174 BROADLAND SPORT 



bounded by uplands, and affording home for both fish and 

 fowl. Topping the small hill of upland upon which the 

 village stands, a grand panorama of marsh land, wood and 

 water, the like of which cannot be found except in East 

 Anglia. 



The river from Horning village to Wroxham runs through 

 the heart of a highly-preserved game district, and keepers 

 are always on the alert, and concealed in the neighbourhood 

 of the river to keep a jealous eye against any possible poach- 

 ing. Many cases have been brought in the county police 

 courts for shooting pheasants as they crossed the river, and 

 although these cases have been argued, on behalf of the de- 

 fendants, by some of the best sporting solicitors that money 

 could procure, a conviction has nearly always been obtained, 

 and the visitor will do well to remember that he cannot with 

 impunity shoot game, although, at the time he kills it, it may 

 be over the river and fall into it. It will be better for him to 

 reserve his fire for water birds and allow the game to pass un- 

 molested. The temptation may be very great, and in some 

 places pheasants are very numerous, but the riparian 

 owners claim the soil of the river. The bench of magis- 

 trates is mostly composed of local landed proprietors, and the 

 result is generally a foregone conclusion. One of the 

 defences raised was amusing if not interesting. 



On October 3rd, in the year 1894, the North Walsham 

 Petty Sessional Court House was crowded to hear a case 

 brought against a member of the Royal Geographical Society 

 and of the Savage Club, who, with his friend, endeavoured to 

 prove himself a sportsman in every sense of the word by 

 bringing in evidence their shooting experience in South Africa. 

 There is no need to mention names, and we trust that mature 

 reflection, consequent from the fines and costs inflicted, has 

 improved their interpretation of the word " sportsmen." These 

 two tried to lead the Bench to believe that they shot a cock 

 pheasant (out of season) in mistake for a water-crow. " They 

 were well acquainted with the water-crow, and had shot 

 hundreds ; it was much like our coot, but instead of having 



