HOLLAND 205 



the hare, and often three or four dogs running loose with their master 



hunt the animal to death. 



Battue shooting is In vogue for pheasants, hares, woodcocks and 



rabbits, but we never get the heavy bags made in England, Prussia, 



or Austria, as, for the above-mentioned reasons, we 



Battues. 



have only a very few large landed proprietors, and also 



because pheasant rearing is never practised on a large scale. 



Red deer are found in the province of Gelderland, mosdy in the 



Roval Park at Loo. Stags are shot by driving, rifles „ ^ ^ 

 ^ 0/0 j^g^ Deer. 



being used. Very fine heads are obtained yearly. 



Roebuck are pretty plentiful in that and the neighbouring provinces, 



where also black game is found. 



Holland once used to be a paradise for wild-fowlers, but now 

 nearly all the lakes have been drained, and the large numbers of 

 snipe, duck, teal, and geese have gready diminished. ^ 



Good sport is, however, still obtainable in some parts, 

 as, for instance, in the province of Zeeland and on the islands in the 

 North Sea — Texel, Vlieland and others. English amateurs and 

 professionals used to come in the winter and slaughter large numbers 

 of ducks with punt guns. Nowadays, the Government, through 

 asking a high price for a punt licence, protects in some measure the 

 native wild-fowlers, who never used punt guns. In the winter, most 

 kinds of wild duck are found, and very often swans and several 

 kinds of oeese are killed. 



