188 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
advancing and encouraging the particular field-sports to which he 
was personally so much addicted. The best books on the subject 
in his day were written in French, and even our own Turbervile, 
who did such good service by the publication of his ‘ Bookes of 
Hunting and Falconrie’ in 1575 (a second edition of which 
appeared in 1611), was obliged to admit his indebtedness to 
foreign sources for the bulk of the information which he had to 
impart. Tardif, Du Fouilloux, and De Franchiéres were the 
authors then most studied by educated sportsmen, and the arrival 
in this country of such disciples of the old French school as the 
Marquis de Vitry and his compatriots, so far from exciting a 
feeling of jealousy, was hailed by English sportsmen with 
enthusiastic satisfaction. To this circumstance, entirely lost 
sight of by English historians, we are probably indebted for the 
maintenance of that skill in the chase for which Englishmen are 
now everywhere renowned, but which, at the critical period 
referred to, was on the verge of decadence, for want of leaders 
competent and willing to instruct the rising generation. 
Times have altered since then, and we have now only to look 
into any modern French journal devoted to sport to see that our 
Gallic neighbours, in all that relates to horses and hounds, lose 
no opportunity, so to say, of borrowing a leaf from our book. 
And yet, although Englishmen have once more asserted their 
superiority in the hunting field, we look forward with some 
anxiety to the future of sport in this country, seeing how beset 
it is with difficulties at the present day. When masters of 
hounds and huntsmen are “‘ boycotted,” and hounds maimed or 
poisoned ; when a so-called royal Society, with more funds than 
judgment at its disposal, prosecutes a royal huntsman for cruelty 
in taking a hunted stag; when would-be legislators, under 
pretence of amending the game-laws, do their best to abolish 
them altogether, we may well feel some concern for the future. 
None too soon has a society been formed for the protection 
and encouragement of field-sports,* and, while wishing success 
to its members in their laudable object, we hail with satisfaction, 
as another ‘“‘ante-abolition of sport movement,” the scheme of 
*“«The Field Sports Protection and Encouragement Association,” 
President, Lord Fitzhardinge, M.F.H.; Secretary, G. A. Battcock, 4, Carlton 
Street, Waterloo Place. 
