FIELD SPORTS. 235 



and the angler while we encourage the poulterer 

 and the fishmonger, or to condemn the deer- 

 stalker while we patronize the butcher. 



An instinctive love of the chace seems to be 

 innate in man. It prevails equally amongst the 

 most barbarous savage tribes and the most en- 

 lightened cultivated nations, and exists as strongly 

 at the present moment as in the days of Nim- 

 rod. But while, on the one hand, the maudlin 

 complaints of modern sentimentalists may be 

 treated with contempt or derision ; on the other, 

 it must not be forgotten that ' the quality of 

 mercy ' is the noblest attribute of the ' true 

 sportsman/ an appellation of which the mere 

 bird murderer and the cold-blooded pot-hunter 

 are utterly unworthy, while even the well mean- 

 ing but thoughtless gunner who indulges in a long 

 range where game is sufficiently plenty to admit 

 of his picking out his birds within a moderate 

 distance and ' killing them clean* must aban- 

 don the cruel though occasionally tempting 

 custom before he can justly lay claim to the 

 title. 



I am aware that it is easier to preach than to 

 practise, and readily admit that ' in my hot youth ' 

 I was no better than my neighbours ; but the 

 very recollection of these juvenile delinquencies 

 renders me now the more anxious to make some 



