FORMATION OF PENS AND AVIARIES. 51 
should be employed as will form a pen twenty-five to thirty-five feet square, the 
smaller containing 625 square or superficial feet of surface; the larger, which will 
require less than half as many more hurdles, containing nearly double the interior 
space, namely, 1225 square feet. If the birds are full winged, these enclosures must 
be netted over at the top; for this purpose old tanned herring netting, which can be 
bought very cheaply, will be found much better than wire-work, as the pheasants are 
apt, when frightened, to fly up against the top of the enclosure, and, if it be of 
wire, to break their necks or seriously injure themselves. Should netting be employed, 
several upright poles, with cross pieces at the top, are required to be placed at 
equal distances to support the netting, and prevent it hanging down into the interior 
of the pen. A much better plan is to leave the pen quite open at the top, and to 
clip one of the wings of each bird, cutting off twelve or fourteen of the flight 
feathers close to the quills. When the birds find they cannot fly they become much 
tamer, and are not so apt to injure themselves by dashing about wildly, especially 
if there be, as is desirable, brushwood cover or faggots in the pen, under which 
they can run and conceal themselves. Some persons are in the habit of pinioning 
_ the birds by cutting off the last joint of the wing, and removing with it 
permanently the ten primary quills, but the plan is not to be recommended, as the 
pinioned birds are quite incapable of taking due care of themselves when turned 
out into the open, and are liable to fall a prey to ground vermin. 
As illustrative of the mode in which a large number of birds can be successfully 
kept in one locality, I will describe the arrangements which I saw at the pheasantries 
belonging to Mr. Leno, a well-known dealer, residing near Dunstable, Bedfordshire. 
The birds are kept in runs enclosed by hurdles between six and seven feet high. These 
are formed of stout straight larch laths nailed to cross pieces of oak or other strong 
- wood, and are fastened to stout posts securely driven into the ground. As the posts 
are capable of being easily withdrawn and replaced, there is no difficulty in moving 
the pens year after year—a most important consideration for the preservation of the 
health of the birds. Moreover, by employing a greater or smaller number of hurdles 
and posts, pens of any required size may be constructed, so as to accommodate a 
larger or smaller number of birds. On my visit, the runs had recently been shifted 
on to new ground, which consisted of young hazel coppice, which had been partly 
cleared. The surface was covered with the dead leaves of last year’s growth and 
with short underwood, affording ample opportunity for the birds to amuse them- 
- selves by scratching for insects and by seeking food amongst the leaves. The 
amount of undergrowth afforded another important advantage, that the birds, on the 
entrance of a stranger, could run under shelter and so conceal themselves, instead 
of dashing about wildly as they would otherwise have done. No roof or shelter of 
any kind was afforded them, had such been erected the birds would only have used 
it for roosting upon, and not for sleeping under. In each pen was a horizontal 
H 2 
