SPORTING SKETCHES. 263 



WITH ROD AND GUN. 



Sport Around Montreal Fifty Years Ago. 



SXIPE AND WOODCOCK PLENTIFUL ON CRAIG STREET, BEAVER 



HALL HILL, ST. CATHERINE STREET, AND WHERE 



BONAVENTDRE STATION STANDS. 



Written for the Montreal Star by Major GEOBGE HOBNF, the founder of the Fish and Game 



Protection Club of the Province of Quebec, and the oldest sportsman with 



rod and gun still living in this city. 



Marsh and swamp. Sportsmen with dog and gun. Shots ring- 

 ing through covers, and snipe and woodcock falling by the score. 

 And all this on the ground where now Christ Church Cathedral 

 rears its stately spire and a sea of houses stretch west to the 

 Tanneries and Cote St. Aiitoine ; where a stream of life passes 

 day by day up and down Beaver Hall hill, and long rows of stores 

 mark what is now Craig street ! And the sportsmen, many of 

 them still with us ! Can our readers imagine it ? And yet this 

 is no romance, as the following interesting sketch of the origin 

 of the Fish and Game Club tells : 



Previous to the enacting of our game laws, spring shooting 

 was largely indulged in. Fifty years ago game of all kind was 

 very numerous (more particularly woodcock), and although in 

 those days we had very few sportsmen who kept dogs and hunted 

 cock (the king of the feathered game tribe), notwithstanding this, 

 immense numbers of those fine birds were killed on their arrival 

 in early spring. It was no uncommon thing for the writer and 

 others of the well-known sporting gentlemen hereafter named (all 

 crack shots) to bag from twenty-five to thirty-five couple of cock 

 in a day's hunt, whereas to-day five to six couple is considered 

 good sport. The days of which I write, from 1837 to 1885, we had 

 not to go any great distance from the city to have good sport 

 with both cock and snipe. The following places were our favor- 

 ite grounds : For snipe, the fields from Beaver Hall hill, includ- 

 ing the site where now stands Christ Church Cathedral, com- 



