CHAPTER IV. 
SPORTSMEN AND BIRDS. 
“ With slaughtering gun the unwearied fowler roves, 
When frosts have whitened all the naked groves; 
Where Doves in flocks the leafless tree o’ershade 
And lonely Woodcocks haunt the watery glade, 
He lifts the tube, and levels with his eye; 
Straight a short thunder breaks the frozen sky : 
Oft, as in airy rings they skim the heath, 
The clamorous Lapwings feel the leaden death: 
Oft, as the mounting Larks their notes prepare, 
They fall, and leave their little lives in air.” 
Pope. 
The sportsman is a great friend to birds, incredible as 
it may appear in the eyes of those who see in the first a 
ruthless murderer, and in the second a victim. The 
chase is, and ever has been, a noble occupation, and is as 
dear to the heart of a man as love-making is to the 
youth: it is a grand amusement, abounding in pleasure 
and excitement, rich in poetry, though a work of death! 
The love of it is inborn in man, as with the lion and the 
eagle ; every man, no matter who he is, is fond of sport: 
the boy follows the shooter with pleasure. With what 
intense delight have I accompanied sportsmen, as a boy ; 
and how I have enjoyed sport myself, later on, as a man, 
Happy memories rise before me, bringing in their wake 
many a picture of days gone by, painted in colours more 
