THE WILD PHEASANT 191 



fifteen hundred years and more without 

 much assistance at the hands of man. 

 Certainly in medieval times we occasion- 

 ally come across references such as the 

 following, which would seem to indicate 

 that the practice of rearing by hand was 

 not unknown. 



Privy Purse expenses of King Henry viii. December 

 1532 



Itm the xxij daye paied to the french 

 preste the fesaunt breeder for to 

 buye him a goune and other neces- 

 sarys xls 



But these pheasants were probably 

 aviary birds, bred and reared for the table, 

 and had little intercourse with or effect 

 on the wild birds, who must in the main 

 have had to rely on their own exertions 

 for the means of existence. 



It is less than a century since the 

 practice of rearing pheasants became at 

 all well known in this country, and until 

 its general adoption there is every reason 

 to suppose that a race of wild pheasants, 

 scanty in numbers, but sufficient to 



