DKESS. 



SHOOTING, 



[deess. 



hingling is attempted, by either being caught 

 instead of the pheasants, or by knocking the 

 wires, or springes down, as both are used. 

 When pheasants are merely wanted for the 

 market, in the game season, wires are used, as 

 they are more easily set, and more efficient 

 than springes ; but in the spring of the year, 

 when it is wished to take pheasants alive, to 

 be sold to those sportsmen who wish to stock 

 their preserves, springes are used with a knot 

 in them, so that the noose cannot be drawn 

 tightly when the pheasant runs his head and 

 neck into them, by which means they are 

 caught alive. This species of poaching, like 

 the egg-stealing, would, in all probability, 

 cease to exist, if sportsmen would refrain 

 from purchasing live pheasants. Advertisers 

 of live pheasants for sale, sometimes put forth, 

 in their advertisements, that the pheasants 

 which they offer have been reared by them- 

 selves, from eggs laid by birds in their own 

 possession ; but if there be one instance of 

 this sort, it is an exception, even if the birds 

 which laid the eggs were not originally 

 poached; and, moreover, this may only be a 

 blind to more extensive transactions of an 

 illegitimate character ; but, as we have before 

 intimated, its discontinuance rests with the 

 sportsman. A combined resolution amongst 

 sportsmen, not only to discourage the traffic 

 in pheasants' and partridges' eggs, and in 

 live pheasants, but also a determination to 

 prosecute all offenders in this respect, would 

 be productive of immense advantage, not only 

 to sportsmen but to the community at large, as 

 the stock of game is seriously injured by this 

 yearly illegitimate practice. That the trade 

 to which we allude is carried on, and pretty 

 extensively, may be ascertained by any one 

 who will give himself the trouble to make 

 inquiry. The vendors are, of course, aware of 

 their liability, and may not, perhaps, give infor- 

 mation to every one requiring it, as we believe 

 some caution is exercised in these transactions. 

 Having thus discussed the manner of pro- 

 ceeding in reference to the Moors and the 

 Manors, we will now give a few 



HINTS TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



There are numbers of shooting t>portsmeu 

 who, from want of observation, or a " Mentor," 

 to guide or direct them, plod on in their own 

 516 



invariable way, and suffer no end of incon- 

 veniences, when a few hints would entirely 

 change the nature of things to their advanta^-c^ 

 To such, and especially to the younger and 

 less experienced, we crave permission to address 

 ourselves. Our hints will be only to "little 

 things;" but in little things lies the secret of 

 enjoying greater. First, as to dress. 



The Cap. — "We will begin with the head, 

 and end with the feet. The cap ought to be 

 as small as possible, for reasons we shall shortly 

 explain. The kind, of all others, to be preferred, 

 is exactly the size and make of a heavy dragoon 

 officer's forage cap, but with the peak a trifle 

 longer, and not lying quite so flat on the fore- 

 head. Wide-awakes are all very well, but you 

 must, in the least wind, be always either 

 snatching at them with your hand, or be keep- 

 ing your head bent down on your chest, with 

 the muscles of the forehead so contracted as 

 to induce headache with many people. The 

 cap should be small for another reason, and 

 that is the liberty, especially in a wild country, 

 of having to exert your energies in creeping 

 after wild birds, such as carrion crows, hawks, 

 &c., which may be detected in situations 

 where they may be got at, and when a small 

 cap may be carried in one of the pockets. 



The Coat and Tbousees. — Grouse-shoot- 

 ing is the only game-shooting in the three 

 kingdoms that really requires attention to the 

 colour of your dress. We should recommend, 

 therefore, a good "heath mixture" coat and 

 waiscoat, and the cap of the same colour. The 

 trousers should be of stout material, of much 

 the same colour as the other parts of the dress, 

 and, for real service and comfort, be made 

 as follows : — Procure, at a respectable currier's, 

 two seal skins, and have the trouser legs 

 covered with them in the form of a Napoleon 

 boot — viz., coming well up in front of the thigh, 

 and being hollowed out down the thigh behind, 

 till you get two inches above the calf of the 

 leg. With these trousers you can go through 

 any cover, such as gorse, &c., with impunity; 

 and, in case of having to drop on a knee in 

 damp ground, no water will penetrate. An 

 old pair of trousers will do to be covered with 

 the skins, so that they nre stout and not 

 decayed ; and, when worn out, the skins (which 

 will last six or seven years) can be sewn on to 

 another old pair. The seal skins cost about 



