109 Pheasants. 



certain peculiar notions with regard to these drives or 

 paths, and if the unhappy preserver happens to be tenant, 

 and not owner, of his estate, he will meet with endless 

 opposition should he seek to cut out these paths ; however, 

 tact and resolution in pursuing the desired end will work 

 wonders. There is this advantage, moreover, that a 

 tenant rarely goes to work in the wholesale manner in 

 which some owners do, the result being more harm than 

 good. The chief aim in cutting a drive is to secure 

 positions from which fair shots can be had at either furred 

 or feathered quarry, and to provide easy access to such 

 portions of the covert as may be desirable. The great evil 

 to be avoided is the opening up of the covert to the 

 weather. There is a bad quarter everywhere, and the 

 storms from this quarter should never be able to hit straight 

 into the heart and home of the stock and the centre of the 

 covert ; otherwise there is an end to anything like a head 

 of game and a thriving wood. 



The next point is the thinning out of, and adding to, the 

 trees. Wherever there is a vacant space it may be utilised 

 by being filled up, or it may be left unplanted for use in 

 connection with the rearing or feeding of the birds. Such 

 vacant spaces, if properly situated, frequently prove very 

 useful in more than one direction. The thinning out is a 

 more involved affair than many think, and the preserver's 

 scheme of doing this may in many instances be found at 

 variance with those of the forester or others responsible for 

 the woodland. 



In the first place, the manner in which the woodman 

 thins out the trees and cuts out superfluous growth may 

 not be acceptable to the game-preserver ; whilst again the 

 former, in his ideas as to keeping his woods clean 

 and clear, may be quite opposed to those of the 

 latter. There is no doubt that one of the chief assistants 



