220 PHEASANTS 



might reasonably expect to serve as a 

 pattern for all the rest, places where 

 ten or twenty thousand pheasants are 

 commonly reared, a strange neglect of 

 most necessary precautions is sometimes 

 noticeable. 



On a tour of inspection the particular 

 which gave chief offence was generally 

 the condition of the sitting-boxes and 

 their surroundings, and the writer has 

 seen this first home of future trouble in a 

 state that would give a Sergeant-Major — 

 typical exponent of the cult of cleanliness 

 — a fit on the spot, on an estate too, where 

 no expense was spared to make the 

 shooting among the best in the country. 



In this case the common failure to 

 maintain a high level of production was 

 set down to the * hungry ' nature of the 

 land and consequent dearth of insect life ; 

 but the primary cause might have been 

 found nearer home. 



The quantities of disinfectants, paint, 

 lime, and the labour to apply them count 

 for little in the heavy expenses of ex- 



