248 GUN, RIFLE, AND HOUND. 



one of the above-mentioned little weapons. You can 

 hear the birds get on the wing, and very often they 

 will only flutter into the first big tree, where they 

 afford pretty enough shots for the rifle at sixty or 

 seventy yards. 



The common pheasant affords by its presence in the 

 British Isles one of the most triumphant examples of 

 successful acclimatisation. Originally as its scientific 

 name, Phasianus Colchicus, imports a native of 

 Colchis, or rather of Asia Minor and Central Asia 

 generally, it has established itself among us with a 

 firmness which I doubt if even the promised " land 

 nationalisation " will successfully combat, and holds its 

 own in unpreserved districts where the native black- 

 game has long since died away. I know English 

 counties where for miles there is no preserve of any 

 kind, and for dozens of miles none where pheasants 

 are artificially reared, where yet, in spite of enemies 

 furred, feathered, and trousered, every year brings 

 forth its quota of wild birds, sufficient to afford the 

 true sportsman some amusing days' rough shooting. 



It is, however, not only the sportsman who would 

 deprecate the absence of the bright-coloured bird from 

 our islands. His desirability on the dinner-table, 

 where he is decidedly inferior, to my mind at least, to 

 ail our native varieties of game, may be urged by some 

 as justifying his existence among us, and it must be 

 admitted that what he lacks in quality he makes up in 

 quantity, besides being favourably known to gourmands 

 as the very best stock for certain soups. 



But it is to the casual wayfarer through our 



