THE MOOKS.J 



SHOOTING, 



[the mooes. 



Sportsmen are generally greedy listeners to 

 all novelties. The invention is found, when 

 tested by a pretty general use, not to realise 

 all the advantages anticipated from it. It is 

 then taken out to nurse, and to be bolstered 

 up with a mass of theoretical speculation, 

 which appears on the surface very profound, 

 but which is, in fact, nothing but a series of 

 ill-digested notions, and gratuitous assump- 

 tions. Readers are bandied about from one 

 theory to another, till they are lost in obscu- 

 rity and chaos. 



As every gun is an instrument 'per se, and 

 has a character of its own, the person that 

 may be accustomed to it feels quite strange 

 when a new piece is placed in his hands. "VVe 

 have read somewhere of a sportsman being 

 often amused with the conversation of game- 

 keepers, and others, about their respective 

 fowling-pieces. They talk of them as if they 



had life and volition. They say, "I know 

 that gun well ; she'll do very well in one way, 

 but she's obstinate in another. Slie's a curi- 

 ous-tempered piece. I have known her on a 

 particular day take the sulks, and no good 

 could be done with her; at other times she 

 killed all before her." The fact is, that the 

 gun is an embodiment of very important and 

 hidden principles of mechanics and chemistry. 

 "We see the effect of it ; but the causes are 

 often, and, indeed, in nine cases out of ten, 

 wrapped in impenetrable mystery. Daily ex- 

 perience is the only means of obtaining a 

 perfect knowledge of the capabilities of this 

 instrument, because its powers are so easily 

 modilied by causes which escape ordinary ob- 

 servation. This is the reason why practical 

 men gain such a stock of useful information 

 on the use of fowling-pieces, though they are 

 seldom able to impart that knowledge to others. 



CHAPTER IL 



MOCKS AND OTHER SHOOTINGS; NECESSARY COURTESIES; SELF-HUNTING DOGS; A SUMMARY; ENGLISH 



MANORS ; HINTS TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



As many desire information on the subject 

 of hiring moors and other shootings, and, at 

 the same time, seek for a knowledge of the 

 best method of getting up a head of game, 

 and of preserving and protecting the same, 

 this seems to be the most suitable place to 

 supply these, from such sources as we have 

 been able to bring within our reach. We 

 believe it is admitted, by all practical sports- 

 men, that the months of March and April are 

 the best for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 stock of game on all grounds, and especially 

 on tlid moors ; and offering, at the same time, 

 the most favourable opportunity for trapping 

 and destroying vermin of all sorts, and of 

 extending other necessary protection to game, 

 without which the best prospects of sport may 

 be neutralised. In the first place, we will 

 confine our remarks to the Scottish moors, re- 

 serving the subject of manors, and the pre- 

 508 



servation of game in England, for after con- 

 sideration. 



Why, it may be asked, are the months just 

 alluded to the most favourable for securing 

 shootings in Scotland? The question is 

 readily answered. It is because an accurate 

 estimate may be obtained of the stock of 

 grouse equally on the Highland and on the 

 Lowland moors — the packs (or, more correctly 

 speaking, the surviving portions of them) 

 which had migrated during the severe weather 

 of winter, from the high ground to the distant 

 lowland moors, having returned to their native 

 hills to breed ; and the low grounds retaining 

 only those birds which actually belong to 

 them, and which alone can be relied on to 

 remain and breed on such ground. This must 

 always be borne in mind relatively to lowland 

 moors ; for, if an estimate were sometimes 

 formed of them from the amount of grouse 



