A Sportsman at Large 91 



landowner of the name of Firth, of Hambledon Down, pos- 

 sessed a stretch of moorland noted for black-game, and good 

 " sport " that he was, he invited our crowd to try its luck 

 with him. 



This was before I had plugged the patriarchal and solitary 

 specimen, as detailed herein. Up to that time I had never 

 seen a black-cock, except as depicted on paper or canvas, or 

 set up in a glass case. 



When we started on the incline of Hambleden we were 

 told that we were not likely to come across any birds until 

 within a few hundred yards of the ridge, though the heather 

 here was high and thick. So I lighted my favourite meer- 

 schaum pipe (fancy smoking a meerschaum on a moor !), 

 which I had been studiously colouring for a couple of months, 

 and was marching at ease, when suddenly almost under 

 my very feet and with a terrible clatter, there arose a bird 

 which, to my startled eyes, appeared to be about the dimen- 

 sion of a Number One full-sized prize Christmas turkey. I 

 threw up my gun which I had been carrying over my 

 shoulder as best I could, and let drive both barrels wildly. 

 Needless to say, the black-cock (for black-cock it sure was) 

 winged his way unscathed ; whilst I, in my startled excite- 

 ment, had bitten clean through the amber stem of my 

 cherished pipe ! However, that day did not pass without 

 my adding a brace and a half of young black-cock (grey hens 

 were barred) to a bag which totalled five brace. 



It seems that when my bullet had penetrated the ancient 

 of Ridden Ridge, another black-cock of similar quality had 

 come from goodness knows where, as heir to the deceased's 

 estate. This one would seem to have had a penchant for 

 Ridden Mire a strange resort for one of its kind ! I suppose 

 he went there for a drink. Anyway, brother Irwin caught 

 him on the hop I should say wing one fine day. He 

 offered a fair mark at say, a thirty-yards' rise. He slanted 

 down on receiving the contents of the first barrel ; but Irwin, 

 to make sure, let him have the second when he was about a 

 couple of yards from the ground. On going to pick him up, 

 lo and behold, within a yard of the stone-dead black-cock a 

 snipe was bobbing up and down with a freshly-shattered 



