FORMATION OF COVEUTS. 47 



offer, wlicn peri-lied upon naked larches and otlier trees, at 

 uig'lit, is too stronu- to Ije re.sisti-'d l)y many a lad or working 

 man in the vicinity, who, bnt fur this particulai- allurement to 

 evil, might go on respectably and (piietl}' enough. They 

 know that their dnty towards their own sons is to keep them 

 out of needless temptations, and they are unwilling t(_) expose 

 the sous vi other and poorer men to ti'ials which experience 

 shows they too often cannot resist. Some liave forbidden all 

 night watching of these birds, trusting tlieiu entirely to the 

 protection of the pines and tirs scattered in their plantations, 

 in the branches (jf which it is impossible for any one to see 

 the pheasants which hapj^en to select them as a roosting- 

 placo. N(jw, I hnve for twenty-two years i)reserved these 

 birds in very considerable numbers without any night watch- 

 ing, and in a cijuntry whore all my neighbours have been 

 repeatedly visited by gangs of poachers, coming sometimes 

 from considerable distances, as well as by occasiouat depre- 

 dators of the vicinity. 1 resolved to reject all night watching, 

 and one of the first things that I did, as a very j-oung man, was 

 to plant ten acres of spruce hr and Scotch pine iu a central 

 and sheltered part of the estate, which might serve as an 

 impregnable roosting-place for pheasants. 'Jdiis was thirty 

 years ago and more. At ten years of age, the plantation 

 was already of great service, and at 11 f teen was invaluable. 

 As it has been regularly thinned, it is now as good as ever. 

 A number of birch-trees were intermixed, which were very 

 useful in drawing up and hastening the growth of the S})ruccs 

 without exhausting the soil, as too great a multitude of hrs 

 would Imve doue. Nor do the pheasants I'csort to the birch 

 at night as they do to some other trees, larch especially, 

 because they find that its branches are not sufficiently 

 horizontal to alford commodious perches. 



" Ten years later I f(.>riiied a second pheasant-roost of two 

 acres in extent, very near my house, and of this I have had 

 the full benefit for many years past. It is generally full of 

 pheasants, and not one (M' them is visible to the keenest eye in 



