PHEASANT 715 



the poacher does not like visiting coverts that he knows to be 

 effectively preserved, and that coverts containing a great stock of 

 Pheasants, whose rearing has cost a considerable sum of money, are 

 probably the most effectively preserved. As to the second objection, 

 it is to be observed that what constitutes sport is in great measure 

 a matter of individual taste, and that the reasonable limit of a 

 sportsman's "bag" is practically an unknown quantity. One man 

 likes shooting a Pheasant rising at his feet or sprung by his spaniels, 

 as it flies away from him through the trees and is still labouring to 

 attain its full speed ; another prefers shooting one that has mounted 

 to its greatest height, and, assisted perhaps by the wind, is travers- 

 ing the sky at a pace that almost passes calculation. If skill has to 

 be considered in the definition of sport, there can be no doubt as to 

 which of these cases most requires it. In regard to cruelty that 

 is, the proportion of birds wounded to those killed there seems to 

 be little difference, for the temptation to take " long shots " is about 

 equal in either case. The Pheasant whose wing is broken by the 

 charge, if at a great height, is often killed outright by the fall, 

 whereas, if nearer the ground, it will often make good its escape by 

 running, possibly to recover, or more possibly to die after lingering 

 in pain for a longer or shorter time. On the other hand, high- 

 flying Pheasants, having their vital parts more exposed, are often 

 hit in the body, but not hard enough to bring them down, though 

 the wound they have received proves mortal, and the velocity at 

 which they are travelling takes them beyond reach of retrieval. 



Formerly Pheasants were taken in snares or nets, and by 

 hawking ; but the crossbow was also used, and the better to obtain 

 a " sitting shot," for with that weapon men had not learnt to " shoot 

 flying " ; dogs appear to have been employed in the way indicated 

 by the lines under an engraving by Hollar, who died in 1677 : 



" The Feasant Cocke the woods doth most frequent, 

 Where Spaniells spring and pearche him by the sent." l 



The use of firearms has put an end to the older practices, and the 

 gun is now the only mode of taking Pheasants recognized as 

 legitimate. 



Of the many other species or local races of Phasianus, two only 

 can be dwelt upon here. These are the Ring-necked Pheasant of 

 China, P. torquatus, easily known by the broad white collar, whence 

 it has its name, as well as by the pale greyish-blue of its upper 

 wing-coverts and the light buff of its flanks, and the P. versicolor of 

 Japan, often called the Green Pheasant from the beautiful tinge of 



1 Quoted by the writer (Broderip ?) of the article "Spaniel" in the Penny 

 Cyclopaedia. The lines throw light on the asserted Welsh practice mentioned in 

 a former note. 



