186 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



thousands. We know places where so many pheasants 

 may be seen at any time as to suggest that they 

 swarm there regardless of the season. But the birds 

 seen casually may have been bought from a game- 

 farm and turned down, to make up a supply that 

 failed. However, it always delights the sportsman's 

 eye to see many pheasants about a wood especially 

 if he has the shooting. 



From a just standpoint, it is the comparison of 

 what might have been with what is that settles the 

 verdict on the pheasant season. The season cannot 

 be judged by the birds of one preserve. Allowance 

 must be made for many points. The number of wild 

 broods to wild hens left to manage their own affairs, 

 and the number of eggs set under fowls and how they 

 hatched must be considered. Then the quality of 

 the rearing-ground makes one district much better 

 than another whether heavy or light, low-lying or 

 high, and rich or poor in natural food. The question 

 of foxes must be weighed, and one would like to 

 know before judging a season from any one case how 

 many birds were turned into covert at five to seven 

 weeks old, and how many fell victims to foxes to 

 say nothing of gapes. 



* + f 



The keeper may control the supply of hand-reared 

 birds : he may make up for the spoiling of an egg, 

 or the loss of a chick, which would otherwise mean 

 a pheasant the less ; but he has no control over 



