trPLAND SHOOTING. 265 



the sherry wliich Peritus had recomiauiulud as tlie best i'urm 

 of luncheon. 



" I liavt! ii;i(Ioul)t you are porfectly rif^ht about this, Peritus," 

 said his tVicnd. " huku'd, the practice has proved the principle, 

 for we have got fcjrty-five or forty-six Quail between us, out of 

 those first four bevies, besides thirty Cock. It is glorious sport, 

 indeed." 



"Not very bad, certaiidy, AgjHs ; and you have shot Wcdl 

 too, which inclines you t > tliink of the sport, perhaps, with more 

 than ordinary complacency. Hut mark me, if we had followed 

 up that first bevy we should not have flushed or marked the 

 other five, all of which, you remember, the dogs trailed as they 

 were rambling about on the feed, before the day got warm. 

 It would have occupied us till eleven o'clock to pick up that 

 one bevy, had we been able to move it, which is doubtful ; and' 

 by that time all the others would have huddled themselves 

 away into some little dry sunny nook or o her, where it would 

 have bee;i ten to one against our stumbling upon them. As it 

 is, before that same hour we had stirred six bevies, four of 

 which we have used up, while I hear the other two calling even 

 now in that great swamp, where we will give a good account 

 :>f them likewise, when we have finished these cigars. 



" Aye ! I observ^e all this, and see the sportsmanship of it, 

 Peritus ; what noble birds, moreover, these autumn Woodcock 

 are. All full grown birds, with fine gray foreheads, and pink 

 legs. They must weigh one-third more each than the young- 

 lings we slaughtered in July." 



" True, O king ! at least one-third more. Now, don't you 

 think we ought to give up summer Cock shooting ?" 



" I never thought otherwise. What between the thermome- 

 ter at ninety in the shade, and the myriads of mosquitoes, I do 

 not look upon summer shooting as fit sport for any man who is 

 not as thick-shelled as a lobster, and him it would be likely to 

 boil." 



" What autumn shooting we should have, if they would but 

 abolish summer Cock shooting, and enforce their own laws !" 



