Part 33 (1/2)
=Gentlemen who go down into a County= for a few days' hunting only seldom wear ”pink,” and prefer riding to hounds in black coats.
The members of the hunt wear pink as a matter of course, but it is considered better taste for a stranger to wear a black coat than to appear in a _new_, _very new_, unspecked red one.
=Sporting Terms.=--Persons unversed in matters appertaining to ”country life” and ”country sports,” town bred, and who have had little or no opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of the subject from personal experience, can hardly fail to commit many and various mistakes when brought into contact with sportsmen and their sports.
A knowledge of sporting matters and sporting terms, and the etiquette observed by sportsmen, is only arrived at by a.s.sociating with those thoroughly conversant with the subject, and with whom ”sport” has formed part of their education so to speak.
=The Shooting Season commences= on the 12th of August with grouse shooting in the north of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Partridge shooting commences on the 1st of September and terminates on the 1st of February.
The finest partridge shooting is allowed by general consent to be found in the eastern counties.
Partridge driving does not take place until January to any great extent.
=Pheasant Shooting= commences the 1st of October and terminates the 1st of February.
=Hares= may be shot up to the 1st of March.
=Rabbits= may be shot all the year round.
=Rooks= are shot during the spring and summer.
It is difficult to make a would-be sportsman comprehend the strict etiquette maintained between the owners of manors; that is to say, he would think nothing of crossing the boundary of his host's manor, ”gun in hand,” if he felt inclined to follow a bird or hare he had wounded, oblivious of the fact that, in the first place, the greatest punctiliousness is observed between gentlemen in the matter of trespa.s.sing on each other's land when out shooting; and, that unless the greatest intimacy existed, a sportsman would hardly venture to pick up his dead bird if it had fallen on a neighbour's manor, and would on no account look for a wounded bird, but for a dead one only. In the second place he would carefully observe the rule of leaving his gun on his own side of the boundary, and would certainly not carry it with him to his neighbour's land. These are points that strangers invited for a few days' shooting very often fall foul of, creating thereby much unpleasantness for their host through their ignorance and inexperience.
=When a gentleman is invited to join= a shooting-party, it would not be necessary for him to take a loader with him, as his host would find a man to perform that office for him, unless he had a servant with him capable of performing that duty; but if he were residing in the neighbourhood he would, as a matter of course, take his loader with him when asked to join a shooting-party, and in both cases he would shoot with two guns, as to shoot with one gun only causes a vexatious delay.
A frequent cause of offence to sportsmen is for a gentleman to be noisy when out shooting, that is to say, to be ”loudly talkative,” or ”boisterously merry,” or given to indulge in exclamations when a bird rises, or when a bird is missed; your true sportsman maintains a strict silence.
There are numberless other points relating to field sports wherein the ”inexperienced sportsman” is apt to give offence, but which would take up too much s.p.a.ce to enter into in a work of this description.
=The Fees, or Tips to the Gamekeepers=, vary from 10_s._ to 5, according to the number of days' shooting enjoyed or the extent of the bag.
For one day's partridge-shooting the tip to the head gamekeeper would be a sovereign; for a good day's pheasant-shooting, as much as two sovereigns would probably be given. A gentleman who does not tip or fee up to this mark is not likely to find himself too well placed in a battue.
The cost of a game licence is 3, and lasts twelve months, from 1st August to the 31st of July the following year, or 2 from the 1st of August to the 31st of October, or 2 from the 1st of November to the 31st of July in the following year, or 1 for fourteen days.
CHAPTER x.x.xVII
SHAKING HANDS