138 PHEASANTS 



upwards in search of light and air — would 

 present an endless vista of long clean 

 stems rising from the bare ground ; no 

 stray side branches, for timber trees must 

 be hemmed in to prevent any "furnishing," 

 which leads to infinite deterioration in the 

 quality of the wood ; no undergrowth, for 

 the sun cannot penetrate the dense over- 

 head canopy. 



A solid block of perchance 500 acres, 

 whereof 50 would offer some covert for 

 game, a bare 20 give birds a few trees to 

 roost in, and the whole of the remaining 

 430 acres afford to the wandering pheasant 

 — who finds no special merit in good 

 growing timber — nought but a bare and 

 uninviting world, wherein he must fare 

 sans shelter, sans sun, sans food, sans 

 roost, sans everything in short that makes 

 life to him worth living. 



Thus far the forester, and it must be 

 borne in mind that, owing to the peculiar 

 circumstances with which he has had to 

 deal in this country, the effects of his 

 '* working system" do not immediately 



