432 Food and Shelter for Game. 



and in pleasure-grounds, in such abundance as shall in a great 

 measure prevent them from attacking and destroying field crops, 

 remove the cause of complaint of tenants against them, and, 

 by restoring the birds to their native shyness, render them more 

 worthy of the true sportsman's notice. I am nearly convinced 

 that these desirable ends might be accomplished by the introduc- 

 tion of a number of our cultivated fruits into the forests where 

 the latter chance to be thin, and well aired ; and particularly 

 around the margins, where there can be little doubt of their 

 thriving. These fruits might consist of all the common varieties 

 of currant, gooseberry, raspberry, service *, &c, with all the early 

 and hardy sorts of apple and pear that are known to suit the 

 climate of any particular locality. Pears, in particular, I have 

 seen the pheasant devour with great avidity. I am aware that 

 two objections will be offered to this proposal : first, the expense 

 of fruit trees, and of small fruit bushes. These, so long as the 

 demand remains limited, will, of course, keep up their present 

 prices ; but, were the demand for such articles increasing, nur- 

 serymen would likewise increase their respective stocks of them, 

 and, with the certainty of double the usual sales, would be well 

 able to sell, in large quantities, at greatly reduced prices. The 

 other objection is, the encouragement which would thus be given 

 to juvenile depredators; but the cause of this objection would 

 disappear as the fruits became common by every road side : the 

 fruit-growers on Clydesdale and elsewhere can testify to the 

 truth of this. The evergreen privet is another shrub, the im- 

 portance of which, as a covert for game, seems not to be fully 

 known. This plant, like the laurel, retains its leaves all the 

 winter, and is so elastic in its fibre, that it soon loses its upright 

 habit, and, bending down to the earth, throws out roots of its 

 own accord, and so forms one of the most comfortable coverts 

 imaginable. The privet possesses another desirable property. 

 About two years ago, I was employed in packing up a few 

 thousand plants of privet, about 2 ft. high, which had all 

 flowered the previous summer, and produced berries in large 

 quantities : while handling the plants, a few barn-yard fowls, 

 which I then kept, came and picked off the berries, which they 

 seemed to prefer to the oats which were strewed around them. 

 Now, it is not improbable that pheasants might be just as fond 

 of this fruit as these fowls were. I will only farther add, that, 

 if food of this description were provided in sufficient quantity, 

 it being partly the pheasant's natural food, the flesh of the bird 

 might also be improved in flavour. 

 Brechin, March 25. 1834. 



* Symphdria racemosa, with its large white berries, which are freely pro- 

 duced, might also be eligible : indeed, I think, I have been told of some one's 

 planting it in coverts for pheasants, that they might partake of its berries for 

 food. 



