DRESS OF A SHOOTER. 



drag for a pack of harriers, by way of a nosegay for 

 ladies at a breakfast table. But I have now totally dis- 

 carded black, or dark-green, velveteen jackets, for open 

 partridge shooting. They may please the " kiddies," 

 but they frighten the birds. In the fourth week of 

 September, 1829, an old sportsman laughed at the idea 

 of this. But, at last, he changed his black hat, and 

 black-velvet jacket, with a servant of mine, who fol- 

 lowed him, for a light fustian and a straw hat : he then 

 became so convinced of his getting nearer to wild 

 stubble-birds, as to swear he " would never mount 

 another dandy-velvet !" Again, when driving a covert, 

 place an old rusty-looking gamekeeper in one station, 

 where hares and rabbits are driven towards him, and 

 the black-velvet exotic in another, and see to which 

 they will approach the nearest ; barring, of course, the 

 mask of yew-tree, fir, or holly-bush. When too cold for 

 a straw hat, use a white radical-beaver, or one of the 

 new felt hats, or, what is better, a drab-coloured cap. 

 When advising all this, remember I am only prescribing 

 for the advanced part of the season ; because in the 

 early part of September, while the stubbles are thick 

 and the birds tame, a man might sally forth even in a 

 regimental uniform and not get a shot the less. 



