JEFFRIES ON PHEASANT REARING. K),") 



datetl iiuJei' the sitting liens at your disjuisal. Some must Ije 

 left, while other brood mothers are sought. AVlietlier ou 

 your second visit you find those you left, as you left thoni, 

 depends greally u[)(jn cireumstances. If you have a, profusion 

 of j'uuks about your plnee, the chances are much a.gainst it. 

 For those (lumivorons ghittons have as decided a partiality 

 for jiheasaut eggs as any ball-going gotirmand for those i.if 

 the plover. They have overrun your \V(jods. The)' sit swing- 

 ing and cawing on each jn-ojecting ijougli that ci.uumamls a 

 prospect. They walk the slopes of your fields^ one eye closely 

 scanning the sod for insects, the other sweeping all the points 

 of the compass. Nothing escapies their obsei'vation. A\ hen 

 they see you out for an object they follow you and mark each 

 iuo\"ement. ^Ve have very little doubt they speedily leai'ii to 

 sitS])ect you)' intention, and when thev see yoti stoop in a 

 likelv spot, they tl\- dciwu to institute an iiivestigatiou, wdien- 

 ever voiir back is turneil. In no other way can we possibly 

 account for the wholesale \vreck of eggs that liad lieen spared 

 ami sat upon until you visited them in your walk. ^Vnd if yon 

 doubt who a,re the culprits, try the ordeal by taste, aiidstr3'eh- 

 nine a nestfid of eggs. \ ou will liinl tlie bodies of the 

 black delim[nents str(Mved round the fragments of the 

 shells. 



" Xothiug can be jU'ettier than the liroods of young 

 pheasants as they are hatched olf, tame as chickens — although 

 more cri'aceful and active — running' from the sliell, and be- 

 ginning forthwith to peck about for a living. Unrortuuately 

 there are other members of the animated creation who watch 

 their growth and their movements with even keener and more 

 immediate interest than yourself. Vuv some four mouths to 

 come von mean neither to sIkkjI ik.u- eat your cimtidiug 

 proteges ; but tliey are surrounded by sharp-set c;irni\"ora 

 who jiropose themselves that pleasure on the earliest pos--ible 

 opportunitv. ^Ve do not assert that those nuisances the 

 rooks are dangerous in this stage of the pheasant Ijreedmg, 

 although we should deem it imjtrudeiit to trust them too far. 



