PHEASANTS 137 



Pheasants constitute the game bird par excellence 

 which has regulated to a great extent the manage- 

 ment of a large area of the woods of this country. 



The chief desiderata governing the sport connected 

 with this bird are cover on the ground and high 

 rises i.e. belts of tall trees over which the birds 

 may be brought at a sporting elevation above the 

 guns. To obtain these objects the whole manage- 

 ment of the woods in the past has been based on 

 certain requirements, topographical ones and others. 

 And to fulfil these objects very often the con- 

 ditions required for commercial forestry have been 

 impossible of fulfilment. 



It is open to doubt whether the rearing of phea- 

 sants on the scale which it had reached at the out- 

 break of war will be seen for some years to come 

 in the country. But be this as it may, the main- 

 tenance of the woods as a commercial proposition 

 on an estate is not antagonistic with a very fair 

 amount of pheasant shooting. But the latter 

 must be subordinated to the former. The forester 

 must be in control and the gamekeeper occupy the 

 subordinate position. 



The practical study I had made of this question 

 before there was any question of the war, led me to 

 the conclusion that it was quite feasible to prescribe 

 a well- conceived system of management on a forest 

 estate with a proper sequence of fellings and plantings 

 laid down on a well-thought-out plan whilst at the 

 same time keeping in view the main requirement of 

 the owner,that his woods should be able to afford him 

 first-class pheasant shooting. Such a scheme, owing 



