32 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTEK 



small shooting; but with a little management you 

 can generally do so, and collect eggs enough to rear 

 as many birds as your land will carry ; more than 

 this it is foolish to attempt, as you then only breed 

 the surplus game for your neighbour's gun. Some 

 estates will support a much larger head of pheasants 

 than others of a similar size, owing to the favourable 

 quality of the soil, the amount and nature of the 

 woods and undergrowth, the proximity of corn fields 

 round the plantations, and last, not least, from 

 compactness of outline. 



You can soon discover the capabilities of your 

 preserves by noting how many birds you kill in 

 proportion to what you turn out. If you kill nearly 

 what you turn out (90 per cent, let us say), and at the 

 same time leave a sufficient number of hens to supply 

 eggs for the next season, you should be well satisfied. 

 You may ignore the wild-bred birds in your calcula- 

 tions, as these may be written off to meet losses from 

 vermin and straying.* 



If you wish to know exactly how your pheasants 

 progress, and what wild and tame reared birds you 

 kill, just snip with a pair of sharp-pointed scissors 



* I here allude to an ordinary game estate of moderate size, with 

 tillage, wood, and grass, and not such land as may be called ' ex- 

 ceptional ' for game producing. Of course, on some of the great 

 properties of Norfolk and Suffolk, the number of pheasants killed 

 exceeds what are turned out by hand a result caused by the lightness 

 of the soil, costly preservation, and the very considerable acreage of 

 ground suitable for the rearing and killing of game such estates 

 contain. 



