34 JANUARY. 



taken by laying a train of corn and chaff in the 

 snow, and placing along it a line to which is fas- 

 tened, at certain intervals, nooses of horse-hair, in 

 which their feet are entangled. 



As if the feathered race did not suffer enough 

 from famine and the severity of the weather, every 

 body seems now tip in arms against them. The 

 law, with a spirit of humanity honourable to 4he 

 nation, is opposed to tracking game in a snow; yet 

 this is a time of peculiar -enjoyment to the sports- 

 man. Waterfowl are driven from their secluded 

 haunts in meres and marshes to open streams; 

 snipes and woodcocks to springs and small run- 

 nels ; where they become accessible, and easily 

 found. In towns and villages, every mechanic and 

 raw lad is seen marching forth with his gun to slay 

 his quota of redwings, fieldfares, etc. which now 

 become passive from cold and hunger. Let all 

 good people, who value their persons, keep at a 

 distance from suburban hedges; for such sportsman 

 is sure to pop at every bird which comes before 

 him, be it sparrow, tomtit, or robin-redbreast ; no- 

 thing comes amiss to him, and nothing does he 

 think of but his mark. Many an eye has been 

 lost; many a cow, horse, and sheep, has felt the 

 sharp salutation of his desperate shot, and shall do 

 again ; for if the public does not take warning, he 

 will not. In farm-yards, trains of corn are laid, 

 and scores of sparrows, finches, etc. are slaugh- 

 tered at a shot. Even the schoolboy is bent upon 

 their destruction. His trap, made of four bricks 



