Pheasants Protection. 



55 



therefore, to the ingenuity of the preserver to discover 

 them himself. 



The poaching of pheasants may be divided into the two 

 kinds of night poaching and day poaching, with egg stealing. 

 The first-named is the most obnoxious and the most 

 dangerous, both as regards the preserves and the pre- 

 servers ; for, from the comparatively modest person who 

 strolls through the covert at night, accompanied only with 

 a heavy stick, and with no aid beyond the light of the 

 moon, night poaching ranges to the band of fifteen or 

 twenty ruffians, who take the coverts by storm, bid defiance 

 to both keepers and watchers, and resort to desperate 

 means of defence at the slightest interruption of their 

 nefarious proceedings. On estates where continual vigi- 

 lance is the order of both the day and night, very little of 

 the ordinary class of night shooting of pheasants can occur. 

 The more extensive part of the business is impossible in 

 coverts of the proper type, composed of thick spruce and 

 fir trees for the most part, in which pheasants at roost are 

 perfectly undiscernible. If, however, the coverts are of such 

 kind as to expose the birds to view, then some of the 

 various means applicable must be brought into use to 

 prevent any wholesale slaughter. Of course, when one is 

 able to ascertain that a particular night has been selected 

 for a "go" at the coverts and this is very often possible 

 arrangements can be made to provide a warm reception for 

 the poachers, but, under ordinary circumstances, night 

 watching is the only reliable plan of protecting large well- 

 stocked coverts. 



The manufacture of mock pheasants in large numbers, 



