FEEDING ADULT BIRDS IN COVERT 



of buck-wheat, etc., are, as previously stated, the prime causes 

 for the birds wandering. The author attaches as much im- 

 portance to the regularity of feeding as aught else in safe- 

 guarding the birds from straying. 



When the snow is on the ground and soft on the surface. 

 Pheasants have very little inclination to wander far from home, 

 preferring, as in the case of animals, the warmth and shelter 

 which a well-constructed covert affords ; in fact, so great is 

 their dislike to snow, no matter whether on trees or on the 

 ground, that they will readily congregate in a tree from which 

 the snow has been knocked off the branches, and remain 

 sitting there for hours throughout the day, and will feed off 

 the young and tender shoots within their reach, rather than 

 descend in search of food. 



Some gamekeepers take advantage of this fact and dis- 

 lodge the snow from the branches of some of the fir-trees 

 by means of a long pole, an act which the Pheasants readily 

 appreciate by roosting therein. 



It is a very good plan to sow a patch of buck- wheat, and 

 also one of Jerusalem artichokes, near to the coverts, as these 

 two foods offer the strongest inducements to Pheasants, and 

 the mere fact of their existence adjacent to a plantation will 

 keep Pheasants at home better than all the anti-straying 

 mixtures in the world. 



The foods that they are most fond of are : Maize or 

 Indian corn, dari, beans, peas, wheat, oats ; together 

 with such fruits as raisins and acorns ; likewise potatoes 

 and various green stuffs, e.g., kale, cabbage, clover, mustard, 

 and such roots as turnips, etc. 



Most game-food firms make a speciality of " Covert Seed 

 Mixtures," the cost of which averages 8s. per bushel of 56 lbs., 

 and such will be found very useful as well as economical for 

 the purposes required. Dari seed of good quality can be 



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