INTRODUCTION 67 



them all, and do still when I get the chance, 

 though I do not claim to be a ' professor ' in any one 

 of them. To arrive at a fair conclusion on their 

 respective merits, it would appear advisable to 

 enumerate certain tests by which to try each of them 

 separately, and then see which gives the best general 

 result. 



Take as the first test the degree of pleasure 

 derived from success. Judged solely from this point 

 of view, grouse-shooting is nowhere. Given good 

 weather (of which more hereafter), your keeper will 

 generally tell you what the bag is likely to be ; and the 

 capabilities of your party as to shooting being also 

 known, it follows that the result is pretty well ascer- 

 tained beforehand, and the pleasure of a successful 

 shoot can hardly be as great as if it were uncertain or 

 unexpected. In salmon-fishing and fox-hunting there 

 is always more or less luck and uncertainty, and this 

 enhances the satisfaction derived from a ' real good 

 day.' In salmon-fishing success, of course, depends 

 on the number of fish you kill and on their weight. 

 Thus the pleasure of a good day is not momentary 

 like the killing of a fine stag, but is spread as it were 

 over the whole day, recurring each time that a fish 

 is landed. I doubt whether the aggregate amount 

 of pleasure derived from capturing ten or a dozen 



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