xxii MEMOIR 



unfenced, and birds flew far and fast, but no first of 

 September was considered a good one unless the three 

 brothers shot at least twenty brace ; and as this was 

 always over dogs, it meant any amount of walking, and 

 straight shooting besides. But in the words of a friend 

 who shared another shooting with him on these same 

 downs in recent years, he "cared little for a large 

 bag, but any little device by which we could steal a 

 march on the game or counteract its wiles, brought 

 out all his powers of observation and resource, and his 

 keenness inspired keeper and beaters and even the dogs 

 to their best efforts ; and when we stayed over the 

 week-end . . . the Sunday walk over the downs and 

 among the villages so rich in historic interest and 

 picturesque beauty, was made memorable by his wide 

 knowledge of the country and his overflowing curiosity 

 about everything and everybody that fell in our way." 

 From his boyhood upwards he was always a good, 

 and often a brilliant shot, but " from the time he used 

 a catapult till he ascended through a single-barrelled 

 muzzle-loader to a breech-loader, he was always a 

 naturalist as well as a sportsman." His extraordinary 

 memory enabled him to recall every incident of a 

 day's shooting, and not only details as to the bag, 

 but particulars of every unusual or interesting episode 

 which occurred were carefully set down by himself or 

 his brothers in a series of note-books on sport and 

 natural history which extended over twenty years. 

 When he began to write regularly these notes were 

 invaluable to him, but " it was comparatively late in 

 his career before he thought of putting his ideas 



