THE REARED PHEASANT 253 



continued supertax on its resources. In 

 the first chapter there was given the 

 detailed analysis of the contents of a 

 single pheasant's crop, which contained 

 the remains of 2800 insects — the result 

 of a single meal. It may of course be 

 said that this instance of a wild bird 

 fending for himself is not a fair one in 

 this contest, but it serves to show the 

 natural foraging capacity of the pheasant, 

 which all the maize in the world will 

 never eradicate. 



In many of our eastern and southern 

 counties — ^which under natural conditions 

 produce such abundance of game as seems 

 scarcely credible to those whose lot is cast 

 in less favoured districts — production of 

 pheasants and preservation of partridges 

 have of late years combined very sensibly 

 to increase the head per acre that the 

 land is expected to carry, until signs 

 are not wanting that the burden is too 

 great to be consistent with the con- 

 tinuance of a healthy stock. The notice- 

 able feature — and surely it is the broadest 



