234 ACCESSIBLE FIELD SPORTS. 



has the means wherewith to visit the sacred haunts 

 of these noble fowl, looks forward with as much 

 pleasure to the longed-for period and the anticipated 

 sport as ever did city belle to courtly fete, or expectant 

 children to the morrow, which is to announce what the 

 ubiquitous Santa Glaus has left for their future amuse- 

 ment. The 12th of August and the 1st of September 

 have for ages been venerated in our tight little island, 

 and been made trysting days as solemnly to be wel- 

 comed by the sportsman as has ever been sacred fast 

 by recluse or holiday by gourmand ; and although 

 the first legal fixture does not here receive so much 

 attention, the day chosen for each individual's first essay 

 of the season does. The English have long been dubbed 

 a nation of shopkeepers ; the Americans, with more 

 justice, might be called a race of traders: for while the 

 former, who are fortunate enough to have the means, 

 invariably tramp down the golden stubble or scatter 

 the purple blooming heather upon the advent morning 

 of shooting, the latter, though possessing the where- 

 with, have more frequently to wait for days or weeks 

 till press of business or respite in the rush of trade 

 will sanction their absence from the dingy walls or 

 mouldy books of counting-room or office. Again, 

 the acknowledged day in America the 1st of Sep- 

 tember to commence operations on the prairies, is 



