PHEASANTS IN COVERT AND AVIARY 



When speaking of the formation of coverts, reference was 

 made to the planting of a patch of buck-wheat. There are 

 several species of this plant, but they are all natives of tem- 

 perate parts of China, North-west India, and Central Asia, 

 from whence they were introduced to this country. The 

 prefix buck is a corruption of the German word buche, 

 meaning beech, because the fruit of these plants is similar in 

 shape to that of beech-nuts. The common buck-wheat is an 

 annual plant, with heart-shaped leaves, and a pink stem, 

 growing to a height of 2 or 3 feet. It will grow very well 

 on a poor sandy soil, but it is very sensitive to low tem- 

 peratures, and a night's frost will very often destroy it. The 

 best time to sow is the middle of May or early in June. It 

 grows rapidly under favourable conditions, attaining maturity 

 in twelve or fourteen weeks. To sow i acre of ground, i 

 bushel of seed will be required, and the latter should be drilled 

 in rows about 12 inches apart, care being taken not to 

 sow the seed deeper than about half an inch. If planted 

 in the months stated, it will be ready for cutting early in 

 September, but as parts of the plant are still green at this 

 season, it requires care in harvesting, though it is not very 

 likely that the game-preserver will want to grow buck-wheat 

 for the purpose of harvesting the seed, this being left to the 

 birds to gather, though many keepers do stack buck-wheat, 

 and scatter the dried plant about the coverts at feeding-time. 

 It is an excellent plan to have small stacks of wheat, barley, 

 or buck- wheat here and there in the coverts, so that the birds 

 have ready access to food ; but care must be taken to turn 

 the ears or heads of the grain inwards, otherwise there will 

 not be much left as food for the Pheasants. The placing of 

 food stacks in the covert constitutes a very efficient and 

 economical method of preventing the birds from straying, and 



it is one commonly resorted to by gamekeepers. A food stack 



220 



