SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



he was out. Lord Spencer shot 80 head ; 

 Lord Exeter 50 ; Lord John Russell, who 

 arrived late, 30 ; and the Duke of Welling- 

 ton 1 6. The prince shot again the next 

 day and killed 1 1 2 head of game. 



In a county like Hertfordshire, where such 

 a large number of pheasants are reared, it is 

 not surprising that many large bags have been 

 made in recent years. 



As a sport pheasant shooting is the most 

 artificial of all shooting, generally speaking 

 most of the birds shot are hand reared, and 

 the number shot depends upon the number so 

 reared. 



There are however in this county many 

 manors on which pheasant shooting is seen at 

 its best, where birds fly high over the 

 shooters and trouble is taken to prevent birds 

 being driven over the guns like barn-door 

 fowls, which has given rise to an unreasonable 

 outcry against what some are pleased to call 

 the ' modern battue.' 



Notably amongst the manors where good 

 pheasant shooting is enjoyed are Panshanger, 1 

 Brocket, Ashridge, Hatfield Park and Gor- 

 hambury. 



Partridge shooting, on the other hand, is 

 a real sport in Hertfordshire, although there 

 may be different opinions as to whether 

 driving partridges or walking them up is the 

 most sportsmanlike. There can be no doubt 

 however that larger bags have been obtained 

 since driving became the fashion. One of 



the best, if not the best, bags of driven 

 partridges was obtained on the Chrishall 

 Grange farms near Royston, belonging to lord 

 Hampden. The shooting was rented by the 

 Messrs. Blyth, and they on one day with nine 

 guns in October, 1899, shot no less than 505 

 brace of partridges. Almost as good bags 

 were obtained at Putteridge Park, when the 

 three brothers Sowerby probably the three 

 best shots in England for three brothers with 

 three other guns killed 335 brace in 1896 in 

 one day, and 360 brace in one day in 1897. 



Some extraordinary wood pigeon shooting 

 was enjoyed by the brothers Sowerby in 

 January, 1899. One windy morning they 

 and one keeper posted themselves after putting 

 out the decoys, and shot by noon 500 wood 

 pigeons picked up. Mr. Thomas Sowerby 

 killed 287 to his own gun without killing 

 more than one to one shot. The next day 

 they killed 400, and during the month of 

 January they shot no less than 3,500. 



In some places in the county a considerable 

 number of wild ducks are reared and pre- 

 served. At Tring Park on October 25, 

 1897, when King Edward VII. was the 

 guest of Lord Rothschild, the bag was 505 

 wild ducks, 226 coot, and a few extras. 

 These were all shot on the Marsworth and 

 Wilstone reservoirs on the Tring estate. On 

 one occasion in 1 899 the Duke of Cornwall 

 and York shot over 100 wild ducks at one 

 stand on the bridge near Brocket Hall. 



FISHING 



The ' gentle craft ' of fishing has always 

 been popular in England, and many are the 

 books that have been written on the subject. 

 Some of the oldest treatises dwelt chiefly on 

 the art of making fishponds, which were from 

 the times of Julius Caesar important adjuncts 

 to country houses, and almost a necessity to 

 religious establishments. 



Fishing as a sport was practised from very 

 early days, as we know from the following 

 story. Plutarch relates how Antony and 

 Cleopatra went out fishing together, and as 

 Antony could not catch any fish he bribed 

 divers to fasten some on to his hook. Cleopatra 

 feigned pleasure and pretended not to see the 

 ruse, and next day summoned her friends to 

 see Antony fishing, having previously in- 

 structed the divers to fasten a salt fish on to 

 Antony's hook. This was done, much to 



1 Lord Cowper has in his possession a game 

 book which was kept by the Prime Minister, Lord 

 Melbourne, of the game shot at Panshanger. 



his confusion, in the presence of Cleopatra 

 and her friends. 



Chauncy in his history of Hertfordshire 

 says : ' This county is pleasantly watered with 

 many small brooks and rivers which do 

 greatly accommodate the houses of the no- 

 bility and gentry, increase the grass in the 

 meadows, advance the trade of the inhabi- 

 tants by navigation, and produce variety of 

 fish as eels, miller's thumbs, cray-fish, trouts, 

 gudgeons, bream, carps, tench, perch, roach ; 

 and the river Lea salmons, and if these fish 

 had free passage by the mills where they 

 might spawn in fresh water and were care- 

 fully preserved from poachers, they would 

 greatly increase in that river.' 



The chief rivers in the county are the 

 Lea, the Colne, the Ver, the Gade, the 

 Bulbourne, the Mimram, the Rime, the 

 Beam, the Rib and the Stort. 



There is one fish at least which inhabits all 

 these rivers and which no one wishes to 

 preserve. That is the pike ; but for its 



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