60 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



the cubs were dependent on a milk diet. A curious 

 case of an exemplary fox was that of the unfortunate 

 one which met his end while carrying a shoulder of 

 carrion mutton to two vixens and two litters inhabit- 

 ing the same earth. 



March brings the gallant cock pheasant to his court- 

 ing days. He knows that he is safe from men and 

 guns, and stands recklessly within easy gun- 



in Pens^ shot ' a figure of defiance - s ^ ould he step 

 away he lifts his feet with a pompous and 

 disdainful air. He keeps a sharp eye on the hen 

 pheasants of the wood : the time is near when he will 

 be the sultan of half a score of hens ; that is, if he 

 remains at large in the woods. If confined in the 

 keeper's pens, the number of wives is sternly regu- 

 lated, and five, or at the most seven, are allowed to 

 him. It is curious that in captivity the number of 

 the cock pheasant's hens must be kept down, whereas 

 the mallard, who pairs when wild, will cheerfully 

 accept a polygamous state, and will faithfully husband 

 two or three ducks if kept in a pen. 



When partridges are penned up for a few months 

 in the breeding season, on the French system of rear- 

 ing, they remain faithful to their rule of pairing. 

 Keepers have found that it is useless to try to regu- 

 late the partridge courtships : the birds must be 

 left to their own instincts in choosing mates. It 



