A SPORTSMAN'S SKETCHES
their roofs covered with rotting thatch. . . . The
villages of Kaluga, on the contrary, are generally
surrounded by forest; the huts stand more freely,
are more upright, and have boarded roofs; the
gates fasten closely, the hedge is not broken down
nor trailing about; there are no gaps to invite the
visits of the passing pig. . . . And things are much
better in the Kaluga province for the sportsman.
In the Orel province the last of the woods and
copses will have disappeared five years hence, and
there is no trace of moorland left; in Kaluga, on
the contrary, the moors extend over tens, the
forest over hundreds of miles, and a splendid
bird, the grouse, is still extant there; there are
abundance of the friendly larger snipe, and the
loud-clapping partridge cheers and startles the
sportsman and his dog by its abrupt upward
flight.
On a visit to the Zhizdrinsky district in search of sport, I met in the fields a petty proprietor of the Kaluga province called Polutikin, and made his acquaintance. He was an enthusiastic sportsman; it follows, therefore, that he was an excellent fellow. He was liable, indeed, to a few weaknesses; he used, for instance, to pay his addresses to every unmarried heiress in the province, and when he had been refused her hand and house, broken-hearted he confided his sorrows to all his friends and acquaintances, and continued to shower offerings of sour peaches and other raw produce from his garden upon the young lady's relatives;
2
