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and Guide to Association Clubs and Players, from 1901, in progress (C. A. Pearson); The Football Annual, edited by C. W. Alcock, from 1873, in progress (Merritt and Hatcher); Leng's Football Handbook, in progress (Leng).

FOOTBALL IN THE STREET.-[See SPORT, OBSOLETE.] FOREST HOG (Hylochœrus meinertzhageni).—Within the last six years a new and remarkable species of African wild boar has been discovered in the eastern part of the great continent. This is a gigantic forest-hog, much exceeding in size either the bush-pigs or wart-hogs, and so large that it is reported to have even been mistaken for a young rhinoceros when seen wandering in its native jungle. The foresthog differs specifically from the other African wild swine, although by some it is looked upon as a connecting link between the bush-pigs and the wart-hogs. In addition to its great size, it has a thick coating of strong black hair. Below each eye is a large protruding warty excrescence, somewhat resembling the upper "wart" of the wart-hog, but bigger and shaped more like a tree fungus. The muzzle has a curiously large, flat terminal disc. The teeth are but moderate in size, the upper tusks measuring some ten or eleven inches, the lower ones about eight or nine inches. The ears are not tufted, as in the case of the bush-pigs.

The first known specimens of this remarkable wild pig were obtained in 1904 by Captain R. Meinertzhagen from forest country on Mount Kenia, East Africa, and from Nandi, near Lake Victoria Nyanza, at a height above sea-level of some 7,000 feet. It is known also that the animal exists in the Mau forest and the Elgon forest country in East Africa, as well as in the Semliki region of the Congo forest.

Slightly varying races of the forest-hog have also been discoveerd in recent years in the Ituri portion of the Congo forest, and in the Cameroons on the west coast of Africa. These races have been designated by scientific naturalists Hylochœrus iturensis and H. rimator respectively. The differences between these varieties and the forest-hog of East Africa are, however, very slight indeed, and the animals may probably be looked upon as merely local races of the same species. The forest-hog is, apparently, a bolder and more formidable wild pig than either the wart-hog or the bush-pig. It is described by natives as possessed of much courage and fierceness, and as attacking without provocation women engaged in gathering wood in the forest country, where it makes its home. Captain Houblon, who killed a fine specimen on Mount Kenia, states that the pig charged boldly when encountered. Previous to the scourge of rinderpest in East and Central Africa in 1891, these hogs are said to have been very plentiful in the Nandi Forest, near Victoria Nyanza. Their numbers have been much reduced in that district, but recent discoveries show that the animal is still to be found in a good many localities.

This fine wild hog is known to the Masai [FOX of East Africa as El Guya, to the natives of the Nandi forest as Tumtu, and to the Cameroons negroes as Engak. A mounted example of the animal, procured in the Mau forest, is to be seen at the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, as well as a skull from the Semliki forest. In the museum of the Hon. Walter Rothschild at Tring is also to be seen an example.

H. A. BRYDEN.

FOX. There is perhaps no better abused animal living than the Fox (Canis vulpes).

Yet the sport he shows may atone for any trifling amount of roguery and retain for him the good name he deserves, whilst his beauty is beyond reproach. His head and eye are intelligent, and he has well-formed shoulders, round and deep ribs, back, loin, and thighs of the most muscular description, and the whole covered with a thick coating of fur, of the cleanest, brightest, and best. All is set off by a handsome brush or tail, sometimes tipped with white; such an appendage, which no other animal can boast, places him quite in the front rank for looks, whilst the lines upon which he is built are so well calculated for speed as well as endurance, that he is perhaps, taking him all in all, as near perfection as is possible to be.

But that handsome brush was not given to him as a set-off to his beauty alone, but is of the greatest service to him; using it as a rudder, he can twist and turn at any moment when going at full speed, as occasion may require, without over-running the mark an inch.

In jumping he also brings it into action.

When approaching a high wall, the brush will be seen to revolve rapidly, when, the impetus being given, over he goes, for a wall seven, eight, or nine feet high is nothing for a fox to jump.

The brush is no doubt used in the same way in climbing trees. Unassisted by claws like those of a cat (he has only the toe-nails of a dog to help him), pug will sometimes be found upon the butt of a tree eight feet or even more from the ground. In an elevated position of this kind, he undoubtedly feels himself secure, and rightly so, for he is not likely to be sought for there, unless by chance or ill fate his whereabouts becomes known. I may here mention that the white "tag" frequently causes mistakes to be made as to the sex of the animal, for it is generally believed by the uninitiated that this is given to the male only. This is not the case; sex has but very little, if anything, to do with it, for very often a whole litter will be pos- FOX] sessed of that mark of distinction, whilst in another case not one will show it, yet in each there may be about an equal number of males and females.

The fox is well aware of the fact that he is hunted by scent, as is proved by his methods of self-preservation, and by the different tactics he will sometimes pursue in trying to baffle and beat his enemies.

He has been known, among other dodges, when hounds are upon his line, to mount and run along the top of a wall for three the hounds were so close that they scarcely lost sight of him again, and in the end they rolled him over. I have had an idea of such a thing happening upon other occasions, from the sudden way that scent would sometimes disappear, but have never been able clearly to prove it either before or since.

He is gifted with many other clever devices for the purpose of his own protec tion, and likes to know the whereabouts of his pursuers, for which reason he generally AN OLD-TIME EARTH STOPPER.

Naumann or four hundred yards at a stretch, by which, if he does not shake off the pack altogether, he is likely at any rate to cause a long check and to gain a considerable advantage. Perhaps one of the most peculiar and effectual things he has been known to do is to roll in manure. This once came to my knowledge in this way.

Hounds had been running very fast for some twenty-five minutes and got to a small covert, when a gentleman, a well-known sportsman, galloped on to the end of it to try to get a view. To his astonishment, there was the quarry outside the covert, rolling over and over at the bottom of a manure heap; this, as may be imagined, so foiled the scent as almost to save his life, for hounds could hardly hunt him a yard after. He was, however, quite beat, and takes a down wind course. If he starts up wind his journey will be short in that direction, unless he has in view an earth or some other place of safety which he hopes to reach. His method of stopping to listen on the way, which may be often observed by whippers-in who are clever at what is called "telegraphing," clearly proves his object; and when the cry of the hounds comes floating down the breeze, he starts off again at best pace, and the chances are that he will shortly run them out of scent altogether.

Feeding at Night.-A rover by night, he turns out soon after the setting of the sun and embarks upon his usual rounds in search of food, rabbits, rats, mice, beetles, &c.; of rats and mice he is particularly fond, whilst the number of beetles he gets is astonishing. I have picked up handfuls of "billets" showing nothing but beetles' wings, and whence he could have obtained such a quantity has altogether puzzled me.

I remember once witnessing a very pretty, and, as I venture to think, very peculiar sight, when the whereabouts is taken into consideration. A fox mouse-catching in a field, and within twenty yards of a kennel where a pack of hounds is kept, is a sight certainly not often to be met with: this I saw one summer evening just outside the Puckeridge Kennels during Mr. Parry's mastership. Perfectly healthy, and sleek as a mole, there was pug, with wonderful agility springing from tuft to tuft, driving his nose into the sedgy grass, and at times picking up the tiny morsel, which he seemed thoroughly to enjoy, notwithstanding that a note might occasionally be heard from one or more of the fifty couple who occupied the benches hard by. From evening to early morning he goes on the prowl, and the distance he will sometimes travel is great, especially when love-making commences, and this will go on generally through the months of January, February, and March.

During this time long runs may be expected; for whenever a pack of hounds is fortunate enough to come across a traveller of this kind, he is sure to give them something to do, and may at the finish leave them baying outside an earth some ten or twelve miles distant.

Having returned from his midnight excursion, with contented mind and nothing indigestible in the stomach, he will curl himself up, lick his pads and, with brush around his nose, retire for rest, probably in a nice warm spot under a heap of briars, well sheltered from storm or wintry blast, and there wait the course of events by sleeping soundly. He may or may not be disturbed a little earlier than he anticipates, but at any rate he has a quick ear, and any enemy or intruder must be very gentle if he approach anywhere near the lair of the wily one, without putting him on the alert.

The huntsman's voice is as well knownif not so highly appreciated-by the fox as it is by the very hounds which are cheered on to his destruction, and the moment he hears it he prepares for action by arousing himself from his lair, stretching his limbs, and giving himself a shake, when he listens again and steals away. On arriving at the edge of the covert, he will take a sly glance round to see if the course is clear. If so, and no voices are heard (gentlemen should never talk when standing at the corner of a covert), he will perhaps, if opportunity offer itself, for the sake of privacy choose [FOX a hedgerow to run beneath; then, with a whisk of the brush, dart off, and in all probability will give his pursuers something to do before the end comes, whatever the result may be.

Preserving. The best way of preserving foxes is to leave them alone; they require no other protection. Where they happen to be scarce, and it is necessary to import some, the best way is to get strong cubs, half-grown or more if possible (not things that have been kept up, but direct from their native home), put them into the earth at once, peg them in by driving stakes down at the mouth, and keep them there for a week or so. Feed them liberally on rabbits or rats, and at the end of the time pull up the stakes and leave them to their own resources; if they are strong they will be able to catch a rabbit for themselves and do well; the covert will be their play-ground, the earth their castle.

I have known foxes imported from Canada, but no good came of it; cubs from the Highlands of Scotland or the Welsh mountains are best and will be found an excellent change of blood.

Mange. The artificial way of rearing cubs which has come into existence during the last twenty years is bad in the extreme, bad in every sense of the word; nearly every case of that dreadful disease, mange, springs from it.

The modern style, where the little red rover is not allowed at all times to roam at his leisure, is to keep up some cubs perhaps in a filthy dog-kennel, feed them on unnatural food, and, at a certain time, turn them down. Thereupon, or shortly after, mange is sure to break out. o As far as the hunt is concerned, it would be a thousand times better to find no fox at all. He cannot possibly do any good, but on the other hand must do an immense amount of harm. Mange is a terribly contagious disease, and any travelling fox from a distance may come in contact with it at any time, and so it quickly becomes spread over a wide space of country. There is no doubt that one mangy fox will do more harm among pheasants and poultry than a dozen healthy ones. The latter seek their food by night, when pheasants are at roost in the trees and out of reach, while the poultry are, or should be, locked up in safety; but both will fall an easy prey to the three-parts tame, hand-fed brute, who rests neither night nor day, the awful scourge which is upon him forbidding it.

He is frequently seen by day moping about round "home," his only chance of gaining a livelihood; too weakly to go out at night FOX] and pounce upon rabbit or rat like his more healthy kinsmen; he crawls about in his agony by day into pheasantry or fowl-house, slaughtering whatever comes in the way.

His natural instincts of obtaining a living have left him, and so he goes on growing weaker and weaker, until, if nothing else puts an end to his sufferings, he will in all probability be found eventually dead in or near some cart-hovel or other out-building, covered with scab from the nose to the tip of the tail, and near to the spot where he has been so mistakenly reared. To try to sible in getting there, and then remaining perfectly silent; or a better way still is to climb a tree, perch yourself comfortably on one of its branches and there wait patiently their arrival. Presently the boldest of the litter will appear at the mouth of the earth, sniffing about on the ground and then darting back again. In a short time he will reappear with some of his brothers and sisters, a little more confidence is gained that all is right, and sports at once begin.

The chances are, too, that you may see the old vixen, who has gone out in the early FOX ESCAPING DOWN A HEDGEROW. have foxes in the winter, and not in the summer, is to try for something which cannot be accomplished! The genuine article or none is best.

I have before now seen a good run with a mangy fox in the first stages of the disease, but let there be no mistake about it; this was not one of the hand-reared ones, but the traveller from a distance, who had unfortunately visited the haunts of the latter, and so contracted the disease. So much for mange and its dire effects.

Cubs at Play. There is no prettier sight to be seen on an evening in spring or early summer than a litter of cubs at play.

The activity displayed in skipping about, bouncing in the air, turning somersaults, playing hide and seek round a tree and cutting other capers is most amusing. For the purpose of observing this charming sight, it will be necessary to get on the down wind side of the earth where the cubs are known to be, making as little noise as posevening to obtain something substantial in the way of food for her little ones; she returns with, most likely, a rabbit in her mouth, when the cubs will meet her, and a rare scuffle for the booty takes place. The rabbit will be taken, or rather dragged, into the earth, and probably in a few minutes the vixen will return to have a look round, taking a careful glance and winding in each direction: and if she obtains the smallest suspicion that you are in the neighbourhood, the odds are great that you will see, however much you may wish it, neither her nor her cubs again that night.

Mistakes are often made as regards the number of litters there are on a place, especially if there happen to be two or three earths in fairly close proximity. In such a case a fox with her cubs may not confine herself to one, but will perhaps use them all, keeping two or three homes going at one time, travelling backwards and forwards as she pleases, and the traffic that is made will give it the appearance of two or even three litters, when in reality there is but one.

Stud bred foxes. It is not always the case by any means that foxes are bred underground, and it is generally considered that stud-bred foxes, as they are called, are the best, for the simple reason that they are not so much trouble to keep above ground when found by hounds, and every hole and drain is not so familiar to them as naturally it will be to others. In large woodlands, BAGGING A FOX CUB AFTER DIGGING IT OUT. cubs will sometimes be found in hazel stub or root of tree, and the chances are, too, that they are as safe there as anywhere else, their greatest danger perhaps being from hounds in spring hunting. Not that I think one or two hounds would degrade themselves by swallowing up little cubs, but if several of them should by chance get down to the place at once, one might do it for fear another should. I was once a good way forward, looking down a ride in a wood, the huntsman being almost out of my hearing, but not of an old vixen fox, who came over the riding shortly after I arrived, with a cub in her mouth, stopping and turning her head to listen and then going on again.

She evidently had her cubs above ground, and commenced to move them, as thought, to a place of greater safety the moment she became aware of hounds in the neighbourhood. I at once informed the master of the fact, and hounds were taken to another covert without delay. she Earth-stopping and Badgers. It is very important that earth-stopping should be done thoroughly and well, and also at the proper time, or foxes may be stopped in the earths instead of outside. The easiest and best way, as a rule, is to have a faggot well [FOX tied (one end smaller than the other) for each opening; at night, when reynard is out on his rounds, the stopper should go and jam the faggot into the earth as tightly as possible; the next evening, when the hunt is over, all that is necessary is simply to withdraw it and lay it aside for future use.

This is much better than the old-fashioned plan, of which we are sometimes reminded in pictures, where the venerable earthstopper is seen marching off on his rounds, with candle and lantern, pick and spade.

Badgers are a great nuisance to an earthstopper, for, with their long and strong claws, which are so well-shaped for the purpose, they can open out any earth at will, and in a very short time into the bargain; moreover, they are deadly enemies to cubs.

I know there are those who do not agree with me in this, but there are many who do; old George Carter of Tedworth fame, among others of great experience, always declared it, and I have myself on different occasions found dead cubs at the mouth of earths with tusk marks penetrating the brain, evidently from the chopping bite of the badger.

I do not intend to convey the idea that he would trouble himself to go out of his way for the purpose of killing a cub. He is too fat and lazy for that, and indeed there is no necessity for it, as it is well known that badgers and foxes will and do use the same earths, having separate compartments inside. But let the badger meet a cub either inside the earth or at the mouth of it, then the odds are great that that cub will never live to show a run over a country.

Fox Coverts. In countries not possessed of woodlands, it is sometimes necessary to make coverts, and when this has to be done there is nothing to beat the good oldfashioned gorse; this can be sown, or two or three year old plants put in; perhaps sowing is the best. In either case it is a mistake thoroughly to clean the ground.

Some think differently, but the grass which springs up is a great protection to the young plant in winter, as well as forming a warm and comfortable lair for the fox.

Early in April is a good time for sowing the seed, and it should be drilled, not too thick, and with about fourteen or fifteen inches between the rows. A grass field is best for the purpose. Plough it up, put in the seed, harrow, and roll with Cambridge roller; the grass will soon come through, and, as before stated, will protect the young gorse in winter, and make a bed for the fox, who will be found there much earlier and more regularly than if there were nothing but the bare cold ground to lie upon.

FOX] Thorn or privet coverts are good in their way, and very hardy, but should not be planted too thickly; neither should they by any means be afterwards cut and "layered," as I have on some occasions seen, leaving only sufficient room for hounds to crawl through underneath. In the case of thorn coverts, with spikes sticking into them from every direction like porcupines' quills, they are totally unable to bustle a fox and drive him away. This is quite a mistake, as it is that they do not travel such a great distance for their food, and become acquainted with so large an extent of country as we are told they did in years gone by. Another reason is that the fox who has a tendency towards running straight, does not, as a rule, live to run many times; being so much easier to hunt, his chance of carrying off his brush in safety is much slighter than that of the dodging, twisting customer, who makes every available turn, running up one hedge- A FOX CUB AT THE MOUTH OF THE EARTH. by no means necessary, for the purpose of holding, that coverts should be so desperately thick; besides, it has a tendency towards making bad foxes. With a bad scent inside, they are able to hang about, and much time may occasionally be spent there which would be better occupied in running over the open.

Quiet is the thing which is absolutely necessary: coverts should remain undisturbed as much as possible except by hounds; and if the noble animal dwells in the neighbourhood, he is sure to make it his abode, and a find, once a fortnight at least, will be next to an absolute certainty.

A Good Fox.- Naturally a good fox is he who shows the longest and straightest run, but unfortunately their number in most countries is small. One reason for this is row, down another, &c., causing a check at almost every one, and thereby reaping so great an advantage.

Remarks may not infrequently be heard after a straight run-" How splendidly they hunted him, no hounds ever deserved a fox more, &c.," when the fact is, their task has been made easy by the straight course taken; and although hounds always deserve blood after a persevering hunt, they deserve it much more with a bad fox than a good one, for their difficulties are far greater.

When a bad, short-running fox goes to ground, for instance, if he can be got out and despatched, so much the better, for he is the sort to blood hounds with. (It must be borne in mind that it is necessary to keep hounds well in blood.) On the other hand, if a fox makes a point of seven or eight miles, or as many more as you like, and goes to ground, cheer hounds at the earth to the very echo, rejoice over it as if you had him, but by all means leave him there. He is the sort you want for another day.

T. FIRR.

FRANCOLIN. - These birds, nearly allied to the partridges of Europe, are found in most parts of Africa, often very abundantly. In South Africa alone there are some ten or eleven species. Some of these prefer thickly bushed localities, and roost on trees or bushes; these are always called by the colonists "pheasants." Other francolins, which inhabit more open country FRANCOLIN. and at night remain upon the ground, are the best sporting birds, and are invariably known as "partridges." In Cape Colony excellent shooting is obtained with the "redwing" and "greywing" "partridges," known to scientists as Francolinus levaillanti and Francolinus afer respectively. Beyond the Orange River another "redwing," the Orange River francolin (F. gariepensis), and the beautiful little Coqui francolin (F. subtorquatus) afford the best sport, and very pretty shooting is often obtained with them. Pointers are usually employed for finding these birds; indeed, without the aid of a sporting dog but poor shooting would be obtained. A bag of from ten to twenty brace of these francolins can be secured by a couple of guns in localities where they are fairly numerous.

Bechuanaland is one of the best grounds in South Africa for francolin shooting.

The bush-frequenting francolins, "pheasants," afford, from their running and perching habits, much poorer sport than the francolins found in open country.

With the exception of the Coqui francolin (Nswimpi of the natives), all these birds exceed the English partridge in size and weight, the "pheasants more especially. دو of [FOX The flesh is fairly good eating, if somewhat dry.

One of the largest species (F. jacksoni) has been discovered in recent years by Mr.

F. J. Jackson in Eastern Africa (Masailand). Another very fine species is Erckell's francolin, found in Abyssinia.

Although of the forty odd species of this game-bird at present known to scientists a large proportion are found in the African continent, some remarkable members of the family inhabit Asia. In parts of Asia and India, fair sport is occasionally to be obtained with various kinds of francolin. The Black Francolin (F. vulgaris) was formerly fairly abundant in Southern Europe, in Spain, Italy, and Sicily, but is now to be found no nearer than Cyprus, whence its range extends to Palestine, Asia Minor, and as far East as Northern India.

This game-bird is well known in Southern Beluchistan and Afghanistan, upon the plains of Southern Persia, in Mesopotamia, and the region of the Caspian. In India, where it is known as the Black Partridge, it affects the river valleys and is found in high grass and tamarisk, often in the vicinity of cultivation. So lately as 1880, fifty brace of these birds have fallen in India to a single gun in a day's shooting; but, at the present time, it may be doubtful whether so good a bag could be made. Among the other wellknown Asiatic francolins may be mentioned the Painted Francolin (F. pictus), familiar in India as the Painted Partridge. This bird is found in parts of Southern, Western, Central, and Northern India, in fairly open country, and affords good shooting. A steady pointer is very useful here, as in South Africa. Another well-known species is the Chinese Francolin (F. chinensis), found from the valley of the Irrawaddy as far East as Hong Kong, amid bushes, ferns, and bamboo-clad hills. This francolin is hard to flush, but has a strong flight when roused. Phayre's Francolin (F. phayrei) is abundant in Upper Burmah. Nearly all the francolins are provided with sharp spurs, and the males fight fiercely in the mating season. Even the little Coqui francolin of Bechuanaland and the interior of South Africa is armed with strong and extremely sharp spurs, which, with the legs, are of a brilliant orange-yellow.

H. A. BRYDEN.

GAMEKEEPERS. Great changes have taken place in the duties of the gamekeeper during the last twenty years. Formerly the protection of game and the showing of GAMEKEEPERS] a fair head on shooting days were practically all that was required. Any keeper, however ignorant, if sober and honest, was then, at least to some extent, competent to accomplish this. Now, however, when the rearing of game and the management of a shooting are reduced to a science, intelligence is indispensable to success. Poaching also, it must be noted, has been reduced to a science, and the nocturnal visits of the poacher with his stretches of nets and indiarubber shoes require skill, discrimination, and patient perseverance to be successshould be taken to allow him the entire management of his own department. When he has the whole responsibility on his own shoulders, and knows what is expected of him, he feels it to be to his interest to show good results, and to compete in these respects with neighbouring keepers. Where there is a large consumption, a great saving can be effected in maize alone, in buying from honourable firms, who do not allow commissions, to the pecuniary injury of the proprietor and to the demoralisation of the keeper. Let the latter know that he A KEEPER'S TROPHY. fully dealt with. Even when there is such a happy combination as this, large quantities of both winged and ground game sometimes disappear in a single night.

The operation of the Ground Game Act has tended further to increase the difficulties of the keeper, and to render his position all the more embarrassing, for no amount of vigilant intelligence can counteract the baneful results of an ill-advised and disappointing legislative enactment. While an ignorant and indiscreet keeper is apt to irritate and quarrel with farmers, the wise man, even when there is much provocation, will accept the inevitable, and strive to exhibit a courteous demeanour towards them, so long as, in the exercise of their rights, they respect the statutes by which these are defined.

A keeper's books should be periodically examined by the estate auditor, but care of is upon his honour and that his merits are appreciated, and this will go far to fortify him against giving way to temptation.

Pheasant-rearing. - The rearing pheasants is an important duty, and requires skill and patience alike to make it a uniform success. On most estates pheasants are captured and put in pens, in order that eggs may be secured for hatching.

There are so many devices for catching the birds each one thinking his own the best -that it is unnecessary to refer to them here. The pens should be pretty long, with a door at each end, and a screen in the middle, in order that when a person goes in at one end the birds may run to the other and be out of sight; otherwise they are apt to fly and dash themselves against the wire.

By careful and judicious feeding the number and fertility of eggs can be increased.

When the period of incubation has nearly expired, and the eggs are commencing to chip, they are sometimes removed from beneath the hen and put into an incubator.

FON CUB.

By this means the chicks are not trampled upon by the hen. If two eggs are left beneath a hen, the chances of loss by trampling are reduced to a minimum. But should a loss occur in this manner with only two chicks, it would be well to discard the hen at once from further service in pheasant-rearing. If, however, she appears to be a good mother, put her in a coop with the complement of chicks.

Turning down. - Different methods are employed in turning down pheasants in the covert which is to be their permanent home. Perhaps the best arrangement is to place the coops on a lorry which can carry a considerable number at once, convey them to the ridings in the woods, and put them in their respective positions. Up to this time the chicks are amenable to the call of their foster mother, and under her maternal care are soon reconciled to their new environment. They are now picking BADGER. small maize, so that biscuit meal and other expensive foods may be more sparingly used. Prompted by nature, pheasants, before they are full grown, take to roosting in trees. The keeper then feels a sense of [GAMEKEEPERS relief, for they are then practicaly safe, unless it be from vermin. Should a litter of fox cubs take up their abode in the woods, some destruction is inevitable. The intelligent keeper, however, knows at once if a stray cat, dog, or fox be in the wood.

The warning cackle of a cock pheasant, the screeching of a jay, the excited piping of blackbirds and other birds, or the disturbed movements of any living thing, quickly notify to his practised ear that an enemy is abroad. a -Foxes.-Fox-hunters frequently assert that the fox does little damage to pheasants, and advance the most ingenious though unconvincing arguments in support of their assertions. From long experience in hunting country, and having reared pheasants in the midst of foxes, I can here speak with confidence. On more than one occasion I have known a fox make a raid among the coops in the early morning, when the birds had commenced to sit out. Once, when watching in the rearing field on an "WEASELS CLAIM THE WATCHFUL ATTENTION OF THE GAME- KEEPER." estate in Berwickshire, I was attracted by a disturbed noise among the hens. Reynard was stealthily withdrawing from among the birds, but not until several had been destroyed, although none of them were carried off. On such occasions as these the keeper should note the "airt o' the wind," as in no case will the fox approach from the lee side of the watcher.

Badgers. Badgers are by no means so rare as is generally supposed, and in some counties are even numerous Their diet is so varied that game birds and eggs are only a secondary consideration with them. The chief harm they do is by devouring leverets in their forms, and digging out young rabbits. But in woods where rabbits are becoming too numerous badgers may be regarded as useful allies in keeping them in check. close proximity to villages and agricultural Vermin. Where game coverts are in GAMEKEEPERS] steadings, cats prove a destructive pest to the keeper, and can only be kept in check by trapping.

Polecats, stoats, and weasels also claim destructive in the nesting season than most people imagine. Occasionally finding its way into coops among young pheasants in the dark, it does much mischief; A POLECAT ON HIS PREDATORY ROUNDS. the watchful attention of the gamekeeper.

He may have concluded, with good reason, that he has cleared the entire estate of them, and yet within a few days thereafter he will be surprised to find the reappearance of others. This arises from their restless activity, for distance seems to be no obstacle to them. I have tracked the stoat A TRAPPED JAY. and that old hens are killed and disembowelled by hedgehogs is a well-attested fact.

With the destructive habits of rats everyone is familiar. Snaring instead of trapping has also afforded them opportunities for taking possession of rabbit holes.

Nothing comes amiss to the rat; fish, flesh, YOUNG PHEASANTS. for surprisingly long distances after fresh fall of snow. a The hedgehog is another enemy, and, from its habit of eating eggs, is much more fowl, and vegetables are greedily devoured.

When rats grow large they become very savage, and will kill every kind of young game they can get hold of.

Birds of Prey. The game preserver has chiefly to guard against the peregrine falcon on the moors, the sparrow-hawk in the woods, and carrion crows, ravens, and magpies. There are others whose destruction should be left to the good sense of the keeper. Among these may be mentioned rooks, jays, jackdaws, kestrels, and owls.

The three first mentioned do damage chiefly to eggs, though young game birds are not always safe from their depredations.

Kestrels in some cases are destructive to young pheasants, partridges, and grouse.

Owls may be included in the same category, although, when mice are abundant, birds are not likely to suffer much. Indeed, mice would seem to be their normal food, [GAMEKEEPERS the conditions for their health and comfort are such as he would like to provide for his own household. He will also see to the pure breed of his dogs, and that they receive careful training. [See also Dogs and SHOOTING.] TOM SPEEDY.

Wages. A really good head-gamekeeper is invaluable to his master, and is not often overpaid, whatever the size of the manor may be. As for the underkeepers, they usually receive the maximum wages of agricultural labourers in the district, or a little more, and cottages and gardens rent free. A cow is often a useful help to a head man, if he has young EXERCISING THE DOGS. as was strikingly illustrated in Scotland in 1892, when the southern counties had a remarkable visitation of field voles. It is a fact that short-eared owls were then to be found in great numbers where the plague was most severely felt. Their arrival was almost simultaneous with the appearance of the mice, while they disappeared from the district as the plague abated. It must not be supposed, however, that, where mice are not attainable, owls are harmless. Tawny owls, in particular, during the nesting season, frequently feed the owlets with small birds and young game. Of this I have seen repeated examples. Dogs. The efficient gamekeeper will ever be careful about his kennel, not merely seeing that the accommodation for his dogs is dry and comfortable, with an abundant supply of pure water, but that [Photograph by Sport and General. children; but more than this is not advisable, for it is not desirable that keepers should be farmers.

Beaters had better be paid by the head keeper, and half-a-crown a day is a fair wage, with bread, cheese and beer, which the keeper may with advantage provide, as it saves friction with the house kitchen and pantry. The master should find out from the keeper whether the loaders, whose luncheon will doubtless be sent from the house with that of the shooters, have had food enough, for sometimes this is overlooked. The subject of presents is cognate to that of wages, but it is a very delicate one; suffice it to say that a considerate guest is apt to give a little more to a man whose master has only a few days' shooting to which to invite his friends, than to the servant of the proprietor who GAMEKEEPERS] has a party every other week throughout the season.

Game Production. In order to have a good supply of game on any ground, it is essential to keep it quiet, and keep away trespassers, especially poachers, and also to be on good terms with shepherds, labourers, and farmers. Shepherds and farm-servants can help in the preservation of grouse and partridges in the most material way, and, if they are friendly, and if vermin be duly kept within bounds, a great deal is done towards a good stock of birds. In the case of grouse, if the judicious burning of the heather Shooting. It is not enough at the present time for a keeper to have woods full of pheasants, or fields full of partridges; he must manage so that they should be killed in a satisfactory way. To plan a large day's partridge-driving is as difficult a task as carrying out the plan when made. The keeper must know his men, be able to trust them when at a distance, especially when there are two sets of beaters out, and must be careful to judge accurately when to start the next drive, after one is over, so as to give reasonable time for picking up.

He must not hurry the guns unnecessarily to their next stand, nor keep them waiting "PICKING UP." is carried out, little more is necessary.

With partridges it is well to change the blood sometimes, either by turning out some imported birds at the end of a season, or by changing eggs with a neighbour, or from one side of a manor to another. There is no harm in artificially hatching eggs taken from nests disturbed in mowing, or otherwise in dangerous places; but the young ones are not easy to bring up, and afterwards do not afford very satisfactory sport, as they pack too readily, a great disadvanthey tage if they are to be walked after, and also inconvenient for driving. In severe winters, when there is much snow, something may be done by a little judicious feeding of partridges in sheltered places, and the keepers' vigilance must then be increased, for the coveys afford a tempting mark on the snow to poachers.

VOL. II too long when they have reached it. Then he must be sure to know whither the bulk of the birds have gone, and to vary his plan when necessary, so as to bring them back into the drives. The master can help materially in the management; but the most accomplished sportsman will usually find himself helpless, unless his keeper understands his business. The The art of beating a covert may perhaps be less difficult than that of driving a country for partridges, but even here there is great scope for failure or success. stops must be in their places long before the actual beating begins, and some trusty person must see that they do not leave their posts; for the result of a stop going away from where he has been ordered to stand may be most disastrous. The beaters, too, must be under strict control, trained to keep line, to hold their tongues, to through the thickest thorns and brambles, and to be always listening for orders and looking under their feet to see if they can pick up anything. But the most faithful stops and the most accomplished beaters are not enough; for even when all the pheasants are where they ought to be, it is most difficult to put them up satisfactorily, and this art many keepers, excellent in other ways, never properly acquire. Some men never help flushing a corner full of pheas- RETRIEVER BRINGING A GROUSE FROM A STREAM. [GAME LAWS are whenever and wherever any guns go stationed away from the line of beaters, there should always be someone behind them with a dog, no matter whether it is an important stand or not. This is advisable in the interests of sport as well as of humanity, as it is very difficult and distracting for a gun and his loader to have to be thinking all the time where this or that bird fell, so as to be able to tell the keeper, when the line at last comes up.

After an ordinary day the ground should be hunted over by men and dogs as soon as possible, and it is for the master to see that this is done properly. ants up at once, which is most annoying to all concerned, while others will never fail, even on ground where it would seem impossible, to send out their birds by tens and twenties at a time so long as there are any left in the covert.

Nor is this all. They must be made to fly well; and to this end much skill and care must be directed; advantage must be taken of the slope of the ground, of the height of the trees, and of the way the pheasants would fly by choice. It is far easier to make them fly properly if their heads are turned towards the place from which they have come than if they are being forced away from home on to unknown ground.

Picking Up.-A good gamekeeper must have a good retriever. Walking up birds in line and driving them have banished pointers and setters to grouse-moors, and even there the retriever often takes their place. Not only the head keeper, but his principal assistants, should have good dogs; and in covert shooting, :

Too large a "pick up" means that the work was not properly done on the day of shooting, and too small a one may imply subsequent neglect. As regards pheasants, about six or seven per cent. is a very common proportion under good management.

Hares and Rabbits. - Hares seldom afford good shooting at any time, for they are so easy to kill, and it is a pity, in the interests of good sport, to encourage them unduly anywhere; but a good keeper ought to have an adequate number on any ground in his charge where they will thrive, because a good proportion of hares on any shooting is the surest proof that farmers are friendly and poachers absent.

Rabbits are frequently a source of strife between master, keeper, agent, and tenant, and it is difficult to offer any general suggestions as to how the ideal keeper should deal with them. A rabbitless wood is a satisfactory thing to its owner all the year round, except on the days when he shoots in it; on those occasions the problem is how to have enough rabbits, and yet not too many. a It is quite easy to have none, it is easier to have swarms, but it is not at all easy to make sure of killing a moderate number, and yet not to let them be a source of mischief. In spite of what people often say and believe, rabbits do far more harm inside a covert than outside it. Not much rabbiting can be done in a wood, where there are to be pheasants as well, between March and the time when it is shot through in the following winter; but after that has been done once or, better still, twice, the keeper and his staff should kill rabbits there as hard as they can, till the spring is fairly started; not with guns, but by trapping and ferreting. If this is properly attended to year after year, there will not be much cause of complaint anywhere.

H.

GAME LAWS] GAME no set of laws have undergone so complete a change from their original purpose as the Game Laws. Denounced as relics of feudalism and barbarism, and as the means of oppression by landlords of tenants, they have become a valuable source of revenue to the country. Their abolition is often spoken of, but the tendency at the present day is rather to extend their operation than to repeal them. The whole of the Modern Wild Bird legislation shows this. For the purposes of this article the Game Laws may be grouped under four heads:-1. Who may kill game. 2. When game may be killed. 3. Where game may be killed. 4. How game may be killed.

Each of these requires separate consideration.

Who may Kill Game. Any of the King's subjects may kill game, provided he qualifies himself by taking out a proper licence from the Inland Revenue. That is the only qualification now required. Before 1831 a person, to be entitled to kill game, had to possess a qualification; he had to be an esquire or person of higher degree. That was then abolished, and now a licence is all that is necessary to enable a person to kill game. But everyone must have a licence, whether he kills game on his own land or on another person's.

The licences are of three kinds, and vary in price; they may be for the whole season, or for part of the season, or for gamekeepers. Those who take out licences for the whole season are entitled to sell the game they kill; those who take it out for part of the season are not. Everyone killing game legally must have one of these three licences. Game is defined by the Game Act, 1831, as including hares, pheasants, partridges, grouse, heath, or moor game, black game, and bustards; and this is the standard definition of game. There are other definitions which include other kinds of birds for the Night Poaching Acts, the Poaching Prevention Act, and the Excise Acts. By the Ground Game Act, hares and rabbits have been put into a class by themselves as ground game, and special rules apply to them. The confusion is increased by some of these Acts applying to England only, others to England and Scotland, others to the whole of the United Kingdom.

So far killing game goes, the importance of the definition relates only to the sum be paid for duty, as a gun can only be legally used if either a game or a gun licence has been obtained; the holder of a game licence does not require a gun licence, but the holder of a gun licence before he can kill game, woodcock, snipe, quail, or landrail, requires a game licence. To the question, "Who may kill Game?" the answer is, "A person who has taken out a proper licence," provided he does so during the season for killing game, and on land where he has the right or permission to seek it. as to When Game can be Killed. - The Game Act, 1831, fixes for England the times for killing game.

No one may kill game on any Sunday in a year or a Christmas Day. Partridges may be killed on week-days between September Ist and February Ist. Pheasants between October Ist and February Ist. Black game in Devon, Somerset, and the New Forest between September Ist and December 10th, elsewhere between August 20th and December 10th. Grouse between August 12th and December 10th. Bustard between September Ist and March ist. For all birds not game, the time for killing is between August Ist and March Ist, unless in any particular county the time has been altered by the Home Secretary on the application of the County Council. There is no close time for eating hares, but they may not be sold between March 1st and July 31st. Rabbits may be caught and sold all the year round. Substantially these times are the same throughout the United Kingdom, but there are some slight variations. Game and wild birds killed within the United Kingdom may not be sold during the times when they may not be taken, except that there is an allowance of ten days at the beginning of the close time for disposing of game on hand.

This does not apply to game and wild birds killed out of the United Kingdom, which may be sold at any time of the year. The proof that they were taken out of the United Kingdom lies on the person offering them for sale. The rule seems to apply to all British or Irish game sold during the close season, even to game kept in a cold store.

The offence of killing game during close time is quite distinct from the offence of selling game during close time; and the latter can be committed, even if the game has been killed in the open season. In addition to taking or selling game in close time, it is an offence for anyone, unless he has the right or permission, to kill game on the land, to take the eggs of any bird, of game, or of any swan, wild duck, teal, or wigeon, or to have such eggs in possession. The taking of the eggs of birds other than game or those birds named is regulated by the different County Councils, which make bye-laws prohibiting the taking of certain eggs, and these bye-laws often differ in different counties. In the absence of any bye-law, all eggs except those mentioned above may be legally taken. [See WILD BIRDS PROTECTION.] Where Game may be Taken. - The general rule is that neither game nor any other bird or beast can be taken without the leave of the occupier of the land.

The law in 1831 vested the right of killing game and of sporting in him, and, unless he has parted with the right, or (if a tenant) the landlord has reserved a right to the game, no one can kill game, or sport over land without his leave; if he has parted with it, the leave of the person who has acquired it must be obtained. The occupier usually parts with his right in two ways: he either gives it up to his landlord on taking the farm, which is the usual case when the game is reserved by the lease or agreement, or he lets it himself to some sporting tenant. Unless he has dealt with it in one or other of these two ways, it belongs to him. With regard to hares and rabbits, Section 3 of the Ground Game Act makes void any agreement, condition, or arrangement which purports to divest an occupier of his right to kill ground game concurrently with his landlord. Nevertheless, on appeal to the Divisional Court of King's Bench in the case of Morgan v.

Jackson it was held that an occupier under the Ground Game Act, although unable to divest himself of his right to kill ground game in favour of his landlord, may do so for money value, or rent, in favour of any other person, and an agreement in writing to that effect would not be void under the third section of the Act.

Another restriction must be borne in mind.

Unless the occupier gives up either to his landlord or to a tenant by some writing under seal, the right of sporting, the right remains in the occupier. It is often forgotten that sporting rights of any nature can only be legally transferred by a document under seal. The neglect of this may cause great disappointment. A friend of the landlord goes shooting; if there is no leave under seal, the tenant can stop him. A sporting tenant summons a poacher but fails to get a conviction, for he has no right to prosecute, there being no document X 2 under seal transferring the sporting right. Therefore, unless the occupier of lands has parted with the right of sporting by document under seal, he is the only person who can exercise such rights, or give leave to other persons to exercise them.

There are certain exceptions to this rule, but they are of very rare ra occurrence in places to which formerly the Crown had granted special right. These places are Royal forests and chases and places where a right of free warren exists; but the number of such places is exceedingly limited, and the right to game may as a rule be safely dealt with on the footing that it is the occupier's, unless he has parted with it.

Very important questions have arisen as to the occupier's right when he has parted with the game. How far is he entitled to compensation for damage done by the game? If any special terms are made on his parting with it, either to the landlord or to the shooting tenant, those terms will regulate the bargain. It is a matter of contract like any other contract; and the occupier, by giving up for value his right to the game, cannot complain of any damage the game may do to him, provided the game is that naturally produced on the land. But, if the person who has the game is not content with what is naturally to be found on the land, and turns down much more, then he becomes liable for any damage that may result. The rule is that if a person brings anything on land that does damage to his neighbour he is liable for the consequence of his act. This has been decided as his game, but the point has not as yet arisen how far a person who breeds pheasants from bought eggs is liable; it appears he would be, for there can be no real difference caused by the state in which the article causing the damage is brought on the land. to As to hares and rabbits, the occupier having the right of killing them can prevent any damage being done to him. But would probably still be able to maintain an action for any damage caused by a neighbour keeping an excessive quantity of ground game, the Act not having altered the law in this respect. The rights, therefore, of the occupier of land with his landlord and with the sporting tenant are now rights which are not so much regulated by Game Laws as by the special contract between the parties. If a landlord lets the sporting which he has reserved, his tenant stands to the occupier of the land precisely in the landlord's place, and has the same rights as the landlord, neither more nor less; if the occupier lets the sporting, the sporting tenant has the rights he has contracted for, and no more.

As might be expected, there are numberless points on the question of letting sporting rights that continually arise, and will be found in any book on the Law of Landlord and Tenant, or the Game Laws, but the rule is as here stated; the whole matter is a question of contract. Apart from the question of occupier, and persons deriving the rights from him, comes the next branch of the subject. Persons in pursuit of game without the permission of the occupier or owner of the sporting rights, are trespassers. In law, everyone who has not the required permission authorising him to sport on land over which he goes is a trespasser, and is liable to be punished accordingly. With the exception of the space between high and low water mark on the seashore and on tidal navigable rivers, there is no place in the United Kingdom where everyone can legally sport without permission. He must obtain permission from someone qualified to give it. It often happens [GAME LAWS that persons are allowed to sport in open or common lands, and are not interfered with, but still in law they are trespassers; they have no legal right there as members of the public. They cannot even go along roads for sporting, as the soil of the roads is held to belong to the owners of the adjoining land, or to some public body; and the public can only use it for the purpose of passing along, and for no other. Thus a man who shot a pheasant flying across a road was held liable to be convicted for unlawfully killing game, and a person who walked up and down a road for the purpose of obstructing a grouse drive was held liable in an action for damages.

So again, a person who walks along a road and sends a dog into the adjoining land to take the game would be liable. Indeed, it is almost impossible to put a case where one of the public can legally take game, except as above defined, unless he has permission. This restriction not only applies to game, but to the pursuit of any animal or bird, whether the person is or is not licensed.

As has been said, these rights are not pressed to the utmost extent, and so what is popularly known as "free shooting" exists in some places, but it has no legal existence, and the person who is led to try it will probably find himself involved in a question of game trespass.

Apart from this class of case there are the cases of persons who deliberately break the lawpoachers. Their offence is dealt with in different ways: (1) as to the time when it was done, day or night; (2) as to the number of persons who are engaged in it.

Trespassing in pursuit of game in the daytime is a matter which usually involves the trespassers in a summons before the justices, where the offence is dealt with summarily, and the trespasser's licence, if he has one, is forfeited, and, if he cannot pay the fine and has no goods on which a distress can be levied, he is liable to be imprisoned. If a trespasser refuse to give to the owner, occupier, or gamekeeper his real name and address, he may be arrested, but, if so, must be brought before a justice within twelve hours. If the trespass be committed by five or more persons, the penalty is higher. These offences apply to any trespass on any land in pursuit of game; but if the trespass is on a special place, such as a rabbit warren, or in a deer park in pursuit of deer, or in a decoy or place where wildfowl are specially kept, the offence becomes one under the Larceny Act as well as under the Game Laws. The person can be proceeded against under either at the option of the owner, but the penalties are much greater under the Larceny Act.

If the trespass takes place at night, it is of a much more serious character, the first offence being punishable with imprisonment with hard labour for three months; and, if any violence is used to owner, occupier, or keeper, it becomes an indictable misdemeanour, liable to be punished with seven years' penal servitude.

If there are more persons on the land at night to catch game, armed with offensive weapons, it becomes a still more serious offence, punishable with penal servitude up to fourteen years. It will be seen that the poaching offence may be an ordinary trespass on land by an individual in the day, punishable with a fine; trespass on particular places, punished more severely; trespass at night still more so; and if by armed gangs at night, subject to a very heavy penalty.

In order to detect offences on the land, certain powers of search and seizure are given to gamekeepers, but these can only be exercised on their GAME LAWS] master's land. This limitation of powers led to the passing of the Poaching Prevention Act, which gave to the police power to stop and search any person on a highway whom they reasonably suspected of being in possession of game unlawfully taken. So, if a person is caught on land with recently killed game, it can be seized by the owner or his keeper. If a person suspected of having game unlawfully taken is met on a highway, he can be stopped and searched by a policeman; and if game is found on him, it can be seized, but the keeper has no power off his master's land, and the constable has no power off the highway. The powers of each are strictly limited as to the place where they may be exercised.

They also differ in this, that the keeper cannot search on suspicion, but must see game recently killed; the constable has a right to search anyone whom he reasonably suspects. Such are the main provisions against trespass in pursuit of game, and poaching.

One point must be borne in mind: the offences are cumulative-e.g., a person enters another man's land and kills a partridge and refuses to give his name; he is liable both for the trespass and for refusing to give his name.

There are numberless cases on the question as to what constitutes a trespass, such as whether an actual entry on the land is required; will it do if you fire over a hedge? This has been held sufficient. What is being armed? What is recently killed game? When do the rights of the keeper cease, and when do the rights of the police to search begin? For these, however, reference must be made to some work on the Game Laws.

Besides the penalties under the Game Laws, if the person trespassing in pursuit of game has not got a proper licence (e.g., if he killed a partridge when he had only a gun licence), or had no licence at all, or if he used a gun without a licence, he would be liable to the excise penalties. These are quite distinct from and independent of the Game Laws, and can be only sued for by an inspector of excise, not by anyone who desires; and a conviction under the Game Acts would be no answer to an information by the excise, nor would the justice be justified in taking the proceedings under the Game Act into account in fixing the penalty. The whole of the excise rules form a separate code and proceed on quite distinct lines from the Game Acts. Much of the arbitrary procedure that is said to belong to the Game Laws really belongs to the excise, persons not taking the trouble to distinguish between the two classes of cases. There is, and always has been, a good deal of difficulty as to who is entitled to the property in game. Strictly speaking, no one has any property in it until it is captured, the right of the occupier of the land being merely a qualified right. He can prevent anyone going after it or disturbing it while on his land, but he has no real property in it. That is, he has no such property as would justify him in charging a person illegally taking it with stealing it. The Game Laws do not touch this point, and, so far as they are concerned, there is no difference in law in this respect between game and any other wild animal. The rule is that, to have any property in game, it must be reduced into possession. A series of decisions, some of them dating back to the Middle Ages, have introduced into the English law some very curious and complicated rules as to when game or any other wild animal becomes property; and the rules are of practical importance. The first is that when wild animals are started and killed on a man's land they become the property of the owner of the land. But if, started on the land of one man, they are killed on the land of another, they become the property, not of either owner, but of the taker. He is liable to be proceeded against for illegally killing the animal, but he is the owner of it when killed. There have been several important cases on the subject as to when the property in dead game vested in the owner of the land, and when it did not. If the property vest in the owner of the land the taking it is larceny, and a different state of law arises with regard to it than if it merely comes under the Game Laws. It is a felony, and the rules as to felony prevail, while any offence against the Game Laws, however aggravated, is at best but a misdemeanour. It should, however, be borne in mind that, because certain offences against game and wild animals are dealt with under the Larceny Act, that does not make the larceny a felony. That Act merely relates to the procedure for the punishment of the offence; for instance, under that Act, killing rabbits in a warren is made highly penal, but it is not made larceny. This distinction as to when offences are merely offences against the Game Laws and when they are offences against the common law, depending as it does on very refined and technical distinction, is one of the points that make it so difficult to state what the English law is on the subject.

Another point which has given rise to a good deal of discussion, and is not yet finally settled, is the question, what offence does a man commit, who, seeing a dead partridge or a dead pheasant or any dead bird in a field, goes into the field and picks it up? The general opinion is that it is larceny and a felony, and that the Game Laws have nothing to do with the case; but the point has not been expressly decided. The Game Laws only apply to the taking of live game. When it is dead, taking it from a field is in law the same as taking it from a shop. The rule that there is no property in wild animals until they are reduced into possession has the further limitation that it does not apply to game or other animals kept in confinement or semi-confinement. It has been decided that young pheasants brought up by a hen can be stolen; the only question being when they cease to be property, and become so wild as to be outside the rule. In these days of artificial rearing and game farms, the point is one of some importance; the rule seems to be that the person who calls himself owner must be able to take them if and when he please; if he can do that they are his property, and the subject of larceny. The same question arises as to eggs. If the birds are reclaimed, or so far reclaimed that taking them would be larceny, then taking the eggs will be the same. If not, it is only the eggs of game birds that it is an offence to take or be in the possession of. The Game Act, 1831, provides that anyone, without leave, taking or destroying the eggs of any game bird, or the eggs of any swan, wild duck, teal, or wigeon, or knowingly having them in possession, is liable to a penalty not exceeding five shillings for each egg.

If, on the other hand, the eggs are the subject of larceny, the offence of taking them is punishable with penal servitude; and the receiving them, knowing them to have been stolen, is punishable with the same penalty. The eggs of birds other than game and those mentioned in the Game Act come under the Wild Birds Acts, but the same rule applies to them; if taking the birds would be larceny, so will taking the eggs. But if the taking the bird is not larceny, the taking the eggs can only be punished under the Wild Birds Act.

How Game may be Taken. Even the owner or occupier of the land on which the game is, however much he may be entitled to it, and whatever licence he may have, can only take the game in certain ways. (1) He may not use poison to kill the game; this is expressly provided for in the Game Act, but it has been extended by subsequent Acts to forbidding poison to be used for killing any animals or birds, and so far as game is concerned it is only a part of the general law. (2) Under the Ground Game Act the occupier may not use spring traps in the open for taking ground game; but this has been held not to apply in the case of an owner in possession-that is, occupying his own land. Before the Game Act, 1831, there were a number of methods by which it was illegal to take game, and certain ways of taking game, e.g., tracking it in the snow, were also unlawful; but by that Act all these restrictions have been abolished, and, except by poison or spring traps in the open, owners and occupiers can take game by any mode they please. A distinction here will be noticed between Game Laws and other laws where licences are required, such as the Fishing Laws. With game, it is the person who is licensed, and he can use any engine or device he likes. In fishing matters it is the instrument that is licensed, and the person can only use that specified and no other. A further restriction should be noticed the Game Act makes it illegal to take game on Sunday or Christmas Day. It has been decided that this applies not only to the case of a person who goes in pursuit of game on any of those days, but also to a person who sets a trap on Saturday and leaves it set on Sunday. If a snare is placed for a hare on a Saturday and left over Sunday, and a hare or rabbit is caught on a Sunday, the person who set the snare, even if in his own garden, is liable to a penalty, and this even if he has a full game licence. It is also unlawful for a person who is duly licensed to kill game, and on his own land, where he has full right to the game, to use any firearms for killing game at night, i.e., between the expiration of the first hour after sunset and the beginning of the last hour before sunrise.

This restriction, however, only applies to game birds and hares, and does not include wildfowl.

Sale of Game. There are very severe restrictions placed upon the sale of game. Previous to the Game Act, 1831, the sale of game was absolutely illegal, but that Act made a great change in the law and allowed game to be sold subject to certain restrictions. The chief of these are:- (1) The only persons who can legally sell game are:-(a) The holders of a full licence to kill game; (b) a keeper duly licensed, who sells his master's game which he has killed on his master's land, for and on account of his master; and (c) a person entitled to ground game, selling it under the Ground Game Act. This would only apply to hares (rabbits not being game), and to come within the exemption it would seem that the hare must have been killed on the land in the occupation of the vendor; if a person sold a hare killed on another man's land he would be liable to a penalty. Everyone else, however legally he may have obtained the game, if he sells it, is liable to a penalty. (2) The only persons to whom game can legally be sold are persons who are licensed to deal in game. The licence used to be granted by justices at special sessions to such persons as applied for it as in the opinion of the justices were fit persons to hold it, the Act forbidding licence to deal in game to be granted to certain persons, such as the keepers of public-houses. Now the licences are granted by the District Councils of the place a [GAME LAWS دو in which the applicant resides, but the same restrictions apply as before to the person to whom they are to be granted. Every dealer who is licensed to deal in game must exhibit over his shop a board, with "Licensed to deal in game on it. It is only from these licensed dealers that the public can legally buy; if they buy from anyone else, they render themselves liable to a penalty. This restriction only applies to game as defined by the Game Act, 1831. Anyone can sell rabbits, wood pigeons, and plovers, and they may be bought from anyone; but grouse, partridges, and pheasants can only be purchased from licensed dealers. This is perhaps the one part of the Game Laws which, if rigidly enforced, would bear hardly on the public, as the onus of showing that the game was legally bought rests on the person in whose possession it is found.

There is an exception in favour of the keepers of hotels, restaurants, and such places supplying game to their guests; but otherwise the prohibition is absolute. WILLIS BUND.

Game Defined. - The Act 1 & 2 Will. IV. c. 32 is the principal Game Act now in force, but has been amended and supplemented by several Statutes passed during the last two reigns.

By this Act (sect. 2) "game" is defined to include "hares, pheasants, partridges, grouse, heath, or moor game, black game, and bustards."

This definition has been slightly varied by other Acts (e.g., the Night Poaching Act, 9 Geo. IV. c. 69, and the Act authorising constables to search suspected persons, 25 & 26 Vict. c. 114), while by the Game Licences Act (23 & 24 Vict. c. 90) woodcocks, snipes, quails, landrails, coneys, and deer, although not regarded as game strictly speaking, cannot be killed without a licence. Nor can any of the birds named be killed during the breeding season or close time, which varies in England, Scotland, and Ireland.

The close time fixed for game birds is as follows:-For partridges from February I to September I; pheasants, February I to October I; black game, December IO to August 20; but in Somerset and Devon and in the New Forest December IO to September I; grouse, December IO to August 12; bustard, March I to September 1; and the possession of such game after ten days by dealers, and forty days by others, after the expiration of the season, is illegal.

By a decision of the Court of Queen's Bench, however, it was held, on appeal in the case of Guyer v. The Queen, that this does not apply to game killed and received from abroad. (See report of this case in The Field, April 20th, 1889.) Close Time for Birds not Game. - With regard to birds not included in the definition of "game," sea birds were in 1869 protected from April I to August I by 32 & 33 Vict. c. 17, and wildfowl between February 15 and August 1 by 39 & 40 Vict. c. 39 (1872). Now all birds are protected between March I and August I by the "Wild Birds Protection Acts," 1880-81 (43 & 44 Vict. c 35, and 44 & 45 Vict. c. 51), under different penalties, according as the species of bird in question is included in the Schedule to the Act, or not.

If the bird in question is included in the Schedule to the Act it may not be killed during the close time under a penalty not exceeding £1; if not included in the Schedule the penalty is, for a first offence, a reprimand and payment of costs, and for every subsequent offence a fine not exceding 5s. in addition to costs. But anyone may GAUR] kill birds which are not in the Schedule to this Act on his own land during the close season, and authorise other persons to do so without incurring any penalty.

In 1894 a further Act was passed (57 & 58 Vict. c. 24), enabling a Secretary of State, upon application of a County Council, to prohibit by order the taking of eggs of any wild bird, either throughout the county or in certain specified areas within it, or the eggs of particular species, to be named in the order. Since the passing of this Act a number of orders have been made under its provisions, with the result that considerable confusion has been created by the variation in the provisions for different counties.

In 1896 a further Act was passed (59 & 60 Vict. c. 56) enabling application to be made by the Council of a County Borough to prohibit the taking of eggs, and to add birds to the Schedule.

It also empowers justices to order the forfeiture of traps, nets, or decoy birds on conviction, in addition to any penalty under any of these Acts.

In 1902 a further Act was passed (2 Edw. VII. c. 6) empowering justices to order the forfeiture of any wild bird or wild bird's egg unlawfully taken, in addition to any penalty.

The latest statute of this series was passed in 1904 (4 Edw. VII. c. 4), and prohibits the use of the pole-trap.

Ground Game. - Hares and rabbits may be killed at any season of the year; but hares may not be killed on a Sunday, nor on Christmas Day, being game with the definition given in 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 32. وو Under the Ground Game Act (43 & 44 Vict. c. 47), every occupier of land has the right to take or kill hares and rabbits concurrently with the owner of the land, or his lessee of the shooting, certain provisions being made as to who may shoot on behalf of the occupier, and as to the use of traps, no licence to kill "ground game being required under this Act, other than a ten-shilling gun licence. But although, under Section 3 of the Ground Game Act any agreement which purports to alienate the right of the occupier to kill or take ground game is void, it has been decided on appeal (Jackson v.

Morgan) that this does not apply if the right to kill or take ground game is let by the occupier to a person who is not his landlord.

The owner or occupier of land having the right to the game thereon may (except at night) kill hares, or authorise another to do so, without taking out an excise licence to kill game; and so may persons hunting or coursing. This privilege is given in England by II & 12 Vict. c. 29, and in Vict.

Scotland by II & 12 Vict. c. 30. Ireland has no corresponding Act.

There is no close times for hares, that is to say, no period of the year in which they may not be killed; but by the provisions of the "Hares Preservation Act, 1892" (55 & 56 Vict. c. 8), it is illegal to sell a hare or expose one for sale during the months of March, April, May, June, and July.

Deer. Deer may not be killed in an unenclosed forest or chase under a penalty not exceeding £50 for a first offence, and imprisonment for a second; or in enclosed ground, or park, upon pain of imprisonment with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding two years, under 24 and 25 Vict. c. 96; and a deer stealer in the commission of the offence may be arrested without warrant.

Since the passing of the Act 23 & 24 Vict. c. 90, an excise licence is required for killing a 1 The killing of game or rabbits by night is prohibited by 11 & 12 Vict. c. 29, sect. 5. deer as if it were game, except when pursued with hounds, or killed in a park, or other enclosure, by the owner or his agents. In Ireland there is a close season for deer under IO Will.

III. c. 8. But if a deer which has wandered from the forest, or escaped from a park, should take up its abode in another man's coverts, doing damage there, it may be killed by the owner of the covert, or by his keeper or agent.

J. E. HARTING. [See also FENCE MONTHS and LICENCES.] GAUR (Bos gaurus). - The Gaur, or Bison, as it is usually called by sportsmen, ranges in India through Assam, the Central Provinces, Mysore, Travancore, and the forests of Madras. My own experience of hunting this animal was confined to the forests of Mysore in 1892 and 1893, and in 1894 in the Central Provinces.

The following remarks must be understood to apply exclusively to Mysore, as it was there that I had experience of tracking gaur.

In several of the forests of Mysore, Kedda operations for the capture of wild elephants are established, and here I found the gaur pretty generally distributed. Being of a shy nature, he shuns civilisation, and roams through these vast forests. The main advantage of this country consists in the fact that there exist tribes of natives, Sholigas, Kurambas, and others, who are many of them professional trackers; and, since they are brought up in these forests to forage for themselves, the art of tracking is second nature to them. Their powers in this respect appeared to be miraculous; they might often be compelled to give up a track in consequence of the beast getting too good a start, but I cannot recall an instance in which it was lost.

Very early rising is essential to this sport. The gaur, like other wild cattle, wanders about during the night and early morning in search of food and water, lying quiet during the heat of the day under the shade of the jungles. To be successful, it is therefore necessary that the sportsman should find a perfectly fresh track, almost as soon as it is light, for as the sun rises and the day advances, the quarry retires into the densest part of the jungle and lies down. Here, on account of the great difficulty of approaching without noise, it is impossible to get a shot. The reward of a long track may probably consist in hearing his snort of alarm and thundering rush as the gaur dashes off.

The part of the gaur usually first seen is his head, but this is generally an uncertain chance, as (especially when alarmed) he carries it with his nose in the air, making it very difficult to hit the centre of the forehead. The most deadly spots are either the neck or behind the shoulder.

By far the best time of year for gaurtracking in the Mysore forests is in the early May rains, before the jungle is too thick and high. The ground is then softened by the wet, and tracking is easy.

In the province of Mysore, the rainfall is earlier than in most of the more northern parts of India, and I remember that in the months of August and September, I was [GAUR much chipped at the end, spoiling the grand curve which makes the head so fine a trophy.

The weapons I used for the gaur were a ten-bore rifle and a twelve-bore rifle, firing respectively eight and seven drams of powder and hardened spherical balls.

The question whether gaur shooting is a dangerous sport has been frequently discussed. The animal is usually harmless until wounded, but then he must be followed GAUR. 1891 much handicapped by the dense growth consequent on early rains. I can recall being, in the month of August, within ten yards of a solitary gaur and yet unable to see him, the animal making off. When tracking gaur, on their becoming alarmed and decamping, it is a good plan not to follow up too quickly, but to give them time, and they will sometimes pull up after going a short distance.

A herd varies in number from about ten and upwards, the most I saw together being about fifteen. The solitary bull is usually considered to carry the best trophy. But I am inclined to think this not invariably true, although unquestionably the finest head in my possession is that of a solitary bull.

Sometimes a solitary gaur has his horns up with great caution, especially as he has a habit at times of turning back on his tracks and waiting for his pursuer. When charging, he carries his head bent down between his fore-legs.

In August, 1892, I was tracking a solitary bull, and coming suddenly on him, as he presented a head-shot, I fired; but the shot, as I afterwards found, was not in the centre of the forehead. The gaur immediately, with head between his fore-legs, charged straight for me. He missed his point, and passing at about ten yards, received another in the shoulder which finished him.

In July, 1893, a friend and myself happened to be out together with only one tracker, the other being away. My friend GAZELLES] we fired at, and wounded, a gaur. Having hit off the track, accompanied by the shikari, followed it up. The track finally led into some dense bamboo-jungle. It was so thick in places, that we had at times almost to crawl. We advanced cautiously, knowing the gaur was not far ahead. Suddenly we heard it jump up, and in an instant the animal was on us. My friend had just time to fire from his hip, and the shot took effect in the gaur's head, and the beast dropped.

A wounded gaur has wonderful vitality, and will at times travel considerable distances without lying down. I can recall wounding a herd-bull through the body, and following it for nearly four hours before I again came up with and despatched the animal. I remember the advice given to me by a well-known sportsman in Mysore as follows. When a gaur has been wounded, do not follow him up at once, but sit down and wait for half an hour or more, then start on his tracks. Gaur also occur in Burma and the Malay Peninsula, where they are represented by local races, the Malay form approximating to the Gayal.

A. F. MACKENZIE.

GAYAL. These cattle were long regarded as a distinct species (Bos frontalis), but there is little doubt that they form a domesticated breed of the gaur. In some districts they have run wild, and are plentiful in parts of the Chittagong hilly districts, and extend into the interior to Munipore; a few exist in the northern and eastern parts of Assam, and probably extend to the north and east to the confines of China. They are numerous along the spurs of the Bhutan Hills, amongst the Dufflas, in Tippera, amongst the Lushais, and are kept in herds, in a half-wild state, by the wild tribes which skirt Chittagong.

Very many of the young wild cattle are caught in nets and soon tamed. The people scatter near their villages huge lumps of rock-salt, which have an extraordinary fascination for the gayal. The herds are allowed to graze during the day in the adjoining forests, but are recalled towards dusk by the tinkling of bells or the striking of gongs.

The forehead of the gayal is quite straight and destitute of the semi-cylindrical crest so conspicuous in the Indian gaur. The horns grow straight out and then curve very slightly upwards, and now and then, in a very old bull, they are sometimes slightly truncated. The forehead is broad and, like a gaur's, covered with lightish coloured hair. Gayal have a small but distinct dewlap. The dorsal ridge is prominent, but not to the same extent as in the larger animal, though, at a distance in a forest, one might easily be mistaken for the other. Indeed, the Assamese called both the gaur and gayal mithan, but, if pressed, say the former is the asal mithan and the latter a mithan only. Hybrids between the gayal and the humped cattle, of India are GAYAL. common. I have only shot two gayal, and those in the hills between Nowgong and Tippera, but I have seen them several times elsewhere.

F. T. POLLOK.

GAZELLES. It has been shown in the article on ANTELOPES that the gazelles are widely distributed in Asia and Africa.

Although some few of these animals, such as the so-called Ravine deer (Gazella bennetti), and the Tibetan Ravine deer (Gazella picticaudata), are, as their names imply, chiefly found in deep bushy valleys, among rocky hills and scrub, the great bulk of the gazelles are to be sought upon open plains, often far removed from water.

Two north African forms, however, the Atlas gazelle and Loder's gazelle, are found well up among rocky hills. From the open character of their habitat, and the extremely wary and suspicious nature of the animals themselves, few game animals afford finer or more difficult stalking than the gazelles of the African and Asiatic plains. Successfully to accomplish the downfall of these fleet and most suspicious creatures, favoured as they usually are by the often hopelessly bare and open nature of the ground upon which they feed, the sportsman must be possessed of infinite patience, energy, and endurance. He must also be a good rifle shot, and employ the best and most accurate long-range weapon that modern science can offer to him. The heat and mirage of the hot plains form, after the early hours of the morning, another factor which tends to impede the gunner and to favour the gazelle. The novice at first often finds it very hard to overcome the difficulty of judging distances upon heated plains, and even practised gunners occasionally expend a large number of cartridges in proportion to the number of animals brought to bag. Undoubtedly, for [GAZELLES if the sportsman attempts crawling under a burning sun from one small patch of covert to another, he will find the experience a sufficiently distressing one. It is, however, true that in the hottest hours of afternoon game of all kinds are more inclined to rest and are less watchful than at early morning and late afternoon.

I have found the last two hours of daylight a pleasant time for stalking those active and beautiful gazelles, the springbok of South Africa. The light, it is true, is a trifle more difficult than at early morning, AFRICAN GAZELLES. all kinds of shooting, the very early hours of the morning are the best. The atmosphere is clear and refreshing, the game is usually at this time to be found quietly feeding, and the mirage has not yet made its appearance. On the other hand, such is the wonderful clearness of the air at sunrise that the game pursued often appears to be much closer than it is in reality. This difficulty, with practice, is however presently overcome, and due allowance is made for atmospheric peculiarities. Practice, indeed, and nothing but practice, will make a successful gazelle stalker. The gunner, even if he has been well known as a good rifle shot in Europe, will, no doubt, at first be horrified and discouraged at the amount of ammunition wasted. He must have patience. In gazelle shooting, as in all other pastimes, an apprenticeship has to be served.

In the heat of midday, stalking on foot on hot open plains is extremely trying, and and the plains seem suffused with the glow of sunset; but the hour is full of charm, and I have seen many a good springbok successfully stalked between four and six o'clock in the evening. In South Africa springboks are stalked in a variety of ways.

I have gone out on to the Karroo plains long before dawn upon a thick misty morning, and, so soon as the sun rose and the fog was dispersed, thus obtained a shot or two at fairly short range. I have seen these gazelles bagged by guns marching down-wind in carts or on horseback, spread out at long intervals, and thus obtaining long shots at the animals as they took, after their invariable custom, up-wind. Here and there upon the plains of Ngamiland I have been enabled to stalk springbok on foot from the edge of the plain, where some slight covert from grass or bush was afforded. Near the salt-pans of the South African interior, springbok may be found at daybreak in winter sheltering among the GIRAFFE] bush, where they have sought protection from the keen frosts and cold winds. At such times they may be occasionally shot within a hundred yards. As a general rule it may be laid down that few animals of the gazelle species suffer the gunner to approach in the ordinary way closer than four hundred yards. One of the most effectual modes of lessening this formidable distance is to drive a few cattle towards the game and so approach more closely. An excellent method is pursued in the interior of South Africa-i.e., walking a shooting horse very quietly towards the game, always sheltering oneself as much as possible behind the animal. The springbok will, if the stalk is very carefully conducted, suffer the horse to approach sometimes as close as 250 yards. Nearer than this one can seldom hope to approach gazelles, except in the springbok country near Benguella- Portuguese South-West Africa - where these animals have been little harried, and the hunter can often get his shot within 150 yards. If, when the sportsman, stalking behind a horse, misses his first shot, gunner and horse remain quiet, the game will not run very far. They retreat usually for a hundred yards or two, and stand again; and the sportsman, moving very quietly with his horse, may obtain a second and even a third shot. The plains of South Africa, sprinkled as they often are with large herds of springbok, afford more advantages to the gunner than plains where other species of gazelle are distributed in much smaller troops, In North and East Africa, where gazelles of many species abound, driving by natives is sometimes employed. This method requires to be very carefully and very delicately conducted, or the game may be scared from the particular line of retreat, which they would under ordinary circumstances be likely to adopt. Since the introduction of the 303 Lee-Metford rifle and the Mannlicher, the chances of the long range gunner have been immensely improved, and the gazelle stalker is now enabled to bring down his game at a distance which a few years since would have been deemed, with average shooting, almost impossible. The following are the gazelles to be found in Africa and Asia :- Africa, South: Springbok (Antidorcas euchore). East and North Africa: Grant's gazelle (G. granti). Peters's gazelle (G. granti petersi). Sæmmering's gazelle (G. sæmmeringi). Somali Plateau gazelle (G. spekei). Somali lowland gazelle (G. pelzelni). Dorcas gazelle (G. dorcas).

Isabella gazelle (G. isabella). Dama gazelle (G. dama). Senegal gazelle (G. rubrifrons). Addra gazelle (G. ruficollis).

Atlas gazelle (G. cuvieri). Loder's gazelle (G. loderi). Black-tailed or Heuglin's gazelle (G. tilonura). Thomson's gazelle (G. thomsoni). dorcas clarkei). cranius walleri). albonotata).

Clarke's gazelle (Ammo- Waller's gazelle (Litho- Rothschild's gazelle (G. or Asia.-Arabian gazelle (G. arabica).

Dorcas gazelle (G. dorcas). Persian Yarkand gazelle (G. sub-gutturosa).

Mongolian gazelle (G. gutturosa). Tibetan gazelle or Ravine deer (G. picticaudata).

Przewalski's gazelle (G. przewalskii). przewalski Indian gazelle or Ravine deer (G. bennetti).

This group of ruminants includes some of the fleetest, most beautiful, and most active creatures to be found in the wild state. The flesh of gazelles, if a little dry, is usually very well flavoured. That of the springbok affords the best venison to be found in South Africa. For further information on gazelles see Records of Big Game, Rowland Ward, 1907, and the Book of the Antelope, P. L. Sclater and Oldfield Thomas.

H. A. BRYDEN.

GIRAFFE (Camelopardalis giraffa), Tutla of the Bechuanas, Ntutla of the Matabele, Nghabi of the Masarwa Bushmen, Giri or Halgiri of the Somalis, Zaraff of the Sudanese, Kameel (camel) of the Boers. This, the tallest of all animals, is now found only in the Continent of Africa, although fossil discoveries show that giraffe-like creatures roamed freely in the past in Southern Europe, Persia, and even as far East as the Siwalik Hills in Northern India, and in China.

From the days of Imperial Rome the giraffe was practically unknown to Europe until four hundred years back, when a single giraffe was shown at Florence by Lorenzo de Medici. After that period the giraffe again disappeared completely from the purview of Europeans, until towards the close of the eighteenth century, when it was re-discovered by Colonel Gordon, an officer in the Dutch service at the Cape, and by Lieutenant Paterson, a British officer. These gentlemen found and shot a specimen just north of the Orange River, then lately discovered. The skin of this animal was sent to the Leyden Museum.

About 1835 four young giraffes, captured in North Africa, were acquired by the Zoological Society and exhibited in Regent's Park. These animals bred in confinement and giraffes have since been familiar to the public for many years. The Zoological Society have usually a specimen or two in their collection, and living examples are to be seen here and there on the Continent; but it may be confidently predicted that, as these animals grow rapidly scarce in Africa, and are year by year more difficult of capture, it is not likely that Europeans will for very long be able to enjoy the sight of these extraordinary mammals. ،، over The giraffe forms a distinct family of its own (Giraffide), and, although provided with short horn-like processes, differs materially from all horned mammals.

These false horns, which are covered with hair and tufted at the apex, are at first quite separate from the bones of the head. Later in life they become united with the skull.

Rütimeyer has very well described the giraffe as a most fantastic form of deer," which is perhaps as good a description as anyone can invent for this animal. The giraffe owes its immense height mainly to the extreme length of its neck and limbs.

A full-grown male will measure from 18 to 19 feet from the hoofs to the horn tips.

The writer measured very carefully an old bull giraffe, killed by his shooting companion, Mr. W. Dove, in the North Kalahari in 1890, which was but a bare quarter of an inch short of 19 feet. Full-grown females stand from 16 to 17 feet in height.

A large cow shot by the writer during the same expedition, measured just over 162 feet. The eyes of the giraffe, shaded by long lashes, are large, soft, melting, and extremely beautiful. The senses of smell and vision are extraordinarily acute, and the giraffe is an extremely shy and suspicious animal, hard to find and easily disturbed. As the animal attains maturity, a curious osseous prominence in the middle of the forehead, between the eyes, is developed.

In some species two short horns or pedicles are also developed at the back of the head, and the front pedicle is also very prominent.

These animals are referred to as fivehorned giraffes. The tongue is very long -some eighteen inches-slender and extremely flexible and prehensile. It is used for plucking down the leaves and branches of the acacia trees, on which these animals feed. The nostrils are long and slit-like, and, by a curious arrangement of the sphincter muscles, can be opened and closed tightly at will. I have little doubt that this arrangement is merely a provision against the sharp-pointed acacia thorns, amid which the giraffe gathers its food. For exactly the same reason, as I conceive, the prolonged and very prehensile upper lip, and the lower lip and chin, are provided with a thick, velvety, protective coating of hair. [GIRAFFE The colour of the giraffe varies greatly, from lemon-fawn to orange-tawny and dark chestnut. The Nigerian race is much paler than any other variety. The old bulls and even old cows grow very dark-almost black-upon the back and upper parts.

The patches of darker colouring are laid upon a ground of very pale fawn or cream. #ldwell 1900 GIRAFFE.

The lower parts and the insides of the legs are white. The hoofs are large-nearly a foot long in the old males elongated and somewhat cow-like. There are no traces of false hoofs. In North-east Africa- Somaliland-Major Wood, an English officer, has discovered and shot within the last few years a new species of giraffe, never before seen. In this species the dark red colouring is only separated by very fine lines of the paler hue, and at a short distance the animal would therefore appear as entirely of one colour. In the ordinary giraffe the blotches or mottling can be distinguished at a long distance.

THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF SPORT A LARGE HERD OF GIRAFFES. [Photo, by A. Radclyfte Dagmore.

Of late years, thanks to the ubiquity of sportsmen and the researches of naturalists, much more has become known of the dif ferent races of these animals. Scientists have, therefore, classified them as follows:

The South African giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis capensis), the Nubian giraffe (G. c. typicus), the Kordofan giraffe (G. c. antiquorum), the Baringo giraffe (G. c.

Rothschildi), the Lado giraffe (G. c. cottoni), the Nigerian giraffe (G. c. peralta), the Congo giraffe (G. c. congoensis), the [Photo. by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.

HEAD OF A GIRAFFE.

Kilimanjaro giraffe (G. c. tippelskirchi), the Angolan giraffe (G. c. angolensis), and the North Transvaal giraffe (G. c. wardi).

The Somali giraffe has been awarded a species of its own, with the designation Giraffa reticulata.

It is worthy of note that in the wild state giraffes are of much richer colouring than when kept in confinement. The skin of this animal is tough and extremely thicknearly an inch upon the back in mature males and has always been in great demand in South Africa for making sjamboks, or Colonial whips. The value of a skin varies from £2 IOS. to £4 IOS. or £5, and for this reward, unfortunately, very large numbers of giraffes are annually slain by native and Boer hunters.

In South Africa the giraffe is invariably hunted on horseback, a form of sport which has always had great attractions for English sportsmen. There is nothing finer in nature than the sight of a troop of [GIRAFFE are giraffes in full flight, and the excitement of the find and the run up is intense. In its slower paces, the giraffe, with its curious gliding walk, is extremely deceptive. It is in reality travelling at a rapid rate. When thoroughly roused, these animals are capable of putting first-rate hunting horses to their utmost speed. It is well to remember that unless the hunter plies sjambok and spur, and rides his very hardest at the flying troop in the first two miles of chase, he may lose them altogether. At a steady, slinging gallop, giraffes will travel for hours and wear out a horse, but, if chased very hard and forced beyond their pace early in the run, the hunter will be enabled to ride close up to the particular beast he may single out, and put in his shots from the saddle. Some hunters prefer to get up within a hundred yards, jump off and fire. In the opinion of the writer and of many experienced African sportsmen, it is better to push one's horse close up to the stern of the giraffe, and, within a few yards, fire from the saddle. A good South African hunting pony needs little guiding in a run of this description, and the rider can drop his reins and safely use both hands. The best point to aim at, whether on foot or on horseback, is the root of the tail. The giraffe's body is very short, and a well-planted solid bullet travels right into the vitals of the animal and speedily brings it down. A broken limb will also effectually bring down the animal. As the giraffe is possessed of a very thick skin, solid, and not hollow, bullets should invariably be used. In the old days a solid Martini-Henry lead bullet was quite sufficient to bring down one of these tall mammals. With the great improvement in rifles wrought during the last fifteen years, a missile of even smaller calibre, say a 303 or even a 256, will, if well planted, be sufficient. But, preferably, the hunter may be advised, when hunting these huge and thickskinned beasts, to arm himself with a 400 or even a 450 smokeless-powder rifle. A full-grown giraffe weighs about a ton, and shock, as well as penetration, is necessary to bring it down.

The giraffe is in South Africa nowadays seldom surprised in open country. Its chosen haunts are the open giraffe-acacia forests, or dense thorny jungles, in either of which the mounted man is a good deal handicapped. If the troop-usually from seven to a dozen, though the writer has encountered nineteen together-can be forced into a piece of open ground, the work is comparatively easy. If hunting in bush and forest, the sportsman may be well ad- GNU] vised, despite the heat, to put on a strong cord coat, as the giraffe usually makes for the thickest part of the bush, through which it plunges, dodges, and ducks in a perfectly astonishing manner, quite regardless, thanks to its thick hide, of the terrible thorns which rip and tear the horse and rider. In East Africa, where these animals are usually stalked on foot, they are occasionally found in open country. In the North Kalahari region, where the best South African hunting grounds now lie, Masarwa Bushmen, perhaps the finest trackers in the world, are usually employed as spoorers. These people, whose services can be secured for a mere trifle, are intimately acquainted with the haunts and habits of this gigantic game.

For hunting in desert country-e.g., the Kalahari-water-carts (barrels mounted on wheels) should be taken, the hunter having frequently to cut himself off from his wagons and water supply for two or three days at a time, when in pursuit of these animals.

The flesh of young giraffes, and especially of fat cows, is excellent. The old bulls are rank, and uneatable by Europeans.

The immense marrow bones, roasted over the camp fire and sawn in half, are one of the greatest luxuries of the hunting veldt.

The giraffe is voiceless and practically without means of defence, but, when run to a standstill, it will strike out dangerously with its fore-feet. At the present day the giraffe may be found in the North Kalahari, Khama's western and northern country, Ngamiland, Ovampoland, behind Benguella, in Portuguese South-west Africa, occasionally in Matabeleland, and in Portuguese South-east Africa. Thence northward, through Northern Rhodesia and parts of Congoland, to German and British East Africa, the Sudan, Somaliland, Nigeria, the hinterland of Senegal, and the region of Timbuctoo, it is to be found in localities suited to its habits. It is, curiously enough, extremely doubtful whether this animal ever ranged south of the Orange River. It seems to be unknown in West Africa, north of the Congo, until Senegal is reached.

H. A. BRYDEN.

GNU.-BRINDLED (Connochates taurinus). The Blaauw Wildebeest of the Boers, the blue wildebeest of British hunters, Kokoon of the Bechuanas, Inkone- Kone of the Matabele and Zulus, is, like its grotesque congener the white-tailed gnu, an antelope peculiar to the African continent. In the days when game was plentiful all over South Africa, the blue wildebeest was occasionally found in Cape Colony, just south of the Orange River.

Northward it has a very wide distribution, being found in South Central Africa, and thence as far north as British East Africa, where a white-throated variety (Connochates taurinus albojubatus), the Nyumbo GNU. of the Swahilis, has in recent years been plentifully discovered. The brindled gnu stands about four feet four inches at the shoulder. The body colouring is a dirty drab or dun, strongly marked on the fore part of the body and neck with the dark stripes or brindles from which it takes its name. The head is heavy and buffalo-like, and is covered upon the front and chin with thick, shaggy black hair. The long, upstanding, black mane, extending to the withers, and a quantity of black hair upon the dewlap and breast, add to the heavyfronted, wild and cumbrous aspect of this antelope. The legs are slender and beautifully shaped. The tail is black and flowing, resembling that of a pony. The eyes are set very high in the head. The horns, which are somewhat buffalo-like in shape, are formidable, and a wounded blue wildebeest should be approached with caution. The flesh is poor and unpalatable, and, except as food for native servants or to supply trophies, there is no reason why the blue wildebeest should be remorselessly pursued and shot. These antelopes are gregarious, and run in troops numbering from a dozen to fifty. In the African winter season the bulls are frequently found ranging in herds apart from the cows and calves. I have encountered a troop of between thirty and forty, all of which were bulls, mostly full-grown. These wildebeests are found sometimes upon open plains, at others in thinly bushed country, and the more they are persecuted the more inclined they seem to seek the sanctuary of the bush. In South Africa they are always pursued on horseback. They are among the fleetest and most enduring of all game animals, and in a stern chase will often run clean away from a good African hunting pony. They can be turned, however, in full career by planting a bullet so as to strike up the dust in front of them; or, if the hunter can so manœuvre as to place himself [GNU as the Black Wildebeest. The name Gnu or Gnoo is derived from the ancient Hottentot designation for this animal. Although a true antelope, the white-tailed gnu is one of the most strange and grotesque of nature's creations. Even among the myriads of wild animals to be found in Africa, it has always been remarkable.

The head, stripped of the wild mane and shaggy hair with which it is adorned, is A BRINDLED GNU. between the bush and the plain upon which they feed, he can often render them utterly bewildered, and, jumping off his horse, can thus obtain easy shots. They are extremely tenacious of life, and with a bullet through the body, or a broken leg, wili yet occasionally make good their escape. The blue wildebeest exhibits nothing like the antics of the white-tailed gnu, but when first startled by the hunter, the herd usually execute a few kicks and flourishes and then, whisking their long black tails, speed across the plains or through the bush at what looks like a lumbering gallop, but is in reality a very fast pace. They are still fairly abundant in Khama's country, Ngamiland, and Ovampoland and Rhodesia. They found in Portuguese South-east, and Southwest Africa; and in parts of Central and Eastern Africa they range in very large numbers. -obliw H. A. BRYDEN. are GNU.-WHITE-TAILED (Connochates gnu). This, the Zwart Wildebeest of the Cape Boers, is best known in South Africa extremely ox-like; viewed at a short distance, the muscular quarters are not unlike those of a pony. The legs are beautifully slender, terminating in neat hoofs. The tail is long, whitish, and flowing. The general colour of this gnu is dark brown.

A full-grown bull stands about 4 feet at the shoulder. The head, which is heavy and disproportioned to the size of the animal, is decked with bristling tufts of dark hair above the broad flat muzzle and under the eyes. The same shaggy hair is to be found under the throat, and upon the chest and part of the belly. On the upper lip, and surrounding the wild eyes, are long white bristles. A thick and full hog-mane of a lightish colour stands erect from the strong arched neck. The horns extend downward over the eyes, and then suddenly turn upwards in a sharp, formidable hook.

The white-tailed gnu is a dangerous beast when wounded, and in captivity is extremely savage and treacherous. This gnu is exceedingly fleet and active, and of a most suspicious nature. Yet, despite these qualities, the skin-hunting GOA] Boers of the Cape Colony, Griqualand West, and the Orange Free State have within these last forty years almost succeeded in achieving its extermination. Fifty or sixty years ago it thronged the plains of these territories-beyond which it was seldom or never to be found in incredible numbers. Even forty years ago or less, the Black Wildebeest was still distributed in large numbers in the Orange Free State-now the Orange River Colony.

At the present day it is only to be found upon a few farms in this colony, where it is preserved by Dutch pastoralists. A single small troop still existed on a farm near Victoria West, Cape Colony, a few years back, but is now extinct. It is almost certain that the number of these grotesque and unique antelopes now left to South Africa is well below a thousand. And, unless the Boers still preserving the few remaining herds can succeed in perpetuating the species, the animal will, not long hence, be as extinct as the true Quagga. The white-tailed gnu is one of the most restless of all animals.

Upon the approach of hunters or any strange object, the herds exhibit the most astonishing pranks and oddities, wheeling, plunging, and fighting in every conceivable attitude, and then suddenly, with fantastic kicks of the heels, scouring across the plains with white tails streaming in the wind. Mr. J. G. Millais, in A Breath from the Veldt (H. Sotheran, 1895), gives the most recent and detailed account of these strange antelopes. They breed well in captivity, and are to be found in European Collections. GOA H. A. BRYDEN. or 22 (Procapra picticaudata), Tibetan Gazelle. - Stands between inches and 24 inches on delicately formed limbs. Its general colour is a very pale kind of drab, tinged slightly with brown.

A pure white disc bordered with brown surrounds a short brown tail. In most fullgrown bucks there is a patch of longish white hair on the forehead between the large, lustrous eyes. Unlike almost all other Tibetan animals, including the dogs, the goa seems to have none of the soft, fine under-fur known as "pashm." At any rate, the writer found not a vestige of it amongst the sleek hair of any specimens he shot. The coat is said to grow longer in winter.

The buck's horns are black, and usually about a foot in length, though in extra fine specimens they may be an inch or two longer. They are closely annulated to VOL. II within about two inches of their tips, which turn slightly upward, and as the horns spring from the skull in a rather forward direction, and then curve much backward, they give the beautifully shaped little head a jaunty appearance.

The doe almost exactly resembles the buck, but has no horns.

The goa is keen-sighted and wary, though, in the latter respect, perhaps less so than any other game animal of Tibet.

It never herds in large numbers, two or more being usually found together, and a solitary animal not infrequently.

Its habitat is on the bare, undulating, and broken uplands extending all along, and far beyond, the base of the Himalaya on the Tibetan side; certain localities being more frequented by this species than others. It is seldom, if ever, found at a lower altitude than about 14,000 feet, but often very much higher; consequently all the Himalayan approaches to goa-land are, during winter, impracticable.

The howling blast of wind which comes sweeping almost incessantly over those bare Tibetan steppes often makes aiming at so small a mark anything but steady. But as this characteristic wind of the country occasionally lulls for a few hours in the morning, that time of day, if windless, is the best for goa-shooting. Few Tibetan sportsmen, however, hunt specially for goa, but take their chance, when searching for larger game, of coming across its haunts.

A double express rifle of 450 bore is as suitable as any weapon for goa, because it is also quite capable of bringing down every other kind of Tibetan game animal, not excepting even the wild yak.

Two things should always be borne in mind when aiming with the rifle on those high wastes, namely, that the strong gusty wind causes more or less deflection of the projectile, and that the very rarefied air at such high altitudes offers but little resistance and thereby lowers the trajectory. A powerful telescope with large field is an absolute necessity, for the goa so much resembles the colour of the ground it affects that often, if far out and stationary, its small form is almost indistinguishable from the stones around it, especially if the day be sunless. Cloudy or windless days are, however, exceptional in those high arid regions, where the sun, from the moment it tops the horizon, is scorching. The writer found a kind of mask of soft thin cloth, extending down over the nose, with apertures for the eyes, almost indispensable for alleviating the distressing effects of the broiling sun, combined with the piercing Y cold wind on his face. When traversing long tracts of glaring snow or ice on high Tibetan or Himalayan passes, a pair of green "goggles" may be added to the above as a precaution against snow-blindness.

DONALD MACINTYRE.

GOAT. - NILGIRI (Hemitragus hylocrius). This ruminant, better known in India by the name of Nilgiri ibex, is the only goat found south of the North Temperate Zone, with the exception of an ibex on the higher mountains of Abyssinia. It is re- NILGIRI GOAT. stricted to the south of India from the Nilgiris and Anamalais to Cape Comorin.

It resembles the Tahr (Hemitragus jemlaicus) in some respects, but has short-hair, of a different colour, while the horns are also different. The old males are nearly black, with a white patch behind the shoulder, which gives them the name of "saddlebacks." The horns, which are three-sided, with the outer surface rounded, may reach fourteen inches in length by about eight in girth. It is considered a great prize for a sportsman to get an old saddleback, as they are hard to find, and, when found, difficult to stalk.

The species still exists in the Nilgiris, where it was found in great numbers forty years ago, but at the present day occurs only in the hills that are difficult of access, and where the mountains are surrounded with dense malarious forests. The first I saw were on a low grassy hill, with very precipitous sides, that stood alone in a dense forest in the lower Anamalais, and [GOAT it seemed strange for a goat to inhabit such a hot tropical region. Their favourite ground is the open grassy highlands adjoining the stupendous precipices that surround most of the mountains of Southern India. They are usually in herds of four or five up to sixty, and are very wary and sharp-sighted. The old males, after feeding, retire into safe hiding and inaccessible places, and are far less often met with than are the herds. When looking for ibex, I once came unexpectedly upon a splendid tusker elephant, another day upon a solitary old bull bison, and twice happened upon black panthers, which indicates the wild nature of the country into which the sportsman is led when in chase of the ibex. One of the best accounts of the country it occupies and adventures in its pursuit is to be found in Records of Sport in Southern India, by the late General Douglas Hamilton.

P. W. L'ESTRANGE.

GOAT.-ROCKY MOUNTAIN, OR WHITE (Oreamnus, or Haploceros, montanus). The white goat is not a goat at all, but a peculiar mountain antelope, its nearest relatives being the Himalayan serows and takin. The fact that we call our only antelope a goat may, I suppose, be taken as an offset to the other fact that the prongbuck, which is universally called antelope by American hunters, is not one at all, standing among ruminants in a position as unique as that of the giraffe and okapi.

The white goat has certain peculiarities which mark it off from all other mountain game. It occasionally sits up on its haunches like a dog to look at something which strikes it as suspicious. It is extraordinarily tame or stupid, showing a bold self-confidence which no other animal of its size displays. Moreover, though it dwells by choice among appalling precipices, and is a marvellous climber, it utterly lacks the bounding agility, not only of the chamois, but even of such heavy beasts as the mountain sheep. It generally climbs with a sort of sturdy deliberation, and often lifts itself on a ledge by spreading its elbows apart and drawing the body up much as a man would. It is singularly intolerant of heat, and even on rather cold days will retire to a cave, with the temperature freezing, in order to get out of the sunlight. There is a muskpod between the horn and ear which makes the flesh of all but young animals uneatable. The needlepointed horns are from eight to ten inches long, and so do not offer much of a trophy.

The pure white robe, which is very thick, GOAT] long, and woolly in winter, and contrasts so vividly with the black hoofs, horns, and muzzle, has some commercial value, but at present not very much. In consequence, the beast is not much followed by the professional hunters, who can find more valuable game in less inaccessible places; for the chief protection of the white goat is the extraordinary roughness of its haunts.

Sportsmen have, within the last twenty years, begun to follow the white goat quite eagerly; but game is really never thinned out by true sportsmen, and the queer, musky, self-confident beasts offer a striking contrast to other American game in the fact that they have hitherto decreased very little in numbers.

There is no game animal in America the pursuit of which entails such severe toil.

In places where the mountains run down into little-frequented fiords, or great lonely lakes, it is possible to go right into the haunts of the white goat by canoe, and occasionally to surprise one near the water; but ordinarily the animals are to be found only after heart-breaking climbing. To get into the region where they are found it is sometimes possible to take a packtrain, and at other times a canoe. Often, however, the journey must be performed on [Photo. by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT. foot from the beginning; and this is almost always the case when the edges of the hunting grounds themselves are reached, and it is desired to camp within reasonable distance of the range of the game. Only the barest necessities can be carried on a man's back. In my own experience I have usually gone after white goats with but one A ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT IN THE SNOW. companion, some old mountaineer who knew the ranges; though in one instance I also took an Indian with me. The wooded lower slopes of the mountains throughout most of the white goats' range are so broken, and covered with such a tangled mass of forest and undergrowth, that the walking is difficult beyond belief. Every step is severe exertion. A walk is one perpetual scramble over fallen timber, through deep gullies, across boulder-strewn streams, up sheer cliff-walls, through masses of twisted bushes, over windfalls where the fallen timber, amid the wildest confusion, lies sometimes thirty feet from the ground, with young spruce growing thickly between the logs-an added touch of discomfort being given where the country is burnt.

After an hour's scramble over country like this a man will be so drenched with sweat that he will look as if he had fallen into water. His fare is, of course, but meagre, unless he can manage to shoot something, and this is very difficult in such a forest, because it is out of the question to make a noise.

Camp is usually made in some glade by a stream, as near the upper edge of the timber as possible, for ordinarily the goats are found far above timber-land. They can best be hunted in the evening and morning, although they feed at intervals all through the day. The start has to be made very early, because there is sure to be several hours' climbing before one finds the animals.

They are by no means difficult to see, their white bodies being very conspicuous, and once seen the stalk itself is comparatively easy. All that is necessary is to get above Y 2 them, for they seem to suspect danger only from below, and if surprised will almost always run up-hill. They are bold, pugnacious, and stupid, and are so accustomed to the noise of falling rocks that they are not readily alarmed by a slip or a mis-step on the part of the hunter. In consequence, there is little need to display the hunting craft absolutely necessary in the chase of the big-horn, the moose, and the wapiti. The qualities called for in the hunter are ability to endure the prolonged and extreme fatigue of climbing among the stupendous rock walls where the white goat dwells, and the nerve to cross the occasional bits of dangerous ground encountered. In other words, the demand is made upon the qualities called for in mountaineering rather than in ordinary hunting. Nevertheless, as the test of the highest sport is the display of manliness and hardiness, the chase of the white goat deserves fair rank; for the white goat hunter must be hardy and persevering, and must have a good head, good lungs, and good muscles.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT. [See also ANTELOPES.] GOLF.-Golf is one of the most ancient of games--so ancient, in fact, that its origin cannot be positively ascertained. A common tradition is that it came from Holland, but there seems no reason for doubting that the game as we know it is a purely Scottish creation. There is documentary evidence that golf was a great national game in Scotland in the middle of the fifteenth century, when it was so popular that it was forbidden by statute as a hindrance to the practice of archery deemed necessary for the "defense of the realme." It is fair to assume, therefore, that it was even then of some antiquity. a The Dutch tradition is not supported by any material evidence. The pictorial records-practically the only evidence that exists of the Dutch game-are of very much later date than the Scottish statutes and references to golf. The game shown in Dutch pictures of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was a winter pastime, played on the ice with a single club at an upright mark. The clubs and balls were similar to those used in Scotland, but otherwise the game had no resemblance to Scottish golf, which, so far as is known, has always been played with a variety of clubs at holes cut in the ground. There is Flemish miniature of earlier date than any of the Dutch pictures, which shows some children playing with rude a [GOAT clubs at a small hole in the ground. This is the only scrap of evidence that exists against the Scottish parentage of golf at holes.

If, however, Scotland got golf from the Continent, the probability is that both the Dutch and Scottish games were independent adaptations or modifications of the early French games of club and ball, like crosse and jeu de mail, which in turn were developments of Roman games having their ultimate origin in the older Eastern civilisations.

The game of golf consists in playing a ball from fixed starting points, with various clubs suited to the nature of the stroke, into a succession of small holes cut in the ground at various distances. The game is played by two sides, each playing its own ball, and the object of each side is to hole its ball in fewer strokes than the other.

The game begins at the first of the starting-points, which are called teeing-grounds. The hole to which the ball is to be played is cut in a well-cared-for green called the putting green. The hole is circular, 474 inches in diameter, and should be at least 6 inches in depth.

The Course. Golf may be played on any open space, but its original home is the links or common land found by the seashore, where the undulating surface, the short, close turf, the sandy subsoil, and the many natural obstacles, such as hillocks, sand holes (bunkers), bents, and gorse, supply the conditions which are proper to the pursuit of the game.

Eighteen is the usual number of holes in a golf course, but, if sufficient suitable ground is not available for laying out the holes without crowding and crossing of the line of play, it is better to limit the number of holes to 15, 12, or 9.

The extent and character of the ground available will determine the distances between the individual holes, and these should be placed so as to take advantage of any natural obstacles and defences afforded by the configuration of the ground, to test the skill of the golfer and lend variety and interest to the play. As a general rule, a hole should not be much shorter than 100 yards, or longer than 500 yards, while the entire course, if made up of 18 holes, and measured from hole to hole, should be from 3 to 33/4 miles in length.

Between the teeing-ground and the putting green should be found, whether they be natural or artificially formed, GOLF] various difficulties (hazards) in the shape of bunkers, embankments and hillocks, ponds or burns, roads, trees, whins, and other obstacles, and these should be placed or utilised so as to necessitate skilful play and to catch and punish bad strokes, while open space and good turf should reward well-hit and properly directed shots.

Roughly speaking, a course should never much exceed 6,000 yards in length. A course laid out on seaside links may be a little longer, but an inland course, where the soil is heavier and the grass coarser, has been the undue lengthening of holes and courses, so that on the best-known modern courses the majority of the holes are those which, in ordinary weather, require two of the longest wooden club shots to reach the putting green. Apart from the great physical strain entailed by so many of these purely driving holes, it has been found that when the conditions are normal, such a stereotyping of the length of holes means the practical elimination of all the difficult and interesting approach strokes with iron clubs, since, if a player is driving ST. ANDREWS LINKS. should be shorter, to compensate for the greater deadness of the ground. This, of course, also applies to the laying out of holes. A hole which can be reached in two full shots on a seaside links, owing to the great run on the ball, would be 30 or 40 yards too long on an average inland course, where the ball falls comparatively dead. This consideration must also be borne in mind in placing the hazards on seaside and inland courses respectively.

A matter that has been much disputed of recent years is the best length for holes. A theory promulgated in the Badminton "Golf" that the proper lengths for holes are multiples of full shots has been widely accepted, and holes have been laid out on many courses in obedience to this principle of either one, two, or three full shots in length. A strong reaction against this doctrine has, however, now set in, and golfers are recognising that any system of laying out holes of arbitrary lengths produces monotony. Another result of the application of the multiple theory well, he gets on the putting greens with his full shots, and then has only to use his putter. There has, therefore, been a return to the older theories of course construction, in which the strategical position of the putting green was the prime consideration in determining the length of the hole, and not the tape measure.

The hole which takes two full drives to reach the green is an excellent and indispensable type of hole on every good course, but it has been overdone, and many of the best course architects are now introducing a fair proportion of the old medium-length holes which can be reached with a drive and an iron shot. These holes can be made very interesting and testing by guarding the putting green closely, and making it imperative that the tee shot should be played to a point. If the length and character of the approach are varied at these holes, they supply a most welcome change from the monotony of the long-driving holes, and greatly increase the demand on the player's skill and resource. There should be at least six of such holes on every course, as well as two or three short holes, from 80 to 150 or 180 yards in length, closely guarded by hazards in proportion to the length of shot required to reach them.

The putting green, technically, is all [GOLF required after good play to reach them and remain on them. Even at the long-shot holes the prepared surface should not be more than 25 or 30 yards square, and at holes where the approach shots are shorter they should not exceed 15 or 20 yards. A THE "REDAN" HOLE, NORTH BERWICK. ground, except hazards, within 20 yards of the hole, and all this space, except the hazards, should be of the closest and smoothest turf. It is not desirable to have the surface flat like a billiard table, and an undulating surface, provided the turf be equal and true, will be found to make the putting more interesting. ،، A putting green or hazard which is invisible to the player when he plays towards it, and it is within reach, is not considered good golf, and wherever possible this blindness," as it is called, should be avoided. The "blindness" of pot bunkers can usually be cured by the erection of a small bank on their far side. The banks of artificial bunkers in front of putting greens are often built so high that, in approaching, the entire green is hidden from the player, and only the top of the flag is visible. In playing approach shots, whenever the natural configuration of the ground permits it, the player who is on the correct line to the hole should always be able to see the bottom of the flag and most of the intervening ground between him and the hole, so as to enable him to judge the distance. If these bunkers were made broader, and their banks lower, their punishing power would be quite as great, and their blind character would be eliminated.

Putting greens, or at least the prepared surface of them, should be proportioned in size to the length and nature of the shot plateau green, if the approach be long, should not be too short or narrow.

The Ball used in playing golf is made in various sizes, but roughly it is about 13/4 inches in diameter, and about 12 ozs. in weight. The size and weight are not standardised; neither is the material or construction; but there is no doubt that any new make of ball tending to increase the length of drive would now be prohibited in view of the impossibility of altering and lengthening courses to meet it.

Golf balls were originally made of wood, like those used in jeu de mail, but from at least the beginning of the seventeenth century down to the middle of the nineteenth they were made of feathers forced into a case of leather. In the reign of James VI. and I. many of these balls were imported from the Continent. It is interesting to note that a leather ball stuffed with feathers was also used in the ancient Roman game of Paganica.

When gutta-percha was introduced, in 1847 or 1848, the feather balls, which cost from 2s. 6d. to 5s. each, were superseded by solid balls made of the new material, which only cost Is., played better, and lasted longer. The feather balls were smooth, save for their stitching, and the gutta-percha balls, being altogether smooth, were found to duck and swerve in the air.

It was noticed, however, that they flew better after being cut with play, so someone GOLF] hit upon the idea of notching their surface to start with. This was originally done by hand with a sharp-edged hammer after the balls were moulded, but subsequently the marking was done by moulds of different patterns. The marking that proved most popular and successful, and is now all but universal, is a surface of small hemispheres in juxtaposition, similar to the surface on a rasp or bramble berry. Several kinds of composition balls appeared during the gutta-percha epoch, but none of them succeeded in displacing the balls of solid guttapercha, which were in general use from 1848 till the end of the century.

The ball now used completely supplanted the gutta-percha ball in the earlier years of the present century. It is an American invention, and first appeared about 1901.

On its introduction it was known as the 66 Haskell," but the patent rights in this country not having been satisfactorily established, it has been universally copied. The ball is made of rubber thread, wound under tension, and covered with a shell of guttapercha. The sizes and weights of the ball are approximately the same as those of the gutta-percha balls. Many other kinds of cored balls have been tried since the American balls came in, but none have achieved much popularity.

The rubber-cored balls caused much stir when they first appeared, and courses and renders them less constant and reliable than the solid balls of gutta-percha. But while something has thus been lost in scientific accuracy, the new balls have many advantages. Although their cost is double, they last at least twice as long as their predecessors, and they do not wear out the faces and break the horns of wooden clubs like the gutty balls. While they have undoubtedly made the game easier for inferior players, who find their driving powers, especially with iron clubs, greatly increased, the best players still maintain supremacy.

Clubs. There are many varieties of clubs, but those most commonly in use, and all that are really necessary for the player, are as follows: DRIVER, SPOON, BRASSIE, MASHIE, CLEEK or DRIVING MASHIE, IRON, PUTTER, and NIBLICK. All other clubs are either adaptations or modifications of these.

Of late years several centre-shafted and mallet-headed clubs have been put on the market and used by many players, especially as putters, but the authorities have condemned these innovations, so that in future only clubs which have their heads on one side of their shafts will be allowed.

The driver, spoon, and brassie are made of wood, and the putter may also be of the same material. The heads of the others are made of malleable iron. Formerly the heads of wooden clubs were made of beech THE "MAIDEN" BUNKER, SANDWICH. holes were altered to meet the extra length to which they could be driven. The general verdict of the best players upon them now is that they have not improved the game.

Owing to their greater elasticity, they are more difficult to control in the shorter strokes, and their composite construction and apple, but of late years these woods have been almost entirely supplanted by an American wood called persimmon. The old shafts were made of a variety of woods such as ash, lance-wood, and greenheart, but modern shafts are made almost exclusively of hickory. The finest shafts, though they are difficult to obtain, are made of split hickory-i.e., hickory which is split from the wood with the grain, and not sawn off the plank.

The Driver. The driver is the club used from the tee if the hole be long, or if the ball lie well, to play it as far as possible towards the hole. Its shaft is long and SET OF CLUBS. powerful, and the spring in it is varied to suit the taste and style of the player. The weight of the head is also optional. The old wooden clubs had long and narrow heads, but the modern fashion is to make them rather short and broad, and with a somewhat deeper face than the old clubs.

The Brassie is usually made about an inch shorter in the shaft than the driver, and, as a rule, its head is a trifle smaller.

The sole is shod with brass to preserve the wood when the ball has to be played from stony or hard ground. The face of the [GOLF brassie is slightly sloped backward, so as to raise the ball in the air, and the smaller size of the head admits of its being used when the ball lies in a "cup or indentation of the ground which the driver head would be too large to enter. دو The Cleek is an iron-headed club with a straight face. The shaft is longer than that of other iron clubs, and it is chiefly used in playing shots through the green, when the ball lies badly, or a wooden club would take it too far.

The Iron. The iron has a deeper blade or face than the cleek, and a shorter shaft.

Irons are made of various weights and with various degrees of pitch or loft. They are chiefly used in approaching the hole or for lifting the ball over hazards or out of sand.

The Mashie is a comparatively modern development of the iron, but its head is shorter and a little deeper. It bears much the same relation to it as the brassie does to the driver. Like the iron, it is made of various weights and degrees of loft for particular strokes, and its uses are practically the same.

The Driving Mashie has a straight face and a shaft the same length as the cleek, but its head is shorter and its face slightly deeper.

The Putter is used chiefly after the ball has been played on to the putting green to play the ball into the hole. The head is made either of wood or metal. It is more upright, and the shaft is much shorter than that of any other club, and should be quite stiff. The best wooden and aluminium putters are made on the old models, having rather long and narrow heads. Their faces are sometimes slightly sloped backwards.

There are many varieties of iron putters or putting irons and cleeks, no one of which can be said to be better than another. The chief points to be looked to in a putter are that it should be well-balanced and not too heavy. Its shaft should be stiff, and its face, whatever its angle may be, a flat plane.

The Niblick is used when the ball lies in sand, whins, or other hazards, wherever it is necessary to use great force to extricate the ball. It is also useful for short approaches when it is desirable to loft the ball sharply and make it fall dead. Its head is circular, well laid back, and very heavy. The shafts of all iron clubs should be stiff, but stiff shafts should not be heavy.

Spoons. The old long-spoon, mid-spoon, short-spoon, and baffing-spoon or baffy - wooden clubs of various lengths with their faces slightly hollowed out and set back at various angles-have been largely supplanted by the brassie and the modern or دو GOLF] irons and mashies. For some years the spooned wooden club appeared to have become almost obsolete, but of late there has been some reinstatement of this beautiful club in the affections of golfers.

Methods of Playing the Game. There are two main methods by which golf can be played, viz., match play and stroke play.

In the former, the game is reckoned by the number of holes won by each side, and, in the latter, by the aggregate number of strokes required by the players for all the holes in the stipulated round or rounds.

Match Play. In a match by holes, the usual number of players is two, and the players begin at the first teeing-ground.

The ball is placed on a small elevation, usually a pinch of sand, called a "tee."

The order of starting being settled by agreement or "toss," the player who strikes first is said to have the "honour," and this he retains until his opponent wins a hole.

After both have struck off from the tee, the player whose ball is furthest from the hole plays again, and so on until the hole has been decided. The player who has done the hole in the fewest strokes wins the hole, and if both have taken the same number, the hole is said to be "halved."

Should one of the players, A, find himself a number of holes to the good, equal to the number remaining to be played, or, in other words, in such a position that his opponent, B, even by winning all the remaining holes, could only tie with him, A is said to be "dormy," and should he win the next hole, the match is over, as he must win by I hole at least.

Supposing A were 3 holes to the good, with but 3 holes remaining to be played, he would be "dormy three," and should he win the next hole he would win by 4 holes and 2 to play.

The remaining holes, in this case only two, are called the "bye." two; If both players win the same number of holes, the match is said to be "halved."

In Match Play the game is counted between the holes by the terms, "the odd," "the like," " two more," "one off two," and so on. Thus when A has played one more than B, he is said to have played "the odd," and when B then plays he has played "the like." If A has played two or three more strokes than B, B then plays one off two or three, as the case may be, and so on.

Foursomes. A match by holes is often played by four players, two against two, and is called a foursome. Only two balls are used, the partners striking alternately, both from the tee and throughout the green.

A stroke exacted as a penalty under any of the rules does not affect the rotation of play. For example, if A and B are partners, and A plays their ball into water, from which it has to be lifted and dropped under a penalty of I stroke, the next stroke is played by B and not by A.

Threesomes. A threesome is played in the same way, except that one player plays his own ball against the other two, who strike their ball alternately.

Three- and Four-ball Matches. These matches are played by three or four players each playing his own ball, and all playing against each other. If the play is by holes, and under handicap, the scoring becomes somewhat difficult and complicated, and in a four-ball match it is much better to play it as a foursome, the best ball of each side counting.

Best-ball Matches. - A good three-ball match can be made when one of the players plays what is called the "best ball" of the other two. This means that in order to win a hole, he must do it in fewer strokes than either of the other two. It is obvious that in this form of match the conceder of odds must be superior to each of the other two players, and handicaps are usually fixed on the basis that to make an even match of it a scratch player should be able to give each of his opponents a third, or six strokes in the round, if he were playing them singly.

Inter-Club Matches. - Inter-club matches are played by teams of varying numbers, representing, as far as possible, the best players in each club. They may be played either in singles or foursomes, and they are almost invariably played by holes. Formerly the reckoning of results was made by counting the aggregate number of holes won by each side, but the newer and perhaps fairer method of judging the result is to count the number of individual matches won, instead of the number of holes. This latter method supplies a fairer test of the general strength of the teams.

By the former method it frequently happens that the failure of one member of the team brings defeat to his side.

For example, suppose two clubs play a match with teams of six a-side with the following result :- ABCDEF 4 X Holes Z Holes G 0 0 IO I I L H J K It will be seen that though the X team wins four of the six matches, they yet lose by eight holes, although the Z team only gains two matches of the six.

No very definite system has yet been evolved for the new method of counting the results by matches only. A common practice is to score I point for each match won, but various fractions are counted for the byes. The best opinion seems to be that it is a mistake to count anything for the byes, since, in golf, a match is over as soon as one of the players is a number of holes up greater than the number remaining to be played. When the byes are counted, the fraction allowed is usually one-fourth, and it frequently happens that a match between 8 or IO players results in a win for one side by one-fourth of a point, a measure of superiority hardly worth reckoning. are Match Tournaments. - Club and Open Tournaments are usually played on the same principle as the Amateur Championship competition. The competitors drawn against each other in couples, and at the conclusion of the first round the winner of the first couple plays against the winner of the second couple for their places in the third round, and so on until the final stage is reached, the survivor of which is the ultimate winner. If the number of entries happens to be a number which will eventually reduce to 8, 4, and 2, or 4, 2, and I couples, the names are at once drawn in couples after being shaken up in a box.

But if the number of entries is not a power of 2-that is, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, &c., a certain number of players will require to receive byes in the first round, in order that the second and subsequent rounds will work out without any more byes occurring.

For this purpose, the number of byes which it will be necessary to have in the first round is determined as follows:- Subtract the number of competitors from the nearest higher power of 2, i.e., 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, &c., as aforesaid, and the remainder will be the number of players who receive byes in the first round.

Thus, with 57 entries, the nearest higher power of 2 is 64; 57 from 64 leaves 7, which is the number of players who receive byes, leaving 50 players to play in the first round.

The ballot is conducted as follows:- A list of the competitors is drawn up and to each name a number is affixed. Separate slips of paper with corresponding numbers are then placed in a box and drawn out singly. The player whose number is first drawn plays the second, the third plays the fourth, and so on. But the players who are [GOLF first drawn, to the required number, are those who receive byes in the first round, and their names are put down on the draw sheet at the beginning of the second round.

After the byes are drawn, the next two players drawn are the first match in the first round and so on.

If there has been an odd number of byes, the survivor of the first match in the first round is then bracketed with the odd player at the end of the byes in the second round, and the tournament then works out without any more byes occurring. Instead of placing the byes at the top of the second round, they may be placed in the middle, or half may be placed at the top, and half at the bottom, with the survivors of the first round in between. Either of these plans has the effect of mixing the players better than placing them all at the top. The latter plan, however, is the one adopted in the Amateur Championship. - American Tournaments. American tournaments are conducted under the rules for match play, their principle being that every competitor has to play each of the others. The players score I for each win, o for each match halved, and I for each match lost. The player who scores highest wins the tournament, and if two or more players tie, their order is settled by the number of halved matches and losses which each has registered. These tournaments, however, are not suited for a large number of players, since any scratching during the progress of the tournament entirely vitiates the result.

Stroke Play (see rules for stroke play). -Stroke or Medal Play is the method of deciding a competition between a number of players by counting the number of strokes required for the whole round or rounds. The competitors play in couples, each player against the whole field, and the player who completes the round or rounds in the fewest number of strokes, if it be a scratch competition, is the winner, and, if it be played under handicap, subject to his allowance or penalty.

Bogey Play is a method of scoring by holes, which, although it has not yet been recognised, or legislated for, by the Ruling Body, is now highly popular, especially in England. It combines to a large extent the essentials of match play, with the advantage that a competition amongst a large number of players can be decided in a single day, which is not possible in an ordinary matchplay tournament. "Colonel Bogey," as he is called, is a mythical personage whose score for each hole is fixed at approximately scratch figures. The players play each hole.

GOLF] not directly against each other, but against the "Bogey" score for the hole, and they win, lose, or halve it with "Colonel Bogey," according as their respective scores are better or worse than, or equal to his. The player who is most holes up or least holes down to "Colonel Bogey at the end of the round wins the competition. دو In the absence of more authoritative legislation, Special Rules for "Bogey" Play have been drawn up by Golf Illustrated, which are now in general use. These rules will be found at the end of this article.

Eclectic or Choice Score Competitions. -These competitions are played under stroke play rules, the competitors playing two rounds of 18 holes. At the conclusion of the play each competitor selects the best score he has made at each hole in the two rounds, and the total for 18 holes thus obtained forms his "eclectic," or choice score for the competition, the lowest score, of course, winning. When the play is under handicap, it has been found that the ordinary stroke play handicaps confer an undue advantage on the weaker players, and, accordingly, these competitions are usually played under half stroke-play handicaps.

Handicapping. In order to enable inferior players to make even matches with their superiors, it is necessary that they should receive points. In stroke play the weaker players simply receive a given number of strokes which are deducted from their scores at the end of the round.

For Club Competitions the handicaps of the members are settled by a committee, who proceed as follows: A score for the round is agreed upon as a good scratch score, say 80, and each player who is below scratch form receives strokes sufficient to bring his average score down to this figure.

It is usual to compel a new member of a club, or one whose play is not known, to hand in three or more scores for the information of the committee, before he is allowed to compete for a prize, and upon the average of these scores the committee decide what handicap he is to receive.

It is well to make the outside limit of all handicaps in club competitions 18 strokes.

By this means overcrowding on competition days is avoided, and the absurdity of having a medal carried off by a beginner who is receiving, as sometimes happens, two strokes a hole from the scratch players, is done away with.

In club stroke competitions it is also usual to divide the competitors into "seniors" and "juniors," the seniors being those whose handicap is less than 10 or 12, and the juniors those who receive more.

When a player wins a prize with a score below the usual winning score, his handicap should be reduced immediately by one or two strokes, as the occasion may seem to demand, while, at the same time, the form of the other players must be watched by the committee, and their handicaps adjusted from time to time, irrespective of their winning prizes.

Should a scratch player be found to be winning too many handicap prizes, the usual plan is to penalise him to the required extent by adding to his actual score. Thus, if he is penalised three strokes, and he hands in a card of 79, his score would read 79+3=82.

This saves the necessity of raising the handicaps of all the rest of the members.

Players entering for open handicap competitions are required to declare the lowest handicaps they receive at any club of which they are members, for the information of the handicapping committee.

Match Play Handicapping. The handicaps for match play are based on the number of strokes received in stroke play, but a smaller proportion is allowed in match play, for the following reason: In match play the total number of strokes taken to the round does not directly affect the result.

For example, A may take 3 to the first hole, and B 8, but A only wins I hole. At the second hole A may take 6 and B 5, which makes them "all square or even in holes, although A's total strokes are only 9, while B's are 13. It is obvious, therefore, that as the inferior player's superfluous strokes are not counted against him in match play, he does not require the same handicap as in stroke play. دو ،، دو The following is the system of allotting match play handicaps in general use :- Singles. Three-fourths of the difference between the stroke play handicaps of the two players.

Foursomes. Three-eighths of the difference between the aggregate stroke play handicaps on either side.

A half-stroke or over, both in singles and foursomes, counts as one. Smaller fractions count as nothing. Then, in a Single, if A's handicap is 2 and B's 9, the difference between them is 7; three-fourths of 7 is 54, or 5, as the quarter is not counted; 5 is thus the number of strokes B receives from A.

In a Foursome, A's handicap is 15 and B's 4, making 19, and their opponents C and D +2 and 14 respectively, making 12.

The difference between 19 and 12 is 7; three-eighths of 7 is 258, or 3 strokes, which is the allowance A and B receive.

The number of strokes being settled in the above manner, they are to be taken at the holes specified in the club table, in which it is clearly set forth. If the strokes given are less than 18, it is well to have this table arranged so that, as far as possible, the strokes should be taken at the more difficult holes. It is usual to print this table for easy reference on the back of the club scoring-cards.

Bisques. Another method of handicapping in match play is for the stronger side to concede the weaker a given number of strokes, which may be used, as long as they last, either singly or together, at any hole or holes, at the discretion of the receiver of the odds. These strokes are known as bisques. The side receiving bisques need not declare whether a stroke or more is to be taken before a hole is played out, but must do so immediately afterwards and before the next hole is begun.

Handicapping by "Holes Up."-Still another method is for the stronger side to allow the weaker a given number of holes to start with. For example, A gives B three holes of a start. B is then three holes up with eighteen to play, if the match is one of eighteen holes, but he has to play A level throughout the entire round. A has thus to beat B by four holes on the round to win the match.

Handicaps for "Bogey" Competitions. -The "Bogey" score in most clubs simply represents the figures that should be taken at each hole by a scratch player. As club handicaps in general are also based on "scratch," the handicaps for "Bogey" play present no difficulty. Thus, if a player's stroke handicap is 12, he gets three-fourths of it, or 9 strokes, from "Bogey"-the same as he would in playing a match against a scratch player and if a player is +4, he owes "Bogey" 3 strokes in the same way.

Style. A sardonic observer has defined golf as consisting in striking a small ball into a succession of small holes with instruments very ill adapted for the purpose. Though this is but a limited definition, it is strictly true as far as it goes. The golf club is not a weapon of precision. The length of its shaft, the shortness of the head, and its exceedingly restricted hitting surface, the small size of the ball, the inequalities of the ground, and the state of the weather, are all matters that make a successful stroke at golf most difficult of accomplishment. Moreover, it is not sufficient to hit the ball with the correct strength and direction, wherever it lies, on the proper [GOLF part of its surface; it must also be hit with the proper part of the club face. If both these things are not done, the result, unless favoured by luck, will be failure. The part of the club used in accurate striking is the MR. JOHN BALL DRIVING. (SHOWING THE CORRECT POSITION FOR THE WRISTS.) centre of the face, i.e., half-way between the sole and the crown of the head, and half-way between the toe and the heel. The ball is struck correctly when it is struck on the centre, or a little below, at the back of the ball. These two points, then, must be brought in contact if the stroke is to be successful except in one or two particular strokes which will be dealt with later-and it is towards the consistent and harmonious accomplishment of this object that a golfer's style should be built up.

As the best players all exhibit differences more or less marked in the matter of style, it is impossible to say, except perhaps from the æsthetic point of view, that any one effective style is better than another. The measure of the excellence of any particular style is its consistent success, as consistent failure must point to some radical defect in its constitution. It must further be observed that the divergences in style amongst first-class players are the result, not of any essential differences in the force GOLF] and accuracy with which the club head ultimately reaches the ball, but in the manner in which the club is handled to attain these objects. Individual idiosyncrasies of stature, strength, and temperament are sufficient to account for these differences, and the beginner, in trying to develop a good style of golf, will do well to observe the points where the styles of good players are found to agree, and to pay no attention to the unimportant details where they differ.

Style may be said to cover the player's grip or grasp of the club, his stance, and his manner of swinging.

The Grip. The grip of the club is a most important matter, as on it depends largely the command obtained over the club during the process of swinging.

Until the great golf boom began about twenty years ago, there was, generally speaking, but one recognised way of holding and swinging a golf club. But when English players, born and bred altogether outside the old Scottish golfing traditions, began to take up the game, different methods came to be employed, and their success has led to many departures from the old style. The Englishmen's traditions were all of cricket, and to them a golf club was but a kind of bat wherewith to hit the ball, and not a club to be swung at it. The new method necessitated a considerable stiffening of the shafts of clubs. The grip ORDINARY GRIP. for this cricketing or hitting method requires great strength of hand, wrist, and forearm, and the club is gripped tightly with the palm of the hand, the fingers holding firmly, the back of the hand being kept well under, as shown in the illustration.

For the older and more orthodox method of using a golf club, the hold is not so much a grip as a grasp. It has been well described as the kind of hold one takes of a rope in act to pull it. The club should be held firmly, but not tightly, with the fingers of both hands equally, the handle resting on the part of the palms just below the fingers, and not gripped with the hollow of the palms. The hands should be in close contact, so that the grip is not in any way divided, and any danger of the hands working independently is avoided. The thumbs should lie over the handle of the club, and not point down it. By these means the club will have the requisite play in the hands during the process of swinging, for it must be observed that, in swinging, the palms open a little as the top of the swing is reached, and at that point the club is held, especially in the left hand, almost entirely by the fingers. As the club descends, the full grip is recovered. To hold on tightly with the same immovable grip all through would check the swing, and prevent the club describing the true arc in the air, which is essential to success in the swinging method of using a golf club. 'The grip, or the manner of it, should not vary with different strokes, except in one or two particular instances, and as a matter of style a player should endeavour, as far as possible, to make all the various strokes in his play, in regard to grip, stance, and swing, on the same principle. His half-shot should be a part or segment of his full shot, his quarter-shot, like part of his half-shot, and his putt but a smaller stroke in the same manner.

The part of the handle to be gripped will depend entirely upon the manner of swinging adopted by the player. If the swing be long, more command will be obtained over the club by holding it near the top of the leather, if the swing be short, or, if the hitting or cricketing method be employed, it will be found that a shorter grip will be the more serviceable.

Overlapping Grips.-J. H. Taylor and Harry Vardon and many other leading players now employ a grip which they claim as superior to any other. The left hand holds the club in the usual manner, except that the thumb points down the shaft instead of lying across it, but the right hand, instead of resting completely below the left, is raised so that the left thumb is completely covered by the ball of the right thumb, and the left forefinger is covered by the little and two next fingers [GOLF of the right hand. This overlapping grip differs in small details with different players, but the principle is to make, as it were, one big hand, instead of two, and thus ensure their united action. There is no doubt that the grip is a most effective one for those who can use it, but, unfortunately, it requires a much greater strength in the hands and fingers than the average player possesses.

For full strokes with all clubs the club should be gripped with equal firmness with both hands, but in the shorter strokes and putting, where the left arm does not have so large a proportionate share in the work of hitting, the right hand should have the firmer grip.

The practice of the best modern players is undoubtedly to use a much firmer grip, and to grip more equally with both hands than was formerly thought correct, and no doubt with the Vardon or Taylor grip a much securer hold can be maintained than with the older method. But even with the overlapping grip the club is bound to have a certain amount of play in the hands, and at the top of the swing the left hand must open to some extent, leaving the club handle to be grasped chiefly by the fingers.

J. H. TAYLOR'S GRIP.

The question of the proper thickness for the part of the handle gripped by the player is an important one. It depends primarily, of course, on the size of the player's hands JAMES BRAID'S GRIP. and the length of his fingers. A golden mean is the thing, but whatever the thickness of grip, it should be the same on all the player's clubs.

Stance. The position of the player's feet relative to each other, their distance apart, and the distance of the ball from each, depend on a variety of considerations, and it is impossible to lay down any hard and fast rule in these respects. The best players exhibit wide differences in the matter of stance, but these are chiefly due to differences in stature, length of reach, and the length of club used. As a general rule, however, it will be found that the player has most command over the ball if he stand so that it lies opposite him at a point two or three inches nearer his left foot than his right. The player should stand easily, facing the ball, his legs apart but not too much straddled, with his toes slightly pointed outwards, at such a distance from the ball that he can reach it comfortably by placing the club head behind the ball, and by holding the handle opposite the middle of the body, with the arms slightly bent outwards. His position should not be so far away from the ball that he has to reach forward in order to hit it, nor so close that his motions are cramped in the act of striking it. It is not of importance whether the feet are placed in a line with the direction of the projected stroke, or whether the right or left foot be slightly advanced, as the best players exhibit all these variations. The important matter is to take up, as far as the nature of the ground and the length of the GOLF] entirely a mechanical and subconscious act.

If the problem is tackled consciously with painful attention to precepts such as "slow back," "keep your eye on the ball," " don't press," &c., &c., nothing but failure will result. The proper attitude for the golfer is to regard his body as a machine which he merely puts in position, and then turns on the motive power. It is an attitude of body that he must cultivate, and not of mind, if he wishes to make his strokes with ease and accuracy.

While this consideration is of paramount importance, it is still necessary to analyse the actual processes employed in the correct handling of the club in order that initial defects of style may be avoided, and, accordingly, some general principles, common to the styles or methods of all good players, may be briefly described.

Addressing the Ball. In taking aim or addressing the ball, it is the almost invariable practice to pass or flourish the club head a few times backwards and forwards over the top of the ball, in the direction of the proposed stroke. This is called the waggle," and has for its object the freeing ،، ADDRESS AND STANCE WITH CLEEK. (MR. JOHN BALL.) club will permit, the same stance for each stroke. Nothing is more fatal to accuracy and consistent play than a constant changing of stance.

The Swing. For all fair lying balls, the player will do well at the outset to think of the course to be described in the air by his clubhead during the stroke as a circle or segment of a circle. It must not be supposed that it is meant that the clubhead must describe with geometrical accuracy a segment of a circle if the stroke is to be a correct one, but simply that the course described by a clubhead, when the club is truly swung, is of a circular nature, and that accuracy is only to be obtained by keeping the clubhead throughout its course truly in the line of the circumference of the curved figure it describes. With this view of the swing clearly in his mind, it will be obvious to the player that to strike the ball fairly the club face must reach it when the head is travelling at the lowest point of its circumference that is, after it has ceased to be describing its downward course, and before it has commenced its upward. If this be not done, the stroke must be more of less missed, and the player must so arrange his stance as to ensure, if he swing accurately, that the club face will find the ball in the right place at the right moment.

It cannot be too strongly insisted on that the successful hitting of a golf ball is almost J. H. TAYLOR DRIVING. of the wrists and arms, and of ensuring that the club lies properly in the hands. In addition, it is essential after the waggle to 1 rest the club head for a moment on the ground close behind the ball, in the exact position in which the player wishes it to return on the ball. To do otherwise, as, for example, to place the toe or heel of the club opposite the ball, to place the club on the ground altogether clear of the ball, or not AT THE TOP OF THE SWING WITH CLEEK. (J. H. TAYLOR.) to ground it at all, is to court failure. If any of these eccentricities be indulged in, the difficulties of the stroke are enormously increased, as the player, after, as it were, leaving the rails to start with, has to find them again before reaching the ball, with consequent loss of force and great risk of inaccuracy.

The ball having been addressed in accordance with the foregoing instructions, the "waggle," which must not be unduly prolonged, satisfactorily accomplished, and the aim taken, the next consideration is the swinging of the club.

As the swing is to be circular, the club head must be made to pursue the same orbit in the upward swing as in the downward, if the maximum of force and accuracy is to be attained, and all the motions of the hands, wrists, arms, and legs used in the upward [GOLF swing will be simply reversed as the club comes downwards.

In commencing the upward swing there should be no swaying of the body to the right side, nor should the swing of the club be commenced by pulling the hands to the right in advance of the club head, as this will throw the swing out of gear at its commencement. The club should be swept backwards and gradually upwards evenly and without jerk, the shoulders turning round as the club rises till it is well over the neck or right shoulder. The wrists and elbows will turn, following the upward motion of the club, and the grip open, as before indicated, as the club reaches the top of the swing. The head must be kept as steady as possible, and the eye kept on the ball, so as to guide the swing.

As the club is swung upwards, the player will gradually transfer his weight, which in addressing the ball rests on both legs equally, to the right leg, his left knee turning inwards and his left heel rising in response to the turning of his shoulders as the club goes round. As has been said, the downward swing is an exact reversal of all these motions. There should be no pause at the top of the swing. The upward swing and the downward are one act, and should be as harmonious and continuous as possible. The pace of the downward swing is, of course, gradually increased till the club head reaches the ball, but a great deal of nonsense has been written and talked about the necessity of swinging "slow back," and the curious thing is that the very players who are responsible for the dictum are themselves notorious for the rapidity with which they swing the club both backwards and forwards.

The old Scottish fashion of swinging the club very far back, so that the head sometimes came in view of the player's left eye, is fast dying out. The best players now seldom swing the club beyond the horizontal, even for the longest shots. It has been found that the shorter swing gives greater accuracy, and does not diminish the distance to which the ball can be driven.

An important matter to be noticed is that the club is swung at that angle round the shoulders, which gives the player most command over it both for direction and distance. It must not be swung at too upright an angle, which will be found to prevent the player getting the weight of his body into the stroke, nor must it be swung too low round the body, as this will cramp the player's motions and prevent the free use of his arms. Consistently with getting the weight of the body into the swing, a GOLF] high or perpendicular swing is better than a low or more horizontal one.

The "Follow Through."-It must not be supposed that the stroke is finished when swing. The truth which must be firmly grasped is that there can be no good swing to which the "follow through," properly carried out, is not the inevitable conclusion.

A swing which does not terminate in a "follow through" is not a swing, but a hit, in which the club head is practically arrested at the moment of contact with the ball to the obvious diminution of the force of the blow.

Various Kinds of "Lies." - When a ball has been struck from the tee, the variety of places where it may ultimately rest awaiting the next stroke is infinite. If it be hit truly and on the proper line it should lie fairly well, but if topped or hit to the right or left of the course, "grief," in the shape of a bunker or other hazard, will probably be its portion.

The method of hitting a ball that lies J. H. TAYLOR'S GRIP. TOP OF SWING. the club head has reached the ball. In the true golf swing the ball is regarded, not as the point at which the blow is arrested, but as a point through which the club head passes at the instant when it has attained its greatest momentum. After sweeping away the ball in this fashion, the club head passes onwards and gradually upwards, the weight of the arms and body being thrown, as it were, after the ball, and the player, at the finish of the stroke, is facing the line of the ball's flight, the club going up towards his left shoulder. It is well to observe, however, that this "follow through" is not a separate virtue to be added on after a proper swing has been acquired. In itself the "follow through" cannot be said to be a virtue at all. At best it can only be regarded as evidence that the preceding, or what may be called the business parts of the swing, have been properly executedthe outward sign of virtue, like the shining countenance of the righteous, giving token of the inward grace. For a moment's consideration will be sufficient to show that as the "follow through" only begins after the ball has been struck, the movements of which it is composed that are made after the ball is away can have no further effect on its flight either for direction or distance.

But while this is so, it must not be assumed that the "follow through" is nothing more than an ornamental flourish or finish to the VOL. II THE TOP OF THE SWING. (J. H. TAYLOR.) fairly on the turf, not being in any kind of hollow, is the same as for the tee stroke.

There is no necessity to hit the ground with Z [GOLF MR. JACK GRAHAM DRIVING. the club in striking the ball, as this can only check the force of the blow, and most probably will have the effect of sending the ball in a contrary direction to what was intended. On the best of links, however, there are numerous small indentations on the sward, into which a golf ball frequently rolls, and a lie of this kind demands for its proper negotiation a considerable modification of the method used in hitting a fair lying ball. If the cup is only a slight one, the driver is the club to use, but if it be at all deep the brassie or cleek, with their slightly sloped faces, will be found of more service. The stand should be taken with the ball a shade nearer the right foot than usual, and the club gripped a little more firmly. It will be obvious that were the swing used in playing a fair lying ball to be employed, the ball would be either partially topped and driven into the far side of the cup, or the ground would be hit by the club head before it reached the ball, and its force checked. To avoid this, it is necessary to play the stroke with a more downward swing, so as to slip the club face in between the back of the cup and the ball.

The slope on the face of the club, if the ball be truly hit, will raise it over the opposing slope of the cup, and a long shot will be the result.

A ball that lies fairly, and not cupped, on a downward slope toward the hole is known as a "hanging ball," and should be played in the same way.

It frequently happens on undulating links that a ball rests on a slope either above or below the player. In both cases the sole of the club must be grounded as squarely with the slope as possible. If the ball lies above the player the club should be held shorter, and, if below him, allowance should be made for pulling, which, in this case, is difficult to avoid.

Balls in Sand. - When a ball lies in a sand bunker the first consideration for the player should be, "Shall I play it backwards, or sideways on to the course, or try to get it over the face of the bunker nearer the hole?" and the nature of the lie, the width of the bunker, and the distance and height of the opposing face will decide his choice. If the ball lie close under or near the opposing face, he will have no alternative but to play it out to one side or the other. Unless it be very much buried, however, and if the face to be lofted over is not too near, nor too high, the ball may be extricated in a forward direction. A firm downward and slightly forward stroke with a niblick or heavy mashie on the sand immediately behind the ball, on which spot, and A BRASSIE SHOT. (MR. JOHN BALL.) not on the ball, the eye must be fixed, will cause the ball to spout upward and forward.

Sometimes a ball is found actually teed in GOLF] a bunker, in which case, of course, any club may be used that will take the ball the required distance. Great care must be taken with these shots, however, as to be successful the ball must be hit very cleanly, and it must be remembered that it is not permissible to ground the club in addressing the ball. دو Approach. The term "approach is applied to all shots with iron clubs that are intended to reach the putting green, and it need hardly be said that the player's object should be to lay the ball as near the hole as possible.

Approach shots of 100 yards and under should be played with a quarter or half swing, according to the physical power of the player. Beyond 100 yards or so, only players specially endowed with strong hands, wrists, and forearms can employ the restricted swing with safety. At the longer distances the weaker player has to force, and if he does this he is very apt to miss the stroke, and in any case he has little control over the direction of the ball. Those who feel that they have not sufficient power to get the distance with a half or quarter wrist or arm shot, should always lengthen their swings, even if it be necessary for them to take a full shot. As mashies and irons are now made with all degrees of loft, it should not be difficult, even for the weakest player, to fit himself with a set of iron clubs that will cover any of these intermediate distances. The great thing in approaching is never to under-club or understroke oneself, that is, never to play a stroke or use a club which will entail forcing or pressing to cover the distance required.

The stance for an approach shot is of the same nature as for any other, though the ball may be a little more opposite the middle of the fork-some players even have the ball nearer the right foot, and have the right foot more advanced than the left-but there does not appear to be any need for this change of attitude. Of course, the shorter handle of the club and its more upright lie will necessitate a stance somewhat nearer the ball. The player must stand firmly on his feet, which, together with his legs, should be kept as immovable as possible, and the shot is played with the arms and wrists alone.

For the shorter approach shots the player may permit himself a more exuberant waggle than for full shots, as this will ensure the wrists being kept free. The grip should be firm, especially with the right hand, so that the muscles of the right forearm are taut, and the ball should be struck sharply. In these strokes the right should be the master arm and the left only used to steady the club and help to bear its weight. If there be much pitch on the face of the iron or mashie, it will be almost necessary to take a little turf in making a pitching stroke, even if the ball lie well, for it will be found that, unless this is done, the ball will be struck with the lower part of the face, and J. H. TAYLOR APPROACHING. consequently will not be lofted sufficiently.

Some of the best players invariably take a good deal of turf, no matter how the ball lies, but it must be pointed out that if this shot be played accurately, the piece of turf cut out by the iron is the piece immediately under and in front of the ball, and not the turf behind it, and that the ball is struck, if not first, at any rate simultaneously with the ground. It is, of course, evident that these shots can only be played where the ground is more or less soft.

It is sometimes desirable to make the ball stop as dead as possible after it reaches the ground, as, for instance, if the hole be close to the edge of a bunker; and this may be done in two ways, either by putting cut on it or by imparting a back-spin to it which will counteract its forward motion.

Cut is put on the ball by drawing the face of the club inwards across the ball in the act of striking. This has the effect of putting a right-hand spin or slice on the ball, and due allowance must be made for this in deciding the line to the hole. In imparting back-spin the swing is of a down- Z2 34° ward nature, and the ball is struck by the face of the iron as it crashes down into the turf. Both these strokes are of extreme difficulty, though the latter, as it permits the player to play straight at the hole, is perhaps the easier and more advisable. If the ground be at all hard and there are no THE HALF-CLEEK SHOT. (HARRY VARDON.) hazards intervening, it is always better to play an approach by running the ball up with a straight-faced club, such as a cleek or putter. On hard ground, apart from the difficulty of hitting accurately with a lofted club, the ball is much more likely to be deflected from its course on alighting, than when it is run along the ground.

There is an idea that it is not sportsmanlike to use a putter for these shots, but the object of an approach is to get the ball as near the hole as possible, and the best club to use is the one that will achieve this most successfully and consistently.

A compromise between these two methods is known as the "pitch and run." It is played with a straight-faced iron, and the ball is pitched half or three-quarter way and allowed to the remainder of the [GOLF distance. This is a favourite stroke at St.

Andrews and other links where the ground is favourable to its use.

Putting. It is commonly said that matches are won or lost on the puttinggreen, and experience certainly bears out the remark. It will not be contended that putting is more difficult than any other branch of the game, for there can be no doubt that, as a general rule, between good and bad players, there is less difference on the putting-green than anywhere else. But probably the explanation lies in the fact that there is no part of his game which a player goes off" more completely than his putting. 66 He will consistently hole out two-yard putts one day, and the next as persistently miss those of a foot, and be quite unable to account for his failure.

Without an "infinite capacity for taking pains," a man will never be a good putter.

A player cannot begin to study his putt too soon. The ball having been played on to the putting-green, if it is still some yards from the hole, it is well, before approaching the ball, to walk first to the hole and examine the geography in its immediate neighbourhood. A putting-green is not flat like a billiard table, and even the best of them have their differences of surface, one part being keen and smooth, and another stiff and rough, according to the nature of the grass.

Then there are the undulations and slopes of the ground which will have their effect on the ball as it travels towards the hole. But more particularly, in a long putt, the ball will be travelling slowest, if it has strength to reach the hole, in the last yard or so, and it will consequently be then that it will be most affected by any slopes or irregularities on the green. The line that the player will ultimately select to play the ball at the hole will therefore be determined by the character of this last crucial yard or two. When this examination has been made, the player should walk slowly to his ball, taking stock of any other facts likely to influence its course, but bearing in mind that the higher rate of speed at which the ball will be travelling at its start will minimise considerably any inequalities of the ground that may there exist.

Having arrived at his ball, the player should get behind it and survey the ground to be traversed from that position. The line he will select to start the ball on will be that which will enable the ball to reach the hole by the path which his examination of the ground near the hole has indicated determine the to him. He will run now GOLF] strength necessary to enable the ball to reach the hole by travelling on the selected line, and thereafter address himself to his ball.

The stance for putting should be of the same nature as for the approach strokes, except that as the putter is more upright and shorter in the shaft, it will be necessary to stand more over the ball. The player should not stoop low over his ball, nor straddle his legs too much, and any eccentricities such as gripping the shaft low down near the head are to be avoided. It is a good and useful plan to place the head of the putter in front of the ball and then behind it, searching in this manner to get the face of the putter exactly at right angles to the projected line of the putt; but in doing this care must be taken that the ball be not moved. In a long putt, if there be any point half or three-quarters way to the hole, on the line selected, which is marked by a daisy or can otherwise be remarked from the ball, it will simplify matters very much if the player plays his ball for that point, giving the ball, of course, the requisite strength to reach the hole.

The club being firmly grasped in the usual way, the aim taken, and the eye firmly fixed on the back of the ball, it should not be allowed to wander off again to the hole before striking, but the club should immediately be drawn backwards, and returned on the ball at the same angle, and with the required strength. Great care must be taken to aim with the very centre of the putter. A ball struck on the toe or heel of the club will not run straight any distance.

If the green be at all rough, a putter with a face slightly set back will be found to keep the ball in a truer course. With an absolutely perpendicular face there is a tendency, unless the green be very smooth, for the ball to be deflected at its start. The lofted face enables the player to start the ball straight, as it will be slightly lofted for the first foot or so. In shorter putts, to which the line is straight, the ball should be played firmly for the back of the hole. If the player aims at the near lip, the chances are that the ball either "lingers shivering on the brink" and does not go in, or rolls off to one side or the other before reaching.

All this may seem to argue that the process of holing out is a very lengthy business, and certainly many players continue to make it so. But there is nothing in these directions which need occupy more than a very brief space of time.

To take too long over a putt is as grave an error as to hurry it. Everything, however, should be done carefully and deliberately, and the player, having made up his mind as to the strength and direction, should hit the ball freely and confidently, always bearing in mind the putter's golden maxim, "Never up, never in."

It sometimes happens that the player who is farthest from the hole plays his ball, which does not go in, but gets between the hole and his opponent's ball, or lies short JAMES BRAID PUTTING. and leaves the opponent's ball between it and the hole. In either case, if the obstructing ball rests less than six inches from the other ball, it has to be lifted till the other is played. If more than six inches, it is called a "Stymie," and it may be negotiated either by playing round the obstructing ball, or by lofting over it. To play round it, unless favoured by the lie of the ground, is extremely difficult, and must be done by putting on spin or cut. The lofting shot is also a very delicate stroke. It must be played with a well-lofted mashie or iron.

Topping, Duffing, Sclaffing, Heeling, Toeing, Pulling, and Slicing. -Having considered heretofore the playing of some of the chief golf strokes, it will now be necessary to deal briefly with the various vices and faults into which players fall.

With the exception of failing to hit the ball at all, or "missing the globe," as it is termed, the above list forms a complete catalogue of the seven deadly golfing sins.

Topping, as its name implies, consists in striking the ball on the top, with the lower edge of the club face, whereby an ugly gash is inflicted on the ball's surface, and it travels along the ground but a short distance. This is one of the most distressing maladies from which the golfer's game J. H. TAYLOR. PUTTING. a suffers, and its causes are manifold. A firm determination to aim well at the back of the ball, and a little attention to stance, will usually correct it.

Duffing. The verb "to duff" does not mean, as might at first appear probable, to play as a "duffer" or hopelessly bad player, but simply to hit the ground first, behind the ball, so that the ball is struck with the upper edge of the face, and sent only a short way into the air. Here, again, a little attention to the stance will probably correct the fault, as duffing is very frequently caused by the player having his ball too near his right foot. It may also be caused by the player unconsciously ducking his body or dropping his right shoulder in the act of striking.

Sclaffing. Sclaffing is also the result of striking the ground behind the ball, but in this case the club head skids more over the [GOLF surface of the ground and the ball may after all be hit perfectly truly and with little diminution of force. Sometimes a sclaffed ball travels a very long distance, as the club head comes off the ground in an upward direction, and seems to impart a forward spin to the ball, which takes great effect as soon as the ball touches the ground. Sclaffing is usually caused by dropping the right shoulder.

The terms "Heeling" and "Toeing" explain themselves, meaning as they do simply to hit the ball with the heel or near part of the face, or the toe or farther part.

As the weight of the head is concentrated immediately behind the centre of the face, a ball struck anywhere outside this point will not travel so far as it would if hit exactly with the centre. If hit on the heel, the ball has a tendency to fly off to the right, and if on the toe, to the left. The usual cause of heeling is that the player is standing too near his ball, and of toeing, that he is too far away. If attention is paid to the stance, and if the player is careful to place the centre of the club face opposite his ball in addressing it, and before swinging, the tendency to heel or toe will probably disappear. As before pointed out, this correct aiming is a most important matter. It is quite common to see players who have contracted the habit of heeling the ball, endeavouring to cure it, by aiming with the toe, and vice versâ, in the hope that a compromise may be effected. The result of this can only be that the player gets rid of one fault to contract the other. However badly he may be playing, the golfer should never aim with any part of the face, except the part he desires to hit the ball with.

Slicing. A ball is sliced, when the club face is drawn more or less across it, by the player pulling his arms in towards him as the club descends, thereby imparting a righthand spin to the ball, which robs it of much of its force and causes it to curl to the right. Though the cause of slicing is obvious, it is a very difficult vice to eradicate. It can only be cured by earnest endeavours to "follow through," by throwing the arms well out after the ball, and not checking the downward swing. It should be remembered that it is perfectly possible to slice with the toe as well as the heel, or, indeed, with any part of the club face.

Slicing is, of course, not always a vice. To be able to slice at will is a most valuable accomplishment, as it enables a player to negotiate otherwise impossible difficulties, and to use or defeat the wind.

Pulling. In pulling, the downward swing is made, and the ball struck, with the club moving in a slightly outward direction, just as in slicing the club is drawn GOLF] دو inwards across the ball. As in slicing this inward direction of the swing puts a cut on the ball which makes it curve to the right, so in pulling the opposite direction of the swing imparts a spin which makes the ball curve to the left. A pulled ball carries much farther than a sliced ball, and this is chiefly accounted for by the fact that the nature of the swing admits of a more sweeping blow than the swing that produces a slice, in which the "follow through is more or less checked. In addition, the nature of the swing employed involves a certain turning over of the club face as it strikes and grips the ball, and this seems to give the ball a kind of over spin which greatly increases its running power after alighting. The action of the right forearm, hand, and wrist which produces these last effects is analogous to that employed in locking a door.

The great length to which a pulled ball will travel causes many players to play for it habitually, and they so arrange their stance by facing well to the right that the ball will come round on to the proper line at the end of its flight. If the wind be blowing across the course from the right and a little behind the player, a pulled ball will travel further than any other. The player plays well to the right of the line, and more or less into the wind. As the ball begins to descend, the pull will take effect, and the ball will turn inwards towards the hole so that the wind will blow directly behind it. from the following twenty-four clubs, who meet annually at the time and place of holding the tournament :- Royal and Ancient.

Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.

Royal Liverpool.

Dalhousie.

New Club, North Berwick.

Kilspindie.

Tantallon.

Formby.

Royal Blackheath.

West Lancashire.

Prestwick.

Alnmouth.

Troon.

Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society.

Royal Wimbledon.

Bruntsfield Links.

Panmure.

Royal Aberdeen.

Gullane.

Innerleven.

King James VI.

Royal North Devon.

Royal Albert.

Royal St. George's.

The Championship is played under the following Regulations :- (a) The Competition shall be open to all Amateur Golfers, members of any Golf Club. [The above regulation was modified in December, 1908, in the following terms :- "That no player shall be eligible to enter for the Amateur Championship, unless his handicap at a recognised golf club has been at scratch or below since January 1st of the year of the meeting, and that each competitor shall enter through the secretary of his club, and that the committee and Council of that club shall approve of the entry."

A further proposal is likely to be carried, that a competitor must be scratch or better at all his clubs.] DEFINITION OF AMATEUR. (b) An Amateur Golfer shall be a Golfer who has never made for sale golf clubs, balls, or any other article connected with the game; who has never carried clubs for hire after attaining the age of 15 years, and who has not carried clubs for hire at any time within six years of the date on which the Competition begins in each year; who has never received any consideration for Unless intentionally played for, however, playing in a match, or for giving lessons in the both slicing and pulling are serious vices, and both will land the player in endless difficulties. They are good servants, but bad masters.

The Championships. There are many championships in golf, but the only ones which can be regarded as rightly conferring the championship title are the Open and Amateur Championships held every year in Scotland and England alternately. Not only are these the oldest golf championship competitions, but they are played under the auspices and government of the premier clubs, and they are yearly attended by the pick of the world's best players. All other golf champion. ships are of inferior standing, and vary in repute with the class of players who enter for them, but a great many have no justification for the use of the title.

The Amateur Championship, as its name implies, is confined solely to amateurs. It was instituted in 1886, and was at first played over St. Andrews, Hoylake, and Prestwick in yearly succession. In 1891 Sandwich was added to the rota, and subsequently Muirfield, where the championship was first played in 1897. and since that date it has been played on one of these five greens each year in a rotation which provides that it falls in England and Scotland in alternate years.

There is a likelihood of another English green being added shortly, so as to equalise the number of championship courses in each country.

The championship is managed by delegates game, and who for a period of five years prior to September 1st, 1886, has never received a money prize in any open Competition. (c) Competitors shall enter for the Competition through the Secretaries of their respective Clubs, who in sending in the names shall be held to certify that the players are bona-fide Amateur Golfers, in terms of the foregoing definition. (d) The Entrance Fee shall be £I IS., which shall be paid at the date of entry to the Secretary of the Club on whose green the Competition is held. (e) The dates of play in each year, and the date on which the entries close, shall be duly advertised in each year by the Club on whose green the Competition is held. (f) The Competition shall be played "by holes" -in accordance with the Rules of the Club on whose green the Competition is held. green (g) The draw shall take place not less than three days before the commencement of the Competition, and shall be conducted as follows: depending on the number of entries, such number of byes shall be first drawn as shall, after the completion of the first round, leave 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64 players, and one draw shall decide the order of play throughout the Competition; those who have drawn byes being placed at the head of the list of winners of the first round, and taking their place in the second round in the order in which their names then stand. (h) Each game shall consist of one round of 18 holes. [Note. Since 1896 the final heat in the Cham- [GOLF pionship has been played on a separate day and consists of a match of 36 holes.] (i) In the event of a tie in any round, Competitors shall continue to play on until one or other shall have gained a hole, when the match shall be considered won. (j) The winner of the Competition shall be the Champion Amateur Golfer for the year, and the Trophy shall be held for that year by the Club from which the winner shall have entered. The winner shall receive a gold medal, the loser in the final a silver medal, and the two losers in the semi-final a bronze medal each. The balance of entrance fees, after the usual expenses have been paid, shall be divided in the following proportion, viz.: 75 per cent. to the club on whose green the Championship is played, and 25 per cent. to the Permanent Fund of the Championship Committee. [Note. Formerly the balance of entrance fees over expenses was used to provide extra prizes for the winners and for other purposes, but the above represents the regulation now in force.] (k) Notwithstanding the provisions in clause (c) all entries shall be subject to the approval of the Committee of the Club on whose green the Competition is held. (1) All disputes shall be settled by the Committee of the Club on whose green the Competition is held, whose decision shall be final. The following are the winners in the Amateur Championship since its institution :- YEAR.

WINNER. 1886. H. G. Hutchinson 1887. H. G. Hutchinson 1895. L. M. Balfour-Melville WHERE PLAYED.

St. Andrews.

Hoylake.

Prestwick.

St. Andrews.

Hoylake.

Sandwich.

Prestwick.

Hoylake.

St. Andrews.

Sandwich. 1888. J. Ball, Jnr. 1889. J. E. Laidlay 1890. J. Ball, Jnr.. 1891. J. E. Laidlay St. Andrews. 1892. J. Ball, Jnr.. 1893. P. C. Anderson 1894. J. Ball, Jnr.. *1896. F. G. Tait 1897. A. J. T. Allan 1898. F. G. Tait. 1899. J. Ball, Jnr.. 1900. H. H. Hilton 1901. H. H. Hilton 1902. Charles Hutchings 1903. R. Maxwell 1904. W. J. Travis 1905. A. G. Barry 1906. James Robb 1907. J. Ball. 1908. E. A. Lassen 1909. R. Maxwell 1910. J. Ball Muirfield.

Hoylake.

Prestwick.

Sandwich.

St. Andrews.

Hoylake.

Muirfield.

St. Andrews.

Sandwich.

Prestwick.

Hoylake.

Sandwich.

Muirfield.

Hoylake.

The Amateur Championship trophy is a handsilver cup which was subscribed for by the twenty-four delegate clubs in 1886. some The Open Championship is primarily a professional championship, but it is open to amateurs. It was instituted in 1860, and was played at Prestwick till 1871. From 1872 to 1891 it was played in successive years at Prestwick, St. Andrews, and Musselburgh. Muirfield having been substituted for Musselburgh, Hoylake and Sandwich were added to the list in 1893, and in 1907 Deal was added. * In this year the Final was altered to two rounds of the Green.

REGULATIONS.

Previous to 1893 the money prizes varied in number and amount, and were of small value, but in that year it was decided that each competitor should pay Ios. as entrance money, to be used as part of the Prize Fund to which each of the Associated Clubs should contribute £15 annually.

The amount of the Prize Money was fixed at £100 annually.

Owing to the increasing number of entries, and the difficulty experienced in getting the competition decided in the allotted time, the following new rule came into force in 1898:- "That any Competitor who is 20 strokes behind the leading score at the end of the second round on the first day of the Open Championship be compulsorily retired; but should there not be 32 professionals within this limit, then the first 32 professionals may compete."

In 1900 the amount of the Prize money was increased to £125. In the event of an amateur winning the Championship it was decided that he should only receive the Gold Medal.

These regulations, as altered in 1900, were those in force till December, 1906, with the addition that the Rule as to compulsory retirement was altered as follows:- "That any competitor who is 15 strokes behind the leading score at the end of the second round of the Open Championship be compulsorily retired; but should there not be 32 professionals within this limit, then the first 32 professionals may compete, and if among them there be a tie or ties for the last place on the list, all those who have so tied shall be allowed to compete."

The entries, however, continued so numerous that the first day's play was only conducted with the greatest difficulty and with grave injustice to many of the competitors who happened to be placed far down the list. The Championship Delegates, therefore, made the following radical alteration in the regulations :- "On Tuesday and Wednesday in the Championship week entrants will qualify to play for the championship by two rounds on each day; one-half of the entrants to be drawn to play on the Tuesday, and the remainder on the Wednesday. The thirty players returning the lowest scores on each day, including all who may tie, will be qualified to play. "On Thursday and Friday the Championship will be played for by such entrants as may have qualified, under the rules at present governing it."

Under a further regulation, made in 1907, the two halves of the competitors each play one round on each day of the qualifying competition.

In 1910, these conditions were altered so that the scores made in the two qualifying rounds count for the championship, and the first sixty players in those rounds, including any who tie for the sixtieth place, play two more rounds on the last day to decide the winner. On the first two days every competitor plays only one round per day. The play is thus now limited to four rounds and three days. Two extra prizes of £5 each were added to the prize list, making eight prizes in all.

The Entrance Fee for Amateurs is £1, and for Professionals Ios.

The arrangements and regulations for the Championship are in the hands of delegates from the clubs over whose links the competition is decided.

GOLF] Winners of the Open Championship :- YEAR.

WINNER.

WHERE PLAYED. SCORE. 1860. W. Park Prestwick 1861. Tom Morris, Senr. 163 1862. Tom Morris, Senr. 1863. W. Park 1864. Tom Morris, Senr. 1865. A. Strath 1866. W. Park 1867. Tom Morris, Senr. 1868. Tom Morris, Junr. 1869. Tom Morris, Junr. 1870. Tom Morris, Junr. دو دو دو دو دو دو دو دو دو دو Approach. The stroke by which the ball is played on to the putting-green.

Baff. To play a ball high into the air with a backward spin.

Baffing Spoon or Baffy.-A short wooden club 163 168 167 162 169 170 154 157 149 The Champion Belt being won outright by Tom Morris, Junr., was replaced by the present Cup. 1872. Tom Morris, Junr.

Prestwick 163 1873. Tom Kidd St. Andrews 179 1874. Mungo Park Musselburgh 159 1875. Willie Park Prestwick 166 1876. Bob Martin St. Andrews 176 1877. Jamie Anderson • • Musselburgh 160 1878. Jamie Anderson Prestwick 157 1879. Jamie Anderson St. Andrews 170 1880. Bob Ferguson Musselburgh 162 1881. Bob Ferguson Prestwick 170 1882. Bob Ferguson St. Andrews 171 *1883. Willie Fernie Musselburgh 159 1884. Jack Simpson Prestwick 160 1885. Bob Martin St. Andrews 171 1886. David Brown Musselburgh 157 1887. Willie Park Prestwick 161 1888. J. Burns St. Andrews 171 1889. Willie Park Musselburgh 155 1890. Mr. J. Ball, Junr.

Prestwick 164 1891. Hugh Kirkaldy St. Andrews 166 § 1892. Mr. H. H. Hilton Muirfield 305 1893. W. Auchterlonie Prestwick 322 1894. J. H. Taylor.

Sandwich 326 1895. J. H. Taylor.

St. Andrews 322 1896. H. Vardon Muirfield 316 1897. Mr. H. H. Hilton Hoylake 314 1898. H. Vardon Prestwick 307 1899. H. Vardon Sandwich 310 1900. J. H. Taylor.

St. Andrews 309 1901. James Braid Muirfield 309 1902. A. Herd Hoylake 307 1903. H. Vardon Prestwick 300 1904. J. White Sandwich 296 1905. James Braid St. Andrews 318 1906. James Braid.

Muirfield 300 1907. Arnaud Massy Hoylake 312 1908. James Braid Prestwick 291 1909. J. H. Taylor Deal 295 1910. James Braid . St. Andrews 299 The original championship trophy was a silvermounted Belt, which was presented by the Prestwick Golf Club in 1860. This belt became the absolute property of the late Tom Morris, Jun., in 1870, in virtue of his winning it three years in succession. The present trophy is a Silver Cup which was subscribed for by the Royal and Ancient, Prestwick, and Honourable Company's clubs in 1872.

GLOSSARY.

Addressing the ball. -The player's method of standing and handling the club preparatory to striking the ball.

All Even. An expression used to describe the position or result of a match when neither side has gained any advantage. [See HALVED.] All Square. Synonymous with All Even.

After a tie with Bob Ferguson. † After a tie with Andrew Kirkaldy. + After a tie with J. H. Taylor. § Conditions altered to 72 holes.

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP CUP. with a deeply lofted face, formerly used for playing approaches.