210 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



redeeming quality, and can have no claim what- 

 ever on the sympathies of even the most tender- 

 hearted philanthropist. That his trade is a pro- 

 fitable one there can be no doubt : the high price 

 asked and given for pheasants' eggs by London 

 dealers and their customers, is sufficient testimony 

 on this point. The modern rage for the battue 

 has mainly contributed to the success of this 

 degrading traffic. The comparative facility with 

 which a head of pheasants may be ' got up ' 

 now-a-days in some suburban grove, by having 

 the eggs hatched under barn-door hens, and the 

 chicks reared in a state of partial domestication, 

 long after they are able to fly, has induced many 

 a worthy citizen, who would blush at the idea of 

 being the second-hand receiver of stolen goods, to 

 give an indirect encouragement to this branch of 

 crime. The pheasant is by no means fastidious 

 about his quarters so long as his daily rations 

 are liberally supplied : he will make himself as 

 much at home in a close shrubbery of laurels 

 and lilacs as in the wildest holt. It signifies not 

 that the plantation be of small extent, or even 

 destitute of ground cover or brushwood ; he is the 

 most accommodating bird in all these matters, 

 and modern invention has supplied a cheap and 

 simple substitute. So long as the place is fenced 

 and undisturbed, the rest is easy. A few wag- 



