82 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



flexible binding wire, which should also be used to secure 

 them together at top and bottom. The posts should be 

 inside the pen, as better calculated to resist any pressure 

 from without. 



The hurdles should rest on the ground without any 

 opening below, and if they are sunk three or four inches 

 below the surface, the pens will be more secure against dogs 

 and foxes or any animals likely to scratch their way under. 

 The size of these pens should be as large as convenient ; for a 

 cock and three to five hens the utmost number that should 

 be placed together as many hurdles should be employed as 

 will form a pen twenty- five to thirty-five feet square, the 

 smaller containing 625 square or superficial feet of surface; 

 the larger, which will require less than half as many more 

 hurdles, containing nearly double the interior space, namely, 

 1225 square feet. If the birds are full winged, these 

 enclosures must be netted over the top ; for this purpose 

 old tanned herring netting, which can be bought very cheaply, 

 will be found much better than wire- work, as the pheasants 

 are apt, when frightened, to fly up against the top of the 

 enclosure, and if it be of wire, to break their necks or 

 seriously injure themselves. Should netting be employed, 

 several upright poles, with cross pieces at the top, are required 

 to be placed at equal distances to support the netting, and 

 prevent it hanging down into the interior of the pen. A 

 much better plan is to leave the pen quite open at the top, and 

 to clip one of the wings of each bird by stripping with a pair 

 of scissors the quills of twelve or fourteen of the flight feathers. 

 When the birds cannot fly they become much tamer, are 

 more productive, and are not so apt to injure themselves by 

 dashing about wildly, especially if there be, as is desirable, 

 brushwood cover or faggots in the pen, under which they 

 can run and conceal themselves. Some persons are in the 

 habit of pinioning the birds by cutting off the last joint 

 of the wing, thus removing permanently the ten primary 

 quills, but the plan is not to be recommended, as the pinioned 



