CHAPTER VII 
PHEASANTS: IN PEACE 
Why keepers prefer pheasants to partridges—Advantages of pheasants 
over partridges—Comparisons of nesting habits— Hand-rearing— 
Ups and downs—The keeper as doctor—Short-tailed pheasants 
not appreciated—Peeling eggs—An explanation. 
TuE pheasant is the apple of the keeper’s eye. For 
the sake of his pheasants he will suffer all things— 
even unto death. When he is ill his thoughts are 
not of himself, but of his pheasants; wet and weary, 
he will walk miles to tend them. It is said that one 
keeper shot all the nightingales in his woods, lest 
their singing should disturb the slumber of his 
pheasants. He would have been just the man for 
Nero of Rome. At any rate, most keepers live 
chiefly for pheasants, and several have died in their 
cause. 
I do not wish to appear unfair or prejudiced 
toward pheasants—they have their place as birds 
of distinction and value; but, except in the matter 
of grandeur of plumage, in my estimation they must 
take second place to partridges. Apart from their 
glorious feathers, which, unfortunately, are of no 
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