i REMARKS ON MODERN GAME SHOOTING 19 



accurate aiming during the day, and with " honest pride " tells 

 them the bag is 5,000 pheasants, a not unusual number in these 

 times. All are delighted, and only pray they will be asked 

 again. The head keeper (if his tips were plentiful) is equally 

 pleased, and chuckles as he tells his assistants how the " gentle- 

 men " shot less than half the birds, and how the larger half were 

 caught in nets the previous night or were killed by the under- 

 keepers with sticks during the day's " shooting." 

 ' I am, sir, yours obediently, 



' RALPH PAYNE-GALLWEY. 

 ' March 20, 1892.' 



N.B. This is a ludicrous travesty no doubt, still it is an 

 exact representation of the sport of covert shooting as described 

 by writers who, knowing nothing of the subject, are yet anxious 

 to decry the game laws, and curtail the amusements of the 

 owners of property. 



C 2 



