166 GAME PEESERVERS AXD BIRD PRESERVERS. 



twenty brace of pheasants have unexpectedly 

 been seen outside the covers ? and he ^vill not 

 hurry on the less eagerly to try to stop them as 

 he hears them beginning to rise at the end of 

 the wood, whether he thinks they found their 

 way there from Lord A.'s, Avho rears what are 

 called tame pheasants, or from Mr. B.'s land, 

 whose pheasants hatch their ow^n eggs. 



There are two classes who affect to despise 

 pheasant shooting — those who know literally 

 nothincf about it, and those who know a little 

 too much. 



The first of these have probably never 

 seen a pheasant shot. They visit some of our 

 noblemen's beautiful ' show places ' in August 

 perhaps, and they see the keeper feeding hun- 

 dreds of pheasants which come at his whistle. 

 They fancy the same thing goes on in the 

 shooting season, and that the sportsmen stand 

 and fire into these flocks of birds promiscuously, 

 and they write to the papers with this idea 

 running in their heads. 



