SPORT IN THE FIELDS AND WOODS. By Richard Jefferies.

2017 1st edition thus. 8vo (159 x 240mm). Ppiv,219. Not illustrated. Black boards, spine titled gilt.

"An anthology compiled by Rebecca Welshman." "Highly acclaimed author and naturalist Richard Jefferies (1848-1887) made his living writing about the countryside in which he lived. He made his name through his newspaper columns about the countryside and rural life, and achieved the peak of his fame as author of The Gamekeeper at Home, and, The Amateur Poacher. His love of nature and wildlife was nurtured by his father who taught him much about the life of the fields and woods. Jefferies' own remarkable powers of observation infuse his writing on the habits and habitat of his quarry, the techniques of fieldsports and the enjoyment of outdoor pursuits. These sporting articles are collected here for the first time in a new anthology." Chapters include: A defence of sports; Poaching on Exmoor; the farmer loves his gun; Shooting a rabbit; The first gun; The partridge and the hawk; Hare coursing; Game in the furrows; The art of shooting; Snow shooting; A plea for pheasant shooting; Thoughts in the stubbles; Young partridges; Choosing a gun; Rook poachers; The gamekeeper's favourite gun; Sleight-of-hand poaching; The place of ambush; Rabbit shooting; The single-barrel gun; The use of dogs in shooting; The hunt; Early in March; Fishing for trout by the River Exe; The hedgerow; Hares boxing; Poaching as a profession (Part I); Poaching as a profession (Part II); Technique in game shooting; Wild-fowling; Iron-bound December; Wildfowl shooting; Ploughing on the Sussex Downs; Hedge miners; an English homestead; The wild thyme of the hills; Hunting on the estate; The country in November; Notes on the year. An English Deer Park: The old manor house; The window seat; The Coomb; Shooting in the forest; The deer; The life of the forest. About the hedges; Pheasant poaching; Willow tide; A country walk in June; Rabbiting; The horse as a social force; Snipe shooting at home; A shortest day scene; Partridges in 1880; an oak leaf in December; November days; The squire's preserves; A January night; snipes and moonlit sport; The advent of spring; The water colley.