BEARING AND PROTECTION. 75 



explanation would probably apply equally to partridges and 

 other birds nesting on the ground. 



The absence of scent in the sitting pheasant is most 

 probably the explanation of the fact that foxes and pheasants 

 are capable of being reared in the same preserves ; at the 

 same time the keepers are usually desirous of making 

 assurance doubly sure^ by scaring the foxes from the 

 neighbourhood of the nests by some strong and offensive 

 substance. A very practical gamekeeper writes as follows : — 

 " If any keeper will find his nests and sprinkle a little gas 

 tar anywhere about them, he will find the foxes will not take 

 the birds. I should, as a.keeper, find every nest possible, and 

 dress the bushes, stumps of trees, &c., near the place of such 

 nest, and then keep away entirely till I thought the bird had 

 hatched, as constantly haunting a bird's nest is the most 

 foolish thing that can be. When such nests are once found 

 and dressed, let the keeper look out and trap all kinds of 

 vermin, such as the cat, stoat, fitchet, weasel, hedgehog, or 

 rat, or magpie, jay, hawk, crow, rook, or jackdaw. These are 

 all enemies to the birds, as well as the fox. I am satisfied, 

 as a gamekeeper, that with good vermin trapping, dressing 

 near the nests, and good bushing and pegging of land, anyone 

 will have plenty of game, and may still keep plenty of foxes." 



Another equally eflScacious plan, the value of which has 

 been repeatedly proved, is to fill a number of phials with the 

 so-called " oil of animal " (also known as oil of hartshorn and 

 DippePs oil), and suspend them uncorked to sticks about 

 eighteen inches long, and stick two or three round each nest, 

 about a foot from it. The smell of the oil will keep the foxes 

 from approaching. 



In the vicinity of dwellings, there is no more dangerous 

 enemy to pheasants than the common cat. Captain Darwin, 

 in his " Game Preserver's Manual," writes as follows : — 

 " There is no species of vermin more destructive to game than 

 the domestic cat. People not aware of her predatory habits 

 would never for a moment suppose that the household 



