Pheasants General Management, &>c. 65 



may consist of barley, buckwheat, and oats in the straw, some 

 artichokes or parboiled potatoes on the ground, and some 

 maize in a feeding hopper (of which more anon). When 

 the weather is bad, snow and frost alike rendering food 

 almost inaccessible, it is necessary to supplement the stock 

 of grain in straw by carrying to the huts a daily quantum of 

 other foods while the bad weather lasts. This may take 

 the form of acorns, beechmast, raisins in small quantities, 

 some turnip or mangold, these to be quite sound and free 

 of frosting, and of other grain, say beans, dari-seed, pease, 

 and wheat. 



Another form of food shelter is a simpler affair, and is 

 intended more for the purpose of keeping rain from the 

 sheaf of corn beneath than to serve at all as a sheltered 

 feeding place for the birds. Though the construction is 

 simple, yet, if made carefully, these shelters will stand for 

 years as a proof of their utility for the purpose designed. 

 They are made in the same manner as the larger food 

 shelter, but only measure 4ft. square or a little less. In 

 the centre of the ground beneath the roof a stake should 

 be driven in, so as to leave about two feet of its length 

 projecting, and be pointed at its extremity. Upon this the 

 sheaf of corn in the straw is thrust, and so prevented from 

 falling when the pheasants pluck at the ears. The chief 

 aim of this kind of feeding is to keep the pheasants as 

 wild as possible. It is but natural that birds which depend 

 for their sustenance during winter and this is more par- 

 ticularly the case with the pheasant upon food brought 

 to them or provided daily by human hands, should 

 acquire a certain, perhaps ill-defined state of domestication. 



F 



