126 PHEASANTS BREEDING HOUSE. 



with the call of the hen that hatched them, may 

 have their liberty to run on the grass-plot, or else- 

 where, observing to shift them with the sun, and 

 out of the cold winds ; they should not have their 

 liberty in the morning till the sun is up ; and they 

 must be. shut in with the hen in good time in the 

 evening. 



Every thing now going on properly, you must be 

 very careful (in order to guard against the distem- 

 per to which they are liable) in your choice of a 

 situation for breeding the birds up; and be less 

 afraid of foxes, dogs, pole-cats, and all sorts of ver- 

 min, than .the distemper. I had rather encounter 

 all the former than the latter : for those with care 

 may be prevented, but the distemper once got in is 

 like the plague, and destroys all your hopes. What 

 I mean by a good situation, is nothing more than a 

 place where no poultry, pheasants, or turkeys, &c. 

 have ever been kept ; such as the warm side of a 

 field, orchard, pleasure-ground, or garden, or even 

 on a common, or a good green lane, under circum- 

 stances of this kind ; or by a wood side ; but then 

 it is proper for a man to keep with them under a 

 temporary hovel, and to have two or three dogs 

 chained at a proper distance, with a lamp or two at 

 night. I have known a great number of pheasants 

 bred up in this manner in the most exposed situa- 

 tions. It is proper for the man always to have a 

 gun, that he may keep off the hawks, owls, jays, 

 magpies, &c. The dogs and lamps intimidate the 

 foxes beyond any other means ; and the dogs will 

 give tongue for the man to be on his guard if smaller 



