THE PHEASANT. 163 



grouse of which we can boast, are fast diminishing, 

 notwithstanding the laudable efforts of some spi- 

 rited preservers on whose manors these birds are 

 strictly "tabooed," and where a grey hen is almost 

 as sacred as a fox in Leicestershire ; but for black 

 game, swampy ground is as necessary as the glen 

 and the heather, and moor after moor is enclosed, 

 marsh after marsh is reclaimed ; the species is fast 

 diminishing in number, while the area of its dis- 

 tribution becomes gradually more circumscribed, 

 and a few years will probably witness its total dis- 

 appearance from among us. 



The pheasant is, however, more fortunate, and 

 may be said to be naturalized throughout the 

 whole range of the weald. There, great oak 

 woods, and thick copses of hazel and blackthorn 

 supply it at once with a favourite food* and a safe 

 asylum, and while the impracticable nature of that 

 region tends to baffle the efforts of those light- 



* The partiality of pheasants to acorns is well known. 

 Gamekeepers in the weald declare, and with perfect truth, 

 that it is impossible to keep these birds from wandering 

 during what they call " a great year for acres," barley and 

 even beans then losing all their former attractions. At 

 Bedham, on the estate of a friend of mine in this neigh- 

 bourhood, there now stands a goodly row of oak trees 

 which were raised from a handful of acorns taken from the 

 crop of a single pheasant. 



