12 EEMINISCENCES OF A SPOETSMAX. 



myself heard that there was some good wild fowl and 

 snipe shooting about twenty miles to the south of Alicant. 

 We determined to go there, for we had little or no shoot- 

 ing in the immediate neiglibourhood, and were prevented 

 going to any greater distance by the French outposts. 

 On our arrival at a small inn about a mile from the 

 scene of action, we made inquiry of the landlord whether 

 we were likely to have good sport. He greatly raised our 

 expectations by the flaming account he gave of the 

 number of wild-fowl and snipes which were shot and 

 taken in the waters and morasses of this district. We 

 started early the next morning, sanguine in the hope 

 of filling our game bags, but, alas.! we found that what 

 our host had told us was fabulous. We certainly met 

 with a few snipes, and bagged three or four brace of 

 them, but on inquiring of some of the peasantry 

 whether they ever shot them, they replied they were 

 always taken in horsehair snares, of which we found 

 several. In the ponds frequented by wild ducks we 

 saw at a distance, to our great satisfaction, several 

 apparently swimming about ; but on a nearer approach 

 we discovered they were neatly made of wood, some 

 with their heads turned back, as if employed in pluming 

 themselves, and in two or three places, by the side of 

 the water, huts were constructed with holes to shoot 

 through at the real wild ducks, attracted by the appear- 

 ance of the artificial ones. This discovery was sufficient 

 to convince us that we had but a slight chance of getting 

 any wild fowl, and we returned in the afternoon to the 

 inn, abused our landlord for the falsehoods he had told us, 

 and mounting our horses, rode back to our quarters near 

 Alicant. In short, from all I could learn, I believe 

 there is no good shooting about this part of Spain. 



