94 PHEASANTS 



that pheasants were rare at Bel voir it 1803. 

 Twenty years later the first regular re- 

 cords of shooting begin to appear. In 

 those times it was the fashion to credit 

 each gun with his exact contribution to 

 the total, a practice since universally dis- 

 countenanced as liable to lead to jealousy 

 among the guns, the most unpleasant 

 feature — save only shooting actually 

 dangerous to life and limb — ^that there can 

 be in any shooting party. 



"Better a pheasant missed than a 

 pheasant shared," says the adage in the 

 gunroom at Sandringham. Thus, still at 

 Belvoir, we have the modest totals of 

 early shoots recorded in this wise. 



31st December 1825, Babcheston W^ood 



H.R.H. The Duke of York { ^J to^^ ^ 



The Duke of Rutland 

 Mr. Norman . 

 Lord C. Manners 

 Lord R. Manners 

 Mr. D'Ewes Coke . 



4 pheasants 

 2 pheasants 

 4 pheasants 

 2 pheasants 

 1 woodcock ' 



22 pheasants, 

 2 woodcocks. 



Ten years later again we find the totals 

 increasing, and in the same wood on 



