sport Forty Years Ago and To-day 25 



most attractive, and happily it is becoming more and more 

 the practice, instead of " walking in line " — which latter, 

 moreover, can only be successfully carried out early in the 

 season. 



A frequently asked question is, " What constitutes 

 sport ; where does the difference begin between it and 

 pastime ? " The answer to this seems to be that the former, 

 to be perfect, consists of the pursuit of a wild creature, 

 which is absolutely uncontrolled in its movements, and is 

 in the full possession of its wits. The more the ingenuity 

 of the pursuer is required to outwit the quarry, the nearer 

 does that pursuit approach to perfection. For instance, 

 no one can maintain that the tracking of a wounded bird 

 with a retriever, however well the dog performs, is on a 

 par with the " roading " of a pointer or setter after a fresh 

 running bird. In the first case the poor victim has just 

 been badly wounded, has suddenly lost its power of flight 

 (its natural means of escape), is thoroughly frightened, and 

 cannot possibly devise a plan of action as well as the 

 comparatively calm mind of the bird that is still in full 

 possession of its powers. The pigeon hustled into a trap 

 compares ill with the same pigeon in its wild, rocky, sea- 

 washed home. The rabbit shaken out of a bag amongst a 

 crowd of shouting spectators and yelping dogs, without a 

 hole or other place of safety to run to, is on a very 

 different footing from an old buck rabbit started by a 

 terrier, with 200 yards of well-known ground between 

 himself and his house. The capture of a 50 lb. salmon 

 swept into a net is quite another thing to the landing of 

 the same noble fish when it has risen of its own accord 

 and seized the tempting lure. Sport has no sympathy 

 with cruelty, though the latter may possibly be inseparable 



