1^0 GUNS 



out any disrespect to such gatherings, often as 

 lively in their way as fox-hunting ones, one may 

 say safely that Nature, in wood and wild, has a 

 shy way of disclosing her full beauty rather to those 

 who roam alone than to those who are a jocund 

 company. So these quiet shoots in the coppice 

 and in the fields of autumn, down in the oozy 

 marsh and high on the wind-swept heath, are very 

 favouring to those who want to keep in touch 

 with Nature as well as to enjoy to the full the 

 use of the gun. For myself, I have found shoot- 

 ing in this respect only less favourable than trout- 

 fishing. It helped me as a boy to recognise 

 that even the days in winter, which we are wont 

 to call dreary, are never without charm for 

 those who are not distressed by rain or mist or 

 snow. I have gone out with my gun when the 

 snow has lain more than a foot deep, and when the 

 tops of the high hedges against which it has drifted 

 have been all but hid ; when there has been a con- 

 tinuous downpour all day long ; when a heavy cold 

 mist or fog has made the cock pheasants crow, 

 and so confused the flocks of wood-pigeons, that 

 they have flown towards me when I have suddenly 

 come upon them. I have been chilled, and chapt, 

 and soaked to the skin, and my boots have been 

 water-logged and snow-logged — my boots when 

 I first shot always did let in the water somehow 

 — and I can honestly say I have thoroughly en- 

 joyed myself on such occasions, and seen many 

 beautiful things. Why, Sir Edward Grey in his 



