THE REARED PHEASANT 225 



As many broody hens as required can be 

 supplied with the chicks at 2s. 6d. each.^ 



To make good any later losses in rear- 

 ing-field or covert — and some proprietors 

 insist on their keepers being responsible 

 that a fixed number of birds are shot every 

 year — grown pheasants may be bought at 

 about 5s. a head and turned down up 

 to the middle of September, after which 

 month it is little use making any attempts 

 to stock the coverts with strangers. 



In general, most efficient keepers, with 

 scope of ground to maintain a healthy 

 stock of pheasants of their own, would 

 not be in favour of buying all the eggs 

 they require for the rearing -field, even 

 where economy is not enforced. 



For each egg is after all something 

 more than fertile or infertile ; hidden 

 somewhere in the germ of life are all 

 the acquired characteristics of the parent 

 strain, and it would be unreasonable to 

 expect chance-come strangers to develop 



' From the price-list of the Gaybird Pheasant Farm, 

 Great Missenden, whose proprietor, Mr. J. Carlton Hunt- 

 ing, originated this system of supply. 



15 



