Foreign Game 349 



pays by destroying great numbers of noxious 

 insects. 



My somewhat limited acquaintance with this 

 pheasant has not fostered a very high opinion of 

 its value as a purely sporting bird. Beautiful the 

 Mongolians are and excellent eating too, but their 

 footwork is exasperating, and not at all calculated 

 to improve a good dog. When a pheasant rises 

 within easy range, the flush is marked by a char- 

 acteristic whirr and a cackling cry. The flight 

 is strong and fairly fast. A bird going straight 

 away is an easy mark, but a right or left quar- 

 terer at top speed is quite another proposition, 

 especially when forty or fifty yards away. The 

 combination of speed and long tail is very apt to 

 puzzle a novice, who almost invariably misses 

 through shooting behind. 



A good performer on pinnated, or sharptail 

 grouse, will speedily acquire the knack of pheas- 

 ant-shooting. Such a man will not underestimate 

 distance, or fail to swing his gun well ahead, and 

 he will score well on pheasants after a few trials. 



The first specimen to fall to my skill was, I 

 grieve to state, an illegal quarry. The then new 

 birds were carefully protected at all times, and I 

 certainly had no idea of violating the law, in fact, 

 I had no gun, but was merely out for a stroll. A 

 strange bird ran across the path and into some 

 brush, and I picked up a stone and started to in- 



