Glen Tilt! How many a rifle would almost go off from mere sympathy with such a report! The moors that would be toiled over-the mosses that would be threaded-the burns that would be paddled in-the precipices that would be scaled-the walking, stalking, running cunning, the stumbling, tumbling, ducking, bemucking, fagging, flagging, and shanknagging, that would be undertaken and endured, only to pull a trigger at such a Specimen of the Species! But the noble Beast is a foreigner-a continental Hart, too big, perhaps-as Dr. Johnson said of a certain lady-for an island; the sketch having been taken from an individual, who was done to death in an outlandish manner, which it is presumed will be novel, and therefore interesting to British Sportsmen. Those especially who have had their hearts and their heads bodies, and limbs to boot, in the Highlands,

"A-chasing the wild deer,

And hunting the roe,"

will be pleased, probably, to learn how such an animal was turned into venison, in a country a long way from Glengarry's.

Since the chase became the business or the sport of mankind, there have been various modes of killing the wild deer, and each fashion has had its recorder. Thanks to the ancient Ballad of Chevy Chase, we know that of old, in Britain, the hart was hunted with "hound and horn," and such a following of armed retainers that the chieftain, if he so pleased, might indulge in " a little war.' The Robin Hood legends have commemorated the havoc made in the herd by the long and cross bow, with shaft, or bolt,-weapons and missives since superseded by the bullet and the gun. With Deer-stalking, as at present practised in the Highlands of Scotland, we have been familiarized by the pleasant volume of Mr. Scrope, who has greatly added to what Winifred Jenkins would call our "buck larning" on the subject. Even the Unting of the Art at Epping has been portrayed by Moncrieff, Cruikshank, and others, with both pen and pencil: whilst Nimrod has shown how pompously and deliberately the stag is chased in France, with relays of hounds, and chasseurs in state-liveries. In Germany, deer are generally shot at a battue; and the Old Man of the Brunnens has mentioned the "verdant batteries," or leafy, loopholed ambuscades, through which the Duke of Nassau and his friends used to let fly at the game as it bounded along the broad alleys cut on purpose through the forest. There remains, probably, only another method to describe; and it is so peculiar as to require a vehicle of its own: not a deer-cart, or a car for the conveyance of Hunting Leopards, but a carriage for the sportsman himself.

The modus operandi will be best understood from the following extract of a letter, which is dated from Schloss Antonin, a hunting-seat belonging to Prince Radziwill, and situated near Krotochin, towards the southern extremity of Prussian Poland. The writer is an Officer in the Prussian service; and who has, therefore, not quite such a command of English, as if he were in our own army. Hence it has been necessary, here and there, to alter a word, or the construction of a paragraph; for instance, by shifting a verb from the rear-its usual position in German-to the van of a sentence. Moreover a phrase has sometimes conveyed a meaning very different from the one intended

by my correspondent; for example: "So soon as the stags perceive a man on his feet, to avoid danger they make away with themselves as fast as they can."

"I often think, my dear Hood, how well you would amuse yourself here, with such excellent shooting and fishing, and abundance of game of all kinds, wet or dry. Stags, fallow-deer, roebucks, wild boars, wolves, hares, pheasants, partridges, snipes, woodcocks, wild geese, wild ducks, water-rails, jack and pike, carp, tench, and perch! All these have been thinned, more or less, by our hands since I have been here at Antonin. But I cannot say wolves, as only one has been killed in the battues for wild boar.

"As to fishing, the trolling was capital-catching eight or ten long pikes every time we tried: and I had the honour of teaching some of the party to wind up the jack. There is no river here—but there are very large meers, in which we troll from boats, rowing very gently alongside of the shore, near the reeds and sedges. Do you remember the wonderful face of our Polish Captain, at Burg Kemnitz, when from the windows of the Chateau he saw us at our pike-exercise, in the garden, myself with the rod, and you, like a grave physician, with your stop-watch in your hand, to give the patient his lawful time before death-so that the captain mistook the operation for some scientifical experiment in Hydrostatics? But here trolling is no novelty; for we angle in the English style, and with English tackle; and the fish know what gut is better than they do even in Darm-stadt. But the ramrod has been still more in request than the trolling-rod; which reminds me to give a sporting aim at a question which has not hitherto been hit at by Sir John Herschel, or your British Association-namely, why there should be so many failing meteors in the November month? It seems to me, as sure as a gun,' as you say, that there must then be so many shooting stars, because it is in the shootiug season-but the astronomers must find out at what sorts of game. To return to earth, there has been plenty of sylvan war here to satisfy even a Captain of Rifles-who prefers to shoot at living targets, and would like most to hit a bull's eye when he is running wild, as at Chillingham Park.* The Stag-shooting here is very amusing, and conducted in a manner most likely unknown in England. It is called Pirschen, a word that cannot be translated, but you shall have a description of the thing.

"Of all animals the Wild Stag is perhaps the most shy and suspicious of man. You would think from the vigilant care he takes of himself, that he was aware how delicious his flesh is to eat at a venison-feast; and that his skin makes such good and durable breeches. As his eyes, ears, and nose, are all particularly sharp, and he seems to have an innate bad opinion of the human race, it is extremely difficult to approach within shot of him, especially if you are on foot. You may walk for days together without being able to get a crack at him; but fortunately like the stag in Esop's Fable, he has a blind side, or a

At the meeting of the British Association in 1838, a letter was read, from the Noble Proprietor of Chillingham on the subject of the wild cattle. It seems to have escaped the memory of Lord Tankerville, as well as of Sir Walter Scott, in their remarks on the subject, that such a breed of cattle is described as indigenous, in the account of the Island of Tinian in Anson's Voyages.

weak one, which allows you to circumvent him. Perhaps it is through curiosity, or perhaps from a more aristocratical failing: but certain it is, that whilst he shuns a pedestrian, as carefully as some human beings avoid a poor relation, his Deership puts up with, and even seems pleased by, one's approach in a carriage. Sitting in a vehicle, you are almost always sure of getting within range of him, whilst he stands, quite stagnant, steadfastly gazing and admiring, or maybe criticising, your equipage.

"Accordingly the German sportsmen make use of little carriages called Pirsch-Wagen, built on purpose to go pirschen, as it is termed, for schiessen would not be the proper technical phrase. The vehicle is a sort of bench or sofa upon wheels, built very low, in order to enable you to step out easily without its stopping: but here is a sketch of one, as well as I am able to draw it, without the horses. It looks, you see, something like an Irish jaunting-car, freely done into German.

"In this carriage you set out early in the morning, or towards the evening; as at those times the deer and the roebucks-which are shot in the same way-then leave the thickets, and come out to graze in the meadows and the open places in the woods. Thus, driving slowly through all those parts of the forest where the game may be expected to be found, it generally happens that before long you meet with a herd, consisting of several hinds and calves, accompanied by one or two stags. Taking a direction which will bring you within shot of them, the carriage drives slowly on, but in a circle, and with as little appearance as possible on your own part of being conscious of the presence of the herd. Indeed, the more you talk, and the louder, the better it is; as if the animals were actually aware of the proverb about 'little

doers.' Nay, with proper precautions, you may even talk at them without their taking either offence or alarm. On the other hand, the more slily and stealthily you go to work, the more timid and suspicious are the deer-let them but catch a glimpse of you alone, silent, and on foot, and away they go like frightened lightning, and are out of sight before they are quite visible.

"Well, on you drive, chattering like jays, but not looking much at your prey, except as the young ladies do at their victims-namely, through the corners of your eyes,-unless you happen to have the gift of clair-voyance, and can watch them through the back of your head. At last you arrive at a distance of one hundred, or one hundred and fifty yards from the mark, when you step out of the Pirsch-Wagen, and if possible behind a tree, whilst it is passed by the vehicle; for the machine must not stop on any account, or the herd would instantly take flight at a furious pace. The deer, intently gazing at the passing carriage, allows you just time enough to take aim with your rifle, and fire -of course only at the Stag. Hinds and calves are very rarely shot: such an act being deemed a most unsportsmanlike proceeding-a crime in the code of woodcraft about on a par with shooting your own dam and her young ones. Indeed, I have heard a thoroughbred Austrian chasseur declareapropos to killing a doe-that he would 'rather commit suicide twice over.' But to return to the stag which, except you are rhinoceros-skinned, and quite banter-proof, you had better take care to hit. Between ourselves, I once missed a fine Zwolfer, and what was worse, at only eighty paces-and have been glad in my immortal soul ever since, that Zamiel was not at my elbow at that moment, to tempt me with an infernal bargain of infallible bullets. The instant the stag feels the ball, he generally bounds three or four feet from the ground, and then flies off into a thicket: it very seldom happens that he falls immediately; for even when shot through the heart-or auf das Blatt getroffen, literally through the leaf-for the Germans have a sporting language quite peculiar even then he will go several hundred yards before, he drops. From the colour of the blood, the leap he makes, and the pace at which he goes off-indications called by sportsmen das zeichen, the mark or sign-it is known whether he is shot through that vital organ, or in any other part of the body. In the first case, he is followed instanter, and is generally found within some hundred yards from the spot where he was struck. On the contrary, if not mortally hit, he is suffered to depart in quiet, being then what is termed krank; for, if pursued directly, he would go very far, and probably out of your bounds into a strange forest, so that you would only have shot so much venison for the benefit of some person or persons unknown. Whereas, if you leave him unmolested, he repairs to some neighbouring thicket, where he lies down, to lament his deer-bought experience of the deceitfulness of appearances, and in particular of gossiping Pirsch-Waggoners. Before leaving the place, however, you must mark the spot by breaking off the branch of a tree; or, if you prefer it, you may hang one of your companions or yourself upon the bough. Only, in the last case, you cannot come so early the next morning as you ought to do, with a couple of bloodhounds, to look for your prize. These being laid on the scent, soon find and unharbour the stag, which, weakened by loss of

blood, is speedily brought to bay, and then is easily killed by a second or third ball, whilst he is trying, as the Americans say, to poke his fun into the dogs. Of course, unless you are cool and steady, and a good shot, you will not venture on this nice work; especially with a doublebarrel, lest you should maim or murder both of the hounds. At such a crisis, a simple miss is not the worst of misshaps.

"About a fortnight ago, one fine evening, I went out in in a PirschWagen with Prince Boguslaw Radziwill, but only scored one roebuck towards the game. The Prince, however, in the course of three hours, shot two beautiful Stags-one of them a Sechszehner-that is to say, with antlers which have sixteen branches, eight on each side. Enclosed I send you a slight portrait of the Deer Original. The other Stag was a Zwolfer, with twelve branches or tines, according to your own nomenclature. The Sechszehner weighed four hundred and sixtythree German pounds, equal to about four hundred and ninety of English avoirdupoise. Mind, these are not fallow-deer, or such as are kept in parks, but the true wild deer, coming and going between Silesia and Russian Poland. How I wish that one might book you a place in the Pirsch-Wagen !—although it is a sport not entirely without danger, as at times the Stags, and particularly the old ones, become very furious when they are brought to bay. They are cunning in fence, and with their long augen-sprossen or eye-branches-those nearest the brow, and which project forwards-they run through the dogs that attack them, and pin them to the ground. And if they could get at the dogs' master, they would undoubtedly serve him in the same manner; and you need not to be told, that hart's-horn thus administered, is any thing but a reviver.

"The Pirsch-Wagen is also used in shooting what is now a rara avis in England-the Bustard! which, like the Stag, is too shy a cock, or too proud, to let you get near it without some sort of stalking-horse, or an apology for a carriage. A waggon, laden with hay or straw, is, as the doctors say, a very good vehicle. Some sportsmen fancy-dress in a smock-frock, and affect an agricultural interest in following a plough, which the Bustards will allow to come sufficiently near to them; aware, perhaps, that the working classes are not likely to have game certificates. A harrow will serve your purpose, if you can persuade the driver to edge or zigzag towards the birds-and thereby hangs a tale, and literally a harrowing one-but the scene of it was near Berlin, where the Bustards are plentiful. By way of getting better screened on the opposite side, I was attempting to cross between the harrow and the horses, when just at that particular moment, whilst I was still within the traces, the horses thought proper to take fright, and away we all went, full speed, with iron heels before me, and iron teeth behind,

'Amazement in the van, and Terror in the rear!'

To aggravate the dilemma, the harrow, from striking against my legs, tilted over, with the spikes uppermost, so that one minute I had to consider myself kicked, and the next to expect such a heckling as the Scottish poet commended, with all the fervour of the tooth-agony, to the "doups" of the younger Burnses. Had I stumbled, it would have gone hard, and sharp too, with one of the sincerest, as well as stoutest of your friends. Luckily, however, the field had a further end to it,