266 THE NEW FOREST 



me that about fifteen to eighteen days' shootin g 

 was about my average number of excursions 

 with the fowling-piece. But it suited me very 

 well to use this privilege on the old lines, viz, 

 "with that moderation which is fitting." 



It was a convenience to be able to put in a 

 couple of hours' work in the office, and then 

 be off to some district near at hand to do a 

 half day's shooting. Some of them were very 

 pleasant, but I rarely went very far from home. 

 I had the privilege of being able to enter the 

 enclosed and reserved plantations, and in that 

 way securing, however late I went out, the 

 chance of beating undisturbed ground. 



Except for one or two points, this privilege 

 was not worth much. The game, as a rule, 

 chose for its haunts the open woods the older 

 oak plantations where the acorns were falling, 

 and the sunny parts of the Forest, rather than 

 the thick enclosures ; only in one or two cases 

 was this seclusion valuable, viz. where one of 

 the streams, open enough in places to attract 

 wild fowl, ran into and through one of these 

 plantations. 



In cases such as this, it was an advantage 

 to start late, when the fowl, if there were many 

 about, had been disturbed and shot at at various 

 places, and had sought refuge in the secluded 



