firing at a _wig_."[177]

Sportsmen are very apt to exaggerate. They did so at least in Horace's
days. We have heard of a man of rank, who actually made a gamekeeper,
who was a first-rate marksman, fire whenever he discharged his piece.
The story goes, that _that_ man was regarded as having shot everything
that fell.

The Duke of L.'s reply, when it was observed to him that the gentlemen
bordering on his estates were continually hunting upon them, and that he
ought not to suffer it, is worthy of imitation. "I had much rather,"
said he, "have _friends_ than hares."[178]

The time must be coming, when every farmer or peasant will be allowed to
shoot hares. It is surely cruel to imprison or fine a man for shooting
and shouldering a hare. Having lately traversed a goodly part of the
Perthshire Highlands, we were struck with the numbers of Arctic hares
that scudded away out of our path. What a fine help one of them would be
to a poor family.

S. BISSET AND HIS TRAINED HARE AND TURTLE.

S. Bisset, whose training of other animals is elsewhere recorded, like
the poet Cowper, procured a leveret, and reared it to beat several
marches on the drum with its hind legs, until it became a good stout
hare. This creature, which is always set down as the most timid, he
declared to be as mischievous and bold an animal, to the extent of its
power, as any with which he was acquainted. He taught canary-birds,
linnets, and sparrows, to spell the name of any person in company, to
distinguish the hour and minute of time, and play many other surprising
tricks. He trained six turkey-cocks to go through a regular country
dance; but in doing this he confessed he adopted the eastern method, by
which camels are made to dance, by heating the floor. In the course of
six months' teaching, he made a turtle fetch and carry like a dog; and
having chalked the floor, and blackened its claws, could direct it to
trace out any given name of the company.[179]

A FAMILY OF RABBITS ALL BLIND OF ONE EYE.

Lady Anne Barnard, in her Cape Journal,[180] referring to Dessin or
Rabbit Island at the Cape of Good Hope, says that it is "dreadfully
exposed to the south-east winds. A gentleman told me of a natural
phenomenon he had met with when shooting there; his dog pointed at a
rabbit's hole, where the company within were placed so near the opening
that he could see Mynheer, Madame, and the whole rabbit family. Pompey,
encouraged, brought out the old coney, hi