jockey had not used his muscular power on it in impelling his own weight, the muscular system of the horse must have been so employed on it. It is true, not much is done after all with a prodigious exertion; but if that little gain six inches in a hardly contested race, it may make the difference of its being lost or won. Thus, an easy race is no exertion to a jockey; but after a hardly contested one, he returns with his lips parched, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth, and every muscle quivering. Chifney, and perhaps one or two first-rate jockeys, may attempt this at the end of a race for the last four or five strokes, for no strength would stand it longer; but woe to the moderate jockey who attempts it at all! For without the nicest tact in timing the operation, the confusion, overbalancing, swerving, and shifting of legs resulting from it, would lose the best horse his race." spoken or sung out with facility. "The naming of hounds," says a scientific inquirer, "is somewhat under metrical control; for it is not only confined to words of two and three syllables, but their quantity, or rather their time, must be consulted. For example, a dactyle as Lucifer answers for the latter, but who could halloo to Aurora? A trochee or iambus is necessary for the former; the spondee dwelling too long on the tongue to be applied smartly to a hound."* Mr. Blaine has given a list of four or five hundred names to choose from; and Nimrod thus justifies the use of the more sentimental and complimentary of the appellatives in ordinary use: "There is Venus the goddess herself, and there is Beauty; and Rosamond, among the poets, is an appellative expressive of female beauty. It may be The huntsman, we need hardly say, is far the most said, I degrade the characters of female beauty when important person in the field; and many masters of I apply it to a dog; but I should deny the charge, fox-hounds, unwilling to delegate so high an authority, and answer, that a fox-hound bitch displays it second or abdicate so enviable a rank, have taken the entire only to a woman; for what is the basis of what we duties of the office upon themselves. The present call beauty? Is it not shape and spirit, combined Duke of Cleveland hunted his own hounds for more with an elegant carriage? Did not Æneas know than thirty years; and, with the view of keeping up than the gait of an English fox-hound, when cast in Venus by her walk? Nothing can be more elegant his influence amongst them, regularly enacted the part of feeder too. This raises the question, whether a perfect mould." the highest excellence in this department can ever be attained by a gentleman; and Nimrod, with all his admiration for such artists as the Duke of Cleveland, Mr. Ralph Lambton, Mr. Nicholl, Mr. Musters, and others, finds it no easy matter to make out the affirm ative. John Kemble used to say, that he never saw an amateur actor who could earn above thirteen shillings a-week at Covent Garden or Drury Lane; and though the comparative inferiority is not so great in the walk we are considering, the true state of the matter was pretty strongly indicated in the remark made by a "professional" on Mr. Ralph Lambton: He hunts very well for a gentleman." We much doubt whether the Duke of Cleveland ever had his hounds so completely under command as Sir Bellingham Graham's feeder: "He throws open the door of the feeding-house, and stands at a certain distance from it himself. He draws a certain number of hounds, calling them by their names. He then turns his back upon the open doorway, and walks up and down the troughs, ordering back such hounds as he thinks have fed sufficiently. During this time not a hound stirs beyond the sill of the open door. One remarkable instance of discipline presented itself on this day. Vulcan, the crowning ornament of the dog-pack, was standing near the door, waiting for his name to be called. I happened to mention it, though rather in an undertone; then in he came, and licked Sir Bellingham's hand; but though his head was close to the trough, and the grateful viands smoking under his nose, he never attempted to eat; but on his master saying to him, 'Go back, Vulcan, you have no business here,' he immediately retreated, and mixed with the hungry crowd." Another pack is mentioned, so completely under command, that, when the huntsman stands in front and calls out bitches, all the hounds of the female gender move to the front. A good huntsman ought to know, not only the names and physiognomy, but the power and disposition, of each individual hound. Another essential requisite is a voice strong, clear, and melodious. To assist him as much as possible, care must be taken that the names of the hounds be such as can be If gentlemen will talk in this manner, they really must not be surprised if the ladies sometimes exhibit slight symptoms of instinctive jealousy. A whipper-in is mentioned, who, when two of his canine favourites were commended, made answer, "Why, yes, sir, I always thought them two very genteel hounds!" Naturalists may be interested in knowing that constant breeding "in-and-in," does not answer much better with fox-hounds than with Spanish grandees. Pedigree is highly prized; but an occasional admixture of plebeian, or. at any rate, foreign blood, is found advantageous to keep up the size and spirit of the race. The whipper-in ranks next to the huntsman; and we shall close this topic with a short biographical sketch of one who has done most to elevate the vocation-the famous Tom Moody, the hero of the hunting song, whose career is thus related by Martingale: "Tom Moody was a poor boy, the son of a poor widow. He was born at Brosely, in Shropshire, near the residence of Mr. George Forester of Willey, who then hunted the Shropshire country. Tom, when a lad, was employed by a maltster of the name of Adams, who resided at Brosley, to carry out malt. Among the customers of this maltster was Mr. Forester. One day, Tom-who little knew how much would hang upon the events of that day-had taken two sacks of malt upon the back of a horse to Willey, which he carefully delivered. In returning home, he came to a gate adjoining the park, and tried to leap his horse over it: he made many attempts, and failed; but-determined to accomplish his purpose, evincing, at the same time, the resolution and energy which distinguished his future career-he at length succeeded, and rode his horse clear over the gate. This extraordinary proceeding on the part of a mere boy, was accidentally witnessed by Mr. Forester. He was struck with his courage and perseverance, and made immediate inquiries who the lad was. was told that it was the maltster's boy, and that his name was Moody. Mr. Forester, having marked He Art. him for his own, sent a messenger to ask Adams if he would part with the boy; and that he wanted to see him at Willey. The maltster complied; but when his mother learned that Mr. Forester wanted to see him, she was sore afraid that Tom had been committing himself, and trembled for the consequences. The result was, that Tom was engaged as stable-boy; and from his attention to his business, his courage in riding, and the extreme good-nature and kindness which always accompanied him, he was eventually made whipper-in, and placed under the direction of John Sewell, the huntsman. He was delighted with his post; and performed his duties in a manner so satisfactory, not only to his master, but to every one who hunted with the hounds, that the fame of Tom Moody, as the best whipper-in in England, spread far and wide. And Tom was, undoubtedly, the best wbipper-in that ever mounted a horse. Like him, no one could bring up the tail end of the pack from the closest, the most extensive cover; like him, no one could preserve that equanimity of temper and of bearing, which drew around him the hearts of all; like him, no one could sustain the long burst of a long chase; like him, no one could manage his horse in such a manner as to present circumstances that, however difficult may have been his position, however numerous the obstacles which presented themselves-there, at the death of the fox, with every hound well up, and without tiring his horse, was Tom Moody! that ever knew him. I took his own orders as to his Will, Funeral, and every other thing that could be thought of. He died sensible, and fully collected as man ever did, and, in short, died Game at ye lastFor when he could hardly swallow, y poor old Lad took ye farewell Glass for success to Fox-Hunting, and his poor old Master (as he term'd it,) for ever. I am sole Executor, and ye Bulk of ye Fortune is left to me-Six-and-twenty Shillings, real and bona fide Stirling Cash, free from all encumbrances, after every debt discharged to a Farthing.-Noble deeds for Tom, you" say. The poor old Ladys at the Ring of Bells are to have a knot each, for remembrance of ye poor old Lad. 66 Salop papers will show ye whole ceremony of his Burial; but for fear you should not see that paper, I send it to you, as under "Sportsmen attend.-On Tuesday 29th Inst., was buried at Barrow, near Wenlock, Salop, Thomas Moody, ye well-known whipper-in to G. Forester, Esq". Fox-Hounds for 20 years. He had every Sporting Honor paid to his Memory.-He was carried to ye grave by a proper number of Old Earth Stoppers, and attend' by many other Sporting Friends, who heartily mourn'd for him. 66 thus ended ye Career of Poor Tom, who liv'd and "Willey, 5th Dec'. 1796." Directly after the Corpse, followed his old favourite Horse, (which he always called his old soul,) thus accoutred-carrying his last Fox's Brush in y front of his Bridle with his Cap, Whip, Boots, Spurs, and Girdle, across his saddle. The ceremony "Unfortunately, the brightest day is liable to be being over-he (by his own desire) had three clear, dimmed by some obscuring cloud. Tom Moody-rattling view Halloos given him over his grave: and the observed of all observers in the chase-respected by all who shared in the pursuit of the fox, for his uniform civility and good-nature, even when the chance of success seemed hopeless, and disappointment the unavoidable consequence-Tom Moody was addicted to deep drinking. Famed in all the country around, and respected by all who witnessed the display of his many good and superior qualities, his good-nature paved the way for this sad and daily growing evil. Tom, however much he might have drank, was himself again whenever he got astride his horse; and, under these circumstances, was never thrown, and never fell off. For some reason or other, he was induced to leave his post at Willey; and for two seasons engaged himself to Mr. Corbet of Sunder, near Shrewsbury. At the expiration of that period, he returned to his old situation under Mr. Forester, with whom he continued to live for the remainder of his days. Fox-hunting has proved so fertile and seductive a topic, that it will be quite out of our power, at present, to take even a cursory view of the other sports which form the subject-matter of these books; and it strikes us that the best and fairest mode of employing the small remaining space allotted for this article, will be to devote it principally to two amongst under contribution-Colonel Hawker and Mr. Colthe authors upon our list who have not yet been laid quhoun. Even they, we fear, will read rather dull and tame after Nimrod; yet they are both writers of undoubted originality, and equally entitled to attention as authorities. What we particularly admire in the Colonel, is he sets to work, whether to try a gun, construct a the life, spirit, and dogged determination with which "Tom_Moody stood about five feet eight inches high. He was a strong muscular man, and possessed extraordinary personal courage and untiring resolution. He was much marked with the small-punt, or refute a critic. There is a charm in the very pox; and had eyes as small and quick as a ferret. He was a very superior horseman; and possessed a voice so shrill that his view-halloo could be heard at a mile's distance. Though addicted to liquor, he was the best-tempered fellow in the world, and uniformly civil and obliging to every body. He never reached, nor indeed did he wish to reach, the post of huntsman. He was never married, and could neither read nor write." The circumstances of his death are detailed in a letter from his old master. It is here printed with its original peculiarity of abbreviation: "Dr. Chambers,-On Tuesday last died poor Tommy Moody, (as good for Rough and Smooth) as ever enter' Wildman's Wood. He died brave and honest, as he liv'd-Belov' by all-Hat' by none captiousness and superciliousness with which he repels an imputation on his accuracy, (we dare not say veracity,) and an honest self-reliance in his dogmatism, which would make us afraid to differ from him, had we ever so strong an opinion of our own. How summarily, for example, does he settle a pragmatical gunmaker on the grand, the vital controversy regarding detonators— "A well-known gun-maker (not Joe Manton) in presence of a well-known sportsman, offered to bet me fifty guineas that a detonator of equal size, &c., would beat a flint gun. I immediately took up the bet, told his clerk to book it, and offered to double it if he chose. He then fought off, and would not stand to what he proposed. Soon after the sportsman left the shop, and the gunmaker then said to me, 'You are quite right; but if you had not taken me up I should have got an order for a brace of detonating gentleman of distinction ever thought of using any guns. Let this then be a lesson to gunmakers not thing but the gun of a first-rate maker; for the simple to be so ready in offering wagers to gentlemen. This reason, that on the goodness of the work depended was before the late improvements in barrels and the the quickness in firing, and consequently the filling new mode of boring were adopted; for then every of the bag; but nowadays, every common fellow, in gunmaker knew that he was deceiving his customers, a market town, can detonate an old musket, and make when he asserted that a detonator would shoot even it shoot as quick as can be wished; insomuch that all equal to a flint gun." scientific calculations on shooting at moderate distances are now so simplified, that we every day meet with jackanape apprentice-boys that can shoot flying, and knock down their eight birds out of ten." We do not presume to dispute the Colonel's conclusion; but we will venture to mention, for his benefit, a piece of advice given by Lord Mansfield to an officer of rank who had just received a colonial appointment involving judicial duties. "Never state the grounds of your decisions. Your decisions, being founded on practical observation and good sense, will probably be right; your grounds, deficient as you are in regular training, will almost infallibly be wrong.' Just so, it may be quite true that a flint gun will fire stronger, but it certainly is not true that the reason is because it fires quicker than a detonator; yet the Colonel coolly takes this for granted, and adduces a highly respectable name in confirmation of the theory. The late Mr. Egg, he says, made a droll, though a good, comparison on the ignition of detonating guns: "If I were to kick a fellow out of my shop, would he go off as strong on his legs as if I allowed him to walk out ?" The comparison fails in an essential point. In the ease of the man who walks out, no propelling force has been applied. Apply one, and we will not only take any bet Colonel Hawker may offer; but, unlike his friend the gunmaker, stand to it, that the kick which sends the man quickest, or rather fastest, through the door, will also send him farthest from the shop. In addition to all his practical, mechanical, and scientific knowledge, Colonel Hawker is a sportsman of infinite resource. Thus, when you have no dog, or there is no scent, he recommends you to get two boys to drag the ground with a rope from ten to twenty yards long, kept down by a weight or stone at each end. "This plan," he adds, "first struck me from the immense number of birds that have been sprung by the land-measurers after harvest, at a time when the best of sportsmen have left behind them a great deal of game." Again, when the birds are wild, his plan is to fly a paper kite, regularly painted like a bird of prey, at about thirty yards above the ground in advance of the shooter. We strongly recommend to the attention of all young, and some old sportsmen, the maxim with which he begins his instructions to tyros:-"Start with the determination of never suffering a gun, at any time, to be held for a moment, or even carried, so as to be likely to come in the direction of either man or beast." We would also add, be careful, particularly in a battue, to distinguish between hats and pheasants, brown leather gaiters and hares: for we have known considerable inconvenience occasioned by carelessness in this particular. It is no secret that Captain W- lost an eye through the mal-adroitness of his late Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, who, when the gallant officer gave vent to a little natural irritation at the circumstance, used to complain that "W- made such a fuss about his eye." There is a current anecdote, to the effect that a distinguished general, who had gone through the whole of the Peninsular campaigns without a scratch, once received two or three small There is another passage which may justify a suspicion whether his judgment on this particular point has been warped by a lurking consciousness of the equalizing, levelling, democratic effects of detonators. We have heard railroads objected to, on the ground that they deprive wealth and rank of the legitimate advantages resulting from britzskas and posters; lawyers of the old school complain that the viginti annorum lucubrationes-the hoarded learning of a life has been rendered useless by the law-reforms of the last ten years; and navy captains are exceed-shot in the legs during a shooting excursion. "Who ingly afraid that their nautical science will be thrown away, and that the French will meet us on pretty equal terms, in consequence of the introduction of steam-vessels. Just so, the veteran sportsman can hardly suppress his indignation at seeing the art on which he prided himself superseded, and his vaunted superiority rendered little better than nominal, by a new-fangled invention nicknamed an improvement. The passage on which we found our inference, forms part of a lamentation over the decline of the gun trade: old fired that shot?" "I," exclaimed the unconscious offender. "Then hold up your hand." The hand was held up; bang went the general's fowling-piece, and a sharp peppering (though at seventy yards distance) about the wrist, gave the youngster a lesson which he is not very likely to forget. half After all, the most interesting chapters in the book are those devoted to wildfowl shooting. "This amusement," he says, "is generally condemned as being only an employment for fishermen, because it sometimes interferes with ease and comfort; and "As I before recorded, another celebrated man, dandies (who shoot as they hunt, merely for the sake Egg, has been some time dead, and is succeeded by of aping the Adonis at breakfast, or recounting their his son John, who has lately moved from the shop in sport over the bottle) shiver at the idea of being the Colonnade to No. 20, Haymarket. Instead, how-posted for hours by the side of a river, or anchored ever, of his cutting up fat, as was expected, he died The prospect, it must be avowed, is far from tempta night among the chilling winds in a creek." like a man of genius, or, in other words, with his balance on the shady side of his book! The gun-ment with which the scientific punter approaches an ing; yet we can well fancy the trembling exeitemakers, in short, remain again as I left them, like the frogs without a king, and, as before, complaining bitterly about the dullness of the trade. But for this they have to thank their introduction of the detonating system, by which they got caught themselves in the very trap that was laid for their customers. When fint guns were the order of the day, few sporting army of widgeon encamped upon the Ooze; and the dancing buoyancy of spirits with which, after cutting he collects the "cripples," and counts over his slain. a regular lane through them with his stanchion-gun, What a picture of hardy endurance is the following:— "They," (the Hampshire gunners,) "have of late lower ground, walking up any cracks or hollows in the moss." Ponies, we need hardly add, are entirely out of the question. A Northamptonshire baronet, quoted by Nimrod, used to say, that it was a man's moral duty to preserve his health for the sake of fox-hunting. It is equally his moral duty to practise the virtue of abstinence, for the sake of grouse-shooting years, therefore, adopted an entirely new mode of getting at the birds, for which that vast tract of Ooze near Lymington is better calculated than perhaps any other mud in the world. They start off generally in the afternoon, (provided the tide serves, so as to be low enough at the proper time,) keeping as close as possible to the shore, and going before the wind till they arrive at the leeward end of their beat; the whole track of which, for one night's work, may "There are a few rules which a man not accusbe about five or six miles. They then go ashore, and tomed to climb hills will find his account in observeither get into a pothouse, if they have a sixpence to ing, if he would escape the suppressed smile of despend, (which is not always the case,) or lounge rision which his flagging will be sure to excite from about the shore till daylight disappears, and the birds the sturdy hill-man who carries his bag :-One is, begin to fly-having first put all in order, that is, to eat a very light breakfast; another, to drink as drawn out their mould-shot, which they generally little as possible, but especially no spirits and water. have in for the chance of geese "going down along," If you can hold out without drinking till your lunput in smaller shot, and regulated their gun so that cheon or dinner time, your thirst will never be very it will bear about eighty yards when the punt is on oppressive; but once begin, and the difficulty of the dry mud. No sooner are the widgeon pitched passing a clear brook is increased tenfold. than off they set, in tarpaulin dresses, and looking provision basket should only consist of a cold fowl more like chimney sweepers than gunners, crawling or a few sandwiches, and a bottle of table beer or on their knees, and shoving their punt before them in light ale. When you again begin your exertions, the mud. No matter whether light or dark, few make your attendant carry a bottle of strong tea, birds or many, dung! goes the gun; and no sooner without cream or sugar, which will more effectually have they picked up what few birds are readily to be quench your thirst than a whole flask full of spirits found, or missed the fowl-which they frequently and water to correspond. Should any object to this do, as the punt, by even a few periwinkles, might be tea-total' system, a little fruit may be no bad substithrown off the line of aim-they proceed again, thus tute. When I first took out a license, I thought the travelling all night (by "launching" over the mud spirit-flask almost as indispensable as the powderand rowing across the creeks) in a direct line, similar flask; but experience has since taught me, that noto the march of an army of coots." thing so effectually expends the remaining strengh of the half worn-out sportsman as a few pulls at the liquor-flask, however diluted: he gains a temporary stimulus, which soon ends in complete exhaustion." 66 The The greatest attention is recommended to the training of your dogs. As Dandie Dinmont justly observes, education in beast and body should aye be minded;" and our author certainly seems to have been a highly successful canine instructor. is his character of his retriever : Here The Colonel's chief ground of quarrel with the critics, is for not believing that two or three hundred starlings or fifty or sixty wildfowl, may be killed at a shot. "As to those matters, it would be as unreasonable," he reasonably observes, "to expect the editor of a newspaper, who perhaps never saw a stanchion-gun fired, to pronounce a fair judgment on the performance of a coast gunner, as to expect that a coast gunner, who perhaps can scarcely write his own name, would compose a leading article for a newspaper. Cuilibet in suâ arte credendum; and we "He never gives a whimper, if ever so keen, and are quite willing to believe that the Colonel's obeys every signal I make with the hand. He will stanchion-guns are effective enough to enable him to watch my motions at a distance, when crawling dispense with the long-bow; but we must, notwith-after wildfowl, ready to rush forward the moment I standing, risk a remark, which may be thought to verge on personality. What could induce him to prefix such a portrait of himself, with his neck bare, à la Byron, and a Spanish cloak for drapery? Let him leave such fopperies to the fashionable novelists or dandy poetasters; and if he is resolved upon presenting the world with a characteristic likeness, let us have him attired in his Russia duck coat, oil-skin cap, and water boots, as if about to start on an expe dition across the Ooze. Mr. Colquhoun has chosen his ground well; a Scotchman's spirit warms at the bare mention of the moor and the loch; and were a Southern critic to exasperate him, we should expect him to turn round and apostrophize him like Rob Roy;-"My foot is on my native heath, and my name's Macgregor." Grouse-shooting, of course, takes precedence, and, as practised by Mr. Colquhoun. is a very different sort of thing from what the demi-cockney sportsmen on their carefully guarded moors may fancy it. When birds are wild or scarce, an Indian on a trail may be the prototype. "Every inequality of ground must be taken advantage of; the sportsman should crouch as much as he can, wearing a drab-coloured cap, which will often take him' five or six yards nearer his game than the lowest-crowned hat he can procure. If possible, he should always advance from have fired; and in no one instance has he spoiled my shot. I may mention a proof of his sagacity: Having a couple of long shots across a pretty broad stream, I stopped a mallard with each barrel, but both were only wounded. I sent him across for the birds: he first attempted to bring them both, but one always struggled out of his mouth: he then laid down one, intending to bring the other, but whenever he attempted to cross to me, the bird left fluttered into the water: he immediately returned, laid down the first on the shore, and recovered the other; the first one fluttered away, but he instantly secured it, and, standing over them both, seemed to cogitate for a moment: then, although on any other occasion he never ruffles a feather, deliberately killed one, brought over the other, and then returned for the dead bird.” an old woman, was carrying it too ostentatiously past | There is nothing here in the shape of horn that a her door. She rushed out in a fury, demanding "how cutler would give you half-a-crown for. he dared to kill the best cat in a' the country." He replied, that wandering cats were never of much use for mice. "Mice! Wha's speakin' o' mice or rats aither? There was scarce a day she didna bring in a young hare, or a rabbit, or a paitrick. Use! It wad be somethin' to be prood o', if they ill-faured brutes o' dogs o' yours were half as usefu'!" Great pains have been taken, and much expense incurred, to revive the old baronial sport of falconry; but it may be doubted whether the Duke of St. Alban's, the hereditary Grand Falconer of England, has a retainer in his "following," capable of competing with a gamekeeper mentioned by Mr. Colquhoun : "Forester.-Look lower down the glen: there are at least three harts royal; one has a crowned, another a palmed top, and another-magnificent creature!— his horns are neither crowned, nor palmed, nor yet exactly forked, but irregular, as those of most old harts are. He is so much larger than the rest, that if we wound him, I think I can trace him by his slot, though he keep up with the herd. Now he turns this way. What horns! What a span!-the width between the horns is a sure indication of a well-grown animal. He has a perfect head, beamed, branched, and summed,' as they would have said in old times. He has brow-antlers, sur-antlers, royals, and croches -perfect! Southron. He has brow, bay, and tray-antlers, and three or four points on the top of each beam. He is gray on the breast, face, haunches, and shoulder! May not that fine fellow be old enough to recollect the war-whoop of Culloden? Many a proud lord and stalwart forester has been laid low since he first browsed on the braes. "Early one morning, about the beginning of October, the keeper was on the stubble-field with a couple of peregrines on his fist, and followed by his son, a young lad, with a third bird and a brace of old steady dogs. The hawks were all hooded, and with bells at their feet; the ground was hunted with great caution, and soon the dogs came to a point. The "Forester.-Move quietly, or those listening watchkeeper immediately took off the hood from one ful hinds will betray us. Hinds must have been unof the hawks, and threw it into the air. The known to the ancients; or they would never have bird kept flying round in circles, the bells jingling invented such a non-descript as Argus, since a twoat its feet. The keeper than advanced rapidly to-eyed hind would have answered their purpose as wards the dog, and a covey of partridges rose; the hawk instantly stooped down, and for many hundred yards there was a race. At last he began to gain upon them, and when he drew near, made a sudden dash at one, which he seized in his claws, and flew to the ground. The keeper now walked up and secured the falcon, the partridge not being in any way torn or spoilt. Several points were afterwards got, and three more partridges killed. When the hawk did not kill the bird, there was more difficulty in recovering it, but the keeper said he never lost one." well. "Southron.-What in the world are the men doing?-do you call this driving deer?—the men are going from them. I do not know how you measure distance in such a country as this, but I should say the men are a mile off the deer-the deer can neither see nor hear them-you are joking when you say they can smell them. "Forester.-The deer must not see them: the men are now manoeuvring to give them their wind, without being seen: on their doing so at the right place and time, the chance of our getting a shot deA more gentlemanlike and ladylike amusement, it pends. No quadruped has so acute a sense of smell would be difficult to conceive. Eagles might be as a deer. I will back him against a blood-hound. substituted for grey-hounds, as well as the falcon I have heard of a tame deer that was in the habit of for the gun, should any enterprising amateur feel in- going with a shepherd to the hills: whenever it hapclined to institute a new order of sportsmanship. pened that he went without it, the deer would trace "When two eagles," says Mr. Colquhoun, "are him step by step, though he had five or six hours in pursuit of a hare, they show great tact-it is ex- start of it. Observe how the glens converge to a actly as if two well-matched greyhounds were turn-point about half a mile beyond the deer-a false ing a hare as one rises, the other descends, until poor puss is tred out; when one of them succeeds in catching her, he fixes a claw in her back, and holds by the ground with the other, striking all the time with his beak." We shall conclude with an extract from the treatise by the author of the "Oakleigh Sporting Code;" in which we are presented with a short dialogue apon deer-stalking, in the manner of Mr. Scrope: "Forester-By Jove! we are upon them. Tread lightly, crouch closely, speak lowly, breathe softly, while we examine the situation of the herd with our glasses, and the hill-men go round to give the deer their wind and drive them to us. "Southron.-Amongst so many scores of hinds how few harts! there are some large beasts, but not one good head. How can I bear off a trophy from such a herd? 1 would have the horns of my first hart hung up like monuments'-memorials of what I saw and did in the North-to relieve the tedium of after hours of sluggish ease and inglorious repose. movement there will be fatal-none but experienced foresters can tell which way the currents pass there the sentinel hinds on the left, prick their ears to listen and raise their noses to catch the taint in the air-they suspect danger-the men have given them their wind at the wrong point-and now the whole herd are off, they have taken to the plain where they are safe. We must commence another cast. "Southron.-Not for all the deer in the forest. How many miles have we walked, trotted, run, crawled, and swum already? and how high, as the geographers express it, have we been above the level of the sea? However this is glorious sport! the very possibility of obtaining a shot is enough. We will resume to-morrow." The best part by far of the volume, containing the last mentioned treatise, as may be also said of the immediately preceding one, consists of the portion devoted to Angling;-a delightful theme, fruitful of good reading, to which we probably shall return on a future occasion. |