182 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



the everybody-for-himself business ; and, consequently, 

 (cT) too much bad shooting ; for who can shoot well with 

 the rifle, or even with the shot-gun, after dashing about 

 from tree to tree, as do some greedy shooters in order to 

 secure the pick of the shooting in advance of others of 

 the company ? Those proprietors who can find no sport 

 in the shooting of rooks, neither can extract sufficient 

 fun from the proceedings to induce them to exercise 

 their privileges, might well consider the advisability of 

 letting such shooting, if only to ensure that a due thin- 

 ning out of the young rooks shall be effected. People 

 who have not much taste for rook-shooting may be un- 

 aware as to the extent to which the letting of rookeries 

 is effected in the country. In some districts it is certainly 

 a difficult matter to secure a satisfactory shooting of the 

 sort at any cost. As a consequence, the amounts that 

 are obtained for even the most moderate of rookeries are 

 in some instances rather high. In many cases the rent 

 is fixed on a nest basis ; one shilling per nest is a sum 

 not infrequently paid, but before now takers have been 

 found ready to pay at double this rate i. e. two shillings 

 per nest for a few hours' fun. On the latter basis 20 

 would have to be paid for a rookery of 200 nests. Such 

 rookery might yield a bag of from 400 to 600 rooks. If 

 the former number were gathered the lessee would be 

 paying at the rate of one shilling per head for his rooks, 

 whilst if the larger bag were compiled eightpence per 

 head would have been paid for the privilege of killing 

 these birds. Thus it will be seen that as much, or more, 

 may be paid per nest for a rook-shooting than is paid 

 per acre for some partridge-shootings. 



In recent years the small-bore rifle has come to be 

 largely adopted for the purpose of killing rooks and also 



