10 PHEASANT. 



to men, who, by beating the bushes and thickets, effectually drive out the birds; and if 

 the shooter keeps a little in advance of the beaters, he can hardly fail to have good 

 sport, if there is any game in the cover. In this case a retriever is of course necessary 

 to find the dead and wounded birds. In Pheasant shooting the hen birds, which are 

 easily known by the shortness of the tail, are allowed to escape, so that the breed may 

 be maintained. The penalty often exacted by the keeper for shooting a hen Pheasant 

 is ten shillings; and it should always be enforced. 



Having carefully gone over the covers, it will be advisable to examine and beat all 

 the hedge-rows near them, for many of the Pheasants, on being disturbed in their cover, 

 will run to them for shelter, and will afford by far the best shots. 



Should the coverts be very wet, the birds Avill not remain in them, but take to the 

 hedge-rows near for shelter. It is therefore desirable on such occasions to commence in 

 the morning with the hedge-rows, and by keeping between the Pheasants and the cover, 

 so as to cut them off from their places of security, you may be sure of some good sport. 

 When the young sportsman has got over the nervous feeling, which is very generally 

 caused by the sudden whirr and rush of the Pheasant on rising, he will find it a bird 

 easily shot, as from its large size and steady flight it oilers a good mark to aim at. 

 The time to fire is when it has finished its spiral-mounting flight on first rising, and 

 just as it begins to make right away. The head should be aimed at, as the bird is thus 

 less injured for the table, than if shot in any other part of the body. The quality of 

 coolness and steadiness cannot be too much cultivated by the young shooter, and in 

 Pheasant shooting this is doubly necessary. It is not an uncommon occurrence for the 

 tyro to be so surprised on a Pheasant rising, as to be entirely incapacitated for bringing 

 it down, and he will stand gaping, and with wide-open eyes, utterly unable to pull 

 the trigger, or put the gun to his shoulder; should he however succeed in discharging 

 his gun, it is a great chance if he takes any aim, and it will be well for any companion 

 to keep out of harm's way, or he may possibly receive the benefit of his friend's fire 

 instead of the Pheasant. 



The Pheasant is, 'par excellence,' the game chosen for battu shooting; this kind of 

 shooting we have always considered more like wholesale slaughter of the birds than fair 

 sporting, and it certainly does not afford anything like the same pleasure as is derived 

 from the pursuit of the Pheasant in a smaller way in the covers, or hedge-rows near 

 them. Where birds are very plentiful, and have been kept unmolested for a particular 

 day, when the cover is besieged with a large party of shooters, keepers, and beaters, 

 the numbers shot by individuals are certainly often very great; but on such occasions he 

 must- be a bad shot who does not make a very large bag ; he might do the same in 

 any farm-yard, and with an exercise of nearly as much skill. 



The nest of the Pheasant is of a very simple kind, and is composed of dry grass and 



