ANGLING. 



who is of delicate health, or not well trained by 

 previous feeding and exercise. Walking over 

 heather is very fatiguing, and the risk of taking 

 cold from rain or wet feet considerable. The 

 dress ought to be very strong ; stout shoes or 

 quarter-boots are indispensable. 



Partridge-shooting. Of partridges there are two 

 kinds, the red and gray, the latter being that which 

 is common in this country ; the plumage is of a 

 brown and ash colour, elegantly mixed with black ; 

 the tail is short, and the figure more plump thari 

 handsome. Partridges pair about the third week 

 of February, and sometimes, after being paired, 

 if the weather be severe, they all gather together 

 and form a covey, and are then said to pack. 

 They begin to lay in six weeks after pairing. The 

 female lays her eggs from twelve to twenty on 

 the ground, scraping together a few bents and 

 decayed leaves into any small hollow. The 

 young birds begin to appear early in June, 

 and to take the wing towards the latter end 

 of that month. In dry seasons, they are most 

 numerous. So many are the enemies of the 

 partridge, that it is believed never more than a 

 half of those produced come to maturity, and yet 

 there is in general abundance for the sportsman 

 during the shooting-season. The affection of both 

 parents for their young is very remarkable ; they 

 lead them out in quest of food, shelter them with 

 their wings, and resort to many tricks to lead sup- 

 posed enemies away from their broods. Turnip 

 and corn fields are the places which partridges 

 most delight in, especially while the corn is grow- 

 ing ; for that is a safe retreat where they remain 

 undisturbed. They frequent the same fields after 

 the corn is cut down, and there feed on the dropped 

 grains, finding a sufficient shelter under cover of 

 the stubble. When the winter comes on, and the 

 stubble-fields are either trodden down or ploughed 

 up, they then retire to the upland meadows, where 

 they lodge in the high grass ; they also sometimes 

 resort to the low coppice- woods, especially if they 

 are contiguous to corn-fields. 



Partridge-shooting commences on the ist of Sep- 

 tember, and ends on the ist of February. In the 

 course of September, the short flights of the coveys, 

 in tolerably well-preserved grounds, afford abund- 

 ance of sport. In more open districts of country, 

 where there is a wider range, partridge-shooting 

 requires more skill, and the aid of a steady pointer 

 or setter. In shooting either at a flight of grouse 

 -or covey of partridges, select a bird on the outside, 

 and fire at it alone ; it is only over-hasty or ill- 

 taught sportsmen who fire at the centre of a 

 covey. 



Pheasant-shooting. Pheasants are a species of 

 birds allied to domestic fowls, and partake of some 

 of their habits ; no birds of the game kind possess 

 such elegant plumage, and few are so large. They 

 breed on the ground, and, like partridges, are fond 

 of nestling in clover ; but their chief resort is 

 shrubberies or secluded spots in plantations. The 

 pheasant and its brood, if undisturbed, remain in 

 the stubbles and hedgerows some time after corn- 

 harvest ; if molested, they seek the woods, and 

 only issue thence to feed in the stubbles at morn- 

 ing and evening. Besides corn, the birds will live 

 on wild-berries, or any seeds they can pick up. 

 As the cold weather comes on, they begin to fly 

 up at sunset into trees, where they roost during 

 the night. 



It is necessary, in pheasant-shooting, to use a 

 short double-barrelled gun of wide bore and large 

 shot. Fire at not-a greater distance than thirty 

 yards, and only when the bird has risen clear of 

 the bushes ; aim is to be taken at the head ; but 

 if the pheasant is crossing your path, fire a little 

 before the head, the rapid flight of the animal 

 bringing it in contact with the shot 



GAME. 



Though, according to law, wild animals are no 

 one's property, yet only certain kinds may be 

 killed without a licence. Game is defined to 

 include the following animals only namely, hares, 

 pheasants, partridges, grouse, heath-game, moor- 

 game, black-game, and bustards. The close 

 season applies only to the winged game, so that 

 hares can be lawfully killed all the year round. 

 But no game must be killed on Sundays or 

 Christmas-day ; to do so, subjects the offender to 

 a penalty of .5. Though the above animals 

 alone are game, the game-acts also protect 

 certain others namely, woodcocks, snipes, quails, 

 landrails, and conies ; that is to say, any person 

 illegally trespassing in pursuit of these may be 

 fined 2. These game-laws are relics of ancient 

 laws instituted by the Anglo-Saxon and Norman 

 sovereigns for protection of the royal forests. 



ANGLING. 



The art is so termed from angle, a bend, a 

 hook. The practice of taking fish in this excus- 

 ably crafty manner, either for profit or for amuse- 

 ment, is of great antiquity, as we may learn 

 from the mention made of it by the prophet 

 Isaiah : 'The fishers also shall mourn, and all they 

 that cast angle into the brooks shall lament;' 

 chap. xix. verse 8. This, however, is nothing 

 to the antiquity witnessed to by the fish-hooks 

 made of bone found in Kent's Hole and similar 

 places, and evidently the work of men that lived 

 while England was the home of the hairy elephant 

 and other animals now extinct 



No kind of amusement has been the object of 

 such frequent description as angling. Hundreds 

 of treatises have been written descriptive of the 

 sport in all its departments, and with reference to 

 all varieties of fish and the waters to which they 

 resort The first writer of note on the subject, and 

 who has been acknowledged the great father of 

 the angle, was Izaak Walton born at Stafford 

 1593, died 1683 who in the year 1653 gave to the 

 world his Complete Angler, a work which till 

 this day is esteemed not more for the correct- 

 ness of its details than the singularly happy 

 lumour of its apologues, poetical pieces, and dis- 

 quisitions. 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FISH. 



The fish which are the object of attention to the 

 angler are all confined to fresh water, and are 

 chiefly found in rivers or small brooks ; some are 

 bund in lakes and ponds. All, except eels, have 

 a pretty uniform character more fully detailed 

 under the head ZOOLOGY though differing in 

 appearance and size. 



The senses of fish have engaged much attention 

 rom naturalists. Their quickest sense is that of 



697 



