Pheasants Breeding and Rearing. 



be kept, while vermin of all sorts will have previously had 

 their own free will to multiply to an unlimited extent, and 

 will make their presence felt by wholesale plunder. Conse- 

 quently, the first steps taken must be to clear off, or at least 

 decimate the vermin, at the same time using every endeavour 

 to prevent the birds from straying off, and the most effective 

 and practical manner of gaining this end is to rear the 

 nucleus of one's stock in a semi-wild state, so that the 

 young birds, never knowing otherwise, adapt themselves 

 immediately to the place and attract others and old birds 

 by their company. The vermin is best and most easily 

 cleared out to a large extent before any birds are turned 

 down or reared, and, this matter once satisfactorily disposed 

 of, a determination can be arrived at as to the plan for 

 raising the prospective head of birds. 



The purchase of pheasants " to turn down" is invariably 

 a very unsatisfactory mode of commencing operations. 

 Sometimes the birds when turned away, if carefully 

 watched and considerately tended with sufficient allure- 

 ment in the shape of daily supplies of tasty food, may be 

 induced to regulate themselves to their new domicile ; but 

 we have ofttimes found it to be the case that they never 

 settled down, nor took to the place, but had invariably 

 decreased to about five-sixths their original number after 

 one winter. We shall therefore take two instances ; in one 

 where actually there are no pheasants at all ; in the second 

 where there is a small sprinkling already established, and 

 describe a thorough and practical course of procedure in 

 each, which will ultimately result in a sufficiency of birds 

 to ensure at least a month's good rough pheasant shooting, 



