370 Sporting Sketches 



rate for tramping in snow. The gun is a hard-shoot- 

 ing, featherweight, modern arm a killer such as 

 our fathers never dreamed of. The dozen or so 

 little shells go into one pocket, sandwiches into a 

 second, pipe and " baccy " into a third, while the 

 smallest of flasks of ginger wine fits over the hip, 

 the outfit being admirably adapted to what may 

 later prove a long and cold tramp. 



The man who still-hunts a hare must be a good 

 walker and one of those favored few who do not 

 measure their pleasure by the amount of game 

 bagged. The time for the sport is after the regular 

 shooting season, and while it has joys all its own, it 

 does not appeal to men who want to be forever pull- 

 ing trigger. From three to a half-dozen hares would 

 mean a good day with a most liberal allowance of 

 honest tramping. 



A mile across country settles breakfast famously, 

 and as I reach the edge of a low-lying patch of maple 

 thicket, I feel in fine fettle. There are perhaps one 

 hundred acres of good ground where hares are known 

 to be, so I tramp along reading the snow-page's 

 morning news as I go. There are many local 

 paragraphs, all of more or less interest. " Mr. and 

 Mrs. Fox Sparrow and family have taken that snug 

 cottage, ' The Briers,' for the winter." " The Messrs. 

 Chickadee, Woodpecker, and Nuthatch are in our 

 midst. They are expert prospectors and confi- 

 dently expect some rich finds. They are at pres- 

 ent exploring the big swale." " There was an un- 

 seemly row at a dance last night, which might have 

 ended seriously if our esteemed night-watchman, 

 Mr. G. H. Owl, had not arrived in the nick of time. 



