We have looked without the sportsman's abode on well-cultivated broad lands, rich woodlands with game well stocked, meandering trout streams winding through the valley and heathered hill: let us now introduce the curious in such matters to the interior of this rural snuggery. From under a rustic portico at the back of the house, flanked by the stabling, we entered a sort of small lobby, on each side of which was a seat or bench, above which were nailed in a row some fine antlers both of the red and fallow deer, from whence a door, both to the right and left, introduced us to two small and low but remarkably interesting rooms— at least such were they in our estimation, and such they would be to most lovers of field sports; the windows of these apartments opening on a small terraced garden, which commanded an extensive view of the rich valley which we have previously endeavoured to illustrate to the mind's eye. The peculiarity of these rooms, however, combining as they did the elegance of refined taste with the habits of a sportsman and rusticity even of the labourer, was so striking that although in other respects, as to form and size, they differed in no manner from what similar rooms in similar houses generally are found, we must crave a few minutes' attention to describe them before we walk forth to visit the forest and the kennel. In the one, a high and richly-carved oaken mantel-piece of the olden days, together with a wardrobe of similar fashion, and many a curiously carved chair of walnut-wood from the low country, or oak from the forests of England, were sufficient to satisfy us as to the taste of the owner; whereas the simply painted, or we may say washed, walls of the apartment, on which hung many an implement of the chase, such as guns, rifles, fishing-rods, and hunting-whips, together with numerous trophies of a sportsman, consisting of antlers, foxbrushes, scuts, stuffed birds, &c., convinced us of what we had already surmised, that our companion was as ardent in the pursuit of those pleasures for which he had himself selected or been chosen to occupy the wild rural yet charming spot as a constant residence, in which, while it divided him from the busy world he regarded only in the distance, had nevertheless not erased from his mind those objects, the more attainable though the less valued, when living in the vortex of its contending pains and pleasures. But let us now pass from this interesting locale of natural history and art, ancient and modern, to another picture, though of totally a different class and character, viz., that which appeared to be the room usually inhabited by our companion. Here all bore an equal

stamp of neatness, cleanliness, and comfort; but while in the one room the walls were covered with sporting arms and sporting relics, the other was hung round and about with sporting prints, intermixed with pictures of a religious character of such a nature as tended to convince us that their owner worshipped the Roman faith, if the figure of the Virgin Mary in a large glass case which was placed on a pedestal at one end of the apartment had not already given us conclusive evidence of such being the fact a matter in which, however, we had neither the discourtesy to interfere or the wish to intrude ourselves. Sufficient that the same peculiarities of comfort, taste, rusticity, and cleanliness existed throughout this charming sporting quarter, as did courtesy, bluntness, hospitality, and nervousness evince itself in the manners and bearing of its athletic and manly possessor.

Having received and accepted a kind offer of refreshment after our

ride, and acknowledged the assurance that our hack should be well tended, we lighted our cigar, a taste to which our host appeared readily to assent, and proceeded to inspect the kennel, the first, and as we had previously believed, only object of our visit.

This spot, like all that we had hitherto the gratification of seeing, bore no peculiar feature in regard to regularity of building; every thing was of the most primitive kind, and yet was it in all repects fully suited for the purpose for which it was used, and of sufficient size to contain thirty couple of hounds, about the number which it then held; situated on a dry, gravelly, and commanding position, about a gun-shot from the cottage, well sheltered by the woodlands beyond it, and watered by a running stream of the purest element, rough in outward appearance, but well ordered and cleanly. On the first view of the hounds, which were drawn from the kennel in couples on the grassy slope on which we stood, we should have pronounced them as the most heterogeneous mass of the canine species ever assembled together for the chase. When the whole pack, however, were fairly before us, some rolling on the soft turf, others sunning themselves in the noonday's sun, while many gambolled in the joy of temporary liberty, we could not but admit that although generally ill-sized, many a beautiful hound was there, indeed sufficient to form an average pack of sightly and well-formed hounds, while a few couples evinced symmetry, power, and breeding which could scarcely be surpassed.

Having well examined and enjoyed the presence of these faithful and instinctive servants to man's pleasure, we gained the following interesting information from their owner. "My object," said he," is not to part with the whole of my pack, although my wish to such effect has been made public; my desire is rather to reduce them in number and in size; they are to me a source of unmitigated pleasure and amusement, of which you will be satisfied when I tell you that I have the right in a large proportion, and the permission in others, to hunt over the best part of the valley which you now look on, and also the entire control of the woodlands and hills in our rear, which although so contiguous to several large towns, and within a few hours' journey from the metropolis, extend over no less than eighteen hundred acres, a portion of which is as wild as the Highlands of Scotland; moreover, these woodlands contain abundance of red deer, as also of the fallow deer, in their wild and natural state, which I occasionally hunt; a large hound, however, cannot readily follow through the thick woodland and dense coverts which abound. The North Devon stag-hounds* also draw these woodlands for the red deer during the season, and I am rejoiced to be enabled to show them a good day's sport, to which my little pack give much assistance by rattling on other occasions these noble animals through wood. and vale, and thus giving me amusement, and keeping them in good wind and training. For those more fitted to subdue them to the death, I have also constant sport with the wild fallow deer, which frequently quit the forest, and give me first-rate runs; as, however, my object is seldom that of killing, I should prefer a smaller-sized and slower description of hound. The deer in the woodlands afford excellent sport, as also the hares in the vale, but here again a smaller hound is better suited to the nature of the county. As to breeding, I am never very * We shall give some information in regard to these hounds in our next.

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particular. A good hound is a good hound-if I get a bad one I part with him. Neither am I very particular as to beauty; a fair form does not for a certainty secure scent, stoutness, or pace. On some occasions

I secure a wild fallow deer, and take him to the low country, and in such cases have had admirable sport; indeed a run of twenty miles across the open country between B. and W. has not been unusual. But now let us proceed to the higher part of the forest; you will be far more delighted than you have been already with the extensive prospect which the upland commands; and while we walk there, I shall have pleasure in giving you some details in reference to our abundant game of all kinds on this estate." (To be continued.)

A SCRAP OR TWO ON RODS AND GUNS.

"Illud teneto nervos atque artus esse sapientiæ, non temerè credere!"

Cic.

My sylvan host continued to descant con amore upon salmon fishing, pounding and expounding his subject with a forty-Frenchman-power of volubility. I am, however, ashamed to have to confess that after listening with very praiseworthy attention for a full hour, "tired Nature" could stand it no longer; I fell fast asleep on the comfortable caoutchoue sofa, where, after the fashion of the ancient Romans and modern Britons, I had stretched myself out at full length, and, it is possible, joined chorus with a magnificent red setter on the otium cum dig. list, then covering full three-quarters of the hearth-rug.

To a poor devil like myself, long a stranger to such luxuries, it is not surprising that the sofa, carpet, doors that would shut, as the American author says, ale, poteen, K. r,,, enjoyed after a hard day's work, should prove narcotics; but still, to succumb in the middle of a discourse on salmon-fishing was as bad as sleeping in a sentry-box-at least, so seemed to think my worthy Amphitryon. No sooner did he perceive how the land lay than he rose suddenly to ring the bell, capsized a crank-table, not unintentionally I suspect, on which were lying several very killing flies and a powder-flask on a new principle, and delivered himself of some very improper notes of exclamation. The sharp edge of the guéridon came in contact with Carlo's ribs, and the flask found its way into the wood-fire that was blazing away, after the French fashion, on the hearth.

Fortunately for all concerned, the dog's ululations and the anathemata of his master aroused me, and I was fortunate enough to save my friend's "hut" by snatching the unlucky specimen of Mr. Sykes's ingenuity from the flames.

A fresh supply of boiling water having been brought in-as a matter of course, in answer to the bell-I thought that the best thing I could do to pacify the offended orator was to perform a certain synthetical operation as quickly as possible, strong assurances on his part of the anticephalalgic properties of the matière prémière being by no means wanting.

"That stuff," said he, "came from -, where I commanded a detachment three or four of the wettest months I ever passed in all my life, and I never experienced the slightest headache the whole time. "But, perhaps," added he somewhat pointedly, "coffee would be more agreeable."

"Thank you. 'Anch'io son' pittore.' I too have fished, shot, and hunted —oftener for stills than foxes, I allow-the county you speak of, and prefer poteen to everything potable under the sun.'

The following is, as nearly as I can remember, an imperfect résumé of his observations on salmon. Many of them run counter to received notions, and, to confess the truth, astonished my weak mind not a little. Of course I neither vouch for their correctness nor expect them to escape without criticism. That, however, is of little consequence, as my friend is not likely to be affected by it-he having been for some time in Oregon, comfortably domiciled on a branch of the Columbia, somewhere between the N. Pacific and the Stony Mountains. There he practises thetraducere leniter ævum" rule, shoots a white bear now and then, and lands more fish in a month than falls to the lot of most men to raise during the course of a long life,

It is needless to tell you," he began, "what everybody knows that has been out of Cheapside, that a white fish may be caught with a large gaudy fly; that after vegetating some time in fresh water, his appetite becomes capricious; that few fish live long enough to get a red coat without making acquaintance with half a score of O'Shaughnessies, borrowing a hank or so of the best gut, and very often getting an ugly scratch about the pectorals for their pains, from some bungling gaffer. As well might I insult you by pedantically informing you that the noble anadrome was less known to the Greeks than to the gentlemen vot angle near the Lea Bridge; that the very name is wanting in their language-aλpov being modern Greek.

"It is also, I believe, a pretty generally received doctrine that the appât, called by many people an artificial fly,' that comes the nearest in colour to the prey on which our migratory friend may happen to be feeding, will prove, in the long run, the most likely to bring about his introduction to a salmon-creel. So far we have nothing but plainsailing. I merely recall the above well-known facts to serve as axioms by which, with the aid of one or two postulates to be mentioned shortly, I purpose endeavouring to demonstrate a theorem or two. Those postulates are less generally known than what I have already recapitulated; but you know I have been out of the world this age: it is a thousand to one that those little matters which have struck me have not escaped the notice of fifty other people. If you find this to be the case, just tell me so at once, and we'll change the subject. I think I can give you a new leaf on cocks. By-the-bye, I know a part of the wood that is full of them, and will take you there, if you please, to-morrow.

"In my humble opinion, the worst fly a man can stumble on is that which comes near the colour of any non-edible substance that may happen to be in or on the river. A Welsh (drab or quaker-coloured) fly is not likely to prove a magnet of attraction when dry dead leaves are "strewing the brooks," as Milton hath it; nor a West of Ireland fly (brown mallard wing, crottle body), when dead leaves, that have become of a dark brown colour from long soaking, are floating down at all

depths; nor a goldfinch, top-knot, or May-fly, when willow-catkins are falling into the pools; neither would I advise a trout-angier to cast a granam among the fennel-like tufts of the ranunculus aquatilis; nor to select a dotterel-wing in the hay-time, when the seeds of grasses are flying about.

"In bright weather, if anything will succeed, it is a fly of a glassy inconspicuous colour; black would go down little better than white or scarlet. Here you will observe that I differ from an accomplished sportsman, who tells us to use white for darkness, red in medio, and black for lightness.' Therefore take what I have just said, as well as all the rest, cum grano salis.'

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But the author you allude to only professes to treat on trout fishing."

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You are right--I had forgotten that; but the remark I made was intended to be applied to trout as well as salmon flies.

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Before wetting a line, I always endeavour to make out what baits are stirring in or on the water-whether worms, frogs, minnows, fry, par, small trout, or large flies (alder, grey drake, stone-fly, &c.) The first and second, of course, are not easily imitated; but of the remainder -from the minnow to the stone-fly-I flatter myself I can produce a very fair copy.

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If there were hard frost and snow just before the winter-floods, the water will remain cold a long time; the frozen banks will furnish no worms, and minnows make their appearance late. The different ephemera, too, will not drop on the streams so soon. Fish will run up late, or, at all events, not feed well, from finding nothing to eat; at such a time I make a point of sticking to the bogs and covers as long as the cocks remain in the country.

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On the other hand, should the river have overflowed its banks in winter during mild weather, worms will be carried away in great numbers, and prove-not only as soon as the water falls to a proper level, but during the whole scason-a very killing bait. Whilst in the former case, the fish, from not having acquired a taste for them the early part of the season, will never take them well until they have got a fresh appetite by revisiting the salt water.

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A fish with the sea-lice sticking to his sides is more likely to be captured with a showy tinsel-fly than a worm. Probably he takes the glittering object for a small fish-sand-eel, or something of the sorthe has been accustomed to, and knows nothing as yet about the esculent properties of the worm.

If a gaudy fly be not mistaken for a small fish, it must have the credit of passing for a creature sui generis: to pretend that a salmon takes it for a libellula, or dragon-fly, is downright absurdity. A gay fly answers best the beginning of the season, when there are no dragonflies; indeed very often no winged insects of any kind, near the river ; and when the libellula do make their appearance in May and June, a good imitation of a grey drake or stone-fly will succeed when what is generally called an Irish fly will not be looked at.

"To fabricate a mass of feather and dubbing that will pass muster, when in motion on broken water, for a minnow or par, does not require a very extraordinary portion of ingenuity. The way to go to work is to look upon what is generally styled the body of the artificial fly' as the belly, sides, and fins of the interesting ichthyological nondescript you are