FOEMATION OF COVERTS. 29 



I received a brace of remarkably fine young cock pheasants shot on a manor where 

 the best artificial food is abundantly provided, yet the crop of one of them 

 contained ten full-sized acorns. Apart, too, from their utility as being by far the 

 warmest, most sheltered, and the only thoroughly poacher-proof night coverts for ' 

 these timid birds, which at roosting-time usually court the densest sylvan shade — • 

 these evergreen groves possess the signal advantage of harmonising well with, and 

 adding singular beauty to, the surrounding scenery; whilst the internal gloom 

 — lucus a non lucendo — pervading them, has also its own peculiar charms, though 

 it be of a sombre character." 



It may be remarked that evergreen night coverts are not so essential south 

 of the Trent, owing to the vigorous growth of underwood in the southern counties, 

 which renders it almost impossible for poachers to traverse the coverts by night, 

 even during bright moonlight; so that pheasants roosting on deciduous trees are 

 much safer than they would be in the north, where underwood is comparatively 

 feeble and scanty. 



"Writing to me on this subject, Mr. Carr EUison adds : " In the extreme 

 north of England, and in Scotland, underwood of bramble grows feebly, except 

 along warm southerly slopes. Nevertheless nature introduces another covert plant 

 of great value, which fears neither cold shade, nor open and windy exposure — 

 namely, the native tussock grass of moor-edges and upland pastures, Ai/ra ccespitosa, 

 popularly caUed " bull-fronts," of which most of our exposed woodlands are full. 

 It is easily transplanted, or propagated by seed, on which latter both pheasants 

 and black game feed. It is a favourite covert for hares, affording perfect 

 protection from the cold winds that sweep through plantations destitute of under- 

 wood, like too many in the north. 



"Yet these apparently unpromising strips or clumps of bare stems are often 

 frequented by fine broods of self-reared pheasants, thanks to the bull-fronts and 

 bracken." 



If it be desired to see the pheasants in the neighbourhood of the mansion, it 

 should be borne in mind that the shrubberies of rhododendron so frequently seen 

 skirting lawns and pleasure grounds are not frequented by pheasants like those of 

 yew, holly, and privet, chiefly because no fallen berries are to be found underneath 

 them. But if a handful of barley, peas, or beans be thrown from time to time 

 among the more open and taUer rhododendrons, the pheasants will soon learn to 

 resort to them, after which some of the same fare may be cast into the thicker 

 parts, where the birds will soon find it. In this way our beautiful rhododendron 

 thickets near the garden and mansion may be utUised for pheasants more than 

 heretofore. 



The late Mr. Charles Waterton, who protected every bird in his domain, 

 published the following details of hi? method of preserving the pheasants at Walton 



