1 82 SHOOTING THE PHEASANT 



hundred yards away in front of you, to some piece of 

 covert which he knows you have neither the forces 

 nor the energy to beat. 



Now as to your dog : the difficulty in this kind of 

 sport usually lies here. The perfect dog for the work 

 is a setter (a brace, if you like), but he must not be 

 one of the wide-ranging sort, such as you would em- 

 ploy on a moor where grouse are scarce. He must 

 set about his work more like a spaniel, and must have 

 a good nose and be a true hunter, that he may road 

 the running bird in front of you. He may have to 

 do this where the country is all open, though the 

 covert may be thick — that is, in such districts as the 

 New Forest, or the broken ground below the moors 

 so common in Scotland — for a quarter of a mile or 

 more ; and, though he will occasionally digress should 

 he strike a fresh scent, he must be of the persevering 

 kind which will come back or can be easily got back 

 to the line. Many checks you will experience, but by 

 patience and trouble, and making casts to recover 

 the line, you will be able at last to run down your 

 cock pheasant until the dog can stand to him steadily 

 in some thick place where he has decided to squat, 

 and you can walk up and kill him easily. 



If the pursuit take place exclusively in very thick 

 covert, underbrush, gorse, and the like, a spaniel will 



