l86 SHOOTING THE PHEASANT 



general observations in supplement of what has been 

 so exhaustively written elsewhere. The nesting, 

 egg sampling, setting, hatching, rearing, food, treat- 

 ment and disease, together with all details ofpheasan- 

 tries, pens, coops, runs, &c., would make, and have 

 made, volumes longer than the prescribed hmits of 

 this one. There are a host of books in which the 

 experiences of this kind of poultry yard — for it is no- 

 thing else— have been dealt with up to date ; but I 

 propose to add a very few hints which are the out- 

 come of ray own observation, and in which I will 

 endeavour to indicate the general and important 

 principles on which pheasant rearing should be carried 

 on, rather than the details, since the latter must vary 

 largely according to the locality, the expenditure of 

 the owner, and the object he has in view. 



The first thing to realise is that the production of 

 hand-reared pheasants is entirely a matter of pounds, 

 shillings, and pence. In order not to waste your 

 money, supposing that you can afford to choose your 

 place, you must do so in a country where the condi- 

 tions are proportionate to the amount of pheasants 

 you wish to rear. You will find infinite variety of 

 locality and scenery. For instance, if your intention 

 and ambition be to kill 8,000 to 10,000 pheasants in 

 the season, that is, if you want to do somewhere about 



