Practical Game-Preserving. 80 



about 4ft. to 5ft. out of the ground. Roughly-sawn 

 rafter-planks, 4in. wide by 2in. thick, should be nailed to 

 the top, and the actual rafters, 2in. square, be fixed across 

 the rafter-planks. Both the rafters and the rafter-planks 

 should project 6in. from the limit of the oblong formed 

 by the uprights, and the whole roof should then be 

 thatched with either heather, gorse, or broom, and finished 

 off with straw or rush thatching. Along the sides nail two 

 lengths of smaller poles, and serve one end in the same 

 manner. These poles should be laced in and out with 

 some form of branches either spruce, withy, gorse, or 

 broom, whichever is handiest. The thick ends should 

 lodge upon the inner side of the rafter-planks, and the 

 extreme ends extend to the ground, leaving sufficient spaces 

 between for ingress and egress of the pheasants. The inter- 

 lacing should be of such nature as practically to exclude 

 rain from beating through into the hut. The end left 

 open must be provided with a movable hurdle upon the 

 same lines to close that also, but permitting entry when 

 required. 



Within the hut and along its centre a low framework 

 must be set up, which is used as support for the 

 unthrashed grain, which should form the chief portion of 

 the food supplied. Instead of a framework, pointed 

 stakes driven into the ground will serve the purpose; but 

 the greater efficacy of the framework usually warrants the 

 extra trouble it entails. 



As a guide to the selection of the size most suited, it 

 may be stated that a food-hut of the dimensions given 

 offers ample provision for the feeding of from one hundred 

 and fifty to two hundred pheasants during such in- 

 clemencies of weather as necessitate proper protection of 

 the food set down. 



These huts are not so much intended as shelters for the 



