Colonel peter tbawfcer 149 



seasons when they were conspicuous by their absence. 

 For example, of the season 1842-43 he writes in his 

 Diary : " No shooting for anyone on the coast this 

 season." And of 1838-39: "The worst season in the 

 memory of man, both on the coast for wild fowl and 

 inland for game. I never even launched a punt (it 

 was not worth while) this winter, and did not fire a 

 shot after November 26th." 



Of 1851-52 he writes: "Illness nearly the whole 

 season prevented my shooting, and at one time my 

 life was in danger." 



Taking these drawbacks into consideration, the 

 Colonel's record of sport, indefatigably pursued for 

 fifty years, is a fine one. I note, by the way, that 

 he attributes the falling off in the wild-fowl shooting 

 about Keyham and Lymington largely to the establish- 

 ment of Mr. Alexander Baring's bird sanctuary at 

 Grange Park, where he " feeds and monopolises, merely 

 to ornament his water and tickle his fancy, half the 

 fowl in Hampshire. I drove there expressly to see 

 his collection, and I am confident I saw not less than 

 8,000 fowl in the water before his house." But there 

 are two sides to every question, and perhaps Mr. Baring 

 was actuated by worthier motives than the irate sports- 

 man assigns to him. 



In reading Colonel Hawker's Journals, in which, as I 

 have shown, he sets down the plain, unvarnished tale of 

 an enthusiastic sportsman's daily life for fifty years, I 

 have been struck by the constant reference he makes to 

 the sport enjoyed while travelling by coach. Delightful 

 old leisurely days those were when a man could beguile 



