PHEASANTS: IN WAR 131 
all to compromise the matter, provided the field in 
which the guns must stand slopes away from the 
wood, is to put the guns right back under the 
opposite wood. Then the birds, when they peep 
outside, probably are unable to see the guns, and 
come forward. By the time when they catch sight 
of the guns they are so well under way, and so 
near the second wood, that they continue onwards, 
merely rising higher and higher—the very thing 
required of them. 
Fog is not pleasant at any time, but it is a 
nuisance on shooting-days—unless your object is 
wood-pigeons. Partridge-driving in a thick fog 
is not only too dangerous, but impossible ; while 
anything beyond a veil of fog takes all the polish 
off a day’s covert-shooting. Yet there are circum- 
stances connected with pheasant-shooting in which 
a moderate density of fog will permit sporting 
shooting probably quite out of the question in 
clear weather. Suppose one has been beating a 
big covert all day, in clear weather, towards the 
final corner—as a rule, it is almost useless to try 
to force birds from their home across the open at 
any time of the day. Much more so is it useless 
to try late in the day, when the birds are thinking 
about going to roost. So the last corner, crowded 
with birds, has to be brought back over a ride. 
Now is the time when a fog of fair density comes 
to the rescue. Instead of making your last corner 
Q—2 
