320 GAME. 



bought a fine dog-fox for half-a-crown, and, had I not become 

 his owner, I verily believe the captor must have turned him 

 out upon the street. 



Hares are in most places tolerably plentiful ; in point of 

 numbers differing according to local situation and the relative 

 protection afforded to them. In the moors, the mountain 

 hares are scarce ; but, from the quantity of winged and four- 

 footed vermin, it is surprising that so many are occasionally 

 seen. 



Rabbits abound in the West of Ireland. On the coast, the 

 immense sand-banks are for miles perforated with their bur- 

 rows and, notwithstanding that they are unmercifully aban- 

 doned to cur-dogs, cats, and vermin, their numbers continue 

 unabated. In the woods and coppices bush rabbits are 

 numerous, and cover-shooters, when beating for woodcocks, 

 will have their amusement diversified by many a running shot. 



Other wild animals, in every variety, may be met with in 

 parts of Connaught. Badgers and wild cats, martins and 

 weasels will be found in their customary haunts ; while on 

 the coast and estuaries, the lakes and inland waters, seals and 

 otters are plentiful in the extreme. 



Of winged game, pheasants and partridges excepted, I 

 have already spoken. With regard to the first, they are 

 scarce, and, it would appear, difficult to rear in this moist 

 and stormy climate. I speak only of the places contiguous 

 to the coast, where the experiment has been tried ; for inland, 

 where they have been duly attended to, and the English sys- 

 tem adopted, they have thriven amazingly. As to partridges, 

 they are generally scarce, and in Erris and Ballycroy almost 

 unknown. In the wheat counties, and especially in certain 

 parts of Galway, I believe they are tolerably abundant but 

 by comparison with the quantity a sportsman meets in an 

 English beat, the best partridge-shooting procurable in Con- 

 naught will be very indifferent indeed. 



My task is ended I have chronicled " the short but 

 simple annals" of a sporting summer, passed in a remote and 

 unfrequented corner of the earth, and protracted until "winter 

 and rough weather" forbade a longer stay. Into these soli- 

 tudes I carried prejudices as unfair as they were unfavourable 



