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corners, although I might leave off with thirty or forty brace to my 

 credit. Moreover, I liked to bring my birds home with their plumage 

 as little disturbed as possible, and see them spread out on the kitchen 

 or larder table clean and well shot ; and if, as was sometimes the case, 

 a bird happened to get unduly riddled, or mouthed by one of the dogs 

 (a rare occurrence with mine) I would throw it away rather than bring 

 it home. To prevent the disarrangement of plumage by rain I always 

 had my game baskets and bags secured against such. In big shoots 

 these particulars cannot be attended to, and birds are thrown into the 

 creels in heaps, and often taken therefrom in a disgustingly crushed 

 condition. 



Again, compare driving birds to butts or corners with a day's rough- 

 shooting in the late autumn, when a man brings home his mixed 

 bag of snipe and woodcock, with an odd brace or two of grouscj 

 partridge, and wild duck— the grouse being then so wild that only long 

 and quick shots can be had at them, and twice as fine, both in con- 

 dition and plumage, as they are in August. I am an antiquated old 

 fogey, and in point of downright genuine sport can't see any compari- 

 son at all between the two systems. 



Of the practice of phooting pigeons let loose from traps I have a 

 very poor opinion. It is not manly, it is cruel and unfair. No doubt 

 it is shooting and is a fine medium for betting, but assuredly it is not 

 si^ort. To shoot wild "blue rocks," flying like rockets from their 

 native cliffs, or wood quests, flashing from ash trees, is sport and no 

 mistake. 



In these days of breechloaders the present generation knows little of 

 the paraphernalia requisite in the old muzzle-loading days, the roll of 

 which we had to call over before starting. It was : — Gun, powder-horn, 

 shot-pouch, wads and caps, whip, whistle, and game-bag, sandwich-case, 

 flask, pipe, baccy, and fusees. And oh ! what an amount of work we 

 used to have cleaning the old muzzlers — half-an-hour's at least — which 

 had to be undertaken after each day's work. 



There are three golden rules, observance of which will banish the 

 possibility of accidents while out shooting : — 



a. Never carry your gun with the muzzle pointed towards anything 

 it is not intended to kill. 

 h. Kemove the cartridges directly you cease shooting, 

 c. Be as careful with a loaded gun as you would be with an open 

 razor. 



Even where the party consists only of steady and experienced men 

 there must of necessity be some danger attendant upon big shoots ; 

 but when the young or excitable are included, the risk of being 

 peppered is very great indeed. Luckily, I have not been upon any 

 of those dangerous expeditions. I shot only in company with another, 

 but until I ascertained that he knew how to handle his gun and was 

 a steady shot, I took very good care to keep on his rights unless he 

 was left-handed, when I kept to his left. I never carried my gun 

 except under my arm or over my shoulder with the hammers next 



