i8o LETTERS TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



alternative, feeding by the " rough " shooter, results in criti- 

 cisms of the " man who baits his ground " ; unfair criticisms, 

 I think, for the baiter, especially if he spares hens, may breed 

 pheasants to be baited away by Croesus and his velveteened 

 myrmidons. Nor will Croesus be ruined in purse or prestige 

 by the absence from his preserves of sufficient pheasants to 

 afford his less ambitious neighbours many a happy and 

 healthy Saturday's amusement. You will notice as you grow 

 older that the best sportsmen have not always the longest 

 purses. There used to be, and possibly still is, a certain — or 

 uncertain — amount of wild shooting to be had in the New 

 Forest, by ticket. The restrictions attached, limiting the 

 shooter to one beater and to the hours of daylight, seemed 

 admirable, till the coming of the motor gave its owner an 

 undue advantage over his less-favoured rivals — he could 

 practically visit all the spots he thought worth visiting in the 

 course of a day. 



Then there are a few hotels where the shooter is accom- 

 modated and where the sport necessarily depends upon the 

 numerical proportion between dividend (game) and divisor 

 (sportsmen), while the migratory birds, the rough shooters' 

 quarry par excellence, will probably make a better show in the 

 bag than in the kinds of " shoot " previously indicated. 

 And you will find that it is the migrants whose pursuit gives 

 you most pleasure ; their presence in numbers is usually 

 a surprise ; their absence a smaller disappointment than that 

 of game which you expect to be resident ; their circumven- 

 tion a greater triumph than would be the case were you 

 certain of finding them next day ; their change of haunt 

 according to the weather an interesting study. But the ideal 

 rough shoot should harbour just sufficient resident game to 

 occupy you when the migrants are elsewhere. Such a happy 

 hunting-ground, I need hardly tell you, will not be found 

 at your door. You may, perhaps, hear of something like it 

 in Ireland, but nothing in Ireland seems to be reliable, except 

 the unreliability of everybody and everything. The local 

 gunner is apt to forestall the tenant, and other drawbacks 

 in plenty seem to discourage those who have experimented 

 there. While you are still young and unfettered by family 

 cares you should look out for one of the " winter shootings," 



