386 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



and are well and carefully trained, they will be 

 found capable of performing all the duties of a 

 retriever just as efficiently as a dog of that breed, 

 be more handy, more generally useful, and equally 

 companionable. At the same time, it must be 

 remembered that, of all dogs, a spaniel is the 

 most difficult to train properly, and a really 

 well -broken retrieving spaniel may, as far as 

 its pecuniary value is concerned, vie with any 

 ordinarily good retriever. 



Large bird as is a pheasant, it is, nevertheless, 

 astonishing how very easily it can be missed, for 

 when well on the wing, its flight is very rapid, 

 and a high ' rocketer ' takes a deal of hitting. 

 No description of shooting demands more judg- 

 ment of pace and distance than high ' rocket- 

 ing ' pheasants, and especially if there is a 

 strong wind blowing at the time. The apparent 

 height from which a crack shot can bring down 

 his bird is astonishing. Here, again, it is a 

 matter of allowance. The birds, as they come 

 skimming along, appear to be flying much higher 

 than they really are, but the pace at which they 

 can travel is tremendous, far in excess of the 

 highest speed of which a partridge is capable. 

 It is but a few days ago that I read an account 

 of the relative speed of the two birds. A 

 partridge was seen to enter a field in full flight, 

 and almost immediately afterwards a pheasant 

 followed in the same direction ; but before the 

 field had been covered by the partridge, the 



