SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN he was out. Lord Spencer shot 80 head ; Lord Exeter 50 ; Lord John Russell, who arrived late, 30 ; and the Duke of Welling- ton 1 6. The prince shot again the next day and killed 1 1 2 head of game. In a county like Hertfordshire, where such a large number of pheasants are reared, it is not surprising that many large bags have been made in recent years. As a sport pheasant shooting is the most artificial of all shooting, generally speaking most of the birds shot are hand reared, and the number shot depends upon the number so reared. There are however in this county many manors on which pheasant shooting is seen at its best, where birds fly high over the shooters and trouble is taken to prevent birds being driven over the guns like barn-door fowls, which has given rise to an unreasonable outcry against what some are pleased to call the ' modern battue.' Notably amongst the manors where good pheasant shooting is enjoyed are Panshanger, 1 Brocket, Ashridge, Hatfield Park and Gor- hambury. Partridge shooting, on the other hand, is a real sport in Hertfordshire, although there may be different opinions as to whether driving partridges or walking them up is the most sportsmanlike. There can be no doubt however that larger bags have been obtained since driving became the fashion. One of the best, if not the best, bags of driven partridges was obtained on the Chrishall Grange farms near Royston, belonging to lord Hampden. The shooting was rented by the Messrs. Blyth, and they on one day with nine guns in October, 1899, shot no less than 505 brace of partridges. Almost as good bags were obtained at Putteridge Park, when the three brothers Sowerby probably the three best shots in England for three brothers with three other guns killed 335 brace in 1896 in one day, and 360 brace in one day in 1897. Some extraordinary wood pigeon shooting was enjoyed by the brothers Sowerby in January, 1899. One windy morning they and one keeper posted themselves after putting out the decoys, and shot by noon 500 wood pigeons picked up. Mr. Thomas Sowerby killed 287 to his own gun without killing more than one to one shot. The next day they killed 400, and during the month of January they shot no less than 3,500. In some places in the county a considerable number of wild ducks are reared and pre- served. At Tring Park on October 25, 1897, when King Edward VII. was the guest of Lord Rothschild, the bag was 505 wild ducks, 226 coot, and a few extras. These were all shot on the Marsworth and Wilstone reservoirs on the Tring estate. On one occasion in 1 899 the Duke of Cornwall and York shot over 100 wild ducks at one stand on the bridge near Brocket Hall. FISHING The ' gentle craft ' of fishing has always been popular in England, and many are the books that have been written on the subject. Some of the oldest treatises dwelt chiefly on the art of making fishponds, which were from the times of Julius Caesar important adjuncts to country houses, and almost a necessity to religious establishments. Fishing as a sport was practised from very early days, as we know from the following story. Plutarch relates how Antony and Cleopatra went out fishing together, and as Antony could not catch any fish he bribed divers to fasten some on to his hook. Cleopatra feigned pleasure and pretended not to see the ruse, and next day summoned her friends to see Antony fishing, having previously in- structed the divers to fasten a salt fish on to Antony's hook. This was done, much to 1 Lord Cowper has in his possession a game book which was kept by the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, of the game shot at Panshanger. his confusion, in the presence of Cleopatra and her friends. Chauncy in his history of Hertfordshire says : ' This county is pleasantly watered with many small brooks and rivers which do greatly accommodate the houses of the no- bility and gentry, increase the grass in the meadows, advance the trade of the inhabi- tants by navigation, and produce variety of fish as eels, miller's thumbs, cray-fish, trouts, gudgeons, bream, carps, tench, perch, roach ; and the river Lea salmons, and if these fish had free passage by the mills where they might spawn in fresh water and were care- fully preserved from poachers, they would greatly increase in that river.' The chief rivers in the county are the Lea, the Colne, the Ver, the Gade, the Bulbourne, the Mimram, the Rime, the Beam, the Rib and the Stort. There is one fish at least which inhabits all these rivers and which no one wishes to preserve. That is the pike ; but for its 361 A A 2
