Practical Game-Preserving. 7 8 



but up till then it is necessary that the provision of winter 

 food should not too materially affect the movements of the 

 birds in covert. What must be avoided is the drawing of 

 the birds all to one point, or portions of them to several 

 points around which they will congregate, and possibly 

 remain, to the detriment of the general shooting over the 

 coverts. Bearing this possible disability in mind, there is 

 no reason why the several modes of winter feeding of 

 pheasants, presently to be described, should not be prac- 

 tised with advantage. 



There are several systems upon which pheasants may be 

 fed in covert beyond the ordinary means by the keepers ; 

 but whichever be adopted a considerable amount of time 

 and trouble must be involved. Chance and casual manner 

 of providing food serve but a poor purpose. As a rule, 

 more food is wasted than is consumed by the game-birds 

 for which it is intended, or else it only actually reaches a 

 portion of the birds, the remainder benefiting by it in no 

 degree. The main points to be taken into consideration 

 are the quantity of birds to be fed, the distance of the 

 coverts from the keepers' headquarters, and the extent of 

 them, together with the question previously referred to 

 namely, when the shooting ends, whether before or at the 

 expiry of the lawful season. On some preserves the 

 shooting is so governed that it is confined to a few weeks, 

 and then finishes for all practical purposes. In other 

 cases it is spread over a longer term, and may extend in 

 more or less desultory fashion right up to the last day of 

 January. 



Wherever large numbers of birds are congregated in 

 coverts, whether for purposes of shooting in season or as 

 stock to be held over for the nesting-time, the best means 

 of dealing with them in hard weather lies in the provision 

 of such numbers of food -huts as the requirements of the 



