PHEASANT SHOOTING. 83 



pheasants, but more especially those which run from 

 one to another. Should you design to heat them 

 without disturbing the covers, the best time is early 

 in the morning, after rain, as the dripping of the 

 trees has the effect of driving pheasants abroad 

 In beating for pheasants, more particularly early in 

 the season, don't leave a foot of cover untried : we 

 have often found a whole nide in a tuft you might 

 put under your pocket-handkerchief; and that, too, 

 within a few yards of a spot, where a volley of jokes 

 had been firing off for half an hour. 



Some old sporting writers allude to a practice 

 that once prevailed, of beating thick underwood for 

 pheasants with an ancient pointer, having bells 

 affixed to his neck;' so that when the sportsman 

 ceased to hear them, he became aware there was a 

 point. Upon this style of shooting a modern writer 

 observes, " When a man goes out with his pointers 

 and bells, he ought not to forget the cap for him- 

 self." In extensive woods, pheasants rarely take 

 very long flights ; but when you flush them in the 

 open country, they will soar up to a great height, 

 and then skim out of sight, as if bound for another 

 kingdom. Those who are employed to mark phea- 

 sants, will frequently see them flapping their wings 

 to end their flight, and settle in, or rather precipitate 

 themselves into, some thick bush or hedgerow, where 

 they will perch just above the ground, and remain 

 as still as if dead. In like manner, the hen phea- 

 sant, when sitting, hovers over her nest, and then 



