PHEASANTS IN COVERT AND AVIARY 



If there is a rookery about, especially when young rooks 

 are in the nest, she will generally visit such in the hope of 

 finding some unfortunate young rooks. It is a very good 

 plan for the gamekeeper to shoot a few and leave them 

 lying about on the ground. 



Sometimes it is a good plan to induce a Vixen to change 

 her place of abode, and if there is a sandy bank with 

 numerous rabbit burrows and plenty of rabbits around, a 

 fresh earth can be dug for her. It is not a difficult matter 

 to stink her out of her burrow by applying a quantity of 

 Reynardine or some other pungent material at the entrance 

 to her home. She will under these circumstances usually 

 shift her cubs, and as the latter increase in size, the rabbits 

 in the vicinity will supply them with food. Rats and mice, 

 pigeons and rooks, stoats and weasels, rabbits and various 

 other birds will all serve as food for the cubs. Fo.xes will 

 destroy stoats, weasels, and rats, particularly rats, and this is 

 about the only useful function that can be assigned to 

 them beyond that of the pleasure they afford as sport in 

 hunting them. 



A mangy Fox is the most cunning of all, and when 

 one is suspected of suffering from mange, the sooner it is 

 destroyed the better. It is no use to the hunting man, 

 and the constant irritation induced by the parasites in the 

 skin renders life intolerable to itself, consequendy it is 

 always on the prowl and does incalculable harm. If a 

 keeper has reason to suspect the existence of mangy Foxes, 

 he should acquaint either the secretary or master of the 

 hunt, failing this, one of the hunt servants, and co-operate 

 with such for the destruction of the affected animals. Mange 

 in the Fox is a parasitic skin trouble and readily spreads 

 from one Fox to another both by direct and indirect contact. 

 For instance, a burrow may be the medium of infection, if 



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