io6 CONVERSATIONAL HINTS 



CHAPTEE XVIII 



FIRST OF FEBRUARY REFLECTIONS 



AND now farewell for a space, my gallant hammer- 

 less ejector ! Farewell, oh cartridge bag, seasoned 

 by wind and rain ! Farewell gaiters, shooting boots, 

 knickerbocker breeches ! The end of the season 

 has come, and I shall require you no more for the 

 present. What a season it has been ! Grouse 

 plentiful, partridge abundant, pheasants as strong 

 and tall as the heart of a moderate shooter can 

 desire, or his uncertain aim attain to ; swarms of 

 hares in defiance of mournful prophecies of extinc- 

 tion given forth year by year by those who see in 

 the Ground Game Act the death of sport, and look 

 upon Sir William. Harcourt, who brought it in, as 

 an iconoclast worse than any follower of John Knox ; 

 here and there a glinting woodcock to give a spice 

 of danger to the day and fill up the gaps in our 

 shooting conversation ; rabbits of almost Australian 



