90 The Natural History of British Game Birds 
them in the shade of a tree in a neighbouring field. No sooner were the guns in the stubble 
than Humpy flew out of the field over the hedge and straight to my father, by whose side he sat 
quite contentedly until the guns had left his own particular field. In spite of his extraordinary 
temper he is, as may be supposed, a great pet, and, after all, some excuse may be made for 
him, for one fine morning this last spring he turned up with seventeen wives ; where he got 
them from nobody knows, but I should imagine that sort of thing might be calculated to try 
even the temper of a cock pheasant." 
Pheasants thrive best on light sandy soils, and are found to increase in such coun- 
ties as Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Hants, Sussex (forest land areas), 
and Surrey, even when left to themselves. In Scotland parts of Perthshire seem to be 
the only county where the conditions are perfectly suited to wild Pheasants ; but there 
are a few places in Forfar, Wigtown, Aberdeen, and Morayshire where they thrive with- 
out artificial additions. Every year a larger number of Pheasants are reared in Scotland, 
for it is found that they do almost as well there as in England on the light soils. 
It has been found that cold winters have little effect upon them, provided food can be 
found. Pheasants can survive the severest winters in remote Highland glens, and in 
the hanging woods of birch and fir they often afford far better sport than in the flat 
coverts of the South. In fact, wherever cover is to be found in Scotland, Pheasants 
will thrive and breed, and greatly add to the attractions of the North when the season 
of grouse and deer has ended. Highland proprietors are now finding this out, for it 
causes tenants to prolong their stay to a period extending to October, November, and 
December, when Scotland is often at its best. 
The number of Pheasants the woods of such estates as Merton, Elvedon, and 
Brabraham can hold is truly astonishing. I saw 3000 head (2000 Pheasants) killed 
in one day in 1884, when Lord Cadogan had the shooting. Since that time 3000 
Pheasants and more have been killed in a single day on other estates. 
" In order to render useless all attempts of the nocturnal poacher to destroy the pheasants," 
says Waterton, "it is absolutely necessary that a place of security should be formed. I know 
of no position more appropriate than a piece of level ground at the bottom of the hill, bordered 
by a gentle stream. About three acres of this, sown with whins, and surrounded by a holly 
fence to keep the cattle out, would be the very thing. In the centre of it, for the space 'of 
one acre, there ought to be planted spruce fir trees about 14 feet asunder. Next to the larch, 
this species of tree is generally preferred by the pheasants for their roosting-place ; and it is 
quite impossible that the poachers can shoot them in these trees. Moreover, magpies and jays 
will always resort to them at nightfall ; and they never fail to give the alarm on the first 
appearance of an enemy. Six or seven dozen of wooden pheasants, nailed on the branches of 
trees in the surrounding woods, cause unutterable vexation and loss of ammunition to these 
amateurs of nocturnal plunder. Small clumps of hollies and yew trees, with holly hedges round 
them, are of infinite service, when planted at intervals of one hundred and fifty yards. To 
these the pheasants fly on the sudden approach of danger during the day, and skulk there till 
the alarm is over." 
Poachers employ every sort of device with net, gun, air-gun, rifle, and catapult to 
destroy Pheasants, and it must be admitted that it is a very great temptation to poor 
men, cursed or blest with sporting instincts, to see swarms of these birds frequenting 
the roadside, and positively asking to be killed. For this reason many kind-hearted 
