38 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



covers of the Weald of Sussex, and have also 

 formed one of a party who had tolerable sport 

 in the neighbourhood of Rome and Terracina 

 several years ago, but I have never seen so 

 many killed as in Ireland. The most wholesale 

 slaughter, however, of these birds would appear 

 to be on the shores of the Mediterranean and 

 of the Adriatic. Several British officers who 

 have been quartered at Malta and the Ionian 

 Islands have made expeditions to these wonder- 

 ful swamps, and wild groves of orange, oleander, 

 and arbutus, where the objects of their pursuit 

 are found in incredible numbers. Many sporting 

 members of the Royal Yacht Club too, tempted 

 by the success of their friends, have been induced 

 of late years to steer towards the South, instead 

 of laying up their vessels at the close of the 

 season ; and to vary the charms of a winter cruise 

 in the Mediterranean with woodcock and snipe- 

 shooting on the classic shores of Greece and 

 Thessaly. Immense numbers are occasionally 

 killed when the majority of the party are good 

 shots, but it is generally admitted that the birds 

 are not in such condition as those which are met 

 with in the British islands, nor do they present 

 so difficult a mark to the sportsman. A pack 

 or team of wild spaniels is a great desideratum. 

 The Clumber breed is the best, as their superior 



