JUST AN ORDINARY SHOOT. By Major Kenneth Dawson.

(1935) 1949 3rd edition. 4to (190 x 252mm). Ppxii,124. Illustrated from original dry-points and etchings by Winifred Austen. Binding B: Grey cloth, upper board and spine titled in green.

A delightfully illustrated book on the rough shoot. Rabbiting, amateur keepering, decoys, gundogs and much else". In Just an Ordinary Shoot, as the title suggests, Major Kenneth Dawson deals with the sport from the viewpoint of the average owner or tenant of a few hundred acres of mixed shooting. ...The illustrations are reproductions of etchings by Winifred Austen, whose wide knowledge of bird-life, combined with her delicate treatment of her subjects, make her the ideal illustrator for Major Dawson's book". "Since the first two editions of this book were published another major war has profoundly affected the lives of everyone in this country. Of the three great field sports shooting has probably been the hardest hit. The day of the big shoot, with its half-dozen keepers and thousands of hand-reared pheasants, has gone, probably for ever, certainly for the lifetime of the present generation of shooting men. ...This third edition has been revised to bring it into line with post-war conditions as far as possible. But it is not alway possible to be very definite, for we are at present in a state of flux, and who knows what will be the prices of shooting, of guns and cartridges, of dogs and ferrets in, say, five or ten years, when this book will still presumably be selling? ...In an uncertain world one thing is sure. For the next decade at least a very large percentage of the shooting in this country is going to be of the rough variety with which I have dealt in this book. I hope, therefore, that it will continue to the the 'guide, philosopher and friend' of the gunner to an even greater extent that it has in the past". (From the author's preface to the 1949 third edition). Chapters include:- The ordinary sort of shoot; Rough shooting v. driving; Round the hedgerows; Rabbits; Woodpigeons; Snipe; Wildfowling inland; Summer shooting; The 'Various'; Winged birds; Vermin; The food of game and wildfowl; Gun dogs and their care; Some advice on buying a gun; Some cartridge questions; Shooting kit and preparations; Odds and ends.