THE FIRST OF SEPTEMBER. 201 



could hire, and on inquiry we were offered it for the 

 sum of five pounds. With this we were advised to 

 close, and rightly so, for I am sure we had a good 

 deal more than that value of game off it, without 

 taking the sport into consideration at all. 



Accordingly, we took out our licenses and made 

 our preparations for a start on the First. Our landlord 

 volunteered to come with us and show us the 

 boundaries an offer we accepted only on condition 

 he should bring his gun, for, though a very stout man, 

 he was a keen shot. The start was made rather 

 later than I could have wished, but we had not many 

 miles to drive. For dogs we had our host's Irish 

 setter not a bad dog, if a little wild and a spaniel, 

 the use of which on the first of September I could not 

 quite understand. Our road followed a deep valley, 

 that of the Exe, I fancy, and then breasting a steep 

 hill we emerged on a plateau considerably above the 

 stream, and pulled up at the field-gate of a rough 

 moor. The dogs were taken up and we advanced in 

 line. Not far on we reached a lot of old heather with 

 obvious marks of the presence of black game. A 

 young cock rose to the right, and our host got on him 

 with his second barrel and killed him. At the sound 

 of the shot several old black-cocks rose a long way 

 ahead and made off. I may here remark that 

 although during the next fortnight we had a very 

 fair bag of gray hens and young birds off this moor, 

 we never got a shot at an old black-cock. In vain 

 did we attempt to stalk and drive they were much 

 too wary for us. The preponderance of cocks on 



