SHOOTING. 227 



rises perpendicularly, till he has cleared every obstacle, before 

 he goes off horizontally. The moment for shooting is when he 

 assumes the horizontal direction. If a novice in the art fire at 

 the bird while he is rising, he will, nineteen times out of twenty, 

 throw the shot below the bird. With an experienced ihot, the 

 mode of rising is of little consequence. 



" Ah ! what avail his glossy, varying dies, 

 H is purpled crest, and scarlet-circled eyes, 

 The vivid green his shining plumes infold, 

 His painted wings, and breast that flames with gold?** 



The hen pheasant, when pushed, seldom rises so high as the 

 ock, or yet takes so long a flight. A cock pheasant will some- 

 times fly to a considerable distance ; and whenever this happen*, 

 as the act of flying is very laborious to this heavy bird, he is not 

 able to rise again for some time. If the sportsman can mark 

 down a pheasant, after one of these long flights, and hasten to 

 the spot, he will find the bird to rise with great difficulty, and 

 fly to a very short distance, or, perhaps, he will be unable to 

 rise at all. Indeed, pheasants seem conscious of their incapacity 

 to maintain a long flight, and, therefore, prefer running, where- 

 ever practicable, in preference to taking wing ; however, after a 

 long flight they are difficult to find, as, on these occasions, they 

 generally drop into a bush or thicket, and remain for a consider- 

 able time (if undisturbed) without moving. 



Woodcocks arrive in Great Britain in flocks ; some of them 

 in October, but not in great numbers till November and Decem- 

 ber, though they are sometimes seen as early as September. 

 They generally take advantage of the night, being seldom seen 

 to come before sun-set. The time of their arrival depends much 

 upon the prevailing winds ; they are unable to struggle with the 

 boisterous gales of the northern ocean, and therefore wait for 

 the advantage of a favourable wind* 



