322 SHOOTING 



flurry, running here, there, and everywhere, occa- 

 sionally twisting round like teetotums ; these, too, 

 at length squat, picking out tufts of brake or grass, 

 where their dark heads are covered, and their back 

 and long tail-feathers just match the stuff they are 

 lying in. Presently some hares come along, and 

 these are all listening so intently to the beaters, 

 and looking back as w^ell, that they blunder against 

 the net, greatly to their astonishment ; for they sit 

 up and stare at it, and then trot away to see if they 

 can make off by one of their usual runs ; failing in 

 this, they lie down in some of the thickest cover, 

 hoping to escape by this plan. Xumerous rabbits 

 come hopping along, and, meeting the net, turn and 

 hide themselves in stumps or any other place they 

 can find. And really, as the beaters come nearer and 

 nearer, you would never imagine the quantity of game 

 there is ; a novice would at once declare there was 

 none, so absolutely motionless does it remain until 

 it is forced up ; and then, although you have been 

 at the post all the time, the quantity seems quite 

 astonishing. Pheasants begin to whirr up, at first 

 by twos and threes, and then almost by scores at a 

 time, and the firing is incessant ; it seems now that 

 every tuft of grass or piece of fern has a pheasant 

 under it ; but in spite of tlie beaters, several old 

 cocks run back between them, being far too clever 



