SPORT 



to deal, and if he cannot produce good 

 birds for the guns he proves himself in- 

 competent. 



Some of the best covert-shooting in Kent 

 is to be had in those small outlying spinneys 

 or ' shaws ' (as they are termed locally) which 

 are to be found near the Sussex boundary as 

 well as in other parts of the county. The 

 plantations of ash and Spanish chestnut, 

 grown for hop-poles before the custom of 

 growing the hop-bines on wires became so 

 general as it now is, also afTord excellent 

 cover for game, and since most of these 

 coverts are generally but a few acres in extent 

 they are easily managed by a few beaters and 

 a party of four or five guns. Comparatively 

 inexpensive shooting of this description has 

 been much sought of recent years by the 

 man of moderate means, with the result 

 that rentals have considerably increased in 

 value. Not many years ago less than a 

 shilling an acre was paid for fair rough-shoot- 

 ing, but the figure has now risen (1907) in 

 the more accessible places to four or five times 

 that amount. 



Besides possessing good opportunities for 

 pheasant-shooting, and some very good par- 

 tridge ground, both red-legged (' French ') 

 and English birds being fairly evenly dis- 

 tributed all over the county, Kent has always 

 proved particularly suited to the require- 

 ments of ground game, which, as in other 

 parts of these islands, has been sometimes 

 found a little too plentiful from the point 

 of view of the farmer. Hares are found in 

 good numbers on the downs near the coast, 

 and in Romney Marsh and other open dis- 

 tricts, where for the most part they are only 

 shot in moderation out of respect for the 

 local packs of harriers and the devotees of 

 coursing. Woodland hares are met with 

 in moderate numbers in the large coverts, 

 and were once almost as plentiful as rabbits 

 are now in most parts of the county. But 

 the Ground Game Act of 1881 has depleted 

 the number of hares in Kent as in other 

 places, and although of late years an increase 

 has been noted here and there, they can never 

 again be as plentiful as they were before the 

 Act came into force. The splitting up of 

 large tracts of land into small holdings, each 

 of whose occupiers carries a gun and sets 

 snares, has placed an effectual check upon 

 the increase of ground game, and a hare is 

 nowadays a rarity in such places. 



A method of rabbit-shooting, confined, 

 we believe, to Kent and Sussex and one or 

 two other counties, is worthy of particular 

 mention. In every district where rabbits 

 are plentiful it is the custom to hunt them 



with a pack of beagles, which generally be- 

 long to farmers and others living in the 

 district. This method of rabbit-hunting 

 is far more effectual than the employment 

 of beaters, before whom the rabbits refuse 

 to run straight, doubling back past and 

 through the line of men rather than face the 

 open. When it is desired to hold a rabbit 

 hunt in the Kentish woods the pack is brought 

 together and some eight or ten guns station 

 themselves in likely places throughout the 

 wood. The pack having been let loose, the 

 wood, supposing that there are plenty of 

 rabbits, soon resounds with the merry music 

 of the hounds, and the fun is fast and furious 

 as the beagles drive the rabbits from cover 

 into the rides, where the guns are stationed 

 ready to shoot them. This form of sport 

 is somewhat dangerous if careless guns are 

 among the party, but with ordinary pre- 

 cautions accidents are of rare occurrence, 

 and it cannot be denied that this rather 

 happy combination of hunting and shooting 

 affords a most excellent diversion, as well as 

 providing the most satisfactory means of 

 keeping the rabbits in check. Several packs 

 of rabbit-beagles are kept within the county, 

 but the majority of them are trencher-fed, 

 and the whole system is carried on in a rather 

 happy-go-lucky fashion. If rabbit-beagle 

 packs were as well organized and hunted as 

 packs of harriers, better sport might often 

 be enjoyed. 



Owing to its extensively wooded character 

 — nearly one-twelfth part of the county 

 consisting of woodland and plantations — the 

 hiUs and valleys of Kent form a happy hunting 

 ground for all sorts of birds and beasts 

 generally classed by the gamekeeper as 

 ' vermin.' Jays are exceedingly plentiful, 

 especially in the oak and beech woods of the 

 Medway valley, and magpies are by no means 

 rare. The sparrow-hawk has been so per- 

 secuted that it may be said to be practically 

 extinct except in a very few places, and the 

 kestrel, although much more common, is by 

 no means so plentiful as it once was. Tawny 

 and barn owls are fairly common, especially 

 the former, and the long-eared and short- 

 eared owls are met with frequently in the 

 autumn and winter. No mention would have 

 been made of these birds, except perhaps the 

 jay and the magpie, in an article dealing with 

 shooting, were it not that too much stress 

 cannot be laid upon the fact that the indis- 

 criminate destruction of birds of prey is a 

 great mistake. Individual pairs of sparrow- 

 hawks and kestrels will sometimes attack the 

 young of game and deserve to be shot, and 

 jays and magpies will occasionally steal the 



