PHEASANTS IN COVERT AND AVIARY 



as so large a bird is very readily seen on the almost naked 

 branches, and offers an easy mark to his gun." 



The foregoing account is clearly illustrative of the fact 

 that it is, in virtue of the habits of the Pheasant, indispensable 

 to make provision in every covert for dense undergrowth, 

 and the more brushwood left lying about the better, as this 

 materially aids the growth of various climbing and twining 

 plants, such as the Honeysuckle, Bryony, Bindweed, etc., 

 all of which are of contributory service. 



Existing coverts can be improved by planting some 

 of the low growing shrubs previously alluded to, and if 

 decayed and fallen timber, along with the brushwood, is 

 allowed to accumulate, it materially adds to the low ground 

 cover, so much desired by Pheasants, but which, in and 

 around the hedges, is usually removed by hedge-trimmers. 

 There is a wonderful difference in existing coverts throughout 

 the British Isles, not only in their formation, but also as to 

 the different varieties of trees entering into the formation 

 of the coverts. Take, for instance, the counties of Norfolk 

 and Suffolk, in which the preservation of game has attained 

 a high level of excellence ; in fact, it would be a difficult 

 matter to find counties better attended to in this respect. 

 The bulk of the trees forming the coverts in the counties 

 alluded to, consist of some species of Firs or Pines, such as 

 the Scotch Pine {Pinus Sylvestris), the Spruce Fir {Abies 

 Excelsa), and the Silver Fir [Abies Pectinata). Amongst 

 the two-leaved pines, there are about twenty species to 

 which the Scotch Pine, Stone Pine, Mountain Pine, etc., 

 belong, whereas, in the five-leaved forms, there are about 

 thirty-five species, included in which are the Silver Fir, the 

 Spruce Fir and the Larch. 



Again, in Gloucestershire, some of the younger coverts 



