BUSH LIFE. 211 



claims the honour of being the oldest duck-shooter in the 

 colony, as I have heard at least a dozen diggers affirm 

 that they sunk the first hole on Bendigo. 



Then there are others, genuine sportsmen at heart, who 

 know how to find game, and what's more, kill it when 

 found ; but being tied much by their business in town, 

 have little time to devote to field sports, but who enjoy 

 a day when they do have it, doubly, on account of its 

 rarity, and it is a pleasure to go out with them ; and 

 besides them, there are others who, although settled, and 

 following their regular trades, occasionally take a turn 

 with the gun when business is slack, thus combining 

 pleasure and profit. They never go out except when game 

 is well in, and one night from home is about their limit ; 

 and these are the men who really enjoy the pleasure of 

 sporting, without the hardships which fall to the lot of 

 the regular shooters. 



But the men whom I consider the real shooters are 

 those who stick to it year after year, rough weather and 

 smooth, no matter whether game is plentiful or scarce, 

 trusting solely to their guns and their own exertions for 

 a living ; and, depend upon it, these must be anything 

 but idle men. 



It is astonishing how soon a man, who is made of the 

 right stuff, can settle down to the rough usages of a bush 

 life, and quite forget the domestic comforts he has left 

 behind him in the Old "World ; and I have remarked that 

 those men who grumble least — in fact, make the best 

 bushmen — are often they who have moved in a better 

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