394 SHOOTING. 



in addition to pheasants and cocks, there should be 

 blackgame in cover, there can scarcely be better 

 diversion. Cocks are abundant. Pheasants and 

 blackgame are well-grown, well-fed, and in full 

 plumage : the pheasant is scaled with gold to the 

 throat, and the blackcock is feathered to the foot ! 

 Shooting, this month, requires perseverance and 

 labour, but the contents of his bird-bag will amply 

 compensate the sportsman for both, if he regard the 

 length of the pheasants, the number of the wood- 

 cocks, and the weight of the blackcocks . November, 

 when the weather is favourable, is unquestionably 

 the best month for cover- shooting. A brace of 

 full-feathered November pheasants, to the true 

 sportsman, are worth a bag-full of October poults. 

 Pheasants and blackgame do not pair, like red 

 grouse and partridges. It is unsportsmanlike to 

 kill either a grey-hen, (which is the female of the 

 blackcock,) or a hen-pheasant. The pheasant is a 

 strong bird, and requires a heavy blow, to disable 

 him from running, when brought down. 



Beaters are almost as serviceable as dogs in 

 cover-shooting; they should be sent into the thickest 

 and most impervious parts. The shooter who 

 chooses an open beat, in a part where little game 

 is expected to be found, will kill more than he who 

 is entangled in hollies and brambles, though the birds 

 be rising all round him. When beating woods, the 

 judicious shooter will generally place himself well 

 forward, and so that he can have a distinct view of 

 all birds that rise or fly past, within shot of him, 

 and in those open glades, where the footed game 



