i\. PHEASANT REARING (PART VIII) 149 



bird you are very lucky ; if at 2s. 6d. to 2s. Sd. you 

 will do well ; but you will find that 2s. Sd. to 2s. lOrf. 

 is the usual amount, and on heavy soil, or land with 

 much more grass than corn, their individual cost in 

 food will be as much as 3s. 



As the average selling price of pheasants is 5s. 6d. 

 per brace, it will be seen that, if the birds cost over 

 2s. 9<1. each in food, they will not pay for their 

 victuals. 



The game year may be taken from Feb. 1 to 

 Feb. 1 ; and the total amount of food used in that 

 time, whether in the rearing fields or in the woods, 

 should be set against the value of the total number of 

 pheasants brought to bag between these dates. 



Though I have before me over a dozen accurately 

 kept game books, with all attendant expenses, relating 

 to highly preserved estates of 3,000 to 10,000 acres in 

 various parts of England, there is not one instance 

 among them of game paying its expenses the balance 

 on the wrong side varying from about 150/. to 400Z. 



THE COST OF FEEDING PHEASANTS ON FAVOURABLE 

 SOIL WITH GOOD HOLDING COVERTS 



The accounts given overpage represent the cost in 

 of 1,300 pheasants (killed) from the time they were 

 hatched in the summer of 1891 to the end of the past 

 game season, Feb. 1, 1892. These birds were reared, 

 kept, and shot, on a beat entirely to themselves, and an 

 exact record of all food they consumed was taken daily. 



