Jumping
A few years ago the general impression amongst the uninitiated was that the ski-runner on his way down-hill would suddenly leap into the air over any rock, tree, cliff, or church that happened to be in the way. But such an impression is an erroneous one, and in this year of grace it is perhaps hardly necessary to mention that a ski-jumper is one who during progression downhill slides off an inequality, natural or otherwise, and lands lower down the hill.
Jumping is usually practised on hills especially prepared for the purpose. The take off, which may be anything between 2 ft. and 5 ft. high, is built on the hill and covered with snow. The snow above and below the "take off" is flattened and raked so as to present an easy level surface that will help THE JUMP. the jumper's stability when he is about to launch into the air, and again when the thud comes that denotes a safe landing and the necessity of a slide at furious pace to the bottom of the hill.
The jumper should start the descent at a point above the take-off that will give sufficient impetus to cover a certain distance.
The body should be bent slightly forward with something of a crouch when covering the approach, but should be straightened out and lifted, as it were, from the toes when on the "take-off." The body must be straight when in the air. One foot should be slid well forward on alighting, and the knees should be bent to relieve the concussion, but the body should be straightened as soon as possible and remain so to the end of the outrun. The world's record ski-jump was made at Davos by a Norwegian, Mr.
Harold Smith, who in 1909 covered 147 ft. 8 in. "HUITFELD" BINDING.
There are various different kinds of ski in use, but they differ only in small points.
Some may be longer and thinner than others, and some may have, or may be without, a groove on the bottom. The style generally adopted for all-round use is that known as the "Telemark" ski, as shown in the illustration. They are made either of hickory or ash. The latter is the more popular, and should be of such a length that the prospective wearer can crook the middle joints of his fingers over them when standing upright against them.
There are numerous kinds of bindings all aiming at the important qualification of being able to hold the boot tightly at the toes so as to allow little, if any, lateral play, but to afford the wearer perfectly free horizontal action. The two favourite ones are [SKI-ING and is made of the toughest, hardest, and heaviest wood procurable.
The bowl must be thrown upon the skittles and not rolled up to them: it thus requires more bodily strength than the variety in "ELLEFSEN" BINDING. the Huitfeld and Ellefsen's patent binding.
They all own Norway as the country of their origin, and have acted as a pattern for many adaptations to suit the ideas of different individuals anxious to obtain the perfect binding, which has never yet been invented.
E. WROUGHTON.
W Bibliography.-A Bibliography of Skating, F. W. Forster, Ski-ing, pp. 3-14 (Warhurst, Chelsea), Chelsea), 1898; Ice Sports, Isthmian Library, A. Cook and others, Ski-ing, p. 179, Mrs. Alec Tweedy (Ward, Lock and Co.), 1901; Ski Running, D. M. M. Crichton-Somerville, W. M. Rickmers and E. C. Richardson (Cox), 1907; Ski-ing for Beginners and Mountaineers, W. R. Rickmers (Fisher Unwin), 1910; The Ski-Runner (with Bibliography), E. C. Richardson (the author, I Mitre Court, Fleet Street), 1910; Year Book of the Ski Club of Great Britain, edited by E. C.
Richardson, from 1905, in progress (Hutchings, Uxbridge); Scottish Ski Club Magazine, edited by T. S. Muir, Hon. Sec., S.S.C., Vol. I., No. 1, 1909, No. 2, 1910; Scottish Ski Club Circular, No. I, December, 1907, No. 2, February, 1908; The Alpine Ski Club Annual (H. Marshall), 1908, in progress: The Winter Sports Annual, edited by E. Wroughton (Simpkin).
SKITTLES.-This is probably one of the oldest games on record, and used to be far commoner a couple of decades ago than it is now. Even now many village inns have a place set apart for skittles.
I have seen it played in three different ways. One consists of but four large pins, arranged on a square framework, one of the angles only being presented to the player.
The bowl used is of the shape of a cheese, PIN AND BOWL, OR CHEESE. which nine pins are used and the ball rolled up to them.
The best mode of playing it is to throw the bowl with a round-handed swing of the arm, so as to strike the nearest skittle at the right of its upper third. The bowl then springs on to the second skittle, and from this generally twists on to the third, while the fourth skittle is sent down by the roll of the one first struck.
It is not at all easy to make this throw successfully, and many players prefer driving down the first and third skittles with a straight-forward shot, and then making their second bowl spring across from the second to the fourth. This latter stroke appears very difficult, but is soon learnt, the great point is to throw the ball high, so that it may drop as perpendicularly as possible on the left of the upper third of the second skittle. By constant repetition of this, practice will overbalance mere occasional brilliancy of play.
Another form of this game is played with nine pins, which are set up in a regular order, the aim of the players being to throw down as many pins as possible in the fewest attempts. Each player is permitted to throw three times at the pins, and if he can knock them all down in two throws, it is SKITTLE BOARD. called a single, and they are again set up for his last throw, if he can knock them all down in one throw, it is called a double, and they are set up again.
SNIPE] There is another form of this game called the American. The floor is planked in a line with the pins to where the thrower stands, a marker is used, and there is on one side a raised rectangular platform just large enough to hold the balls, sloping down towards the player; the balls are put in at the end near the pins and roll down to the player.
There is yet another form called the Dutch skittles. It is a modification of the nine pin skittles, the pins being higher and the centre one called a king, with a crown on its head. The great aim in this game is to strike the king out of the board without knocking down any of his subjects. If this be done, the game is won. In all other cases the king counts for no more than that of his subjects.
F. T. POLLOK.
SNIPE. The difference between a snipe and a woodcock is not merely one of size.
Irrespective of the fact that the former rarely exceeds one-third the weight of the latter, the following characteristic distinctions may be noted. In the snipe the head is streaked or barred longitudinally, in the woodcock transversely; in the former bird the flight feathers are plain, in the latter variegated; in the snipe, also, the leg is bare above the tarsotibial joint (popularly, though wrongly, termed the knee), while in the woodcock it is feathered to that joint. Inattention to these differences has given rise to many errors, amongst others to an announcement that the European woodcock had been met with in South America (The Field, 4th April, 1896)-a statement for which there is no foundation. A remarkable peculiarity in both woodcock and snipe is the position of the ear, which is placed below and not behind the eye, as in other birds. The eye is placed far back and high up, and if the brain be examined it will be found curiously tilted over, so that its anatomical base looks forward. This curious position of the ear, as remarked by the late Ludwig Beckmann, the well-known artist, of Dusseldorf (Zoologische Garten, 1865, pp. 130-133), is doubtless dependent on the setting back of the eye to the hinder part of the head, so that the bird is able, even while boring into the ground, to get a glimpse of its immediate surroundings. An article on this subject, with an illustration from a photograph of a woodcock's head, will be found in The Field of September 7th, 1907.
Of the twenty or more distinct species of snipe known to naturalists, three only are found in the British Islands, the remainder being natives of Siberia, China, India, Ceylon, the Malay Archipelago, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Madagascar, North and South America.
The so-called "Common" or "Full" Snipe (Gallinago media), so much sought for by English sportsmen, has a wide geographical range. It is found throughout Europe (including Iceland and the Faeroes) and Northern Asia, up to about latitude 70°, and migrates southward in winter to North Africa, India, and the Malay countries. In India, China, and the Malay Archipelago its place is more or less usurped by two species of so-called Pintail Snipe. (Gallinago stenura and G. megala), characterised by possessing respectively twenty-six and twenty tail feathers (instead of fourteen), and having the outside ones (eight and six Henry Stammars COMMON SNIPE. on each side respectively) so attenuated as to consist of little more than pin-like shafts.
In South Africa, Cape Colony, and Natal, the English snipe does not occur, its place being supplied by a larger and darker species, known as the Black-quilled snipe (Gallinago nigripennis), while in Madagascar and Mauritius is found a remarkably long-billed and long-toed snipe (Gallinago macrodactyla), in which the bill measures as much as 3½ inches.
The common snipe of North America (Gallinago wilsoni) is so like our English bird as to be scarcely distinguishable from it, except (it is said) by the possession of sixteen instead of fourteen tail feathers, though it is doubtful whether this alleged peculiarity is constant, or independent of moult.
In South America there are several species of snipe, some of which (as G. frenata and G. paraguaya) so closely resemble our own bird and Wilson's snipe in colour and size the measurements of bill, wing, and tarsus being nearly identical in these fourthat to the majority of shooters they appear indistinguishable, while others (as Gallinago imperialis, jamesoni, stricklandi, undulata, and gigantea) are so conspicuous by their larger size and varying plumage as at once to attract attention. The largest known snipe is Gallinago gigantea, a native of Brazil and Paraguay. It is about double the size of our bird, being 19 inches in length instead of IO inches, with a bill of 5 inches instead of 2.8 inches, wing 6.6 inches instead of 5.3 inches, and leg 2.2 inches instead of 13 inches.
In Australia there is a large snipe (Gallinago australis), measuring 11½ inches, with a wing nearly 1½ inches longer than in our bird, and having 18 instead of 14 tail feathers, the two outer ones in their attenuation resembling in character those of the pin-tailed snipe.
The snipe of the Auckland and Chatham Islands are about the size of our Jack Snipe, of a sandy brown colour above, mottled with darker brown; face, neck and under parts buff.
Rhynchea), and Painted Snipe. - The Painted Snipe, so called from their variegated plumage, belong to a very different genus (Rhynchæa), and in their mode of flight, and actions generally, exhibit some affinity to the rails. From their sluggish habits and feeble flight they afford but poor sport to the gunner, who generally reserves his cartridges for something more worthy of his attention. Three species are recognised by naturalists; one which is common to Africa, India, Ceylon, Burma, China, Japan, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and the Philippines, and is known as Rhynchæa capensis, seu bengalensis; a second occurs in Australia, Rhynchæa australis, and third in South America, Rhynchæa semicollaris, which is met with from Peru to Chili, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina. a Common Snipe. Of the three species of snipe found in the British Islands, the socalled "Common" or "Full" snipe is at all times the most numerous. A great many remain to breed with us, in haunts favourable to their mode of life, but the majority which are killed here in winter are immigrants from the Continent, and come to us about the end of October, or first week of November, those which escape the gun and the poacher's snare quitting the country in spring for more remote breeding haunts.
Those who delight in rural sights and sounds are familiar with the curious zig-zag flight of snipe in the pairing season, and the singular sound which is produced when the bird descends from a height with half-closed wings. This has been variously termed "humming," "drumming," and "bleating." Very different views have been expressed as to how this sound is produced, and it is disputed whether it is vocal or mechanical. One writer asserts that it is effected by the action of the wind causing a vibration of the outer tail feathers (See [SNIPE Meves and Wolley, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 202). In the opinion of the writer it is caused by a vibratory movement of the flight feathers in the downward descent of the bird (as happens with varying sounds in the peewit and rook); and this is the view taken by Naumann, Jardine, Hancock, Saxby, Chapman, and other observant naturalists. A long chapter on the subject reviewing the various opinions will be found in the present writer's Essays on Sport and Natural History, 1883.
Sabine's Snipe. - When Vigors, in August, 1825, received from Queen's Co., Ireland, a very dark, almost black specimen of a snipe, he took it to be an undescribed species, and named it after a distinguished contemporary (Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xiv., p. 557). At irregular intervals other specimens were subsequently obtained, and although in none of these did any of the measurements differ appreciably from those of the common snipe, the singular colouration seemed to justify its separation from that species. In December, 1870, there were at least five-and-twenty examples on record (The Field, 10th December, 1870), and since that date the number of recorded specimens has been more than doubled. In The Irish Naturalist for January, 1895, Mr. Barrett Hamilton, reviewing the records, remarked that out of fifty-five examples of Sabine's snipe existing in collections, thirty-one were obtained in Ireland, twenty-two in England, one in Scotland, and one in France. This bird is now generally regarded as nothing more than a melanic form of the common snipe.
Great or Solitary Snipe. -Larger than the common snipe, and when in good condition double the weight, Gallinago major may be recognised not merely by its size, but by the white bar across the wing, white outer tail feathers, and more profuse spotting of the under parts. Its habits are altogether different. It does not breed in any part of the British Islands, but arrives from the north of Europe in September, long before the Continental common snipe make their appearance; it affects much drier situations than the better known bird, is generally solitary, rises heavily, and flies off silently.
Instances of the occurrence of the great snipe here in spring are very unusual; it is much rarer in Ireland than in England, and is equally rare in Scotland.
Jack Snipe. -Less numerous than its larger relative, the jack snipe (Gallinago gallinula) is to be found generally distributed throughout the British Islands, in haunts congenial to its habits, between September and April; for it is only a winter visitor, never remaining to breed here as does the common snipe. In Europe its nest- SNIPE] ing haunts are in northern Scandinavia and Russia, whence it migrates in autumn to North Africa, visiting Egypt and following the course of the Nile to Abyssinia. In Asia it breeds on the tundras of Siberia as far north as latitude 70°, migrating to Japan and even to Formosa in the cold season, as well as to Tenasserim, India, Persia and Turkestan.
In its habits it differs considerably from the common snipe. As a rule it is very solitary, and lies so close as to be almost trodden upon, and then, instead of rising with a loud squeak, and flying to some distance, it rises silently and, if not shot at, seldom goes far before alighting. It is only when deep snow lies in patches on the ground that the jack snipe show any tendency to congregate. At such times several may be found within a few yards of each other in sheltered situations, under tussocks, or to the leeward of reed-beds, where the snow has not covered the ground where any food can be obtained.
Under such conditions the present writer once shot seven jack snipe in about half-anhour on a small patch of bog land in the Co. Kildare.
Snipe-Shooting. -How to make a good bag of snipe is a problem upon which many an opinion has been given. Whether to shoot over dogs, or without them; to walk down wind or up wind; to fire the moment a snipe rises, or to give him time; to use very small shot, or pellets of a medium size, in case of a chance at a duck or hare. These are some of the questions which perplex the tyro, and puzzle even experienced shooters to answer.
Those who have had much experience in snipe-shooting are of opinion that the sportsman should always, if possible, walk down wind; for the reason that as snipe, like other birds, generally rise head to wind, they jump towards the shooter, as it were, instead of away from him, and hang for a second in the air before going away. In so doing they offer a pretty cross-shot. This is all very well if the country be very open, and you can choose your direction, but in an enclosed country, where one has often to follow a winding stream, or go from one point to another irrespective of wind, one has to take one's chance how snipe may rise.
The argument in favour of walking up wind is that the birds are less likely to hear your approach, and will therefore lie better.
This course is doubtless preferable when a sharp frost has made everything very crisp, and the ground crackles at every step you take, thereby alarming the snipe, which are likely to rise out of shot.
Amongst ordinary game shots, not one in ten probably is a good snipe shot, and there is more knack required in killing a snipe than VOL. IV perhaps any other bird. The following practical hints for acquiring this knack are given in the Badminton volume on Shooting, Moor and Marsh, p. 146. "Always aim above a snipe; the bird is pretty certain to be on the rise when going away, though you may not think so. In the same way, if crossing, aim well forward, or one beat of the powerful pinion will put the bird three yards a-head while the finger is pressing the trigger. Let 'forward and high' be an absolute rule when pulling on snipe."
Dogs. As to dogs, setters are best fitted for such work, and are generally stronger in constitution than pointers, but it is doubtful if they ever attain the regularity and certainty in beating of the latter. Snipe lie in all sorts of out of the way places, often in the least expected spots. A setter will dash over them, rout them out, slash through the wet ground, spring the ditches, and leave and lose many a bird which the less hardy pointer will be almost certain to find. The latter will walk gingerly through the gorse, leap the wet ground cautiously, and, though moving with equal rapidity, will, as a rule, find more birds. Nevertheless, one of the best dogs for snipe which the writer ever owned was a red Irish setter, which he received as a puppy and trained to retrieve. On an Irish snipe bog full of soft places, this dog was invaluable, for he often had to pick up a bird which fell on spongy ground, which would not support his master's weight, and he would swim out to the middle of a pool for a duck or teal, even in the coldest weather. Sir R. Payne Gallwey is of opinion that the best dog for use in snipe shooting is a small Irish water spaniel. Others maintain that a well broken retriever is all that can be desired.
Boots. As to the best boots for snipeshooting opinions differ. Long boots that reach far above the knee like fisherman's boots are very tiring to walk in all day; ordinary shooting boots with or without gaiters will not always keep the feet dry, even if waterproof; sooner or later one is certain to get in over the tops. In the pursuit of home-bred snipe in the early part of the season, one may just as well wear these, and get wet as soon as possible, but one must move quickly, and so keep the feet warm.
In mid-winter, when the water is icy cold, and there is perhaps a lot of snow lying about in patches, the best boots are those which reach only to the knee, not above it, and so do not interfere with the action of the kneejoint. These, if made in two pieces instead of three, so as to reduce the number of seams, and lessen the chance of leakage, may always be kept waterproof with a little care.
The mud should never be scraped off when dry, but washed off with a brush and hot water. The surface of the leather is then undamaged, and in a sufficiently warm condition (after being wiped dry with a cloth) to receive the waterproof mixture, which should be well rubbed in with the hand. The following recipe is an old but a good one:
Boiled linseed oil, one pint; beeswax, one ounce; Burgundy pitch, half an ounce; spirit of turpentine, two ounces. Melt the first three in an earthen pot, and then add the turpentine. This ointment well rubbed in before the fire will be found most efficacious.
Guns and Charges. -The lighter the gun the better for snipe shooting, though we do not advocate a 16- or a 20-bore. They have too small a killing circle, and 12-bores nowadays are made sufficiently light to answer the purpose. A 12-bore weighing, say, 6t lb., with a charge of 24 drs. of Curtis and Harvey's No. 6 (or the equivalent in Schultze or E.C. powder) and an ounce of No. 8 shot will be found most effectual. A heavier gun than this handicaps the average shooter when out snipe-shooting, although we have often seen professional coast gunners kill snipe and redshanks with a much heavier charge in a Io-bore gun.
These men, however, in daily practice and in robust health, will carry all day with ease a gun that would tire an amateur in an hour.
Size of Shot. As to the best size of shot opinions differ. A wild-fowler of experience says No. 9 may be taken as the shot par excellence for snipe; No. 7 or 8 at farthest if the day be wild, but the first named will answer best at all times. True, there are the chances of meeting with duck and teal in the very best places for snipe; but if No. 7 or 8 shot can bring one down, No. 9 will do so with equal certainty, for not one of the three sizes will kill such large birds except under the alternatives a "short fair," or a "long chance" shot.
That most enthusiastic of snipe shooters, Colonel Peter Hawker (the author of Instructions to Young Sportsmen), thought there was nothing like No. 7. In his very entertaining Diary we find this remark:- "The difference between large and small shot in a gun is that the former goes in like the back of a knife and occasionally only; the other cuts like a razor with unerring certainty. No. 7 is best for everything unless you take a duck-gun."
Record Bags. For records of large bags of snipe in the British Islands the reader cannot do better than turn to the pages of the Badminton volume on shooting (Moor and Marsh, pp. 140-143) and to The Fowler in Ireland, pp. 205-211. The west of Ireland is by far the best part of our islands for snipe-shooting. Snipe are more numerous, and consequently larger bags are made [SNIPE in the counties of Cork, Kerry, Clare, and Mayo than elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Forty or fifty years ago Norfolk and other eastern counties of England afforded nearly as good sport as Ireland does now, or lately did, but the drainage and reclamation of marsh and waste land has interfered greatly with the snipe-shooter's sport.
For large bags of snipe the sportsman must go to Egypt or India. There are few localities perhaps better suited to this bird than the great marshes of Lower Egypt, where Captain Shelley states that in the month of February he has shot over forty couple in a day (Birds of Egypt, p. 249). In India, Colonel Peyton has killed between 80 and 90 couple of snipe before mid-day in the marshes on the banks of the Cabul River, where it debouches from the hills before entering the Peshawur river, and since his day even this record has been beaten by English officers in India and Ceylon, owing not merely to the abundance of birds there, but to the increased facilities for shooting them with central fire breech-loaders and improved ejectors. In India we have it on the authority of Lieut.-Col. J. Fraser (Bengal Retired List) that the largest bag of snipe made by one gun in a day in India was III couple (223 birds), shot by a Calcutta sportsman in 1902. The next best bag, according to Lieut.-Col. Echalaz, was 106 couple, in the Bombay Presidency. The largest bag of snipe shot by one gun in a day in Ceylon, for a bet, was IIO couple (The Field, May 14, 1898). But all these are put completely in the shade by the result obtained in S.W. Louisiana (on the low-lying marshes bordering Bayou Teche) by Mr.
J. J. Pringle, a noted American snipe shooter, between 1867 and 1887. In seven days in December, 1887, his bags, shooting alone, were 270, 255, 366, 271, 286, 233, and 262 birds, total 1,943. Over 300 a day were killed on three occasions, making 972 in the three days. Over 200 a day were killed on 26 days, and 100 and upwards were bagged on 285 days (The Field, June 24, 1905).
Weight of Snipe. - Amongst the questions that periodically crop up for discussion in the columns of The Field and other journals devoted to sport, we are accustomed to read, "What is the average weight of a snipe?" The answer must depend upon circumstances. As soon as grouse shooting has commenced, a lot of home-bred snipe are moved from the moors and get scattered about the country. They are not then in the best condition, and often weigh no more than 3 oz. or 3½ oz. The foreign snipe come in about the first week of November, and are in the finest order within a week of a frost. The average weight then will be from 4 oz. to 4 oz., and perhaps one in a hundred SPORTING RIGHTS] will pull down the scale at 5 oz.; anything above this must be considered an unusual weight.
A solitary or great snipe will weigh from 7 oz. to 10 oz., according to its condition and the state of the weather at the time.
A jack snipe is generally half the weight of a common snipe, and varies from 2 oz. to 24 oz.
Springes for Snipe. - As a device for capturing snipe, a horse-hair noose at the end of a pliant wand, bent downwards and set in such a way that it flies upwards when the struggles of a captured bird release a wooden trigger, is very effective if set with judgment in the right spot by a skilful operator. But it is a poaching contrivance, and scarcely deserves notice in an encyclopædia devoted to sport. It is mentioned here chiefly on account of its general adoption in some parts of Ireland, where large numbers of snipe, and woodcock also, are by this means captured for sale to the game dealers.
Illustrations of a springe for snipe or woodcock will be found in The Ornithology of Shakespeare, 1871 (p. 229), in The Fowler in Ireland, 1882 (p. 218), and in Macpherson's History of Fowling, 1897 (p. 454). In the last-named work may be found also much interesting information relating to the methods of capturing snipe and woodcock in different countries, whether by springes in England and Ireland, by drag nets in France, by flight nets in Holland, or by tunnel nets in Sicily. The so-called "Polish snipe snare is, perhaps, the simplest of all the devices mentioned, consisting of a number of horsehair nooses attached to a line stretched between two pegs, which are driven into the ground at such a height that the lower half of the noose just touches the breast of any snipe that may approach it when feeding.
J. E. HARTING. دو SOLITARY SNIPE IN RUSSIA. -The Solitary snipe, or double snipe, a variety coming-in size and appearance-half-way between the ordinary or single snipe and the woodcock, is rarely met with in the British Isles, and when one is seen, he is as the name implies, a belated solitary specimen, driven to our shores by contrary winds, or lost through temporary aberration of the instinct which should have carried him with his fellows in their customary line of flight south-eastwards. In Russia, which apparently lies in that line, he is seen for about a fortnight, during which space of time companies of his tribe pass like a great army over the region within, roughly, a hundred mile radius of St. Petersburg, billeting themselves upon the grass, stubble, and potato fields in batches of ten, twenty, or a hundred. The new arrival has come from his breeding grounds somewhere in the north, and is bound for Egypt and Asia Minor and beyond; he is weary, and arrives thin and quick on the wing, like his cousin the ordinary snipe; but a few days of rest and fat feeding by suction soon change all that, and at the end of the week or fortnight of his stay he is a very different bird-fat, lazy, loth to rise, and slow and heavy on the wing when rise he must.
Should any sportsman reading these lines, having friends in St. Petersburg, desire to make the acquaintance of this beautiful bird, let him be on the spot on or about August 31st, old style, which is, being interpreted, September 12th. That day is the central one of the red-letter fortnight of the doubles.
They begin to arrive-a pioneer or twosome ten days before this, increasing in numbers up to the day indicated, and afterwards decreasing again until, by about September 25th, English style, if one belated specimen be still found in the fields he is probably wounded, or else he would have felt himself impelled by his instinct to move on. During his fatal fortnight of fatness there is no bird that flies more pitifully accessible and helplessly unable to avoid the sportsman's pellets. So fat has he become that he may occasionally be kicked with the foot before he will move, and when he does elect to fly he must soon alight again to take breath, even if shot at and missed.
Unfortunately for sportsmen, it is not every year that is a good "double" year.
For, whether owing to an unfortunate breeding season among the birds themselves, or whether the vagaries of wind and weather have driven the flights to east or west of the usual course, it sometimes happens that the St. Petersburg sportsman is disappointed of his doubles. In that event the fortnight passes dolorously, with but here a snipe and there a snipe, and with no rich flights; whereas in a good double season a fair shot may bag his thirty or forty brace in a day.
FRED. WISHAW.
SPORTING RIGHTS. —Although there is considerable difference in detail in the law as to the rights of different kinds of Sporting, yet there are certain general rules that apply to all such rights, whether hunting, hawking, shooting, fowling, or fishing. The law regards all such rights as belonging to the class known as Profits à prendre, and consequently the various special rules by which that class of rights is governed apply to all of them. Of these the most important is, that such rights cannot be possessed by the general public. The public can make out a title by long user to a right of way, but no length of use will give the public a title to sport in any form over land. The legal S reason is that the public can acquire an easement, to which class rights of way belong, by prescription, but cannot acquire Profits à prendre in the same way. The ground for the distinction is not altogether obvious, but it is a well-settled law resting upon a decision in the time of Lord Coke (Gateward's case, 6 Rep. 596). The distinction has led to a great deal of litigation and disappointment, but it is at the present day recognised law, and could only be altered by statute. It follows from it that all sporting rights must be owned by some definite person or body of persons, an individual or a corporation.
Another consequence is that a landowner who has allowed time out of mind persons to sport over his land, and at their pleasure to hunt, shoot, or fish, can at any moment take away his permission, and the public have no remedy nor cause of complaint, however much they may have used the permission, and however valuable it may have been to them.
Legally, there is no such thing as open fishing or shooting in England or Wales.
There are places, every year becoming fewer, where the owner allows trespasses to be committed and says nothing, but there are no places, except the seashore and tidal navigable rivers, where the King's subjects have a right to sport as they have to pass over a highway. Sporting rights being, therefore, strictly private property, as much so as a man's house or his coat, and belonging to that class of property known as incorporeal, they can only be transferred from one person to another by the legal mode of transferring such property. This can only be done in one way by deed, by writing under seal; any other mode of transfer is invalid in law.
This rule frequently causes great inconvenience in agreements for shooting or fishing, for if a person takes one or the other and signs an ordinary agreement, and soon after finds some one poaching and prosecutes him, the prosecution fails, on the ground that the tenant has no legal right to the sporting, and so no right to prosecute as he has no grant under seal. It should, however, be noticed that although he has not the legal right to the sporting and cannot act as legal owner, he is yet liable to pay the rent he agreed to pay, as that is payable in respect of the enjoyment of the property, not of the legal ownership of it.
Another general rule is that prima facie the sporting rights do not belong to the owner of the land, but to the occupier. He is the person in whom by law they are vested, and he as a rule need show no other title than that he is in the actual occupation of the lands; everyone else must show some special title that prevails over the general The occupier stands on his legal right. one. [SPORTING RIGHTS These rules apply to all sporting rights- (I) there is always a definite owner, (2) who is presumed by law to be the occupier of the lands over which the rights are exercised, and (3) if owned by anyone but the occupier, the owner must claim by deed.
The points to consider are (I.) The different kinds of sporting rights. (II.) The places where, (III.) The times when, and (IV.) the mode in which they may be legally exercised.
I. Sporting rights are five in number:- (1) Hunting, (2) Hawking, (3) Shooting, (4) Fowling, (5) Fishing. All of them belong to the occupier of land by right of his occupation. If owned by any other person, whether he has all or only one or some of them, depends on the terms of his grant. Here the cases are legion, for each grant is a law to itself, and itself alone; the rule may be broadly stated that, while a grant of all sporting rights over land would include all five, a grant of shooting alone would not include fishing or hunting, a grant of shooting game would not include shooting birds not game. The safest and best term to use is the widest, "all rights of sporting," for if once it is attempted to define the rights, and anything is left out, the grantee does not get it. (I) As to hunting, strange as it may seem, it is in law clear that no one has a legal right, except it is reserved to him by deed, to follow hounds over enclosed lands.
At any time an occupier can forbid all or any of the members of the hunt following a pack of hounds to come on his land, and can compel them, if necessary, by just as much force as may be required to make them do so, to quit his land, and he has a legal remedy for such trespass, if it is persisted in. It used to be said that the fox was a noisome beast, and anyone was justified in going over a man's land to destroy it, but if this was ever law, which is extremely doubtful, it has been long ago exploded, and the rule is as stated, that all persons following hounds only do so on sufferance, and that whatever may be the animal hunted, whether stag, fox, otter, or hare. If the occupier of the land so pleases, he can stop all or any of the persons following the hounds over his land. There is, however, one exception, but it is of such rare occurrence that in practice it is of small importance. If lands are within the bounds of a Royal forest, or if there is a right of free chase or free warren existing over the land, the holder of the Royal authority in a forest or a chace, or the owner of the franchise of free warren, can go over land within the limits of the forest, or chace, or free warren, for the purpose of taking by hunting or otherwise, beasts of forest, beasts of chase, and beasts of warren.
SPORTING RIGHTS] Beasts of forest are hart, hind, bear, boar, wolf, and all beasts of Venery. Beasts of chase are buck, doe, fox, marten, and roe.
Beasts of warren are hares, roes, and conies, and it would seem that the owner of these rights could take with him anyone he thought fit for the purposes of hunting. It is said that there are sixty-three forests in England, but the hunting that is done in these privileged places is merely a fraction of the hunting that is done each season, and it only serves to justify a very small percentage of the persons who hunt, even if it legally justfies them; the broad rule is that all hunting is legally trespass, and is only carried on by the leave of the occupier, which could be withdrawn any day and at any time and without notice. It makes no difference what is the animal hunted, or what is the mode of hunting, whether with a pack of hounds, or with greyhounds, or otter hounds, or in any other way, the law is the same. Hunting is only permitted trespass. (2) Hawking.-As to hawking, the broad rule is the same as to hunting. It can only be carried on with the leave of the occupier; but in hawking there is this important difference from hunting, that the owner or the servants of the owner of the hawk, if the quarry was started on land on which the owner had a legal right to go, would be entitled to go on to the land on which the hawk killed the quarry for the purpose of getting it. The rule in hawking is the same as in shooting: the person who starts game on his own land and kills it while flying over another man's, may justify going on to the land to pick up the game. But if the quarry is started on land where the owner had no right to go, he could not go on another man's land to pick it up. The term quarry" has been used to include whatever it is that may be hawked, e.g. larks or rooks, for although not game, the rule in this respect is the same as if they were. It will not be necessary to say any more about hawking here, for the rules as to it are the same as those as to shooting and fowling, except that a shooting tenant, unless either the words of his lease were general so as to include everything, or else the right of hawking was expressly included, would not be legally able to hawk, and it is quite possible that the owner of the shooting might object to the tenant hawking, unless he had expressly allowed it, on the ground that it might drive away the birds off the beat. 66 (3) Shooting is the right on which most questions as to sporting arise; but in law, with certain slight exceptions, there is no difference between shooting and other modes of exercising sporting rights, and no difference between whether the shooting is for game or beasts and birds not game. The right is now in the occupier, who, unless he is prevented by the deed under which he holds, or by the Ground Game Act, can, subject to the Game Laws as to the time for killing game, the Wild Birds' Preservation Acts as to the time for killing wild birds, and the Excise Acts as to gun licences and game licences, shoot and kill whatever he may find on the lands. He cannot, however, if he kills game, sell it except in accordance an with the Game Acts. But the law, as long as the shooting takes place at legal times, and the shooter has the proper excise licence, takes no account as to the way in which the shooting is done. It is not illegal to shoot partridges on the ground, or pheasants running, or in trees, if the shooter is otherwise qualified, and it may be questioned whether under most shooting leases the tenant is not entitled to kill the game in any way he thinks fit. He may do it in an unsportsmanlike way, but that is not illegal.
The only case in which it would seem the law would interfere is in the case of a man shooting on his boundary, not for the exercise of his rights, but to disturb the birds on his neighbour's land. The two cases that have been decided do not give a very clear rule. In the first a man shot near a decoy so as to disturb and drive out the birds in the decoy. This was held to be illegal, as the carrying on a decoy was a trade, and the shooting was in effect disturbing a man carrying on his legal trade. In the second a man shot so as to disturb and drive away his neighbour's rooks, and it was held no action would lie, the ground being that rooks were noxious birds not protected by law. So far the law is not settled as to whether a man can legally shoot on his boundary in such a manner as to drive away his neighbour's game. He certainly could not if it were a game farm, and probably not if his neighbour regularly sold his game, nor no even if he regularly let it, for he would injure him in his trade, nor if the shooting drove the game from his neighbour's on to his land so that he could shoot it. But if it w was merely to drive it away, it is doubtful if he could be legally prevented. For birds or beasts not game and that cannot be sold, it would seem that the person on whose land they are, if his neighbour deliberately frightens them away, has no legal remedy unless he could prove special damage.
The other exceptions as to the right to shoot are those imposed by the Ground Act.
That Act gave to the occupier of land an inalienable concurrent right with the person who may be entitled to the sporting, to kill the ground game, hares and rabbits, but it limited the exercise of that right by providing that only one person on the occupier's behalf can use firearms to kill ground game.
If the occupier lets his shooting, he still retains the right to the ground game, but if care has been taken to have the tenant of the shooting appointed the one person to kill ground game by firearms on the occupier's behalf, then the occupier, although he can still kill the ground game, cannot use firearms.
Subject to these exceptions, the law does not interfere with the way in which shooting rights are exercised. (4) Fowling, as opposed to shooting, would mean taking game and other birds by some mode other than shooting. Here again the law does not interfere with the exercise of the right except as to the times when it may be exercised. It cannot be used during close time, and a proper excise licence is also required to be taken out to use a gun or to kill game.
Game taken by fowling can only be sold in the way allowed by the Game Laws. But the person who is legally entitled can take the game and fowl by nets, snares, and other devices, the only exception being poison and spring traps elsewhere than in rabbit holes.
He can take his own game in his own way, however unsportsmanlike and however much his neighbour may dislike the methods he uses. The chief kind of fowling now carried on is at the decoys, where large numbers of wildfowl are taken. The professional bird-catcher also falls under the class of Fowlers. Nowadays fowling, except in decoys, is more or less a device to enable poaching to be carried on, but it is well to bear in mind that it is legal and can be legally carried out, and that it is important to a person who desires to acquire sporting rights that he should include the right of fowling, not for his own use, but to prevent it from being given to anyone else and used to his detriment. (5) Fishing. The rights as to fishing are legally the same as the others, the law recognising no distinction between sporting over land and over water, in fact, regarding water merely as so much land covered by water.
The rule is that in waters that are not tidal the soil of the river belongs to the owner of the adjoining bank, and he has just the same rights as if there was no water, and it was dry land. It is therefore a trespass to go on the water in a boat, it is a trespass to try and take the fish, as it would be to go on the land to take the game. The same rule as to the public being unable to acquire a right to fish by long user applies as in the case of shooting. However long an owner may have permitted the public to fish, he can at any moment withdraw his permission, and this whether the river is navigable or not, so long as it is not both navigable and subject to the regular flow of the tide, that is, so [SPORTING RIGHTS long as the soil is not the public property of the Crown. It follows from this that there is really very little public fishing in the country, and if a person wants to fish he must either get leave or buy or rent fishing rights. Like other sporting rights, the right to fish will only legally pass by deed under seal. Fishing rights are, however, more restricted by legislation than other sporting rights. Game can be legally taken in any way but by poison and spring traps, but there are numbers of ways in which it is illegal to take fish, and some ways which are legal for certain kinds of fish are illegal for others. All these rules apply equally to public and to private fishing. A person cannot even kill the fish he has himself bred except in a legal way.
II. The next point to be considered is in what places the person entitled to sporting rights can exercise them. The broad rule is that his right is limited to the land over which he has the grant from the occupier.
In a Royal forest or chace the right extends over all the lands within the boundary of the forest or chace, whoever may be the owner.
The rights of the owner there are subject to the paramount right of the Crown, and this rule also prevails in the case of a right of free warren. This can be exercised over a defined tract of ground quite independently of the ownership of the soil. In a manor, the lord often claims the right of sporting over the lands within the manor, but, as a rule, the lord, in the absence of a grant of free warren, has no legal right of sporting over the enclosed lands, whether copyhold or freehold, only over the open unenclosed waste. The lord, however, may have retained the right to sport over the enclosed lands at the time of the enclosure, and if he has exercised it without interruption for a long series of years after the enclosure, it would be assumed, in the absence of express evidence to the contrary, that he had done In the case of a modern enclosure, the question whether the lord can sport over newly enclosed lands turns almost entirely on the construction of the document authorising the enclosure. As to the unenclosed wastes of the manor, the lord has the exclusive right of sporting over these, and could prosecute as a trespasser or poacher any tenant of the manor he found sporting on the waste. In strict law a commoner has no right to go on the waste except for the purpose of exercising his right of common.
There may be a right in the commoner to the sporting on the waste, that is, such a right could legally exist, but it is of extremely rare occurrence, but common of fishing, the right of the commoner to fish in the waters in the manor is, although not usual, by no means unknown.
SO.
SPORTING RIGHTS] Subject to these exceptional cases of the existence of a superior right to that of the occupier, the sporting rights belong to the occupier of the lands. The exception that on the sea-shore the public can shoot or fish is not really an exception, for the land over which the public possess this right is only the land between high and low water mark, and is supposed to be in the occupation of the Crown, as trustees for the public, and therefore the public are entitled to go over it. A distinction must be made between the land that belongs to the Crown, as such jure-coronae, and the private estates of the Crown. Of these last, which are managed by the Office of Woods, the Crown is as much the private owner as any other landowner, and over them the public have no right of sporting. The right of fishing in a tidal navigable river is the same as shooting on the sea-shore. The soil of the bed of the river is by law vested in the Crown as Sovereign of the country, or, as it is often said, as trustee for the public; here, therefore, the public can fish, but when once the place is reached where the tide ceases, the right of the Crown ceases and SO do the public rights of fishing, however much the river may be navigable, for the soil of the bed of the river becomes the property of someone else.
An erroneous but very common idea exists that if a road crosses a river or runs along its bank, the public can fish from the bridge or the road, but this is not so, for (I) the public are only entitled to use the bridge or road for the purpose of passing along it, and (2) fishing from a road is really entering on the property of another without his leave.
The case of the man who walked along a high road and shot the pheasants as they flew across, and of the man who walked up and down a road to obstruct grouse-driving, both of whom were held to be acting illegally, show this most clearly.
There are certain cases in which a person is justified in going on another man's land to seek for the game he has killed, such as if it was started on the sportsman's own land and fell dead over the boundary, or the case where a man hooked a salmon, and while playing it, followed it into his neighbour's water; but all these depend on the special circumstances, and are an exception to the general rule, which is that to exercise sporting rights, the consent of the occupier, either implied from the sporting rights being reserved when he commenced his occupation, or existing by a paramount title, or expressly granted under seal by the occupier, is legally necessary. 1 Except when let or sold by the Crown to individuals or Corporations for some special purpose, such as oyster-beds.
III. When sporting rights may be exercised depends upon what they are. The Statute law has now laid down certain rules which apply to all sporting rights; there is a close season for game, a close season for birds not game, a close season for salmon and trout, and a close season for other fresh water fish. Whatever may be the rights of the owner, even if he is the grantee of the Forestal rights of the Crown, he can only exercise his sporting rights at a time the law allows. Close season applies equally to all the King's subjects. Besides close time there are prohibitions as to killing game on Sundays and Christmas Day and at night, and there are also in certain places prohibitions as to fishing at night, but subject to these the rule is that the owner of sporting rights can exercise those rights during the open season when he pleases.
IV. How can sporting rights be exercised? The answer is, in any legal way. As to game, the only illegal modes are poison and spring traps; but as to fish, it depends on the kind of fish. For instance, it is illegal to use a fixed instrument to take salmon, and the size of the net that may be used is in many cases prescribed by local regulation, both as to the maximum and the minimum. In some cases a gaff used with a rod and line is prohibited either altogether, or at certain times of the year. Spearing salmon, trout or char is illegal, and these fish can only be taken by a properly licensed instrument, the difference between fish and game being here strikingly brought out. It is legal, if you take out a game licence, to kill game by any legal mode you like, while if you take out a fish licence you can only kill fish by the special instrument named in your licence. Thus, if you could knock a hare on the head with a stick, it would be legal if you had a game licence, while if you had a rod licence and did the same thing to a salmon it would be illegal. In the one case it is the person who is licensed to use any legal means to take game, in the other the use of a particular legal means to take fish only is given.
It may be said in conclusion that it is almost impossible to state concisely the different points that constantly arise in connection with the subject of sporting rights. It is only possible to state general principles, and it is the exceptions to these principles that create the difficulties; but the possessor of sporting rights must bear in mind (1) that such rights can only be legally acquired by a grant under seal, and that by this grant in some way, either expressly or as a consequence of law, the occupier must be bound. (2) That the rights do not generally, but only in very exceptional cases, extend beyond the boundary of the land of the person who makes the grant. (3) That they can be only exercised subject to the general law as to close time, licences, and employing legal methods of taking game or fish, and this even if the possessor of the rights buys or breeds his game, or hatches and turns out the fish. He will thus avoid many difficulties, and will not go very wrong. J. WILLIS BUND. [See also CLOSE TIME, GAME LAWS AND LICENCES.] STABLES-In the construction of stabling many matters must be taken into consideration if the results of one's labours are to be an adequate and satisfactory return for the expenditure of time and capital. The first thing is to be absolutely certain as to one's requirements; second, to insist that these requirements are always used as the basis of construction from the time the foundations are laid until the last touch has been put to the completed work. Nothing spoils good work so much as chopping and changing or departing from the lines of the original designs as the building progresses.
Let the plans be drawn and approved, and let the builder adhere rigidly to them.
In proposing to build a range of stabling, every man should know more or less what he requires. That is to say, he will have a general idea of how many horses he will want to accommodate. From this as a starting-point, his architect will be able to supply him with plenty of details, some of which will probably be valuable, but, on the other hand, many of which will merit rejection.
The latter will most probably refer to the inner construction of the stables, and as I attach much more importance to these details than to the outside appearance of the building, I will confine myself more particularly to them. The reason for this is obvious.
The animals which will inhabit the new buildings will spend more of their time in the interior than on the roof. At the same time, no man should permit a building to be erected for him, the exterior of which would afterwards prove an eyesore. But before the point of fitting and arrangement is considered, a very important question arises as to the site.
Site. The best built and most scientifically arranged stable in the kingdom will be a comparative failure, unless built on a suitable site. Too much stress cannot be laid on this. A bad site is injurious to the health of the horses and to that of the men employed with them. It creates endless annoyance and expense in this way, and generally gives rise to a very unsatisfactory state of affairs. A man who is contemplating the erection of new stabling knows his own [STABLES ground; he should also know which is the most suitable for his purpose, and it is for him to choose the spot.
In considering this point, and in fact the whole question of stabling, I assume that the stables for a country gentleman's establishment are required. A certain number of carriage horses, hunters, and perhaps, in these days, a string of polo-ponies will be kept. These animals will spend more of their time in the stables than actually at work; therefore they will require better accommodation than, say, cab or 'bus horses.
This follows quite independently of the fact that the difference in value between these classes would induce better treatment as a sort of insurance against monetary loss. In many instances the choice of the site will be, to some extent, limited by local conditions, but where it is possible every effort should be made to give effect to the following hints.
The site should be on high, dry land, so situated that all surface water is carried aw away naturally; low-lying or marshy ground should be avoided under all circumstances.
For subsoil nothing is better than gravel or sand; both are porous and lend themselves readily to nature's drainage system, ensuring a quickly drying surface after heavy rains.
A clay formation or alluvial soils and made ground are of exactly the opposite quality, and should be avoided as being almost as objectionable as a swamp. Next to sand or gravel a rocky formation such as granite, limestone, or chalk is probably the best. The site being chosen, the next thing to do is to go thoroughly into the drainage question. With a sand or gravel subsoil all surface water will quickly disappear, but it is advisable and, in fact, absolutely necessary that the normal level of the land soakage or ground water should be kept at a certain depth below the surface. This depth I put at from five to six feet. Other points which must be taken into consideration in utilising the chosen site are light and ventilation. The building should have a south or west aspect, and be sheltered from cold northerly and easterly winds, but at the same time there should be no interruption to the free passage of air on all sides.
Walls. These points being satisfactorily settled, the main plan of the building may be considered. Whether brick or stone is to be used and whether solid or hollow walls are to be constructed are but matters of detail. If solid brick walls are decided upon, they should not be less than fourteen inches thick for externals; with stone the thickness should be at least twenty inches. A point in favour of hollow walls is that they are warmer in winter and cooler in summer than solids.
STABLES] a Air-Space and Ventilation. My next point is the consideration of the cubic content of the stable and its proper ventilation. The cubic content, that is, the air-space contained by the building, is the most important point. Animals, as much as men, must have a sufficiency of air when kept in confinement. It is not enough to insist on plenty of outdoor exercise for horses that are not fully worked, if, when the exercise is ended, they are put into stuffy stalls or boxes which cannot contain a sufficient volume of air to ensure health. Taking a general average of stables in England, I find, from General Sir F. W. Fitzwygram's excellent book, Horses and Stables, that the cubic contents range from 550 cubic feet in the case of the average cab-horse stables to 2,500 cubic feet per horse in the Royal Mews. Here we have a minimum and a maximum; the former is too low, the latter need not be insisted upon, though, if it can be allowed, there is no doubt that the increased air-space, unnecessary though it be for actual breathing purposes, facilitates ventilation. I would lay down the rule that the cubic content of a first class stable should be anywhere between 1,500 cubic feet and 1,700 cubic feet per horse. This gives ample breathing space, and should, in the majority of cases, give perfect control in the matter of ventilation. I am somewhat opposed to the idea of building to a greater height than 15 feet, inside measurement; air-space beyond that is not available for breathing, and, moreover, the superficial area of a stall is reduced should the building be carried higher and only the same cubic content retained as I suggest. If one takes 1,600 feet as the average and builds to 15 feet high, the result gives a superficial area per stall of 1066 feet. This would not be altogether wrong, but a far better plan would be to reduce the height by two feet and increase the superficial area from 1066 to 123 feet.
Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of floor area per horse as opposed to loftiness of the stable, but of course either point can be carried too far. I speak now of the ordinary stall; when the question of loose boxes is considered, the matter is considerably widened. In this case I would practically double my floor area and retain the maximum height of the walls at 13 feet.
This would give the cubic content as 2,198 cubic feet, and both the air-space and superficial area would be ample for any horse, whether sick or well.
The next point that arises is ventilation.
By this I mean the complete changing of the atmosphere several times in the course of each hour. All the gaseous vapour, carbonic acid gas and organic particles given off by the animals must be cleared out of the stable almost as soon as they are formed. This can only be done by the complete changing of the atmosphere. Horses are not so susceptible to the effects of draughts as are human beings, so that the ventilation of stables is a somewhat easier problem to face than is the ventilation of houses. Speaking broadly, the scheme adopted should ensure a change of atmosphere every ten minutes or quarter of an hour. How this is to be brought about had better be left in the main to the architect. The great principle involved is the rising of the heated and vitiated air to the upper parts of the stable; outlets should thus be provided in the roof for the carrying off of this, whilst the fresh air should be admitted at a comparatively low level.
Another point of importance is that these outlets and inlets should not be under control of the stablemen. If valves are provided, these worthies will often close them to create a feeling of warmth in the stable, or they may be closed and forgotten for days at a time. If valves are provided, an unchecked arrangement of inlets and outlets, giving the minimum quantity of fresh air per hour, should also be added. as Paving. The last great point in the construction of new stabling is the paving or flooring. Many different materials have been used for this purpose, such common and special bricks, wood blocks, flags, asphalt, many patent bricks or tiles, and concrete. Of them all, I recommend good Portland cement concrete; but, to be satisfactory in every way, it must be of the very best. I will state briefly my objections to the other materials mentioned: common bricks are by no means impervious to moisture; special bricks, usually glazed and very hard, contain small channels or grooves very difficult to keep clean and free from dirt; wood blocks are even worse absorbents than common bricks; both flags and asphalte form very slippery and dangerous floors.
Draining. Adopting, therefore, the very best Portland cement concrete, the only other thing to provide is sufficient slope of the fall of the floor to carry off urine and other liquids. I would recommend a slight fall from either side of the stall to a shallow channel running down the centre; this latter should have a drop of about one in sixty to a deeper channel at the end of the stall running at right angles to it, which might have a somewhat sharper fall to its point of connection with the main drainage system of the stables. This will insure the quick passage of all liquids and prevent objectionable smells and injury to the horses' health.
Under this head may be taken into consideration the matter of sanitary disinfectants, and for the comfort and well-being of the horses a liberal use of same must be made; when I say a liberal use, it must be understood that the medium must be taken, for to overdose the stable with a strong disinfectant means irritation to the animals, and the remedy in that case would be worse than the disease. Care should be taken to place such sanitary compound in places where most required-particularly when smells arise through liquid channels. Many of such compounds have come under my notice, and I have failed to find a better mixture than Jeyes' sanitary compound, which combines every ingredient necessary for the purification of stable air, and is not an irritant.
Renovation. An article of this description would hardly be complete if confined to new stabling only. In many places there are existing stables which require renovation, and this question I will now briefly consider. In the work of renovation, the first thing to be done is to take up all floors and pavements bodily; leave nothing to chance. Then examine, and, if necessary, remake and relay all drains, both land drains and sewers. Then look to the cubic content and superficial area. The roof may be raised with advantage, or a reduction in number of stalls may give all the superficial and air space that is required; then devote attention to the ventilation. This done, my remarks on new stables may be followed.
Stable fittings are matters of choice. It is hardly necessary to say that every owner of horses has his pet clothing for his favourites-clothing for one season of the year, and clothing for another and the health of the animals is no doubt preserved by the care taken in the judicious use of stable clothing, preventing chills and coughs, and rendering the horse more comfortable in its hours of rest. I have used many descriptions of horse covering, both when exercising and for the stable, and I have only words of praise for Jaeger's horse clothing in their varied forms and classes, the materials being scientifically woven, and prepared with every care in respect of healthy ventilation and warmth.
Coach-houses and harness rooms.- These should be lofty and dry; well paved with cement, and well ventilated; otherwise "must" will soon show itself. They should contain all the accommodation requisite to the demands that will be made upon them, and the fact must be borne in mind that the initial outlay of a few pounds may save money in the long run.
AUBREY WALLIS.
STEEPLECHASING AND HURDLE- RACING.-The Development of Steeplechasing. In writing of " steeplechasing," the first thing which strikes one is the ab- [STEEPLECHASING surdity of the name that has been accepted as descriptive of the sport. One cannot "chase " a thing that does not run away, and steeples are not itinerant. But the origin of the word is sufficiently clear. 66 who Steeplechases" were first of all spins across country, and some prominent landmark had to be named as a goal. A steeple stood highest; and so, when men desired to test the capacity of their hunters combined with their own skill came together to fight it out, their attention was directed to a steeple in the distant landscape, and they were told that in a certain field close to it posts had been placed, the first man who passed between which was to be accounted the winner. These were genuine sporting contests, especially when they were not set to be decided over an unmerciful distance. The hunters that ran were good jumpers, possessed of what their owners considered a turn of speed and sufficient stamina; riders had to pick their places at the fences, and one great requisite of the good man to hounds, an eye for a country, was a primary essential. There was an element of true sport about the early 66 steeplechases," and though it would be absurd to say that the modern 'chase contains nothing of the kind, the whole nature of the thing has completely altered. A good idea of the old-fashioned business may be gained from the description of the match between Mr. Flintoff and Jean Rougier in Ask Mama, by the author of Handley Cross, the creator of Jorrocks. Spectators there were told they would be able to see everything from the road, and so would do well to save their own necks and the farmers' crops by following the jockeys field by field, sticking to the highway. Here is the point which has so greatly tended to alter the character of the steeplechase.
Spectators have increased in numbers immeasurably; they naturally desire to see as much as they can of the race, the whole contest, in fact; and so courses have had to be made so that the stands command a more or less complete view. The cry for natural fences is reasonable enough. The idea of the steeplechase course is that it should be a reproduction of a fairly difficult hunting country; but made-up fences are unavoidable, because as a very general rule some of the best riders will inevitably go the shortest way round; they will therefore jump the obstacles time after time in the same places; a proportion of the horses will "chance" the fences, take liberties, "tear them up by the roots in the florid phraseology one sometimes hears from the riders. The jumps consequently have to be mended, re-made in fact, and so the courses are necessarily artificial. دو STEEPLECHASING] As the courses have altered, so have the animals that cross them. Hunters are still sometimes found competing, but one hears their owners excusing hopeless defeats by the remark, "I had no sort of chance, you know; mine was only a 'fox-catcher.'" This term as applied to the steeplechase horse is one of depreciation: the "foxcatcher" has not the speed requisite for the winning of 'chases, nor does he jump in the style of the well-schooled steeplechaser.
A hunter dwells at his fences; he has to be steadied, his leap is a special effort, and he pauses when he lands. The 'chaser must fly his fences and "get away from them " without dwelling. The two animals do their work in different ways; the 'chaser, indeed, is quite a modern product. A little schooling in the hunting-field may be good for the steeplechase horse; if he has on his back a rider who is at once bold and a 'chasers who have not the speed to win over hurdles. Not a few of the best Irish 'chasers have, however, never run on the flat. The oddest fact about steeplechasing is that very often horses which have not been able to stay for five furlongs under Jockey Club rules can win races of four miles and more over a country. A really satisfactory explanation of this has still to be found, though that their fine speed enables them to hold their own with less speedy animals without exertion may tend to elucidate the mystery; but what makes the circumstance still more remarkable is that the chief steeplechases are run in times which stand out well when compared with that of flat races. es. The Derby has occupied as much as 3 min. 4 sec.-Ellington took this timethat is, at the rate of a mile in a shade under 2 min. 3 sec. Cloister only took 9 min.
THE START FOR THE GRAND NATIONAL. judicious, he may possibly learn to be clever.
But this is only one branch of his education; he must undergo another and a special course of preparation if he is to win credit "between the flags." The 'chaser when he has become too slow for this particular business may make an excellent hunter; but he is apt as a rule to rush his fences, to jump them in his old style, and is a comfortable mount only for a bold rider.
At least one Grand National winner carried his master admirably to hounds-Ilex, who won the greatest of cross-country events in 1890.
It is not in the hunting field that recruits are sought, for the reason above given.
Hunters have not the speed to live with the rivals they are certain to meet in important races. A very few years back, indeed, when the entries for the Grand National were published, it was the custom to class them into "hunters" and "handicap steeplechasers," but in truth the distinction was purely technical and really meant nothing. Steeplechase horses are often drawn from the flat, and frequently they graduate through a course of hurdle racing, though it is by no means every hurdle racer that can, even if he tries, earn distinction "over a country," and there are good 2 [Photograph by Sport and General. 42 sec. to win the Grand National, and to win it in a canter by forty lengths; and there are these points to be borne in mind when the two things are compared: the Grand National course is thrice the length of the Derby course; there are thirty jumps, most of them of really formidable size; Cloister carried 12 st. 7 lb., nearly half as much weight again as is carried at Epsom.
Nevertheless he took only between 6 and 7 secs. more per mile than had been taken by the Derby winner of 1856.
It is doubtful when the first steeplechase was run, but there is a record of a match in Ireland in 1752, over four miles and a half of country, between a Mr. O'Callaghan and Mr. Edmund Blake, the course being 66 from the Church of Buttevant to the spire of St. Leger Church." "The Druid," most charming of Turf historians, speaks of a 'chase in Lancashire in 1792, eight miles from Barkby Holt to the Coplow and back; Mr. Charles Meynell, son of the M.F.H., was first, Lord Forester second, Sir Gilbert Heathcote third. Over the same course there was a match in 1824, for £2,000 a side, between Captain Horatio Ross on a horse of his own, and Captain Douglas on a horse belonging to Lord Kennedy. The former won. These early contests seem to have been for only two or three starters, and I can find no reference to a regular field before March, 1831, when the St. Albans steeplechase was run and won by Moonraker, "who had been bought, for £18, with his sinews quite calloused from hard work, out of a water-cart; but he could jump undeniably and cleared the Holloway Lane in the course of an exercise canter." There is mention of a steeplechase in France, in 1834, starting "down the Rabbit Mount, a short but steep declivity full of holes," over a river and across swampy meadows. The first Liverpool Steeplechase was run on Monday, February 29th, 1836, at Aintree.
It was a sweepstake of IO sovs. each, with 80 sovs. added, for horses of all denominations; 12 stones each; gentlemen riders. The winner to be sold for 200 sovs. if de- [STEEPLECHASING This was the National Hunt Steeplechase, to be contested over four miles at such different places as the Stewards of the National Hunt might annually select; the horses to be maidens and the jockeys gentlemen or qualified riders-that is to say, not (admittedly) professional. Owners of good horses were at first exceedingly keen about this race, and put by animals expressly for it, but, with the exception of Why Not, and perhaps we may add Rory O'Moore, it has rarely fallen to a notable 'chaser, and it is hampered by the clause which confines it to maidens. A four-year-old has rarely sufficient stamina to win though Nord- Ouest, a French importation of that age, won at Newmarket in 1897-and men who own horses of capacity are as a general rule unwilling to forego the prospect of success THE COURSE FOR THE GRAND NATIONAL. was manded." Captain Becher, who gave his name to "Becher's Brook," won on a horse called The Duke. "A strong recommendation to it was that nearly the whole of the performance could be seen from the Grand Stand" is noted by a writer who describes it. The distance was twice round a twomile course. The Grand National started in 1839. This was at first a sweepstake of 20 sovs. each, 100 added; 12 stone each; gentlemen riders; four miles across country. That the course was not marked out as it is now seems to be implied by the conditions: "No rider to open a gate, or ride through a gate-way, or more than 100 yards along any road, footpath, or driftway." The famous Jem Mason won on Lottery, a perfect jumper. Two Irish horses, Rust and Naxon, were better favourites until just before the start, when Lottery passed them in the betting as he did presently in the race.
In 1860 was first run a steeplechase which seemed likely to become extremely popular, but has perhaps not fulfilled its promise, attractive as it is to many good sportsmen. elsewhere, and to keep them on purpose for this race. It should be added that the National Hunt Committee came into existence in 1866, and not before it was very badly wanted. Cross-country meetings had previously been, it is said, the "recognised refuge of all outcasts, human or equine, from the legitimate Turf." There were Stewards, of course, but they had no power or authority; the most they could do was to suspend a rider for the rest of the meeting-if his offence were committed in the last race they could do nothing. The Jockey Club gave no countenance to "illegitimate" sport, for the whole business had become a scandal when the Grand National Hunt Committee was formed, to make rulespreviously Clerks of Courses had done what they pleased and to supervise proceedings.
The late Lord Suffolk and Mr. W. G.
Craven had much to do with inducing the Jockey Club to recognise the Grand National Hunt Committee, as it was at first called. The Duke of Beaufort and Lord Coventry soon gave their support; after a time George Payne and other influential STEEPLECHASING] VALENTINE'S BROOK, GRAND NATIONAL COURSE. members of the Jockey Club, who had at first opposed the delegation of authority to a new body, were won over; and the two institutions now work hand in hand, as is natural, seeing that not a few gentlemen are members of both.
Steeplechase and Hurdle Race Horses. Experience shows that some sires get jumpers and that others do not, that many who might be expected to succeed are failures, and that the reverse is equally the case. To some small extent breeding may thus be a guide; but one can never tell, and the broad rule is this, that if a man wants a jumper and has or knows of a horse which "looks like jumping," it will be judicious to have him schooled and note the results. That many horses which "look like jumping" will prove the deceptiveness of appearances is inevitable, and to a slighter extent the opposite is true. One THE DISTANT CHAIR JUMP, GRAND NATIONAL COURSE. searches specially for good shoulders, as without them a horse is likely to pitch on landing; he must have propelling power also, and depth through the heart is most desirable; but at the same time it is astonishing how on occasions weedy little animals win big steeplechases, though they will generally be found on examination to possess good points which are likely to escape the casual observer. This was the case with Lord Coventry's famous mares Emblem and Emblematic.
Horses are usually put to jumping because for some reason or another their career on the flat has ceased to look promising, it having been so continually proved that failures under Jockey Club Rules were brilliant successes under the Rules of the National Hunt. There may be less money to be won hurdles or fences, but there seems more BECHER'S BROOK, GRAND NATIONAL COURSE. over chance of winning it. Sometimes a horse who retains his capacity to gallop, but becomes a rogue and refuses to try, is raced over hurdles because an idea exists-an idea which appears well authenticatedthat animals often thus gain the confidence or courage which they lack. It was for this reason that Duke of Richmond-at one time, as set forth in a previous section of this work, regarded as a worthy rival of the great St. Simon-was schooled over hurdles. Another horse that may be instanced is Regret. As a three-year-old he won over £3,000 in stakes, and actually started favourite for the Princess of Wales's Stakes in a field which included St. Frusquin and Persimmon, the betting being 7 to 4 Regret, 5 to 2 St. Frusquin, 4 to I Persimmon, and he was third, beaten only a length from St. Frusquin, who won; though it should be noted that Regret had 7 lb. advantage in the weights. His wilfulness was not at first cured by a course of hurdles, though he was persuaded to win a couple of races. Red Heart, a very speedy animal, bought at auction for 5,100 guineas in 1897, was found a few months later running, and running badly, over hurdles.
A long list might be given of 5-furlong horses who have stayed well over hurdles, and, of course, there are instances of stayers who have succeeded, Soliman being a notable one, as he won the Great Metropolitan at Epsom, and ran prominently in the Cesarewitch. Cornbury, a Metropolitan winner, could do nothing over hurdles, lacking speed. Going a little farther back the same thing is to be observed. Regal, who won the Grand National, was a shortdistance runner on the flat, and only won two little races worth £100 whilst performing under Jockey Club Rules; but besides [STEEPLECHASING on his back. A few animals seem to take to jumping as if they delighted in it, but these are, on the whole, rather the exceptions; a few others resolutely refuse to do anything of the kind, and cannot be either forced or persuaded to cross even a hurdle. Two notable hunters of a former day-quasi hunters, that is to say, who ran in which were then called Hunters' Races-Quits and The Owl, could never be induced to jump. Quits would not look at a hurdle, and The Owl was almost as bad. As regards the teacher, he must carefully avoid frightening his horse, though the early experiences of Congress must surely have had a somewhat alarming effect. The thing to be done is to begin gradually, and to get on by degrees.
A few faggots or a very low hurdle will THE SECOND FENCE, HURST PARK. the Grand National he took numbers of other steeplechases. Speed is the first essential. Another thing to be observed in the selection of the 'chaser is that though he may not take kindly to his work at first, patience may effect a wonderful change. Congress, who was one of the most brilliant steeplechase horses ever known, framed so badly and showed such nervousness and hesitation that his owner, being convinced that he could jump if he would, adopted the violent expedient of having him pulled over his early jumps with cart ropes. This, however, leads one to the subject of Schooling. Almost everything depends upon the ability of the rider who is put on the horse when first he begins his lessons.
He must have "hands," which are far from common, and he must furthermore possess just that combination of patience and firmness which is so seldom found. Patience is usually emphasised as the first requisite, and perhaps it is so, but at the same time it is essential that the horse should be made to perceive that he has his master [Photograph by Sport and General. be quite enough to start with, and it is a good thing to have a steady, trustworthy old horse to lead the young one in his early lessons. A leaping bar is not to be recommended, as it gives way when struck, and the horse will be apt to get an idea that he may take liberties, a notion which later on is apt to be forcibly dispelled. On some courses, indeed, horses can brush through their fences, and even when they are strongly made up one not seldom sees huge pieces of them knocked out as some clumsy jumper plunges through; but at other times, if the fence is really stiff, a bad fall is the result, and the novice should be taught that he must clear what he is put to.
Further reference is made to this in the section on Steeplechase Courses."
Very often, in his early lessons, the horse's fault will be that he will jump too high, and this is very detrimental, for then, as the phrase goes, he is apt to "beat himself jumping." Crossing hurdles is a business by itself, and differs from jumping fences.
It may be added that hurdle racing is indefensible as a sport, being neither one thing 66 STEEPLECHASING] nor the other-steeplechasing nor flat racing -though it is certainly picturesque and a pretty sight to watch a master of the business. The ideal hurdle jumper is a horse who clears the obstacles as if they were not there, taking them in his stride, and it is wonderful how the very best (there are extremely few of them) will contrive to do this. The jockey who rode Chandos in most of his races described how, some strides from a flight, the horse would begin to measure his distance so that he could take it in his stride without having to "put in a little one" when quite near. Anything like dwelling at a hurdle is fatal to success, but the worst of this business is that very often in a big field horses close in as they approach the jump, and an animal that is a little way behind cannot see what he has a fall is usually a bad one. What to do is therefore a matter which severely tests jockeyship.
The size of obstacles when a horse is being schooled will, of course, be gradually increased until they attain the dimensions of the course over which he will have to run in public. It is a bad thing to jump a horse too much, so that he grows tired and disgusted: here as elsewhere there is a happy medium, and the most successful trainer is the man who hits it off. A few turns round a jumping school" occasionally are no doubt desirable. This school should be made round four sides of a field, enclosed by stout timber partitions, so that the horses cannot run out when they have been put into it and the bars through which they have gained admission replaced. In 66 THE WATER JUMP, KEMPTON PARK. to do. It is a dangerous game for this reason, and a fall over a swinging hurdle is likely to be a very ugly one. a At big fences a horse must be slightly steadied, but not at all in the fashion in which man out hunting pulls his horse together before it jumps.
Naturally the great object of steeplechasing is to lose no time, and therefore a horse must get away from his fences without dwelling-that, indeed, is one of the great secrets of success. Some riders adopt the practice of going at the last two jumps "as if they were not there," but awkward results often follow from chancing anything.
The margin between success and failure is so small that pulling a horse together before the last jump may lose a length that can never be regained: on the other hand, it is very certain that by chancing the last fence many horses fall, and something that has seemed to be hopelessly beaten and is toiling on lengths behind may thus gain a victory which had seemed absolutely hopeless. At the same time, if a beaten horse is pulled out of his stride, he is apt to fall, and such these schools there are fences of as varied a nature as can be devised, and the animals are introduced riderless, men being at hand to drive them over the jumps if they require it. A little practice in this has the effect of making a horse clever. These schools, however, are less common than they were formerly. A few years ago the water-jump used to be considered one of the chief features of a steeplechase; this as now constructed is by no means a formidable obstacle, though for reasons presently explained it is an awkward jump. Certain animals at first show a special dislike to water-jumping, and it is necessary, therefore, to accustom them to it. Any little brook, a stream even four or five feet wide, will be quite enough to begin with. It is wonderful how readily some horses take to the business, they being, no doubt, natural jumpers, and though it is advisable never to let a steeplechase horse get out of practice, as the muscles chiefly employed in leaping are likely to relax, it is a curious fact about the Grand National victory of Anatis in 1860 that before he won at Liverpool he had not jumped a single fence from the time that he ran there the year before. A bad rider will soon spoil an animal that has learnt to jump really well. If he pulls his horse about, or jerks his mouth on landing, the horse will soon get clumsy and lose time at his fences. Bitting is an important detail; not a few horses that pull hard against a severe bit will go kindly enough in something that suits them, and to which they do not object. A very astute gentleman rider some time since found that the only way in which he could hold one particularly hard puller was by putting a net over its nose, as is sometimes done with [STEEPLECHASING is that most people who are interested in the subject have their own private ideas as to the capacity of horses, and are greatly governed by prejudices for and against.
It is certain that until 1893 a very general opinion was held by persons who had given a good deal of attention to the matter that anything over 12 stone was a prohibitive weight for the Grand National course.
Cloister proved the fallacy of this. He carried 12 st. 7 lb.; he made nearly the whole of the running, and he won in the easiest of canters by forty lengths-had it been worth while, his jockey could have absolutely walked him past the post, and this seems most emphatically to stamp him as A FALL AT LINGFIELD. carriage horses; but after a time the horse that was thus treated got accustomed to the device and then it had no effect.
Patience is essential in not going too fast until a horse has made some progress as a jumper; and then by degrees he can be taught to race over his fences in the style which is necessary if he is to win.
Famous 'Chasers. As was remarked in discussing past and present horses on the flat, opinions vary altogether about the relative merits of the animals of to-day and of former periods, though there are probably more eulogists of the 'chasers of thirty or forty years ago than there are of the flat-race horses of the same epoch. There is, however, of course no means of proving the accuracy of the opinions that are held.
It is absolutely impossible to say what would have happened, for instance, if The Lamb, The Colonel, Disturbance, Cloister, and Manifesto had gone the post for the Grand National, supposing they had been contemporaries. The truth to a really good horse, as before his success the 11 st. 13 lb. carried by Cortolvin in 1867 had been the record for this race, with Disturbance II st. II lb. in 1873 second.
Of course, those who wish to depreciate Cloister ask what he beat, and make out that he beat nothing, but a good deal could be said in opposition to this view. It must not be forgotten that he had twice been second, and the late "Roddy" Owen always maintained that had he not been hustled at the last fence in 1891 he would undoubtedly have beaten Come Away, who, there can be no doubt, was at that time a really good horse. It is worth note that there were no fewer than five Grand National winners behind the pair on this occasion; moreover, Cloister has another creditable second in his record. He may not have been an attractive horse to look at, but his exceptional merit is surely undeniable, and one of the excellent points about him was his temper.
The writer of this article was taken to see him in his box two or three hours after his STEEPLECHASING] victory. His owner leaned against his back while Cloister placidly munched his oats; indeed, a more amiable horse never carried a saddle. Whether he or Manifesto was the better, Manifesto having won the Liverpool twice, and once with the 12st. 71b. which Cloister had carried, will always remain a matter for argument. It has already been remarked that horses which have run well on one occasion in the Grand National have frequently done the same afterwards; a very considerable proportion of the winners had been in the first three more than once, and Frigate, who won in 1889, occupied the unenviable position of second in three Nationals. Every one who has read anything about the great race has been acquainted with the fact that the sisters Emblem and Emblematic, who won in 1863 and 1864, were the reverse of handsome animals to look at. Emblem, probably the better of the pair, has been described as "all shoulders and quarters with no ribs," but both won cleverly in the hands of George Stevens, who carried off five Nationals altogether and was an admirable horseman, though it seems to have been the fashion in his day to blame him for laying out of his ground. The Colonel, who won in 1869 and 1870, was in appearance in very marked contrast to the famous sisters, having been a singularly handsome horse.
Like so many other good 'chasers he was a failure on the flat.
In the Grand National one very excellent rule is to avoid the crowd, even if the rider has to go a little further round, for there is usually a good deal of hustling, especially at the first few fences, and the good horses that have been knocked over through no DROGHEDA, WINNER OF THE GRAND NATIONAL, 1898. fault of their own would make a long list.
Of course, in such a race as the Grand National luck has a vast deal to do with the result, and The Colonel would not have won VOL. IV the second time but that Surney, who evidently had the race in hand, as those that were left in jumped on to the racecourse, twisted a plate at the last hurdle, and in- MANIFESTO, WINNER OF THE GRAND NATIONAL, 1897 AND 1899. jured himself-the race used to finish over a couple of hurdles but common sense came to the aid of the executive, and now there are only fences. It has been remarked in a previous section that Moonraker was bought out of a water-cart for £18. Good steeplechasers are sometimes discovered in odd places, and Salamander, who beat a field of thirty in 1866, was found in a hovel in Ireland, and bought by Mr. Studd with a couple of others because he thought the horse was worth the very small sum asked for him, and might, with luck, make a decent hunter. Mention of the Grand National without The Lamb is, of course, impossible, as that good little horse was one of the four that have won the great race twice. If the question were asked which was the best horse that ever won the Liverpool, it is probable that a good many votes would be given to Disturbance, on whom Mr. J. M. Richardson gained the first of his two victories, the second being on Reugny, an inferior animal whose staying had been considered doubtful. Disturbance was an animal out of the common, and his giving 8 lb. to so good a 'chaser as Ryshworth says much for him, seeing that the next day Ryshworth won the Sefton Steeplechase with the greatest ease, giving weight to animals of reputation. As a general rule it may be said that the history of the Grand National is the history of the best steeplechase horses. There are a few famous ones, however, that have not distinguished themselves at Aintree. Disturbance notwithstanding, Mr. Richardson-and his ability and judgment can only be described as unsurpassable-believes that actually the best horse he ever rode was Schiedam, and he relates that he won a four-mile 'chase P from a notably good field at Warwick so easily, and was so fresh at the finish, that after jumping the last fence he playfully shied at a bit of white paper that was lying AMBUSH II., WINNER OF THE GRAND NATIONAL, 1900. on the course near the post. It was only by a very narrow margin that The Doctor was not enrolled in the list of Grand National winners, as The Colonel, on the occasion of his first victory, only just managed to beat him. Brick, Pearl Diver, Chimney Sweep, and other good horses, have also failed at Aintree. The Irish have always been to the fore, and in the 'seventies 'eighties, and early 'nineties the great question which always arose when the entries appeared was which seemed likely to prove the best of the Irish horses. Liberator won in 1874, Empress, one of the five five-year-olds that have carried off the race, in 1880, Woodbrook in 1881, and Cyrus was only just beaten in 1882 by Seaman, who cannot quite be reckoned as an "Irish horse" in the usual sense of representing Irish interests, as he finished his preparation in England; but he was Irish as regards breed and schooling. The next year, 1883, the field was one of the worst that ever competed, as well as absolutely the smallest, there having been only ten starters, and Zoedone won in the hands of her Hungarian owner, Count, now Prince, Kinsky.
One of the beliefs in regard to the race used to be that it was well-nigh impossible for a horse to win on his first essay over the Liverpool country; but this was disproved in 1884 by the success of Voluptuary, as later by that of the Frenchbred five-year-old, Lutteur III. Roquefort, the winner in 1885, was one of the horses that was frequently what is called there or thereabouts," and it is worthy of note that chance only led to his appearance at Liverpool, for Colonel Fisher, who subsequently commanded the 10th Hussars, had [STEEPLECHASING at one time made up his mind to turn him out of training, as he had a confirmed habit of trying to bolt if run on a right-handed course. When he appeared at Sandown a detachment of boys from the Bishop's Sutton stable was accustomed to stand at the top of the hill and endeavour to induce Roquefort to keep in the track, his rooted disposition being to swing round to the left.
Liverpool, however, is left-handed, and he ran third there in 1884, after which Colonel Fisher had the bad luck to sell him for 1,250 guineas, so that he was in other ownership when he won the next year.
Persons who are not experienced in turf affairs are usually convinced that trainers are well-nigh infallible guides as to the chances possessed by the horses in their stables, and an example of the fact that this is not so was furnished in 1880. Tom Cannon of Danebury had two horses in the race this year, Aladdin, belonging to Mr.
Leopold de Rothschild, and Playfair, the property of Captain E. W. Baird. Which was the better of the two was purely a matter of opinion before the race; but Mr.
C. W. Waller, who rode Aladdin, was so convinced he would beat the other, from what he had seen while riding gallops at Danebury, that a long time before the event he took a thousand to thirty about his mount, refusing to back Playfair at all; Playfair, however, won, and Aladdin could get no nearer than fifth. This was one of the years when Frigate was second, as she had been to Roquefort and to Voluptuary, but she managed to get home in 1889. Why Not (Irish) was another horse that came near to success on several occasions before he ultimately attained it, which he did in 1894 with the respectable weight of II st. 13 lb. on his back; but the 12 st. 7 lb. which GRUDON, WINNER OF THE GRAND NATIONAL, 1901.
Cloister (Irish) had won with the year before made this tie with Cortolvin of less note than it otherwise would have been. It is remarkable how long some of these old STEEPLECHASING] The steeplechase horses last. Come Away (Irish), who was an aged horse in 1891, and has long been forgotten, was found entered again in 1898. The success of The Soarer in 1896 was no doubt due to the number of accidents which took place during the struggle, Mr. D. G. M. Campbell, who rode, having laid to heart the advice as to keeping clear of the crowd and picking his own place at the fences, even if he did not go the shortest way. Manifesto (Irish again) was one of the victims on this occasion, and the ease with which he won the following year (1897) suggested that he must have been extremely dangerous had he not fallen or been knocked over. proportion of accidents in the Grand National is, however, always very large; sixteen horses, for instance, started in 1890 and only five of them stood up the whole way round, though Why Not, after giving his owner, Mr. C. J. Cunningham, a bad fall, was remounted and finished fifth.
Three other winners were among the fallers, Frigate, Gamecock, and Voluptuary. As a general rule two-thirds of the runners fall. In 1910 only five finished out of five and twenty starters. One never knows what may happen in a steeplechase. One of the starters in 1890 was an extremely bad animal and a very uncertain jumper, named Pan; but on this occasion he managed, for a wonder, to stand up when so many of his superiors came to grief, and to the general astonishment finished second. Pan's price in the betting was IOO to I offered; he had been sold a few weeks before the race for 120 guineas, and if Ilex, who won this year, had followed the general example, Pan would actually have won, for M.P., who followed him, was SHANNON LASS, WINNER OF THE GRAND NATIONAL, 1902. a very long way behind, a bad third. Few persons besides his immediate friends ever believed that Father O'Flynn would win a Grand National, as he was a particularly THE TATE LIBRARY, BRIXTON, S.W. uncertain and self-willed animal, but his name must not be omitted from this retrospect, mainly because he was persuaded to do his best by that successful horseman the DRUMCREE, WINNER OF THE GRAND NATIONAL, 1903. late Major "Roddy" Owen, who, having gained the great object of his ambition by winning the chief of cross-country races, finally abandoned the sport to which he had been so devoted, and entered with equal ardour upon the business of his profession, in pursuance of which he came to his deeply lamented end.
It was in 1897 that Manifesto, who had won with II st. 3 lb. two years previously, carried home his 12 st. 7 lb. Next year his Majesty won with Ambush II. In 1901 the race was run in a blizzard with some inches of snow on the ground, many of the horses falling as the snow balled in their feet. The trainer of Grudon had thoughtfully filled his horse's feet with soft soap, which doubtless helped him to stand up. The New Zealand importation, Moifaa, won in 1904, and was subsequently purchased by King Edward. The horse, however, did no good. In 1908 the race was remarkable. Two animals started for Mr.
Frederick Withington's stable, Mattie Macgregor, a good mare who was rather fancied, though she was only six years old, and her trainer thought not quite sufficiently mature to win, and Rubio. This horse had been running in a cart at a jobmaster's establishment in order to render his legs callous, and he was generally despised, but to the amazement of everyone, including Mr.
Withington, he won easily by ten lengths, the mare second. Remarkable may again be written of 1909. The French five-yearold, Lutteur III., came over and won without much trouble. No five-year-old had scored for nine-and-twenty years, though few, indeed, had run. The hero of 1910 was Mr. Assheton-Smith's Jerry M., second with 12 st. 7 lb. to Jenkinstown, in receipt of P2 2st. 2lb. It was Mr. Assheton-Smith, before he changed his name, who won with Cloister.
Riders. Riding over a country is one of the very few sports at which a few of the best amateurs are not inferior to the best professionals. This, however, is perhaps natural, because these few amateurs who are really in the first flight-the number, of course, is exceedingly small-have as much practice at home and abroad as their professional opponents, and they need not ride unless they are really fond of the game. It is a melancholy thing for a steeplechase MOIFAA, WINNER OF THE GRAND NATIONAL, 1904. jockey if his nerve once goes; he has to make his living, and it is a most unpleasant business to ride over a country when nerve has gone and one has no other means of livelihood. A gentleman, when this misfortune happens to him as in most cases it does sooner or later-can cease to wear silk, or at any rate need not ride over hurdles or fences. One occasionally finds men who have held their own over a country giving it up and appearing only in races on the flat; but there is not this refuge for the professional when, in vulgar phraseology, he begins to " funk." 66 It is a rapid age, and riders of the last generation are very soon forgotten; comparatively few men now who go racing" remember Mr. Ede, who earned a welldeserved reputation as Mr. "Edwards." He was one of twins, and learnt under the auspices of Ben Land, becoming extraordinarily accomplished at the business. It was only jockeyship that enabled Mr. Ede to win on The Lamb against Pearl Diver, who was ridden by a professional jockey.
Mr. J. M. Richardson has already been mentioned, as indeed he must be in any article that deals with steeplechasing. Mr.
Arthur Yates was one of the busiest and most successful of riders in the 'seventies, though increasing weight long ago obliged [STEEPLECHASING him to give up the game he so dearly loved, and devote himself to training for his friends, which he has since done and is happily still doing with excellent results.
Captain Coventry, the elder brother of Mr.
Arthur Coventry, the present starter, was one of the best of his day; and as regards the younger of the brothers, though possibly he may have been a trifle better on the flat than over a country, it may be doubted whether, all things considered, a better amateur was ever seen. The late Fred Archer, against whom Mr. Arthur Coventry had not seldom ridden with success, good humouredly protested against having to give any allowance of weight to a gentleman rider such as he; for Mr.
Coventry did the amplest justice to the instructions of his friend and teacher, Tom Cannon. Mr. Coventry carried off the Grand National Hunt Steeplechase of 1879 on Bell Ringer, on a course at Derby which was so severe that some of the other competitors protested against it as altogether unfair. He, however, declared it to be in his opinion admirable, and the result justified his estimate so far as he was concerned. Captain Arthur Smith and Mr. Brockton were great men at this time, and the late Captain W. Hope Johnstone was notable as having held his own without loss of skill or nerve for a good thirty years. Mr. E. P. Wilson, a "qualified rider," which is not quite the same as an amateur pure and simple, won innumerable races, including the Grand National on Roquefort; and a name which occurs in the 'seventies, not seldom with a "I" after it, is that of Lord Marcus Beresford, who is still prominent in Turf matters. Mr. Garrett Moore, who won the National on Liberator, and his brother, Mr. W. H.
Moore, are names not to be forgotten; and among the best of the last generation was Mr. W. B. Morris, unhappily killed out hunting a few years ago. The brothers Beasley came constantly from Ireland and seldom returned without taking spoil with them. Captain Middleton, known so well as "Bay Middleton,” was another very well-known rider of his day, if not quite in the first flight, and it will be remembered how he came to a melancholy end in a steeplechase a few years since. Lord Minto, who rode as "Mr.
Rolly," was prominent in the 'seventies, and devoted much of his time and energy to schooling Ledburn, with whom the late Baron Rothschild had set his heart on winning the Grand National Hunt Steeplechase in 1870; but Mr. Richardson and Schiedam were too much for them, though Schiedam at that time was by no means a perfect jumper. Thus early, too, the name of the STEEPLECHASING] Hon. George Lambton frequently occurs.
He was the possessor of beautiful hands, which he retained till failing health obliged him to give up riding and devote himself to training-with what fortunate results the records of recent years decisively show.
Mr. Hugh Owen, the elder brother of "Roddy" Owen, was one of the most active horsemen of his day; and among soldiers, both in England and Ireland, Captain Lee Barber, the boldest, not to say most reckless, of riders did well. Among professional jockeys of this time, Robert I'Anson was certainly one of the most accomplished horsemen ever seen over a country. A number of Newmarket trainers now in the busy exercise of their calling were constantly found in the saddle, including R. Marsh, Joseph Cannon, who won the Grand National on Regal (the second string of the stable, Chandos, the better of the pair, having fallen just after Jewitt had shouted to his friend that he was going on to win); Tom Jennings, junior, and Charles Archer. An amusing and interesting record of "Roddy" Owen's Turf career is fully given in the memoir of him published by his sister, Mrs. Bovill, in 1897.
Coming to more recent times, one meets the name of Captain Percy Bewicke, and it may be doubted whether a better all-round rider ever put his horse at a fence. An indifferent performer to begin with, he attained to absolutely the first rank by practice and experience; he was always in the right place, never lay out of his ground or made too much use of his horse; he could ride a well-timed finish, and it was a delight to watch his perfect style over fences. The Grand National never fell to him, but that is to a great extent a matter of luck, as