FORMATION OF PENS AND AVIARIES. 51 



should be employed as will form a pen twenty-five to thirty-five feet square, the 

 smaller containing 625 square or superficial feet of surface; the larger, which wiU 

 require less than half as many more hurdles, containing nearly double the interior 

 space, namely, 1225 square feet. If the birds are fuU winged, these enclosures must 

 be netted over at the top ; for this purpose old tanned herring netting, which can be 

 bought very cheaply, will be found much better than wire- work, as the pheasants are 

 apt, when frightened, to fly up agaiast the top of the enclosure, and, if it be of 

 wire, to break their necks or seriously injure themselves. Should netting be employed, 

 several upright poles, with cross pieces at the top, are required to be placed at 

 equal distances to support the netting, and prevent it hanging down into the interior 

 of the pen. A much better plan is to leave the pen quite open at the top, and to 

 clip one of the wings of each bird, cutting off twelve or fourteen of the flight 

 feathers close to the quills. When the birds find they cannot fly they become much 

 tamer, and are not so apt to injure themselves by dashing about wildly, especially 

 if there be, as is desirable, brushwood cover or faggots in the pen, under which 

 they can run and conceal themselves. Some persons are in the habit of pinioning 

 the birds by cutting off the last joint of the wing, and removing with it 

 permanently the ten primary quiUs, but the plan is not to be recommended, as the 

 pinioned birds are quite incapable of taking due care of themselves when turned 

 out into the open, and are liable to fall a prey to ground vermin. 



As illustrative of the mode in which a large number of birds can be successfully 

 kept in one locality, I will describe the arrangements which I saw at the pheasantries 

 belonging to Mr. Leno, a well-known dealer, residing near Dunstable, Bedfordshire. 

 The birds are kept in runs enclosed by hurdles between six and seven feet high. These 

 are formed of stout straight larch laths nailed to cross pieces of oak or other strong 

 wood, and are fastened to stout posts securely driven into the ground. As the posts 

 are capable of being easUy withdrawn and replaced, there is no difficulty in moving 

 the pens year after year— a most important consideration for the preservation of the 

 health of the birds. Moreover, by employing a greater or smaller number of hurdles 

 and posts, pens of any required size may be constructed, so as to accommodate a 

 larger or smaller number of birds. On my visit, the runs had recently been shifted 

 on to new ground, which consisted of young hazel coppice, which had been partly 

 cleared. The surface was covered with the dead leaves of last year's growth and 

 with short underwood, affording ample opportunity for the birds to amuse them- 

 selves by scratching for insects and by seeking food amongst the leaves. The 

 amount of undergrowth afforded another important advantage, that the birds, on the 

 entrance of a stranger, could run under shelter and so conceal themselves, instead 

 of dashing about wildly as they would otherwise have done. No roof or shelter of 

 any kind was afforded them, had such been erected the bkds would only have used 

 it for roosting upon, and not for sleeping under. In each pen was a horizontal 



H 2 



