Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/167

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on wildfowl-shooting comes to hand opportunely in the month of January, and if the weather is not sufficiently favourable to hold out much hope of sport, there is some consolation to be found in looking forward to a change for the better, and in reading, over a comfortable fire, the adventures and advice of "Wildfowler."

Those who have already made acquaintance with his two former volumes, which were published a year or more ago, will be prepared for much that appears in these, and the reader who is fond of marsh and coast shooting, with an occasional turn at sea- fishing, will find a good deal to amuse him in these reminiscenees of an enthusiastic sportsman.

It may be thought by some that there is rather too much sameness in the account which the author gives of his varied expeditions, and that one good book on the subject (as the "first series" undoubtedly was) is better than two. On the other hand, the author does not go over the same ground, or water, but "changes the venue" both at home and abroad, and many who are as enthusiastic as himself will doubtless be disposed to think that they cannot have too much of a good thing.

Without actually reproducing some of his sketches, for which we regret that we have not space at our disposal, we can scarcely do the author justice; but we may remark that although his heart is evidently in the lonely snipe-marsh, or the saltings and sandhills by the sea (where the variety of birds to be met with at certain seasons, the uncertainty of what will get up next, and the rapid, twisting, snipe-like flight of these denizens of the marsh, combine to render this kind of rough shooting peculiarly attractive), he has by no means neglected the claims which every species of winged and four-fooled game possesses in the eyes of sportsmen.

The subject of Grouse-shooting, Partridge-driving, or Snipeshooting in Ireland, is now somewhat "hackneyed," and there is