possessed no greater merit than the distance and height at which it was taken. Many fine shots from the rifle may be had at sitting black-cocks, and better sport in a clear afternoon cannot well be imagined; yet the art and practice of stalking them seems not yet to have met with the attention they deserve.

While writing of remarkable shots, the following anecdote occurs to the author's recollection, and is related not merely for its curiousness as to show how fantastically guns will sometimes throw their shot:-Mr Shaw, gamekeeper at Drumlanrig (to whom the world is indebted for the discovery of the breeding habits of that valuable fish-the salmon), was shooting grouse one day late in the season. His wadding running done, he loaded with paper, and on firing at a grouse forty-five yards out, he was surprised to observe something large fall separately from the bird. On going up he found the bird running about with one wing, the other being as nearly cut off as if amputated with a knife. His shot was No. 4. While in an anecdotal mood, one or two on the strength of gun-barrels, within our own personal observation, may be related here.

Our first gun was a single-barrelled twenty gauge. Some young friends borrowing it, used paper for wadding, and managed to wedge in the ramrod when nearly home in ramming the shot. To pull it out proved impossible, so the next step was to fire it out. We hardly expect to be credited when we state that the ramrod was not driven out by the explosion; that the powder burnt itself up in the barrel, the gases partly escaping by the nipple, and that the great consequent heat melted the shot, and

firmly soldered the metal head of the ramrod into the barrel! The gun we used for many years afterwards.

Another similar instance occurred in 1859. A gun was fired with the rod in the barrel, and the extraordinary effect was, that the wood of the rod broke off some few inches from the head and disappeared, while the head and short remaining part of the wood were left in the barrel. Part of the shot only showed the influence of · the heat, but the pellets were otherwise all driven out of shape by the pressure. These are curious cases, and show the extreme strength of iron against mere pressure without motion. If the rods had stuck in the barrels near the muzzles, and had the gases once obtained velocity, the metal would have been torn to shreds. If strong at the breech, and the metal be sound, a gunbarrel may be very thin forwards with entire safety.

Black-game shooting, like that of grouse, closes on the tenth day of December.

Salmon and sea-trout continue to run up the western rivers during August in increased numbers. Too frequently, indeed, for the grouse-shooter, heavy rains during the first days of this month give them every facility for ascending the smaller rivers. Common trout begin to fall off in condition, especially in lochs, and they all now begin to show a preference for gaudy flies. The grey neutral tints must be abandoned for bright red and other warm colours. In a very few years we hope to see grayling so numerous and wide-spread as to afford a continuance of sport as that of trout-fishing falls off. The rapidity of its dash, and the necessity of it being

gently handled when hooked, will make this gallant fish worthy of the notice of our very best anglers.

That tyrant of the lake, the pike, begins to bite more freely than during summer, but will come into still better condition two months hence.

One branch of sport we do not pretend to write about -the actual practice of deer-stalking. The theory we know, and that well too; but for the rules and practice of this great pursuit no author need be consulted but Scrope, whose volume on the subject remains, and promises to remain, without a rival. We believe that there is now in the press a work on the mode of hunting the wild red-deer in the south-west of England. The author, Mr Collyns, we have the pleasure of knowing, and from his long practical acquaintance with his subject, a valuable contribution to this branch of sporting literature, hitherto so limited, may be fully expected.

August then, taking it for all in all, is the great month of Highland sport. The Lammas floods once over, the weather is usually magnificent. For tourists it is unrivalled. Steamers, coaches, and all travelling conveniences are in full equipment, and throughout the country there is a general air of bustle which lends interest and excitement to travel, so that one's attention and amusement are equally excited by new faces and manners, as by new scenery.

No. IX.-SEPTEMBER.

"Next him September marched eeke on foote;
Yet was he heavy laden with the spoyle
Of harvest's riches, which he made his boot,*
And him enricht with bounty of the soyle:
In his one hand, as fit for harvest's toyle,

He held a knife-hook, and in th' other hand
A pair of waights, with which he did assoyle
Both more and lesse, where it in doubt did stand,
And equal gave to each as Iustice duly scann'd."

SPENSER.

THE First of September is to our friends in the south almost as important in the annals of shooting as the Twelfth of August is in the north. On the first begins the great shooting over arable lands, that of the partridge, which in its general character much resembles the grouse. Like the inhabitants of the moors, the partridge pairs with its mate in spring, forms its nest on the ground, the young also running as soon as hatched, and being led about and fostered by both parents until they reach maturity. There has been much controversy among naturalists as to whether the male partridge assists in the incubation or not, taking his turn with the female upon the eggs as pigeons do. The balance of evidence seems

* "Boot"-Advantage or profit, still in use with the prefix "to." "To boot" is used when anything is added to supplement a bargain—a curious instance of a word otherwise obsolete, being retained in a special sense. "Assoyle" to free or quit, is another instance. "Assoilzied" is a legal term in common use.

to be on the side of the male's active performance of this important duty, the period of incubation being twentyone days. It is rather curious that we never could learn from any sportsman, naturalist, or work on natural history, the period of grouse's incubation, although we have put the question very often indeed. Partridges lay more eggs than grouse do, and coveys have been known to contain more than twenty young birds. Were they not so prolific they would soon be extirpated by their numerous enemies. This season they abound in England beyond all precedent, very possibly, by some mysterious law of nature, in accordance with the great development of insect life which has marked the present year. (This abundance was yet exceeded by that of 1859.) Modern investigation has proved that partridges and pheasants, so much decried by narrow-minded antigame-law agitators, are most valuable farmers' friends, the favourite food of both being the destructive larva of the click-beetle (Elater segetis), commonly known as the wire-worm. As this insect remains no less than five years in this stage of its existence, during which it preys on the roots of grain, the value of an active enemy to its increase may be imagined. We only hazard this connection between the unusual numbers of partridges and insects as being probable. Certainly the fields in Britain have been unwontedly peopled with insects. A fly called the "nigger"* threatened at one time utterly to ruin the turnip crop, and that formidable

*This insect is most greedily devoured by the common duck. When a field of turnips is so infested, a certain cure is to turn into it a few lean ducks, which will soon extirpate the enemy, and, besides, get fattened for nothing!