INDISCRIMINATE SIAUGHTER AND SPORT 21 7 



and the strange apparition is not in the least Hke a 

 real hawk. Even granting such artificial means to be 

 a success in every way, which they are not, I cannot 

 but condemn their use as being unsportsmanlike. 



Let sport be worthy its name, and let us set our 

 faces resolutely against all and everything which 

 savours of, or in any way serves to advance, indis- 

 criminate slaughter. Even battue-shooting, if it is 

 carried out in a legitimate manner, may be a perfectly 

 sportsmanlike proceeding ; but where hundreds of 

 wretched hares and rabbits are surrounded by nets 

 and prevented from escaping, the case is very differ- 

 ent ; and I am thankful to say that such malpractices 

 are becoming things of the past, as unworthy of 

 Englishmen and sportsmen. 



Nor can anything be more detrimental to game- 

 preserving generally than such a system of shooting : 

 it necessitated an amount of overstocking shootings ; 

 and the farmers, whose crops suffered, were naturally 

 disgusted. Times have been hard enough for them 

 without this additional burthen being laid on their 

 already overweighted shoulders ; and it cannot be 

 wondered at that, in many places where such over- 

 stocking was formerly the order of the day, ground 

 game has become scarce. The evil has also come to 

 make itself felt in the hunting-field. Foxes cannot 

 exist without ground game, and where the latter 

 is scarce the poultry - yards must suffer. The 

 result may be imagined, viz., 'Coverts drawn blank.' 

 We are very much dependent on the farmers for 

 our sport, but we cannot expect them to bear 

 the brunt of everything. All this has come 

 about despite numberless letters of warning which 



