32 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANT 



ing in rearing game. We spent a pleasant evening 

 together, in the course of which I happened to 

 express an interest in the eggs of birds. When we 

 met at breakfast next morning, my new acquaintance 

 produced an addled pheasant's egg, which he then 

 and there presented to me as a valuable addition to 

 my collection of egg shells ! 



A more droll incident befell a friend of mine in 

 Derbyshire, but it shall be narrated in his own 

 words : 'The rape of the pheasant's eggs was on this 

 wise. A housemaid of ours had friends over here 

 from Sheffield. The day being fine, they decided to 

 walk over to Haddon Hall. As they were returning 

 back by the footpath through the fields, her surprise 

 was great when she beheld quite near the path a nest 

 full of shiny brown eggs. In her hand was one of 

 those little leather bags in which the fair sex some- 

 times stow away a handkerchief. She knew that I 

 collected eggs, and what better receptacle could there 

 be than the little bag ? They were quickly deposited 

 therein and carefully carried home. When she 

 arrived here, she informed me that she had found 

 something for me. I looked into her wretched bag 

 and there saw the beautiful brown pheasant's eggs. 

 I exclaimed, " Do you know what they are ? " She 

 replied in the negative, so I informed her. But she 



