PHEA SANT-SHOOTING 387 



pheasant had overtaken and outstripped it. Of 

 course circumstances alter cases, and where the 

 guns can be placed well away from the covert, 

 and the birds are not flying very high, pheasant- 

 shooting requires no more skill than that of any 

 other game ; when, however, there is but little 

 space to shoot in, or the guns are of necessity 

 placed close in under the covertside, a consider- 

 able amount of skill is required to shoot pheasants 

 in a clean and masterly fashion, and the man who 

 can do so can probably hold his own with a gun 

 under all circumstances. 



At every season of the year an English covert- 

 side has many attractions, but never, perhaps, 

 does our English woodland scenery appear more 

 beautiful than on a bright winter's morning, when 

 the sun is shining through the glades and grass- 

 grown rides, lighting up the stems and branches 

 of the trees, tipping the russet-coloured ferns with 

 gold, and making each moss-grown bank appear 

 like a mound of jewels. And when, in addition 

 to all these charms, there is the prospect of sport, 

 whether it be with horse and hound or with a 

 gun, it is happiness to be there. 



And there can surely be too much of a good 

 thing. A covert can be too well stocked with 

 game. The pleasantest days I can recall have 

 ever been those when there was just enough 

 shooting to keep one's interest from flagging. A 

 good steady retriever at heel and one gun offer 

 far greater attractions to me than the use of a 



