96 



PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



the repasts he neatly and delicately served, not forgetting 

 that, while all required is offered with no niggard hand, over- 

 lavish generosity, only too often the mere promptings of 

 lazincsB, ought most carefully to be avoided. 



" Powerless are the jji'isoners to escape those fatal mias- 

 matic vapours speedily generated by decaying vegetable and 

 animal matter, which, when permitted to daily be trampled 

 into the floors of the dwelliDg, are ever within a few inches, 

 be it recollected, of their i-espiratory organs. In crmneetion 

 with this matter also, it is \T\ini to have duplicate shallow 

 circular galvanised iron water pans of about eighteen inches 

 in diameter. They are light, and conserjuently more likely to 

 undergo that thor(jugh and frerpieut clea.nsing' so necessa.i'y." 



Coverts may he stocked either with wild birds or with those, 

 hatched in jieiis, that have never been at liberty. A\'ild birds 

 caught at the commencement of the year, not later than the 

 middle of January, are healthier and mi:ire prdlifie than young- 

 birds that have never been allowed to fly. When caught, 

 they should at ouce be put into large jieus on fresh ground, 

 haviug had the flight feathers of one wiug cut off, when, if 

 they are projjerly I'ed, they will liecome fairly tame before the 



breeding season. However tauie they may Ijeconie, they 

 should not be keiit more than one, or at the most two seasons 

 when their wings should be allowed to grow and other birds 

 capturi'd to supply their place. Other modes are adopted for 

 capturing the wild birds. The above very simple form of 

 trap is described Ijy :\Ir. J. E. Harting, and is perfectly 

 efficacious for the purpose required. It is merely a modifica- 



