BASKET PERCHING NETTED PENS. 127 



vermin are near, or when strollers make their ap- 

 pearance. 



The birds going on as before mentioned, should 

 so continue till December, or (if very early bred,) 

 the middle of August. Before they begin to shift 

 the long feathers in the tail, they are to be shut up 

 in the basket with the hen regularly every night ; 

 and when they begin to shift their tail the birds are 

 large, and begin to lie out, that is, they are not 

 willing to come to be shut up in the basket : those 

 that are intended to be turned out wild, should be 

 taught to perch, (a situation they have never been 

 used to ;) this is done by tying a string to the hen's 

 leg, and obliging her to sit in a tree all night : be 

 sure you put her in the tree before sun-set ; and if 

 she falls down, you must persevere in putting her 

 up again till she is contented with her situation ; 

 then the young birds will follow the hen and perch 

 with her. This being done, and the country now 

 covered with corn, fruits, and shrubs, &c. &c. they 

 will shift for themselves. 



For such young pheasants as you make choice of 

 for your breeding stock at home, and likewise to 

 turn out in spring following, provide a new piece of 

 ground, large and roomy for two pens, where no 

 pheasants, &c, have been kept, and there put your 

 young birds in as they begin to shift their tails. 

 Such of them as you intend to turn out at a future 

 time, or in another place, put into one pen netted 

 over, and leave their wings as they are ; and those* 

 you wish to keep for breeding put into the other 

 pen, cutting one wing of each bird. The gold and 



G4' 



