THE SEASON OF THE YEAH. 



IN old times, in the dark ages of sport, sporting chro- 

 nicles were few, and sporting writers as inaccurate as 

 they were rare. Consequently it is well to take such 

 accounts as have been handed down to us cum gra.no. 

 But, putting details aside, one general impression is apt 

 to be left on the mind of the searcher into sporting 

 antiquity, and that is, that individuals gave themselves up 

 to one sport to the exclusion of others. " Venator " was 

 one man, with his own interests ; " Pisca' or " another, 

 considering his peculiar pursuit to be perfection ; while 

 " Auceps," again, wedded to his own sport, had nothing 

 in common with either of the foregoing. Each had his 

 own season of enjoyment, prolonged as much as possible, 

 and the season of the year to each was, of course, the 

 season best suited to his especial vanity. All this is now 

 changed. Men must do a little of everything. Ere 

 hunting is well over, "Venator" rushes off from his 

 winter quarters, and appears on the bank of a salmon 

 river in the character of " Piscator." Supposing that 

 racing does not engage his attention, it is probable that 

 deerstalking does ; and long ere the season of salmon or 

 trout fishing is over, he is busy at another game, shiver- 

 ing in a mist behind a rock, crawling like a serpent in 

 the bed of a burn, to the prejudice alike of his wardrobe 

 and his epidermis, and at the close of the day either in 

 the seventh heaven of ecstacy or the lowest depths of 

 despair; the question of which it shall be mostly depend- 

 ing on the state of his nerves when within distance of his 



