From Fox's Earth 



delightful arena of fresh breezes with freshening 

 rains, or still crisp frosts which stiffen the sedges 

 and put an edging of ice around the lakes. The 

 bird was welcomed as is some strange, half- 

 understood genius, by society say of grouse and 

 partridges. If still a Bohemian it was a favoured 

 Bohemian. A little wild-fowl shooting became a 

 fashion. There was no ritual such as gathers 

 round conventions ; we do not waste courtesy on 

 outsiders. There was only the freemasonry of 

 the gun. There was no red-letter day. No 

 season. Wild - fowl have all seasons for their 

 own : from August away round with the sun till 

 March. The height, perhaps, is about the winter 

 solstice. 



The cry was for more ; how familiar that cry 

 has become ! To have them at command ; to be 

 able to invite the house-party to a little wild-fowl 

 shooting. The difficulty was to command them, 

 so fitful were the moods and divers the wants of 

 the varied and indefinite group. Water was an 

 attraction for many fowl. Where was a lake, the 

 wild-fowl gathered ; where was none, it must be 

 made. Each aimed at his own duck-pond. 



Nature is a niggard ; she does not favour 

 private battues. Even on a natural loch wild- 

 fowl were sparse. 



The solution was at hand, and might have 

 struck any schoolboy. The natural haunts of 

 the wild - fowl were invaded. The nests were 



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