264 SPORTING STORIES 



joined us, and, addressing ' the Squire,' said that he had 

 heard that the two greatest shots in England were present, 

 and that he had come some distance in the hope of being 

 allowed to walk a short time with us and see ' the cracks 

 shoot.' ' The Squire ' was most civil, and begged he would 

 take a spare gun he had out and shoot with us ; but this he 

 declined. Well, a minute or two afterwards a cock-pheasant 

 rose between ' the Squire ' and myself, not four yards from 

 either of us. Quick as lightning, ' bang ' went ' the 

 Squire' — MISSED! — and 'bang' I went — missed! Bang 

 again, ' the Squire ' — MISSED ! ! ' Bang ' again, myself — 

 MISSED ! ! ! And away went the pheasant — chuck, chuck, 

 chuck ! The gentleman took off his hat, made us a bow, 

 and said, ' Thank you ; I am much obliged and quite 

 satisfied,' and away he went, I burst out laughing, but 

 ' the Squire ' was extremely angry, and expressed his feel- 

 ings very forcibly." 



I think the severest test of a man's sportsmanship is 

 wild-fowl shooting. To succeed in that difficult sport 

 requires an amount of endurance, patience, and hardihood, 

 and a capacity for standing exposure and fatigue, which 

 you will find in none but a genuine enthusiast. But to 

 those who can stand the hardships it entails, wild-fowl 

 shooting is the finest sport these islands afford. Colonel 

 Peter Hawker is generally credited with being the Father 

 of Wild-fowling, but next to him I should place Sir Ralph 

 Payne-Gallwey. Sir Ralph's bag of 1500 duck and geese 

 in the hard winter of 1880-81 has never been approached, 

 and I do not suppose it ever will be, now that wild-fowl 

 shooting is becoming harder to obtain every year. 



Some of the feats performed by both these men were 

 stupendous. Colonel Hawker once bagged 100 brent- 

 geese in one discharge of his double-barrelled swivel-gun in 

 the Solent ; and Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey has frequently 

 killed 50 widgeon at a shot, and sometimes 60 or 70. This, 

 of course, was with a duck-gun carrying a charge of 2 lbs. 

 of shot. The biggest bag of widgeon that ever fell*to 

 one shot was, I believe, 127. But at least 300 geese have 

 fallen to a single volley fired by signal off the mouth of the 

 Blackwater in Essex. 



