Conclusion 307 



delicate mechanism — is as much out of date as the most 

 antiquated weapon of the early days of gunning. 



" Shooting over dogs " has had to retire in favour of 

 " driving," and as " gunners " have multiplied by thou- 

 sands in the last part of the century, the amount of game 

 to satisfy the ever-increasing army of shooters has had to 

 be augmented accordingly, while the shooting rents have 

 risen correspondingly. Since " practice makes perfect," 

 however, it is undoubted that the art of gunning has 

 attained a much higher level than was formerly the case, 

 and in no branch of sport do I notice such an improve- 

 ment to have taken place as in that of shooting. The 

 skill that would have caused a person formerly to have 

 become a celebrity is now so common that it is scarcely 

 noticed, and there are dozens of good shots now to each 

 one that there was some thirty or forty years ago, — per- 

 haps, though, there is not much difference between those 

 who were then at the very top of the tree, and the few 

 who occupy the same position at the present time, for 

 " there were brave men before Agamemnon," and even in 

 the days of flint-locks there were men who could have 

 held their own with the very best shots that are famous 

 now. 



In fishing there is a similar vast increase in the 

 numbers of the votaries of the sport, and where there was 

 one angler in the " fifties " and " sixties," there are prob- 

 ably now hundreds. The fish have become so wary from 

 constant persecution, that increased skill is required for 

 success, though the improvement in the tackle within reach 

 of the angler has kept pace with the exigencies of the 

 situation, and enables the followers of the sport to cope 

 with the difficulties of the time. Split-cane rods ; beauti- 



