270 PHEASANTS 



twenty years, which carries no weight — 

 is that all this involves less birds being 

 brought to the guns. Quite so, high 

 pheasants can only be obtained at the 

 expense of the total, but any sacrifice in 

 this respect is made good many times 

 over by having shooting that is a pleasure. 



Covert -shooting under modern con- 

 ditions can, after all, only be in many ways 

 but a makeshift of sport, an adaptation 

 of the real thing to the narrow confines 

 of a crowded civilization. Rightly re- 

 garded as an effort of human ingenuity 

 and not an affair largely in the hands of 

 nature, it becomes obvious that nothing 

 can safely be left to chance. The piece 

 must be staged properly, the inevitable 

 element of artificiality carefully concealed, 

 the imitation made as life-like as possible, 

 or the result will be a sorry business, a 

 travesty of sport, a subject for shame, 

 and an object of ridicule. 



No taint of the coop or the rearing- 

 field clings to the pheasant as he swings 

 over the guns, ninety feet up in the air. 



