UPLAND SHOOTING. 251 



farmers will not grieve wlien they reflect that there will be, at 

 any rate, by so much the fewer depredators on their corn-fields 

 next autumn and winter, when it m ly truly be said, they are 

 fruges comminere nati. Moreover, we must make the most of 

 them no.v, for in six weeks they will change their character and 

 habits so entirely, that by no ingenuity can we possibly got near 

 cnouLj'i for a shot; and the devils, though they now tumble 

 over oil the reception of two or thi-ee Xo. S shot, will then carry 

 off as miu'li lead as a Galena steambiat. it is astoiiisliiiig how 

 dirticult t'le full-grown birds are to kill, — I have known them, 

 when riddled with No. 4 s'lot, to tly entirely out of sight and 

 leave you bending forward your neck, in hopes that asyuuhave 

 knocked off feathers enough, as it would seem, to fill a bolster, 

 that straight and rapid flight must soon alter ; but no, on goes 

 the bird in a ' bee line,' till his figure melts into thin air," »Scc. 



It is, indeed, sorry work, when a man who writes so very 

 well, and who seems to possess very many of the genuine ideas 

 and feelings of a sportsman, should condescend to promulgate 

 such mischievous nonsense as the above. I note this the more 

 vdllingly, because to such selfish sophistry, on the part of sports- 

 men, more than half the difficulty of presei-ving game is directly 

 ascribable. 



• For who, if the sportsman shoots out of season, because it is 

 easier to kill half-grown birds than full-grown ones, or because 

 there are so many of them, that two or threescore, or hundreds 

 more or less, will not be missed, will abstain from doing like- 

 wise ? Or how shall we, conscious of such a beam in our own 

 eye, venture to extract the mote from our brother's ? 



The arguments advanced — if arguments they can be called — 

 in the above precious paper, are equally applicable to every 

 other species of game that flies. 



The Quail is a very hard bird to stop when full-grown, and 

 well on the wing, especially in wild weather, and thick covert — 

 an infinitely harder bird, in proportion to its size, which makes 

 it all the more difficult to hit, and precludes the possibility of 

 using large shot, than the Grouse — but I am happy to say, that 



