GAME. 319 



pack, very unfavourable to good hunting. Riding rather a 

 the field than to the hounds, is the prevailing error. Fences 

 are crossed which would be better evaded horses unneces- 

 sarily distressed ; and I have seen a man actually go out of 

 his way to take a regular rasper, when he had a gap within 

 thirty yards. 



Game in Mayo would be much more abundant than it is 

 were it not sadly thinned by irregular shooters, and an infinity 

 of vermin. To prevent the spoliations of the former would 

 be a difficult task as, from the quantity of wild fowl that 

 every winter brings to the Western shores, a number of 

 guerilla sportsmen are employed or countenanced by the 

 resident gentry ; to whom it is too strong a temptation, when 

 lying for ducks, or stealing upon plovers, to discover a pack 

 or covey grouped upon the snow, and yet have sufficient 

 philosophy to keep the finger from the trigger. The vermin, 

 however, are the main cause of the scarcity of game, and no 

 means are taken to destroy these marauders. From the eagle 

 to the sparrow-hawk, every variety abounds in the woods and 

 mountains, and every species of kite and crow that an orni- 

 thologist would admire, and a sportsman abominate, infests 

 the Western counties. 



Of fallow deer, there is a large stock in the parks through- 

 out the province and buck-hunting has of late seasons been 

 getting into fashion on the plains. I have already, in speaking 

 of the red-deer, lamented the prospect of their extinction. 

 That event I look upon as fast approaching and I am con- 

 vinced that nothing can avert this national calamity but a 

 vigorous determination of the mountain proprietors to extend 

 protection to those limited herds which are still found, though 

 in lessened numbers, upon the Alpine heights bordering on 

 Burrishoole and Tyrawley. 



Foxes are tolerably abundant in the hunting districts, and 

 mischievously so in the mountains and islands. From the 

 latter any quantity could be procured, and there is no place 

 in Britain where covers could be so easily formed, and stocked 

 with less trouble and expense. I have seen healthy foxes for 

 days hawked over the country before a purchaser could be 

 found, and at last disposed of for a few shillings. I once 



