PRESERVATION 119 



more or less accustomed to the presence of the 

 keeper who feeds them. During the pairing and 

 nesting time there are two several methods of 

 procedure. In the first the large enclosure has 

 two or more small covered-in pens, each some 

 5 yards square, permanently attached to it, the 

 doors shutting off the smaller from the larger 

 pen being worked with a line by the man in 

 charge from a hut at the main entrance. As 

 the birds mate, each pair draws away from the 

 rest and seeks the seclusion of one of the smaller 

 pens, the door of which is then closed. The pairs 

 are then taken to the rearing pens, a covered-in 

 circle of some 20 feet in diameter being given to 

 each pair, where they proceed with their family 

 arrangements under surveillance of the keeper. 

 When six days or a week old the coveys are 

 turned out on the ground they are intended to 

 occupy. Moving the coveys is always rather a 

 troublesome business, and it simplifies matters 

 considerably if each rearing pen can be constructed 

 where the home of the covey is to be. On the 

 other hand, it is naturally far easier for the keeper 

 to look after the birds properly when all the 

 rearing pens are in one field; when this is the 

 case the pens should be at least 20 yards apart. 



In the second method, the rearing pens are 

 attached to the main enclosure, shut in the same 

 manner when occupied by a pair, but used by the 

 birds to nest in and only moved after the young 

 are hatched. The old birds are then caught and 



