"HARD HIT."

ENGRAVED BY J. SCOTT, FROM A PAINTING BY H. Alken.

Tyro, No. 1.-"If you were ever to get within range of a red deer, which would you rather-hit him hard, or kill him dead?"

Tyro, No. 2.-" If I ever was, I'd kill him dead, of course-if I could."

No. 1.-"How so? come! your reason why?"

No. 2.-"Certainly! I can afford you a brace. Firstly-on the plea of common sense: secondly-on that of self-preservation." No. 1.-" And your common sense' argument is-"

No. 2.-"This :-I go from London to Scotland to enjoy deerstalking. To enjoy it I should be something of an adept at it; in fact, the great object I have in view is the death of a deer; and if you are kind enough to ask me what I will have, I say naturally the attainment of it." No. 1.-"That's your common sense.

No. 2.-" And this my self-preservation :-Hour after hour, and mile after mile I creep and crawl, and wriggle and twist, menaced by keepers, and bullied by gillies; now forced into black boggy water, and then ordered to roll myself dry on ground as accommodating as the back of a porcupine; until, at length, with a broken back, broken shins, broken wind, and broken spirit, I receive the word to make ready.'" No. 1.-" Well!"

No. 2.-"Well, indeed! only picture the difference. In the one case I make a hard hit, as you call it, and the unhappy animal bounds away as straight as the bullet that's in him; while, per contra, I kill him dead down he drops: with my last gasp I stagger up to his side, and we are carried home in glory together.

No. 1.-"Pshaw! It's all the pound of flesh' with you. You speak and think like a keeper. Now hear the voice of a sportsman raised for the hard hit.' Hour after hour, as you say, and mile after mile we are creeping up with subdued breath and smothered excitement, nervous at the bend of a blade of grass, and pained, rather than refreshed by the least lazy kiss of the air. At last comes the shot; and then, instead of all ending with that single crack, he's only hard hit. Sawney lets loose that couple of noble-looking dogs of war. Alic runs to the nearest point for a guess at his line, and there's run cut out up hill and down dale that Melton might mourn for, and the Pytchley be proud of. All the pent-up spirit and excitement has its fling--no craning or peeping now; but away at a pace and over a country that may break a neck quite as quickly as a new gate or a new horse."

No. 2.-"Yes, exactly! and what becomes of the stag you came to shoot?"

No. 1.-"What! Hark to old Dandie and Maggie, and they'll tell you what. Hark! to the bay, sir, the very acmé of all the attractions of deer-stalking! and see what a picture I give you in the second shot, because I did n't make the first sufficient.'

No. 2.-"Ah! I did n't think of all that; and so the next time I go out, or, at any rate, talk of going, I'll-"

Do you

think the brush

No. 1.-"-Take care to hit hard' only. of a chop'd fox is worth the look at a flying one?"

WOODCOCK AND SNIPE SHOOTING.

BY L. LLOYD, ESQ.,

Although I have shot but few woodcocks and snipes in Scandinavia, I have in my time been more successful elsewhere. A few desultory remarks respecting those birds may not therefore be unacceptable.

I will commence with the woodcock.

In Great Britain they are said to be less plentiful than was the case formerly; but of this I can form no opinion, not having of late years shot much at home. If such be the case, however, the scarcity is little to be wondered at, when we consider the manner in which they are persecuted. Why or wherefore it should be so I am at a loss to conceive; but we sportsmen seem to attach a particular charm to the killing of a woodcock, and if one be flushed in the course of the best day's shooting, everything else is neglected until the poor bird is safely deposited in the game bag. At the present time, however, there is reason to believe they breed more frequently in England than they used to do, more particularly near to the Sussex and Hampshire coast: as a proof, Mr. Trimmer, in a letter to me, dated Haselmere, March 30th, 1846, says: "A neighbour of mine was rabbit-shooting last week, and found five woodcock's nests, with four eggs in each nest."

The covers in the eastern counties of England-more particularly those near to the coast-are occasionally during spring and fall well supplied. Some few years ago, whilst pheasant-shooting with the late Sir Fowell Buxton and a friend, near to Cromer, in Norfolk, we fell in towards evening with a flight, and in less than two hours bagged nine couple. Had daylight continued a while longer we should probably soon have doubled the number. By the baronet's game-book I observed that during two particular seasons— -those of 1825 and 1831seventy-five couple were shot each season, but on the average of thirteen years not more than forty-five couple. At Felbrigg Hall, also, near to Cromer, the seat of Mr. Wyndham, I noticed by the register that on the average of twelve years thirty-five couple had been killed, but one par ticular season fifty-one couple. I understood, however, that in general these birds do not remain long on the eastern coast, but on the first frost move further to the westward.

On the coast of Kent, though this can hardly be considered an eastern county, there is occasionally good shooting during the period of migration. Once at Broome Park, near to Canterbury, Mr. George Chichester Oxenden and myself killed five couples; but it was thought nothing of, as many more have been bagged there in a day. On this occasion we had a great many well trained beaters; and it was needed, for the woods we shot over were immense-several thousand acres, it was said, in extent. Our markers, of whom we had several, were stationed in trees! a plan that I never saw adopted in England before or since, and which appeared to answer admirably.

I

The midland English counties are not very well supplied with cocks, and to kill two or three couple in a day is considered a great performance. I once assisted in bagging four couple at Stowe, where that season-1842-3-by the Duke's register, fifty-two couple were booked. In parts of Lancashire cocks must at times be pretty abundant. observed, when at Knowsley, that from 1827 to 1833, a period of seven years, 540 couple were bagged, or seventy-five couple annually on the average; 1829 and 1832 were the best seasons-ninety-three couple were killed in the former year, and ninety-two in the latter.

I have shot very little in the west of England, but by all accounts parts of Devonshire and Cornwall still afford capital cock-shooting. I have heard of great bags having been made occasionally in those counties. Excellent sport is also to be met with in certain districts of Wales; but I speak not from personal experience, having shot but little in the principality.

In parts of Scotland, good shooting is also at times obtainable. The late Sir Francis Sykes told me that during the season 1822-3, when he rented Lynedoch cottage, in Perthshire, he bagged in the woods thereabout sixty and odd couple; and when in the town of Inverary, many years ago, I was informed by the Duke of Argyle's keeper, whom I accidentally met, that in one day during the winter of 1823-4 he and two others bagged 21 couple.

Though excellent cock-shooting is to be found in various parts of Great Britain, far better, on the whole, is to be had in Ireland. The mildness of the climate, the endless springs and water-courses, together with the marshy nature of the soil, point out that country as the natural resort of all birds of the scolopax tribe. In point of fact, when the winters are very severe, many leave the English shores for the sister kingdom, where at such times they are always more than ordinarily abundant. Unlike our English woods, which are generally altogether composed of oak, hazel, &c., the under cover of those in Ireland consist in a great degree of holly, and, in the southern districts, of arbutus. Under the foliage of these evergreens the woodcock delights to shelter himself in the day time, his season of rest and repose. Incredible numbers have sometimes been killed in a day--not only at the period of their arrival, when from fatigue they may occasionally almost be knocked down with sticks, or during severe weather, when the snow is so deep ou the ground that the poor birds are literally famished, and retreat from the interior to the coast-but by fair shooting. For instance, a field officer of the Tipperary Militia, with whom I was in company years ago, told me that he himself was present when 50 couple were bagged by an acquaintance in a single day! It was for a considerable wager; the individual performing the feat being unlimited as to the number of guns, &c. I forget the name of the cover, but it was one of the best in Ireland, and of course strictly preserved. Again, the late Lord Glentworth assured me that in 1842, Mr. Matthew Barrington and his party, probably consisting of five or six guns, bagged in one day on Lord Limerick's property, Dromore Wood, 72 couple! Though in former years, from 1814 to 1822, I have occasionally shot in various parts of Ireland, I never had any extraordinary success with cocks; but this was attributable to not happening to shoot in good covers when the frost was severe and the snow deep upon the ground. At such times, by the