PENS AND AVIARIES. 79 



birds are quite incapable of taking due care of themselves 

 when turned out into the open, and are liable to fall a prey 

 to ground vermin. 



As illustrative of the mode in which a large number of 

 birds can be successfully kept in one locality, I will describe 

 the arrangements which I saw at the pheasantries belonging 

 to Mr. Leno, a very successful rearer. The birds are kept in 

 runs enclosed by hurdles betw^een six and seven feet high. 

 These are formed of stout straight larch laths nailed to cross 

 pieces of oak or other strong wood, and are fastened to stout 

 posts securely driven into the ground. As the posts are 

 capable of being easily withdrawn and replaced, there is no 

 difficulty in moving the pens year after year — a most 

 important consideration for the preservation of the health of 

 the birds. Moreover, by employing a greater or smaller 

 number of hurdles and posts, pens of any required size 

 may be constructed, so as to accommodate a larger or smaller 

 number of birds. On my visit, the runs had recently been 

 shifted on to ne-w ground, which consisted of young hazel 

 coppice, which had been partly cleared. The surface was 

 covered with the dead leaves of last yearns growth and with 

 short underw^ood, affording ample opportunity for the birds to 

 amuse themselves by scratching for insects and by seeking 

 food amongst the leaves. The amount of undergrowth 

 afforded another important advantage, that the birds, on the 

 entrance of a stranger, could run under shelter, and so 

 conceal themselves, instead of dashing about wildly, as they 

 would otherwise have done. No roof or shelter of any kind 

 was afforded them, had such been erected the birds would only 

 have used it for roosting upon, and not for sleeping under. In 

 each pen was a horizontal pole, supported about four feet from 

 the ground by a post at each end. Across this was laid a 

 number of stout branches and long faggots, forming a 

 kind of shelter to which the birds could have recourse, 

 and under which the hens would occasionally lay; but the 

 chief advantage it affords is that of a roosting-place, elevated 



