142 SHOOTING THE IPHEASANT 



have, as you see, almost reproduced the conditions of 

 the detached clump, and the stand for the guns ; but 

 to get the birds bodily into this clump, if the wood 

 be a large square one, or of sufficient breadth and 

 irregularity to require three, four, or even more beats, 

 may be a difficult matter. 



Here, again, your object will be to get them to run 

 forward, till finally collected in the flush, without 

 having been flushed or headed. You cannot cover 

 the whole wood in one line, and must therefore take 

 it in separate beats. These should be divided by 

 rides, or strips, as they call them in some places, 

 which need not be wide, and should have been made 

 for the purpose of the shooting, without reference to 

 any older rides, existing from the time of the wood 

 being planted, which in all probability will not fit in 

 with this system of beating. 



Each beat must now be taken towards the same 

 direction, which for the sake of clearness we will call 

 the east end, being that at which the corner where 

 you have made your flush is situated. Starting each 

 time from the west end, your line will be wheeled 

 each time up towards the flush, and will then return 

 empty along the strip, leaving frequent stops, to re- 

 commence the next beat. 



But it is here that I wish to point out what may be 



