THE PHEASANT. 167 



his gleaning operations a week or two before the 

 legitimate time; but this can happen to an inju- 

 rious extent only in very highly preserved dis- 

 tricts, where those checks have been removed from 

 the species which indeed Nature has placed upon 

 the excessive increase of all animals. But unfor- 

 tunately the agriculturist, smarting under a sense 

 of these partial injuries, is too apt to overlook the 

 real benefits conferred on him by the pheasant. 

 During the greater part of the year he is his active 

 friend, devouring immense quantities of insects, 

 which in their larva state are so detrimental to 

 both green and cereal crops. These principles are 

 inculcated in their earliest education, and you 

 cannot accuse the matron of setting them a bad 

 example. At this season they are all decidedly 

 insectivorous. Look at that group of pheasants — 

 why do they so assiduously turn over the dead 

 leaves under those tall trees? The acorns and 

 beechmast have long since disappeared, and the 

 keeper has ceased to scatter the beans or barley 

 with which he was wont to supply them regu- 

 larly during the winter. Why does the mother 

 bird lead her little family to the small ant-hills, or 

 beneath the spreading boughs of the aak which 

 swarm with the leaf-destroying caterpillars? — and 

 why do troops of cock pheasants issue from the 

 woods after a wet night and haunt the neighbour- 



