fiery browns in June. Near the Schragh runs the Cree, a lively little river, but the fish, though plentiful, are small. For about a quarter of a mile before it enters the sea, it widens and abounds in deep holes, in which, during their season, sea-trout congregate, and on their first arrival afford excellent sport: for them you must use a rather brighter fly, somewhat resembling the small grouse or partridge Lochaber, so successful with peel in the latter months. Beyond the Cree, farther north, along the whole line of coast, a multitude of rivulets tempt you to loiter away some hours in the lesser pastime of loading a pannier with pinkeens; now and then after a speat, when these burns swell into the importance of a stream, you may surprise yourself by hooking a pounder; but such an exploit is rare, so do not calculate upon it, but wend your way through this bleak and dreary region, your road skirting along its iron-bound coasts, around the ill-fated shores of Malbay, till you reach that Bethesda of the west, Lahinch. Here are collected, during the summer, the halt, blind, and diseased, a leprous crowd of impotent folk of all sorts and sizes-an emporium of beggars, a lazaretto let loose, a muster of such tag-rag and bob-tail, as never marched through Coventry. It is the rendezvous of all the diseased or idle scum of the population for fifty or a hundred miles round, who, during the slack season for work, take the opportunity to "try the say"really afflicted, the mass a set of mendicant vagabonds. Do not, therefore, fix your quarters at Lahinch, but go on to the beautiful village of Ennistymon, about two miles distant, through which a fine river runs, tumbling through its bridge in a succession of cascades to the valley beneath.-The height of the fall over the shelves or platforms, as it were, of rock is upwards of one hundred feet, this prevents any further progress of the salmon, which collect in vast numbers in the pools and occasional rapids that extend for nearly half a mile below the village; they rise readily to the fly, and afford a fair amount of sport for a short time after their arrival; but the barrier of rocks bothers them, and like the rest of the world, they soon grow sulky when not allowed to have their own way. During June plenty of peel are taken, and though they in their turn grow shy and sluggish, yet always after a flood, on the clearing of it, you may be certain of a good day's amusement. Shortly before the Ennistymon river enters the sea, it is joined by a small stream, which opposing no obstruction up to its spring-head, is a favourite resort of salmon. I heard accounts of most extraordinary success on it, but it was before the present extensive system of netting was permitted, but as the proprietor has, I understand, resolved to forbid the use of all nets for the future, let no passing angler Speat--the proceeds of a thunder storm in the mountains. -some despise it, but with permission try a cast; tail-fly, plain black and orange mohair body, with pointed turkey feather wing, the dropper blue and scarlet wool, ribbed with silver, a pheasant sprit for legs, and mixed wings of the turkey and mallard. There are few trout to be met with below the bridge, but from Ennistymon up to the lake from which the river issues, a distance of about three miles, they abound. A trout-fisher could desire no better day's sport than spending his early morning and noon with an otter, on the lake, where he is sure of taking a few heavy fish, and then, in the evening, fishing his way home along the banks, with a grey or brown moth on his cast, coaxing out in the dusk some of the "monarchs of the flood" from their haunts, and finishing off, as I did, by being obliged to borrow a gossoon to help me carry the weighty spoils of my day's work to village quarters. No other rivers of any magnitude are to be met with along the western coast till you open on the bay of Galway, into which, on the Clare side several empty themselves, but as they present no particular recommendations, and as no sportsman would loiter away his time among them, when by just crossing the estuary he can get into Connemara, I must leave their merits to be judged of from the specimens I have already given of their neighbour streams, from which they do not differ in any material respect. Otc. 5, 1842. AN OLD GAFFER. THE TURF IN AMERICA. To the Editor of the New Sporting Magazine. DEAR SIR, Aldie, Va-. August 16th, 1842. SINCE I last wrote, the great match has come off. The result, I admit, disappointed me much, but my old favourite, however, won imperishable fame for himself. Fashion is truly an extraordinary animal, and I doubt much if she has ever had many superiors. Boston has by his subsequent race with Mariner and Treasurer, shown himself as tough as whalebone. His 126 pounds prove him a horse of great strength. Trustee made his last season at fifty dollars. I do not think his harem was crowded, though I presume he had a fair share of patronage. Priam's get were in great force last spring; he had many winners. Troilus, Regent, Pryor, Æsop, and the beautiful Cassandra, were among those of his get most distinguished. He made his last season in Tennessee, at 150 dollars.* *Thirty guineas.-ED. N. S. M. Margrave, by Muley, has gained for himself much reputation by the performances of two of his get-The Earl of Margrave, and Blue Dick. I think the latter among the very best horses in America. He has never yet felt cat-gut or steel, neither has he ever lost a heat. He has made two second heats of three miles, each in less than 5.40. He is now in Col. Wm. R. Johnson's hands, and I expect this fall to hear of his becoming a great four-miler. Great efforts are being made to bring Boston and Fashion together again but I have but little hope of seeing such an event-the owner of the mare is not willing to have her matched against him-having beaten him twice he is satisfied, and not being a betting man, he is unwilling to risk her reputation. Miss Foote, by imported Consol out of an imported mare, is matched at four-mile heats, against Zenith, by American Eclipse, out of an American bred mare. The stakes are 5000 dollars a side. The distance, four-mile heats; and the race comes off over the Lexington (Kentucky) Association Course, this fall. They have the call in different quarters, the former at the South, and the latter in old Kentuck. They are both distinguished racers. The former has won twice at four miles; the latter never has started at that distance. The Peyton Stakes (thirty subscribers at 5000 dollars, forfeit 1000 dollars, four-mile heats, for four year olds,) to come off at Nashville, in 1843 is making a noise. I do not think many will start. The times are so hard, riders and the stake so high, many will be forced off. The most prominent entries are Col. Wade Hampton's Plenipo. colt, Herald, out of imported Delphine, and his filly, by Andrew, out of Wagner's dam; the entries of the Messrs. Kirkman, and Hon, Bailie Peyton's Luzborough filly, out of Black Maria. The stakes are too high for the times; 1000 dollars is as much as any stake should be. Indeed few persons, now-a-days, can afford even to go it that strong. Racing is suffering here from the great derangement in the currency. Our President, the far-famed "Captain Tyler," is so full of his vetoes, that all prospects for better days are hopeless until his time is out. I discover that Attila made quite a mash among the book-making men. Vates, I think, is rather the best of your prophets, and those who stick to him, must have prospered.* ⚫ Our correspondent here, of course, alludes to the event of the Derby.--ED. N. S. M. AN ANALYSIS OF THE PRESENT LAWS RELATING TO GAME. So much has been written and said, both for and against the laws now in force relating to game in England, that it would only be trespassing upon your pages, were I to say any more upon a subject now worn threadbare; but I have often thought, that although the leading features and the fundamental principles of the Game Laws may be familiar to most sportsmen, a short epitome of the various statutes now in force for the protection of game, and their operations, might be very useful to him who is either no lawyer, or who possesses neither the opportunity nor inclination to wade through the voluminous pages of the statutes at large, or Burn's Justice, to decide points almost daily occurring to the shooter. It would be foreign to my purpose to trace the operation of the Game Laws up to feudal times, but we will just trot over and explain a few of the old terms not yet quite obsolete. Before agriculture had attained the perfection of the present day, when the mighty oak spread its hundred branches over ground now in the highest state of culture; before the enclosures of our open fields; field sports were carried on with a magnificence and barbarous splendour well worthy the rude customs of the age; and being almost exclusively followed by the higher classes, no expense, no trouble was spared to preserve the game, which abounded in every forest in Britain The terms chase, forest, purlieu, and park, were applied to the game preserves of the olden time. A forest of that day was defined as a territory of wooded ground privileged for beasts of the chase, bounded with irrevocable marks. A purlieu, from the French pur, clear, and lieu a place, i. e. a place clear from the forest, signified those grounds which Henry II., Richard I., and John added to their forests, over other men's grounds, and were disafforested by Carta Foresta. A park, from the French parquer, to enclose, is a large parcel of ground, privileged by the king's grant for the beasts of the chase. No park can be made without the king's grant. There are, it is said, but seven hundred and eighty-one parks in England. Although there is scarcely any difference now between a real park and an enclosure made by any one for keeping deer, yet the franchises of a park were very great in days of yore. A chase is between a forest and a park-smaller than a forest and unenclosed. Beasts of the Chase were buck, doe, fox, marten, and roe. Beasts of Venery, the hart, hind, buck, hare, boar, and wolf. Beasts of the forest comprised all these. By the old laws, the season for fox-hunting was from Christmas to Lady-day. Hare-hunting from Michaelmas to Candlemas. A warren was a place, privileged by grant, for keeping beasts and fowls of the warren, (which were hares, conies, partridges, pheasants, quails, and wild-fowl)-either open or inclosed-the term is now merely applied to grounds used for breeding rabbits. 66 I have now before me an old work entitled The Gentleman's Recreation, a treatise on all kinds of sporting in the olden time, even including the winding of the great horn," and any of your readers curious as to the forest laws, or the method of hunting and fowling about the year 1700, will do well to con over its pages. The style "eats very short;" it is evidently the work of one up to every move on the board, and, morever, it is embellished with elegant portraitures, to which I can only say, especially the one representing hare-hunting, the showman's remark will apply well-" Pray, sir, which is the dogs and which is the hare ?" "Whichever you please my little dears." We will now take a cursory view of the law as it stands respecting the shooter. As to the law of trespass, by the new Game Act, magistrates have a very summary jurisdiction. The fine for trespassing in search not only of game, but also of woodcocks, snipe, quails, landrail, and rabbits, is limited to two pounds if the number of trespassers be under five; but if five or more are together, it is raised to five pounds. The leave of the occupier of the land, unless the right of shooting is in him, is no defence to the trespass. Before a trespasser can be apprehended on the spot, he must be required to quit the land and tell his name and abode. In case of his refusing, any person having the right of killing the game, or duly authorised, may apprehend him at the time, and take him before a justice within twelve hours, and the penalty will be five pounds. These clauses allude to the day-time only. The owner of land should always, when letting it, reserve the right of shooting by a clause in the lease, or if there be no lease, by memorandum. Trespassers having game about them recently killed, whether on the land or not, may have it taken from them; but nothing authorizes the keeper, nor any one else, to take a gun away, unless used as an offensive or defensive weapon. The law relating to night-poaching is not altered by the last Game Act, but the 9 Geo. 4, c. 69, still remains in force, by which any person by night unlawfully destroying any game or rabbits, for the first offence is liable to three months imprisonment; second, six months imprisonment; third, transportation; and offenders using any violence, are liable to transportation. There is no penalty for any one qualified, killing game on his own land, by night. NO. XXIII. VOL. IV.-NEW SERIES. 2 N |