There is no sport I enjoy so much as a day's" carting," about November, when the weather begins to get frosty. Any one knows-or ought to know that grouse will not lie then till you can get within shot of them; there is nothing for it but to get within distance by stratagem. It is a well known fact that grouse will not be so much disturbed at a cart near them as they would be at a man alone; the way, then, is to make use of the cart to get within distance of them, though even this fails sometimes. I had a very excellent day's sport this last November with a cart, which, as it illustrates the mode to be pursued, I will endeavour in some measure to describe, first premising that the moor was one that had been regularly shot over from the commencement of the season. I had a light cart-in fact, a species of market cart-and an old horse, too old to run away, yet fast enough for my use; this old horse was bought on purpose, for none of my horses would stand fire well enough; the price of him need not be mentioned, but he did not much head the price generally given for dog horses-he came to the dogs in the end. It was a beautiful frosty morning when I first went out. I think it was on Saturday, the 25th of November. I ordered the servant to put some clean straw in the cart, and having got all my sporting tackle ready, I tied a dog underneath the cart, to find dead or lamed birds, and, mountnig on the seat in front, away we went at the best speed of the old horse to a place where I knew birds "most did congregate" at that season, namely, not very far from some inclosed land, where there were some stubbles. Riding along perched on my seat, I heard the old cocks on all sides, but at some distance on the hills, shouting, "Co-beck-cobeck-beck-beck-beck" distinctly, as the morning was so still; presently I saw a fine bird sitting upon a stone some eight hundred or a thousand yards off; down I instantly got from the cart, and the boy also whom I had brought with me to look after the old nag, that he did not run away! but never letting the horse stop. We walked close as we could get by the side of the horse, and I got hold of the bridle, leading him straight for the bird, just keeping the horse's shoulder, so that I could watch my victim without being conspicuous myself. We thus approached until I saw the bird's attention was taken by the sight of the cart; I then took the horse and cart as if I were going anywhere but to the bird, but still approaching nearer and nearer; at last, getting within about a hundred yards, I then gave the boy the bridle, and he led the horse forward, while I got round to the back of the cart; and when we had got within about fifty yards, I ran straight for the bird out from the cart. The bird seemed fascinated by the cart, which was still going forward, and did not seem to mind me until I had got within a nice easy distance of him. I let him get up, and then I fired; he did not come down, so I gave him "t'other barrel" and he was mine-as fine an "old cock" as I ever saw.

Some young sportsmen fancy it best to shoot at them, with the first barrel, sitting, when you can get within thirty or forty yards of them; but you can very seldom kill them sitting at that season, unless you hit them in the head, as they are so full of feathers that the shot seems almost to glance off them; but let them rise, and then they open their feathers, and your shot has a much greater chance of penetrating.

I threw my prize into the cart, and away we went again. Soon 1 saw the head of another travelling along above the ling; then I observed him stretch out his long neck, and watch our proceedings; he then took to running, and seemed rather inclined to rise. "He is a shy cock, this," thinks I, " and requires caution." Presently he rose, and flying a few hundred yards he took a wheel up into the air, and then came down again perpendicularly, in the same manner as birds that have been shot often do in their last agonies. But this gentleman had nothing the matter with him as yet, for he becked most furiously as if he were defying us; another joined him on hearing his call. I drove cautiously towards them, thinking I should have a chance at both; they saw us, and ran in over a hill. I reached the top of the hill fully prepared, and instead of two birds only, I found twenty at the least, scattered over a place where the ling had been burnt; the only difficulty was to choose which to try for-you may easily tell the cocks from the hens. I made a run down, for there was no time for deliberation, and took the nearest, which I shot; I then tried another but a much longer shot. I hit him, but was much in doubt for some time whether I should get him or not; he flew with the others for some distance, and then gradually he got weaker, and flew lower and lower; another one seeming to pity him, joined and flew by his side till he fell. On coming near, this bird which had stayed with the shot one rose, and gave us some idea where the other was; on loosening the dog, he soon pointed him out to us quite dead. On getting out to the higher parts of the moors, I saw the birds on all sides, though at some distance, wheeling up into the air, and coming down as before described, so that I easily found where they were. I always tried for single birds, as they lie much better when they are alone than when they are in company. I managed in this way before the sun got too powerful to cart four or five brace. When the sun gets up, they will not lie near so well. Being perfectly content with what I had got, I made the best of my way to my quarters.

I may mention that I fell in with a very large flock of plovers; I tried the carting system upon them, but it was "no go;" they seemed to have an idea of something dreadful connected with it, for they no sooner saw it, let it be at what distance it might, than they took flight. I got a brace and a half of them by creeping or almost crawling amongst the ling for about two hundred yards; they rose, and I fired one barrel amongst them, and was rewarded by three falling. On some mornings grouse will not lie even to a cart, and there is not the slightest chance of getting near them; hard frosts or very misty mornings are the best; for my part I prefer a clear frosty morning, when instead of a cold, damp mist, you have a fine sharp bracing air, and you can see the birds at a great distance off; but on a thick morning, though the birds lie equally well, you have the disadvantage of hearing without seeing them, and sometimes you come upon them so unawares that you perhaps miss your aim in the hurry. If you make a bird drop a leg, or shoot him in the body, you have no chance of marking him, and he goes to support the vermin, as the mists on the moors are sometimes as thick, though not quite so yellow, as the London fogs. Now, put a day's " carting" in the balance with a day at

a "battue," and what remains in favour of the latter? "That you get more game," say some. Granted. But what is the use of more than you want, unless you give it away, or sell it? There are men who profess to be sportsmen, who preserve their game, at the expense of their tenants, for the sole purpose of killing and selling it. I know some of them-money-making men they are-and I believe that the knowledge that they have a market for their game makes them more determined upon the slaughter at a battue than they would be if they shot only for sport. In favour of the former there is not the killing without chance of escape--in fact, the odds are greatly in favour of the bird's getting away; in fact, when you kill a bird, you have the satisfaction of knowing that you killed it fairly-not a chance shot. Besides, there is not the danger of hitting a gamekeeper or watcher instead of a bird, which is not unfrequently done in battue shooting; there is also the gratification of having outwitted the birds, who at this season of the year begin to get as cunning and shy as a certain old gentleman, unnameable. Of course, what I have written is open to this objection that carting relates to one species of game, and the battue to another; but as carting on the moors is not resorted to until battues begin, I recommend some of those game-preserving battue gentlemen to try their hands one day at a battue and the next at carting," and I venture to predict that he will give his verdict for enjoyment to the latter, though in the former case he could not help coming to the conclusion that there was more game slaughter."

BRUSH.

ENGRAVED BY E. HACKER, FROM A PAINTING BY A. COOPER, R. A.

The whole economy and proper arrangement of a household depends, as any gentleinan's gentleman will tell you, on every member of it confining himself and his labours carefully and scrupulously to his own department. This one expresses himself ready to take your name, and that one your hat: here six feet of accomplished assurance condescends to carry a card; and there a fellow-labourer, rather lower in inches and wages, favours us with a coal-scuttle. So fair a division of toil, and so good and general an understanding of every man doing his duty, are not, we are happy to say, confined to the house, as a walk to the dog kennel or a stroll through the preserves will at once assure us. No sooner have you shouldered arms than pointers, setters, or spaniels intimate their readiness to attend you, just as the nature of the ground or the season of the year may call on either of them for assistance; while, at the last moment, old Brush introduces that very expressive phiz of his, with a look that says as plain as possible-" And here I am too, it will never do for