192 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



Game in olden times. 



Mr. Coke, the 7th of October, 1797, upon his manor at 

 Warham, and within a mile's circumference, bagged forty 

 brace of partridges in eight hours, at ninety three shots ; 

 every bird was killed singly. The day before, on the same 

 spot, he killed twenty-two brace and a half, in three hours. 

 In 1801, this gentleman killed, in five days, seven hundred 

 and twenty-six partridges. 



In January, 1803, Mr. Coke, Sir John Shelly, and Mr. 

 T. Sheridan, went over to Houghton, in Norfolk, on a 

 Chasse for their friend lord Cholmondeley, and killed there, 

 only with their three guns, in one day, fourteen brace and 

 a half of hares, sixteen couple of rabbits, twenty-four brace 

 of pheasants, thirteen brace of partridges, and sixteen couple 

 of woodcocks. However great and surprising this shooting 

 may appear, it is nothing to what has been done in Germa- 

 ny, and Bohemia, of which I shall only give one instance, 

 copied from Mons. Dutens, Itneraire, Edit. 1793, p. 153: 

 " Game is in such abundance in the kingdom of Bohemia, 

 that in the year 1753, the Emperor, Francis I. made a 

 partis de chasse, of twenty-three sportsmen, to go with 

 him on a shooting excursion, to one of the estates of Prince 

 CoUeredo: in the space of eighteen days, the imperial sports- 

 men fired 116,209 shots, and killed 19,545 partridges; 

 18,243 hares; 9,499 pheasants; with other inferior game, 

 amounting to 47,950. I had the anecdote from the Prince 

 Colleredo himself." 



These exploits in shooting, seemed admirably calculated, 

 not only to deafen the operator, but to severely beat his 

 shoulder, almost to pieces; when we consider that every 

 fowling-piece requires to be washed, at every twenty dis- 

 charges at least, and the operation is performed, we are lost 

 in amazement at such an extraordinary occurrence. 



Thornhill. 



ANECDOTE OF YOUNG FOX CUBS. 



About two months ago two very young fox cubs were 

 accidentally caught at the Bar hill, and conveyed to the 

 game keeper, Myers' romantic residence in the Deer Park, 

 Cally. A day or two afterwards the Stewartry huntsman, 

 whose sole business is to destroy vermin, not to observe 

 the laws of the chase, while beating the cover near Disdow, 

 started an old she fox, which was speedily shot by our friend 

 Mr. Myers. 



As it was obvious the animal had been giving milk, search 

 was made, and two more cubs found, one of which was so 

 tiny that it shortly after died. But its twin brother, or 

 sister, survived, and was placed on a good bed of straw at 



the bottom of a half-hogshead, along with the two juvenile 

 Reynards already mentioned; and there the trio, by dint of 

 good nursing, and with such recreation as they furtively 

 secured, have lived very comfortably ever since. About 

 the time alluded to, Mr. Myers had a small black bitch, 

 whose pups had been drowned, and, as he was anxious to 

 preserve the young foxes, he determined to try whether the 

 animal would suckle the nurslings of her natural enemy — 

 an experiment which succeeded to admiration. The mo- 

 ment "Pepper" or "Mustard," we forget which, was in- 

 troduced to the importation from the hill-side, she com- 

 menced licking them all over, and, in the course of a few 

 hours, displayed more fierceness in guarding them from real 

 or supposed harm than ever she did in defence of her own 

 offspring. Under such kind nursing they throve so well 

 that they are already as big as their foster parent; but of 

 late, we believe, they have been fed with rabbits, and their 

 nurse, for the sake of her own health, kept apart from them 

 during the day. The half-hogsheads are furnished with a lid, 

 on which is placed a stone to keep it down; but, in spite of 

 these precautions, the bitch has repeatedly knocked the top 

 off, and, after dragging the cubs out of the barrel, led the 

 way to the neighbouring woods, that they might enjoy air, 

 exercise, and recreation. When followed, she answers to 

 her master's call, and, when coaxed to return home, emits 

 a peculiar cry, hovering between a bark and a howl, that 

 immediately brings their foxships around her. The said 

 cubs, with which so much pains have been taken, are to be 

 presented by and bye to a friend of ours, an ardent lover of 

 the pleasures of the chase, and who has long been anxious 

 to stock Annandale well with foxes, maugreihe welfare of 

 the "woolly people." We, of course, quarrel with no man's 

 taste, notwithstanding of Andrew Fairservice's saw anent 

 " land louping for days after a bit beastie that will no weigh 

 six pund when ye catch't;" but this we may predict very 

 safely, that the foxes, when they are old enough, will evince 

 their gratitude by helping themselves to a tithe of his lambs 

 on the hill, and more than a tithe of his good lady's poultry. 



Dumfries Courier. 



PIGEON MATCH. 



A SHOOTING match at Pigeons was decided on the 15th 

 of July, at Germantown, between Doctor S. and Mr. L. for 

 fifty dollars a side, at ten birds each, and was won by the 

 former gentleman, he having killed his ten birds — and the 

 latter nine, missing the first bird. 



Another match occurred on the same day and place, 

 with several on a side, but we have not been able to procure 

 a statement of the shooting. 



