146 THE SPORTING WORLD. 



I have heard used) " for the sake of a 

 partridge, a pheasant, or a hare." Let us look 

 a Httle into this for I am not one of the 

 many who would annihilate a poacher ; he is 

 usually a somewhat looseish character I admit, 

 but he may not at heart be a bad fellow after 

 all, but the ordinances of society are such as 

 induce us to keep a watch on his proceedings. 

 The case stands thus; the owner of the land 

 feeds the game, or rather they feed themselves 

 from that land, they are his by custom, but 

 more than this, they are his by justice. He 

 feeds his poultry by his own or servant's hand, 

 no one disputes his right to claim them as his 

 property ; the game is as much so who feed 

 themselves, for it is his grain they eat. I very, 

 much doubt whether a landowner gets his 

 hare cheaper, if we could calculate what she 

 has eaten and the mischief she has done, than 

 does the man who buys her in the market. 

 Would these said philanthropists let a man go 



