ii. PHEASANT REARING (PART /) 23 



faction to the game preserver of retaining a good 

 stock of birds in his own coverts to show sport to his 

 friends and himself. 



As the new system proved so successful, the 

 artificial rearing of pheasants soon became general ; 

 and now for some thirty years past we have had this 

 magnificent gamebird established in profusion, as a 

 source of sport to the richer classes, and of 2 )ro fo 

 food, and employment to the poorer ; and the more 

 numerous the species the more useful is it as a 

 scavenger to clear the noxious grubs and worms (on 

 which pheasants delight to feed) from cultivated 

 land. 



Still, if, notwithstanding the present extraordinary 

 numbers of pheasants in England, their artificial 

 rearing was discontinued, we should, in a few years, 

 return to the scattered wild birds of our ancestors ; 

 and, moreover, these would have far less chance of 

 surviving than formerly, as in our day there are a 

 score shooters to the one that existed in the early 

 years of the century, besides much less shelter in the 

 form of wood and waste land for the birds to take 

 refuge in from the gun. , 



If pheasants only reared their young as success- 

 fully as partridges, and did not roost in trees, or 

 stray in all directions but the right one, and had not 

 so many enemies, they would not require so much 

 preservation ; but as it is we are forced to artificially 

 produce our birds to save them from extinction, a 



