PHEASANT EEAEING. 179 



days. He was a brave little bird, and had no 

 intention of dying if he could help it. We 

 often took him out, and fed him on chopped 

 eggs and young heather, and he would peck at 

 it as we held it, and pull till he tumbled back- 

 wards, and then up and at it again. We put 

 him after dark under a hen who was hatchino- 

 pheasants ; but in those two days he had learnt 

 to love the old turkey, and he knew her gentle 

 voice, and she missed the httle creature and 

 called to him ; and he left his warm bed under 

 the strange hen, clambered over the side of a 

 high basket, and ventured in the cold and 

 darkness all across the building to her box, but 

 he could not get in, and was lying dead close 

 to it in the morning, and we were sorry for 

 him. 



The young pheasants must be put out the 

 day after they are hatched. Coops are cheaply 

 made, and we use two for each hen, putting 

 the empty one a few inches in front of the 

 other in wet and stormy weather. It prevents 



2s- 2 



