192 PHEASANTS 



maintain the margin necessary for con- 

 tinued existence, was scattered throughout 

 our arable and woodland districts. Nor, 

 in those times, was there any friendly 

 hand to see the wild pheasant safely 

 through the lean months of the year, or to 

 thin the numbers of his natural enemies 

 — and the records of vermin killed on 

 some estates in the earlier years of game 

 preserving give some idea of what their 

 numbers must have been, when they were 

 allowed to multiply unchecked. 



The game-books of a hundred years 

 ago, when pheasant rearing was practi- 

 cally unknown in this country, give no in- 

 dications of a steadily dwindling stock, 

 requiring repeated introduction of fresh 

 blood to save an exotic bird from con- 

 stantly threatened extinction. On the 

 contrary, these old records of shooting 

 point to a firmly established race, holding 

 its own without much difficulty wherever 

 the conditions were favourable. 



Without going any further into the 

 matter tlian this cursory glance into the 



