158 GAME PRESERVERS XSB BIRD PRESERVERS 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE PHEASANT. 



The pheasants form such a splendid addition 

 to our hst of British birds that we cannot un- 

 derstand how any gentleman who is fond of 

 birds can be satisfied if he has not a consider- 

 able number on his estate. They might easily 

 be twenty times as numerous as they are, when 

 they would be sold at a price that would put 

 them within reach of hundreds who now never 

 taste them ; but the unsatisfactory state of the 

 law is no doubt one reason why they are not 

 encouraged in many places as they deserve to 

 be. We can never see any reason why all 

 birds should not be made the property of the 

 owner or occupier of the land, as much as liis 

 cows and pigs. The Game Laws are called a 

 relic of feudal times, but it is the extraordinary 



