admired, pondered on the wonderful and inscrutable instincts of the brute creation, blessed himself, and passed on. The cares and studies necessarily attendant upon his calling, however, soon expelled every vestige of this occurrence from his mind, until he was awakened to fresh admiration and benediction by a renewed and stupendous view of the same objects. Exactly on the above day twelvemonth, passing the same way, his second astonishment was far greater than the first, for he saw upon the self-same spot the dog pointing at the birds, in precisely the same attitude he had left both parties twelve months before with this difference, however, that they were then living and breathing, one party stealthily circumventing, the other apprehending; whereas now they were in a skeleton state, fit for a lecture in anatomy.

Strange peculiarities have been recorded of many pointers. One, a gormandiser, for instance, had to be lowered by two or three days' fasting before work; and it was no easy task to do this, as he would eat trash of any sort or kind, from shoe-leather to the horny part of a horse's hoof. It was indeed difficult to reduce him so as to reap the advantages of his singularly good qualities in the field. Some had wonderful sagacity in so managing matters, and particularly in hedgework, as to get round the game and to turn it out on the gun side. One would point the game through the loose stone walls on the wolds in Gloucestershire. The most extraordinary pointer of all, however, was one which stood a covey of birds whilst topping a gate, having so instantane

ously checked himself in his career as to maintain his point, a circumstance almost unrivalled in singularity by his master's bringing down six of the covey the moment they rose, at a single shot.

"I have a fine pointer," said a gentleman to his friend," staunch as can be at birds, but I cannot break him from sheep." The reply was that the best means were to couple him to the horn of an old ram, and leave them in a stable all night, and the discipline he would receive would prevent his loving field mutton again. The same person, meeting the owner of the dog some time afterwards, accosted him thus: "Well, sir, your pointer now is the best in England, no doubt, from my prescription." "Much the same, sir, for he killed my ram and ate a shoulder! "

A sporting parson in Wiltshire possessed a pointer that was the admiration of the whole county. A nobleman, very fond of sport, admired the dog much, and wished to have him. The clergyman observed this, and hearing that his lordship had some church preferments in his gift was not backward in displaying his dog. "He certainly points well," said his lordship. "Yes," replied the parson, " he does, but I'll tell your lordship how it is; he is a hungry dog, and points for a living." His lordship took the hint, and made the dog his own.

Colonel Thornton's pointers, Pluto and Juno, were, it was declared, sketched by Gilpin the artist, on account of having kept their point upwards of one hour and a quarter. This story excited much amusement amongst sportsmen.

About 1805 the first bob-tailed pointer was bred by Mr. Tayleure, of Meeson Hall, Salop, who gave Mr. Picken, of Sidney, two whelps by his own dog, Carlow, who was not of the bob-tail breed. Both whelps turned out well, but Patch, a bitch, was an extraordinary animal. She was trained by, and was the property of, Mr. Duncalfe, who then had the management of the Duke of Sutherland's game on his Shropshire estates, and no man better understood the business he had undertaken than he. He was an excellent shot, and often went out with John Crutchley, the head keeper, a man of great vigilance, courage, and activity, and a good marksman. There is an anecdote told of him; it was in the days of flint and steel, when hanging fire and flashin-the-pan were more frequent than desirable. One drizzling day, when powder would be moist, John made a decided poke at a snipe that was wheeling round him; the trigger obeyed the finger, but ignition was slow-'twas a "spluttering hang." "I shall have thee presently," he quietly muttered, still dangling the gun and keeping his aim, until "Bang!"—

the bird fell.

Patch was the admiration of all sportsmen

that saw her either in field or covert. The Duc d'Angoulême, when exiled in England, frequently visited the Duke's woods; and so pleased was he with her performances that, on seeing Mr. Duncalfe, who always attended him, Patch not being out, his Royal Highness would anxiously exclaim, "Where is de Patch, de delightful Patch ?"

Owing to various causes, perhaps chiefly owing to the perfection of modern guns, more men shoot well now than was formerly the case, and some of the long shots which certain experts make with ease make one feel inclined to sympathise with that Irish servant who, after his master had brought down a very high pheasant, shouted out, "Arrah, your honour, need not have shot; the fall would have killed him."

Most of the old-fashioned sportsmen did not care to attempt long shots at all; their object was to risk missing as little as possible, for loading was not then the easy task which it has long since become.

The old guns sometimes did great execution. In September, 1823, for instance, a gentleman who was shooting near Allonby, Cumberland, raised a covey of twelve partridges. The wind literally blew a gale, and just as he fired a gust wheeled the covey suddenly round, concentrating it very considerably, and ten birds fell to the ground. The sportsman immediately fired his other barrel and brought down the remaining brace.

As a rule the bags made by sportsmen of other days were moderate, according to a modern estimate, but, all things considered, some very creditable records were made.

At Holkham, in 1811, when several first-class shots were staying with Mr. Coke, the

party

killed :

A royal duke, who was one of the guests on this occasion, does not seem to have done much execution as regards game.

As a military man he appears to have considered pheasants and partridges unworthy of his aim, and the return made for him was of a different kind, being as follows:

Killed of game-none.

Wounded in the legs-one foot marker, slightly. Wounded in the face-one groom, severely.

Wounded slightly-one horse.

Wounded on the head of a friend-one hat.

In the eighteenth century many landowners made little attempt to preserve game at all, and allowed their neighbours to sport over their estates at will. On one property, belonging to a certain nobleman, the officers from a neighbouring garrison town had for long years past been permitted to shoot over the land of a noble lord who seldom visited that portion of his property. The privilege of shooting had indeed come to be regarded as a military right, and so when the peer in question died a certain captain, very fond of sport, did not trouble to ask permission of his