Grouse, partridges, and pheasants are low-flying birds, unlike
wood-pigeons and rooks; it is their habit to skim along near to earth.
And pheasants might be truly described as ground birds. Only on
occasions do they fly high, and then usually for one of three definite
causes. Flushed on high ground they may maintain a high elevation as
they cross a valley. Rising on low ground, the direction of their
flight may necessitate an upward line, as when trees or hills lie
before them. Forced to rise suddenly, having lain low while danger has
approached, on finding men in full sight between themselves and the
place they have determined to reach they then rocket instinctively.
Rooks and wood-pigeons naturally fly at a height well out of gunshot;
and the cynical critic of British shooting methods might observe with
truth that the bagging of a dozen ordinary wood-pigeons involves a
higher order of sportsmanship than the bagging of fifty ordinary
pheasants.
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