46 G a 7116 and Foxes. 



suggests its adoption only with extreme caution, 

 because a disturbance at night amongst jukking 

 birds has been known to cause them to leave a 

 covert to spend the next night outside. On one 

 occasion the young pheasants resorted wholesale 

 to an adjacent field of corn, and the foxes followed 

 them up and played severe havoc amongst them 

 before their habit could be checked. 



It is not advisable to feed growing pheasants 

 too liberally on maize, as this cereal has a 

 tendency to fatten unduly and render them heavy 

 and clumsy ; in fact, so lazy do they become that 

 they cease to fly to roost, and prefer to spend the 

 night on the ground, where they are in danger 

 from foxes. Maize has much to answer for with 

 reference to pheasants, and it would be better for 

 sport were it the most expensive instead of the 

 cheapest of grain. 



At times it happens that for some reason young 

 pheasants cease for a short period to thrive after 

 removal to covert, and as ill-health causes 

 moping, a fox which discovers them in such 

 condition is able to destroy a large number of the 

 sickly birds. The latter, even when adult, will not 

 i^y to roost, and therefore everything possible 

 should be done to keep them in the pink of 

 condition. Healthy, birds are always on the qui 



