APPENDIX. 



NOTE TO 65. Covers. Shooting. Loading. 



WHAT convenient covers they are and what excellent shelter they 

 furnish for game, when planted with holly, laurel, and other ever- 

 greens ! especially if the proprietor, in a moment of sporting 

 enthusiasm, has consented to his keeper's request, and had some of 

 the trees half-felled, so that the branches lying on the ground live 

 and grow, deriving nourishment from the sap still flowing through 

 the uncut bark. Perhaps gorse forms the best ground cover for the 

 preservation of game ; but it is far from being the most agreeable to 

 shoot in. It has, however, a great merit it is much disliked by 

 poachers. There should be good roosting-trees ; and the different 

 kinds of fir spruce particularly give most security, their thick, 

 spreading branches affording much concealment at all seasons of the 

 year. They are, too, of quick growth. But the most favourably 

 planted covers will prove unattractive unless there is a constant 

 supply of water within a reasonable distance. An old brother officer 

 of mine, who has property in Suffolk, argues, and most will think 

 correctly, that for the preservation of game, beltings should not run 

 round the external part of an estate (as is often the case,) but lie well 

 within it, and at some distance from a high road. 



Talking of beltings and pheasants, as some sporting Griffin (to use 

 an Indian expression) may come across this book, I may as well, for 

 his sake, mention, that pheasants are generally prevented from run- 

 ning to the further end of a belting, and then rising in one dense 

 cloud, by a man sent ahead striking two sticks together, or making 

 some other slight noise which, without too much alarming the birds, 

 yet prevents their running past him. As the guns approach him he 

 gets further forward and takes up another position, keeping wide of 

 the cover whilst he is on the move. Should the Griffin make one of 

 the shooting-party, he is advised to bear in mind that the guns should 

 keep close to the hedge (or rails), that any game on the point of 

 "breaking" may not so readily observe them, and in consequence 

 beat a retreat. By the bye, my young friend, should you wish your 

 host to give you another invitation to his covers never let him see 

 you carrying your barrels horizontally. If you are a bit of a soldier 

 you will know what I mean when I say that, combining due prepara- 

 tion for prompt action with security to him who may be skirmishing 

 near, your gun can be conveniently borne across the open at the " Slope 

 arms" of the sergeant's fusil. When you are in cover (or your dog 

 draws upon game), it might be carried much in the position of " Port 

 arms." At the moment you level, following the example of the best 

 pigeon shots, place your left hand well in advance of the poise. If 



