THE REARED PHEASANT 219 



pheasants enjoy a strange immunity from 

 the scourges that periodically decimate 

 the rearing-fields ; for this is no mere 

 ' eyewash ' ; it is the outward and visible 

 sign of the man who leaves nothing to 

 chance. 



Where, on the other hand, things 

 generally look unkempt and uncared for, 

 the first impression usually proves some- 

 thing more than merely superficial. 

 Appearances are not always deceptive, and 

 you may now expect to find the percentage 

 of survivors materially lower, with a 

 ragged average over a period of years, 

 easily accounted for — as will be fully ex- 

 plained to you — by the disadvantages of 

 soil and climate, the manifold difficulties 

 and handicaps peculiar to the place. 



This aspect of pheasant rearing has been 

 somewhat strongly insisted on, because 

 its importance is even now not always 

 appreciated at its true value. Disasters, 

 when they occur, are so plausibly attribut- 

 able to natural causes beyond human 

 control, and on the very estates which one 



