53 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



elusion from the English preserves. These gen- 

 tlemen, having been brought up to a tether, never 

 forget their veneration for game laws and the 

 majesty of a ring fence. Whether they are paid 

 by London gun makers to puff their work on this 

 side of the Atlantic, we know not; but one thing 

 is certain, that if you read what they write, and 

 believe, you will soon profess little faith in aught 

 connected with sporting on this side of the water. 



As to their prosy and oft-repeated directions 

 how to hunt snipe, in our humble opinion they 

 are not worth a pinch of powder, except to fill a 

 page or two of twaddle. It would really be some- 

 thing new if any well-tutored dog could be pro- 

 duced, who did not know more about the matter 

 than gentlemen who affect to laud Ponto to the 

 skies in one breath, and tell you that he is not 

 worth the trouble of taking out to the field in the 

 next. 



But, aliens ! The cars have stopped, and as 

 soon as possible we must be afloat. After some 

 delay, a boat and two stout oarsmen were pro- 

 cured ; the dogs, inured to all sorts of locomotion, 

 tumbled in and stowed themselves away in the 

 stern-sheets, as peacefully as lambs; and with 

 the tide swelling fast to flood, we pushed off for 

 the opposite shore. 



