PHEASANT SHOOTING. 395 



may be seen bolting out ; and, if local circumstances 

 permit, he will, before the cover is completely 

 beaten, place himself between it and the adjacent 

 woods, as in all probability, where not intercepted 

 by the shooters, every pheasant will endeavour to 

 make off in the same direction. 



For reasons which we have before adverted to, 

 the setter, or cock-dog, is to be preferred to the 

 pointer for pheasant shooting. Pheasants will some- 

 times lie very close, so that it is with great difficulty 

 they can be made to rise ; therefore dogs that will 

 dash into the thicket are most useful. For cover- 

 shooting, where game is abundant, retrievers are 

 indispensable Many birds are recovered by them 

 that would otherwise be lost ; and much time is 

 saved.* 



* Mr. Waterton's observations on the pheasant are particularly 

 valuable. After exploring the wild woods of Guiana and combat- 

 ting crocodiles and boa-constrictors on the banks of the Essiquibo, 

 he retired to his patrimonial estate in Yorkshire, whence he has 

 banished the tube of the sportsman and gamekeeper, and where, in 

 his own words, he has " shut the temple of Janus, and proclaimed 

 undisturbed repose to those of the feathered race which come to 

 seek for shelter." He consequently enjoys as good, perhaps better, 

 opportunities than any other individual, of observing the habits of 

 many of our British birds in a state of quiescence. He thus writes 

 on the pheasant ; but the following is merely a short extract : 



" The more we look into the habits of the pheasant, the more we 

 must be persuaded that much more attention ought to be paid to it, 

 than is generally paid to other kinds of game. The never-failing 

 morning and evening notice which it gives of its place of retreat, 

 together with its superior size, cause it to be soon detected and easily 

 killed." * * * " The fowling-piece of the nocturnal poacher is 

 the most fatal weapon used for its destruction. The report of a gun, 

 or a clap of thunder during the night, will often cause the pheasant to 

 begin to crow, as I have already stated ; and this greatly endangers 

 their safety. When once they are frightened from their roost, they 



