HISTORICAL NOTES 93 



pleasure in these early covert shoots, and 

 his average of 50 per cent, using borrowed 

 guns of different lengths, points strongly 

 to a long succession of low birds, for which 

 all good lovers of shooting share a common 

 distaste. 



The heaviest shoot of these early times, 

 of which the records have come down to 

 us, took place in 1753, when the Emperor 

 Francis I. went to stay with the Prince 

 Colleredo on his Bohemian estates. The 

 shooting lasted for 18 days ; the number 

 of guns is not mentioned, but 116,209 

 shots were fired, resulting in a total 

 of 47,950 head, of which 9499 were 

 pheasants, 19,545 partridges, 18,243 hares, 

 and the balance ' inferior game.' l 



Turning to our own country, the 

 records of shooting in the eighteenth 

 century are few and humble. We read 

 that King George I. went out shooting 

 in Windsor Park on an August day in 

 1724, and the tally of slain was but 5 

 pheasants and 3 partridges. It is noted 



1 Itinerarie, M. Dutens, p. 153, edition 1793. 



