Game

I forgot to mention that the other birds we see frequently are game birds, pheasants and partridge. They are bred for the shooting season over the winter, and there are many small pens in the woods near here where they are reared. I do not see the point of mindless slaughter and would always want to eat anything I had shot, but I also love the sight of the birds on the stubbled fields. Male pheasants are very beautiful birds, richly coloured with bronze and reds and deep blues. The females are patterned with soft browns and streaks of darker browns and greys, camouflaged against the fields and bracken. They stand about with an air of mild surprise - the foxes must love them - until the first guns scare them into hiding. On the hill once we had ten or fifteen birds flying through the tall, sparse trees to escape the guns in the valley below, a whirring, clacketty flight then a long glide. The other game birds are Red-legged Partidges, small dignified birds that scurry through the hedges and for all their striking colour can disappear very easily.