30 THE NEW FORESTRY. 



He writes : — 



" 1 have just returned from visiting Mr. Ward's shooting, 

 where 1 find the pheasants are reared in accordance witn 

 natural principles, in a manner totally opposed to the general 

 routine followed by keepers, and that the plan has been 

 attended with the greatest possible success. In a covert two 

 acres in extent, with close undergrowth and oak trees, which 

 was wired round against foxes, which are numerous in the 

 district, four hundred yards of two-inch wire netting being 

 utilised, I found the result of his first hatch on May 22nd, 

 when two hundred and sixty-five pheasants were obtained 

 from three hundred and twenty-five eggs, gathered in the open 

 from the wild birds. Of these, as far as is known, not half-a- 

 dozen have died from all causes put together. These young 

 pheasants are now loose in the covert, with the farm-yard and 

 turkey hens that have hatched them. There are no coops, 

 but the hens roam where they like, and the young pheasants 

 are all now roosting high up in the oak trees, flying from 

 branch to branch with the greatest facility. They are now 

 too large to pass through the two-inch wire work which sur- 

 rounds the covert, but they fly over into the neighbouring 

 fields, and return in the same manner. 



" Turkeys are not common in the neighbourhood, and 

 Mr. Ward's manager was only able to obtain three hens. One 

 of these hatched out twenty- two young pheasants, all of which 

 are now alive with their foster-mother loose in the covert, 

 roosting with her, not on the ground, but, safely out of the 

 reach of all ground vermin, in the trees. Some of the farm- 

 yard hens employed last year were left out during the winter. 

 Their nests were searched for, and when found the eggs were 

 taken away and pheasant eggs substituted. The young 

 pheasants that were hatched under the domestic hens were, 

 in consequence of the absence of short grass and the prevalence 

 of the wet weather in the early hatching period, kept in coops 

 for a few days, but on the first opportunity removed to the 

 wired-in covert, where the ground is heavy and not remark- 

 ably well adapted for pheasant rearing, which makes the success 

 more remarkable. Mr. Ward's manager, Mr. French, has 

 entered warmly into the utilisation of the system. As soon as 

 the young birds are removed into the covert he bends down 

 some of the branches of the trees towards the ground and 

 places a wooden hurdle against them, so that the birds can 

 readily ascend into the trees, and of this contrivance both 

 hens and young birds quickly avail themselves. 



