268 PHEASANTS 



Now while the craze for high pheasants 

 has been carried to excess by some en- 

 thusiasts — a tendency there will be occa- 

 sion to comment on when touching on 

 guns and shooting — ^there are at the same 

 time a number of people who can rear 

 pheasants successfully enough, but seem 

 quite at a loss to make any good use of 

 them afterwards. The low pheasant, 

 which can be shot without effort, should 

 never be allowed to appear at all on 

 official occasions. Its unhappy continu- 

 ance arises solely from a total disregard 

 of the rules of the game, so easily mastered 

 that it is hard to understand how any one 

 can ignore them in practice. 



There is no reason for a low pheasant 

 ever being shot again — even in the flattest 

 country — when the one cardinal rule is 

 strictly observed. It may be worded as 

 follows : — 



The pheasant is a bird of the ground, and only 

 flies under compulsion ; he may be pushed on foot 

 almost any distance in any direction if carefully 

 handled, but he will never, never make a good 



