ON THE PLAINS 



Hare-shooting in the woods is a very different 

 matter. Each " gun," in this case, walks along a 

 narrow path, or schneise, in line with the beaters. 

 The ride is seldom more than a yard in width, and 

 as the undergrowth is generally too thick for an 

 approaching animal to be seen, it will be readily 

 understood that the shooting is by no means easy. 

 Sometimes the sportsman is warned by a chorus 

 of " pussor ! pussor ! " the Bohemian equivalent for 

 " look out " that something is coming his way ; 

 but often the only warning is a flash of yellow across 

 the narrow way, which one has not the time to 

 recognise as a hare ! This is snap-shooting with a 

 vengeance. 



As in all other sports, however, it is possible to 

 achieve the most marvellous accuracy in this style 

 of shooting. An Austrian friend of mine, than 

 whom no better sportsman exists, but who (by 

 reason of his modesty) prefers to conceal his identity 

 under the name of " the Sun " he being so called 

 for his unfailing geniality and cheery smile in one 

 schneise once fired forty-seven shots and killed forty- 

 six hares ! I was walking in the next path to him, 

 and saw and counted the hares at the end of the 

 covert. 



In this woodland shooting, too, the bag consists 

 not only of hares and an occasional partridge, but 

 of pheasants in abundance the good old-fashioned 



