86 SPORT IN EUROPE 



place among sporting animals, the hare may be regarded as the 



chief object of many Belgian, French, and Dutch 

 Hares. 



shoots. Hare shooting (like partridge shooting) opens 



in Belgium towards the end of August ; and this is greatly to be 

 regretted, since at that time many hares are on the point of bear- 

 ing young, and a single barrel may thus kill three or four hares. 

 The landowners had in fact asked, and obtained, the postponement 

 of the shooting season to a later date, but electoral questions at 

 lenofth defeated this wise measure. Hares are shot o\er doc^s at 

 the same season as partridges. Sportsmen, quite at home, leave the 

 hares in the early days, knowing full well that they will find them 

 later on when the partridges have become wild and unapproachable. 

 In the woods, as also on the plains, the hare shoots on a large 

 scale are carried out with the aid of beaters, the guns being posted 

 in front. For table purposes, the hares from the Ardennes, that 

 have fed on aromatic herbs, are greatly to be preferred to those of 

 Flanders, which are flabby and insipid. 



Rabbits, as already remarked, swarm in the dunes along the 



shore, in the Campine, and throughout the more sandy 

 Rabbits. 



districts of the country. It is shot over dogs, in 



battues, above all perhaps with ferrets. 



The partridge affects more especially the rich cultivated lowlands 



of Flanders, Brabant, and Hainault, but it may be regarded as of wide 



distribution throughout Belgium. It is shot over dogs, 

 Partridges. 



chiefly pointers and setters, but also dogs of the country 



and of other continental breeds. It is exceedingly difficult to give, 



even approximately, the bags made on different estates, the owners 



