HAUNTS OF THE PHEASANT. 181 



CHAPTER X. 



" For if a hope of safety rest, 

 'Tis in the sacred name of guest, 

 Who seeks for shelter, storm distress'd, 

 Within a chieftain's hall." 



WALTER SCOTT. 



Favorite Haunts of the Pheasant in a state of Nature A 

 more general Distribution of the Species desirable 

 Inefficiency of the Game Laws Importance of a quiet 

 and secure Place of Retreat Asylum for Pheasants at 

 Walton Hall Descriptive Sketch Crowing of Cock 

 Pheasants Scenery Valley of the Rother Singular 

 Occurrence Importance of Evergreen Timber Trees in 

 Preserves. 



EXTENSIVE oak forests and woods affording 

 a considerable surface of ground cover, intersected 

 by shallow streams, appear favourable to the 

 pheasant in a state of nature. Thus in parts of 

 Austria, Bohemia, and Bavaria they have been 

 known to increase more rapidly and to acquire a 

 firmer footing than even in some of the agricul- 

 tural counties of England where every pains has 

 been taken to establish them. This may be still 

 further attributable to the greater strictness with 

 which the game laws and forest regulations of the 



