XII 

 SPORT AND SLAUGHTER 



ON the subject of sport my father held decided 

 views, and frequently expressed them strongly. To 

 the system of battue shooting as practised at the 

 present day he was opposed heart and soul ; with 

 him it was not sport at all, but only butchery of the 

 worst kind. A very considerable part of his corre- 

 spondence had reference to so-called sport and 

 matters connected with it, such as traps and the 

 destruction of hawks, owls, and other birds which 

 did or were supposed to do harm to game ; while 

 against the horrors of the battue and all that accom- 

 panied it he never wearied in his warfare. To the 

 old-fashioned, more English, and altogether healthier 

 method of game preserving and shooting he raised no 

 objection, except that he did not think gamekeepers 

 the best judges in the world as to which kinds of 

 birds and animals did harm and which did not. It 

 was a real grief to him to see the way in which some 

 of our most interesting native birds were shot down 

 or trapped for the sake of partridges and pheasants. 

 Literally volumes of letters on this topic he wrote 

 to the newspapers, from the leading journal to the 



most insignificant local weekly, all in the same 



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