Maize. ")7 



with the exception of the tom-tit, and though almost the 

 smallest, he holds the corn with one foot and hammers away 

 like a miniature woodpecker, commencing at the part of the 

 grain that is attached to the stalk, finding that the only road 

 in. It is but a very small part of each corn that he is able to 

 eat, but it seems to possess great attraction for him. There 

 are six or eight of these little birds living constantly near my 

 house at this season ; and though chaffinches, blackbirds, and 

 thrushes all try their best at the maize, they soon give it up 

 hopelessly. Eooks take it greedily, and were it not for an 

 occasional ball from the air gmi they would rob the pheasants 

 of every grain." 



In feeding pheasants in this manner, care should be taken 

 to change the ground frequently, for if they are fed on the 

 same place for too long a time the ground becomes tainted, 

 the food is necessarily soiled by the excrements of the birds, 

 and disease is the invariable result. 



Feeding troughs, which open with the weight of the 

 pheasant when standing on an attached bar in front of the 

 corn, are not extensively used. The objections to them are, 

 in the first place, their expense, which becomes a serious 

 item when many are required ; their liability to get out of 

 order ; and, lastly, the unhmited supply they afford to the 

 feeding bird, which crams itself to repletion without any 

 exercise, and is disinclined to seek food on its own account. 



Unquestionably one of the best modes of feeding pheasants 

 is by the use of small stacks of unthreshed grain or beans ; 

 but this may be done in a wrong as well as a right manner. 

 The late Mr. W. Lort, an enthusiastic practical sportsman, 

 made the following suggestions : " Pheasants may be easily 

 fed from small thatched stacks made with bundles of different 

 kinds of grain. The only operation then required — pulHng a 

 bundle or two from the stack and cutting the bands — may be 

 performed every two or three days ; though, by the way, I 

 must say I hke someone to see my pheasants every day, and 

 those who want game will find it to their interest to have it 



