Practical Game Preserving. 



but this of course regulates itself a good deal according to 

 the relative numerical superiority of the hens. In the first 

 or second week in March the cock begins his search 

 for mates, heralding the same by a considerable amount 

 of crowing, and showing increased brilliancy of plumage 

 and stateliness of mien, which naturally excites the ire of 

 other would-be cavaliers, the result being a considerable 

 number of battles royal for the possession of the hens. 

 The whole of the pheasant's breeding operations take place 

 on the ground, the nest being a very simple arrangement, 

 consisting of any suitable circular depression, either in the 

 ground proper, beneath a bush, or such similar hindrance 

 to discovery, or it may be in long clover or grass, or in a 

 clump of sedge or other coarse herbage. Unfortunately, 

 pheasants have a too frequent fancy for nesting in long 

 meadow grass or clover ; consequently, in these days of 

 mowing machines, the number of nests and broods destroyed 

 is larger far than in the time of the scythe. However, a 

 careful, considerate preserver is aware of this habit, and can 

 take the necessary steps to ensure safety for his nests, 

 guarding them against both the human and mechanical 

 mower. 



The nest itself consists of at most but a few leaves or 

 dry wisps of grass, which go to form the only lining upon 

 which the eggs, eight to eighteen, are consecutively deposited. 

 When disturbed, the hen pheasant leaves her nest reluctantly, 

 and is only " pushed up" when concealment or safety is no 

 longer possible; otherwise, when quitting the "nide" or 

 "nid," as the nest is technically termed, she instinctively 

 scratches a covering of leaves or grass over it, and will also 



