FORMATION OF COVERTS. 



to lie f()und underneath tbeni. Hut if :i, handful of barley, 

 peas, or beans be thrown from time to time among the more 

 open and taller rhod(jdendrons, 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. 

 Ill this way our beautiful rhododendron thickets near the 

 garden and mansion may be utilised for pheasants more tliau 

 heretofore. 



Charles Waterton, who protected every bird in his York- 

 shire domain, published the following details of his method 

 of preserving the pheasants at Walton Hall : — "This bird has 

 a capacious stomach, and requires much nuti'iment, while its 

 timidity soon causes it to aba,ndou those places which are 

 disturbed. It is fond of acorns, beech mast, the berries of 

 the hawthorn, the seeds of the wild rf)se, and the tubers of 

 the Jerusalem artichoke. As h.ing as these and the corn 

 dropped in the harvest can lie procured, the pheasant will 

 do very well. In the spring it iimls abundance of nourish- 

 ment in the sprouting leaves of ynung clover; but from the 

 commencement of the new year till the vernal period, their 

 wild food affords a very scanty sup]ily, and the bird will be 

 exposeil to all the evils of the Vagrant Act, unless you can 

 contrive to keep it at home by an artificial supply of food. 

 Boiled potatoes (which the pheasant prefers much to those in 

 the raw state) and beans are, perhajis, the two most nourishing 

 things that can be offered in the deptli of winter. Beans in 

 the end are cheaper than all the smaller kinds of grain, 

 liccause tlie little liirds, which usually swarm at the place 

 where pheasants are fed, Ciinnot swallow them : and if you 

 conceal the beans under yew or holl}- Imslies or under the 

 lower branches of the spruce fir tree, they will be out of the 

 wav of the roolvs and ringdoves. Ab(mt two roods of tlie 

 thousand-headed cabbage are a most valuable acquisition to 

 the pheasant preserve. Von sow a few ounces of seed in 

 April, and transplant the young ]ilants lift, asunder in the 

 mouth of June. By the time tlnd the harvest is all in, these 



