HOW TO SHOW PHEASANTS 133 



plished the manoeuvre of pushing the birds out at the 

 end of your main covert, and got them safely into the 

 detached covert whence you wish to flush them ; it 

 now remains to conclude artistically, and while show- 

 ing good sport to your friends, to realise the fair and 

 right proportion of the pheasants which have cost you 

 so much care, expense and trouble to produce ; to 

 have them killed and not butchered. 



We will assume that the detached covert had 

 already some birds in it, and that it has been well 

 looked after since the morning, the outlying fences 

 driven in, stops carefully placed, &c. You now place 

 a row of stops on the hither side of the clump, as we 

 will call it to distinguish it from the main covert, 

 about fifteen yards apart and as many from the edge 

 of the clump, who should gently tap their sticks. 

 These will keep the birds from attempting to run out 

 again, and also assist to make them rise into the air 

 when flushed. The fence surrounding the clump 

 should be thick, and needless to say the undergrowth 

 as well, so that the birds cannot run together and get 

 into crowds. You can then, by sending in one, two, 

 or even three judicious men to put them up, push the 

 pheasants over the guns in small numbers at a time, or 

 even singly, almost as you wish. Your principal line 

 of beaters is of course sent round to the far end of the 



