PHEASANTS.] 



SHOOTING, 



[pheasant shooting. 



compass. Every section and crevice of a cover 

 should be run over, as birds are frequently 

 found when the sportsman is not expecting 

 them. AVe have already remarked, that no 

 sportsman -will kill a hen pheasant if he can 

 help it. As she is the rearer of the stock, she 

 ought to be most carefully preserved. 



" But when the hen, to thy discerning view, 

 Her sable pinions spreads, of duskier hue, 

 The attendant keeper's prudent warning hear, 

 And spare the offspring of the future year ; 

 Else should the fine, which custom laid of old, 

 Avenge her slaughter by the forfeit, gold." 



The veteran Daniel is very particular in 

 reference to the proper training of the dogs to 

 pheasant shooting, as they are very apt to dis- 

 turb the game, if not completely reduced and 

 brought to a knowledge of their duties. " They 

 disturb the pheasants," he says, " who first fly 

 up, and perch upon the lower boughs ; and the 

 ground of the covert is in vain traversed, and 

 beat for birds that are already some yards above 

 it ; in short, a spaniel that follows a hare fur- 

 ther than whilst in view, is never worth keep- 

 ing. Other circumstances to be minded are, 

 that when a spaniel is once put into covert, he 

 is never to quit it to range in the fields, which 

 some slippery ones will do, whilst their owners 

 are beating within it. "When a spaniel owns a 

 haunt, and quests freely, there should be no dis- 

 appointment ; whenever the notes are doubled, 

 their master should be certain there is game, 

 and accordingly press forward. Much depends 

 upon the practice which spaniels have ; the 

 constant use, and the killing of game to them, 

 are as essential to the steadiness of a high- 

 mettled spaniel as to a high-bred fox-hound : 

 neither can be worked too hard, if kept well in 

 blood." The writer then goes on to state, that 

 one of the chief conditions of obtaining this 

 desirable end is, that the dogs be of pure 

 breed. There must be no crossing, no con- 

 tamination of the hound in their blood, as we 

 have already observed, or they will be ill- 

 adapted for the duties they are expected to 

 perform. As an instance of an evil of this kind, 

 he gives the following: — "A stronger in- 

 stance," says he, " could not well be exhibited 

 than in the spaniels whichbelonged to Lord Wal- 

 tham and Mr. Iloare. A road only parted the 

 seats of these two gentlemen, and their game- 

 keepers frequently shot in the woods together ; 

 550 



their dogs were equally handsome ; but those of 

 the former would drive hares the whole day 

 through, and consequently sprung everything 

 that accidentally lay in their course ; whilst 

 those of the latter no more ran hares than they 

 did sheep ; they would indeed find hares, but 

 follow no further than they saw them. They 

 were always in their places, twisting round 

 every stub with that agility, and possessed of 

 such fineness of nose, that neither woodcock 

 nor pheasant could escape their search. Lord 

 Waltham's spaniel bitches had originally a 

 cross of the beagle ; and although this was 

 tried to be remedied by resorting to the best 

 dogs, the tendency to liare could never be sub- 

 dued." 



A similar case occurred in the north of Eng- 

 land, among the dogs of the late Ealph Lamb- 

 ton, Esq. He had some favourite spaniel 

 bitches that had originally a cross with a blood- 

 hound; and this corruption was continually 

 manifesting itself in the conduct of his shoot- 

 ing dogs, whenever sheep or domestic animals 

 of any kind thwarted their movements. That 

 old and excellent sportsman used jocularly to 

 observe, that they would retain their taint, as 

 mankind are doomed to bear the weight of 

 their original transgression, till the end of their 

 existence. 



Whether it be the particular nature of the 

 ground on which pheasants locate themselves, 

 or whether there be anything peculiar in their 

 scent, we cannot determine ; but, even the 

 best dogs are often in fault whilst engaged in 

 pheasant shooting. Without attempting any- 

 thing like a solution of this singularity, we 

 give the fact for the benefit of the reader. 



The season of the year has a great influence 

 upon the success of pheasant shooting, and 

 there is a considerable difierence between the 

 character of October and January birds. At 

 the fall of the leaf the birds are scarcer, and a 

 vast deal more cunning, taking the alarm at 

 the slightest noise made, by the approach of 

 the sportsman. In the opinion of many ex- 

 perienced pheasant shooters, December ought 

 to close the season ; for it is contended that, 

 if prolonged later, the birds will fly ofl' and 

 mate with other birds, and will not be likely to 

 remain, if the noise made by the reports of the 

 gun be long continued in every direction 

 around them. 



