ZTbc iSarl of Stamfort 601 



Price's property at Rhiwlas, in \orth Wales. Of the 

 latter number no less than 920 were killed by Earl 

 de Grey, whose skill with the gun is known to all 

 sportsmen. 



But the remarkable feature about the big bags at 

 Bradgate was that they were made in muzzle-loading 

 days. For Lord Stamford was comparatively slow in 

 taking to the new-fangled breech-loader, which has so 

 completely revolutionised shooting both in sport and 

 war. The difference which the breech-loader made in 

 the slaughter may be gathered by comparing the bags I 

 have already given with those recorded in 1864, when 

 Lord Stamford and his guests had discarded the muzzle- 

 loader for the new weapon. On four consecutive days, 

 January 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th, 1864, thirteen guns killed 

 8,900 head of game at Bradgate Park. The chief items 

 in the total were 4,045 pheasants, 3,902 rabbits, and 860 

 hares. On two of these days respectively 1,822 and 

 1,195 pheasants were killed. The largest bag for a single 

 day was 3,102, but it consisted chiefly of rabbits, of which 

 2,534 were shot. The greatest day's sport, however, that 

 Bradgate Park ever produced was on the occasion of one 

 of the Prince of Wales's visits, when the bag numbered 

 4,444 head, nearly half of which were pheasants. 



But Lord Stamford's charming place in Staffordshire, 

 Enville Hall, the beautiful gardens of which were thrown 

 open to the public five days a week, was not far behind 

 Bradgate in the sport it provided, though of a different 

 kind. Partridges were, and I suppose I may say are 

 still, the speciality of Enville, and no sportsman of his 

 day better understood the art of driving partridges than 



