CH. VIIL] "FALLS" OF UNDERWOOD. 135 



for any unpractised dog, however highly bred, to procure us so many 

 shots as one who has been hunted for several seasons. And such is 

 really the case. A young dog will not keep to the trail of an old 

 bird for more than about forty yards ; after that he will give it up 

 altogether, or rush in. It is when he is " roading " one of these 

 knowing aged patriarchs, that you become aware of the great value 

 of experience in a dog. You may have seen a young one bewildered 

 in the devious intricacies of the broken hags, sought as a refuge by an 

 old cock-grouse, and have probably imagined that the youngster had 

 only been following a recent haunt, and that the game was gone. 

 Not so, the dog was right at first. He " footed " it out admirably 

 until he came to the dark bush, which you must have wondered to 

 see growing in such a situation ; there the sly bird doubled, then 

 turned short to the right for nearly a hundred yards before it re- 

 sumed its course down wind. A dog more up to his work would 

 have again hit off the scent, and an old stager, probably, never have 

 lust it. 



230. In order to be generally understood, I will preface the fol- 

 lowing anecdote by mentioning that in the large Kentish woods, 

 where the annual falls of underwood take place to the extent of 

 forty or fifty acres, it is usual to drain the land by digging water- 

 courses, or as they are commonly called, Grips. The first year's 

 growth of the underwood is called yearling Fall (or Spring) ; the 

 second, two-year old Fall (or Spring) ; and so on. 



231. Mr. K g, a good sportsman, and so successful an angler,* 



that he is familiarly called by his friends " the King-fisher," to dis- 

 tinguish him from others who bear his name, was pheasant shooting 

 in the winter of 1848-9, in two-year old springs, where, with all 



* Numerous accounts have been lost line, swivel, and lead hanging 



given of the voracity of the pike. out of its mouth, while, appa- 



K g told me of a very remark- rently not much to the animal's 



able instance, and one which clearly discomfort, the bait and hooks 



shows that fish do not always suffer quietly reposed in its interior. On 



so much torture when hooked as turning the gullet inside out, 



many suppose. He was spinning K g found the bait so unin- 



a gudgeon for pike in the river jured that he again fastened it to 



Stour, near Chilham, having bent his line along with the recovered 



on four large hooks, back to back, tackle, and actually caught another 



and a large lip-hook. He was run pike weighing 41bs., and a perch 



at by a pike, which he struck, of 241bs., with the very gudgeon 



but the line unfortunately break- that had been in the stomach of 



ing, the fish earned off fully four the large pike for nearly a quarter 



yards of it, together with half a of an hour, 



yard of gimp, two large swivels, Those who are fond of trolling 



and a lead. K g put on fresh for trout would not find their time 



tackle and bait. At the very first thrown away in reading Wheat- 

 cast he was run at again, and sue- ley's novel hiLti on all kinds of 

 ceeded in landing the fish, which spinning baits. His " Rod and 



weighed 12 Ibs. To K g's Line" is an excellent little book. 



great surprise, he observed the 



