In Arable and Grass Countries. 137 



letter dealing with these conditions is contributed by Sir 

 Alfred Herbert, who writes from Dunley Manor, near Whit- 

 church, Hants : — 



This estate is undoubtedly unusually good, natural pheasant ground, as 1 

 think will be shown by the following notes regarding the pheasant rearing 

 and shooting for this year. There is a good stock of wild birds, and no 

 eggs are bought, and only what we call " dangerous eggs " (by which we 

 mean those laid in places where the nests are Hkely to be disturbed or where 

 too many are laid together) are picked up. 



The total number of pheasants reared and turned into the woods last 

 year was, approximately, 1000. The pheasants killed up to the end of 

 the season were 2676. The total cost of food was as follows : 



£ 3. d. 



Purchased game food for rearing 28 7 6 



Com supplied from my farm at regular prices 70 12 9 



Total £99 3 



I have not included cost of beaters, keepers, or other expenses, but have 

 confined myself to food alone. 



These figures show that the cost per bird kiUed, for food, is 9d., whereas 

 your Rutland correspondent's figures show that for 1920-21 the cost per 

 pheasant killed for food alone was 7s. lOd., and for 1921 -22, 73. 9d. 



The bag of partridge3 for the season was 994, showing that the 

 partridges managed to do fairly well in spite of a rather heavy stock of 

 pheasants. It was, of course, an exceptional year, and the wild pheasants 

 reared strong and exceptionally large broods, and this in spite of the fact 

 that the drought was very severe, and there was a great lack of dew. 

 Dew pans are kept in the wood and, when necessary in very dry weather, 

 they are filled up at short intervals. My keepers use rabbits to a great 

 extent for feeding the young birds, thus reducing the cost of purchased 

 lood. (The cost of rabbits is not taken into account, but their value is 

 very httle in the early summer, nor have I included eggs, of which probably 

 about £4 worth were used.) 



The oak woods were heavily infested with caterpillars, which form 

 excellent food for young pheasants, although their presence generally 

 results, as it did this year, in an almost entire lack of acorns. 



I think the conclusion to be drawn from these figures is that if one 

 wants to rear pheasants cheaply it can only be done in a country which is 

 naturally adapted to the purpose, one of the requisite conditions being a 

 large area of arable land. In a grass country the results must be entirely 

 different. 



We may place side by side with this letter another from a 

 grass country. Mr. Harry Carlton, writing from Market 

 Harborough, Leicestershire, says : — 



The following balance-sheet of a joint shoot for 1921 from a different 

 point of view from that of your other correspondents may possibly be 

 of interest. Everything was against the ground from a shooting point 



