142 ANIMALS USED BY THE SHOOTER. 



this is so, because they are so much more beyond the master's 

 control than the pointer or setter. There is no objection to 

 beginning to beat the coverts early in the morning, which is 

 as good a time as any for pheasant shooting ; and most ardent 

 sportsmen of the old school select that time, especially if they 

 mean to beat the hedgerows. This they can do as the birds 

 are returning from their feed, after which they should follow 

 them into covert, and with a wave of the hand order in the 

 spaniels, with " Have at" pronounced " Haave aat" which 

 should only be used just at first, by way of encouragement* 

 After this keeping them carefully near him the shooter 

 should watch for the one which " opens," and press forward to 

 that dog; as soon as he gets to him, the little creature is sure 

 to push on, and will, if of a good nose, soon either undeceive 

 him by silence, or drive up a pheasant or cock. The great 

 point is to rush well into the thick of the scent, getting to 

 the dog throwing his tongue, wherever he may be, and being 

 regardless of thorns or brambles. Nothing can be effected 

 without this rush, as pheasants will run for many yards before 

 dogs, if not rapidly pushed, and will generally get up far out 

 of shot, or so protected by the trees as to be defended by 

 them from the gun. Little light men have consequently a 

 worse chance at this sport than strong and tall ones, who are 

 able to raise their arms and guns above the underwood, and 

 carry all before them. It is seldom that a pheasant can be 

 marked into another part of the same covert, and indeed, if 

 it is so, the bird seldom remains near where he alighted, but 

 runs a long distance, and then lies quietly in the thickest and 

 most impenetrable part. If wild-pheasant shooting is to be 

 followed with much success, the spaniels must be broken from 

 "fur" both in the form of hares and rabbits, as they will 

 otherwise neglect the pheasants, and take to the four-footed 

 game. This can only be done with spaniels whose breed is 

 very pure and free from the stain of the beagle, which so many 

 of our old spaniels are crossed with. The Clumber and also 

 the Sussex spaniels, when pure, are said to disregard hares 

 and rabbits, until thoroughly entered to them, and always to 

 prefer " feather" to " fur " and no doubt it is the case where 

 the ancestors have been strictly kept for generations to 

 pheasants and cocks. But when they are allowed to hunt all 



