" The Tzvclfth " 



303 



be allowed to multiply overmuch. Besides, are there 

 not the men v.ho are not sportsmen — the grouse 

 murderers, whose mission is simply to kill every 

 winged thing that comes within the range of their gims 

 ■ — to prevent such a desirable circumstance from ever 

 coming to pass ? The var:o-.is incidence of moor-taking 

 and bird-slaughter, as now carried on, may be briefly 

 alluded to, in order to illustrate the position we take 

 up. The best and safest moors, of course, are those 

 which wealthy proprietors keep under their own 

 management ; they shoot for the mere pleasure of the 

 sport, inviting relays of visitors to pass a few weeks 

 with them in the season. The birds which are shot 

 are chiefly distributed to friends ; and if there be any 

 surplus the head-keeper may have instructions to send 

 them to a dealer ; and on such a model moor as we 

 have in our mind's eye a little more shooting may be 

 necessary than can be accomplished by my Lord and 

 his guests, but at no time will the additional shooting 

 be allowed to degenerate into a battue or bird massacre. 

 On such a moor we may allow, by way of argument, 

 that it is possible that too many birds may be left — ■ 

 more birds than there is breeding or feeding ground 

 for, but v/e don't often hear of such a casualty taking 

 place. Nature keeps up an exquisite balance ; and 

 the kind of moor or shooting-ground we have imagined 

 is the best to be obtained for sport and the amenities 

 of sportsmanship. 



The next best moor is that which is honestly let by 

 a fair and squai-e proprietor to a fair and square ten- 

 ant. A country gentleman, we will say, is going to 

 take a Continental trip with his family, and desires to 

 help his expenses by letting his moor. It is taken, we 

 will assume, by a retired Australian "nabob," if we 

 may be allowed to use such a designation, and the 

 game and ground are used as economically and fairly 

 as if they were his own, and as if he looked to future 

 as well as present sport. He is so wealthy, perhaps, 

 that the four or six hundred pounds which he pays for 

 his shooting range is not a deadly drain upon his 

 resources, and he has a succession of visitors whose 

 only desire is new scenery and change of occupation. 

 A raid on the hares and rabbits will pay all his extras, 

 and so for three months or so all is as it should be ; he 

 leaves the ground with the respect of the keepers and 

 their good report to their absent master. The moor is 

 none the worse of his visit, indeed all the better from 

 being shot over. A fine stock of breeding birds has 

 been left, and when the proprietor takes possession 

 next year he finds everything as proper as if he had 

 never been away. 



But when a person takes a large shooting from an 

 ostentatious desire of maJving a show, which many 

 persons are now-a-days apt to do, the circumstances 

 begin to be less pleasant. The gentleman lessee finds 

 out that he has been rather going beyond his means 

 by giving so large a rent, and in desperation he com- 

 mences to "shoot like mad" in order to ease the 

 demand on his bank account ; for what with servants, 

 travelling expenses, and "extras" of all kinds, he 



begins to see that he has entirely miscalculated his 

 resources, and must, if possible, make up the de- 

 ficiency by drawing on the dealer with whom he had 

 contracted to take his surplus grouse. How some 

 keepers do gnash their teeth as they see the well- 

 filled hampers being dog-carted off to the nearest rail- 

 way station en route to Manchester or London, the 

 gentleman sending the consignments having all 

 the time but one anxiety — namely, that the price 

 may not have fallen below the last quotation, which, 

 although it were five shillings a brace wholesale, 

 would be all too little for his ambition. The moor 

 being at length exhausted, or nearly so, and the re- 

 maining birds being too wild to be conveniently got 

 at, the tenant takes his departure, and the factor or 

 proprietor has just to listen to the complaints and de- 

 nunciations of the keepers with as much equanimity 

 as he can summon up. There was certainly no bar- 

 gain as to the number of birds to be bagged ; and if 

 the factor or head keeper remonstrated, he may be 

 met with the counter-remonstrances of the moor being 

 altogether " a sell ;" the former tenant, it is not im- 

 probable, may have been doing likewise ; and the de- 

 terioration of the moor may have been going on for 

 two or three seasons unknown to those in authority. 

 As no one knew the stock of grouse that was on the 

 range, or the breeding and feeding capacity of the 

 moor, they could scarcely know with any degree of 

 accuracy what number of birds it was proper to kill 

 each season. 



We now come to the swindlers — men who are not 

 sportsmen at all, who are mere gi-ouse murderers, with 

 no eye for the beauties of nature, or any love for sport 

 — who have but one desire — namely, to make a profit 

 out of their shooting ground for the year in which they 

 have it. They never get a second chance in the same 

 neighbourhood. "This week Mr Snooks and his 

 brother killed the enormous number of 380 brace of 

 grouse on their shooting-ground of Glen Swindle " is 

 an entry in the local paper after their own heart, as it 

 will represent a remittance from Leadenhall Market 

 of perhaps fifty pounds sterling ! A few weeks at that 

 rate soon settles their account, and leaves a little some- 

 thing over. Then Snooks, who keeps a billiard-room 

 in Jermyn Street, has a few "gi-een 'un's " coming 

 down. They will bring with them all sorts of "gnib" 

 aird liquors. They get as much shooting as they like, 

 and can send oft' as many birds as they please to 

 private friends whom they wish to know that they are 

 at their shootings ; but these are of course debited to 

 their account by Snooks at the market price. "This 

 shooting is so expensive, you know," says Snooks, 

 "that I. am positively losing money by the ti-ansac- 

 tion ; but I'll get it out of you in London." And so 

 the war goes bravely on ; and we need not say that 

 Snooks has by far the best of it at the end of the 

 season. What is it to him or his confederates that 

 the moor is left barren and ruined on the hands of the 

 proprietor? He wanted to "do the gi-and " witli a 

 moor, and he did it to some purpose. 



