examples, as we have already quoted, in the persons of Knox, Percival, and Whitehead.

Before we conclude this brief notice, we must express our deep regret that illness prevented the popular Adolphus from appearing on the last evening. We see, or wish to see, brighter days looming in the distance.

The First of September is over; and now comes the next great epoch in the sportsman's life-the First of October. August with its twelfth day, and September with its coveys, are in their way glorious; but both lack the bracing autumn-feel of the air, which gives such zest to the enjoyment of shooting. Mild prophecies are put forth in one paper, bold ones in another, about the grouse. Sanguine people set off, in consequence, to the moors, armed to the ears, and prepared for the war. Some return covered with glory, others with coup-de-soleil and-not blessings. Give me, then, the sport of October, with its autumn tints and its purple bells of foxglove, and let me roam through the brakes in search of the gaudy pheasant; and, though the trees have not sufficiently cast their leaves to allow full enjoyment of the sport, still there is much amusement to be had.

The accounts from Scotland tell us that grouse are not so plentiful as it was expected they would be. In the northern counties of England, however, they abounded; and never, scarcely, were the bags so heavy. Partridges exceeded the average everywhere; and I never recollect the birds being so strong. In fact, I saw many, at the latter end of August, as large as they usually are in October. Hares are plentiful in all parts, and so are rabbits; and if we only have a good winter for woodcocks, the sportsman's cup may be said to be full and running over.

The system to be pursued in shooting pheasants depends entirely on the nature and situation of your covers. With such as are well preserved, and where the land around belongs to yourself, you may act as best suits your convenience; but in some cases it is absolutely necessary that you begin early in the morning, and thus get between the birds and the cover. There is nothing poaching in this idea: it is simply generalship. In October the covers are so thick, that it is almost impossible to shoot in them: therefore, it is most important to keep the birds on the outside. Or, perhaps, the land upon which they feed belongs to yourself (I knew an example of this, where I used to shoot when a lad)-not to the covers: consequently, if you do not adopt the early unclosing movement, you will have the satisfaction of feeding the game for your neighbour; and if he happens not to be a good fellow, such an arrangement will not conduce to

your happiness. The odds are, if you are so situated, your neighbour is such a one as will pass by on the other side; and that his keeper will literally be there, keeping a precious sharp look-out upon you and the pheasants. Under such circumstances, your mode of proceeding must be as follows: You must commence action at daybreak, when the birds are on the feed. Go quietly along the hedge on your own side, skirting the cover (having with you one steady dog), to the extent of your land; then return back along the same ground, and commence beating the hedgerows, one person being on each side, from the wood. The birds will, immediately that they see they are cut off from the cover, run to the hedgerows; and I know no prettier sport than thus picking them up. Occasionally the fun is varied by an old hare jumping up, which, unless you are a muff, you knock over as it goes along, like greased lightning, as the Americans would say.

And here let me caution the young sportsman to shoot well for ward at hares which are crossing, and between the ears of such as are running from him, or he will have the satisfaction of seeing his lead carried off, without the slightest inconvenience, in the posterior of his furry friend. It is wonderful, when mortally wounded, how far a hare will run, after having been hit. I remember one particular instance of this case. I was returning home from shooting, late one evening, when I saw a hare feeding in a clover-field, some distance from the cover. I fired at it, and, to all appearance, without effect; for she went off, at any rate you please an hour, to the cover, which, as I have already observed, was some distance off. Having some suspicion that I had hit her, I followed the course she took; and within the cover about twenty yards, I found her lying quite dead.

In battue-shooting, it is extraordinary how many hares get away hit, and die afterwards. This the keepers know; and the following morning they go round with a retriever, and their bag is generally a large one.

When cover-shooting with spaniels, it is necessary they should be well trained. An ill-broken spaniel is a nuisance; and you will find a hundred of the latter denomination for one of the former. It is the belief of numerous deluded mortals that it is simply the business of this sort of dog to hunt about, and spring the game; and some are not contented without lots of bow-wow. I admit I like a little music; but experience tells me that too much tongue is apt to denote too little work.

A spaniel, to be perfect, should have a little music, but not a continuous bark. He should be low in size, and strongly made; and, if you have a pack of them, it is desirable they should be of the same size and (for appearance' sake) colour. Let them be trained to beat within a certain regular distance of you, and, above all things, to drop to the gun the instant you fire. Every dog should drop, and not stir again till he hears the click of the lock and the signal, "Hold up!" What can be more trying to a sportsman than to hear your dogs continue hunting and flushing the game whilst you are loading, and you shout "Down charge!" till you are black in the face? and if you don't put the shot into the barrel before the powder, or two charges in instead of one, you are a lucky fellow.

Nothing can be prettier than beating a cover with a team of wellbroken spaniels. You advance in line, with the dogs in front of you, hunting steadily and with care. Not a spot escapes them every brake and bramble is searched. Look at Dash-how he feathers about! and mark that cock-pheasant, as he rises from the butt of yon old oak-tree, where he thought he was safe. Not so, though; for he is down, one of the party having knocked him over in fine style, as he caught sight of his gay plumage, crossing on the wind over the ride; and now he is in the bag, where, before evening, I trust there will be many more.

When cover-shooting with beaters, it behoves every man to be careful to keep the line; and let not any greedy fellow be found getting ahead, and firing right into your face. Too many there areand good shots and first-rate sportsmen are apt to fall into this dangerous practice-who always draw to the front of the cover, where they know the artful old cock or hen will be found; and the first intimation you have of their whereabouts is when you hear a shot from the front, and find the lead rattling on the leaves around you. This is a most reprehensible practice, and one which nothing can justify. I knew a man, the best shot I ever saw, who was the most dangerous fellow to shoot with; for he always was guilty of the practice I have described, and it would have been almost as dangerous to have led the storming of the Redan as to shoot with him. I need only say, in support of what I have said, that he once shot a man. For my own part, under the circumstances, I could never have taken a gun into my hands again. He did, however, very shortly after the occurrence: and I frequently met him, but always treated him with such respect that I did not venture, when out shooting, to go within shot of him.

Mr.

Whilst on the subject of accidents, I will observe that this season has commenced, unfortunately, with several very bad ones. Batt, M.P., has lost his life; and a young friend of my own has had his hand blown off. Both these accidents might have been avoided, if proper care had been observed. That any one should be so foolish as to proceed to load one barrel, with the other cocked and loaded, is more than I can understand; but it is done frequently, and many lives are, consequently, lost. If every shooter would bear in mind the golden rule, never to allow his gun to be pointed, even for a moment, towards himself or any one else, how many valuable lives would be spared!

I am not an admirer of safety-locks; for they are apt to make one become careless, the consequence of which is that, if you have occasion to use a gun which has them not, an accident is likely to occur. Almost every season brings out a new lock of one sort or another. Some are really valuable inventions, others mere trash; but each for a time is pronounced the best. If the young sportsman wishes to ascertain the value of such, he has only to go to the well-known Mr. Bishop, of Bond-street; and if it is an invention worth adopting, he will be able to tell him all about it. And I will further say to any one who wants a good gun, at a reasonable price, Go to the "honest Bishop." His are suited for service and safety; the price will not burt you; and Mr. Bishop will allow you to exchange the gun

again and again, till you are satisfied. I have had some dealings with him, and have always found him to be a most straightforward man; and I believe every person who has dealt with him will bear testimony to the same effect.

To return to pheasant-shooting. It is never fully to be enjoyed till the fall of the leaf; then it is that the sport is diversified by an occasional snap at a woodcock. It is the variety that makes, in my idea, cover-shooting pleasant. First, perhaps, you have a pheasant before you; next, a rabbit or a hare; while the occasional "Mark cock! of your friend or the beaters gives a zest to the scene, and makes it truly exciting.

Ireland is, or rather was, the place for cocks. Lately, they have not been found there in such numbers as formerly. This, I presume, may partly be ascribed to the effects of draining; and partly to the fact that, as people shoot so much better now than they did formerly, and as guns are so greatly improved, fewer woodcocks leave our shores, and consequently there are not so many to return the following

season.

The snipe and woodcock shooting in parts of the green isle formerly was glorious. Fifteen couple or more of the former were only a moderate day's sport; whilst forty and fifty couple of the latter were frequently bagged, with perhaps five or ten brace of golden plover. Throughout the Irish covers there is a great quantity of holly; and every one is aware of the partiality the woodcock has for that shrub. If you flush one, and there is a holly in the cover, you may rest satisfied that it has alighted somewhere near to it. Perhaps the abundance of holly is an inducement for the long-bill to patronize Ireland. I suppose the whisky cannot be said to have anything to do with it, though, believe me, this last-said article in its native state is very good, and perfectly different from what is tasted by us when it has paid duty.

It is strange that pheasants will not live in Ireland; and if you turn them out, they will not fulfil the commandment, "Increase and multiply," but they dwindle away, and very shortly disappear. I know a gentleman who took great pains to establish them on his property; but he was not successful, for they all died off one by one, and he had to sing, with Burns

"And mourn, ye whirring pheasant*-brood,

He's gane for ever!"

The nids of pheasants this year are by no means large. Why such should be the case, I know not; for a finer hatching season was never known. I am of opinion that the old birds were not very healthy, for I know instances where they were found evidently diseased; and this might account for the small number of eggs they laid, or for the eggs being addled. The number of cocks that are left is too small, according to the general custom; and it is quite an error to suppose that they go to the hens. The hens will more frequently go to the cocks. That such is the case, may be proved by allowing a cock to remain in a cover, killing every pheasant besides. The result will be (if there are any in the immediate neighbourhood) that,

* Slightly altered.

U

instead of the gentleman leaving his cover, he will before long have two or three hens with him there. This I have found, without any doubt, to be the case; and I shall be found correct, if the experiment is tried.

Precaution should be taken always to kill off the old birds, for they drive away the young ones; but, unfortunately, this is not such an easy matter, for they are so crafty that they will, nine times in ten, save themselves. It is wonderful to observe the tricks they are up to; and when they want to regain a cover from which you have cut them off, or to get out of one you are heating, they will do so in a most surprising manner. The old stagers will invariably run before the beaters to the end of the cover; and, therefore, the shooters should keep well forward, but never fire back, otherwise they may endanger the lives of those who are beating. It is no joke to find a fellow peppering away at your legs. There is a story told, by the way, of a man who wore hareskin gaiters when shooting, and who, upon finding himself hit rather sharply about the legs, shouted out, "Some one has hit my legs!" "Your legs! was the reply"why, I have been firing at them all day, thinking they were hares!" I recollect an instance where a friend of my own saved his life by a habit he had of turning his back whenever he heard a pheasant rise, and thought any one was going to fire. He did so on one occasion, and thus received the whole charge in his posterior-which was better than if he had been weighted elsewhere.

Provided he is not hit too hard, I am glad when I see a careless fellow peppered a little; it brings him to his senses, and makes it all the safer for other people. I have no patience with such as are not careful with their guns; and you will always find a thorough sportsman is always so. It is only novices who are otherwise. The coolest proceeding of the sort that ever came under my notice was a man helping (?) his friend over a hedge, by pushing at him with the muzzle of his gun, both barrels of which were loaded, and at full cock. Verily, he might have exclaimed, "Save me from my friends!"

I must now conclude these papers; and when they appear, I hope all lovers of the gun will be at it to their hearts' content; that they will escape accidents, and find the long-tails plentiful. For myself, as I have already observed, I do not care about cover-shooting till a more advanced period of the year, when the leaves are off the trees, when the weather is more seasonable, and the woodcock has arrived. Give me the bracing autumn or winter's day; and then, as we brush thruugh the cover, enlivened by the joyous cry of " Mark cock!" we feel our spirits rise, and it is truly real enjoyment. Some there are who prefer grouse-shooting; others that of the partridge; and not a few there are, lazy ones though they be, who would rather have the game driven to them, like fowls in a farmyard, than have what they term the trouble of walking for it. With such I must beg to differ. However, we all have a different taste. It is lucky we have; and, as Dick Homespun says, "I am glad we don't feel and think alike; for, if we did, everybody would think my gal, Sukey Snipes, the sweetest creature in all creation, and they would all be trying to court her at once."