312 PHEASANTS 



omitted that seems to throw no light 

 or shade into the picture. The sentences 

 must run on smoothly, the matter be 

 readable yet vivid in style as befits a 

 record of action ; for this there must be 

 a nice choice of words that shall yet read 

 as though they were jotted down in haste 

 by field and covert, and not laboriously 

 compiled by the study fire. 



Fully conscious, then, of the difficulties 

 that beset my path, let me turn the pages 

 of the game-book, and make some attempt 

 to revive the memories of a few pleasant 

 hours in woodland and by covert-side. 



The luncheon hour — but hardly the 

 scene that the words would bring to 

 mind in most memories of covert-shoot- 

 ing, for here are no tents or tables, no 

 servants and smoking hot stews, no 

 generous bumpers of port and insidious 

 liqueurs, no coffee and cigars. Here the 

 manners and customs of other days 

 persist, to the shame of an over-luxurious 

 generation, and few minutes of the short 



