THE NEW FORESTRY. 29 



in addition to this, the young birds themselves are surprisingly 

 nimble on their feet from the very first. In truly wild coverts, 

 a clutch of six, or even nine birds is much more common than 

 a clutch of one. We have seen too many wild clutches not 

 to feel sure on this head. The young chicks of the common 

 barn-door fowl are far more helpless than young pheasants, 

 yet we have known eggs of common hens hatched out in the 

 nests of wild pheasants, and the birds reared till they could 

 fly, with eight or nine pheasant companions. We have found 

 such at this stage, run them down, caught and kept them, 

 and brought them up. 



There is no doubt whatever about the practicability of 

 raising pheasants in the natural wild manner, and it is a mere 

 question of breeding stock, as- in the case of rabbits in warrens. 

 It is an easy thing for a keeper to ascertain, near enough at 

 any rate, how many hens are left in any covert under his 

 charge after the shooting season is over. The question is, 

 how many should be left? There is no doubt but that an 

 average number of possible young birds from each hen could 

 be struck, and we believe that that average might be put at 

 half-a-dozen or thereabouts under ordinarily favourable circum- 

 stances, and the number expected would determine the number 

 of hens to be left in the coverts. In Dumfriesshire, where the 

 climate is unfavourable, and the rainfall about fifty inches, 

 or just about double that of Norfolk, we used to consider 

 the average higher. We have often there seen, long 

 past the critical stage, clutches of nine or ten, and these 

 birds, in most instances, received no artificial assistance 

 whatever. But putting the average lower than the above, 

 we still hardly get so low as the average reared on the 

 artificial system ; and look at the difference in the expense and 

 trouble! There is no comparison. The question constantly 

 asked by a gentleman in search of a keeper is, Can he rear 

 pheasants ? Here, by the simple wild system, the employer 

 gets rid of the difficulty altogether, if only he can procure a 

 man who will exercise some intelligent care in the maintenance 

 of the wild stock. We commend this subject to the earnest 

 attention of owners of woods and preserves, feeling perfectly 

 sure that it can be dealt with in the way indicated by the 

 forester. 



In concluding this part of the subject, we may allude also 

 to a modification of the wild system lately recommended by 

 Mr. Tegetmeir, in the "Field" for July, 1898, and described 

 by him as, " Pheasant < Rearing • Under Natural Conditions.' 



