204 SPORT IN EUROPE 



bush, carrying- orange-coloured berries, of which the pheasants are 

 very fond ; while beeches and oaks are found in the dales behind 

 the sand-hills. I have been told that Napoleon I., on coming to 

 Holland, found the sand-hills quite denuded of any kind of vegeta- 

 tion, and of course the wind used to play the mischief with this 

 natural sea-wall. He remembered, however, having seen in the 



Landes, in the south-west of France, how "helm" 

 The Dunes. 



was used to strenothen the sand-hills, and he ordered 



people to come from there and plant that grass over here. In other 



parts of Holland fairly good shooting is only found where game is 



strictly preserved, as the country is very thickly populated, and, there 



being no law of entail, landed property is very much divided. Large 



tracts of heath are found in some provinces, but game is scarce. 



Partridges, hares, pheasants and woodcock are found in all the 



provinces ; rabbits also, but particularly in the sand-dunes, where they 



are met with in very great numbers, and they afford 

 Rabbits. 



very pretty shooting when the guns walk them up, not 



when, as is unhappily too often the case, they are driven. It is a 



great pity spaniels are so seldom used, as, to my mind, they afford 



the nicest shooting, and, when quiet, they do not disturb the 



pheasants. It requires a quick eye and a sure shot to kill the rabbits 



well when they bolt, and they certainly form the music of the feast. 



The dogs used for partridge shooting are mostly pointers and setters 



where these birds are in goodly numbers ; for general use, German 



doofs are in demand, both orriffons and other breeds. Retrievers are 



seldom seen. Coursing is practised, but not in the 

 Coursing. 



orthodox way. It is done simply as a way of catching 



