Читать книгу The Complete English Wing Shot онлайн

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To begin at the beginning in the repudiation of frequently accepted fallacy possibly would not compel a reference to the sometime beliefs that hares change their sex; that skylarks fall into snakes’ mouths after their skyward song—a statement that troubled Mr. Samuel Pepys, who, as Secretary to the Admiralty under two protectors and two monarchs, and as a member of the Royal Society, should have been in a position to get the best information. Nor would such a beginning involve the repudiation of the belief once held that bernicle geese turned into “bernacle” molluscs, or vice versâ. But it would oblige an author to enter into repudiation of the oft-stated belief that nitro powder is quicker than black powder, although big and heavily charged caps have to be employed for the nitro, whereas the small were amply sufficient for black powder. One would also be obliged to point out that the oft-repeated prophecy, that the smallest stock of grouse bred the better August crop, has been doomed to disaster always, and that precisely the reverse is true. However, there are still people who by what they say must be judged to hold to the unproved proposition that the stones breed grouse.