Ii6 SHOOTING THE PHEASANT 



pheasant shooting. Perhaps we do not hanker after 

 the term so much as is supposed, since we are com- 

 pelled to share it with every member of the Fleet Street 

 betting clubs or of the professional ring. Yet we 

 know that most of the men who have proved their 

 right to the title all over the world, in the jungles of 

 India or the ice-bound plains of the Pamirs, the 

 deserts of Africa or the prairies of the Far West, on 

 the mountains, seas and rivers of both hemispheres, 

 are keen enough to join in well-managed pheasant 

 shooting ; and we claim the right to enjoy it, bringing 

 thereto the British qualities of courtesy and fair play ; 

 while, without laying claim to the powers of a Hawker 

 or a Selous, we take our part in this well-ordered 

 pursuit in the invigorating air of our own land, doing 

 no injury, but some benefit, to our neighbours, and 

 not really meriting abuse from those who constantly 

 attack others for their own ends. 



To the charge of cruelty so often brought against 

 those who join in slaying large quantities of game 

 it is more worth while to reply than to the self- 

 constituted arbiters of ' sport ; ' since there are many 

 right-thinking persons who, not understanding the 

 conditions, ascribe to its votaries a kind of bloodthirsty 

 desire to cause the death of harmless animals with a 

 complete indifference to their sufferings. It does not 



