THE SPORTSMAN IN RETIREMENT. 381 



waters there are trout, perch, eels, gTidgoons, dace, 

 roacli, and mmnows. 



Thus, tlien, as far as my efforts to increase 

 ilie food of the community, combined with my 

 own amusements, liavc gone, they have been 

 crowned with success. I have not been the vox 

 et prceterea nihil that many writers on this 

 subject have been and still are ; and, with little 

 or no aid from the public press, the fact, as 

 it stands, is known to a vast round of my 

 acquaintance. 



Three pheasants,- and no wild ducks, was all I 

 found on the estate, save a snipe and a sprinkling 

 of partridges and liares ; now I am able to give 

 sport to my immediate friends who shoot with 

 me, and game to those who do not shoot. I have 

 plenty for my own consumption during the autumn 

 and winter, and game, wild fowl, and rabbits even 

 to give away, or to sell to the game salesman and 

 poulterer, Mr. Briggs, of Bournemouth, who readily 

 buys all I have to offer for public use. During 

 spring and summer I can fish in ponds created by 

 myself, and study the breeding habits of the fowl 

 who still at that time haunt the waters, look at 

 the brooding snipe in her nest at my foot, induce 



