54 PRACTICAL PHEASANT REARING. 



him the useful hint to be untiring in his questioning 

 of those who have been longer about the place than 

 he has, as to which field birds have done well on 

 aforetime, and on which they have done badly. There 

 is certain to be some sporting labourer, or energetic 

 beater, who can conjure up sufficient memory, es- 

 pecially if encouraged by the " price of a pint," to 

 furnish these little details ; and rearing birds pretty 

 frequently upon the same field is not so detrimental 

 as it is usually supposed to be. 



Birds get cramp on light soil, and where there are 

 many rocks and stones or banks in a field ; therefore 

 I recommend a deep soil for choice. 



In the southern counties, where it is the custom to 

 cut down the coverts, or springs as they are called, 

 year by year, in order to sell the poles, it is an 

 excellent plan to keep your birds on the field, if they 

 do well and it seems to suit them, for five weeks, and 

 then move the coops into the part of the covert that 

 was last cut down. Birds do well among the springs, 

 and there is an immense amount of insect life emana- 

 ting from amongst the grass that surrounds them, 

 which, when the birds are pretty strong, is most 

 beneficial. 



Very few men should attempt to have more than 

 the hatch from 500 eggs due to come out at one 

 period; the produce of thirty-five hens at a time is 

 quite as much as any ordinary being can manage, and 

 that is about the number required to set 500 eggs, 



