i82 SPORT IN NORTH WALES 



now buying up the land in all directions, and the race 

 of old Welsh squires, like that of the North American 

 Indians, is rapidly disappearing from their old hunting 

 grounds. Woodcocks, which abounded formerly in 

 North Wales, 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 bestowed. 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 maintained 

 there, more antiquo, notwithstanding the almost insuper- 

 able 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 supposed ; in fact, it is not 

 suitable to any except strong constitutions, consumption 

 being a very prevalent disease, typhus fever also pre- 

 vailing in the villages which lie under the hills. 



By the intervention of railways the price of provisions 

 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 North Wales than in London, 

 for the only two articles of consumption to be obtained 

 there at a moderate rate are poultry and eggs. 



Against the fish in the river poaching is pursued to 

 a murderous and ruinous extent, in season and out of 

 season, by day and by night, by rod and spear, by 



