Minor Field Sports

A book for the true countryman of all ages. First published in the early 1900s, now reprinted in a fine-quality paperback edition for a new generation. It will stir many nostalgic memories for older readers and teach younger ones some new and unusual methods of taking various kinds of quarry. Its seven illustrated chapters cover 166 pages and include details and instructions on a fascinating variety of subjects, many of them now long vanished. It's a truly readable book from a more innocent age when the country was a freer place. We've reprinted this with genuine pleasure. It describes the sporting activities of a generation only just removed from ours but now separated forever by new legislation and a change in attitudes amongst out-of-touch urbanites. My father described it as 'almost a diary of my country childhood'. It is without doubt the most interesting book we've ever sold and I defy anyone with even a passing interest in the countryside or field sports to be able to flick through it without becoming absorbed. I : SPORTS DEPENDING ON DOGS: Badger-hunting; Stoat-hunting; Rat-hunting; Squirrel-hunting; Water-vole and Moorhen hunting; Wild-rabbit coursing; Hedgehog finding; Dog-racing; "Hunting the clean boot" II: SPORTS DEPENDING ON FERRETS: Ratting; Rabbiting III: SPORTS DEPENDENT ON BIRDS: Hawking small birds; Trapping and netting sparrows; Pigeon-racing; Tippler-flying; Hawking insects with jackdaws IV: SPORTS REQUIRING A GUN OR RIFLE: Rook and rabbit shooting; Sparrow and starling shooting; Wood-pigeon shooting; Shooting game with a bow and arrows V: SPORT WITH FISHES: Wiring jack and pike; Sniggling and spearing eels; Minnow and gudgeon fishing; Crayfish catching VI: MISCELLANEOUS SPORTS: Finding the eggs of certain birds; Viper-killing; Millipede-racing; Beetle-fighting VII: SOME MAJOR FIELD SPORTS: In the hunting field; Fox-hunting