SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



West Broyle, about 1,000 acres ; bag 700 

 pheasants, 170 partridges, 35 hares ; a great home 

 for wood pigeons, over 200 having been killed in 

 a few days last year. 



At Danehurst, where there are 800 acres of 

 covert and 1,200 acres of partridge ground, the 

 average bag is 2,400 pheasants and 700 part- 

 ridges. Since driving has been introduced on 

 this estate, the owner has greatly increased his 

 bags. 



On the Worth Park estate, Crawley, which 

 consists of about 1,000 acres of covert, 700 acres 

 of partridge ground, and a couple of hundred acres 

 rough land, the average bag is 5,000 pheasants 

 and 300 partridges. The pheasants are hand- 

 reared ; the partridges are driven. About 2,000 

 rabbits and hares are killed each season. Wood- 

 cock are comparatively rare. About 400 wild 

 duck and snipe are shot, and as many wood 

 pigeons and other ' sundries.' 



On the Searles' estate Hungarian partridges 

 have been turned down with very good results. 



The writer has shot from east to west Sussex 

 on a great many estates during the last forty 

 years, and although the head of game reared and 

 killed has increased enormously during that time, 

 there is no doubt that in recent years vermin 

 generally have also greatly increased. 



The art of trapping appears to be dying out, 

 and nowhere is this art for it is a very real one 

 of more vital importance than in such a wooded 

 county as this. The head of game killed has 

 actually decreased to some extent during the last 

 few years owing to the neglect of trapping. 



There are now many small properties where 

 the vermin have got the upper hand, and on 

 these shoots practically no wild pheasants or 

 partridges survive the season ; and, were it not 

 for the hand-reared birds a good many parts of 

 the county would be very bare of game. 



ANGLING 



Possessing few rivers of any size Sussex abounds 

 with streams and estuaries containing trout and 

 coarse fish of every description. Not many years 

 ago all forms of poaching were carried on with 

 impunity ; tons of fish were netted out to supply 

 bait for the lobster and crab pots and many waters 

 were almost decimated. Of late years, thanks 

 to the Boards of Conservation, river preservation 

 societies and angling associations, the majority of 

 our rivers are well stocked and afford sport to the 

 ever-increasing body of anglers. There are also 

 in Sussex many lakes and ponds that hold monster 

 pike, with big carp and tench. The harbours 

 and estuaries afford good sport with rod and line 

 or hand lines almost every description of sea 

 fish is to be caught in its season from the banks 

 or piers. 



The principal rivers are the Arun and the 

 Ouse, but taking the country from east to west 

 the Medway first comes under notice. Rising 

 at Turners Hill it flows on to near Groombridge 

 where it passes into Kent. It holds a few trout, 

 roach, bream, and other coarse fish, but the river 

 here has small angling importance. The Grand 

 Military Canal, which traverses the marshy low 

 land of East Sussex, holds pike and coarse fish 

 generally. The Rother (eastern), rising in the 

 forest ridge near Rotherfield, holds in its upper 

 waters a few trout and coarse fish ; but the stream 

 is a succession of pools and shallows with thick 

 underwood on the bank, and fly fishing is out of 

 the question ; dapping with natural or artificial 

 fly and fishing with worm or minnow are the 

 usual methods of taking trout. From Roberts- 

 bridge downwards the water, a succession of 

 round or long pools and quick-running shallows, 

 can be fished and is well worth fishing, for the 



pools hold big chub and roach ; there are also 

 eels. Near the first main bridge is Udium which 

 has some fine large pools connected by reaches 

 less rapid. Here large trout are occasionally 

 killed ; good pike also occur, but roach, bream, 

 and chub are the principal fish frequenting this 

 portion of the water. Small trout are taken in 

 the tributaries. After leaving Udium there is 

 some likely water, but in the summer months 

 weeds block the river. There is good depth of 

 water at the bridge to permit the barge-traffic to 

 Bodiam wharf, and coarse fish of all kinds are 

 caught in this portion ; the best pike-fishing is 

 above Knelle Dam below bridge the influx of 

 salt water forbids the presence of pike, but bream, 

 roach, and eels are numerous. At Northiam 

 Station, close to Newenden, large carp haunt the 

 deep holes below the bridge. The smaller 

 waters, the Tillingham and Brede, hold trout 

 and coarse fish. Sea trout, so called, 1 ascend 

 both these tributaries, and at spawning time come 

 right up the estuaries ; these waters join the 

 Rother at Rye, flowing into Rye harbour. 



It was in 1871 that a meeting of the riparian 

 owners and occupiers was held at Bodiam to 

 consider means whereby the netting and other 



1 There is much diversity of opinion concerning the 

 identity of the large trout which occur in the rivers of 

 the south and east coast. They are not true sea-trout ; 

 many good authorities hold the view that they are 

 ordinary brown or river trout (salmo fario) which have 

 developed with unusual rapidity and have acquired the 

 habit of haunting estuarine waters. The colouring of 

 the trout varies very widely in accordance with the 

 nature of the water and perhaps in some degree also 

 with the nature of its food. The variety referred to 

 in this chapter is frequently called /. eituarius. 



463 



