12 
THE EXPLOITS OF DUGGINS. 
diary, as given by Thomas Hood, we make an extract: 
' Heard some Pheasants crowing by the side of a plantation; 
got within gunshot of* two of the birds, vich Higgins said 
they vos two gamecocks ; but Hicks, who had often been 
to Vestminster pit, said no sitch thing, as gamecocks had 
square tails, and smooth necks, and long military spurs. 
Shot at 'em as Pheasants, and believe ve killed 'em both ; 
but hearing some 'orrid screams come out of the plantation 
immediately hafter, we all took to our 'eels and ran avay, 
vithout stopping to pick either of 'em up. At the end of a 
mile came suddenly upon a strange sort of bird, vich Hicks 
declared to be a cock- o'-the- woods : sneaked behind him, 
and killed him — turned out to be a peacock.' 
Many are the amateur * sportsmen,' like our astute 
friend Duggins, who, duly as the season cometh, clean up 
their rusty pieces, such as Joe Manton or Colonel Hawker 
would shudder to look upon, and, without troubling them- 
selves about a game certificate, sally forth to shoot at all 
feathered creatures that be ; scarcely knowing a hawk from 
a handsaw, or how to hit a barn or a wheat stack, they 
blaze away, and do a deal of positive mischief, besides 
scaring the game, and rendering the cover unprofitable to 
the real sportsman. But this is a subject on which we 
need not dwell, neither need we treat upon the delicate 
question of game preserving, which leads to so many fatal 
affrays with poachers, those children of the night, whose 
song is said to be — 
Merry it is, on a moonlight night, 
"When the squire is snug a-bed, 
To shoulder the rusty fowling-piece, 
And the bludgeon armed with. lead. 
Then over the old park pale to leap, 
And hid in the leafy shade, 
Up to the home preserve to creep — 
Oh ! ours is a roaring trade. 
But we have wandered from the question, *What is 
Game ? ' What are the animals included under this general 
term, and which have been the subject of legislation in this 
country, from the Norman conquest to the present time ? 
Strictly speaking, the term ^ Game ' only includes Hares, 
