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another, they soon become heated, are easily spoiled, and quite unfit to be sent away to any distance.

Birds packed up warm and sent to a distance would be totally unfit for use on reaching their destination, or even if not warm, if packed indiscriminately and crowded one closely upon the other.

No one bird ought ever to lie upon another. Some persons use hops in packing, which answer the purpose well; but charcoal is much cheaper, and I think somewhat better, as it can be introduced in the mouths of the birds, after the blood has been removed, if there be any. Some care of game after it is brought home is also very necessary in the warm weather of August and September.

The larder in which it is kept ought to be well ventilated, and, if possible, facing the north, the windows and all apertures securely covered with small wire net-work, sufficiently fine to exclude all flies, as in the event of a few blue-bottle flies obtaining entrance, any quantity of grouse, however numerous, would, in one single night, be entirely spoilt, as the eggs deposited by the flies under the wings and elsewhere would soon become maggots, which would render the contents of the box a mass of corruption before it reached London. The person who packs game should have a small hammer, a brad-awl, and a quantity of brads of the right size, as from the thinness of the sides of the box as well as of the top, when the

dimensions I have recommended are used, splitting of both the top and the sides would be inevitable, if either too strong nails were driven in, or the brads used without the previous perforation of the bradawl.

A box of slender dimensions, when properly fastened down by brads, is much more secure from irruption by railway porters, than a strong box fastened by heavy nails. Small tacks must be used for fastening on the addresses, as there must be two for security, one on the top of the box and another on the side; as it frequently happens that the top address is torn off, by the removal of a heavy package which has been improperly placed on the top of game-boxes. As the lid or top of the game-box is only a quarter of an inch in thickness, the address must be nailed on it before it is placed on the box, allowing it to rest on something solid at the time of driving the tacks through; this operation could not be performed afterwards, as the lid would yield to the blow of the hammer without receiving the nails, a risk of splitting it being at the same time incurred. The contents of the box ought always to be written on the card, and the box booked at the steam or railway company's office.

If sent by goods train, the cost of carriage will be considerably reduced, and in cold weather this medium of conveyance is sufficiently expeditious

another, they soon become heated, are easily spoiled, and quite unfit to be sent away to any distance.

Birds packed up warm and sent to a distance would be totally unfit for use on reaching their destination, or even if not warm, if packed indiscriminately and crowded one closely upon the other.

No one bird ought ever to lie upon another. Some persons use hops in packing, which answer the purpose well; but charcoal is much cheaper, and I think somewhat better, as it can be introduced in the mouths of the birds, after the blood has been removed, if there be any. Some care of game after it is brought home is also very necessary in the warm weather of August and September.

The larder in which it is kept ought to be well ventilated, and, if possible, facing the north, the windows and all apertures securely covered with small wire net-work, sufficiently fine to exclude all flies, as in the event of a few blue-bottle flies obtaining entrance, any quantity of grouse, however numerous, would, in one single night, be entirely spoilt, as the eggs deposited by the flies under the wings and elsewhere would soon become maggots, which would render the contents of the box a mass of corruption before it reached London. The person who packs game should have a small hammer, a brad-awl, and a quantity of brads of the right size, as from the thinness of the sides of the box as well as of the top, when the

dimensions I have recommended are used, splitting of both the top and the sides would be inevitable, if either too strong nails were driven in, or the brads used without the previous perforation of the bradawl.

A box of slender dimensions, when properly fastened down by brads, is much more secure from irruption by railway porters, than a strong box fastened by heavy nails. Small tacks must be used for fastening on the addresses, as there must be two for security, one on the top of the box and another on the side; as it frequently happens that the top address is torn off, by the removal of a heavy package which has been improperly placed on the top of game-boxes. As the lid or top of the game-box is only a quarter of an inch in thickness, the address must be nailed on it before it is placed on the box, allowing it to rest on something solid at the time of driving the tacks through; this operation could not be performed afterwards, as the lid would yield to the blow of the hammer without receiving the nails, a risk of splitting it being at the same time incurred. The contents of the box ought always to be written on the card, and the box booked at the steam or railway company's office.

If sent by goods train, the cost of carriage will be considerably reduced, and in cold weather this medium of conveyance is sufficiently expeditious

but not during the sultry weather of August, as there is frequently a considerable delay in the delivery, and moreover, at all times small parcels by the goods train incur the risk of rough handling, as well as of delay.

BLACK GAME.

BLACK game is very inferior to grouse shooting, and only affords a few days' first-rate sport, as there are few districts which admit of its being followed continuously except as subsidiary to other shooting; it varies much according to the nature of the country, success depending more on a favourable disposition of the ground, than on the quantity of the game. If there be high mountains contiguous to the ground where black game are bred, your sport will be of short continuance, as on being disturbed and shot at a few times, they take up their abode on the tops of the mountains, soon congregate, and become very difficult of access, except by stalking at daybreak and at sunset, when they descend to the corn-fields; but if there be no high mountains, and the country be merely hilly, with a few small covers and brushwood, then sport may be had to a certain extent on every fine day till the end of the season.

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