CHAPTER XI* 



PHEASANTS : Protection of the Bird*. 



FROM the moment when an estate comes under the care 

 of the preserver he will find enemies of many kinds and 

 upon every hand marshalled to prevent that success the 

 full measure of which is the avowed object of his 

 endeavours. The chief opponents of his purpose will be 

 found in vermin and poachers, both of which, in the case 

 of pheasants, appear to possess a favourable and an 

 extended field for their operations. 



Regarding mating and nesting-time as the beginning of 

 the preserver's year, he is at once beset by enemies of 

 both classes ; but I think it will be better to deal with the 

 probable ravages of vermin in the first instance, and with 

 those of human marauders subsequently. During the 

 nesting-period the pheasant, equally with its clutch of eggs, 

 is more likely to suffer from attacks by winged vermin 

 than from four-footed creatures. At such times the 

 pheasant, in common with most game-birds, loses all, or 

 nearly all, its natural scent, and thus escapes the atten- 

 tions of poaching dogs and cats to a large extent, and 

 also in a measure those of smaller four-footed vermin. 

 Of course, the actual nest is well concealed, but the hen 

 pheasant is as likely as not to place it in hedgerows along- 

 side the high-road, adjacent to well -frequented paths, in 

 exposed spinneys, and a dozen other places similarly ill- 

 chosen from a protective point of view. Were it not, 



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