AN ENGLISH SQUIRE 47 



great charm in pheasant-shooting, however one may 

 abuse the battues^ for which we have no great love our- 

 selves. There are few things pleasanter on a fresh 

 autumn day, when the foliage has been thinned by rain, 

 and the frosts have opened daylight through the 

 broken-down undergrowth, and when the leaves that 

 are still hanging on the trees are glowing in their 

 gorgeous autumnal tints. Nor can anything be more 

 lively than working quietly behind a couple or so of 

 spaniels, when they are forcing the wandering birds out 

 of the hedges and running them through the outlying 

 covers. 



Rabbits may be a curse to the farmer when they 

 are suffered to breed to excess, but we know no better 

 fun than rabbit-shooting, over spaniels or terriers. So 

 the squire thinks, who lets his land at easy rents to 

 the tenants, making no secret of his tastes, and is 

 liberal in distributing what he kills among the farmers 

 and the poor people in his cottages. And when a 

 frost in the winter keeps the hounds at home, he is 

 often to be seen, with keepers and ferrets, a terrier or 

 two, and a retriever, bending his steps towards some 

 well-known burrow. Many of the gravelly banks 

 that enclose his plantations are mined and counter- 

 mined in all directions. The difficulty is to persuade 

 the rabbits to bolt, when they have so many oppor- 

 tunities of dodging their pursuers. But a couple of 

 ferrets or more are put in, at the risk of having the 

 rabbit taken in front and flank, and compelled to 

 succumb to the blood-suckers below ground. You 



