FORMATION OF COVERTS. 29 
I received a brace of remarkably fine young cock pheasants shot on a manor where 
the best artificial food is abundantly provided, yet the crop of one of them 
contained ten full-sized acorns. Apart, too, from their utility as being by far the 
warmest, most sheltered, and the only thoroughly poacher-proof night coverts for 
these timid birds, which at roosting-time usually court the densest sylvan shade— 
these evergreen groves possess the signal advantage of harmonising well with, and 
adding singular beauty to, the surrounding scenery; whilst the internal gloom 
—lucus a non lucendo—pervading them, has also its own peculiar charms, though 
it be of a sombre character.’’ 
It may be remarked that evergreen night coverts are not so essential south 
of the Trent, owing to the vigorous growth of underwood in the southern counties, 
which renders it almost impossible for poachers to traverse the coverts by night, 
even during bright moonlight; so that pheasants roosting on deciduous trees are 
much safer than they would be in the north, where underwood is comparatively 
feeble and scanty. 
Writing to me on this subject, Mr. Carr Ellison adds: “In the extreme 
north of England, and in Scotland, underwood of bramble grows feebly, except 
along warm southerly slopes. Nevertheless nature introduces another covert plant 
of great value, which fears neither cold shade, nor open and windy exposure— — 
namely, the native tussock grass of moor-edges and upland pastures, Aira cespitosa, 
popularly called « bull-fronts,’ of which most of our exposed woodlands are full. 
It is easily transplanted, or propagated by seed, on which latter both pheasants 
and black game feed. It is a favourite covert for hares, affording perfect 
protection from the cold winds that sweep through plantations destitute of under- 
wood, like too many in the north. 
“Yet these apparently unpromising strips or clumps of bare stems are often 
frequented by fine broods of self-reared pheasants, thanks to the bull-fronts and 
bracken.” 
If it be desired to see the pheasants in the neighbourhood of the mansion, it 
should be borne in mind that the shrubberies of rhododendron so frequently seen 
skirting lawns and pleasure grounds are not frequented by pheasants like those of 
yew, holly, and privet, chiefly because no fallen berries are to be found underneath 
them. But if a handful of barley, peas, or beans be thrown from time to time 
among the more open and taller rhododendrons, the pheasants will soon learn to 
resort to them, after which some of the same fare may be cast into the thicker 
parts, where the birds will soon find it. In this way our beautiful rhododendron 
thickets near the garden and mansion may be utilised for pheasants more than 
heretofore. 
The late Mr. Charles Waterton, who protected every bird in his domain, 
published the following details of hir method of preserving the pheasants at Walton 
