NOTES FROM A DEFENCE OF 

 SEAFOWL SHOOTING. 



I wrote the following- on the 28th January, 1887, and it ap- 

 peared in the current issue of the " Preston Herald." The refer- 

 ence to the Boer War would almost seem to be prophetic: 



" To his Most Excellent Majesty William the Fourth, this 

 attempt to instruct the rising- generation in an art for which we 

 have long 1 been the first nation in the world, and an exercise 

 acknowledg-ed as being- calculated to invig-orate us for the service 

 of our king- and country, is, with gracious permission, most 

 respectfully dedicated by his Majesty's ever dutiful servant and 

 loyal subject, Peter Hawker." Original dedication in 1830 of 

 Hawker's Instructions to Young" Sportsmen. 



I have quoted Colonel Hawker's dedication, in which he 

 speaks of shooting- as fitting- us for the service of our king- and 

 country. I hope the conditions are not different under a queen. 

 Had there been more practical shooters in the late Boer cam- 

 paign we should not have been so disgracefully defeated. Skir- 

 mishing- (in which the ability to get under cover and shoot 

 well and quickly is the desideratum), in the opinion of many 

 authorities, is the future method of conducting war. And where, 

 pray, can you find one better qualified than the wildfowl shooter 

 for this kind of work? I am aware of the difference between 

 a " scattergun," as the Americans call it, and a rifle, still I 

 maintain that ability to use one gives a confidence in using the 

 other. In the course of experience, extending over 20 years, I 

 claim to know a little of the subject. 



