28 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



If you commence with the woods, you will pro- 

 bably drive any hens therein that have not yet laid, 

 or that may desert their eggs, to lay in the open. If 

 you search in the open first, the reverse of this is the 

 case. 



Gather closely, however, in all distant or un- 

 protected plantations, as it is best such woods should 

 fill up in the autumn with the birds that wander 

 from your home coverts. 



When you have found a nest, cut the bark off 

 some tiny twig near to mark the spot, in such a 

 manner as to attract your eye alone ; for if you do not 

 know the exact position of a nest after its first dis- 

 covery, you are liable, by trampling about and poking 

 under the leaves with a stick, to leave evidence of 

 your visit that the pheasant may resent to such an 

 extent as to desert her nest which, if she has laid 

 but a few eggs, she is only too ready to do. If you 

 see a pheasant actually on her nest, and you know 

 she is not sitting, walk away instantly ; if you frighten 

 her off, and she chances to be laying, it is doubtful 

 if she will return to it ! 



In the case of nests in bare open places where the 

 rooks and jackdaws or magpies (ground vermin I do 

 not consider, as they should not exist) are likely to 

 rob them, not to speak of egg stealers, take the 

 eggs daily as laid, replacing them with those of a 



