240 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



of all that has been written since. Guns have changed and 

 circumstances have altered, but this does not affect Colonel 

 Hawker, who is still our reliance upon everything connected 

 with waterside shooting especially. The art of the covert 

 side was not quite so dear to him as the freer and more 

 adventurous sport of the marsh land and estuary, a pecu- 

 liarity he has shared with many another keen gunsman and 

 good observer. This writer was an early disciple of large 

 bore guns, and a thorough " all round " shooter, than whom 

 there could scarcely be a pleasanter friend for the fireside or 

 safer guide to the common sense of the tide way. 



The "Oakleigh Shooting Code" (1836) is often 

 referred to. It deals chiefly with red grouse, blackgame, and 

 partridges ; and " Craven's " (Captain J. W Carleton's) 

 "Recreations in Shooting" (1846) is a handy volume, 

 very prettily illustrated. 



This epoch was fertile in writers of the kind. Who could 

 possibly overlook or fail to be fascinated by St. John's 

 (Charles) " Tour in Sutherlandshire," with extracts from 

 the field books of a sportsman and naturalist (1849). " One 

 of the most agreeable mixtures of observation, description, 

 incident, and anecdote that we have met for many a day." 



Colquhoun's " Sporting Days in the Highlands " deals 

 with wildfowl shooting, deer stalking, etc. ; his " The Moor 

 and the Loch " contains practical hints on Highland 

 sports, and notices of the habits of the different creatures 

 of game and prey in mountainous districts of Scotland, with 

 instructions in river, burn, and loch fishing (1841). 



"The Wildfowl er," by H. E. Folkard, is another delightful 

 book for sea shooters, full of wise advice about duck shooting 

 with gunning punts and shooting yachts ; as also much about 

 fowling in the fens and in foreign countries, rock fowling, 

 and so on. The steel plate engravings to this volume are 

 both delicate and carefully executed, and the chapters are anno- 

 tated and stocked with an infinite variety of information. This 

 is another of those books which every one should possess. 



