SPORTSMEN'S PARADISES.
Britain, as a fisherman's paradise, is doubtless surpassed by many countries. A friend of mine caught 368 good fish in an hour on a Newfoundland lake. If you ask a New Zealand fisherman how many fish he took in the season (it begins about this date) he will answer in weight, not in number. " About a ton," is one of the standard replies to the ignorant European questioner. Even the ton is scarcely big enough a unit for the netters of the Pacific salmon in the northernmost canning stations of Alaska. With such regions Britain cannot compare ; but not Newfoundland, Alaska, or New Zealand can compare with the combination of game found on some of the Western islands. In Newfoundland even in autumn I found next to no birds, except a few willow grouse, some little plover, some very wild wild duck, and a blue jay, though there are more at some estuaries. Compare this dearth with some of our Western islands. The grey lag-geese flock to the corn-fields at dawn. The lochs are so full of sea trout that big fish are seldom out of actual sight for more than a minute or so at a time. Snipe and duck of many sorts abound. The red grouse is, as we all know, an exclusively British bird, and the best that flies. You will find more woodcock in Dalmatia, more snipe and duck on Indian paddy fields, more geese in Siberia ; but for a mixed bag, whether of the unarmed naturalist or the sportsman, we have islands that come at the top of the list and in general more game to the acre than any other country.
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