--the irregular and bold ridge of hills, rising one above another in noble grandeur, like giants refreshed from sleep-the scattered dwellings of the industrious and hard-working peasantry, recall to my mind that small yet sunny spot of my existence. It peers out from a long wilderness of years like the oasis in the desert, and, by dwelling on it, I in a measure renew the pleasurable sensations of that brief space of a sexagenarian life. But," said the old gentleman, suddenly changing his tone, "I weary you with these reflections, and we will, therefore, scan another topic more congenial to your taste. Did you ever spend a night on this, or any of the other lakes, for the purpose of shooting wild-ducks?"

"No," said we; "those which have fallen before our gun were killed late in the evening, but never after dusk."

"To-night, then," said he, "hold yourself in readiness, and prepare to take a lesson on the art of wild-fowl shooting."

With this we descended the hill, and, by the time we had reached the posada, a mutual disposition to a more friendly intercourse had sprung up between us. Our new friend was a man of comely mien ; and his features, though not handsome, were yet agreeable, and marked with the stamp of natural ability. Well-formed, and erect in carriage, there was an easy grace in his manner, and a commanding expression in his dark and scrutinizing glance, which at once inspired feelings of admiration and respect. His conversation, mingled as it was with playfulness and gravity, was attractive as his general bearing; and greatly did we thank the happy chance that had thrown us together.

Evening drew on, and a slight wind, and a sky overspread with passing clouds, answered well enough for the purpose we had in view. Armed with our guns, and a good retriever following at our heels, we began our march along the border of the lake about ten p.m., and arrived at the point not far distant from Lyulph's Tower, to which we had sent, in the early part of the evening, our boat and sculler.

"Now," said our companion, after we had charged our guns, and made all things snug and ready for instant use, "let us push boldly into the middle of the lake. Be silent as if you were stealing upon a fort with muffled oars, and, above all, keep the dog down."

We were soon in deep water, and onward we went under the long and vigorous strokes of the stalwart sculler, who, by his caution, seemed also fully alive to the sport. A sharp breeze skimmed along the water, and thick black clouds shut out the light of the yellow moon; while on and on we rushed in silence through the gurgling liquid, like spirits of the deep, during the midnight hour, disporting themselves in peace. Save the rippling wave, as it glanced from the bows of the boat, not a sound met the ear; and all around was dark and sombre as the grave. The irregular outline of the huge masses of mountain, excepting when a less dense cloud permitted a temporary and uncertain light, was scarcely visible; the deep water on which we now floated was of infernal hue; and the effect of the whole was so suddenly produced, that it excited an involuntary dread, or an apprehension, at least, it is not in the power of words to describe. The

sculler shipped his oars with great care, and then we lay on the bosom of the lake in a state of feverish anxiety. Our guns cocked, the ear alive, and peering into the darkness around us, silent and motionless we sat, awaiting a flock of wild fowl. Occasionally, a hissing, whizzing of the wings of the unseen birds would startle us from our position; and then the splashing of the water met the ear, as one after another they alighted on the surface of the lake.

"Be steady," whispered the old gentleman, at the same time slightly pointing over the starboard bows, "be steady, and we shall get a shot in that direction."

The objects, except to his skilled eye, were not yet visible; but a few minutes brought a flock fully within ken, looking like spots on the smooth surface. The distance, to our uninitiated eye, appeared too great for shot to tell, but our fidus Achates thought otherwise, and gave the word to fire. We blazed away both barrels into the midst of them; and as they rose from the water, the long-boat gun was discharged at them with murderous effect.

"Pull away, my man," shouted the old gentleman; and in a minute after, we shot into the midst of the dead and dying. Here was plenty of work for the retriever, as hither and thither he swam in pursuit of the dead and seriously wounded; while the guns were still actively employed in a running fire upon those too strong for capture. From the darkness of the night, and the consequent difficulty of seeing an object with any certainty at twenty or thirty yards' distance, this was a labour neither agreeable nor expeditious. We hovered about the place at least an hour, and although we occasionally met with a straggler, many, no doubt, escaped us. Tired as we were, we pulled away for the rocky islands called Cherry-holm, Wall-holm, and House-holm; the latter so named doubtless, quasi lucus à non lucendo, because there is no house upon it. We crept upon it in the same silent manner (without silence, your deer-stalker and wild-duck shooter can do nothing), and skirted the islands as stealthily as midnight robbers. Notwithstanding, however, the little noise made by the creaking of the rowlocks was carried down to our quarry, and, before we were fairly within shot, they were all on the wing. The morning air was now of that "nipping and eager" kind that made Hamlet shake; and upon our already wet habiliments, fanning and puffing, the sensations it produced were by no means the most luxurious. The repeated caresses we bestowed on our ancient" grey beard," and the refreshing fragrance of excellent Havannas, served to warm our nose and internal machinery, during an hour's rowing to the point of our debarkation. But it was voted unanimously by the entire crew (sc. the old gentleman, his new friend, and the sculler) that to sit four mortal hours in an open boat, motionless as mummies, and that at night, through the "wee sma' hour ayont the twa'l" in the early spring, was a matter somewhat different from capering "nimbly in a lady's chamber, to the lascivious pleasing of a lute."

3, Crescent Carlisle.

4

ON GETTING UP A HEAD OF GAME.

Among the various topics which are discussed in your interesting publication, perhaps none has been so little touched upon as that of getting up (as it is called) a good head of game. Yet surely it must be allowed on all hands to be a most important one to a sportsman; for all that has been written, and written so ably, by many of your correspondents on various other subjects relating to shooting, will have been written in vain, if this subject is not treated of. Let me then, Mr. Editor, with your permission, bestow upon you a few of my ideas and a little of my experience on this somewhat neglected subject. And here let me observe, once for all, that I do not presume to write for the instruction of sporting veterans, but merely in order to give a few hints to any of your readers who may happen to be at all green on the subject: but at the same time I do not think that any veteran will find anything to quarrel with in any of my observations, as they are drawn entirely from my own experience. Hinc Therefore, as Hamlet says, "No more-but to the matter." canere incipiam.

I will begin with partridges, because being more numerous, and thicker on the ground than any other kind of game. The sport of partridge-shooting, for that reason, falls more within the reach of most men than the shooting of perhaps any other kind of game; and I may, therefore, reasonably conclude that a few words on this subject will possess more general interest for the majority of your readers than on any other topic. We will begin with the breeding season, the most important time of the year to a man who is anxious to "get up a good head of game." We will suppose the partridges to have paired some time, and to be about to lay. About this time almost the only active step that it is in one's power to take is, to get into one's interest the shepherds and other farming servants, who are most in the habit of being out at all hours, and are therefore most likely to know of partridges' nests as soon as the birds begin to lay. It is as well to give them some trifling douceur as soon as they give information of a partridge's nest; but they should, by all means, have a much larger one promised them as soon as the birds run. This will, of course, make it their interest to see that the eggs are neither robbed nor disturbed, and will tend more than all the watchers in the world to put a stop to the practice of egg-stealing, now unhappily, and to the great disgrace of large game-preservers, so prevalent in many parts of the country. By the way, speaking of this practice, I may just mention here that a friend of mine in one of the eastern counties has for several years regularly lost more than half his covies, owing to this very practice; the children being, as it

seems, regularly brought up to the trade of egging, as they call it, as their most profitable profession. There is, however (and it is, in my opinion, the one advantage of the new game laws), a summary method of dealing with such offenders; for, on conviction before a justice of the peace, every person so offending is liable to a fine of five shillings, or a week's imprisonment in default of payment. But to return to the subject of which I was speaking. About this time of the year, when the birds are laying, it is almost needless for me to remind any sportsman not to take out his dogs with him (particularly spaniels and terriers) anywhere but on the high roads. Even there it is not always safe, as, if the weather in April and May is bright and sunny without rain, the birds will, from the want of other cover, betake themselves to the hedgerows to breed in; and in this way nests might fall in the way of dogs, even by the road-sides. Many is the covey of partridges which I have known destroyed at this time of the year, owing to dogs being allowed to follow their masters into the fields; for, as soon as the birds have begun to sit close, they will, as every one must have observed, allow a dog to catch them on the nest, almost without an effort to escape.

Let us turn now to a very important part of our subject; I mean that of eggs mown over in the hay-field. If the exact spot in a field is known where a partridge is sitting, it is better to put a stick in the ground about a foot or two from the nest, and then to give directions to the men who are to mow, not to mow within two or three yards of the stick. It is surprising, to a person who has never previously observed it, to see how small a quantity of grass, if left standing around a nest, will suffice to prevent the bird from forsaking, when sitting hard. I have seen numerous cases where the grass has been left standing around the nest for not more than a foot in each direction; and yet, if the fallen grass has been removed to another part of the field, and the haymakers been prevented from disturbing the bird, in spite of all the noise and disturbance going on about her, the young birds have run. At the same time, it is worth while remarking, that there is another danger most carefully to be guarded against when a patch of grass has been left, as I was saying, standing round the nest. The danger I allude to is from the crows or rooks (for which of the two are the culprits, I do not pretend to say), which will to a certainty suck the eggs, if the greatest care is not taken to prevent it. The inquisitiveness (if I may use the term) of the whole of this tribe of birds is very great, as every one who has lived much in the country, and is anything of a naturalist, must have observed; and their sharp-sightedness is quite equal to their curiosity. When, therefore, they observe such an unusual object as a single patch of grass, a few feet square, standing by itself in a field, their natural curiosity leads them to examine it more narrowly; and as their sharp eyes will not be long in detecting the sitting bird, the eggs will hardly fail soon to become their prey. The best means of guarding against this is, to put a boy on guard somewhere, not far from the nest; and the crows, rooks, et hoc genus omne, having far too much worldly wisdom to venture within reach of the formidable tube, will be pretty sure to keep at a respectful distance, without the

urchin's being reduced to the necessity of firing, which would frighten the sitting bird. I may add, in conclusion, that this danger from crows, rooks, &c., is by no means an imaginary one, as some of your readers might, perhaps, be inclined to think; on the contrary, I remember a circumstance, where three nests in one field which had been left, as I was saying, with a small patch of grass round each, were in this way robbed, in the course of a few hours, by the rooks or crows, and that, too, while the mowers were in the same field, and occasionally shouting to drive them off. It is annoying enough, certainly, to have eggs mown over; but I know no means of avoiding it; and the only thing to be done is, when they are mown over, to get them hatched as carefully as possible. It has been said that grass-bred birds will themselves also breed in grass. Whether this be true or not, I cannot say, but am rather inclined to doubt it; for if this were the case, partridges would almost have disappeared in many parts of the country, towards the close of the late war, when so much pasture ground was broken up, owing to the extravagant price of corn at the time. But that partridges have not forsaken such parts of the country, I can vouch for from my own knowledge; for I know many districts, which (having been previously grass lands) were ploughed up at the time I am speaking of, and on which, nevertheless, a fair show of partridges is to be found at present.

However, I have heard of some persons who believe so devoutly in the truth of the doctrine that birds bred in grass will breed in grass themselves, that they have recourse, year after year, to the practice of drawing loaded ropes over every grass field in which partridges show any inclination to breed. I say, I have heard of such persons; for I never knew any one yet who had tried the experiment, nor should I think it one deserving of imitation; for whether the theory I have alluded to be true or not, I think it is highly probable, if the manor of the gentleman who tries such experiments should happen to be at all narrow, that the birds will take it into their heads to breed on his neighbour's land, if he attempts too pertinaciously to prevent them from breeding in his own. But let us return to the subject of eggs mown over.

It is true that, in spite of all the care that may be taken to prevent it, one must often have several covies mown over in the course of the summer; but still, if a man does not mind taking a little trouble about it, I think he may contrive to come off not a loser, but a gainer by such accidents. Many persons, however fond of shooting, will not put themselves to the trouble (which is really very great) of having a nest of partridges' or pheasants' eggs hatched, and of afterwards attending to the young birds, and will, therefore, whenever they happen to have a nest mown over, readily allow any one, who wishes to have the eggs, to dispose of them as he pleases. Nor is this so uncommon a case as might be supposed; indeed, on almost every manor, where a regular active keeper is not employed, it will be found that neither landlord nor tenant will be at the trouble of hatching the eggs so mown over. To show how much game is destroyed in this way, I may here just mention, that a farmer in my native county told me, two or three years ago, that his men had mown over, in one field,