A DAY'S WILD SPORT. 177 



ing common, where they are marked down on 

 a brow thickly clothed with furze. Marching to- 

 wards them with spaniels at heel, up jumps a hare 

 under my nose, then another, then a rabbit. I re- 

 load rapidly, and on reaching the gorse " put in " 

 the dogs. Whirr ! there goes a partridge ! The 

 spaniels drop to the report of my gun, but the flut- 

 tering wings of the dying bird rouse two of his 

 neighbours before I am ready, and away they fly, 

 screaming loudly. The remainder are flushed in 

 detail, and I succeed in securing the greater part 

 of them. Now for the next covey. They were 

 marked down in that little hollow where the 

 heather is longer than usual a beautiful spot ! 

 But before I reach it, up they all spring in an un- 

 expected quarter; that cunning old patriarch at 

 their head had cleverly called them together to a 

 naked part of the hill, from whence he could 

 observe my manoeuvres, and a random shot sent 

 after him with hearty good will proved totally in- 

 effective. 



Now the spaniels are worming through the thick 

 sedges on either side of the brook which intersects 

 the moor, and by their bustling anxiety it is easy 

 to see that game is afoot. Keeping well in front 

 of them, I am just in time for a satisfactory right 

 and left at two cock pheasants, which they had 

 hunted down to the very edge of the water before 



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