280 THE KEEPERS BOOK 



where pheasants are reared. Most birds get 40 per 

 cent, more food than is necessary, and the keeper must 

 combine a sense of responsibility with his judgment 

 in discovering the right mean. No encouragement 

 should be given to the practice of habitually buying 

 "patent" foods. The keeper should make and prepare 

 his own food. 



When the young pheasants are old enough the coops 

 and chicks are removed to the covers. 



Poaching the Pheasant 



Watching must be carefully carried out by night 

 and by day, and the possible depredations by foxes and 

 poachers dealt with. If trespassers or night poachers 

 are suspected in any covert, threads should be stretched 

 in the evening across any likely paths of access, twelve 

 inches or so from the ground. Their condition in the 

 morning will warn the keeper as to the presence of 

 poachers, and a careful look-out must be kept for the 

 next few nights. 



Alarm guns, bells, etc., may also be used. Arti- 

 ficial pheasants nailed to the branches of trees afford a 

 good plan of thwarting the poacher. 



A strict look-out should be kept for any suspicious 

 carts that may be loitering about the ground. It is as 

 well that the keeper should gallop on horseback round 

 the roads and over the estate every evening. 



Depredations by foxes or dogs during pheasant- 

 rearing can be frustrated by stretching several lengths 



