Some interesting addenda to some Spectator themes have appeared in
the Field and the Countryman. The Field, whose chief subject is sport, has only one objection to the method of the onslaught on pigeon shooting at Monte Carlo : it was not hot and strong enough I Since the Field, which has much more special knowledge on the subject than I have, wrote to support the protest, I have been at some pains to find out why sportsmen, even more than non-sports- men, dislike this exhibition of pigeon shooting. The chief reasons are two in number. The sport is practised not for itself at all.
" What is it steels the sportsman's heart ?
It is his conscious pride of art."
The heart of the pigeon shooter is not steeled by this natural emotion. It is gilded rather. The shooting is practised chiefly for the sake of the money that passes hands. The second reason is that the gambling leads to tricks that are more cruel than the mere shooting ; and are held to be the very negation of the sporting spirit. They are coldly deliberate and have no excuse in humanity or morality. It is accepted that the tail feathers of the pigeons should be plucked, in order to make the birds rise more quickly ; but the birds do not all rise abruptly, nor do they fly off at the same pace. Who knows what other mutilations precede the release from the traps ? That a paper with so well deserved a pre-eminence in sport, and especially in shooting, should speak so strongly immensely strengthens the plea against the Monte Carlo exhibition. Can it be that the authorities there will resist a direct plea—in the cause of
humanity, decency, and the general pleasure of the visitors—
to put an end to the nasty business ?
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