REMINISCENCES OF A SPORTSMAN. CHAPTER XXX. BOARS KILLED AT AMBOISE.-CASTLE OF AMBOISE.-MAJOR LUTYENS MADE PRISONER.-WILD FOWL SHOOTING IN SPAIN.-SHOOTING ON ESTATE OF DUKE DECARE. "O'er his bow back he hath a battle set Of prickly pikes, that ever threat his foes; His eyes like glow-worms shine when he doth fret, Being moved he strikes whate'er is in his way, And whom he strikes his crooked tushes slay." Venus and Adonis. In the summer of 1829 I was returning to my family in Gascony, where we resided for a few years; and as my route to Bordeaux lay through the small town of Amboise, I determined to visit one of my oldest military friends, who resided in a chateau in the neighbourhood. We had served our first campaign in Flanders and Holland together. He was an excellent and gallant officer. I had not met my old friend for many years, and on my arrival I received a most cordial welcome from him, his wife, and two amiable daughters. As an old sportsman I had an additional motive for wishing to pay this visit, as the fame of Major Lutyens for his success in killing wild boars with his pack of English foxhounds had reached me in Gascony. I recollect with much pleasure that I passed a fortnight most agreeably with the family. The weather was delightful, and we enjoyed many rides in the wide avenues of the noble forest of Amboise, which was then the property of the Duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis Philippe; and my friend, who spoke French fluently, had ingratiated himself with most of the French families of the neighbourhood, whom he frequently invited to dinner during my stay with him. The next morning after my arrival he took me into one of his rooms to show me all the trophies of his successful chases against the wild boars. These consisted of a considerable number of their tusks, some very large and sharp, and some of the skins of the largest. He also showed me a letter which he had received from the private secretary of the Duke of Orleans to thank him for the great benefit he had conferred on the tenants of his royal highness, who had farms adjacent to this forest, by the number of wild boars he had killed. We afterwards visited the kennel, where I saw about ten couples of foxhounds all in excellent condition, and the premises remarkably clean. He showed me the wounds which were then healed on several of his hounds, some of them apparently very severe. These they had received in their encounters with the wild boar when he was brought to bay. He had had some hounds killed when fighting with these enraged animals. From what he related of the courage and mettle displayed by the BOARS KILLED AT AMBOISE. 5 English foxhounds in these combats, their character stands high amongst the canine race. My friend's piqueur, or huntsman, had a very intelligent countenance and an eye like an eagle, and I was told he was as keen and ardent a sportsman as his master. Whilst hunting he always accompanied Major Lutyens, well mounted and armed with a rifle, and when the boar was blown and brought to bay by the hounds, the major and piqueur watched a favourable opportunity to fire at him; it sometimes required several shots before he was wounded. My friend told me they were obliged to be very cautious in approaching a boar of three or four years old, for as he combined great strength with cunning, his attack was attended with much danger, and in the midst of his combat with the hounds he would sometimes rush forward and attack any person who might come in his way, and there were some instances of men being either killed or wounded. But these fatal accidents generally occurred at the battues in the large forests, which battues the French prefer on account of the variety of game to be killed, and where sometimes they are so fortunate as to slay two or three wolves.* My friend told me that although his foxhounds hunted the wolves with great eagerness, still he had never been able to kill one, from the peculiar and untiring pace of these voracious animals; and his want of success on * On August 27th, 1837, the Mayors of Boudet and Benon in the arrondissement of La Rochelle, summoned a number of gentlemen to superintend a general battue, which the inhabitants made that day against the wolves, which did great damage to their cattle and flocks. In almost every department of France infested by wolves there is a "société Louveterie," the object of which is their destruction, and premiums, varying in amount according to the age and sex of those killed, are also paid. CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. CHAPTER XXX. Boars Killed at Amboise. Castle of Amboise. Major Lutyens made Prisoner. - Wild Fowl Shooting in Spain. - Shooting on Estate of Duke Decare CHAP. XXXI. Rearing Pheasants and Partridges. - Food for Young Birds. CHAP. XXXII. Duties of a Gamekeeper CHAP. XXXIII. Hints from an Old Sportsman. - Be on Good Terms with your Tenants. - Mild Seasons keep Birds from Clover. - Set Dogspikes for Wild Dogs. - Planting on Poor Lands. - Encounter with Poachers. - Wonderful Breeding Season. Gamekeeper to keep good Watch at Night. - A Pill for the Poacher. Screening a Poacher Page 1 15 23 27 CHAP. XXXIV. Old Country Gentleman, 1638. - A "Centurion " 46 |