Hand-7'ea7'eci Pheasants in Covert. 47 



vive^ and much more able to look after their own 

 safety than others in a sickly state. Losses from 

 foxes are often primarily attributable to neglect of 

 the birds' welfare, although it may be difficult to 

 make the reader believe this fact. 



Rough, windy, wet nights are those most 

 dangerous to young pheasants in covert ; nights 

 when the noise of the storm and the clashing of 

 branches overhead enable a fox to creep about 

 unheard. Even on a still, but rainy night, 

 Reynard has a great advantage over jukking 

 birds, for every dead leaf and blade of grass are 

 wet, and do not rustle in the least as he searches 

 to and fro, hunting each inch of covert like a 

 well-trained setter. On such nights as these it 

 is doubly necessary for a keeper to be on the 

 alert in a fox-preserving district. The plumage 

 of the birds being rain-soaked, they make but a 

 poor attempt at frying on being disturbed, are 

 slow in getting on wing, and much more easily 

 caught when found. Their bodies, too, being 

 wet, steam is produced, and this being diffused 

 around causes the scent of a jukking bird to be 

 discernible over a larger area. When young 

 pheasants have taken to ikying to roost regularly, 

 the rearer considers them safe at night so far as 

 foxes are concerned, but if a violent wind arises 



