THE AXE IN THE COVERTS 241 



sportsman's view the beats are simplified, or are 

 more easily commanded with the regulation number 



of from five to nine guns. But the keeper 

 The Axe knows to his cost that more often than not 

 Coverts cutting the underwood is ruination to sport. 



Birds and rabbits are alarmed by the 

 sound of the woodman's chopping, and half the 

 hares fly before the smoke of the greenwood fires. 

 Many complications arise through wood-cutting, as 

 when the shooting is in other than the landlord's 

 hands. When he wishes to cut certain portions of his 

 woods, and the cutting may interfere seriously with 

 sport or the showing of game, unpleasantness must 

 arise among all parties landlord, gamekeepers, shoot- 

 ing men, and copse- workers. Those responsible for 

 the shooting should find out as early as possible which 

 parts are to be cut, and arrange in good time with the 

 landlord to make it a condition of sale that no cutting 

 takes place before a convenient date. When several 

 acres of underwood are felled, and the wood is left 

 lying in long rows called drifts, a good deal of incon- 

 venience may arise, unless the underwood is worked 

 up as cut down. On shooting days half the pheasants 

 in the place may skulk in the drifts, whence it will 

 be impossible to dislodge them by ordinary beating 

 methods of the most energetic type. Besides, drifts 

 provide a safe refuge for rabbits. They increase 

 incredibly, and in the following year they will be by 

 far too plentiful for the welfare of the young shoots 

 that spring from the shorn stumps. 



Q 



