Moore
driving the "Rockmarge," with Charlie Tuppen for his guard; Mr. Barron, driving the Hampton Court "Venture," with Harry Tagg as professional and Charles Minnett as guard; Mr. E. H. Brown's London and Boxhill "Perseverance," driven by Cann, with Gillman as guard; Mr.
George Chapman's Brighton and Eastbourne Vigilant," with Fozzard as guard; the Kingston "Tantivy," with Mr. Percy Hughes on the box, and Sam Kidd carrying the horn; Mr. Craig-McKerrow, driving the Windsor "Reynard," on which Harry King and Will Finch were respectively professional coachman and hornblower; Messrs. C. and S. Ward's "Old Times," driven by E. K. Fownes, with Arthur Bullock as guard; the coach of Miss Ella Ross, driven by Mr. Bertram Mills, with Hart for guard.
Mr. Vanderbilt again arrived first, and was placed at the head of the prize-winners, so that he won the Gold Cup outright. Mr.
E. H. Brown took the second prize, Mr.
W. H. Moore the third, Mr. Barron the fourth, and Messrs. Ward the fifth prize, which was added on this occasion. For 66 In the case of the Corinthian under similar rules for private coaches, the route was from Olympia to Ranelagh and back, the distance being reckoned at about 7½ miles each way. The outward journey was over Hammersmith Bridge and thence by Barnes Common, up Roehampton Lane, down Kingston Vale into Richmond Park at the Robin Hood Gate, and out by the Roehampton Gate, and across Barnes Common to Ranelagh, where coaches and horses were timed and inspected, and the horses baited. After the competitors and their friends had been entertained to dinner at the Club by Lord Lonsdale, the homeward journey was made over Barnes Common into Richmond Park at the Roehampton Gate, and out by the Sheen Gate, and so by way of Upper Richmond Road, Barnes Common, and Hammersmith Bridge, back to Olympia. The fourteen starters were Major G. H. A. White, driving the Royal Artillery Regimental coach, Mr. Craig- McKerrow, Mr. W. H. Moore, Mr. Leonard Powell, Mr. Edward Colston, Mr. Vanderbilt, Mr. C. J. Phillips, Mr. J. H. Horton, Mr. Leonard Balls, Miss Ella Ross, Mr.
E. H. Brown, Mr. Alan Lupton, Mr. W. A.
Barron, and Mr. S. R. Lancaster. After the final inspection on returning to Olympia, the judges placed first Mr. Moore, who thus won the cun given by the proprietors of the Field, which is an exact copy of a tankard made in 1692 by George Garthorne, of London, and presented by. Queen Mary to Simon Janzen, master mariner, for having safely conveyed King William across the sea in 1691. Mr. Colston took second prize, another cup, and Mr. Vanderbilt won the third prize cup.
So popular were these contests found to be, the routes on every occasion being lined with spectators, that the Royal Richmond Horse Show Society organised yet another Marathon for both private coaches and road coaches, from the Magazine in Hyde Park to the Show Ground in the Old Deer Park, Richmond. There were originally seven- DUCK SHOOTING] teen entries, but only the ten whose order of starting and times are given below turned out:- Order of Start- Arriing. val.
Mr. A. G. Vanderbilt.. ...
Owner of Coach.
Time of Starting. Arrival. 2 I 11.31 12.13 I 2 Mr. J. H. Horton ... ... 11.30 12.18 8 3 Mr. W. H. Moore ... ... 11.37 12.21 3 4 Mr. George Chapman... ... 11.32 12.23 4 5 Mr. Craig - McKerrow's "Reynard" ... 5 6 Messrs. Ward and Sons II.24 12.24 11.33 12.24 ... 6 7 Mr. P. H. Hughes ... 11.35 12.25 9 ...
IO 9 Mr. Craig-McKerrow's priva'e drag ... ... ... ... 8 ... ... ...
Mr. Barron's "Vigilant " 11.36 12.27 11.39 12.28 7 10 Mr. Barron's private drag 11.36 12.29 The first prize for private coaches, a cup given by Mr. C. W. Watson (U.S.A.), was awarded to Mr. Moore; second, a piece of plate, to Mr. Craig-McKerrow; and third (a silver-mounted four-horse whip) to Mr.
Barron. The winners of the prizes for road coaches were: first and Messrs. Tattersall's 25-guinea Cup, Mr. Vanderbilt; second and 10-guinea Cup, Mr. Barron; and third and 5-guinea Cup, Mr. Craig- McKerrow.
Driving competitions arranged by Sir George Hastings, both for private and road coaches, also take place annually at the Ranelagh Club.
Success of the American Trotter. At a time when the advocates of the hackney contend that the American trotter cannot pull weight, it is interesting to note from the foregoing details that all four of the coaching events were won by American trotters. It is true that these horses were docked and their manes trimmed to conform to English ideas of what a coach-horse should be, but I am assured that they were all pure-bred American trotters, and not merely a trotting cross as some of the hackney men allege. One of Mr. Moore's team had a very fast record of something like 2 mins. 14 secs. for the mile, and all of them were better than 2 mins. 30 secs. for the mile. Mr. Vanderbilt's celebrated greys are also American trotters, of which there are strongly built types as well the weedier sort used for racing.
Another conclusion which emerges is that animals of the hunter type make better coach-horses than hackneys, which are apt to get slow and to lose heart. While on the subject of the hackney, may one venture to enter a protest against the present hideous fashion of an excessively short dock, which takes away all the flag, and leaves nothing but a sort of worn-out shaving-brush arrangement, which is absolutely no use, and, so far from being an ornament, is an actual disfigurement. As foreign dealers decline as to buy horses so mutilated, the only useful purpose which it can be supposed to serve is to take the place of the suggested system of ear marking" as a means of keeping horses at home.
WODEHOUSE R. H. GARLAND.
Driving, Bibliography. - Driving. -Hints on C. S. Ward (The Author), 1870; Driving, The Duke of Beaufort, Badminton Library (Longmans), 1894; Driving for Pleasure, Francis T. Underhill (Heinemann), 1897; Driving, Francis M.
Ware (Heinemann), 1904; Driving, Price Collier, American Sportsman's Library (Macmillan), 1905; Riding and Driving, E. L. Anderson and P. Collier (Macmillan), 1905; The Trotting and the Pacing Horse the Pacing Horse in America, H. Busbey (Macmillan), 1904; The Harness Horse, Sir W.
Gilbey (Vinton), 1905; The Law of the Road, T. W. Thatcher and D. H. J. Hartley (Stevens), 1909. in Coaching. The English Mail Coach, T.
De Quincey (Blackie), new edition, 1904; The Road, "Nimrod" (J. Murray), 1851; The Autobiography of a Stage Coachman, Thomas Cross (Kegan Paul), 1861, new edition de luxe,_1904; Her Majesty's Mails, W. Lewins (Sampson Low), 1865; Down the Road, C. T. S. Birch-Reynardson (Longmans), 1875; Annals of the Road, Captain Malet, and Essays, by "Nimrod" (Longmans), 1876; Coaching, Lord W. Pitt Lennox (Hurst and Blackett), 1876; The History of Coaches, G. A. Thrupp (Kirby and Endean), 1877; The World on Wheels, E. M. Stratton (The Author, N.Y.), 1878; Old Coaching Days, Stanley Harris (Bentley), 1882; The Coaching Age, Stanley Harris (Bentley), 1885; Highways and Horses, A. Maudsley (Chapman and Hall), 1888; The Royal Mail, J. W. Hyde (Simpkin, Marshall), 1889; An Old Coachman's Chatter, Colonel Ed. Corbett (Bentley), 1890; The History of the Post Office, H. Joyce, C.B. (Bentley), 1893; Coach Drives from London and English Coach Drives, B. Hounsell ("Sportsman" Office), 1894; Brighton and its Coaches, W. C. A. Blew (Nimmo), 1894; On the Track of the Mail Coach, F. E. Baines (Bentley), 1895; The "Comet" Coach, Henry H. S. Pearse (Haddon), 1895; Chas. E. Harper's Works, last editions, Stage Coach and Mail_in Days of Yore (Chapman and Hall), 1903-The Portsmouth Road, 1895-The Dover Road, 1895 -The Bath Road, 1899-The Exeter Road, 1899 -The Great North Road, 1901-The Norwich Road, 1901-The Holyhead Road, 1902-The Cambridge, Ely, and King's Lynn Road, 1902- The Newmarket, Bury, Thetford, and Cromer Road, 1904-The Oxford, Gloucester, and Milford Haven Road, 1905-The Hastings Road, 1906; The Art and Craft of Coach-Building, John Phillipson (Bell), 1897.
DUCK SHOOTING. One hundred years ago the bulk of the wild fowl exposed for sale in English markets came ne from the Eastern counties and Somerset, and were taken in decoys.
Since then, the gradual destruction of their haunts, and the increase of population, have brought about, as regards season and locality, changes in the habits of the fowl, which have to be met with new methods of pursuit and capture; so that now the vast majority of ducks killed in the season in the British Islands are shot with the gun.
In the first period, the killing of wild fowl was practically the work of a few; now, through the great increase of both professional and amateur sportsmen, it has become open to the many.
The ancient goose and duck gun, once such a common feature in the farmhouses of the maritime marshes of the Eastern counties, is extinct, except in museums. As we remember it, it had an extraordinary length of barrel and a flint and steel lock, yet these old rough-stocked pieces had a history. We would their chronicles had [DUCK SHOOTING estuaries, river-flats, and foreshores. This is a very ancient habit, for in the days of decoys the fowl always rose in a body in the evening and spread themselves over the adjoining lands. Our forefathers called this flight the "rising of the decoy," and the daily event was accentuated by the roar of wings, heard miles away, on a still evening in the dreary fens of the Eastern counties.
Thirdly, ducks may be shot by day, either by driving on preserved water or along the coast in severe weather, or by following open streams or drains at early dawn in districts where they are known to resort when the weather is very hard. In this STANDING SHOT FROM DOUBLE-HANDED PUNT. more fully survived, for they would have completely thrown into the shade the muchvaunted records of modern sport. Roughly speaking, contemporary duckshooting may be divided into three parts. First comes shooting with staunchion guns, in single or double-handed gunning punts; this is by far the most certain method of. getting birds; at the same time it is one requiring the greatest amount of exercise, forethought, and skill, with exposure in all weathers, to say nothing of frequent disappointments and risk of life. Then there is shooting "at flight"-that is, at dusk, when ducks get on the wing and leave their resting-places for their feeding grounds on land, or along the muddy shores of tidal latter case, duck-shooting can be followed not only in the day but on light nights, by visiting the spring-heads and open waters so long as they continue unfrozen. The results perhaps are not always equal to expectation, but we have always found the fascination of these lonely wanderings in an Arctic solitude, and beneath the silent midnight heavens, a quite sufficient return for a comparatively small bag. Two guns at most are admissible, for the creaking of frozen snow on a still night can be heard by the quick-eared birds at a great distance.
Even two shooters are apt to exchange ideas, and we have always done best alone.
Since the passing of the "Wild Birds Protection Acts," there has been a very After Archibald Thorburn.
DUCK SHOOTING.
THE TATE LIBRARY, S.W.
DUCK SHOOTING] gratifying increase both in numbers and extension of range of several of the most valued species (as regards food supply) of ducks nesting in Great Britain. This is notably the case with the Mallard, Teal, Gadwall, Shoveler (and probably the Pintail), Wigeon, Tufted-duck, Pochard, and Sheld-duck. Of these, the first six are surface-feeders, obtaining their food on land and water without diving, and, as a rule, frequenting fresh water. The Wigeon is more often a coast feeder. These are all desirable in a culinary sense. The Pochard, Tufted-duck, and Golden-eye are expert divers, and these also feed much on fresh waters, and are valuable as food. The true sea-ducks, all expert divers, as the Scaup, Long-tailed duck, Eider, and the two than formerly. Punts one hundred years ago were either floating coffins or lumbering tubs, carrying a swivel-gun with its muzzle elevated like a telescope, yet Mr.
Lubbock tells how an old man, who had the run of Breydon Water, with a piece destitute of any trigger-guard, which he called "Old Peggy," killed 83 fowl at a shot.
A modern punt may take either a single or double-barrelled breech or muzzle-loader, with a charge of 6 to 8 oz. of powder and 2 to 22lb. of shot. A gun designed by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey had an oval bore, with major axis parallel to the water, so as to throw and scatter a lateral belt of shot.
Sportsmen differ as to the best gun for flight shooting. We have tried all sorts, WILD DUCK.
Scoters, rarely leave the sea, and their flesh is worthless. The Sheld-duck is also valueless as food, although the eggs are considered a delicacy. The quality of a duck's flesh is dependent on its food, and even the best vary much according to the district they come from.
The ranks of home-bred birds are increased greatly in the later autumn by immense arrivals from the Continent, coming from countries both northerly and easterly of Great Britain. Of these the Wigeon is the most common, and makes the best return to those who use a punt, for it flies in dense companies of hundreds and thousands, and, as the tide rises, they crowd the higher banks and elevated spots as long as these remain uncovered, so that, with luck and good management, 70 to 100 may be gathered after a shot. Taking into consideration the perfection of modern appliances, the bags of the present are far less a and never found anything better than an ordinary 12 bore, 7½ lb. weight, with 3½ drachms of powder, and 1/4 oz. of No. 4 shot-the left barrel choked. With heavier weapon, the weight becomes burdensome. When duck come to their feeding-grounds they invariably fly against the wind. On calm, still nights they pass too high for a shot; a strong wind at the back of the shooter and against the ducks offers the best chance, particularly if the gun faces the light in the west. The time of passage is very limited, fifteen minutes to half an hour. If you want to kill, do not fire at your birds as they come, but sideways, high, and after they have passed. On a certain occasion on the Holderness coast, on an evening when ducks flew low and slow against a strong wind, a young farmer killed eighteen couple within half an hour, only desisting because his barrels got too hot. At this sport a steady retriever is required, or half the birds will not be gathered. Much disappointment will [DUCK SHOOTING in the mud deep enough to cover the shoulders of the shooter; a flat piece of board should be fixed for a seat, and the hole can be made quite comfortable if lined with a piece of matting. A full moon is the best, with a slightly overcast sky. We have had excellent sport in this way, but, of course, some nights are blanks.
Large numbers of Mallard, Teal, Tuftedduck, and, in a less degree, several other species, are bred on private waters in Great Britain. Their greatest enemy, when the broods are hatched, is the pike. The ducks are shot in the autumn after they have been joined by immigrants from the Continent.
Thanks Thanks to the "Wild Birds' Protection Acts," the abominations of what used to be called "flapper-shooting" are at an end.
With legitimate sport in the proper season, these sanctuaries afford excellent shooting.
Discretion is necessary not to overshoot, STANDING SHOT FROM SINGLE-HANDED PUNT. be saved by finding beforehand the places where ducks come to feed.
Mallard, Wigeon, and also Scaup come up from the sea at dusk to the muddy foreshores of bays, estuaries, and tidal rivers to feed on the sea grass (Zostera marina), SHOOTING WITH STAUNCHION GUN FROM DOUBLE-HANDED PUNT. of which they are immoderately fond. It is a common practice amongst coast-fowlers to sink a barrel, or, better still, to dig a hole, SINGLE AND DOUBLE-HANDED PUNTS. otherwise the fowl would be driven to seek a quieter retreat. Permanent shelter-screens are placed round the ponds or lakes in the best places for guns. The ducks, when disturbed, rise in a body, perhaps 800 to 1,000 on the wing, at once; these soon break into small flights and spread in every direction, but after a short interval reappear at their old haunt by twos and threes and give excellent shots. We know of one such preserve of one hundred acres, with about ten acres of ponds, where 500 to 600 ducks may always be seen. It is shot lightly, from 100 to 200 head annually. The home-bred ducks are as a rule less wild, and heavier and finer birds than the foreigners; practically, too, they spend their lives in a state of semi-domestication.
Out of thirty-one species-ducks and mergansers included in the British avifauna, sixteen must be classed as residents (i.e., they have nested, more or less), three are winter visitants, and twelve occasional.
Ducks can rarely be approached at sea by sailing-boats that is, by going directly for them-but a skilful boatman, who is well up to the work, will often enough bring Lambeth Public Libraries EEL] his craft within shooting distance. Duck shooting has many phases, and some of the Continental methods of pursuit differ materially from those of England. Sometimes, as on the great lakes of Sweden, the bow of a boat is masked with green branches and allowed to drift slowly down into the vicinity of the fowl, till the concealed sportsmen can open their battery. Ducks are also tempted within reach by decoy birds, or excellent imitations of the same. In America various schemes are employed to attract ducks within range, and numbers are shot from concealed boats, tubs, and artificial islands, as well as by combined boat attacks. In every case, however, the design is the same, to make a bag.
The literature of duck shooting would form a library in itself, from the classic works of H. B. Daniel, Hawker, and Folkard to the inexhaustible files and pages of The Field newspaper, where every point connected with wildfowl shooting has again and again been threshed out. To those interested in the subject and wishing to increase their knowledge, information will be found to the most minute details in Sir R. Payne-Gallwey's The Fowler in Ireland, and in his Letters to Young Shooters, third series; also in Mr. Abel Chapman's Bird Life of the Border, and in The Art of Wildfowl Shooting, all works excellent of their kind.
JOHN CORDEAUX.
DUNLIN.-[See SANDPIPER.] DUIKER. -The Duiker, or Duikerbok, (Cephalopus grimmi), Puti of the Bechuanas, Impunzi of the Matabele, is a small antelope, standing from 23 to 26 inches in height, found singly or in pairs all over South Africa, as well as in Nyasaland, Angola, and other localities. Besides this, the common or Cape duiker, other species are to be found in various parts of Africa. The duiker frequents by preference bush, or thin forest, where scrub and covert are plentiful. It is, however, common enough in open country, wherever patches of bush occur. And in the deep, jungly kloofs of the mountain ranges it is also abundant. The duiker falls more often to the shot-gun than to the rifle, and, at fairly short range, succumbs readily enough to a charge of No. 2 shot.
It is a shy, wary little beast, and has a habit of squatting and diving among the coverts it frequents; and its name, which, rendered from the Dutch, signifies diver or ducker, explains very aptly its somewhat sneaking, furtive attributes. In colour this antelope varies a good deal, the coats of individuals, even in the same locality, running through the whole range of hues between greenish and yellowish brown. A yellowish or reddish brown, tinged with green or grey, is the more common. The male carries short sharp horns not exceeding 6½ inches in length. The female is hornless. A tuft of hair between the ears is very character- DUIKER.
Valdwell Ht. at shoulder, 26 in.; Av. length of horns, 4½ in.; Max. length, 5 in. istic. The duiker is frequently shot by the gunner when in pursuit of game birds. It has plenty of pace and staying power, and stands well before foxhounds. In Natal a small bright bay species is found (C. natalensis), known as the Natal red-buck, the male and female of which both carry horns.
Another of the duikers is the tiny Blue-buck -Blaauwbok of the Boers-common in the bush veld country of Cape Colony and