st a local twenty-two, at the Lower Grounds, June 5, 1871,
the visitors winning; the Australian Eleven _v_. Pickwick and District
Twenty-two, at Bournbrook, June 24 to 26, 1878, the game not being
finished, the first innings showing 105 runs for the Eleven, against
123; the Australians _v_. Eleven of England, at Lower Grounds, May 26,
1884, when the Colonials put together 76 against 82 in the first
innings, the second innings of 33 against England's 26 being won with
five players left to bat.

_Croquet_ was introduced in 1867; the first code of laws being published
in October, 1869.

_Cycling_, though quite the rage at the present time, is by no mems a
modern amusement, as running a race with "dandy-horses" was considered
good sport in the days of the fourth Royal George. These vehicles
consisted of two wheels united tandem fashion, the bar being fitted with
saddle-shaped seat as in the first bicycles, but the motive power was
applied through the contact of the riders' feet with the ground.--The
"track" at the Lower Grounds measures 501 yards.

_Football_ is a game as old as the hills, and there are hundreds of
clubs in the town and district, the best meadow for the purpose (at the
Lower Grounds) being about 125 yards long by 75 yards broad. The Aston
Villa is the chief club.

_Hare and Hounds_.--Every suburb and district has its club of Harriers
or Hare and Hounds, an annual cross-country amateur championship contest
being started in 1879. At the last (Feb. 9, 1884) the Birchfield
Harriers scored their fourth victory against the Moseley Harriers twice.

_Hunting_.--Time was when the sight of scarlet coats and hounds was no
novelty in Birmingham, but those who would now join in the old English
sport of hunting must go farther afield, the nearest kennels being at
Atherstone. The announcements of the meets in this and adjoining
counties appear regularly in the _Midland Counties' Herald_.

_Jumping_.--At the Lower Grounds in July, 1881, Mr. P. Davine, of
Belfast, jumped 6ft. 3in. the highest previous record having been 6ft.
2-1/2in., the performance of Mr. M.J. Brookes, (Oxford U.A.C.) at Lillie
Bridge, March, 1874.

_Lacrosse_, a popular Canadian game, was introduced here June 23, 1883,
by a team of Canadian Amateurs and Iroquois Indians, who exhibited their
prowess at the Lower Grounds.

_Lawn Tennis_, at first known as Lawn Racquet, was the invention of the
late Major Gem, who played the first game in 1865 with