144 How I Became a Sportsmax. 



But now I ask the reader, after reading the 

 above, if he would think anything of Dart- 

 moor as a field for sport ? and yet I have had 

 sport there, and enjoyed myself exceedingly. 

 But woe betide any man who is beguiled into 

 going there thinking to m.ake a bag, or indeed 

 even to hear his gun go off many times a 

 day, unless under exceptional and rare circum- 

 stances and occasions ; he must also be a first- 

 rate walker, and not afraid of the weather or 

 getting his feet wet. There is another draw- 

 back : on or near the moor in many places 

 there are, or were, lead and tin mines, and every 

 miner has a gun, or a dog, or ferret, sometimes 

 all three, and if any unlucky hare or rabbit or 

 bird is seen or heard of, he is pursued to the 

 death. Again, if there should be a brood of 

 young black game, the shepherds or their 

 dogs manage to nail them when they are 

 about half or three parts grown. You may 

 occasionally see a black cock on the moor, but 

 he is such a wary old gentleman, he is off 

 before you can get within three hundred yards 

 of him. At times I have seen a good many 

 snipe on the moor, but you must know when 



