HOW TO SHOW PHEASANTS 129 



an acre or so in extent, but it will hold 2,000 phea- 

 sants, and every bird will come back in the direction 

 from which he was driven, some rising to a great 

 height, and sorely puzzling the back row of guns, 

 which can here be placed in three lines. 



A pheasant's flight, it may be observed, consists 

 invariably of a rise, more or less gradual, to a certain 

 zenith, after reaching which a gradual sailing process, 

 with a downward tendency, begins. He hardly ever 

 flies along a level course, but is always either rising 

 or trending downwards. This is one of the reasons 

 that makes him so difficult to kill properly, except 

 when he is just at the zenith. 



At ' Scarborough ' clump the pheasant's zenith is 

 reached when over the first or second line of guns, 

 and by the time he is over the third he has begun 

 that downward sail with wings extended motionless 

 which is universally admitted, when pheasants are 

 high overhead, to afford one of the most difficult 

 shots one can have to deal with. Lord Leicester says 

 he has never seen anyone make a good average of 

 kills when standing in the back row at ' Scarborough ' 

 clump, and I can well believe it. 



I offer no apology for citing and describing the 

 method of beating the woods and placing the guns at 

 Holkham, any more than I should, were I writing on 



K 



