SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



the house, and all sorts of fresh fish. After dinner 

 we went to see sport at the decoy, where I never 

 saw so many herons. 



To return to the partridge shooting of 

 Surrey at the present day. If after September 

 the birds are fairly plentiful, driving is often 

 resorted to ; but there being so much wood- 

 land, it is very difficult to keep them out 

 of the coverts. As long drives cannot be 

 managed, the county cannot be considered 

 suitable for this form of shooting ; but if the 

 flights of the birds are carefuUy studied, 

 some very enjoyable short drives can be had, 

 and thirty or forty brace of birds brought 

 to bag. 



Partridges are not extensively reared by 

 hand in the county, and in very few instances 

 have any birds been imported. A few Hun- 

 garians were turned dowoi near Hambledon 

 about ten years ago and some fine birds were 

 produced in the district : but the blood 

 appears now to have died out. The late 

 Mr. Freshfield introduced this variety at 

 Nore and Scotsland about the year 1901 but 

 the effect on the stock has not yet (1903) 

 been noticeable. 



Partridge shooting has not undergone the 

 same change as pheasant Shooting, though 

 dogs other than retrievers are not often used, 

 pointers and setters being almost useless 

 on account of the different methods adopted 

 for cutting the corn. Straw, which years 

 ago was held of small account, is becoming 

 more and more useful, and even before the 

 reaper came into fashion, the system of 

 fagging instead of reaping the com was 

 adopted. This means that instead of leaving 

 a stubble of twelve or eighteen inches high, 

 the straw is now cut off as near as possible 

 to the ground, which gives no chance to 

 pointers unless the wind is in their favour ; 

 even then birds constantly will not lie to 

 them. Furthermore, as shootings grew in 

 demand they were broken up into smaller 

 holdings, and pointers are more suitable for 

 large properties. 



It is undoubtedly true that birds are wilder 

 than they used to he, but this is owing to the 

 cover not being so good. 



Some years ago it was customary to put 

 bushes at intervals about the stubble directly 

 after harvest to prevent the partridges being 

 netted, but this form of poaching is now very 

 rarely, if ever, resorted to ; and the once 

 familiar bushes are now seldom seen in 

 Surrey. It is difficult to say when red-legs 

 were first introduced, but it was probably 

 about i860 — certainly at some date prior 

 to 1870. In most places they have not 



51 



increased to any great extent during -the last 

 few years, but appear to have established 

 themselves. They are to be found all over 

 the county and have a particular liking for 

 the heath lands, where they generally ex- 

 ceed in number the English birds. 



A few landrails are generally killed in 

 September when walking up the partridge, 

 but they seem to grow scarcer. 



Hares, formerly so numerous in some dis- 

 tricts that fifty might be killed in a single 

 day, are now far from plentiful. From many 

 shootings they have disappeared altogether 

 during the last few years. This is entirely 

 owing to the operation of the Ground Game 

 Act. Since that enactment was placed on 

 the statute book, hares have been killed 

 down unmercifully by the occupiers of land. 

 They often travel far in a night for food, 

 and unless an owner has a very large area of land 

 in his own occupation he cannot preserve a 

 fair head of hares. Almost every tenant kills 

 them by every means in his power, except 

 in a few districts where harriers or grey- 

 hounds are kept ; and even in such localities 

 they are scarce. They have decreased to a 

 much greater extent than rabbits, for two 

 reasons ; they are much easier to catch and 

 are of more value when caught. 



Rabbits are plentiful throughout the county, 

 especially in the woodland parts ; but the 

 soil for the most part being of a sandy nature 

 they afford little sport in an ordinary day's 

 shooting ; although it is fairly easy to obtain 

 good rabbit shooting after the majority of 

 the pheasants have been killed off. They 

 need only constant ferreting to make them 

 lie out. Few owners however will allow 

 many rabbits to exist, as they do so much 

 damage both to the crops and the under- 

 woods, and by damaging the underwoods 

 they spoil, to a great extent, the pheasant 

 shooting. Rabbits have not suffered so much 

 as the hares through the passing of the Ground 

 Game Act. 



To no part of Surrey is the woodcock a 

 frequent visitor ; but occasionally these birds 

 are found over the entire county save in the 

 vicinity of London. Fourteen were killed 

 in one day some few years ago on Lord 

 Derby's property at Witley Park, and eight 

 in one day somewhat later on Mr. Knowles' 

 adjoining woods ; but two or three in a day's 

 bag is, as a rule, considered very good. 



The most noted places for 'cock are — 

 Witley Park and Whitmoor Valley ; but those 

 at Whitmoor are seldom found there in the 

 day time, for though the birds like a damp 

 place to feed at night they are also very fond 

 of a dry retreat in the day; and those at 



