390 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



"No." "Then go home and look at your 

 hens, and you will find that they are full 

 of lice.' 



He did so, and dressed his hens with oil to 

 kill the lice, but all the pheasants eggs he had, 

 numbering six hundred, were destroyed. I 

 gave him a hundred eggs, and some keepers 

 gave him ten, and some twenty ; so between 

 us we nearly made up his loss. Neither his 

 master, or anyone else, knew of this, only 

 ourselves. Whenever such a thing occurs you 

 should disinfect your hens, and give them 

 fresh nests, thoroughly disinfected. 



When bringing up young birds you should 

 change your ground as often as possible ; if 

 you bring them up on this meadow one year, 

 don't use that meadow for rearing purposes 

 the next year. Never rear your birds on the 

 same ground for two consecutive seasons if 

 you can help it ; of course if you are short of 

 grass land you may sometimes be obliged to, 

 but avoid doing so if you possibly can. In the 

 latter case you should get the sheep folded on 

 the rearing ground during the winter, for 



