56 Practical Game Preserving. 



and the placing of them on all trees where roosting birds 

 would be easily seen, serve a twofold purpose. They pre- 

 vent, to a large extent, the real birds from going to roost 

 in trees so ornamented, and they cause the night shooter 

 endless annoyance by wasting his powder and shot, and 

 incurring all the danger of capture by keepers without any 

 recompense. Mock pheasants are a real boon in this respect, 

 and keepers cannot be better employed in their spare time 

 than in making and fixing them up. There are only two 

 descriptions of any good, those made of hay or such similar 

 material, and the solid wooden ones. The flat mock 

 pheasants, cut out of a plank, are next to useless, and the 

 various modes of fashioning them out of cloth, and by 

 stuffing old bird skins, may be similarly characterised. To 

 make mock pheasants of hay, take a piece of wood about 

 three feet long, and shape off about nine inches to a 

 lengthened point to represent the tail. Then on to the 

 remainder bind hay, with string or wire, in the shape of a 

 pheasant's body, making it as near the real thing in form 

 as possible, even if the outline be somewhat peculiar. 

 These make-believes can either be tied on to the boughs, 

 or a skewer of iron be driven through the body, wood and 

 all, and the mock birds so fastened to the trees. We think 

 the latter plan of fastening has the advantage. 



There are several ways of making the solid mock 

 pheasants, some entailing a large amount of work and prac- 

 tical experience of the turner's art. The most simple, and 

 at the same time comparatively effective plan, is to take a 

 piece of ripe larch pole, no matter the length, provided 

 the diameter does not exceed 8in., nor is less than 5in. 



