xii Tegetmeier on Pheasants. 



to shooting ; the consequence was that the birds flew low, 

 anyhow and anywhere, and, indeed, the more there were the 

 worse was the shooting, for they would get up in bunches 

 and fly at a level with the heads of the guns. It was a happy- 

 go-lucky business, asking for little skill from gun or game- 

 keeper ; and it did not even properly fulfil the first purpose 

 of shooting, that of filling the larder, for birds which flew so 

 low often were shot at too near, and so were spoiled for the 

 table. 



Then came a change. It was realised that the pheasant 

 was not only a bird for the kitchen, but could use his wings ; 

 that he was. indeed, one of the finest and fastest of fliers 

 among British game birds. And it was, discovered that there 

 were certain conditions under which he would fly and others 

 under which he would not. You could not make him fly 

 away from home. If he had become accustomed to being 

 fed or finding his food in a particular covert or part of a covert, 

 he might be driven away from it, but he would only go reluc- 

 tantly ; he would run away from it, or would &y a short 

 distance near the ground, but he would not take a high and 

 prolonged flight. Why should he ? For his natural idea 

 would be to get back there as soon as possible. 



That was the first discovery. And the second came with it ; 

 that if he had by some means been induced to leave his home, 

 and then were made to fly while still at a distance from it, 

 he would rise high in the air and fly back, crossing woods and 

 valleys in his purpose to find himself home again without 

 loss of time. So that those who planned a day's shooting 

 schemed first to get their birds accustomed to regard a par- 

 ticular spot, carefully chosen, as " home " ; then, on the day, 

 of shooting, quietly " pushed " or " walked " or " shepherded " 

 them away from home, to a distance, it might be, of several 

 hundred yards ; they stojiped them there by a fine of beaters 

 or a string of coloured strips of cloth ; and they then arranged 

 for keepers or beaters to flush the birds where thej- were, 

 so that they should fly home. Before they got home, flying 



