CHAP, v.] APOLOGY. 169 



intend to be hypocrites, but who, to escape the charge of 

 inconsistency, ought to abstain altogether from Pigeon- 

 pie at least. It is so easy to talk humanely, when not 

 the slightest point of self-denial is involved thereby; 

 but if Pigeons are to be killed and eaten, it is surely a 

 greater act of generosity, to say to the victims, "There, 

 go ! flee for your lives ; save yourselves if you can, for 

 the present ! " than to wring so many dozen necks, and 

 toss the fluttering bodies on the ground. Many, of 

 course, are shot ; but some escape ; the maimed and 

 wounded rarely suffer long, as the camp-followers of 

 such meetings keep a sharp look-out, and bag every bird 

 which is touched without falling within the proper dis- 

 tance. And when these trials of skill are made the 

 subject of unfavourable remark, it is forgotten that we 

 live in a land of butchers, and poulterers, and people 

 licensed to deal in game ; and that in this crowded 

 population, and in these heaving troublesome times, 

 no one knows whose turn it will next be to have to 

 search for a home in lands where people must often 

 either be their own poulterers, keepers, and butchers 

 even, or go unsupplied. The lady whose husband or 

 brother is out in the bush, gun in hand, searching after 

 fresh meat, which she and her children may not have 

 tasted for days, or perhaps weeks, and which he is 

 anxiously hunting for, as necessary to the health, it may 

 be the life, of one of his ailing companions in the 

 wilderness, will then call to mind, with wonder and 

 contempt, the sneers which in former days she may 

 have heard thrown out respecting the sinfulness of 

 shooting. The remembrance that her friend and pro- 

 tector once made a successful hit at a Pigeon-match, 

 will not then make her less confide in or respect him 



