PHEASANT SHOOTING 



Sportsmen makes an observation which may contain a hint 

 at the germ of the modern system : — 



' . . . Although to explore and beat several hundred acres 

 of coppice it becomes necessary to have a party with spaniels, 

 yet on such expeditions we rarely hear of any one getting much 

 game to his own share, except some sly old fellow who has 

 shirked from his companions to the end of the wood, where the 

 pheasants, and particularly the cock birds, on hearing the 

 approach of a rabble are all running, like a retreating army, 

 and perhaps flying in his face faster than he can load and fire.' 



The example of the sly old fellow would be followed by 

 others less astute : and what more probable than that in 

 course of time all the guns, as a matter of course, took up their 

 station at the end of the wood and left it to beaters to drive 

 the birds over them ? 



However this may be, the modern system, in the rough, 

 had come into favour by the year 1829. Hear Colonel 

 Cook, M.F.H.' on the subject : the gallant colonel's antipathy 

 to ' grandes batues ' apparently did not extend to the refresh- 

 ments provided : — 



' . . . The great mania for game, and the useless quantity 

 of it with which we find most coverts glutted, is a great mis- 

 fortune to Fox-hunting. For some time (may I be allowed to 

 say) there has been a war between the Pheasant and the Fox ; 

 during which period (what may seem a Uttle extraordinary, 

 and I state it with regret) the former has generally been 

 victorious. Still, I am no enemy to shooting, particularly 

 to Partridge-shooting, because it is an active amusement and 

 a healthy exercise, without both of which, to my mind, no 

 sport can exist. I never could make up my mind to go to any 

 of their Batues. I won't say that the danger attending them 

 has kept me away, though it is by no means trifling, for the 

 accidents we read of far exceed in number those which occur 

 in Fox-hunting ; and surely a fall from a horse is better than 

 being shot by a friend. 



1 Observations on Fox-hunting. 



101 



