254 A MEDLEY OF SPORT 



handsome body glinting gloriously under the bright rays 

 of the morning sun. He offers an easy shot, however, 

 and a dose of No. 6 from my right barrel sends him crash- 

 ing into a bed of wild iris. 



" Mark cock ! " again greets my ears, but the yokels' 

 " cock " proves to be a young hen pheasant in very im- 

 mature plumage. " Spare the hens " is, of course, the 

 order of the day, and the little lady is allowed to go on 

 her way unscathed. The doctor is now busy ; but whether 

 that double report means a successful "right and left," a 

 " muff " with the first barrel and a kill with the second, 

 or a clean miss with both, I am unable to say. A coal- 

 black rabbit now comes sneaking through the bramble 

 bushes, which grow down to the very brink of the stream. 

 His big eyes have " twigged " me, however, and ere I can 

 raise my gun he is in the thorny brake again ; and, doubt- 

 less succeeds in doubling back behind the line of beaters, 

 as the bunnies found amongst the slain when the drive is 

 over are all of the common grey colour. 



An occasional shot fired at the farther end of the 

 spinney tells one that the guns placed there are getting 

 sport of some kind, but, with the exception of a big 

 tabby " varmint " of a cat, whose poaching proclivities 

 are promptly put an end to with a dose of lead, nothing 

 wearing either feather or fur comes my way. 



A few minutes later " All out ! " is called, the result 

 of the beat being four pheasants, two hares, one wood- 

 pigeon, seven rabbits, and last, but by no means least, a 

 four-footed poacher. 



