STATISTICAL 313 



It is a common charge against modern 

 sportsmen that they are insatiate in 

 slaughter, and that there is no reason 

 why they should want to kill ten times 

 as much as their forebears. Let it be at 

 once admitted that there is a class who 

 only go out to get their guns off, who 

 would rather shoot ten hand-reared ducks 

 let out of hampers than the same number 

 of wild ones, if the former only gave 

 better shots, and who are generally 

 different in every respect from the old 

 stamp of sportsmen. But set aside this 

 class chiefly men of business or fashion 

 arid take the men who own or lease 

 the shootings where the big totals are 

 made : you will find them as willing as 

 any one to take part in days of hard work 

 for small result, only they have a marked 

 predilection for seeing things well done. 

 It is not killing only 30 brace in a day's 

 driving that bores them; it is the fact, 

 patent to their experienced eye, that 

 with good management double and treble 

 the number of birds should have been 



