MI. PHEASANT SHOOT/NG (PART III) 199 



it the cards in the split sticks at the stands for 

 phe;i- hanging the sequence of the colours ac- 



cording to the sport probable at the various places. 

 Give red, for instance, a good position, then favour 

 the other colours in their turn, till red comes round 

 again for a hot corner. Now write the colours of the 

 cards on si\ small pieces of paper, fold them up, and 

 ask your friends to select one apiece, and each will 

 then, of course, adhere to his particular colour for the 

 clay, and can at once find his way to his proper 

 position, as shown by the stick that bears his colour, 

 whether such indicates where he is to wait for a rise 

 of pheasants, or whether it marks the spot at which 

 he is expected to join the beaters to walk up a covert 

 to other guns standing forward.* 



THE BEATERS 



The beaters cannot walk too quietly, and hardly 

 too slowly, through a covert that holds pheasants, 

 when driving it to the guns. If beaters shout, and 

 the shooters in front are firing, pheasants become 

 confused, and will often fly back rather than face the 



* The following pithy correspondence once passed between a 

 squire and a neighbour, owing to the latter being so constantly asked 

 by the former to assist in beating the outskirts only of a very well- 

 stocked estate : 



Mr. , will you come again to-morrow and help me to 



outside " ? ' 



Mr. , very sorry to refuse, but Lord has kindly 

 invited me to .-hoot his " inside ! " ' 



