74 A BIRD!) COLEECTOR’S’ MEDIERY: 
Chace of Dartmoor.’ Armed with this document, and happy in the acquisi- 
tion of the aforementioned setter, the sportsman retires to rest with the 
intention of opening the campaign against the Snipe on the morrow. 
September Ist is the day on which all shooting begins, or rather should 
begin, in this district, and, quite apart from winter visitants, good sport may 
be had in that month amongst the home-bred contingent in the mires. Of 
these, Fox Tor Mire is far the most famous. Distant about two miles, as 
the crow flies, from Tor Royal, it is easy to find in broad daylight, and as 
we had inspected the spot from a distance on the previous day, we had little 
fear of being unable to find it on the succeeding morning; the only question 
was whether we could be first upon the scene. But, alas! we had failed 
to take into account one most important element in all sport on Dartmoor— 
the mist! At five o’clock the men and the dog were up and ready to start, 
but a dense mist covered the whole country with its impenetrable shroud. 
Under the circumstances it was, of course, folly to start, but as the natives 
confidently prophesied that it would lift, we set forth, quickly lost the way, 
and marched grimly about the moor for nearly two hours in the wrong 
direction. ‘Then the mist did lift; we found a cottage, and were directed once 
more to the mire, said to be then five miles off. We could at all events 
plume ourselves on having avoided the inevitable circle. There was now 
little difficulty in discovering the way, more especially as we were aided in 
our search by the constant report of a gun, and in the end we arrived upon 
the ground in time to congratulate another sportsman, who had worked it 
thoroughly, and bagged eight and a half couple; we ourselves got one Teal. 
Dennabridge Mire is the next best place for Snipe, which are, of course, 
the most numerous game birds on the moor, but the greatest prize is the 
Blackcock. Though not really uncommon within the Duchy shooting rights, 
they are, nevertheless, very hard to obtain, chiefly, I believe, owing to the 
fact that they are poached and persecuted before the season proper begins, 
and consequently by the 1st of September it is a difficult matter to get near 
them. Be that as it may, they frequent mostly those hillsides where the 
heather mingles with long ruddy grass, and there are oiten some on a piece 
of ground answering to this description on the south-east of Fox Tor Mire. 
A second favourite haunt is the stretch of moorland between Two Bridges 
and Great Mis Tor. Here, again, the heather is high and in clumps, and 
the same sort of grass grows amongst it. Black-game may not be killed 
after December roth. 
Beside the Blackcock, one occasionally meets with a covey of Partridges 
or a Landrail. Such is the shooting which may be had on Dartmoor in 
