5S PHEA.SANT>S FOB COVERTS AND A VI ABIES. 



they can get it; and if I try tliem with the mixture aLove 

 named I find all the uther gi'aiii neglected. 'Jdie young- 

 jieasants at the cuup.s liegiii to ea,t it before they are as 

 large as jiartridges, and then eiitireh" neglect the barleV; &c. 

 I never see pheasants that are kept up in better condition 

 than my own, and thev have nothing but Indian corn, a iew 

 turnip leaves, and clods ui turf to pull to ]")ieces. Another 

 great advantage <jf mai/.e is that small birds cannot steal it, 

 with the exception of the,' tom-tit^ and though almost the 

 smallest, he holds the coiMi with one foot and hammers away 

 like a nnniature woodpecker, coinmeni.-ing at the ];)art of the 

 gram that is attached to the stalk, hnding that the (jnly road 

 m. It is but a. verv small ]iart (jf each corn that he is able to 

 eat, but it seems to possess gi'eat attraction f(jr him. There 

 are six or eight of these little liirds living constanth' near my 

 house at this season ; and though chaffinches, blackbirds, and 

 thrusluis all try their best at the maize, they soon give it upi 

 hopelessly. ]!,i)oks take it greedily, and were it not for an 

 occasiomd ball from the air gun they would rob the pheasants 

 of every grain." 



In feeding [)lieasa,nts in this manner, care shcjuld be taken 

 to cliauge the ground frei|ueiitly, lor if they are fed on the 

 same place for too long ;i time the ground becomes tainted, the 

 food i.s necessarily soiled by the excrements of the birds, and 

 disease is the iiiv;iriable result. 



Feeding tr(jiiglis, which o]ien with the weight of the 

 pheasant wdien standing on an attached bar m front of the 

 corn, are not exteusi\-ely used. I'lie objections to them are, 

 in the first place, their tcxpeiise, some fifteen shillings to 

 thirty shillings each, wimdi becomes a serious item when 

 many are re(|uu-ed ; their lialiibty t(j get (jut of order; and, 

 lastly, the uidimited supjily they alTord to the feeding bird, 

 which crams itself to repletion without ;uiy exercise, and is 

 disinclined to seek fo(jd on its own account. 



Unquestionably, (jiie of the best modes of feeding pheasants 

 is liy the use of small stticks of uiithreshed grain or beans ; 



