The Common Pheasant. 67 



All that has been written on the treatment of the 

 foreign varieties equally applies to the common 

 pheasant. It is very desirable that young birds should 

 not be reared each year, or certainly more than 

 two years at the most, on the same ground. It is not 

 so much a matter of taint in the soil, as that insects 

 will, in a great measure, have been destroyed, and 

 young birds cannot thrive without these. No doubt 

 some localities are far more suitable to the production 

 of insects than others, and it is these that best suit 

 young birds. Hot gravels and baking clay are alike 

 most unsuitable; neither are bare and exposed places 

 fit; but well-sheltered hillsides, sloping to south-west, 

 are to be preferred. 



The coops are generally placed in lines, or in such 

 form as will best enable the keeper to attend to them. 

 It is very desirable that there be some bushes, either 

 natural or artificial, to which the young birds can retreat 

 in case of alarm from crows or hawks. The coops 

 should be shaded with green boughs in very hot 

 weather, and moved every day, or even twice a day, 

 on to fresh ground. All the instructions given in 

 previous chapters as to damp under coops, protection, 

 &c., will have to be observed; also those with regard 

 to food and water. 



Should there be any need to change the situation of 

 the coops, the instructions previously given as to shut- 

 ting in the birds will readily enable you to do this, and 

 the form of coop and run illustrated (Fig. 3) will be 

 found very suitable. 



F 2 



