Some aspects of the artificiality—perhaps the necessary artificiality—of modern sport
as practised in a crowded country, may astonish even the accustomed observer. A fisherman said to me the other day that he did not regard it as a drawback to a particular stream that the fish would not breed there. He and his syndicate were perfectly ready to pull out only the fish they put in ; and not to be bothered with small fry which were more trouble than they were worth. Similarly, some members of shooting syndicates are quite con- tent to stock their coverts exclusively with tame birds. They, like the fisherman, are ready to " put down " all the birds they shoot. I know of two shoots, not very far removed, where 15,000 birds and 12,000 birds were bred last year. Some of the results are curious. Sportsmen are apt care- fully to compare the number shot with the number reared ; and if the comparative sum is not satisfactory the fox is often judged guilty of causing the deficit, and so the cam- paign against the less harmless vermin is accentuated. * * * *
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