1228 
nro extinguished, somo one or more bdug, by dMigu, locked 
ITlLdi*®. in tj. ■>»> ^ 
assistance ot luufers, t n.^. b ftt han d (which are 
W,t f !wiv U imTe? Charge of the foreman cooper), a very 
The company is said to be making the most stre- 
nuous efforts to discover the perpetrators of the fraud , 
private bonders arc endeavouring to extract from the 
discovery some advantages to themselves. 
The case of Hope v. Aguado, has excited the most 
intense curiosity amongst the frequenters of the Law 
Courts • but the facts have been known at the tea 
tables these months past. Although the case is not 
finished— for which reason, acting on the suggestion 
of the learned judge, we defer our report— it is easy 
to see that the defence is to rest upon the assumption 
that the familiarities referred to were ordinary inci- 
dents in French etiquette. 'Whether this he successful 
or the reverse, let the moral of the case be, that, rich 
Englishmen had better seek wives in their own 
country, than go abroad for the luxury. 
T II E F IELD . 
SPORT AND SPORTSMEN, 
November our homobirds ore joined by accessions from 
the' northern part of Europe. Good sfioo mg con be se- 
1 V°Vl\, iiranv where drainage has not driven them from 
c , lirca 1,1 5 “v^reneats, as in England. In frosty weather 
then custo y find them by the side of rills, or under 
the sportsman ^ £ ay bc found . N o. y sho t 
ktfe ’ best size If they arc flushed close at hand, the 
better plan is* to refrain from firing until they have made 
he r first dart or spring; hut if they rise some forty yards, 
and When the wind is not favourable for the sportsman, 
they ought to be taken as soon as possible— shooting well 
^^Ta^fh^arto^Tiw Field will be found an account 
nf ihe artificial propagation of salmon on the laj.fiom 
wliich it will be observed that the method does not retard 
.1 rt.i ib of the young fish, as is evident from the fact 
£tTle!.°nowi.l the river are not larger than those u 
e t ond This, it tvill be remembered, was one of the 
ma„y°ridiculou3 objections raised 
bv writers in a contemporary. Tin. 1 icu>. it wm tie 
remembered, nearly stood alone in advocating the adoption 
Si breeding as one of the best means of re-stoek ng 
our barren rivers, and of bringing this “monarch of he 
fhiiiv tribe ■■ within the reach of the poorer c asses of the 
community. The report of the Toy proceedings states, 
Most of the fish have been taken i on one .ford . at he 
ju^tionof the Almond with the Tay, and this was the 
place that furnished the ova last season l_ond a/aot 
u Pray, what is a gentleman without his recreations?” 
Winter, stem Winter, has at length set in; and, al- 
though the lovers of the trigger must, for a time, cease to 
roam in pursuit of hares and partridges, the season has 
arrived when they can enjoy some very pretty shooting— or, 
as we once heard Mr. Osbaldeston say, some “ clean shoot- 
ing at snipes.” There are, however, but few counties in 
England where good snipe-shooting can be had, owing to 
the extent of drainage which has been carried on of late 
vears It was no uncommon occurrence, some ten years 
1*0. to slip on our jack-boots, fill our shot -pouch with No. 
q an j sa lly out in the fens of Lincolnshire or Cambridge- 
shire for a couple of hours, and hag from four to six 
brace of full-grown birds. We should have much difficulty 
in doing the like now; for, instead of low marshy ground, 
may be seen good arable land, producing the very best the 
earth can yield ; we should now have to walk miles over 
the same ground before flushing a solitary snipe. Many a 
time— to our disgrace be it said— have we feigned illness, 
in order to shirk our school duties, to wander forth, fre- 
quenting the margins of rivulets, swamps, and soddened 
meadows, in search of the charmed bird. With what joy 
and emotion did we hear bis “ chick-chick," as he darted 
from the weeds beneath our feet. There was more pleasure 
in killing one of these birds, in good style, than in killing a 
dozen hares. The snipe, it is pretty generally known, is a 
bird of migratory habits, and very seldom breeds in this 
country. It moves about continually, from place to place, 
and on being disturbed, but rarely visits the same piece of 
ground more than two or three times. The jack-snipe, 
however, when once it takes up its quarters in this country, 
will not change its locality, although harassed by the sports- 
man • ns proof of this assertion we knew a miller, in Kent, 
who resolved to kill a jack, which might be seen every after- 
noon, about three o'clock, near his mill-pond ; not being a 
good shot he had to pay frequent visits to his little solitary 
friend, but eventually he succeeded in bagging Ins trou- 
blesome prize, not, however, before he had fired about sixty 
charges at it. This species is the smallest of the genus, 
being about half the size of the common snipe. It sits 
very close, and will almost allow the gunner to tread upon 
it before taking wing. Its weight scarcely ever exceeds two 
ounces and a quarter. We found the best plan to secure 
a good bag of snipes was to walk quietly with the wind, as 
they generally, on rising, turn and fly against the wind. 
Were they are but thinly scattered, the better way is to 
t ike with you a small spaniel, who will not work more than 
fifteen or twenty yards from you. If they are tolerably 
plentiful, we would recommend our brother sportsmen not 
to take a dog of any description, for the noise they make 
on rising is quite sufficient to rivet attention. They breed 
in the Orkneys, and the late Sir H. Davy remarks: “I 
found each nest contained two young birds, sometimes 
tl„-ee, and the parents seemed exceedingly attached to their 
offspring.” The snipe has been known to breed in Scot- 
land, the New Forest, Cambridgeshire, and in Wales and 
Ireland. They make their nests of dry grass or herbage 
rudely put together, near water, swampy spots, or on 
marshy hills. The eggs are comparatively large, of a 
greenish white, and spotted at the larger end with different 
tints of brown. Their food consists of worms, insects, See., 
to obtain which they thrust their bill in the mud. About 
the beginning of April they call to their mates, uttering a 
kissing or clicking note, accompanied at intervals by a hum- 
ming noise. It often soars an immense height, and its notes 
may frequently be heard when the bird is out of sight 
These flights arc continued generally towards evening, 
during the time the female is engaged in incubation. Some 
g ,od snipe-shooting may be found in Ireland, and in the 
north of Scotland, inoie especially in Caithness. 
It is no difficult matter for a good shot to kill twenty 
brace a day in some parts of the north of Scotland. The 
great or solitary snipe, is a rare visitor to our shores. It 
may he found in Norway, Germany, and Sweden. Unlike 
the* common snipe, it flies heavily and steadily, and often 
becomes so fat in the autumn that it has some difficulty in 
getting away at its ordinary speed. They are mostly found 
singly, but seldom in pairs ; and their house or breeding- 
place is in Sweden and Norway. Mr. Griclt says : 1 In 
the great or solitary snipe the tail is composed of sixteen 
feathers; middle of the first quill whitish; top of the head 
black, divided by a hand of yellowish white ; upper parts 
variegated with black and bright rusty, the latter colours 
being disposed longitudinally; under parts whitish rusty ; 
abdomen and sides striped with black hands ; bill inclining 
to reddish, brown at the point ; feet greenish ash ; length 
twelve inches. Females larger than the males. Weight 
The gentlemen who have argued in favour of old “ brown 
Bess” we should imagine have never levelled the rifle and 
felled a deer at five, six, and seven hundred yards, as wo 
have done, or they would not have committed themselves 
by asserting that the soldier’s musket can do as much exe- 
cution as the rifle. How many times, we ask, would tho 
best shot in England, or in any other country, have to fir 0 
at a buck with “ brown Bess,” at a distance even of 300 
yards, before killing, or even touching him ? The rifle is a 
most deadly weapon at eight and nine hundred yards, 
whereas the ball of a musket is uncertain in its flight ui 
even two hundred and fifty yards. It is impossible for a 
smooth bored barrel to carry with certainty a quarter of 
the distance as will a rifled barrel. Our only surprise is 
that the Times should have occupied its space by showing 
forth facts which every one accustomed to fire-arms has 
known since the time he first handled the fowling-piece. 
It may be interesting to some of our readers to know 
that it is now illegal to use dogs for the purpose of 
drawing trucks, barrows, &c.; the Act of Parliament pro- 
hibiting this cruel and dangerous work is the 17th and 18th 
Viet. c. CO, and came into operation last Monday. 
it lurnisueu me - . 
that on this ford the same fish have seldom been taken a 
second time (the fish which are taken are marked), 
proving that more than one pair offish spawn on the iden- 
tical snot." It is clear from this statement that the pre- 
ceding bods must he disturbed, and the spawn devoured by 
the trout. The report adds, “ We saw tins day brought 
in bv one of the fishermen, a river-trout of about a pound 
weight, which was caught in the net along with the 
spawning fish, and which was gorged to the mouth, and 
when cut up upwards of two hundred newly-shed salmon 
ova were taken out of him.” This is not the first instance 
we know of trout feeding on the ova. We remember a 
curious fact which occurred last year on the spawmng-beds 
at Outerard. In taking up the spawning-salmon were 
likewise caught a large quantity of trout, and m every 
instance but one they contained salmon ova, on which they 
were preying. From the gullet of one large trout six hundred 
were by pressure ejected, and retained, with a further quan- 
tity from other trout, and deposited all m boxes isolated 
from the others, a considerable portion of which came to 
life and are with the other fry in the ponds at Outerard, 
where thousands of young salmon may he seen. Ins 
experiment again shows that the year ot their deposit as 
ova is not that of their migration to the ocean ; until that 
period, it is of great importance to retain the young fry m 
These ponds, where they are protected from their natural 
enemies. Hereafter they must necessarily be left to protect 
themselves ; and, of course, are more capable of doing so 
Up to that time, they should be occasionally fed with 
suitable food, and all the fish should be of similar age- lie 
large fish proving very injurious to the smaller and weakei 
ones. Our expectations as to the result of these wonderful 
experiments were, from the first, sanguine They have, 
however, been fully, if not more than, realised ; and the 
question of breed artificially is now finally settled. We 
have generally admitted such communications as were suffi- 
ciently well written into our columns, from various antho- 
B ASINS , 
DATES OF RACES. 
FEBRUARY. — Nottingham.. .. 20 , Nottingham if) 
Salisbury H Brighton Club 1» 
Warwick Spring 20 Wolverhampton U 
APRIL.— Newmarket Craven .. 9 Reading H 
York Spring Ill 
Mallon V '°, rk “ 
Newmarket First Spring 23 E'ghnm " 
IS bSS 0 !.:::::::::::::::::::: ii 
22 Leicester — ■•-. 10 
Manchester 30 Newmarket First October 25 
I it v i.’ A^cot 6 1 Northallerton • • • 27 
Bihurv 20 Wrexham I 
Stock bridge 21 Newmarket Second October ... . 8 
Winchester 22 Warwick Autumn 10 
Newcastle 26 
JULY.— Newmarket 3 
Worcester 3 
Lancaster ® 
Liverpool *■ 
Stamford 17 
Richmond 17 
Newmarket Houghton 22 
Worcester 30 
NOVEMBER.— Epsom 1 
Liverpool '* 
Shrewsbury 13 
from seven to nine ounces.” 
cientiy wen wunoii *inu - » . , . , 
rities, on the salmon ; and, at the same time, have observed, 
with feel in 0 's of contempt, the ungentleinanly attacks in a 
contemporary which were heaped upon nearly every pro- 
moter of the scheme some twelve months ago. As these 
ungenerous attacks did not appear in 1 he h ield, we will 
giv B c an extract verbatim ct literatim, as a sample of the 
elegant epistles in question :— 
“ In my humble judgment, we are just on the eye of a 
stupendous imposture ; aud it is because I feel tins keenly, 
and because I know from experience that when a plausible 
illusion once takes possession of any considerable number ot 
men it becomes a disease, aud runs like small-pox, from 
fever to eruption, from eruption to scab, and from scab to 
permanent disfigurement aud deformity, that I now throw 
myself with all my might into this question, determined, if 
possible, to moderate the symptoms if I cannot cure the 
Our readers will scavely imagine that the above vulgar 
strictures were applied to some of our best-informed natu- 
ralists of the present day, when they first proposed the 
adoption of artificial breeding. After carefully reviewing 
and anticipating the then contemplated results, tins 
“ authority” concludes by saying that the artificial breeder 
will he a salmon poacher ! and not a salmon preserver . . 
Time alone ought to convince these would-be authorities on 
the salmon that they know about as much of the real 
habits of this fish as amounts to something less than the 
value of a pin’s point. , 
It would seem from the South Luster n Gazette that 
one of the worst enemies the farmer can possibly have is 
the wood-pigeon. One of these birds, it appears, was shot 
last week in Clowes’s Wood, near Canterbury, and on being 
examined its crop was found to contain 937 grains of wheat, 
besides ninety-four tares. The grain thus discovered has 
been sown distinctly fiom other crops, in order to ascertain 
the quantity of corn capable of being produced from the 
grain found in a single wood-pigeon. V e will, it poss ble, 
give our readers the result next year. At this season our 
woods swarm with these destructive birds. I hey will de- 
vour all kinds of grain, peas, berries, and the green leaves 
of the turnip ; and being remarkably strong and thickly 
feathered, they require to be struck very hard to kill them. 
The best plan to shoot any number of wood-pigeons is to 
build u narrow wooden house, about thirty yards within the 
edge of the wood ; cover it over carelessly with thorns, 
hushes, &c., and wait silently until they settle on the trees 
within gun shot. By this means from one to a dozen may 
be secured at one shot. We need scarcely add that they 
make a very good dish. No. 7 shot is the host size to load 
with. . 
A correspondence has recently appeared in the limes, 
showing the advantages of our army in the East using the 
RACING AND RACERS. 
The past week has been 'almost a blank [one in the 
sporting world. Shooting taking precedence of hunting 
and racing, we have little to report m the shape of Turf 
matter Next week, however, when the entries for the 
Great Spring Handicaps will have been made— and when 
we shall be enabled to discover the opinions of the trainers, 
both in the north and south, of their two-year-olds, by the 
wav they engage them— we may he enabled to give some 
useful information as to their present fancies. 
Tattersall’s, on Monday, was, of course, a blank day ; and 
on Thursday the reporter has strained to give an impor- 
tance to the names which in reality they do not deserve. 
Why De Clare should have been backed so lately for 
upwards of a thousand pounds, we are at a loss to imagine, 
as it is utterly impossible that anything more could be 
known about him than what was witnessed at Doncaster 
by all the world. Bv some it is said that the investments 
were made by parties “ speculating for the fall ” of Gneculus, 
whilst others urge that his public performances are of a 
character to make him a better favourite than Gneculus 
Esuriens As far as our opinion goes, we are free to confess 
that we should give the preference, both in judgment and 
information to the layers over the backers of De Clare, 
inasmuch as they have invariably stood against Scott s 
horses when they have won, and supported them when they 
have been beaten. And we may instance this argument 
very strongly by the case of West Australian last year, lor 
the St Leger. 'About the merits of Gneculus a considerable 
division of opinion exists, not only among the noblemen 
and gentlemen of the stable, but also among the public at 
large! Some maintain him to be a great horse, and others 
avow him to be a rank impostor. At the present time we 
imagine there is no necessity to declare under which standard 
we will range ourselves— whether we vote for Mr. Bowes 
or Lord Derby. Both parties, we are satisfied, have good 
horses ; and although the favourite has not been out yet. 
still we are certain that before Bonnie Morn ran at Ascot, 
he beat him three-quarters of a mile so cleverly, that it 
was considered a stone could hardly have brought them 
together. Under these circumstances, if fit and well at 
the post on the Derby Day, that man would be a bold 
one who would stand against him an unreasonable sum, 
merely from prejudice. Dirk Hattenck is backed again, 
more,' we believe, from the letters of the army of touts 
at Middle!) am, than from any other cause, lerliaps, 
also, the prevalent idea that he may bc brought 
out for the Two Thousand may have something to do wi m 
the movement ; and as Lord Eglintoun is a hold sports- 
man, and always likes to know the worst at once, and being 
cognisant of the money the British public have piled on 
his nag, it strikes us as being very probable that on n 
great Spring Day of Newmarket we shall see his old pilot, 
Charles Marlow, in his tartan jacket, emerging from me 
saddling-stables, and resolved to do or die in the I "0 
Thousand field for the Lord of the Tourneys colours. 
Unfortunately for Lord Eglintoun, at the present moment 
his stable has no schoolmaster sufficiently good to tell ms 
trainer the truth relative to this colt; whereas former 
man me mutes. "ogm j . ° 
About the beginning of l Minic rifle in preference to the old musket, and vice versa • 
trainer tjie mini relative w mu, -7, ; ,- T| 
strong were his team, with Van I romp, Elthiron, and i n 
Flying Dutchman, that a mistake with a young one was 
rarcl\\ if ever, made. Polydore is sustained in the matfci. 
but docs not appear to improve his position ; nor will, w 
conceive, he likely to see a shorter price at presen , » 
owner’s commission having been executed ; and untu n 
real stable is known, the public will not touch. At N ' 
market, last week, we gleaned good accounts of 1 .no , 
was reported to have cleaned out Iugnator and aJJ 
Duke’s lot. As yet, he is dark ; but, at the same tint , 
must admit him to be a good-looking, short-legged 
