36 WOLF-HUNTING. 



in the matter of field sports, that his practical knowledge thereof 

 is unequalled by the inhabitants of any other country. However 

 true this may be as a general rule, I am bound to say that I have 

 met with many exceptions to it among my Breton friends. The 

 Baron Keryfan, for instance, is not only a good shot and a fine 

 horseman, but thoroughly understands how to draw a cover, where 

 to look for his game, and, whatever that game may be, so to 

 handle his hounds in pursuit, that he can usually render a success- 

 ful account of his day's sport. The Count Charles de St. Prix, 

 too, although not much of a shot, knows the habits of a red-deer, 

 and how to hunt him, as well as Mr. Fenwick-Bissett, or the 

 " Prime Minister " Russell, two men who, beyond all others in the 

 west country, have studied this grand game and given the wild 

 dun-deer his due value as a beast of venery, rather than a mere 

 target for a rifle ball. Across country, and such a country as 

 Brittany is, St. Prix fears no rival ; and to an old wolf breaking 

 cover and facing the open, the Louvetier is as fatal an enemy as 

 Anstruther Thompson ever was to flying fox in the Bicester Vale. 

 Others, too, might be named in Brittany j such as MM. de Celler, 

 Kerjeguz, Tregwernez, than whom it would be difficult to find in 

 any country better shots or keener craftsmen. 



There is one point, however, in woodcock-shooting, and that a 

 very essential one, in which even the foremost of Breton fowlers 

 signally fail ; and that is, in their mode of beating a large cover 

 with advantage. A Breton, for instance, will invariably post him- 

 self in some open spot, while his dogs are ranging through the 

 cover and, if a cock flies in his direction, he probably gets a shot 

 at him ; but, for every chance he thus gets, he loses many better, 

 by not following his dogs up and taking whatever snap-shots he 

 can obtain at every cock, as he is flushed, in thick or thin cover. 

 By this means a moderate shot, whose spaniels are under fair 

 command, and who can walk well up to them through cover, will 

 make a far better bag in a day's shooting than the most accom- 



