XXVIU 



nearly seventy years ago as recorded at p. 361, for to his own gun— and 

 that a flint-lock — he bagged the same number, missing also only two 

 shots. 



i\ECOED Hind Shooting.— I find that it was by fair stalking alone, 

 for driving was not resorted to at all, that my friend and his companion 

 shot the twenty-two hinds in five days at Christmas, 1892. 



Pre^entiox of Accidents. — This being the glorious "Twelfth," 

 and I not on the moors as I should like to be, I may add something to 

 what I have already written at pp. 236, 237, about caution with fire- 

 arms and tell of other big bags made up to date. 



To the three golden rules given at p. 236 I shall add : Never 

 fire at anything that you canoot see far beyond except it be well 

 over the height of a man. Another measure of precaution, when not 

 actually engaged in firing, is to unlock the barrels and hang the gun 

 over the arm, and in a second it can be shut and ready for use. This 

 is a plan I often adopted, and I saw it advocated in the Field last 

 September. Men should be careful with a gun even when it is not 

 loaded, so as to render the custom habitual, and directly they take hold 

 of one they should examine whether it is loaded or not. Boys should 

 be taught these safety methods and made to follow them, and so 

 should those who nowadays begin shooting late in life, for they are 

 the gentlemen who are the most dangerous of all. 



My own opinion is that a man who can't handle his gun properly or 

 is over excitable, be he young or old, host or guest, should not be 

 allowed to shoot in company with others, for he is to a party even more 

 ■dangerous than a bad rider is to good horsemen in a race or a hunt. 



TuRXED-DOWN Hares. — With regard to what I say about turned- 

 down hares at p. 241, I may add that as hares are very fond of salt 

 it would materially tend to induce them to stay where they are turned 

 down if large lumps of rock salt were plentifully strewn about ; or 

 better still, if it could be done, have the hares in the first instance let 

 loose in a walled-in paddock with the rock salt strewn there, and after 

 a few days let them go in the open, leaving small holes for them to get 

 into the paddock to lick the salt when they choose, or to take refuge. 



Remarkable Shooting. — Before dealing with the last couple of 

 years I must add some more records of remarkable shooting made 

 years ago which I have got hold of lately, for they are even greater 

 than those given in Chap. xv. 



Two very interesting letters appeared in the Field last September 

 in which are recorded the first-rate sport which was had over dogs 

 nearly fifty years ago on Dalnaspidal Moors, the Duke of Athole's 

 property in Perthshire. The game book of the Lodge records it 

 as follows, the bags being made in 1846 by the five well-known 

 sportsmen, Mr. Robert Fellowes, Mr. Stirling Crawfurd, his brother- 

 in4aw Mr. Everard, Mr. Willoughby, afterwards Lord Middleton, and 

 Mr. W. Little Gilmour. 



