96 EACECOUESE AND COVEET SIDE. 



firing into a possible companion — there is more 

 independence. Each man figlits more for his own 

 hand, and his knowledge of the haunts and habits 

 of birds and beasts is turned to good account. 



Rough shooting for the most part resolves 

 itself into rabbits. They probably constitute 

 three-fourths of the bag in districts where they 

 are plentiful ; and the rabbit certainly is not 

 game in the strict sense of the word. A brace 

 of pheasants is an acceptable offering, but a 

 couple of rabbits by themselves are regarded as 

 a poor sort of gift ; yet to the sportsman the 

 bowling over of the bunny, as he flashes across 

 the ride of the covert, is as satisfactory an 

 achievement as the bringing down of the big 

 cock pheasant which goes clattering overhead; 

 though when the two lie side by side on the 

 ground, the brilliant hues of the handsome bird 

 make the soft ball of brown fur look insignificant 

 by comparison. But in a day's rough shooting 

 all is fish that comes to the net. It may be 

 generally said, indeed, that it is the best day 

 when there is most variety in the cart as evening 

 closes and the last shot has been fired, particularly 

 if a woodcock or two — for he, somehow or other, 

 is usually accepted as the most sporting of birds 

 — be among the slain. 



The cock is the scarcest of game birds in 



