i. AV.i/.-/A'A's ON MODERN GAME SHOOTING 17 



it be purchased in the markets, and the more is it 

 enjoyed by those who, before the days of high pre- 

 serving, could only purchase a pheasant now and 

 then as a luxury, but can now often invest in one 

 as ' a dinner,' from the low price at which these birds 

 are constantly sold. 



I sent the following preposterously absurd account of a 

 day's sport with the gun to a journal that, without wit or 

 wisdom, was roundly abusing the game laws of England, and 

 especially the practice of covert shooting. I did this merely 

 to test whether the editor of the paper in question was in the 

 least degree acquainted with the subject he was so furiously 

 denouncing. 



His ignorance was, however, supreme, and no trout ever 

 swallowed a fat worm with greater avidity than this critic 

 bolted my very mil-blown hoax a hoax that would have been 

 instantly realised by any schoolboy learning to shoot, but which 

 was gulped down as gospel by this would-be exponent to the 

 public of the gun and the game laws ! 



' Sir, As a shooter of no small experience allow me to say how 

 greatly interested I am in your views regarding the butchery of 

 pheasants. If you have never seen a large battue for pheasants 

 allow me to describe one to you. For weeks beforehand the 

 birds are fed in an inclosure surrounded by wire six feet high, 

 and covered in with netting at the top ! This is done to cause the 

 game to become tame. Early on the day of the shooting about 

 half the pheasants are caught by keepers with hand -nets, and 

 their wings, or rather one wing of each is slightly clipped ; this 

 prevents them from flying too fast for the shooters. Many of 

 the birds have both wings clipped, so that they may be killed on 

 the ground by the beaters with sticks to make sure of a grand 

 total at the end of the day in case the shooters are bad shots. 

 , imagine eight to twelve, or even fifteen, gentlemen, each 



II C 



