11 OCTOBER 1946, Page 15

COUNTRY LIFE

THE- season becomes fully open on October 1st, when pheasants may be shot. The birds will be given this season a rather longer lease of safety- than usual, for in spite of gales and because of lack of sun, the leafage- is still fresh and green ; and some bushes, notably the blackberry,' are still growing and layering themselves. Indeed, in some recently afforested land. the plantations are virtually impenetrable so thickly ranged are the loops of the briars. The only adequate beaters in one w known to me would be dogs, and they would not have an easy passage Some of the woods felled in the war are succeeded by a singularly rouglf after-growth, which makes them almost as difficult to comb.