HOW TO SHOW PHEASANTS 123 



demands ability of a higher order than is usually 

 found in the British gamekeeper. 



However able the generals, the commander-in- 

 chief — by whom I mean the owner of the shooting — 

 should, if possible, have the first and last word as to 

 how he wishes his pheasants shown, and his guns 

 placed to kill them. Times have changed, pheasants 

 are vastly more nuriierous than they were, and shoot- 

 ing has improved. The natural result is that the 

 average shooter cares more (far more if he be above 

 the average) how the birds are put over his head, than 

 how many are killed. A sufficient quantity he ex- 

 pects, and in these days feels pretty sure of seeing ; 

 but to see ' high birds,' and to be properly placed to 

 kill them if he can, is to him the great desideratum in 

 pheasant shooting. 



The great principle, advocated over and over 

 again by all the recognised authorities {vide Badminton 

 Library, &c.), is to utilise the running powers of the 

 bird to take him to the point, whence you will use his 

 flying powers to bring him overhead, if possible, back 

 in the direction of his home. But, like many other 

 things well recommended by the really experienced 

 judges, this principle is only too often ignored, and it 

 is painfully common to see guns placed in the obsolete 

 manner, close round the end or corner of a covert on 



