THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 237 



nately to be surrounded by sportsmen, 

 and as no intimacy existed between him- 

 self and his quadruped, he did Httle or 

 no execution. The dog, not being fa- 

 miharized to his master's voice, was fre- 

 quently all abroad ; the whistle was 

 equally useless ; and as I happened to be 

 the nearest shooter to the well-dressed 

 Tyro, his dog was repeatedly running up 

 to me, which proceeding called forth 

 curses both loud and deep from his ex- 

 asperated master ; and yet I have no doubt 

 the gentleman never imagined that he, 

 by wilful negligence, had brought all the 

 disasters on himself. 



It is a mistaken notion that too many 

 guns spoil the sport. I am prepared to 

 prove that the more sportsmen there are 

 (in moderation), on a given number of 

 thousand acres, the better will be their 

 chance of success ; for this simple reason 

 — that they drive the birds to one another. 



