NORTH WALES AS A SPORTING COUNTRY. 255 



are still moderately plentiful during the winter 

 months, and wild ducks are seen in considerable 

 numbers on the mountain lakes and rivers in the 

 lower grounds. There is also a good sprinkling of 

 grouse in some parts, on the preservation of which, 

 however, I did not hear of much care being be- 

 stowed. On the whole, North Wales may be 

 called peculiarly a sporting country, more adapted 

 to the shooter than the hunter, although fox- 

 hunting, hare, and otter hunting are still main- 

 tained there, more antiquo, notwithstanding the 

 almost insuperable difficulties attending these latter 

 sports. 



The soil is retentive of scent, even on the highest 

 hills ; but riding with fox-hounds across the moun- 

 tainous parts, so continually intersected by crags 

 and precipices fearful to contemplate, is entirely 

 out of the question. The climate generally is 

 humid, and not so salubrious as it has been sup- 

 posed ; in fact, it is not suitable to any except 

 strong constitutions, consumption being a very 

 prevalent disease, typhus fever also prevailing in 

 the villages which lie under the hills. 



By the intervention of railways the price of pro- 

 visions has now become nearly equalized in every 

 locality, and it is a mistake to suppose that any 

 one can live cheaper in an outlandish village of 



