DECEMBER 435 



shoot it, fearing lest he should hit some other sportsman in 

 the face. 



Again comes the pattering, and with it a gleam of green and 

 gold, and this time an old cock appears bent upon escape, 

 whoever else may fall a victim. He runs up, a gorgeous-looking 

 bird, catches sight of the Gun, runs back again and tries the little 

 leg of underwood to his left, only to find himself face to face with 

 a boy who has been placed there for the express purpose of stopping 

 him and his fellows. Then he turns and rushes down the fell 

 like a race-horse, till presently, with a crow and a sound of beat- 

 ing wings which it is almost impossible to describe, he bursts his 

 way through the undergrowth, perhaps to come over high and die 

 rocketing as a good pheasant should ; perhaps to be happily 

 missed ; or perhaps to slip away with such cunning that no one 

 gets a shot at him. 



Now the ear catches a rapid scampering noise, and yonder, 

 badly frightened by the cock pheasant, which has almost trodden 

 on it, a grey rabbit, that has crept forward stealthily, runs back 

 again at full tilt, only, alas ! to be caught by a charge of shot 

 and sent tumbling over stone dead. There it lies, its little mud- 

 stained paws pointing upwards, and the white fur of its stomach 

 making a patch of light which catches the eye as it travels to and 

 fro over the dull carpet of sere leaves where poor Coney is 

 stretched out. 



Before the beaters got to work the hoarse cries of jays could 

 be heard echoing far down the quiet covert, but from the moment 

 that they found themselves surrounded, these cunning birds have 

 changed their tactics, for not a single scream now issues from 

 their painted throats. Up and down the beat they move in short 

 dipping flights, refuging in every convenient tree, and travelling 

 for preference almost on the tops of the brushwood. At last they 

 draw near the end and determine to make a dash for liberty. On 

 comes the boldest of them, till, suddenly catching sight of the 

 shining gun-barrels, w^eapons of which he seems quite to under- 

 stand the use, he turns in a wide wheel and once more attempts 



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