144 OTTER HUNTING, FALCONRY, SHOOTING 



wind again, and an expression that said, as plainly as 

 any words, that he was guided simply by memory. 

 Up-wind he ranged not very wide, but in the most 

 perfect form that I ever saw." '■ 



That Lord Lilford never wrote publicly upon sporting 

 matters may perhaps have been due to his inherent fond- 

 ness for all living creatures. Be this as it niav, in 

 this direction he has committed little to writing beyond 

 passing allusions in his diaries or letters. 



Thus on January iith, 1896: "Although, as you know, 

 I was a very ardent gunner in my time, I would rather 

 see a real good flight with a good hawk at any feathered 

 quarry than take part in the slaughter of any number of 

 tame-bred pheasants." - 



That ' tame-bred ' pheasants are no less difficult than 

 wild ones to shoot, no one knew better than himself, 

 or had more contempt for the absurdities that are 

 written in the Press and elsewhere on this subject. 

 The distinction he draws between the two forms of 

 sport lay in the instinctive and unsportsmanlike shrinking 

 from the idea of the non-natural culture of the pheasant. 



" With regard to rabbit shooting," he writes on 

 March 3rdj 1891: "I fear that I cannot claim ever to 



^ To the Rev. Murray Matthew. 

 2 To the Rev. G. E. Freeman. 



