176 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



in Sussex. There are of course a few exceptions, 

 but these serve only to prove the rule, and in 

 point of massacre fall far short of an ordinary 

 Norfolk perform ance. * 



How different is the pursuit of the pheasant 

 with the aid of spaniels in the thick covers of the 

 weald, or tracking him with a single steady setter 

 among some of the wilder portions of the forest 

 range I — intently observing your dog, and antici- 

 pating the wily artifices of some old cock, with 

 spurs as long as a dragoon's, who will sometimes 

 lead you for a mile through bog, brake, fern 

 and heather, before the sudden drop of your 

 staunch companion, and a rigidity in all his limbs, 

 satisfy you that you have at last compelled the 

 bird to squat under that wide holly-bush, from 

 whence you kick him up, and feel some little 



* A friend of mine has furnished me with the fol- 

 lowing report of four consecutive days' work during 

 Novem])er 1848, on a well-known manor in Norfolk. 

 His brother, who was one of the party, furnished the 

 huUetin. 



Head. 



1st day, 7 guns 564 



2nd day, 5 guns (in an outlying cover) 187 



Srd day, 8 guns 738 



4th day, G guns 626 



Total . .2115 



