PHEASANTS : IN WAR 129 



in any circumstances.) This is what I believe 

 to be the explanation of the cussedness puzzle : 

 So long as the stuff is young, thick at the bottom, 

 and short enough for pheasants to get a view of the 

 advancing beaters over the top of the underwood, 

 the birds go forward readily. Probably you get 

 a prolonged rise, free from any undesirable rush 

 at the finish. When, however, the underwood 

 grows old and tall, it becomes correspondingly 

 thinner at the bottom, but thicker at the top. 

 Naturally the birds find it more convenient to 

 run than to rise through a network of twigs. 

 And so the majority run on, peep out, see the 

 guns, retire, and squat in close formation just 

 within the wood. There they squat, and watch 

 the reception given to any hares and other creatures 

 which venture to make a dash for it. The guns 

 begin to think there can be no birds in the wood. 

 The keeper longs for shooting to relieve the tension 

 of his mind, and to deaden the apparently profitless 

 tapping of the beaters' sticks. He racks his brains 

 to think how, where, and by whom some dreadful 

 mistake has been made ; whether the stops have 

 1 played the fool/ come away from their stations 

 prematurely, or goodness knows what. Whatever 

 has happened, he will get the blame. Then suddenly 

 there is a sound of many wings, punctuated by the 

 shouts of excited beaters and the cries of cocks 

 in a mighty hurry but few shots. The birds 



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