PHEASANT. 373 



the part of our larger game preservers, to tlie desire 

 to outvie one another in the amount killed on their 

 respective estates.^ The rivalry of the masters extends 

 to the keepers, till, in many cases, the impression 

 on the minds of the latter appears to be that game 

 preserving is the end and aim of existence, and that 

 corn crops are sown in the first instance for game, 

 the surplus, only, to go towards the necessities of 

 man. Eggs must be procured at any price, losses 

 made good at any cost, and the young pheasants, 

 when fairly turned off, watched night and day till 

 near the end of the season, to afford, probably, after 

 all the trouble and expense, only two "big days," 

 though the game killed would be sufiicient for at 

 least double the number, with more real enjoyment 

 and better shooting. Inasmuch, also, as the coverts 

 will not again be disturbed, and the cock pheasants 

 must of necessity be killed down close, none but the 

 best shots can be entrusted with that important duty, 

 the credit of the estate, as a gigantic game-preserve, 

 resting on their skill. Such is the '^ battue" on a 

 large scale at the present time. That fashion, with 

 all its changes, will ere long, even in this case, induce 

 moderation, and a "hecatomb" of slain be regarded 

 in ^^high" quarters as no longer "the thing" is more 

 than probable ; but if not, I believe the same desirable 

 end will be shortly attained by very different means. 

 Game birds, like poultry, in an artificial state of exist- 

 ence are liable to several very troublesome maladies, 

 and in the rearing of pheasants in such immense 



* Here, after all, tlie main grievance consists in the ravages of 

 hares and rabbits when extensively preserved, the pheasants doing 

 comparatively but little harm ; whilst they destroy, in large 

 quantities, many noxious weeds and insects. Amongst other 

 grubs, to say nothing of caterpillars, the pheasant is particularly 

 partial to the wireworm, one of the farmers' greatest enemies. 



