160 GA]\IE PRESERVERS AND BIRD PRESERVER 



either of the first-named birds he is a con- 

 temptible thief, but though the pheasant has 

 cost as much to rear as the other birds, if he 

 takes him -he is only a poacher — rather an in- 

 teresting character, and to be screened from 

 punishment if possible. 



We know a farmer in Warwickshire who 

 owns some land which runs between two 

 estates, and the owners of both these estates 

 preserve, and one of them rears a large num- 

 ber of pheasants, and this man scatters a little 

 food on his side of the hedge, fills the hedge 

 with traps, and catches scores of his neighbour's 

 birds. Yet, if he were to catch his neighbour's 

 hens in this manner he w^ould be thought a 

 thief. 



If pheasants were much more generally 

 reared than they are, an Englishman's natural 

 respect for property and sense of justice would 

 soon set this right, and it is a pity there should 

 be a single cover in the whole country without 

 a nice sprinkling of these birds ; and every 



