FEEDING IN COVERTS. 59 



but tliis may Ije done iu a wroiit;' as wi^ll as a. right iiiaiiiicT. 

 The hite Mr. AV. Lort^ an enthusiastic jiractical s])iirtMiianj 

 made the following suggestions: "Pheasants may be easily 

 fed from small thatched stacks made with bundles of different 

 kiud> of grain. The only upei'aticjn then i'iM[uii-ed — pulling a 

 bundle or two from the stack and cutting the liaiids — luay be 

 perfoi'iued every two or three days; though, Ijy the way, I 

 must say I liki' someone to see my pheasants every day, and 

 those who want game wdl find it to their interest to have it 

 well attended to. If weight and bulk are oljjects, a foot or 

 two of the straw can be cut from each sheaf or bundle of corn 

 before it is taken to the stacks. The ears should l)e ])ut 

 inside, or half the corn will be taken by snmll birds; and the 

 bottom of the stack slnjuld stand at least a foot from the 

 ground. I use as food in winter peas, beans, barley, buck- 

 wheat, wheat, and a few oats, and many other little delicacies, 

 such as boiled potatoes, gidund artichokes, decayed apples, 

 diimaged raisins, &c.; and with all these dainties, thoy "will 

 stray twice in the year — when the aecjriis fall, and at or just 

 before breeding- time." 



The following most complete series of suggestions on 

 feeding pheasants in coverts is fiom the iien of ]Mr. James 

 Barnes, of Exmouth. Jt is specially valuable as giving 

 ]:ira,ctical directions for the f<")rmation of catchpools for water, 

 without which no amount of feeding will keep pheasants from 

 straying in dry weather; and it also contains suggestions for 

 the formation of huts, which are worthy of the careful con- 

 sidei'ation of every preserver on a large scale. Mr. liaiaies 

 writes : '' Pheasants are well-known to require assistance 

 with food of some kind in winter to keep them in good 

 coudition, and to have a propensity to ramble aw^ay and 

 expose themselves to the depredations of trespassers. Buck- 

 wheat should be sow^n adjacent to their coverts, cut wdien 

 ripe and mterinixed with barley, also in straw, and placed in 

 little stacks in or near their coverts, and spread or shaken 

 about at intervals throughout the winter. What is still 



