CHAPTER VII 



PHEASANTS : IN PEACE 



Why keepers prefer pheasants to partridges Advantages of pheasants 

 over partridges Comparisons of nesting habits Hand-rearing 

 Ups and downs The keeper as doctor Short-tailed pheasants 

 not appreciated Peeling eggs An explanation. 



THE pheasant is the apple of the keeper's eye. For 

 the sake of his pheasants he will suffer all things 

 even unto death. When he is ill his thoughts are 

 not of himself, but of his pheasants ; wet and weary, 

 he will walk miles to tend them. It is said that one 

 keeper shot all the nightingales in his woods, lest 

 their singing should disturb the slumber of his 

 pheasants. He would have been just the man for 

 Nero of Rome. At any rate, most keepers live 

 chiefly for pheasants, and several have died in their 

 cause. 



I do not wish to appear unfair or prejudiced 

 toward pheasants they have their place as birds 

 of distinction and value ; but, except in the matter 

 of grandeur of plumage, in my estimation they must 

 take second place to partridges. Apart from their 

 glorious feathers, which, unfortunately, are of no 



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