only species of game not yearly diminishing in number in Britain. A full-grown blackcock weighs the same as a fine pheasant cock, about three pounds and a half. The female, which is called the grey-hen, and ought never to be fired at, is much smaller. Black game shooting on moors resembles red grouse shooting, and in the woods, pheasant shooting. The black cock is a magnificent bird, and an old one is ever deemed a valuable addition to the contents of the game bag. Black game have increased very considerably in England during the last few years, still they are much more abundant in Scotland. Sweden is perhaps the country best suited to them.

The capercailzie. Similar to the blackcock, in many respects, is the capercailzie, or cock of the wood, once the native, and now the denizen of the Highland forests. The[7:20:317] capercailzie cock weighs sixteen pounds. Speaking of this bird, as it exists in Sweden, Mr. Lloyd says,^[16. Field Sports of the North of Europe. ] “The favourite haunts of the capercali are extensive fir woods; in coppices or small cover he is seldom or never found. The principal food of the capercali, when in a state of nature, consists of the leaves of the Scotch fir; he very rarely, however, feeds upon those of the spruces; he also eats juniper berries, cranberries, blaeberries, and other berries common to the northern forests; and occasionally also, in the winter time, the buds of the birch, &c. The young capercali feed principally at first on ants, worms, insects, &c.” It was the felling of the timber, aided, perhaps, by the cross-bow, which is not ill-adapted to the purpose, that exterminated this primeval habitant of the old Caledonian forests. Some years since an attempt was made to re-introduce this bird to its ancient haunts in Scotland, but without success. “It is a pity,”; continues Mr. Lloyd, “that attempts are not made once more to introduce the capercali into the United Kingdom, for, if the experiment was undertaken with judgment, it would most probably be attended with success; the climate, soil, &c. in Scotland, at least, not being very disimilar, in many respects, to the south of Sweden. In Scotland, besides, independently of the natural forests, there are now considerable tracks of land planted with pines, from which trees, when the ground is covered with snow, those birds obtain nearly the whole of their sustenance.” Since this was written, several brace of these birds have been sent over from Sweden; and on the estates of the Marquis of Bread-albane the experiment of localising them is in course of trial. We believe they were procured by Mr. Lloyd himself, and under his auspices, from his knowledge of the habits of the bird, we doubt not that the cock of the wood will become permanently established in the Highlands. It may be inferred that the same description of country (the heaths and forests being on a more extended scale,) which suits the blackcock, would likewise suit the capercailzie, since, as Mr. Lloyd observers, “the capercali occasionally breed with the black game; the produce of which partake of the leading characteristics of both species. Their size and colour, however, greatly depend upon whether the connexion was between the capercali cock and the grey hen, or vice versâ.” In winter, the male birds congregate in packs after the manner of black game. In Sweden the capercailzie is usually shot with the rifle.

The Ptarmigan. We have now for some time traversed, with the reader, the highest hills that are covered with heather, but there are heights beyond. The poet says,
For Liberty! go seek
Earth’s highest rocks and ocean’s deepest caves!
Go where the eagle and the sea-snake dwell!^[17. Rienzi, a Tragedy. (1st edition.) London. ]

It may be admissible in poetry to give the highest cliffs to the king of birds, but zoology assigns a lower elevation to “the eagle’s birth-place yes, you may ascend above the äerie of the eagle, where the croak of the raven is never heard, where the fox and the weazel but seldom disturb the lonely habitants. You may ascend until, in the glowing language of Mr Mudie,^[18. • The Feathered Tribes of the British Islands. By Robert Mudie. 2d edition. 1835. London, Whittaker. ] “you begin at last to feel alone, severed entirely from the world of society, of life, and of growth, and committed to the solitude of the ancient hills and immeasurable sky. The snow lies thick on the side of the summit, and even peers over the top, defying the utmost efforts of solstitial heat. There is no plant under your feet, save lichen on the rock, apparently as hard and as strong as that to which it adheres—it can hardly be said to grow—and moss in some crevice, undistinguishable from the dull and cold mud into which the storms of many winters have abraded the granite. You are above the reach of all sound from the inhabited parts of the country.” And what do we find in this region of snow? “A few mottled pebbles, or at least what appear to be such, each about twice the size of your hand, he at some distance, where the decomposed rock, and the rudiments of what may be called the most elevated mountain vegetation, just begin to ruffle the surface. By and by a cloud shadows the sun, the air blows chill as November, and a few drops fall, freezing or melting in their descent, you cannot well tell which. The mottled pebbles begin to move; you throw a stone at them to shew that you can move pebbles as well as the mountain. The stone hits beyond them; they run toward your feet, as if claiming your protection; they are birds, ptarmigan, the uppermost tenants of the island, whom not even winds, which could uproot forests, and frosts, which could all but congeal mercury, can drive from these their mountain haunts. It has often been observed, that of all the human inhabitants of the earth, the mountaineer, be his mountain ever so barren, is the last to quit; and the same holds true of the mountain bird.” The same writer traces the different elevations at which various species of game is found, beginning with the pheasant, as the tenant of the lowermost woods; the partridge, of the plain; the blackcock, of the confines of cultivation; the grouse, of the lesser hills and mountain-side; and the ptarmigan, of the snow-crowned summits. He also adds, “in these birds we trace a sort of resemblance to the general colour of the places which they inhabit, though we know not well the cause of the colour in either case. The ptarmigan is mossy rock in summer, hoar frost in autumn, and snow in winter. Grouse are brown heather, black game are peat-bank and shingle, and partridges are clods and withered stalks all the year round.” And we will add, the capercailzie is the black branch of the pine. A similar scale is applicable to the seasons at which these birds are hatched. Although, taking each species individually, we find the earliest birds in the warmest country and on the richest land: collectively, the order is reversed; the higher their location, the earlier do they arrive at their full growth. The ptarmigan is ready for the table before the period at which it may be legally shot, the twelfth of August. Descending the hill, we find the red grouse not three parts grown at that period. A little lower, and the scarcely-fledged black-cock rises almost helpless, on the twentieth of August. Lower still, on the fertile plain, the young partridge does not assume his grey mantle and purple crescent until long after the first of September. And in the warm woods the pheasant does not don his panoply of gold until the fall of the leaf.

Few are the sportsmen who climb the granite cliffs, and wade the winter snows in which ptarmigan delight to bury themselves. A ramble there, is a journey of curiosity or observation, rather than a sporting excursion. It is a pilgrimage to the loftiest Highland altitudes. The fowling-piece becomes converted into the palmer’s staff; and the sportsman merges in the adventurer, the enthusiast, the worshipper of Nature! (b. x.) [7:20:318]