NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 69 



standing crops of beans, and growing 

 turnips are at times the subject of 

 appreciable damage. This completes the 

 tale of misdeeds which agriculture may 

 impute to the pheasant, for few farmers 

 could be hardhearted enough to grudge 

 him place among the gleaners on the 

 stubbles. 



From taking note of what pheasants eat 

 to a thought of their place on the farm 

 was a somewhat natural digression ; but 

 the measures that the preserver of many 

 pheasants may take to minimize the 

 depredations of their charges and keep the 

 farming interest at least neutral seem to 

 come under rather a different heading, and 

 are dealt with in another chapter ; here let 

 it suffice to state the fact that there is a 

 distinct limit to the number of pheasants 

 that a farm can support without undue 

 tax being placed on its resources. 



The interior economy of the pheasant 

 is well adapted to deal with the miscel- 

 laneous objects with which it is at different 

 times presented. The beak is a good all- 



