476 
BIRD-LIFE. 
domestic Turk, the common fowl, who one and all have 
their harems. Among birds of this family the father is, 
as a rule, not missed, one male having many mates; 
and to the latter alone all the troubles of nursery-life are 
left. 
The time during which shooting is not permitted is 
called “fence-time; ” like the word “ preserve” it needs no 
explanation. During this period the gamekeeper’s atten¬ 
tion is given entirely to the protection of his charge, and 
at the same time it is a rueful season for all vermin 
hostile to game: Eagles, Goshawks, Sparrowhawks and 
Kites, the Hobby, Raven, Magpie, and the like, have 
good reason to call it a bad time. 
The true sportsman, however, does not limit his pro¬ 
tection to game, but extends it to every harmless animal 
in his preserves. In the neighbourhood of my home 
there lived a sportsman, in every sense of the word, in a 
lovely quiet valley, surrounded by woods: he never 
allowed a hollow stem or tree to serve as fire-wood, but 
looked upon it as a residence for either Titmice, Red¬ 
starts, Flycatchers, Nuthatches, Treecreepers, or Pied 
Woodpeckers, so that want of a habitation should not 
induce them to emigrate; in the same manner he manu¬ 
factured artificial residences, hanging and fixing them in 
the trees, in the deepest recesses of the woods: the tiny 
lodgers are not long in finding out such desirable resting- 
places. He knows well the tall, ancient beeches which 
grow here and there on the estate, and is also well aware 
that they are no longer making wood, but are, on the 
contrary, deteriorating, and, as timber, would bring in 
but little to the forest fund; still he also knows that in 
these beeches dwell the Stock Dove, Green and Pied 
Woodpeckers; and even the very rare Great Black Wood- 
