71 Protection in Covert. 



he has never known the kestrel to carry off young broods of 

 either pheasants or partridges, but that the damage done by 

 the sparrowhawk is often attributed to the kestrel. 



On the contrary, ilr. Marshall, of Wallingford, writing in 

 the Field, of June 17, 1K99, states that he lost twenty-three 

 young pheasants, Avhich were killed by one male kestrel, and 

 the following year twenty suffered a similar fate, the kestrel 

 being seen to pounce upon and carry off his victims in full 

 \'iew. Ultimately the kestrel forced his way through the 

 narrow space between the coop and the wire run, and was 

 captured without injury, so that it was evident that the 

 aggressor was not a sparrowhawk. He was in splendid 

 plumage and kept alive ; consequently, there can be no doubt 

 whatever that occasionally a kestrel will make a raid on a 

 brood of young pheasants ; but it is obviously an exceptional 

 practice, and the good services rendered by the bird may 

 plead for the species, although it may be desirable to destroy 

 the particular aggressor. 



The pheasant, from nesting on the ground, is peculiarly 

 exposed to the attacks of four-footed or ground vermin, and 

 the escape of any of the sitting birds and their eggs from 

 foxes, stoats, hedgehogs, etc., appears at first sight almost 

 impossible. This escape is attributed by manj% possibly by 

 the majority, of sportsmen to the alleged fact that in the 

 birds when sitting the scent which is given out by the animaJ 

 at other times is suppressed ; in proof of this statement is 

 adduced the fact that dogs, even those of the keenest powers 

 of smell, will pass within a few feet, or e^-en a less distance, 

 of a sitting pheasant without evincing the sHghtest cognizance 

 of her proximity, provided she is concealed from sight. By 

 others this circumstance is denied. They reason a priori that 

 it is impossible for an animal to suppress the secretions and 

 exhalations natural to it — secretion not being a voluntary act. 

 I believe, however, that the peculiar specific odour of the bird 

 is suppressed during incubation, not, however, as a voluntary 

 act, but in a manner which is capable of being accounted for 



