PHEASANT SHOOTING. 'i^ 



The shooting of the pheasant commences on the 1st of October, 

 :hich is an interesting day to aristocratic sportsmen, with their 

 reU trained dogs. 



" See how with emulative zeal they strive, 

 Tliread the loose sedge, and thron^^h the thicket drive ! 

 No babbling voice the bosom falsely warms. 

 Or swells the panting heart with vain alarms, 

 Till all at once their choral tongues proclaim. 

 The secret refuge of the lurking game. 

 Smft is their course; no lengthened warnings now 

 Space to coUect the scattered thoughts allow ; 

 No wary pointer shows his cautious eyes, 

 Where from his russet couch the bird shall rise ; 

 Terhaps_ light running o'er the mossy ground, 

 His devious steps your sanguine hopes confound ; 

 Or, by the tangled branches hid from sight. 

 Sudden he tries liis unexpected flight; 

 Soon as the ready dogs their quarry spring. 

 And swift he spreads his variegated wing, 

 Ceased is their cry ; with silent look they wait, 

 TiU the loud gun decides the event of fate." — Pye. 



There are various opinions held among sportsmen as to the readi- 

 less mxk which pheasants may be shot ; some holding it is difficult, 

 (rhile others make very light of the matter. This is not a question, 

 vhich any kmd of authority can determine. In fact, the shooting 

 )f the bird is easy to one man and not to another, depending more 

 mhis constitutional habits and temperament than his skill with the 

 ^un and the dogs. The noise which a pheasant makes when he 

 oangs out of his cover, often shakes a nervous man's frame a little • 

 md a very slight shake of this kind, at such a critical moment, will 

 oxercise a powerful influence on the result of his firing. Steadiness 

 s the great matter in exploits of this kind; it determines the 

 ■relative portion of skill which a man throws into such pursuits. _ 



Some persons recommend the spaniel for pheasant shooting 

 Defore any other kind of game dog. They say they cannot be too 

 strong, too short upon the leg, or have too much courage ; the 

 thickness of the cover requires strength, zeal, and resolution to 

 surmount it. Some shooters use beagles in pheasant shooting with 

 good efi^ect ; and even terriers are employed m some districts. But 

 everything depends upon the locaKties where dogs are employed. 

 In thick hedgerows, furze plantations, young woods, and m 

 tangled underwood of any kind, such dogs as the beagle and terrier 

 are better suited lor pheasant sporting thanthe spaniel ; but where 

 the grounds are comparatively open, we think the latter are to be 

 preferred. 



Early in the field for pheasant shooting is recommended ; and 

 the sportsman should scour the stubbies of wheats barley, and bean 



