PHEASANT SHOOTING, &C. 147 



SHOOTING PHEASANTS, 



&c. &c. 



WITH A FEW DIRECTIONS TO THE INEXPERIENCED FOR 

 RECOVERING THEIR OWN GAME, IF UNHANDSOMELY 

 DRIVEN FROM THEM, SHOOTING IN COVERT, &c. &c. 



FOR shooting phcasau ts it often becomes necessary 

 to start very early in the morning, as they are apt to 

 lie during the day in high covert, where it is almost 

 impossible to shoot them till the leaf has fallen from 

 the trees. We can never be at a loss in knowing 

 where to go for pheasants, as we have only to send 

 some one the previous evening, for the last hour 

 before sunset, to watch the different barley or oat 

 stubbles of a woodland country, and on these will be 

 regularly displayed the whole contents of the neigh- 

 bouring coverts. It then remains to be chosen, which 

 woods are the best calculated to shoot in ; and, when 

 we begin beating them, it must be remembered to 

 draw the springs, so as to intercept the birds from the 

 old wood. If the coverts are wet, the hedge-rows 

 will be an excellent beginning, provided we here also 

 attend well to getting between the birds and their 

 places of security. If pheasants, when feeding, are 

 approached by a man, they generally run into covert ; 

 but if they see a dog* they are apt to fly up. 



If a person holds land, over which keepers have a 

 reservation, and therefore drive it in the morning to 



