56 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS 



LETTEK IV 



PHEASANT BEARING (PART III) 



THE MANAGEMENT OF AN AVIARY 



IF the top of an aviary is closed in, full-winged birds 

 may be kept. This saves the trouble of wing-clipping, 

 and you are able to turn the pheasants adrift directly 

 they have finished laying: when with wing- clipped 

 birds it is necessary to keep them till they can fly 

 again, as, if turned loose before their flight feathers 

 are grown, they fall an easy prey to foxes and vermin. 

 If you decide to confine full-winged pheasants, cover 

 over the top of your pens with cord netting ; wire is 

 unsuitable, as the birds are very liable to injure them- 

 selves by flying upwards against it. 



I do not from experience believe in pheasants being 

 allowed the use of their wings in an aviary. The least 

 alarm, even at times when you are merely collecting 

 the eggs, and they whirr up like rockets ; and though 

 they cannot well suffer damage by colliding with the 

 overhead netting if this is of cord, yet they are apt 

 to dash against the framework of their pens with 

 great force. 



