Chapter 3 : 
Pheasants
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18881888

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Author : Leo Tolstoy

Translator : Nathan Haskell Dole

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In the Caucasus woodcock are called fazamii, or 
pheasants. They are so abundant that they are cheaper 
than domestic fowl. Pheasants are hunted with the 
kobuilka} with the podsada, or by means of the dog. 
This is the method of hunting with the kobuilka[1] You 
take canvas and stretch it over a frame ; in the middle 
of the frame you put a joist, and make a hole in the 
canvas. This canvas-covered frame is called a kobuilka. 
With this kobuilka and a gun you go out into the forest 
just after sunrise. You carry the kobuilka in front of 
you, and through the hole you keep a lookout for pheasants. The pheasants in the early morning go out in 
search of food. Sometimes you come across a whole 
family ; sometimes the hen with the chicks ; sometimes 
the cock with his hen ; sometimes several cocks together. 
The pheasants see no man, and they are not afraid 
of the canvas, and they let any one approach very near. 
Then the hunter sets down his kobuilka, puts the muzzle 
of his musket out through the hole, and shoots at his 
leisure. 
The following is the method of hunting with the 
podsada: You let loose in the woods a little common 
house-dog, and follow after him. When the dog starts 
up a pheasant, he chases it. The pheasant flies into a 
tree, and then the whelp begins to yelp. The hunts- 
man goes in the direction of the barking, and shoots 
the pheasant in the tree. 
This mode of hunting would be easy if the pheasant 
would fly into an isolated tree, or would sit on an exposed branch so as to be in full sight. But the pheasants always choose a tree in the densest part of the 
thicket, and when they see the huntsman they hide 
behind the branches. 
It is not only hard to make your way through the thicket to the tree where the pheasant is perched, but 
it is hard, also, to get sight of him. When it is only a 
dog barking under the tree, the pheasant is not afraid ; 
he sits on the limb, and cocks [2] his head at him, and 
flaps his wings. But the instant he sees a man, he 
stretches himself out along the limb, so that only an 
experienced sportsman would be likely to perceive him, 
while an inexperienced man would stand underneath 
and see nothing. 
When the Cossacks steal out against pheasants, they 
always hide their faces behind their caps, and don't look 
up, because the pheasant is afraid of a man with a 
musket, but is most of all afraid of his eyes. 
Pheasants are hunted by means of the dog [3] in this 
manner: They take a setter and follow him into the 
woods. The setter catches the scent where early in the 
morning the pheasants have been out feeding, and he 
begins to follow the trail. No matter how many times 
the pheasants have crossed their tracks, a good setter 
will always pick out the last one, leading from the place 
where they had been feeding. 
The farther the dog gets on the track, the stronger 
the scent becomes, and thus he reaches the very place 
where the pheasant has stopped for the day to rest or 
walk in the grass. When he comes near, his scent tells 
him that the pheasant is directly in front of him, and he 
now begins to go more cautiously, so as not to scare the 
bird, and then he stops to make the leap and seize it. 
When the dog is very near to the bird, then the pheasant flies up, and the sportsman shoots him. 


[1] Literally, little mare. 


[2] The same pun in the original.


[3] Iz pod sobaki.



     From : Wikisource.org

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     Chapter 3 -- Publication : November 30, 1887

     Chapter 3 -- Added : June 30, 2021

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