REARING AND PROTECTION. Cf, 



and c'lylity ogt^'s for tiuiio reaving'"; l)ut such a degroo of 

 prolificacy in wild plicasauts is a. liiglin- average than has 

 ever come under my notice. 



Another point of C()iisideral)le importance with regard to 

 the breeding of pheasiiuts in preserves is the number of 

 cocks that should be lel'r. in the spi-iug in proportion to the 

 iinn)ber of hens. There is no doubt whatever tbat in a 

 state of nature pheasants are p(,>lygam(.)us, the sti'onger m.-des 

 driving awav tlie weaker, and taking ])ossession of several 

 liens to constitute their seraglios; hence the custom to shoot 

 down most of the cocks, and Icive all the hens, even the 

 oldest to breetl. It is proliable that this procedure is 

 frequently cai-ried toi"> far, and in c(jnflrmation of this view I 

 have much j)leasiiro in (jnoting j\[r J. I). Douga.ll, who, in 

 his " Shooting Simplified," says : " It is customary to shoot 

 cock pheasants <-'nly, and to impose a fine u])on tin' sjjortsmen 

 who break this rule, the money being escheated to the head 

 keeper, or applied to did'ray the expenses of a dinner at the 

 end of the season, when shootings are rented liy a party 

 ot gt'ntlemen. This rule is very fre(|nently (jvt'rstretchcd. 

 It should not be foi'gotten tliat the <lesired end may be 

 frustrated bv having too many hens, as well as by having 

 too few, and in whatever way the disproportion of sexes 

 IS caused, the result — reducti(jn in increase — is the same. 

 If the cocks are continually killed down, few male birds 

 will arrive at that complete maturity so essential to producing 

 a healtliy stock. Un the other hand, if the hens are 

 continually sjiared, they will not only gr<:>\v out of proportion 

 to the number of cocks, but the aged hens will jieatotfthe 

 two and three year old birds. \ ery old hens shonhl certainly 

 bo destroyed. The most prolific are the two and three year- 

 old birds." 



A correspondent who supports this view writes : " It is 

 very certain that in many instances too few cocks are 

 frerpiently left in preserved coverts at the end of the season ; 

 it is also notorious tlia.t in the neighlxjurhood of many 



F 



