THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
stands in high esteem, and is generally shot at call in the spring. These 
noble birds are numerous in the Black Forest, the Thuringian Forest, 
the Hartz Mountains, the Saxon State forests, the Fichtelgebirge and in the 
Alps of Bavaria. Blackcock are also shot at the “ Spel ” grounds in spring 
and are considered more difficult to shoot and more wary than their 
larger cousins. 
AUSTRIA. Sport in Austria is still conducted on very much the same 
lines as in feudal times. The Revolution of 1848 was not carried through 
with the same bitterness of spirit nor with the class hatred that made 
the French Revolution so terrible and in a measure so lasting. The Aus- 
trian aristocracy was not denied its privileges until long after the upheaval, 
and even at the time there was no reign of terror or serious attack on 
private property. A few parks within reach of mob violence, such as the 
Prater, were cleared of game, but on the whole the people seemed to have 
behaved with a good-natured tolerance that is one of the chief features of 
these charming people. Any Englishman who has enjoyed the privilege 
of being the guest of an Austrian noble must see how well he gets on with 
his own peasants and how thoroughly he understands sport in the true 
meaning of the word. 
So well, in fact, do both master and man unite in the business of sport 
in Austria that there is a distinct reluctance on the part of the former to 
lease his lands to the stranger, and this is caused not only by the fact 
of his own wealth and love of sport, but from some inner feeling that his 
own dependents may be misunderstood or not treated in a proper manner. 
The stag is again the principal quarry of Austrian sportsmen and the 
most prized. It is stalked in the rutting season, generally in dense forests, 
by following the roar, and this is, as I shall presently endeavour to show, 
an entirely different sport to that of following the deer on the open hills 
of Scotland. In a few parts of Styria stags frequent the open glades and 
even the bare hillsides in autumn, and may be met as they return to the 
shelter of the forest in early morning, but this is unusual. The chase of 
the Brunft-Hirsch in the dense Austrian forests is a far finer and more 
difficult sport than any European hunting with the rifle except, perhaps, 
that of the moufflon. Also the sportsman often, if not generally, engages 
in the stalk alone, without the assistance of a guide or keeper. Roe stalking 
with the rifle is another favourite Austrian sport, and these are usually 
killed by still hunting. Shot guns are only employed to kill roe where the 
use of the rifle is considered dangerous. Nearly 70,000 roe are shot in 
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