CHAPTER XIII 



SHOOTING IN THE NEW FOREST 



SINCE first the art of shooting game flying came 

 to be practised, the New Forest must needs have 

 been a tract of land where rough shooting such 

 as obtained then could be had in perfection. And 

 although the principal use made of the Forest, 

 from a sporting point of view, was to maintain 

 it as a great chase bountifully stocked with deer, 

 yet that very system necessitated the employ- 

 ment of a large staff of keepers, who guarded and 

 protected the ground very adequately, so that 

 all wild game of whatever kind was well preserved, 

 and throve accordingly. 



Pheasants, no doubt, were not as common as 

 they are now, but there were numerous flocks of 

 black game, while much ground that is now 

 drained and planted was in earlier days the haunt 

 of snipe, and woodcocks were always plentiful 

 among the hollies. 



The earliest records I have been able to obtain 

 come from the counterfoils of an old book of 

 tickets showing the heads of game sent week by 



